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(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has condemned the death threats that have been being made, since May 2007, against the Quito-based staff of the pan-Latin American television news channel Telesur. This is not the first time the station, launched by the Venezuelan government, has been the target of hostility. RSF calls on the Ecuadorean authorities to act quickly to ensure such hostilities do not continue. "The...

BUCHAREST, Romania: A Bucharest court on Wednesday sentenced a fugitive Syrian-born businessman to 20 years in prison on charges that he ordered the kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq. Omar Hayssam, a prosperous businessman, fled Romania last year after being temporarily released by a judge to seek treatment for cancer that was unavailable in the prison hospital. He was sentenced in...

(HRinfo/IFEX) - The Algerian government must drop the defamation charge against blogger "Abd el Salam Baroudy", administrator of the "Bilad Telmesan" blog ( http://bilad-13.maktoobblog.com ), for criticizing an official in an article published in February 2007. Baroudy is scheduled to face the Telmesan First Degree Court on 11 June 2007. In his article, Baroudy criticized the chair of Religious...

In recent years, more than 40 journalists have been questioned in federal criminal and civil court proceedings about their confidential sources, notes and stories. In too many cases the journalist was the first stop for the lawyer seeking information. The practice threatens to turn reporters into de facto investigators for the court, required to reveal sources of information they obtained only by...

Tony Blair's attack on the media and call for a tougher regulatory system for newspapers and broadcasters sparked a heated debate last night among editors and other key figures within the industry. The Prime Minister singled out The Independent for criticism when he devoted his last speech on domestic issues before he stands down on 27 June to the media, which he described as a "feral beast, just...

BOGOTA, Colombia, June 12 A reporter in Colombia for the Miami-based newspaper El Nuevo Herald has received death threats, The Miami Herald reported Tuesday. Gonzalo Guillen is being threatened by Colombian right-wing paramilitary groups, according to phone calls received by El Nuevo Herald warning of a plot to kill the journalist. "The office reiterates that the work of journalists ... is...

Five years after he led the investigation that nabbed the suspected terrorists behind the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, Randall Bennett is still haunted by the case. "It's the most memorable case I've worked on and the most intense, but is also the one biggest personal tragedy to me, because we didn't get Danny back," said Bennett, 55, a special agent with the...

ISLAMABAD, June 12: The Supreme Court on Tuesday summoned a journalist and warned him for publishing a news item suggesting initiation of references by the government against four senior judges who were part of the 13-member larger bench hearing the petition of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, and warned him to be careful in future. In its order, the Supreme Court said: “Muhammad Saleh...

The internet’s key players are “appalling” at protecting their users’ privacy – most pose a “substantial threat” to your confidentiality and not one is ‘privacy-friendly.’ After six months examining the policies and insider stories at over 20 Web portals, Privacy International added that only three – Wikipedia, eBay and the BBC - are ‘privacy aware.’ However the trio, like all the firms...

HACKENSACK, N.J. - The state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that news reporters waive their right to exercise the Shield Law - which protects confidential sources and information - when they share information with law enforcement investigating cases. The court unanimously ruled that Andrew Glazer, a former Bergen County Record reporter, gave up his protection by talking to detectives from the...