Hong Kong, Libya, Egypt.

Today's three stories you should know.

Dec 29, 2021

Hong Kong

Yet another media organization has been forced to shut down in Hong Kong. Stand News, a prominent pro-democracy news website, said in a statement that it was closing after upwards of 200 police raided its offices and arrested six staff for “conspiracy to publish seditious publications.” According to local reports, editor-in-chief Patrick Lam was among those arrested. The Stand statement said Lam had resigned and all the website’s staff had been dismissed. China has now all but dismantled democracy in Hong Kong, which was supposed to remain autonomous for 50 years after the British handed the former colony back to Beijing in 1997.

Libya

As signposted in several editions of Proximities, a presidential election in Libya, which was scheduled for December 24, was never likely to go ahead. The announcement that an election would take place had brought hope to many Libyans after a decade of chaos since Muammar Gaddafi was killed in 2011. The Associated Press news agency today published an interesting explainer on the failed election bid. It’s worth your time if you’d like to learn more about where Libya stands today.

Egypt

An advertisement for French carmaker Citroen has been criticized in Egypt for appearing to normalize sexual harassment. In the ad, pop star Amr Diab ogles a woman crossing the street before using a camera on the car to take her picture. The woman is later seen sitting in the Citroen with him. Egyptian women slammed the ad on social media, with several pointing out the dangers of depicting a figure like Diab taking photos of a woman without her consent in a country already rife with harassment. A UN study in 2013 found that 99.3 percent of women and girls in Egypt had experienced some form of sexual harassment. That same study reported that 82.6 percent of women did not feel safe when walking the streets.