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Abuja, Nigeria, 06/20 - The Nigerian Navy Sunday confirmed the release of an American journalist, who was arrested by naval personnel Friday for photographing an oil platform in Nigeria`s oil-producing Niger Delta region without permission. Though Nigerian Navy spokesman, Capt. Obi Medani, said the journalist, whom he did not identify by name, works for Reuters news agency, other reports...

Paris, Jun 18 (EFE).- Editor-in-chief Jose Joaquin Tovar of the Venezuelan weekly Ahora was gunned down on the weekend in Caracas, the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said Sunday, adding that the killing might be linked to his journalistic stance critical of both the Hugo Chavez government and the opposition. The non-governmental organization, known as RSF for its initials in French, said in...

The “missing” journalist from the tribal areas, Hayatullah Khan Dawar, has been murdered. His body was found on Friday, seven months after his kidnapping from the mountains about six kilometres south of the town of Mir Ali in North Waziristan Agency. Mr Dawar is the third journalist to be assassinated in the tribal areas since the operation began there, the earlier two having been killed in Wana...

Lagos, Nigeria, 06/17 - Detained journalist of Nigeria`s foremost independent television station, African Independent Television (AIT), has been freed and asked to report back to the State Security Service (SSS) 19 June, the local press reported Friday. Gbenga Aruleba, presenter of the weekday show "Focus Nigeria" on AIT, was arrested Wednesday by SSS operatives reportedly over Tuesday`s edition...

The Pakistani journalist who reported on a US airstrike that killed an al-Qaeda operative was found shot to death in a remote tribal region Friday six months after he was kidnapped. The body of Hayatullah Khan was found by villagers Friday dumped in the tribal-dominated North Waziristan town of Mir Ali from where he was abducted December 5. JUST A PHOTO IS WHAT THEY HAVE LEFT: The daughter of

(SEAPA/IFEX) - Strict new press regulations will take effect in Vietnam starting in July 2006, reports coming out of the country say, amid signs that national leaders are growing wary of the trend toward more aggressive and enterprising journalism. The Deutsche Press Agentur (DPA) is reporting that a new decree has been announced that will, among other things, punish "denying revolutionary...

The chief editor of an independent Belarusian weekly asked for asylum in neighboring Ukraine after facing official harassment in his homeland, a media watchdog group said Friday. Andrei Shentorovich fled to Ukraine shortly after March's election in Belarus in which authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko won a third term in a vote the opposition and Western observers and governments called...

(HRW/IFEX) - (Brussels, June 14, 2006) - Despite the welcome release from prison expected today for newspaper director Mohamed Benchicou, critics of Algeria's government continue to risk reprisal in the form of a barrage of defamation suits and, on occasion, dubious criminal charges, Human Rights Watch said today. Such prosecutions and other pressures have significantly curbed press freedom in...

Thai caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has filed criminal and civil defamation suits against the opposition Democrat Party and three newspaper editors, and is seeking 800-million-baht (around US$20 million) in damages. Thaksin said he was libeled by Democrat Party spokesman Thepthai Senpong when the latter suggested that Thaksin is clinging to power. Thaksin has been running government...

On 14 June 2006, operatives of the State Security Service (sss), Nigeria's intelligence agency, invaded the premises of the country's largest private television network, the Africa Independent Television (ait), in Abuja and arrested Gbenga Mike Aruleba, jost of the popular "Focus On Nigeria" programme. About 12 security agents carried out the raid and arrest at about 8:00 a.m. (local time)...