Wednesday, January 30, 2013
HONG KONG: Henry Tang appointed to China's top advisory body
Beijing has appointed Henry Tang Ying-yen to the nation's top advisory body, along with high-profile business leaders who refused to support Leung Chun-ying in last year's chief executive race against Tang.
AUSTRALIA: Kidnappers threaten to kill Australian
KIDNAPPERS in the Philippines have released a new photo proving Australian Warren Rodwell is still alive but say they'll kill him unless their demands are met.
Top CHINA Stories from WSJ: Wen on Rural Residents, ZTE Shift
Premier Wen Jiabao warned that the interests of rural residents must not be sacrificed in pursuing urbanization; China's ZTE Corp., which is struggling to eke out a profit, is set to shift its focus to its higher-margin enterprise business.
NORTH KOREA: Region braces for North Korea nuke test
CNN's Barbara Starr reports on the threat from North Korea to conduct a nuclear weapons test.
SOUTH KOREA: Plastic makes perfect
Where is most plastic surgery performed?
MORE people than ever are turning to the knife or the needle in the hope of physical perfection. Over 14.7m tucks, peels, jabs and lifts were performed by licensed plastic surgeons in 2011, according to a new study from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. The society estimates procedures by taking survey data received by licensed plastic surgeons and combining these with the official numbers of surgeons in a country. Non-invasive treatments to plump out wrinkles, smooth lines and remove hair account for more than half of all procedures: over 3m of these are for botox alone. America is home to more cosmetic enhancement than anywhere else, but accounting for population reveals a different story. On that measure, South Korea, Greece and Italy are the biggest primpers and preeners, as the chart below shows. The most popular invasive (ie, surgical) operation is fat removal, or lipoplasty, reflecting a growing problem for a fattening world. Breast augmentation, the second biggest surgical procedure, is most commonly performed in America and Brazil. Buttock implants are also a Brazilian specialty, as is vaginal rejuvenation. Asia is keen on nose jobs: China, Japan and South Korea are among the top five nations for rhinoplasty. (This year, alas, no figures are available for penis enlargements ...
MORE people than ever are turning to the knife or the needle in the hope of physical perfection. Over 14.7m tucks, peels, jabs and lifts were performed by licensed plastic surgeons in 2011, according to a new study from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. The society estimates procedures by taking survey data received by licensed plastic surgeons and combining these with the official numbers of surgeons in a country. Non-invasive treatments to plump out wrinkles, smooth lines and remove hair account for more than half of all procedures: over 3m of these are for botox alone. America is home to more cosmetic enhancement than anywhere else, but accounting for population reveals a different story. On that measure, South Korea, Greece and Italy are the biggest primpers and preeners, as the chart below shows. The most popular invasive (ie, surgical) operation is fat removal, or lipoplasty, reflecting a growing problem for a fattening world. Breast augmentation, the second biggest surgical procedure, is most commonly performed in America and Brazil. Buttock implants are also a Brazilian specialty, as is vaginal rejuvenation. Asia is keen on nose jobs: China, Japan and South Korea are among the top five nations for rhinoplasty. (This year, alas, no figures are available for penis enlargements ...
THAILAND set to reclaim top spot in rice sales
Rice shipments from Thailand are poised to surge 15 per cent this year to help the country win back the top-exporter slot.
CHINA: Reform of China’s Bloated Government Underway
China’s bloated government administration is facing a much touted reform—an issue both Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao had in their sights before stepping down late last year.
According to Wen’s vision, the number of departments under the State Council would be reduced from 44 to 24, and 13 department heads would be removed. In the coming two years, a total of 240 ministry-level officials would be laid off.
Hu Jintao also mentioned government reform in his report during the 18th National Party Congress in November. It was expected back then that new government reforms would surface in 2013.
With new leaders in place, the so-called reform is being closely watched.
Government reform will begin at the top, from the central to the provincial, and on to the local governments, according to sources cited by New Express, a well-known Guangzhou media, Jan. 19.
Based on this plan, administrative reform at the central government will take place before provincial and municipal reform and will commence in the first half of this year.
Recent exposure of local government reform in Guangdong indicates that it has become a top priority.
Chen Jianhua, mayor of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, declared in his official 2013 annual work report that the execution of city and county levels government reform should be completed in the first half of 2013.
Not everyone is optimistic about the outcome, however.
