Thursday, January 31, 2013
JAPAN VIDEO: Japan eases US beef restrictions
Japan is relaxing restrictions on US-imported beef imposed almost a decade ago after the discovery of "mad cow disease" in America.
AUSTRALIA blasts JAPAN after whaling fleet incursion
The Australian government on Friday lodged a protest with Tokyo after a ship from the Japanese whaling fleet entered its exclusive economic zone in the Southern Ocean near Macquarie Island.
Canberra is strongly opposed to whaling and launched legal action challenging the basis of Japan’s so-called “scientific” hunt in December 2010.
The Japanese fleet left for the Southern Ocean in late December, planning to catch up to 935 Antarctic minke whales and up to 50 fin whales and the Shonan Maru No.2, a support vessel, strayed into Australia’s economic zone on Thursday.
The Japanese fleet left for the Southern Ocean in late December, planning to catch up to 935 Antarctic minke whales and up to 50 fin whales and the Shonan Maru No.2, a support vessel, strayed into Australia’s economic zone on Thursday.
SOUTH KOREA: Samsung Chairman Keeps Fortune in Inheritance Case
(SEOUL, South Korea) — The chairman of Samsung Electronics has kept his fortune and control of the Samsung conglomerate after a South Korean court Friday ruled against his older brother in an inheritance battle. The case was watched because a ruling against Samsung’s chairman Lee Kun-hee could have resulted in the unraveling of a cross-shareholding structure that allows Lee, who is South Korea’s richest person, to control the conglomerate as a minority shareholder. (MORE: Samsung May Have Soured on 7-In. Tablets) The high-stakes fight also highlighted a deep discord between the two sons of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chull, who denounced each other in public as the battle unfolded last year. Lee Kun-hee’s brother, Meng-hee, wanted a bigger share of the Samsung cake but the court ruled that a 10-year period for inheritance claims had expired. It also said there was not enough evidence to prove that dividends from Samsung companies were intended as part of the inheritance from Byung-chull. Meng-hee’s lawyers said they would consider an appeal. Before announcing the ruling, the judge said he wished the brothers would reconcile and live in harmony. (MORE: What Google’s FTC Deal Means for the Patent Wars)
CHINA: Outgoing China Leader Cautions on Urbanization
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao warned that the interests of rural residents must not be sacrificed in pursuing urbanization, in a sign of potential tension between China's outgoing and incoming leaders.
CHINA: Fireworks Explosion on Chinese Highway Kills 26
(BEIJING) — A truck carrying fireworks ahead of Chinese New Year celebrations exploded and destroyed part of an elevated highway Friday in central China, killing at least 26 people as it sent vehicles plummeting 30 meters (about 100 feet) to the ground, state media said. The huge blast destroyed an 80-meter (80-yard) stretch of highway outside the city of Sanmenxia in Henan province, and was powerful enough to shatter windows of a nearby truck stop. Emergency crews closed the highway at the accident site, said China National Radio, which reported the death toll of 26. The Xinhua News Agency reported four deaths but said search and rescue efforts were continuing. At least 15 people were injured and sent to nearby hospitals, the Henan Commercial Newspaper reported. Photos posted on the popular news site Sina.com by Chinese netizens showed a stretch of elevated highway gone, with a truck perched precariously at the broken edge. Other photos showed wrecked trucks below and blackened chunks of scattered debris, including collapsed sections of highway, wrecked trucks and cargo containers. (PHOTOS: TIME Picks the Most Surprising Photos of 2012)
CHINA media: Sex videos and houses
Two high-profile corruption cases, involving sex videos and illegal property purchases, dominate Friday's headlines.
NORTH KOREA camouflages nuclear test site
North Korea has covered the entrance to a tunnel at its nuclear test site in an apparent effort to avoid satellite monitoring ahead of a widely expected detonation.
CHINA: Fireworks Explosion in China Kills 26
A truck carrying fireworks exploded on a highway in central China, killing at least 26 people and destroying a bridge.
CAMBODIA begins Sihanouk funeral
Crowds line the streets of Phnom Penh for the start of funeral proceedings for former Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk, who died in October.
CHINA truck blast fells bridge
A truck carrying fireworks explodes on a highway in central China, causing a bridge to collapse, state media say.
CHINA: Yang Xiong named Shanghai mayor
Yang Xiong, Shanghai's acting mayor, was appointed by the city legislature as city mayor this morning.
He was appointed at the session of the municipal people's congress today.
Yang, 59, was previously named acting mayor of Shanghai in December. He was appointed vice mayor of Shanghai in 2003 and had been executive vice mayor since 2008.
As executive vice mayor, he took charge of various sections including development and reform, planning, population management, statistics, commodity prices and social stability.
During the World Expo in 2010, he served as executive deputy director of the Shanghai World Expo Executive Committee and took part in preparations both at the World Expo site and across the city.
Yang earned a master's degree in economics in 1985 from the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
He worked as deputy director of the Economy Research Center of the city government after graduation.
Yang once served as president of Shanghai Airlines Co Ltd and chairman of the supervisors board of Shanghai Airlines Co Ltd until February 2001, when he became vice secretary-general of Shanghai Municipality.
He was appointed at the session of the municipal people's congress today.
Yang, 59, was previously named acting mayor of Shanghai in December. He was appointed vice mayor of Shanghai in 2003 and had been executive vice mayor since 2008.
As executive vice mayor, he took charge of various sections including development and reform, planning, population management, statistics, commodity prices and social stability.
During the World Expo in 2010, he served as executive deputy director of the Shanghai World Expo Executive Committee and took part in preparations both at the World Expo site and across the city.
Yang earned a master's degree in economics in 1985 from the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
He worked as deputy director of the Economy Research Center of the city government after graduation.
Yang once served as president of Shanghai Airlines Co Ltd and chairman of the supervisors board of Shanghai Airlines Co Ltd until February 2001, when he became vice secretary-general of Shanghai Municipality.
CHINA: The People's Republic of Hacking
Adam Segal says the recent Chinese cyberattacks on Bloomberg and the New York Times highlights both the willingness of Beijing to shape the narrative about China, as well as the vulnerability the top leadership feels about how they are portrayed.
CHINA: Change in China Inevitable, Says Dissident Chen
Despite years of imprisonment, harassment and physical abuse by the authorities, activist Chen Guangcheng says he is hopeful about China.
“I am actually optimistic that change will come,” said Chen, at an event Wednesday in Washington D.C.
Earlier this week, the blind activist, known by many in his country as the “barefoot lawyer, was presented with the Tom Lantos Human Rights award at a ceremony on Capitol Hill. It comes just nine months after he made a dramatic escape from ...
“I am actually optimistic that change will come,” said Chen, at an event Wednesday in Washington D.C.
Earlier this week, the blind activist, known by many in his country as the “barefoot lawyer, was presented with the Tom Lantos Human Rights award at a ceremony on Capitol Hill. It comes just nine months after he made a dramatic escape from ...
CHINA: Chinese Hackers Targeted Wall Street Journal's Computers
The Wall Street Journal said its computer systems had been infiltrated by Chinese hackers for the apparent purpose of monitoring the newspaper's China coverage.
CHINA: 14 charged over riot in Qidong, Jiangsu province, plead guilty
Fourteen people pleaded guilty to encouraging a riot in Jiangsu province last year in which a Communist Party chief was stripped half-naked in a mass protest that ultimately forced the local government to scrap a waste-water treatment project.
Xinhua said the defendants were prosecuted on Wednesday on charges of encouraging mass violence against government buildings and intentionally damaging property in the eastern city of Qidong . Scores of police were hurt in the melee.
The sentences would be announced later, Xinhua said.
Xinhua said the defendants were prosecuted on Wednesday on charges of encouraging mass violence against government buildings and intentionally damaging property in the eastern city of Qidong . Scores of police were hurt in the melee.
The sentences would be announced later, Xinhua said.
CHINA: Woman in Chongqing sex-tapes scandal charged with extortion
The woman at the centre of a sex scandal that has been the downfall of 11 officials has been arrested and charged with extortion, according to her lawyer.
Zhao Hongxia was detained in November after screen shots from a video showing her having sex with Chongqing district-level party official Lei Zhengfu were posted online, Zhang Zhiyong said.
Lei was fired after the shots went viral, and Xinhua reported yesterday that he would be handed over to judicial authorities following an investigation into allegations he was involved in economic crimes and bribery.
