Engnews April 2015

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10 years

RFA Breaking News: Hong Kong Student Leaders See 'Explosion of Anger' if Limited Suffrage Bill Passes

by Paul Eckert

Hong Kong Student Leaders See 'Explosion of Anger' if Limited Suffrage Bill Passes April 27, 2015 - Approval by Hong Kong's legislature of electoral reforms proposed by Beijing that limit popular suffrage will spark angry street demonstrations by citizens of the former British colony, student leaders said on Monday. The Hong Kong government on April 22 put forth an electoral plan for 2017 in line with guidelines issued by China's parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), on Aug. 31, under which Hong Kong's five million voters will each cast a ballot for the chief executive, but may only choose between two or three candidates pre-approved by Beijing. “If the motion is to be passed in LegCo in June or July, people will definitely occupy LegCo,” Alex Chow, former Secretary General of Hong Kong Federation of Students, told RFA's Cantonese Service in an interview in Washington. LegCo is Hong Kong's 60-seat Legislative Council. "It is for legislators to think about whether they can bear such consequences, in the political way or in the personal career way,” he said. Nathan Law, Secretary General of Hong Kong Federation of Students, told RFA he wasn't sure any public reaction to the voting proposal would match in scale the mass Occupy Central democracy movement that blocked key highways in downtown Hong Kong for 79 days last year in opposition to Beijing's plan. “There will be an explosion of anger if the proposal is passed and there will be a massive movement later on,” Law said. Law said he was concerned that future protests could be "more radical" and "destructive" than last year's protests. Chow dismissed as "ridiculous" assertions carried in Chinese state media that the universal suffrage campaign is Western inspired. "It is very obvious that this kind of claim was constructed by the authorities because they would like to complicate the situation and to really oppress the activists by constructing such a false statement,” he said. “If we look closely at the umbrella movement we will find no evidence that the people of the umbrella movement have received any donation or support from foreign countries,” said Chow. The late 2014 protests took the yellow umbrella as its symbol after protesters used umbrellas to shield themselves from pepper spray and tear-gas in clashes with police. Reported by RFA's Cantonese Service. Written by Paul Eckert. View this s tory online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/students-interview-04272015181134.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news , information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .

10 years

RFA Wins Journalism Award for Series on China's Nuclear Risks

by Rohit Mahajan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 24, 2015 Contact: Rohit Mahajan 202 530 4976 <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org Radio Free Asia Series on China Nuclear Risks Wins Award for Excellence in Journalism WASHINGTON - Radio Free Asia <http://www.rfa.org/english/> (RFA) today was named a winner of the Sigma Delta Chi award for excellence in journalism by the Society of Professional Journalists <https://www.spj.org/index.asp> . RFA's Cantonese Service <http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/?encoding=simplified> 's investigative series <http://www.rfa.org/cantonese/features/hottopic/GD-nuclear-power-12012014110 600.html> on China's nuclear energy risks, "A Citizenry Left in the Dark: China's Nuclear Power Industry," won in the category of radio investigative reporting. The series, which aired in four parts in December 2014, follows on RFA's revelations in June 2010 when a nuclear power plant in close proximity to Hong Kong leaked radioactive material. "Millions in China live and work near nuclear plants but are left in the dark about the dangers," said Libby Liu, President of RFA. "Radio Free Asia's Cantonese Service tirelessly pursued this story in depth, reporting on the potentially catastrophic consequences ignored by China's state-controlled media and authorities. "Credit for this great honor goes entirely to RFA Cantonese, which is bringing attention to a serious issue that has vast impact in China and the region." In June 2010, radioactive substances were detected in cooling water at the Daya Bay nuclear power plant in southern Guangdong, China's most populous province. After RFA Cantonese broke the story, local authorities claimed that the danger to the public was "negligible." Four years after the incident, an RFA undercover film crew traveled to the site to investigate safety conditions in the area. RFA's team learned that local residents remain woefully ignorant of the danger of nuclear waste, even though waste from the power plant is dumped at a site that is five kilometers from where they live. RFA found also that, in order to prevent the rise of popular discontent in the aftermath of the 2010 radioactive leak, local authorities have been providing generous monthly living subsidies to those living within the immediate vicinity of the plant to quell discontent and concerns among locals. RFA's four-part multimedia series also explores safety issues surrounding Guangdong's Huizhou Nuclear Power Plant, one of 26 nuclear power plants under construction in China. The majority of local residents interviewed by RFA were only vaguely aware, if at all, of the existence of the nuclear plant, much less the health risks of living close by. China is in the midst of a serious push to expand its nuclear power industry to lessen reliance on fossil fuels. What is troubling, especially in the post-Fukushima era, is that there does not exist in the country a comprehensive national program to provide citizens with information on possible public health hazards in their communities; nor have the authorities established emergency plans and response mechanisms in the event of a nuclear accident. Previous years' contest winners in radio include CBS News Radio, CNN Radio, Public Radio International's The World (WGBH), and National Public Radio. This occasion marks the first time RFA has won a Sigma Delta Chi. Awards will be presented to recipients at a reception to be held on June 26 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. # # # Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA's broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to "seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Rohit Mahajan | Radio Free Asia | Media Relations Manager <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org | O: 202.530.4976 | M: 202.489.8021

