UPDATED 2006 DECEMBER 7
 

Censorship is more than mere editorial expurgation; it is the societal control of behavior considered in violation of traditional and conventional morality. This page is a developing chronicle of liberalization and restriction. Its focus is on non-violent acts or events that have been targeted by censorship.

The occurrence of traditionally-proscribed acts or events is deemed significant in that it demonstrates a failure of the taboo, and, at least temporarily, its weakening. Many of the acts or events have now become uncensorable.

Additions and corrections are sought; send to the Stewardship Project, projectthe-stewardship.org.

For translation of an unfamiliar word, place the cursor over the word.  

Dialectic ― Religion ― Sexuality ― Nudity ― Drugs ― Other ― Language ― Sites

― The government of Danmark has so far resisted pressure from مسلم Muslim groups and states to assume state responsibility for publication or to contemplate censorship, after a row in which Jyllands-Posten printed illustrations and conceptions of محمد Muham:ad, which itself was prompted by the self-censorship of illustrators, who feared retribution should they participate in the religiously-proscribed depiction of محمد Muham:ad. Boycotts of unrelated Dansk companies have been instituted. The illustrations have now been reprinted in prominent periodicals around Europe, and even one in الاردن ’al-’Urdun:, in solidarity; but the editors in France and الاردن ’al-’Urdun: who did so have been fired.
― Google has, on the one hand, resisted US government requests for data on searches and results, and on the other hand, set up a censored site as its affiliate in 中國 Zhōng Guó.
― There are laws against Holocaust denial in Deutschland, Österreich, ישראל Jiśra’el, Polska, France, België, Česko, Slovensko, Lietuva, and die Schweiz.
― Sénégal opposition leader Abdourahim Agne has been arrested on national-security grounds after calling for peaceful anti-government demonstrations.
― Elmar Hüseynov, editor of the opposition magazine ‘Monitor’, has been murdered in Azǝrbaycan; the government has issued veiled threats against the opposition to pre-empt any ensuing demonstrations.
― Polska has fined editor Jerzy Urban $6500 for insulting a head of state, for lampooning John Paul II in his paper ‘Nie’.
― Kenya’s constitutional court has blocked the government from prosecuting an investigative journalist using a colonial-era libel law; the government has now pledged to leave libel as a civil matter.
― The supreme court of Śrīla~kā has jailed opposition politician SB Disanajake for two years for stating that the court made flawed rulings.
― The rightist Vlaams Blok, the most popular party in Vlaanderen, has been determined racist by the highest court in België, and will lose state funding and media access, effectively banning the party; and it becomes, in any case, illegal to work for the party.
― Filmmaker Theo van Gogh has been killed, apparently for making a film (‘Submission’) critical of aspects of اسلامى ’Islāmī culture.
― The city of Белгород in Россия issues fines of up to 1500 рубли for swearing in public, with fines varying by context.
― The Noxçiy rebel website http://www.kavkazcenter.com/ has been closed temporarily by Lietuva, where it is hosted, while a court determines if it can be closed permanently.
― لبنان Lubnān has banned the sale of ‘The Da Vinci code’, deemed offensive to Christianity.
― The education minister of Србија, Љиљана Чолић, has determined that evolution can no longer be taught as an accepted theory; but the government soon reversed itself, and Чолић resigned.
― The television network الجزيرة ’al-Ĝazīraĥ has been banned indefinitely by the interim government of العراق ’al-Cirāq for its frequent broadcast of incitement videos. The network العربية ’al-Carabīaĥ was banned by the US-installed مجلس الحكم Maĝlis ’al-Hukm for similar reasons.
― The documentary film ‘جنين جنين Ĝanīn Ĝanīn’, depicting an assault on a refugee camp in the West Bank, had been banned by the censorship board of ישראל Jiśra’el, but the highest court overturned the ban.
― Ελλάδα sued ‘Playboy’ to withdraw the local edition which played on Olympic themes and symbols.
― 中國 Zhōng Guó has arrested 江延永 Jiāng Yán Yŏng, the official who publicized the SARS cover-up, for speaking out against the massacre and repression of 1989.
― 中國 Zhōng Guó will censor cell-phone text messages as it now censors the internet.
― The government of Azǝrbaycan has raided the مسجد masĝid of dissident cleric İlqar İbrahimoğlu, and appointed a replacement for him.
― España has completely banned Euskal separatist party Batasuna, for alleged ties to the violent separatist group Euskadi ta Askatasuna, acting on requests by the government and judge Baltasar Garzón. The constitutional court has now banned Herritarren Zerrenda as well, deeming it an extension of Batasuna and affiliate of ETA.
― Brasil has arrested two visiting US citizens for showing contempt to authorities by gesturing with their middle fingers, in response to Brasil’s reciprocal fingerprinting procedures.
― The only private newspaper in Zimbabhwe, the Daily News, critical of dictator Robert Mugabe, was closed under strict media laws. The High Court ordered it reopened, but the police did not allow this. After a court ruled that a license should be granted, the Daily News printed for one day and was then shut down in an armed raid. It nearly resumed publication after three months, but was again closed by police. The High Court has again ordered it reopened. But the government has used a license law for individual journalists to close it again.
― Social pressure in Türkiye has stopped the local release of the film ‘Ararat’, which deals with the Հայ Haj genocide.
― The government of المغرب الاقصى ’al-Mağrib ’al-’Aqsaj imprisoned satirist علي لمرابط Calī Lamrābet for four (later three) years for insulting the king; but he has been pardoned after seven months in prison.
― Two Kurdî politicians have been arrested in Türkiye for referring to Ebdella Ocalan with the respectful title ‘sayın’.
― A British journalist and permanent resident of Zambia, Roy Clarke, has been ordered deported on charges of insulting the president, calling him a ‘foolish elephant’ in a satire in the Post; but a court has ordered a hearing. The publisher of the Post, Fred M’membe, has reprinted the satire under his own name to share the responsibility.
― Kenyan president Mwai Kĩbakĩ has attempted to dissolve all political parties within his governing National Rainbow Coalition.
― Rosa Parks’ lawsuit against OutKast for using her name as a song title has been allowed to proceed by the US supreme court.
― Nine individuals have been sentenced to death in Mяanmā, accused of plotting to overthrow the government. Among them is the editor of a magazine that had been critical of the government, who was formerly an opposition politician; also included are another opposition politician, and a lawyer.
― Two مسلمون muslimūn from the United States who attempted to reach افغانستان ’Afğānestān to defend the طالبان Tālibān régime against US attack have been imprisoned for eighteen years.
― Zacarias Moussaoui, charged as a conspirator in the September 11 attacks, has had his right to defend himself revoked by a US district court.
― Media in England and Wales have been prohibited from reporting on a dubious claim of gay activity by Charles Mountbatten-Windsor, and foreign newspapers so reporting have been blocked.
― The governing powers de facto in parts of northeastern Hindustān, insurrections against भारत B‛ārat, have begun banning Bollywood films in theaters under their jurisdictions, for undermining local culture and promoting immorality. But theater owners and film distributors plan to defy the prohibitions.
― The government of தமிழ் நாடு Tamiz Nātu has ordered the arrest of staff at ‘The Hindu’, and raided its offices, after the paper criticized the government. The specific charge was ‘breach of privilege’; the specific target was the chief minister.
― Australia’s government has indirectly provided funding to encourage testimony that led to the imprisonment of an opposition politician, Pauline Hanson, for electoral fraud; that conviction has since been overturned, as has the conviction of the co-founder of the One Nation Party.
― Conservative pressure groups in the United States have successfully petitioned against the broadcast of a film biography of Ronald Reagan, which most of them had not seen.
― 中國 Zhōng Guó has executed Uyğur separatist Ujimamadi Abbas (Şirali) on charges of inciting a riot against 中國 Zhōng Guó.
― Law in België had mandated that children be given only their fathers’ names; but the European Court of Justice has ruled that European Union law requires that resident Españoles can give their children both paternal and maternal surnames.
― Norge has relaxed its pervasive film ban for sex and violence, delisting some three hundred titles, though a ban on “hard core” pornography remains.
