The headquarters of Venezuelan newspaper Versión Final, in the city of Maracaibo, was shot at nine times on 3 June, making the attack the third of its kind against a media outlet in the northeastern state of Zulia. On 28 May, the headquarters of...
Mexico: Constitutional amendment makes attacks on press a federal offence
A constitutional amendment was given final approval in Mexico yesterday [7 June] making attacks on the press a federal offence in Mexico. The amendment, passed by 16 state legislatures, allows federal authorities to investigate and punish crimes...
China: Dissident found dead
Chinese dissident Li Wangyang, who was jailed for over 22 years after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, was found dead in a hospital ward in Shaoyang city, Hunan province, on Wednesday. Family members found the dissident, 62, apparently hanged by...
Mexico: Columnist threatened after criticising presidential candidate
Political columnist Katia D’Artigues, of Mexican newspaper El Universal, has said she and her son have received death threats via Twitter for having criticised presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party...
UK: Spectator fined after admitting reporting breach
The Spectator has been ordered to pay £5,600 after admitting a November 2011 article about the trial of Stephen Lawrence's killers breached a court order. Associate editor Rod Liddle's piece claimed defendants Gary Dobson and David Norris --- who...
Belarus: Andrei Sannikov not allowed to leave country
Former Belarusian presidential candidate Andrei Sannikov was removed from a train travelling from Minsk to Vilnius at a station near the Lithuanian border yesterday. The activist, who was released from detention and pardoned by Belarusian president...
Kuwait: 10-year sentence for Twitter blasphemer
A Kuwaiti man was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday after being convicted of endangering state security as a result of messages he sent on Twitter. The judge found Hamad al-Naqi guilty of insulting the prophet Muhammad and Islam, and...
Azerbaijan: Outspoken blogger released
An Azerbaijani blogger who had spent 15 months in prison for criticising the government was granted an early release by the supreme court on Monday. Bakhtiyar Hajiyev was arrested in March 2011 after calling on social networks for an...

Britain’s press needs a strong public interest defence
The Leveson Inquiry should not forget the need to protect British journalism, says Marta Cooper
Leveson Inquiry reveals Jeremy Hunt congratulated James Murdoch on BSkyB progress
Marta Cooper: Leveson Inquiry reveals Jeremy Hunt’s texts to James Murdoch and George Osborne
"If the tone of newspapers had been different in the last 20 years, we'd have 30,000 fewer prisoners" – Ken Clarke tells Leveson
Marta Cooper: “If the tone of newspapers had been different in the last 20 years, we’d have 30,000 fewer prisoners”, Ken Clarke tells Leveson
Vince Cable tells of "veiled threats" to Liberal Democrats
Business secretary Vince Cable has said he had heard of "veiled threats" to his party connected with News Corp's bid for full control of satellite broadcaster BSkyB. "I had heard directly and indirectly that there had been veiled threats that my...