The vice mayor of Guangzhou told Hong Kong’s Phoenix: “Government reform itself is a good thing. But if it is not carried out properly, it will only lead to more troubles, the greater the scale of reform, the more bureaucratic it is going to be. The more concentrated the reform is, the more corruption it will trigger.”
“People who are familiar with the history of CCP’s government structure should know about this. Interdepartmental mergers have happened before. Department of Mechanics had merged with Department of Industrial Electronics. The National Development and Reform Commission had merged with the National Economic Commission,” Qi said.
“What happened then? Before, intradepartmental infighting was out in the open. Now, interdepartmental infighting continued in secrecy. It did not take long before the merged department was separated again. Each person protected his own interest. After a series of such failed attempts in reforms, we now have the largest number of civil servants in the world.”
Current government reform would not succeed if fundamental problems were not solved, Qi added.
Read original Chinese article.
chinareports@epochtimes.com
The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 21 languages.
According to Wen’s vision, the number of departments under the State Council would be reduced from 44 to 24, and 13 department heads would be removed. In the coming two years, a total of 240 ministry-level officials would be laid off.
Hu Jintao also mentioned government reform in his report during the 18th National Party Congress in November. It was expected back then that new government reforms would surface in 2013.
With new leaders in place, the so-called reform is being closely watched.
Government reform will begin at the top, from the central to the provincial, and on to the local governments, according to sources cited by New Express, a well-known Guangzhou media, Jan. 19.
Based on this plan, administrative reform at the central government will take place before provincial and municipal reform and will commence in the first half of this year.
Recent exposure of local government reform in Guangdong indicates that it has become a top priority.
Chen Jianhua, mayor of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, declared in his official 2013 annual work report that the execution of city and county levels government reform should be completed in the first half of 2013.
Not everyone is optimistic about the outcome, however.
The vice mayor of Guangzhou told Hong Kong’s Phoenix: “Government reform itself is a good thing. But if it is not carried out properly, it will only lead to more troubles, the greater the scale of reform, the more bureaucratic it is going to be. The more concentrated the reform is, the more corruption it will trigger.”
Past Reform Failures
As early as 2008, political commentator Qi Ge told New Epoch Weekly that he was not optimistic about any sort of government reform. He said the problem is low efficiency and high costs. The problems stem from an absence of separation between government and the communist party. The Communist Party’s (CCP) own political system is the real issue, Qi said.“People who are familiar with the history of CCP’s government structure should know about this. Interdepartmental mergers have happened before. Department of Mechanics had merged with Department of Industrial Electronics. The National Development and Reform Commission had merged with the National Economic Commission,” Qi said.
“What happened then? Before, intradepartmental infighting was out in the open. Now, interdepartmental infighting continued in secrecy. It did not take long before the merged department was separated again. Each person protected his own interest. After a series of such failed attempts in reforms, we now have the largest number of civil servants in the world.”
Current government reform would not succeed if fundamental problems were not solved, Qi added.
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chinareports@epochtimes.com
The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 21 languages.
JAPAN: Yen's Fall Boosts Japanese Firms
The yen's recent dramatic drop is giving hard-hit corporate Japan its biggest break in years, raising hopes of a long-awaited earnings recovery.
RUSSIAN politics: The Kremlin's new Anti-Americanism
IF ONE were to judge by the recent behaviour of Russian lawmakers, the country is under assault. Not by foreign armies—though that threat, too, always looms large in the rhetoric of Russia’s political leaders—but by hostile and unfamiliar values, films, television personalities, even words.Over the past months, the Russian Duma has been on a campaign to dig up and cast out what it sees as the many traces of foreign involvement or meddling in Russian life. Most egregious is a new law banning Americans from adopting Russian orphans. Another proposed law would require children of state officials to return home after studying abroad or perhaps bar them from leaving at all; yet another would require cinemas to show Russian-made films at least 20% of the time; or be subject to fines up to 400,000 rubles ($13,3000).
Although all these disparate initiatives share the same underlying goal of somehow being seen to purify Russia and to serve as building blocks for a nascent (yet to be defined) ideology, they vary in their immediate purpose. Some, such as the adoption ban, were retaliatory measures, meant to lash out at the United States for its passage of the Magnitsky Act. Cynicism is surely at play, but one should not underestimate how sincerely much of the Russian political class is fed up with what it sees as hypocrisy and condescension from the United States and ...
