News » Society » Mekong murderers to be executed today in Kunming
News » Society » Mekong murderers to be executed today in Kunming |
- Mekong murderers to be executed today in Kunming
- China to use new rocket for moon landing mission
- China mine fire kills at least 11
- Japan watching the navy
- Crackdown on car plates
- Military websites under attack from US hackers
- Beijing blasted by sandstorm
- Summer launch for nation's latest mission into space
- Chang'e-2 goes where no Chinese craft has gone before
- Draft list of future officials approved
- Tibetan helps ancient art live
- Gate left locked in fatal crush of young students
- 12 Taiwan rail officials indicted for corruption
- Soil pollution data called `state secret'
- A mainland lawyer has appealed against an official refusal to release the results of a national soil pollution survey on the grounds that it is a "state secret."
- Tutu leads rally to free Liu
- China nears approval of $16 billion domestic jet-engine plan: Xinhua
- Have You Heard…
- Victoria’s Secret Plans to Open First Stores in Hong Kong
- China’s next manned space mission to launch this summer
| Mekong murderers to be executed today in Kunming Posted: 28 Feb 2013 08:03 PM PST MYANMAR drug lord Naw Kham and three of his accomplices, all of whom were convicted of murdering 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River in 2011, are waiting to be executed by injection this afternoon in Kunming, southwestern Yunnan Province. Zhao Biao, a provincial police officer, said the prisoners have been treated equally and have not been discriminated against, adding that their religious beliefs and dietary habits have been respected. |
| China to use new rocket for moon landing mission Posted: 28 Feb 2013 07:57 PM PST A rocket expert said yesterday that China has developed a modified model of Long March-3B carrier rocket for an upcoming moon landing mission to be completed by the Chang'e-3 moon orbiter. The orbiter's structure and size are considerably different than those of its predecessors, requiring some modifications for the carrier rocket, according to Liang Xiaohong, Communist Party of China (CPC) chief of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. With its improved design, the modified model of March-3B carrier rocket has greater reliability and carrying capacity, Liang said. The Chang'e-3 is scheduled to be launched in the latter half of the year. |
| China mine fire kills at least 11 Posted: 28 Feb 2013 07:55 PM PST At least 11 miners die of carbon monoxide poisoning after a fire at a pit in Hebei province, state media report. |
| Posted: 28 Feb 2013 09:00 AM PST CHINA has obtained "adequate" evidence of Japanese warships and airplanes conducting close-range monitoring and surveillance of the Chinese navy, China's military spokesman said yesterday. "China will retain the right of adopting relevant measures," Geng Yansheng told reporters at a news briefing. Japanese warships and airplanes have for a long time closely followed, monitored and disturbed Chinese naval ships and airplanes, a practice which harms the security of the Chinese ships and airplanes and aggravates current Sino-Japanese marine security problems, Geng said. |
| Posted: 28 Feb 2013 09:00 AM PST CHINA'S military will use new car plates from May 1 and tighten controls on their approval, a move to stop civilian cars carrying army plates and stamp out bogus military car licenses. The military will "harshly crack down on" counterfeit military cars, defense ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng told reporters yesterday in response to reports of luxury cars with military plates seen parked at dining and entertainment venues during the Spring Festival. Cars with military plates are granted privileges, including exemption from road tolls and parking fees. |
| Military websites under attack from US hackers Posted: 28 Feb 2013 08:59 AM PST Hackers mainly based in the United States attacked two Chinese military websites an average of 144,000 times a month last year, the defense ministry said yesterday. "The Ministry of National Defense and China Military Online websites were hacked from overseas on average 144,000 times a month in 2012," ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said at a news briefing. China Military Online is a People's Liberation Army news website. Some 62 percent of the attacks came from the US, the spokesman said, adding that the number of hacking assaults on military websites "has risen steadily in recent years." He did not specify any entities from which the alleged attacks originated. A report from US security firm Mandiant had said a unit of the People's Liberation Army had stolen hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organizations, mostly based in the US. China's defense ministry said the report had "no factual basis." Geng called on US officials to "explain and clarify" recent US media reports that Washington would carry out "pre-emptive" cyber attacks and expand its online warfare capabilities. Such efforts are "not conducive to the joint efforts of the international community to enhance network security," he said. Geng said China's military forces were working hard to push "informatization," but there's a long way to go. "At present, China's military has no cyber warfare units," Geng said. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 28 Feb 2013 08:58 AM PST BEIJING'S air quality reached dangerous levels yesterday after its first sandstorm of the year. Residents said the sky turned yellow and visibility was poor. Officials advised against going outdoors and said protective measures were necessary for anyone venturing outside. PM10 readings reached as high as 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter - severely polluted - at 11am but started to drop in the afternoon, according to data from the capital's environmental monitoring center. PM2.5, smaller particles which are particularly dangerous as they can lodge in the respiratory system, reached 500 at 11am in many parts of the city. The national safe air limit is an average of 75 micrograms of PM2.5 per cubic meter within 24 hours. Beijing suffered 16 days of haze in January, the most since 1954. The city usually suffers sandstorms from late February to mid-April and the monitoring center said residents should be prepared for a repeat of yesterday's conditions on March 9 and 10. In neighboring Tianjin, dense smog forced the city's meteorological observatory to issue two alerts since Wednesday. Statistics from the Tianjin Environmental Bureau showed that PM2.5 readings at seven of the 27 monitoring stations across the city exceeded 300 yesterday. Sections of 15 expressways passing through Tianjin had to be closed temporarily. Sandstorms and gales also swept central and western regions of the northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The storms had a major impact on 126 counties and cities in six other provincial regions - Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei. The area affected covered 520,000 square meters, home to about 26 million people, the State Forestry Administration said. Meanwhile, an airport and several highways were closed after heavy snow hit northeast China's Liaoning Province yesterday morning. Taoxian International Airport in the provincial capital city of Shenyang shut at 12:40pm. Sections of six highways in the province were also closed, transport officials said. The snow is expected to last three days, lowering temperatures by 8 to 10 degrees Celsius, according to Shenyang weather forecasters. The blizzard is also affecting neighboring Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, officials at the National Meteorological Center said. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Summer launch for nation's latest mission into space Posted: 28 Feb 2013 08:57 AM PST CHINA'S next manned space mission will launch sometime between June and August, carrying three astronauts to an experimental space module, a spokesman for the country's manned space program said yesterday. Three Chinese astronauts will board the Shenzhou-10, which is expected to dock with orbiting lab module Tiangong-1. Chinese astronauts carried out a manned docking with the module for the first time last June and lived and worked in it for about 10 days. They included the country's first female astronaut, Liu Yang. The objectives of the new mission include further assessing the performance of the docking system, the module's capability in supporting life and work, and the conditions of the astronauts. Research will be conducted to test the astronauts' abilities to adapt to the environment in the space module. Tests will also be made on spacecraft repairs and other key technologies necessary for the development of a space station. Astronauts are also to give science lectures to teenage spectators back on Earth during the mission, the spokesman said. Seeking to build its own space station by around 2020, China launched the Tiangong-1 module into space in September 2011. Tiangong-1 docked with the Shenzhou-8 unmanned spacecraft in November 2011, and with the Shenzhou-9 manned spacecraft in June 2012. Rendezvous and docking exercises between the two space modules are important steps in China's efforts to acquire the technological and logistical skills to run a full space lab that can house astronauts for long periods. General assembly has been completed on the Shenzhou-10, and the spacecraft is being tested. All tests have been completed on its carrier rocket, a modified model of the Long March-2F, while the astronauts are being trained. This summer's mission will be China's fifth manned space mission since 2003 when astronaut Yang Liwei became the country's first man in orbit. China is aiming to launch a space laboratory in 2016 and its first space station, made up of three capsules, should be in orbit by around 2020. China also plans to build a space infrastructure composed of Earth-observation satellites, communications satellites, and navigation and positioning satellites. By 2020, China could have more than 200 spacecraft in orbit, about a fifth of the world's total. |
