BEIJING (AP) — In China, tobacco companies sponsor schools. Almost half of all male doctors smoke. And one wedding dinner ritual involves the bride lighting cigarettes for each of her male guests. China has committed to banning smoking at public indoor venues by Jan. 9, in accordance with a global anti-tobacco treaty backed by the World Health Organization …
Medford woman, Hiroshima survivor works for peace
MEDFORD, Ore. (AP) — “You would think the four-leaf clover pressed between pages in the old scrapbook was for good luck.
UN: Asia–Pacific lags on women’s rights
NEW DELHI (AP) — Nearly 100 million women across Asia have “disappeared” because of a huge and growing gender gap that has fatally deprived them of access to health care and food. This has led to widespread abortions of female fetuses, according to a U.N. report released on March 8.
U.S. Senate calls for more engagement with Sri Lanka
The report released Monday, Dec. 7, by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee warns that neglecting Sri Lanka as it emerges from three decades of bloody civil war could result in a shift toward China and other countries that place “greater value on security over freedoms.”
In China, Obama says freedoms are ‘universal rights’
SHANGHAI (AP) — Pressing for freedom on China’s own turf, President Barack Obama said Monday, Nov. 16, that individual expression is not an American ideal but a universal right that should be available to all.
China and the United States allay growing trade tensions
PITTSBURGH (AP) — On Sept. 24, China played down growing trade tensions with the United States, saying the two trading partners must focus on long-term relations and settle their differences through friendly talks.
Indonesia’s Aceh to allow stoning for adulterers
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — Lawmakers in a devoutly Muslim Indonesian province voted unanimously that adulterers can be sentenced to death by stoning, just months after voters overwhelmingly chose to throw conservative Islamic parties out of power.
Editorial: Sometimes, the simple act of caring makes all the difference
On March 17, journalists Euna Lee and Laura Ling from Current TV, a media venture by former Vice President Al Gore, were detained at the North Korean–Chinese border by the […]
Journalist Saberi joyful, grateful to be out of Iranian jail and back with family
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — On May 12, American journalist Roxana Saberi said she was very happy to be free and thanked those who helped win her release after four months in an Iranian prison, as new details emerged about the evidence presented against her at her espionage trial.
China rejects latest U.S. report on religious freedom
BEIJING (AP) — On May 5, Beijing said a U.S. report criticizing the state of China’s religious freedom was biased and groundless.