News Roundup X

Here is some recent news from three of my favourite places:

China

China opening jails for 1-child-policy violators
The New York-based advocacy group Human Rights in China says local governments in remote parts of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces plus areas of Fujian jail women who resist pregnancy fines.

Jailing has picked up over the past two to three years, and the rights group gets about one related report per month, said senior researcher Nicolas Becquelin.

Central government officials know about the jails but tolerate them in the interest of controlling population growth, he said.

“The central government knows about the abuses but still wants birth control,” Becquelin said. “The law confers immense power on local officials, including administrative detention.”

Japan

Japan racism ‘deep and profound’
An independent investigator for the UN says racism in Japan is deep and profound, and the government does not recognise the depth of the problem.

Doudou Diene, a UN special rapporteur on racism and xenophobia, was speaking at the end of a nine-day tour of the country. …

He said that although the government helped to organise his visit, he felt many officials failed to recognise the seriousness of the racism and discrimination minorities suffered.

He was also concerned that politicians used racist or nationalist themes, as he put it, to whip up popular emotions. He singled out the treatment of ethnic Koreans and Chinese and indigenous tribes. …

Iran

Iran press blame West for blasts
The Iranian media has been alleging that the London bombings were planned by the West to justify attacking Islam in the name of combating terrorism.

Iranian officials began by expressing their shock and sympathy for what happened in London.

But with time to reflect, many of Iran’s newspapers have taken on an unusually hardline stance.

Kayhan paper says Britain and the US had to create an atmosphere of terror and insecurity in London so that the G8 leaders would endorse their belligerent policies like the occupation of Iraq.

The paper’s editorial called President Bush “stupid” and said he and Tony Blair would make a very successful comedy duo.