Blogs » Politics » Avid soccer fan dies from watching Euro Cup for 11 straight nights

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• Avid soccer fan dies from watching Euro Cup for 11 straight nights
• Hong Kong: Leading English Newspaper Turns Red?
• 7-year-old girl suffers brain trauma when attempting to protect her mother
• Photo: Chute, by Christopher Cherry
• China to Promote Water Efficiency Through Pricing

Avid soccer fan dies from watching Euro Cup for 11 straight nights Posted: 23 Jun 2012 11:40 AM PDT A 26-year-old soccer fan from Changsha City, capital of Hunan Province, died in his dream on June 19, after staying up 11 straight nights for watching the football games since the European Championship 2012 kicked off on June 8. The die-hard fan of England soccer team, surnamed Jiang, was said to be healthy, and once a leading player in his soccer team during college days. And after graduation, Jiang continued to play football with friends too, to keep fit. From the start of the tournament, Jiang had been keeping up all nights day after day in a bar for the matches. He invited friends, and drunk a lot of bear together while watching the matches. But Jiang was the most manic one. "We took rest some days, but he never missed one game," said one of his friends. On June 18, exciting Jiang even gathered his friends together to play a football game, to enjoy himself to the full when the Euro 2012 was in full swing. At night, he continued to stay up watching the match between Italy and Ireland. But no one would expect that Jiang's life was then set for a countdown, after the final whistle of that match was blown. He went back home to sleep at around 5 a.m. of June 19. And he never woke up. Jiang was the only child of his parents. Since he was gone, Jiang's parents have been in deep sorrow. In Changsha, such a case of death by football-watching ever occurred once in 2006 during the FIFA World Cup hosted in German. A young man stayed in a bar watching the opening ceremony and the next two matches, and drank a lot of bear. At 4 a.m. the next day, when the second match was close to an end, the man's pupils were suddenly dilated, and stopped breathing at last after rushing to hospital.

Hong Kong: Leading English Newspaper Turns Red? Posted: 23 Jun 2012 04:54 AM PDT A series of recently leaked email exchanges between the chief editor and sub-editor of a leading English newspaper in Hong Kong, regarding the coverage of mainland Chinese political activist Li Wangyang's staged suicide, has highlighted a deteriorating state of press freedom. Frustrated over the curtailing of the Li Wangyang story from a 400-word news feature to a 100-word news brief on June 7, 2012, while other local and international news organizations headlined the news, Alex Price, a senior sub-editor for the South China Morning Post (SCMP) wrote an email to Chief Editor Wang Xiangwei, asking for an explanation. Instead of a professional exchange of opinion, Price found Xiangwei's reply threatening. The SCMP news brief that sparked controversy. Image source: inmediahk Leaked emails The emails were first leaked among SCMP's reporters and editors and made their way to mainstream and citizen media by June 18. Inmediahk.net [zh, en] translated and reposted the emails, as follows. On June 7: Alex Price: Hi Xiangwei … A lot of people are wondering why we nibbed the Li Wangyang story last night. It does seem rather odd. Any chance you can shed some light on the matter? Wang: I made that decision. Alex Price: Any chance you say why? It's just that to the outside world it looks an awful lot like self-censorship… Cheers Wang: I don't have to explain to you anything. I made the decision and I stand by it. If you don't like it, you know what to do. On June 11: Alex Price: I am concerned by the intimidatory nature of your reply. A very strange editorial decision was made and everyone is wondering why. Many other news organisations splashed with the Li Wangyang story yet we reduced it to a brief. In such circumstances it is quite reasonable to ask the editor why the decision was made. Of course he may decline to say why; there could be any number of reasons, and he may well want to keep them to himself. But if the question was polite and reasonable than [sic] I see no reason why the response should not be equally polite and reasonable. As it stands, I am concerned. I am now worried that anyone who wishes to raise issue with an editorial decision - no matter how much that decision appears to go against good journalism - will be told to shut up or leave. I am further concerned that my justifiable concern on this matter as a journalist may lead to the termination of my employment. I look forward to a chat where you can put my mind at rest. Cheers. Wang: I don't think my answer is anyway intimidatory and I don't know why you have formed your opinion. Alex Price: Xiangwei; A good man died for his cause and we turned it from a story into a brief. The rest of Hong Kong splashed on it. Your staff are understandably concerned by this. News is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations. Please explain the decision to reduce the suspicious death of Li Wangyang to a brief. I need to be able to explain it to my friends who are asking why we did it. I'm sorry but your reply of "it is my decision, if you don't like it you know what to do" is not enough in such a situation. Frankly it seems to be saying "shut up or go". The SCMP has subsequently splashed on Li Wangyang, had a focus page devoted to the matter, plus editorials, two columns by yourself and other stories. Yet on the day it counted we reduced the story to a nib. Journalistic ethics are at stake. The credibility of the South China Morning Post is at stake. Your staff - and readers - deserve an answer. I look forward to hearing it. Cheers. Protester holding banner stating [zh] "Demand Wang to apologize; Shame on SCMP." Image source: inmediahk.net Accusations of self-censorship Wang has denied that he downplayed the news in his letter to SCMP staff on June 20, but concerned citizens believe that SCMP is guilty of self-censorship. The self-censorship problem in Hong Kong's mainstream press has widely been acknowledged and studied [pdf]. On June 21, two political groups, the League of Social Democrats and Democratic Party protested outside SCMP's office, burning their newspapers. SCMP tainted by red? The undercurrent of the scandal is related to Wang Xiangwei's close ties with China. Wang's promotion to SCMP's chief editor was widely reported to be tainted with a mysterious "red" color. According to a commentary from Asia Sentinel: Preceding the naming of its first mainland editor, Wang Xiangwei, the South China Morning Post's 33-year old chief executive officer Kuok Hui-kwong, daughter of tycoon Robert Kuok, was granted a rare one-on-one audience in Beijing with Wang Guangya, the director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office. That has sent a chill through Hong Kong's media watchers. Apple Daily, the feisty and fiercely independent local Chinese newspaper declared that SCMP has "gone red." A graduate of the China Academy of Social Sciences's journalism school and the Beijing Foreign Studies University, Wang has 20 years experience working in the media. He joined SCMP in 1996 as a China business reporter, and was later promoted to China editor in 2000 and deputy editor in 2007. The number one cause for suicide is untreated depression. Depression is treatable and suicide is preventable. You can get help from confidential support lines for the suicidal and those in emotional crisis. Visit Befrienders.org to find a suicide prevention helpline in your country. Written by Ronald Yick · comments (1) Share: Donate · facebook · twitter · reddit · StumbleUpon · delicious · Instapaper

