High price of diplomacy with China

The first of two investigative reports from the Center for Investigative Reporting's James Sandler examines the Bush administration's efforts to squelch legal proceedings against two high ranking Chinese officials accused of torturing members of religious groups, including Fulan Gong. The two accused officials are former trade minister Bo Xilai and Beijing

Dan Eggen and Josh White of The Washington Post report on the recently declassified 2003 Justice Department memo that was responsible for creating the "legal foundation for the Defense Department's use of aggressive interrogation practices" in the run up to the war in Iraq. The memo suggested that presidential power was nearly unlimited during a time of war and should override laws forbidding torture. The Post provides links to pdfs of the 81-page memo (part 1 & 2).

This series by The Columbus Dispatch delved into the origins of fake goods that are so common throughout the U.S. The paper sent reporter Jeffrey Sheban and photographer Jeff Hinckley to China, Hong-Kong, Taiwan and Thailand to trace the path that brings counterfeit goods from Asia into the U.S. The series covers how fakes are made, how they find their way to the U.S. and how some companies are trying to fight them.

Maternal and infant death rates spiked at a major Kabul maternity hospital that was promoted as a model of U.S. medical training in Afghanistan. Alison Young of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reveals that "the rate of normal-sized babies dying in labor and delivery at Rabia Balkhi jumped 67 percent last year." The statistics, including death rates from C-sections, raised concern at U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The same U.S.-funded healthcare program also spent $1.3 million on a no-bid contract for LeapFrog talking books "The idea was to teach illiterate Afghan women about hygiene, prenatal care, immunizations and nutrition from talking picture books popular with U.S. children." Documents from the CDC, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson are posted online.

The Washington Post's Edward Cody reports on the case of Pang Jiaoming, a reporter in China who lost his job in the wake of publishing investigative stories "reporting that substandard coal ash was being used in construction of a showcase railroad, the $12 billion high-speed line running 500 miles." The Post says that due to a pair of stories on the ash situation, "The Communist Party's Central Propaganda Department and the official All-China Journalists Association issued a directive ordering Pang's employer, the China Economic Times, not only to fire him, but also to 'reinforce the Marxist ideological education of its journalists.'"

Over a 12-month period, investigative reporter Loretta Tofani traveled to China, examining worker conditions and "observed first-hand how Chinese workers routinely risk their health and sometimes their lives making products for export to the United States and other countries." Her series, printed in the Salt Lake Tribune, tells of workers using dangerous, outdated machines, sometimes resulting in serious injury. Also, the air in some factories has proven toxic, with workers exposed to benzene fumes and cadmium dust. The six-part series ends with an examination of who is to blame for these conditions, and what can be done.

An investigation by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele in the October issue of Vanity Fair traces $12 billion in U.S. currency which was sent from the Federal Reserve to Baghdad between April 2003 and June 2004. While some of the money was spent on special projects and ministries, Barlett and Steele report that over $9 billion is missing. "Following a trail that leads from a safe in one of Saddam's palaces to a house near San Diego, to a P.O. box in the Bahamas, the authors discover just how little anyone cared about how the money was handled." The story is accompanied on the web by a Q&A with Barlett and Steele.

While much hoopla was made of the recall of certain Chinese-made products by the Consumer Product Safety Division, United States companies have been allowed to export unsafe products overseas, according to a report by Russell Carrollo of The Sacramento Bee. These items included very flammable children

The gruesome 2004 massacre of four Blackwater USA security guards is being blamed on their Baghdad site manager, Tom Powell, accoring to documents obtained by The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer. Joseph Neff reports that memos reveal the Bravo 2 and November 1 squads were commanded by Powell to go on a mission despite being undermanned and underprepared.
Bravo 2 disregarded directions to drive through Fallujah, instead skirting the city, and returned safely to Baghdad. November 1 drove through Fallujah as directed and was ambushed. All four guards were killed in the attack. The News & Observer's extensive coverage of the Blackwater killings can be found here.

David E. Kaplan of U.S. News & World Report reveals how female spy veterans of the CIA are taking legal action for being disciplined over