LAGOS (Reuters) – Two young women fill the screen, reclining on a bed, talking about their hope of having children. They are protagonists in a new Nigerian film called “Ife” depicting their love story. The topic is controversial in Nigeria, where same-sex rela... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp has emerged as the most likely buyer of the U.S. operations of TikTok, the popular Chinese short-video app that U.S. President Donald Trump is preparing to effectively ban on national security grounds. A deal would be in lin... More »
(Reuters) – Social media site Reddit on Monday shut down r/The_Donald, a forum which long served as a popular online home base for fans of President Donald Trump, saying it violated the site’s hate speech rules. Other sites also conducted high-profile sweeps: ... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian prosecutors asked a court in Moscow on Monday to sentence prominent film and theatre director Kirill Serebrennikov to six years in jail on embezzlement charges, the RIA news agency reported. The prosecution of Serebrennikov, an award... More »
OSLO (Reuters) – Norway will halt its COVID-19 track and trace app and delete all data collected so far after criticism from the Norwegian Data Protection Authority, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) said on Monday. The app was introduced by some... More »
HAVANA (Reuters) – Dozens of renowned Cuban artists from across the political spectrum are calling for the release of dissident artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara who was arrested 10 days ago, decrying this as an outdated act of censorship. The 32... More »
(Reuters) – Twitter Inc has banned financial market website Zero Hedge from the social media platform after it published an article linking a Chinese scientist to the outbreak of the fast-spreading coronavirus last week. Zero Hedge said it received a notificat... More »
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc (FB.O) said it will take down misinformation about China’s fast-spreading coronavirus, in a rare departure from its usual approach to dubious health content that is presenting a fresh challenge for social media companies.... More »
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – One of China’s longest-running and largest independent film festivals has suspended operations “indefinitely”, with the organizers saying it was now “impossible” to organize a festival with a “purely independent spirit”. The China Independ... More »
BRASILIA/SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s Supreme Court on Thursday overturned an injunction against Netflix Inc that had prevented the video streaming service from showing a domestically-made controversial Christmas special that depicts Jesus as gay. The Suprem... More »
((This December 6 story is refiled to fix typo in quote in paragraph nine)) By Tom Hals (Reuters) – Elon Musk’s daring has left its mark on electric cars and rockets, and now experts say the entrepreneur may have reshaped U.S. defamation law with his willingne... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Facebook (FB.O) said on Saturday it had issued a correction notice on a user’s post at the request of the Singapore government, but called for a measured approach to the implementation of a new “fake news” law in the city-state. “Facebook... More »
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore political figure Brad Bowyer on Monday corrected a Facebook post questioning the independence of state investment firms following a government request, in the first use of the country’s new “fake news” law. Bowyer used “false an... More »
By Katie Paul, Jonathan Landay and Steve Holland SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton said on Friday that Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) had returned control of his personal account to him after ... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong police fired tear gas and rubber bullets on Monday to force back anti-government protesters trying to escape a university where hundreds are holed up with petrol bombs and other homemade weapons amid fears of a bloody crackdown.... More »
WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc (FB.O) Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday defended the social media company’s light regulation of speech and lack of fact checking on political advertising, while citing China’s censorship as a roadblo... More »
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – DreamWorks’ animated movie “Abominable” will not be released in Malaysia after its producers declined to meet a censor board requirement to cut a scene showing China’s “nine-dash line” in the South China Sea, the movie distributor said... More »
NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) – India is deliberating potential censorship on streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, a senior government source told Reuters. While film and TV certification bodies already moderate public content in India, the... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City rules limiting the number of art and book vendors in four popular Manhattan parks are constitutional, a state appeals court ruled on Tuesday, overturning an injunction against the rules. In a 5-0 decision, the appeals court r... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong is gearing up for further protests this week after hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators braved heavy rain to rally peacefully on Sunday, marking a change to what have often been violent clashes. Sunday’s massiv... More »
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s state broadcaster and the media company News Corp said on Monday they will challenge the legality of recent police raids on their staff saying the action was unconstitutional and a threat to media freedom. The Australian Federal ... More »
YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar’s most prominent group of nationalist Buddhist monks on Monday condemned sedition charges against one of its leading members, Wirathu, ahead of a hearing in the fugitive monk’s case expected on Tuesday. Police issued an arrest warran... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – “Foreign forces” are trying to hurt China by creating chaos in Hong Kong over an extradition bill that has prompted mass protests in the former British colony, an official Chinese newspaper said on Monday. Riot police surrounded Hong Kong’s... More »
WARSAW (Reuters) – Around 1,000 people, many eating bananas to make their point, protested in front of Warsaw’s National Museum on Monday over a decision last week to remove artworks deemed “indecent” by the museum’s director. One work, a 1973 video “Consumer ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange repeatedly violated his asylum conditions and tried to use the Ecuadorian embassy in London as a center for spying, Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno told Britain’s Guardian newspaper. London police dragged As... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would soon sign an executive order requiring American universities and colleges to maintain “free speech” on campuses and threatened that schools not complying could lose federal research f... More »
YANGON (Reuters) – Myanmar’s government under Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has used repressive laws to prosecute peaceful critics, dashing hopes that its first democratic leader in decades would safeguard free speech, Human Rights Watch said on Friday. Free... More »
HANOI (Reuters) – Facebook has violated Vietnam’s new cybersecurity law by allowing users to post anti-government comments on the platform, state media said on Wednesday, days after the controversial legislation took effect in the communist-ruled country. Desp... More »
DHAKA/NOAKHALI, Bangladesh (Reuters) – Bangladesh has a general election this weekend, but opposition candidate Abdul Moyeen Khan says he has yet to hold a single public meeting in his constituency about 30 miles (50 km) northeast of Dhaka, the capital. Thousa... More »
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Visitors to a Belgian art gallery were stunned when security guards ordered them away from nude paintings by Flemish master Peter Paul Rubens, in what turned out to be a stunt to protest at Facebook blocking the pictures on the grounds of ... More »
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenyan filmmakers have urged authorities to revamp a 1960s law that threatens them with jail if they do not pay for a license and imposes other restrictions they say are stifling their resurgent industry. Directors and producers poured onto... More »
CANNES, France (Reuters) – Despite being banned from making movies, Jafar Panahi delivered one at Cannes which tackles the hot topic of the moment: the problems women actors face in a male-dominated world. “3 Faces” is the story of a famous actress, Bahnaz Jaf... More »
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s Sina Weibo on Monday reversed a decision to remove gay content after outcry among gay Chinese who say the company had smeared homosexuality by lumping it with pornography as it tried to meet government censorship directives. China’s... More »
GENEVA (Reuters) – Any progress in the nuclear and security dialogue with North Korea at upcoming summits must be accompanied by discussions on human rights violations, including political prison camps, the U.N. investigator on the isolated country said on Mon... More »
A security camera overlooks Tiananmen Square in front of a portrait of the late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong in Beijing, China March 6, 2018. Picture taken March 6, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas Peter BEIJING (Reuters) – At a highway check point on the outskirts of Beij... More »
FILE PHOTO – Cast member Rebel Wilson poses at the premiere for “Pitch Perfect 3” in Los Angeles, California, U.S., December 12, 2017. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian media companies on Monday sought to join German magazine publisher Bauer ... More »
BANGKOK (Reuters) – A portrait of a prominent critic of the Thai monarchy was sold in an online auction for $6,745, which will go into a fund for activists facing legal cases in junta-ruled Thailand, including royal insult cases, a manager for the fund said on... More »
The head of a Philippine news site ordered closed for ownership violations met state investigators on Monday to answer what she called a "suspicious" complaint about a five-year-old story, as domestic fears grow of an impending crackdown on media. More »
ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey on Friday reinstated more than 1,800 civil servants purged after a 2016 failed coup, determining they had no links to the network of a cleric accused of masterminding the putsch, state-run Anadolu news agency said. Prosecutors last ye... More »
FILE PHOTO: A woman looks at the screen of her mobile phone in front of an Apple logo outside its store in Shanghai, China July 30, 2017. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo BEIJING (Reuters) – Some Chinese users of Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) products who have created Apple... More »
A map of China is seen through a magnifying glass on a computer screen showing binary digits in Singapore in this January 2, 2014 photo illustration. REUTERS/Edgar Su BEIJING (Reuters) – China has closed more than 13,000 websites since the beginning of 2015 fo... More »
A court in Vietnam jailed a blogger on Monday for seven years for "conducting propaganda against the state", the latest action against a critic of the one-party state. More »
A flag is pictured outside the Permanent Mission of North Korea in Geneva, Switzerland, November 17, 2017. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea may conduct additional missile tests this year to polish up its long-range missile technology and r... More »