― المغرب الاقصى ’Al-Mağrib ’al-’Aqsaj has begun education in Tamazight. Earlier, الجزائر ’al-Ĝaza’īr announced that Tamazight would be recognized as a national language.
― The proposed enactment of the subversion law in 香港 Hèung Góng will ban reporting of state secrets, criticism of the government of 中國 Zhōng Guó, advocacy of secession or subversion, access to subversive material, and certain groups, including 法輪功 Fă Lún Gōng, which had remained legal in 香港 Hèung Góng. Following massive protests, administrator 董建華 Dúng Gíhn Wāa has promised revisions which would eliminate the ability to ban groups, conduct searches without warrants, and punish journalists for publishing classified information; and he has now indefinitely postponed the submission of the bill for passage.
― The film ‘Tomb raider: the cradle of life’ has been banned by 中國 Zhōng Guó for portraying it negatively.
― پاکستان Pākistān has banned broadcast of television programs originating in भारत B‛ārat; but now cable operators are protesting the ban by boycotting پاکستانى Pākistānī national programs.
― The parliament of Malaŵi had banned the television show ‘Big brother Africa’ from its public station for sexual content, but the High Court overturned the ban.
― The Kenyan government has established a censorship board to oversee the prohibition of material, particularly pornography, under parliamentary guidelines.
― Kuala Lumpur had banned a comedy troupe for refusing to submit to prior restraint on its act; the city had wanted the group to omit any references to persons living or dead, or to government policies or bodies; but the mayor has reversed the ban, and assumed responsibility for such future decisions himself.
― An Irani-Canadian photographer, Zahra Kazemi, documenting protests and a prison in ايران ’Īrān, has been arrested and beaten to death in custody.
― Three русские television stations have been banned in Беларусь.
― Numerous dissidents in Indonesia have been convicted under a law that bans insulting the president or vice-president, with possible sentences up to six years.
― پاکستان Pākistān has imprisoned newspaper editor Munaŭar Mohsin for life for publishing a letter to the editor that was considered blasphemous for speaking ill of محمد Muham:ad.
― West Papuan protesters have been fired upon by Indonesian police for attempting to raise a separatist flag; one has been killed.
― The leader and deputy leader of الجبهة الاسلامية للأنقاذ ’al-Ĝabhaĥ ’al-’Islāmīaĥ lil-’Inqāð in الجزائر ’al-Ĝaza’īr, عباسي مدني Cabāsī Madanī and علي بلحاج Calī Balhāĝ, have been released from twelve years under house arrest and in prison respectively, but are forbidden from all social, political, cultural and humanitarian activities, including voting, expressing political views in public or private, belonging to associations, and attending public prayers. Further, all foreign press have been expelled from the state for reporting this story.
― The parliament of Türkiye has extended broadcast freedom in Kurmancî to private outlets, at any time, and lifted a ban on Kurmancî names; but this has been vetoed by the president, Ahmet Necdet Sezer. Earlier it had passed laws to permit greater freedom of expression, including removing a longtime ban on broadcast in Kurmancî, allowing instruction in the dialect, lowering penalties for certain expression offenses, including publication in Kurmancî, and making it harder to ban political parties.
― Freedom of expression in افغانستان ’Afğānestān has regressed following the liberalization after the fall of the طالبان Tālibān. Two journalists arrested for an article deemed to insult religion have been released, but will still be tried. Indian films are banned, as are women singing on the radio. One province has banned cable television after it showed Western and Indian films. The chief justice has banned cable in the capital, hinted that it will be banned elsewhere, and spoken against gender-integrated education. An editor was temporarily jailed for publishing a cartoon critical of president حامد کرزي Hāmid Karzaī, and a reporter was sanctioned by کرزي Karzaī for asking a controversial question during a press conference.
― The last independent television channel, ТВС, has been closed, under both political and economic pressues. Earlier, the state-controlled industrial firm Газпpом in Россия exercised its disputed legal authority over the only independent national television network, НТВ, by changing the managers and locking out staff who refuse to pledge loyalty to the new managers. And the controlling investors of the liberal publications Сегодня and Итоги have closed the former and fired the editorial staff of the latter.
― The government of 中國 Zhōng Guó, which has long exercised prior restraint over traditional media, has extended that to the internet, requiring all users and publishers to submit to party editorial control. Thirty-six internet users have been jailed for violations, and two have died of abuse in custody. The state has closed close to one in five of the operating public internet facilities in the country for failing to block objectionable sites. And now it has begun to ban search engines, starting with Google and Alta Vista. One hundred thirty other portals, including Yahoo, have agreed to censor themselves.
― In Србија, three publications, Nacional, Dan, and Identitet, were shut down for publishing speculation into the murder of prime minister Зоран Ђинђић. The state of emergency imposed has led to the arrest of hundreds.
― Deutschland suppresses both religious and political dissent of certain varieties, most notably Scientology on the religious side and neo-Nazi belief on the political side. The government is attempting to ban the Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands, but the judiciary has ruled against it, noting that government informants were used to incite the evidence that was being presented.
― भारत B‛ārat has banned the documentary film ‘Ākroś’, which depicted religious riots in ગુજરાત Gujarāt.
― Malaysia has banned scenes from ‘The hours’ that show women kissing. ‘Daredevil’ has been banned outright, for violence and its name. Other banned films include ‘Schindler’s list’ (as Zionist propaganda), ‘The prince of Egypt’ (for religious insensitivity), ‘Zoolander’ (for depicting an assassination plot against a Malaysian prime minister), and ‘The spy who shagged me’ (for sexual innuendo).
― Youth members of Malaŵi’s ruling United Democratic Front have apprehended two other citizens for insulting president Bakili Muluzi, and a court has tolerated the “arrest” and subsequent imprisonment, and further fined the accused, who claim to have been tortured into confessing. The insult was said to be regarding Muluzi’s attempts to change the constitution to allow himself a third term, which has led to violence against opponents, including members of parliament.
― A global anti-tobacco treaty calls for states to ban tobacco advertising as far as constitutionally able, and mandates government warnings on packaging.
― An attempt to ban België’s ultranationalist Vlaams Blok on grounds of racism have failed in two courts. The attempt was brought by België’s official anti-racist agency, as well as a non-governmental organization.
― A Pennsylvania effort against internet child pornography is being challenged for blocking unrelated sites, which, through virtual hosting, have the same numerical address; 85% of web sites are hosted virtually.
― Twenty men in تونس Tūnis have been arrested for browsing banned internet sites. تونس Tūnis not only heavily censors the internet, but sends viruses to dissidents, and has imprisoned internet publisher زهير يحياوي Zuhajr Jahjāŭī for ridiculing dictator زين العبدين بن على Zīna ’al-Cābdīna bin Calī.
― A political opponent of Olusegun Obasanjo, Yomi Tokoya, has been arrested for leafletting at a religious ceremony in Nigeria, and then released.
― Malaysia has seized the servers and arrested the editor of Malaysiakini, which published a letter on its web site suggesting unfair treatment for the non-Melayu population. The government also will require live radio broadcasts to submit to prior restraint, officially to curb language and sexual innuendo.
― A deutsch court has ordered a British newspaper not to print allegations about the sex life of Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder, but the paper, the ‘Mail on Sunday’, is ignoring the order.
― Two members of the Inter-Religious Council in Liberia, working to improve cooperation across sect lines, have been arrested twice, the second, for treason, coming as the first arrest ended without charges. They were found to have received e-mail from an insurgent group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, proposing negotiation with the government.
