The Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in San Francisco has written an official letter addressed to members of the city council of Seattle, Washington, dismissing a performance of a Falun Gong-related dance group and asking him not to attend, nor to congratulate the group. 
Cisco, the maker of Internet routing gear, customized its technology to help China track members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement, according to a federal lawsuit filed last week by members of the movement. A Falun Gong-linked group that promotes internet freedom says the US state department has offered it $1.5m, in a move condemned by Chinese officials. China on Thursday lashed out at a US House of Representatives resolution that urged Beijing to end its “persecution” of Falun Gong — a religious movement China has outlawed as a religious cult. An Argentine judge has ordered the arrest of China’s former President Jiang Zemin and another top official for “crimes against humanity” in the alleged persecution of the Falun Gong spiritual movement. 
The RNB Religion News Roundup for Friday, Apr. 24, 2009 includes items about Scientology, Aum Shinrikyo, Korean cult leader Jeong Myeong-Seok, the continuing popularity of Aum Shrinrikyo’s jailed cult leader, and China’s on-going ban on Falun Gong. A follower of the Falun Gong religious group and a failed asylum seeker did not have his human rights breached when Russian authorities deported him to China, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Thursday. Members of the Falun Gong sect protested outside the congress of the International Congress of the Transplantation Society.