Wednesday, April 14, 2010
RUSSIA: Officials Search HP Office In Russia
April 14, 2010, 08:35 pm ET
by The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - Russian authorities have searched a Hewlett-Packard Co. office in Moscow in what one news report said was a bribery investigation.
HP confirmed the search but wouldn't describe the reason for the investigation.
Russian prosecutors said in a statement the investigation was carried out at the request of German authorities but didn't elaborate.
The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources, said the probe centers on whether HP representatives paid millions of dollars in bribes to win a contract to sell computer equipment through a German subsidiary to Russian prosecutors.
The newspaper said HP officials are believed to have paid $10.9 million in bribes to win a $47.8 million contract that was eventually signed in August of 2003.
"This is an investigation of alleged conduct that occurred almost seven years ago, largely by employees no longer with HP," HP said in a statement. "We are cooperating fully with the German and Russian authorities and will continue to conduct our own internal investigation."
HP, based in Palo Alto, Calif., is the world's No. 1 personal computer maker.
RUSSIA: 'The memory should stay alive'
4:46 PM PDT, April 14, 2010
By Megan K. Stack, Reporting from Warsaw
Polish director Andrzej Wajda finally sees his 2007 movie 'Katyn,' about the 1940 massacre of 20,000 Poles, shown in Russia. 'This is beyond my imagination, beyond my happiness,' he says.
When Andrzej Wajda, widely considered Poland's preeminent filmmaker, completed the film "Katyn," it carried a personal weight. Wajda's father was among the more than 20,000 Polish prisoners -- mostly military officers and other members of the elite -- massacred and buried in mass graves by Soviet secret police in 1940.
The fate of the officers was covered up for decades by Soviet propaganda, and has remained a touchy issue between Poland and Russia.
Wajda's stark, sorrowful 2007 film was the first serious treatment of the tragedy, and was largely ignored by Russia. But after the Saturday plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski and other leading figures as they headed to a commemoration of the Katyn massacre, Russian state television broke the taboo and broadcast the film to millions of Russians on Sunday evening.
Wajda, still making films at 84, sat down with the Los Angeles Times during a break this week at a film studio in Warsaw, the Polish capital. These are excerpts:
What was your motivation in making this film?
The Katyn massacre, despite the fact that so many years have passed, is still current. My purpose in making the film was that the massacre not be forgotten, that the memory should stay alive. My father died in [in the Katyn massacre], so I always felt a responsibility. But as long as Poland remained under Russian influence, it was impossible to make this film, because the Katyn lie existed. This lie also existed in the West -- that Germans were responsible.
But during Communist years, you did make several films that dealt with World War II. How did you do it?
Film is a visual art. Ideologies are generally expressed verbally. In those days I talked in pictures, not words, because if I had used words to say what I meant, it would have been censored. There was a certain understanding between us filmmakers and our viewers.
How did you develop the script for "Katyn"?
I was aware that I was making the first film about Katyn, so I knew it couldn't just be details and fragments. It had to be broader. It had to show the historical context and the crime, but it also had to show the lie. My mother was a victim of the Katyn lie. We didn't know what had happened to my father. My mother lived in hope that he would come back.
Mostly I used women's diaries. The mothers, sisters and daughters. But I also found writings from a Russian officer who had saved a life. How could I not show this? This is Stalin's crime, a crime of the system.
Did your mother ever come to accept what had happened to your father?
She died in 1950, 10 years after [the massacre]. She never accepted his death, especially because there was no official acknowledgment. The documents said he was lost at war. But if you died in Katyn, it could not be mentioned in documents.
When did you find out the truth?
We learned quite late, in 1942 when the war was already underway, that prisoners at other camps were also murdered. . . .
Stalin said they all ran away to Manchuria. It was completely absurd. But in 1943 the Germans found the mass graves and made a huge deal about it with propaganda.
This was the first time we knew it had happened . . . but my father still wasn't on the list of people who were identified.
Only when I went to the West and read all the information printed in Paris about the massacre did I learn the truth. I was a producer by then, it was the end of the 1950s.
