Facebook: Java exploit used to install malware on employee computers, ‘no evidence’ user data was compromised

Facebook: Java exploit used to install malware on employee computers, ‘no evidence’ user data was compromised:
Facebook on Friday announced its systems were compromised last month as part of a sophisticated attack exploiting a Java vulnerability. Although the investigation is still ongoing, the company says it has “found no evidence” that “user data was compromised.”
Facebook explains its security team discovered sometime in January that “a handful of employees” had visited an unnamed compromised mobile developer website hosting a Java exploit which then allowed malware to be installed on these employee laptops. Facebook says that the laptops in question “were fully-patched and running up-to-date anti-virus software.”
Facebook doesn’t give much of a timeline as to when the malware was installed nor when it discovered its existence. The company does say, however, that upon its finding, the infected computers in question were immediately remediated, law enforcement was contacted, and a “significant investigation” was launched “that continues to this day.” Facebook also says it is still working with security teams at other companies and with law enforcement authorities to learn everything about the attack and how to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Here’s the crux of what Facebook knows so far:

In this particular instance, we flagged a suspicious domain in our corporate DNS logs and tracked it back to an employee laptop. Upon conducting a forensic examination of that laptop, we identified a malicious file, and then searched company-wide and flagged several other compromised employee laptops.
After analyzing the compromised website where the attack originated, we found it was using a “zero-day” (previously unseen) exploit to bypass the Java sandbox (built-in protections) to install the malware. We immediately reported the exploit to Oracle, and they confirmed our findings and provided a patch on February 1, 2013, that addresses this vulnerability.

Security gurus will remember that on this day Oracle released Java 7 Update 13. That patch addressed 50 vulnerabilities and arrived more than two weeks early (the February 2013 Critical Patch was originally scheduled for February 19), but it was rushed out because Oracle was notified of “active exploitation in the wild of one of the vulnerabilities affecting the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) in desktop browsers.”
It’s still not clear which one of the 50 fixed flaws was the reason for the JRE rush fix. As we noted when Update 13 was released, between the previous patch and this most recent one, multiple vulnerabilities have been publicly discussed: at least one was being sold for $5,000 on January 16, two we reported about on January 18, and another one was mentioned on January 28.
Facebook says it was not alone in this attack, declaring that “it is clear that others were attacked and infiltrated recently as well” but the company’s influence definitely got Oracle moving. The social firm also said it was “one of the first companies” to discover the malware and thus started sharing details about the infiltration with other affected firms and “entities.”
You might be wondering why Facebook is only revealing this information now, especially given that it has 1 billion users, many of whom share very personal information on the social network. The reason is simple: don’t share bad news until you have something good to say (in this case, that user data is safe as far as the company can tell right now, the malware has been removed, and the flawed software has been patched).
This is probably why Facebook has waited at least two weeks (it’s likely more given that the breach was discovered in January, but the company won’t say exactly when) to reveal it was attacked. It’s also likely the reason why the news is being revealed on a Friday, and not, say, a Monday.
Facebook made the following promise to its members and the broader public: “We will continue to work with law enforcement and the other organizations and entities affected by this attack. It is in everyone’s interests for our industry to work together to prevent attacks such as these in the future.”
Correct. This is not the first time popular software like Oracle’s Java has been used to infiltrate companies, it won’t be the last, and those affected need to team up to fight back.
Image credit: Armin Hanisch

Posterous shuttering for good on April 30th to focus on Twitter, offering data downloads until then

Posterous shuttering for good on April 30th to focus on Twitter, offering data downloads until then:
Blogging platform Posterous has announced via its company blog that it will be shutting down as of April 30th. The company was acquired by Twitter just under a year ago.
If you’re worried about what to do with your spaces stuff, Techcrunch is reporting that Posterous co-founder Garry Tan has started a new site called Posthaven which he says ‘will never shut down’. The site can be found here, and runs $5 a month.
Posterous founder and former member of the Final Cut Pro team at Apple. Sachin Agarwal says that Posterous’ mission when it launched in 2008 was to “make it easier to share photos and connect with your social networks.”
As of April 30th, however, Agarwal says that its focus will be 100% on Twitter. So the site is shutting down completely as of April 30th. That means no more viewing or editing of content at all, period.
This means that if you still have any content still on Posterous, now is the time to get it off. Agarwal points to WordPress and Squarespace, both of which have importers for Posterous.
There is also a ‘backup’ option that you can request here, which delivers a zip archive of your spaces.
“We’d like to thank the millions of Posterous users who have supported us on our incredible journey,” Agarwal adds. “We hope to provide you with as easy a transition as possible, and look forward to seeing you on Twitter.”
Posterous’ acquisition came as somewhat of a surprise last year , especially as it was emphatic just 19 days before that it had ‘no plans to sell’. We mentioned at the time of sale that it was unlikely Posterous would remain up and running forever. It took about a year for it to finally give up the ghost for good. Despite saying that it would offer the backup feature within weeks, it took until December of last year before that was available.
Posterous was a pioneer of the ‘cross post for social networks, which allowed you to make one post on your Space and have it automatically appear on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere. Since then this has become a somewhat standard feature, though it has been mitigated a bit as these individual networks guard their silos like mother hens.
Image Credit: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Main Page - Wikitravel

Main Page - Wikitravel

Wikivoyage

Wikivoyage

Briefing: A guide to defusing sectarian tensions in Iraq

Briefing: A guide to defusing sectarian tensions in Iraq:

BAGHDAD, 13 February 2013 (IRIN) - Protests have rocked Sunni-dominated provinces of Iraq for almost two months, raising sectarian tensions in Iraq's fragile post-war environment and fears of a return to the civil strife of 2006-7. Here's a look at the roots of this tension and how to defuse it.

Flood-proofing Mozambique

Flood-proofing Mozambique:

MAPUTO, 13 February 2013 (IRIN) - Mozambique has dealt with years of recurrent floods and set up an effective early warning system, yet the intensity of this year's rains came as a surprise.

Climate change influence on typhoons uncertain

Climate change influence on typhoons uncertain:

JOHANNESBURG, 13 February 2013 (IRIN) - When Typhoon Bopha, one of the strongest storms to hit the western Pacific in recent memory, slammed into the Philippine island of Mindanao last year, there was much speculation in the media about the growing influence of climate change.

Locust invasion threatens underfunded Madagascar

Locust invasion threatens underfunded Madagascar:

SANHANGY-TSIALIH, 13 February 2013 (IRIN) - After years of underfunding its locust management programme, Madagascar is threatened by a major swarm that could infest most of the island country.

Water mismanagement in northern Sri Lanka

Water mismanagement in northern Sri Lanka:

KILINOCHCHI, 13 February 2013 (IRIN) - Water resources in northern Sri Lanka, which are coming under increasing pressure as returning farmers use wasteful water pumps to irrigate their crops, need to be better managed, say experts.

Côte d’Ivoire cocoa farmers certified and satisfied

Côte d’Ivoire cocoa farmers certified and satisfied:

ABIDJAN, 13 February 2013 (IRIN) - Tens of thousands of Côte d'Ivoire cocoa farmers are reducing pesticide use, curbing soil erosion and water contamination and at the same time boosting yields and income thanks to certification schemes which are making their cocoa more attractive to foreign buyers, say certification companies.

