A U.S.-based press freedom organization has criticized Venezuela's growing restrictions on freedom of the press, Cuba's jailing of journalists and U.S. court pressure on reporters to reveal confidential sources.

South Asian countries rank among nations with the worst record on press freedoms according to an annual index by Reporters Without Borders.

China pledged to improve human rights and reduce restrictions on media in its bid to host the Summer Olympic Games in 2008. As the 12-month countdown for the games begins, Beijing-based journalists wonder if those promises will be kept.

The U.S. House of Representatives almost unanimously passed a resolution urging the Russian president to invite foreign experts to help investigate the killings of independent journalists in Russia.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin has been awarded the "Closed Oyster," a satirical prize granted by a German media group for obstructing freedom of the press.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed concern about press freedom in Venezuela after the closing of the nation's largest private television station. In Panama City, VOA's Brian Wagner reports Rice asked leaders of the Organization of American States to send a team to Venezuela to study the situation.