CHINA: Appreciating the people's currency

The Chinese yuan has gone from being controversially weak to uncomfortably strong

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HONG KONG: Clock ticking for Snowden

The clock is ticking for Edward Snowden, the man who leaked details of secret U.S. surveillance programs. As FBI agents gather evidence against him, Snowden is hiding out in Hong Kong on a temporary visa.

JAPAN: June blooms decorate Japan

While the ongoing rainy season means staying indoors to some people, for others, it is a chance to get out and enjoy the beautiful tapestry ...

China, Vietnam Talk Amid South China Sea Tensions

Vietnam’s president was being feted by China’s leaders on a visit through Friday as Beijing continues to shun another rival for South China Sea territory that has challenged its claims on legal grounds, the Philippines.

President Truong Tan Sang is on a three-day visit to boost economic ties with China, Vietnam’s communist ally and biggest trading partner. How to manage their disputed territorial sea claims — which last month led to a damaged fishing boat and allegations of a crew’s lives being put at risk — is also on the agenda.

Read Full Article HERE

NORTH KOREA talks follow well-worn path

North Korea's bipolar swings between nuclear provocation and fawning overtures for talks now form part of a familiar pattern.

Obama calls for reducing nuclear stockpiles

Obama calls for reducing nuclear stockpiles: President Barack Obama followed in the footsteps of past U.S. leaders with a speech Wednesday at Berlin's iconic Brandenburg Gate, where he said he would ask Russia to join the United States in slashing its supply of strategic nuclear warheads.

SINGAPORE Fires shroud Singapore in haze

Singapore was shrouded in haze on Wednesday as smoke from forest fires in nearby Sumatra drifted across the Malacca Strait in the city's worst pollution crisis in more than a decade.

CHINA: The size of it

How the world's population has changed

THE world in 1950 looked very different from how it does now. Europe was home to 22% of the world's 2.3 billion people. Germany, Britain, Italy and France all counted among the 12 most populous countries. But strong economic growth in Asia coupled with high fertility rates in Africa have caused a big regional shift in the global population. The UN's latest World Population Prospects expects the world to grow from 7.2 billion people today to 9.6 billion in 2050. This is 300m more than it had previously estimated, and reflects increases to the fertility rates in sub-Saharan countries such as Nigeria and Ethiopia, and other populous countries. More than half of the extra 2.4 billion people in 2050 will be African. India will swell to 1.6 billion people; it is on track to overtake China in 2028. China's population will peak in 2030; India's is predicted to do so around 2063. By 2100 the UN forecasts the population to reach 10.9 billion—and still be rising. It will also be much older. The median age is forecast to rise to 41 years old from 26 today, and around 28% of the world (almost 3 billion people) will be over 60.

North Korea says South's 'sinister' moves caused talks collapse

 SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea blamed the South on Thursday for scuttling fresh dialogue that aimed to ease tensions between the rival Koreas, saying Seoul deliberately torpedoed reconciliation talks planned for this week.

PRINCESS CRUISES: Pregnant Catherine launches ship

Sporting a growing "baby bump," Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, named a cruise ship on England's south coast Thursday, in what is expected to be her last solo public engagement before her child is due next month.

RUSSIA passes anti-gay bill in 436-0 vote

Russa's 'gay pride fines' impose hefty fines for providing information about the LGBT community to minors or holding gay pride rallies. Individuals will be fined up to 5,000 rubles ($156) and 1 million rubles ($31,000) for a company, including media organizations. Foreign citizens arrested under the new law can be deported or jailed for up to 15 days and then deported.

JAPANESE teens are spreading pink eye by licking each other's eyeballs

  It was with no small amount of trepidation that I approached this story about an alleged craze among Japanese teens of licking each other's eyeballs. On the one hand, this is the kind of insane, WTF news that blogs are built upon. On the other, it has to be fake right? Right?! [ more › ]

TAIWAN’s New Rocket Launchers?

