Gillian Wong

China tightens grip on discourse, ideology

news.yahoo.com — BEIJING (AP) - Chinese authorities have shut down or frozen the microblog accounts of several prominent liberal intellectuals and harassed rights lawyers lobbying against unofficial "black jails," underlining the determination of the country's new leadership to control dissent even as it vows to root out corruption.

HRW: Sex Workers in China Subject to Police Abuse

abcnews.go.com — An international rights group says police in China frequently beat, torture and arbitrarily detain suspected sex workers, often with little or no evidence that they engaged in prostitution. Human Rights Watch says officers sometimes detain women only on the basis of their carrying condoms. This deters their use among sex workers and increases the risk of spreading HIV.

DOJ Secretly Obtains Months Of AP Phone Records; AP Calls It 'Unprecedented Intrusion'

huffingtonpost.com — WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department has secretly obtained two months of telephone records of journalists for The Associated Press in what AP's top executive says is an unprecedented intrusion into newsgathering. Prosecutors took records showing incoming and outgoing calls for work and personal numbers for individual reporters, plus for general AP offices in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn.

China investigates top planning official for graft

chron.com — The ruling Communist Party's disciplinary agency said in a one-sentence statement on its website that Liu Tienan, deputy head of the Cabinet's National Development and Reform Commission, is being investigated for "suspected serious disciplinary violations."

China Urges Israel to Hold Talks With Palestinians

abcnews.go.com — China's premier has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to remove obstacles to restarting talks with the Palestinians, as Beijing seeks to bring its growing international influence to bear on the Middle East peace process.

China investigates director alleged to have 7 kids

sfgate.com — BEIJING (AP) â Authorities are investigating whether one of China's top film directors fathered seven children in violation of the country's strict family planning laws, state media and a local official said Thursday. Four women and seven kids, if this was an ordinary person they would have killed you or fined you an unreasonable amount of money, but he is fine ...

China Police Choke Protest in Unease Over Migrants

abcnews.go.com — Police smothered a southern section of China's capital with officers and paramilitary forces for a second day Thursday after a rare protest by hundreds of migrant workers, underscoring Beijing's sensitivity over unrest fueled by anger over social inequality.

Bangladesh fire kills 8 as collapse toll hits 930

news.yahoo.com — DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - A fire in an 11-story garment factory in Bangladesh killed eight people, including a ruling party politician and a top official in the country's powerful clothing manufacturers' trade group, as the death toll from the collapse of another garment factory building passed 900 on Thursday.

Chinese Activist's Brother Says He Was Beaten

abcnews.go.com — The oldest brother of a Chinese activist who fled house arrest and later settled in the U.S. said he was beaten up Thursday by unidentified men, part of an uptick in harassment possibly linked to the activist's plans to visit Taiwan. Chen Guangfu said he was followed by a black car without...

China and India's rivalry extends to the Arctic

huffingtonpost.com — BEIJING - While the recent troop standoff in a remote Himalayan desert spotlights a long-running border dispute between China and India, the two emerging giants are engaged in a rivalry for global influence that spreads much farther afield.