You've called Katyn "an open, festering wound" for Poland. Do you still feel that way?
As long as this situation is not fully explained, this wound is still very much open. But recent events have opened a new chapter. I think now [after the Kaczynski crash] they [Russian authorities] will give us the full explanation of the Katyn murders.
I am also very thankful and glad that the film has now been shown on Russian TV. The first years, we never dreamed it would get to Russian screens. They showed it at the Polish Embassy and the Polish Institute of Culture [in Moscow], but outside of that, it didn't exist in Russia. So this is beyond my imagination, beyond my happiness.
CHINA & US: The Story of the Century
James Fallows and Damien Ma consider the future of the China-US relationship
(Part I in a Series)
CHINA: Earthquake In Western China Kills Hundreds
April 14, 2010
A strong earthquake struck a far western Tibetan area of China Wednesday. Hundreds of people were killed and thousands injured. Officials say many structures collapsed trapping victims. Rescue efforts are hampered by damaged roads and lack of power.
TRANSCRIPT
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
Here are some of the numbers we give you after every earthquake, numbers that really don't begin to give you an idea of the tragedy until you learn the details. The earthquake in western China, today, measured a magnitude 6.9 that's according to the U.S. Geological Survey. At least 400 people have been killed, at least, and thousands more are injured. Rescue efforts are being hampered by damaged roads and a lack of power.
NPR's Louisa Lim is following this story from Shanghai. She's on the line. Hi, Louisa.
LOUISA LIM: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: And I've been looking at your Twitter feed at LimLouisa. You've sent us some images from the region of earthquake damage. It looks pretty devastating, at least in some places.
LIM: It certainly sounds very devastating. What we're hearing the latest official figures are that 400 people are dead, 10,000 people estimated to be injured, so far, in the quake. And you have to bear in mind, this happened in quite a sparsely populated area, a place called Yushu County in Shanghai province. It's also called Jakundo(ph) by Tibetans.
It has a population of around 100,000, so one in 10 could be injured, although people who I've been talking to say that estimate could actually be conservative. The quake itself was followed by a series of aftershocks. And we've been hearing that 85 percent of the buildings collapsed in Yushu Town. And we've also been hearing that a wall of a reservoir near the town has cracked and workers are racing to let out water to try to release the pressure on the dam wall to stop an even bigger disaster from occurring.
INSKEEP: This is bringing back memories of the earthquake of a couple of years ago in which there were terrible collapses. Schools collapsed killing many children at the time. Any indication that big public buildings have collapsed here?
LIM: Well, it's still very early and communications have been quite bad, so we're still trying to put together a picture of what's happening there. But it does appear that quite a few public buildings have collapsed, including schools. The boss of the local Red Cross said 70 percent of the schools there have collapsed. We know a primary school there collapsed with some deaths. We've also heard that a four-story teachers college collapsed with 30 to 40 students inside. And part of a vocational school also caved in.
So, it seems the scene is very grim. We're hearing that although rescuers are trying to save them, there's a shortage of excavators. So, people are digging through the rubble with their hands to try to save people. It's not yet clear whether the schools, the collapse of schools, will be a national issue like it was last time, given the fact that so many other buildings collapsed here in this particular quake.
INSKEEP: We're talking with NPR's Louisa Lim about today's earthquake in China. It happened in western China, which is a region, I understand, Louisa, that you traveled in not so long ago. What's it like?
LIM: Well, I was in that part of the world last year, and it is very remote. It's difficult to get to. The place where this quake has happened is 12 hours, over land, from the provincial capital of Xining. It's very high up - about 12,000 feet - and very poor. Most people there are subsistence farmers. The houses are wood, earthen walls, and so, of course, they collapse very easily.
People there are really living a subsistence existence. Life is very tough even at the best of times. And it, of course, will be much tougher still given today's earthquake. It's freezing up there right now. We're hearing that snow is falling. There's strong wind and sleet forecast in the days to come. And of course, these people are all homeless. So, it'll be a huge task keeping them warm and making shelter for all these people in the days to come.
