Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 1491

China among world's worst in human trafficking

An annual US State Department report on Wednesday cited China and Russia among the world’s worst offenders in fighting forced labour and sex trafficking, which could lead to US sanctions. The US designation drops China and Russia, which already often are at odds with Washington, in the same category as North Korea and Iran. Read more

Experiments With Democracy in Bhutan

Bhutan does things differently in South Asia, and nothing illustrates this so as much as the way it has conducted its transition to democracy. Read more

"Transitions to democracy are often violent and exact a terrible price from a populace. Bhutan’s rare example of managing this transition peacefully, and in a stable manner, makes it incredibly special and adds a profound meaning to its

China's secret police detains documentary-maker

A Chinese journalist, whose work exposed alleged human rights abuses of the
government, has been detained by secret police in Beijing, said a close friend
and human rights groups.
Du Bin released a feature-length
documentary on the notorious Masanjia labor camp in May. He vanished later that
month, says Hu Jia, an activist and friend of Du. Read more

The dark side of Asia's gambling Mecca

Gambling revenues in Macau surpassed Las Vegas in 2006 and are now six times greater. But
the former Portuguese colony's dramatic rise has come at a cost, with many in
Macau questioning whether growth has been too fast and furious. Read more

From Sand to Skyscrapers: Inside China's Newest City

China is racing to move millions of people out of the countryside, and to
accommodate them is constructing new cities on an unprecedented scale. Tom
Phillips reports from northwest China on how one such city, Lanzhou Xinqu, is
being built from scratch for 500,000 residents – putting British new towns of
the 1950s like Milton Keynes into the shade. Read more

Liu Xiaobo's wife appeals to Xi Jinping

The wife of jailed Chinese Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo on Friday appealed to
President Xi Jinping to choose "justice" over "merciless oppression", in a rare
public statement since being placed under house arrest three years ago. Read more

"You’ll never be Chinese"

Death and taxes. You know how the saying goes. I’d like to add a third certainty: you’ll never become Chinese, no matter how hard you try, or want to, or think you ought to. I wanted to be Chinese, once. I don’t mean I wanted to wear a silk jacket and cotton slippers, or a Mao suit and cap and dye my hair black and proclaim that blowing your nose in a handkerchief is disgusting. I wanted China to

Chinese diplomats threaten French journalist

Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the way Chinese diplomatic personnel have harassed and threatened French journalist Cyril Payen, a reporter for the French TV news station France 24, since the station broadcast his documentary “Seven days in Tibet” on 30 May. Read more

- Selvbrenningene har hatt liten virkning

De siste tre årene har 117 tibetanere tent på seg selv i protest mot Kinas politikk i de tibetansk-bebodde områdene i landet. De fleste av dem har dødd på grunn av skadene. Nå fastslår Dalai Lama at de desperate protestene har hatt liten eller ingen virkning på ledelsen i Beijing. Les mer

Slik er den kinesiske middelklassen

Kina gjennomgår en økonomisk revolusjon, og middelklassen vokser. Men hvor mye må du tjene for å bli definert som "middelklasse"? Hvilke goder har du adgang til? McKinsey & Company har forsøkt å se inn i Kinas nære og fjerne fremtid. Les mer