― A committee of the כנסת Kneset in ישראל Jiśra’el had banned two فلسطينى Filastīnī parliamentarians, احمد الظيبى ’Ahmad ’al-Tībī and عزمي بشارة Cazmī Bišāraĥ, from contesting the next election, while at the same time clearing extreme rightist ברוך מרזל Barūk Marzel; but a court has overruled that decision, allowing the candidacies.
― A law has taken effect in Zimbabhwe requiring that all journalists register with the government, and prohibiting foreign journalists; a challenge to the law has still not been decided by the courts. Not only is it illegal to insult autocrat Robert Mugabe, it is now illegal to disparage the passing of his twenty-vehicle motorcade. The campaign in Zimbabhwe to protect Mugabe from criticism has led to limits on journalists and particularly foreign journalists, and the expulsion of two, and has led to the removal of accreditation for the British Broadcasting Corporation. Mugabe has threatened to treat six foreign journalists and a human-rights activist as terrorists.
― Some of the most popular politicians in Türkiye were banned from contesting the last election, including poll-leader Tayyip Erdoğan, former premier Necmettin Erbakan, Kurd leader Murat Bozlak, and human-rights activist Akın Birdal. All were disqualified for past political dissidence; Erdoğan and Erbakan were convicted for Islamist activity. A consitutional amendment which will rectify this has been passed twice, vetoed once by president Ahmet Necdet Sezer, and finally become law.
― Two foreign women in Indonesia have been convicted of dealing with the Gerakan Acheh Merdeka and sentenced to several months in prison each.
― Guyana has at least temporarily closed two television stations, supposedly for incitement to crime and violence. Both stations are affiliated with the opposition.
― Prosecutors in Australia are claiming that allowing a protestor to moon police undermines their authority. Also, Australia’s highest court has allowed a defamation suit against the web site of Dow Jones, originating in the US, to proceed, establishing that local courts can have jurisdiction over all internet publication that reaches Australia.
― The سعودى Sacūdī opposition satellite service صوت الاصلاح Saŭt ’al-’Islāh will be able to reach into السعودية ’al-Sacūdīaĥ itself through radio and receive calls from السعودية ’al-Sacūdīaĥ through internet phone service.
― A US citizen has been sentenced to three years in prison for speaking of the possibility of someone lighting George W. Bush on fire, saying that “God might speak to the world through a burning Bush”, a comment he claimed was prophetic and the prosecution claimed was a threat.
― فلسطينى Filastīnī activist مروان برغوتي Marŭān Barğūtī has been placed in solitary confinement for giving an interview from prison in ישראל Jiśra’el.
― Television advertisements in Britain are controlled by a censorship board that regulates them more strictly than the programs; three advertisements for the satirical television program ‘2DTV’ were banned as offensive to the public figures ridiculed in them.
― Charles Taylor, autocrat of Liberia, has banned T-shirts depicting أسامة بن لادن ’Usāmaĥ bin Lādan, and has even hinted at vigilante beatings of offenders.
― Courts in Nigeria have ordered the government to register political parties that had been denied registration under severe restrictions, including those on “national” orientation. In a related effort, Nigeria has moved to outlaw the Yorùbá nationalist organization, Odùduwà People’s Congress, in response to violence but probably with the ultimate aim of curtailing the movement for Yorùbá and other national self-determination.
― The television news service الجزيرة ’al-Ĝazīraĥ has had its local office in الكويت ’al-Kūajt closed, for “lack of professionalism and neutrality when dealing with كويتى Kūajtī issues”. It has been banned in الكويت ’al-Kūajt before; it is banned from operating in الاردن ’al-’Urdun: and البحرين ’al-Bahrajn.
― Jesse Jackson has called for the film ‘Barbershop’ to be edited because of humor about himself, Martin Luther King, and Rosa Parks. (Characters in the film also disapproved of the humor.)
― Journalists covering a rally in پاکستان Pākistān in favor of dictator پرويز مشرف Perŭejz Mušaraf were beaten by police after the rally had begun focusing on media criticism of پرويز Perŭejz.
― A tightened press law in الاردن ’al-’Urdun: has led to two arrests of leading liberal critic and former legislator توجان فيصل Tūĝān Fajsal.
― البحرين ’Al-Bahrajn has blocked four opposition websites for incitement of sectarianism and offensive content.
― Mehmud Uzun, a prominent Kurdî writer, is returning to contest his trial in Türkiye on charges of promoting separatism, stemming from his promotion of Kurmancî. The state has suspended broadcasting by Gun TV for using Kurmancî on the air, in this case in music videos, despite recent passage of a constitutional amendment legalizing Kurmancî broadcasts. Police have also detained hundreds of students and parents who signed a petition for Kurmancî instruction. But a publisher accused of promoting separatism for publishing Noam Chomsky’s criticism of nationalist policy has been acquitted.
― An issue of the Far Eastern Economic Review was banned in เมืองไทย Miāŋdæj, and the work permits of two staffers were revoked, after an article suggesting tension between the king and the prime minister. The Review has apologized to the government. The local press seldom suggests controversy involving the king.
― The premier of افغانستان ’Afğānestān, حامد کرزي Hāmid Karzaī, has signed a law guaranteeing freedom of the press, and personally invited criticism of the government.
― A politician in 臺灣 Tai5 Oan1 was videotaped having sex with a married man. The tape, which has been widely circulated, has led to prosecution of the two men responsible for making the tape with a hidden camera, and for releasing it. Prosecutors have now charged the owner and editor of a magazine that distributed the tape.
― Two bookstores in the US have been subjected to legal action to divulge their clients’ records; the latest, Denver’s Tattered Cover, was asked to help convict a drug suspect.
― Political parties are banned in Uganda. An attempt by an opposition party to hold a rally was preceded by the arrest of its leader and blocked with deadly force.
― The government of لبنان Lubnān has raided a music and video shop, seized numerous western titles, and detained the manager for two days. The shop, owned by British media firm Virgin, was already exercising self-censorship.
― Political parties are banned in Swatini, independent news media are effectively banned, and statements against monarchy or for democracy are prosecuted as treason.
― The independent press has come under serious and sustained assault recently in سوريا Sūrīā and ’Er-t-rā, two states that had shown promise of future liberalization.
― A prominent filmmaker in ايران ’Īrān, Tahmineh Milani, has been arrested for her latest film, deemed to glorify opponents of the اسلامى ’Islāmī revolution.
― Fifty women were arrested in İstanbul for speaking to the press in the banned Kurmancî; hundreds of women took part in the protest, including Türk women whose sons are fighting in Kurdistan.
― An editor who printed a story which provoked riots by Copts in مصر Misr was suspended from the press syndicate, but a court later reinstated him.
― The Supreme Court in Venezuela has restricted the right of newspapers to publish opinions and editorials, and ruled that journalists are not guaranteed the constitutional right to reply. The president, Hugo Chávez, has threatened to deport foreigners who insult him, Venezuela, or government institutions.
― Chile has finally passed its Press Law, abolishing Pinochet-era press restrictions.
― The government de facto of ايران ’Īrān routinely closes newspapers, but they are just as routinely reopened under new names. Reformist publications suffered major assault in reaction to the reformist victory in parliamentary elections. A new round of closings has taken place, bringing the total to thirty-five in the past year.
― A law in Malaysia against “religious extremism” is being revived by the government of autocrat Mahathir bin Mohamad to further its program of eliminating dissent.
― The government of المغرب الاقصى ’al-Mağrib ’al-’Aqsaj has banned three newspapers for publishing a report implicating government members in a 1972 putsch against the monarchy, citing also attacks on the military and unorthodoxy on the issue of the Western Sahara.
― Britain’s National Criminal Intelligence Service is seeking authority to access, record, and archive all personal electronic-communication activity, including phone and internet use.
― A dissident cleric in ايران ’Īrān, حسن Hasan Jūsefī-’Eškevārī, is being held on capital charges ― apostasy, waging war against الله ’al-Lah, spreading corruption on Earth, and acting against state security. He has been denied his own lawyer and an open trial.
― The US Congress narrowly failed to prohibit flag-burning by altering the Constitution’s First Amendment.
 

