China urges free government information disclosure to improve transparency

BEIJING, July 22 (Xinhua) -- China urged its government departments to provide the public with free publications of information to protect the right to know and improve government transparency.

Government departments should provide free and timely information through government websites, communique, news conference or media, Xu Kunlin, a National Development and Reform Commission official, said during an online interview on Tuesday.

Such information included the department structure, administrative function, official work and administrative documents required by the Provisions on the Disclosure of Government Information that took effect on May 1, Xu said.

The disclosure of specific information requested by individuals, enterprises or groups would incur a charge, Xu said. The charge, however, would only include costs incurred during the process, such as for copying and delivery.

The money would go to the national treasury, he said.

Low-income groups, however, could get free access to the paid government information by providing their income declaration, said Yuan Guangrui, General Office of Ministry of Finance deputy director.

The Provisions on the Disclosure of Government Information is designed to "improve transparency and protect the right to know and public scrutiny of official acts."

Editor: Mu Xuequan

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US imposes arms sales freeze on Taiwan

The United States has frozen on arms sales to Taiwan following concerns expressed by China, top US military commander in Asia Admiral Timothy Keating said Wednesday.

He said Washington made the decision after having "reconciled Taiwan's military posture, China's current military posture and strategy that indicates there is no pressing, compelling need for, at this moment, arms sales to Taiwan.

"There have been no significant arms sales from the United States to Taiwan in relatively recent times," he acknowledged at a forum of the Washington based Heritage Foundation. "It is administration policy."

Keating said while Washington was committed to the defense of Taiwan, as enshrined in US law, "We want to do nothing to destabilize the (Taiwan) strait," which separates the Taiwan and the mainland.

"The Chinese have made clear to me their concern over any arms sales to Taiwan," he said.

Reports have said that senior US officials were holding up an 11-billion-dollar arms package and a delivery of dozens of F-16 jets for Taiwan, possibly until President George W. Bush leaves office.

The Bush administration must give Congress formal notification for the approval of weapons sales to foreign governments, but the Washington Post recently cited unnamed sources saying Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley have frozen the deal.

The reports appeared as China and Taiwan began last month their first formal talks in a decade, the latest step in a rapprochement that is likely to see the long-time rivals quickly deepen trade and tourism ties.

Taiwan has been governed separately since the end of a 1949 civil war, but Beijing has repeatedly threatened to invade should the island declare formal independence.

Washington has been the island's leading arms supplier, despite switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.

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2008 Beijing Olympic's Theme Song: Beijing Welcomes You

Various Chinese musicians came together to show their national pride. Plus it's a pretty song.

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BREAKING!!!!! ANOTHER EARTHQUAKE HITS SICHUAN CHINA (JULY 15th)

This just in, another earthquake has hit the Sichuan province where a major earthquake on May 12th has killed over 70,000 people and left millions homeless. lets pray for the rescue workers that are still there.


A 5.0 Richter Scale aftershock hits
Mianzhu County of southwest China's Sichuan Province at 5:26 p.m. on
Tuesday, according to the China Earthquake Administration.
Source:Xinhua

Chinese Citizens Open Up Homes to Tourists During Olympics

Zhu Baohua beamed proudly as he showed a group of American visitors a century-old wooden bed in his house.


Zhu, in his fifties, is the owner of a siheyuan, a traditional
courtyard home in downtown Beijing. He was among 598 Beijing homeowners
selected as an Olympic host by the city tourism administration on
Friday.

The administration initiated the homestay program in
April, offering overseas visitors a chance to get to the heart of the
Beijing life.

As a supplement to the city's hotels, these
households could offer 726 rooms for more than 1,000 visitors, said
Xiong Yumei, deputy director of Beijing Tourism Administration.


Most of the families lived near major stadiums, trunk roads, cultural
sites and hutongs, or alleyways, making it easy for visitors to enjoy
the capital, Xiong said.

Before selecting the families,
officials inspected ventilation, lighting, fire safety and sanitation
conditions to make sure they met requirements.

Officials
recommended rates at 60 to 80 U.S. dollars for each bed per night, but
said individual rates could be negotiated between the visitors and the
landlords.

For Beijing natives like Zhu, hosting overseas
tourists is not only a chance to make a little cash, but also a chance
to share his culture.

