News » Society » MANOJ JOSHI: Beware of the soaring dragon as China's military power takes off

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• MANOJ JOSHI: Beware of the soaring dragon as China's military power takes off
• China seeks economic growth boost
• 123-Reg websites hit by attack
• VIDEO: China buys up Billingsgate crabs
• Graveyard in the sky: Scaling Everest was once the peak of man's ambition. But with up to 150 climbers a day on the summit, it's now a death-trap for thrill hungry amateurs
• Burberry checks into menswear after 26 per cent jump in annual profit
• 'Gay' penguins who have been preparing for fatherhood for six years finally get their shot after keepers give them an egg to look after
• A love-hate relationship
• Security mission
• Teacher punished pupils via exposure to UV light
• Drunk driving cases plummet
• Rebuilt school torn down in Sichuan to get HK look
• Couple held after woman hit, buried alive
• Top-level probe into missing teenagers
• SK jails man for attack on Japanese embassy
• Teacher uses ultraviolet lights to punish naughty children
• Ministry requires 2-hour daily outdoor play for kids
• Drunk driving couple bury victim alive
• Police: the suspect died of diarrhea, not torture
• Official saved after police shot her kidnapper

MANOJ JOSHI: Beware of the soaring dragon as China's military power takes off Posted: 23 May 2012 06:02 PM PDT US specialists say that China's defence spending is as much as 50 per cent higher than the official figure since it does not include R&D and foreign procurement costs.

China seeks economic growth boost Posted: 23 May 2012 07:05 PM PDT China says it will take measures to boost demand and sustain growth amid fears of a slowdown in its economy.

123-Reg websites hit by attack Posted: 23 May 2012 07:53 AM PDT Businesses using 123-Reg's web hosting service go offline after reports of a DDoS attack from China.

VIDEO: China buys up Billingsgate crabs Posted: 23 May 2012 04:14 PM PDT Rare access to London's oldest wholesale market reveals that as tastes change so does the products that are sold there.

Graveyard in the sky: Scaling Everest was once the peak of man's ambition. But with up to 150 climbers a day on the summit, it's now a death-trap for thrill hungry amateurs Posted: 23 May 2012 04:23 PM PDT At least 2,500 people have reached the summit of the mountain the Chinese call 'Holy Mother'. And more than 220 have died trying to get there.

Burberry checks into menswear after 26 per cent jump in annual profit Posted: 23 May 2012 02:04 PM PDT The luxury fashion brand, which started life 156-years ago selling raincoats sporting its trademark camel, red and black check pattern, overcame the general retail malaise to hawk its high end clothing and accessories.

'Gay' penguins who have been preparing for fatherhood for six years finally get their shot after keepers give them an egg to look after Posted: 23 May 2012 01:48 PM PDT For years male gentoo penguin couple Inca and Rayas have been hoping to magically produce an egg together, now keepers have given them an opportunity to try fatherhood.

A love-hate relationship Posted: 23 May 2012 05:46 AM PDT The BBC's Damian Grammaticas discusses China's mixed feelings towards foreigners as portrayed in its media following a recent series of events.

Security mission Posted: 23 May 2012 09:56 AM PDT A woman security guard is taking a training drill with her coach in Changchun, northeast China Jilin Province. A member of the first group of women security guards on airplane, she and her teammates will go on their mission beginning June. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Teacher punished pupils via exposure to UV light Posted: 23 May 2012 09:00 AM PDT A kindergarten teacher in Hangzhou has been suspended after she punished children by putting them in a room and exposing them to ultraviolet lights, a local newspaper reported yesterday. The education authorities in Yuhang District of Hangzhou are looking into the case, the City Express newspaper reported. Angry parents said that for the past three years a teacher in No. 2 Linping Kindergarten had been using UV lights, which are equipped as sterilizing devices, to punish children who did not follow her instructions. "The teacher trapped the children in the room while she stood outside, asking the children to turn on the ultraviolet lights themselves," said a mother who was not named. "It was not until my child told me about the punishment recently that I started to know the teacher has been doing this for three years to a lot of victims." "Teacher said our hair will fall down piece by piece once exposed to the light. We are very scared," her son told the newspaper. Children who refused to take afternoon naps, drink enough water or rinse their mouth after meals were punished, the boy told the newspaper. The UV rays may damage eyes and skin if a person is directly exposed. It can cause conjunctivitis, cataracts or even lead to cancer, doctors said. Some parents told the newspaper that their children found their eyes dry and scratchy and they took them to hospitals. The 30-year-old teacher apologized to the parents on Tuesday.

