CHINA & US: Race Is on to Develop Green, Clean Technology

January 30, 2010

Davos 2010

By KATRIN BENNHOLD

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND — It is shaping up to be the Great Game of the 21st century. To top officials and business executives here at the World Economic Forum, Topic A this year was the race to develop greener, cleaner technology, which is emerging as one of the critical factors in reshaping the world economy as emerging powers snap at the heels of battered Western economies.

With the United States and China sizing each other up across the Pacific and Europe seeking to maintain its economic stature, it is a battle for potentially millions of jobs and trillions of dollars in export revenues. The outcome — which pits a venture capital-driven market approach relying on government subsides against a top-down system of state capitalism — has the potential to influence how economic and political systems evolve.

Concern that China may be edging ahead in potentially lucrative growth sectors like renewable energy was palpable here, where senior officials from the United States and Europe warned that the West could not afford to be complacent.

“Six months ago my biggest worry was that an emissions deal would make American business less competitive compared to China,” said Senator Lindsay Graham, a Republican from South Carolina who has been deeply involved in climate change issues in Congress. “Now my concern is that every day that we delay trying to find a price for carbon is a day that China uses to dominate the green economy.”

He added: “China has made a long-term strategic decision and they are going gang-busters.”

Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister, agreed. “It’s a race and whoever wins that race will dominate economic development,” she said. “The emerging markets are well-placed.”

The global economic downturn, which hit the aging developed world far harder than fast-growing emerging markets, has focused attention on the job-creating potential of green technology, seen by many here as the next industrial revolution. In the energy sector alone, the deployment of new technologies, like wind and solar power, has the potential to support 20 million jobs by 2030 and trillions of dollars in revenue, analysts estimate.

Ms. Lagarde estimated that as many as 240,000 jobs could be added in France over the next few years, helping offset the 400,000 lost last year in the slump.

While new energy sources will initially be more expensive than fossil fuels, politicians in the West, mindful of a stagnant or shrinking manufacturing base, are hopeful that clean technology offers a way of rebuilding older industrial areas by creating a comprehensive green supply chain.

The quest for a new comparative advantage, economists say, is all the more urgent as the crisis has left the financial-services sector reeling — a sector that was long considered one of the last bastions of Western sophistication.

From China’s perspective, experts here said, climate change offers the opportunity to leapfrog Western competitors.

“The low-carbon economy is the future,” said David Li Daokui, a professor at the Center for China in the World Economy in Beijing.

But others cautioned against framing the development of alternative energy as a pure competition. If the United States and China “work together we can deal with almost all the major global crises,” said Robert Hormats, the U.S. undersecretary of state for economic, energy and agricultural affairs. He stressed that success in clean technologies was not a “zero-sum game.”

But he agreed with those who see green technologies as important job generators. “Don’t leave the jobs on the table — the Chinese get it,” he said.

Moreover, the quest for sustainable energy and industrial processes is playing out against the backdrop of vastly different economic and political systems.

In China, the government poured an estimated $440 billion into clean energy last year. It is investing heavily in renewable energy and nuclear power. It also is pursuing efforts to make extraction of its vast coal reserves cleaner. Already home to one-third of the globe’s solar-energy manufacturing capacity and 400 solar-energy companies, China is expected to surpass Spain this year as the No. 3 country in terms of wind power installations, behind Germany and the United States.

William Rhodes, senior vice chairman of Citigroup and board vice chairman of the National Committee on U.S.-China relations, predicted that Beijing’s research into storing carbon emissions underground could soon lead to a major breakthrough.

In the United States, meanwhile, President Barack Obama faces an uphill battle in Congress to pass politically-sensitive legislation aimed at capping carbon emissions.

“China has the type of centralized industrial policy that we can’t match and don’t want in the United States or the European Union,” said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense, a U.S. advocacy group. “What we have to compete with China is the power of our marketplace. A clear and declining cap on carbon emissions will send the essential market signal to industry, and that will engage our market directly in this competition.”

Mr. Krupp said it was Washington must make the next move since the Copenhagen climate talks last month failed to produce a binding global deal, because China may be in no rush to unleash America’s renowned capability for innovation. That could prove disastrous not only to the environment, analysts said, but also to the economic prospects of today’s advanced industrial nations.

Said John Chipman, director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London: “Climate change has become a theater of geopolitical competition.”

View Article on The New York Times

RUSSIA: Celebrating a master’s birthday – Chekhov turns 150

Edited 29 January, 2010, 23:17

January 29 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of one of the world’s greatest playwrights and short-story tellers, the leading light of Russian drama, Anton Chekhov.

The jubilee of the celebrated author of “The Seagull”, “Three Sisters” and “The Cherry Orchard” is being celebrated throughout the world, with some of the largest-scale festivities taking place in Russia, namely in Taganrog, the writer’s city of birth.

President Dmitry Medvedev has laid flowers at the monument to Chekhov in southern Russia. He also met with some of the leading stage directors from Russia and overseas to discuss the playwright’s legacy, as well as theater in general.

“My parents had the whole collection of Chekhov’s works, back in the time when some books were hard to get hold of in the Soviet Union. It so happened that I’ve read everything by Chekhov. I was first interested by his short comic stories and then switched to more serious novels and plays. I was further amazed when I even started reading Chekhov’s letters, although this genre wasn’t aimed at young people. Frankly speaking, I’m happy I did it then, otherwise I don’t know when else I’d have a chance to do it,” Medvedev said.

Apart from exhibitions and festivals taking place in Chekhov’s motherland on the Sea of Azov, a number of events are currently in full swing in the Russian capital.

The “Days of Chekhov” festival in Moscow features performances based on the writer’s timeless works.

However, one of the most highly-anticipated events of the year is the 9th International Chekhov Festival, which will take place this summer.

View Article on Russia Times

CHINA: China to review laws on eviction

Page last updated at 12:26 GMT, Friday, 29 January 2010

Critics say evicted people often receive limited compensation

The Chinese government has outlined major changes to the way in which land can be seized for redevelopment.

Under the draft proposals, using violence and coercion to make people move would be banned and owners would be able to appeal against evictions.

Anyone losing land or property would have to be given at least its market value in compensation.

Forced evictions are a key social concern in China and have frequently lead to rioting.

The country has been plagued by the perception that local authorities acquiesce in, and sometimes actively aid, summary land grabs.

China's cabinet said all strong-arm tactics used to force people to leave their properties - including violence and cutting off water or power - would be banned, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Local governments would have to ensure public opinion was heard before going ahead with development.

In homes deemed to be old or dangerous - a reason often given for demolition - 90% of homeowners would have to give approval before they could be taken down.

The new proposals are open for public comment until mid-February.

Violence

All land in China is effectively controlled by the state and current laws allow local governments to claim land and confiscate homes for urban development projects.

But critics say the system is open to abuse and that evictees often receive a fraction of the value of their home in compensation.

Such cases have led to several violent clashes between residents and police or private security guards.

Several people have also set themselves on fire to protest against their home being seized.

Hundreds of thousands of people in China have been moved in recent years to make way for major projects including the Three Gorges Dam and the redevelopment of the capital for the 2008 Olympics.

View Article on BBC News

JAPAN: Akebono Won’t Stop Believing

Check out this promo for the Japanese version of “Glee” featuring Retired sumo grand champion Akebono.

RUSSIA: Russia is one of US’ key strategic partners – political scientist

Published 28 January, 2010, 14:25

Russia was one of the few mentions during President Obama’s State of the Union Address. Political analyst, Irina Kobrinskaya, thinks this is a sure sign that the US sees Russia as an important strategic partner.

Kobrinskaya thinks that the delay in the signing of the START treaty is merely a result of technical issues and not political. She also expressed belief that the US-Russia relations are heading for the better.

“Pragmatic interests on both sides give us hope. This will not be a short improvement but a long-lasting development which will be for the good of security in the world,” Kobrinskaya said.

View Article in Russia Times

CHINA: China's Next Leader Offers a Glimpse of the Future

January 29, 2010

By KATRIN BENNHOLD

DAVOS, SWITZERLAND — China gave the world a glimpse of the next generation of Chinese leaders on Thursday when Li Keqiang, widely expected to be the next prime minister, vowed that his country would act swiftly to shift from an over-reliance on exports toward greater domestic consumption.