Zhao Hongxia was detained in November after screen shots from a video showing her having sex with Chongqing district-level party official Lei Zhengfu were posted online, Zhang Zhiyong said.
Lei was fired after the shots went viral, and Xinhua reported yesterday that he would be handed over to judicial authorities following an investigation into allegations he was involved in economic crimes and bribery.
HONG KONG: Jackie Chan named on list of CPPCC delegates
Action star Jackie Chan, who stirred controversy with his comments on limiting people's right to protest, has been named a Hong Kong delegate to China's top political advisory body.
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference standing committee member Chan Wing-kee, who has seen the proposed list of members who will serve for the next five-year term, said yesterday the Hollywood actor's name was on the list.
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference standing committee member Chan Wing-kee, who has seen the proposed list of members who will serve for the next five-year term, said yesterday the Hollywood actor's name was on the list.
HONG KONG: Shine is fading fast from CY's policy address
The public continues to pour cold water on Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying's maiden policy address, as the latest poll reveals that 45 per cent of Hong Kong people are dissatisfied - making it one of the worst received policy addresses since the handover.
Leung's attempt to focus on the housing problem also drew heavy criticism from lawmakers across the political spectrum in the debate on the traditional motion of thanks yesterday.
Leung's attempt to focus on the housing problem also drew heavy criticism from lawmakers across the political spectrum in the debate on the traditional motion of thanks yesterday.
CRUISE News from Cruise Line International Association
Calling all cruisers: yesterday in New York at its State of the Industry Conference, Cruise Line International Associatio...
NORTH KOREA: ‘Under Martial Law’ Ahead of Likely Nuclear Test
Activists wear the face masks of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and his wife Ri Sol-Ju (L) as they 'beg' for money during an anti-Pyongyang rally urging North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons in Seoul on Jan. 31. (Kim Jae-hwan/AFP/Getty Images)
North Korea is now under martial law and leader Kim Jong Un has told frontline troops to prepare for war, amid reports that Pyongyang will carry out its third nuclear test, according to South Korean media on Thursday.
Kim gave the secret order to “complete preparations for a nuclear weapons test between Tuesday and yesterday,” reported the JoongAng Ilbo, a South Korean national daily. “The country will be under martial law starting from midnight Jan. 29 and all the frontline and central units should be ready for a war,” Kim reportedly said.
An inside source in North Hamkyung Province told the Daily NK website that on Jan. 30, “the status change to preparation for combat mobilization was declared today at midnight.”
According to the Daily NK, North Korea has several readiness states for its military: “alert, combat alert, preparation for combat mobilization, combat mobilization, quasi-state of war, and state of war.” It means that out of the six stages, North Korea is currently at the third step.
“Worker and Peasant Red Guards were issued with real guns rather than replicas, and the security services went out onto the streets to maintain order,” the source said.
In 1993, North Korea withdrew from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and then told the military to be in a “quasi-state of war.”
Due to the massive media restrictions in the reclusive, communist state, it is nearly impossible to tell if Pyongyang will take any further steps.
Kim also specifically made commands to take “effective, high-profile state measures,” and he “assigned specific tasks” to officials, reported the JoongAng. These directives were apparently triggered after the United Nations Security Council imposed more sanctions on the regime.
The newspaper also reported that a nuclear test would come sooner than previously expected, possibly being held on Feb. 16, which is the birthday of dead leader Kim Jong Il.
North Korea carried out its first nuclear test in 2006 and conducted another underground test in 2009. The currently planned nuclear test is in response to sanctions and criticism after it successfully launched a rocket, which Pyongyang claimed was to put a satellite in orbit, but later said was basically a ballistic missile.
On Thursday, South Korea warned the North that it would face “grave consequences” if the nuclear test goes through, according to the Yonhap News Agency.
“If North Korea misjudges the situation and pushes ahead with a provocation again, it will cause very grave consequences,” presidential spokesman Park Jeong-ha told Yonhap. “The government urges North Korea to immediately halt all provocative words and actions and comply with international obligations.”
Yonhap quoted a South Korean government official in saying that if the nuclear test is carried out, it will serve to bolster the morale of the military in supporting Kim and will be used to rally the public.
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CHINA: New York Times Hit by Hackers
The New York Times newspaper has accused hackers traced to China of "persistently" infiltrating its computer networks over the last four months, sparking an angry denial from Beijing.
"Chinese hackers have persistently attacked The New York Times, infiltrating its computer systems and getting passwords for its reporters and other employees," the paper reported.
The paper had hired a team of computer security experts to trace the attacks and block any back doors through which they were gaining access to the system, it said.
"The Times and computer security experts have expelled the attackers and kept them from breaking back in," the report said.
It said the timing of the attacks came as the paper's journalists were researching several billion dollars' worth of assets it later reported were held secretly by relatives of outgoing premier Wen Jiabao.
By the time the paper published the results of its investigation on Oct. 25, the security of its' employees e-mail accounts had already been compromised.
The paper hired security experts who had gathered evidence that Chinese hackers breached the paper's network, the report said.
"They broke into the e-mail accounts of its Shanghai bureau chief, David Barboza, who wrote the reports on Mr. Wen’s relatives, and Jim Yardley, The Times’s South Asia bureau chief in India, who previously worked as bureau chief in Beijing," the paper reported.
However, a spokeswoman for the papers said no evidence had been found that outsiders had accessed sensitive information or files from the research effort.
Cover their tracks
According to experts at Mandiant, the security firm that investigated the security breach, the hackers tried to cover their own tracks by routing the attacks through compromised computers at U.S. universities.
"This matches the subterfuge used in many other attacks that Mandiant has tracked to China," the New York Times' own article said.
It said the malware used to install spyware on the paper's network was also of a type previously associated with Chinese hacker attacks.
It quoted Mandiant as saying that the attacks started from the same university computers used by the Chinese military to attack U.S. military contractors in the past.
The paper said there appeared to be a "broader computer espionage campaign" against American news media companies that have reported on Chinese leaders and corporations.
It cited Chinese hacker attacks on Bloomberg News after Bloomberg published an article on June 29 about the wealth accumulated by relatives of president-in-waiting Xi Jinping.
An employee at the New York Times in China, who declined to be named, confirmed that the e-mail accounts of "some colleagues" had been taken over by hackers.
But he declined to speculate on whether the Chinese government was involved.
Meanwhile, a German foreign correspondent based in Beijing said his e-mail had been hacked several times before.
"My e-mail account has been taken over at least four times," the journalist said, including, "Once from Hong Kong, once from Taiwan and once from mainland China."
"My e-mails were opened," he added.
Revenge attack unlikely
Beijing-based scholar Chen Yongmiao, who follows cyber-security issues, said he believed that official military involvement in a revenge attack on the Times' networks wasn't very likely.
But he said that didn't rule out privately motivated attacks by people affected by the Times' recent reporting on China, who might well have a military background.
"I don't think that the military would target a specific company simply because of some media reports about corruption," Chen said.
"Unless it was someone from one of the families accused of corruption, who used his military connections to get revenge on the New York Times."
The Chinese government has repeatedly denied any involvement in hacker activities, saying it is opposed to them.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Thursday that the suggestion that China was involved in the hacker attacks on The New York Times was "irresponsible."
"To arbitrarily assert and to conclude without hard evidence that China participated in such hacking attacks is totally irresponsible," Hong told a regular news briefing in Beijing.
"China is also a victim of hacking attacks," he said. "Chinese laws clearly forbid hacking attacks, and we hope the relevant parties will take a responsible attitude on this issue."
A similar denial was quoted in the New York Times from the defense ministry in Beijing.
Significant threat
A U.S. security watchdog reported last year that China has advanced its computer network capabilities to the extent that they pose a significant threat to U.S. military operations in the event of a conflict.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission report detailed how China is advancing its capabilities in computer network attack, defense, and exploitation and examines issues related to cybersecurity and potential risks to U.S. national security and economic interests.
In August 2011, China rejected suggestions that it was behind a massive cyberspying initiative reported earlier that month by security firm McAfee.
McAfee said in a report titled "Operation Shady RAT" that hackers compromised computer security at more than 70 global organizations, including the U.N. and U.S. government bodies, sparking speculation that China was behind the attacks.
McAfee did not identify any country behind the hacking campaign, but its security experts had said in February last year that hackers working from China had targeted the computers of oil and gas companies in the U.S., Greece, Taiwan, and Kazakhstan.
The “coordinated, covert, and targeted” attacks began in November 2009, and the hackers succeeded in stealing sensitive information, it said.
Reported by Grace Kei Lai-see for RFA's Cantonese service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
AUSTRALIA: Asia’s Saudi Arabia?
Shale gas may be sparking an energy revolution in the United States and potentially even China , but it has attracted relatively little attention in Australia. All that may have changed with a recent announcement by Brisbane-based energy explorer, Linc Energy.
Linc shares surged 24 percent after it told the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on January 23 that its shale oil assets in South Australia’s Arckaringa Basin had the potential to hold up to 233 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) – an amount not incomparable to Saudi Arabia’s estimated oil reserves of 263 billion BOE.
The announcement sparked excitable headlines too, including the Advertiser’s AUD “$20 trillion shale oil find surrounding Coober Pedy ‘can fuel Australia’”.
Linc’s chief executive Peter Bond, a self-made mining magnate and among Australia’s richest executives, showed little reluctance to fuel media speculation.
“If it comes in the way the reports are suggesting, it could well and truly bring Australia back to [oil] self-sufficiency,” Bond told the Adelaide daily.
He said the discovery could potentially rival the U.S. shale boom, even at the lower end of estimates amounting to 3.5 billion BOE.
"The opportunity of turning this into the next shale boom is very real,” he said. “If the Arckaringa plays out the way we hope it will, and the way our independent reports have shown, it's one of the key prospective territories in the world at the moment."
South Australia’s minerals minister, Tom Koutsantonis was also keen to promote the find, saying “shale gas and shale oil will be a key part to securing Australia’s energy security now and into the future.”
Linc released two independent reports from consulting firms DeGolyer and MacNaughton (D&M) and Gustavson Associates, with the latter estimating “unrisked prospective resources” for unconventional reservoirs of 233 billion BOE. D&M, which used a different methodology, estimated 103 billion BOE across Linc’s 16 million contiguous acres.
The Australian company, which also has oil and gas interests in the United States, said the estimates “compare favorably to prolific U.S. unconventional liquids plays such as the Bakken and Eagle Ford.”
Linc said it had appointed Barclays Bank to advise it on strategic options, including the “introduction of an experienced shale operator to joint venture the development of this emerging world-class shale play,” which is expected to cost AUD$300 million to develop.
However, analysts were less bullish, noting that the Arckaringa Basin lacked the infrastructure and production track record of the Cooper Basin to the east.
Linc shares dropped 10 percent the day after the announcement, with Bond distancing himself from the U.S. $20 trillion resource estimate and investors taking profits given the time frame and cost of development.
Krista Walter, senior energy, oil and gas analyst at RBS Morgans, told The Diplomat there was a long way to go before Linc’s shale dream became reality, given a typical recovery rate of just 5 percent.
“It’s certainly a big number, although we have known the Arckaringa Basin is prospective for both conventional and unconventional oil and gas, without having any real data on the potential size of it,” Walter said.
“It’s a prospective resource so there’s still a lot of work to be done before you can understand how much can be produced commercially.”
Rich in coal and gas, Australia is forecast by BP to overtake Qatar as the world’s largest supplier of liquefied natural gas by 2018. However, a U.S.-style shale revolution is still a distant prospect, according to Walter.
“We’re at the early stages of looking at these unconventional shales and deep coals and tight sands in Australia,” she said.
“It’s probably too early to say if it will mimic the U.S., but it’s looking promising as companies are getting gas to surface from these wells.”
However, Linc’s report was castigated by the Australian Financial Review’s Tony Boyd as “an over-the-top ASX announcement that suited a gullible media” and squeezed out short sellers in the stock.
He noted the company’s previous reported AUD$1.5 billion sale of its coal tenements to Chinese investors, a deal which moved its share price but ultimately failed to eventuate.
But while Linc and its founder may be known for bullish statements, the report has awoken Australians to the potential of another “unconventional” resource in an energy-hungry region.
Just a few short years ago, critics panned the prospects of unconventional coal seam gas or coal bed methane, which have now become a AUD$50 billion industry in Queensland state.
Linc shares surged 24 percent after it told the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on January 23 that its shale oil assets in South Australia’s Arckaringa Basin had the potential to hold up to 233 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) – an amount not incomparable to Saudi Arabia’s estimated oil reserves of 263 billion BOE.
The announcement sparked excitable headlines too, including the Advertiser’s AUD “$20 trillion shale oil find surrounding Coober Pedy ‘can fuel Australia’”.
Linc’s chief executive Peter Bond, a self-made mining magnate and among Australia’s richest executives, showed little reluctance to fuel media speculation.
“If it comes in the way the reports are suggesting, it could well and truly bring Australia back to [oil] self-sufficiency,” Bond told the Adelaide daily.
He said the discovery could potentially rival the U.S. shale boom, even at the lower end of estimates amounting to 3.5 billion BOE.
"The opportunity of turning this into the next shale boom is very real,” he said. “If the Arckaringa plays out the way we hope it will, and the way our independent reports have shown, it's one of the key prospective territories in the world at the moment."
South Australia’s minerals minister, Tom Koutsantonis was also keen to promote the find, saying “shale gas and shale oil will be a key part to securing Australia’s energy security now and into the future.”
Linc released two independent reports from consulting firms DeGolyer and MacNaughton (D&M) and Gustavson Associates, with the latter estimating “unrisked prospective resources” for unconventional reservoirs of 233 billion BOE. D&M, which used a different methodology, estimated 103 billion BOE across Linc’s 16 million contiguous acres.
The Australian company, which also has oil and gas interests in the United States, said the estimates “compare favorably to prolific U.S. unconventional liquids plays such as the Bakken and Eagle Ford.”
Linc said it had appointed Barclays Bank to advise it on strategic options, including the “introduction of an experienced shale operator to joint venture the development of this emerging world-class shale play,” which is expected to cost AUD$300 million to develop.
However, analysts were less bullish, noting that the Arckaringa Basin lacked the infrastructure and production track record of the Cooper Basin to the east.
Linc shares dropped 10 percent the day after the announcement, with Bond distancing himself from the U.S. $20 trillion resource estimate and investors taking profits given the time frame and cost of development.
Krista Walter, senior energy, oil and gas analyst at RBS Morgans, told The Diplomat there was a long way to go before Linc’s shale dream became reality, given a typical recovery rate of just 5 percent.
“It’s certainly a big number, although we have known the Arckaringa Basin is prospective for both conventional and unconventional oil and gas, without having any real data on the potential size of it,” Walter said.
“It’s a prospective resource so there’s still a lot of work to be done before you can understand how much can be produced commercially.”
Rich in coal and gas, Australia is forecast by BP to overtake Qatar as the world’s largest supplier of liquefied natural gas by 2018. However, a U.S.-style shale revolution is still a distant prospect, according to Walter.
“We’re at the early stages of looking at these unconventional shales and deep coals and tight sands in Australia,” she said.
“It’s probably too early to say if it will mimic the U.S., but it’s looking promising as companies are getting gas to surface from these wells.”
However, Linc’s report was castigated by the Australian Financial Review’s Tony Boyd as “an over-the-top ASX announcement that suited a gullible media” and squeezed out short sellers in the stock.
He noted the company’s previous reported AUD$1.5 billion sale of its coal tenements to Chinese investors, a deal which moved its share price but ultimately failed to eventuate.
But while Linc and its founder may be known for bullish statements, the report has awoken Australians to the potential of another “unconventional” resource in an energy-hungry region.
Just a few short years ago, critics panned the prospects of unconventional coal seam gas or coal bed methane, which have now become a AUD$50 billion industry in Queensland state.
SINGAPORE Rate-Fixing Probe Snags Traders
Banks in Singapore are nearing the end of their investigations into whether traders conspired to manipulate exchange rates for Asian currencies, leading to dozens of traders being put on forced leave.
RUSSIAN Court upholds ban on 'extremist' Pussy Riot videos
A Russian court's decision to uphold a ban on 'extremist' videos of Pussy Riot's protest performance in a Moscow cathedral last year, highlights the escalating clampdown on freedom of expression in the country, Amnesty International said.
