NightBlogger

CHENGDU (Reuters) - It was just an afternoon stroll down the streets of his hometown, but every step blogger “Yellow Peach” took was revolutionary. There were no placards or banners, no slogans or matching T-shirts, but by “taking a walk” together for a couple of hours, a few hundred citizens of a laid-back southwestern city were illegally challenging government plans for a new oil refinery.

They wandered in quiet clusters down a route circulated by Internet and mobile phone, watched by uniformed and plainclothes police who knew exactly why they were there and later punished six people for their role. “This was a victorious meeting, a rally. The kindling has already been scattered. What follows now depends on everybody,” Yellow Peach wrote, signing off on a string of messages to a fellow blogger giving a blow-by-blow account of the protest. More

Photo Divine Rapier

WILLIAM FOREMAN
Associated Press
China said it was struggling to find shelter for many of the 5 million people whose homes were destroyed in last week’s earthquake, while the confirmed death toll rose Tuesday to more than 40,000.

Meanwhile, rescuers pulled a 31-year-old man to safety, the second known case of someone being found alive a week after the May 12 earthquake struck Sichuan province. Ma Yuanjiang was saved from the debris of the Yingxiu Bay Hydropower Plant, where he worked as a director, after a 30-hour rescue effort, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The State Council, China’s Cabinet, raised the overall confirmed death toll to 40,075, most of those died in Sichuan province. Officials have said the final number killed by the quake is expected to surpass 50,000. Another 32,361 people remained missing across the quake zone, said the council.
Read more

Raghavendra
PTI News
The official death toll from China’s devastating earthquake has risen to nearly 29,000 today amid fears that it may climb to over 50,000 as rescuers scoured remote areas in grim search for survivors with tens of thousands still feared buried five days after the disaster struck the country.

More than 10,600 people still remained buried under the rubble in Sichuan province where death toll mounted to 28,300, the agency said quoting officials of the provincial government. As distraught rescuers waged a difficult battle digging and clawing through the rubble, their efforts also paid off as they found many survivors. A German tourist was pulled out alive from the wreckage in Wenchuan county, nearly 114 hours after the deadly earthquake. Read more

Video courtesy of www.LongDaGe.com
BBCNews
Almost five million people have been left homeless by Monday’s devastating earthquake in China’s south-western Sichuan Province, officials say. They said the extent of the problem only became clear when communications were restored. So far, 22,069 deaths have been confirmed and thousands remain missing. It is feared up to 50,000 may be dead. China has announced an investigation into why so many schools have collapsed. Read more

From correspondents in Beijing
couriermail.com
THE full horror of the devastating China earthquake began to emerge today as rescuers discovered whole towns all but wiped off the map, pushing the death toll well above 20,000. Military and police teams punched into the heart of the disaster zone, with 100 troops parachuting into a county that was previously cut off while planes and helicopters air-dropped emergency supplies.

But the message that came back from this mountainous corner of southwestern Sichuan province was that town after town was flattened by the 7.9-magnitude quake that struck two days ago.The death toll has soared well above 20,000, but that toll is rising by the hour as more information comes in from stricken communities. Read more

thetimes.co.za
BEIJING - A total of 7,651 people have died in China’s Sichuan province after a powerful earthquake struck there today, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing government officials.

The news agency said the figure had been established by a disaster relief headquarters set up by Chinese Premier Premier Wen Jiabao, who referred to the quake as a “major disaster.” Casualties were also reported in other provinces close to Sichuan, state media said.