But, in a half-hour speech at the World Economic Forum here, he carefully avoided any mention of the issue that was foremost on the mind of many in the audience: the undervalued Chinese currency. He offered no clues as to whether or when Beijing might allow the renminbi to appreciate against the dollar.

Mr. Li opened with a clear signal that China, which has weathered the global financial crisis better than most, did not consider it to be over. “The storm has not subsided,” he said.

Against the backdrop of growing calls for protectionism in the United States, Mr. Li appeared eager to emphasize a pledge to remake the Chinese economy in a way that would help address, at least over the longer run, China’s gaping trade surplus with the United States and its lesser trade gap with Europe.

“As we stand at a historic juncture,” Mr. Li said, “we must change the old way of inefficient growth and transform the current development model that is excessively reliant on investment and exports.”

“We will focus on boosting domestic demand,” he added, listing a number of initiatives from providing a stronger health care safety net, which would lessen the need for Chinese families to set aside large amounts of savings, to subsidizing farmers who buy household appliances. “The growth in domestic consumption in China will not only drive growth in China but also provide greater markets for the world.”

At the same time, Mr. Li repeatedly emphasized the importance of international cooperation, from continued coordination on fiscal stimulus to a global accord on climate change, something that economists in the audience welcomed as a sign of a China that would stay open and engaged.

Mr. Li, who is currently the executive deputy prime minister of China, is expected to take over from Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in the leadership change scheduled for 2012; the prime minister is the second-highest government official in China after the president. His speech to the world’s political and business elite in Davos was his first high-profile international appearance. A year ago, it was Mr. Wen who took the podium here.

There were traditional references to Confucius in his address, but also shades of novelty. He took the stage in confident strides, smiling and waving to the packed auditorium. He said he would to press ahead with pro-market changes, break monopolies and introduce more competition. China would “allow the market to play a primary role in allocation of resources,” he said.

In the middle of the speech he even made a veiled and seemingly conciliatory reference to the issue at the heart of the simmering spat with Google.

“Efforts need to be made to improve intellectual property rights,” Mr. Li said.

China’s rapid emergence and its diplomatic dance with the United States on everything from trade conflicts to climate change to geopolitics is shaping up as one of central issues on the global stage in the coming months and years.

The risk of a backlash in the United States over the Chinese currency was on stark display in Davos. Representative Barney Frank, chairman of the Financial Services Committee of the House of Representatives, called for actions to “level the playing field” at a time when America’s jobless rate has reached 10 percent.

“China has been very uncooperative and the currency is a major part of it,” Mr. Frank said in an informal interview here. “They want the world to be open to them but refuse to be open to the world.”

The threat that Western countries might retaliate by blocking China’s exports is one of the leadership’s biggest concerns. “Trade protectionism practices will only exacerbate the economic crisis,” Mr. Li said, urging a swift conclusion of the Doha trade round.

“The international financial crisis is not over,” he warned, “and the foundations of the economic recovery are still weak.”

He noted that more than half of Chinese exports were manufactured by foreign companies in China and that China had now become the second-biggest importer in the world.

Members of the U.S. administration here acknowledged the positive role China had played in bolstering growth and welcomed signs that the leadership was getting serious about restructuring the economy.

“I think China is moving in that direction,” said Robert Hormats, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs.

Mr. Li also hinted at why China had recently moved to curb its feverish growth with tighter monetary policy. The country needs to “strike a balance,” he said, between “steady and fast growth” and “properly managing inflationary risks.”

View Article in The New York Times

JAPAN: Japan's Prices, Wages Continue To Fall

01.28.10, 07:40 PM EST 

By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA, Associate Press

TOKYO -- Japanese prices and wages continued to fall in December as deflation deepened its grip on the world's second biggest economy. Core consumer prices fell 1.3 percent from a year earlier, the government said Friday.

The key consumer price index, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, has now fallen for 10 straight months. The reading matches Kyodo's market forecast. Core CPI for the Tokyo area, seen as a barometer of price trends nationwide, retreated 2 percent in January.

For the 2009 calendar year, core CPI retreated 1.3 percent, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Lower prices may seem like a good thing, but deflation plagued Japan during its "Lost Decade" in the 1990s. It can hamper economic growth by depressing company profits, sparking wage cuts and causing consumers to postpone purchases. It also can increase debt burdens.

Indeed, paychecks are dwindling. Average monthly household income fell 4.8 percent in December from a year earlier, the ministry said in a separate report.

Workers must also contend with a still-lackluster labor market. The country's unemployment rate eased to 5.1 percent in December, better than 5.2 percent in November but still high by Japanese standards.

The average ratio of job offers to job seekers stood at 0.46, a tad higher than 0.45 a month earlier. The figure means there were 46 offers for every 100 job seekers.

Still, the economy was not without signs of hope.

Household spending posted a solid rise in December, up 2.1 percent from a year earlier. The figure represents a key indicator of private consumption, which accounts for about 60 percent of Japan's economy.

Industrial output climbed 2.2 percent in December from the previous month, just missing Kyodo News agency's forecast for 2.3 percent growth in its survey of economists. The trade ministry expects factory production to rise 1.3 percent in January and 0.3 percent in February.

Earlier this week, the government said that Japan's exports expanded for the first time in 15 months in December, helped by robust Asian demand.

View Article on Forbes

TRAVEL: Why doesn't cash fly on many airlines?

American Airlines is joining several other carriers in rejecting cash during some or all flights. Passengers who want to buy food, drinks or other items must use credit or debit cards. (Tomohiro Ohsumi / Bloomberg / November 26, 2009)

January 24, 2010

By David Lazarus

Beginning Feb. 1, your money's no good on American Airlines.
The carrier is the latest to go completely cashless during flights, meaning that if you don't have plastic, you won't be buying food, drinks, duty-free items or whatever.

"The implementation of cashless cabins on select flights last summer has simplified the in-flight transaction process for both customers and flight attendants," Lauri Curtis, American's vice president of onboard service, said in a statement.

"For this reason, we look forward to going cashless on board all American Airlines flights."

Wait a minute.

Take a look at the paper money in your wallet or purse. Look at the words on the left-hand side, either above or below the very impressive seal of the United States Federal Reserve System: "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private."

It doesn't say "all debts unless a business would rather take plastic." Or "all debts except for when you fly."

It says "all debts." Period.

Yet American now joins United Airlines, Continental Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Alaska Airlines, Frontier Airlines and other carriers in rejecting cash during some or all flights.

So how can an airline discriminate against cash users? Isn't that, well, illegal?

A spokeswoman for the Treasury Department told me I should ask the Fed.

A spokesman for the Fed said this was a matter for the Treasury.
Talk about passing the buck.

As it happens, the Fed spokesman was right. On the Treasury Department’s website I found some information about the Coinage Act of 1965, which delves into the minutiae of what "legal tender" means. And it's pretty straightforward:

"United States coins and currency (including Federal Reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal Reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes and dues."

There it is, right? Cash is king.  Apparently not.

The Treasury Department goes on to say that there's no law "mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services."

"Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a state law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills."

Tim Smith, a spokesman for American Airlines, elaborated on this interpretation of the law. "Any business can do what it wants," he said. "If they say you have to pay in carrots, they can do it."

I asked the Treasury Department why my money says one thing but the law is apparently interpreted differently. A spokeswoman reiterated that "there is no mandate requiring private enterprises to accept currency as payment for goods and services."

In other words, American and other airlines -- and all other businesses, for that matter -- are free to reject cash if they please.
Santa Monica resident Mark Bartelt, 61, flew American recently from Los Angeles to Boston. He said he bought a small bottle of wine during the flight for $5. The flight attendant wouldn't take cash.

"I was surprised," Bartelt said. "It's not really an inconvenience to have to use a credit card, but what if a kid is flying unaccompanied? What's the airline going to do, tell him that he has to go hungry?"

Bartelt added that when he asked the flight attendant about the cashless policy, she joked that it's because the airline doesn't trust crew members with passengers' money.

Smith, the airline spokesman, told me at first that this was indeed "a small factor" in the company's decision to go cashless. But he corrected himself later to say that sticky-fingered fight attendants weren't a factor at all.

"The vast majority of our flight attendants are hardworking and honest," he said.

Flight attendants are of two minds about the cashless flights.  "The good part is that flight attendants don't have to carry around the cash," said Corey Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the Assn. of Flight Attendants. "The bad part is that we have to rely on machines, and machines go kaput every now and then."

She said most cashless airlines try to make sure they have backup card-processing devices on board in case one breaks down. Caldwell also said that the issue of unaccompanied kids who lack plastic comes up from time to time.

"Usually the flight attendant will take care of any costs herself," she said, "or other passengers will pay."

American's Smith said the airline will typically cover any such expenses. "We don't make a big deal about it," he said.

People talk about heading toward a totally cashless society. It would be better for the environment, they say, and more convenient in general. I don't really have a problem with that.

But I believe you should mean what you say. If our money says it's good for everything -- and it does -- then it should be good for everything. Otherwise, it shouldn't promise something it can't deliver.

Our cash also says "In God we trust." Maybe I should take this up with a higher authority.

David Lazarus' column runs Wednesdays and Sundays. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.

View Article in The Los Angeles Times

CHINA: China joins Somalia piracy drive

 

China has a force of three ships patrolling the Gulf of Aden

Page last updated at 05:07 GMT, Friday, 29 January 2010

China's anti-piracy role off Somalia expands

China has agreed to join an international naval operation to fight piracy off the coast of Somalia.

China has been focusing on protecting its own shipping in the area, but it will now join the naval forces of the US, Nato and the European Union.

This grouping, the Shared Awareness and Deconfliction (Shade), protects a shipping corridor in the western Indian Ocean.

This is the area where pirate attacks are most frequent.

Members of the international naval task force say that although attacks there have increased, fewer have been successful.

Ransoms

The BBC's United Nations correspondent Barbara Plett says officials believe having China on board will allow more ships to be diverted to the Somali Basin, a vast expanse of water in the western part of the Indian Ocean, where attacks are at an all time high.

The agreement also allows China to take on the rotating chairmanship of the naval task force that coordinates patrols.

China is believed to be interested in raising its participation in the anti-piracy drive partly because one of its ships was hijacked last October.

The De Xin Hai bulk carrier was reportedly freed in late December amid reports of a possible ransom payment.

Analysts say China is also eager to extend its naval reach beyond its shores.

Chinese media have reported the stepping up of China's role in anti-piracy patrols as the moment when China takes on a "central" and "leadership" role in an important international operation.

Hong Kong's South China Morning Post newspaper reported that China had been lobbying for the expanded role for months.

The newspaper editorialised that China would "show its worth as a global player".

Noting the concern, even alarm, among some of China's neighbours at the country's growth as a maritime power, the newspaper said China's participation in the anti-piracy effort would help increase trust.

South East Asian countries and China are rival claimants to islands and atolls across the South China Sea, and China's growing might and extended naval reach are being watched closely.

View Article in the BBC News

JAPAN: Woman held over death of 1 of 3 men believed killed through foul play

Jan 28 08:40 AM US/Eastern

(AP) - TOTTORI, Japan, Jan. 28 (Kyodo)

Police served a fresh arrest warrant on a woman Thursday on suspicion of killing one of three men believed to have died from foul play last year in Tottori Prefecture, the police said.

The Tottori prefectural police set up an investigative task force Thursday on the cases involving Miyuki Ueta, 36, a former snack bar employee in the city of Tottori.

Ueta is charged with robbery-murder as she is suspected of killing Hideki Maruyama, 57, an electric appliance dealer, who was found drowned in a river on Oct. 7, 2009, while evading about 1.23 million yen in payment to the victim for electric appliances she had bought.

Ueta was quoted as telling the investigators, "I don't know anything (about the allegations). I didn't do it."

In addition to Maruyama's death, the police also plan to look into whether Ueta was involved in the death of one of the two other men, Kazumi Yabe, 47, a truck driver whose body was found in the Sea of Japan off central Tottori Prefecture in November.

The third man -- 58-year-old Kazumi Taguchi -- was a resident of the same apartment building as Ueta. Taguchi died in October after being taken to a hospital.

Investigations showed that all of them tested positive for components of sleep-inducing agents, such as Halcion, and cold medicine.

The investigators have ruled out possible conspiracy by Ueta's 46- year-old male roommate over the murder of Maruyama, suspecting Ueta gave drugs to Maruyama, forced his face into the river and killed him on her own.

Ueta and her roommate were first arrested Nov. 2 on suspicion of fraud, and were served with several more warrants over fraud.

The roommate has told investigators that he, Ueta and Maruyama went to the Mani River in two cars on Oct. 6 but he left the scene, his lawyer said.

When the man returned to the river, only Ueta was there and her clothes were wet, he was quoted as saying.

View Article on News on Breitbart

CHINA: China's Li Delivers A Polished Future

January 28, 2010 - 2:43 pm

Paul Maidment

Editor, Forbes Media

China's Vice-Premier Li Keqiang cuts the polished, poised figure of the world leader he is about to become. Tipped to succeed Wen Jiabao as prime minister when China's leadership changes generations in 2012, China's headliner in Davos delivered a flawless summary of China's five year plan to deliver sustainable long-term growth--maintain steady and fast GDP growth, encourage domestic demand, modernize strategic industries, particularly green tech ones, continue with economic reform, minimize the income gap, develop urbanism across China, create jobs and spread the social safety net. Down to the white shirt, red tie and well-cut suit, he could have been a western chief executive doing a roadshow.

To round it off, there was a five-point action plan for China's growing global citizenship: continue to cooperate over recovery from the global financial crisis; fight protectionism and conclude the Doha round of trade talks; pursue balanced development, both North/South and South/South; jointly tackle the global issues of climate change, energy and food security, public health, and natural disasters; and improve the structure of global governance to reform financial regulation, international financial institutions and increase the involvement of developing nations. And all done with only the gentlest jibes against the developed countries. "We came to see the future," said one (Western) participant.

What wasn't to like in such a perfect world?

View Article on Forbes

JAPAN: Toyota Extends Recall To Europe, China

01.28.10, 07:59 AM EST 

By SHINO YUASA

TOKYO -- Toyota's massive recalls over problem gas pedals in the U.S. are being extended to China and Europe, the latest blow to the world's top automaker as it struggles to salvage its safety reputation.

The announcements Thursday come after the company earlier this week said it was suspending U.S. sales and production of eight models - including the Camry, America's top-selling car - to fix faulty pedals that could stick and cause acceleration without warning.

Toyota Motor Corp. ( TM - news - people ) also announced an additional recall of 1.09 million vehicles in the United States covering five models - 2008-2010 Highlander, 2009-2010 Corolla, 2009-2010 Venza, 2009-2010 Matrix, and 2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe.

Toyota dealers across the U.S. have been swamped with calls from concerned drivers but had few answers as the recalls snowballed.

A week before the sales suspension, Toyota issued a U.S. recall for the same eight models, affecting 2.3 million vehicles. In late 2009 it recalled 4.2 million vehicles amid concerns that floor mats could bend across gas pedals, causing sudden acceleration.

Toyota has insisted the problem of sudden, uncontrolled acceleration was "rare and infrequent" and said dealers should deal with customers "on a case-by-case basis." But drivers of Toyotas and those who share the road with them were left with uncertainty.

The automaker has informed Chinese authorities it will start a recall in February for 75,500 RAV4 sport utility vehicles that were manufactured in China between March 2009 and January 2010, said Toyota spokeswoman Ririko Takeuchi.

They use the same problem parts in accelerators that caused the recent spate of massive recalls in the U.S., she said.

In Europe, Toyota is still unsure how many vehicles are affected by the problem with pedals that are manufactured by CTS Corp. ( CTS - news - people ), based in Elkhart, Indiana.

Colin Hensley, a manager at the car maker's European operations, said the company is checking how many European models use the parts involved in the latest U.S. recall.

"Toyota is making every effort to address this situation for our customers as quickly as possible," its European arm said in a statement.

The sales suspension in the U.S. - Toyota's biggest market - could endanger the company's fledgling earnings recovery. Toyota only returned to the black for the July-September quarter with net income of 21.8 billion yen ($241 million) after three straight losing quarters.

Investors continued to dump shares in the global auto giant Thursday. Toyota dropped 3.9 percent to 3,560 yen even as the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average gained 1.6 percent to close at 10,414.29. Toyota tumbled 4.3 percent Wednesday.

"It is still uncertain how this recall problem will affect Toyota's profits. But investors are worried it could really pressure the company's overall earnings," said Masatoshi Sato, market analyst at Mizuho Investors Securities Co. Ltd.

Fitch Ratings warned Thursday the massive recalls and sales suspension could dent Toyota's recovery, especially in the vital U.S. market.