The Moscow City Court on Wednesday rejected the appeal by band member Ekaterina Samutsevich and upheld the ruling of a lower court in November, banning the videos under vaguely defined counter-extremist legislation.
"The increasing use of loosely-worded counter-extremist laws to crack down on dissent shows the Russian authorities' absolute lack of respect for the right to freedom of expression as one of the foundations of a democratic society," said David Diaz-Jogeix, Europe and Central Asia Deputy Programme Director.
"The ban on Pussy Riot's videos must be lifted and all such attacks on the internationally recognized right to freedom of expression must be stopped along with the narrow application of counter-extremist legislation."
Maria Alekhina together with Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samutsevich, three of the members of the all-female group Pussy Riot, were charged with “hooliganism on grounds of religious hatred” after they sang a protest song in Moscow’s main Orthodox cathedral in February 2012.
All three were subsequently sentenced to two years imprisonment in a penal colony but later Ekaterina Samutsevich was given a suspended sentence on appeal.
Amnesty International has expressed concern at the court's judgment that the videos contained "images and expressions that were aiming at inciting hatred or enmity and humiliation of persons based on their religion and belonging to social institutions."
The organization believes that there are no indications of violence or calls for violence in the videos.
The members of Pussy Riot insist that their actions, including the performance at the Church of Jesus the Saviour, were not intended to incite hatred, whether of religion, or of those belonging to certain social groups or other minorities.
The court judgment seems to go against a statement by the Russian Supreme Court in June 2011 that the criticism of public officials and professional politicians, their actions and beliefs in itself should not be regarded as actions aimed at humiliating or degrading a person or a group, since boundaries for criticism of such persons are wider than those of private individuals.
The ban on videos of the group's protest in a Moscow cathedral last year, highlights an escalating clampdown on freedom of expression.
The Moscow City Court on Wednesday rejected the appeal by band member Ekaterina Samutsevich and upheld the ruling of a lower court in November, banning the videos under vaguely defined counter-extremist legislation.
"The increasing use of loosely-worded counter-extremist laws to crack down on dissent shows the Russian authorities' absolute lack of respect for the right to freedom of expression as one of the foundations of a democratic society," said David Diaz-Jogeix, Europe and Central Asia Deputy Programme Director.
"The ban on Pussy Riot's videos must be lifted and all such attacks on the internationally recognized right to freedom of expression must be stopped along with the narrow application of counter-extremist legislation."
Maria Alekhina together with Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samutsevich, three of the members of the all-female group Pussy Riot, were charged with “hooliganism on grounds of religious hatred” after they sang a protest song in Moscow’s main Orthodox cathedral in February 2012.
All three were subsequently sentenced to two years imprisonment in a penal colony but later Ekaterina Samutsevich was given a suspended sentence on appeal.
Amnesty International has expressed concern at the court's judgment that the videos contained "images and expressions that were aiming at inciting hatred or enmity and humiliation of persons based on their religion and belonging to social institutions."
The organization believes that there are no indications of violence or calls for violence in the videos.
The members of Pussy Riot insist that their actions, including the performance at the Church of Jesus the Saviour, were not intended to incite hatred, whether of religion, or of those belonging to certain social groups or other minorities.
The court judgment seems to go against a statement by the Russian Supreme Court in June 2011 that the criticism of public officials and professional politicians, their actions and beliefs in itself should not be regarded as actions aimed at humiliating or degrading a person or a group, since boundaries for criticism of such persons are wider than those of private individuals.
The ban on videos of the group's protest in a Moscow cathedral last year, highlights an escalating clampdown on freedom of expression.
The increasing use of loosely-worded counter-extremist laws to crack down on dissent shows the Russian authorities' absolute lack of respect for the right to freedom of expression as one of the foundations of a democratic society.
RUSSIA: Rights group says Russia's 2012 crackdown worst since Soviet era
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian authoritarianism rose to levels unprecedented in recent history in 2012, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday, assessing what it called the harshest crackdown on political freedoms in the country since the Soviet era.
TIBET: First Tibet 'self-immolation' convictions in China, as fiery deaths near 100
Chinese courts start to prosecute as more monks, nuns, and ordinary Tibetans protest policies to shun the Dalai Lama and absorb ancient culture.
JAPAN: Saying UnSorry - By Robert Whiting
Will Japan's new prime minister really take back his country's apology for World War II?
JAPAN ex-minister warns of Okinawa unrest, secession
A former Japanese minister has warned domestic terrorists could strike Tokyo if the government fails to address anger in Okinawa over a heavy US military presence there.
Shozaburo Jimi, minister in charge of financial services and postal reform, under the last government, suggested Wednesday that residents of the sub-tropical island chain may also push for secession from Japan.
Shozaburo Jimi, minister in charge of financial services and postal reform, under the last government, suggested Wednesday that residents of the sub-tropical island chain may also push for secession from Japan.
CHINA Convicts 2 Tibetans for 'Inciting' Self-Immolations
China has convicted two Tibetans of "intentional homicide" for inciting self-immolations in protest of Chinese rule.
The official Xinhua news agency says 40-year-old Lorang Konchok was condemned to death with a two-year reprieve, a sentence that usually amounts to life in prison. The court in southwestern Aba prefecture also sentenced his nephew, 31-year-old Lorang Tsering, to 10 years in prison.
Xinhua says the two men "incited and coerced" eight people to self-immolate. ...
The official Xinhua news agency says 40-year-old Lorang Konchok was condemned to death with a two-year reprieve, a sentence that usually amounts to life in prison. The court in southwestern Aba prefecture also sentenced his nephew, 31-year-old Lorang Tsering, to 10 years in prison.
Xinhua says the two men "incited and coerced" eight people to self-immolate. ...
AUSTRALIA: Gina tops Forbes' Australian rich list
GINA Rinehart has held on to the top spot on the annual list despite falling iron ore prices eating into her $16.41bn mining fortune.
AUSTRALIAN opposition leader warns of second election
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia faces a possible fourth straight year of political instability after opposition leader Tony Abbott, on track to win power in a September election, threatened a second poll if a hostile upper house rejects his plan to scrap a tax on carbon.
In VIETNAM, Rage Growing Over Loss of Land Rights
(KIM SON, Vietnam) — Faced with a group of farmers refusing to give up their land for a housing project, the Communist Party officials negotiating the deal devised a solution: They went to a bank, opened accounts in the names of the holdouts and deposited what they decided was fair compensation. Then they took the land. The farmers, angry at the sum and now forced to compete for jobs in a stuttering economy, blocked the main road connecting the capital to the north of the country for one day in December. In a macabre gesture, some clambered into coffins. Police who came to break up the demonstration were pelted with rocks. Several people were arrested. (MORE: Vietnam Deports American Detained for 9 Months) “This is an injustice,” said Nguyen Duc Hung, a rice farmer forced to give up 2,000 square meters (215,000 square feet) of land he had worked for more than 15 years. “The compensation money will help us to survive for several years, but after that, how can we make our living?” Forced confiscations of land are a major and growing source of public anger against Vietnam’s authoritarian one-party government. They often go hand-in-hand with corruption; local Communist Party elites have a monopoly on land deals, and many are alleged to have used it to make themselves rich. These issues unite rural and urban Vietnamese in a way that discontent over political oppression tends not to. Land disputes break out elsewhere in Asia, notably next door in China, but they have particular resonance in Vietnam, where wars and revolutions were fought in the name of the peasant class to secure collective ownership of the land. The farmers who blocked the road quoted the country’s revolutionary leader, Ho Chi Minh, in the banners they posted at their camp. “Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom,” said one. “We would rather die than lose our land,” said another. The government recognizes that the anger coursing through the countryside threatens its legitimacy, and has pledged to revise land laws this year
AUSTRALIA Vulnerable to Slowdown Risk, Says S&P
Slowing investment in Australia's resources sector raises the prospect of a sharp slowdown in the economy, according to S&P
CHINA: Chinese devour Joyce translation
A Chinese version of James Joyce's novel Finnegan's Wake, which took eight years to translate, surprises by selling out its initial print run.
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.
Related Articles
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.
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
‘House Sister’ in China Whereabouts Unknown
‘House Sister’ in China Whereabouts Unknown:
Prices for new homes in Beijing and other cities in China have been skyrocketing. Apartments in buildings like this one, photographed in June 2011, sold for 300,000 yuan (46,000 USD) per square meter. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
A Chinese Communist Party official in Shaanxi Province, recently exposed as the owner of more than 20 properties in a handful of cities, is nowhere to be found.