Although all these disparate initiatives share the same underlying goal of somehow being seen to purify Russia and to serve as building blocks for a nascent (yet to be defined) ideology, they vary in their immediate purpose. Some, such as the adoption ban, were retaliatory measures, meant to lash out at the United States for its passage of the Magnitsky Act. Cynicism is surely at play, but one should not underestimate how sincerely much of the Russian political class is fed up with what it sees as hypocrisy and condescension from the United States and ...
EAST ASIA TERRITORIAL DISPUTES: A Maritime Balkans of the 21st Century? - By Kevin Rudd
East Asia is a tinderbox on water.
In JAPAN, Food Can Be Almost Too Cute To Eat
In Japanese culture, how food looks can be as important as how it tastes — a lesson children learn from a very early age. From children's television and toys to school lunches, the visual delights of food are never far from sight.
JAPAN government to review statements on history
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's government will review statements by previous administrations about wartime history including a landmark 1995 apology, Japan's education minister said, but added that any changes would not mean rejecting those statements but making them more "forward-looking".
AUSTRALIAN PM surprises with September election call
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard set national elections for September 14, stunning voters on Wednesday with eight months notice of the vote in a bold move designed to end political uncertainty surrounding her struggling minority government.
AUSTRALIA: A different side to the Queensland floods
Dean Saffron, who photographed hard-hit Grantham in 2011, saw a different response to Cyclone Oswald.
ASIAN Films Dominate at Sundance
Thanks to epic wuxia (“martial hero”) films like Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Zhang Yimou’s Hero, as well as the sheer scale of India’s Bollywood and Japan’s anime industry, Western audiences have developed a general awareness of Asian cinema in recent years.
Digging a bit deeper, some are even familiar with Japanese greats like Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa, whose name has been dropped in laudatory tones by Hollywood luminary George Lucas on numerous occasions.
But the story of Asia’s burgeoning film industry is much bigger than this. As seen at the recently concluded 2013 Sundance Film Festival, one of the most renowned independent film festivals in the world, Asia is also home to a diverse, thriving and relevant independent film scene.
Indeed, by some accounts Asia’s film industry is the most exciting in the world today. Creative writing instructor Robert McKee, made famous for his “Story Seminar”, has said that “the most impressive and creative film culture in the world right now is in Asia.”
At this year’s edition of Sundance Film Festival, chaired by American actor Robert Redford and held annually in Park City, Utah, Asian cinema put on a strong showing. From documentaries to love stories, films from Cambodia, South Korea, Afghanistan and the Philippines took home prizes in four categories.
From Cambodia, A River Changes Course won the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary. Directed by Cambodian filmmaker Kalyanee Mam, who was the cinematographer for the 2011 Academy-Award winning documentary Inside Job, A River Changes Course delves into the depths of the havoc caused by rapid development in Cambodia.
The film follows three Cambodian youths struggling to cope with the effects of deforestation, overfishing and debt, and documents the resultant exodus of modern-day Cambodians exodus to the factories of Phnom Penh. The film was produced by the U.S.-based Migrant Films and the Documentation Centre of Cambodia.
In the World Cinema Dramatic category, the Grand Jury Prize went to South Korean film Jiseul. This film, which features amateur actors, tells the story of the tragic post-WWII massacre that took place on director O Muel’s native Jeju Island between 1948 and 1954.
During this period, approximately 30,000 residents of Jeju were killed by the South Korean military, acting on the belief that Jeju had become a Communist stronghold for North Korean sympathizers.
O Muel’s treatment of the infamous incident explores the reactions of Jeju Island residents and occupying soldiers, and is appropriately shot in stark, high-definition black and white film. The film is scheduled to open at cinemas in South Korea in March.
Metro Manila proved to be a crowd pleaser and was chosen for the Audience Award. This drama, filmed in the Philippine capital and directed by the UK’s Sean Ellis, tells the story of migrant rice farmers who leave the countryside to find work in the big city after rice prices plummet.
The film receives a positive review in the Guardian, which praises its realistic glimpse of Manila’s underbelly. What begins as the simple story of farmer Oscar Ramirez, twists and turns into a dramatic tale of a heist in which the scrupulously honest Oscar becomes embroiled through his work as a security guard.
