Angry Syrian and Libyan demonstrators threw rocks, eggs and tomatoes at the Chinese embassy in Tripoli to protest China's veto of a UN Security Council resolution urging Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to step down: more ›

In a seminal speech to mark Human Rights Day which commemorates the 1948 signing of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton challenged leaders of the world to “be on the right side of history” and to recognise that "gay rights are human rights and human rights are gay rights". It's a moving, impassioned speech which totally earned her the standing ovation at the end, and it's worth 30 minutes of your time. Read the full transcript of the speech here. more ›

The United Nations Human Rights Council has passed a historic resolution on human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity by a vote of 23 to 19 with three abstentions, in Geneva yesterday. more ›

There propably won't be any stampedes for salt in the near future, as people in Shanghai only have to turn on their water to get some. Momentarily, Shanghai's fresh water supplies are threatened, as the drought that has troubled China for months now still lingers, causing salt tides. The drought halved the water volume at the Yangtze River mouth, resulting in seawater backing up into the river, mixing with freshwater and making it undrinkable. more ›

On Tuesday, the United Nations General Assembly voted 93 for, 55 against with 27 abstaining to reinsert 'sexual orientation' into a resolution condemning extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions. It was removed in November in a move led by African and Islamic countries, but brought back for another vote following the United States' insistence. more ›

Could China make it as the leader in global efforts in wildlife conservation? They're certainly struggling for the title. China has eagerly announced it's most ambitious conservation plan in a generation before the opening tomorrow of a UN biodiversity conference. more ›

Senior Chinese climate negotiator, Su Wei, likened the US to Zhubajie, the vain pig character from a mythical Chinese classic who preens itself in a mirror. "It has no measures or actions to show for itself, and instead it criticizes China, which is actively taking measures and actions," Su said of the United States. more ›

This city doesn't always boast the cleanest living situations, and with the global observance of World Habitat Day held in Shanghai (Better City, Better Life, y'all) UN-Habitat has chosen to focus its attentions specifically on China. While specifics weren't mentioned, both People's Daily and Shanghai Daily ran stories supporting the UN's insistence on raising the standard of living in slums and providing more adequate housing. Going by Expo preparations, plans to "improve" the city will no doubt mean bulldozing of historic districts and relocation for poorer city residents. Not that any of that was mentioned in the fanfare of the day's programs and presentations, which also included the oh so exciting unveiling of a Chinese website for UN-Habitat. more ›

"I know you never liked me Mr. Secretary-General -- well, I never liked you, either... I didn't want to come to New York. It was the last thing I wanted to do. But I've come to love the U.N. and I'm coming to admire some things about you..." more ›

This week, the 54-country Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations (UN) voted to grant "consultative status" to the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC). The resolution was approved with 23 in favor, 13 against, 13 abstentions and 5 absences -- China voted "no" along with countries like Bangladesh, Comoros, Namibia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Zambia. While China's "nay" vote may not come as a surprise, it does seem to fly against the CCP's official party line of the three no's -- no support, no prohibition, and no promotion ("不支持，不反对，不提倡") when it comes to gay issues. If they really wanted to be consistent with this policy, why didn't they choose to abstain, we wonder? more ›

That's right. It's now official. The ban on foreigners with HIV/AIDS from entering the country has now been lifted just in time for the Shanghai Expo, and the move has already been applauded by UNAIDS and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon. Maybe we'll get to see Robert Dessaix for next year's Shanghai International Literary Festival? more ›

It's been a full week since the UN's climate conference in Copenhagen started, and nothing ground shaking has come out of the meetings so far (beyond protesting, and an interesting scandal). Of course, gathering leaders from around the world to discuss tangible restrictions on carbon emissions seems to have only brought tension over the past decade, despite increasing evidence of global warming. Yet in the buildup to this year's talks in Copenhagen, there was a general agreement that the major players in climate change discussions would undoubtedly be America and China: the biggest polluting powers have the most at stake, yet finding a suitable agreement on reduction would undoubtedly be difficult. Tensions have already risen between the two powers, and with only two days before Premier Wen Jiabao and President Obama go to Copenhagen (and only four more days of conference), time is running out. more ›

Dee Dee Bridgewater, the illustrious Jazz singer, has been one of the premier artists in Jazz for the past forty years. From her early days performing with major Jazz legends and winning Tony Awards on Broadway to her more recent work on Billy Holiday, NPR and beyond, Dee Dee has been shaping and defining the way people all over the world understand and appreciate Jazz. To kick off this weekend's JZ Jazz festival, Dee Dee will be gracing Shanghai with a performance this Friday at the Yunfeng theater, sharing the stage with a big band of both local and international musicians. We had the chance to chat about her accomplishments both on and off the stage, her views on Jazz from the past to the present, and her unbeknown love of Chinese art. more ›

• Oop! Que Jingde, a high-level town government official who was a major shareholder in the Minhang building that collapsed, has now been arrested for corruption. [Shanghai Daily]
• The United Nations Environment Programme has taken stock of Shanghai's environmental efforts and said that the city has actually made strides in "greening" itself. [UN News]
• Morgan Stanley has sold The Exchange, a 52-story office and retail tower in Jing'an, to SOHO China Ltd. for $358.5 million. For those of you who are interested, only 30% of the building's space is currently rented. [AP

• Lottery hacker wins detention [SINA English] "A hacker has been arrested after breaking into a lottery database in an attempt to win millions, an official at Shenzhen Public Security Bureau said. The man surnamed Cheng, a software engineer of a high-tech company which contracted with the lottery management center to work on a system upgrade, was arrested by police on June 12. He is accused of hacking into the system and falsifying entries for five winning tickets. Those tickets were among nine that won the top prize in the "Dual-colored Ball" lottery on June 9. Each ticket was worth roughly 6.6 million yuan ($966,000)."
• Obama science adviser insists talks with China will not bypass UN process [Guardian UK] "Bilateral talks between the US and China will not replace the need for a global climate deal at Copenhagen, according Barack Obama's most senior science adviser. John Holdren also said that, though there was much legislative work still to do in Congress, he was confident the US would be in a position to sign up to a successor to the Kyoto Protocol by the end of the year and would do it within the United Nations framework."
• More than 240 Chinese detained in Russian clampdown [China Daily] "China Thursday called upon Russia to guarantee the rights of Chinese businesspeople and workers after reports said more than 240 Chinese had been detained in recent days. Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Beijing had not yet received official notification from Russia about the reported detentions."

Xinhua has an interesting opinion piece about the recent unbanning on mobile phones and computers in Cuba. First, the title of the article: 从免于匮乏的自由开始 meaning "Starting with the freedom from want". The political significance of the phrase "freedom from want" comes from Franklin D. Roosevelt's State of the Union address, and comes, as we say nowadays, bundled with three other freedoms: speech and expression, religion, and fear. more ›