China will liberalize restrictions on coverage by foreign journalists ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, the government announced Friday. A government decree said foreign reporters, whether assigned here permanently or visiting for the Olympics, will be allowed to roam most of the country freely and report without interference by local police or propaganda officials from Jan. 1, 2007, until Oct. 17, 2008. The Games are in August 2008. That marked a significant watershed for China, where information has long been treated as government property.
Britain: Smoking ban to take effect
A ban on smoking in movie theaters, shopping malls, pubs and other public places in England will take effect July 1, the government said Friday. Prime Minister Tony Blair has said the ban is aimed at aiding Britain’s smokers to quit and part of a wider drive to improve public health. Government statistics compiled in 2004 found that about one in four adult Britons smokes regularly. The measure extends England’s no smoking law to public places such as cinemas, offices, factories. A similar ban will take effect in Wales on April 2.
Afghanistan: Opium crops surge
Opium production in Afghanistan, which provides more than 90 percent of the world’s heroin, broke all records in 2006, reaching a historic high despite ongoing U.S.-sponsored eradication efforts, the Bush administration reported Friday. In addition to a 26 percent production increase over past year – for a total of 5,644 metric tons – the amount of land under cultivation in opium poppies grew by 61 percent. Cultivation in the two main production provinces, Helmand and Oruzgan, was up by 132 percent.
From Herald news services
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