Petar Kujundzic / Reuters

Liu Xia, wife of jailed Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo, looks out of a car window after a trial outside a court in the Huairou district of Beijing on Sunday. The court sentenced Liu Hui, brother-in-law of Liu Xiaobo, to 11 years in prison on charges of fraud in a case that rights activists have called another example of official retribution on the Liu family.

HUAIROU, China -- A Chinese court on Sunday sentenced the brother-in-law of jailed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in prison on charges of fraud in a case that rights activists have called another example of official retribution on the Liu family.

Supporters of Liu Hui say his case was trumped up, aimed at thwarting the increasing attention by the rights community on the plight of Liu Xia, who has remained under effective house arrest since her husband Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Prize in 2010.

The court in Huairou, a one-hour drive northeast of Beijing, convicted Liu Hui, a manager in a real estate company in the southern city of Shenzhen, on charges of defrauding a man named Zhang Bing of $490,000 with another colleague, lawyer Mo Shaoping told reporters.

"As Liu Hui's defense attorney, I definitely do not approve of this verdict, because we see this fundamentally as a civil issue, and it fundamentally does not constitute criminal fraud. Also, there is not sufficient evidence," Mo said.

Liu Hui has maintained his innocence, according to his lawyers.

In a rare statement to media, a weeping Liu Xia told reporters from the front passenger seat of her car as she drove away from the courthouse that she was extremely angry with the verdict and vowed to launch an appeal.

"I absolutely cannot accept this. This is simply persecution," she said. "This is completely an illegal verdict."

Liu Xia said she had "completely lost hope" in the government.

"I can't even leave my house."

After about two minutes, security forced journalists away from the car, which moved off.

Liu Hui was out on bail last September, but then arrested again in January, after several rights activists and foreign reporters forced their way past security guards late last year to visit Liu Xia, one of his other lawyers, Shang Baojun, told Reuters before the verdict.

Raphael Droszewski, a first secretary at the European Union Delegation to China, told reporters outside the courthouse that the EU was deeply concerned by Liu Hui's sentence. He called for Liu Xiaobo's release and the ending of restrictions on Liu Xia.

"As it is clear Liu Xia is under house arrest, the EU urges the Chinese authorities to end all forms of extra legal restriction on her," he said.

The ruling is seen as a setback for hopes for political reform from new Chinese President Xi Jinping, whose government has detained anti-corruption activists and tightened free expression on the Internet following his appointment in March.

"Everything related to the Liu Xiaobo case previously could have been seen as the legacy of the previous leadership," said Nicholas Bequelin, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group.

"But with this sentence the new leadership buys into this suppression and persecution of the family. It deems the prospect unlikely that the government is amenable to the release of Liu Xiaobo, or will make any concessions on the case."

The case will also renew international criticism of the plight of Liu Xiaobo's family.

The verdict was handed down within hours of Xi and U.S. President Barack Obama completing an informal summit in California. U.S. and European diplomats were present outside the courthouse in Huairou, a one-hour drive northeast of Beijing.

Speaking in California after the summit, China's top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi defended the country's achievements in human rights as "there for all to see".

"With China's economic and social development, human rights causes in China will enjoy even greater progress in the future," Yang told reporters, though he did not refer directly to the Liu Hui trial.

Liu Xiaobo, a veteran dissident involved in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests crushed by the Chinese army, was jailed for 11 years in 2009 on subversion charges for organizing a petition urging the overthrow of one-party rule.

His wife Liu Xia is rarely allowed out and is almost never allowed to receive visitors. She has not been convicted of any crime.

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Eugene Hoshiko / AP

Chinese-born U.S. scientist Hu Zhicheng stands at the waterfront promenade along the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China. He was jailed for 17 months and then barred from leaving the country for another three years after a business rival accused him of stealing trade secrets.

When he was finally able to leave China after being kept there for nearly five years over a dispute with a business rival, Chinese-American scientist Hu Zhicheng got out so fast that his wife didn't have time to meet him at the airport.

Hu, an internationally known expert on catalytic converters, had gone to court several times over the years to try to get permission to leave the country and return to his Southern California home. His wife, Hong Li, meanwhile, had steadfastly lobbied U.S. officials for help.

When word that Hu had finally been released came Monday, however, it was not from any official from either government. It came from a relative in China who told Li he was on a plane headed for home. When she got to Los Angeles International Airport, he was nowhere to be found. He'd already gotten off the plane and gotten a cab.

