They Won't Be Kung Fu Fighting

Gymnast Dong Fangxiao was just 14 at the time

(AP) - China was stripped of a bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics today for fielding an underage female gymnast, with the women's team medal now going to the US. The International Olympic Committee acted after investigations by the sport's governing body determined that Dong Fangxiao was only 14 at the 2000 Games. Gymnasts must turn 16 during the Olympic year to be eligible. More»

Police stake out whistleblower's studio, shut down blog

(NEWSER) - The Chinese artist who has made investigating the deaths of children in the Sichuan earthquake a personal crusade is facing a government crackdown, reports the CBC. Ai Weiwei's widely read blog has been deleted, and plainclothes police officers are staking out his studio in Beijing. Ai has relaunched his blog on an American server but said, "I don't know how long it will last before it is blocked." More»

Actor 'very interested' in exposing underworld

(NEWSER) - A secret kung fu sect may have killed actor David Carradine for uncovering its secrets, his family's lawyer says. "If there was some foul play, that that may be the first area where" authorities "should look," Hollywood lawyer Mark Geragos said on Larry King Live. He added that the Carradine clan refuses to believe the actor died in a sex stunt gone wrong, the New York Post reports. More»

(NEWSER) - David Carradine was “an actor's actor,” Brian Warmoth writes on MTV.com, “a performer who left an indelible mark on everything he did with adeptly conceived roles in even the campiest environments.” Though best known for his '70s role on the TV show Kung Fu and his resurgence in the Kill Bill movies, Carradine has more to recommend him. And, Warmoth writes, he never became “a parody of himself.” More»

Recalling Tiananmen 20 years later

(NEWSER) - The Tiananmen Square massacre isn’t something the Chinese government wants the world to remember, and it's doing a good job keeping the matter quiet, writes Terrence Cheng in the Chronicle of Higher Education. In China, “those who dare to speak about it are swiftly silenced,” he writes. “The fading concern over Tiananmen, in China and around the world, has devolved into indifference in the face of economic and other priorities.” More»