Zhu's house was bought by his family in
the early 1900s. In 2004, he spent more than 4 million yuan (579,710
U.S. dollars) on renovations: "westernizing" the toilet, installing air
conditioningand high-definition televisions.

"The whole
family are learning the history of siheyuan and hutong. We are
professional tour guides now," Zhu said. He also invited his nephews,
nieces and their friends who speak English to translate for visitors.

On Sunday, the Zhu family received dozens of foreign tourists who come to see the home.


"In your constitution, you have the pursuit of happiness. Although our
cultures are different, we do have a lot in common," a nephew, Zhao
Dongyan, told some U.S. visitors, pointing to a red Chinese character
"Fu", which translates to blessing or happiness.

"I'm
improving my English, so that I can explain better when more visitors
come during the Olympics," said Zhao, a new college graduate.

Like the Zhu family, other hosts are preparing to receive guests.


Wang Zhixi, in her fifties, owns a smaller siheyuan near Zhu's. She and
her husband are seizing every chance to learn English so that they can
tell foreigners about siheyuan.

"My guests ask a lot of
questions about siheyuan. For example, they asked why homes were built
in all four directions in such crowded spaces," she said. "I told them
Chinese families like to live together and it's a way of seeking calm
and tranquility in a noisy world."

Wang also had experience
hosting overseas visitors. She is currently hosting a French reporter
with her 11-month-old son and her mother.

"I try to take good
care of my guests in the way that I care for my son, who now works in
Canada. I hope they feel the warmth and kindness of the Chinese
people," she said.

Apartment onwers are also ready to share:
making Jiaozi, introducing guests to local delicacies, explaining why
the elderly like to keep grasshoppers and birds, or expounding complex
theories like Fengshui.

"The accommodations don't have the
luxury of a hotel, but they are sure part of genuine Beijing life,"
said Ron Rice, from Washington D.C..

Beijing's tourism
authority said travel agencies from Japan, the United States, Canada,
Chile and Singapore had considered renting rooms from these families
during the Games.

But due to the short marketing time, visa
problems and transportation, most of the homestay guests would probably
be Asians, said Zhao Xin, director of the Olympic Program of the China
International Travel Service.

Those interested could apply at their home travel agencies, he added.


The city expects to see more than 500,000 overseas visitors over the
Olympics, and hotels prices are up to four times higher than usual for
the time of year.

The city has a total of 660,000 visitor
beds. By Friday, about 78 percent of the five-star hotels were booked,
but less than half of hotels with four stars or fewer were reserved,
said the tourism administration.

Staff with the
www.Chinahomestay.org, which plans to recruit 350 host families for a
four-week period surrounding the Olympics, said they had been seeing an
increase in demand.

"Many visitors who come to China don't
want to live alone, and they want to communicate with the local
people," said a woman at Chinahomestay.org who gave her name as Chen.

Source: Xinhua

StumbleVideo: Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva

StumbleVideo - Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva

The 1984 Phone Call That Changed the Olympics Forever (FULL ARTICLE)

By LYNN ZINSER

The call he will never forget came for
Peter Ueberroth in the middle of the night on May 12, 1984, over a
crackling phone line from Beijing. It carried the news he believed
would determine the fate of the Olympics, not just the Games he was
working to organize in Los Angeles that summer b
ut all the ones beyond.

At the other end of the line was Charles Lee, the man he had sent to persuade the Chinese to send their team to the Olympics for the first time. Ueberroth, the leader of the Los Angeles organizing committee, was asking China to defy a Soviet Union-led boycott that was announced four days earlier. The Soviets said the boycott would keep 100 countries away from the ’84 Games. If the Soviets succeeded, Ueberroth said flatly, “we were done.” Salvation came when Lee called and told Ueberroth, “They’re coming.”

As the world prepares for the Beijing Games in August, that moment is all but lost in the history of the Olympics, when the winds shifted and carried the Games away from a political bludgeon in the cold war to the combination of athletic and commercial success they have become since.

Ueberroth, now 70 and the chairman of the United States Olympic Committee, will lead the American team into China with a deep sense of gratitude. He believes China saved the Olympics.

“When I got the phone call that they were coming, well, it still gets to me right now,” Ueberroth said in a recent interview in his Newport Beach, Calif., office. “It changed the whole face of the Games.”