Taiwan has deployed a powerful multiple rocket launcher (MRL) on the outlying island of Matsu capable of hitting targets in China’s Fujian Province, reports are saying, less than two months after the launcher was made the centerpiece of the annual Han Kuang military exercises.

Located less than 1 km from the coast of Fujian, the Matsu group of islets — there are 36 in total — have served as a forward defense for Taiwan’s military and a key interception point against Chinese amphibious forces. About 5,000 Taiwanese soldiers are deployed on the islands, from a peak of approximately 50,000 during the Cold War. The steady drop in military personnel there can be attributed in part to improving relations between Taipei and Beijing in recent years.

But aware that Beijing has not abandoned the military option to “retake” the democratic island of 23 million people, the Taiwanese military has continued to modernize its defenses while strengthening its deterrent capabilities.

According to Taiwanese media, schema provided by Matsu Defense Command to international media during a recent visit to the island inadvertently confirmed the deployment of the Ray Ting-2000 (“Thunderbolt 2000”) MRL by showing artillery ranges that went well beyond that of artillery pieces deployed on the islands, specifically 240 mm howitzers M1, which can reach targets about 23 km inside China. The schema presented to journalists showed targets 40 km inland, including the Huangqi Peninsula, the entire Minjiang estuary, as well as Pingtan and beyond.

The Taiwanese Army is procuring a total of approximately 50 of the domestically built RT-2000 MRL as part of a US$483 million program. Designed by the Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), the road-mobile RT-2000 entered full service sometime in late 2012 and can fire 40 rockets per minute at a range of 15 km to 45 km, depending on the type of rocket used (MK15, MK30 or MK45). An Army official told this author during the Han Kuang exercise on the outlying island of Penghu in April that 40 systems are currently in operation, though he would not confirm their location.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, which has a policy of not discussing deployments, has refused to confirm the presence of RT-2000 systems on Matsu. However, in 2006, former Minister of National Defense Lee Jye argued that Taiwan had insufficient firepower on its outlying islands and recommended that the Army’s 30-year-old rocket systems, which are in the process of being phased out, be replaced by the RT-2000.

The RT-2000 was designed to conduct anti-landing operations, among other duties.

While the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has expanded its list of options to invade Taiwan, an amphibious assault against major outlying islands, if not Taiwan proper (a much more challenging task), remains a plausible scenario. As The Diplomat reported recently, the PLA is in the process of acquiring “Zubr” Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) vehicles, which would be suitable for such operations.

JAPAN & CHINA: World’s Oldest People: Jiroemon Kimura of Japan, Luo Meizhen of China, Die Days Apart

It was announced today that Jiroemon Kimura, the oldest man in recorded history, has died at the age of 116 in his hometown of Kyotango, Japan.

Born to parents who were farmers in a fishing village on the coast of the Sea of Japan on April 19, 1897, Kimura managed to evade both tuberculosis and pneumonia – diseases that limited Japan’s life expectancy to 44 years at the time. His status as the oldest ever man (on record) – one of only three to reach 115 years – became official last December, with a nod from Guinness World Records.


“He has an amazingly strong will to live,” Kimura’s 80-year-old nephew Tamotsu Miyake said last December. “He is strongly confident that he lives right and well.”


According to Miyake, Kimura’s five siblings all lived past 90 – the oldest, Tetsuo, reaching 100. He is survived by five children, 14 grandchildren and 25 great grandchildren and 13 great-great grandchildren.

Underscoring the Japanese knack for living long, Misao Okawa, born March 5, 1898, is now the world’s oldest living person, according to the Genealogy Research Group. The group found that 20 of the 55 people over the age of 110 are in Japan, where the life expectancy at birth is 83 years. This number is expected to rise to 90 for women by 2050. According to Japan’s health ministry, 51,000 Japanese are more than 100 years old.


Just days before Kimura’s passing, another famously aged person – a Chinese woman named Luo Meizhen – also passed away. Luo was born in 1885 according to Chinese documents, making her 127 when she died over the weekend.


"It wasn't unexpected," Luo’s grandson Huang Heyuan said. "She was a kind person but at times had a very bad temper … she had a strong character,” he added.


