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Adrift in a Sea of PhlegmIn regime using torture, occupies Tibet, threatens Taiwan, attacks human rights, uses fake legal system and gulags to "Re-educate Through Labour", gaols most journalists, blocks sites warning about deadly epidemics: all part of the Olympic Charter
June 27 Control, halt, delete By Joseph Menn, Richard Waters and Kathrin Hille
This week, an open letter appeared on Chinese blogs and online bulletin boards. “Hello, internet censorship institutions of the Chinese government,” it said. “We are the anonymous netizens. We hereby decide that from July 1 2009, we will start a full-scale global attack on all censorship systems you control.” Beijing’s attempts to manipulate the internet would, the message predicted, “soon be swept on to the rubbish pile of history”. Chinese internet users, although skilled at dodging the censors, are angrier than they have ever been. The anonymous declaration of war is just one sign of the strains emerging as the global spread of internet access, and its embrace by activists of all stripes, triggers an unprecedented crackdown by national governments that threatens to transform the way hundreds of millions of people communicate. China is trying to force censorship software on to every new personal computer, while Iran succeeded this week in virtually eliminating the spread over the internet of first-hand accounts from protests in the streets at the handling of its presidential election. That stifling of web freedoms that many people around the world take for granted are being accompanied by more novel means of combating cyber opponents. Those methods range from directing stealthy technological attacks that shut down dissident websites to unleashing swarms of paid commentators to argue the government position on supposedly independent blogs. Both carry the added attraction of deniability: many regimes are employing advanced repressive techniques that are hard to identify in action, let alone circumvent. At a time when new communication technologies, from text messaging to Twitter, promise to put greater power in the hands of the individual, these techniques are having a chilling effect. Internet experts from more open societies fear that this will lead to greater self-censorship by organisations and individuals, which they see as the most effective tool of all. Even the optimists warn of setbacks. “In the end, the winners of the race are most likely to be citizens and activists who use these technologies for democratic purposes,” says John Palfrey of Harvard University, an authority on internet filtering. But he adds: “With respect to individual battles, the states that practise censorship and surveillance are winning some of them.” The number of such states is in the dozens, researchers say. In Burma and Moldova, governments recently resorted to pulling the plug on mobile phone networks amid unrest magnified by text messages; in Uzbekistan, there is widespread suspicion of internet monitoring but few ways to prove it. That is despite the fact that a lot of the surveillance and security software in the hands of governments across the world comes from western suppliers. In what is by its nature among the most globalised of industries, technology companies are seeing a revenue boost from governmental interest in data mining, search and storage products, though they periodically draw fire from activists for assisting repressive states. No country has been as thoroughly policed through as many means as China, which has long been on the cutting edge of censorship. Now, Beijing is trying to cement its control with a decree that from July 1, all computers sold in the country must come with a program called Green Dam/Youth Escort, which the government says will be used to block access to pornography sites. Dell, Hewlett-Packard and other computer makers are protesting and have won the support of US trade officials, who are threatening to bring the matter to the World Trade Organisation. “Green Dam will be a game-changer, if in fact it goes into effect,” says Harvard’s Mr Palfrey. “The desktop is the last bastion of personal freedom. It would change the way people use these devices in extraordinary ways.” Beijing has for years blocked many sites by setting up filters on the country’s largest internet backbones, using a method nicknamed the Great Firewall of China. The central government has more recently heaped additional blocking and monitoring responsibilities on to internet service providers, web companies and local censors, all of which have been upgrading the technology they use. TRS, a Chinese supplier of internet security products, says growing numbers of police departments are replacing their traditional search engine-based efforts with state-of-the-art data mining applications, which are capable of analysing large bodies of information. All this has its limits. “Controlling public networks is very, very difficult,” says Tony Yuan, chief executive of Netentsec, another Chinese security provider. “Bandwidth and traffic are huge, so normally you don’t have the computing power.” But the latest effort by China’s central authorities takes them further still, to the PCs that stand at the edge of the network. It is not clear they will succeed. The computer makers and US government are being joined in their opposition by security researchers who have identified flaws in Green Dam that could allow third parties to take control of PCs. Even if the blanket order is delayed, circumvented or quietly forgotten, the Chinese government has already gained access to many PCs. Earlier this year, Beijing made the bundling of Green Dam a precondition for eligibility of PCs in its subsidy programme for PC sales to rural residents. In May, it ordered all schools to install the program. “I would estimate that we’re already looking at more than 10m computers in China with Green Dam installed,” says an executive at a Beijing internet portal company. An estimated 300m Chinese have online access. Though the more determined among them are likely to find ways around Green Dam, many may not even try to defy the message of disapproval being sent by Beijing. Some of the surveillance and censorship technology in Iran and China is home-grown but much of it is western. Nokia Siemens Networks, a joint venture between the two European companies, says, for example, that it was required to sell Iran equipment for monitoring phone calls as part of a contract for a communications network. Cisco has periodically come under fire for selling its routers to China but says the same equipment is used in both open and closed internet systems. Under laws in the US and elsewhere, telecommunications companies must make it easy for law enforcement agencies to conduct authorised wiretaps – and equipment providers say they cannot shut that capability off depending on the customer. Collection, in fact, is no longer so much the problem: analysing the masses of data is a bigger issue, as is massaging search technology to look for more than simple keywords that alarm officials, such as “Tibet” and “democracy”. That technology is becoming much better – spurred in part by the increasing global attention to cyber security. Notably, the US defence department this week approved a new military cyber command that will answer to the National Security Agency, which in recent years has been exposed for mining Americans’ e-mail without warrants. Concerns about pernicious criminal software and “denial of service” attacks, which have shut government websites in Estonia and elsewhere with bombardments of useless data, have prompted further efforts to scrutinise internet traffic. But according to some researchers, technologies developed to counter insidious attacks such as these will only serve to advance the techniques of information control – to the eventual detriment of future mass revolts against oppressive political forces. “If security starts becoming job one, then a lot of things being used by repressive states will become commercialised and normalised,” says Rafal Rohozinski, a founder of the OpenNet Initiative, which tracks filtering. “We’ll be doing the same thing as Iran, or using the same technologies. And that’s what I worry about.” FASCIST TECHNIQUES How curbs on net users work: Internet filters Method: Set up on the main conduits of the internet, known as backbones, these software filters block traffic from websites on a proscribed list.