Gong Aiai was given the moniker “house sister” after her real estate holdings were revealed. The case shows the immense corruption that is possible at even low levels in China.
After the case stirred up a storm on the Internet, the police in her hometown reportedly took her brother into custody for questioning.
Reporters attempting to interview Gong Aiai failed to find her in Shenmu, her place of residence, and so far, there has been no information on where she has gone or been taken, or whether she has gone into hiding to avoid publicity.
Gong Aiai’s ownership of Beijing and Shaanxi property registered under different names is worth over 10 billion yuan (over $160 million), it is estimated. The vast amount of money involved strongly suggests that foul play is afoot.
Gong, a member of Yulin Municipal People’s Congress, and also former deputy president of the Shenmu County Rural Commercial Bank, is the most recent Party official to be exposed by Internet whistleblowers.
The intense publicity prompted a widespread investigation in Shaanxi involving the Beijing police and Ministry of Public Security, which brought to light her four illegal residential registrations and resulted in arrests of several local officials. In China, each person is issued only one household registration, or hukou, and cannot legally own property under other registrations.
So far, investigations have uncovered personal assets of 28 properties. Eight of them in Beijing, occupying more than 2,000 square meters; two in Xi’an with around 400 square meters; and two in Shenmu with 620 square meters. She also owned businesses in those cities.
In an interview with Chinese media, Gong attempted to explain her family business operations: “My family is a big family and we have coal and other enterprises,” she said. “I together with my brothers have taken care of the coal business for years and we have a high income.” Chinese following the case online did not appear to be convinced.
Read the original Chinese article.
chinareports@epochtimes.com
The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 21 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.
Prices for new homes in Beijing and other cities in China have been skyrocketing. Apartments in buildings like this one, photographed in June 2011, sold for 300,000 yuan (46,000 USD) per square meter. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
A Chinese Communist Party official in Shaanxi Province, recently exposed as the owner of more than 20 properties in a handful of cities, is nowhere to be found.
Gong Aiai was given the moniker “house sister” after her real estate holdings were revealed. The case shows the immense corruption that is possible at even low levels in China.
After the case stirred up a storm on the Internet, the police in her hometown reportedly took her brother into custody for questioning.
Reporters attempting to interview Gong Aiai failed to find her in Shenmu, her place of residence, and so far, there has been no information on where she has gone or been taken, or whether she has gone into hiding to avoid publicity.
Gong Aiai’s ownership of Beijing and Shaanxi property registered under different names is worth over 10 billion yuan (over $160 million), it is estimated. The vast amount of money involved strongly suggests that foul play is afoot.
Gong, a member of Yulin Municipal People’s Congress, and also former deputy president of the Shenmu County Rural Commercial Bank, is the most recent Party official to be exposed by Internet whistleblowers.
The intense publicity prompted a widespread investigation in Shaanxi involving the Beijing police and Ministry of Public Security, which brought to light her four illegal residential registrations and resulted in arrests of several local officials. In China, each person is issued only one household registration, or hukou, and cannot legally own property under other registrations.
So far, investigations have uncovered personal assets of 28 properties. Eight of them in Beijing, occupying more than 2,000 square meters; two in Xi’an with around 400 square meters; and two in Shenmu with 620 square meters. She also owned businesses in those cities.
In an interview with Chinese media, Gong attempted to explain her family business operations: “My family is a big family and we have coal and other enterprises,” she said. “I together with my brothers have taken care of the coal business for years and we have a high income.” Chinese following the case online did not appear to be convinced.
Read the original Chinese article.
chinareports@epochtimes.com
The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 21 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.
Lack of trust clouds strategies of China, Japan and the US in East Asia
Lack of trust clouds strategies of China, Japan and the US in East Asia:
The world watches in bewilderment as two of its largest economies inch ever closer to war. It's all the more puzzling given that the countries have become close trading partners in recent years and the arguments between them seem trivial.
Their economies are so interdependent that any confrontation - let alone a full-scale war - would surely bring ruin to all.
The scene described is Europe 100 years ago. It may be an exaggeration to compare today's Sino-Japanese tension to Europe on the eve of the first world war, yet there is a danger of history being repeated.
Their economies are so interdependent that any confrontation - let alone a full-scale war - would surely bring ruin to all.
The scene described is Europe 100 years ago. It may be an exaggeration to compare today's Sino-Japanese tension to Europe on the eve of the first world war, yet there is a danger of history being repeated.
Outgoing South Korean president pardons former aides
Outgoing South Korean president pardons former aides:
The pardons for 55 people included Lee's long-time confidante and former minister Choi See-joong and friend and businessman Chun Shin-il - both serving prison terms for bribery. Former parliamentary speaker Park Hee-tae and an ex-senior political affairs aide to Lee were also pardoned. Both were convicted last year for their roles in a vote-buying scandal in Lee's ruling conservative party.
Singapore's policy of raising population carries risk
Singapore's policy of raising population carries risk:
Have more babies to build the ranks of Singaporeans and get set for a construction boom, but accept heavier congestion and more foreign workers as the crowded metropolis grows its population by 30 per cent.
That is the vision for Singapore set out yesterday by its long-ruling government, just days after it lost a seat in parliament in a by-election defeat that reflected rising discontent at soaring costs and an influx of immigrants.
That is the vision for Singapore set out yesterday by its long-ruling government, just days after it lost a seat in parliament in a by-election defeat that reflected rising discontent at soaring costs and an influx of immigrants.
Genetics may explain why flu hits Asians more
Genetics may explain why flu hits Asians more:
Nearly a quarter of ethnic Chinese have a tiny genetic variant that boosts sixfold their risk of falling gravely ill when infected with flu, a study published yesterday said.
Less than one per cent of Caucasians are thought to have the gene alteration, which has previously been linked to severe influenza. Yet about 25 per cent of Chinese people have the gene variant, which is also common in Japanese and Korean people.
Less than one per cent of Caucasians are thought to have the gene alteration, which has previously been linked to severe influenza. Yet about 25 per cent of Chinese people have the gene variant, which is also common in Japanese and Korean people.
Chinese Web Erupts With Widespread Calls for Change as Beijing Endures Airpocalypse 2.0
Chinese Web Erupts With Widespread Calls for Change as Beijing Endures Airpocalypse 2.0:
Beijing on January 19, with an Air Quality Index reading of 415. (©A/Flickr)
Beijingers are choking on their air — again. Just seventeen days after Chinese cyberspace erupted with complaints about air so bad that it was “beyond index,” denizens of the Chinese capital awoke once again to a city blanketed with smog. Over the past 24 hours, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing has released readings showing an air quality index — which measures fine particulate matter particularly hazardous to the lungs — peaking at 526. Readings above 300 are considered “hazardous,” and anything above 500 is literally off the charts, or “beyond index.”
United we choke
Sina Weibo, China’s most popular micro-blogging platform, has once again became a forum for citizens of all stripes to air their grievances. Among Sina’s list of the ten “hottest” Weibo posts, four currently bemoan the state of Beijing’s air, with each author representing a different slice of Chinese society.
Among them was a heartfelt cry from actress Song Dandan (@宋丹丹). She wrote, “I was born and raised in Beijing and have lived here for over 50 years. The flood of emigration and every other type of temptation were not enough to get me to leave this lovable city. Today, this thought keeps circling in my mind: ‘Where will I go to spend my later years?’” Television host Zhang Quanling (@张泉灵), also in the top ten, went for humor. “I really don’t understand people who smoke outdoors. They really don’t know how to be thrifty! Right now in Beijing, you can smoke for free anywhere you go by taking two breaths of air,” she wrote.
Weibo user Song Dandan shared this recent image of Beijing. (Via Weibo)
Financial columnist Ding Chenling (@丁辰灵) rose to second place when he posted an infographic discussing the origin of China’s air pollution and comparing it to the United States. Ding commented, ”China and the U.S. are the same [geographic] size; China has 100 million cars, the U.S. has 285 million. Why is China’s air so bad? It’s because of relaxed standards for low quality fuel. China’s petrol has 500% of the sulfur content of U.S. fuel, and 1,500% the sulfur content of European fuel.”