INSKEEP: And I suppose any aid is going to have to go over those 12 hours of mountain roads that you saw.
LIM: That's right, and we're hearing those roads have been damaged by the quake. We know that there were soldiers, about 700 soldiers, clearing the rubble in the town; another 5,000 have been dispatched to the quake zone, but there are difficulties getting down there with roads damaged, electricity down, communications also were down for some time.
INSKEEP: Okay.
LIM: So, it will be a huge task.
INSKEEP: Okay. Thanks very much. That's NPR's Louisa Lim reporting on today's earthquake in China.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
CHINA: U.S.-China relations in modern history
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* President Obama and Chinese leader meet ahead of nuclear summit
* China and U.S. have had rocky relationship over human rights, Taiwan and communism
* Countries have cooperated recently on climate change and North Korea
Washington (CNN) -- President Obama and Chinese leader Hu Jintao are meeting Monday about nuclear security and other issues. The meeting comes as part of a two-day summit on how to better safeguard nuclear weapons materials and keep them out of the hands of terrorists.
Here's a look at some highs and lows in the sometimes rocky relationship between the U.S. and China.
Highs
• President Richard Nixon sought to improve relations with China in the late 1960s. Observers say a big reason behind the move was to rally the Chinese against the Soviet Union's encroaching power.
Nixon's historic 1972 visit to China, many say, helped improve relations with the communist country.
• China supported the U.S. during the Gulf War in 1991 by deciding not to use its veto power in the U.N. Security Council on the use of force toward Iraq -- and voiced its opposition to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
• China and the U.S. have worked together recently in opposing North Korea's nuclear ambitions; China has highlighted its opposition to the country withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and fears that its nuclear arsenal could threaten the region.
• In November, Obama made a stop in China during his four-nation tour of Asia, meeting with leaders including Hu. After their talks, the two spoke of a common vision of shared responsibilities and economic opportunities.
Months later, China and the U.S. teamed up to fight climate change and create clean energy. Both leaders said their nations would cooperate to advance technologies and work toward a global agreement on reducing carbon emissions.
Lows
• The U.S. instituted a "containment" policy toward communist superpowers China and the Soviet Union for their involvement in the Korean War in the 1950s.
The countries' providing of support and resources for the North Koreans strained relations with the U.S. It also put an apparent freeze on diplomatic relations with China for nearly 20 years.
• In 1989, China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square drew widespread ire from world leaders, including President George H.W. Bush.
• China's often-criticized human rights record, from religious rights to the treatment of political dissidents, has been a source of tension between the two countries throughout the years.
• In April 2001, a U.S. Navy reconnaissance plane made an emergency landing in China after colliding with a Chinese fighter jet, which was en route to intercept the American plane.
Although the incident was deemed accidental, concerns were raised that the U.S. was threatening the country, a point the U.S. fought.
JAPAN: Japan's quirky pop trio Chatmonchy
Clockwise from upper left: the cover of the new Broken Social Scene record, Chatmonchy, Mulatu Astatke and Rafter Roberts.
April 13, 2010San Diego-based producer Rafter Roberts has worked with artists such as Sufjan Stevens, Fiery Furnaces and Rocket From the Crypt. But he's also known for his own solo work, and is about to release his fourth album under the name Rafter. We've got a preview cut on this edition of All Songs Considered. Also on the program: the Canadian supergroup Broken Social Scene, a deluxe reissue from the electro-pop group Passion Pit, the strangely named Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt, Japan's quirky pop trio Chatmonchy and Ethiopian jazz artist Mulatu Astatke.
JAPAN: For Japanese Women, The Past Is The Latest Fad
April 13, 2010
by Anthony Kuhn
Japanese model Anne, daughter of actor Ken Watanabe, appears in a 2007 Chanel show in Tokyo. Anne has carved out a niche for herself writing and speaking about history and history buffs. Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty Images
TRANSCRIPT
In Japan, the number of female visitors to shogun castles, samurai battle re-enactments and history bookstores has recently increased. Observers attribute this to the rise of the "history girls" — a new urban subculture that some believe signals a kind of empowerment for female Japanese hobbyists.
