France said on Sunday two French journalists found dead in the northern Mali region of Kidal had been “coldly assassinated” by militants and vowed to step up security measures in the area. Radio journalists Claude Verlon and Ghislaine Dupont were abducted after interviewing a member of the MNLA Tuareg separatist group in northern Mali.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has pledged to review a media law passed by parliament that has sparked outrage among the media. Kenyatta asked journalists on Saturday to report more responsibly, but said he would closely examine the law, which will only become effective once he signs it. "I shall look at the bill once it is forwarded to me with a view to identifying and addressing possible grey areas to ensure the new media law conforms to the constitution," a statement from the presidency said, quoting Kenyatta at a public rally near the capital Nairobi.

A private Egyptian TV station has stopped the airing of the latest episode of a widely popular political satire program after it came under fire for mocking the ultranationalist, pro-mililtary fervor gripping the country. Minutes before the program, “El-Bernameg,” was to air Friday night, CBC announced that it would not be shown because satirist Bassem Youssef and his producer violated its editorial policies.

Here's a story fit for Halloween from CBS's New York affiliate (hat tip to journalist Patrick Galey): According to reporter Amy Dardashtian, Muslim Brotherhood members marching on Tahrir Square were caught "using puppies as gas bombs -- dipping them in gasoline and lighting them on fire."

A plan to regulate the British press as a result of the country's phone-hacking scandal was signed by Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday despite the objections of publishers who sought a court order to block such a measure. The royal charter approved by the queen and the nation's major political parties calls for the creation of a watchdog group designed to curb the type of abuses revealed by the scandal.

Advocates of official U.S. public diplomacy have long defended the value of its programs and argued for resources to do even more. But what exactly could be accomplished with such resources if they were, indeed, available? In fact, we may already have an answer to that question, albeit in the context of a single country at the forefront of U.S. foreign policy—Afghanistan.

Somali security forces have raided and closed Radio Shabelle, a popular independent broadcasting station located in Mogadishu. Law enforcement officers entered the building on Saturday. Station owner and director Abdimalik Yusuf Mohamud says some of the 37 staff members were beaten by police before they were arrested and detained. Police also confiscated computers and other equipment.

A new book by Naomi Sakr, Transformations in Egyptian Journalism (I.B. Tauris, 2013), should be required reading for American public diplomacy specialists who want to engage Egyptians through the media. Bilingual Sakr, a media policy professor at the University of Westminster and director of its CAMRI Arab Media Centre, draws on new research and decades’ experience tracking Arab media trends to offer a readout on how Egyptian journalists and their employers have been struggling and coping yet also innovating since the 2011 revolution.