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Chinese, S. Korean presidents discuss North Korea
North Korea's nuclear programs were on the agenda Monday for a summit between the Chinese and South Korean presidents amid recent angry rhetoric from Pyongyang.
Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived for a two-day state visit to South Korea, flush with his country's success in hosting its first Olympic Games, which concluded Sunday.
The two leaders will hold in-depth consultations on "advancing the six-nation talks" aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear programs, according to comments posted on South Korea's presidential Web site.
The two leaders are scheduled to sign several memorandums of understanding on such issues as cooperation in energy and high-tech fields, according to Lee's office.
China is South Korea's largest trading partner, with two-way trade volume reaching US$145 billion last year. North Korea's nuclear programs were on the agenda Monday for a summit between the Chinese and South Korean presidents amid recent... more -
High living costs shock foreigners arriving in South Korea
South Korea is striving to become more foreigner-friendly, offering expatriates a range of services aimed at making life easier and more pleasant.
But that first trip to the supermarket or real estate agency can still come as a shock.
Seoul is the world's fifth most expensive city for expatriates, according to a survey last month by international consultancy Mercer -- ahead of Hong Kong (sixth), Paris (12th) and New York (22nd).
The cost of food, services and rent -- with landlords frequently expecting two years' advance payment -- is an eye-opener for new arrivals.
Apart from distribution problems analysts also blame high rents and production costs, tariff and non-tariff barriers to imports and the lack of an aggressive consumer culture.
Song Joon-Hyuk of the Korea Development Institute said high rents, which usually take up 30 percent of the cost of living in South Korea, push up costs for many products and services. South Korea is striving to become more foreigner-friendly, offering expatriates a range of services aimed at making life easier and mo... more -
China's One-Child Policy Lifted for Quake Victims
CHENGDU, China — In response to inquiries from grieving relatives, local officials announced Monday that parents whose only child was killed or grievously injured in the May 12 earthquake would be exempt from the country’s one-child policy. The Chengdu Population and Family Planning Committee said those families can obtain a certificate to have another child.
The anguish of parents and grandparents has been compounded by the one-child policy, which was introduced in 1979 to control population growth. Provincial officials, especially those in rural areas or in regions with large minority populations, are sometimes given latitude in the application of the regulations. In some places, for example, families are permitted to have more than one child if the first is a girl.
"Our grief is incomparable," said Li Ping, 39, eyes rimmed red, as he and his wife slowly, carefully pulled a pair of pink pajamas over the bruised, naked body of their 8-year-old daughter, Ke. "We got married late, and had a child late. She is our only child." CHENGDU, China — In response to inquiries from grieving relatives, local officials announced Monday that parents whose only child was ... more -
900 students buried by earthquake in China
A powerful earthquake struck a mountainous region of western China on Monday, killing at least 107 people and trapping more than 900 students beneath a collapsed high school as tremors shook buildings for hundreds of miles, according to interviews and reports in China’s state media.
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck in Sichuan Province on Monday afternoon and raised immediate concerns that the death toll could rapidly rise. State media reports said “rows of houses” had collapsed near the quake’s epicenter. By early evening, state media had reported 107 deaths and 34 injuries in four provinces.
President Hu Jintao ordered an “all out” effort to aid people in the earthquake region while soldiers were dispatched for disaster relief efforts. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao was already flying to the scene.
Minutes after the western temblor, a second, smaller quake struck hundreds of miles away, near Beijing. Thousands of office workers were evacuated, while officials warned that other aftershocks could hit the capital later in the evening.
“I suddenly felt very dizzy, as if I were heavily drunk,” said Zeng Hui, who works on the 22nd floor of an office tower in Beijing. “I thought I was seriously ill, then I looked around and saw my colleagues felt the same way. We were stunned.”
The initial quake struck at 2:28 p.m., or 2:28 a.m., Eastern time, near Wenchuan County, according to China’s State Seismological Bureau. People across much of China and as far away as Thailand and Vietnam reported feeling the tremors.
Wenchuan is home to the Wolong Nature Reserve, the country’s most famous panda reserve, and is located about 55 miles from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, which has a population of roughly 12 million people.
Early reports and telephone interviews suggested that Chengdu had been spared any significant problems, but officials were struggling to assess the full scope of the damage in Wenchuan and elsewhere because of the disruption in communications caused by the earthquake. More than 2,300 cell phone towers were knocked down by the quake, according to China Mobile, the country’s top carrier.
Xinhua, the official news agency, said the 107 fatalities were spread across Sichuan, neighboring Chongqing Municipality as well as in Gansu and Yunnan provinces. Damage is believed to be especially severe in Dujiangyan, a county of 600,000 people located near the epicenter. One local official described rows of collapsed houses, Xinhua reported.
Early Monday evening, Xinhua also flashed an emergency report from Dujiangyan describing that nearly 900 students were feared trapped after a high school collapsed. Most of the telephones in the city were not functioning, and the Xinhua report could not be independently verified.
Earlier in the day, the first reports of fatalities came in the east in Chongqing Municipality, where two primary schools were damaged. Four pupils died and more than 100 others were injured, state media reported. Another person was reportedly killed beneath a collapsed water tower in Sichuan Province.
China is prone to seismic activity and has suffered horrific earthquakes in the recent past. In 1976, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the city of Tangshan, located roughly 70 miles from Beijing. More than 240,000 people were killed and nearly every building was leveled. Communist Party officials initially covered up the extent of the death toll. Many of China’s biggest cities, including Beijing, are located in high-risk earthquake zones.
article continues... A powerful earthquake struck a mountainous region of western China on Monday, killing at least 107 people and trapping more than 900 s... more -
Aung San Suu Kyi banned from Myanmar elections on "very odd" terms
Opposition leader Suu Kyi will be barred from running for elections under a draft constitution proposed by the country's military government, not because of her political leanings or antagonistic relationship with the ruling military, but because she has been married to a foreigner. She was married to Michael Aris, a British citizen who died in 1999. This "announcement comes ahead of a May referendum on the new constitution which, if approved, will pave the way for democratic elections in 2010." Criticisms for this decision have come from Asean and from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, though Asean is reported to be "powerless to do anything." NLD is not throwing up their hands so easily, calling the restrictions "unjust." Opposition leader Suu Kyi will be barred from running for elections under a draft constitution proposed by the country's military... more
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Battle Your Internet Addiction
We all love the internet. Check out this article about those whose love goes too far.
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Cyclone Sidr ripping through Bangladesh
Fiercest cyclone since 1970 which had killed over 500,000 people...
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Muscular Monks
How Buddhism Became a Force for Political Activism.
After evening prayers on Sept. 18, the abbot of a small monastery in Myanmar's largest city convened the roughly 30 Buddhist monks in his charge. The bonds between secular and religious authority had broken, the abbot said. Then he gave the monks his blessing to take to the streets in protest.
That meeting, one of many held in monasteries across Myanmar in mid-September, helped turn a sputtering campaign of dissent led by secular democracy activists into a mass movement led by Buddhist clergy. The country formerly known as Burma erupted in the biggest wave of antigovernment demonstrations in nearly 20 years. How Buddhism Became a Force for Political Activism. ... more -
It's the Resistance, stupid
The ultimate nightmare for White House/Pentagon designs on Middle East energy resources is not Iran after all: it's a unified Iraqi resistance, comprising not only Sunnis but also Shi'ites. The intimate connection means there's no way for Washington to control Iraq's oil without protecting it with a string of sprawling
military "super-bases". The ultimate nightmare for White House/Pentagon designs on Middle East energy resources is not Iran after all: it's a unified Ira... more -
Three Days in North Korea
Adrian Baschuk & Jaron Gilinsky receive a rare opportunity to travel to one of the most isolated nations on earth.
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