Now, no matter what political issues arise — and with China there are many: human rights, Tibet, its relationship with the government of Sudan — large-scale boycotts are no longer part of the discussion. Political statements come in smaller forms: which heads of state will attend or stay home, whether athletes will speak out about their political views. Recently, President Bush announced he would attend the opening ceremony. Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany have said they will not.

In 1984, the stakes were higher. The Soviets were recruiting countries to retaliate for the United States’ decision to stay away from the 1980 Moscow Games, a boycott that 61 other countries joined. The Soviets announced on May 8, 1984, that their team would not come to Los Angeles because of fears for their athletes’ safety, claiming they had agreements from 100 countries to do the same.

Ueberroth said he saw the list. At the top was China.

His response was to assemble a team of envoys who could appeal to officials in undecided countries and persuade them to come. Lee, a federal prosecutor in Los Angeles who is not Chinese but speaks fluent Mandarin, took a small group to China. Ueberroth asked a wo
man on his staff, Agnes Mura, to lead a group to Romania; she had been born there.
Ueberroth went to Cuba.

“People think of the Olympics as a corporate structure,” said Bob Ctvrtlik, who played for the United States volleyball team at the ’84 Games and is now a member of the International Olympic Committee. “It really is not. It relies on relationships. It relies on trust. It relies on people who can cut through cultural differences and find common ground. That was the brilliance of that program.”

Ueberroth was unable to sway Fidel Castro — he keeps a framed copy of a headline from an article in The Los Angeles Times that read, “Ueberroth Strikes Out in Cuba.” But Lee’s
visit was a triumph, and Mura delivered the perhaps more stunning news later in May that tiny Romania would defy the Soviet boycott.

Mura, then 35, had escaped communist Romania when she was 19. Her job at the time was to organize volunteer translators for the Games. She said Ueberroth, learning of her background, tapped her on the shoulder one day and asked her to go to Romania. The semi-secret trip to her homeland terrified her.

After a few days of talks, with the group sequestered in a lakeside house outside Buchar
est, the Romanians agreed in principle to attend the Games. With a few financial details to iron out — the Los Angeles organizing committee and the I.O.C. would each pay $60,000 to defray
the Romanians’ costs — Mura called Ueberroth.

“I said, ‘Agnes, I think they’re just being nice to you,’ ” Ueberroth said. “I thought the Soviets would crush them.”

Mura said she knew the magnitude of what Romania, then a country of about 23 million, was doi
ng.

“We were very proud,” Mura said. “In three days we had accomplisheda lot. One of the biggest concerns they had was security. There had been attacks at the Olympics before and because the Soviets’ argument was they wouldn’t feel safe in the U.S., the Romanians worried that the Soviets would stage an attack on them.” When Mura returned, Ueberroth asked her to organize an extensive envoy program with hosts for every nation, who would be responsible for the teams’ well-being during the Games. Mura slept in the Olympic Village with the Romanian team, next door to its cherished star gymnast, Nadia Comaneci.

But Lee’s visit to China, Ueberroth believed, held the Games in the balance.

Lee, now 62 and retiring as a Superior Court Judge in Los Angeles, began studying Mandarin when he was in the Navy in the late 1960s and spent two years studying in Taiwan. His wife, Miranda, was born in China and grew up in Hong Kong.

When the 1984 Games were first being organized, Ueberroth became
aware of Lee when Lee’s law firm worked on the organizing committee’s
bylaws. When he needed someone fluent in Mandarin as an envoy,
Ueberroth remembered Lee.

Lee visited China several times in the ’70s and ’80s and was fascinated by a country that had been closed to foreigners for so long. He said they were astounded with his language skills. “At night, most places didn’t have electricity,” Lee said. “You got to the city from the airport by this one small road. There were very few Westerners there and very, very few Westerners who spoke Chinese. So I really enjoyed talking to people. “Back then on the tours to China they took you to factories, like a light bulb factory. At night you’d go to a magic show and that was it.”

On his trip in May 1984, Lee said, he and his group were welcomed enthusiastically by the Chinese sports ministers in Beijing. After a series of meetings, the ministers told him China would come to the Games. Lee pressed them to give him a letter he could take back to
Ueberroth. “Initially when they said, ‘We’re coming,’ they believed since they said it, there’s no need for anything in writing,” Lee said. “I just kept asking and asking. Finally they very graciously gave me the letter, which was a fantastic thing.” No one was happier than Ueberroth.

