■ China
Civil unrest on the rise
More than 3 million people were engaged in some 58,500 incidents of social unrest in China last year, with disputes on the rise as the economy steams ahead and market forces are unleashed, a top periodical reported yesterday. The rise in civil disputes and mass protests are linked to the nation's burgeoning private economy, which remains largely unregulated and difficult to control, the state-run Outlook Weekly said in its current edition. It is also because of the transformation and reform of state-owned industries. Social dissatisfaction was also leading to an alarming rise in juvenile delinquency, while a huge "floating population" of rural workers accounted for up to 80 percent of urban crime, it added.
■ Hong Kong
Cop killer gets 18 months
A motorist who killed a Hong Kong police motorcyclist while driving drunk four times over the legal limit has been jailed for two-and-a-half years, a news report said yesterday. Wu Wing-cho, 29, rammed a police motorcyclist and sent the 28-year-old constable 7.7m over a flyover to his death in the accident in March. Wu was so drunk he was unable to walk or speak clearly when police arrested him at the scene, Hong Kong's District Court heard. In the heaviest sentence passed for an offence of its kind in Hong Kong, Wu was jailed for 32 months after admitting causing death by dangerous driving and drink driving.
■ China
TV station under pressure
The only independent Chinese-language television station broadcasting to China has accused Beijing of waging a campaign to knock it off the air. "We're afraid that the broadcast will be cut off due to Beijing's pressure," said Carrie Hung, a spokeswoman for New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV), set up by the Falun Gong movement, which has been banned as an "evil cult" by China since 1999. The conflict between the Chinese government and NTDTV, which began broadcasting to China in April on Eutelsat's W5 satellite, has been followed with interest by media freedom groups, such as Reporters Sans Frontieres.
■ Australia
Bonus begets unwanted kids
Women are getting pregnant not because they want a baby but to get hold of the cash bonus the government has promised, the Australian Medical Association (AMA) said yesterday. Under a program intended to help raise the birth rate there is a bounty of A$3,000 (US$2,100) for every child born from the start of the financial year on July 1. The lump-sum payment, to rise to A$5,000 (US$3,500) in 2008, is tax free and goes to married and unmarried, rich and poor alike. Queensland AMA president David Molloy said the baby bonus was bad social policy because it was sparking pregnancies that were not genuinely wanted.
■ China
Serial killer admits guilt
A man has confessed to strangling 18 young women in China after raping them and stealing their money to get back at society after being cheated on by a girlfriend, reports and police said yesterday. The man, in his 30s, was arrested on May 2 for robbery and rape in Hunan Province and subsequently confessed to the murders, the Nanguoginbao daily newspaper said. According to the report, he used a neck tie or wire to strangle his victims after raping them. Police told reporters there could be more than 18 victims. China has been rocked by series of mass murders in the past year, including one man who killed around 67 people.
RSS