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The prosecutor in Hrodna, eastern Belarus, has summoned two independent journalists and threatened them with legal action for “working without accreditation” and for “bringing the international image of Belarus into disrepute”, following the publication of articles on local police negligence. A warning received by Ivan Roman, correspondent for Polish-based Radio Racyja, on 3 September 2007...

Reporters Without Borders called today on the central government in Baku to order the release of Hakim Eldostu Mehdiyev, a reporter for the opposition newspaper Yeni Musavat in the autonomous republic of Nakhchivan, who was arrested on 23 September in the village de Jalilli and was sentenced the same day by a local court to 15 days in prison for resisting arrest. “We also call on the national...

(FLIP/IPYS/IFEX) - Samit Linero, a journalist with the newspaper "Al Día", reported having been threatened by telephone and harassed, apparently in retaliation for his 18 September 2007 report about a case of alleged corruption. According to Linero, he received the first threatening calls at home on 18 September. He attributed these threats to supporters of council members implicated in the...

(CJES/IFEX) - The Federal Service for the Supervision of Mass Media, Communication and Protection of Cultural Heritage (Rossvyazokhrankultura) in the Saratov region filed a lawsuit against the region's newspaper "Saratovsky Reporter" on 19 September 2007. The paper is charged with "dissemination of extremist materials." In late August, the paper ran a cartoon portraying President Vladimir Putin as...

(CMFR/IFEX) - A columnist claims that he received a death threat on 20 September 2007, after writing about a high-ranking election official involved in an anomalous deal on the installation of broadband networks in the country. Jarius Bondoc, a columnist for the Manila daily "The Philippine Star", said he received the threat following the Senate hearing on the US$329 million National Broadband...

(CMFR/IFEX) - A freelance journalist told CMFR that she has been threatened and banned from military camps by the Armed Forces of the Philippines, apparently for writing stories on the armed conflict in Mindanao, Southern Philippines. The military has denied her allegations. Julie Alipala, who files stories for the "Philippine Daily Inquirer", online magazine "Newsbreak" and the television network...

(FMM/IFEX) - Reported draft new Emergency Regulations prohibiting coverage of defence procurement violates freedom of expression, media freedom and gravely undermines transparency and accountability. The Free Media Movement (FMM) reliably learns that the government is preparing to promulgate new Emergency Regulations to impose a general prohibition on investigative reporting and media coverage in...

Reporters Without Borders today criticised the closure of the offices of the hardline website Baztab.com, calling it a “troubling example of the government’s repressive policies.” The shutdown, by the Teheran state prosecutor’s office on 19 September, once more deprived Iranians of a website that disagreed with the government’s official line. “The list of closed and censored sites is growing, as...

Reporters Without Borders expressed its horror today at the murder of freelance radio journalist Salvador Sánchez, who was shot dead in the town of Soyapango, near the capital, San Salvador, by suspected gangsters on 20 September. “We anxiously await the results of the police investigation, though so far no link has been made between the killing and his journalistic work. Gang lawlessness that...

NEW YORK: The New York Times announced today that its international weekly edition is being carried by The Korea Times U.S.A. It's the first time the international weekly, which first appeared in the Korea Times on Sept. 12, has been distributed in the U.S. A team of New York editors from the Times News Service prepares the weekly edition, which is distributed in 20 other countries, retaining the...