“It was a turning point in my life,” he said.

Only 14 countries boycotted the 1984 Games, which became a financial and political success. Ueberroth remembers the huge cheer the Chinese team received at the opening ceremony — the Romanians received one as well — at Los Angeles Coliseum. Lee remembers watching the Chinese team members as they experienced their first Olympics. When a few gymnasts
asked to meet some American children, Lee brought them to play with his two daughters, then 4 and 2. He still cherishes the picture of that meeting. Lee was appointed the chef de mission of the United States team for the Beijing Games, serving as the leader of the American delegation.

The envoy Charles Lee introduced his children,

Dabney, 2, left, and Alice, 4, to members of the Chinese team in 1984.

Two years ago, when the U.S.O.C. signed a cooperation pact with the Chinese Olympic Committee, Ueberroth presented its chairman, Liu Peng, with a torch from the ’84 Games. Those involved said it was an emotional moment for both men. Beijing’s Games will be Ueberroth’s last as chairman.

Mura, who owns an executive management training firm, said she would watch the Beijing Games with a keen understanding of their significance, with China having come full circle as host after its key role in 1984.

“I know having lived in a communist country what it’s like to open your doors,” Mura said. “I can imagine what it will be like for those young people to see the world come to their capital for a celebration.

“For the people of Beijing, it is going to give them a feeling of connectedness that they started in ’84.”

It all started with news that reached Ueberroth in the middle of the night and stays with him still.

Earthquake museum preliminary planning complete

According to the Urban Planning Bureau of Miaoyang City in Sichuan Province, preliminary planning for an earthquake museum in Beichuan, which has received much public attention
and concern, has been completed.

Beichuan County suffered heavy damage from the May 12 earthquake in Wenchuan; the county seat was virtually flattened. Mianyang City in Sichuan Province has planned
to take in residents of Beichuan County. As a physical testament to the
most devastating earthquake since the founding of New China, an
earthquake museum will be built at the Beichuan county seat.

The Mianyang Urban Planning Bureau has said that preliminary planning for
the Beichuan earthquake museum included a survey of the county seat and
determination of the land to be used. It has also decided on the type
of content, value orientation, and other components of the museum.

The earthquake museum will serve as a testament and display, a memorial and
a reminder, a channel of information and education, and a method of
research and development, showing the real history of the Wenchuan
earthquake.

By People's Daily Online

China sets new subsidy plan for May 12 quake survivors

The Chinese government will modify its temporary subsidy plan for quake survivors starting in September, with each survivor experiencing financial hardship to get 200 yuan (29 U.S. dollars) per month, a State Council statement said on Saturday.

"Life in most parts of the area will return to normal by September but, in some worst-hit areas, some people might still suffer difficulties. To help them, the government decided to continue financial assistance after the present policy ends," said the statement issued after a cabinet meeting presided over by Premier Wen Jiabao.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao speaks at the 23rd meeting of the quake relief headquarters of China's State Council in Beijing, capital of China, July 12, 2008.
The quake, on May 12, left millions of people homeless and destitute.

The policy will cover such categories as orphans, the elderly and the disabled without family support, those whose relatives were killed or severely injured, those who were displaced and those whose residences were destroyed, it said.

Since the disaster, every needy survivor has been eligible to receive 10 yuan and 500 grams of food a day. The policy has covered about 8.82 million people but will end in August. The new system won't include any food allotment.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (C) presides over the 23rd meeting of the quake relief headquarters of China's State Council in Beijing, capital of China, July 12, 2008.

Some types of survivors could receive more than the minimum. Under the present policy, about 261,000 orphans, elderly and disabled without family support have received 600 yuan a month. Under the new policy, they will receive more than 200 yuan, the statement said, without elaborating.

The new policy will expire in November, the statement said.

The meeting heard a report by an experts' committee on the Wenchuan County-centered quake and ordered it to keep monitoring aftershocks in the quake zone for another two months.

The panel was also told to forecast areas that might be affected by major secondary disasters and evaluate possible losses to help reconstruction. The experts were also told to locate sites where quake debris can be stored for long periods for later investigation and take measures to protect such sites.

The meeting endorsed an assessment report by central and provincial authorities, which listed 10 counties and cities, including Wenchuan County, Beichuan County and Dujiangyan City, as the worst-hit areas.

Another 41 counties, cities and districts were characterized as heavily affected and other 186 were said to be moderately affected.

