(Clearwisdom.net)
News Focus
Voice of America reported on September 19, 2002, that on Wednesday, Falun Gong practitioners were put on trial in the Intermediate People's Court of Changchun City, Jilin Province, on charges of tapping into a television signal. Observers pointed out that the Chinese government will enforce strict control of the media before the opening of the 16th meeting of the National People's Congress (NPC) in November, and Falun Gong and other civil movements will be the main targets of this effort. The report states that cable and satellite TV are often pre-empted with Falun Gong messages.
Voice of America September 19th report: "Protect Journalists' Human Rights Association" condemned the Chinese government for its escalating suppression of journalists and dissidents, and expressed concerns regarding a security resolution recently passed in Hong Kong that forbids "subversive and provocative" speech. This association also criticized Yahoo! Internet service for agreeing to abide by the Chinese government's restrictions of Internet content. They called for people's effort in protecting the Chinese people's right to obtain and distribute information.
News from China
A letter from a Falun Gong practitioner to a factory director: Years of cultivation helped me realize that the true meaning of life is to return to one's true self. I understand where we are from and where we are going. I learned to discipline myself with the standard of "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Tolerance." Under the persecution from the evil I experienced the torture from Jiang's decree to "ruin their reputations, and damage their economic life." But "Coercion Cannot Change People's Hearts." (Essentials for Further Advancement II) Coercion can never shake practitioners' determination in Dafa.
Natural Disasters are a Warning to People
Shandong Province is suffering from the most severe drought in the past one hundred years. Many of the reservoirs are completely dry. Nearly 4 million people are experiencing water shortages. More than 7 million Mu (Chinese unit of area: 1 Mu=0.1647 acre) of land lost the harvest, causing over 10 billion Yuan of economic loss. The water of Baotu Fountain, the famous fountain in Jinan City, suddenly stopped running. Heihu Fountain is completely dry. The number of tourists has been sharply reduced. Impacted by the drought, many large-scale textile factories have been forced to close. The transportation on the Jining branch of the "Golden Water Channel," the Beijing to Hangzhou canal, stopped for nearly 60 days. Hundreds of tons of coal could not be shipped on time. The water level of the Yellow River gradually reduced, and the amount of sand increased. The sand level is so high that farmers have to stop using water from the Yellow River to irrigate their plants. According to the forecast by the government of the province, the drought will worsen in the following several months and local officials have asked for help from the central government.