"I got a call from my son, 'Dad's home! Dad's home!'" Li said Tuesday, recounting the family reunion.

Her husband's return ended a long, emotionally torturous separation that began when the naturalized U.S. citizen was arrested in his native country shortly before Thanksgiving 2008 and jailed for 17 months. A business rival had accused him of stealing trade secrets.

Cleared of wrongdoing by a police investigation, he was freed in 2010 and quickly headed to the airport, planning to return home. He was turned away, told that he had been placed under a border hold after his business rival sued him for damages in civil court.

For the next three years he would be free to travel anywhere in China, but not to leave the country.

He was finally allowed to go home just ahead of a summit between President Barack Obama and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, but Li told The Associated Press on Tuesday she didn't know if that played any part in her husband's release.

"We have seen the press reports, and are pleased that Dr. Hu is home with his family," was all the State Department said in a statement.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman defended the travel restrictions that had kept Hu from leaving China, saying the measures were lawful, and though he had been allowed to go, the case against him was not resolved.

"The restrictions have been lifted. The relevant case is still being handled," the spokesman, Hong Lei, said at a daily media briefing in Beijing.

A spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in China had no immediate comment, and Li herself was reluctant to say too much during a phone interview Tuesday night.

"He came home last night. Thank you for all your help!!!!!," she had simply stated in an email to the AP announcing his return earlier Tuesday.

She didn't know if the civil suit had been resolved, she said during the later phone interview. She added that her husband wasn't ready to discuss his ordeal or his return.

"We need time together," she said of the family. "We haven't had time to recover physically and emotionally yet."

Asked if she thought her husband might ever return to China again, she did manage to laugh.

"No, I don't think so. I doubt it," she said.

Until Monday, Hu's high school-aged son, Richard, hadn't seen his father since he was 13. His college-age daughter, Victoria, was 16 when he was arrested, although she managed to visit him briefly in China in 2010 after he was released from jail.

An international authority on the development of catalytic converters used to limit pollution in automobiles, Hu holds a doctorate in engineering and more than 50 patents. He has performed research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked for international companies.

He returned to China in 2004 after years in the U.S., hoping to get in on the ground floor building cleaner-running automobiles just as smog-choked China's economy was booming.

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BEIJING – Dr. Jiang Rongmeng had no sooner walked out of the hospital door when he was mobbed by journalists. Camera crews jostled for position and microphones jousted in front of his face as he was bombarded with demands for information about the latest case of bird flu.

In Hong Kong or Taiwan this wouldn't be an unusual sight, but in Beijing it's rarer to see such raw displays of journalistic pushiness.

Rongmeng is Dr. Bird Flu -- he is the chief physician at the Center for Infectious Diseases at Beijing's Ditan Hospital. Since the weekend, when the capital announced its first case of the deadly new H7N9 virus -- the victim is a 7-year-old girl -- he's been a man in demand.

On Monday a 4-year-old boy was found to be carrying the virus -- though without symptoms, a discovery that has further puzzled experts. In both cases the parents were live poultry traders.

The girl was well enough Tuesday to leave intensive care; the boy remains in quarantine.

When asked if he expected more cases, Ronmeng said: "It is possible. It's certainly possible."

As the figures have ballooned -- 63 cases now with 14 deaths since March -- and spread from the eastern provinces, the authorities seem to have concluded after initial hesitation that openness is the best strategy.

It appears they have learned from the deadly SARS pandemic that struck 10 years ago. It started in China before spreading worldwide, killing hundreds, and was made worse by a government cover-up.

The World Health Organization has even praised the authorities for their new openness.

To some extent, though, they are bowing to the inevitable: H7N9 is the first such outbreak in the era of social media. Information is tougher to control, and when it's restricted, rumor can run rife.

One local newspaper reported that 13 people have been arrested for spreading rumors about the disease on social media.

But not everybody is convinced. At the Ditan Hospital, Yang Shengli scoffed at the suggestion of government openness.

"It's hard to say if the government really is telling the truth," she said, as she brought in her feverish 16-year-old daughter for tests. Thankfully it wasn't bird flu.

In Beijing the response to the first case, the 7-year-old girl, seems to have been quick and efficient. Her parents had reportedly bought their chickens in the east, in Tianjin, and some of those chickens were sold to the neighbor of the 4-year-old boy hospitalized Tuesday.

