Marta Cooper

Backstreet’s blocked alright

Of all the contentious cultural material China's censors could crack down on, an inoffensive 1990s boy band ballad seems like an odd option. China's Ministry of Culture this week issued a new blacklist of 100 songs including the innocuous I Want it...

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Cambodia: Environmental activists detained

Police detained over 100 villagers in Phnom Penh last week for distributing environmental fliers used to raise awareness of deforestation and economic land concessions that have been granted inside the Prey Lang forest.  Police and local officials...

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Uzbekistan: Journalist detained at airport

Uzbek journalist Elena Bondar was detained at the arrivals area of Tashkent airport after attending a course on modern journalism tools organised by OSCE and Deutsche Welle in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.  After a thorough examination of her documents and...

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Yemen: Attacks on journalists continue

Suhail TV cameraman Ahmad Firas was arrested by soldiers from Daylami airbase in Yemen on the afternoon of 12 August as he was driving towards Sanaa with his wife and children, who were released a few hours later. The soldiers, who seized his...

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Vietnam: Pro-democracy website hacked

Hackers launched a sustained attack against pro-democracy website Viet Tan on 13 August in a denial-of-service (DDoS) operation. Of the 77,000 IP addresses employed, 73 per cent originated from Vietnam. The Hanoi government's firewall on...

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Venezuela: Newspaper reporter beaten by police

A journalist with newspaper El Mío, was beaten and then detained as he left the newspapers premises in Anzoátegui, northeastern Venezuela. Óscar Tarazona was getting into a car when he spotted the police officers, Tarazona claims he walked over,...

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China: Magazine president removed from post

In addition to last week’s suspension of Zhao Lingmin, editor of Guangzhou-based news and current affairs magazine Window on the South, the magazine’s president, Chen Zhong, has been removed from his post, though not dismissed. The changes have...

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