The first two categories will be covered by the national reconstruction plan, it said.

The 8.0-magnitude quake has claimed nearly 70,000 lives, injured more than 374,000 people and left another 18,340 missing.

Source:Xinhua

Facts and Figures About China's Earthquake

Following are the latest facts and figures about the 8.0-magnitude earthquake that rocked southwest China's Sichuan Province on May 12:

-- The death toll from the quake rose to 69,134 nationwide as of Saturday noon, while 374,061 people were injured and 17,681 people were missing.

-- Rescuers saved and evacuated more than 1.37 million people to safe places as of Friday midnight.

-- Hospitals took in 94,964 injured people (patients in the quake zone not included), 76,069 of whom have been discharged as of Saturday noon.

-- Domestic and foreign donations had reached 43.974 billion yuan (6.37 billion U.S. dollars) as of Saturday noon, up 168 million yuan overnight. And 13.59 billion yuan had been forwarded to the earthquake-affected areas.

-- A total of 862,000 tents, one of the most urgently needed relief supplies, had been delivered to quake regions.

-- A total of 4.76 million quilts and 13.46 million item of clothing had been sent to these regions.

-- Some 40,600 temporary houses had been built in the quake zone, with 21,100 in construction as of Friday.

-- Governments at different levels had allocated 23.43 billion yuan (3.395 billion U.S. dollars) as of Saturday noon for quake relief efforts. The fund included 18.9 billion yuan from the central budget and 4.52 billion yuan from local budgets.

-- Between 12:00 p.m. Friday and 12:00 p.m. Saturday, three aftershock measuring between 4.0 to 4.9 on the Richter scale were monitored.

Source

Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macao reporters invited to cover Tibet after Lhasa riot

Thirty-one reporters from 18 media organizations in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao traveled in Lhasa for coverage of Tibet on Tuesday.

The reporters, representing 15 organizations from Hong Kong, one from Macao and two from Taiwan, are the second batch of reporters invited to Tibet after the March 14 Lhasa riots.

They arrived here on Monday for a three-day visit to Lhasa and Shannan.

An official with the Tibet Autonomous Region government said this trip will provide open news coverage without any restriction.

Yang Liu, a reporter with the Hong Kong-based Oriental Daily, met with his friends Monday evening after arrival. Yang had visited Tibet six times and he said normal life in Lhasa has resumed.

Tuesday morning, reporters visited the Lugu residents community. Drakpa Yonten, director of the residents committee, said: "People live a peaceful life here now and they can worship Buddhas in monasteries," noting the Jokhang Monastery has already been opened.

The Lugu area used to be a slum, housing one third of the beggars in Lhasa. Nowadays, 85 percent of the residents are Tibetans and most run their own businesses.

Their average income of 5,700 yuan (826 U.S. dollars) last year was 1.7 times the Tibet average.

All residents have medical insurance and all minors can receive nine free years of compulsory education.

After the devastating earthquake on May 12, residents donated 45,000 yuan for the quake-hit regions, said Drakpa Yonten.

During the three-day visit, reporters will have extensive contact with officials, monks and common people, and they will be able to interview shop owners whose shops were damaged during the riot.

They will also visit Tibet University, companies engaged in handicraft art, and the Potala Palace and Norbu-Linkag.

Source

Chinese "Obligated by Law" to Visit Parents

A draft law in Liaoning province makes it an obligation for adult children to contact or visit their parents regularly.

It is the first legislation of its kind in the country.

The province's standing committee of the people's congress recently released the draft - Regulation on Protection of Rights and Interests of the Aged - to seek public opinion.

It is expected to become law by the end of the year.

An article says if children do not live with their parents, they should "often send greetings or go home to visit them".

Government employees, who fail to do so, will face sanctions by their respective agencies.

Yao Yuan, professor and vice-dean of Renmin University of China's School of Sociology and Population Studies, described the draft as "social progress".

Yao said it is good in that it is China's first regulation to include a specific article requiring children to visit their parents.

"We used to emphasize the financial duty of children to support their aged parents," he said. "The regulation highlights the emotional needs too."

Yao said Chinese culture has always dictated the taking care of aged parents at home.

However, as the first "one-child generation" grows up and moves away from home many parents begin to suffer from loneliness and the so-called "empty-nest syndrome", he said.