Religion:

― The North-West Frontier Province of پاکستان Pākistān has instituted a law on اسلامى ’Islāmī حسبہ hisbah, in which religious morals will be policed and enforced.
― France has banned ostenatious religious symbols in public schools; the ban includes all religions but is specifically targeted at the حجاب hiĝāb worn by female مسلمون muslimūn, and has already led to expulsions.
― ’Er-t-rā requires religions to register and be approved before their practice is legalized; only الاسلام ’al-’Islām and Catholic, Orthodox, and evangelical Christianity have been approved.
― Blasphemy against الاسلام ’al-’Islām, القرآن ’al-Qur’ān, or محمد Muham:ad is a mandatory capital offense in پاکستان Pākistān, though this penalty has yet to be carried out. The threat of penalty is used as a form of intimidation or vendetta; suspects are not accorded the usual due process, judges are intimidated by local pressure groups, and non-مسلمون muslimūn are also charged.
― The chief justice of the US province of Alabama, Roy Moore, was ordered by a higher court to remove a Christian monument from the state courthouse; upon refusing, he was suspended by his peers and removed by an ethics panel. The monument has been removed from display.
― The implementation of الشريعة ’al-Šarīcaĥ in Nigeria’s northern provinces is under serious challenge, focusing on the stoning sentences of women convicted of adultery. Two have since been acquitted. A junior minister has pledged that no such sentences will be implemented.
― A مسلم muslim teacher in Deutschland has been allowed by the highest court to wear a headscarf in her job, which had been denied by lower courts for the purposes of religious neutrality. The court had previously ruled against a private business that implemented a policy against the headscarf.
― Female television presenters in Egypt have been removed from the air on state television for wearing headscarves.
― The British parliament has allowed citizens of non-Christian religions the equal right to take off religious holidays from work; but this does not include the non-religious.
― বাংলােদশ Bāŋlādeś has banned an issue of Newsweek for printing an article suggesting that القرآن ’al-Qur’ān was not written in classical عربى Carabī and has been distorted in interpretation. An earlier issue was banned in Indonesia, Malaysia, and বাংলােদশ Bāŋlādeś for depicting محمد Muham:ad, considered blasphemous.
― A priest with the state-sponsored Lutheran church in Danmark, Thorkild Grosbøll of Tårbæk, has been suspended for disavowing God, eternal life, and the Resurrection.
― The parliament of پاکستان Pākistān’s North-West Frontier Province has voted unanimously for الشريعة ’al-Šarīcaĥ, after amendment failed. Earlier, the ruling متحده مجلس عمل Mut:ahidah Maĝlis-e Camal announced plans to shut down liquor stores and gambling dens. New Year’s celebrations were banned.
― Acheh’s autonomy within Indonesia had led, as expected, to the introduction of الشريعة ’al-Šarīcaĥ, to apply to all citizens, though it was supposed that the harsher corporal punishments would not be implemented. Criminal courts were scheduled to open March 4. However, Acheh’s autonomy is currently being undone by an Indonesian assault.
― The Catholic Church is attempting to formally Christianize the European Union, calling for Christianity to be recognized in the constitution, and for Türkiye to be excluded on religious grounds.
― On the official web site of the government of Հայաստան Hajastan, prime minister Անդրանիկ Մարգարյան Andranik Margarjan is described as someone who “believes in God” and “considers that non-believers are the most dangerous people”.
― The new archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Church of England, is liberal Rowan Williams, who has endorsed acceptance of gays and elevating women to bishop, and condemned the traditional trappings of the hierarchy.
― The government of ଓଡ଼ୀଶା Orīsā established a requirement for religious converts to register the conversion with a district magistrate, who would then order an investigation by police. தமிழ் நாடு Tamiz Nātu and ગુજરાત Gujarāt have banned conversions through force, fraud, or allurement; this law has reportedly been employed to end proselytizing.
― Three journalists in الاردن ’al-’Urdun: were sentenced to prison by a state security court for an article that discussed the sex life of محمد Muham:ad; their publication has been temporarily closed. The action by the state was thought to be an attempt to influence legislative elections.
― The triśul, a traditional हिनदू Hindū religious symbol, will be banned in public in राजसथान Rājast‛ān, and possibly other Hindustānī provinces.
― The United States government, under the direction of the Christian-fundamentalist Bush administration and its Faith-Based Initiative, is providing public funds to religious organizations to advocate for marriage and other religious values.
― The Nigerian province of Zamfara has issued a فتوى fatŭaj calling for the murder of Isioma Daniel for writing an article in ‘ThisDay’, which stated, regarding the Miss World controversy, that محمد Muham:ad would have married one of the contestants. The pageant planned for Nigeria has been moved to London following rioting that left more than two hundred dead. مسلم Muslim groups had been protesting the supposed immorality of the show. Additionally, a mob burned down the Kaduna office of ‘ThisDay’. The paper had even retracted the story. The pageant had also served as a counterprotest, with some contestants withdrawing in response to the stoning sentences under الشريعة ’al-Šarīcaĥ.
― Buddhists in Kômpûciĕ, among other places, are losing patience with Christian evangelists. In one example, a teachers’ group has called for ‘God’, being a Christian concept, to be removed from textbooks.
― Scientology is banned in British prisons. Scientologists cannot run for parliament in Deutschland, where the church has been routinely harassed. And the public prosecutor in France is calling for the church to be banned in Paris under a new law on cults, for sending mail to former members.
― Valentine’s Day celebrations and trappings are officially banned in السعودية ’al-Sacūdīaĥ, and the subject of sometimes-violent protest by religious groups in भारत B‛ārat.
― A church in New Mexico has publicly burned Harry Potter books, among others, calling them Satanic.
― Prior restraint is being used against اسلامى ’Islāmī preachers in Niger, to suppress any fundamentalist support for أسامة بن لادن ’Usāmaĥ bin Lādan.
― The US supreme court has allowed the imposition of a religiously-motivated moment of silence on school pupils.
― اليمن ’Al-Jaman, previously one of the few عربى Carabī democracies, is acting against its own fundamentalist citizens, firing a large number of prayer leaders, and intercepting anyone attempting to travel in the direction of افغانستان ’Afğānestān; while this may assist the war effort, it is a setback for liberalism.
― مصر Misr is often seen as a secular dictatorship, as evidenced by its ban on a fundamentalist opposition party and newspaper, but it also theocratically suppresses dissent against الاسلام ’al-’Islām, most recently by imprisoning key adherents of a صوفى Sūfī sect.
― Jehovah’s Witnesses in Россия are being controlled and persecuted under a law against smaller religions, which gives special privilege to the Byzantine church; but they have won a court case in Москва against a prosecution which accused them of breaking up families and infringing individual rights, and which would have dissolved their organizations in Москва.
― The Roman Catholic Church in Polska is opening up an attack on president Aleksander Kwaśniewski for his declared atheism and for irreverence towards Karol Wojtyła, John Paul II.
― 中國 Zhōng Guó continues to harrass and imprison religious dissidents, including adherents of various 氣功 qì gōng sects and independent Christian and Buddhist groups.
― An Oslo jurisdiction has ended the exclusivity of church bells by permitting the اذان ’aðān to مسلمون muslimūn, and a similarly-broadcast summons, including “God does not exist”, to atheist meetings.