While Chinese authorities claimed Luo was indeed 127, the claims were met with skepticism overseas for a few key reasons. For one, China’s birth certification system was less than unfailing at the time of her birth. Another reason: it means that she must have given birth to one of her sons when she was 61 years old.


Throughout her long life – however many years it was – Luo toiled as a farmer and bore five children, along with numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren. Indeed, a number of great-great grandchildren survive her in Longhong, a village in southern Guangxi province.


Chinafrica has compiled some very interesting findings on longevity in Luo’s home region and China as a whole, courtesy of the Gerontological Society of China (GSC). For one, authorities have claimed that more than 80 centenarians are living in Luo’s region.


As of August 1, 2010, the GSC claimed that 43,708 people over 100 years old were living in China, and the number is rising by the year.


Though unofficial in the Guinness World Records sense, even older records claim that a member of the Yao ethnic group living in Luo’s hometown lived to 142 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).


While all of this is impressive to consider, according to Guinness World Records, the longest living person came not from Japan or China, but France. Jeanne Calment officially claimed the spot of the world’s oldest person, dying in 1997 at 122.

Rice and the RUSSIANS

Will Obama's new national security advisor play nice and get along with Moscow?

RUSSIA: Putin's Self-Destruction

Russia's New Anti-Corruption Campaign Will Sink the Regime

In an effort to consolidate his power and drum up public support, Russian President Vladimir Putin has launched a major anti-corruption campaign. Despite its intentions, however, the policy could prove to be Putin's demise.

A flyswatter with an image of Russia's President Vladimir Putin, part of an art installation by Russian artist Vasily Slonov, is on display at the Krasnoyarsk Museum Centre in Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, 2012. (Ilya Naymushin / Courtesy Reuters)

Putin faces a critical moment and is at risk of losing his sway over the elites.

CHINA& HONG KONG: 'Freedom' Island - By Adam Rose

Is Hong Kong free, or does Beijing really call the shots?

RUSSIA: Is this Putin's new leading lady?

Russian President Vladimir Putin just announced his divorce from his wife of 30 years.

'We Face a Very Serious Chinese Military Threat'

Japan's former defense minister talks to FP about cyberattacks, the East China Sea face-off, and whether North Korea's Kim Jong Un is a puppet dictator.

SOUTH KOREA Blames North for Cancelled Talks

South Korea's unification minister says the cancellation of high-level talks with the North is an unfortunate but necessary part of its new relationship with Pyongyang.

The talks, which were to be held Wednesday in Seoul, were called off at the last minute because of what appears to be a relatively minor disagreement over who would represent each country.

Unification minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said Wednesday the blame for the cancelled talks lies with the North, which he said must show ...

Abenomics Threatens Japan’s F-35s?

Wednesday security links:
In an interview with Defense News, Satoshi Morimoto, Japan’s former defense minister, warned that the country’s plans to procure 42 F-35 fighter jets by 2021 could be delayed by two years due to the devaluation of the yen. Tokyo had plans to import for the first four JSFs by 2017 and locally assemble the remaining 38.

In other F-35 news, the House Armed Services Committee in the U.S. Congress rejected an amendment that would have frozen funding for the JSF program for the 2014 defense budget.

In further F-35 news, Breaking Defense reports that U.S. Air Force’s version fired its first in-flight air-to-air missile and its concurrency cost estimates dropped by the negligible figure of US$500 million.
Meanwhile, in non-F-35 news, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin announced on Tuesday that his country will have a “pre-emptive missile destruction system by 2020” to guard against threats posed by North Korea.  The system will detect signs of an impending missile launches, allowing Seoul to take pre-emptive action to destroy the missiles. This is consistent with South Korea’s “active deterrence” military doctrine, which Kim unveiled earlier this year.

Foreign Policy's John Reed provides a slideshow of what some believe is China's new stealth bomber design.

In a new report, the Center for a New American Security examines the rise of bilateral security ties in Asia between countries not named China or the United States.

