Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 1388

Fears of new unrest as Myanmar ponders monk-backed interfaith marriage ban

Myanmar's government has begun unveiling drafts of proposed laws that critics say are motivated by religious hatred, and could take discrimination against the country's marginalized Muslim minority to new heights. Read more

Crowd witnesses rare mass sentencing rally in Xinjiang

Seven thousand people watched as 55 suspects were pronounced guilty of crimes including terrorism at a highly unusual mass sentencing rally inChina's north-western region of Xinjiang, state media said on Wednesday. Read more

China restricts smartphone chat apps

China is targeting popular smartphone-based instant messaging services in a month-long campaign to crack down on what the government calls "rumours and infiltration of hostile forces". Read more

Regjeringen vil stanse kinesisk oppkjøp

Norske myndigheter arbeider for å sikre Austre Adventfjord for allmennheten, skriver regjeringen i en pressemelding: – Regjeringen har besluttet å jobbe for en løsning som medfører at staten overtar Austre Adventfjord. Les mer

Kinesisk storoffensiv mot terrortrussel

Offensiven kommer etter det myndighetene beskriver som en rekke blodige angrep den siste tiden, utført av terrorister og religiøse ekstremister. Les mer

Q&A: Xinjiang and tensions in China's restive far west

The province shares borders with Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. Uyghurs, who speak a language related to Turkish, regard themselves as culturally and ethnically close to central Asia, despite a long history of Chinese rule. Read more

A dangerous dance: China, Vietnam posture in the South China Sea

 It takes a long time to get to the middle of nowhere. For a contingent of almost 40 reporters, hours of waiting both on land and then at sea preceded a trip to one of the world's most hotly contested areas of maritime real estate. Read more

Tiananmen Square Anniversary Prompts Campaign of Silence

Even by the standards of the clampdowns that routinely mark politically sensitive dates in China, the approach this year to June 4, the anniversary of the day in 1989 when soldiers brutally ended student-led protests in Tiananmen Square, has been particularly severe. Read more

Elderly Suicides Reported After City Announces Phase-out on Burials

Officials in China have a rule and target for almost everything — the legacy of thousands of years of bureaucratic thinking and the Communist Party’s own planned economy — even for a person’s final resting place. Read more

Violence Leads Xinjiang to Propose Paying Tourists to Visit

The authorities in the far western region of Xinjiang, which has been hit by a series of terrorist attacks targeting civilians, are considering offering cash bonuses to tourists from other parts of China this summer, the state news media reported. Read more