Finally, Wajma (An Afghan Love Story) won the Screenwriting Award for World Cinema Dramatic. This film, written and directed by Afghanistan’s Barmak Akram, takes audiences into Afghanistan’s harsh social reality through the story of a young waiter named Mustafa who charms an attractive student named Wajma.
When word gets out of Mustafa and Wajma’s secret affair and Wajma is pregnant, her father must choose between his daughter and the social pressure to uphold family honor. The film uses this story as a lens to examine complex issues like the lives of women and the realities of modern courtship in Afghan society.
Although this small number of films barely scratches the surface of Asia’s cinematic output, it provides a starting point. And if these award selections are anything to go by, McKee’s sentiment has been vindicated.
Digging a bit deeper, some are even familiar with Japanese greats like Yasujiro Ozu and Akira Kurosawa, whose name has been dropped in laudatory tones by Hollywood luminary George Lucas on numerous occasions.
But the story of Asia’s burgeoning film industry is much bigger than this. As seen at the recently concluded 2013 Sundance Film Festival, one of the most renowned independent film festivals in the world, Asia is also home to a diverse, thriving and relevant independent film scene.
Indeed, by some accounts Asia’s film industry is the most exciting in the world today. Creative writing instructor Robert McKee, made famous for his “Story Seminar”, has said that “the most impressive and creative film culture in the world right now is in Asia.”
At this year’s edition of Sundance Film Festival, chaired by American actor Robert Redford and held annually in Park City, Utah, Asian cinema put on a strong showing. From documentaries to love stories, films from Cambodia, South Korea, Afghanistan and the Philippines took home prizes in four categories.
From Cambodia, A River Changes Course won the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema Documentary. Directed by Cambodian filmmaker Kalyanee Mam, who was the cinematographer for the 2011 Academy-Award winning documentary Inside Job, A River Changes Course delves into the depths of the havoc caused by rapid development in Cambodia.
The film follows three Cambodian youths struggling to cope with the effects of deforestation, overfishing and debt, and documents the resultant exodus of modern-day Cambodians exodus to the factories of Phnom Penh. The film was produced by the U.S.-based Migrant Films and the Documentation Centre of Cambodia.
In the World Cinema Dramatic category, the Grand Jury Prize went to South Korean film Jiseul. This film, which features amateur actors, tells the story of the tragic post-WWII massacre that took place on director O Muel’s native Jeju Island between 1948 and 1954.
During this period, approximately 30,000 residents of Jeju were killed by the South Korean military, acting on the belief that Jeju had become a Communist stronghold for North Korean sympathizers.
O Muel’s treatment of the infamous incident explores the reactions of Jeju Island residents and occupying soldiers, and is appropriately shot in stark, high-definition black and white film. The film is scheduled to open at cinemas in South Korea in March.
Metro Manila proved to be a crowd pleaser and was chosen for the Audience Award. This drama, filmed in the Philippine capital and directed by the UK’s Sean Ellis, tells the story of migrant rice farmers who leave the countryside to find work in the big city after rice prices plummet.
The film receives a positive review in the Guardian, which praises its realistic glimpse of Manila’s underbelly. What begins as the simple story of farmer Oscar Ramirez, twists and turns into a dramatic tale of a heist in which the scrupulously honest Oscar becomes embroiled through his work as a security guard.
Finally, Wajma (An Afghan Love Story) won the Screenwriting Award for World Cinema Dramatic. This film, written and directed by Afghanistan’s Barmak Akram, takes audiences into Afghanistan’s harsh social reality through the story of a young waiter named Mustafa who charms an attractive student named Wajma.
When word gets out of Mustafa and Wajma’s secret affair and Wajma is pregnant, her father must choose between his daughter and the social pressure to uphold family honor. The film uses this story as a lens to examine complex issues like the lives of women and the realities of modern courtship in Afghan society.
Although this small number of films barely scratches the surface of Asia’s cinematic output, it provides a starting point. And if these award selections are anything to go by, McKee’s sentiment has been vindicated.
CHINA: In China, The Government Isn't The Only Spy Game In Town
Increasingly, China's surveillance state has extended to include Chinese individuals spying on one another. Former journalist Qi Hong has helped ordinary citizens and government officials alike detect bugs and hidden cameras planted by others. In one year, his bug hunt turned up more than 300 devices for a hundred friends.
