All posts tagged: Journalist

Israeli attacks on Lebanon kill at least five people, including journalist | US-Israel war on Iran News

Israeli attacks on Lebanon kill at least five people, including journalist | US-Israel war on Iran News

Published by Sam Flores

Israeli attacks have killed five people in southern Lebanon, including a journalist, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported, further straining a fragile ceasefire. An initial Israeli strike hit a car in at-Tiri, a village in south Lebanon, killing two people inside, NNA said on Wednesday. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Israel’s military said it struck two vehicles in southern Lebanon that departed from a military structure used by the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah. The NNA reported that a later air strike on a building in the same village wounded a journalist, who was trapped under rubble. Amal Khalil, who worked for the local media outlet Al Akhbar, was later found dead at the scene, her employer confirmed. Reporting from Tyre, southern Lebanon, Al Jazeera’s Heidi Pett said two journalists from local media outlet Al Akhbar had travelled to the site of the first attack in at-Tiri. “Amal Khalil and Zeinab Faraj had gone to the site of an earlier Israeli drone strike on a car, which reportedly killed two civilians in the …

Judges body hits journalist with £14k costs bill for pursuing FOI request

Judges body hits journalist with £14k costs bill for pursuing FOI request

Published by Sam Flores

Barnie Choudhury Former BBC journalist and British Journalism Award nominee Barnie Choudhury has been hit with charges of £14,270.70 by the appointments body for judges following a dispute over FOI requests. The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), an independent body responsible for selecting candidates for judicial office in England and Wales, said Choudhury “acted unreasonably” in pursuing enforcement action after it failed to comply with a tribunal order to disclose information requested in an FOI. Since 2020, Choudhury has written 23 investigative articles for Eastern Eye in his campaign against judicial secrecy, alleging bullying, misogyny and misconduct in the judicial appointments process. After threatening the JAC with Contempt of Court, Choudhury’s reporting successfully led to the JAC disclosing confidential recruitment materials and exposed the body for its unlawful use of FOI exemptions. His long-running campaign against the JAC led to stories on topics including calls for a senior official for JAC, accused of misleading a court, to be questioned again and claims of bullying within the judiciary. Choudhury was shortlisted for the Public Service Journalism award …

Ethiopia journalist abduction sparks press freedom fears

Ethiopia journalist abduction sparks press freedom fears

Published by Sam Flores

The managing editor of one of Ethiopia’s last independent media outlets remains missing after being kidnapped by masked men inside the Addis Standard newsroom on Wednesday. Ethiopia, already one of the biggest jailers of journalists in sub-Saharan Africa after Eritrea, is seeing a renewed crackdown ahead of June’s elections. International media have had their accreditation revoked, and for local journalists, the stakes are even higher. Keywords for this article Source link

Press association denounces Israel’s use of altered image to depict slain journalist

Press association denounces Israel’s use of altered image to depict slain journalist

Published by Sam Flores

The Foreign Press Association (FPA), which represents hundreds of journalists in Israel and the Palestinian territories, published a statement on April 15 criticising the Israeli military for attempting to discredit Lebanese journalist Ali Shoeib, who was killed in an Israeli strike, by publishing a fake image of him wearing a Hezbollah uniform.   Hezbollah is a Lebanese political party and paramilitary group with close links to Iran, which is currently at war with Israel. The group, whose military wing is classified as a terrorist organisation by the European Union, is the target of Israel’s strikes on Lebanon. This image shows the statement made by the Foreign Press Association on April 15, 2026. Source: X To display this content from X (Twitter), you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. Accept Manage my choices War correspondent Ali Shoeib was killed alongside two other journalists, cameraman Mohammed Ftouni and his sister, journalist Fatima Ftouni, when an Israeli air strike hit their vehicle on March 28.  Shoeib worked for Al-Manar, a Lebanese TV channel affiliated with Hezbollah, and the …

Lorne Michaels says he doesn’t think comedy does much good in the face of ‘totalitarian government’

Lorne Michaels says he doesn’t think comedy does much good in the face of ‘totalitarian government’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Lorne Michaels, the mastermind behind Saturday Night Live, has admitted that he thinks comedy has little power against totalitarianism. The 81-year-old creator of the long-running sketch series made the comments Tuesday after a Los Angeles screening of his new documentary Lorne, directed by Morgan Neville. “I think in the face of totalitarian government, I don’t think comedy really does much good; I think the totalitarians win every single time,” Michaels argued. He clarified, however, that “there is something as a safety valve in a culture which comedy is a really important part, and being able to even think those thoughts.” SNL is known for commenting on the current political climate. Michaels has won 24 of his record-breaking 112 Emmy nominations, many of which he received as an executive producer for ‘SNL’ (Getty) In the most recent episode’s “Weekend Update” segment, cast …

