News » Society » Bus plunge kills 17 in east China
News » Society » Bus plunge kills 17 in east China |
- Bus plunge kills 17 in east China
- VIDEO: More concerns over Chinese milk products
- China's 'Twitter' introduces fees
- Flying saucers ... or moths?
- E-mail into space
- Fraudulent websites closed in crackdown
- Once more into the deep
- US apologizes for anti-Chinese legislation
- Praise for US House
- China starts probe on Olympic ticket sales
- 800m yuan discrepancy detected in rail projects
- Builder allowed to wreck home of famous general
- Architect 'linked to Bo' arrested
- Hollywood filmmakers gather in China at Shanghai film festival
- Tsang’s Exit in Hong Kong Marred by Scandal
- China Leads Nations Boosting IMF’s Firewall to $456 Billion
- Chinese Hit New Space Heights
- Have You Heard… Chinese Hit New Space Heights China Leads
- Bird flu `epidemic' sparks chicken cull
- Seven shallow earthquakes hit eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday, sparking panic, causing damage to buildings and shaking the capital Taipei.
| Bus plunge kills 17 in east China Posted: 19 Jun 2012 06:37 PM PDT A long-distance bus plunged into a ravine in east China's Fujian Province early today, killing at least 17 people and severely injuring three others, local authorities said. |
| VIDEO: More concerns over Chinese milk products Posted: 19 Jun 2012 01:42 PM PDT Chinese parents worry about the latest contamination scandal to hit the country's milk industry. |
| China's 'Twitter' introduces fees Posted: 19 Jun 2012 10:42 AM PDT Sina Weibo, China's biggest Twitter-like microblogging platform, introduces a fee for premium features after posting a financial loss. |
| Posted: 19 Jun 2012 10:28 AM PDT CHINESE experts can't fully explain the two glowing unidentified flying objects which appeared to be rushing at high speed toward Shenzhou-9 spacecraft shortly after its launch on Saturday. However, one did raise the possibility that it could just have been two moths flying in front of a camera lens. It has been confirmed that the objects were recorded by one infrared video camera monitoring the launch and were spotted on a screen at a control center in Beijing about four minutes after the Long March-2F rocket had blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province. The rocket had just shed its nose cone when they were seen heading toward the rocket before flying past and vanishing two seconds later. Many television viewers saw the objects during a live broadcast on state TV. "They couldn't be planes, meteors, birds or separated parts from the rocket," Wang Sichao, an astronomer and UFO expert at the Nanjing Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in an early assessment. However, later he conceded that were two possibilities. They could be two moths flying dozens of meters away past the camera lens. And they also might have been planes, if the rocket had flown past the no-fly zone by the time the two objects were captured. "If the two objects, emitting light, had been detected at different locations, they could have been UFOs," Wang told China News Service. "But (we) haven't received a similar report at another location yet." Wang ruled out spots on the camera lens or meteors. He said the video would be kept in the archives for further research. The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft took off from the launch site in the Gobi Desert at 6:37pm on Saturday. A video of the launch featuring the two flying objects was posted on Weibo and by yesterday afternoon had received more than 2,000 comments. Many people said the objects might have been planes flying beside the rocket or parts of the rocket itself. Wang said they couldn't be rocket parts as they were flying in the wrong direction - toward, not away from, the rocket. Planes were a distant possibility early in the launch because there were air traffic restrictions in place around the launch site. An astronomy expert in Shanghai said the infrared video shot from a single spot offered too little information to identify the objects. "We need the videos from at least two cameras from different angles to work out the precise position and speed of the objects and then to identify what they were," said Tang Haiming, an official with the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory on Sheshan Hill. Last August, a huge glowing object was spotted high above Shanghai, Beijing and other regions in China by several civil aviation pilots, sparking debate among astronomers. Some said the object was an aircraft beyond human technology after studying pictures and calculating its flight path. The Shenzhou-9 and its crew of three, flight leader Jing Haipeng, 45, Liu Wang, 43, and China's first female astronaut Liu Yang, 33, successfully linked up with the Tiangong-1 space lab on Monday. |
| Posted: 19 Jun 2012 10:28 AM PDT ASTRONAUTS in the orbiting space lab Tiangong-1 received their first e-mail from Earth yesterday afternoon, the Beijing Aerospace Control Center confirmed. The e-mail, containing photos, text and videos, was sent through a special communication channel between the control center and the module which allowed instant contact with Earth. Deng Yibing, chief engineer of the astronaut training center, said conditions inside the orbiter were comfortable, with the temperature at 22 to 23 degrees Celsius and humidity at 40 percent. |
| Fraudulent websites closed in crackdown Posted: 19 Jun 2012 10:27 AM PDT CHINESE authorities have closed down 89 websites for fraudulent activities in the name of government organs or charity groups, according to a statement by the State Internet Information Office yesterday. Many of the sites, tackled in a spate of closures beginning in March, claimed to serve anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies. Their operators would fabricate negative news stories and threaten to post them online if the organizations or individuals targeted didn't pay hush money, the statement said. In other cases, counterfeit media licenses and journalist certificates were on sale for thousands of yuan each in the name of administrative organs. "Some of these websites even formed alliances to jointly demand ransoms from organizations, companies and individuals, causing severe damage," the statement said. "The closure of these sites has won support from various social circles." In one case, police shut down a fake police website and arrested four suspects. The "China Internet supervision and investigation authority" site promised to help consumers who had "fallen victim to online fraud" and recover their losses, but asked for service fees or deposits. |