| Chang'e-2 goes where no Chinese craft has gone before Posted: 28 Feb 2013 08:57 AM PST CHINA'S second moon orbiter, the Chang'e-2, is now about 20 million kilometers from Earth, setting a new milestone in the country's deep space exploration efforts, Chinese scientists said yesterday. The probe was 10 million kilometers from Earth on January 5. The probe is continuing to send back signals despite being over its designed life span, they said, without giving details. Chang'e-2 was launched on October 1, 2010 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest Sichuan Province. China's third lunar probe, the Chang'e-3, will launch later this year to land on the moon with a lunar rover. |
| Draft list of future officials approved Posted: 28 Feb 2013 08:54 AM PST China's top leaders have adopted a draft list of proposed future government officeholders at a meeting ahead of a legislative session that will see the election of a new slate of top officials. A draft of an administrative reform plan to be discussed at next week's National People's Congress session was also passed at yesterday's meeting of the Communist Party's Central Committee. The annual NPC meeting will elect a new state president as well as the head of the NPC and government ministers. Urbanization, emission cuts and improved public services are also expected to be among the themes of the session. The list will be recommended to the presidium of the first annual session of the 12th National People's Congress, according to a communique issued after the plenary session. The first annual session of the 12th NPC, the national legislature, will begin next Tuesday. The CPC Central Committee also adopted a list of candidates for the leadership of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chose to recommend it to the presidium of the first session of the 12th CPPCC National Committee, which is due to begin on Sunday, the communique said. Measures including tight controls of conference expenses and vehicle use have been detailed for the two sessions. Members of the NPC presidium are asked to take coaches with deputies. There should be no flowers in hotel rooms used by deputies. Banquets and gala events are also prohibited during the meetings, and even small gifts and local delicacies are not allowed to be exchanged. The CPPCC and government departments such as the ministries of finance and civil affairs have also carried out a spate of similar measures to echo the Party's frugality call during the sessions. The sessions will elect or approve the appointment of the country's new leadership and executive organs, providing institutional and personnel guarantees for the country's development. |
| Tibetan helps ancient art live Posted: 28 Feb 2013 08:00 AM PST ONE year after ending an eight-year apprenticeship, Cering Tongdri teaches students how to paint tangka, a style of Tibetan art that involves painting on embroidery, in his own studio. The 25-year-old Tibetan has an ambitious dream - to become a master of tangka and make his works known to more people both at home and abroad. Cering Tongdri, a native of Amchok Township in northwest China's Gansu Province, grew up with a love for painting. Although he dropped out in his second year of primary school to help his parents raise cattle, he never gave up his passion for art. When he reached the age of 16, Cering Tongdri was encouraged by his uncle to learn tangka. The plan was supported by the rest of the family. Cering Tongdri was introduced to Dianzin, a 44-year-old Tibetan tangka master from northwest China's Qinghai Province. Dianzin first learned tangka in his hometown before moving to Xiahe, where he continued to study at the Labrang Monastery, one of the six great temples of the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism. Dianzin set up his own tangka studio and began to recruit apprentices more than 10 years ago. Cering Tongdri was just one of his dozens of pupils. Tangka paintings developed from mural-style paintings in the seventh century. They often feature strong Buddhist content. The art form is included as part of China's intangible cultural heritage. "Through government protection, those who have higher education backgrounds have also started to study tangka. The ancient art will have a bright future," said Cering Tongdri. |