One of the more public faces of the history girls, or reki-jo, is a fashion model named Anne. She's the daughter of actor Ken Watanabe, and she goes by one name. She's carved out a niche for herself writing and speaking about history and history buffs.
Reki-jo all have their favorite historical periods and characters. Speaking in a Tokyo cafe, Anne says hers is the Shinsengumi, the elite swordsmen of Japan's last shogun, or military ruler.
"The Shinsengumi is popular among Japanese girls because its members are all young, in their teens to early 30s," Anne says. "They changed Japan. The interesting part of their era is that we can see some photos of them, so we can imagine them better and feel closer to them. This history gives courage to young people today."
In TV dramas, the Shinsengumi are all played by popular, young male actors.
The reki-jo idolize these historical figures like rock stars.
Part Of The Nerdy Comic Book Subculture
Ryo Watanabe (no relation to Anne) is one of the media and marketing entrepreneurs who has helped build the reki-jo phenomenon. He created music, a Web site, TV shows and a bar where they can congregate. Watanabe says that history girls populate both virtual and actual worlds.
"The virtual ones just play games and follow individual characters," Watanabe says. "The real ones start with games, but they also do research, read books and visit historical sites. These are the real history girls."
Anthropologists who study such things say that the reki-jo are actually a kind of otaku, a nerdy sort of fan of Japanese comic books and video games.
Otaku nerds build identities for their favorite characters — choosing, for example, kimonos, hairstyles and weapons — and give their characters attributes: three points for strength and four for charisma.
Patrick Galbraith, a doctoral student at the University of Tokyo and author of The Otaku Encyclopedia, says that the history girls signal the rise of the female otaku. And what do male otaku do?
"They're really kind of focusing on what types of women they're interested in, and they create this kind of fantasy discourse about the female, and they consume these fetishized fantasy images," Galbraith says. "And women also have been doing this for a very long time, but it's always been below the surface."
A Way To Connect
People in Japan increasingly define themselves through the media they consume rather than work, family or school ties. Of course, this is true elsewhere, but Galbraith says the 1990s decline of Japanese corporate culture has pushed the country's hobby culture into the mainstream.
"And so now we are seeing more and more people who are making connections through consumption, through shared media, through shared patterns of social existence," Galbraith says. "And maybe reki-jo is one example of that, because really they are, I think, people who share an interest, but almost nothing else."
On a Wednesday night, the reki-jo head down to Ryo Watanabe's bar to talk about warlords, sieges and assassins. In her metal-studded leather attire, Miyuki Miyamoto is dressed more for a mosh pit than a history seminar. And she's proud of it.
"I like to be called a reki-jo," Miyamoto says. "Ten years ago, I had a negative image as a serious, isolated girl who likes history but has few friends. Now I feel more recognized as one of a group."
Observers say that even in the 19th-century Edo era, Japanese grouped around pop culture experiences as a way of coping with the anonymity and solitude of urban life. Their point: The otaku culture's roots run deep in Japan, and perhaps there's a little otaku in all of us.
S. KOREA: South Korea To Impose Curfew On Gamers
April 13, 2010
Officials in Seoul have announced a curfew to block young people from playing online games after midnight. The Korea Herald reports the curfew affects about 20 games which are mostly role-play games that suck users into virtual worlds for hours at a time.
TRANSCRIPT
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And our last word in business today comes from South Korea, which is tackling online video game addiction. The media there have reported shocking tales of gamers who actually died after spending weeks at the computer without a break.
Today's last word: game over - or at least suspended.
Officials in Seoul have announced a curfew to block young people from playing online games after midnight. The Korea Herald newspaper reports the curfew affects about 20 games - mostly role-play games - that suck users into virtual worlds for hours at a time.
And that's the business news on MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
And I'm Steve Inskeep.
CHINA: Avon Suspends Executives In China In Fraud Probe
April 13, 2010
The president, chief financial officer and another senior executive at Avon's China operation have been put on leave, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company is investigating an alleged bribery scandal. An Avon official in New York also is involved in the probe.