Sexuality:

― Civil partnerships for gay couples will become legal in Britain by 2005 December 21.
― The constitutional court in South Africa has ruled that gay marriage is required by an anti-discrimination clause in the constitution; the parliament has since legalized gay marriage in accordance with that ruling.
― The Roman Catholic Church, which had tolerated celibate gays in the priesthood, has changed that policy, and will no longer allow gays in the priesthood at all.
― The California legislature passed a law legalizing gay marriage, but governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed it.
― Canada has legalized gay marriage. The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms included same-sex equality in 1985, but only in recent years did provincial courts interpret this to mandate gay marriage. A 2000 law providing for some equality for same-sex relationships, specifically in benefits, was backdated only to 1998.
― New Zealand has fined a man who removed a condom during sex with a prostitute without her consent.
― Gay marriage has been legalized in España.
― Same-sex marriage has become legal in Massachusetts, following a high court ruling. San Francisco has performed numerous gay marriages, and several other municipalities have followed. Courts in Hawai‘i, Alaska, and Vermont have also found bans unconstitutional. The legislature in Vermont responded by enacting same-sex civil unions, while those in Hawai‘i and Alaska passed constitutional amendments to keep same-sex marriage illegal. The Hawai‘i case led to explicit bans in most of the US, and to the federal Defense of Marriage Act.
― Parliament in Zanzibar, acting with the support of both major parties, has criminalized homosexuality, and provided for long prison sentences.
― The high court in the province of Rio Grande do Sul in Brasil has legalized gay civil unions.
― The highest authority in شيعى šīcī الاسلام ’al-’Islām, على سيستانى Calī Sīstānī, has ruled that consenting heterosexual anal sex is permissible, though discouraged.
― A court in 日本 Nitupon has found a manga book, ‘Missitu’, obscene, and sentenced the publisher, Kisi Monotori, to one year in prison, suspended.
― The highest court in پاکستان Pākistān has ruled that women will be allowed to marry without the permission from a male relative that was previously required.
― Two organizers of an orgy in 中國 Zhōng Guó have been sentenced to life in prison; InterPol warrants have been issued for others.
― Australia’s High Court has granted political-asylum rights to two gay men fearing persecution in their native বাংলােদশ Bāŋlādeś.
― Mega television in Ελλάδα has been fined €100,000 by the National Radio and Television Council for broadcasting a kiss between two men, on ‘Close your eyes’; it was deemed “vulgar and unacceptable”. This came despite the earlier repeated broadcast of two women kissing, Britney Spears and Madonna.
― The parliament of الاردن ’al-’Urdun: has again rejected a law to increase penalties for honor killings, the murder of females by their male relatives for transgressing sexual mores. Such killings are still common. While men who kill women for adultery no longer have a special exemption from execution, a man was recently given a six-month sentence for killing his daughter for pre-marital sex. Another was given a year for strangling his sister, who had in fact been raped; this fact of being raped was considered an “unlawful act” on the part of the woman, justifying a “fit of rage” by her brother. Other such acts which courts have used to justify such killings have included being absent from the family home, and stating “This is my life. I am free to do as I choose.”
― A gay wedding has been performed in the Русский Orthodox Church; but the responsible priest has been defrocked. Gay sex was decriminalized in Россия in 1993, but the church still considers it a sin.
― The chief minister of Kelantan in Malaysia, Nik Aziz Nik Mat of the Parti Islami SeMalaysia, has called for modest dress among women to control men’s desire and prevent rape. He has also banned billboards depicting women without headscarves, and said that the government should only employ ugly women, lest these employees get married.
― The first gay bishop in the Anglican church, Gene Robinson, was elected by the Episcopalian diocese of New Hampshire; his appointment has now been officially confirmed by the US church, and he has been consecrated. But earlier, a gay priest, Jeffrey John, appointed as a bishop in England, was forced to rescind his acceptance of the appointment. Some conservative churches had threatened schism in response to the appointment. Practicing homosexuals had been accepted within the laity but not the clergy.
― Buenos Aires has begun recognizing civil unions for gays, though with significantly-fewer rights than those associated with marriage.
― Australia’s third-largest church, the Uniting Church, has chosen to formalize its acceptance of gay priests.
― 新加坡 Sin Ka Pho, where gay sex is illegal, has nonetheless opened up certain jobs to gays, but on the requirement that sexual orientation be declared on the job application.
― The US Supreme Court has struck down a Texas sodomy law. Thirteen US provinces still have laws banning anal or oral sex; of those, four (Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri) exclusively ban gay anal sex. All thirteen laws are expected to be invalidated, as well as other infringements on sexual privacy.
― The Nederlands group Women on Waves has established a floating clinic that provides abortion counseling and services in international waters off the shore of states where this would be illegal. But Polska, where abortion is largely illegal, is holding the ship, demanding payment of a fine.
― New Zealand has legalized and provided for the regulation of prostitution.
― South Africa’s Constitutional Court has ruled that gay couples are entitled to full adoption, benefit, and residency rights.
― A mass arrest of men accused of gay sex has come to trial in مصر Misr, showing the extremity of legal and social standards and investigatory and prosecutory methods; twenty-three have been jailed, two with hard labor. An original trial held in a military court had been invalidated. Separately, two students have been sentenced to one year in prison for advertising gay sex on the internet.
― A lesbian teacher in Utah may be fired for presenting a bad moral example to students, though the provincial supreme court refused to rule on this action one way or another.
― Gays are being banned from the military in Россия, except during wartime.
― Fornication laws, prohibiting sex between unmarried partners, have been overturned by courts in the US provinces of Florida, Virginia, New Jersey, and Georgia. Eleven provinces retain the laws. The Georgia court, which acted in the conviction of a sixteen-year-old, also previously struck down a sodomy law.
― Two hundred sex workers in the conservative தமிழ் நாடு Tamiz Nātu have organized to defend their rights, protect against harassment, and promote health and economic welfare for themselves and their children. Prostitution is illegal in தமிழ் நாடு Tamiz Nātu.
― The prohibition on strip shows in 中國 Zhōng Guó has largely been ignored in recent years; now authorities have arrested two hundred in enforcing the laws. A 1989 ban on advertisements relating to sexual activity is to be modified to allow condom ads.
― The متحده مجلس عمل Mut:ahidah Maĝlis-e Camal, in power in پاکستان Pākistān’s North-West Frontier Province, has required the surrender of sex-related material, including videos, posters, and aphrodisiacs, by January 15; materials surrendered already have been publicly burnt.
― The stoning of women for adultery in ايران ’Īrān has been suspended by an order within the judiciary, but not removed from statutory law.