Fitch placed Toyota's credit rating of 'A+' on watch negative, meaning the rating could be downgraded. That could increase the interest rate Toyota pays on any debt.

"The recalls and sales and production suspension cast a negative light on Toyota's reputation for quality, just as the company emerges from an unprecedented downturn in the auto industry," Fitch said in a statement.

Toyota spokesman Hideaki Homma said Toyota decided to recall more vehicles in the U.S. due to the risk of accelerator pedals becoming stuck in floor mats.

Toyota said in a statement it will fix or replace the accelerator pedals for the recalled vehicles to avoid the risk of floor mat entrapment. The company said it will replace floor mats as well for the latest recalled vehicles.

In March of 2007, Toyota started getting reports of gas pedals being slow to rise after being depressed for acceleration. Engineers fixed the problem in the Tundra pickup early in 2008.

But troubles persisted in other models, eventually leading to last week's U.S. recall and the plans to suspend sales and shut down of six factories while Toyota tries to fix the problems.

Associated Press writers Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo and Aoife White in Brussels contributed to this report.

View Article on Forbes

S. KOREA: Hyundai Motor's Q4 Profit Jumps

Associated Press, 01.28.10, 02:12 AM EST 

SEOUL, South Korea -- Hyundai Motor's net profit nearly quadrupled in the fourth quarter on higher sales following a strong performance during 2009 in the fast-growing Chinese and Indian auto markets.

South Korea's largest automaker and a growing force in the global market, earned 945.5 billion won ($820 million) in the three months ended Dec. 31, it said in a statement Thursday. Hyundai Motor Co. reported net profit of 243.5 billion won the same period the year before.

The Ulsan, South Korea-based maker of the Elantra and Sonata sedans and the luxury Genesis said sales during the quarter rose 9.3 percent to 9.65 trillion won from 8.83 trillion won a year earlier.

For all of 2009, Hyundai recorded a net profit of 2.96 trillion won, more than doubling from 1.45 trillion won in 2008. Sales for the year, however, fell 1 percent to 31.9 trillion won from 32.2 trillion.

Hyundai reported big gains in sales volume in China and India in 2009 from the year before. It also said that profits in China soared while in India it made money after a loss the year before.

Hyundai, which along with affiliate Kia Motors Corp. forms one of the world's five biggest automotive groups, has seen its market share grow worldwide in recent years through an emphasis on quality and design.

Both companies have expanded aggressively overseas. Hyundai has factories in China, India, Turkey, the U.S. and the Czech Republic. Kia has plants in China and Slovakia and began production in the United States last year.

Shares in Hyundai Motor, which released results during afternoon trading, rose 4.1 percent to close at 113,500 won. The stock price tripled in 2009.

View Article on Forbes

CHINA & JAPAN: Banyan: Japan's love-bubbles for China

Jan 28th 2010

From The Economist print edition

Illustration by M. Morgenstern

Hatoyama's advances to China raise fundamental questions about regional security

WHAT our colleague, Charlemagne, calls “bubbles of optimism” over China have been popping in Western capitals, as China has taken a hard line against internal dissent, proven unhelpful in efforts to tackle both climate change and Iran’s growing nuclear threat, manipulated its currency and launched cyber- attacks on Western computer networks. China, muscling its way to global prominence, is not quite the partner the West had been cultivating. Striking, then, that in Japan the bubble of optimism, among the country’s new leaders, is only inflating.

Soon after the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) swept into office nearly five months ago, the prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, unveiled a vision for an East Asian Community (EAC). For all that it was dreamy and disjointed, it had at its heart a rapprochement between Japan and China leading towards regional integration. Asia, Mr Hatoyama reaffirmed, was Japan’s “basic sphere of being”. As for integration, fraternity was to be the glue.

Then late last year the DPJ’s secretary-general, Ichiro Ozawa, travelled to Beijing at the head of a 639-strong mission, including 143 parliamentarians with whom a beaming President Hu Jintao took the trouble to be photographed, each in turn. Mr Hu doesn’t smile like that for Westerners. Back in Tokyo, Mr Hatoyama horrified sticklers for imperial protocol by insisting that Mr Hu’s heir-apparent, Xi Jinping, pay an impromptu call on Emperor Akihito. Now rumours suggest Mr Hatoyama may make a visit of remorse, the first by a Japanese prime minister, to Nanjing, site of a massacre by Japanese forces in 1937. In return (and at less political cost), Mr Hu may pay respects to the nuclear victims of Hiroshima. Japan under the DPJ seems to get on better with China than it does with its ally and security guarantor, the United States. Relations with the United States are strained over the relocation of a military base for American marines on Okinawa, leading to worries over the future of the two countries’ alliance, keystone to security in the western Pacific.

Economic logic argues for closer ties with China, which has already overtaken America as Japan’s biggest trading partner, and is about to overtake Japan’s economy to become the world’s second-biggest. After not one but arguably two “lost decades”, an ageing population cannot drive demand in Japan. It must hitch itself to the Chinese juggernaut. A strategic vision, too, lurks somewhere in the idea of an EAC. Mr Hatoyama has committed Japan to cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by a quarter by 2020. He thinks Japan can lead Asia towards a low-carbon future.

But contradictions lurk too. The idea makes a nod to China’s rise. Yet it assumes Japan’s rightful lead in proposing a new regional architecture, while impressing Japan’s technological prowess on China. The impulse is deeper-seated than Mr Hatoyama might admit.

The story of modern Japan is of the use of Western arms and technology to overturn China’s centuries-old regional dominance. China now intends to restore the natural order, and does not need directions from others, least of all Japan.

It has made only the minimum polite noises about an EAC. As for the green technology that Japan can share, both sides say it is a good thing but are infuriatingly sparing with the details. Besides, since the December summit in Copenhagen, China has hinted it might go its own way on climate change.

Popular Japanese attitudes towards China suffer from the same doublethink. In one recent poll, most of those questioned wanted a “warmer” political relationship with their big neighbour. But most also wanted the prime minister to visit Yasukuni, Tokyo’s militarist shrine, on remembrance day. That is one issue guaranteed to send China-Japan relations into the cooler. A sense of Japanese superiority over coarse, authoritarian China is also widespread. More than one Japanese professor has told Banyan that Japan is the true guardian of Chinese culture.

History wars, still far from resolved, point to the limits of rapprochement. So too do maritime disputes over territory. But a huge constraint is the fiscal one. Greying Japan is burdened with deflation, stagnant growth and a national debt close to 200% of GDP. Japan lacks the resources (and the will) for the kind of bold strategic moves, putting Japan at the heart of Asia, at which Mr Hatoyama and Mr Ozawa hint. Even a more autonomous security policy, out from under America’s wing, is almost a non-starter. Japan has cut its defence spending in recent years, to just 1% of GDP. It has grown more dependent on the United States, not less.

Behind China’s smile

This is where strains over the alliance really matter for the security of the whole region, not least because of Taiwan. On January 24th the Okinawan township picked, after painful years of talks, by the United States and Japan’s previous government as the destination for the relocated marine base elected a mayor resolutely opposed to the move. Popular concerns about the “occupation mentality” of American forces are valid. But Mr Hatoyama, according to colleagues, was sleepwalking when he reopened the issue. Now he cannot go back. Local politics and national security are on a collision course. Mr Hatoyama has said he will decide over the base by May. But moving it anywhere else in Japan will face local resistance too.

As Yoichi Funabashi, editor of Asahi Shimbun puts it, if the new administration bungles relations with Washington, it will look diplomatically inept at a time when power relations in Asia are shifting fast. That might spell the end of the hapless Mr Hatoyama. So it is hardly cynical to assume that one aim behind China’s outbreak of smiling is to drive a wedge between a slightly clueless Japan and its longstanding protector. After all, Japan would be its base were America to come to Taiwan’s rescue in the event of a mainland attack.

View Article on The Economist

JAPAN: Teachers lose suit for compensation over national flag, anthem issue

Jan 27 10:02 PM US/Eastern

(AP) - TOKYO, Jan. 28 (Kyodo)

The Tokyo High Court rejected on Thursday a demand for compensation by former teachers who argued that they were refused post-retirement reemployment because they had remained seated during the singing of "Kimigayo" national anthem at school ceremonies despite their school principals' orders.