Sui Ling, a 71-year-old woman in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning province, said her son works in another city, and is always so busy, so he can only return home to see her about once or twice a year.

"I miss my son very much but I don't want to interfere with his career," she said. "The new regulation is at least a reminder to him to come home more often."

Yao said about one-third of elderly Chinese do not live with their children. In Beijing, more than half of parents have "empty nests".

He suggested children should telephone their parents more often, write letters or send gifts.

"Elderly people really enjoy and rely much on ties with their children," Yao said.

A 65-year-old woman surnamed Shi said she hoped the regulation could have a clear definition of what "often" means and the consequences to children who do not contact or visit their parents.

Pei Pei, a graduate of the Communication University of China, said she feels "extremely guilty" of not being able to visit her parents often since she left Liaoning eight years ago.

Source

US Withdraws From Human Rights Council

6 June 08 - There was widespread consternation on Friday at the Palais des Nations in Geneva when the US mission gave up his observer status - a step backwards for human rights around the world, says Human Rights Watch.

Carole Vann/Juan Gasparini/Human Rights Tribune - The news that the US has completely withdrawn from the Human Rights Council spread like wildfire Friday afternoon (June 6) through the corridors of the Palais des Nations in Geneva. There was general consternation amongst diplomats and NGOS. Reached by phone, the American mission in Geneva neither confirmed nor denied the report. Although unofficial, the news comes at a time of long opposition by the Bush administration to the reforms which created the Human Rights Council in June 2006. Washington announced from the beginning that the US would not be an active member but its observer status would mean that it could intervene during the sessions. To date even this has rarely happened.

“We don’t understand the reasons nor the timing of the decision”, said Sebastien Gillioz of Human Rights Watch. “There have even been some positive signs during this Council. For example Belarus was not re-elected as a member in 2007 nor Sri Lanka this year”.

The stupefaction was made greater by the fact the US actively took part in the universal Periodic Review (UPR) process where 32 countries were scrutinized by their peers in April and May. In particular a series of recommendations were made regarding Romania, Japan, Guatemala, Peru, Tunisia, Ukraine, Indonesia and others.

Diplomats are equally concerned. If the current president of the Council, Doru Costea, declined to comment, his predecessor, Luis Alfonso De Alba said that he didnt see any reason to justify such a decision. Several observers mentioned Washington’s growing discontentment with the influence of the Islamic and African countries in the Council.

“It is an aberration”, said Peter Splinter of Amnesty International. “It seems that the government has lost its mind. How could it believe it is going to improve human rights by running away? It is like those who say, ‘I don’t like the way this town is governed so I’m not going to vote’”.

For Human Rights Watch (HRW), the US has shown very little commitment to human rights in general. The working group against arbitrary detention gave up going to Guantanamo last month because Washington would not allow its members to have face to face meetings with detainees. For its part, the Rapporteur against racism, Doudou Diene, has fought for years to be able to pay a visit and only recently got permission.

But Eric Sottas, director of the International Organisation against Torture sees it as a a political gesture. “The US has always clearly shown its opposition to the Council. This is a slightly more public way of putting pressure on it in order to raise the stakes. What is more the Bush dynasty is coming to the end of its mandate,” he said. “It reminds me of the time when the Nixon administration, which backed Pinochet in Chile, chastized the UN for criticising the Chilean dictator. But when Carter was elected in 1977, the American government took the floor at the Human Rights Commission to ask forgiveness. After a presidency like that of Bush, you can expect some important changes in US policy on human right.”

HRW is still worried about the withdrawal. “The message is worrying”, says Sebastien Gillioz. “ Ever since September 11, 2001, the US has constantly interpreted international standards in an “ a la carte” manner that has eroded human rights. Its behaviour has served as an example to a stream of states, including Pakistan, Egypt and other, who are not embarrassed to review human rights standards on homosexuality, abortion, capital punishment. It is a step backwards.”

Translated from the French by Claire Doole

Source

Chinese Earthquake Rescue Effort by the PLA

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!

The earthquake in China has killed tens of thousands and has ruined the lives of millions. We are all human beings living on the same planet. We are all brothers and sisters. Please help!!!


To Donate:

Accounts: Red Cross Society of China
Foreign currency accounts: 7112111482600000209
Bank: CITIC Bank branch Jiuxianqiao
Hotline: (8610) 65139999