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Bangkok, February 11, 2020 — Philippine Solicitor General Jose Calida should withdraw a petition asking the Supreme Court to cancel television news broadcaster ABS-CBN’s franchise agreement and should stop all legal harassment of the media organization, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

On February 5, 2020, immigration authorities at Hong Kong International Airport barred journalist Michael Yon from entering the city, according to news reports and Yon, who spoke to CPJ by telephone from Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Berlin, February 10, 2020 — Slovak authorities should immediately drop criminal defamation and slander charges against journalist Michal Havran and stop using the country’s criminal code to prosecute journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) outbreak a pandemic on March 11, 2020.

Taipei, February 10, 2020 — Chinese authorities must immediately account for the whereabouts of journalist Chen Qiushi, and ensure that the media can cover the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan without fear of retribution, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Vilnius, Lithuania, February 7, 2020 — Russian authorities should conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into the attack against journalist Elena Milashina and bring the perpetrators to justice, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

CPJ joined representatives from the International Press Institute, Reporters Without Borders, the Journalists Union of Turkey, and the European Federation of Journalists yesterday in a joint statement calling for Turkey’s Press Ad Agency, the state regulator of government ads in print media, to lift its ban on advertising in critical leftist dailies Evrensel and BirGün.

In Malaysia this week, the Kuala Lumpur Magistrate’s Court filed three charges against journalist Wan Noor Hayati Wan Alias relating to posts on her public Facebook account about the coronavirus health emergency. Hayati was charged under Section 505(b) of the country’s penal code, a criminal provision banning statements intended to cause “fear or alarm to…

Miami, February 6, 2020—A proposed law introducing the so-called “right to be forgotten” in Uruguay could have negative implications for the work of journalists and access to information online, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, February 6, 2020 — Tajikistan authorities should immediately release journalist Daler Sharifov, drop all charges against him, and allow him to work unobstructed, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.