Aug 26, 2012
Taliban deny reports of Haqqani leader death
Taliban deny reports of Haqqani leader death: Group rejects claims by Pakistan and Afghanistan that Badruddin Haqqani was killed in North Waziristan by drone strike.
Deadly explosion at Venezuela oil refinery
Deadly explosion at Venezuela oil refinery: At least 26 people killed and 80 more wounded in massive blaze, as three days of mourning declared for victims.
Two members of Pussy Riot flee Russia
Two members of Pussy Riot flee Russia: Women flee country to avoid prosecution for staging protest against President Vladimir Putin at a cathedral altar.
Election observers proliferate at polls
Election observers proliferate at polls:
As Jamila Gatlin waited in line at a northside Milwaukee elementary school to cast her ballot June 5 in the proposed recall of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, she noticed three people in the back of the room. They were watching, taking notes.
Read full article >>
As Jamila Gatlin waited in line at a northside Milwaukee elementary school to cast her ballot June 5 in the proposed recall of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, she noticed three people in the back of the room. They were watching, taking notes.
Read full article >>
Syrians Hold Mass Burials in Damascus Area Amid Crackdown
Syrians Hold Mass Burials in Damascus Area Amid Crackdown: With more than 200 bodies found over the weekend, the assault in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus has begun to look like one of the deadliest and focused short-term raids of the uprising.
Capital Ideas: Romney’s First 100 Days Could Bring Significant Change
Capital Ideas: Romney’s First 100 Days Could Bring Significant Change: A Republican sweep of Washington could make possible the change they have been talking about for three decades: a significant shrinking of government.
Book Reviewers for Hire Meet a Demand for Online Raves
Book Reviewers for Hire Meet a Demand for Online Raves: The growing business of self-published books has spawned an industry in which hired reviewers produce favorable online reviews.
News Analysis: Convention Is Sign That Republican Grip on Sun Belt Is Loosening
News Analysis: Convention Is Sign That Republican Grip on Sun Belt Is Loosening: The Sun Belt remains a force, but the Republican National Convention is a sign that the Republicans’ grip on it is loosening.
Aug 25, 2012
Tibet Battles Women Trafficking
Tibet Battles Women Trafficking:
Chinese authorities recorded a big jump in the trafficking of women and children from Tibet to Chinese provinces last year as an expert said that more than half of the 72 counties in the Tibet Autonomous Region have grappled with women-smuggling problems.
Complaints of trafficking in women and children jumped to 37 in 2011 from 12 the year before, with three in 2009 and 13 in 2008, according to statistics fleshed out from a police report obtained by RFA’s Tibetan service.
There were only four complaints reported so far this year.
Seventy traffickers were also arrested during the 2008-2012 period, according to the report, which suggested that individual complaints may involve several victims.
Since 2008, nearly 100 women and children were trafficked into Chinese provinces from Tibet as “brides” or household servants, with 38 young women and a child smuggled in 2011 alone, according to the report.
The report, titled “Some Thoughts on Crimes Involving the Kidnapping and Trafficking of Women and Children,” was distributed as an internal memo by the Tibetan capital Lhasa’s Public Security Bureau.
The memo is undated but includes references to cases reported from 2008 up to and including 2012.
It also cites 85 cases of trafficked persons being recovered by police and returned to their homes.
Betrayals of trust
Common methods used to entrap trafficking victims outlined in the report included promises of jobs or offers of help in finding boyfriends, and betrayals of trust by men with whom the victims had formed intimate relationships.
In other cases, women were drugged before being taken from their homes and sold, the report said.
Most of the victims came from rural areas of Tibet, and are described in the police report as “illiterates” and “school dropouts.”
During the 2008-2012 period covered by the report, Lhasa police working with county-level district crime investigation units confirmed 67 cases of trafficking out of 69 complaints received.
Twenty groups of traffickers were identified, and 70 individual traffickers were arrested, of whom 66 were directly involved in the trafficking, the report said.
Modern-day slaves
Speaking separately to RFA, Office of Tibet in Taiwan researcher Sonam Dorjee said that 45 out of 72 counties in the Tibet Autonomous Region have reported cases of Tibetan women being trafficked into China.
Counties and subdistricts in the areas of Lhasa, Shigatse, and Damshung have reported the greatest numbers of these cases, he said.
“At first, Chinese workers who came to Shigatse married Tibetan girls and took them back to China against their parents’ wishes,” Dorjee said.
Later, these brides lured other Tibetan women from rural areas to come into China, enticing them with promises of jobs and a better life, he said.
“Chinese men from Qinghai [province] have also formed relationships with gullible Tibetan women and have taken them with them after paying a meager amount of money to their parents,” Dorjee said.
“Once in China, these women are forced into servitude and abused, serving as modern-day slaves," he said.
"Of those who were initially taken to be the domestic helpers and ‘brides’ of elderly Chinese men with handicapped children, many ended up in brothels later on."
In its Trafficking in Persons Report for 2012, the U.S. State Department said that the Chinese government “does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.”
The report placed China on its Tier 2 Watch List among countries which do not fully comply with minimum standards to protect trafficking victims but are making “significant efforts” to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.
Reported by RFA’s Tibetan service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Chinese authorities recorded a big jump in the trafficking of women and children from Tibet to Chinese provinces last year as an expert said that more than half of the 72 counties in the Tibet Autonomous Region have grappled with women-smuggling problems.
Complaints of trafficking in women and children jumped to 37 in 2011 from 12 the year before, with three in 2009 and 13 in 2008, according to statistics fleshed out from a police report obtained by RFA’s Tibetan service.
There were only four complaints reported so far this year.
Seventy traffickers were also arrested during the 2008-2012 period, according to the report, which suggested that individual complaints may involve several victims.
Since 2008, nearly 100 women and children were trafficked into Chinese provinces from Tibet as “brides” or household servants, with 38 young women and a child smuggled in 2011 alone, according to the report.
The report, titled “Some Thoughts on Crimes Involving the Kidnapping and Trafficking of Women and Children,” was distributed as an internal memo by the Tibetan capital Lhasa’s Public Security Bureau.
The memo is undated but includes references to cases reported from 2008 up to and including 2012.
It also cites 85 cases of trafficked persons being recovered by police and returned to their homes.
Betrayals of trust
Common methods used to entrap trafficking victims outlined in the report included promises of jobs or offers of help in finding boyfriends, and betrayals of trust by men with whom the victims had formed intimate relationships.
In other cases, women were drugged before being taken from their homes and sold, the report said.
Most of the victims came from rural areas of Tibet, and are described in the police report as “illiterates” and “school dropouts.”