Anger and frustration at the quality of Beijing’s air was not limited to bloggers of one political persuasion. Conservative commentator Hu Xijin (@胡锡进) complained,”I was just having lunch with the Pakistani ambassador to China in the Jingcheng building, on about the 50th floor. I pointed to the beautiful scene outside and said to the ambassador: Look at the strange picture that economic development paints — hazily enchanting.”
Hu later added, “Chinese people should not tolerate and endure too much environmental pollution just for the sake of enrichment…in an age of globalization, this will add to the opportunities for conflict between China and other countries. Even if we may be the ultimate victors…it may not be enough to cover what we’ve lost in the present.”
It’s not us, it’s you
A number of prominent Weibo users pointed a finger in the direction of China’s government. Real estate developer Pan Shiyi (@潘石屹) started an online poll that reads more like a petition to Chinese authorities. It simply reads, “Call for legislation: Clean Air Bill.” 98.8% of those responding have expressed support thus far.
Angel investor and widely-followed Weibo user Charles Xue (@薛蛮子)’s widely-read post was perhaps the most urgent. Xue wrote, “China’s air pollution has already worsened to an intolerable point. I hope the Chinese assembly will take this opportunity to call a meeting, and put out a clean air bill. For every old person, for every child, for the health of every citizen, we need to control environmental pollution!”
While some Web users are pining for new legislation, others are thinking about smaller measures. The third-most trending Weibo hashtag is a discussion of whether Beijing traffic cops should be allowed to wear masks to protect themselves from the pungent air. Fang Lifen (@王利芬 ), Founder and CEO of Umiwi Technology, had another entrepreneurial idea:
Beijing on January 19, with an Air Quality Index reading of 415. (©A/Flickr)
Beijingers are choking on their air — again. Just seventeen days after Chinese cyberspace erupted with complaints about air so bad that it was “beyond index,” denizens of the Chinese capital awoke once again to a city blanketed with smog. Over the past 24 hours, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing has released readings showing an air quality index — which measures fine particulate matter particularly hazardous to the lungs — peaking at 526. Readings above 300 are considered “hazardous,” and anything above 500 is literally off the charts, or “beyond index.”
United we choke
Sina Weibo, China’s most popular micro-blogging platform, has once again became a forum for citizens of all stripes to air their grievances. Among Sina’s list of the ten “hottest” Weibo posts, four currently bemoan the state of Beijing’s air, with each author representing a different slice of Chinese society.
Among them was a heartfelt cry from actress Song Dandan (@宋丹丹). She wrote, “I was born and raised in Beijing and have lived here for over 50 years. The flood of emigration and every other type of temptation were not enough to get me to leave this lovable city. Today, this thought keeps circling in my mind: ‘Where will I go to spend my later years?’” Television host Zhang Quanling (@张泉灵), also in the top ten, went for humor. “I really don’t understand people who smoke outdoors. They really don’t know how to be thrifty! Right now in Beijing, you can smoke for free anywhere you go by taking two breaths of air,” she wrote.
Weibo user Song Dandan shared this recent image of Beijing. (Via Weibo)
Financial columnist Ding Chenling (@丁辰灵) rose to second place when he posted an infographic discussing the origin of China’s air pollution and comparing it to the United States. Ding commented, ”China and the U.S. are the same [geographic] size; China has 100 million cars, the U.S. has 285 million. Why is China’s air so bad? It’s because of relaxed standards for low quality fuel. China’s petrol has 500% of the sulfur content of U.S. fuel, and 1,500% the sulfur content of European fuel.”
Anger and frustration at the quality of Beijing’s air was not limited to bloggers of one political persuasion. Conservative commentator Hu Xijin (@胡锡进) complained,”I was just having lunch with the Pakistani ambassador to China in the Jingcheng building, on about the 50th floor. I pointed to the beautiful scene outside and said to the ambassador: Look at the strange picture that economic development paints — hazily enchanting.”
Hu later added, “Chinese people should not tolerate and endure too much environmental pollution just for the sake of enrichment…in an age of globalization, this will add to the opportunities for conflict between China and other countries. Even if we may be the ultimate victors…it may not be enough to cover what we’ve lost in the present.”
It’s not us, it’s you
A number of prominent Weibo users pointed a finger in the direction of China’s government. Real estate developer Pan Shiyi (@潘石屹) started an online poll that reads more like a petition to Chinese authorities. It simply reads, “Call for legislation: Clean Air Bill.” 98.8% of those responding have expressed support thus far.
Angel investor and widely-followed Weibo user Charles Xue (@薛蛮子)’s widely-read post was perhaps the most urgent. Xue wrote, “China’s air pollution has already worsened to an intolerable point. I hope the Chinese assembly will take this opportunity to call a meeting, and put out a clean air bill. For every old person, for every child, for the health of every citizen, we need to control environmental pollution!”
While some Web users are pining for new legislation, others are thinking about smaller measures. The third-most trending Weibo hashtag is a discussion of whether Beijing traffic cops should be allowed to wear masks to protect themselves from the pungent air. Fang Lifen (@王利芬 ), Founder and CEO of Umiwi Technology, had another entrepreneurial idea:
On a morning stained with poison air, here’s a suggestion: Aside from allowing the normal operation of public transportation, all other vehicles should be stopped, and the production of all [vehicles] with non-conforming emissions should also be stopped. Both the plebeians and the leading cadres (however important they may be) should be squeezed together on public transportation so public servants can get closer [to their constituents].
North Korea's Kim dashes early hope but U.S. still seeks change: Clinton
North Korea's Kim dashes early hope but U.S. still seeks change: Clinton:
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea's missile tests and menacing rhetoric have disappointed U.S. expectations that young leader Kim Jong-un would be different than his father but Washington still hopes to persuade Pyongyang to change course, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea's missile tests and menacing rhetoric have disappointed U.S. expectations that young leader Kim Jong-un would be different than his father but Washington still hopes to persuade Pyongyang to change course, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday.
Monday, January 28, 2013
Deadly Rainstorms Ravage Eastern Australia
Deadly Rainstorms Ravage Eastern Australia:
At least four people have died and thousands more have been displaced across Australia’s east coast by the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Oswald.
At least four people have died and thousands more have been displaced across Australia’s east coast by the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Oswald.
Young Men Struggle Most in Pursuit of Stable Jobs
Young Men Struggle Most in Pursuit of Stable Jobs:
More men over 60 now have jobs than men in their 20s, a first for Korea since statistics started in 1963.
Statistics Korea on Monday said 1.8 million men aged 60 or older were in employment last year, up 100,000 from a year ago, compared to only 1.72 men in their 20s.
The number of...
More men over 60 now have jobs than men in their 20s, a first for Korea since statistics started in 1963.
Statistics Korea on Monday said 1.8 million men aged 60 or older were in employment last year, up 100,000 from a year ago, compared to only 1.72 men in their 20s.
The number of...
City running out of water
City running out of water:
In a cruel twist of fate, the flood has left Brisbane facing the real risk of running out of drinking water.
In a cruel twist of fate, the flood has left Brisbane facing the real risk of running out of drinking water.
S.Korea, U.S., Japan Must Help China Hold N.Korea in Check
S.Korea, U.S., Japan Must Help China Hold N.Korea in Check:
China is mulling a variety of measures to prevent North Korea from conducting another nuclear test, including dispatching a delegation of officials to Pyongyang.
Beijing made no great attempt to stop the North's first and second nuclear tests, suggesting that leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping'...
China is mulling a variety of measures to prevent North Korea from conducting another nuclear test, including dispatching a delegation of officials to Pyongyang.
Beijing made no great attempt to stop the North's first and second nuclear tests, suggesting that leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping'...
Google in N Korea mapping push
Google in N Korea mapping push:
Google publishes mapping information on North Korea, a country that has so far been mostly blank on the popular website Google Maps.
Google publishes mapping information on North Korea, a country that has so far been mostly blank on the popular website Google Maps.
Rescuers battle Australia floods
Rescuers battle Australia floods:
Australia is battling flooding in two states, with the inundated Queensland city of Bundaberg at the heart of the crisis.
Australia is battling flooding in two states, with the inundated Queensland city of Bundaberg at the heart of the crisis.