EAST ASIA MARITIME DISPUTE: China to conduct naval drills in Pacific amid tension
BEIJING (Reuters) - Three advanced Chinese warships left port on Wednesday for naval drills and war games in the Western Pacific, and the fleet will likely pass through disputed waters in the East and South China Sea, state media said.
SOUTH KOREAL Apple bid to raise Samsung fine rejected
California judge finds that Samsung’s infringement of three of Apple’s ‘utility’ patents was not ‘wilful’, as a jury had initially found in August
CAMBODIA: Al Rockoff Tells It Like It Was
American photojournalist Al Rockoff took the stand at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal this week and gave a graphic eyewitness account of the forced evacuation of Phnom Penh in April 1975, shortly after Pol Pot and the ultra-Maoists seized control of the capital.
Hell-bent on turning Cambodia into an agrarian utopia, Pol Pot ordered the people of Phnom Penh out of the city almost immediately. In his description of the event, Rockoff’s insight into the Communist mentality was as unique as it was telling.
“A cadre with a bullhorn was saying: ‘The war is over. The war is over.’ Everything was OK at that point. They weren’t panicking, they were happy, the soldiers, the civilians,” he told the court. “About an hour later, the mood changed.”
That was when the order came to evacuate.
Rockoff, 64, spoke of thousands of people desperate for refuge, how a giant pool in a five-star hotel was turned into a septic tank, which he described as “gross”, and how patients were marched out of hospital wards, leaving behind them bloodied floors.
Throughout the ordeal, former Cambodian head of state and senior Khmer Rouge cadre Khieu Samphan listened intently, clasping his hands and taking notes. Of the other two currently before the court, former Khmer Rouge official Ieng Sary watched the proceedings from a cell below the court, while former chief Khmer Rouge ideologist and communist politician Nuon Chea waived his right to attend after being hospitalized for an illness.
A former U.S. Army photographer, Rockoff is the first U.S. military veteran who served in Indochina during what he refers to as the “American War” to testify before the court. The tribunal’s mandate is to hear crimes and weigh evidence regarding events that occurred only between April 17, 1975, and January 9, 1979, when the Khmer Rouge were ousted by a Vietnamese offensive.
After scouting the city on an assignment, Rockoff and The New York Times journalist Sydney Schanberg encountered Khmer Rouge soldiers, some quite young, and were forced into an armored personnel carrier (APC) where they tried to pass themselves off as French.
“Sydney got very upset when I started speaking English in the APC, and he said, ‘Don’t speak English. You’re French,’” Rockoff said. Their bags were then searched.
“One Khmer Rouge held up a big wad of hundred dollar bills in one hand and Sydney’s underwear in the other. He put the money back in the blue hand bag and kept the underwear,” Rockoff said. “I guess the money had no value at that time to him.”
Pol Pot abolished money as more than two million people were ordered out of the city. Just as many would die through starvation, illness and in the extermination camps he constructed.
Rockoff and Schanberg, along with the British journalist Jon Swain and Cambodian photojournalist Dith Pran, remained in Phnom Penh after the city fell to the communists. Their exploits were made famous by the Oscar-nominated Roland Joffe film The Killing Fields.
Eventually, they found refuge in the French embassy along with all other foreigners and hundreds of desperate Cambodians looking for a way out.
Several weeks later they were transported overland to the Thai border.
Rockoff’s retelling of these traumatic events is only the beginning of this historic trial. The hearings are ongoing and more will surely come to light.
Hell-bent on turning Cambodia into an agrarian utopia, Pol Pot ordered the people of Phnom Penh out of the city almost immediately. In his description of the event, Rockoff’s insight into the Communist mentality was as unique as it was telling.
“A cadre with a bullhorn was saying: ‘The war is over. The war is over.’ Everything was OK at that point. They weren’t panicking, they were happy, the soldiers, the civilians,” he told the court. “About an hour later, the mood changed.”
That was when the order came to evacuate.
Rockoff, 64, spoke of thousands of people desperate for refuge, how a giant pool in a five-star hotel was turned into a septic tank, which he described as “gross”, and how patients were marched out of hospital wards, leaving behind them bloodied floors.
Throughout the ordeal, former Cambodian head of state and senior Khmer Rouge cadre Khieu Samphan listened intently, clasping his hands and taking notes. Of the other two currently before the court, former Khmer Rouge official Ieng Sary watched the proceedings from a cell below the court, while former chief Khmer Rouge ideologist and communist politician Nuon Chea waived his right to attend after being hospitalized for an illness.
