World headlines – 16 May 2008

In latest wrap-up from news outlets and bloggers across the globe:

Media edicts recall China’s Maoist past
Financial Times – To the casual observer, the blanket earthquake news coverage served up by China’s media over the past few days might suggest the nation’s thousands of newspapers and TV stations had been given a free hand to report its biggest natural disaster in decades ...

Terrified monks
New York Times – This is historical Tibet, a land of jutting mountains, sculptures made of yak butter, and serene monks in red robes spinning golden prayer wheels in ancient monasteries …

Hu Jia transferred to Tianjin to serve sentence
Radio Free Asia – On May 8, AIDS activist and human rights defender Hu Jia was transferred to Chaobai Prison in Tianjin to serve his sentence. His lawyer, Li Fangping, reports that he was only notified on May 14 that Hu had been transferred and did not know the reasoning behind it. A friend of Hu says that he is worried for Hu's health, as he suffers from liver disease and may be required to work. Hu's family, including his wife and daughter, are all in Beijing. On April 3, Hu was sentenced to three and a half years' imprisonment and one year's deprivation of his political rights. He stated in April that he would not challenge his verdict. Translated by Human Rights in China, the original report is in Mandarin.

Escaped Tibetan rioter tells of Chinese repression
AFP – Before fleeing across a mountainous border, Kusang Sonam says he hid for 12 days from Chinese forces searching for Tibetans who rioted against Beijing's rule in the Himalayan region …

Dalai Lama plays down China Olympics report
Reuters – The Dalai Lama would find it hard to go to the Beijing Olympics, German television quoted him as saying on Thursday, after a Tibet government-in-exile legislator reported a Chinese inquiry whether he might do so …

Rat causing China's tough Olympic year?
IHT – Feng Shui master Raymond Lo says animal astrology could explain why China is off to a terrible start in 2008 — the long anticipated year of the Beijing Olympics …