The producers of "Padmavati" - a Bollywood movie based on an epic poem about a Rajput queen, said on Sunday they had indefinitely delayed the release of the film, which has been accused of distorting history and has sparked protests. More »
Chinese distributors of overseas publications must verify that the content is legal in China, Beijing said late on Sunday, after a major western publisher blocked access to some content in the country citing local regulations. More »
Hugh Hefner's Playboy magazine and playboy lifestyle helped bring in the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Here are seven facts about him: More »
Ai Wei-Wei denounced China's crackdown on lawyers and free speech on Wednesday but saw little hope that the upcoming Communist Party Congress would lead to more freedoms. More »
Critics of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen have grown used to following upstart news service Fresh News to find out what the government’s next target might be. More »
Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang appeared in public for the first time in more than a month on Monday, ending an absence from the political scene that triggered online speculation about his health and position. More »
Facebook Inc, whose social media platform is blocked in China, authorized a local company to launch a photo-sharing application in the country in May, the New York Times reported, citing a person with knowledge of the company's plans. More »
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) is greeted by Pastor Jeffress at the Celebrate Freedom Rally in Washington, U.S. July 1, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas U.S. President Donald Trump honored military veterans in Washington on Saturday at a Kennedy Center event that re... More »
Two men pose with smartphones in front of a screen showing the Telegram logo in this picture illustration taken in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina November 18, 2015. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor on Friday accused the Telegra... More »
Turkish authorities issued detention warrants for 189 lawyers as part of an investigation into followers of a Muslim cleric accused of orchestrating last July’s attempted coup, state-run Anadolu news agency said on Wednesday. More »
China’s cyberspace authorities have ordered internet companies to close 60 popular celebrity gossip social media accounts in the latest in a series of crackdowns on independent media. More »
FILE PHOTO: Lean, finely textured beef (LFTB) is produced at the Beef Products Inc (BPI) facility in South Sioux City, Nebraska November 19, 2012. REUTERS/Lane Hickenbottom/File Photo ABC News’ characterization of a South Dakota meat processor’s ground-beef pr... More »
70th Cannes Film Festival – Photocall for the film ‘Lerd’ (A Man of Integrity) in competition for the category ‘Un Certain Regard’ – Cannes, France. 19/05/2017. Director Mohammad Rasoulof poses. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe A movie by an Iranian who was arrested for ... More »
Former pro-democracy lawmaker Lee Wing-tat (R), Occupy Central movement founders Benny Tai (2nd R) and Chan Kin-man (3rd R), along with others being charged, chant slogans outside a court in Hong Kong, China March 30, 2017. REUTERS/Venus Wu Nine leaders of Hon... More »
A Beauty and the Beast poster in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. REUTERS/Angie Teo Walt Disney blockbuster “Beauty and the Beast” will be released in Malaysia this month without any cuts, the company said on Tuesday, after censors had earlier asked for the re... More »
FILE PHOTO: A Beauty and the Beast poster in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia March 14, 2017. REUTERS/Angie Teo Malaysia stood by its decision to bar “Beauty and the Beast” from cinemas without a “gay moment” being cut as the worldwide rollout of the Walt Disne... More »
FILE PHOTO: Director of the movie Bill Condon poses at the premiere of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ in Los Angeles, California, U.S. March 2, 2017. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File Photo Major cinema chains in Muslim-majority Malaysia have postponed the release of Walt Di... More »
A U.S. appeals court on Thursday struck down a Florida law that barred doctors from asking patients about gun ownership, ruling that the law violated doctors’ right to free speech. More »
The online classified advertising site Backpage.com abruptly shut its “adult” section on Monday, yielding to a campaign by state and federal government officials to close a service they contend promotes prostitution and human trafficking. More »
U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington, U.S., October 3, 2016. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas/File Photo The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday boosted one of the tech industry’s go-to defenses in suits to hold websites liable for content posted by others, rebuffing an appea... More »
FILE PHOTO: Singer George Michael performs on stage during his ”25 Live” world tour at the Bercy stadium in Paris October 9, 2006. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo It was strangely muted when George Michael, as part of the British pop duo Wham!, took the stag... More »
A map of China is seen through a magnifying glass on a computer screen showing binary digits in Singapore in this January 2, 2014 photo illustration. REUTERS/Edgar Su China’s county-level police will be able to censor internet coverage of natural and man-made ... More »
Vietnamese police have detained a prominent blogger for posting anti-state reports, including one about civilians dying in police custody, which they said undermined trust in the ruling Communist Party. More »
