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I know the on-again off-again nature of SteynOnline in recent months has sorely tried readers’ patience. Rather boringly, I have some health issues that demand somewhat more attention than I’ve been able to give them. So rather than keep driving you nuts by showing signs of life on the home page for a day or two and then lapsing back into sleep mode for a week, we’re going to close up shop for a while.

/begin my translationA Series of Top Officials in Tibet Struck down by Altitude Sickness, Returning to Beijing [Yonhap News 2005-10-03 14:46] (Hong Kong) By Chung Juho -- Top Han Chinese officials in Tibet were struck down by its local endemic, and being sent back to Beijing. Yang Chuan-tang, the Party Secretary of Tibet Autonomous District, went into a coma due to heart and brain blood vessel illness, and was shipped back to Beijing in an emergency airlift, according to Oct. 3rd edition of Hong Kong's Ming-bao. Overworked Secretary Yang collapsed in Oct. 1 while preparing for the 40th Anniversary of Tibet Autonomous...

Tuesday July 19, 4:43 PM Angry farmers force closure of China plantBEIJING, July 19 (Reuters) - Chinese farmers have attacked a pharmaceutical plant and forced it to close, angered that its chemical waste was ruining their village's crops, polluting its river and harming their health, the factory and officials said. The Jingxin Pharmaceutical Company in Xinchang county in the eastern province of Zhejiang has been closed since July 4 when a group of villagers stormed it, a company statement said, giving no details of how many were involved in the siege. But a posting on a stock exchange online message...