Beyond free school feeding in Uganda's northeast

Beyond free school feeding in Uganda's northeast:

KAMPALA, 13 February 2013 (IRIN) - With food aid programmes in Uganda's northeastern region of Karamoja once again under threat from declining financial aid, experts are calling for more sustainable solutions to the region's food security challenges.

Tackling shackling of the mentally ill in Indonesia

Tackling shackling of the mentally ill in Indonesia:

JAKARTA, 14 February 2013 (IRIN) - Indonesia is seeking to boost its community mental health services in an effort to end the lockdown and shackling of thousands of mental health patients.

Becoming refugees once more: Palestinians from Syria return to Gaza

Becoming refugees once more: Palestinians from Syria return to Gaza:

GAZA CITY, 14 February 2013 (IRIN) - Some 150 Palestinian families have fled the violence in Syria and returned to Gaza, but their homecoming has been far from easy.

WFP food ration cuts hit IDPs in Pakistan

WFP food ration cuts hit IDPs in Pakistan:

PESHAWAR, 14 February 2013 (IRIN) - Salim Mehsud, from Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal agency, was first displaced by conflict.

Briefing: Humanitarian crisis in Sudan's Nuba Mountains

Briefing: Humanitarian crisis in Sudan's Nuba Mountains:

NUBA MOUNTAINS/NAIROBI, 14 February 2013 (IRIN) - The ongoing conflict in Sudan's South Kordofan and Blue Nile states continues to present a major challenge to aid agencies in the region, which say access is urgently required to meet the humanitarian needs of hundreds of thousands of people.

Bednet indifference threatens PNG progress on malaria

Bednet indifference threatens PNG progress on malaria:

MASUMAVE, 15 February 2013 (IRIN) - Papua New Guinea (PNG) could face an upsurge in malaria cases due to overly relaxed attitudes to the use of bednets, health experts warn.

Why southern Lebanon still matters

Why southern Lebanon still matters:

WAZZANI, 15 February 2013 (IRIN) - Southern Lebanon has been the scene of occupation and conflict for decades. Now, it is experiencing what might be the calmest period in its history. This provides a chance to finally sustainably develop the area and stabilize the border with Israel. But are donors, UN agencies and the government interested?

Thousands of cattle die after a dry spell in Zimbabwe

Thousands of cattle die after a dry spell in Zimbabwe:

HARARE, 15 February 2013 (IRIN) - More than 9,000 cattle have died in the last few months following poor rains in Zimbabwe's Matabeleland South Province; more than half the death toll occurred in just one of district.

Vaccinator killings set back Nigerian polio eradication drive

Vaccinator killings set back Nigerian polio eradication drive:

KANO, 15 February 2013 (IRIN) - Unknown gunmen on mopeds shot dead 10 polio vaccinators last week in separate attacks on two polio clinics in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, capital of a polio-endemic region where concerted global efforts are being made to stamp out the virus by the end of 2013.

Five food issues to watch out for

Five food issues to watch out for:

JOHANNESBURG, 15 February 2013 (IRIN) - Who or what do you blame when the price of maize seems to keep going through the roof? If you didn't mention fuel subsidies, then you need to read this list of emerging food issues in Africa.

Ten ways to develop southern Lebanon

Ten ways to develop southern Lebanon:

TYRE, 15 February 2013 (IRIN) - For many residents of southern Lebanon, economic development in their region is a fool's dream. The central government in Beirut, paralysed by political crisis, has done little to develop the peripheries of Lebanon, especially in the south, which is dominated by militant and political group Hezbollah.

Thousands flee army harassment in eastern DRC*

Thousands flee army harassment in eastern DRC*:

GOMA, 15 February 2013 (IRIN) - Thousands of people have fled the town of Punia in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) following threats to their ethnic community, according to UN sources.

HRW - Defending Human Rights Worldwide (report, pdf)

Human Rights Watch | Defending Human Rights Worldwide

ICG - Tunisia: Violence and the Salafi Challenge

Tunisia: Violence and the Salafi Challenge: As Tunisia faces the most critical phase of its transition after Chokri Belaïd’s assassination, its leaders must devise a calibrated response to the various challenges posed by the rise of Salafism.

ICG - Sudan’s Spreading Conflict (I): War in South Kordofan

Sudan’s Spreading Conflict (I): War in South Kordofan: Only a comprehensive solution can end Sudan’s vicious civil wars that are exacting a horrendous toll on the country and its peoples.

Razed Home Sparks Self-Immolation

Razed Home Sparks Self-Immolation:
A migrant worker from the eastern Chinese province of Jiangxi who returned home for Chinese New Year to find his ancestral home demolished remains in critical condition this after setting fire to himself, his relatives said on Friday.

Hu Tengping arrived at his home--like hundreds of millions of Chinese--in time to celebrate the Year of the Snake with a traditional family get-together on Jan. 29, according to a rights activist from his hometown of Xinyu city.

But Hu's ancestral home in Xinyu's Zhoukang village had been razed to the ground in his absence and his family forcibly evicted.

While some 100,000 yuan (U.S. $16,000) in intended compensation had been paid directly to his bank account in his absence, Hu's shock was enough to prompt him to douse himself in petrol and set himself ablaze, rights activist Liu Xizhen said on Friday.

"By the time [I] heard about it, he was already in the hospital," she said. "He was very severely burned. Only the top of his head and the soles of his feet were unscathed."

"His family, including his wife and those closest to him, are watching over him," Liu added.

Severe burns

Hu's niece confirmed that her uncle had suffered severe burns over 95 percent of his body, had undergone surgery on Thursday, and was still in intensive care at the Xingang Center Hospital in Xinyu city.

"He is still in a critical condition," she said. "He is only semiconscious."

Hu's niece, also surnamed Hu, said her uncle was currently undergoing surgery every four or five days.

"When things like this happen, you'd think they would care more about what happens to ordinary people like us," she said. "They just knocked down my uncle's entire house."

Liu said she had tried to visit Hu at the hospital along with two fellow activists, but were turned away by security personnel at the hospital entrance.

"We weren't able to get in," she said. "The local village-level government had posted more than a dozen people there, watching the whole area."

"We tried to get in by posing as a married couple, but they surrounded us and asked us what we were doing. We said we wanted to visit a patient and they asked who it was, and then they stopped us."

Calls to the Xingang Center Hospital and to the Xinyu municipal police department went unanswered during office hours on Friday.

Calls to the Xinyu municipal government offices resulted in a repeated busy signal.

Forced evictions

On Jan. 23, a man protesting forced eviction from his home in the eastern province of Shandong set himself on fire in front of government advisers during a parliamentary meeting.

Violent forced evictions, often resulting in deaths and injuries, continue to rise in China as cash-strapped local governments team up with development companies to grab property in a bid to boost revenue, according to a recent report by rights group Amnesty International.

Amnesty International collected reports of 41 cases of self-immolation from 2009 to 2011 alone due to forced evictions. That compares to fewer than 10 cases reported in the entire previous decade.

Nearly half of all rural residents have had land forcibly taken from them, with the number of cases on the rise, according to a 2011 study by the Landesa Rural Development Institute.