Drunk driving cases plummet Posted: 23 May 2012 09:00 AM PDT THE number of drunk driving cases in China has dropped by 40 percent over the last year after a law that makes punishment stricter, public security officials said. The cities of Beijing and Shanghai both saw cases plummet 70 percent, officials said. The amended law defines all drunk driving occurrences as criminal offenses, even if the act does not result in a traffic accident.

Rebuilt school torn down in Sichuan to get HK look Posted: 23 May 2012 09:00 AM PDT A senior Hong Kong government official will visit quake-devastated Sichuan Province after a damaged school that was rebuilt thanks to the government's donation was demolished for a massive real estate project. Chief Secretary for Administration Stephen Lam will be in Sichuan in southwest China for three days starting today to examine the rebuilding progress as the Hong Kong government has donated HK$9 billion in total (US$1.16 billion) to aid the local reconstruction, Wen Wei Po reported yesterday. Authorities in Mianyang said they made it clear that Wanda Commercial Properties Co Ltd tore down the school without its authorization. "We are considering how to punish Wanda," Li Ze, an official with the Mianyang Investment Promotion Bureau, told the China Business News. But a statement issued by Mianyang government on Monday said the school was torn down for safety concerns because the building was leaning after recent heavy rains. The government said it has decided to spend 70 million yuan building a better-equipped school at an education park that will open in August next year, which was proposed by some students and their parents. The Hong Kong government and the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers donated HK$2 million each to Mianyang after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake to rebuild the Zijing Ethnic Minorities Middle School. About 300 minority students from the Aba Prefecture studied there. Hong Kong government said it planned to reclaim the donation.

Couple held after woman hit, buried alive Posted: 23 May 2012 09:00 AM PDT A young couple has been detained by police in Yuyao in eastern China's Zhejiang Province, accused of burying a woman alive after accidentally knocking her down on a highway when driving drunk, the Southeast Business Daily reported. According to the police, the incident occurred on a highway in Yuyao about 5am on April 30 when the couple drove their black Santana sedan at high speed and knocked down the 68-year-old woman. A waiter at a nearby hotel who witnessed the accident told police he saw the woman lying badly bloodied on the ground, and that a man and a woman got out of their car, the newspaper said. "They helped the old woman to the car and told me that they are sending her to a nearby hospital," the waiter said. But instead of heading to a hospital, the couple drove to a suburban area with the injured woman in their car, still alive, police said. The man surnamed Tao, 25, a Shaanxi Province native, along with his new girlfriend, also 25 and surnamed Chen, buried the injured woman at a remote construction site, police said. Tao told the police that he and the woman drank throughout the night until 5 in the morning at a KTV before they drove off and hit the woman. Tao said he decided to bury her instead of sending her to a hospital because he feared being held responsible for the accident caused by drunk driving, the newspaper said. The couple abandoned their car at the construction site. The car was found two days later by construction workers, who alerted the police as they saw that the car was damaged, the newspaper said. On May 2, construction workers were shocked to discover the buried body of the old woman. Forensic tests showed she died of asphyxiation, the newspaper said. The couple was caught by police on May 9, police announced on Tuesday.

Top-level probe into missing teenagers Posted: 23 May 2012 09:00 AM PDT THE Ministry of Public Security has sent an inspection team to southwest China's Yunnan Province to supervise and reinforce an investigation into missing teenagers, it said yesterday. The ministry sent a special group of criminologists to look into the case earlier this month, after media reported that seven or eight teenagers had gone missing over several years near the village of Nanmen in Jinning County. Among the missing, a 19-year-old man, identified as Han Yao, has been confirmed murdered. On May 9, local police also launched an investigation and detained a man named Zhang Yongming, 59, in whose home the dead boy's telephone card, bank card and other cards were found. Authorities have sacked Jinning's police chief, Da Qiming, and head of a local police station, Zhao Huiyun.

SK jails man for attack on Japanese embassy Posted: 23 May 2012 09:00 AM PDT A Chinese man who threw four Molotov cocktails at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul in January has been jailed for 10 months by a South Korean court, the People's Daily reported yesterday. Liu Qiang, 36, a native of south China's Guangdong Province, said his grandmother was a South Korean who was forced to be a "comfort woman" by Japanese troops during World War II. Seoul Central District Court said a psychological assessment found Liu had slight mental problems, was easily irritated and prone to exaggeration. Although his problem was not severe, it had impaired his judgment. However, Liu denied he had mental issues. Liu, whose grandfather died during the war, was said to be angry because Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda had said Japan "doesn't need to take responsibility for the issue," and South Korea hadn't insisted that Japan apologize. South Korean prosecutors had called for a four-year jail term. No one was hurt in the January 8 incident and Liu was caught at the scene.