Denial of service attacks Toeing the party line
Edge-of-network restrictions Example: China’s Green Dam/Youth Escort software. June 23 List of China Modern Torture Methods:1. Burning Journalist Yu Dongyue reportedly loses his mind after being tortured Reporters
Without Borders called today on European Commission President Jos
Manuel Barroso to use the upcoming EU - China Summit to urge the
Chinese authorities to free journalist Yu Dongyue after reports that he
has gone insane as a result of being tortured in prison. The worldwide
press freedom organisation expressed shock at the news, which came from
another Chinese dissident and friend, who said Yu had been tortured and
harassed by his guards. "Very lengthy imprisonment of dissidents is a
feature of the repression in China and it is vital that this should be
raised at the Summit," it said. "The release last week of journalist and dissident Liu Jingsheng is sadly eclipsed by the plight of Yu, whose situation shows that ill-treatment continues in China's prisons despite the government's efforts to hide its terrible human rights record." Dissident Lu Decheng, who demonstrated at the time of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, recently told Radio Free Asia after escaping from China that he had visited Yu in prison and that he was "barely recognisable." He had "a totally dull look in his eyes, kept repeating words over and over as if he was chanting a matra. He didn't recognise anyone," Lu said. (boxun.com) "He had a big scar on the right side of his head. A fellow prisoner said Yu had been tied to a electricity pole and left out in the hot sun for several days. He was also kept in solitary confinement for two years and that was what broke him." Lu appealed to the international community to press for his release. "He is not getting any medical treatment and his condition may worsen," he said. Yu, a journalist and art critic with Liuyang News, was arrested on 23 May 1989 during the Tiananmen Square student protests after he, Lu and others defaced the giant portrait of Mao Zedong that overlooks the square. Yu was convicted on 11 July that year of "sabotage" and "making counter-revolutionary propaganda" and sentenced by the Beijing Intermediate People's Court to 20 years in prison and five years loss of civic rights. He was accused of writing articles about freedom of _expression and having very daring ideas about art. His sentence was cut by two years in March 2000 but he is not due for release until 21 May 2007. January 06 Number arrested in China for 'endangering state security' soarsChina arrested almost 1,300 people on state security charges in the restive north-western region of Xinjiang last year, state press has reported.
The figure, which was announced at an official meeting in late December, is nearly double the total of similar arrests for the whole of China in 2007. It has startled outside experts who say the figure has yet to be verified.
About half of Xinjiang's 19 million inhabitants are Uighur Muslims, who complain that the central authorities have stripped them of religious and cultural freedoms.
Xinjiang officials refused to comment when the Guardian asked if the figures were correct.
Nicholas Bequelin, an expert on Xinjiang at Human Rights Watch, said: "The numbers are so incredibly high that this would be a real turning point [if correct]. It is possible they are talking about the total number of convictions under the campaign against the 'three evil forces', including things such as illegal religious assembly. About half the state security arrests in previous years were from Xinjiang; that was already high." He added that the antiseparatist campaign weighed heavy on Uighurs. "It's not a yellow line that you should not cross … they have to positively demonstrate their opposition to separatism; they have to say so publicly in meetings and study sessions."
Critics accuse the authorities of using claims of terrorism to suppress peaceful support for independence and wider expressions of cultural identity in Xinjiang over decades.
But restrictions have tightened noticeably. During Ramadan last year several areas ordered officials to deter mass prayers or banned government employees and Communist party members from fasting, wearing veils or growing beards.
Last spring the US-based Dui Hua Foundation, which intervenes on behalf of Chinese detainees, reported that nationwide arrests for endangering state security rose to 742 in 2007 – the highest number for eight years. It added that political arrests had doubled between 2005 and 2006.
The foundation said the charge, which replaced that of "counter-revolution" following legal reforms in the 90s, was primarily aimed at suppressing political dissent.
State media reported today that the authorities had fined three British geology students 20,000 yuan (£2,000) for "illegal map-making activities" in Xinjiang. The students, from Imperial College London, had been researching fault lines with the permission of China's Earthquake Administration. January 04 Charter 08Charter 8The document below, signed by over three hundred prominent Chinese citizens, was conceived and written in conscious admiration of the founding of Charter 77 in Czechoslovakia, where, in January 1977, more than two hundred Czech and Slovak intellectuals formed a loose, informal, and open association of people... united by the will to strive individually and collectively for respect for human and civil rights in our country and throughout the world.
The Chinese document calls not for ameliorative reform of the current political system but for an end to some of its essential features, including one-party rule, and their replacement with a system based on human rights and democracy.
The prominent citizens who have signed the document are from both outside and inside the government, and include not only well-known dissidents and intellectuals, but also middle-level officials and rural leaders. They have chosen December 10, the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as the day on which to express their political ideas and to outline their vision of a constitutional, democratic China. They intend "Charter 08" to serve as a blueprint for fundamental political change in China in the years to come. The signers of the document will form an informal group, open-ended in size but united by a determination to promote democratization and protection of human rights in China and beyond.
On December 8 two prominent signers of the Charter, Zhang Zuhua and Liu Xiaobo, were detained by the police. Zhang Zuhua has since been released; as of December 9, Liu Xiabo remains in custody.
I. Foreword
A hundred years have passed since the writing of China's first constitution. 2008 also marks the sixtieth anniversary of the promulgation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the thirtieth anniversary of the appearance of Democracy Wall in Beijing, and the tenth of China's signing of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. We are approaching the twentieth anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre of pro-democracy student protesters. The Chinese people, who have endured human rights disasters and uncountable struggles across these same years, now include many who see clearly that freedom, equality, and human rights are universal values of humankind and that democracy and constitutional government are the fundamental framework for protecting these values. By departing from these values, the Chinese government's approach to "modernization" has proven disastrous. It has stripped people of their rights, destroyed their dignity, and corrupted normal human intercourse. So we ask: Where is China headed in the twenty-first century? Will it continue with "modernization" under authoritarian rule, or will it embrace universal human values, join the mainstream of civilized nations, and build a democratic system? There can be no avoiding these questions.
The shock of the Western impact upon China in the nineteenth century laid bare a decadent authoritarian system and marked the beginning of what is often called "the greatest changes in thousands of years" for China. A "self-strengthening movement" followed, but this aimed simply at appropriating the technology to build gunboats and other Western material objects. China's humiliating naval defeat at the hands of Japan in 1895 only confirmed the obsolescence of China's system of government. The first attempts at modern political change came with the ill-fated summer of reforms in 1898, but these were cruelly crushed by ultraconservatives at China's imperial court. With the revolution of 1911, which inaugurated Asia's first republic, the authoritarian imperial system that had lasted for centuries was finally supposed to have been laid to rest. But social conflict inside our country and external pressures were to prevent it; China fell into a patchwork of warlord fiefdoms and the new republic became a fleeting dream.
The failure of both "self-strengthening" and political renovation caused many of our forebears to reflect deeply on whether a "cultural illness" was afflicting our country. This mood gave rise, during the May Fourth Movement of the late 1910s, to the championing of "science and democracy." Yet that effort, too, foundered as warlord chaos persisted and the Japanese invasion [beginning in Manchuria in 1931] brought national crisis.
Victory over Japan in 1945 offered one more chance for China to move towardmodern government, but the Communist defeat of the Nationalists in the civil war thrust the nation into the abyss of totalitarianism. The "new China" that emerged in 1949 proclaimed that "the people are sovereign" but in fact set up a system in which "the Party is all-powerful." The Communist Party of China seized control of all organs of the state and all political, economic, and social resources, and, using these, has produced a long trail of human rights disasters, including, among many others, the Anti-Rightist Campaign (1957), the Great Leap Forward (1958-1960), the Cultural Revolution (1966-1969), the June Fourth (Tiananmen Square) Massacre (1989), and the current repression of all unauthorized religions and the suppression of the weiquan rights movement [a movement that aims to defend citizens' rights promulgated in the Chinese Constitution and to fight for human rights recognized by international conventions that the Chinese government has signed]. During all this, the Chinese people have paid a gargantuan price. Tens of millions have lost their lives, and several generations have seen their freedom, their happiness, and their human dignity cruelly trampled. During the last two decades of the twentieth century the government policy of "Reform and Opening" gave the Chinese people relief from the pervasive poverty and totalitarianism of the Mao Zedong era and brought substantial increases in the wealth and living standards of many Chinese as well as a partial restoration of economic freedom and economic rights. Civil society
In 1998 the Chinese government signed two important international human rights conventions; in 2004 it amended its constitution to include the phrase "respect and protect human rights"; and this year, 2008, it has promised to promote a "national human rights action plan." Unfortunately most of this political progress has extended no further than the paper on which it is written. The political reality, which is plain for anyone to see, is that China has many laws but no rule of law; it has a constitution but no constitutional government. The ruling elite continues to cling to its authoritarian power and fights off any move toward political change. The stultifying results are endemic official corruption, an undermining of the rule of law, weak human rights, decay in public ethics, crony capitalism, growing inequality between the wealthy and the poor, pillage of the natural environment as well as of the human and historical environments, and the exacerbation of a long list of social conflicts, especially, in recent times, a sharpening animosity between officials and ordinary people.