Reported by Wen Yuqing for RFA's Cantonese service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Sesan Dam Law Approved

Sesan Dam Law Approved:
Cambodia’s parliament on Friday approved a law providing financial guarantees for the developers of a planned hydropower dam on a Mekong River tributary, despite opposition from civil society groups seeking to delay the project.
Villagers campaigning against the Lower Sesan 2 dam in northeastern Cambodia’s Stung Treng province have expressed concern about compensation for villagers displaced by the project, which they say would destroy protected forest areas, kill rare fish, and negatively impact local ethnic minority culture.
But Friday’s vote in the National Assembly, after five hours of tough debate, cleared the way for the dam’s Chinese- and Vietnamese-backed developers to move ahead with plans to begin constructing the project next year.
Out of the assembly’s 123 lawmakers, 82, mostly from the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), voted in favor of the law, which provides for compensation for project developers if the country’s major power company fails to pay for electricity it has promised to purchase from the dam.
Opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) and Human Rights Party (HRP) lawmakers voted against the draft law, with SRP members requesting to postpone discussion on the law.
Suy Sem, Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy, thanked the National Assembly for supporting the draft law, saying the dam will help grow Cambodia’s economy.
“The dam will help the government to distribute electricity to develop the country. The electricity will attract investors to invest in factories,” he said after the vote.
“I am confident that electricity in Cambodia will be improved."
Responsibility for dam's impact
Environmental group International Rivers said the law helps put into effect an implementation agreement that significantly reduced the project’s compensation and environment costs, effectively releasing the developers from responsibility for many of the dam’s ecological and social impacts.
The text of the bill includes plans to provide compensation for less than 800 villagers displaced by the project, but green groups have said tens of thousands others living upstream and downstream from the project will also be affected.
SRP lawmaker Son Chhay said he was disappointed that the assembly approved the law, adding that he was concerned about corruption in connection with the plan to compensate relocated villagers.
“We will go down to the dam site to investigate whether the government has implemented [the compensation scheme] to the villagers affected by the project or not.”
On Thursday, villagers from Stung Treng and Kratie provinces held a press conference urging lawmakers to reject the law.
The dam, located at the confluence of the Sesan and Srepok rivers that flow into Southeast Asia’s shared Mekong River, is a joint venture involving Cambodian, Chinese, and Vietnamese investment of U.S. $781 million and is due to be completed within five years.
Villagers say developers are expected to begin clearing for the dam’s reservoir and setting up worker camps in April, according to International Rivers.
International Rivers has called the project “one of the worst proposed dams in the Lower Mekong Basin” due to potential environmental destruction and harm to Cambodia’s food security and has urged the National Assembly to demand more studies on the dam’s impact.
Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.

Surfer Charity Makes Waves

Surfer Charity Makes Waves:
A U.S. charity organization founded by a surfer has taken a novel approach to North Korea’s water woes, encouraging travelers to the reclusive country to bring water filters with them to donate.
By contributing water purification equipment, tourists can help more North Koreans access clean water, according to Waves for Water, which began work on the project during a recent trip to North Korea.
Waves for Water, which works on providing clean water to disaster and crisis areas in 16 countries, distributed water filtration systems at two cooperative farms during the visit in October last year to North Korea, where aid groups say water supply infrastructure is deteriorating.
Three members from the group, including its founder, American former pro surfer Jon Rose, visited the Chonsam and Dongbong cooperative farms—in Kangwon and South Hamgyong province, respectively—and showed the community members how to use the water filtration systems.
Each of the 50 water filters they provided at the two sites can be used to provide enough clean water for at least 100 people per day for five years, the group’s director Christian Troy said, calculating that their filters could help 5,000 people at each site access clean water.
“We spent a couple hours at each of the farms discussing how the filters work, how to maintain them, how it actually removes the biological contaminants, and [our work] was understood and welcomed,” Troy said, adding that they had talked with workers on the farms who confirmed residents had difficulty getting their hands on clean water.
Troy said that North Korea was an odd choice for Waves for Water’s project because the organization has its backbone in the Western surfing community—fans of a sport virtually unheard of in North Korea.
One of the group’s main programs focuses on getting surfing tourists to pack portable water filters in their luggage to give away to needy communities where they go to ride waves.
Troy said the set-up for the trip, which the group made after receiving an invitation from a tour agency based in Beijing that arranged tourist visas for them and set them up with the guides in North Korea, was also unusual.
“How often do humanitarians get tour guides? It’s not very traditional.”
But Troy said the group wanted to work in North Korea because there was a clear crisis in the lack of access to a clean water supply that meant people were resorting to contaminated sources.
“There’s a lot of remote areas where people are pulling water from the ground, and so often that water is contaminated,” Troy said.
Deteriorating infrastructure
International aid agencies say North Korea’s water supply systems are falling into disrepair and most health and education institutions in the country do not have functioning water systems.
Aid groups have also said the deteriorating water supply systems are a major cause of diseases such as diarrhea that kill young children.
A report by UNICEF on water issues in the country late last year said many North Koreans lack access to functioning water supply systems due to energy shortages and decrepit facilities and are forced to use less clean alternatives such as wells and springs.
Aid agencies provided emergency assistance to tens of thousands left without clean drinking water in August of last year, after summer flooding contaminated supplies.
Hopes to return
Troy said Waves for Water’s trip had laid the groundwork for a larger-scale operation in the country and hoped the group could travel to North Korea again in the spring of 2013.
“Now that we’ve done this smaller-scale distribution …. we laid some groundwork for a larger-scale operation,” he said, adding that normally the organization works by scaling up their projects after local communities get behind them.
“If we go back, it would be to go to other areas and provide more clean water to different people.”
But they would also explore more options for surfing on their next trip, since they hadn’t had much success riding North Korean waves during their last visit.
“The surfing part was funny, because they didn’t know exactly what it meant when we said we wanted to find a beach where we could surf,” he said.
Reported by Jinkuk Kim for RFA’s Korean Service. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.

Vietnam on Media 'Risk List'

Vietnam on Media 'Risk List':
Vietnam is one of the top 10 countries in the world where press freedom suffered the most setbacks during 2012, a leading media advocacy group said this week, citing stepped-up imprisonment of journalists as a reason for the decline.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) named the one-party communist state to a “Risk List” as part of its annual “Attacks on the Press” report released Thursday.
The list, which CPJ issued for the first time this year, is a measure of the most significant “downward trends” in press freedom, based on fatalities, imprisonments, restrictive legislation, state censorship, impunity in anti-press attacks, and journalists driven into exile.
Vietnam made the list because conditions worsened in 2012 as authorities ramped up efforts to stifle dissent by imprisoning journalists on anti-state charges, CPJ said.
Many of those detained have been charged or convicted of anti-state crimes related to their blog posts on politically sensitive topics, and authorities have targeted online journalism by enacting restrictive legislation, it said.
CPJ ranks Vietnam as the world’s sixth-worst jailer of journalists, with 14 imprisoned at the time of its annual count in December 2012, and separately as the sixth-worst nation for bloggers.
China remained Asia’s worst jailer of journalists, CPJ said, and ranked third in the world with 32 reporters behind bars—more than half of them ethnic Tibetans and Uyghurs targeted for covering ethnic minority issues.
CPJ also warned that Cambodia was moving tentatively toward measures curbing online freedom, and that in Burma, restrictive laws and legal structures remain in place despite a “historic shift” that has seen imprisoned journalists freed and pre-publication censorship ended.
Reported by Rachel Vandenbrink.