‘Undeterred’: Hungarian investigative journalist faces threats and espionage accusations from Orbán – Spotlight

‘Undeterred’: Hungarian investigative journalist faces threats and espionage accusations from Orbán – Spotlight

Published by Sam Flores

Gavin Lee is pleased to welcome Szabolcs Panyi, VSquare’s Budapest-based lead investigative editor in charge of Central European investigations and investigative journalist at Direkt36. His reporting into alleged ties between Hungary’s political leadership and Russian state actors triggered an unprecedented response: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán publicly accused him of espionage. According to Panyi, Orbán seeks to discredit independent journalism with false narratives of conspiracies against the government. His work examining communications between Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and Sergei Lavrov appears to have triggered an aggressive preemptive effort to undermine both the findings and the journalist behind them. This reflects a deeper transformation within Hungary: the erosion of press freedom, the instrumentalization of state institutions, and the increasing convergence between political power and informational control. Despite intimidation, surveillance, and threats, Panyi says he remains committed to his investigative work, not simply as an act of defiance, but rather as a necessary function of democratic accountability. Source link

Ex-Army employee with top-secret clearance charged with leaking information to journalist

Ex-Army employee with top-secret clearance charged with leaking information to journalist

Published by Sam Flores

An ex-Army employee that had top-secret clearance has been charged with leaking classified information, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). In a Wednesday press release, the DOJ said that 40-year-old Courtney Williams of North Carolina was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday. Williams was indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday regarding “her… Source link

Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah says will release US journalist Shelly Kittleson

Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah says will release US journalist Shelly Kittleson

Published by Sam Flores

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s powerful Kataeb Hezbollah armed group announced on Tuesday (Apr 7) that it would release US journalist Shelly Kittleson, a week after she was kidnapped in Baghdad. “In recognition of the national stances of the outgoing prime minister, we have decided to release the American defendant Shelly Kittleson, on the condition that she leaves the country immediately,” Abu Mujahid al-Assaf, a security official in the Iran-backed group, said in a brief statement. He added that this was an exceptional gesture that would “not be repeated again in the coming days, as we are in a state of war launched by the Zionist-American enemy against Islam, and in such cases many considerations are discarded”. A senior Iraqi security official had told AFP on Wednesday that authorities arrested a member of a pro-Iran group believed to be connected to the abduction of an American journalist. Washington said the suspect was thought to be linked to Kataeb Hezbollah, which is blacklisted by the United States. The State Department had not named Kittleson, but she was identified by …

American journalist Shelly Kittleson freed in prisoner swap in Iraq

American journalist Shelly Kittleson freed in prisoner swap in Iraq

Published by Sam Flores

BAGHDAD — The Iran-backed militia that kidnapped U.S. journalist Shelly Kittleson in Baghdad released her Tuesday in a prisoner swap with Iraq, Iraqi officials said. “In appreciation of the national positions of the outgoing Prime Minister, we have decided to release the American detainee, Shelly Kittleson, on the condition that she leaves the country immediately,” Abu Mujahid al-Assaf, a security official with Kataib Hezbollah, wrote on Telegram. “This initiative will not be repeated again in the coming days. We are in a state of war resembling that imposed by the American enemy against Islam, and in such situations, many considerations are set aside.” Source link

Iran-backed Iraqi armed group releases kidnapped US journalist

Iran-backed Iraqi armed group releases kidnapped US journalist

Published by Sam Flores

American journalist Shelly Kittleson, was kidnapped from a Baghdad street corner last week, has been released, an Iraqi official with direct knowledge of the situation said on Tuesday. Kittleson was freed in the afternoon, said the official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment publicly. He did not share her current whereabouts but said that prior to her release, she had been held in Baghdad. The powerful Iran-backed Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah said in a statement earlier on Tuesday that it would release Kittleson. The group said its decision came “in appreciation of the patriotic stances of the outgoing prime minister”, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, without giving more details. It added that “this initiative will not be repeated in the future”. The statement added a condition — that Kittleson must “leave the country immediately” upon her release. The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kataib Hezbollah had not previously acknowledged that it was the one responsible for Kittleson’s abduction, …