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(IAPA/IFEX) - ASUNCION, Paraguay (February 23, 2007) - The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) stated today that freedom of the press will remain uncertain in Paraguay until the disappearance of a local journalist is solved and as long as impunity surrounds murder cases, disproportionate punishment is dispensed against journalists and news media in libel cases, and there is no law on free...

(CJES/IFEX) - Andrei Mikhailov, founder of "Khronograf Togliatti", the only independent publication in Togliatti, a city in the Samara region, has reported that serious pressure is being exerted on the newspaper. Mikhailov told CJES a defamation lawsuit was filed against the newspaper with the Togliatti Central District Court by Vladimir Avetisyan, managing director of the Russian holding company...

NEW YORK: Newspaper executives have been making strides in reducing churn, holding on to paid circulation -- even though it's heavily discounted -- and slinging out less valuable circ, like hotel copies. And while those efforts are laudable, there's another anchor dragging down print revenue: single-copy sales. It's a long way indeed from the days when the popular image of newspapers was based on...

The Cuban government has now got cracking on the foreign press in the country ordering at least three of them to stop writing because of their "negative" reporting. Cuba's acting President Raul Castro applauds during the year-end session of the Popular Assembly in Havana December 22, 2006. The Cuban government issued a document updating regulations on foreign correspondents’ work. The document

Executives of the Thai satellite channel People's Television (PTV), believed to be funded by people close to deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra, are planning to go ahead with the launch on March 1 despite threats from the current interim government. Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (L) with his wife Pojaman (R) at Government House in Bangkok, April 2006. A lawyer for Thaksin vowed to

(MISA/IFEX) - The Namibian chapter MISA strongly condemns the attacks on the media by some members of Parliament during the First Session of the Fourth Parliament at National Assembly in Windhoek on 21 February 2007. Members of the ruling South West African People's Organisation (Swapo) party have accused the opposition and independent media of being "disrespectful" towards some Swapo leaders...

(MFWA/IFEX) - On 21 February 2007, for the first time during the eight-month disappearance of Chief Ebrima Manneh, a reporter of the pro-government Banjul-based newspaper "Daily Observer", the Gambia Police Force officially denied ever arresting him. Reacting to MFWA's continuous demands for the release of Manneh, the most recent of which was published in "The Point", the only remaining...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders was shocked to learn that two men walked up to journalist Maria Nikolayeva's office, in the offices of the weekly "Politika" on 9 February 2007 and threatened to throw acid in her face if she continued to write about a real estate development project in Strandzha national park, Bulgaria's largest protected area. A story by Nikolayeva and Burgas-based...

(JED/IFEX) - On 23 February 2007, the Gikondo local court in Kigali ordered the 30-day detention of Bukavu Catholic University (CUB) professor Idesbald Byabuze, who is also director of the newspaper "Mashariki News", published in Bukavu, South-Kivu province's main city, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Byabuze was arrested in Kigali on 16 February by the Rwandan police, while he was...

BEIRUT - Lebanon's press court fined two staunchly anti-Syrian newsmen Thursday for libelling under-fire pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, judicial sources said. Al-Mustaqbal daily director Toufic Khattab and journalist Zahi Wehbeh received fines of 50 million Lebanese pounds (more than 33,000 dollars) each for having "libelled and damaged the reputation of President Lahoud" in a 2005 article...