After years of house arrest and harassment, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei passport allows him to travel | Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles

“Today, I got my passport.” It’s a phrase that dissident Chinese performance and visual artist Ai Weiwei has been waiting to deliver for four years, since he was detained and barred in 2011 from traveling outside of Beijing. Ai confirmed via an Instagram selfie on Wednesday, scarlet passport in hand, that Chinese authorities had granted him…

Dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has gotten back his passport four years after it was confiscated by Beijing authorities and plans to attend a London exhibition in September. The artist and government critic posted an Instagram photo on Wednesday of himself holding a Chinese passport with the caption, “Today, I got my passport.” Ai’s representative confirmed…

Editor’s note: This is Chatter, our morning rundown of what you need and want to know around the world. Fortunately for us all, you can have Chatter emailed to you every day. Just sign up here! NEED TO KNOW: Chinese police have returned to the Chinese artist and dissident, Ai Weiwei, his passport. It only took…