Antoaneta Bezlova writes that there is open discussion of eliminating the death penalty in China. Hard to believe. As hard to believe as this report about reforming the Chinese government. What next? (both via rice cooker).

Update
The 2nd item is from the Financial Times via Transparency International. According to Shenzhen's mayor, China's top leaders have ordered political reforms to be tested in Shenzhen, including, circumscribing the powers of the Communist Party, which is currently above the law. "The plan seeks to separate the powers of the party, the government and the people's congress (legislature) - a conscious imitation of the separation of judiciary, executive and legislative functions that underpins Western democracies".
I'm bowled over.
According to the mayor, "The party's role is to be restricted to "drawing up the overall economic development strategy for an area and for setting some other important policies", but the party will be forbidden from "going over the heads of the government to get involved in the (executive) work of the government". The article goes on, "The responsibilities of each branch of power are to be spelt out clearly and published so that the public can complain if the guidelines are not being followed. Already in Shenzhen, people can complain to a local agency if officials fail to comply with strict published guidelines on how they should do their work."
Why the interest in reform? "The motivation behind the political reform programme has been China's accession to the World Trade Organisation in late 2001 and the need to please multinational investors who increasingly insist upon a transparent, law-based environment".
So letting China into the WTO was the right thing to do!