As these conflicts and crises grow ever more intense, and as the ruling elite continues with impunity to crush and to strip away the rights of citizens to freedom, to property, and to the pursuit of happiness, we see the powerless in our society-the vulnerable groups, the people who have been suppressed and monitored, who have suffered cruelty and even torture, and who have had no adequate avenues for their protests, no courts to hear their
II. Our Fundamental Principles
This is a historic moment for China, and our future hangs in the balance. In reviewing the political modernization process of the past hundred years or more, we reiterate and endorse basic universal values as follows:
Freedom. Freedom is at the core of universal human values. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, freedom in where to live, and the freedoms to strike, to demonstrate, and to protest, among others, are the forms that freedom takes. Without freedom, China will always remain far from civilized ideals.
Human rights. Human rights are not bestowed by a state. Every person is born with inherent rights to dignity and freedom. The government exists for the protection of the human rights of its citizens. The exercise of state power must be authorized by the people. The succession of political disasters in China's recent history is a direct consequence of the ruling regime's disregard for human rights.
Equality. The integrity, dignity, and freedom of every person-regardless of social station, occupation, sex, economic condition, ethnicity, skin color, religion, or political belief-are the same as those of any other. Principles of equality before the law and equality of social, economic, cultural, civil, and political rights must be upheld.
Republicanism. Republicanism, which holds that power should be balanced among different branches of government and competing interests should be served, resembles the traditional Chinese political ideal of "fairness in all under heaven." It allows different interest groups and social assemblies, and people with a variety of cultures and beliefs, to exercise democratic self-government and to deliberate in order to reach peaceful
Democracy. The most fundamental principles of democracy are that the people are sovereign and the people select their government. Democracy has these characteristics: (1) Political power begins with the people and the
Constitutional rule. Constitutional rule is rule through a legal system and legal regulations to implement principles that are spelled out in a constitution. It means protecting the freedom and the rights of citizens, limiting and defining the scope of legitimate government power, and providing the administrative apparatus necessary to serve these ends.
III. What We Advocate
Authoritarianism is in general decline throughout the world; in China, too, the era of emperors and overlords is on the way out. The time is arriving everywhere for citizens to be masters of states. For China the path that leads out of our current predicament is to divest ourselves of the authoritarian notion of reliance on an "enlightened overlord" or an "honest official" and to turn instead toward a system of liberties, democracy, and the rule of law, and toward fostering the consciousness of modern citizens who see rights as fundamental and participation as a duty. Accordingly, and in a spirit of this duty as responsible and constructive citizens, we offer the following recommendations on national governance, citizens' rights, and social development:
1. A New Constitution. We should recast our present constitution, rescinding its provisions that contradict the principle that sovereignty resides with the people and turning it into a document that genuinely guarantees human rights, authorizes the exercise of public power, and serves as the legal underpinning of China's democratization. The constitution must be the highest law in the land, beyond violation by any individual, group, or political party.
2. Separation of powers. We should construct a modern government in which the separation of legislative, judicial, and executive power is guaranteed. We need an Administrative Law that defines the scope of government responsibility and prevents abuse of administrative power. Government should be responsible to taxpayers. Division of power between provincial governments and the central government should adhere to the principle that central powers are only those specifically granted by the constitution and all other powers belong to the local governments.
3. Legislative democracy. Members of legislative bodies at all levels should be chosen by direct election, and legislative democracy should observe just and impartial principles.
4. An Independent Judiciary. The rule of law must be above the interests ofany particular political party and judges must be independent. We need to establish a constitutional supreme court and institute procedures for constitutional review. As soon as possible, we should abolish all of the Committees on Political and Legal Affairs that now allow Communist Party officials at every level to decide politically-sensitive cases in advance and out of court. We should strictly forbid the use of public offices for private purposes.
5. Public Control of Public Servants. The military should be made answerable to the national government, not to a political party, and should be made more professional. Military personnel should swear allegiance to the constitution and remain nonpartisan. Political party organizations shall be prohibited in the military. All public officials including police should serve as nonpartisans, and the current practice of favoring one political party in the hiring of public servants must end.
6. Guarantee of Human Rights. There shall be strict guarantees of human rights and respect for human dignity. There should be a Human Rights Committee, responsible to the highest legislative body, that will prevent
7. Election of Public Officials. There shall be a comprehensive system of democratic elections based on "one person, one vote." The direct election of administrative heads at the levels of county, city, province, and nation should be systematically implemented. The rights to hold periodic free elections and to participate in them as a citizen are inalienable.
8. Rural-Urban Equality. The two-tier household registry system must be abolished. This system favors urban residents and harms rural residents. We should establish instead a system that gives every citizen the same constitutional rights and the same freedom to choose where to live.
9. Freedom to Form Groups. The right of citizens to form groups must be guaranteed. The current system for registering nongovernment groups, which requires a group to be "approved," should be replaced by a system in which a group simply registers itself. The formation of political parties should be governed by the constitution and the laws, which means that we must abolish the special privilege of one party to monopolize power and must guarantee principles of free and fair competition among political parties.
10. Freedom to Assemble. The constitution provides that peaceful assembly,demonstration, protest, and freedom of expression are fundamental rights of a citizen. The ruling party and the government must not be permitted to subject these to illegal interference or unconstitutional obstruction.
11. Freedom of Expression. We should make freedom of speech, freedom of thepress, and academic freedom universal, thereby guaranteeing that citizens can be informed and can exercise their right of political supervision. These freedoms should be upheld by a Press Law that abolishes political restrictions on the press. The provision in the current Criminal Law that refers to "the crime of incitement to subvert state power" must be abolished. We should end the practice of viewing words as crimes.
12. Freedom of Religion. We must guarantee freedom of religion and belief and institute a separation of religion and state. There must be no governmental interference in peaceful religious activities. We should abolish any laws, regulations, or local rules that limit or suppress the religious freedom of citizens. We should abolish the current system that requires religious groups (and their places of worship) to get official approval in advance and substitute for it a system in which registry is optional and, for those who choose to register, automatic.
13. Civic Education. In our schools we should abolish political curriculumsand examinations that are designed to indoctrinate students in state ideology and to instill support for the rule of one party. We should replace them with civic education that advances universal values and citizens'rights, fosters civic consciousness, and promotes civic virtues that serve society.