Health authorities quickly followed the chicken trail, and when NBC arrived in the boy's village on the outskirts of Beijing Monday, loudspeakers were calling on anybody to come forward if they had bought chickens from the neighbor or the boy's parents.

Officials in white coats and masks were disinfecting the streets and roadblocks had been set up in and out of the village. Cars were searched, and even frozen poultry was confiscated.

So far there is no evidence that the H7N9 virus spreads from human to human, although there is one ambiguous case of a husband and wife in Shanghai that is causing concern.

One big challenge for the authorities is that chickens carrying the virus do not appear to show any signs of sickness. And the symptomless 4-year-old is also creating more uncertainty.

But there are no signs of panic -- only worry, with sales of chicken pretty much drying up and neighboring countries on alert.

"We absolutely should not be panicking," said Dr. Tristan Evely, medical director of the International SOS China, a Beijing clinic. "But high vigilance and monitoring of the situation is absolutely crucial at this point of time."

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New H7N9 bird flu has officials worried about skimpy resources

This story was originally published on Tue Apr 16, 2013 11:05 AM EDT

BEIJING -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met China's top leaders on Saturday in a bid to persuade them to exert pressure on North Korea to scale back its belligerent rhetoric and, eventually, return to nuclear talks.

Traveling to Beijing for the first time as secretary of state, Kerry made no secret of his desire to see China take a more activist stance toward North Korea, which in recent weeks has threatened nuclear war against the United States and South Korea.

As the North's main trading partner, financial backer and the closest thing it has to a diplomatic ally, China has a unique ability to use its leverage against the impoverished, isolated state, Kerry said in the South Korean capital, Seoul, on Friday before leaving for Beijing.

"Mr. President, this is obviously a critical time with some very challenging issues -- issues on the Korean Peninsula, the challenge of Iran and nuclear weapons, Syria and the Middle East, and economies around the world that are in need of a boost," Kerry told Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People.

Kerry said after the meeting that his talks with Xi were "constructive and forward-leaning", though he did not elaborate.

China had a testy relationship with Kerry's predecessor, Hillary Clinton, believing her to be too abrasive in their disagreements over everything from human rights to territorial disputes like the South China Sea.

"Clinton added fuel to the mistrust during her four-year term. We hope Kerry can pull it in the other direction," China's widely read and influential Global Times tabloid said in an editorial.

Kerry's visit to Asia, which will include a stop in Tokyo on Sunday, takes place after weeks of shrill North Korean threats of war since the imposition of new U.N. sanctions in response to its third nuclear test in February.

North Korea has repeatedly said it will not abandon nuclear weapons which it said on Friday were its "treasured" guarantor of security.

No sign of imminent missile launch
North Korean television on Saturday made no mention of Kerry's visit and devoted most of its reports to preparations for Monday's celebrations marking the birth date of state founder Kim Il-Sung.

These included a numerous floral tributes and grandiose flower show, foreign visitors seeing the sights of the capital ahead of the festivities and the unveiling of a monument in a provincial town.

But Rodong Sinmun, the ruling Workers' Party's newspaper, issued a fresh denunciation of joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, saying: "The outbreak of nuclear war has now become a fait accompli, owing to the U.S. and the South Korean puppet forces.

"If the enemies dare provoke (North Korea) while going reckless, it will immediately blow them up with an annihilating strike with the use of powerful nuclear means."

However, South Korea's Yonhap news agency, quoting a government source, said North Korea had not moved any of its mobile missile launchers for the past two days after media reports that as many as five missiles had been moved into place on the country's east coast.

Yonhap said there had been no signs of any movement by the mobile launchers since Thursday "or that missile launches are imminent".

U.S. 'fanning the flames'?
Beijing has been reluctant to apply pressure on Pyongyang, fearing the instability that could result if the North were to implode and send floods of refugees into China, and has looked askance at U.S. military drills in South Korea.

China's official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary that Washington had itself been "fanning the flames" on the Korean peninsula with its shows of force.

"It keeps sending more fighters, bombers and missile-defense ships to the waters of East Asia and carrying out massive military drills with Asian allies in a dramatic display of preemptive power," it said.

However, U.S. officials believe China's rhetoric on North Korea has begun to shift, pointing to a recent speech by China's Xi in which -- without referring explicitly to Pyongyang -- he said no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain".

Kerry told reporters in Seoul that if North Korea's 30-year-old leader went ahead with the launch of a medium-range missile, he would be making "a huge mistake."

