Since his third term as president of the Dominican Republic ended in August, Leonel Fernández has been busy, recently embarking on trips to Europe and North America, where he received the “Statesman of the Year” award from the Canadian Council for the Americas, which recognised him for mediation and democracy-building efforts in Latin America. But […]

The sponsor of a bill before Ukraine’s parliament that would re-criminalise defamation has said that he will withdraw the bill from consideration, at least until after parliamentary elections scheduled for Oct. 28, Reuters reported today. Reuters said the Interfax news agency quoted Vitaly Zhuravsky as commenting: “Having weighed up all the circumstances and acting in […]

The Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation (SEEMO), an affiliate of the International Press Institute (IPI), today expressed concern about continuing threats against journalist Vladimir Mitric, a correspondent of the Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti in Loznica, in western Serbia. Mitric was threatened again on Sept. 15 despite being under 24-hour police protection. The veteran journalist […]

Gambian journalist Babucarr Ceesay now faces a charge of “seditious publication”, in addition to the charge of “conspiring to commit a felony” levelled against him and fellow journalist Abubacarr Saidykhan earlier this week, local journalists told IPI. IPI is concerned that the charges may be designed to punish these journalists for criticising the government. The […]