Chinese villagers demand return of illegally seized land
Thousands march to denounce corrupt officials and factory strikes spread as sluggish demand hits workers' pay
Thousands of villagers angry that officials failed to address their grievances after riots two months ago marched to a government office in southern China to demand the return of land they say was illegally seized, witnesses and media said.
The protest came after a series of strikes in factories in Guangdong province, China's economic powerhouse.
Rural land disputes are increasing and spreading to the undeveloped west of the country, according to a poll published in October in a magazine run by Xinhua news agency
Shocked Putin greeted with boos and jeers at the big fight
It's the end of an era, claims blogger, as Russia's Prime Minister faces a hostile reception
It was not the kind of reception that Vladimir Putin is used to. As the Russian Prime Minister stepped into the ring at Moscow's Olympic Stadium to congratulate Fedor Emelianenko, the winner of a martial arts clash on Sunday evening, boos and whistles rang out in the arena.
A moment of shock flickered across his face as he registered what was happening, before he regained his composure and carried on as normal. Nobody can remember anything like it happening before, and one blogger called it "the end of an era". The frosty reception from thousands of ordinary Russians will raise further alarm that discontent with Russia's ruling elite and Mr Putin himself is growing, ahead of elections in a fortnight's time.
Egypt unrest: Activists call for mass demonstrations
22 November 2011
Egyptian activists have called for mass demonstrations after an overnight stand-off between security forces and protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square.
Thousands flocked to the square after the military-appointed cabinet offered its resignation.
At least 26 people have been killed and hundreds injured in three days of protests against the military rulers.
Amnesty International has criticised the military for failing to keep its promise to improve human rights.
Desert graveyard: mystery whale find baffles researchers
November 22, 2011
More than 2 million years ago, scores of whales congregating off the Pacific Coast of South America in what is now Chile mysteriously met their end.
Maybe they became disoriented and beached themselves. Maybe they were trapped in a lagoon by a landslide or a storm. Maybe they died there over a period of a few millennia. But somehow, they ended up right next to one another, many just metres apart, entombed as the shallow sea floor was driven upward by geological forces and transformed into the driest place on the planet.
Mexico gives muddled response to criticism of human rights violations amid drug war
A new report says Mexico fails to limit security forces' torture, disappearances, and extrajudicial killings in the drug war. But Calderon's response 'skirts the issue,' says blogger Patrick Corcoran.
Human Rights Watch provided a thorough critique of Mexico’s anti-crime policies, describing a growing pattern of abuses by security officials amid a backdrop of stratospheric levels of violence, but the government's response seems wrong-headed.
The document, which was published last week and is titled "Neither Rights Nor Security," argues thatPresident Felipe Calderon’s aggressive combat of criminal groups has failed on two fronts: It has utterly failed to rein in the violence, and it has proven unwilling or incapable of fielding a security force that does not carry out human rights violations.
Anarchy in archaeology as Sex Pistols’ graffiti is rated alongside cave art
Graffifi drawn by The Sex Pistols in a rented house in the 1970s are "pieces of art" that merit comparison with prehistoric cave paintings, archaeologists claim.
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The drawings lie in the upper room of a two-storey 19th century property in Denmark Street in London Photo: National News and Pictures
Dr John Schofield, of the Department of Archaeology at the University of York, said they are worthy of being preserved as heritage pieces and should be preserved despite being offensive and rude.
The markings discovered on the walls of the flat the group rented in London in the mid-1970s lend themselves to archaeological investigation as much as drawings made by early humans in the caves of Lascaux in southern France, he insists.
It was even suggested that the intact Pistols graffiti - found behind cupboards in the property in Denmark Street, central London - may be of greater significance than the discovery of early Beatles recordings and is "a direct and powerful representation of a radical and dramatic movement of rebellion."
Refugee in NY reunites with son after 34 years
They were separated after a 1977 pirate attack in the South China Sea
By BEN DOBBIN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A Vietnamese war refugee who survived a 1977 pirate attack that separated him from his wife and infant child reunited with his grown son in upstate New York on Monday after nearly 34 years apart.
Hao Truong was tossed into the South China Sea after pirates attacked a boat taking refugee families to Thailand in December 1977. He said he managed to stay afloat for 16 hours before being rescued by a fishing boat.
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