During the 2008-2012 period covered by the report, Lhasa police working with county-level district crime investigation units confirmed 67 cases of trafficking out of 69 complaints received.
Twenty groups of traffickers were identified, and 70 individual traffickers were arrested, of whom 66 were directly involved in the trafficking, the report said.
Modern-day slaves
Speaking separately to RFA, Office of Tibet in Taiwan researcher Sonam Dorjee said that 45 out of 72 counties in the Tibet Autonomous Region have reported cases of Tibetan women being trafficked into China.
Counties and subdistricts in the areas of Lhasa, Shigatse, and Damshung have reported the greatest numbers of these cases, he said.
“At first, Chinese workers who came to Shigatse married Tibetan girls and took them back to China against their parents’ wishes,” Dorjee said.
Later, these brides lured other Tibetan women from rural areas to come into China, enticing them with promises of jobs and a better life, he said.
“Chinese men from Qinghai [province] have also formed relationships with gullible Tibetan women and have taken them with them after paying a meager amount of money to their parents,” Dorjee said.
“Once in China, these women are forced into servitude and abused, serving as modern-day slaves," he said.
"Of those who were initially taken to be the domestic helpers and ‘brides’ of elderly Chinese men with handicapped children, many ended up in brothels later on."
In its Trafficking in Persons Report for 2012, the U.S. State Department said that the Chinese government “does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.”
The report placed China on its Tier 2 Watch List among countries which do not fully comply with minimum standards to protect trafficking victims but are making “significant efforts” to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.
Reported by RFA’s Tibetan service. Translated by Dorjee Damdul. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Drug-Resistant Malaria Targeted
Drug-Resistant Malaria Targeted:
Updated at 11.50 a.m. EST on 2012-08-25
Health officials from four countries in Southeast Asia met in Cambodia on Friday to devise strategies on how to contain malaria in the face of threat from drug-resistant strains of the mosquito-borne infectious disease.
Health officials from Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, and Laos gathered in Siem Reap province to exchange information about the fight against the disease and preventing the ability of the malaria parasite to survive drugs intended to kill it quickly.
Their coordinated efforts have seen some success in reducing the malaria threat in the region, Cambodia’s Minister of Health Mam Bunheng said at the two-day meeting which began Thursday and sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development.
“Health officials are working to combat malaria along the borders of Cambodia, Thailand, and Burma. The process has been smooth and we have succeeded in reducing the cases of malaria and the death tolls,” he said.
But strains resistant to the commonly used artemisinin drug found on the Cambodia-Thailand border and the Thailand-Burma border are posing a challenge.
“We are working to eliminate the drug-resistant malaria,” he said.
The strains resistant to artemisinin, a drug derived from a Chinese herb, first emerged in the Thailand-Cambodia border about eight years ago, the World Health Organization has said, with the first cases of resistance confirmed in western Cambodia in 2006.
Earlier this year, researchers found other cases in the Thailand-Burma border area.
Thailand-Cambodia border
Wichai Satimai, the director of Thailand’s Bureau of Vector-Borne Disease in the Ministry of Public Health, said health officials are stepping up the fight against the disease near Pailin and its neighboring Koh Kong province in Cambodia.
Resistance to artemisinin does not prevent patients being cured thanks to partner drugs, but treatment typically takes a longer period and is more expensive.
The WHO has found suspected cases of artemisinin resistance in Burma and Vietnam and along the Burma-China border, but it has only confirmed cases in western Cambodia and western Thailand.
Scientists have not yet determined whether the resistance in the Thailand-Cambodia and Thailand-Burma border areas are related or whether they emerged independently.
WHO officials are cautiously optimistic about preventing the spread of resistance to artemisinin.
"So far, we haven't found any artemisinin resistance outside the Mekong region… I think we have good chances to keep it in the Mekong region," Pascal Ringwald, coordinator of the global malaria program for the World Health Organization (WHO) said at a meeting of experts on antimalarial drug resistance in Bangkok in April.
Although considerable progress has been made in malaria control in the region made up of six countries of the Mekong River basin—Burma, Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam—malaria remains a major concern for the international community and ministries of health in the region, the U.S. government says.
It plans to spend U.S. $12 million to combat malaria in the region in the 2012 financial year.
Cambodia
Officials said Cambodia which has earmarked U.S. $20 million to combat malaria, has had some success in reducing general malaria threat over the past year.
In the first seven months of 2012, Cambodia saw 42,000 cases of malaria, with at least 30 deaths, mostly in Kompong Cham and Kratie province.
The cases decreased by 23 percent compared to 2011, when there were 55,000 cases in the first seven months.
Reported by Hang Sobratsavyouth for RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
Updated at 11.50 a.m. EST on 2012-08-25
Health officials from four countries in Southeast Asia met in Cambodia on Friday to devise strategies on how to contain malaria in the face of threat from drug-resistant strains of the mosquito-borne infectious disease.
Health officials from Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, and Laos gathered in Siem Reap province to exchange information about the fight against the disease and preventing the ability of the malaria parasite to survive drugs intended to kill it quickly.
Their coordinated efforts have seen some success in reducing the malaria threat in the region, Cambodia’s Minister of Health Mam Bunheng said at the two-day meeting which began Thursday and sponsored by the United States Agency for International Development.
“Health officials are working to combat malaria along the borders of Cambodia, Thailand, and Burma. The process has been smooth and we have succeeded in reducing the cases of malaria and the death tolls,” he said.
But strains resistant to the commonly used artemisinin drug found on the Cambodia-Thailand border and the Thailand-Burma border are posing a challenge.
“We are working to eliminate the drug-resistant malaria,” he said.
The strains resistant to artemisinin, a drug derived from a Chinese herb, first emerged in the Thailand-Cambodia border about eight years ago, the World Health Organization has said, with the first cases of resistance confirmed in western Cambodia in 2006.
Earlier this year, researchers found other cases in the Thailand-Burma border area.
Thailand-Cambodia border
Wichai Satimai, the director of Thailand’s Bureau of Vector-Borne Disease in the Ministry of Public Health, said health officials are stepping up the fight against the disease near Pailin and its neighboring Koh Kong province in Cambodia.
Resistance to artemisinin does not prevent patients being cured thanks to partner drugs, but treatment typically takes a longer period and is more expensive.
The WHO has found suspected cases of artemisinin resistance in Burma and Vietnam and along the Burma-China border, but it has only confirmed cases in western Cambodia and western Thailand.
Scientists have not yet determined whether the resistance in the Thailand-Cambodia and Thailand-Burma border areas are related or whether they emerged independently.
WHO officials are cautiously optimistic about preventing the spread of resistance to artemisinin.