― A Pennsylvania superior court has ruled unanimously three times for equal treatment of gays and lesbians with regard to adoption, parenting, and child support. Three provinces have passed laws granting second-parent adoption rights, and courts in five others have done so.
― Britain’s three major parties have agreed to registration of same-sex unions with some extension of benefits.
― The ruler of Swatini, Mswati, has revived the custom umcwasho, ordering that all young women should keep a five-year period of chastity, wear traditional marks of chastity, and avoid contact with men; violators will be tried by traditional tribunals, and may face three months in prison. But Mswati has defied this policy himself. And self-appointed bands of “maidens” have begun exacting tribute under this rule. Most recently these Imbali yeMaswati regiments, led by Lungile Ndlovu, have attempted to fine the mother of a young woman abducted by Mswati to be his wife. The woman, Lindiwe Dlamini, has defied the “maidens” and taken Mswati to court to have her daughter released.
― The first openly-gay member of the כנסת Kneset in ישראל Jiśra’el has been appointed, עוזי אבן Cūzī ’Eben, for מרץ Meres. אבן ’Eben was also at the center of the decision to let gays serve openly in the military, and at the forefront of the effort for domestic-partnership benefits. Homosexuality is not criminal in ישראל Jiśra’el. Some courts have recognized rights for same-sex couples.
― The film-censorship board in भारत B‛ārat has proposed that pornographic films be permitted, in dedicated theaters. The board has traditionally taken an inconsistent hard line against the depiction of sex.
― The film-censorship board in 한국 Han Kuk has banned the drama ‘Too young to die’, for an extended scene showing sex between its elderly main characters. Three censors resigned to protest the decision.
― Provinces in northern Nigeria have begun implementing الشريعة ’al-Šarīcaĥ, and have flogged young women for pre-marital and extra-marital sex, and sentenced several to death by stoning. The sentence of one has just been upheld.
― The 20:00 drama ‘The bill’, on Britain’s ITV1, has shown two uniformed male police officers kissing.
― The US Supreme Court has struck down a law that prohibited so-called virtual pornography ― the portrayal of sexuality or nudity in those under eighteen, but produced without actual children.
― Two lesbians in Ohio have been denied the right to change their last names to a common name, in defiance of precedent clearly motivated by their sexuality.
― Women have kissed several times in primetime broadcast, though some of those were not genuine sexual kisses. Two men have kissed in primetime broadcast, twice on the WB network. ‘Once and again’ has shown two adolescent girls kissing. Long before, two men have been shown in bed together (‘Thirtysomething’). Obviously the gay storylines on ‘Ellen’ advanced television depiction of gays considerably; shows such as ‘Will and Grace’ now pass mostly without remark.
― Türkiye has removed language from a school disciplinary code that has been used to justify virginity tests of schoolgirls, which have continued despite a ban in 1999, and frequently lead to suicide of accused girls. Midwife and nursing students are still subject to such tests. Honor killings, the murder of females by their male relatives for transgressing sexual mores, still occur in Türkiye.
― السعودية ’Al-Sacūdīaĥ has sentenced a man convicted of adultery to six years in prison and 4750 lashes (in increments of 95). The woman who reported him, who was found not to have consented, was nonetheless sentenced to six months and 65 lashes.
― A pregnant Christian woman in السودان ’al-Sūdān had been sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, in accordance with الشريعة ’al-Šarīcaĥ, but an appeals court has required a resentencing. الشريعة ’Al-Šarīcaĥ is frequently applied to non-مسلمون muslimūn in السودان ’al-Sūdān, though the harshest sentences are seldom carried out.
― Adoptions and other parental rights for gays have been supported in the US by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Psychological Association.
― Women may now divorce in الاردن ’al-’Urdun:, contingent on repayment of any dowry given by the husband.
― A nurse in Portugal has been jailed for performing abortions, which are illegal.
― Per-Kristian Foss, finance minister of Norge, has married his male partner.
― The government of Venezia is establishing prostitution zones to confine the practice to specific geographical locations. Premier Silvio Berlusconi has proposed legalizing brothels instead. Prostitution in Italia is legal; living off the earnings of prostitution is not.
― The government of 한국 Han Kuk has ordered the gay-oriented internet site http://www.exzone.com/ to block access to teenagers.
― Deutschland has passed a law decreeing prostitution no longer immoral, providing increased rights to prostitutes, and legalizing employment of prostitutes.
― A man who donated sperm to a lesbian couple in Sverige has been ordered to pay child support after the couple separated, even though he legally had no rights as a parent to their three children.
― Two young lovers in उततरदेश Uttardeś from different castes have been hanged by their parents and other family members with apparent support from most of their village.
― The US movie-ratings board for the MPAA has vetoed two posters for the gay comedy ‘All over the guy’, merely for suggestiveness.
― The boy scout council for Boston has implemented a don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy for its scoutmasters, a vast improvement over the national non-tolerance policy for gays.
― A new law in Deutschland gives gay couples immigration, insurance, and inheritance equality, and legal sanction to union and common names, but not tax equality or the right to adoption.
― South African Catholic bishops have condemned condom use to prevent the spread of HIV, calling instead for abstinence and monogamy.
― A California court has given a lesbian partner the same right to sue for damages granted to a surviving spouse in a wrongful-death case.
― The sole sex shop in Kômpûciĕ has been closed a day after opening, and its owner charged with debauchery.
― A US district court has ruled that a health-care plan is discriminatory against women for failing to cover birth control.
― Klaus Wowereit, mayor of Berlin, has become the most prominent openly-gay politician in Deutschland.
― The Canadian Supreme Court has blocked the removal of accreditation from a teacher’s college which bans homosexual activity.
― Nederland and België have begun performing gay marriages; Suomi may soon do the same. Danmark, Sverige, Norge, France, and Ísland all recognize some form of civil union.
― Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, president of Pilipinas, has banned a movie, ‘Live show’, for depicting sexuality. The decision, pushed by the Roman Catholic Church and extending the definition of pornography, prompted Nicanor Tiongson, the top government censor, to resign.
― Britain has made a morning-after pill available over-the-counter, though some Conservatives are attempting to reverse that decision.
― Britain has decriminalized homosexuality in its Caribbean territories after local legislatures failed to do so.
― Nederland, where prostitution was already legal, has also legalized brothels.
― Brothels are legal in most of Australia, and prostitution is legal in Nevada.
― Same-sex unions have been sanctioned by the central council of US Reform Judaism.
― Two Southern Baptist churches in Atlanta were removed (unprecedentedly) from the Georgia Baptist Convention for their liberal stands on practicing homosexuality.
― The creation of the NC-17 rating seemed likely to destigmatize sexuality in cinema movies; but cinema and videotape-rental chains have largely blacklisted films of this rating.

