BEIJING: US financial news service Bloomberg said Friday that Chinese authorities have detained one of its Beijing-based news assistants on what they said was suspicion of endangering national security.
Bloomberg reported that Chinese citizen Haze Fan was seen being taken from her apartment building accompanied by security officers in plain clothes at about noon on Monday, shortly after her last contact with her editors.
It quoted a Chinese government statement as saying Fan was detained by the Beijing branch of the National Security Bureau “according to relevant Chinese law on suspicion of engaging in criminal activities that jeopardize national security.”
China permits Chinese citizens to work only as translators, researchers and assistants for foreign news organizations, not as registered journalists able to report independently. China’s own media are almost entirely state owned and tightly controlled, and the country has long been one of the leading jailers of journalists.
Bloomberg said it has been seeking information about Fan’s whereabouts from the Chinese government and from China’s embassy in Washington, D.C.
It said its parent company, Bloomberg LP, was informed Thursday that she was being held on suspicion of endangering national security, a vaguely defined charge that can lead to lengthy detention with little recourse to legal assistance.
“We are very concerned for her, and have been actively speaking to Chinese authorities to better understand the situation. We are continuing to do everything we can to support her while we seek more information,” a Bloomberg spokesperson was quoted as saying in the report.
Fan began working for Bloomberg in 2017 after stints with a number of other foreign news organizations in China, the company said.
China has detained news assistants in the past over reports that angered the ruling Communist Party, and authorities have also sought to punish foreign media more generally by limiting their operations, expelling journalists or issuing them only short-term visas.
China this year expelled journalists from The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and other American outlets amid complaints over content and moves by the US to send home dozens of Chinese journalists working for state media.
Bloomberg saw its business in financial information suffer in China several years ago in apparent retaliation for its reporting on the personal financial dealings of leading Chinese officials.
Chinese authorities detain Bloomberg news assistant
Chinese authorities detain Bloomberg news assistant
Israeli court overturns conviction of officer who assaulted Palestinian journalist, citing ‘Oct. 7 PTSD’
- Judge sentenced Yitzhak Sofer to 300 hours of community service, saying officer “devoted his life to Israel’s security” and conviction was “disproportionate to severity of his actions”
- Footage shows Sofer throwing photojournalist Mustafa Alkharouf to the ground, and repeatedly beating and kicking him while he covered Palestinian gatherings near Al-Aqsa Mosque
LONDON: An Israeli court overturned the conviction of a border police officer who assaulted a Palestinian journalist, ruling his actions were influenced by post-traumatic stress disorder from serving during the Oct. 7 2023 attacks.
On Tuesday, the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court sentenced officer Yitzhak Sofer to 300 hours of community service for assaulting Anadolu Agency photojournalist Mustafa Alkharouf in occupied East Jerusalem in December 2023.
Footage shows Sofer and other officers drawing weapons, throwing Alkharouf to the ground, and repeatedly beating and kicking him while he covered Palestinian gatherings near Al-Aqsa Mosque amid heavy restrictions.
Alkharouf was hospitalized with facial and body injuries. His cameraman, Faiz Abu Ramila, was also attacked.
Anadolu photojournalist Mustafa Alkharouf violently attacked by Israeli army in occupied East Jerusalem while covering Palestinian prayers near Al-Aqsa Mosque
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) December 15, 2023
Incident highlights ongoing restrictions on Friday prayers and press freedom in region https://t.co/exT6XqjEaA pic.twitter.com/pqugK9HnOt
Sofer had been convicted in September 2024 of assault causing bodily harm (acquitted of threats) and initially faced six months’ community service, as recommended by Mahash, the Justice Ministry’s police misconduct unit.
Judge Amir Shaked accepted the defense request to cancel the conviction, replacing it with community service.
He cited Sofer’s PTSD from responding to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack, noting the officer had “no prior criminal record” and had “devoted his life to Israel’s security.”
“The court cannot ignore this when considering whether the defendant’s conviction should stand,” he said, adding that while the incident is “serious and does cross the criminal threshold,” the conviction in place could cause Sofer harm “disproportionate to the severity of his actions.”
The ruling comes amid surging attacks on journalists in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza since Israel’s war on Gaza began.
The Committee to Protect Journalists reported Israel responsible for two-thirds of the 129 media workers killed worldwide in 2025, the deadliest year on record, citing a “persistent culture of impunity” and lack of transparent probes.
Reporters Without Borders called the Israeli army the “worst enemy of journalists” in its 2025 report, with nearly half of global reporter deaths in Gaza.
Foreign journalists face raids, arrests and intimidation. In late January 2026, Israel’s Supreme Court granted a delay on ruling a ban on foreign media access to Gaza.
