Hao Hao ReportThe best China news and blog posts

Nur Bekri, chairman of the Xinjiang regional government, angrily told scrumming reporters in Beijing today that he found it "completely unbelievable" that foreign media were linking an alleged terror plot avoided by China last week with "some other incidents" (probably referring to Tibet and Darfur).

This week, Xinjiang’s Olympic athletes began their final winter training session, the number four was banished from future Urumqi license plates, a medical specialist blew the whistle on lead poisoning problems among Xinjiang children, Urumqi triggered its level “blue” early warning pollution alarm for the first time, the Xinjiang PSB went to the other end of China to bust a drug smuggling ring, and more, at the New Dominion.

According to The New Dominion and Liuzhou Laowai, China Mobile is sending out an SMS message to mobile customers warning them that some murderous AIDS infected Xinjiang ren are tainting their delicious lamb skewers with blood, all in a plot to kill off poor folk who can't afford real food. Devious.

The Chinese government is linking a January raid on Xinjiang militants to the possibility of an Olympic-related terrorist attack.

This week, Xinjiang saw more and more national park action, continuing victories for the Flying Tigers, a great outpouring of charity for Xinjiang’s first “Donation Month,” a new bus route to Mongolia, among other things. Check out the past week's Xinjiang events at the New Dominion.

This week in Xinjiang, global warming was given a silver lining, the XPCC strengthened its presence in Northern Xinjiang, a model Uyghur policeman was selected as a finalist for Olympic torchbearer, TVs were distributed to rural households by the Ministry of Propaganda over New Year’s, flights between Urumqi and Dushanbe were regularized, and more.

Riding on the coattails of the Tibet riots a few weeks ago, Xinjiang is now hitting international news outlets because of protests in Khotan. The New Dominion looks at the flawed perspective the media provides when it elects to analyze Xinjiang through the Tibet lens, by considering historical, cultural, and geographical factors.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have detained 45 East Turkestan "terrorist" suspects, and foiled plots to carry out suicide bomb attacks and kidnap athletes to disrupt the Beijing Olympics, a police spokesman said on Thursday.

Uighur militants have been agitating to establish an independent East Turkestan in China's predominantly Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang bordering Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia.

The New Dominion presents a weekly roundup of recent events in Xinjiang, including four television-worthy crimes, the defeat of a 50-year old coal mine fire, the passing of an old Xinjiang hand, the demise of both confusing toilet signs and the iconic outdoor kebab sellers in Urumqi, mysterious meteorological espionage by Japanese and Americans, and more.