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Three Kushtia-based journalists had to flee the south-western district last week and take refuge in the capital in the face of what they said were death threat from a local BNP lawmaker and false cases filed by him against them. Shahidul Islam, lawmaker from Kushtia-2, and his accomplices became hostile to them for reporting about their corrupt and criminal activities including extortion...

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution Tuesday urging Russia to continue the inquiry into the murder of American journalist Paul Klebnikov, RIA Novosti news agency reports. "The House of Representatives ... urges the Government of Russia to take appropriate action to protect the independence and freedom of the Russian media and all visiting members of the media. A group of U.S...

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) - An Islamic militant sentenced to death in the killing of journalist Daniel Pearl was transferred Thursday to a new prison for security reasons, a police official said. British-born Ahmed Omar Sheikh was flown by helicopter from a jail in Hyderabad to Central Prison in Karachi, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make...

Whoever is trying to keep track of the events in Turkmenistan knows of the difficulties with availability of information in this country. For example, it is impossible to subscribe to a Russian newspaper in Turkmenistan, Radio Mayak is not on the air, and Channel One or ORT broadcasts of the Russian TV are restricted to only two hours per day. Let us focus our attention precisely on the latter...

AMMAN, 18 May (IRIN) - Press freedom in Jordan regressed over the course of the last year, with journalists being harassed and denied access to information, a recent survey by a local press-freedom organisation found. "Press freedom and political reform remain at a standstill," said Nidal Mansour, director of the Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ), which conducted the survey....

POLICE were holding two jail guards for questioning in the shooting of tabloid photo journalist Alberto Orsolino, who was killed in Caloocan City Tuesday morning. Orsolino, 43, covered Malacañang for Saksi, but police said yesterday that his killing was probably not work-related. Orsolino was shot dead in the Hannibal gas station on Letre Road after the scooter-riding gunmen chased him from his...

(Adil Soz/IFEX) - The hearing of a lawsuit filed by Sergei Arhipov, the commander of a special police division, against PR-Agency Almaty International, which owns "Aina plus" newspaper, took place on 16 May 2006 at Medeu district court in Almaty. The lawsuit is in response to the 16 March publication of Arhipov's photograph in the newspaper. The photograph was published with the caption "Kara bet"...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has hailed the Macedonian parliament's approval on 10 May 2006 of a criminal code amendment proposed by the government decriminalizing defamation. Previously, journalists convicted of defamation faced up to three years in prison. "A candidate for EU membership, Macedonia is one of the few European countries to amend its laws to allow more press freedom," the...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned the brutal and unfair arrests of Odelín Alfonso, a regular contributor to the Cubanet website, and Milisa Valle Ricardo of the Jóvenes sin Censura news agency, on 13 May 2006, and the continued detention of Alfonso without any specific charges being put to him. "These arrests reveal once again an unfairness and denial of justice. No real...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has issued an urgent appeal for the release of Tchanguiz Vatankhah, the director of Radio Brakoss and president of the Chad Union of Privately-Owned Radio Stations (URPT), whose state of health has deteriorated markedly, according to a human rights activist who has seen him in detention. Held at police headquarters in N'Djamena since his arrest on 28 April...