Nudity:

― The US Federal Communications Commission has fined the CBS television network $550000 for the exposure of Janet Jackson’s breast during the Super Bowl broadcast.
― A member of the US Federal Communications Commission called for a stricter enforcement of decency standards after a lingerie fashion broadcast that contained no nudity.
― ישראל Jiśra’el has banned pornography on cable and satellite television, operating on a motion by the ש"ס Śa"s party, over the objections of the secular faction, represented by שינוי Śīnūī.
― The provincial government of महाराषटर Mahārāstra in भारत B‛ārat has ordered the arrest of movie actor Sonali Bendre for impiety after she appeared in a magazine-cover photograph wearing a revealing dress with हिनदू Hindū symbols.
― Britain has relaxed somewhat the content restrictions for the 18 rating, permitting more-candid depictions of sexuality, though only in “responsible, loving and developing relationships”; restrictions will be tightened for the 15 rating. The liberalization was prompted by a court rejection of a previous attempt to ban sale of certain videos.
― The parliament of Polska has passed a bill outlawing even soft-core pornography, carrying a two-year jail sentence. It has not yet become law.
― Laws prohibiting public exposure of the female breasts but not the male breasts have been found unconstitutional in the provinces of New York and Ohio; a Canadian court has ruled for similar equality.
― The US Supreme Court has rolled back protection for nude dancing with one of its typical, the-Constitution-is-whatever-we-say-it-is rulings; but another such ruling has struck down at least some restriction on cable-television pornography.
― Bare female breasts and bare buttocks of either sex are common in cinema movies. The former, though, is now a PG-13 violation, where before the PG-13 rating, it was rated PG.
― Exposure of the penis is now an R offense, establishing parity with frontal nudity of females.
― The thong has demonstrated acceptability of exposure of the female buttocks to that extent in public and on television.
― The bare buttocks of males and females now appear with some regularity in primetime broadcast, especially in the shows of Steven Bochco, and even in weekend matinee broadcasts.
― Bare breasts have appeared in late night on cable (MTV) and broadcast (PBS). Each instance was an airing of a particular episode of ‘Monty Python’s flying circus’. These are relatively-old breaches.

Drugs:

― México has officially legalized possession of 5 g of marijuana, 5 g of opium, 25 mg of heroin, 500 mg of cocaine, 100 mg of amphetamines, 200 mg of methamphetamines, 15 μg of LSD, and small amounts of hallucinogenic mushrooms and peyote. Possession was effectively decriminalized for small amounts already.
― The sale and use of tobacco has been banned in ’Brug, though not for non-resident foreigners.
― Smoking in public places has been banned in Ireland, भारत B‛ārat, and Norge; भारत B‛ārat has also banned direct or indirect advertising of tobacco and its sale to children. Nederland, California, and New York have also banned smoking in some or all public places.
― More than two thousand persons have been killed in just three months of a harsh crackdown on the drug trade in เมืองไทย Miāŋdæj. The government blames inter-gang fighting.
― An Australian court has ordered a tax refund for a drug dealer whose drug-related income was taxed without accounting for his drug-related losses.
― A marijuana grower in the US province of California has been given the minimum sentence, one day, for violating federal law; California and Oakland both have provisions for the growing of medicinal marijuana.
― A man in the US province of Texas has lost a $5 million lottery prize on the grounds that he purchased the ticket with proceeds from selling cocaine.
― The Canadian government has introduced a law decriminalizing possession of 15 g of marijuana. Hemp is already produced legally. A Senate committee has endorsed legalization. The government has begun the contracted production and direct sale of medicinal marijuana. The terminally ill will now be allowed to possess a one-month supply, and to grow it themselves or contract with someone else to grow it. And the city of Vancouver has opened a sanctioned drug-injection facility.
― A man in ايران ’Īrān has been sentenced to death for a third offense of drinking alcohol.
― Jamaica, where marijuana is widely used and often for religious purposes, is moving towards decriminalization, and towards international advocacy of decriminalization, in defiance of other states.
― A heroin-injecting center in Sydney has been found legal by an Australian court, over government objections.
― The prohibition of peyote use in the United States by non-Indians has been challenged in Utah on free-exercise grounds.
― The pilipino government practice, led by Interior Secretary Alfredo Lim, of vandalizing the houses of accused drug dealers has been ruled illegal by the judiciary.
― Many European states, particularly Nederland, have adopted liberal attitudes towards drug use, distributing clean needles to addicts and promoting methadone substitution.
― Marijuana may be sold and used openly in Nederland, and has been decriminalized in België.
― The US province of Maine is planning the state distribution of medicinal marijuana; numerous provincial electorates have approved medicinal marijuana in defiance of federal law.
 