14. Protection of Private Property. We should establish and protect theright to private property and promote an economic system of free and fair markets. We should do away with government monopolies in commerce and
15. Financial and Tax Reform. We should establish a democratically regulated and accountable system of public finance that ensures the protection of taxpayer rights and that operates through legal procedures. We need a system by which public revenues that belong to a certain level of government-central, provincial, county or local-are controlled at that level. We need major tax reform that will abolish any unfair taxes, simplify the tax system, and spread the tax burden fairly. Government officials should not be able to raise taxes, or institute new ones, without public deliberation and the approval of a democratic assembly. We should reform the ownership system in order to encourage competition among a wider variety of market participants.
16. Social Security. We should establish a fair and adequate social security system that covers all citizens and ensures basic access to education, health care, retirement security, and employment.
17. Protection of the Environment. We need to protect the natural environment and to promote development in a way that is sustainable and responsible to our descendents and to the rest of humanity. This means insisting that the state and its officials at all levels not only do what they must do to achieve these goals, but also accept the supervision and participation of non-governmental organizations.
18. A Federated Republic. A democratic China should seek to act as a responsible major power contributing toward peace and development in the Asian Pacific region by approaching others in a spirit of equality and fairness. In Hong Kong and Macao, we should support the freedoms that already exist. With respect to Taiwan, we should declare our commitment to the principles of freedom and democracy and then, negotiating as equals, and ready to compromise, seek a formula for peaceful unification. We should approach disputes in the national-minority areas of China with an open mind, seeking ways to find a workable framework within which all ethnic and religious groups can flourish. We should aim ultimately at a federation of democratic communities of China.
19. Truth in Reconciliation. We should restore the reputations of all people, including their family members, who suffered political stigma in the political campaigns of the past or who have been labeled as criminals because of their thought, speech, or faith. The state should pay reparations to these people. All political prisoners and prisoners of conscience must be released. There should be a Truth Investigation Commission charged with finding the facts about past injustices and atrocities, determining responsibility for them, upholding justice, and, on these bases, seeking social reconciliation.
China, as a major nation of the world, as one of five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and as a member of the UN Council on Human Rights, should be contributing to peace for humankind and progress toward human rights. Unfortunately, we stand today as the only country among the major nations that remains mired in authoritarian politics. Our political system continues to produce human rights disasters and social crises, thereby not only constricting China's own development but also limiting the progress of all of human civilization. This must change, truly it must. The democratization of Chinese politics can be put off no longer.
Accordingly, we dare to put civic spirit into practice by announcing Charter 08. We hope that our fellow citizens who feel a similar sense of crisis, responsibility, and mission, whether they are inside the government or not, and regardless of their social status, will set aside small differences to embrace the broad goals of this citizens' movement. Together we can work for major changes in Chinese society and for the rapid establishment of a free, democratic, and constitutional country. We can bring to reality the goals and ideals that our people have incessantly been seeking for more than a hundred years, and can bring a brilliant new chapter to Chinese YES to Charter 08! Time for the Counter-Revolution in ChinaCharter 08's call for democracy is being repressed to further gag parents of tainted milk children and Sichuan quake victimsThe fascists here have launched a tough countrywide crackdown on a new network of political activists, writers and lawyers who have supported a bold new manifesto that presses for the end of one-party rule. The group of 300 or so people had all signed Charter 08, which called for democracy and the rule of law in China and was named after the famous Charter 77 dissident group formed in cold war Czechoslovakia. Charter 08 has been hailed as the most significant act of public dissent against China's Communist party since the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests were brutally crushed in 1989. It was posted online on 10 December, the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It condemned recent economic modernisation efforts as having "stripped people of their rights", and called for political reform and a new liberal, democratic constitution. However, Beijing has reacted by gaoling some of Charter 08's public supporters. At least 70 of the original signatories have been summoned or interrogated by the police. Prominent dissident Liu Xiaobo has been put under house arrest. The writer Wen Kejian has been detained in the resort city of Hangzhou, close to Shanghai. Police have also ransacked the Beijing home of Zhang Zuhua, one of the main authors of the charter, confiscating his passport as well as his computers, books and notebooks.
The hard line of the Chinese authorities comes after the success of the Beijing Olympics last summer. But any hopes held by pro-democracy activists that the event would soften the ruling party's stance on dissent have now been crushed. The party has long tolerated riotous economic freedom as China has opened up to capitalism, but has twinned that with an iron fist when it comes to political activities. It seems that the stance has not changed. The central propaganda department has warned all domestic media not to interview or write articles about anyone who signed Charter 08. All mention of the document is barred from emails, websites and search engines. According to Amnesty International, Beijiing considers the charter a "counter-revolutionary platform", which lays the basis for future arrests of its supporters. Beijing has also used the launch of the charter to crack down on citizens who have campaigned against other abuses, widening the scope of its moves to crush dissent. Zhao Lianhai, who had organised parents of children affected by the recent tainted milk scandal, had been picked up police in Beijing. At the same time, parents of children who died in a collapsed school during the Sichuan earthquake last year have been told to stop talking to foreign journalists. But it is not clear if the clampdown will succeed. The charter has now circulated widely in China, collecting some 7,000 signatures. Indeed, part of the reason for the severity of the security response is likely to be because many of the document's backers are prominent, and even include some party officials. China is also bracing itself for a sequence of potent political dates over the course of this year. By the time the party celebrates 60 years since the founding of the People's Republic on 1 October, 1949, it will first have to endure the 90th anniversary of the 4 May movement, one of the seminal acts of protest in modern Chinese history. One month later, 4 June will mark 20 years since the crackdown on student protesters in Tiananmen Square itself. December 24 Plastic Surgeon Used Liposuction Fat To Power His Car, ReportThe Daily Mail reports that authorities have launched an investigation into Dr. Alan Bittner, a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon who apparently boasted on his website that he turned fat from his liposuction patients into "lipodiesel," a green fuel for his 4x4 vehicle. Bittner wrote on his website: 'The vast majority of my patients request that I use their fat for fuel -- and I have more fat than I can use. Click here to read the rest of the story.
Bittner's website is now curiously absent of these posts, but feel free to explore. His MySpace can be found here.
