Port Louis, Mauritius (PANA) - The New Year festivities were marked in Mauritius by the passage of tropical cyclone Ava, near the coast of the island, which brought heavy winds and a lot of rain, thus disrupting the first days of work of 2018. Full text...

Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - Former publisher of the weekly Rwanda Focus, Shyaka Kanuma, has been released from prison after serving one year in prison over tax evasion charges, a judicial source confirmed Friday in Kigali. Full text...

Monrovia, Liberia (PANA) - Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned an attack by gunmen on the Kinshasa home of Tshivis Tshivuadi, the secretary-general of the Congolese media freedom NGO, Journalist in Danger (JED). Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) – The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has voiced “deep regret” over Israel's decision to withdraw from the agency. Full text...

Cairo, Egypt (PANA) – Egyptian journalist Mahmoud Hussein on Friday marks one year in pretrial detention without proper due process, Human Rights Watch said. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - For the second year in a row, the number of journalists imprisoned for their work hit a historic high, as the U.S. and other Western powers failed to pressure the world’s worst jailers--Turkey, China, and Egypt--into improving the bleak climate for press freedom, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Wednesday. Full text...

Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - Changes in traditional media and growing use of social media are offering new avenues for “migrant-led” media and journalism as well as a unique opportunity for migrants to highlight their concerns and contributions – in their own words – the United Nations International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said. Full text...

Ebène , Mauritius (PANA) - The third edition of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) - MERCK Africa Research Summit (MARS) opened on Tuesday at Ebène, in the centre of the island. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) – The head of the United Nations agency defending press freedom on Tuesday denounced the killing of a Nigerian photographer, calling for an investigation into the incident. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) – The African Media Initiative (AMI) on Monday organized its third edition of the “ZIMEO Excellence in Media Awards” recognizing nine journalists as winners and 18 runners-up in a programme held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Full text...

Monrovia, Liberia (PANA) – Liberian newspapers were Monday awash with banner headlines on a decision by the Supreme Court denying the ruling Unity Party (UP) request for the intervention of the court in a matter with the National Elections Commission (NEC). Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) – The media industry, which remains the primary source of news and information in the digital age, faces both vast opportunities and steep challenges, the United Nations cultural agency said on Monday in its flagship analysis of new trends in media freedom, pluralism, independence and the safety of journalists. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) – The Accra-based Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) on Monday hailed the Gambia government’s decision to comply with rulings made by a sub-regional court in favour of three Gambian journalists.Full text...

Kinshasa, DR Congo (PANA) - Journalist in Danger, a media watchdog, has urged the international community to increase pressure on DR Congo government to sanction perpetrators of abuses against press freedom. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) – Justice must be done for the murder of journalists, who perform important functions in taking forward fundamental freedoms and bolstering the strength of societies, a senior United Nations official said on Thursday, marking the International Day to end impunity for crimes against them. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - A lack of justice in the murders of journalists can perpetuate a cycle of violence and impunity lasting a decade or more, media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) has said in a new report released on Wednesday. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Ghana's Seth Kwame Boateng, a journalist from Multimedia Broadcasting Limited, won the Western Africa Media Excellence Award on Saturday night in Accra, Ghana, PANA reported. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - UNESCO’s General Conference, taking place in Paris, France, from 30 October to 14 November, will bring together all of the Organization’s 195 Member States to its 39th session to approve the Organization’s budget and the direction of its programmes and activities for the next two years. Full text...

Monrovia, Liberia (PANA) – Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has expressed umbrage at displays on social media that are “extremely inimical” to the survival of the country’s peace and democracy. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) on Saturday condemned unequivocally the molestation of a journalist by a traditional chief in Ghana. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Cameroonian authorities to immediately halt the prosecution of three journalists after a judge on 9 October changed the charges against them in mid-trial.Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - The 58 members of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Executive Board on 13 October nominated Audrey Azoulay of France for the position of Director-General of the Organization, replacing outgoing Director-General Irina Bokova.Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) – Last Saturday night’s explosion at a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) filling station in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, that has claimed seven lives, injured scores of people, destroyed vehicles and other property and triggered directives by the government to forestall future accidents dominated the Ghanaian media this week. Full text...

Freetown, Sierra Leone (PANA) - President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), Kelvin Lewis, has called on journalists not to cover political party events where their safety could not be guaranteed. Full text...