The U.S. Congressional committee, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, has a new backgrounder examining the implications of Taiwan’s declining defense spending.

What did we miss? Want to share an important article with other readers? Please submit your links in the comment box below!

RUSSIA's Putin says U.S. supports opposition protesters

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday accused U.S. diplomats of interfering in Russian politics by supporting opposition demonstrators, a day before a planned protest march in Moscow.

VIETNAM’s Prime Minister Slammed in Rare Confidence Vote

Nearly one-third of Vietnam’s lawmakers have expressed dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s performance in the first ever confidence vote, state media reported Tuesday, amid reports of a power struggle within the leadership of the ruling communist party.

Several Vietnamese citizens told RFA’s Vietnamese Service that the vote was a sham, intended to cover up the government’s weaknesses and criticism over accountability, and reflected infighting within the administration.

Dung and 46 other top-ranking ministers and officials faced a vote of “high confidence,” “confidence,” or “low confidence” by secret ballot from the 498-member National Assembly, the country’s rubber stamp parliament, according to the official Vietnam News Agency.

Dung received more than 160 negative votes, representing more than 32 percent of assembly members—the third worst rating received by an official in the rare display of scrutiny.

President Truong Tan Sang, who is seen as the main political opponent to Dung, received only 28 negative votes. He also received the third highest number of “high confidence” votes compared to Dung’s rank of 25th.

Dung’s poor rating follows his admission last October that he had failed to effectively lead Vietnam’s economy out of turmoil just one week after he effectively escaped a leadership change at a crucial ruling Communist Party central committee meeting where he was publicly rebuked over a string of scandals that were traced back to the country’s leadership.

The vote provides a rare glimpse into how Sang’s popularity has grown while Dung struggles through his second term as prime minister, which will end in 2016.

Reports have said that the party is split between factions aligned with either the president or the prime minister.

The highest number of negative votes went to Nguyen Van Binh, Vietnam’s central bank governor, who received 209. The country’s education minister, Pham Vu Luan, was given 177 low confidence votes. The economy and the poor standard of schooling are the two highest items on the list of public concerns.

No officials received a rating of low confidence from two-thirds of the assembly which, according to ballot rules, could lead to their forced resignation.

The ballot also lacked a “no confidence” option for voters from the legislative body, where more than 90 percent of lawmakers are card-carrying members of the Communist Party.

The Vietnam News Agency quoted Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung as praising the vote, saying it “reflected exactly the current situation of the country, covering all aspects from society, foreign policy to national defence, security and justice.”

Official infighting

But sources told RFA’s Vietnamese Service that the general public considered the vote an indication of political infighting at the top levels of leadership, and otherwise offered no solution to the country’s problems.

“I think they are preparing for some kind of internal conflict and that the people don’t care about the vote,” said journalist Truong Minh Duc.

“The people do not participate in the National Assembly, so this is just for internal purposes … This is a vote by the Communist Party representatives, not by the people.”

Architect Tran Thanh Van, a prominent intellectual in Hanoi, called for a reevaluation of the system that places officials in positions of power so that the people are better represented.

“The issues of the voting system, how officials stand for election, and for the selection of candidates and representatives need to be addressed,” he said.

“The lawmakers need to be elected by the people before any votes take place within the National Assembly.”

A teacher named Pham Toan, called the vote “a mere joke” that failed to take the public sentiment into account.

“Why is the vote of confidence conducted by lawmakers that the people don’t have any confidence in,” Toan asked.

“The vote should have been taken by representatives that the people trust.”

Other sources complained that the government had provided no clear explanation of how it would deal with officials who received low confidence ratings.

‘Voiceless people’

In addition to its failure to right an ailing economy and education system, the Communist Party has faced criticism in January for proposing a constitutional revision widely seen as undemocratic.

Vietnamese authorities have also come under fire from human rights groups and some Western governments for jailing and harassing dozens of activists, bloggers, and citizen journalists since stepping up a crackdown on protests and freedom of expression online in recent years.

