the blogging police woman from Hebei

media - Oil, corruption, courts and weblogs

A short overview of the stories I should have addressed, but because of the lack of time I will use the following, proven format:

• Reuters reports about the trial against New York Times employee Zhao Yan that has started today. He is defended by a former legal aid of madame Wu Yi.
  
• CNOOC and Husky have found gas in the South China Sea, adding four years of gas to China's current resources
• Yang Xiaoqing, a journalist known from his work against corruption, has been convicted for blackmain, the Financial Times reports. Even the courts must have doubts, the paper writes, as they gave him one year jail time, while he could have gotten ten years. The charges were "driven by local politicians".
• In Hebei Province a local police force turned to a weblog, reports Reuters, among cheers of the Chines blogoshpere, especially for one female officer. "How fortunate criminals will be to be caught by such a beautiful girl... That would be worth a few years in prison," said one commentator. Yang Xiaoqing and Zhao Yan might not agree.