Teacher uses ultraviolet lights to punish naughty children Posted: 23 May 2012 03:55 AM PDT A kindergarten teacher in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province was suspended after she was found punishing naughty kids by exposing them to harmful ultraviolet lights, local media reported today. Yuhang District education officials are now looking into the case, a local daily, City Express, reported. Angry parents told the paper that a teacher at the No. 2 Linping Kindergarten had used ultraviolet lights, which are sterilization devices, to punish naughty children for over three years. The teacher locked the children in the room while she stood outside and asked the children to turn on the ultraviolet lights themselves," an unnamed woman complained. "It was not until my son told me recently about the punishment that I realized the teacher had been doing this for three years," said the mother. Her seven-year-old son told the paper that the teacher scared them that their hair would fall off strand by strand after they were exposed to the light. Children who refused to take naps, didn't drink enough water or didn't rinse their mouth after meal would be locked up in the sterilization room, the boy said. Ultraviolet rays may damage the eyes and skin if a person is directly exposed under the light. It can cause eye inflammation, cataract or even lead to cancer, doctors said. Some parents told the newspaper that their children complained about dry eyes and they took them to hospital for examination. The 30-year-old teacher apologized to the parents on Tuesday. "Last Wednesday I frightened some children who didn't drink enough water by turning on the ultraviolet lights for one or two seconds," she said. She insisted that she used that punishment method only once. Her kindergarten officials said they would take all the students in her class for a medical check. Investigation into the case is ongoing, the paper said.

Ministry requires 2-hour daily outdoor play for kids Posted: 23 May 2012 03:49 AM PDT THE Ministry of Health today issued an amended health guideline for kindergartens, requiring them to guarantee at least two hours of outdoor activities per day for children and three hours per day for children in boarding schools. The amended guideline reflects the concern of the government over a serious lack of outdoor activities in Chinese kindergartens which substitute outdoor activities with classes, TV watching and computer games. A recent survey conducted by the China Youth and Children Research Center also found one third of Chinese schoolchildren play outdoors for less than one hour a day and one fourth play outdoors for only one hour or less per week. Shanghai's primary school students spend the least time on outdoor activities, compared with students in other big cities in China.

Drunk driving couple bury victim alive Posted: 23 May 2012 03:41 AM PDT A young couple has been detained by police in Yuyao City of Zhejiang Province as they buried an elderly lady alive after knocking her down in drunk driving, the Southeast Business Daily reported today. Police said the couple drove a black Santana car at a high speed in the early morning of April 30 and knocked down the 68-year-old woman on the road. A hotel porter witnessed the accident and saw the couple carrying the wounded lady into their car. The porter later told the police that the couple told him they were sending her to a nearby hospital. He trusted their words and didn't report to police. But the couple didn't go to the hospital. Instead, they drove to the city's outskirts. The man surnamed Tao, 25, buried the woman alive in a construction site with the help of his girlfriend surnamed Chen, police said. Tao confessed that they had a lot of alcohol drinks in a KTV bar all night until the next morning. After hitting the old lady, he decided to bury her as he feared he would be punished severely for drunk driving, police said. After burying the woman, the couple deserted their car which was found two days later by construction workers who alerted the police, the newspaper said. On May 2, construction workers were shocked to discover the body of a woman in the ground. Forensic examination showed the woman died of choking, the newspaper said. Police caught the couple on May 9, the paper said.

Police: the suspect died of diarrhea, not torture Posted: 22 May 2012 11:24 PM PDT POLICE in Xiangcheng, a city in central Henan Province, denied torturing a suspect to death and said the man died of sudden illness, local media reported today. Police said Yu Gangfeng, 34, suffered diarrhea and kept vomiting in a toilet on the night of October 25 last year, two days after he was arrested on suspicion of robbing a minivan. The pale-faced suspect went back to the police room and suddenly collapsed to the floor with foams coming out of his mouth. About 45 minutes later he was pronounced dead, police said. However, Yu's relatives found he suffered four broken ribs and had bruises on his body. They believed the police forced Yu into confessing the robbery. Henan Business Daily said Xiangcheng police refused to show Yu's family their video footages and the autopsy report. The police insisted that Yu suffered fractures in a medical exam and said they would hold a press conference to show the postmortem report.

Official saved after police shot her kidnapper Posted: 22 May 2012 11:17 PM PDT A deputy county mayor in Zhejiang Province was rescued yesterday after she had been held hostage by an armed man for nine hours. Li Yibo, deputy mayor of Yunhe County, was held at knife point by the man surnamed Zhang in her office around 8am yesterday, the China News Service reported. Li was rescued after police shot Zhang. The kidnapper is now being treated in a local hospital and is in stable condition. A source said Zhang turned into a kidnapper after he was held in custody for days for lodging complaints about a government plan to build a public toilet in front of his house. That claim was not confirmed by the local officials, Chinese Business View reported. Police are still investigating Zhang's motive.