| Gate left locked in fatal crush of young students Posted: 28 Feb 2013 08:00 AM PST TWO officials at a primary school failed to unlock a dormitory gate on time, causing a stampede in which four children died when they were crushed against the gate in Laohekou in the central province of Hubei, local government officials said yesterday. Seven other children were injured, three severely. Du Guiqiang, headmaster of Qinji elementary school in Laohekou, and Zhang Jihui, political education director, didn't open the dormitory gate at 6am as usual on Wednesday, causing students to crowd on stairs, officials said an initial investigation found. Six people including the two school officials and a dormitory superintendent, have been detained, The Beijing News reported yesterday. Also yesterday, however, parents of children attending Qinji elementary school said teachers dined together on Tuesday night and some got drunk, and thus they couldn't get up to open the door, Xinhua news agency reported. Parents said the school, where 502 of the 952 students board, was severely crowded, with students sleeping side-by-side, in some cases in dormitories converted from classroom space. The mother of one of the dead students, Sun Ruixuan, told China Youth Daily that she believed her daughter might rush to the gate to get to a public toilet because there were no bathrooms in the building where the children were locked at night. There is only one exit on the first floor of the school's temporary dormitory, which used to be a four-story teaching building. Due to safety concerns, teachers locked the gate at the first floor every night and opened it at 6am. China Youth Daily found that every 50 to 60 children shared a room. Children often went to sleep without taking off clothes, and didn't wash their face, hands and feet in a week, Sun said. Local officials did not confirm the allegations. School officials said in an earlier interview with Xinhua that students were so excited by the start of a new semester that they woke up earlier, before the gates were supposed to open. The four students who died after emergency treatment included a first-grader, a fifth-grader and two second-graders. The three severely injured students were transferred to a well-equipped hospital in Xiangyang City, where they have shown improvement, Dragon TV reported yesterday. They are conscious and can speak, the news program said. Du and Zhang are among the eight education officials being sacked from their posts for dereliction of duty. Twelve people are being investigated in the accident. The student body of the school has grown over the past decade as elementary schools in Laohekou were reduced from 139 to 39, according to Xinhua. Children living in eight villages go to Qinji, many walking a long way. The school has no buses, Xinhua said. |
| 12 Taiwan rail officials indicted for corruption Posted: 28 Feb 2013 08:00 AM PST TWELVE Taiwan railway officials including two deputy directors have been indicted on graft charges after allegedly accepting banquets and hostess club visits in the biggest corruption scandal to hit the rail sector, prosecutors said. Chung Chao-hsiung and Huang Min-jen, deputy chiefs of the Taiwan Railway Administration, were charged along with 10 employees on Wednesday with accepting gifts from businessmen. The officials are accused of receiving treats worth more than NT$6 million (US$207,000) to help firms secure contracts for several projects worth some NT$1 billion. Prosecutors recommended "heavy sentences" for the deputy directors, for "severely damaging public interests and the railway administration," although they did not specify for how long they should be jailed. Five businessmen and two construction brokers were also indicted in the case. Taiwan has been rocked by a string of high-profile corruption cases, including that of ex-leader Chen Shui-bian, who currently is serving a 20-year jail term on multiple graft convictions. |
| Soil pollution data called `state secret' Posted: 28 Feb 2013 10:20 AM PST Ad: The $4 Million Monster - $135.00 Avg Commission! Lowest Refunds On CB - Over $4 Million In 2011-13. Shocking 14 Percent Refund Rate, $135 Average To You Per Sale, Massive Daily Contests, And Recurring Commissions For Life... Promote The Hottest Offer On CB Right Now. See Video Proof: Http://gsniper2.com/affiliates |
| Posted: 28 Feb 2013 10:20 AM PST Ad: Chris Farrell Membership - Voted No.1 Internet Marketing Service Online By Imreportcard.com. Chris Farrell Membership Is For Those Serious About Creating A Regular And Continuous Income Online. |
| Posted: 28 Feb 2013 10:20 AM PST Ad: Blogging With John Chow - Account Red Color Coded? We're The Lowest Refund Rate On CB @ 8.17%. Another Epic Launch By John Chow And Peng Joon With The Next CB #1. Visit www.bloggingwithjohnchow.com/affiliates |