Dr. Bittner currently has three lawsuits filed against him by three women who had plastic surgery work done at his facility. They are being represented by attorney Andrew Besser of Besser Law Corporation. Besser indicated that one additional lawsuit has been filed by an attorney in San Diego and a number of small claims have been filed by patients. Petition Begs China to Free DissidentMore than 160 prominent writers, scholars and human rights advocates outside mainland China have signed an open letter to President Hu Jintao asking him to release a well-known intellectual and dissident who was detained this month. The letter was posted on the Internet on Tuesday. The letter to Mr. Hu indicates that the case of the intellectual, Liu Xiaobo — one of the driving forces behind a bold manifesto demanding democratic reforms that has received worldwide attention — is quickly turning into the latest human rights cause célèbre in China. The call for his release could embarrass the Communist Party at a time when Chinese leaders are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the policy of “reform and opening up.” Among the writers signing the letter are three Nobel laureates in literature — the South African novelist Nadine Gordimer, the Irish poet Seamus Heaney and the Nigerian novelist Wole Soyinka — as well as other writers who regularly champion freedom of expression, including the Italian novelist Umberto Eco and Salman Rushdie. Just as notable is the fact that an array of foreign China scholars also signed the petition, possibly risking their access to the country. Academics specializing in Chinese studies are often cautious about taking stands on political issues deemed sensitive by the Communist Party because the Chinese government has a track record of denying visas to people who publicly oppose the party’s views. Some of the scholars who signed the petition are already on the Chinese government’s blacklist, but others still have regular access to the country. The scholars include Geremie R. Barmé of Australian National University; Richard Baum of the University of California, Los Angeles; and Andrew J. Nathan of Columbia University. Prominent scholars in Hong Kong, which is controlled by China but enjoys greater freedoms than the mainland, also signed the letter. Mr. Liu, a 53-year-old literary critic who has directed the Independent Chinese PEN Center, a group of writers who advocate for broader free speech, was taken by security officers from his home on the night of Dec. 8 and has not been heard from since. Human rights advocates say that Mr. Liu has been made a target because he was one of the driving forces behind Charter 08, the recent manifesto demanding democratic reforms and accountability from the Communist Party that was signed by more than 300 Chinese from various backgrounds and recently posted on the Internet. Other people who signed the manifesto have also been detained and questioned by the authorities. All except Mr. Liu have been released. The officers who detained Mr. Liu took computers, mobile phones and personal papers from his home. His wife and other family members have received no word of his whereabouts or condition. The open letter to Mr. Hu that was posted on Tuesday says: “For the international community to take seriously China’s oft-stated commitment to respect human rights and the rule of law, and for China’s own citizens to trust the judicial system to redress legitimate grievances, it is urgent that China’s central leadership ensure that no one be arrested or harassed simply for the peaceful expression of his or her views.” The letter notes that although Mr. Liu was detained in the past for several years, he has never been convicted of any crime. Mr. Baum, the political scientist at the University of California, helped bring the petition to prominence by circulating it on Chinapol, a Listserv managed by Mr. Baum that is read by many scholars of China. In an interview via e-mail, Mr. Baum said that he usually tried to avoid using the Listserv for political causes but that this case was different. “While I have always tried to maintain Chinapol’s political neutrality, some violations are so egregious that I cannot, as a sentient being, remain neutral,” he said in an e-mail message. Bruce Jacobs, a professor of Asian languages and studies at Monash University in Australia, said he signed the petition because “Liu was clearly arrested because of Charter 08.” “That concerned me,” he said, “I’ve been very concerned with human rights in China for a long time, and recently it’s gotten worse.” Mr. Liu has been a pillar of political dissent in China for years. He supported the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 and continued his dissident writings afterward, work that led to his detention by the authorities. Starting in 1996, he spent three years doing hard labor for having “repeatedly stirred up trouble and disrupted public order.” Since 1999, he has been allowed to continue his activism, presumably with the permission of the country’s leaders, but has been under surveillance. Nicholas Bequelin, a China researcher for Human Rights Watch, said that if Mr. Liu is formally arrested and charged, then that would mean Chinese leaders want to show intellectuals that the Communist Party is hardening its line and unwilling to tolerate any dissent. “He’s been detained before,” Mr. Bequelin said. “But if they send him to jail, that sends a political signal.” December 20 愚笨的中国人块纽约时报 Stupid Chinese now blocking New York TimesAfter having been appeased with the Olympics, the Chinese fascists today are now blocking arguably the most famous, influential newspaper on earth. Why? Who knows- the Chinese people got upset by an article maybe so the whole paper now can't be accessed here. Idiots. That's what China offers the world.
以后被姑息与奥林匹克，中国法西斯主义者可论证地现在今天阻拦在地球上的最著名，最显要的报纸。 为什么？ 谁知道文章可能生气的中国人民，因此整体纸不可能现在访问这里。 蠢货。 这是什么中国提供世界。 December 18 Supermarket defends itself over Adolf Hitler cakeA supermarket is defending itself for refusing to a write out 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell's name on his birthday cake. Deborah Campbell, 25, of nearby Hunterdon County, N.J., said she phoned in her order last week to the Greenwich ShopRite. When she told the bakery department she wanted her son's name spelled out, she was told to talk to a supervisor, who denied the request.
Karen Meleta, a ShopRite spokeswoman, said the store denied similar requests from the Campbells the last two years, including a request for a swastika. "We reserve the right not to print anything on the cake that we deem to be inappropriate," Meleta said. "We considered this inappropriate." The Campbells ultimately got their cake decorated at a Wal-Mart in Pennsylvania, Deborah Campbell said Tuesday. Wal-Mart spokeswoman Anna Taylor told The Easton Express-Times that the store won't put anything illegal or profane on a cake but thinks it's important to respect the views of customers and employees. "Our No. 1 priority in decorating cakes is to serve the customer to the best of our ability," Taylor said from Bentonville, Ark. When reached by The Associated Press, Taylor said she'd call back to provide a comment. Heath Campbell said he named his son after Adolf Hitler because he liked the name and because "no one else in the world would have that name." The Campbells' two other children are named JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, who turns 2 in a few months, and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, who will be 1 in April. Campbell said he was raised not to avoid people of other races but not to mix with them socially or romantically. But he said he would try to raise his children differently. "Say he grows up and hangs out with black people. That's fine, I don't really care," he said. "That's his choice." December 17 Shock! Horror!The fascist Chinese regime has quietly begun preventing access again to Web sites that it had stopped blocking during the Olympic Games in China in August, Internet experts said on Tuesday. Liu Jianchao, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, said at his semi-weekly news conference on Tuesday in Beijing that the Chinese government had a right to censor Web sites that violate the country's laws. He added that "some Web sites," which he did not identify, had violated China's law against secession by suggesting that there are two Chinas — a reference to the Beijing government's longstanding position that mainland China and Taiwan form a single China. Rebecca MacKinnon, a specialist in Internet restrictions at Hong Kong University, said that the Chinese authorities had recently resumed blocking access to her blog from mainland computers. "It does appear that in the last week a lot of things got reblocked that were unblocked during the Olympics," she said, adding, "I have not written about the two Chinas issue arguably in the past year; it is not what I focus on." The fascist regime's action comes as the Chinese economy has slowed sharply this autumn. Chinese leaders have begun cautioning about potential risks to social stability caused by high unemployment. Chinese officials have followed a pattern over the years of censoring the Internet more tightly at times of economic or political stress. Asiaweek, a Hong Kong-based publication, reported this week that the Chinese-language version of its Web site, as well as those of the BBC, Voice of America and Ming Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper, had been blocked since early December. On its Web site, the BBC reported that a number of foreign Web sites had been blocked and said that it "expressed disappointment at the apparent reinstatement of the ban" since the Olympics. The BBC reported that the Foreign Ministry refused at the news conference to confirm that the government was responsible for blocking access to the Web sites. But at the news conference, Liu defended China's monitoring of the Internet by saying that other countries also restricted access to some Web sites. The Chinese government "needs to do the required management of Web sites based on the law, just as what other countries are doing," he said. In recent days, Britain and Australia have both moved to limit the distribution of child pornography over the Internet. Germany requires search engines not to show links to Web sites linked to Nazi activity. But MacKinnon noted that, in contrast to other countries, the Chinese government defines crime very broadly, imposes censorship with little if any explanation and provides no process for operators of blocked Web sites to appeal censorship decisions. She added that even when entire Web sites are not blocked, the Chinese government still sometimes limits certain keyword searches. December 15 Bush ducks TWO shoes in Iraq
A man throwing a show at President George W. Bush during a news conference with Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Sunday. As chaos ensued, he threw his other shoe, shouting, "This is from
the widows, the orphans and those who were killed in Iraq." The second
shoe also narrowly missed Bush as Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki
stuck out a hand in front of the president's face to help shield him.
