Wednesday, May 18, 2005

May 18, 2005

Top news of the day

June 4th
Beijing calls off democracy forum
June 4th, May 18, 2005
A three-day international conference on human rights and democracy, co-organised by the China University of Political Science and Law and New York's Fordham University, was cancelled in short notice. A participant of the conference speculated that the cancellation had showed the government’s anxiety on public discussion on political sensitive issues at the time close to June 4th.
http://china.scmp.com/chimain/ZZZ0H2CTM8E.html



Labour / protests
Factory workers jailed for protest over unpaid wages
SCMP, May 18, 2005
Shandong factory workers Li Xintao (李信濤) and Kong Jun (孔君), were sentenced to two and five years in jail respectively for “disturbing government institutions” and “disturbing social order” in a protest demanding for unpaid wages and work benefits.
http://china.scmp.com/chitoday/ZZZGVW9TM8E.html


News

Corruption
Hu slows crackdown on corruption to save party's face
SCMP, May 18, 2005
http://focus.scmp.com/focusnews/ZZZ21B3UT8E.html

Environment
State Environmental Protection Administration points out five loopholes in environmental legislation
环保总局指出我国环保立法目前存在的五大缺失
EastDay.com, May 17 2005
http://china.eastday.com/eastday/news/node37955/node37957
/node37979/node62072/userobject1ai1105450.html

Gender – Domestic violence
Procuratorate to interview a thousand female suspects of violent crimes for their views on domestic violence, the information to be useful for the drafting of domestic violence law legislation
千名女嫌犯接受家暴调查 将作家庭暴力立法依据
EastDay.com, May 18, 2005
http://china.eastday.com/eastday/news/node37955/node37957/
node37979/node62072/userobject1ai1105767.html

Human Rights / UN
HRIC Urges the PRC Government to Act on UN Committee’s Recommendations
Human Rights in China Press Release, May 17, 2005
http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/press?revision%5fid=
22463&item%5fid=22448

Labour – Industrial accidents
21 died in gas blast in Panzhihua city in Sichuan
四川攀枝花市煤矿瓦斯爆炸已有21人死亡
Radio Free Asia, May 17, 2005
http://www.rfa.org/mandarin/xinwen/2005/05/17/gas/

8 died in suffocation and poisoning in Haikou food factory
海口市一家食品厂8名工人中毒死亡[组图]
EastDay.com, May 18, 2005
http://china.eastday.com/eastday/news/node37955/node379
57/node37979/node61885/userobject1ai1105008.html

Law
Seeking breakthrough to improve State Compensation Law
国家赔偿可从司法判例寻求突破
China Youth News, May 18, 2005
http://zqb.cyol.com/gb/zqb/2005-05/18/content_5614.htm

Media-Internet
China's Internet dictatorship
Korea Herald via China Digital News, May 18, 2005
http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2005/05/
18/200505180012.asp

Media – Internet / Gender – Sexuality
Gay website blocked
着名中文同性恋网站被中国当局封锁
Chinesenewsnet.com, May 18, 2005
http://www1.chinesenewsnet.com/gb/MainNews/SinoNews/Main
land/2005_5_17_9_38_20_555.html

Police – Re-education through Labour (RTL)
Authority prepares to work on reforming Reeducation through labour (RTL) system
监狱劳教执法专项整改启动
Legal Daily, May 18, 2005
http://www.legaldaily.com.cn/bm/2005-05/18/content_1342
03.htm

Politics
A Clampdown in China
New York Times, May 17, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/17/opinion/17kristoff.html

Protests and Petitions
New Rules Do Little to Help China's Petitioners
Radio Free Asia, May 16, 2005
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/in_depth/2005/05/16/china_
petitioners/

Ministry of Public Security to focus on handling petition issues
中国公安机关今日起将接待信访群众 集中处理问题
China News, May 18, 2005
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/news/2005/2005-05-18/26/575
267.shtml

Resettlement – Infrastructure (Dam)
Dam affects bridges, old and new
China Daily, May 18, 2005
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-05/18/content
_443318.htm

Hong Kong
A long way to go for racial equality
SCMP, May 18, 2005
http://hongkong.scmp.com/hknews/ZZZCVW9TM8E.html

The blog is mightier than the sword
The Standard via China Digital News, May 17, 2005
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/stdn/std/Metro/GE17Ak05.html

Xinjiang
US concerned about 'harassment' of activist
SCMP, May 18, 2005
http://china.scmp.com/chitoday/ZZZLTLZSM8E.html