Several Australian Towns Flooded, 4 People Killed
Several Australian Towns Flooded, 4 People Killed:
(BRISBANE, Australia) — Thousands of Australians huddled in shelters Tuesday as torrential rains flooded cities and towns in the northeast, killing four people and prompting around 1,000 helicopter evacuations. With floodwaters expected to peak in most of the worst-hit areas later Tuesday, officials were rushing to move those in the highest-risk areas to safety. (MORE: Welsh Tourist Wrestles Shark To Save Children In Australia) In the hard-hit city of Bundaberg, 385 kilometers (240 miles) north of Brisbane, rescue crews plucked 1,000 people to safety after the river that runs through town broke its banks, sending fast-moving, muddy water pouring into streets and homes. Around 1,500 residents fled to evacuation centers, while patients at the local hospital were being airlifted to Brisbane as a precaution. “Listen to the roar of the water — that’s not helicopters,” Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said. “You see a lot of locations where there are literally sort of rapids. There’s white water out there, so it is very dangerous.” Queensland residents and officials were being particularly cautious, after floodwaters from heavy rain in late 2010 and early 2011 left much of the state under water in the worst flooding Australia had seen in decades. The 2010-2011 floods killed 35 people, damaged or destroyed 30,000 homes and businesses and left Brisbane, Australia’s third-largest city, under water for days. The current flood crisis was not as severe, though some areas in northern New South Wales were hit by more than half a meter (about 20 inches) of rain, State Emergency Services Deputy Commissioner Steve Pearce said. Four people have died, including a 3-year-old boy who was hit by a falling tree in Brisbane. “We’re expecting flash flooding, we’re expecting trees to be brought down, wires to be brought down by these winds,” Pearce said. “We’re expecting a very challenging 24 hours in front of us.” (PHOTOS: Wildfires Scorch Australia As Temperatures Reach Record Highs) In the New South Wales city of Grafton, 600 kilometers (370 miles) north of Sydney, 2,500 people were ordered to leave their homes as the Clarence
(BRISBANE, Australia) — Thousands of Australians huddled in shelters Tuesday as torrential rains flooded cities and towns in the northeast, killing four people and prompting around 1,000 helicopter evacuations. With floodwaters expected to peak in most of the worst-hit areas later Tuesday, officials were rushing to move those in the highest-risk areas to safety. (MORE: Welsh Tourist Wrestles Shark To Save Children In Australia) In the hard-hit city of Bundaberg, 385 kilometers (240 miles) north of Brisbane, rescue crews plucked 1,000 people to safety after the river that runs through town broke its banks, sending fast-moving, muddy water pouring into streets and homes. Around 1,500 residents fled to evacuation centers, while patients at the local hospital were being airlifted to Brisbane as a precaution. “Listen to the roar of the water — that’s not helicopters,” Queensland Premier Campbell Newman said. “You see a lot of locations where there are literally sort of rapids. There’s white water out there, so it is very dangerous.” Queensland residents and officials were being particularly cautious, after floodwaters from heavy rain in late 2010 and early 2011 left much of the state under water in the worst flooding Australia had seen in decades. The 2010-2011 floods killed 35 people, damaged or destroyed 30,000 homes and businesses and left Brisbane, Australia’s third-largest city, under water for days. The current flood crisis was not as severe, though some areas in northern New South Wales were hit by more than half a meter (about 20 inches) of rain, State Emergency Services Deputy Commissioner Steve Pearce said. Four people have died, including a 3-year-old boy who was hit by a falling tree in Brisbane. “We’re expecting flash flooding, we’re expecting trees to be brought down, wires to be brought down by these winds,” Pearce said. “We’re expecting a very challenging 24 hours in front of us.” (PHOTOS: Wildfires Scorch Australia As Temperatures Reach Record Highs) In the New South Wales city of Grafton, 600 kilometers (370 miles) north of Sydney, 2,500 people were ordered to leave their homes as the Clarence
Population could reach 6.9m by 2030: White Paper
Population could reach 6.9m by 2030: White Paper: January 29, 2013 12:00 PM
THE Singapore government is planning and investing in infrastructure ahead of time to support a population that could reach as high as 6.9 million by 2030.
THE Singapore government is planning and investing in infrastructure ahead of time to support a population that could reach as high as 6.9 million by 2030.
China 'May Send Envoy to Stop N.Korean Nuclear Test'
China 'May Send Envoy to Stop N.Korean Nuclear Test':
China is apparently minded to send officials to North Korean to dissuade the renegade country from conducting another nuclear test.
"China is looking into a wide range of measures to stop North Korea from conducting a nuclear test," said a diplomatic source in Beijing. "Those measures incl...
China is apparently minded to send officials to North Korean to dissuade the renegade country from conducting another nuclear test.
"China is looking into a wide range of measures to stop North Korea from conducting a nuclear test," said a diplomatic source in Beijing. "Those measures incl...
Sino-Japanese lexical exchange: Loanwords melting into new Chinese characters
Sino-Japanese lexical exchange: Loanwords melting into new Chinese characters:
Loanwords are well known in the field of linguistics, referring to a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language.
Loanwords are well known in the field of linguistics, referring to a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language.
China, Japan scholars seek way out in Diaoyu islands row
China, Japan scholars seek way out in Diaoyu islands row:
As fears grow over a simmering island dispute between China and Japan, scholars from both nations are hoping to lower the temperature with expansive talks in Washington in search of common ground.
The academics acknowledged that Tokyo and Beijing have major differences over the territories in the East China Sea but they saw one fundamental point in common – neither side wanted the conflict to escalate into war.
The academics acknowledged that Tokyo and Beijing have major differences over the territories in the East China Sea but they saw one fundamental point in common – neither side wanted the conflict to escalate into war.
North Korea's Rhetoric And Nuclear Capabilities
North Korea's Rhetoric And Nuclear Capabilities:
Responding to tightened sanctions and a new United Nations Security Council resolution condemning their December rocket launch, North Korea has threatened a new nuclear test, explicitly warning that the North Korean weapons program will target the United States.
Responding to tightened sanctions and a new United Nations Security Council resolution condemning their December rocket launch, North Korea has threatened a new nuclear test, explicitly warning that the North Korean weapons program will target the United States.
'Anything That Moves': Civilians And The Vietnam War
'Anything That Moves': Civilians And The Vietnam War:
In a new book, Nick Turse says the pressure on U.S. forces to produce a body count during the Vietnam War led to mass civilian deaths. "The idea," he says, "was that the Vietnamese, they weren't really people."
In a new book, Nick Turse says the pressure on U.S. forces to produce a body count during the Vietnam War led to mass civilian deaths. "The idea," he says, "was that the Vietnamese, they weren't really people."
Bo Trial 'After Parliament'
Bo Trial 'After Parliament':
China's state-run media moved to end "speculation" on Monday about the imminent trial of disgraced politician Bo Xilai, with a paper linked to the ruling Chinese Communist Party indicating it won't happen until after parliamentary meetings in early March.
The Global Times tabloid, which has ties to Party mouthpiece the People's Daily, quoted official sources as saying that Bo's trial would begin only after the annual meetings of the National People's Congress (NPC) in early March.
Next-generation Party chief Xi Jinping, who was appointed at a Party Congress last November, will formally take over from outgoing president Hu Jintao at that time.
"The information in terms of the date and location for the trial will certainly be made public in advance, and it's unnecessary to make speculations," the paper quoted the official as saying.
According to the official, the trial might be very complicated and last up to 10 days.
"Due to the complexity, the case is likely to be heard after the annual two sessions," the official was quoted as saying.
The report follows claims made by the Hong Kong-based Ta Kung Pao newspaper, which also has links to the Party, that Bo's trial would open at the southwestern city of Guiyang's Intermediate People's Court on Monday, sending reporters flocking to the city.
Factional fighting?
Beijing may need more time to prepare the cases against Bo although the authorities want to move quickly on the issue despite talk of factional fighting within the Party, analysts said.
Yao Jianfu, a former researcher at a State Council think-tank, said it had taken some time to prepare corruption cases against former Beijing mayor Chen Xitong and Shanghai mayor Chen Liangyu.
"It wouldn't be surprising if it took a while to come to trial," Yao said. "Both Chen Xitong and Chen Liangyu were also Politburo members, and it took more than a year for their trials to begin."
But he said the new leadership may also wish to move more quickly than that.