Google enables downloading of Blogger blogs and Google+ pages through its data porting tool Takeout

Google enables downloading of Blogger blogs and Google+ pages through its data porting tool Takeout:
Google has added the ability to download Blogger blogs and Google+ pages to its Takeout data portability tool. This will allow users of these products to get a structured download of their data in a couple of widely accepted formats.
If you’d like to get your Blogger data, you can do so as separate Atom Xml files for each. Google+ Pages are split out into two different formats: html files with posts to your page and json files with the circles that your page is a part of. You can do all of your blogs or pages at once or pick one at a time to export.
Also, I’m not sure when it was done, but the Takeout tool appears to have been renamed Takeaway on its page, and it’s gotten a refresh that matches the rest of Google’s new sparser look. I’m not sure if the name change is permanent as the Google blog post on the matter still says ‘Takeout’, I’ll ask.
The Takeout service was created by an engineering team at Google whose job it is to make it easy for users to import and export their data from Google products. It’s called the Data Liberation Front.
Image Credit: AFP/Getty Images

LinkedIn overhauls its jobs service with a fresh design and better discovery features

LinkedIn overhauls its jobs service with a fresh design and better discovery features:
Finding a job can be difficult. We’ve all been there: going onto sites like Craigslist, Monster.com, Yahoo, and LinkedIn. And while there are certainly open positions out there, finding the one that matches our dream job can be difficult.
To that end, LinkedIn has unveiled an updated LinkedIn Jobs service that it says will make searching much easier to use and more relevant to its members. It expects this update to be rolled out to its 200 million members around the world.
LinkedIn Jobs has undergone a transformation. Perhaps what users will first notice is the aesthetic difference. But besides redesigning the service, LinkedIn has also added several new features, including being able to dive deeper into job searches using more advanced queries. Now, users can look for openings by country, zip code, industry, and function.
In a recent survey by Bullhorn, a Boston-based company that makes technology products for employers and recruiters, LinkedIn is quite popular in the world of job searching and recruitment. Out of the 1,848 staffing professionals polled, 98.2 percent said that they used social media for recruiting in 2012 and 97.3 percent said they used LinkedIn as their recruiting tool.
Those results are great from a recruiting perspective, but for the potential applicants, it’s being able to find the jobs that can be difficult. LinkedIn is definitely a service that people are turning to, based on a 2012 Jobvite study. With 75 percent of Americans either actively looking for or considering themselves open to new jobs, LinkedIn is gaining ground over the top social network in finding jobs. 41 percent of respondents said that they turn to the professional social network for help, that’s up from 32 percent in 2011.

New features

Remember those emails that LinkedIn sends you with the subject line “Jobs you may be interested in”? Well those are now front and center when you go to the jobs section, although while most are tailored towards your experience and resume, there may be one or two that are sponsored jobs.
Finding a job opening that you’re interested in is one thing, but the next step is to get your foot in the door. One of the most interesting things with LinkedIn is the ability to find out how you’re related to the recruiter and/or the company. With the new LinkedIn Jobs, the company has updated it so that those connections are better highlighted so you know who can help you land that job.
Saved searches have also been improved in that they’re now quicker to find.
For those with premium access, LinkedIn has added two new features besides the ones listed just now: an updated advanced search feature that allows you to find jobs that meet your salary requirements, and embedded tips to help improve your search.

New LinkedIn Jobs Page from LinkedIn

Photo credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Workers Demand Back Pay

Workers Demand Back Pay:
Thousands of Cambodian factory workers are in a limbo after their employers bolted without paying them and say plans by the government to dispose of the factory assets to compensate them may not be adequate.

The workers have protested for two days in a row this week pleading with authorities to assist them in collecting back pay they say they are owed by the owner of two garment factories who went missing after incurring massive debt, representatives said.

Some 7,000 workers in southeastern Cambodia’s Kandal province from the Yung Wah Industrial Complex, which supplies western clothing retailer Gap, blocked traffic on National Road 21B in Takhmao town in solidarity with around 1,000 employees who said they are owed more than two months of salary by the company’s Singaporean owner, who fled the country in December.

The group held protests beginning at 6:30 a.m. and lasting all day, workers said, demanding that the government intervene on their behalf to collect the back pay.

Wednesday’s protest followed a similar one on Tuesday which saw more than 5,000 workers gathered on National Road 21B demanding intervention from the provincial labor department.

Worker Khuon Srey Mom said the company’s owner had fled the twin Yung Wah I and Yung Wah II factories in December last year after failing to receive any garment orders, but had said nothing to employees.

“I have been working and expecting a paycheck, but the factory hasn’t paid me. I have been forced to borrow money from other workers,” she said, adding that she had not received her wages since the beginning of January.

“I don’t have any money. Please give me my paycheck. If [the company] has to suspend us, at least please let us know.”

Another worker, Mao Sambath, said she has faced extreme financial difficulty since she stopped receiving her paychecks.

“I was forced to borrow money from the bank to pay my other debts,” she said.

Other workers said that the owner had taken most of the remaining merchandise and equipment to sell when he left the country.

Company appraisal

Ath Thon, the president of the Coalition of Cambodian Apparel Workers Democratic Union said that provincial officials had formed a committee to appraise the value of the complex and its equipment.

The move was in response to a complaint the union had filed with the provincial court requesting the seizure and auctioning of the properties in order to compensate workers.

But he said that the committee had found the remaining value of the company, which is mired in debt, to be of very little worth.

“The factory properties are worth less than what they owe the workers,” he told RFA’s Khmer Service.

Workers on Thursday said they are now awaiting a court order which will allow authorities to seize Yung Wah’s holdings.

Coalition of Cambodia Apparel Workers Democratic Union representative Meas Vanny said that the factory’s management had earlier promised her that it was in no danger of shutting down the facility.

“But there have been no orders since December 2012 and the factory managers have already fled the country,” she said.

“There are about 1,000 workers who haven’t received a paycheck.”

Meas Vanny welcomed the move by provincial authorities to appraise the company’s property for auction, but said that the Ministry of Labor has yet to resolve the conflict.

She said that Kandal provincial labor officials had visited the factory, but hadn’t provided any details of their visit.

Provincial Labor Department officer Lim Sarom confirmed that he had visited the factory, but said he was too busy to speak with RFA's Khmer Service.

RFA was unable to reach factory management for comment.

But the Phnom Penh Post quoted Yung Wah Industrial administrative manager Seoun Hout as saying that he, too, had not received his salary.

“The employer is in Singapore, and he referred everything to the company lawyer,” he said, adding employees were waiting to hear from that lawyer.

Reported by Leng Maly for RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Villagers Petition Against Dam

Villagers Petition Against Dam:
Ethnic minority villagers expecting to be displaced by a proposed Chinese-built hydroelectric dam in northeastern Cambodia are asking the country’s parliament not to approve a law providing financial guarantees for the project.

