As of October 23, over 1,200 people petitioned for Special pardon of Yang Jia. Yang Jia, a young man in his twenties, was sentenced to death on September 1 2008 by Shanghai No.2 Intermediate People’s Court, after a closed trial, for killing 6 policemen in
Source: Chinese Human Rights Defenders, October 23, 2008
http://crd-net.org/Article/Class53/200810/20081023075704_11301.html
Patent applications by universities in
Source: Guangming Daily, October 19, 2008 reprinted by
Whoever uses Beijing Internet cafes for the first time will be photographed and their Identification Cards scanned. The data is transmitted to the database of the monitoring platform maintained by the “culture policing forces.” By mid December, the installation and implementation of the system will be completed in all Internet cafes in Beijing. At the monitoring platform, the authorities can monitor remotely any computer in any Internet café, real time. Owners of the Internet cafes have no access to the data.
Source: Chinanews.com, October 16, 2008
http://www.chinanews.com.cn/gn/news/2008/10-16/1414600.shtml
Japan found Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane in frozen string beans imported from China Yantain Beihai Food Corporation. A woman in Tokyo was hospitalized after eating the string beans. Testing of unopened string bean packages of the same brand showed elements of DDT.
Source: BBC, October 15, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid_7670000/newsid_7672400/7672456.stm
Confucius Institutes are instrumental in bringing China and Africa closer, reported Xinhua. There are 21 Confucius Institute in 13 African countries. 10 of them have started operation with 2,000 students, the remaining in preparation stage. The State headquarters of Confucius Institutes in Beijing have provided significant support to these Confucius Institutes in terms of Chinese teachers, financial support of over $3 million, donations of over 30,000 textbooks and multimedia items.
There are 271 Confucius Institutes throughout the world in 77 countries and regions.
Source; Xinhua, October 7, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-10/07/content_10159634.htm
Chinese companies have invested in over 140 projects and created 11,000 jobs, quoted Xinhua from Zambia Times. Investment tends to concentrate on agriculture, machinery processing, mining and tourism, totaling over $80 million.
Source: Xinhua, October 6, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2008-10/06/content_10156158.htm
Several government departments issue d a joint notice announcing the provisional amount of melamine allowed in milk and milk products, reported People’s Daily on October 8, 2008. Ministry of Health stated that the move is an administrative measure responding to the emergency in order to ensure product quality. For example, the allowable amount of melamine in infant formula is 1mg per kilogram, and in milk/milk powder the allowable amount is 2.5mg. According to an earlier release of Ministry of Health, over 10,000 children remain hospitalized due to melamine contaminated milk.
Source: People’s Daily, October 8, 2008
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1027/8146427.html
Economic reforms in the past 30 years have moved over one third of farmers to non-agricultural jobs, said Xinhua on October 9, 2008 citing a recent survey of National Trade Union. There are about over 100 million farmers now working in the non-agricultural sectors. As of June 2008, 65 million of them are trade union members. The total trade union members amount to 209 million.
Source:
Xinhua, October 9, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-10/09/content_10172030.htm
Xinhua, October 8, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-10/08/content_10166647.htm