"So far, we haven't found any artemisinin resistance outside the Mekong region… I think we have good chances to keep it in the Mekong region," Pascal Ringwald, coordinator of the global malaria program for the World Health Organization (WHO) said at a meeting of experts on antimalarial drug resistance in Bangkok in April.
Although considerable progress has been made in malaria control in the region made up of six countries of the Mekong River basin—Burma, Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam—malaria remains a major concern for the international community and ministries of health in the region, the U.S. government says.
It plans to spend U.S. $12 million to combat malaria in the region in the 2012 financial year.
Cambodia
Officials said Cambodia which has earmarked U.S. $20 million to combat malaria, has had some success in reducing general malaria threat over the past year.
In the first seven months of 2012, Cambodia saw 42,000 cases of malaria, with at least 30 deaths, mostly in Kompong Cham and Kratie province.
The cases decreased by 23 percent compared to 2011, when there were 55,000 cases in the first seven months.
Reported by Hang Sobratsavyouth for RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
Freedom of Speech Roundup
Freedom of Speech Roundup:
In the weekly Freedom of Speech Roundup, Sampsonia Way presents some of the week’s top news on freedom of expression, journalists in danger, artists in exile, and banned literature.
Myanmar goverment abolishes direct media censorship after 50 years.
The New York Times. Two days after the Japanese journalist Mika Yamamoto was shot and killed in the Syrian city of Aleppo, her news agency released some of the footage she recorded in her final hours. Read more.
Financial Times. It has been difficult for Russians to understand why Pussy Riot has been such a big sensation in the west. Read More
In the weekly Freedom of Speech Roundup, Sampsonia Way presents some of the week’s top news on freedom of expression, journalists in danger, artists in exile, and banned literature.
Myanmar goverment abolishes direct media censorship after 50 years.
Myanmar Ends Direct Media Censorship
Boston.com Myanmar abolished direct censorship of the media Monday in the most dramatic move yet toward allowing freedom of expression in the long-repressed nation. Read morePatrick Ness: Censorship in the Internet Age
The Guardian. In the penultimate Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference lecture, Patrick Ness argues that in 2012, the censorship we need to beware of is the subtle variety we impose on ourselves. Read moreWriters Condemn Arizona School Literature Law
Edinburg Conference. Following the Edinburgh World Writers’ Conference session on “Censorship Today”, Ben Okri delivered the following statement on behalf of the participating writers. Read moreWhen Is Government Web Censorship Justified? An Indian Horror Story
The Atlantic. Self-fulfilling rumors of ethnic violence spread like a virus across the newly wired India, sending 300,000 citizens fleeing and leading the government to extreme measures. Read moreJapanese Journalist Mika Yamamoto Killed in Syria
Committee to Protect Journalists. Yamamoto’s death reflects Japan’s media reach, duty. Read moreThe New York Times. Two days after the Japanese journalist Mika Yamamoto was shot and killed in the Syrian city of Aleppo, her news agency released some of the footage she recorded in her final hours. Read more.
In Meles’ Death, as in Life, a Penchant for Secrecy, Control
Committee to Protect Journalists. Finally, after weeks of government silence and obfuscation over Meles’ health, there was clarity for Ethiopians anxious for word about their leader. Still, it was left to unnamed sources to fill in even the basic details. Read moreIs Pakistan’s Ansar Abbasi being banned?
Committee to Protect Journalists. Ansar Abbasi, editor of investigations for Pakistan’s leading media group Jang, is apparently facing a de facto ban from his own employers. Read moreFive Bizarre Blasphemy Cases
Index on censorship. Some countries are upholding vague blasphemy laws that make it easy to clamp down on free speech in the name of protecting religion. Here are some ridiculous blasphemy cases from around the world this year. Read moreTeddy Bear Trouble in Belarus
CBC Radio. Last month, people in Minsk were surprised to see hundreds of teddy bears parachuting down on their city, in an action calling for free speech. The action has caused a diplomatic spat, and a mounting political crisis in Belarus. Interview with Per Cromwell, CEO of Studio Total, the Swedish ad agency behind the bears. Listen hereOn Pussy Riot
Time World. A Russian President whose popularity is declining needs a ‘national idea’ to rationalize his rule. And it’s in the traditions of the pre-Soviet church-state relationship that he hopes to find it. Read moreFinancial Times. It has been difficult for Russians to understand why Pussy Riot has been such a big sensation in the west. Read More
Vodafone Bows to India's Text Curbs
Vodafone Bows to India's Text Curbs: Vodafone has complied with Indian government orders forcing the country's mobile operators to restrict text-messaging services, part of India's effort to curb mass panic that riled parts of the country in recent weeks.
Samsung Appeal May Take Several Tacks
Samsung Appeal May Take Several Tacks: Patent lawyers laid out several avenues of appeal that Samsung could pursue following its loss in a high-stakes patent battle with Apple over the design and function of smartphones and other devices.
At Home, Samsung Seen as Underdog
At Home, Samsung Seen as Underdog: In South Korea, the view being heard was that the companies were riding the same wave of new technology and, after they collided, courts in each country sided with their local firm.
Aug 24, 2012
Walking in Phnom Penh
Walking in Phnom Penh:
It's the reply no tuk tuk driver wants to hear: "I'm walking, thanks." Often, the most sensible thing would be to sit in his comfy carriage, be transported around the streets and let him worry about the traffic. But for getting-lost-exploring in Phnom Penh and answering the question, "I wonder what's down there?", you can't beat shanks' pony.
Detour again.Footpaths are not just for walking
They are not so much sidewalks as side-vends, side-parks, side-washes, side-eats. Anything goes on a Cambodian pavement. Including walking, if you're lucky. Nevertheless, you'll likely find yourself stepping off at regular intervals to make your way around a coconut water stall, a parked SUV or a metalwork shop and you may find it easier to walk on the road. That's fine, just please remember ...
There's nothing wrong with single file
Maybe you are having a great conversation, and you probably do feel safer in a group, but there is really no need to stroll down the street Reservoir Dogs-style (complete with sunglasses) blocking the road and oblivious to the rest of the traffic.
Listen for horns
If someone beeps, they are letting you know they are there. Get out of their way. Especially if you're doing the sunglasses walk.
Look left, look right, look left .... dive in!Don't cross at the intersection
Watching newbies attempting to traverse a junction is a little bit like an impromptu hokey cokey. Left foot out. Left foot in. Right foot out. Ooh no, back in. Let's use some logic -- at the intersection there are four directions of traffic, while 50 metres down the road there are only two directions of traffic. It's always going to be easier to negotiate one road at a time.