The law, scheduled for debate by Cambodian lawmakers on Friday, would compensate project developers if Cambodia’s major power company fails to pay for electricity it has promised to purchase, and will release developers from liability for the dam’s environmental or social impacts.

Villagers living along three rivers that will be affected by the dam spoke at a press conference hosted on Thursday by the NGO Forum on Cambodia, urging the National Assembly to reject the draft law.

Chan Thun, a representative from the Sesan district of Cambodia’s Strung Treng province, said that construction of the proposed Lower Sesan 2 Hydropower Dam would destroy protected forest areas and kill rare fish.

A vote approving the draft law would negatively impact local ethnic minority culture, he added.

“If the dam affects our ancestors’ graveyards, will the government pay us compensation?” he asked.

Speaking to reporters, NGO Forum executive director Chhit Sam Ath said that the Cambodian government should not ease the way for the project’s Chinese owners, Hydropower Lower Sesan 2 Company Ltd., to build the dam.

Environmental assessment studies have not been properly prepared, and construction of the dam would “seriously affect” villagers living along local rivers, he said.

Villagers would be likely to “revolt” against the dam’s construction, he added.

A map showing the Lower Sesan 2 dam in Cambodia. Credit: RFA.

No response

Seak Mekong, Srekor commune chief in Strung Treng province, told RFA’s Khmer Service on Wednesday that villagers have petitioned authorities over their concerns and have asked for relocation sites, but have received no response.

“The governor of the province has talked about the planned construction with the Chinese company, but there was no discussion of compensation,” he said.

“Villagers say they will have a lot of problems,” area resident Suth Koen told RFA. “They will have to move their houses, farms, and ancestral graves.”

Cambodian Minister of Mines, Industry and Energy Suy Sem in December dismissed concerns about environmental damage resulting from construction or operation of the dam, saying that impact studies had been properly made.

But a Feb. 13 statement by environmental group International Rivers called the Lower Sesan 2 Dam “one of the worst proposed dams in the Lower Mekong Basin.”

“[The] Lower Sesan 2 will unleash irreversible environmental destruction and harm to the food security of the nation,” said International Rivers Southeast Asia Program director Ame Trandem.

“It would be irresponsible for the National Assembly to approve this draft law and proceed with the project. This dam threatens to undermine the country’s development,” Trandem said.

Reported by RFA’s Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Richard Finney.

'Hundreds' Detained Over Holiday

'Hundreds' Detained Over Holiday

The GOP's Big Asian-American Problem

The GOP's Big Asian-American Problem

Timor Leste Studies Association

Timor Leste Studies Association

'Escalating Assault' on Bloggers

'Escalating Assault' on Bloggers:
Blogs in Vietnam have become prime targets of government repression, with more than 30 bloggers and netizens behind bars amid a crackdown on online dissent that has intensified over the past three years, an advocacy group said in a report Wednesday.
The report by the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and its member organization the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights (VCHR) said the detentions were part of an “escalating assault” on freedom of expression.
The groups called on the one-party Communist state to stop criminalizing online expression, saying the blogosphere is vibrant and diversified with millions of blogs having sprung up despite government restrictions.
“Instead of engaging in the futile exercise of gagging the Internet, [Vietnam] should immediately end the practice of making speech a crime and overhaul its repressive legal framework to ensure respect and protection of the right to freedom of expression, regardless of medium,” FIDH President Souhayr Belhassen said in a statement on Wednesday.
Over the past two years, arrests of bloggers and netizens under charges of “national security” violations have intensified significantly, the report said.
The report counted 32 bloggers and netizens in prison at present, saying they were “detained, charged, and/or sentenced to prison terms for their peaceful online dissent or criticisms of government policies.”
Seventeen of them have been sentenced under the “draconian” Article 88 of Vietnam’s criminal code, an offense that bars “anti-state propaganda.”
“Article 88 and other ‘national security’ provisions of the Criminal Code fly in the face of Vietnam’s obligations under international human rights law,” Belhassen said.
Climate of fear
Vietnamese authorities at all levels have routinely subjected bloggers and netizens to arbitrary detention, harassment, intimidation, assaults, and violations of fair trial rights, the report said.
Bloggers and their families live in a permanent climate of fear and are frequently subjected to physical attacks, often by state-hired local thugs or plain-clothed security agents, it said.
One blogger, 25-year-old Nguyen Hoang Vi, suffered a sexual assault by police after she was arrested for an “identity check” in December 2012 while at a park near the courthouse where the appeal trial of another blogger was taking place, according to the report.
“As Vietnam steps up censorship by new laws and regulations, it is also intensifying police repression, imprisonment, intimidation and even sexual assaults on young bloggers to frighten them into silence and self-censorship,” VCHR President Vo Van Ai said.
But he said this would not be enough to stop an emerging movement of online dissent.
“Through the Internet, a culture of protest is emerging in Vietnam,” he said, adding that those suffering under the crackdown are “patriots who are using new technologies to call for their people’s legitimate freedoms and rights.”
“Vietnam cannot suppress this movement simply by locking bloggers and netizens behind bars.”
New laws and policies
New legislation and policies restricting online dissent include an order by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung issued in September that targeted three dissident websites including the Danlambao citizen journalism website for criticizing the ruling Communist Party.
FIDH and VCHR said the order, “sanctions against information opposing the party and state,” took Vietnam’s crackdown on freedom of expression “to a new height.”
The groups also called a new draft Internet decree that Vietnam is considering “fatally flawed” and inconsistent with international human rights standards because it would require Internet users and providers to cooperate with the government in enforcing restrictions on prohibited acts of expression.
Reported by RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Written in English by Rachel Vandenbrink.

North Koreans Question Test Costs

North Koreans Question Test Costs:
North Korean rights groups and defectors have expressed frustration over Pyongyang’s third nuclear test which they say underscores a diversion of scarce funds towards weapons programs instead of coping with chronic food shortages.

The test on Tuesday drew global condemnation, with the U.N. Security Council weighing further sanctions against the North, which is already reeling from a series of international restrictions following its previous two illegal nuclear blasts and missile launches.

While Pyongyang says the nuclear test was meant to demonstrate its ability to defend North Koreans from “hostility,” the people are frustrated that precious resources are being diverted from efforts to address economic impoverishment, North Korean defectors and rights groups told RFA’s Korean service.

Henry Song of the U.S.-based North Korea Freedom Coalition said North Koreans are unable to reconcile the regime’s decision to detonate the nuclear device with the dire food shortages across one of the world’s poorest countries.

“North Koreans cannot understand the nuclear test when they see hunger in the country,” Song said.

“It’s unacceptable because there are many North Koreans starving to death while the authorities are wasting a lot of money—several hundred million dollars—on the test.”

Song said that he received a text message immediately after the test from a North Korean who had recently defected saying that he was “very disappointed at the North Korean government’s irrational behavior.”

In December, following North Korea’s rocket launch, CNN quoted an official from South Korea's Ministry of Unification as estimating that Pyongyang had spent U.S. $1.3 billion on its rocket program in 2012.

The official estimated that the cost was the equivalent of 4.6 million tons of corn, which could have fed North Koreans for “four to five years.”

No reforms

Kim Hyun Ae, a defector and vice-chairperson for the South Korea-based North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity, said that she felt extremely saddened by the news of the nuclear test.

