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(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has condemned the transitional government's closure of Radio Warsan, a privately-owned radio station based in the southwestern city of Baidoa, and called on the authorities to explain why they are continuing to hold journalist Hassan Mohammed Abikar of Voice of the Holy Quran, another privately-owned radio station. "Baidoa, the seat of the transitional...

(CJES/IFEX) - On 1 January 2007 in the city of Pskov, at about 7:00 pm (local time), an unidentified individual or individuals set fire to the door of the apartment of Irina Tikhonova, the editor-in-chief of "The Bulletin" of the news agency Pskov News Bureau. Tikhonova is convinced that the incident is directly related to her professional work. Tikhonova informed CJES that the incident took place...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has condemned raids on two newspapers by the State Security Service, a domestic intelligence agency, on 9 January 2007 in the Nigerian capital of Abuja. The two newspapers targeted were "Leadership", a daily, and "The Abuja Inquirer", a weekly. "It seems the election campaign will be a trying time for Nigeria's journalists, who are repeatedly the targets of...

(Freedom House/IFEX) - Washington, D.C., and Budapest, Hungary - Following the death of long-time dictator Saparmurat Niyazov, and prior to upcoming presidential elections, Freedom House today called on the government of Turkmenistan to initiate steps that can at long last put Turkmenistan on a path toward greater openness and democracy. President Niyazov died suddenly on December 21, 2006...

(CPJ/IFEX) - New York, January 11, 2007 - The Committee to Protect Journalists is alarmed by orders from the Bangladeshi Information Ministry that private broadcast outlets suspend news programs and print outlets halt critical news coverage during a state of emergency announced this evening. "It's essential that at this very sensitive moment Bangladeshi citizens have unfettered access to...

(CJFE/IFEX) - (Toronto, January 11, 2007) - President Iajuddin Ahmed of Bangladesh declared a nationwide state of emergency on Thursday evening, suspending fundamental rights including the right to free expression. He then stepped down as leader of the interim government. CJFE has seen the large impact that a state of emergency can have on press freedom. Already, private satellite television...

MONTERREY, Mexico – Police in the northern state of Durango have found the body of a Web site editor who had been missing since October, officials said Wednesday. The body of Guevara Guevara, 54, and the motorcycle he was riding were found by officers Saturday at the bottom of ravine in Durango, said Ruben Lopez, a spokesman for Durango state investigators. Lopez said an autopsy found that the...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has voiced concern about governmental hostility towards the privately-owned media after Chris Ojow, a photographer with the daily "The Nation", was roughed up by President Mwai Kibaki's bodyguards when he tried to take pictures of the president during a Sunday service in church on 7 January 2007. "Every year there are cases of violence against the press in...

(CPJ/IFEX) - New York, January 9, 2007 - The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by reports that an Iranian journalist has been held in Tehran's Evin Prison for more than 40 days without charge. Ali Farahbakhsh, a former economics and foreign affairs reporter for the banned reformist dailies Yas-e No and Shargh, was detained by security officers after he returned from a civil...

(IFJ/IFEX) - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is deeply concerned about the steady erosion of press freedom in Sri Lanka, following reports of the media being denied access to war zones, incidents of self-censorship and intimidation, and news journalists were forced to flee the country out of fear for their safety. "The Sri Lankan media is increasingly struggling to operate freely...