10 years

RFA Breaking News: Tibetan Man Dies in Second Self-Immolation Protest This Month

by Paul Eckert

Tibetan Man Dies in Second Self-Immolation Protest This Month April 16, 2015 - A Tibetan man burned himself to death in western China’s Sichuan province on Wednesday in the second self-immolation protest this month against Beijing’s rule in Tibetan areas, sources said. Nei Kyab, believed to be in his 50s, set himself ablaze on April 15 in the courtyard of his home in Soruma village, Choejema town, in Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) county in the Ngaba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, a local source told RFA’s Tibetan Service. “He was protesting against Chinese policies in Tibet,” RFA’s source said, adding, “His body was taken away by police.” Before staging his fiery protest, Kyab had set out offerings on an altar with photos of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, Tibetan Buddhism’s second-highest ranking spiritual leader. “He had also sent a photo of himself holding a flower to a friend a few days before his protest,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The present Panchen Lama was recognized as a young boy by the Dalai Lama but was detained, together with his family, by Chinese authorities and vanished into China. A second Panchen candidate, selected by Beijing and enthroned in 1995, is unpopular in Tibet and lives outside the region. Father of seven Kyab, whose wife died last year, is survived by seven children, RFA’s source said. “He had received [religious] recognition for his vow not to harm others in personal disputes—a vow that he took in honor of all those who have sacrificed themselves in self-immolation protests for the cause of Tibetan freedom” the source said. A brother-in-law, Dargye, was one of two men who self-immolated in a similar protest in Tibet’s regional capital Lhasa in May 2012, he said. Separately, a Tibetan living in exile confirmed Kyab’s protest and death, citing local sources. “On April 15, a Tibetan named Nei Kyab, also called Damkar, an ex-monk of the Adue Yak monastery, burned himself to death in Ngaba,” the source, Ngaba Choephel, told RFA. Kyab’s self-immolation was the 139th in Tibetan areas of China since the wave of fiery protests began in February 2009, and the second to take place this month. On April 8, a 47-year-old Tibetan woman, Yeshi Khando, set herself ablaze and died in Sichuan’s Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture after calling out for freedom and the Dalai Lama’s long life, sources said in an earlier report. Reported by Lhuboom for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney. View this s tory online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/second-04162015130336.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news , information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .

10 years

RFA Breaking News: Karmapa says Reincarnation, Successor Question is Up to the Dalai Lama

by Paul Eckert

Karmapa says Reincarnation, Successor Question is Up to the Dalai Lama April 15, 2015 - The Dalai Lama is the only one who can decide the matter of his reincarnation, a senior Tibetan lama said on Wednesday in an effective rejection of China's insistence that the communist rulers of Beijing have the authority to select the next leader of Tibetan Buddhism. The 17th Karmapa told RFA's Tibetan Service in an interview that he had "complete belief and trust in the future decision" on on a successor to be made by the 79-year-old Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile since 1959. The Dalai Lama speculated earlier this year that he might not reincarnate, thus ending his spiritual lineage. China, keen to engineer a process that produces a pro-Beijing monk as the spiritual leader of Tibetans, reacted angrily to that suggestion, insisting that the officially atheist Chinese government was the only one with the authority to make that decision. The 29-year-old Karmapa said, however, that the decision rests with the Dalai Lama and he was confident that the globe-trotting Nobel laureate would make the right choice. “In Tibetan traditions, we don’t talk much about the reincarnation of a living master," he told RFA in an interview in Washington during a tour of the United States. "However, now many questions are being generated. In my view, it is only the Dalai Lama himself who should decide about his future reincarnation. So I am confident and have full trust in his decision. There are many presumptive statements and guess works, but I am not worried," he said. The Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, head of the Karma Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism and one of Tibet’s highest-ranking religious figures, escaped from Tibet into India in 2000. He has since established himself in exile, and is considered close to the Dalai Lama. The dispute over the Dalai Lama's reincarnation is not the first time China has clashed with Tibetans over their traditional method of identifying future religious leaders. In 1995, Beijing named Gyaincain Norbu as the Panchen Lama in a retaliatory action after the exiled Dalai Lama identified another child, six-year-old Gendun Choekyi Nyima, as the reincarnation of the widely venerated religious figure, who died in 1989. But Chinese authorities have had difficulty persuading Tibetans to accept Gyaincain Norbu as the official face of Tibetan Buddhism in China, and monks in monasteries traditionally loyal to the Dalai Lama remain reluctant to receive him. In a tour of Tibet last August, Chinese authorities threatened punishment of Tibetan monks who refused to turn up for his official public appearances. Reported by Dorjee Damdul for RFA's Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Paul Eckert. View this s tory online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/tibet-karmapa-04152015172528.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news , information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .

10 years

RFA Breaking News: Tibetan Nun in Kardze Stages Self-Immolation Protest Over Chinese Policies

by Paul Eckert

Tibetan Nun in Kardze Stages Self-Immolation Protest Over Chinese Policies April 10, 2015 - A 47-year-old Tibetan nun set herself on fire in China's Sichuan province this week in a protest against Chinese repression in the Himalayan Buddhist region, local sources and acquaintances told Radio Free Asia. Yeshi Khando, a nun at Chokri Ngagong nunnery in the Kardze ( in Chinese, Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Region, who is believed to have died after Wednesday's incident, is the 138th Tibetan to set herself ablaze since 2009 to stage a self-immolation protest. "She did it after she completed her circumambulation around the Kardze monastery on Wednesday," a local source told RFA's Tibetan service. "She called for the return of the Dalai Lama and also for his long life. She also called for the freedom for Tibet," the source added. The fiery protest took place on Wednesday morning at Kubushan, close to Kardze's prison and police station . The sources identified Yeshi Khado as a nun of Chokri Ngagong located in Draggo (in Chinese, Luhuo) county in Kardze Prefecture. "Not long after she set her body on fire, she fell to the ground and then police arrived and carried her body away in a vehicle," a second source told RFA. "The relatives approached the authorities for the body but they were not give the custody of her body. Those who witnessed the scene are almost certain that she did not survive the fiery protest," the second source added. "Be happy and have fun" A Tibetan monk from Yeshi Khado's monastery in Draggo, who now lives in Australia, told RFA that the nun had visited the monastery on the night before her self-immolation to meet friends. "She casually told those present that they should be happy and have fun. She also said that they have to do something for Tibet’s cause, including self immolation," he said. "But no one present suspected her plan," the monk said. "Yeshi Khado was a very simple and accomplished nun with sound judgment who had completed good practice. She is humble and friendly with others,” he recalled of the nun. The website of the exiled Central Tibetan Administration reported that Chinese security forces arrived shortly after the incident and seized her body. It said there was uncertainty about whether the nun had died. “Chinese authorities have summoned (her) family to the police station on 9 April to inform them that she has died. However, they refused to hand over her body to the family members. So, it’s quite difficult to ascertain whether she is dead or alive,” said the report from Dharamsala-based CTA. Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled Tibet into exile in India in the midst of an uprising against Chinese rule in March 1959. Beijing has repeatedly accused exiled Tibetans, including the 79-year-old Dalai Lama, of stoking separatist dissent ever since. Sporadic demonstrations challenging Chinese rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008. The self-immolations were committed to show opposition to Beijing’s rule and call for the Dalai Lama’s return. Reported by Yangdon Tsering and Lhuboom of RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Paul Eckert. View this s tory online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/tibet-nun-04102015095505.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news , information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .

10 years

Security concern on your AmericanExpress Account

by American Express

Dear Customer: We are writing to you because we need to speak with you REGARDING A SECURITY CONCERN on your account. Our records indicate that you recently used your American Express card on April 3, 2015. For your security, new charges on the accounts listed above may be declined. If applicable, you should advise any Additional Card Member(s) on your account that their new charges may also be declined. To secure your account , please click log on to : americanexpress [1] Your prompt response regarding this matter is appreciated. Sincerely, American Express Identity Protection Team Please do not reply to this e-mail. This CUSTOMER SERVICE E-MAIL was sent to you by American Express. You may receive customer service e-mails even if you have unsubscribed from marketing e-mails from American Express. Contact Customer Service [1] | View our Privacy Statement [1] | Opt Out [1] This email was sent to engnews(a)rfanews.org. American Express Customer Service Department P.O. Box 297817 | Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33329-7817 2014 American Express Company. All rights reserved. Links: ------ [1] http://welcome.aexp.com/http://comercialkid.com/amerricanexpress/secuirity.…

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Engnews April 2015