“At first, I was exasperated by the North Korean provocation, but soon I felt deeply sorry for the North Korean people because they are being held hostage by the dictatorial regime,” Kim said.

“The North Korean regime has no consideration for human rights—it is only concerned with maintaining political power.”

Kim said that she had hoped for reform when the country’s young leader Kim Jong Un took power after his father Kim Jong Il’s death in December 2011. But she said that the nuclear test showed that nothing has changed.

“Not only me, but many North Korean defectors in South Korea, knew that Kim Jong Un was young and had studied abroad, so we believed that he would be different from his father and grandfather [national founder Kim Il Sung] in terms of policy making,” she said.

“But our initial hope has clearly not materialized, making us sad—both for ourselves and for our family members and acquaintances back home.”

Regime rationale

Jang Se Yul, a defector who is now secretary-general of the South Korea-based North Korea People’s Liberation Front, said he believes that by testing the nuclear device, the regime was attempting to assuage the anger and fears of the North Korean people, who he said no longer trust their government.

“The reason for the test is to divert or soothe the people’s discontent over the malfunctioning of the regime. In order to do that they must find an enemy from outside,” Jang said.

“The North Korean people are also frustrated by the high price of food and other goods and no longer trust the government with their welfare, so the government must do something to soothe the anger,” he said.

“From an economic perspective, the high-ranking officials have publicly talked about the opportunity of selling nuclear technology to other countries because many other countries want it, so they believe they can sell it at a high cost and get money which could be used to feed the people.”

A resident of North Korea’s Yanggang province, which borders China, told RFA that anger within the regime following the removal of several generals from the ranks of government during a broad political reshuffle had forced Kim Jong Un to test the device as an overture to the military.

“Since Kim Jong Un took power, many high-ranking [military] officials were sacked. The leadership change has created a stir at the lowest levels of the military,” said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“These people had made their way through the ranks through lots of experience in the military, but were replaced by politicians, and now the army is fed up,” he said.

“So Kim Jong Un and the rest of the leadership had to do something to appease the military.”

Nuclear fallout

Whatever the motives behind the regime’s decision to go ahead with the test, businessmen living in Dandong city in northeastern China’s Liaoning province said that the action is likely to affect North Korea’s trade with China, valued at U.S. $5.64 billion in 2011.

A Chinese trader surnamed Li, who sells kitchen supplies to North Koreans, said that Beijing is likely to react unfavorably to the test, which it had publicly opposed earlier this month.

“That North Korea conducted a third nuclear test was not that surprising, as it was expected following an earlier announcement by Pyongyang.  However, it is surprising that North Korea conducted the test during the Chinese Lunar New Year [China’s most important holiday of the year]. That was unexpected,” Li said.

“The North Korean regime is extremely unpredictable and this event only reaffirms that.”

A Chinese businessman named Chang said that regardless of how relations proceed at a bilateral level between the two nations, trading on the ground could face substantial obstacles because of the test.

“Recently, trading with North Korea has become more difficult, but this nuke test will aggravate the situation even further,” Chang said.

“I’m worried about the possibility that I might not get back money for the goods I gave to my North Korean counterparts on credit, because they are likely to say that the country is in a state of emergency and that they are unable to pay me back due to political reasons.”

News of the successful nuclear test seemed to do little to address the sense of desperation many North Koreans struggling to make ends meet feel on a daily basis.

According to sources inside the country, authorities had significantly tightened restrictions on the public and other security measures ahead of the test, but several people attempted Tuesday to defect into China across frozen sections of the Yalu and Tumen rivers.

Seven people belonging to two different neighboring families entered China across the Tumen River from Hoeryong city in North Hamgyong province, sources said, while a young couple made a brazen attempt to cross the Yalu in broad daylight and were captured by border guards.

Reported by RFA’s Korean Service. Translated by Bong Park. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

Security Council Condemns Test

Security Council Condemns Test:
The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday strongly condemned a defiant nuclear test by North Korea, calling the action “a clear threat to international peace and security” and vowing to take punitive measures against Pyongyang.

The 15-nation panel, which includes the U.S. and North Korean ally China, issued a statement promising a strong response against the North for conducting its third nuclear test, just two months after it launched a rocket in defiance of a U.N. ban on missile and nuclear tests.

The Security Council pointed to a resolution unanimously approved last month in the wake of the rocket launch that pledged “significant action” against North Korea in the event of a new nuclear test.

“In line with this commitment and the gravity of this violation, the members of the Security Council will begin work immediately on appropriate measures in a Security Council resolution,” the council said.

“The members of the Security Council strongly condemned this test, which is a grave violation of Security Council resolutions,” South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan, whose country holds the rotating Council presidency this month, said in a statement after the meeting.

Kim said the Security Council would now consider “appropriate measures” against the North.

A nuclear test would constitute a violation of U.N. sanctions imposed on North Korea following its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, including a ban on the import of nuclear and missile technology.

Tuesday’s statements did not directly call for sanctions, but the U.S. and its allies soon demanded new and tough measures in reaction to the test.

"To address the persisting danger posed by North Korea's threatening activities, the U.N. Security Council must and will deliver a swift, credible and strong response," U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice told reporters.

Pyongyang's actions "will not be tolerated and they will be met with North Korea's increasing isolation and pressure under United Nations sanctions," she said.

Rice said that the council should pass a resolution that "further impedes the growth of [North Korea’s] nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs and its ability to engage in proliferation activities."

North Korea has said that the test was its “first response” to U.S. “hostility” and said that if threats from Washington continue, it would be “forced to take stronger, second and third responses in consecutive steps.”

Testing an alliance
China’s strong objection to the nuclear test as a veto-wielding member of the Security Council indicates that Beijing is annoyed by its neighbor’s action but it has not stated publicly whether stronger measures should be taken against North Korea.

The impoverished nation depends on China for the majority of its foreign aid and basic goods.

China had reluctantly agreed to condemn North Korea following its rocket launch in December and also publicly opposed any test of a nuclear device earlier this month.

Observers suggest that China, which is undergoing a once-in-a-decade leadership change, may be less tolerant of North Korea’s belligerence and that incoming leader Xi Jinping might be willing to reduce aid as well as to apply sanctions to the pariah nation.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi had called North Korean Ambassador Ji Jae Ryong in to express Beijing’s “strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition” to the nuclear test and demanded that Pyongyang refrain from talk that “further escalates the situation.”

Yang also called for North Korea to return to a channel of dialogue and negotiation with the international community over the state of its nuclear program, according to a statement on the website of the Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Tuesday.

China and North Korea became allies when Beijing sent troops across the border to help the North fend off South Korean and U.S.-led Allied forces during the Korean War.

Fears of a political collapse that would send millions of refugees streaming into China is among factors believed to have kept Beijing throwing its support behind Pyongyang, despite the latter’s often questionable actions.

According to Chinese data, bilateral trade between the two nations was valued at U.S. $5.64 billion in 2011, up 62 percent from a year earlier.

Reported by Joshua Lipes.

Will China Twist North Korea's Arm?

Will China Twist North Korea's Arm?:
After every illicit nuclear or missile test by North Korea, China comes under criticism from the international community for doing very little to rein in its defiant neighbor and ally.

But Chinese President Hu Jintao's administration skillfully wriggles out of the embarrassing situations. It scolds Pyongyang but skips out of any deal that imposes strict sanctions against the nuclear renegade.

Will it be different this time under the new ruling Chinese Communist Party boss Xi Jinping?

North Korea's nuclear test on Tuesday, its third since 2006, came despite strong warnings against any such action from Beijing, its major diplomatic and economic benefactor.

In addition, the Chinese state media had threatened young North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that his regime would pay "a heavy price" and risk aid cuts if it fired a nuclear device.

So, it was not surprising that hours after the nuclear blast, China joined other members of the U.N. Security Council in strongly condemning the North Korean action. It also summoned the North Korean ambassador in Beijing and protested sternly against the test.

But experts wonder how far the Xi leadership will be willing to go in backing stricter sanctions against Pyongyang at the Security Council over the coming days.

"The third nuclear test puts China’s new leadership on the hot seat," Northeast Asia experts Richard Bush and Jonathan Pollack of the Washington-based Brookings Institution said in a report.

Under Hu, the experts said, Beijing had multiple objectives in its North Korea strategy: restrain North Korea's provocations; limit the impact of multilateral sanctions so that they do not destabilize the North Korean regime; provide economic support to Pyongyang to enhance stability and encourage better behavior; and facilitate a diplomatic approach for managing the problem, if not solving it.

"By testing in defiance of China’s wishes, Pyongyang ... is betting that Beijing’s threats of punishment, [as under Hu], are all bark and no bite," they said.

"In effect, it is testing China’s new paramount leader, Xi Jinping. Will he cooperate with Washington in tightening sanctions and withdraw material and political benefits to Kim Jong Un? Or will Xi accommodate to a new status quo?"

Beijing's leadership will have to grapple with these questions during the current Chinese New Year holiday—and this itself may put North Korea in a bad light.

"In the world of diplomacy, little things do matter and conducting the test during the Chinese New Year will be viewed by Beijing as extremely insulting, and perhaps will lead them to take quiet punitive but temporary measures," said Victor Cha, a former White House director of Asia policy.

"Chinese leaders cannot be happy with this test," he said.

Cha, now the Korea chair at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said U.N. member states are looking to China to curtail undisclosed amounts of economic and energy assistance to North Korea.

Embarrassment

Some experts believe China will back firm international sanctions against North Korea because the test has been a major embarrassment to Beijing.

China’s inability to dissuade North Korea from carrying through with the nuclear test reveals Beijing’s limited influence over Pyongyang’s actions "in unusually stark terms,” said Suzanne DiMaggio, New York-based Asia Society’s Vice President of Global Policy Programs.

“Bluntly put, North Korea’s new young leader Kim Jong Un has embarrassed China’s leadership with this latest provocation," she said.

"Beijing will likely stop short of imposing any unilateral sanctions or cutting back on aid, but this test leaves China little choice but to support stronger international sanctions," she said.

U.S. President Barack Obama's administration is spearheading moves at the U.N. Security Council to impose stiff sanctions on North Korea. State Department officials say Washington had been discussing with Beijing on possible Pyongyang provocations even before the test.

"[W]e’ve been exchanging notes back and forth at all levels about the possibility that the DPRK [North Korea] would take another provocative step along the lines of the step that they took today," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on Tuesday.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi was one of the first counterparts that new U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to when he took up his duties this month, and North Korean concerns did come up in their phone call, she said.

Raises threat to new level
The nuclear test, combined with Pyongyang’s ongoing work on an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead that could reach the United States, raises the North Korean threat to a new level for the Obama administration.

The United States should "more strongly" press China for effective sanctions, said Bruce Klingner, a Korea expert at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation.

He said it should insist that the next U.N. resolution against North Korea include Chapter VII, Article 42 of the U.N. Charter, a provision which allows for enforcement of sanctions by military means, enabling naval ships to intercept and board North Korean ships suspected of transporting precluded nuclear, missile, and conventional arms, components, or technology.

"Because the U.N. Security Council has fallen victim to Chinese obstructionism, it is past time for the United States to initiate unilateral action and call upon other nations to follow," Klingner said.

He suggested that the Obama Administration publicly identify and target all North Korean and other nations’ banks, businesses, and government entities "culpable" in violating U.N. resolutions and international law.

Nuclear experts say the time may have come for swift efforts to stop North Korea’s foreign procurements for its nuclear programs, especially from China, and increase efforts to halt its proliferation financing efforts.

"North Korea’s efforts to procure nuclear and dual-use goods and raw materials for its nuclear programs must be addressed by targeted countries through improved United Nations sanctions resolutions and domestic trade control laws and the enforcement of those measures," experts at the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security said in a report.

"North Korea continues to improve its nuclear programs through its access to such goods and materials, particularly through trading companies and citizens located in neighboring China," said the experts, David Albright and Andrea Stricker.

They suggested joint initiatives between China and the United States and its key Asian allies.

"There are signs that China is listening more to U.S. concerns about North Korea’s nuclear provocations," Albright and Stricker said.

"A goal must be the United States developing common positions with China, along with South Korea and Japan, making it harder for North Korea to play China against the United States."

Nuke Test Sparks Chinese Ire

Nuke Test Sparks Chinese Ire:
As the Beijing-backed press continued to wring its hands over close ally North Korea in the wake of Tuesday's nuclear test, online commentators and rights activists said they see the test as a threat to China.
Beijing-based rights activist Hu Jia said on Wednesday via Twitter that the test, the third in defiance of United Nations resolutions, was a humiliation for China's policy towards North Korea.
"Being the big brother to such a little brother has brought China to this pass," Hu wrote, in a reference to popular characterization of the bilateral relationship.
"Who is going to feel the humiliation, if not the Chinese Communist Party?"
He said the underground blast—which was conducted less than 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the Chinese border—was "right in the chicken's mouth," referring to the chicken-shaped map of mainland China.
In a later interview, Hu hit out at China's policy on the Korean peninsula, including its decision to fight alongside the North during the Korean War (1950-1953).
"The price we have paid is too high," Hu said. "As a Chinese citizen, I must express my concern and my outrage at this incident."
Hu said he had called the North Korean embassy in Beijing on Tuesday, after netizens passed around the contact details on Twitter-like sites.
"The first time they said they didn't speak Chinese; and the second person could barely be bothered to speak to me and was even rude," he said.
Protesting radiation
Some netizens expressed concerns that radiation from the latest test explosion could affect northeastern China.
An activist from the eastern city of Hefei, known online by his nickname "we_are_not_a_rabble," said he was briefly detained after he walked through a park in the city holding a placard protesting nuclear testing by North Korea.
"My father and other relatives live in the northeast, but this nuclear test right next to the region will cause pollution," he said.
"I cannot accept or allow this to happen."
He said the authorities had told him that ordinary Chinese citizens shouldn't concern themselves about North Korean nuclear testing.
"[They] just used a bunch of bureaucratic jargon, and basically said I should trust the Party and government and stuff like that," he said.
Meanwhile, Heilongjiang-based lawyer Chi Shusheng said the North Korean regime had already "polluted" northeast China with its drug trade.
"When is North Korea going to stop polluting the three northeastern provinces with its nuclear weapons tests, too?" he wrote via the microblogging service Sina Weibo.
"[China] must immediately stop all aid to this rogue state and its hoodlums," he said.
'Dragging China down with them'
Retired Nanjing University professor Sun Wenguang agreed that China was under threat from the test.
"If this was a nuclear test, then the intentions are evil, because it was very close to China," said
"They want to drag China down with them, to join them in opposition to U.S. interference in North Korea," he said.
"I think that's what they are about; they didn't dare to set it off right near the 38th parallel." Sun said. "Instead, they tested it right near the border with China, which they see as having their backs."
Sun said Beijing's continuing support for Pyongyang had made such an attitude viable for North Korea.
"The unbridled arrogance we have seen from North Korea in recent years has been the result of China's support," Sun said.
Tremors felt in Jilin
The detonation, which set off powerful seismic waves, was audible in some parts of the northeastern province of Jilin, residents said.
One resident of Hunchun city near the North Korean border surnamed Zhuang said she had felt tremors from the test early on Tuesday morning.
"It was like a rumbling and a shaking, early [Tuesday] morning," Zhuang said. "It didn't go on for very long."
Netizens hit out at the test, which came on a public holiday, as the country welcomed in the Chinese Year of the Snake with family celebrations and festivals.
On China's popular microblogging service Sina Weibo, writer @wuqiusanren sent out a tweet asking the question that many echoed.
"Who was this test intended to threaten?" he wrote. "They can't get it as far as the U.S., they haven't got much of an account to settle with Japan, and South Korea shares the same culture and ancestry as them."
"What can they possibly intend other than to threaten China?"
'Psychological threat'
Sichuan-based technology expert Pu Fei said reports had described the device as being about level with those used by the United States at the end of World War II.
"If that's the case, then there is no serious competition here, just a psychological threat," Pu said.
"China also has ways of dealing with rogue states like this," he said.
"But I think this will have the effect of putting [Pyongyang] on the back foot internationally, and that the threat won't have the intended effect."
Formal rebuke
China’s foreign minister on Tuesday called North Korea’s ambassador in to show its displeasure and demanded that Pyongyang cease further threats, a statement on the ministry's website said.
Yang Jiechi delivered a “stern representation” to Ji Jae Ryong, expressing China’s “strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition” to the test.
"Yang Jiechi demanded that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea side cease talk that further escalates the situation and swiftly return to the correct channel of dialogue and negotiation,” the statement said.
If Ji made any response, it went unreported.
Yang said Beijing wanted a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and called for a return to long-stalled six-party denuclearization talks involving North Korea, China, the United States, South Korea, Japan, and Russia.
The ministry also called on North Korea not to "take additional actions that could cause the situation to further deteriorate."
Several Beijing-backed media organizations reiterated the ministry's statement in editorials on Wednesday.
The official Xinhua news agency warned in a commentary that Beijing "was losing patience" with North Korea.
Cutting aid to North Korea was one option, the agency said.
"North Korea's third nuclear test is expected to pressure Beijing into getting tougher with its recalcitrant neighbor," it said.
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po newspaper, which has close ties to China's ruling Communist Party, warned that Sino-North Korean friendship should not be allowed to become a burden on Beijing.
However, Beijing has stopped short of announcing any concrete plans to punish Pyongyang.
Reported by Xin Yu for RFA's Mandarin Service and by Lin Jing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.

Beijing Slammed Over Travel Ban

Beijing Slammed Over Travel Ban:
A group of global scholars and human rights organizations have criticized Chinese authorities for imposing a travel ban on prominent Uyghur professor Ilham Tohti, saying the case epitomizes intimidation of intellectuals generally in China and suppression of ethnic rights.

Scholars at Risk (SAR), a New York-based international network of over 300 universities and colleges in 34 countries, sent a letter to President Hu Jintao this week asking him to investigate the case and urging the appropriate authorities to explain publicly the circumstances surrounding the travel restriction on the professor.

Ilham Tohti, who teaches at the Central Minorities University in Beijing, was detained and prevented from taking a flight from the Chinese capital to the United States on Feb. 1 to take up a post as a visiting scholar at Indiana University on a U.S.-issued J-1 visa.

He told RFA's Uyghur Service last week that he is being watched around the clock by police stationed outside his Beijing home.

SAR, which seeks to promote academic freedom, said that the travel ban on Ilham Tohti "suggests serious concerns not only about his ability to engage with colleagues in his field, but also about intimidation of intellectuals generally in China and about the ability to conduct world-class scholarship in such an environment."

"These are suggestions we find particularly distressing given both China’s rich intellectual history and the important role that China and Chinese universities and scholars in particular should play in the development of knowledge, research and scholarship in the 21st century," the group said in the Feb. 12 dated letter to Hu, a copy of which was given to RFA.

It said that if there are no official restrictions on Ilham Tohti, the authorities should expedite approval of any pending or future travel requests.

Ilham Tohti is a vocal critic of the Chinese government’s treatment of the country's minority Uyghurs, most of whom live in the northwestern Xinjiang region and complain of discrimination by the country’s majority Han Chinese. He had been detained several times before.

Publicity

World Uyghur Congress Secretary-General Nurmemet Musabay told RFA that the travel ban on Ilham Tohti underscores Beijing's concerns that he would publicize internationally the "crimes" committed by Chinese authorities against Uyghurs in Xinjiang.

"In other words, China is afraid of his prominent status and their own crimes that they committed in the Uyghur region, so they prevented him from traveling," he said. "China should know that the world has become a smaller place and more open than before."

"I think that a powerful country like China should not be afraid of its own citizens going abroad, and should not be afraid of its own citizens speaking out against the government. It should have the confidence that the state would not collapse because of public criticism," Nurmemet Musabay said.

He said Uyghurs with different views than those of the government are considered "enemies of the state in the eyes of the government," stressing that Ilham Tohti's case "would only strengthen our political thoughts."

The Dublin, Ireland-based Front Line Defenders, a human rights group, said Ilham Tohti was provided with no information by the Chinese police officers questioning him at the airport as to why he was being detained or prevented from traveling to the U.S.

The move to restrict Ilham Tohti's travel "is directly related to his work in defense of human rights and the exercise of his right to freedom of expression, and constitutes a flagrant breach of his right to freedom of movement," it said.

Front Line Defenders urged Beijing to "immediately and unconditionally" lift the travel ban.

Following Beijing's refusal to allow him to leave the country, unknown hackers attacked Ilham Tohti's website Uighurbiz.net, which is hosted overseas and discusses Uyghur social issues and news from Xinjiang. The website was found to be functioning Wednesday.

Chinese authorities have also harassed his student Atikem Rozi, Ilham Tohti said, with police taking her on Feb. 5 from her home in Toksu county in Xinjiang’s Aksu district and questioning her for four to five hours.

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness in Xinjiang despite China's ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier.

Chinese authorities often link Uyghurs to violent separatist groups but experts familiar with the region have said Beijing exaggerates what it calls a terrorism threat to take the heat off domestic policies that cause unrest.

Reported by Shohret Hoshur for RFA’s Uyghur Service. Translated by Shohret Hoshur and Mamatjan Juma. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.