A female farmer who has repeatedly petitioned the government over losing her land without any resolution said that many Vietnamese had given up hope of having any say in their political future.

“We people at the bottom don’t know what is what. All we can do is hope that those at the top vote with our best interests in mind,” she said, speaking to RFA on condition of anonymity.

“We voiceless people can’t do anything.”

Reported by Viet Long for RFA’s Vietnamese Service. Translated by Viet Long. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.

CHINA & KOREA: The Obama-Xi Summit And Renewed Inter-Korean Dialogue

When the United States and China move closer to each other, leaders of the two Koreas are apt to start talking. An unanticipated side effect of Nixon’s rapprochement with China in the early 1970s was that both Kim Il-sung and Park Chung-hee established secret talks in response to a new strategic reality in which their respective patrons had established dialogue. Those talks led to a landmark inter-Korean joint declaration on July 4, 1972. Although the Obama-Xi Sunnylands summit was advertised as an introductory session not designed to produce deliverables, one indirect effect of the summit is that it has jumpstarted inter-Korean dialogue. The first working-level inter-Korean talks between the Park Geun-hye and Kim Jong-un leaderships is being held at Panmunjom nearly simultaneously with the Xi-Obama summit.

The positive effects of high-level Sino-U.S. dialogue on inter-Korean relations can be shortlived. A spike in inter-Korean tensions following North Korea’s shelling of a South Korean island in November 2010 drove North Korea up the agenda of U.S.-China relations as both countries prepared for Hu Jintao’s state visit to Washington in January 2011. In anticipation of Hu’s White House visit, North and South Korea announced high-level talks between military officials, but by the time that meeting was held, momentum had shifted and inter-Korean military talks failed.

This time, the first step in relaxation of inter-Korean tensions accompanied Secretary Kerry’s first visit to Beijing as Secretary of State in mid-April. A series of high-level visits by U.S. officials including Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dempsey accompanied North Korea’s familiar tactical shift from brinkmanship to charm offensive in May. Following the announcement of the Xi-Obama summit later that month, North Korea’s top general Choe Ryong-hae delivered a letter to Xi from Kim Jong-un. However, Xi and his colleagues met Choe with a consistent and stern public message that “all the parties involved should stick to the objective of denuclearization, safeguard peace and stability on the peninsula, and resolve disputes through dialogue and consultation.” This rhetorical reordering  of Chinese priorities placing denuclearization equivalent with stability was a clear message to North Korea. For his part, General Choe pledged North Korea’s commitment to renewed dialogue, but neglected to mention denuclearization.

Days in advance of the Obama-Xi summit, North Korea suddenly offered and South Korea rapidly accepted resumption of inter-Korean talks. Representatives of the two Koreas agreed  in meetings at Panmunjom the day after the Sino-U.S. summit to hold “government talks” in Seoul on Wednesday and Thursday of this week to discuss resumption of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, the future of the joint Mount Kumgang resort, and reunion events for families separated by the Korean War– all of which are projects that would benefit North Korea economically if they are resumed. South Korea resisted North Korean demands to hold non-governmental meetings to commemorate the anniversary of the June 15, 2000 and July 4, 1972 joint declarations.

Both Koreas have a strong incentive to advance inter-Korean talks prior to Park Geun-hye’s visit to Beijing scheduled for the end of June, where reports are that President Xi is prepared to roll out the red carpet for her. Having solidified the U.S.-ROK alliance during her early May visit to Washington, a step forward on Trustpolitik would help Park in relations with Beijing, while Pyongyang has a double economic and political incentive to cooperate with Seoul both to forestall greater Sino-ROK cooperation on North Korean denuclearization and to lessen growing economic dependency on Beijing.