At a news conference in Seoul on Friday and in a U.S.-South Korean joint statement issued on Saturday, Kerry signaled the U.S. preference for diplomacy to end the tension, but stressed North Korea must take "meaningful" steps on denuclearization.

The United States and its allies believe the North violated the a 2005 aid-for-denuclearization deal by conducting a nuclear test in 2006 and pursuing a uranium enrichment program that would give it a second path to a nuclear weapon in addition to its plutonium-based program.

Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

David Guttenfelder / AP

As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

Launch slideshow

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan raised its nuclear ante Wednesday by saying it had conducted a successful test of an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead almost 600 miles, far enough to strike deep within India, its nuclear-armed neighbor.

The Shaheen-1 missile struck its intended target at sea, according to a statement from the Pakistani military.

The missile incorporates a series of technical improvements and has a longer range than its predecessors, the statement said.

Pakistan has an arsenal of at least 90 nuclear warheads and has been quickly increasing the range of its missiles, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service. 

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists says Pakistan has the world's fastest-growing nuclear stockpile.

Meanwhile, India has an estimated 100 nuclear weapons, according to the Arms Control Association, and tensions between the next-door neighbors, which have historically been high, have risen lately with a conflict over the disputed Kashmir territory.

In August 2012, Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna hinted at Pakistan when he mentioned “rampant proliferation in our extended neighborhood” during a speech in New Delhi.

Slideshow: Pakistan: A nation in turmoil

Str / AFP - Getty Images

Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.

Launch slideshow

“Nuclear weapons today are an integral part of our national security and will remain so,” Krishna said.

Pakistan, whose foreign ministry has said the country "is mindful of the need to avoid an arms race with India,” said Wednesday that the Shaheen-1 can accurately hit a target up to 560 miles away, compared with 430 miles for the previous version.

Senior military officers, along with scientists and engineers from the National Engineering and Scientific Commission, watched the launch, the government said.

Among those on hand was retired Lt. Gen. Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, director general of the country’s Strategic Plans Division, who was quoted by the government as saying the new version of the missile had “consolidated and strengthened Pakistan’s deterrence abilities manifold.”

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Jon Chol Jin / AP

University students punch the air as they march through Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, on March 29, 2013.

Jon Chol Jin / AP

Tens of thousands of North Koreans turned out for a mass rally at the main square in Pyongyang on Friday in support of their leader Kim Jong Un's call to arms.

Placards read "Let's crush the puppet traitor group" and "Let's rip the puppet traitors to death!", The Associated Press reported.

Earlier on Friday, the isolated communist state put its rocket units on standby to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, Reuters reported, after two nuclear-capable stealth bombers flew from Missouri to drop inert munitions on a range in South Korea as part of a major military exercise.

KCNA via EPA

A picture released by the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows Kim Jong Un convening an urgent operation meeting at 0:30 am on March 29, 2013 at an undisclosed location, in which he ordered strategic rocket forces to be on standby to strike US and South Korean targets at any time.

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Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

David Guttenfelder / AP

As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

Launch slideshow

Google via AP

A screenshot made from the Google Maps website shows stranded ships left as a testament to the power of the tsunami which hit the area, near a road in Namie, Japan.

Google via AP

A crushed building in Namie, a nuclear no-go zone where former residents have been unable to live since they fled from radioactive contamination near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant two years ago.

Google via AP

Google's camera-equipped vehicle moves through Namie in a photo released on March 27, 2013 and taken earlier in the month.

Crumpled homes, abandoned shops, empty streets. The town of Namie has lain virtually untouched since its residents were evacuated two years ago, following the accident at the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant.

On Wednesday they were able to see their town again thanks to Google, which began offering glimpses of Namie on its Street View service. The town's mayor, Tamotsu Baba, invited Google to document the current state of Namie after receiving numerous requests from constituents who wanted a reminder of their home town.

Although some restrictions on entering the town have been lifted, Namie's 21,000 former residents have not yet been allowed to return to live there due to the still-high levels of radiation.

In a message posted on the Google website, the mayor said he hoped that sharing the images with the rest of the world would serve as a reminder of the consequences of a nuclear accident.

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Google via AP

Google via AP

KCNA via Reuters

Kim Jong Un looks at the latest combat and technical equipment made by unit 1501 of the Korean People's Army, during his visit to the unit on March 24, 2013.

KCNA via Reuters

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un got some hands-on experience of his military's latest high-tech equipment during a visit to a Korean People's Army unit on Sunday.