Look both ways, twice
Coming from the UK which drives on the left, I used to find it difficult to adjust to road traffic in most other countries, where the right is, well, right. The happy solution was moving to Cambodia, where drivers seem to stick to whichever side of the road is more convenient. After all, if he's turning left in a few hundred metres, what's the point in cutting across the road to travel on the right, only to have to cross back again shortly? It's important to know, when you're navigating the road, that you need to expect traffic from all possible directions and you should look both ways for each lane.
Traffic signs are suggestions
Take traffic lights and one-way street signs with a heavily-laden pinch of salt. The tongue-in-cheek Kampot Survival Guide calls pedestrian crossings "merely a suggested place to get run over" -- it's more surprising if someone actually does stop for you to traverse the street.
With that many Buddhas, you shouldn't get run over round here.Cross with confidence
It's pointless waiting for a clear stretch of road before you cross -- you could be standing there all day. When you do see the beginning of a gap that is just big enough to fit through, walk slowly and with confidence. Don't change your mind halfway through crossing and do try to make eye contact with drivers and riders. So long as the riders are looking, motorbikes will go around you. Take more care with cars and SUVs, especially if you can't see the driver through blacked-out windows. They may be finishing a text message and not have spotted you.
Don't be shy
You might be given four different sets of directions, but asking for help from locals is an interaction you wouldn't have had otherwise. That said, best to remember that maps are not always very useful, as even tuk tuk drivers tend not to use them. If you are going to do it your way, make sure that when you stop to consult the map, you are close to the pavement, and not in the middle of the road.
Further reading
Take a Phnom Penh walking tour around the work of Cambodia's best-known architect
Heading to Kuala Lumpur? We've got walking in the Malaysia capital covered too.
It's the reply no tuk tuk driver wants to hear: "I'm walking, thanks." Often, the most sensible thing would be to sit in his comfy carriage, be transported around the streets and let him worry about the traffic. But for getting-lost-exploring in Phnom Penh and answering the question, "I wonder what's down there?", you can't beat shanks' pony.
Detour again.
They are not so much sidewalks as side-vends, side-parks, side-washes, side-eats. Anything goes on a Cambodian pavement. Including walking, if you're lucky. Nevertheless, you'll likely find yourself stepping off at regular intervals to make your way around a coconut water stall, a parked SUV or a metalwork shop and you may find it easier to walk on the road. That's fine, just please remember ...
There's nothing wrong with single file
Maybe you are having a great conversation, and you probably do feel safer in a group, but there is really no need to stroll down the street Reservoir Dogs-style (complete with sunglasses) blocking the road and oblivious to the rest of the traffic.
Listen for horns
If someone beeps, they are letting you know they are there. Get out of their way. Especially if you're doing the sunglasses walk.
Look left, look right, look left .... dive in!
Watching newbies attempting to traverse a junction is a little bit like an impromptu hokey cokey. Left foot out. Left foot in. Right foot out. Ooh no, back in. Let's use some logic -- at the intersection there are four directions of traffic, while 50 metres down the road there are only two directions of traffic. It's always going to be easier to negotiate one road at a time.
Look both ways, twice
Coming from the UK which drives on the left, I used to find it difficult to adjust to road traffic in most other countries, where the right is, well, right. The happy solution was moving to Cambodia, where drivers seem to stick to whichever side of the road is more convenient. After all, if he's turning left in a few hundred metres, what's the point in cutting across the road to travel on the right, only to have to cross back again shortly? It's important to know, when you're navigating the road, that you need to expect traffic from all possible directions and you should look both ways for each lane.
Traffic signs are suggestions
Take traffic lights and one-way street signs with a heavily-laden pinch of salt. The tongue-in-cheek Kampot Survival Guide calls pedestrian crossings "merely a suggested place to get run over" -- it's more surprising if someone actually does stop for you to traverse the street.
With that many Buddhas, you shouldn't get run over round here.
It's pointless waiting for a clear stretch of road before you cross -- you could be standing there all day. When you do see the beginning of a gap that is just big enough to fit through, walk slowly and with confidence. Don't change your mind halfway through crossing and do try to make eye contact with drivers and riders. So long as the riders are looking, motorbikes will go around you. Take more care with cars and SUVs, especially if you can't see the driver through blacked-out windows. They may be finishing a text message and not have spotted you.
Don't be shy
You might be given four different sets of directions, but asking for help from locals is an interaction you wouldn't have had otherwise. That said, best to remember that maps are not always very useful, as even tuk tuk drivers tend not to use them. If you are going to do it your way, make sure that when you stop to consult the map, you are close to the pavement, and not in the middle of the road.
Further reading
Take a Phnom Penh walking tour around the work of Cambodia's best-known architect
Heading to Kuala Lumpur? We've got walking in the Malaysia capital covered too.
Crime rate down in Phnom Penh
Crime rate down in Phnom Penh: 
Police and government figures claim human trafficking, drug crimes, assaults, gambling and “gangster” activity in the capital have dropped.
Police and government figures claim human trafficking, drug crimes, assaults, gambling and “gangster” activity in the capital have dropped.
$850m backing for Cambodia's railways
$850m backing for Cambodia's railways: 
Investments from China, Vietnamese and Malaysian companies aim to revamp existing lines in Cambodia and build an additional one.
Investments from China, Vietnamese and Malaysian companies aim to revamp existing lines in Cambodia and build an additional one.
Monitoring of Cambodian Muslims called into question
Monitoring of Cambodian Muslims called into question: 
Cambodian government officials did not comment on an alleged request from the Thai government to help monitor Cambodian Muslims crossing into the country.
Cambodian government officials did not comment on an alleged request from the Thai government to help monitor Cambodian Muslims crossing into the country.
Joint campaign to eradicate sex tourism in Cambodia provinces
Joint campaign to eradicate sex tourism in provinces: 
Far-flung villages and towns across Cambodia’s rural provinces must be far better equipped to deal with child sex tourism, said World Vision.
Far-flung villages and towns across Cambodia’s rural provinces must be far better equipped to deal with child sex tourism, said World Vision.
Factory strikes lead to cut in orders
Factory strikes lead to cut in orders: 
Global brands Levi’s and Gap had slashed their orders from the Tai Yang and Camwell garment factories by 20 per cent amid long-standing strikes.
Global brands Levi’s and Gap had slashed their orders from the Tai Yang and Camwell garment factories by 20 per cent amid long-standing strikes.
