What threatens press freedom today?
While the most obvious threat to press freedom emanates from oppressive politics, democracies like Germany have been downgraded by RSF because media professionals have met with increasing violence from angry mobs of polarized readers
By Jan-Werner Mueller
Former US president Donald Trump’s presidency was bookended by the White House pushing “alternative facts” about the size of the crowd at Trump’s inauguration at the US Capitol and his violent supporters scrawling “Murder the Media” on the Capitol’s doors. While Trump is gone (for now), professional media remain at risk and not just in the US. The watchdog group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) considers the state of press freedom “good” in a mere 12 countries fewer than ever before.
Jack Ma’s double whammy marks end of the golden age for Chinese tech firms
The companies’ growing influence over every aspect of Chinese life became apparent as they became the conduits through which many of the nation’s 1.3 billion people bought and paid for things
Bloomberg
The full implications of Beijing’s rapid-fire moves against Jack Ma’s (馬雲) Internet empire in will not become apparent for weeks, but one lesson is already clear: The glory days for China’s technology giants are over.
The Chinese government has imprinted its authority indelibly on the nation’s technology industry in the span of a few days. In landmark announcements, it handed a record US$2.8 billion fine to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd for abusing its market dominance, then ordered an overhaul of Ant Group Co.
With such a disastrous 2020, many are hoping that the “ox would turn the heavens and earth” (牛轉乾坤, a pun on a Chinese idiom signifying a reversal of fortunes used as a Lunar New Year of the Ox greeting). According to Taiwan’s soothsayers, however, don’t bank on it.
The 2021 Good Luck Bible (2021開運聖經) predicts another calamitous year for the world, full of natural and human disasters ranging from bad harvests to political crises and surging unemployment. Meanwhile, the prognosticator Wisdom Tsai (蔡上機) foretells large-scale international scandals, increased bullying by stronger countries and a continued shift toward authoritarianism. Major financial emergencies
Shadow hangs over Olympics once more after virus surge
The rollout of vaccines might be too slow to convince governments and participants
that the Tokyo Olympics in July would be safe
By Max Zimmerman, Ayai Tomisawa and Yuki Hagiwara / Bloomberg
The fate of Tokyo’s postponed Olympics is once again mired in doubt after Japan declared a second state of emergency for metropolitan areas as COVID-19 cases soar to new levels.
Japan is one of several countries where the virus has made a comeback in winter months, with Tokyo finding a record 2,447 cases on Thursday last week. The discovery of a new and possibly more infectious strains in the UK and South Africa has also alarmed governments around the world.