Reporters without Borders claims 66 journalists have killed this year -- many of them covering Arab revolutions or political turmoil in Pakistan.

A media watchdog has voiced concern at the cooperation between British authorities and BlackBerry smart phones to identify rioters in London.

Armed troops are occupying a major daily newspaper to prevent publication.

A South African photographer is among several journalists missing in Libya since April 4, according to Reporters Without Borders.

The National Press Club in Pretoria on Friday "strongly condemned" the reported assault and detention of al-Jazeera journalists in Zimbabwe this week.

A Sudanese cameraman with the al-Jazeera on Friday accused United States authorities of insulting Islamic symbols on his return home after six years of detention at Guantánamo Bay. There were "many violations -- [we were] deprived from praying and there were ... deliberate insults to God's holy book" said Sami al-Haj.

"There are times and places when being brave should not be a good sign. Take journalism, for instance. Unlike with, say the Nobel Prize, a country whose journalists are renowned for their courageous journalism should feel ashamed of itself," writes Fikile-Ntsikelelo Moya.

The annual conference of the International Bar Association, the world's biggest meeting of lawyers, was officially opened in Singapore recently by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. Yew, Singapore's long-time ruler and a lawyer by training, was in no mind to soft-peddle his prescriptions for the island state's success. "If I had permitted freedom of expression," he confidently announced, "I would not be here tonight and neither would all of you."

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation was launched in October 2006 to promote good governance in Africa with the support of world leaders, including Nelson Mandela, Alpha Konaré, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. On October 22 2007, the foundation will announce the winner of the world's biggest prize, the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, to be awarded to a former African executive head of state.