Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) – A group of editors from the privately-owned media houses in Mauritania has protested against "police brutality" against their colleague, Dialtabé Samba Diop, who was invited for questioning Tuesday and later detained for three hours here, according to a statement from the group on Wednesday.Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The unending orgy of violence, especially the non-stop bombing campaign (almost on a daily basis) by the Boko Haram Islamic sect members, filled newspaper front pages in Nigeria this week.Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - The payment of huge judgement debts continued to dominate the Ghana media this week, with newspapers reporting the commencement of the trial of one case and interrogation of two former Attorneys-General by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament for another payment. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) - News professionals and executives from some of the world’s leading media, academics, media law experts and representatives of press freedom organizations will explore the future of professional journalism in the digital environment at a conference at UNESCO’s Headquarters on 16 and 17 February, the UN agency said in press statement here Friday. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – For the second week in succession, the strike by doctors working in public hospitals and manoeuvres by health authorities to avert a disastrous situation as the public became impatient with the stalemate between the two parties, made headlines in the Tanzanian dailies this week Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Domestic issues and violence, including the Boko Haram menace and the mass burial of its victims, dominated front pages in Nigeria this week. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) – The arrest of a businessman who was paid a huge jugement debt, presentation of an interim report by the anti-graft institution on the matter, President John Evans Atta Mills’ rejection of legalisation of gay rights and the quarter-final berth of the Black Stars in the on-going African Cup of Nations were some of the major stories highlighted in the Ghanaian media this week. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) on Monday condemned the killing of Somali journalist Hassan Osman Abdi, calling it “a cowardly act”. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) – The continuing strike by doctors in government-run hospitals dominated the media in Tanzania this week as health authorities made vain attempts at persuading the medics to go back to work. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) – President John Evans Atta Mills’ meeting with the Council of State, resignation of Education Minister Betty Mould-Iddrisu, as the controversial payment of judgement debt to a businessman continues to claim more casualties, and a cabinet reshuffle were this week reported in the Ghanaian media. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian media were awash with stories of the renewed bombing of targets by the dreaded Boko Haram Islamic sect in some parts of the country, a development that resulted in the dismissal of the man whose responsibility it is to maintain law and order -- Inspector General of Police (IGP) Hafiz Ringim. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The press freedom watchdog, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Tuesday condemned the killing of Nigerian journalist, Enenche Akogwu, in Kano, northern Nigeria.Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) – The dismissal of Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr Martin Amidu, the never-ending crises of a huge judgement debt to a businessman and swapping of cocaine, and the sudden appearance of posters of former first lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, as a potential presidential candidate dominated the newspapers in Ghana this week. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The African Press Organization (APO), the leading African press release wire service, has announced an alliance with Dow Jones Factiva, the world’s leading news and business information research tool. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - A press conference by President John Evans Atta Mills to mark his third year in office, the ongoing blame game in the missing cocaine saga, continuing hullabaloo on huge judgement debt and seizure of a cache of arms, allegedly on its way to Nigeria, were some of the stories highlighted in the Ghana media this week.Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The massive strike, called by two main workers' unions and their civil society counterparts, following government's new year "Greek gift" (the removal of subsidy on fuel), occupied all newspaper pages in Nigeria this week. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The fuel subsidy, removed on the 2012 New Year day, and the three-day ultimatum from the dreaded Boko Haram religious sect to southerners resident in the north to leave dominated front papers in Nigeria this week. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) – A seeming breakthrough on how cocaine seized from a suspect turned into baking powder at an Accra Circuit court, brouhaha over a US$3 billion Chinese loan and unveiling of a new political party were some of the major stories highlighted in the Ghanaian media this week. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The popular social media network 'Facebook' may have served Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan well during his electioneering campaign, but it has now turned to a double-edged sword for the Nigerian leader. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on the Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - The Sudanese security organ has suspended the publication of an opposition daily newspaper, which it accuses of breaching laws and violating press regulations. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) – The resignation of a key member of the opposition Convention People’s Party (CPP), the celebration of the 30th anniversary of a coup staged by former President Jerry John Rawlings and a freak accident that claimed 27 lives were some of the stories highlighted by the Ghanaian media this week. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian media, rounding off their reportage of events in the last week of 2011, feasted on the Christmas-day bomb attacks by the Boko Haram islamic sect and the low level of performance in sports. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - A controversial judgement debt paid out to a Ghanaian businessman, Alfred Agbesi Woyome, the work of a committee set up by the Chief Justice to investigate the swapping of a cocaine exhibit and government's rating of its performance were some of the stories featured in the Ghanaian media this week. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigerian newspapers this week feasted on the continuing debate on government's plan to remove oil subsidy, the latest oil spill in the restive Niger Delta and the lingering university teachers' strike. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned an Ethiopian court recent ruling against two Swedish reporters, Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye, calling the ruling "a travesty of justice”, PANA reported Friday. Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The two Swedish journalists, found guilty Wednesday by an Ethiopian court, should be released immediately and unconditionally, Amnesty International (AI) and the Swedish Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, have said.Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - President Goodluck Jonathan's budget of "fiscal consolidation, inclusive growth and job creation," his passionate appeal to Nigerians to listen to him on the need to remove the subsidy on petroleum products, the crippling strike by university lecturers and the emergence of the first female air force pilot dominated newspaper pages in Nigeria this week. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - In the aftermath of long celebrations of Tanzania’s 50th independence anniversary, the country’s mainstream media this week partly focused on the future and international relations, with one daily stating that Tanzanians need no lecturers on what is best for them. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - The Ghanaian media this week feasted on the incredible story of cocaine that was tendered as evidence in court turning into sodium bicarbonate, causing a huge embarrassment to the government that has been at pains to check the drug menace. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Several rights groups under the banner of Coalition for Human Rights in the Gambia (CHRG) on Friday hailed the recent legal action instituted by the Hydara family and their backers as the "right step towards ensuring justice" in the 2004 assassination of journalist Deyda Hydara. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - The Gambia Press Union (GPU), in collaboration with the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ) and the Association of Non-Governmental Organization (TANGO), will Friday, 16 December, 2011, commemorate the seventh anniversary of the murder of Deyda Hydara, proprietor and managing editor of The Point newspaper in Gambia, PANA reports from here.Full text...

Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - A Kenyan media group has voiced concerns over the safety of three of its journalists who broke a story about possible police complicity and direct involvement with an international drug-trafficking syndicate, which led to the killings of several top cops. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - The massacre of more than a dozen Fulani herdsmen in northern Ghana, a meeting between President John Evans Atta Mills and UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon in New York and the short-lived gold rush were some of the stories that were played up in the Ghanaian media this week. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Wednesday's explosion in Nigeria's northern city of Kaduna, which left seven people dead and many more badly injured, the continuing oil subsidy debate, the same-sex bill and the crippling strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) dominated front pages in Nigeria this week. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigerian newspapers were this week filled with stories from the continuing debate on oil subsidy removal, the "death" of the same-sex (gay) bill and demand for Obasanjo's trial by some parliamentarians. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) – A huge confusion in the party of Ghana’s first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, a gold rush in the coastal town of Elmina and tussle between the authorities and “witches” over plans to close down a “witches’ home” dominated the media in Ghana this week. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned Gambian President, Yahya Jammeh, “for vilifying journalists in public remarks,” PANA reported from here Tuesday. Full text...

Tripoli, Libya (PANA) - A Libyan journalist, Nasser Hadar, has won the 2011 Hans Friedrich German Foundation award for television journalism. Full text...

Paris, France (PANA) – Workers of Radio France International (RFI) will begin an indefinite strike on Monday, trades union sources told PANA on Saturday. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) – The commencement of debate on the government’s 2012 budget presented to Parliament last week, the assurance by the government that it would not overspend next year, which is an election year, and work on a gas plant to boost electricity generation were some of the stories featured in the Ghanaian newspapers this week. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The Nigerian media were this week filled with stories of the popular comedian who deservedly got justice from the courts, continuing mayhem in Barkin-Ladi, the dismissal of the chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs Farida Waziri, and the unveiling of sponsors of the Boko Haram sect.Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The Federation of African Journalists (FAJ) has called on African governments to take “bold initiatives” towards ending the “unbearable impunity the perpetrators of the worst crimes against journalists enjoy” on the continent.Full text...

Nouakchott, Mauritania (PANA) - Mauritania has issued licences to two television and five radio stations, paving the way for them to begin operation, PANA learnt from official sources here. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - Senegalese Ombudsman, Serigne Diop, has been elected head of the Association of Ombudsmen and Mediators of the Francophonie (AOMF), according to an official statement received by PANA Friday. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Security issues, ranging from the Boko Haram attacks to the discovery of a large cache of arms and ammunition, and the debates for and against the removal of oil subsidy were the main stories in Nigeria this week.Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - The presentation of the government’s 2012 budget and economic policy last Wednesday and the continuing debate on the biometric register for the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections occupied the front pages of newspapers in Ghana during the week. Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – Twenty-five African journalists received their diplomas Wednesday from the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar (UCAD), Senegal, after undergoing three years of training at the Centre of Studies in Information Sciences and Techniques (CESTI) here. Full text...

Accra, Ghana (PANA) - Calls by President John Evans Atta Mills for the preservation of peace as Ghana approaches another election, assurance that prisoners would be allowed to vote as pronounced by the Supreme Court and a judgement by former president Jerry John Rawlings that he is the best ever Ghanaian leader were some of the stories highlighted by the Ghanaian media this week. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - Plans to clean up Ogoniland following the massive oil spills in the area and the continuing security and oil subsidy concerns were the major stories in Nigeria this week. Full text...