News stories by Ed Holt, page 9

BRATISLAVA, Apr 27 (IPS) - Ensuring sex workers' rights was essential, not just for the workers themselves, but for any country's wider society, including public healthDespite seeing a shift in attitudes towards them in recent years, Russian sex workers say they continue to struggle with marginalisation and criminalisation which poses a danger to them and the wider public.

BRATISLAVA, Apr 08 (IPS) - Journalists and rights activists have welcomed the jailing of a man for the murders of Slovak investigative reporter Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova, but say others involved in the killings must be convicted too if justice is to be fully served.

BRATISLAVA, Mar 20 (IPS) - Growing intimidation and repression of journalists reporting on the coronavirus is threatening public health in some countries, press freedom monitors have warned.

BRASTISLAVA, Mar 16 (IPS) - Governments in wealthy, first world countries must not ignore the plight of poorer nations battling the coronavirus or the disease will not be brought under control, global development experts have said.

BRATISLAVA, Mar 09 (IPS) - Plans announced by Slovakia's prime minister-elect to fund investigative journalists to act as corruption watchdogs on government and state bodies have been dismissed as "a road to hell" by local journalists.

BRATISLAVA, Jan 20 (IPS) - As four people appear in court in Slovakia over the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kusnirova, both 27, the trial is being seen by many as a historic moment for not just press freedom in the country but public faith in its justice system.

BRATISLAVA, Nov 29 (IPS) - Press freedom campaigners and journalists in Malta are hoping they could soon see justice for murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia – and that a powerful message will be sent across Europe that a free press can deny corrupt officials the power to act with impunity

VIENNA, Nov 18 (IPS) - Despite latest research showing Turkey lagging in overall food sustainability, progress in sustainable agriculture appears to be a bright spot in the country's troubled agriculture industry.

VIENNA, Oct 21 (IPS) - IPS Correspondent Ed Holt speaks to PAULINE ADES-MEVEL, Head of European Union & Balkan desk at RS.

Rising populism, anti-media rhetoric from politicians, cyber-harassment of journalists and physical attacks are among the reasons why press freedom in Europe is on the decline, according to the global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Sep 27 (IPS) - International media watchdogs, such as Reporters Without Borders and the International Press Institute, as well as major institutions such as the European Commission, have raised concerns about press freedom in Slovakia as big businesses buy up local media houses and politicians attack journalists.In 2014, worried about editorial independence after local businessmen bought a substantial stake in the major Slovak daily newspaper they worked at, a small group of journalists left in protest and set up their own paper run solely by the journalists themselves to ensure impartiality.