Other:

― The Australian parliament has voted to end a ban on human cloning for research.
― Ron Bensimhon, who disrupted an Olympic diving event in Ελλάδα by jumping into the pool, has been sentenced to five months in prison for trespassing.
― The parliament of Chile has passed a bill legalizing a restricted form of divorce, which when signed will leave only Malta and Pilipinas banning divorce.
― Italia has banned artificial insemination in all but “stable” heterosexual relationships; surrogate mothers and donor sperm and eggs are also banned.
― Local officials in Malaysia have enforced numerous social-purity laws. In Ipoh, interaction between unmarried members of opposite sexes, including handholding and even conversation, have drawn legal action. Kajang prohibits public sales of pork. In Selangor, karaoke bars and beer advertisements have been targeted for government action.
― Australian physician Philip Nitschke and the group Exit Australia have introduced a suicide device that allows the self-administration of a lethal dose of carbon monoxide.
― A group of men in Kenya supporting traditional values have been stripping women naked for wearing pants in public.
― বাংলােদশী Bāŋlādeśī women have been admitted as officers in the army. ايرانى ’Īrānī women have been admitted to the police force and as spectators at football matches. كويتى Kūajtī women will be admitted to the stock exchange, but with physical separation from men. افغانى ’Afğānī women have been been licensed as drivers.
― Songs in ’Āmārañā are banned in ’Er-t-rā.
― A woman in پاکستان Pākistān who was gang-raped, by orders of a local council, as punishment for her brother’s sexual activity across caste lines, has come forward, and charges have been brought against some of the rapists.
― Militant fundamentalists in Kašmīr have posted dress codes, and have apparently killed three women in violation.
― Malaysia has announced that it will beat illegal immigrants even for a first offense. Less seriously, it has begun banning the appearance of western celebrities in advertisements as “a humiliation against Asians”.
― The European Union, which had already banned tobacco advertisements on television, has extended that to print, the internet, and international sports events. Tobacco companies are also prohibited from distributing free samples.
― Capital crimes in 中國 Zhōng Guó include violent crime, drug offenses, separatism, aiding བོད Bod border crossings, bribery, pimping, embezzlement, tax and insurance fraud, theft of gasoline, sale of harmful foodstuffs, and disruption of the stock market.
― A hundred computers belonging to cadets at the US Naval Academy have been confiscated due to the use of file-sharing software.
― Prisoners in South African jails are now being subjected to rape with the purpose of HIV infection as a form of attack.
― 新加坡 Sin Ka Pho is easing slightly its decade-old ban on chewing gum.
― ايران ’Īrān is slowly relaxing dress codes for women and girls.
― Women in Swatini have been threatened with forced public disrobing by the army if caught in trousers.
― The Svenska movie ‘Fucking Åmål’ was retitled ‘Show me love’ for release in English.
― A federal judge has upheld Oregon’s voter-approved physician-assisted-suicide law, over US Justice Department objections.
― Nederland has legalized euthanasia, the first state to do so. The law is restrictive, though past practice and some court rulings are more liberal. The legalization in België is less restrictive. The health minister of France has advocated legalizing euthanasia. Australia’s Northern Territory had such a provision overturned. Britain’s law prohibits euthanasia, but a court granted one person the right to die.
― Religious police in السعودية ’al-Sacūdīaĥ caused the death of fifteen girls fleeing a burning school by keeping them from emerging in improper dress.
― Public schools in 新加坡 Sin Ka Pho forbid مسلم muslim girls from wearing headscarves; several have been suspended.
― Women in government in Türkiye have, following a civil-disobedience protest, won the right to wear pants rather than skirts, though much of the restrictive dress code remains in place.
― اسلامى ’Islāmī militants in Kašmīr have begun enforcing dress codes upon women, threatening retribution to those dressed non-traditionally, and in some case assaulting them with paint or even acid. The militants have also forbidden beauty parlors, wine shops, and cinemas.
― A Nigerian musical event sponsored by תל-אביב Tel-’Abīb had been stifled by the central government of ישראל Jiśra’el, denying a visa to the musicians and ordering the municipality not to hold such events, deemed to legitimize illegal residency. But the supreme court acted against the government.
― Municipal leaders and officials in תל-אביב Tel-’Abīb have defied religious authorities and allowed restaurants to stay open on a holiday.
― France has adopted a draft law to ban human cloning in medical research; Britain, on the other hand, has legalized this.
― 中國 Zhōng Guó has begun another round of mass executions for things as trivial as minor theft, killing eight hundred in a three-week period.
― The US province of California is being required by a federal judge to make public the entire process of execution.
 

Language:
The television taboos relate to broadcast (here meaning commercial television available freely from radio-wave broadcasts) and cable (here meaning commercial television available for a minimal cost as part of packaged service) in the US, for which more information is available. Premium television has no operative taboos except those relating to airtime.

― Television networks have begun self-censorship in response to greatly-increased fines for indecency. The Public Broadcasting System, for example, has broadcast a censored version of an evening documentary series, when it previously provided the censored version only on request.
― ‘Fucking’ has been deemed tolerable by the Federal Communications Commission, but only because used (as by Bono at the 2003 Golden Globes awards on NBC) as an emphatic modifier. The FCC chair is appealing the ruling; Congress is threatening to overturn it. ‘Shit’ and ‘fucking’ were also broadcast from an awards show by Fox, though it has pledged not to repeat the move.
― ‘Fuck’ has been used numerous times, in ‘Saving Private Ryan’, shown starting at 20:00; but the third showing, on US Veterans Day, was not carried by tens of ABC affiliates, fearing indecency penalties.
― ‘Bitch’ and ‘ass’ are now commonplace in primetime broadcast, and ‘asshole’ has now begun to appear.
― ‘Shit’ has appeared in a 21:00 drama (‘Chicago Hope’). The word routinely appears in mainstream US radio broadcasts during the day, as do ‘bitch’, ‘ass’, and ‘asshole’.
― Technical names for body parts, such as ‘penis’ and ‘vagina’, are widely used.
― Profanity, or language deemed unacceptable for religious reasons, is widely used. (‘Hell’, ‘God’, ‘Jesus’, ‘damn’ are examples.) However, a broadcast edit of ‘Stand by me’ censors the word ‘Jesus’ from the final scene (a visual edit).
― Numerous words and expressions, primarily relating to sexuality, that are accepted in public discourse are nonetheless routinely censored from broadcast and cable.

Other monitoring sites:

Free expression - monitored by Index on Censorship
Press freedom - monitored by Reporters sans frontières
Abortion laws in the world - monitored by Women on Waves
Sexual age of consent - monitored by Age of Consent
Lesbians in the media - monitored by After Ellen
Laws relating to gays and lesbians - monitored by GayLawNet
US marijuana laws and European marijuana laws - monitored by NORML

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