Over 90 drinking water plants in Vientiane reported substandard
Over 90 drinking water plants in Vientiane reported substandard:
Lao Voices
More than 90 plants producing drinking water in Vientiane are distributing their products to the public despite lacking the necessary certification from the Ministry of Health’s Food and Drug Department. The factories in question have been told to improve the standard of their operations. However, some of them are illegally selling water before completing the necessary improvements and inviting the authorities to check and approve their production. Health officials are very concerned about substandard drinking water in the capital, fearing that water distributed by substandard factories could affect the health of people both in the short and long term. Director...
Over 90 drinking water plants in Vientiane reported substandard
Lao Voices
More than 90 plants producing drinking water in Vientiane are distributing their products to the public despite lacking the necessary certification from the Ministry of Health’s Food and Drug Department. The factories in question have been told to improve the standard of their operations. However, some of them are illegally selling water before completing the necessary improvements and inviting the authorities to check and approve their production. Health officials are very concerned about substandard drinking water in the capital, fearing that water distributed by substandard factories could affect the health of people both in the short and long term. Director...
Over 90 drinking water plants in Vientiane reported substandard
Vietnam faces serious power shortage
Vietnam faces serious power shortage:
Lao Voices
HCM CITY (Viet Nam News) — Vietnam will soon face a serious power shortage if it fails to come up with increased power generation, an analyst has warned. Nguyen Anh Tuan of the Institute of Energy said additions to the grid had reached only 69 percent of the target in the four years to 2010 “due to lack of funding, red tape, increasing cost of fuel and other inputs, difficulties in land acquisition and investors’ lack of capability”. Speaking at a power conference in HCM City last week, Tuan said the shortage would continue despite an annual increase in demand...
Vietnam faces serious power shortage
Lao Voices
HCM CITY (Viet Nam News) — Vietnam will soon face a serious power shortage if it fails to come up with increased power generation, an analyst has warned. Nguyen Anh Tuan of the Institute of Energy said additions to the grid had reached only 69 percent of the target in the four years to 2010 “due to lack of funding, red tape, increasing cost of fuel and other inputs, difficulties in land acquisition and investors’ lack of capability”. Speaking at a power conference in HCM City last week, Tuan said the shortage would continue despite an annual increase in demand...
Vietnam faces serious power shortage
Tuk-tuks and Buddhas: Laid-back Laos offers peace and beauty in Asia - CultureMap Austin
Tuk-tuks and Buddhas: Laid-back Laos offers peace and beauty in Asia - CultureMap Austin:
 CultureMap Austin | Tuk-tuks and Buddhas: Laid-back Laos offers peace and beauty in Asia CultureMap Austin The land-locked Asian country of Laos may seem very far away from Texas, but Southeast Asia is increasingly becoming a hot spot for travelers. Particularly with rising prices and a weaker dollar making other international destinations like Europe and ... |
Oldest modern human in Asia discovered in Laos - Examiner.com
Oldest modern human in Asia discovered in Laos - Examiner.com:
 Examiner.com | Oldest modern human in Asia discovered in Laos Examiner.com The newly found skull dates to between 46000 and 63000 years old and was discovered in a cave in the Annamite Mountains in northern Laos in 2009 by a team of paleontologists led by Laura Shackelford, an anthropologist at the University of Illinois at ... |
'Laos Jails Village Church Leader For Not Renouncing Faith' - BosNewsLife
'Laos Jails Village Church Leader For Not Renouncing Faith' - BosNewsLife:
 BosNewsLife | 'Laos Jails Village Church Leader For Not Renouncing Faith' BosNewsLife VIENTIANE, LAOS (BosNewsLife)-- The leader of a growing village church in central Laos was behind bars Wednesday, August 22, for refusing to renounce his faith in Jesus Christ, his supporters told BosNewsLife. Bountheung, who leads the Nongpong ... |
'Tubing' bars in Laos shut down amid deaths - Ninemsn
'Tubing' bars in Laos shut down amid deaths - Ninemsn:
'Tubing' bars in Laos shut down amid deaths Ninemsn Authorities in Laos have shut down riverside bars popular among western tourists after a number of deaths and injuries linked to dangerous watersports. Seven bars were closed along the Xong River in Vang Vieng after authorities found they were "serving ... |
Cambodian Muslims not involved in South violence: Army chief
Cambodian Muslims not involved in South violence: Army chief: Most Cambodian Muslims living in the deep South of Thailand have no connection with insurgents in the predominantly Muslim region, and are simply job-seekers who have fled poverty in search of better lives, Army chief Prayuth Chanocha said Tuesday.
Trial of Former Thai Leader Abhisit Vejjajiva Postponed
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Govt to take all necessary measures on Papua violence
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Fires add fuel to political heat ahead of Jakarta runoff
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Aquino names Philippines' 1st female chief justice
Aquino names Philippines' 1st female chief justice: The Philippine president appointed the country's first female Supreme Court chief justice Friday and praised her ability to lead the court after her predecessor was removed for constitutional ...
Cambodia Ministry Combats Sex Tourism
Ministry Combats Sex Tourism:
Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism has signed a deal with international aid group World Vision to combat child sex tourism as the country steps up efforts to woo foreign tourists.
The ministry inked a memorandum of understanding with World Vision at a ceremony in Phnom Penh on Wednesday, strengthening the cooperation the two sides have had since 2011 in preventing the sexual exploitation of children in Cambodia’s tourist industry, a top money spinner.
Cambodia is noted as a haven for foreign pedophiles and the government has beefed up enforcement to check the problem.
The partnership between the tourism ministry and World Vision aims to enhance capacity-building for relevant government officials and strengthen mechanisms at national level so as to prevent child sex abuse in the tourism sector, Minister of Tourism Thong Kon said.
World Vision will work with officials to raise awareness of the vulnerabilities of at-risk children and promote responsible tourism practices through education, training, and public campaigns.
The partnership forms part of a U.S. $7.5 million initiative sponsored by the Australian Agency for International Development to prevent the sexual exploitation of children in tourism in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The deal was signed by Hor Sarun, undersecretary of state at the Tourism Ministry, and Jason Evans, World Vision’s Cambodia director.
Hor Sarun, who also chairs the ministry’s Committee for Safe Children in Tourism, said the panel will collect information, investigate suspects, and report cases to anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection agencies.
The committee will target potential destinations of foreign pedophiles, including Preah Sihanouk, Kompong Chhnang, Kompong Thom, Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey, he said.
He added that the committee is working to keep children away from foreign pedophiles through education and administrative measures and runs a child sex tourism helpline.
Tourism
The project comes as Cambodia’s blooming tourist industry expects to attract over three million tourists per year.
The country welcomed nearly 2.9 million international tourists in 2011, a 15 percent increase from the year before, according to a recent report by the Ministry of Tourism.
