This week one of the most popular online media websites in Hong Kong, The House News, suddenly shut down to everyone’s surprise. We look into possible reasons and what is next for Hong Kong’s freedom of speech; also we look into ISIS-controlled Iraq, and the ebola outbreak’s humanitarian crisis.

  • On July 26, one of Hong Kong’s most popular online media The House News (主場新聞) has suddenly ended operations, to everyone’s surprise. The House News was founded less than two years ago, and was an online aggregator news site known for its pro-democracy stance. Commentators speculate that there may have been political pressure on the organization, but others have said the news site had been dealing with financial problems…
  • On Thursday, the United Nations announced that the Islamic State, a militant organization that has taken over large parts of Iraq, had imposed a religious edict for female genital mutilation in the city of Mosul. The edict later turned out to be false, but the news raised attention towards how the organization is ruling its occupied territories…
  • Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa, confirmed on Saturday that a man died there from the Ebola virus. Soon after in nearby Sierra Lione and Liberia two more deaths were confirmed, including a prominent doctor who directed a national campaign against the disease, had also died three weeks after contracting it…

(Feature photo of Hong Kong, by Wiki.lkfa, on Wikicommons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

 

A well informed citizenry is the foundation of our modern society. Every week, our news team brings you the most important stories on current affairs, diplomacy, business and human rights, in Asia and around the globe. Not only can we be well informed, but better informed, about the relationship between our lives, our communities, and the common world.
The Debrief