Year: 2014

The United States is “deeply disturbed” by reports of the death of prominent Chinese human rights activist Cao Shunli, detained in September for staging sit-ins at the country’s foreign ministry, the State Department said on Saturday. The news of her death came on Friday, soon after the start of a session in Geneva of the U.N. Human Rights Council, a body to which China was elected amid controversy last November. “The United States is deeply disturbed by reports that rights activist Cao Shunli has passed away at a hospital in Beijing. Cao staged a two-month sit-in along with other activists outside the Foreign Ministry, beginning in June, to press for the public to contribute to a national human rights report.

By Adam Jourdan SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Japan's Nikon Corp has moved to allay consumer fears in China after being criticized on a closely watched consumer show that said the camera maker had sold defective products in China and denied local consumers fair treatment in aftersales service. The firm, which had sales of 118 billion yen ($1.16 billion) in China in 2013, said on Sunday it was taking the report "very seriously" and had moved to improve its after-sales network in China, according to its official microblog sites. Criticism in Chinese state media can have a long-lasting impact, particularly in cases of corruption and food safety scandals, which have hit some firms over the last year, including French foodmaker Danone SA to British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc. An annual investigative special on China Central Television (CCTV) called "3.15", similar to the CBS network's "60 Minutes" in the United States, said late on Saturday that some of Nikon's D600 cameras had black specks on the lens, and accused the firm of refusing requests to replace the defective products.