News – July 28, 1999 – BBC World Service Newsdesk – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
July 28, 1999 – News for this day was about the goings on in China. The Communist government crackdown on the religious sect Falun Gong, whose peaceful and free-thinking beliefs were running afoul of the Chinese Government.
Falun Gong is a modern qigong discipline combining slow-moving exercises and meditation with a moral philosophy. It was founded by Li Hongzhi, who introduced it to the public in May 1992 in Changchun, Jilin. Following a period of rapid growth in the 1990s, the CCP launched a campaign to “eradicate” Falun Gong on 20 July 1999. An extra-constitutional body called the 6-10 Office was created to lead the persecution of Falun Gong. The authorities mobilized the state media apparatus, judiciary, police, army, the education system, families and workplaces against the group. The campaign was driven by large-scale propaganda through television, newspaper, radio and the Internet. There are reports of systematic torture, illegal imprisonment, forced labor, organ harvesting and abusive psychiatric measures, with the apparent aim of forcing practitioners to recant their belief in Falun Gong.
Meanwhile, the EU Commission gathered in Geneva to approve an aid package worth $98 million for refugees returning to Kosovo after the crisis. The funds would be used to purchase construction materials and other assistance. The ministers denounced ethnic violence and also called on the Kosovo Serbs not to leave the region.
And The Taliban were launching a major offensive against the opposition alliance on three fronts north of the capital.
Both sides confirmed the attacks. Each recently had accused the other of gearing up for an all-out assault, and fighting intensified since two days of peace talks in Uzbekistan the previous week failed to yield a cease-fire agreement.The Taliban, which controled almost 90 percent of Afghanistan, including the capital, Kabul, were fighting to extend their strict Islamic rule over the entire country.
And that’s a small chunk of news for this July 28, 1999 as presented by The BBC World Service Program, Newsdesk.
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