Kim, the third of his line to rule North Korea, also praised musical instruments made by the North's 1.2 million-strong army, state news agency KCNA reported.

Meanwhile, South Korean security experts say the North has been training a team of computer-savvy "cyber warriors" as cyberspace becomes a fertile battleground in the nations' rivalry. 

-- Reuters, The Associated Press

Slideshow: Glimpse into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

Slideshow: North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un

KCNA via Reuters

Kim Jong Un holds a gun as he inspects the second battalion under the Korean People's Army Unit 1973, honored with the title of "O Jung Hup-led 7th Regiment", on March 23, 2013.

Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters

Firemen attempt to extinguish fires during riots in Meikhtila, Myanmar, on March 22, 2013. Unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in central Myanmar has reduced neighborhoods to ashes and stoked fears that last year's sectarian bloodshed is spreading into the country's heartland in a test of Asia's newest democracy.

Nyein Chan Naing / EPA

A riot policeman stands guard next to a burning building in Meikhtila on March 22, 2013. A curfew was imposed for the second night as riots between Buddhists and Muslims continued.

By The Associated Press

MEIKHTILA, Myanmar — Myanmar President Thein Sein has declared a state of emergency in a central town where at least 20 people have been killed in violence between Buddhists and Muslims.

Burning fires from two days of Buddhist-Muslim violence smoldered across Meikhtila on Friday as residents cowered indoors amid growing fears the country's latest bout of sectarian bloodshed could spread.

The government's struggle to contain the unrest is proving another major challenge to Thein Sein's reformist administration as it attempts to chart a path to democracy after nearly half a century of military rule that once crushed all dissent. Read the full story.

Nyein Chan Naing / EPA

People carry their belongings as they arrive at a temporary rescue center in Meikhtila on March 22, 2013.

Soe Than Win / AFP - Getty Images

Residents sit on a railway track watching buildings burn around a mosque in riot-hit Meikhtila on March 21, 2013.

Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters

Burnt houses are seen in Meikhtila on March 21, 2013.

Franck Robichon / EPA

Wearing white protective masks and suits, Yuzo Mihara, left, and his wife Yuko pose for photographs on a deserted street in the town of Namie, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, on Feb. 22, 2013.

Franck Robichon / EPA

A single house remains standing in an area wiped out by the tsunami near Ukedo port in the town of Namie.

Until two years ago, Yuzo Mihara and his wife Yuko lived quietly in the Japanese town of Namie. Yuzo ran a store and Yuko a beauty salon. But their lives were upended on March 11, 2011, when an earthquake and tsunami crippled the nearby Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. 

Yuzo and Yuko are now among over 100,000 Japanese 'nuclear refugees', having had to abandon their home when the town was evacuated due to the nuclear alert.

European PressPhoto Agency photographer Franck Robichon followed the couple as they made a brief visit to their old home last month. They were able to collect a few belongings and clean the house, which had been invaded by mice.

Franck Robichon / EPA

Yuko Mihara enters her house, where the floor is littered with books and furniture.

Franck Robichon / EPA

Yuko Mihara offers prayers to her ancestors in front of a family Buddhist altar inside her house.

Franck Robichon / EPA

Yuko Mihara cleans her kitchen, which is covered with debris and putrefied food.

Franck Robichon / EPA

Yuzo Mihara cleans the couple's house, which has been invaded by mice.

Located within the 20-kilometer exclusion zone, Namie saw its coastal area wiped out by the tsunami and its inland zone contaminated by radiation. Most of the town's 21,000 former residents still hope to make a permanent move back in the future, but for now they are only allowed to return for a few hours to minimize their exposure to radiation.

Wearing white protective masks and suits, former Namie residents have to drive through Okuma and Futaba, towns where the radiation levels are so high that a future return is inconceivable. 

Most of the former residents of the exclusion zone are still waiting for proper compensation to be negotiated with the government and TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima plant. Two years have passed since the disaster and frustration is gaining ground in the community. Cloistered in cramped temporary accommodation, the evacuees face an uncertain future. The stigma of being seen as 'assisted persons' by the wider community only adds to their despair.

Franck Robichon / EPA

Yuzo Mihara carries garbage out of his house.

Franck Robichon / EPA

Yuzo Mihara looks at a collapsed house in his neighborhood.

Franck Robichon / EPA

A destroyed house in the abandoned town of Namie.

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Fukushima: Before, during and after

Inside the Fukushima exclusion zone

Slideshow: Triple tragedy for Japan