In his readout to the press following the Obama-Xi summit, National Security Adviser Tom Donilon emphasized Sino-U.S. “alignment” on North Korea, including Chinese pledges to deepen “cooperation and dialogue to achieve denuclearization.” Donilon’s characterization of the outcome of the conversation was that both sides will “apply pressure both to halt North Korea’s ability to proliferate and to make clear that its continued pursuit of nuclear weapons is incompatible with its economic development goals.” By pushing for a U.S.-(ROK)-PRC alignment in opposition to a nuclear North Korea, the Obama administration is reaching a crunch point in its efforts to prove to North Korea’s leaders that Pyongyang’s nuclear development efforts are regime-endangering, and that the future of the North’s economic development—and regime survival—in fact turn on North Korea’s denuclearization.

CHINA works to ease water woes

Will desalination work for parched Chinese region?

HONG KONG Is Unlikely Refuge for U.S. Secrets Leaker

HONG KONG (AP) — By holing up in Hong Kong, the American defense contractor who says he leaked information on classified U.S. surveillance programs has found an unlikely refuge from extradition. It might be temporary, however. Hong Kong’s protection of Edward Snowden is not a given. As a former British colony, the territory has a well-established, Western-style legal system. It is home to a boisterous media and outspoken public that ardently defend their rights to expression. And though a semi-autonomous part of China, it ultimately answers to Beijing, which is often at odds with Washington. That combination of sturdy legal institutions and strong political backing made Hong Kong an attractive place to take shelter, said Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, whose reports last week that exposed widespread U.S. government programs to collect telephone and Internet records were based on information from Snowden. “There were no good options for him, so it just became a question of weight of all the various factors,” Greenwald said in Hong Kong on Monday. “There were probably other places that were more democratic but that would be more likely to hand him over to the United States because they wouldn’t want to resist the pressure that the United States would undoubtedly apply to get him.” (MORE: Edward Snowden Comes Forward as NSA Whistle-Blower, Surfaces in Hong Kong) However, the U.S. is one of the largest investors in Hong Kong, a major business center for East Asia. The U.S. and Hong Kong also have an extradition treaty and routinely cooperate on requests to transfer criminals; in one high-profile case, Hong Kong extradited three al-Qaeda suspects to the U.S. in 2003. While Beijing at times stands up to Washington, it may not want to for Snowden. Beijing has often criticized foreign governments for harboring critics of its Communist government. China also is seeking U.S. cooperation on retrieving corrupt Chinese officials who have fled to America, often with sizeable assets. Cyberhacking and cyberespionage have emerged as the newest friction in relations that Presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping pledged

China: The Dark Side of Growth

Yanzhong Huang argues that while Chinese growth has been impressive, it's singular focus on economic development has negatively affected health, environment, and social areas.

RUSSIA: Putin, wife announce split

Vladimir Putin's nearly 30-year marriage has ended, the Russian president and his wife told state-run television in a joint interview.

CHINA: Paranoid Republic

No summit can bridge the political gap between Washington and Beijing.

CHINA: Let's Not Be Friends

Obama and Xi will work better together if they both acknowledge they don't trust each other.

CHINA: The Head of China's Petitioning Office

Why Barack Obama can't afford to take human rights off the agenda when he meets with Xi Jinping.

North, South Korea tentatively agree to Kaesong talks

North Korea on Thursday proposed talks with South Korea about restarting operations at their shared manufacturing zone where Pyongyang suspended activity during recent tensions.

CHINA: How Obama Tried and Failed to Make Friends with China

Don't expect much from the upcoming summit -- we've been down this road before.

A Factory Burns in CHINA

The city of Dehui, in China’s northeast—the region of the world known as Manchuria—has, until now, benefited from the country’s expanding appetites. The slaughterhouse industry has surged to keep up with a population of urbanizing consumers. In 2011, the city produced a quarter of a billion chickens.


But just after dawn on Monday, Dehui’s Mishazi plant, which belongs to Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry, caught fire. At the time, some three hundred people were inside. Exactly what happened next will take a while to sort out, but the significant facts are already clear: by Monday afternoon, a hundred and nineteen people were dead, and scores of others were injured—the deadliest fire in China in thirteen years, and the worst factory blaze that anyone can remember.

