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| China Pushes Use of Clean Energy China announced new regulations to increase the use of renewable energy such as wind and hydropower by forcing electricity grid operators to prioritize their use. online.wsj.com |
Investigation into Chinese wedding banquet Officers in Guangdong province announce move following outrage over event's estimated £55,000 costA senior police officer could pay dearly for his daughter's wedding after police announced an official investigation into the lavish 110-table banquet.Officers in Shenzhen, in Guangdong province, announced the investigation following outrage over the event's estimated cost of up to 600,000 yuan (£55,000).The average disposable income in China last year was less than 16,000 yuan.The case has highlighted widespread anger over inequality and corruption.Officials often use such functions for networking and easing relations, but "hongbao" – the red envelopes in which guests give cash to the newlyweds – offset, and often outweigh, the cost of the wedding. They have also been used to deliver bribes.The official Guangzhou Daily newspaper, quoting Zhou Baojun, a police spokesman, said an investigation into the event – hosted by Liu Shengqiang, a deputy director of the Shenzhen airport police – had begun.More than 1,000 guests dined in the vast banqueting hall at the five-star Kempinski hotel, enjoying delicacies including shark's fin soup and abalone.But Liu told the Southern Metropolis Daily, which reported on the event, that "80% of the guests were merely friends".He added: "I expected the media would report the way I celebrated my daughter's wedding. But I could not have cancelled the banquet."Both families have lived in Shenzhen for decades, and my old army buddies just expect to be invited."He declined to comment on the cost of the event or how much guests had donated. Calls to the Shenzhen police spokesman's office went unanswered today."Officials like Liu know the purpose of such a party. They take the opportunity of a wedding or a funeral to collect hongbao," Wang Yukai, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Governance, told the China Daily newspaper."If they were not powerful officials, there wouldn't be so many people present at their dinner parties."The banquet was held five days after a deputy police chief in the same province was suspended over allegations he received money from more than 1,000 guests he had invited to celebrate his purchase of a new home.On Thursday, the county's disciplinary authority banned Communist party members and officials from accepting hongbao, even at weddings or funerals, saying officials would be dismissed at once if they had more than 10 tables of guests at any party."With no specific punitive measures, most crackdowns on such practices are of little consequence," Wang said, adding that confidence in officials would increase if the county's measures worked.The Huashang Daily newspaper reported yesterday that authorities In Shaanxi province had dismissed Wu Fengzhou, a high-profile schoolmaster from Ankang city, over his son's wedding banquet.So many teachers from the town's schools attended the event, held on 28 December, that classes for around 2,805 students were suspended.ChinaTania Braniganguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Iran exposes abuse at Tehran jail • Former chief prosecutor blamed in MPs' report• Three activists died at detention centreIranian MPs lifted a blanket of official denial on the country's post-election upheaval today by blaming a Âsenior regime insider for abuses that led to the deaths of at least three prisoners in a detention centre.In the first publicly documented Âadmission that abuses occurred in the weeks after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election, the majlis, Iran's parliament, identified Saeed Mortazavi, Tehran's former chief Âprosecutor, as the main culprit in the scandal over the Kahrizak facility.A report read out to MPs said 147 prisoners had been held in a 70-square-metre room for four days without proper ventilation, heating and food on ÂMortazavi's orders. The prisoners were sent to ÂKahrizak after being arrested at a demonstration on 9 July, less than a month after ÂAhmadinejad's victory.The facility, which was intended only for violent criminals and drug Âtraffickers, was closed on the orders of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after it emerged that three inmates had died, including the son of a distinguished Âgovernment scientist.Today's report dismissed a claim from Mortazavi that the prisoners had died from meningitis and Âacknowledged that they had been assaulted.The deaths were caused by "limitation of space, poor sanitary conditions, Âinappropriate nutrition, heat, lack of ventilation and … also as a result of physical attacks", the report said.It added: "The detainees were kept for four days … in [a 70 sq m] room without proper ventilation, suitable food and sanitary conditions and also in very hard, Âpunitive conditions."Prisoners were also made to share accommodation with inmates who had been convicted of violent and drug-related crimes.Conditions at Kahrizak became a scandal after the deaths of Mohsen Ruholamini – whose father headed Iran's Louis Pasteur Institute – and two other prisoners, Muhammad Kamrani and Amir Javadifar.Opposition websites reported that Khamenei acted after a pro-regime photographer, Saeed Sadaghi, told him that he had been raped in Kahrizak after being swept up in the mass arrests. The majlis's report "strongly rejected" that rape or sexual assault had taken place.The report was commissioned by a parliamentary committee set up by the Speaker, Ali Larijani, a rival of Ahmadinejad.Mortazavi, who is believed to have lobbied MPs not to implicate him, originally said the prisoners had died of meningitis and said inoculation kits had been sent to detention centres to stop the condition from spreading. He also claimed Kahrizak did not fall under his jurisdiction and that he only sent detainees there because of insufficient space at Evin prison, Tehran's main penal facility.But the meningitis claim was dismissed by an examining doctor, Ramin Pourandarjani, who refused to certify it as the cause of death until he was arrested and forced to do so. Pourandarjani himself died mysteriously in November after being charged with failing to properly treat the prisoners. A postmortem said he died after eating a poisoned salad.The report rejected Mortazavi's Âdisclaimers of responsibility and cited a letter from the office of the former Âjudiciary chief, Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, less than two years ago specifically giving him jurisdiction."The denial of some judiciary Âofficials of responsibility are by no means Âacceptable and – more than any other branch – it is the judiciary which should be accountable for the shortcomings and weaknesses of this centre," the report said.Mortazavi has since been moved to head Iran's counter-smuggling agency. But by naming and shaming him, the report is implicitly aiming a shot across the bows of Ahmadinejad, one of Mortazavi's Âstaunchest supporters.The report raised the possibility that some officials were willing to sacrifice Mortazavi in an effort to contain further unrest. But it made no mention of Iran's deputy police chief, Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Radan, who is said to have supervised torture sessions at Kahrizak, which included spraying prisoners with water and beating them with electric cables.Hossein Bastani, an Iranian political analyst, said there was no guarantee ÂMortazavi would face further punishment. "It doesn't mean he will be sacrificed by the regime or that he will face arrest," Bastani said. "The parliament might have decided to sacrifice Mortazavi, but he has powerful supporters inside the regime and the most important of these are people like Ahmadinejad."There are two shades of opinion inside the regime about how to react to further protests. One says those like Mortazavi who commit crimes should be tried to calm the situation. But others say that if you try some who are trying to crush the demonstrations you will make the others who are also responsible feel insecure."IranHuman rightsRobert Taitguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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24 hours in pictures 23 January 2010: A selection of the best images from around the world guardian.co.uk |