Chinese writer Yu Jie describes 'inhumane treatment'
Chinese writer Yu Jie is now in self-imposed exile in the US with his family
A prominent Chinese writer close to Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo has described "inhumane treatment" that forced him to leave.
Speaking in Washington, Yu Jie said he was harassed by police, then abducted and severely beaten. Mr Yu, 38, wrote "China's Best Actor: Wen Jiabao", a controversial book that scrutinised the premier. The book was banned in mainland China.
Mr Yu arrived in the US on 11 January to live with his wife and son.
On Wednesday he appeared at a press conference and also released a statement - published on the rights group Human Rights in China website - describing persecution at the hands of state police.
He said that after Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "illegal house arrests, torture, surveillance and tracking, and being taken on 'trips' became part of my daily life".
Mr Liu is currently serving an 11-year jail term in China for inciting subversion.
'Traitor to the state' Mr Yu said he was picked up by plainclothes officers on 9 December 2010, the day before the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, hooded and and taken to an undisclosed location.
There he said he was stripped of his clothes, beaten for hours and told that his naked photos would be posted online. He said he also suffered cigarette burns.
"They verbally abused me non-stop with vulgar language, calling me a traitor to the state and to the Chinese people, and trash," he wrote in the statement.
He was eventually taken to hospital for treatment and released on 13 December.
After that, he said he was frequently placed under house arrest and his movements were curtailed.
"After over a year of inhumane treatment and painful struggle, I had no choice but to leave China," he said.
Mr Yu now plans to publish a biography of Mr Liu authorised by his wife, as well as a new book on Chinese President Hu Jintao.
On Monday US Ambassador to China Gary Locke said that human rights in China had deteriorated since 2008 - comments rejected by a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman.
"As to some people who have been punished by law, it is not because China is repressing freedom of expression or freedom of religion, it is because they reached the bottom line of China's law and violated China's laws and, naturally, they should be punished," Liu Weimin said on Tuesday.
Online articles Meanwhile, another writer and activist has been sentenced in China for "subversion of state power", according to media reports.
The Wuhan Intermediate People's Court in Wuhan, central China, sentenced Li Tei to 10 years on Tuesday, making him the third dissident to be jailed in less than a month.
Mr Li, 52, was punished for writing online articles encouraging people to defend their rights, an unidentified relative of his told Reuters news agency.
The court did not issue a comment when contacted by media about the case.
"Li Tei says he wants to appeal, so we are looking for a new lawyer to help us," a relative was quoted as saying.
Kodak files for bankruptcy protection
Despite efforts to refocus the business, Kodak has failed to stem declining profitability
Eastman Kodak, the company that invented the hand-held camera, has filed for bankruptcy protection.
Kodak said in a statement that its business would keep going as normal for customers.The company has recently moved away from cameras to refocus on making printers in an attempt to stem falling profits.
The 132-year-old firm has struggled to keep up with competitors who were quicker to adapt to the digital era.
Announcing the move to seek bankruptcy protection, Antonio M. Perez, Kodak's chairman and chief executive, said: "The board of directors and the entire senior management team unanimously believe that this is a necessary step and the right thing to do for the future of Kodak."
The company said it had already arranged a $950m (£615m) credit facility from Citigroup.
Transformation Since becoming chief executive, Mr Perez has been responsible for steering Kodak away from its traditional market in cameras to focus on home and commercial printers.
However, the firm has failed to stop its plunging profitability.
The move to seek bankruptcy protection comes after Kodak failed to sell its catalogue of digital imaging patents last year. At the time, Kodak warned that it would run out of cash if it did not find a buyer by the end of 2011.
"Now we must complete the transformation by further addressing our cost structure and effectively monetising non-core IP assets," said Mr Perez on Thursday.
Kodak employs 19,000 workers whose jobs may be affected by the bankruptcy proceedings.
In its 1980s heyday the company employed 145,000 people in locations throughout the world.
Reorganisation Over the past few months, several directors have resigned from the board and at the start of 2012 Kodak announced that it was reorganising its business units into two rather than three, renaming them consumer and commercial.
The firm said at the time that it was pinning its hopes on its printer, software and packaging businesses with the aim of growing them to account for 25% of its income by 2013.
Although Kodak was one of the original inventors of digital photography, it failed to keep pace with developments in the market, and competition from the far east steadily eroded its share of the market.
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