A key industry for generating income, creating job opportunities, and alleviating poverty, tourism is a “main priority sector” for Cambodia’s socioeconomic development, Thong Kon said.
But alongside the benefits, tourism has also brought “slight negative impacts such as drug abuse, crimes, and prostitution,” he said.
He said that most tourists come to enjoy what Cambodia has to offer, but improper behavior such as child sex abuse committed by “a handful of tourists” is a “major concern” for Cambodia.
Evans said that although tourism brings Cambodia much-needed revenue, measures are needed to protect children from being brought into the sex trade.
“We are working together for children’s protection,” he said.
Through the program, World Vision also works with the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime and Interpol to promote “child safe tourism.”
Its Project Childhood—Prevention Pillar provides education, training, and public campaigns aimed at creating a safe environment for children in tourism destinations, a concept it calls “child safe tourism.”
Foreign pedophiles
Dozens of foreigners have been jailed for sex crimes or deported to face trial in their home countries since Cambodia launched an anti-pedophilia push in 2003 in a bid to shake off its reputation as a haven for sex predators.
In June, authorities deported Russian businessman Alexander Trofimov, who was found to be living with a 12-year-old girl months after he was pardoned by King Norodom Sihamoni following his conviction of sexually abusing more than a dozen Cambodian girls.
Trofimov, who was also wanted for the rape of six girls in Russia, was formerly the chairman of an investment group developing a Cambodian tourist island.
Cambodia has also caught men who were already convicted as child sex offenders in their home countries.
The authorities have also investigated 457 tourist destinations tied with the sex trade, according to a February report by the Ministry of the Interior.
Reported by Sok Serey for RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
Cambodia’s Ministry of Tourism has signed a deal with international aid group World Vision to combat child sex tourism as the country steps up efforts to woo foreign tourists.
The ministry inked a memorandum of understanding with World Vision at a ceremony in Phnom Penh on Wednesday, strengthening the cooperation the two sides have had since 2011 in preventing the sexual exploitation of children in Cambodia’s tourist industry, a top money spinner.
Cambodia is noted as a haven for foreign pedophiles and the government has beefed up enforcement to check the problem.
The partnership between the tourism ministry and World Vision aims to enhance capacity-building for relevant government officials and strengthen mechanisms at national level so as to prevent child sex abuse in the tourism sector, Minister of Tourism Thong Kon said.
World Vision will work with officials to raise awareness of the vulnerabilities of at-risk children and promote responsible tourism practices through education, training, and public campaigns.
The partnership forms part of a U.S. $7.5 million initiative sponsored by the Australian Agency for International Development to prevent the sexual exploitation of children in tourism in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The deal was signed by Hor Sarun, undersecretary of state at the Tourism Ministry, and Jason Evans, World Vision’s Cambodia director.
Hor Sarun, who also chairs the ministry’s Committee for Safe Children in Tourism, said the panel will collect information, investigate suspects, and report cases to anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection agencies.
The committee will target potential destinations of foreign pedophiles, including Preah Sihanouk, Kompong Chhnang, Kompong Thom, Siem Reap, Banteay Meanchey, he said.
He added that the committee is working to keep children away from foreign pedophiles through education and administrative measures and runs a child sex tourism helpline.
Tourism
The project comes as Cambodia’s blooming tourist industry expects to attract over three million tourists per year.
The country welcomed nearly 2.9 million international tourists in 2011, a 15 percent increase from the year before, according to a recent report by the Ministry of Tourism.
A key industry for generating income, creating job opportunities, and alleviating poverty, tourism is a “main priority sector” for Cambodia’s socioeconomic development, Thong Kon said.
But alongside the benefits, tourism has also brought “slight negative impacts such as drug abuse, crimes, and prostitution,” he said.
He said that most tourists come to enjoy what Cambodia has to offer, but improper behavior such as child sex abuse committed by “a handful of tourists” is a “major concern” for Cambodia.
Evans said that although tourism brings Cambodia much-needed revenue, measures are needed to protect children from being brought into the sex trade.
“We are working together for children’s protection,” he said.
Through the program, World Vision also works with the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime and Interpol to promote “child safe tourism.”
Its Project Childhood—Prevention Pillar provides education, training, and public campaigns aimed at creating a safe environment for children in tourism destinations, a concept it calls “child safe tourism.”
Foreign pedophiles
Dozens of foreigners have been jailed for sex crimes or deported to face trial in their home countries since Cambodia launched an anti-pedophilia push in 2003 in a bid to shake off its reputation as a haven for sex predators.
In June, authorities deported Russian businessman Alexander Trofimov, who was found to be living with a 12-year-old girl months after he was pardoned by King Norodom Sihamoni following his conviction of sexually abusing more than a dozen Cambodian girls.
Trofimov, who was also wanted for the rape of six girls in Russia, was formerly the chairman of an investment group developing a Cambodian tourist island.
Cambodia has also caught men who were already convicted as child sex offenders in their home countries.
The authorities have also investigated 457 tourist destinations tied with the sex trade, according to a February report by the Ministry of the Interior.
Reported by Sok Serey for RFA’s Khmer service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.
Midwest Water Wells Drying Up in Drought
Midwest Water Wells Drying Up in Drought: For many residents who live outside of municipal water districts, it has become a struggle to simply wash dishes, fill a coffee urn or flush a toilet.
Signs Suggest Iran Is Speeding Up Work on Nuclear Program
Signs Suggest Iran Is Speeding Up Work on Nuclear Program: International nuclear inspectors will soon report that Iran has installed hundreds of new centrifuges in recent months and may also be speeding up production of nuclear fuel.
Robert Amsterdam on Thaksin, Prayuth, lese majeste and the red shirts
Robert Amsterdam on Thaksin, Prayuth, lese majeste and the red shirts:
Yesterday I spoke with Robert Amsterdam about recent defamation allegations levelled against him by the Royal Thai Army chief, General Prayuth Chan-ocha. Amsterdam also clarifies his relationship with Thaksin and with the Red Shirts. I also question him about lese majeste and Thaksin’s human rights record. The full interview is available here.
Yesterday I spoke with Robert Amsterdam about recent defamation allegations levelled against him by the Royal Thai Army chief, General Prayuth Chan-ocha. Amsterdam also clarifies his relationship with Thaksin and with the Red Shirts. I also question him about lese majeste and Thaksin’s human rights record. The full interview is available here.
Defections raise Anwar election chances
Defections raise Anwar election chances: The defection of two Malaysian ruling coalition parliamentarians has boosted the chances of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim grabbing the two key states of Sabah and Sarawak - and with them the reins of government - when Prime Minister Najib Razak gets round to calling a general election. Signs of government jitters are already evident. - Anil Netto (Aug 23, '12)
Analysis: A tunnel-free future for Gaza?
