- New Zealand edge Australia 31-28 in Bledisloe Cup thriller
- Japan orders evacuations as heavy rains trigger floods in quake-hit area
- New Zealand pilot freed in Indonesia after 19 months in rebel captivity
- Hezbollah in disarray after Israeli air strike kills top commanders
- Leading climate activist released from Vietnam jail
- Ethiopians struggle with bitter pill of currency reform
- Sri Lanka votes in first poll since economic collapse
- Feminist author warns of abortion disaster if Trump wins US election
- US city of Flint still reeling from water crisis, 10 years on
- Arsenal's mean defence faces acid test to shut out Man City again
- Late surge lifts Thailand's Jeeno to LPGA Queen City lead
- DeChambeau says PGA's Ryder Cup decision 'just the start'
- Alcaraz defeated on Laver Cup debut
- Postecoglou embraces 'struggle' to make Spurs a success
- Nice hand 'ashamed' Saint-Etienne 8-0 Ligue 1 mauling
- Boeing CEO says ending strike 'a top priority'
- Stock markets mostly fall after Fed-fueled rally
- Harris slams Trump for hypocrisy on abortion as US starts voting
- Academy to host first overseas ceremony to honor young filmmakers
- No doctor necessary: US okays nasal spray flu vaccine for self-use
- Gurbaz, birthday boy Rashid lead Afghanistan to 177-run rout of South Africa
- Former delivery man Baldwin leads star names at PGA Championship
- Trump shooting: Secret Service admits complacency
- Can an ambitious Milei make Argentina an AI giant?
- Haiti, its suffering growing, in 'race against time': UN expert
- Ibrahim Aqil, the Hezbollah elite unit commander wanted by the US
- Chinese forward Cui signs NBA contract with Brooklyn Nets
- US Fed dissenter calls for 'measured' pace of rate cuts
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload as Kompany demands cap on games
- Norway limits wild salmon fishing as stocks hit new lows
- Top Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
- Rotterdam fatal knife attacker suspected of 'terrorist motive'
- First early votes cast in knife-edge US presidential election
- Top-ranked Swiatek out of Beijing due to 'personal matters'
- Hard-right Reform UK looks to the future after vote success
- Embiid agrees to NBA contract extension with 76ers
- Joshua aims to complete road to redemption in Dubois bout
- World champion Bagnaia sets pace with lap record at Misano
- Biden says 'working' to get people back to homes on Israel-Lebanon border
- Pope criticises Argentina's crackdown on protesters
- Court limits screenings of videos in France mass rape case
- Gurbaz century takes Afghanistan to 311-4 in 2nd ODI
- Central banks face 'difficult balancing act': IMF chief
- McLaren's Norris sets Singapore pace as struggling Verstappen 15th
- Guardiola tells players to lead change over workload fears
- Paris Olympics sports equipment moves to new homes
- 'Happy' Kinghorn relishing life at Toulouse
- Norris sets Singapore pace as Verstappen only 15th
- 8 dead in Israeli strike, source says Hezbollah commander killed
- Germany to bid to host women's Euro 2029
BBC halts work in Russia over 'fake news' jail terms
The BBC announced Friday that it was halting its journalists' work in Russia after lawmakers moved to impose harsh jail terms for publishing "fake news" about the army as part of efforts to muffle dissent over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
The BBC, which has a large bureau in Moscow and runs a Russian-language news website, reacted after lawmakers backed new legislation imposing jail terms and fines for publishing "knowingly false information" about the military.
"This legislation appears to criminalise the process of independent journalism," BBC Director-General Tim Davie said in a statement.
He warned that journalists could face "the risk of criminal prosecution simply for doing their jobs".
The legal crackdown leaves the broadcasting corporation with "no other option than to temporarily suspend the work of all BBC News journalists and their support staff within the Russian Federation," Davie said.
The lower house of parliament said in a statement that if fake news stories "led to serious consequences, (the legislation) threatens imprisonment of up to 15 years".
Amendments were also passed to fine or jail people calling for sanctions against Russia with jail terms.
Two Russian outlets, Nobel Prize-winning newspaper Novaya Gazeta and business news website The Bell, said Friday they will stop reporting on Russia's invasion of Ukraine to protect their journalists.
The past year has seen an unprecedented crackdown on independent and critical voices in Russia that has intensified since the invasion.
The chairman of parliament Vyacheslav Volodin railed against foreign social media after Facebook was briefly inaccessible in Russia on Friday.
"All these IT companies beginning with Instagram, and ending with the others, are based in the United States of America. It is clear they are used as weapons. They carry hatred and lies. We need to oppose this," he said.
Russia's media watchdog said Friday it had restricted access to the BBC and other independent media websites, further tightening controls over the internet.
- Foreign media restricted -
The independent news website Meduza, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and the Russian-language website of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Svoboda, were "limited," said Roskomnadzor, following a request from prosecutors.
Valery Fadeyev, the head of the Kremlin's human rights council accused Western media of being behind "a huge flow of false information that comes from Ukraine" and said the council had set up a project to stop it.
In another attack on critical voices, Russian police on Friday were carrying out searches at the office of the country's most prominent rights group, Memorial, which was ordered to close late last year, sparking international outcry.
Russia's invasion has already claimed hundreds of lives, displaced more than a million people and spurred allegations of war crimes.
Western-led sanctions levelled against Russia in retaliation have sent the ruble into free-fall forcing the central bank to impose a 30-percent tax on sales of hard currency after a run on lenders.
- State-media narratives -
Moscow has few economic tools with which to respond but the Duma, or lower house, on Friday adopted a bill that would freeze any assets inside Russia of foreigners "violating rights of Russians".
Russian media have been instructed to publish only information provided by official sources, which describe the invasion as a military operation.
For the moment, it appears the invasion has marked the beginning of the end for what remains of Russia's independent media.
Ekho Mosvky -- a liberal-leaning radio station majority-owned by Russia's energy giant Gazprom -- said Thursday it would shut down after being taken off air over its Ukraine war coverage.
Authorities had on Tuesday blocked the Ekho Moskvy website and took the station off air as punishment for spreading "deliberately false information" about the conflict.
Its editor-in-chef Alexei Venediktov said on Telegram Friday that the station will be deleting its website and social media accounts.
Another independent outlet, Znak, said Friday it was ceasing work "due to the large number of restrictions that have recently appeared for the work of the media in Russia".
The BBC said this week that the audience of its Russian language news website had "more than tripled... with a record reach of 10.7 million people in the last week".
A BBC spokesperson said the company would "continue our efforts to make BBC News available in Russia, and across the rest of the world" despite the restrictions.
burs/har
R.Adler--BTB