Washington, D.C., US (PANA) - The US announced on Thursday that it has decided to withdraw from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and will seek to establish a permanent observer mission to the UN cultural agency but the UN agency has expressed profound regret at the US' action. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Zimbabwean authorities to immediately release NewsDay journalist Kenneth Nyangani and drop all charges against him. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) – The Ghanaian media last week highlighted the verdict by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in a maritime dispute between West African neighbours Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire that favoured Ghana. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - The 58 members of the UNESCO’s Executive Board will hold their 202nd session from 4 to 18 October, chaired by Ambassador Michael Worbs of Germany, at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Ghana's main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Friday slammed the communications regulator for 'draconian' penalties, including closure, slapped on scores of radio stations, warning that they have grave implications for press freedom and media pluralism in the country.Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Ghana's communications regulatory body has swooped on radio stations operating in the country slapping various sanctions on 131 of them including hefty fines and revocation of licences following a nationwide FM Spectrum Audit. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - An Accra-based radio station highly critical of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the government has been shut down by the communications regulatory authorities over unpaid licence fee, the local media in the Ghanaian capital reported on Thursday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Ugandan authorities must stop threatening to close media outlets simply for doing their job, said Amnesty International today after the country’s media regulator vowed to close down media houses for broadcasting live.Full text...

Mogadishu, Somalia (PANA) – The top United Nations envoy to Somalia has welcomed the recent introduction of legislation that would amend the 2016 media law, and urged lawmakers to give due consideration to the concerns raised by prominent members of Somalia’s news media about the existing law and the proposed amendments. Full text...

Mogadishu, Somalia (PANA) – Some provisions of Somalia’s current media law do not appear to comply with international standards of media legislation and regulation, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) in Somalia, Michael Keating, said on Monday. Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Journalists become heroes of humanity in Kenya and Uganda this week in the wake of police operations against those protesting plans by the Ugandan parliament to remove the age limit to allow President Yoweri Museveni unfettered access to power and at the Kenyan Supreme Court. Full text...

Freetown, Sierra Leone (PANA) - Three media practitioners are set to appear in court on Friday, after they were sued on multiple counts of sedition and criminal libel by the National Telecommunication Commission (NATCOM). Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Ahead of Liberia's elections, the Media Foundation For West Africa (MFWA) and partners are implementing a rapid response intervention aimed at addressing media safety issues in the West African country. Full text...

Brazzaville, Congo (PANA) - Two media watchdogs, Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Sans Frontières, have appealed to Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso to immediately free Ghys Fortuné Dombé Bemba, editor of the privately-owned newspaper, Talassa.Full text...

Maseru, Lesotho (PANA) - Human rights organisation Amnesty International has lashed out at the Lesotho authorities for arresting the owner of a radio station in the southern Africa country and called for his immediate and unconditional release. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on authorities in Somalia to thoroughly investigate the killing of journalist Abdullahi Osman Moalim following a bomb blast. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) will release its report titled, "Journalists Not Terrorists: In Cameroon, anti-terror legislation is used to silence critics and suppress dissent," on 20 September, the press freedom watchdog said on Saturday.Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) – The commencement of free second cycle education in Ghana dominated the media this week with the government hailing it as a major achievement while the opposition is cautioning that it may not be sustainable. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) – Amid the increasing proliferation of fake news and the resulting challenges in discerning accurate information from false ones, a United Nations forum on Thursday discussed ways to tackle the complex issue as well as equipping the consumers of information with the necessary skills and tools to assess the credibility of any media message and news source. Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) – Burkina’s chairperson of the High Council for Communication (CSC), Nathalie Somé, was on Wednesday detained as part of the investigations into financial malpractices in the Council estimated at 1 billion CFA francs, PANA learned from judicial sources. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - The global press freedom watchdog, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), has welcomed the release of scores of journalists in Cameroon.Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo should drop all charges against journalist Jeef Mwingamb and release him immediately, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) – The collapse of two Ghanaian-owned banks announced on Monday sending shockwaves across the country and concerns about an “ineffective” assets declaration law for state officials were some of the stories reported this week. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - The authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo should thoroughly and credibly investigate police raid on Radio Télévision Chrétienne (RTC), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Thursday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) – United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Alison Smale, a British journalist, to head the Organization's Department of Public Information as Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) – The maiden edition of the West Africa Media Excellence Conference and Awards (WAMECA) will be held in Accra, Ghana, in October. Full text...