"If they resolve this sooner rather than later, Hu Jintao will bear responsibility for it, and the burden of sorting out the Bo Xilai issue won't fall to Xi Jinping," he said.
Political affairs commentator Gao Xin said that the delay in Bo's criminal trial suggested continuing factional strife behind the scenes at the highest levels of the Communist Party between the second generation heirs of Party elders, known as princelings, liberal reformers and the Maoist left wing.
"If these charges had been leveled against another Party member who wasn't also a member of the princelings faction, then Bo Xilai, given that his crimes have already been announced, would have been sacrificed on the altar of Xi Jinping's...anti-graft campaign by now," Gao said in a commentary broadcast on RFA's Mandarin service.
"Bo's rap sheet is enough...to get him several death sentences with immediate execution...Are the old guard putting pressure on Xi Jinping not to act? We will have to see!"
Meanwhile, writer and historian Zhang Lifan said the Ta Kung Pao report suggested that there had been a swift change of plan at the highest levels, rather than an error in the paper's journalism.
He said the trial may have been delayed because the feisty Bo was refusing to co-operate.
"There are probably factors to do with the highest levels of leadership, but probably also to do with Bo himself," Zhang said. "If he's not being cooperative, they won't be able to go ahead with a trial."
"If there was a messy situation of the kind seen at the trial of [Mao's wife] Jiang Qing, this would be embarrasing, and wouldn't reflect well on the fairness or authority of the trial," he said.
Rule of law
The speculation over the timing of Bo's trial comes after his successor in Chongqing, Huang Qifan, vowed that the city would shake off the impact of the Bo scandal and uphold the rule of law.
Bo's case was formally transferred to the judiciary earlier this month, marking the beginning of criminal proceedings.
The Party expelled Bo from its ranks in October, following accusations of corruption and sexual misconduct, later also removing his parliamentary privilege and paving the way for a criminal trial.
Bo was judged to bear "major responsibility" in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood, for which his wife Gu Kailai was handed a suspended death sentence on Aug. 20, official media reports said at the time.
His former right-hand man and Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun was jailed for 15 years in September for "bending the law for selfish ends," "abuse of power," and "defection," after his Feb. 6 visit to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu brought the murder scandal to public attention.
Reported by Hai Nan for RFA's Cantonese service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
China's state-run media moved to end "speculation" on Monday about the imminent trial of disgraced politician Bo Xilai, with a paper linked to the ruling Chinese Communist Party indicating it won't happen until after parliamentary meetings in early March.
The Global Times tabloid, which has ties to Party mouthpiece the People's Daily, quoted official sources as saying that Bo's trial would begin only after the annual meetings of the National People's Congress (NPC) in early March.
Next-generation Party chief Xi Jinping, who was appointed at a Party Congress last November, will formally take over from outgoing president Hu Jintao at that time.
"The information in terms of the date and location for the trial will certainly be made public in advance, and it's unnecessary to make speculations," the paper quoted the official as saying.
According to the official, the trial might be very complicated and last up to 10 days.
"Due to the complexity, the case is likely to be heard after the annual two sessions," the official was quoted as saying.
The report follows claims made by the Hong Kong-based Ta Kung Pao newspaper, which also has links to the Party, that Bo's trial would open at the southwestern city of Guiyang's Intermediate People's Court on Monday, sending reporters flocking to the city.
Factional fighting?
Beijing may need more time to prepare the cases against Bo although the authorities want to move quickly on the issue despite talk of factional fighting within the Party, analysts said.
Yao Jianfu, a former researcher at a State Council think-tank, said it had taken some time to prepare corruption cases against former Beijing mayor Chen Xitong and Shanghai mayor Chen Liangyu.
"It wouldn't be surprising if it took a while to come to trial," Yao said. "Both Chen Xitong and Chen Liangyu were also Politburo members, and it took more than a year for their trials to begin."
But he said the new leadership may also wish to move more quickly than that.
"If they resolve this sooner rather than later, Hu Jintao will bear responsibility for it, and the burden of sorting out the Bo Xilai issue won't fall to Xi Jinping," he said.
Political affairs commentator Gao Xin said that the delay in Bo's criminal trial suggested continuing factional strife behind the scenes at the highest levels of the Communist Party between the second generation heirs of Party elders, known as princelings, liberal reformers and the Maoist left wing.
"If these charges had been leveled against another Party member who wasn't also a member of the princelings faction, then Bo Xilai, given that his crimes have already been announced, would have been sacrificed on the altar of Xi Jinping's...anti-graft campaign by now," Gao said in a commentary broadcast on RFA's Mandarin service.
"Bo's rap sheet is enough...to get him several death sentences with immediate execution...Are the old guard putting pressure on Xi Jinping not to act? We will have to see!"
Meanwhile, writer and historian Zhang Lifan said the Ta Kung Pao report suggested that there had been a swift change of plan at the highest levels, rather than an error in the paper's journalism.
He said the trial may have been delayed because the feisty Bo was refusing to co-operate.
"There are probably factors to do with the highest levels of leadership, but probably also to do with Bo himself," Zhang said. "If he's not being cooperative, they won't be able to go ahead with a trial."
"If there was a messy situation of the kind seen at the trial of [Mao's wife] Jiang Qing, this would be embarrasing, and wouldn't reflect well on the fairness or authority of the trial," he said.
Rule of law
The speculation over the timing of Bo's trial comes after his successor in Chongqing, Huang Qifan, vowed that the city would shake off the impact of the Bo scandal and uphold the rule of law.
Bo's case was formally transferred to the judiciary earlier this month, marking the beginning of criminal proceedings.
The Party expelled Bo from its ranks in October, following accusations of corruption and sexual misconduct, later also removing his parliamentary privilege and paving the way for a criminal trial.
Bo was judged to bear "major responsibility" in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood, for which his wife Gu Kailai was handed a suspended death sentence on Aug. 20, official media reports said at the time.
His former right-hand man and Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun was jailed for 15 years in September for "bending the law for selfish ends," "abuse of power," and "defection," after his Feb. 6 visit to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu brought the murder scandal to public attention.
Reported by Hai Nan for RFA's Cantonese service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
Mapping China and the Question of a China-Centered Tributary Trade System
Mapping China and the Question of a China-Centered Tributary Trade System:
Does it make sense to refer to a Chinese “tributary system?” A number of influential Western scholars, including John Wills Jr., James Hevia and Laura Hostetler, have argued that it does not—largely on the grounds that previous China scholars, John K. Fairbank “and his followers” in particular, have over-generalized its historical significance. The result, however, has been that much of Fairbank’s painstaking and valuable research on the structure and function of the tributary system has been ignored. Although Fairbank may well have overestimated the degree to which Chinese assumptions about tribute shaped Qing policy toward foreigners, it seems absurd to suggest that they were of no consequence whatsoever.
Takeshi Hamashita provides a valuable perspective on tribute (gong) that avoids the extremes of both Fairbank and his critics. His China: East Asia and the Global Economy: Regional and Historical Perspectives (2008), makes a powerful case for the existence of a long-standing, vibrant, multifaceted and organically evolved “network of [tributary] relations linking the center and its peripheries, including the provinces and dependencies of the [Chinese] Empire, rulers of native tribes and districts, tributary states and even trading partners.” In other words, the tributary system provided a framework—both land-based and maritime—for economic and other interactions in which multiple actors played multiple roles. It may have been a “Sinocentric” system, as Hamashita avers, but it was certainly not a static or a monolithic one. As Song Nianshen emphasizes in a recent online article (see “Bibliographical Note” below), the tributary system “was an institutional mechanism mutually constructed by both the central and peripheral [East Asian] regimes.”
A balanced analysis of the so-called tributary system requires, then, a historically sensitive appreciation of its assumptions and its institutions, its theories and its practices, its goals and its actual outcomes. This kind of understanding compels us to consider, among other things, exactly how the offering and acceptance of “tribute” were conceived (by all parties; not simply the Chinese), and how much flexibility the system allowed. Clearly any conception of the tributary system that suggests a stagnant, “unchanging China” is hopelessly wrong-headed. Yet to ignore or downplay the importance of the tributary system as an important historical and cultural frame of reference for Chinese emperors and officials would be equally misguided.
Indonesia's Sexual Education Revolution
Indonesia's Sexual Education Revolution:
A movement is under way to teach students about AIDS and contraception.
A movement is under way to teach students about AIDS and contraception.
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