A scrum of security agents descended on the man, who was about 12
feet from the lectern, and wrestled him to the floor and then out of
the ornate room where the news conference was taking place. 
Applebaum on Walesa, Sarkozy and the Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama and Lech WalesaPeople come to hear the Dalai Lama, like Walesa, not merely because of what he will say, but because of what he represents. By the same token, people come to hear Sarkozy not necessarily because of what he will say but because of who he is: the president of France, the leader of what remains one of the most influential nations in Europe, itself the inheritor of a long tradition of revolutionary democracy. And yet—there are other factors at play here, too. I have met North Korean refugees who are at least as brave as the Dalai Lama, and there were anti-Communist dissidents at least as effective as Walesa, yet TV cameras do not follow them from place to place. Equally, there are other European leaders—Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain comes to mind—who represent rich democratic traditions, and yet I don't think photographers would have been quite as powerfully drawn to them. The fact is that, aside from what they represent, these three men share something else rather important: an indefinable form of charisma, a gift for publicity, and an intuitive understanding of what will look good in a photograph. Sarkozy wanted his picture taken with the Dalai Lama partly because he wanted to defy the Chinese regime's occupation of Tibet and partly because the Dalai Lama, with his monk's robes, has an almost mystical appeal. The Dalai Lama wanted his picture taken with Sarkozy partly because meetings with any foreign leaders help him put pressure on the Chinese government but also because a photograph with the glamorous Sarkozy—because he wears shoes with heels, because he is married to Carla Bruni—is worth more than most. And both of them wanted to meet Walesa, because a picture with Walesa is worth more than a picture with most other Nobel laureates, too. Why? Because Walesa is an electrician, because he wears a trademark mustache, because he is given to earthy sayings and mixed metaphors. And because when he leaves the room—as when the Dalai Lama leaves the room or when Sarkozy leaves the room—something in the atmosphere, something indefinable, goes flat. "Moral authority," or any authority, is something people earn, thanks to their achievements and the quality of their ideas—and it is something they can sustain only if they know how to advertise themselves. December 11 LOVE MACHINE: Man lives with female robot...A BOFFIN too busy to find real love has INVENTED his idea of the perfect woman – a female ROBOT.
Perfect couple ... Le Trung with Aiko Inventor Le Trung, 33, created Aiko, said to be “in her 20s” with a stunning 32, 23, 33 figure, shiny hair and delicate features. She even remembers his favourite drink and does simple cleaning and household tasks.
"Fem-bot" Aiko, who has cost £14,000 to build so far, is a whizz at maths and even does Le’s accounts. Le, a scientific genius from Brampton in Ontario, Canada, said he never had time to find a real partner so he designed one using the latest technology. He said he did not build Aiko as a sexual partner, but said she could be tweaked to become one.  Odd pair ... Le with his robot girlfriend Barcroft “Her software could be redesigned to simulate her having an orgasm and reacting to touch as if she is playing hard to get or being straight to the point,” he said. The former software programmer has taken out credit cards and loans, sold his car and spent his life savings on perfecting the machine. “I want to make her look, feel and act as human as possible so she can be the perfect companion,” said Le. The odd looking pair go out for drives together in the Canadian countryside, before sitting down at the dinner table, but Aiko never eats anything. Le said: “So far she can understand and speak 13,000 different sentences in English and Japanese, so she’s already fairly intelligent. “When I need to do my accounts, Aiko does all the maths. She is very patient and never complains.” Click below to see more amazing pictures  The fem-bot has a touch-sensitive face and body so she reacts if shown affection or hurt. “Like a real female she will react to being touched in certain ways. If you grab or squeeze too hard she will try to slap you. She has all senses except for smell,” he said. Le, a child genius who was put in a class for talented youngsters, made his first robot when he was just eight years old. He began work on Aiko two years ago in the home he shares with his brother. But the stress of working on such a difficult project became too much for Le and he suffered a mild heart attack in November last year. “It was shocking to have a heart attack at the age of 33,” he admits. “But the doctors said I’d been doing too much. “I may need to have Aiko look after me one day. “She doesn’t need holidays, food or rest and she will work almost 24-hours a day. She is the perfect woman,” he said. “People have mixed reactions when they meet Aiko,” he said. "They either love or hate her. Some people get angry and accuse me of playing God. Once someone threw a rock at Aiko. That really upset me. “But many people are fascinated by her. "Women are generally impressed and try to talk to her. But the men always want to touch her, and if they do it in the wrong way they get a slap.” Human Rights Day in China Whilst China 'celebrated' international Human Rights Day with newspaper editorials and television commentaries hailing what they called the country’s “unremitting efforts” and "nonstop progress” in promoting free speech and individual rights, state security was kept busy quelling a protest of about 40 people who rallied outside the gated headquarters of the Foreign Ministry. After about 30 minutes calling for free elections and demanding a crackdown on corruption, the demonstrators were herded onto buses and taken away. For Liu Xiaobo, one of China’s most high-profile dissidents, Wednesday marked the third day of detention for what friends and relatives say was his role in drafting a bold public letter that demands political, legal and constitutional reform. The document, published on the Internet and signed by 303 Chinese academics, artists, farmers and lawyers, was released to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a product of the United Nations and a foundation for human rights laws around the world. In recent days, the police have also detained several other signers, including Zhang Zuhua, a political theorist and rights activist, who was told the letter was a serious affront to the ruling Communist Party. After 12 hours of questioning, Mr. Zhang was sent home, although the authorities kept his passport, four computers, some books and money. “I told them this is just a civilian proposal and there’s nothing to be afraid of,” he said in a telephone interview shortly after his release. “But they said senior officials attach great importance to it. I don’t think this is the end of it yet.” Human rights advocates said they were especially worried about the fate of Mr. Liu, who may be facing more serious charges of “inciting subversion of state power,” a crime that carries a three-year term. It would not be Mr. Liu’s first experience in the Chinese penal system. In 1989, he spent 20 months in jail for his role in the Tiananmen pro-democracy protests. In 1996, he was sentenced to three years of hard labour for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party. Such experiences have done little to quiet Mr. Liu, 53, a former philosophy professor who directs the Independent Chinese PEN Centre, an association of writers who advocate for broader free speech. The charter that Mr. Liu and others put together does not mince words. It describes the current political system as “disastrous” and blames the government for “stripping people of their rights, destroying their dignity and corrupting normal human interaction.” Among the charter’s 19 recommendations are a new constitution, legislative democracy, freedom of religion and an independent judiciary. “Authoritarianism is in general decline throughout the world,” the document says. “In China, too, the era of emperors and overlords is on the way out. The time is arriving everywhere for citizens to be masters of states.” Pu Zhiqiang, a noted free speech lawyer and one of the signers, said the authorities should embrace the charter as a set of suggestions to help them reach the goals that they have annunciated their own laws and directives. “We’re not saying anything new here,” said Mr. Pu. “This is not some plot to overthrow the Communist Party.” He acknowledged, however, that the charter was making a big splash, and with the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown six months away, the authorities are wary of any kind of public agitation. “This only shows they lack confidence in their rule and are afraid to confront history,” he said. Nicholas Bequelin, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Human Rights Watch, said he feared the prosecution of Mr. Liu would signal that the government is taking a harder line against political dissidents. In recent years, he