The appellate court ruling overturned the February 2008 decision by the Tokyo District Court that awarded a total of around 27.5 million yen in compensation to 12 former teachers and a clerk at public high schools run by the Tokyo metropolitan government.

Presiding Judge Tatsuki Inada of the high court said the orders to stand up and sing the anthem in front of the Hinomaru national flag "were not intended to command them to engage in acts that may straightforwardly deny the plaintiffs' perception of history and do not necessarily violate Article 19 of the Constitution that establishes freedom of thought and conscience."

The ruling largely followed the lines of a Supreme Court precedent issued in February 2007 on a similar case.

On the decision by the metropolitan government to reject them post- retirement reemployment as part-time instructors, the judge said the local government acted within its discretion because "the plaintiffs had no option but to be rated lowly since they violated orders from superiors and were reprimanded."

The lower court ruled in February 2008 that the metropolitan education board overstepped and abused its discretion by attaching exaggerated importance to their disobedience of the orders while failing to factor in other aspects such as their service records.

The plaintiffs were seeking around 5.6 million yen in compensation per person from the local government.

Several lawsuits have been filed over the notice to principals, mainly by disciplined teachers, seeking nullification of the disciplinary measures and arguing the notice is unconstitutional.

The Tokyo District Court ruled in September 2006 that the education board cannot force teachers to sing the anthem in front of the Hinomaru flag or reprimand them for refusing to do so as such practices infringe on the Constitution. The ruling is being appealed at the Tokyo High Court.

But the Supreme Court rejected an argument by a music teacher in February 2007 that a principal's order to accompany the singing of "Kimigayo" on the piano is unconstitutional, saying the order "does not mean denial of the plaintiff's view of history and the world, and cannot be said to violate freedom of thought and conscience under the Constitution's Article 19."

View Article on Breitbart

CHINA: China in Central Asia: Riches in the near abroad

Jan 28th 2010

From The Economist

The West’s recession spurs China’s hunt for energy supplies in its own backyard

DURING his first visit to Kazakhstan in 1996, Jiang Zemin was reportedly amused to learn that his Central Asian neighbour, the ninth-largest country in the world by land mass, had a population of only around 15m. “You probably all know each other,” China’s then president is said to have quipped to his hosts. With its population of 1.3 billion, China naturally thinks on a grand scale. This is what the five countries of Central Asia—Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan—both admire and fear. Like Russia, looking to its own far east, they worry about Chinese expansionism.

But for most of the 18 years since the Soviet Union’s break-up, China has taken a back seat in the fierce competition between Russia and America for influence in this resource-rich region. In 2009, with the energy needs of its burgeoning economy continually growing, it woke up to new opportunities in its western backyard.

Booming China had not exactly been neglecting Central Asia, but its priorities had lain elsewhere. Since the global financial crisis left Russia and America struggling with their budgets, China has loosened its purse strings to offer Central Asia a helping hand. Its money has been welcome. From a Central Asian point-of-view, Chinese credit offers an additional advantage over the Western kind: it comes with no annoying political strictures.

In June, for example, China agreed to lend Turkmenistan $4 billion to develop its largest gasfield, South Yolotan, close to the Afghan border. This was part of a 30-year deal that should eventually bring China 40 billion cubic metres of gas each year. The same month Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin’s successor, announced a loan of $10 billion loan to the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), a security forum grouping China, Russia and four Central Asian countries, to shore up members faltering in the global downturn. In November China’s largest oil-and-gas provider, jointly with Kazakhstan’s oil-and-gas firm, bought MangistauMunaiGas, a big oil producer in Kazakhstan. In exchange, China had lent the country $10 billion earlier last year.

In December Mr Hu and the leaders of three Central Asian countries gathered at the Saman-Depe gasfield in eastern Turkmenistan for a moment of crowning symbolism. The four men turned a tap to inaugurate a 1,833km (1,139-mile) gas pipeline, running through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan into China’s far-western region of Xinjiang. For China, the new line forms part of a global effort to secure energy supplies for its rapidly growing economy. For Turkmenistan, it is a chance to reduce dependence on Russian demand.

A few days before the event, Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, said that Russia could be comfortable with Turkmenistan’s gas flowing eastward. But many Russian commentators bemoaned the loss of strategic ground to China.

Views about China are divided in Kazakhstan too. Late last year the president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, announced that China wanted to lease 1m hectares (2.5m acres) of farmland in Kazakhstan. In Almaty, Kazakh nationalists marched in protest at encroaching Chinese influence. Even the weak opposition briefly sprang to life. Similarly, last July China’s suppression of Xinjiang’s rioting Uighurs, whom Kazakhs consider brethren, raised tempers.

Dossym Satpayev, a political analyst, says that many protesters believe China’s vast population makes it inevitable immigrants will start moving to places such as Kazakhstan. Had dwindling Russia made the request for a land-lease, he says, the reaction would not have been so strong.

China may have taken its time before beginning to pursue its interests in Central Asia, but it seems determined to do so with vigour and for the long term. Mr Satpayev believes that within the next ten years it will come to dominate Central Asia’s political, economic and military spheres, mainly through the SCO. Its main rival will be less affluent Russia, whose historic dominance has left it with the habit of trying to boss former Soviet republics. America, Europe and other powers will become less important. China’s leaders have managed to advance far beyond the largely ceremonial co-operation of “friendship treaties”, without resorting to Russian tactics. As Mr Satpayev has it, “China doesn’t only buy loyalty with documents, but with money given at a low percentage.”

View Article on The Economist

JAPAN: JAL dumps alliance with American Airlines in favor of Delta, SkyTeam

January 28, 2010

(Mainichi Japan)

Japan Airlines (JAL) decided Wednesday to dump its partnership with American Airlines and its Oneworld alliance in favor of Delta and the SkyTeam group of carriers.

American together with a private equity firm had offered to invest $1.4 billion in JAL and strengthen cooperation between the two airlines, but JAL judged an alliance with Delta -- the world's largest airline -- would produce greater benefits.

The partnership with Delta will be officially announced by new JAL Chairman Kazuo Inamori on Monday.

To solidify the new alliance, JAL intends to apply to the Japanese and U.S. governments for antitrust immunity. The airline is also examining strengthening its international network with new routes from Narita International Airport to Detroit -- the hub for Northwest Airlines, acquired by Delta last year -- and from Haneda Airport to Amsterdam's Schiphol, SkyTeam partner KLM's home airport.

Delta and JAL cover many of the same routes, allowing the two airlines to better efficiency through schedule and fare collaboration. According to estimates by the state-backed Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp. of Japan (ETIC) -- overseeing JAL's restructuring process -- if JAL obtains antitrust immunity, the benefits of the Delta partnership could rise to some 17.2 billion yen. Even if the JAL-Delta deal does not receive immunity, the new partnership will result in benefits of around 9.2 billion yen -- still a significant jump from the 5.4 billion yen realized through the alliance with American.

Delta had previously offered a total $1.02 billion in financial support to JAL, including $500 million in new investment. As the leader in rebuilding the airline, however, ETIC apparently inclined to the belief that foreign financing was unnecessary for recovery, and elected to restrict any involvement with Delta to business collaboration.

Click here for the original Japanese story

View Article in The Mainichi Daily News

Hot Pot Cooking Goes Haute

Shabu-shabu is served with Ohmi beef at Masa Takayama's new Shaboo restaurant in Las Vegas. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

January 27, 2010

By Betty Hallock

When the popular Asian dish of meat and vegetables dipped in hot broth is reenvisioned as a $500 meal in Las Vegas, it may be time to try it at home.

What's the most expensive dinner in America? An omakase meal of pristine, perfectly sliced sushi, the fish flown in from Tsukiji market in Tokyo and prepared for you personally by a Yoda-equivalent sushi master? Or maybe a 12-course tasting menu from a Michelin three-star French chef, each plate a culmination of several components made by an army of kitchen staff? Not exactly. It's most likely $500-per-person Japanese hot pot -- yes, hot pot.

A popular style of Asian home cooking, hot pot comes from a nearly 1,000-year-old culinary tradition of dipping sliced meat or seafood and vegetables into bubbling broth, supposedly à la Genghis Khan. A communal dish cooked and shared at the dining table, it's soul food, great for cold weather and for feeding an intimate group (emphasis on the intimate -- you are, after all, eating from the same pot).