TRANSCRIPT
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
NPR's business starts with the Avon lady's trouble in China.
(Soundbite of music)
INSKEEP: Avon has suspended several key executives from its China operation. The president, chief financial officer, and another senior executive at Avon's China business were sent out on leave, pending a bribery investigation. A company official in New York is also involved in this probe, and the company is looking into alleged overseas trips for Chinese government officials.
The allegations against Avon executives come on the heels of another bribery case involving a foreign company in China. Four executives of the Australian mining firm Rio Tinto are doing jail time.
RUSSIA & US: Russian Adoption Case Belies Many Happy Adoptions
April 13, 2010
by Eric Weiner
International adoption coverage needs to be re-framed, says commentator and adoptive father Eric Weiner. The number of happy families vastly outnumbers the cases of parents who are unfit for a child.
I've gotten very quick with the remote control these days. I can change channels or hit the mute button in a fraction of a second. You see, I don't want my 5-year-old daughter to hear the adoption news out there, because lately, it seems, it's all bad news. The Russian case, the American missionaries accused of sneaking children out of Haiti — these stories raise questions that I'm not prepared to answer. Not yet, at least.
My daughter knows she is adopted. My wife and I don't hide that fact, nor do we dwell on it. It's just one more thing, we tell her, that makes her special. Once, we were at an ice cream parlor, and the clerk asked my daughter: "Where are you from, little girl?" "Kazakhstan," she replied proudly. I can still recall the shocked expression on the clerk's face.
Only now is my daughter beginning to understand that we don't look alike, she and I. Coursing through her veins is the blood of Genghis Khan and the Mongols. Coursing through my veins is the blood of the Jews of Eastern Europe. It doesn't matter, though. Love trumps genetics. Every time.
There's something mysterious and wonderful about the bond between an adoptive parent and child. For me, that bond jelled as soon as I saw her photo — sent by e-mail from the adoption agency. She had bright eyes and a huge bald head — "Buddha Baby," we called her. Normally I'm not one to believe in fate, but at that moment, I knew, just knew, she was destined to be my daughter.
Eric Weiner, a former reporter for NPR, is author of The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World. Chuck Berman/Courtesy of Hachette Book Group USA
Adoption is not what you think it is. It is not, as one well-meaning person told me, "an act of mercy." My wife and I did not adopt our daughter to "save" her or to demonstrate our innate goodness. We adopted her because we wanted a child and couldn't have one biologically. That's why we filled out endless reams of paperwork, underwent a background check, spent thousands of dollars we couldn't really afford.
Like our case, the vast majority of international adoptions end happily. Of course, you don't hear those stories. Good news is not news — which is a shame, really, because every time there's an adoption scandal, countries overseas get spooked. Sometimes, they suspend all adoptions, as Russia is reportedly considering now. When that happens, the main victims are the children sitting in orphanages, waiting for parents who may never arrive.
That's what nearly happened to us. At the time, there was a similar case involving a Russian child adopted by an American parent. This parent had allegedly beaten the child to death. It was a terrible story, and Kazakh officials — very much in the Russian orbit — were threatening to suspend all adoptions, including ours. My wife and I spent several tormented weeks holed up in an apartment in the Kazakh city of Almaty, wondering whether we would be allowed to bring our Buddha Baby home.
In the end, cooler heads prevailed and adoptions were allowed to continue. I hope that is what happens now. Meanwhile, I've figured out what I'll say the next time someone tells me that adopting my daughter was an "act of mercy." Yes, I'll reply, it was, and it is we — my wife and I — who are the recipients of that mercy.
CHINA: Train to Nowhere
A decommissioned train sits at the site of China's first nuclear weapons base in Haiyan county, Qinghai province. The train cars now serve as a temporary dormitory.
SHANGHAI, CHINA: Shanghai's Oriental Pearl Tower catches fire, no casualties reported
The antenna at the top of the 468-meter television tower caught fire around 2 a.m. and has been put out by firefighters, local police said.
Before the fire there was thunder, which could have triggered the fire . . .
CHINA: Death toll rises to 36 in Shanxi flooded colliery, 2 still missing
| ONE more body was retrieved from a coal mine that was flooded two weeks ago in north China's Shanxi Province, bringing the death toll to 36, rescue headquarters said this morning. Rescuers are searching for two... |
CHINA: Chinese, US presidents meet on bilateral ties, Iranian nuclear issue
| CHINESE President Hu Jintao and his US counterpart, Barack Obama, met in Washington yesterday to discuss bilateral relations, the Iranian nuclear issue, the Renminbi (RMB) exchange rate and other matters of common... |
RUSSIA: Russia's bitter harvest
Mariyam Sharipova, one of the two women who carried out the attack in Moscow, is seen in a photo on the cellphone of her mother, Patimat Magomedova.
As the Moscow bombings remind, the simmering insurgency and brutal crackdown in the Caucasus have left a landscape of damaged women, some all too ready to spread their pain to Russia's heartland.
April 13, 2010
By Megan K. Stack, Reporting from Balakhani, Russia
The last time Patimat Magomedova saw her daughter, she was puttering around the house, manicuring her nails and using henna to dye her hair bright red.
It's high time we take care of the garden, the mother remembers Mariyam Sharipova saying that Friday. Let's plant raspberries, cucumbers, greens. And we have to do something about the kitchen, maybe get some pretty new dishes.
By evening, the young woman had vanished from the house in this remote mountain village in the Russian republic of Dagestan. Magomedova didn't see her daughter's face again until . . .
Monday, April 12, 2010
EAST ASIA: Russian Companies Follow Deripaska to Asia in Search of Cash
April 12, 2010, 6:07 PM EDT
By Yuriy Humber
April 13 (Bloomberg) -- Russian companies including VTB Group and OAO Polyus Gold are following Oleg Deripaska to Asia in search of cash, after the billionaire’s aluminum maker United Co. Rusal became the country’s first to list in Hong Kong.
Warming political ties between Russia and China, a 142 percent rally in Moscow’s Micex stock index since the start of last year and Rusal’s $2.24 billion share sale in January have combined to “pique interest” in Russia, said Chris Weafer, chief strategist at UralSib Financial Corp. in Moscow.
Polyus chief Evgeny Ivanov is among the dozens of . . .
RUSSIA & US: In a Diplomatic Limbo While Waiting to Adopt
“They are expecting us to return,” said Shannon Nelson. “How can we not?” She and her husband, Daniel, are adopting two Russian boys. Brad Chamness for The New York Times
Published: April 12, 2010
Randy Wills received the long-awaited call from his adoption agency last Thursday: a 10-month-old girl from eastern Russia was available for adoption. He and his wife, Magdalena Kleczkowski Wills, who live in Southington, Conn., could plan to travel to Russia in two weeks.
The agency sent by e-mail a photograph of the infant, and Mr. Wills and his wife, who had undergone unsuccessful fertility treatments before pursuing the adoption, were giddy. The nursery was ready — complete with a stuffed animal named Shmuley the Monkey.
RUSSIA: Out of tragedy, a detente of sorts between Russia, Poland
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
By Anne Applebaum, WARSAW
Last Saturday, the Polish president, the Polish national bank chairman, the chief of the Polish general staff and a host of other military and political leaders, some of whom were my friends and my husband's colleagues, died in a tragic plane crash in the forest near Smolensk, Russia, not far from where 20,000 Polish officers were secretly murdered by Joseph Stalin 70 years ago. Yet this time around, nobody suspects a conspiracy.
Of course a few fringe Web sites might make that claim, and the odd politician might voice it. But the Russian and Polish governments, the Russian and Polish media…
THE KOREAS & THE US: It's Time for the U.S. Army to Leave Korea
U.S. President Barack Obama gets a hug as he rallies U.S. troops at Osan Air Base in a Nov. 19, 2009 trip. (AP)
Joshua Stanton: After 60 Years, It's Time We Should Withdraw
(The New Ledger) Joshua Stanton blogs at OneFreeKorea.
