11/24-12/1
Russia
“Kremlin Pushes Measure to Curb Private Groups” NYtimes 11/24
Greater government control over charities and other private organizations, including some of the world's most prominent, in a move aimed at restricting foreign support for political activity in the country.
-require organizationa to register with the Ministry of Justice
-restricts donations from/hiring of foreigners
>>>aimed at preventing foreign efforts to support political opposition movements, like the one that swept to power after the "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine last fall.
“Russia, Japan Acknowledge Old Land Dispute”
The leaders of Russia and Japan said Monday the settlement of a 60-year-old dispute that kept their nations from formally ending their World War II hostilities requires closer economic cooperation and patient trust-building as Tokyo backed Moscow's bid to join the World Trade Organization.
Japan has mobilized roughly 7,500 police as hundreds of right-wing activists held protests in the capital to protest the Russian leader's visit.
China
“A Party Girl Leads China’s Online Revolution” nytimes 11/24
Hu Jintao has waged an energetic campaign against freedom of expression, prohibiting e promotion of public intellectuals by the news media; imposing restrictions on Web sites; pressing search engine companies, like Google, to bar delicate topics, particularly those dealing with democracy and human rights; and heavily censoring bulletin board discussions at universities and elsewhere
>>> Blogs (online journals) are sometimes shut down altogether, temporarily or permanently. But the authorities do not yet seem to have an answer to the proliferation of public opinion in this form, as is the case with “Mu Mu”; web-cam dancer who claims to be the first who is also a Party member.
“Toxic Slick Contaminates Water Supply of Chinese City” washpost 11/25
A 50-mile-long slick of toxic river water moved slowly through Harbin. government officials fended off questions about their slow and secretive response to a chemical spill and millions struggled with the third day of an emergency shutoff of the municipal water supply.
>>>The crisis dramatized the threat to China's environment created by booming economic growth and, officials acknowledge, frequently inadequate enforcement of anti-pollution and industrial safety rules. A recent government report said that up to 70 percent of China's rivers and lakes have become unacceptably polluted over two decades of swift expansion.
“China Blames Oil Co. For Benzene Spill in River” nytimes 11/25
The Chinese government on Thursday blamed the country's biggest oil company (China National Petroleum) for a pollution spill that allowed a 50-mile slick of toxic benzene to reach this northern city of almost four million people on the river that normally supplies it with running water.
“In Chinese Uprisings, Peasants Find New Allies” washpost 11/26/05
What happened to Lu [getting beat up by the police], a slight, 34-year-old peasant activist, was perhaps the most brutal chapter in a four-month struggle over the village leadership. But it was far from the only violence. Residents trying to use electoral law and mass protests to overturn their allegedly corrupt village head and Communist Party secretary clashed repeatedly with riot police in the onetime farming community, long since transformed by China's economic boom into an industrial suburb on the southeastern fringe of Guangzhou
Connecting With Peasants
The government-run China Youth Daily had hailed Yang Maodong at the time as a "front-runner of peasant grass-roots democracy.">>>advocates for peasants who aren’t getting extra $ for the manufacturing boom taking place on their farmland.
Sit-in Protest Escalates>>>Triumph for the Villagers
turn of events; the district government announced that the recall motion was proved valid and villagers should choose an election committee to organize a new vote for village chief, scheduled for the middle of October. The protests should now stop, it said, and activists with "ulterior motives" should be ignored.
“China Arranges $618M Bailout of Company”
China has arranged a 5 billion yuan ($618 million) bailout for one of the nation's biggest state-run conglomerates _ a collection of textile and drug businesses set up in 1992 as a model for restructured enterprises.
China has been gradually reducing government holdings in many smaller companies, while boosting state control of industries considered to be strategically important |