Lately, though, the humble hot pot doesn't seem so humble. Masayoshi Takayama, the sushi chef whose New York restaurant Masa might be the epitome of rarefied Japanese dining in the U.S., has taken it to Las Vegas. At Shaboo, the restaurant he just opened there, his version of shabu-shabu -- traditionally paper-thin slices of beef quickly poached with vegetables in a water-based broth -- will cost you more than the recent price of an All Nippon Airways round-trip flight to Tokyo.

American chefs are putting shabu-shabu on their menus too, using Wagyu beef or sashimi-grade fish or foie gras.

But hot pots are by nature informal, cozy affairs, with everybody leaning over a big pot in the middle of the table, taking from it whatever they want. That's the appeal of so many Sichuan, northern Chinese and Taiwanese hot pot restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley and casual shabu-shabu joints on the Westside or in Little Tokyo. And they are easy enough to make at home that they can be impromptu meals.

A new book by chef Tadashi Ono and food journalist Harris Salat titled "Japanese Hot Pots: Comforting One-Pot Meals" has enthusiastic home cooks pulling out their enameled Dutch ovens and konbu (kelp) to make Hakata chicken or pork belly and greens hot pot. It's "the quintessential Japanese comfort food," Salat writes.

But what about five-hundred-dollar hot pot? Takayama unveiled Shaboo, his shabu-shabu restaurant, on Christmas Day in Las Vegas' $8.5-billion CityCenter. There are custom-molded individual cooking vessels; high-tech induction burners set into the tables; and ingredients such as wild bluefin tuna belly wrapped around julienned Japanese leeks, taraba crab legs from Hokkaido, sliced abalone, winter yellowtail, and beef from the Ohmi region of Japan.

A supplemental dessert of white truffle ice cream costs $95. The restaurant's name is a slightly infelicitous play on the words "shabu" and "taboo." Will the "Viva Elvis" crowd go for it?
The Japanese consider shabu-shabu the highest expression of hot pot, in accordance with the culinary principle of using the freshest food, lightly cooked, beautifully presented. The closer it is to its natural state, the better to draw the most pleasure from a single thin sheet of beef.

Takayama describes the cooking method by waving his hand back and forth in the air, mimicking the motion of the meat as it is swept through the poaching liquid. "You slowly dip, cook, then dip it in sauce" -- cooking it yourself is part of the enjoyment. (Shabu-shabu means "swish-swish," referring to the way in which ingredients are cooked in the hot pot.) Traditionally this is accomplished with chopsticks, but at Shaboo with special tongs in the shape of crab claws.

The golden bowl

"I wanted solid gold pots, but the heating technology isn't available here," he says. "Maybe in two or three years. When I agreed to open this place I said I was going to buy gold bowls . . . 60 for $80,000 each."

$80,000?

"$80,000."

Now I daydream about eating hot pot from a gold bowl. But Japanese cooks traditionally use a donabe, a clay vessel with a slightly rounded bottom and domed lid. And really all you need is a cast-iron Dutch oven to make hot pot at home. (Cast iron distributes and retains heat well.)

And though shabu-shabu may be the most highly regarded, there are simpler types of hot pots, called collectively nabemono -- one-pot meals that are more substantial than soup but not as thick as stew.

There are two ways to cook hot pots: at the table -- using a tabletop burner -- setting out a platter of ingredients to be cooked by guests (shabu-shabu style). Or on the stove, with the finished dish brought to the center of the table, from which the contents are ladled into small bowls, or diners can help themselves. It's de rigueur to pick up your own food from the pot with your own chopsticks.

Whatever the type, the foundation of the hot pot is the broth, which often includes dashi, a stock of konbu and dried bonito flakes. For his seafood shabu, Takayama uses a golden broth of dashi made with konbu and niboshi, or dried anchovies. The stock for his beef shabu is prepared in an eight-hour process making a consommé from konbu, niboshi, seared Ohmi beef tendon, carrots, onions, garlic, beef and chicken bones, and bay leaf.

Into the pot you can put a wide variety of meat or vegetables: slices of rib-eye, whole shrimp, salmon, chicken, lamb, mushrooms, spinach, dumplings. A friend of mine used to make a scallop sausage for hot pot from scallop mousseline with chives that was so good I'm still thinking about it years later. Greens such as mizuna, a mustard, and shungiku, the leaves of chrysanthemums, are easy to find at Asian stores and farmers markets.

A rich broth

Chef Michael Mina, who has been serving shabu-shabu of sliced abalone, shiitake mushrooms, scallions and Kobe beef rolled with spicy radishes at his latest restaurant, American Fish (also in Las Vegas' CityCenter), starts with a dashi of konbu, bonito and ginger. "Beef with dashi is really delicious," he says. "And foie gras. What that does is really fortifies the broth, leaves a lot of richness behind. When thinking about ingredients, you have to think about both how it's going to cook in the broth and what it does to the broth."

Take pork belly, for example. In a hot pot recipe from the "Japanese Hot Pots" cookbook, thin slices of pork belly are dipped into a simmering broth of dashi, mirin and soy sauce, imbuing the liquid with the rich flavor of pork. A duck gyoza nabe is made with chicken stock, mirin and konbu, enhanced by vegetables such as cabbage, negi (Japanese leeks) and shiitake and enoki mushrooms -- the chicken stock complementing the duck filling in the dumplings.

It's served with a dipping sauce of chile oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar and scallions. Other condiments for shabu-shabu include gomadare (sesame sauce) and ponzu. At Shaboo, hottate scallops come with a dipping sauce of lobster bisque.

When it came to nabe cooking, my mom, a born-and-bred Tokyoite, mostly made sukiyaki. In Kanto (Tokyo area) fashion, the ingredients -- sliced beef, tofu, nappa cabbage, itokonnyaku noodles, onions, chrysanthemum leaves -- are simmered in a shallow pot of broth made with a little caramelized sugar, soy sauce and sake. (Sautéing the beef before adding the other ingredients and the broth would be Osaka-style.)

Arrange ingredients as you might a composed salad, in neat bunches. The vegetables are just cooked through and the beef added last so that it's as tender as possible. You could even cook the sliced beef shabu-shabu style at the table.

It is beefy, just slightly sweet, and warming. And it costs less than $10 per person to make, no gold bowls necessary.

View Article in The Los Angeles Times

N. KOREA: US man 'detained' in North Korea

North Korea says it has detained a US citizen for illegally entering its territory across the border from China.

Page last updated at 07:27 GMT, Thursday, 28 January 2010

The official news agency KCNA said the man, who has not been identified, had been arrested on Monday and was now being questioned.

North Korea is currently holding another US citizen, Robert Park.

Mr Park crossed a frozen border river from China on 25 December, to make a protest against repression in the hard-line Communist North.

The US has been seeking access to Mr Park through the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang, which represents American interests in North Korea.

Last year two US journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were also arrested on the border with China.

They were sentenced to 12 years' hard labour but freed after four months in captivity, as part of a diplomatic mission spearheaded by former US President Bill Clinton in August.

View Article on BBC News

CHINA: Vanishing act

The police say lawyer Gao Zhisheng has gone missing

Page last updated at 00:03 GMT, Friday, 29 January 2010The

Mystery of missing Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng

By Michael Bristow
BBC News, Beijing

Concern is mounting for a Chinese lawyer who is believed to be in detention but has not been seen for nearly a year.

Foreign governments have urged Chinese officials to reveal the whereabouts of well-known activist Gao Zhisheng.

Human rights groups say it is unusual that there has been no formal word on why Mr Gao was taken and what condition he is in.

Officials have so far given only cryptic hints as to where he is. A foreign ministry spokesman said he was "where he should be".

The lawyer has long been targeted by the government, which has previously stopped him working, put him on trial and kept him under surveillance.

'Simply evaporated'

Mr Gao disappeared some time in January last year, leading to immediate concern from human rights groups.

He appeared briefly at his family's home in Shaanxi province the following month but was accompanied by people believed to be security officials.

Mr Gao stayed only a short time before leaving and has not been seen since.

The lawyer did manage to telephone his elder brother, Gao Zhiyi, last summer to say he was all right but he added that he was not free and did not say where he was.

Since then, nothing has been heard of him.

I asked the police where my brother was. They said they didn't know.

Gao Zhisheng's brother

"We don't have any clue about where he is. He's simply evaporated. As his friends, we are very worried about him," said fellow Beijing lawyer, Li Fangping.

