News of the Day (February 8)

Yesterday’s blog entry had the wrong date (the 5th instead of the 7th); apologies to all.

Falun Gong lawsuit reaches Supreme Court: A lawsuit by Falun Gong practitioners against former top Communist Jiang Zemin for “torture, crimes against humanity, and genocide in connection with the persecution of Falun Gong he initiated in July 1999” (Epoch Times), has been appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, after being dismissed in lower courts. At the heart of the matter is this question: do the cadres have the legal right to call political torture and murder “official, legitimate functions of the state”?

Amid growing worries back home, MG Rover deal hits snag: British carmaker MG Rover’s plan to save itself by becoming part of the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation ran afoul of cadre regulators “annoyed by Rover's decision to talk publicly about the deal and the intense speculation which has ensued about what it will mean for Rover's future” (BBC). When MG Rover revealed the deal to the public (International News), it hoped its UK facilities would be saved by the Communist-owned auto firm. No such luck: “The Observer reported on Sunday that nearly half the workforce at Longbridge could be under threat if the deal goes ahead.” Nice job, fellows!

Hutchison Whampoa inks another “partnership”: Hutchison Whampoa, the firm that controls two Panama Canal container ports, almost bought out Global Crossing, and is run by pro-Communist tycoon Li Ka-shing, announced a new “partnership” with Skype Technologies to “promote internet telephone services in Hong Kong through their joint ‘HGC-Skype’ portal” (BBC). The Communist-backed rich get richer . . .

What Communism has done to China: Former Communist professor and current exiled dissident Yuan Hongbing lambastes the CCP for the damage it has done to his homeland during a Sydney (Australia) seminar on the Nine Commentaries (Epoch Times).

What Communism has done to Google: Zhang Tianliang, Epoch Times, laments the search engine’s willingness to submit to Communist demands for internet censorship.