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China and other authoritarian countries trying to control information on the Web have driven a record increase in the number of journalists jailed, with a third either bloggers or Web-based editors or reporters, a free press group said. The number of journalists imprisoned increased this year for the second consecutive year, up to 134 as of Dec. 1, nine more than in 2005, the New York-based...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has called on media and information minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa to act quickly to ensure that all Tamil newspapers can circulate freely in areas controlled by the government. A pro-government militia led by Tamil warlord Karuna has re-imposed a ban on the Sunday edition of the newspaper "Virakesari", with the result that the last two issues were unable...

(MFWA/IFEX) - "Kalum Express", a privately-owned Conakry-based newspaper, was suspended for two months by the media regulator, the National Council for Communication (CNC), on 27 November 2006, for allegedly damaging the reputation of the state of Guinea. The newspaper will be out of circulation until 27 January 2007. MFWA's correspondent says Top Sylla, the managing editor of "Kalum Express", has...

(AJI/IFEX) - The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Indonesia slams the use of criminal law in solving press-related disputes. AJI Indonesia also condemns the continued violence against journalists in the course of their duties. At least 64 cases of violence against Indonesian journalists were recorded from August 2005 to August 2006. Furthermore, three murder cases of journalists have yet...

New York, December 7, 2006—The Azerbaijan Court of Appeals should reverse a ruling excluding defense witnesses in the appeal of Sakit Zakhidov and release the ailing journalist, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today . The court ruled Monday not to hear witnesses for the defense or further investigate the case against Zakhidov, a prominent reporter and satirist for the Baku daily...

The editor of Playboy Indonesia appeared in court in Jakarta Thursday, charged with publishing indecent material. Though the country's version of the famed men's magazine contains no nudity and is tamer than other editions published around the world, religious groups and politicians have condemned it. Editor Erwin Arnada has argued that his edition is equally or even less explicit than many other...

(IPI/IFEX) - Vienna, 7 December 2006: The Executive Board of the International Press Institute (IPI) has decided to name Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya as one of its World Press Freedom Heroes. "Politkovskaya's nomination as our 51st World Press Freedom Hero is a tribute to her bravery, but also an acknowledgement of the struggles of the many courageous journalists working in Russia," said...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The number of journalists jailed worldwide for their work rose for the second year with Internet bloggers and online reporters now one third of those incarcerated, a U.S.-based media watchdog said on Thursday. A Committee to Protect Journalists census found that a record 134 journalists were in jail on December 1 -- an increase of nine from the 2005 tally -- in 24 countries...

New York, December 6, 2006—The Committee to Protect Journalists is outraged at the detention of one Cuban journalist for working for an independent news agency, and of a second for attempting to launch such an agency. Police and state security forces swooped on the Havana home of independent journalist Ahmed Rodríguez Albacia on Monday, confiscating a computer, tape-recorders, a fax machine and...

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF is alarmed by the news that José Antonio García Apac, the editor of the weekly "Ecos de la Cuenca" in Tepalcatepec, in the southwestern state of Michoacán, has been missing since 20 November 2006. The press freedom organisation fears the worst given that Adolfo Sánchez Guzmán of radio Xhora Ori Stereo 99.3 was found shot dead on 30 November in the eastern state of Veracruz, two...