Results tagged “sternhu”

• 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."

• Former Beijing airport boss executed in China [AP] "The former head of Beijing airport's management company was executed Friday following his conviction on corruption charges, state media reported. An intermediate court found 60-year-old Li Peiying guilty in February of accepting almost $4 million in bribes and embezzling about $12 million in public funds over the past 14 years, the Xinhua News Agency said."
• Australia Plans to Make Arrangements for Second Hu China Visit [Bloomberg] "Australia will soon be making arrangements for a second consular visit with Rio Tinto Group executive Stern Hu, detained in China for allegedly stealing state secrets, a government spokeswoman said. 'According to the consular agreement, visits must take place at least once per month,' a spokeswoman for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who asked not to be named, said today in an e-mailed statement."
• Uighur unrest shows China's failures - Dalai Lama [Reuters] "Ethnic riots in northwest China have exposed the failings of Beijing's minority policies, and a more "realistic" stance toward Tibetans and others could emerge within a decade, the Dalai Lama said on Thursday. The Tibetan spiritual leader said the Uighur unrest in Xinjiang province in July, in which 197 people died according to the official death toll, showed the need for the Chinese Communist Party to rethink its approach."

• Aw, so Harry Potter can't seem to cast a spell over Shanghai, earning barely half of what Transformers II: Revenge of the Fallen did. Is it because we didn't organize a movie night around this opening? [Shanghai Daily]
• Reacting to the Stern Hu detained in Shanghai saga, Rio Tinto is now pulling ALL of its foreign staff out of China. Allegedly. [CNN]
• To battle potential traffic jams, Shanghai will be employing an even-odd license plate system for the Expo like Beijing did for the Olympics. [Xinhua]

The mysterious detainment of four employees from Ozzie mining giant Rio Tinto on Sunday was finally explained today, when the Chinese government confirmed today that Stern Hu, GM of Rio Tinto's Shanghai office, and three of his underlings were alleged to have committed espionage and stolen state secrets.