7-year-old girl suffers brain trauma when attempting to protect her mother Posted: 22 Jun 2012 06:14 PM PDT A 7-year-old girl, Wang Yan, suffered severe brain trauma when she attempted to protect her mother from attack by a thug. According to the girl's 22-year-old brother, on April 21 when his mother was walking in a street in Shouxian County, Anhui Province, with his little sister, a 55-year-old man suddenly blocked their way and hit the mother in the head with a spade. When there came another attack, the little girl threw herself in the way, which resulted in the injuries in her little head too by the spade. The mother died right at the scene for the deadly blow, while the little girl sustained severe brain trauma. In two months, the 7-year-old girl has been in a coma, though the rescue efforts have saved her life. The girl was firstly treated in the local hospital in Anhui, but the medical staff there found it difficult to deal with and suggested them to move to a bigger one. On June 4, Wang Yan was transferred to Shanghai Blue Cross Brain Hospital, where she received treatments from the best brain recovery expert in China. But the big amount of medical expenses has become a great burden to the poor family. It was said, prior to this, Wang Yan's family has already been put in debt, when her 62-year-old father underwent expensive surgery for his advanced esophageal cancer. The poor family has been relying upon Wang Yan's 22-year-old brother, who dropped out of junior high school and has been working as a migrant worker since he was 17. In order to continue giving treatments to the brave girl and cover the medical expenses, Wang's family now are pleading for the help from the kindhearted people in our society. The local government of the family's hometown is helping raise fund for them as well.

Photo: Chute, by Christopher Cherry Posted: 22 Jun 2012 10:41 PM PDT Chute © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

China to Promote Water Efficiency Through Pricing Posted: 22 Jun 2012 11:19 PM PDT China's latest water conservancy plan will include a system of progressive pricing to discourage excessive consumption. The country's best known efforts to confront its deepening water crisis have been titanic engineering projects aimed at securing supply. The task of moderating demand is in some ways trickier but at least equally necessary, and pricing can be an effective strategy. One major complication that the government hopes to untangle is the burden on farmers, who use a great deal of water but can ill afford to pay more for it. From Xinhua (via China Water Risk). China will also adopt high water rates for water-intensive industries and encourage reusing recycled water, according to the plan distributed by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the top economic planner, and two other ministries on Thursday. For rural residents, the country will explore ways that give them price discounts when their water use is within set quotas and calculate prices progressively when they use more than the quotas, said the plan, which was made for the 2011-2015 period. The pricing reforms are part of government efforts to make prices of resource products and energy better reflect market demand and to save natural resources and energy amid growing supply pressure in the world's second-largest economy. © Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: farmers, government policy, water conservancy, water crisis Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall