China to abolish labor camps

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China to abolish labor camps
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After months of rumors, China announced Friday it
will abolish labor camps in an effort to improve
human rights. According to a prominent Beijing
lawyer, "There have been many methods used
recently by this government that are against the
rule of law, and do not respect human rights, or
freedom of speech." The abolishment of the
so-called "re-education through labor" system
under which tens of thousands are imprisoned in
China without trial will be a big change. "Reform
through labor" was set up in the 1950s. This
labor camp system was established to punish early
critics of the Communist Party but now is used by
local officials to deal with people challenging
their authority on issues including land rights
and corruption. Millions are believed to have
died through overwork, suicide and harsh
conditions. According to the latest available
figures from the Ministry of Justice, 160,000
people were held in 350 re-education through
labor centers nationwide at the end of 2008. The
United Nations has said the figure is possibly as
high as 190,000 people. As part of the reforms,
China said it will reduce the number of crimes
subject to the death penalty.
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In Other News

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  what appeared to be the victim's head. After the
  beheading earlier this week, the victim was
  determined to be Mohammed Fares, an
  anti-government fighter wounded in clashes
  against the Syrian Army earlier. On Thursday, an
  online statement from a spokesman for the al
  Qaeda-affiliated Islamic State of Iraq and the
  Levant (ISIS), whose fighters apparently carried
  out the beheading of Fares, called for
  forgiveness for the killers and asked for
  "restraint and piety" from anti-government
  supporters.
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  a year or longer and it could drift a long way
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  according to Robert Marsh, a scientist at the
  University of Southampton in England.
• A pilot's mayday distress call sent rescuers
  scrambling to an area near Miami on Thursday to
  search for a passenger who reportedly fell out of
  a small plane. "He opened the back door and he
  just fall down the plane," the pilot said,
  according to a recording of his conversation with
  air traffic controllers. The pilot said he was
  flying at 1,800 feet about two miles from the
  shore when the man fell on Thursday afternoon.
  Miami-Dade police spokesman Javier Baez described
  the search as a recovery mission, saying it was
  unlikely the man could survive a fall from that
  height. Authorities did not release the
  47-year-old pilot's name or the identity of the
  man believed to be missing. A police spokeswoman
  said it was unclear whether the man accidentally
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