Analysis: A tunnel-free future for Gaza?:
 | GAZA CITY, 23 August 2012 (IRIN) - This month's border attack in the Sinai Peninsula, which killed 16 Egyptian soldiers, has bolstered calls to shut down a network of underground tunnels between Egypt and the isolated Gaza Strip. The tunnels have been used for years to smuggle goods into Gaza and, Egypt alleges, fighters into the Sinai. |
LIBERIA: Out-of-court justice
LIBERIA: Out-of-court justice:
 | GANTA, 23 August 2012 (IRIN) - "We don't get much sleep now because there are people calling night and day," says Jesco Davis, who represents the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (JPC), a local NGO partnering with the US-based Carter Center and helps Liberia's overwhelmed judiciary by resolving cases out of court and teaching citizens about their basic rights. |
COTE D'IVOIRE: Universities reopen after political unrest
COTE D'IVOIRE: Universities reopen after political unrest:
 | ABIDJAN, 24 August 2012 (IRIN) - When Côte d'Ivoire's five public universities reopen on 3 September, 61,000 students will arrive for the first time after almost two years since they were closed in the violent unrest sparked by the disputed 2010 presidential vote. There are fears the influx could cause chaos. |
YEMEN: Women die as violence impedes antenatal care in Abyan
YEMEN: Women die as violence impedes antenatal care in Abyan:
 | ABYAN, 24 August 2012 (IRIN) - In June, after spending 11 months in a makeshift camp for people displaced by violence, 19-year-old Dawlah Muslih, then seven months pregnant, returned to her home in an area of Yemen where safety was supposed to have improved. It was a move her family would come to regret. |
FOOD: A quiet water revolution
FOOD: A quiet water revolution:
 | JOHANNESBURG, 24 August 2012 (IRIN) - Quietly, a revolution to develop cheap ways to draw water for irrigation is unfolding in small villages and rural regions in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, a new three-year study has found. This movement has the ability to turn agriculture around in the developing world. |
Analysis: Taming hate speech in Kenya
Analysis: Taming hate speech in Kenya:
 | NAIROBI, 24 August 2012 (IRIN) - So much for “never again”. Five years after 1,300 Kenyans were killed and more than half a million displaced in the wake of a presidential election, one of the triggers of that violence, the inflammatory language of politicians, remains a serious threat to peace and stability as the country gears up for the next polls in March 2013. |
PAKISTAN: Afghan refugees weigh their dwindling options
PAKISTAN: Afghan refugees weigh their dwindling options:
 | ISLAMABAD, 24 August 2012 (IRIN) - At 70 years old, Mohammad Issa is already struggling to survive in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, where he sought refuge from war in Afghanistan years ago. Suffering from a heart condition, he has trouble leaving the house and depends on his children, who collect cardboard for a living. |
Unaccompanied children look toward school after ordeal to reach Europe
Unaccompanied children look toward school after ordeal to reach Europe: Nearly 1,500 minors seeking asylum arrived in Belgium without other family members last year, exceeding the capacity of asylum centres.
UNHCR says South Sudan refugee health situation alarming
UNHCR says South Sudan refugee health situation alarming: With 170,000 Sudanese refugees now in camps and settlements across South Sudan's Unity and Upper Nile states, the health situation among this population has become a matter of alarm to us. With the current...
Syria Emergency: Record number of Syrians cross border into Jordan
Syria Emergency: Record number of Syrians cross border into Jordan: With the arrival of 2,200 refugees on Thursday night, UNHCR has now recorded well over 200,000 Syrians fleeing the fighting
Ethiopia after Meles
Ethiopia after Meles: The West will need to show tougher love to his successor than it did to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who died Monday, if one of its most important regional allies is to remain stable.
Aug 23, 2012
People's Daily Editor Suicide Linked to Pressure
Editor Suicide Linked to Pressure:
The suicide this week of a top features editor at the Communist Party official newspaper People's Daily has sent shock waves through the tightly controlled world of China's state-run media, commentators said on Thursday.
Xu Huaiqian, 45, was the editor of the "Dadi" cultural supplement of the paper when he took his own life on Wednesday after suffering severe mental health problems, a friend and associate said via China's microblogging services.
"I received a text from a friend to say that ... Xu Huaiqian jumped off a building and died on Wednesday afternoon at 2:00 p.m., because he was suffering from clinical depression," wrote Xu Xunlei, editor of the Hangzhou-based Metropolis Express newspaper.
However, an employee who answered the phone at the newspaper offices declined to comment. "We don't know about this matter," the employee said, before hanging up the phone.
Some microbloggers made an immediate link between Xu's reported depression and the huge mental pressure on journalists under China's draconian controls on its media.
"Xu Huaiqian said when he was alive that his pain lay in the fact that he dared to think things but didn't dare to say them; that he dared to say them, but didn't dare to write them; that he dared to write them, but that there was nowhere to publish them," wrote microblog user @huayanbatu.
'Internal struggle'
User @haiyangzhilushang agreed, saying that Xu was sure to have many things bottled up inside him that couldn't be spoken about.
"This internal struggle and conflict forced him to take the road from which there is no return," the user wrote.
No suicide note was reported, but Xu's own writings may give some clue as to the meaning of his suicide in his own mind.
"Death is a heavy word," he wrote in a 2008 article about social injustice.
"In China, there are many situations in which society won't pay much attention to you unless you die; in which only death is sufficient to change things for the better," he said.
Indeed, Xu's death appears to have had a very public impact.
The editor of Qingdao Literature magazine, Han Jiachuan, posted a statement online in response to Xu's death, expressing his grief that he wouldn't get together with his friend again, while China Youth Daily columnist Cao Lin said he was "in shock, and in tears" at the news.
Current affairs commentator Yang Jinlin said via her microblogging account that Xu's passing was a "terrible pity" for a man only in his forties.
Common situation
Meanwhile, Beijing-based veteran journalist Gao Yu said she had frequently written articles that her editors didn't dare to use, a situation which most Chinese journalists have found themselves in.
"When I wrote for the China News Service, I would pass myself off as a foreign writer based overseas, but very frequently they couldn't publish my articles," Gao said.
"It made me feel as if I couldn't express my ideas," she said. "I was also in the position of daring to write but being unable to publish."
"Of course it's hugely depressing to be in that situation."
Li Datong, ousted former editor of the cutting-edge China Youth Daily supplement "Freezing Point," said people who worked at the People's Daily would have long ago come to terms with media restrictions, however.