BEIJING China’s internet regulator said on Saturday that search engines should tighten management of paid-for ads in search results, making clear which results are paid-for and limiting their numbers. The Chinese government already exercises widespread control... More »
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK U.S. Republican Donald Trump said on Monday he will no longer issue press credentials to the Washington Post, stopping the publication from gaining access to press areas at his presidential campaign events. The Washington Post, based in the... More »
MUMBAI An Indian court has cleared the way for a Bollywood thriller about drug trafficking to open in cinemas this week after government censors attempted to thwart the movie’s release ahead of elections in a northern state where the film is set. Monday’s judg... More »
PYONGYANG North Korea expelled a BBC journalist on Monday over his reporting, the broadcaster and a North Korean official said, as a large group of foreign media members visited the isolated country to cover a rare ruling party congress. Rupert Wingfield-Hayes... More »
BERLIN Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday Germany wanted to find a solution to the migrant crisis but this was separate to artistic freedom after the Turkish leader filed a complaint against a comedian for insulting him with a satirical poem. “I want to ... More »
BEIJING China is taking a “distinctly Chinese approach” to national security with a raft of new laws, including one on counterterrorism, the third-ranked leader said on Wednesday, offering a strong rebuttal to Western criticism. The U.S., Canadian, German and ... More »
BANGKOK On a wall in a northern suburb of Bangkok “Asin Acid” puts the finishing touches to a spray-painted picture of a colorful giant chicken holding a broken loudspeaker. “The loudspeaker represents the media. The media is trying to say something but is bei... More »
TEL AVIV Israel’s culture minister had a blunt message on Sunday for liberals worried about what they consider efforts by the government to stifle dissent in the arts: “Cut the bullshit.” Free-speech debate in Israel has grown fierce under conservative Prime M... More »
ISTANBUL A day after Turkey’s top-selling newspaper Zaman was taken over by the state, it dropped its criticisms of the government on Sunday and published flattering stories on President Tayyip Erdogan. The episode is the latest twist in a long-running conflic... More »
HONG KONG Four of the five Hong Kong booksellers who went missing in October appeared on Chinese television confirming for the first time they’d been detained for “illegal book trading” in mainland China. The five booksellers – including a British and Swedish ... More »
MEXICO CITY U.S. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s political rhetoric is “racist,” and evocative of Adolf Hitler, former Mexican President Felipe Calderon told reporters at an event in Mexico City on Saturday. “This logic of praising the whit... More »
Bloomberg LP will get an opportunity to contest a U.S. judge’s order requiring more than 100 people to disclose if they shared confidential information with the media company’s reporters about the bankruptcy of Molycorp Inc. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher S... More »
WILMINGTON, Del. A U.S. judge on Tuesday denied a request by media company Bloomberg LP to stay an order requiring more than 100 people to disclose information they shared with its reporters about the bankruptcy of the largest U.S. rare earth mining company, w... More »
HONG KONG One of Hong Kong’s staunchest pro-Beijing lawmakers said a bookseller’s tearful confession on state television to a hit-and-run accident more than a decade ago in China is unlikely to appease public concerns that he may have been abducted. The Sunday... More »
ISLAMABAD Pakistan said on Monday it had removed a three-year ban on YouTube after the Google-owned video-sharing website launched a local version that allows the government to demand removal of material it considers offensive. Pakistan banned access to YouTub... More »
SEOUL A South Korean court cleared a Japanese journalist on Thursday of defaming the South Korean president in a case that raised new questions about media freedom and had threatened to inflame relations between the uneasy neighbors. Tatsuya Kato, former Seoul... More »
HONG KONG/SINGAPORE Almost a year after students ended pro-democracy street protests in Hong Kong, they face an online battle against what Western security experts say are China-sponsored hackers using techniques rarely seen elsewhere. Hackers have expanded th... More »
BEIJING/HONG KONG Google, part of Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), aims to launch the China version of its Google Play smartphone app store next year, according to people familiar with the matter, its first major foray in the market since ending localized product suppo... More »
SHANGHAI Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, enjoys strong support in the United States, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi told Chinese officials during a visit this week to the Himalayan region, while expressing concern about human rights there. Pel... More »
BRUSSELS Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who has been sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail for insulting Islam and for cyber crime, was awarded the European Union’s prize for human rights and freedom of thought on Thursday. Badawi received the first of hi... More »
STOCKHOLM/MINSK Belarussian author Svetlana Alexievich won the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday for her portrayal of the harshness of life in the Soviet Union and in her first public response denounced Russia’s intervention in Ukraine as an “invasion”. T... More »
TAIPEI Protests in Taiwan over textbook revisions which students say aim to brainwash them into accepting a “one China” view of history underscore the island’s growing sense of independence from its vast neighbor and geopolitical foe. Hundreds of youths storme... More »