Gao Zhisheng, a self-taught lawyer, has not always been at odds with the people who run China. He was once a member of the Chinese Communist Party.

In 2001 he was acclaimed as one of the 10 best lawyers in the country by a publication run by the Ministry of Justice.

But he ran into trouble when he started to defend some of China's most disadvantaged groups, such as supporters of the banned spiritual movement, Falun Gong.

Mr Gao's law practice was closed down in 2005. The government said one problem was that the lawyer had failed to tell officials of a change of address.

The following year he was given a suspended prison sentence for "inciting subversion".

Family escapes

After that, Mr Gao and his family - he is married with two children - were subjected to constant surveillance by the authorities. He was even detained again in September 2007.

He said he was tortured while in detention.

It is impossible for someone to be missing under the tight control of the police

Teng Biao

His captors beat him with electric batons, held lit cigarettes close to his eyes and subjected him to psychological abuse over more than 50 days, he said.

"Many horrendous evils were committed that were too shameful to be written down in the chronicles of the governments of the world," he said in an account of the event that emerged after his latest detention.

Mr Gao's wife and children escaped China last year and now live in the United States but the relatives still in China have made efforts to find out where he is.

His brother travelled to Beijing in December and tracked down a policeman who had been involved in the case.

"I asked the police where my brother was. They said they didn't know. They claimed he has been lost and missing since September," Gao Zhiyi told the BBC.

This comment has worried the family and friends of the missing man.

"It is impossible for someone to be missing under the tight control of the police," said Teng Biao, another friend of Gao Zhisheng.

"I imagine that either he is still under police control or something else may have happened."

Human rights criticism

Foreign governments have also kept up the pressure on China to reveal the whereabouts of a man who has become well-known abroad.

"The United States is deeply concerned about Gao Zhisheng's safety and well-being and we have raised our concerns repeatedly in Washington and Beijing," said a spokeswoman for the US embassy in the Chinese capital.

Journalists have raised the issue at the regular press briefings held by the foreign ministry - although the answers given to queries have failed to shed much light on the issue.

Foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu initially said Mr Gao was where he should be. On Tuesday he said he did not know where he was.

All this is irregular, even in a country that often faces criticism for its human rights record.

Nicholas Bequelin, of Human Rights Watch (HRW), said families or work units should be notified if someone is detained.

He said those held by the Chinese state also had the right to receive letters and see a lawyer. But this had not happened in Mr Gao's case.

He added: "Generally when you have this kind of international exposure, the authorities tend to give the appearance of due process. But here that's not the case - there's something amiss."

View Article on BBC News

RUSSIA: Russia offers to help NATO, but not for free

Friday, January 29, 2010; 12:00 PM

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
The Associated Press

MOSCOW -- Russia is willing to help NATO in Afghanistan, but not for free, the Russian envoy to the alliance said Friday.

Dmitry Rogozin also slammed NATO for failing to do more to fight the drug trade in Afghanistan, saying Russia has suffered because of that failure. And he expressed skepticism about a plan to pay Taliban fighters to abandon violence and join the mainstream of Afghan society.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged Russia last month to provide helicopters and training for the Afghan air force and to train more local police.

Rogozin said Russia was looking at the request, but wants to understand who will pay for it. He added that some NATO countries could help share the costs.

"We aren't going to supply NATO with anything free of charge," he said in a video hookup from Brussels. "They can afford to pay for that."

He didn't rule out providing free supplies to the Afghan government, but said that would require a political decision by the Kremlin.

Moscow has repeatedly expressed its willingness to help the war effort in Afghanistan, due to fears that a return to power by Taliban extremists would destabilize Central Asia and endanger Russia's security.

But the country's support for NATO- and US-led operations so far has been limited to offering transit for railway shipments of non-lethal supplies and air corridors for weapons supplies, as supply routes through Pakistan have come under increased Taliban attack.

Rogozin said shipments have been slow to start because NATO has dragged its feet on negotiating transit agreements with Central Asian nations. He also said technical problems regarding U.S. air transit need to be solved, but he refused to elaborate.

He criticized NATO harshly for failing to make stronger efforts to fight drug production.

"NATO doesn't want to do more to fight drugs in Afghanistan, because it fears it would inflict more losses to its forces," he said. "They prefer to turn a blind eye to that. They think it's not their problem, because Afghan heroin mostly goes to Central Asia and Russia."

Rogozin was also openly skeptical of a NATO plan to persuade Taliban fighters to disarm in exchange for jobs and homes, saying that the world community must focus on rebuilding the nation's battered infrastructure. He argued that Russian companies should be awarded contracts for rebuilding factories, power plants and other facilities built by the Soviet Union.

View Article in The Washington Post

JAPAN: Man tried for Akihabara stabbing spree pleads guilty, apologies

Jan 27 10:46 PM US/Eastern

AP

TOKYO, Jan. 28 (AP) - (Kyodo)—The man charged with the June 2008 fatal stabbing rampage in Tokyo's Akihabara district that killed seven and wounded 10 pleaded guilty Thursday and apologized to the victims of the crime.

Tomohiro Kato, 27, said in the first hearing of the case at the Tokyo District Court that he is "certainly the one who committed the crime" although he cannot remember some parts of what happened on the day of the Sunday afternoon attack.

"I'm sorry for the people who died and got injured," said Kato, who was clad in a white shirt and a black suit, bowing his head.

The prosecution argued in its opening statement that Kato "did not receive decent treatment" at the office where he was employed as a temporary worker and "felt that what he wrote about in a cell-phone website was ignored."

"So he hit on the idea of getting other people to acknowledge his existence by erupting in anger and setting off a major crime."

Kato allegedly warned in advance of his crime on the website along with a number of posts in which he vented his frustration with his workplace.

The prosecution also said Kato was inspired by a fatal indiscriminate stabbing spree that occurred in March 2008 in Ibaraki Prefecture as well as an April 2005 incident in which three people were killed after a truck crashed into a shopping arcade in Sendai.

"It is apparent that he kept those incidents in mind and decided to kill people at random in Akihabara, where he had been a number of times before," according to the prosecution.

The focus of the trial is expected to be on a psychiatric examination that found him mentally competent at the time of the crime.

The prosecution indicted Kato on charges of murder and attempted murder based on the mental evaluation result.

On Thursday, the defense team questioned the exam result, suggesting Kato was mentally incompetent during the spree.

Kato is charged with running down five pedestrians, three of whom died, with a truck in a vehicle-free shopping area on June 8, 2008, and fatally stabbing four passersby with a dagger after getting out of the vehicle.  Eight others were injured in the stabbings, while one policeman was attacked but unharmed, according to the indictment.

The incident in the Tokyo electronics area, a popular district that attracts Japanese and foreign comic and animation fans, drew attention to the fragile situation facing temporary workers.

No citizen judges are taking part in the trial because he was indicted in October 2008, before the law on the lay judge system took effect.

View Article on Breitbart

RUSSIA: U.S. and Russia close to arms-control deal

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev during a State Council session on January 22, 2010.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Negotiations on a new arms-control treaty are nearly complete, White House said
• Talks on the New START treaty are expected to resume next week in Geneva
• The 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty expired on December 5
• The old treaty capped the number of warheads and launch vehicles held by both countries

RELATED TOPICS

• Russia
• Vladimir Putin
• Nuclear Weapons
• Dmitry Medvedev

Washington (CNN) -- A new arms-control treaty between the United States and Russia is nearly complete, the White House said.

Progress on a pact was detailed in a brief statement Wednesday.

"President Obama spoke with President Medvedev of Russia to thank him for his hard work and leadership on the New START treaty negotiations, as the two sides have made steady progress in recent weeks," the White House said.

"The presidents agreed that negotiations are nearly complete, and pledged to continue the constructive contacts that have advanced U.S.-Russian relations over the last year."

Talks are expected to resume next week in Geneva, Switzerland.

Obama hailed the developments during Wednesday's State of the Union address.

"The United States and Russia are completing negotiations on the farthest-reaching arms-control treaty in nearly two decades," he said.

The 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, commonly known as START, expired on December 5, but the leaders agreed to honor its spirit until a new treaty could be negotiated to replace it.

Obama and Medvedev, who met in mid-December in Copenhagen, Denmark, had hoped to sign an agreement by the end of 2009, but fell short of reaching a deal.

At the time, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State P.J. Crowley cited a few hurdles to an agreement, including the complexity of the weapons systems, agreement on the numbers of warhead reductions, and verification, but held out hope for a deal in early 2010.

