- England deserve 'world class' coach: Carsley
- Burkina Faso win to become first qualifiers for 2025 AFCON
- AC Milan's Pulisic among five out for USA match in Mexico
- France's Amandine Henry retires from international football
- Centre-left set to win pro-Ukraine Lithuania's vote
- India's World Cup hopes in Pakistan hands after Australia defeat
- Zelensky says NKorea sending troops to Russian army
- England beat Finland to get back on track
- King and Lewis propel West Indies to T20 triumph over Sri Lanka
- Pre-Halloween 'Terrifier' lands atop North America box office
- 'I still plan to compete and play next season,' says Djokovic
- Harris, Trump seek advantage in knife-edge election battle
- Chepngetich shatters women's marathon world record in Chicago
- Kamindu and Asalanka power Sri Lanka to 179 against West Indies
- Chepngetich shatters women's marathon world record as Korir wins in Chicago
- Spain send injured Yamal home 'to prioritise player's health'
- In milestone, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Iraq walks fine line with pro-Iran factions to avoid war
- Race four abandoned after New Zealand breeze into 3-0 lead in America's Cup
- West Indies win toss, put Sri Lanka in to bat in first T20
- Sudan rescuers say air strike killed 23 in Khartoum market
- Netanyahu tells UN to move Lebanon peacekeepers out of 'harm's way'
- Bangladeshi Hindus defy attack worries to celebrate festival
- Kiwis three up in America's Cup as Ineos pay for time penalty
- In a first, SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight
- Dominant England crush Scotland at Women's T20 World Cup
- Dropped: The rise and fall of Pakistan batting maestro Babar Azam
- Israel fights Hezbollah on the ground, pounds Lebanon from the air
- Sabalenka outlasts local hero Zheng to win third Wuhan Open title
- Bangladeshi Hindus shrug off attack worries to celebrate festival
- Former Pakistan captain Azam dropped for second England Test
- 'Opportunist' Dupont dazzles on Toulouse return
- Australia replace injured Vlaeminck with Graham at Women's T20 World Cup
- Sinner wins Shanghai Masters to deny Djokovic 100th career title
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- Israel hits Lebanon from the air and fights Hezbollah on the ground
- China's Yin has 'goosebumps' as she romps to LPGA win in Shanghai
- Pakistan to re-use Multan pitch for second England Test
- Blair and King Charles hail Salmond's 'devotion' to Scotland
- Vietnam, China hold talks on calming South China Sea tensions
- SpaceX will try to 'catch' giant Starship rocket shortly before landing
- England captain Stokes in line for second Pakistan Test return
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- Japan's former empress Michiko discharged after surgey: reports
- Israel widens Lebanon strikes as troops fight Hezbollah along border
- Bowlers' graveyards: Pakistan's placid pitches under fresh fire
- 'Little Gregory' murder haunts France 40 years on
- Vietnam, China to expand rail links, cross-border payments
- Americans get their belief back as Pochettino makes his mark
- Vietnam, China to boost economic, defence cooperation
In the Arctic, Russians keep the free press flame alive
Exiled to a place far above the Arctic Circle, a group of Russian journalists are working with Norwegians to break through the strict state controls that have gripped the media in their homeland.
At the Barents Observer, an online newspaper that has become a leading provider of news from the Far North over the past two decades, the two local journalists are now in the minority.
Based in the town of Kirkenes, close to the Russian border, the news outlet opened its doors to reporters who have fled Russia after a clampdown on the press followed the invasion of Ukraine.
Wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt and a Michael Jackson-tattoo on his arm, Denis Zagore explains he left the Russian city of Murmansk in September.
"When the war started, in my podcasts for Barents Observer, I said dictator Putin, I said, not SMO (special military operation) or something like that," the 47-year-old journalist tells AFP.
"I started to understand it could be unsafe if I continued to do it in Murmansk," which lies 220 kilometres (137 miles) over the border.
"If you (want to) say Putin is a dictator and war is war, it's more safe here," he says.
- Blocked in Russia -
The Barents Observer now has three Russian reporters and a Russian trainee, and has started publishing more articles in Russian than English.
"We were already blocked in Russia and have been in tremendous trouble with the Russian censorship agency. So we said OK, they want to make more trouble for journalists, then we can make more trouble for them," editor Thomas Nielsen says.
"We don't care about Russian censorship laws. We are here for the freedom of speech and free journalism," the Norwegian declares.
On a shelf in his office, a doll with the words "Slava Ukraini" ("Glory to Ukraine") sits next to beer cans bearing an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin, antique telephones -- one of which has a "direct line to the Kremlin", Nielsen jokes -- and an "On air" sign.
Blocked since 2019, the publication is using a multitude of tricks to circumvent Russia's attempts to limit access: Mirror sites hosted on different addresses, access via VPN services, podcast formats and a presence on Youtube means tens of thousands views are maintained, according to Nielsen.
Coverage includes more general interest news like setbacks facing a marine park in Murmansk or invasions by pink salmon, as well as stories directly linked to the conflict in Ukraine.
"We have a lot of viewers, especially among young people in Russia, that get access and get information about what's happening with the war, with the repression in Russia, about who ends up in jail and so on," Nielsen adds.
"News articles that they don't get in their local or regional media at home."
- A Putin spider -
Russia has fallen to 164th place -- out of 180 -- in the annual Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, which Norway has topped for several years.
In early July, Elena Milashina, a Russian journalist with independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta was badly beaten in Chechnya.
Foreign media are also on the receiving end and Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal correspondent, has been in prison since March facing espionage charges.
"Every day we were sitting in our office and didn't know what was going to happen. Would the police suddenly storm into our office and take us?," says Elizaveta Vereykina, who had worked for the BBC in Moscow before joining the Barents Observer.
"It's hard to live in a society that absolutely despises everything about you," she says.
The numbers of Russian journalists in exile have grown in places such as Tbilisi, Yerevan, Vilnius Riga and Kirkenes.
Trainee Olesya Krivtsova is waiting for a work permit before she can begin contributing.
She too has a tattoo, on her right leg: an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the shape of a spider with the Orwellian inscription "Big Brother is watching you".
On the other ankle, she once wore an electronic bracelet.
Reported by university friends in Arkhangelsk for criticising the war on social networks, the young woman was placed under house arrest pending a trial for justifying terrorism and discrediting the Russian army -- charges punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
"In the end, I realised the injustice of what was happening, so I left," she explains
After ridding herself of the ankle bracelet, she travelled via Belarus and Lithuania before reaching Kirkenes.
"She said 'I want to change Russia and I want to do it through journalism'. We said: 'Ok, welcome'," notes Nielsen.
F.Dubois--AMWN