Populist leaders around Latin America, and most recently Argentina, are increasingly making legal and political moves to silence their media critics, the president of the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) said on Friday.
In Argentina, top editors are criticizing Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, who signed a decree this week ordering newspapers and magazines to be sold exclusively in union-run stands. Editors fear the government will now be able to prevent the distribution of newspapers that don’t follow the ruling party line by enlisting pro-government unions to shut them down.
“From now on the sale of newspapers will be the only commercial activity regulated by the state,” said Gregorio Badeni, a constitutional law expert in Buenos Aires.
The IAPA also has criticized Argentina’s new broadcast media law, a ruling party project that preserves two-thirds of the radio and TV spectrum for noncommercial stations and gives political appointees a powerful role in granting licenses and regulating content.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
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North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
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