noted, public security officials have largely tolerated Mr. Liu’s advocacy work but the charter, whose signers also included economists, journalists and labour organizers, may have crossed a line. “It cuts across social classes and brings together people from all over the country,” he said. “This kind of thing traditionally rings alarm bells in police headquarters.” December 09 How the Chinese deal with its citizens' concernsWhistle-Blowers in Chinese City Sent to Mental HospitalLocal officials in Shandong Province have apparently found a cost-effective way to deal with gadflies, whistle-blowers and all manner of muckraking citizens who dare to challenge the authorities: dispatch them to the local psychiatric hospital. In an investigative report published Monday by a state-owned newspaper, public security officials in the city of Xintai in Shandong Province have been institutionalizing residents who persist in their personal campaigns to expose corruption or the unfair seizure of their property. Some people said they were committed for up to two years, and several of those interviewed said they were forcibly medicated. The article, in The Beijing News, said most inmates were released after they agreed to give up their causes. Sun Fawu, 57, a farmer seeking compensation for land spoiled by a coal-mining operation, said he was seized by local authorities on his way to petition the central government in Beijing and taken to the Xintai Mental Health Centre in October. During a 20-day stay, he said, he was lashed to a bed, forced to take pills and given injections that made him numb and woozy. When he told the doctor he was a petitioner, not mentally ill, the doctor reportedly said: “I don’t care if you’re sick or not. As long as you are sent by the township government, I’ll treat you as a mental patient.” In an interview, the hospital’s director, Wu Yuzhu, acknowledged that some of the 18 patients brought there by the police in recent years were not deranged, but he said that he had no choice but to take them in. “The hospital also had its misgivings,” he said. Xintai officials do not see any shame in the tactic, and they boasted that hospitalizing people they characterized as troublemakers saved money that would have been spent chasing them to Beijing, the capital, where local security officers rack up steep hotel and restaurant bills. There is another reason to stop petitioners, the aggrieved citizens who seek redress from higher levels of government: they can prove embarrassing to local officials, especially if they make it to Beijing. The Xintai government Web site noted that provincial authorities had recently referred to Xintai as “an advanced city in building a safe Shandong.” They said that from January to May this year, the number of petitioners who went over the heads of local authorities was 274, a 4 percent drop from the same period in 2007. Although China is not known for the kind of systematic abuse of psychiatry that occurred in the Soviet Union, human rights advocates say forced institutionalizations are not uncommon in smaller cities. Robin Munro, the research director of China Labour Bulletin, a rights organization in Hong Kong, said such “an kang” wards — Chinese for peace and health — were a convenient and effective means of dealing with pesky dissidents. “Once a detainee has been officially diagnosed as dangerously mentally ill, they’re immediately taken out of the criminal justice system and they lose all legal rights,” said Mr. Munro, who has researched China’s practice of psychiatric detention. In recent years practitioners of Falun Gong, the banned spiritual movement, have complained of what they call coerced hospitalizations. One of China’s best-known dissidents, Wang Wanxing, spent 13 years in a police-run psychiatric institution under conditions he later described as abusive. In one recent, well-publicized case, Wang Jingmei, the mother of a man convicted of killing six policemen in Shanghai, was held incommunicado at a mental hospital for five months and only released days before her son was executed in late November. The article in The Beijing News about the hospitalizations in Xintai was notable for the attention it gained in China’s notably constrained state-run media. Such Communist Party stalwarts as People’s Daily and the Xinhua news agency republished the article, and it was picked up by scores of Web sites. At the country’s most popular portal, Sina.com, it ranked the fifth most-viewed news headline, and readers posted more than 23,000 comments by evening. The indignation expressed was universal, with many clamouring for the dismissal of those involved. “They’re no different from animals,” read one post. “No, they’re worse.” By Monday evening, the Xintai city government was rejecting the report by The Beijing News as reckless and slanted. In a telephone interview broadcast on Shandong provincial television, an unidentified municipal official suggested that those confined to the mental hospital had gone mad from their single-minded quest for justice. “There are some people who have been petitioning for years and become mentally aggravated,” the official said. Reached by phone on Monday, a hospital employee said Mr. Wu, the hospital director who voiced his misgivings to The Beijing News, was unavailable. The employee, Hu Peng, said that officials from the local government had taken him away for “a meeting” earlier in the day. Although he would not provide a reporter with contact information for the former patients, Mr. Hu defended the hospitalizations, saying that all those delivered by the Public Security Bureau were sick. He added that the hospital was not authorized to provide a diagnosis to the patients, only to treat them. “We definitely would not accept those without mental problems,” he said. December 05 100 police staff protest over pay in China
The three-hour protest occurred Tuesday in the city of Leiyang in the central province of Hunan, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said in a statement. At one point, the demonstrators damaged chairs and other property at the local Communist Party headquarters, it said. The majority of the protesters were auxiliary police, civilians hired to back up regular police officers and patrol work but who do not have full police powers, it said. However, some full-time police officers were also among the crowds, the statement said. Citing witnesses, the group said the protesters surrounded the building around 11am. They complained about low salaries and allowances, it added. The incomes of vast numbers of Chinese consumers have been squeezed in the past couple of years by runaway inflation that has only recently tapered off. The protest lasted about three hours, ending when party officials urged the demonstrators to disperse. Calls by AFP to Leiyang police and government headquarters went unanswered on Wednesday. China sees tens of thousands of public protests each year by members of society who have been marginalised or left behind in the country's economic boom. However, such protests are typically quelled by police, not initiated by them. "britney spears nude" The Hong Kong-based group said local officials in Leiyang were in "urgent" meetings on Wednesday over the incident. Waiting for the Counter-revolutionChina 'faces mass social unrest'
"The redistribution of wealth through theft and robbery could dramatically increase and menaces to social stability will grow," Zhou Tianyong, a researcher at the Central Party School in Beijing, wrote in the China Economic Times. "This is extremely likely to create a reactive situation of mass-scale social turmoil," he wrote. His views do not reflect leadership policy but highlight worries in elite circles about the impact of the economic slowdown. Mr Zhou warned that the real rate of urban joblessness reached 12% this year and could reach 14% next year as the economy slows. China's annual GDP growth has already slowed to 9% in the third quarter, from 10.1% in the second. Some forecasters see growth slowing to 7.5% next year. The government has launched a stimulus package and cut interest rates to boost the economy. Unrest warning Last month, China's top planner warned that the economic slowdown in China could fuel social unrest. Zhang Ping, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said the impact of the global crisis on China's economy was deepening. "Excessive bankruptcies and production cuts will lead to massive unemployment and stir social unrest," he said. December 04 Man Says Wife Was Accidentally Shot During SexAn American woman from Ohio is in critical condition Wednesday after police say her husband shot her while they were having sex. Tmothy Havens, 38, told Springfield police he was reaching for something on the nightstand when the pistol went off, hitting his estranged wife Carolyn in the upper chest. Carolyn Havens, 42, is being treated at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton. His arrest Tuesday for the weekend shooting was for violating a civil protection order that Carolyn had taken out against him earlier this year. Bond was set at $75,000 after prosecutors asked for a high bond, "due to alleged prohibited contact between the parties (and) the suspicious nature of the circumstances surrounding (her injury)."
