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- China earthquake activist on trial [AFP] "A Chinese activist who was investigating whether shoddy construction caused school collapses in last year's massive Sichuan earthquake went on trial for subversion, his lawyer said. Environmental activist and writer Tan Zuoren, who was charged with "inciting subversion of state power," is accused of defaming the ruling Communist Party and the government over their handling of the Tiananmen crackdown on pro-democracy protestors in 1989. Mr Tan's brief trial in Chengdu, capital of southwest Sichuan province, ended without a verdict, Pu Zhiqiang, one of his two lawyers, said."
- Chinese police detain supporters of quake critic [AP] "A high-profile Chinese government critic said he and 11 others were detained by police in a hotel Wednesday to prevent them from attending the trial of an activist who investigated the deaths of thousands of schoolchildren in last year's earthquake. Avant-garde artist Ai Weiwei said police in the southwestern city of Chengdu also roughed up him and one of the other supporters who had traveled to the city to try to attend the trial of Tan Zuoren, an activist charged with subversion. The charges Tan faces appear to be linked to his quake investigation as well as essays he wrote about the 1989 student-led demonstrations in Tiananmen Square that ended in a deadly military crackdown. Beijing routinely uses the charge of subversion to imprison dissidents for years."
- Murder at the 'reboot' camps [China Daily] "Deng Senshan had never skipped school, never been diagnosed with a mental illness and, according to his family, surfed the Web only on weekends. Yet on Aug 1, the 15-year-old was admitted to a rehab camp for Internet addiction (IA), where, after being ordered to run 5 km as part of his "treatment", he was beaten to death by counselors."
- China's Internet a major concern to officials [AFP] "The Internet in China has become a major concern for officials, who are increasingly being scrutinised by the general public, a government adviser said Monday. "The Internet has become the most powerful media in every government official's daily life," said Steven Dong, an adviser to the State Council -- China's Cabinet -- on publicity and crisis communications. Dong pointed to the practice of cyber-vigilantism -- a rising trend in China where regular Internet users research personal information about and put pressure on individuals who are perceived to have acted badly."
- Australia, China at odds over Uighur activist [AP] "An exiled Uighur activist accused China on Tuesday of trying to use its economic clout to dampen criticism of its human rights record, while Australia's foreign minister said Chinese diplomats who opposed her trip should mind their manners. Rebiya Kadeer addressed the National Press Club in the capital, Canberra, on Tuesday despite objections by a Chinese diplomat, who the club said made it clear that Beijing did not want her to speak."
- Australia says not informed of China Rio arrests [Reuters] "Australia's government has not been informed of China's arrest of four employees of miner Rio Tinto on suspicion of commercial spying and taking bribes, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said on Wednesday. Australian national Stern Hu and three Chinese employees of the Anglo-Australian company are suspected of "using improper means to obtain commercial secrets about our country's steel businesses," the official Xinhua newsagency said, citing prosecutors in Shanghai."
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[AFP] " shoddy construction caused school collaped”? Only school?
Some schools collaped while office buildings left standing. Some office buildings collaped too while some school left standing. 5000 dead students, if compared with 80,000 total dead, is a reasonable proportion, especially considering they were crowded under one roofs in quack.
As to Ai Weiwei the clown, in his brother Ai Duanwu’s words, he is just “an opportunitis who lives in USA for a decade and became a CNN parrot with bad English”. Who can blame him while, like father like son, his dad was an opportunist too? I guess the only thing he didn't do was to lick Mao’s arsh.
Oakwoods - your lame apologist comment was predictable but, should you be in doubt about statistics relating to quake building collapses, all the numbers you need appeared in a report from a short while ago:
As schools fell, govt offices stood firm
"The use of substandard material during construction and the inability to follow anti-seismic designs are reasons why the buildings in Sichuan suffered so much damage."
Draw your own conclusions.
@Oakwoods (or Eastman or whatever your name is this week): next time you decide to change your name, may I suggest "Ad Hominem". In case you need to look up the meaning, here's a link. It's worth a read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies