With the Bothekoshi Valley impassable, the only open trade route with China now runs through the Korala Pass at an altitude of 4,650 metres. Beijing is pushing for major infrastructure projects there as well. Until now, Kathmandu has preserved the environment and identity of the plateau, a region some identify with the mythical Shangri-La.
The dissident’s wife said the authorities are refusing to treat him. Hu is well known for his fight for AIDS prevention in China, but prison authorities have refused to abide by the law and allow him to be tested and treated. Human rights groups call on Beijing to release him on medical parole.
Peaceful protests by one or two people take place over the past week, ending in the protesters’ arrest. Most of them are monks but some are lay people. They all want Tibet’s independence and the return of the Dalai Lama. Police set up roadblocks on roads connecting monasteries and villages.
After reappearing in the capital, the renowned lawyer says he no longer has the strength to continue his fight, wants to be reunited with his family, now living in the United States. His legal status remains a mystery.
The bishop was officially installed today, but refused to co-celebrate Mass with Ma Yinglin, who was ordained in 2006 without the permission of the Holy See. Forced to attend the ceremony, the bishop was still able to say publicly that he was taking part in the ceremony against his will.
Discrimination and punishment still meted out to people who break family planning laws. A university in the capital fires professor for having a second child. The ‘One Child’ policy is undermining China’s economic growth.
Benedict XVI explained the value of Easter to over 20 thousand pilgrims. Witness new life in Christ in the midst of "so much suffering, so much violence, so many misunderstandings." Greetings to Russian Christians for Easter, which this year fell on the same day for Orthodox and Catholics.
Rescue teams find five bodies; 115 rescued miners are in good conditions, begin talking to media about their eight days underground, eating sawdust, strapped to shaft walls to avoid falling into the water.
A record: usually on average there were 1500 -2 thousand new Catholics. Bishop Tong urges the new and the old faithful to be missionaries: "The mission to bring others to know Jesus is the most important Christian commitment."
The second summit of the Mekong River Commission, which includes Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, ended yesterday with a joint statement on a common action plan to develop the river. Delegates from Myanmar and China attend the meeting as ‘dialogue partners’. Beijing rejects accusations that its hydropower development is harming the river basin.
The deaths - 21 and 32 workers trapped underground – caused yet again by underground explosions. The mine in Henan was private and illegal and was supposed to have been closed last May. No hope for 153 miners trapped in flooded tunnel in Xiangning (Shanxi). The mine was state owned.
In a long phone call, Hu Jintao and Barack Obama adopt same approach to Iranian nuclear issue. Analysts say Beijing might dump Tehran in favour of a truce over currency issue.
Two hospital workers are arrested for dumping bodies on a bank of the Guangfu River (Shandong), apparently paid by parents to get rid of them. The human remains are thought to be those of aborted foetuses or of babies who died at the hospital. An angry public remembers the many cases of children abducted and sold into slavery.
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