Agricultural authorities have killed 377,000 chickens after an outbreak of bird flu in two areas of Jiangsu province, said the Ministry of Agriculture. The Ministry said it received information about H5N1 infection among hens in Dongtai and Haian on Monday December 15, 2008.
Source: Ministry of Agriculture, December 16, 2008
http://www.agri.gov.cn/xxlb/t20081216_1191038.htm
Source: Study Times, December 15, 2008
http://www.studytimes.com.cn/WebPage/ny1.aspx?act=0&id=2336&bid=7
China’s Supreme People’s Court said Wednesday that two people have been sentenced to death by the Intermediate People’s Court of Kashgar, Xinjiang for their role in the August 4 attack of police in northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The court stated that the two conducted the attack to sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games that began August 8, 2008. The two people, both locals of Kashgar, were charged and convicted of intentional homicide and illegally producing guns, ammunition and explosives.
Source: Xinhua, December 17, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-12/17/content_10519381_1.htm
Zhao Yang, the deputy chief of the Office of Overseas Affairs (OOA) under the State Council, talked to Xinhua after attending the 7th Annual Conference of The Chinese School Association in the United States (CSAUS) in Chicago on December 13 and 14.
Zhao mentioned four measures to be taken by OOA for promoting overseas Chinese language teaching. First, strengthen the communication and cooperation between Chinese communities and local governments; second, advance the role of Joint Conference of State Overseas Chinese Language Education Work, adding governmental support to language education; third, OOA is to launch degree programs to train overseas teachers of Chinese language; fourth, OOA will selectively build a batch of “Chinese Education Model Schools” and offer key support in textbooks and teacher’s training.
Source: Xinhua, December 16, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/overseas/2008-12/16/content_10513693.htm
On December 16, 2008, www.people.com.cn, the website of Chinese government’s official newspaper the People’s Daily, started a kabushiki kaisha (public corporation) in Tokyo Japan, marking the first step in the agency’s overseas expansion.
The Japanese subsidiary operates a Japanese language version of the newspaper’s website (http://j.people.com.cn/) and the Japan channel of the paper (http://japan.people.com.cn). The former focuses on reporting China-related news to the general public in Japan, as its production and technology center is moving from Beijing to Tokyo. The latter, concentrating on reporting Japan-related news to people in China, is the only domestic news portal that specializes in Japan and the Sino-Japanese relationship.
Source: Xinhua, December 16, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/society/2008-12/16/content_10515261.htm
Russia and China are determined to breakthrough the stalled situation of arms cooperation in air force during the 13th Conference of Russia and China’s United Commission of Military Technology Cooperation on December 11, 2008. Russia and China’s military technology cooperation in the area of air force equipment has stalled for the past couple of years. The conference will discuss the issue of Russia manufacturing Russian airplanes in China and how to expand the cooperation in this area, including gaining permission to manufacture Su-27 and Su-30 in China and receiving service after the sale.
Source: Xinhua, December 11, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2008-12/11/content_10487989.htm
On December 15, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences issued the Social Blue Book for 2009 and held a forum to report the overall situation of Chinese society, analyzing the country’s current situation and also predicting the hot issues for 2009. The book revealed that seeing doctors and employment are the most prominent issues. It also said that the current jobless rate of college graduates is over 12 percent, three times the registered jobless rate.
Source: people.com.cn, December 16, 2008
http://politics.people.com.cn/GB/1026/8523717.html
Following a strike by school teachers in Yongchuan District and Jijiang County in the Chongqing Municipality in October, similar strikes are spreading to many other districts and counties including Jiangjin, Qianjiang, Hechuan, Jijiang, Zijiang, Youyang, and so on, involving tens of thousands of school teachers. The teachers are asking for payments that they were promised. In Qianjiang, 2,000 teachers gathered in front of a government building to protest. In addition, retired teachers have also joined the protest to support the strike.
Source: The Epoch Times, December 16, 2008
http://www.epochtimes.com/gb/8/12/16/n2364617.htm