This is isn't the first time there's been trouble for the Havens. Court documents showed Timothy served 60 days in jail for assaulting his wife and was ordered to go to anger management classes.
China Internet cafes forced to use Chinese OSRequirements that Internet cafes in a southern Chinese city install Chinese-developed operating systems are raising new concerns over cyber snooping by authorities, a U.S. government-funded radio station reported Wednesday. Radio Free Asia said cafes were being required to install Red Flag Linux even if they were using authorised copies of Windows. It quoted Xiao Qiang, director of the California-based China Internet Project, as saying the new rules would help authorities regulate Internet cafes that now operate on the margins of the law, and allow them to undertake heightened surveillance. Chinamen who access the Web at Internet cafes are already required to register with their identification cards. Whether accessed from home or an Internet cafe, the Web within China is regularly patrolled by specially trained monitors looking for content deemed to promote basic human rights. Large numbers of Web sites are blocked and dozens of Chinese citizens have been arrested for accessing or sending politically sensitive information over the Web. They include a former Shanghai university librarian imprisoned for three and a half years last month for downloading and distributing information about the banned Falun Gong spiritual group.
The case of the wig-puller A 20-year-old woman in Florida told police the wig she was wearing got snatched
by an ex-boyfriend, who pedalled away on a bicycle after she left a party about 3 a.m. Friday when her ex-boyfriend came up on a
bicycle.
She said he started arguing and yanked off a black wig that was sewn to her natural blond hair. The ex-boyfriend reportedly slapped her after she began chasing him. Investigators found the victim's hair in "disorder." She said she
and the alleged wig-snatcher lived together for eight months. She knew
his first name, but apparently recalled only the first letter of his
last name. THIS AFTER EIGHT MONTHS LIVING TOGETHER! The ex-boyfriend called the victim's cell phone while an officer was there. Speaking to an officer via the cell phone, he admitted pulling the wig off and leaving when the victim started crying and said she was calling authorities. The ex-boyfriend hung up after police asked for his last name. Investigators continue to try to identify the alleged wig-puller. This is a true story. Chinese officials viciously attack Belgian journalists Local Chinese officials on Wednesday attacked a Belgian television crew trying to report on the HIV epidemic in a hard-hit rural village. The regime in Henan claimed the journalists "were not attacked but were only jostled," and actually added that the journalists' tapes and memory cards were taken away by AIDS patients (!!!!) upset that the reporting might reflect badly on them. In short, what really happened was that Chinese thugs (of the kind dressed in blue and pushed British policemen around London whilst the Olympic torch was being used for propaganda) assailants pulled members of the crew from their vehicle, beat them and took their notes, money and other equipment. "We thought they were going to kill us, they were acting like animals who lost control, it was a complete chaos, we were crying," said Tom Van de Weghe, a reporter with Flemish public broadcaster VRT who was allegedly targeted along with a a colleague and an assistant. Van de Weghe said he was hit twice on the head and that villagers identified the attackers as men who worked for the local officials. Henan has been highly sensitive to the AIDS issue since the virus that causes the disease spread widely there in the 1990s through unhygienic blood-buying rings, which allegedly operated with official protection. Officials there have been accused in the past of abusing AIDS victims and advocates. The incident has drawn protests from the International Federation of Journalists and from Belgian authorities. VRT has said it is asking for compensation for damaged equipment, an apology to the journalists and a guarantee that the journalists will be able to work safely. Good luck..November 24 Chinese police unresponsive to claimed child kidnapping
November 21 Air hostess helped land passenger jet after co-pilot had 'breakdown' over the AtlanticIt seems Air Canada has a policy of hiring psychos. This is the second instance I've read this year. An air hostess helped land a jet carrying 146 passengers after the co-pilot had an apparent mental breakdown over the Atlantic Ocean, investigators revealed today.
The UK-bound plane made an emergency diversion to Shannon Airport, in Ireland, last January after the Air Canada flight officer began a ‘rambling and disjointed’ conversation, said an official report. Another attendant suffered wrist injuries as the crew forcibly removed the co-pilot from the cockpit controls and restrained him in a seat in the cabin.  Mid-air drama: The air hostess helped out after the plane's captain asked if anyone could fly The captain of the Boeing 767 from Toronto to Heathrow asked staff to seek out any trained pilots onboard. One of the female cabin crew came forward saying she had a commercial pilot’s licence and was asked to take over in the co-pilot’s seat. The captain praised the attendant to investigators for helping him safely land the plane at Shannon, where the ill flight officer was removed and admitted to the acute psychiatric unit of Ennis Regional Hospital for 11 days. He was later flown home to Canada by an air ambulance for further care, according to the investigation. The official report into the incident by the Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) did not explicitly refer to the co-pilot’s medical condition. But it recorded the views of two doctors onboard that he was in a ‘confused and disorientated state’. The captain also reported that his colleague became uncharacteristically ‘belligerent and unco-operative’ and was ‘effectively incapacitated’. One passenger at the time reported seeing the distraught co-pilot yelling for God as he was being restrained. The AAIU praised the actions of both the captain and crew in diverting to the nearest airport and removing the co-pilot from the controls. ‘For his own well-being and the safety of the aircraft, the most appropriate course of action was to stand him down from duty and seek medical attention which was available on board,’ said the report. ‘The commander (captain) realising he was faced with a difficult and serious situation used tact and understanding and kept control of the situation at all times. ‘The situation was dealt with in a professional manner... As such, the commander and flight attendants should be commended for their professionalism in the handling of this event.’ November 19 Beijing orders demolition of leading activist's home...
Here in Beijing, authorities have issued an order to destroy the home of one of China's leading rights activists who has been in police custody for more than 200 days, her husband and lawyer said Tuesday.
Beijing's XiHere in cheng court ordered developers to level the home of Ni Yulan and told the family to vacate the premises by the end of last week, husband Dong Jiqin told AFP, adding he had refused to leave. "They stuck the demolition notice on our front door," Dong said. "Nobody came to talk with us, there were no negotiations for compensation, no public hearings." For over a decade, Ni, 47, has been a prominent rights activist and lawyer fighting against government-backed land grabs in central Beijing, one of the city's most sensitive social issues. As all land belongs to the state in China, local officials enjoy immense powers to determine land-use rights, and critics say residents and farmers are often forcefully evicted in shady deals between the government and developers. Ni was jailed for a year in 2002 for damaging public property after being arrested at a rally aimed at stopping the demolition of another courtyard home in Beijing. Dong and rights activists said she was beaten in the 2002 arrest and has since had to walk with a cane due to injuries sustained then. Dong and Ni's courtyard home, in an historic part of central Beijing, then also became a target for developers and she was arrested in late April as she tried to stop it from being knocked down. Ni was charged with "obstructing official business", and she has been in custody ever since although she has not appeared in court. An August 4 trial was postponed at the last minute as prosecutors said they needed more time to gather evidence, according to Dong. Her lawyer, Hu Xiao, said he was pushing for the court proceedings to begin quickly. "I saw her last month, she is physically weak and her jailing has put a lot of stress on her," Hu told AFP. "She is a handicapped person, so we have asked the court to begin her trial as soon as possible out of respect for her health." |
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