Free Britney?

Britney Spears’s fight to end her conservatorship. An experimental brain surgery that could treat substance use disorders. And the forced closure of a Hong Kong newspaper. 

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On Wednesday, Britney Spears made a rare statement on her own behalf to a Los Angeles court requesting that the conservatorship that has taken her finances and lifestyle out of her own control for more than a decade be terminated. Ashley Fetters on Spears’s fight for freedom.

Can an experimental brain surgery help treat substance abuse disorders? Lenny Bernstein reports on the deep brain stimulation that surgeons are using to battle addiction.

Apple Daily, a pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong, ceased operations this week after the government froze its assets and arrested top editors. Shibhani Mahtani on China’s move to close the free press. 

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