A former U.S. Army photographer, Rockoff is the first U.S. military veteran who served in Indochina during what he refers to as the “American War” to testify before the court. The tribunal’s mandate is to hear crimes and weigh evidence regarding events that occurred only between April 17, 1975, and January 9, 1979, when the Khmer Rouge were ousted by a Vietnamese offensive.
After scouting the city on an assignment, Rockoff and The New York Times journalist Sydney Schanberg encountered Khmer Rouge soldiers, some quite young, and were forced into an armored personnel carrier (APC) where they tried to pass themselves off as French.
“Sydney got very upset when I started speaking English in the APC, and he said, ‘Don’t speak English. You’re French,’” Rockoff said. Their bags were then searched.
“One Khmer Rouge held up a big wad of hundred dollar bills in one hand and Sydney’s underwear in the other. He put the money back in the blue hand bag and kept the underwear,” Rockoff said. “I guess the money had no value at that time to him.”
Pol Pot abolished money as more than two million people were ordered out of the city. Just as many would die through starvation, illness and in the extermination camps he constructed.
Rockoff and Schanberg, along with the British journalist Jon Swain and Cambodian photojournalist Dith Pran, remained in Phnom Penh after the city fell to the communists. Their exploits were made famous by the Oscar-nominated Roland Joffe film The Killing Fields.
Eventually, they found refuge in the French embassy along with all other foreigners and hundreds of desperate Cambodians looking for a way out.
Several weeks later they were transported overland to the Thai border.
Rockoff’s retelling of these traumatic events is only the beginning of this historic trial. The hearings are ongoing and more will surely come to light.
SOUTH KOREA Launches Satellite Into Orbit
The launching achieves South Korea’s ambition of joining an elite club of space technology leaders, and comes seven weeks after the successful launching of a satellite by rival North Korea.
SOUTH KOREA: Controversial 'Gangnam Style' rapper to perform at Korea inauguration
Popular rapper Psy, who recently apologized for advocating the killing of U.S. troops in 2004, will perform at South Korea’s presidential inauguration next month.
CHINA’s Air Pollution Problem: Whose Responsibility?
China's flagship English-language newspaper is putting onus on regular people to help tackle the country's smog problem. The problem: individuals have little power, or inclination, to impact the situation.
SOUTH KOREA Successfully Launches Satellite into Orbit
South Korea says it has successfully launched a satellite into space - a major feat that comes just weeks after its neighbor North Korea did the same.
The Korea Space Launch Vehicle lifted off Wednesday, amid a cloud of billowing white smoke, disappearing into the sky above the Naro Space Center on the country's southern coast.
Science Minister Lee Ju-ho told reporters that the rocket successfully placed the satellite into orbit, declaring the mission "a success of all our ...
The Korea Space Launch Vehicle lifted off Wednesday, amid a cloud of billowing white smoke, disappearing into the sky above the Naro Space Center on the country's southern coast.
Science Minister Lee Ju-ho told reporters that the rocket successfully placed the satellite into orbit, declaring the mission "a success of all our ...
RUSSIA: Nation Pulls Out of Anti-Drug Agreement with U.S.
Russia has announced it is pulling out of an agreement with the United States to work together on controlling illegal drugs, in the latest of a series of moves that indicate the two governments are pulling away from one another.
The order signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev appeared Wednesday on the Russian government website. It said Moscow is withdrawing from the deal because it "does not address current realities and has exhausted its potential."
This comes just days after ...
The order signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev appeared Wednesday on the Russian government website. It said Moscow is withdrawing from the deal because it "does not address current realities and has exhausted its potential."
This comes just days after ...
JAPAN: Judo coach 'beat athletes'
Japan judo coach 'beat athletes':
Japan's top female judo wrestlers were subjected to violence by their coach, officials have admitted, after 15 athletes made a joint complaint.
Japan's top female judo wrestlers were subjected to violence by their coach, officials have admitted, after 15 athletes made a joint complaint.
CHINA: Court to rule on compensation for man jailed for Bo joke
China court to rule on compensation for man jailed for Bo joke:
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court rules on Thursday whether to award damages to a man who spent a year in a labor camp for an online joke about now disgraced leader Bo Xilai, although experts say compensation, if given, is likely to be low to avoid a flood of new grievances.
