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UN committee denies media accreditation to press freedom group
A United Nations committee has voted to deny consultative status to the Committee to Protect Journalists, effectively keeping the press freedom group from accessing UN bodies and processes. South Africa, China and Russia were among the countries that voted against accreditation for the New York-based organization that seeks to protect press freedoms around the world and in conflict zones. THE GUARDIAN

No silence, no impunity: Survivors of sexual violence in Colombia
May 25, 2016 marked the second National Day for the Dignity of Women Victims of Sexual Violence caused by the Internal Armed Conflict in Colombia. To observe the day, IFEX takes a look at where things stand in Colombia and celebrates the people who are bravely speaking out and holding authorities accountable for improving the lives of survivors. IFEX

47 hunger strikers may be freed in Egypt
Egyptian courts have sentenced more than 150 people to prison terms since the beginning of May 2016 for participating in peaceful protests or spreading false information. On May 24, an appeals court replaced the prison sentences for 47 who had started hunger strikes, with a fine of 100,000 L.E ($11,270 USD) each which they have to pay before being released. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Greek journalists draft ethical code to fight racist coverage of refugees
The European Federation of Journalists is strongly supporting the initiative of its affiliate in Greece the Journalists’ Union of Macedonia and Thrace Daily Newspapers, who drafted a proposal for the adoption of the Anti-racism Ethics Code of the Greek journalists called The Charter of Idomeni, in the name of the border control village where thousands of refugees are passing through to reach Northern European countries. EFJ

Chelsea Manning completes six years in military custody for whistleblowing
Chelsea Manning, the U.S. army intelligence analyst who leaked a huge cache of state secrets to WikiLeaks, has entered her seventh year in military custody amid renewed concern about the Obama administration’s harsh treatment of whistleblowers. The six years in prison she has just completed amount to the most severe punishment of a whistleblower in the modern era. THE GUARDIAN

Chronicle of a caged journalist: Crocodiles in a court
In the second installment of “Chronicle of a caged journalist”, Egyptian war correspondent Yehia Ghanem describes how his own life and freedom became inextricably tied to the fate of his country as it was dragged back from the threshold of democracy. AL JAZEERA

Award-winning journalist Sudarsan Raghavan on Afghanistan’s ‘ordinary lives’
The journalist Sudarsan Raghavan, whose reports from Afghanistan for the Washington Post provided a tantalizing picture of daily life in the war-torn country, was presented with the Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Journalism on Asia on Thursday at Asia Society in New York, joining a distinguished list of correspondents honored for their coverage of the world’s largest continent. ASIA SOCIETY