"Clearly ... we have made dramatic progress," Crowley said. "There are still issues that we continue to work through, so there's still more work to be done. But I think we remain confident that, given good faith and the ongoing efforts of both sides, that this will get done."

The Russian Foreign Ministry's Web site also expressed optimism.

"Preparation of the new treaty is practically complete," but "a few problems have to be overcome in order to finalize the treaty and submit it to [the] presidents of Russia and the United States," it said in late December. "This will be done very soon."

In July, the leaders signed a joint understanding committing the United States and Russia to reduce their strategic warheads to a range of 1,500 to 1,675, and strategic delivery vehicles to a range of 500 to 1,100.

Under the old treaty, the maximum number of warheads was 2,200 and the maximum number of launch vehicles was 1,600.

View Article on CNN

CHINA: If China Reigns Supreme

Thought-provoking “flash forward” of East Asia with China as the dominant world power instead of the US.  -HHC

Globalist:  Exit America

Published: January 28, 2010

By ROGER COHEN

NEW YORK — I see that Gore Vidal, in an interview with the British daily The Independent, has been predicting America’s demise with scurrilous relish, awaiting the day when it takes its place “somewhere between Brazil and Argentina, where it belongs” and China reigns supreme.

The United States, he suggests, can then bow from the stage, war-drained, broken by “madhouse” politics, to become “the Yellow Man’s burden.”

I think Vidal’s lost it, as the irrepressible Christopher Hitchens points out in a recent Vanity Fair piece entitled “Vidal Loco,” but I have to say the words of the grand old man of letters echoed in my head during a recent visit to China, especially as I watched footage of the coffins of eight Chinese peacekeepers killed in Haiti being returned to Beijing.

This was a big event in China to which national television devoted many hours. The flag-draped coffins of the Chinese United Nations personnel, greeted at Beijing airport by sobbing family members and solemn Politburo members, put me in mind of numberless flag-draped American coffins returning to Dover Air Force Base from far-flung wars.

President Obama wants out of those wars. Indeed, to judge by the nine paltry minutes devoted to international affairs in a State of the Union address of more than one hour, he’s weary of America policing the globe.

When Israel-Palestine merits not a word from a president, you know the United States is turning inward.

The coffins have weighed on all Americans, however deeply repressed the pain. A fractured, draft-free America no longer has a Main Street. But somewhere out there the feeling has coalesced that some of the billions spent in Kabul could be used to create jobs at home.

China, in its “peaceful rise,” has had no such distractions. Commentators on Chinese TV made much of how the Haiti sacrifice of the eight “heroes” was part of being “good global citizens.”

But I found my mind wandering, fast-forwarding to 2040. I tried to imagine a time when such images would be frequent, when China could no longer freeload on a declining America and was obliged to step up to great power status with the attendant cost and sacrifice.

(I believe the rise of China is unstoppable. As Obama noted, Beijing is not “playing for second place.”

After my last column about bulldozing Chinese development, a reader wrote describing how a new semiconductor plant in Albany, New York, only got the go-ahead after “almost two years and two million dollars to prepare the environmental impact statements” to present to “more than 100 local public meetings.” Extrapolate from that to grasp how diktat outraces democracy.)

So, jump ahead to 2040. The United States has long since withdrawn its troops from Okinawa — “If the Japanese don’t want us, we can no longer justify staying” said Democratic President Mary Martinez in 2032 — and Japan has predictably gone nuclear in the absence of a U.S. security guarantee.

Now tensions between nuclear-armed China and nuclear-armed Japan have flared in an Asia where the United States no longer serves as the offsetting power. A naval clash over disputed, gas-rich islands in the East China Sea has revived century-old World War II grievances.

Asked about the escalating conflict, a State Department spokesman in Washington says: “We believe in good global citizenship, but frankly we don’t have a dog in that fight. You’ll have to ask Beijing.”

But Beijing is busy. U.S. troops have also long since withdrawn from South Korea — “the 38th parallel will just have to take care of itself,” a departing U.S. general was heard to mutter in 2034 — and China finds itself having to deploy its own troops to restrain the increasingly wayward North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, from his threats to reduce Seoul “to an ashtray.” A drunk-driving incident involving a Chinese general in Pyongyang and the death of three schoolchildren has prompted Kim to accuse China of acting “with imperial disdain.”

“Beijing seeks the wellbeing of all people on the Korean peninsula, regrets the Pyongyang incident, and calls for dialogue,” a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman says. The U.S. State Department has no comment but officials privately confess to a certain “schadenfreude” at Chinese difficulties.

These difficulties are not confined to Asia. A shadowy terrorist group called ARFAP (African Resources for African People) has just claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of 12 Chinese executives attending a Lusaka conference on copper extraction. Video has gone global showing the execution of two executives and threatening the murder of two more if China does not withdraw “from all predatory exploitation on the African continent.”

The United Nations Security Council (now down to four permanent veto-bearing members since the United States chose in 2037 to resign a position serving only for “sterile institutional haggling over faraway nations that do not need our counsel”) has been locked in discussion of the African crisis, but China is complaining of “paralysis.”

A State Department spokesman says, “We hope China finds a way to negotiate with ARFAP. War is never a good option. We also hope the Chinese brokered Israeli-Palestinian cease-fire in Gaza, which is unraveling, can be saved by Beijing.”

A version of this article appeared in print on January 29, 2010, in The International Herald Tribune.

View Article in The New York Times

JAPAN: A soba adventure in Tokyo

Two kinds of soba at Nemurian. Fukushima on the left, and Tochigi on the right.

January 28, 2010

(Mainichi Japan)

"The soba comes from Yamagata," the woman said as she placed a box of thick, chewy soba noodles in front of me. Her name was Mori, and her family sold soba noodles in Yamagata.

Her husband trained there for a year before they opened their own soba restaurant in Tokyo. I was in Tokyo to celebrate the new year with my wife's family. Because soba is a traditional meal, we decided to make the most of it.

One of the things I like about Japanese culture is the near obsession that Japanese have with food ingredients. In New York, you can find a broader variety of food than in Tokyo, but in Tokyo you can travel deep into each type of Japanese dish.

The Mori's at their restaurant, Genshiro.

Our soba journey is a perfect example. At Genshiro, they grind their own soba flour on the premises, and make their noodles by hand. We discussed the thick, chewy soba. It reminded me of the chewy soba in Gujo that's called mochi mochi soba because of it's al dente texture. Genshiro serves the noodles with their special pheasant broth. It was a delicious combination.

The next day, we traveled to Akihabara to a hidden soba restaurant in a prewar building. The neighborhood is filled with stores and cafes that cater to various obsessions. There are anime shops, maid cafes, cosplay stores and electronics boutiques everywhere. True to the spirit of the nerd, Nemurian is for serious soba otaku.

The restaurant is run by an interesting man. He grinds the soba in his tiny shop each morning. But he selects soba from wherever he thinks is best for the season. Soba lovers are served two different kinds of soba noodles. Each plate is soba from a different part of Japan.

On the day we went, we ate soba from Tochigi and Fukushima. When they came to our table, set side by side, we noticed the Tochigi soba had a slight green color. The Fukushima soba had a rich soba flavor and a more delicate texture. The Tochigi soba was chewier and more subtle. It was really fun to taste two different kinds of soba side by side, and they both went well with the handmade tofu that was as rich as butter.

While we ate, we listened to jazz on the tube amplifier that the owner built himself. I felt like I was in the presence of a soba artist, enjoying his meal in his personal studio. Maybe that's because he sleeps upstairs.

Our last stop was the famous Yoshida restaurant in Ginza. I first ate there several years ago when my wife's dance teacher took us there. Yoshida has a classic Japanese feel, and it always seems to be busy. Their specialty is tenseiro, a cluster of deep fried vegetables and shrimp dropped into a bowl of salty broth with delicate soba noodles on the side.

Watching the crowd of well-dressed Ginza shoppers is almost as much fun as slurping up the extra long noodles. All three restaurants were wonderful, and it was a great way to celebrate the coming of the new year. (By Sean Sakamoto)

Sean Sakamoto traded the fast times in New York City for the slow life in Japan's countryside. He lives with his wife and son by a river in Gifu Prefecture. He's learning Japanese and wants everyone who's studying English to know that he feels your pain.

View Article in The Mainichi Daily News