Amnesty International Australia

Arrests and ethics in China’s quake zone

Another activist is taken into custody after helping families who lost children in the May earthquake. And authorities have drafted up rules giving teachers a moral responsibility to protect students.

China in the headlines – 30 June 2008

In the latest wrap-up from news outlets and bloggers across the globe:

• How an aging doctor became China's conscience and the price he paid for it
  
  
• The Guardian finds out what a few locals think of the Games
  
• The deep misunderstandings between Chinese bloggers and western human rights activists

plus …

New executions reported in China

China has executed three drug dealers to mark this week's International Day Against Drug Abuse, according to Reuters.

China in the headlines – 27 June 2008

In the latest wrap-up from news outlets and bloggers across the globe:

• Human flesh search engines a new uniquely Chinese phenomenon sweeping the online world
  
  
• The Internet is giving artists and entertainers a new under-the-radar freedom
  
  
• Being an investigative journalist inside China requires ingenuity and courage

plus …

Still forbidden and banned in China

Hepatitis B and a batch of poetry are among the topics that Chinese censors have had in their sights in recent days.

China in the headlines – 26 June 2008

In the latest wrap-up from news outlets and bloggers across the globe:

• The International Olympic Committee is angered that a top party official in Tibet used the torch relay to attack the Dalai Lama
  
  
• President Hu Jintao says the job of the media is to correctly guide public opinion
  
  
• Foreign tourists are allowed back into Tibet for the first time since the unrest in March

plus …

Quizzing foreign architects in China

Plenty has been said about whether Olympic athletes should speak out about China's human rights record, now the New York Times looks at the issue from the angle of architects.

China in the headlines – 25 June 2008

In the latest wrap-up from news outlets and bloggers across the globe:

• Shanghai-based dissidents have been issued with a set of rules and are banned from leaving the city during the Olympics
  
  
• Strict new security regulations mean a not-so-warm welcome for China’s Olympic guests
  
  
• Foreign scholars are finding studying China is a minefield

plus ...

Weekly report: Democracy is not a foreign word

We ignore the diversity of China's web community at our peril, writes Antony Loewenstein

China in the headlines – 24 June 2008

In the latest wrap-up from news outlets and bloggers across the globe:

• A BBC journalist's video diary of his trip to Tibet for the Olympic torch relay
  
  
• China's new legislation fails to safeguard lawyers
  
  
• Actor Richard Gere runs into problems when he drives the new Fiat Delta from Hollywood to Tibet

plus …

Detainees freed as Olympic torch arrives in Tibet

Big news from China's state media over the weekend, authorities have released 1,157 people who had been detained in connection with the protests in Tibet in March.

China in the headlines – 23 June 2008

In the latest wrap-up from news outlets and bloggers across the globe:

The president of the Beijing Olympics’ organising committee says they will have a "zero refusal policy" for media interview requests, parents who lost children in last month's earthquake are detained and beaten, and authorities vow to smash the Dalai Lama after the torch relay passes through Tibet plus …

Help human rights activist Huang Qi

Huang Qi's family and friends haven't seen him since he was abducted 10 days ago, and Amnesty International fears he is at risk of torture and ill-treatment.

China in the headlines – 20 June 2008

In the latest wrap-up from news outlets and bloggers across the globe:

Reports that Facebook has launched a Chinese edition, leading US Internet newspaper the Huffington Post is apparently blocked in China, and an in-depth look at Tibet as the Olympic torch makes its way to the capital of the disputed region plus …

Good news: Missing Mongolian activist is freed

Word came through overnight that Mongolian human rights activist Jaranbayar Soyolt has been released from detention and has returned home.

World headlines – 19 June 2008

In the latest wrap-up from news outlets and bloggers across the globe:

China's Internet censorship policy thrives on secrecy and unaccountability says a new report, sentence reduction for a number of political prisoners over the last two years show the value of dialogue, and a journalist gives the lowdown on the Olympic torch relay in the city of Kashgar in the Xinjiang region plus …

Cheap Goods

What is the price of supposedly cheap manufacturing in terms of the amount it costs to workers wellbeing, and the environment around them? In the production process there can be unsafe conditions for workers, and environmental damage surrounding them. The United Nations estimates that up to 50 million tons of e-waste is thrown away world-wide each year. According to China's State Environmental Protection Administration much of this is shipped to China.

Police lockdown as Olympic torch lands in Xinjiang

China's sensitive Xinjiang region, which is home to the ethnic-minority Uighur people, is in security lockdown – yep, the Olympic torch has arrived.

Weekly report: Dissent with a Chinese face

The Olympic Games will show the world a different kind of China, writes Antony Loewenstein

World headlines – 18 June 2008

In the latest wrap-up from news outlets and bloggers across the globe:

A security clampdown begins as the Olympic torch arrives in the far western autonomous Xinjiang region, the International Olympic Committee reports progress with the security problems threatening TV coverage of the Games, and censors block one of the proxy servers that people in China use to access blocked websites plus …