Proceeding against the advice of my cardiologist, I must concede that for once, Ron Paul is actually on to something. The ground component of U.S. Forces Korea, which costs U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars a year to maintain, is an equally unaffordable political liability on the South Korean street. We should withdraw it. Every Saturday night off-post brawl is a headline in the muck-raking Korean press, for which the American soldier is inevitably blamed, and for which angry mobs perpetually demand renegotiations of the Status of Force Agreement to give Korea’s not-even-remotely-fair judicial system more jurisdiction over American soldiers.
The South Korean people do not appreciate the security our soldiers provide . . .
CHINA & JAPAN: Chinese submarines, destroyers spotted in high seas near Okinawa
| Two Chinese submarines and seven or eight destroyers were spotted by Japanese authorities on Saturday in the high seas between the main island of Okinawa and Miyako Island in the southernmost prefecture, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa said Tuesday. The defense chief said the Chinese submarines and destroyers were navigating southward, adding that Tokyo has never before confirmed such a large number of Chinese vessels near Japan. (AP) |
CHINA: Recent grads' salaries at 2,900 yuan a month
2010-4-13
By Liu Xiaolin and Liang Yiwen
THE median salary for university graduates last year was 2,900 yuan (US$425) per month, varying greatly depending on students' majors, according to a new report.
The median pay in the report was slightly higher than the average wage of 2,691 yuan reported by online recruitment site Zhaopin.com. It's believed to be a more reliable statistic.
Shanghai Education Commission teamed up with Fudan University to survey more than 10,000 students from 58 colleges and universities who graduated last year, along with 368 employers, about first-time employees' starting pay.
"The employment condition is better than previously expected," said Wang Xiping, of the commission.
Despite the financial crisis, economics and trade majors brought higher pay than other majors, same as in 2008.
These were followed by majors of art design, commercial English, mechanical design and electric automation, according to the report.
Contrary to the belief that male students have the edge in jobs, female who graduated last year had 2.42 percent better success in landing work than the men, the report showed.
Higher education degrees seemed to bring higher salary, according to the report.
The median salary of freshly minted doctorates hit 4,750 yuan.
Other postgraduates' median salary was 4,000 yuan.
Some of this year's graduates-to-be are disappointed in the salary numbers.
"Prices of goods are increasing but the salaries are not," said Zhang Fei, a college senior who is majoring in Korean. "That will make life harder, especially for non-local college graduates who also have to pay the rent after they start working."
CHINA: Hand, foot and mouth disease claims 13 tykes
2010-4-13
By Cyril Li
AN epidemic of hand, foot and mouth disease has killed 13 toddlers and hospitalized 20 in a southwestern China county, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday.
The health department of Quanzhou County in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region said the disease appeared without skin rashes - one of its typical symptoms. The alteration made it more difficult for the local medical staff to identify the disease, said the head of the county health bureau.
Inadequate conditions in local hospitals hampered treatment to patients in critical situation when none of them had necessary devices such as respirator for children or blood gas analyzer, the official added.
Experts from the center of disease control and prevention in Guangxi's Guilin City confirmed that all the deaths were caused by the disease.
CHINA: Mr. Death, please say hello to Mr. Kill
2010-4-13
By Wang Xiang
DID you know there are people with Kill, Death, and Ghost as their family names? A retired man in Jiangxi Province said he will apply for entry in the Guinness World Records for collecting more than 2,000 of the weirdest surnames in China.
The 75-year-old Cheng Yinglian said his interest in collecting these unusual family names was piqued 20 years ago when he read a byline in a newspaper that started with Gui, meaning Ghost in Chinese, reported the Jiang Nan City Daily.
Cheng said he found that weird surnames had stories behind them and he started to pay special attention to them.
Soon he became obsessed. He told the newspaper he has spent almost every spare second in the past 20 years seeking them out, eventually publishing book, "Thousands of Surnames."
There were surnames meaning numbers (from zero to zillion), daily necessities (tea, oil, salt, and vinegar), and time units (seconds, minute, hour). Other unfortunate folks have inherited surnames such as Yao, meaning drugs, Zai, meaning kill, Si, meaning death.
