Material from Team Observers.

In a country where the media is completely state-owned, this young Cuban blogger is extremely brave. In this post, she talks about the release of the Academy Award-winning German film, ‘The Lives of Others'. Set in Communist East Germany in the mid-1980s, the film tells the story of a Stasi agent assigned to monitor an East-German playwright suspected of subversive intellectual pursuits. The film details the alarming efficiency of the East German snooping machinery, including bugs planted in apartments and around-the-clock monitoring of a suspect's private life.

But for Yoani, the film is not so much about ‘the lives of others' as it is the lives of people she knows - as well as her own - in Castro's Cuba. Read more.

Post your questions to Yoani Sánchez.

Tensions in Georgia reached boiling point on Wednesday 7 when President Mikhail Saakashvili declared a state of emergency following riot police clashes with demonstrators. The same day, the television station Imedi was shut down by the police for airing opposition speeches. Photos of the ransacked office are circulating online and bloggers are expressing their concerns about the presidents dictatorial moves.