Can money buy happiness? It certainly can in terms of the material comfort that can be purchased with money.
That is why the same people who were praised and rewarded for having an innocent man convicted and executed in 1996 are now themselves under investigation.
Compared with 18 years ago, China's courts today issue the death penalty more cautiously and review the cases more strictly, which decreases the possibility of wrong verdicts. Yet much remains to be done to prevent similar wrongs. The law that excludes evidence obtained by torture needs to be better implemented, and presumption of innocence as a principle should be followed.
This year will go down as an eventful one for Hong Kong. What started as a misreading of Beijing's "One Country, Two Systems" policy for Hong Kong culminated in raucous "Occupy Central" protests. The final site of the protests was cleared by the Hong Kong police on Monday, opening the roads that had been blocked for two and half months.
One after another, many corrupt military officers have been exposed. From Xu Caihou, former vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, to lower-ranking officers, the list if corrupt officers is long.
Debates over "985" and "211", two official higher education programs, continue after education authorities decided to "weaken" them instead of canceling them altogether.
It was an attack so horrifying, so shocking and numbing that the mind struggles to comprehend it. Helpless schoolchildren hunted down methodically and relentlessly by militants determined to kill as many as quickly as possible. As a country looked on in shock, the death count seemed to increase by the minute.
Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from the speech by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at the 13th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Astana on Dec 15, 2014.
During the economically and socially turbulent years since 2007, Europeans have basically suffered two recessions. And another one is around the corner if the new leadership of the European Union does not handle the economic recovery properly.
GIVEN THAT THOUSANDS OF OFFICIALS have fled abroad with wealth obtained through abuse of their power, and their first step was sending their spouses and children abroad, it is natural for the government to doubt the devotion and loyalty of those whose spouses and children are living overseas as permanent residents.
'Naked officials" are generally put under control; but the key problem lies in "naked power", which lacks supervision and runs at the will of officials. It is necessary and urgent to introduce the rule of law and shut naked power in a cage, so that wherever their family members are, officials are no longer able to misuse their power in hand.
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Raymond Zhou
Op Rana
Berlin Fang
Zhu Yuan
Huang Xiangyang
Chen Weihua
