BBC Monitoring The Turkish overnight shelling of the Kurdistan Region border areas was widely covered in the Kurdish media on 16 December, but no official reaction has been observed as at 1230 gmt on that day. Websites The Kurdish media websites of Sbay, Awene, Chawder, Aso and PUKmedia all reported …

BBC Monitoring Text of report by semi-official Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) website Tehran: The Public Relations Office of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps [IRGC] has announced the launching of Sepah News website. In an official statement, the Public Relations and Publications Office of the IRGC has announced the official …

BBC Monitoring Sudanese newspapers have welcomed the return of the former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) to the unity government that ended weeks of a debilitating political crisis. The return to government of the SPLM, which is the main political grouping in the south, was announced on 12 December, …

BBC Monitoring An Iranian official in Esfahan Province has said that Esfahan provincial TV has played the biggest role in informing the public. During a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the publication of the daily Esfahan-e Ziba [Beautiful Esfahan], Esfahan Mayor Saqai'an said that Esfahan is an international tourist …

MideastWire On December 7, the leftist independent daily As-Safir carried the following piece by Bumidyan al-Sahili: “Al-Manar television station carried, within its main newscast on Tuesday evening last week, a report about a strike in Al-Hirmil in a manner that was not on a par with the scale of the …

BBC Monitoring Text of press release by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on 10 December New York, 10 December, 2007: The Committee Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that the criminal hearing for an Associated Press photographer accused of collaborating with Iraqi insurgents is being held in secret. …

BBC Monitoring Text of press release by Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo) on 12 December HRinfo condemns the continuing wave of collective legal cases brought against journalists in Egypt, as six lawsuits for insult and defamation were brought before the Misdemeanors Court of Al-Agouza on 10 December 2007 …

BBC Monitoring Bethlehem-based, independent Ma'an News Agency in Arabic reports at 2026 gmt on 11 December: "The Jaysh Al-Basha'ir unit of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Fatah, claimed responsibility for firing at an Israeli bus near Qedumim, east of Qalqilyah on Tuesday evening. A statement issued by …

BBC Monitoring Text of report by Lebanese newspaper Al-Safir website on 7 December [Report by Muhammad Hasan from Cairo: "Al-Sukkari: BBC Arabic Television Will Be a New Launch for the Entire Service. Al-Safir Met the Man Entrusted With This Television on the Sidelines of the Arab Media Festival"] On the …

BBC Monitoring On 8 December, Al-Aqsa Satellite Television carries a 40-minute computer-animated film entitled "Martyr of the World" [referring to Muhammad al-Durrah, a child who, according to Palestinian media, was shot by Israeli forces during the second intifadah]. The film features Umar, a Palestinian boy living in the United States …