2 Mar 2012 | Index Index, minipost, United Kingdom
A damages claim by Manchester United and Wales footballer Ryan Giggs against the Sun newspaper was thrown out by the High Court today. Giggs claimed that the tabloid had “misused” private information, and said he was entitled to claim damages for distress and breach of a right to privacy. Giggs was granted an injunction in April 2011 after an article was published in the tabloid about an unnamed player’s alleged affair with model Imogen Thomas. The anonymity part of the injunction was lifted last month, despite the footballer already having been widely identified on Twitter and named in the Commons by Lib Dem MP John Hemming in May 2011. News Group Newspapers, publisher of the Sun, argued at a hearing last month that Giggs’ damages claim was “dead in the water” and should be thrown out.
2 Mar 2012 | Africa, Index Index, minipost
A number of attacks and threats have been made against journalists covering the Sengalese presidential elections. At least 12 incidents of threats and physical harm have been recorded against journalists in the lead up to and aftermath of the vote. Senegal’s incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade stood against thirteen other candidates in elections for a third term in power on Sunday. No official results have been released.
2 Mar 2012 | Africa, Index Index, minipost
A radio journalist has been shot dead by two unidentified men in Somalia. Abukar Hassan Mohamoud, nicknamed Kadaf, was the manager of Mogadishu-based radio Somaliweyn. Mohamoud was shot five times in the head and chest at his home in Mogadishu on 28 February. Mohamoud, who had been trying to relaunch the radio station which had been shut down by an extremist group in May 2010, died from his injuries in hospital soon after the attack.
24 Feb 2012 | Europe and Central Asia, Index Index, minipost
An Afghan radio journalist was beheaded on Tuesday night in the southeast province of Paktika, Afghanistan. AFP quoted a local official as saying that Samid Khan Bahadarzai, 25, had been lured to a meeting with unidentified men hours before his body was found near his home in Urgun, a town close to the Pakistan border. Afghan news website Khaama Press reported that the journalist had worked for Mehman Radio, a local station.