...read more

CHINA: Purchasing managers' index

CHINA'S manufacturing activity contracted in May for the first time in seven months, according to data from Markit and HSBC, a bank. Meanwhile spending declined in the three other BRIC economies. This is a worrying sign for the rest of the world: the BRICs accounted for around 60% of worldwide economic growth last year. China’s factory-sector index fell more than expected to 49.6 (a figure below 50 indicates shrinking output) on HSBC’s poll. Yet the figure touted by the Chinese government was 50.8 for May, up from 50.6 on the previous month. The discrepancy arises from the fact that different groups were questioned. The government’s survey includes state-owned giants, whereas the bank asks smaller, more independent firms. Economists seem to favour the bank’s figures. Both the IMF and the OECD, a rich-country club, cut their forecasts for China’s GDP growth this year to about 7.8%. That still looks healthy compared with the West but may be a cause for concern.

CHINA: Fold the front page

Like the sun, newspaper circulation rises in the east and falls in the west

THE World Press Trends report collects masses of data about newspaper circulation and revenues in over 70 countries. The headline figure shows circulation falling modestly from 537m in 2008 to 530m in 2012, but that masks huge regional variations. The report makes for particularly gloomy reading if you happen to be employed by a newspaper in America or western Europe. Since 2008 circulation in America has fallen by 15% to 41m while advertising revenue has plummeted by 42%, accounting for three-quarters of the global decline in advertising revenue in the same period. In Europe, circulation and advertising revenue have both fallen by a quarter. And revenues from digital sources such as websites, apps and so on have not made up the shortfall. Digital advertising accounts for just 11% of the total revenue for American newspapers. Looking further east, though, things look brighter. Circulation in Asia has risen by 10%, offsetting much of the decline elsewhere. With 114.5m daily newspapers, China has surpassed India to become the world's biggest newspaper market.

CHINA: Xi's Not Ready

Why Obama should skip the shirt-sleeves summit with China's new leader.

Household debt

IN THE years leading up to the financial crisis, household debt soared in most rich countries. There were a couple of notable exceptions. See chart here.

China's Search for A New Energy Strategy

Time To Liberalize Energy Prices

June 4, 2013

Damien Ma

Summary: 

Beijing can start to solve its environmental and economic troubles by ending one of the most stubborn legacies of the planned economy: highly regulated energy prices. If recent reports are any indication, that is exactly what it plans to do.

A taxi driver fills his car near a board showing price increases at a gas station in Shenyang, Liaoning province, 2011. (Courtesy Reuters)

Much like the United States, China has an “all of the above” energy strategy: it plans to continue to rely on traditional sources of energy even as it makes the transition to cleaner fuels. And this is only natural. Both countries are continent-sized economies with diverse energy needs and geographically dispersed resources.

Suppressed prices drive China’s uncontrolled energy consumption and its negative side effects.

Mutually assured ambiguity

How to play nuclear-armed poker

AMERICA, which has more deployed nuclear weapons than any other country, is open about precisely how many warheads it has in what state of readiness. Russia is a little less so, though it does share information with America. States with fewer nukes prefer not to give many details of what they are holding. China, which is the only one of the five legally recognised nuclear-armed states to be expanding its arsenal, according to the latest report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, prefers this strategy. Iran, which is not yet a nuclear state, seems to follow a different strategy. Analysts think that it may have so many centrifuges spinning that it could enrich enough uranium for a bomb quite quickly—within a couple of months. But it may not go as far as to build a bomb, for risk of provoking both further sanctions and arms race in the region. Iran may thus invent a third category: states with all the kit to build a nuclear bomb that are not technically nuclear-armed states.

KOREA: Park Calls Forced Return of North Koreans 'Truly Regrettable'

South Korea's president is calling for Pyongyang to guarantee the safety of a group of young North Korean refugees who were forcibly repatriated with the apparent cooperation of Laos, China and North Korea.

The nine North Koreans, ranging in age between 15 and 23, had been in hiding in China after fleeing their country in 2011.

They were detained on May 10 in Laos, where they were making plans to get to South Korea as refugees.

The Laotian government sent the group back to China on ...