| China nears approval of $16 billion domestic jet-engine plan: Xinhua Posted: 28 Feb 2013 08:13 AM PST  Source: Reuters (Reuters) – China's cabinet may soon approve an aircraft engine development program that will require investment of at least 100 billion yuan ($16 billion), state-run Xinhua news agency quoted unidentified industry sources as saying. So far the domestic aerospace industry has failed to build a reliable, high-performance jet engine to end its dependence on Russian and Western makers for equipping its military and commercial aircraft. Xinhua on Thursday quoted an unidentified professor at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA) with knowledge of the project as saying the investment would be used mainly for research on technology, designs and materials related to aircraft engine manufacturing. The project was going through approval procedures in the State Council and may be approved shortly, the professor was quoted as saying. Participants in the project include Shenyang Liming Aero-Engine Group Corp, AVIC Xi'an Aero-Engine (Group) Ltd (600893.SS) and research institutes including the BUAA, Xinhua reported. Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), the country's dominant military and commercial aviation contractor, had lobbied the government to back a multi-billion dollar plan to build a high-performance jet engine. China's military and aerospace industries have suffered from bans on the sale of military equipment imposed by Western governments after the Tiananmen Square crackdown and foreign engine-makers are reluctant to transfer costly technology. Some Chinese aviation industry specialists forecast Beijing will eventually spend up to 300 billion yuan ($49 billion) on jet-engine development over the next two decades. ($1 = 6.2273 Chinese yuan) |
| Posted: 28 Feb 2013 08:06 AM PST Have You Heard…   |
| Victoria’s Secret Plans to Open First Stores in Hong Kong Posted: 28 Feb 2013 08:11 AM PST  Source: Bloomberg News By Kelvin Wong – Feb 27, 2013 Limited Brands Inc.'s Victoria's Secret, the lingerie chain known for its supermodels called "Angels," is planning its first stores in Hong Kong, where surging demand from shoppers has sent retail rents to a record. An influx of mainland Chinese visitors has fueled consumption of branded apparel and accessories in Hong Kong, which commands the world's highest occupancy costs in some of its areas. Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (ANF) and Gap Inc. are among international clothing labels that have opened flagship stores in the city in the past 18 months. Both IFC and New Town Plaza malls are owned or part-owned by Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. (16), the world's biggest developer by value. Brenda Wong, a spokeswoman for Hong Kong-based Sun Hung Kai, declined to comment on its tenants. Planet's Biggest Limited Brands's shares rose 2 percent to $44.50 at the close in New York yesterday, the biggest gain since Jan. 15. The company yesterday reported fourth-quarter net income rose 14 percent as sales grew. Limited Brands, while "very, very optimistic" about Victoria's Secret's potential outside of North America, has been measured in openings to ensure its stores run well, Chief Executive Officer Les Wexner said in an October presentation to investors. "We're very aware that China will be the biggest market on the planet at some point," Martin Waters, president of international business at Limited Brands, said at the October investor meeting. "We just don't feel pressured by the time to go and do that immediately. We've got so many building blocks to put in place." Hong Kong's Causeway Bay overtook New York's Fifth Avenue as the world's most expensive retail location last year, with annual average shop rents reaching $2,630 per square foot at the end of June, a 35 percent increase from a year earlier, according to property broker Cushman & Wakefield Inc. Hong Kong's retail sales rose 9.8 percent in 2012 after gaining 25 percent a year earlier, according to the city's census and statistics department.   |
| China’s next manned space mission to launch this summer Posted: 28 Feb 2013 08:16 AM PST  Source: Reuters (Reuters) – China's next manned space mission will launch sometime between June and August, carrying three astronauts to an experimental space module, state media said on Thursday, the latest part of an ambitious plan to build a space station. Chinese astronauts carried out a manned docking with the module for the first time last June. Rendezvous and docking exercises between the two vessels are an important hurdle in China's efforts to acquire the technological and logistical skills to run a full space lab that can house astronauts for long periods. China is still far from catching up with the established space superpowers, the United States and Russia. The Tiangong 1 is a trial module, not the building block of a space station. But this summer's mission will be the latest show of China's growing prowess in space and comes while budget restraints and shifting priorities have held back U.S. manned space launches. It will be China's fifth manned space mission since 2003 when astronaut Yang Liwei became the country's first person in orbit. China also plans an unmanned moon landing and deployment of a moon rover. Scientists have raised the possibility of sending a man to the moon, but not before 2020.   |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Update » News » Society To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Comments