"I think this is an individual case, and it doesn't really represent anything else," he said.
Xu graduated from the Chinese department of the prestigious Peking University in 1989, going on to gain a master's degree in literature at the equally prestigious Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, before starting work at the People's Daily.
He also wrote a number of articles in his spare time, which were published on the China Writer website, including "Testifying Through Death" and an essay collection, "Walking and Thinking."
Unknown factors?
According to the ousted former editor of Baixing magazine, Huang Liangtian, Xu may have had unknown factors in his private life contributing to his mental state.
"I have tried to ask some of my friends at the People's Daily, but they can't really get to the bottom of it," Huang said. "We're no longer limited to a few official media outlets for our expression."
"We can express ourselves in private gatherings, and online, on the microblogs," he said.
Last month, in what many said was an renewed censorship drive ahead of a crucial leadership transition later this year, Chinese authorities removed from their posts top editorial staff at a Shanghai newspaper and the editor-in-chief of a cutting-edge Guangzhou newspaper.
Li Fumin, former editor-in-chief of the New Express newspaper in Guangzhou, which is published by Nanfang newspaper group, and Lu Yan, who headed the Shanghai-based Eastern Daily News, were both removed from their posts.
The 2010 survey of global press freedom carried out by the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders put China 171st out of 178 countries and territories for journalistic autonomy.
Chinese authorities retain blocks on foreign social media platforms like Twitter and have tightened controls on investigative reporting and entertainment programming in advance of a sensitive leadership change scheduled for 2012, according to a recent survey by the U.S.-based Freedom House.
Detailed party directives—which can arrive daily at editors’ desks—also restrict coverage related to public health, environmental accidents, deaths in police custody, and foreign policy, among other issues, the report said.
Chinese journalists and millions of Internet users continue to test the limits of permissible expression by drawing attention to incipient scandals or launching campaigns via domestic microblogging platforms, it added.
Reported for RFA's Cantonese service by Grace Kei Lai-see and by Xin Yu for the Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
The suicide this week of a top features editor at the Communist Party official newspaper People's Daily has sent shock waves through the tightly controlled world of China's state-run media, commentators said on Thursday.
Xu Huaiqian, 45, was the editor of the "Dadi" cultural supplement of the paper when he took his own life on Wednesday after suffering severe mental health problems, a friend and associate said via China's microblogging services.
"I received a text from a friend to say that ... Xu Huaiqian jumped off a building and died on Wednesday afternoon at 2:00 p.m., because he was suffering from clinical depression," wrote Xu Xunlei, editor of the Hangzhou-based Metropolis Express newspaper.
However, an employee who answered the phone at the newspaper offices declined to comment. "We don't know about this matter," the employee said, before hanging up the phone.
Some microbloggers made an immediate link between Xu's reported depression and the huge mental pressure on journalists under China's draconian controls on its media.
"Xu Huaiqian said when he was alive that his pain lay in the fact that he dared to think things but didn't dare to say them; that he dared to say them, but didn't dare to write them; that he dared to write them, but that there was nowhere to publish them," wrote microblog user @huayanbatu.
'Internal struggle'
User @haiyangzhilushang agreed, saying that Xu was sure to have many things bottled up inside him that couldn't be spoken about.
"This internal struggle and conflict forced him to take the road from which there is no return," the user wrote.
No suicide note was reported, but Xu's own writings may give some clue as to the meaning of his suicide in his own mind.
"Death is a heavy word," he wrote in a 2008 article about social injustice.
"In China, there are many situations in which society won't pay much attention to you unless you die; in which only death is sufficient to change things for the better," he said.
Indeed, Xu's death appears to have had a very public impact.
The editor of Qingdao Literature magazine, Han Jiachuan, posted a statement online in response to Xu's death, expressing his grief that he wouldn't get together with his friend again, while China Youth Daily columnist Cao Lin said he was "in shock, and in tears" at the news.
Current affairs commentator Yang Jinlin said via her microblogging account that Xu's passing was a "terrible pity" for a man only in his forties.
Common situation
Meanwhile, Beijing-based veteran journalist Gao Yu said she had frequently written articles that her editors didn't dare to use, a situation which most Chinese journalists have found themselves in.
"When I wrote for the China News Service, I would pass myself off as a foreign writer based overseas, but very frequently they couldn't publish my articles," Gao said.
"It made me feel as if I couldn't express my ideas," she said. "I was also in the position of daring to write but being unable to publish."
"Of course it's hugely depressing to be in that situation."
Li Datong, ousted former editor of the cutting-edge China Youth Daily supplement "Freezing Point," said people who worked at the People's Daily would have long ago come to terms with media restrictions, however.
"I think this is an individual case, and it doesn't really represent anything else," he said.
Xu graduated from the Chinese department of the prestigious Peking University in 1989, going on to gain a master's degree in literature at the equally prestigious Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, before starting work at the People's Daily.
He also wrote a number of articles in his spare time, which were published on the China Writer website, including "Testifying Through Death" and an essay collection, "Walking and Thinking."
Unknown factors?
According to the ousted former editor of Baixing magazine, Huang Liangtian, Xu may have had unknown factors in his private life contributing to his mental state.
"I have tried to ask some of my friends at the People's Daily, but they can't really get to the bottom of it," Huang said. "We're no longer limited to a few official media outlets for our expression."
"We can express ourselves in private gatherings, and online, on the microblogs," he said.
Last month, in what many said was an renewed censorship drive ahead of a crucial leadership transition later this year, Chinese authorities removed from their posts top editorial staff at a Shanghai newspaper and the editor-in-chief of a cutting-edge Guangzhou newspaper.
Li Fumin, former editor-in-chief of the New Express newspaper in Guangzhou, which is published by Nanfang newspaper group, and Lu Yan, who headed the Shanghai-based Eastern Daily News, were both removed from their posts.
The 2010 survey of global press freedom carried out by the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders put China 171st out of 178 countries and territories for journalistic autonomy.
Chinese authorities retain blocks on foreign social media platforms like Twitter and have tightened controls on investigative reporting and entertainment programming in advance of a sensitive leadership change scheduled for 2012, according to a recent survey by the U.S.-based Freedom House.
Detailed party directives—which can arrive daily at editors’ desks—also restrict coverage related to public health, environmental accidents, deaths in police custody, and foreign policy, among other issues, the report said.
Chinese journalists and millions of Internet users continue to test the limits of permissible expression by drawing attention to incipient scandals or launching campaigns via domestic microblogging platforms, it added.
Reported for RFA's Cantonese service by Grace Kei Lai-see and by Xin Yu for the Mandarin service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
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