The Beijing News
April 8, 2009

The most interesting story in today's Beijing News is an op-ed on page two about Sun Dongdong, a professor at Peking University's law school.

The professor has recently caused a controversy when he said that "at least 99% of frequent petitioners have mental problems, they all have paranoid mental disorders" in an interview with China Newsweek.

Despite that Sun's apologies for his "inappropriate" statements and his insistence that he had no intention to discriminate against petitioners, The Beijing News op-ed cited a recent Internet survey in which 90% of respondents still believed that Sun's views were discriminative against petitioners.

In related news, the website of Hong Kong newspaper Singtao Daily reported that petitioners yesterday gathered outside the west gate of Peking University, demanding that Sun come out and explain himself.

• In a story on the front page, a batch of baby talcum powder made by NUK, a German company, has recently been pulled from the shelves after it tested positive for asbestos, a carcinogenic chemical.

Today's Beijing News and a couple of other newspapers reported that NUK's Chinese representative has ordered a recall and promised a "full refund to their customers unconditionally".

• The big photo on the front page shows a railway accident: a train en route to Beijing from Hancheng, Shaanxi Province derailed in Hebei Province yesterday. There have been no reports of casualties.