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court rules on Thursday whether to award damages to a man who spent a year in a labor camp for an online joke about now disgraced leader Bo Xilai, although experts say compensation, if given, is likely to be low to avoid a flood of new grievances.
CAMBODIA: Committee Formed to Create Plan for Land Use Nationwide
Committee Formed to Create Plan for Land Use Nationwide:
Senior officials from across the government have started drafting a master plan that aims to map out the future locations of everything from roads to cities and development zones across the country.
Land Management Minister Im Chhun Lim chaired the first meeting of a 20-member National Committee for Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction last week in order to push ahead with the plan, said Beng Hong Socheat Khemro, spokesman for the Ministry of Land Management.
“Urban planning and land management is a very big job that cannot be done by a single ministry,” Mr. Socheat Khemro said. “It’s time for the establishment of this committee to improve our work.”
Officials at local NGOs that follow land issues closely—Adhoc, Licadho and the NGO Forum—said they knew nothing of the new committee. The groups have complained for years that the government has been pursuing policies regarding land at the cost of rampant deforestation and forced evictions.
Nicolas Agostini, a technical assistant for Adhoc on land and resource rights, urged the government to work closely with donor countries, NGOs and local communities while putting the national plan together.
“A lack of consultation in the process of drafting a national land-use plan may lead the government to adopt a sub-standard document which could be used to validate evictions and land grabbing and to further threaten the land tenure of the most vulnerable people,” he said.
“Conversely, the government would show a political will to find sustainable solutions to the land crisis if it consulted with relevant stakeholders and took the time to make sure the national land-use plan is consistent with the overall legal framework.”
An official at Germany’s foreign development arm, GIZ, said it was already working with authorities in three provinces on local land use plans that will eventually be approved by the new committee and fed into a comprehensive, nationwide plan.
Franz-Volker Mueller, team leader of GIZ’s land rights program in Cambodia, said it had been helping to draw up Battambang province’s plan since 2005 and was “almost done.” GIZ is also working on similar plans for Takeo and Kompong Chhnang provinces.
Mr. Mueller said the provincial plans lay out the locations of many things, including “roads, electrical lines, settlements and where to put which settlements.
“It’s a very comprehensive plan,” he said. “It clearly sets targets where development should take place.”
Senior officials from across the government have started drafting a master plan that aims to map out the future locations of everything from roads to cities and development zones across the country.
Land Management Minister Im Chhun Lim chaired the first meeting of a 20-member National Committee for Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction last week in order to push ahead with the plan, said Beng Hong Socheat Khemro, spokesman for the Ministry of Land Management.
“Urban planning and land management is a very big job that cannot be done by a single ministry,” Mr. Socheat Khemro said. “It’s time for the establishment of this committee to improve our work.”
Officials at local NGOs that follow land issues closely—Adhoc, Licadho and the NGO Forum—said they knew nothing of the new committee. The groups have complained for years that the government has been pursuing policies regarding land at the cost of rampant deforestation and forced evictions.
Nicolas Agostini, a technical assistant for Adhoc on land and resource rights, urged the government to work closely with donor countries, NGOs and local communities while putting the national plan together.
“A lack of consultation in the process of drafting a national land-use plan may lead the government to adopt a sub-standard document which could be used to validate evictions and land grabbing and to further threaten the land tenure of the most vulnerable people,” he said.
“Conversely, the government would show a political will to find sustainable solutions to the land crisis if it consulted with relevant stakeholders and took the time to make sure the national land-use plan is consistent with the overall legal framework.”
An official at Germany’s foreign development arm, GIZ, said it was already working with authorities in three provinces on local land use plans that will eventually be approved by the new committee and fed into a comprehensive, nationwide plan.
Franz-Volker Mueller, team leader of GIZ’s land rights program in Cambodia, said it had been helping to draw up Battambang province’s plan since 2005 and was “almost done.” GIZ is also working on similar plans for Takeo and Kompong Chhnang provinces.
Mr. Mueller said the provincial plans lay out the locations of many things, including “roads, electrical lines, settlements and where to put which settlements.
“It’s a very comprehensive plan,” he said. “It clearly sets targets where development should take place.”
© 2013, The Cambodia Daily. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reproduced in print, electronically, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without written permission.
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