It was not easy to compile the list, as most Chinese people share a few common surnames, like Zhang, Wang, Li, Liu and Chen.
There were about 92.9 million Chinese people, 7.25 percent of the country's total population, with the surname Wang, meaning King, as data showed in 2008.
S. KOREA: South Korean Won Falls on Speculation Central Bank Intervened
April 13 (Bloomberg) --
South Korea’s won weakened from an 18-month high on speculation the central bank is selling the currency in order to damp gains and support earnings of exporters.
Shares of Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, and Kia Motors Corp. yesterday fell the most in more than three months in Seoul on concern a stronger won would erode their profits. Foreign investors today sold more Korean stocks than they bought for the first day since March 11 . . .
VLADIVOSTOK, RUSSIA: Mass grave halts road-building project
RIA Novosti
Construction of a road near the Russian Far Eastern town of Vladivostok has ground to a halt after a mass grave was found in its path, the head of a local construction company said.
Viktor Grebnev said the first bones were found in late fall 2009. There is already a memorial to the victims of Stalin's repression not far from the site.
"Construction at the site has stopped. The uncovered remains have been transferred to special containers. Now we are waiting for the earth to thaw so the remaining fragments can be carefully removed from the ground," he said.
According to eyewitnesses, bones and skulls can still be seen on the surface of the earth at the construction site.
"There are barracks where political prisoners were held several kilometers away from the site," local historian Viktor Shalai said, adding that the uncovered bodies could have starved or been worked to death.
A spokesman from the construction company said the company was leaving the site for experts to investigate.
"Judging by photographs from the construction site near the memorial [...] a mass grave of executed people has been uncovered. It's hard to judge the scale of the grave from the photographs. Experts must carry out a thorough, competent and, most importantly, ethical investigation."
During the Stalinist purges millions of people were executed on fake charges of espionage, sabotage, anti-Soviet propaganda or died of starvation, disease or exposure in Gulag labor camps in Siberia and the Far East. According to official statistics, 52 million were convicted on political charges during Stalin's regime.
S. KOREA: South Korea Imposes Midnight Gaming Ban To Combat Addiction
"Other people sacrifice their sons to the nation, but I gave my son away to online games," one South Korean mother told Donga, a South Korean news outlet.
In an effort to curb video game addiction among youth, South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has implemented a sort of gaming "curfew" that will block underage users from accessing online computer games after midnight.
THE KOREAS: Buddhists give North Korea food for thought
Published: April 12 2010 17:49
By Christian Oliver in Seoul
Inspiration comes easily to South Korea’s Buddhist abbots.
The Venerable Bop Ta decided in the late 1990s he should build noodle factories in North Korea, and not just because of starvation in the secular dictatorship. The factories could increase the role of Buddhism in inter-Korean rapprochement, clawing back ground from tenacious South Korean Protestant missionaries, who are eagerly seeking North Korean converts.
Religion is officially banned in North Korea and anyone who believes in any religion must practise in the utmost secrecy…
CHINA: Land prices fall except in Beijing
2010-4-13
Source: Xinhua
THE average land prices in 70 major cities fell 31 percent in March over February as China's measures to curb property prices "start working," a report from the China Land Surveying and Planning Institute said yesterday.
Land supplies in 70 large- and medium-sized cities were rebounding in March and market transactions remained active, said a CLSPI report released by the Ministry of Land and Resources on its Website.
Land prices for residential use and their premiums in Beijing, however, continued to surge "markedly" in March from a month earlier, the report said, without giving the exact numbers.
Housing prices almost doubled in big cities such as Beijing in 2009, triggering fears about possible property bubbles and widespread complaints among people who don't own a house in the cities.
The Beijing city government vowed earlier this year that it would provide at least 2,500 hectares of land to build 30 million square meters of houses this year.
The average land prices of the 70 cities dropped 31 percent month on month to 1,438 yuan (US$210) per square meter in March while land prices for residential use in those cities averaged 1,868 yuan per square meter, down 20 percent from February.
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