| Posted: 19 Jun 2012 10:24 AM PDT Workers lower China's manned submersible, the Jiaolong, into the sea yesterday to begin its second dive into the Mariana Trench in the west Pacific Ocean. The vessel reached a depth of 6,965 meters below sea level, surpassing a national record set earlier in the day. The previous dive reached a depth of 6,908 meters, during which time operators collected water samples and placed markers. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| US apologizes for anti-Chinese legislation Posted: 19 Jun 2012 10:16 AM PDT THE United States House of Representatives has unanimously passed a resolution apologizing for discriminating laws targeting Chinese immigrants at the turn of the 20th century. On Monday, Congressional leaders hailed the approval of the resolution as a "historic" moment for the Chinese American community. In a voice vote, the House passed H. Res. 683, a bipartisan resolution that formally expresses regret for the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and other legislation that discriminated against people of Chinese origin in the US. It is the fourth resolution of regret passed by both houses of the US Congress in the past 25 years. It was approved in the Senate last October. "Today the House made history when both chambers of Congress officially and formally acknowledged the ugly and un-American nature of laws that targeted Chinese immigrants," said Congresswoman Judy Chu, the only member of Congress who is of Chinese descent and who introduced the bill. "I feel so gratified ... and I feel honored to have been a part of this great moment in history." The Chinese Exclusion Act, approved in 1882 and in force for 60 years, was the first and the only federal law in US history that excluded a single group of people from immigration on no basis other than their race. It explicitly banned Chinese workers from immigration and existing residents from naturalization and voting. Haipei Shue, president of the National Council of Chinese Americans, said it was "a great day for Chinese Americans." They would be able to "heal historical wounds that have been festering for over 100 years," and move forward after the apology, Shue said. |
| Posted: 19 Jun 2012 10:15 AM PDT CHINA praised the US House of Representatives for its apology over laws targeting Chinese immigrants, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said yesterday. Hong said the prosperity of the US was due to the efforts and cooperation of all ethnic groups. The House resolution gives a positive evaluation and appreciation for the contributions made by Chinese immigrants, he said. |
| China starts probe on Olympic ticket sales Posted: 19 Jun 2012 09:38 AM PDT A SENIOR official of China's national Olympic committee responded yesterday to the London Games ticket scandal, saying an investigation into the alleged illegal sale had started. Song Luzeng, secretary general of the Chinese Olympic Committee said the committee learned of the allegations by British media over the black market ticket sale for the London Olympic Games, especially the part involving an authorized ticket reseller, or ATR. "The Olympic committee took an immediate action," said Song. "We demanded a thorough and sincere internal probe to be conducted by the authorized dealers for China." "We will keep a close eye on the issue and report the updated information to the International Olympic Committee in time," he added. Dozens of officials and ticket agents for the London Games, including the sole authorized one for China, Caissa Touristic, have been caught selling thousands of top tickets on the black market for up to 10 times their face value, last weekend's Sunday Times reported. According to a two-month undercover investigation by the British newspaper, it found "widespread corruption among officials and agents controlling the tickets" for at least 54 countries. The International Olympic Committee called an emergency meeting of its executive board and started investigation on Friday after learning the news. Among the news reports, there were some paragraphs relating to China's official ticket agency, which had used a United Kingdom front company to buy dozens of "the best seats in the stadiums" to "top events meant for the British public." They agreed to sell tickets to Sunday Times reporters, who posed as Middle Eastern ticket buyers, for up to 6,000 British pounds (US$9,400) each, according to the report. The Chinese travel agency, Caissa Touristic, denied on Monday they were involved in selling London Games tickets on the black market. "We have carried out every operation following the rules," said Caissa's vice president, Zhang Rui. "The story published by the Sunday Times is untrue, at least the part about us." The International Olympic Committee pledged to take the "strongest sanctions" possible if members of national Olympic committees and authorized sellers were found to have broken the rules. IOC rules prohibit national committees from selling tickets abroad, inflating ticket prices or selling tickets to unauthorized resellers. |
| 800m yuan discrepancy detected in rail projects Posted: 19 Jun 2012 09:38 AM PDT NINE railway projects in China have been found in which costs did not match invoices, or fake invoices were submitted, amounting to a discrepancy of about 800 million yuan, according to the state audit authorities. The national audit office also found the railway ministry and the local governments "appropriated money slowly," which delayed railway construction. Of the nine railway projects, four were supported by the World Bank Group, the other five by the Asian Development Bank, the report said. The authorities are demanding changes to "improve the lax management, construction work and embezzlement, problems reflected in the report." On a railway line from central China's Guizhou Province to southern Guangzhou City, some construction companies used fake invoices to the tune of more than 12.78 million yuan. Along the same line, the builders listed construction costs of more than 140 million yuan for which there were no invoices, said the report. Illegal subcontracts were found to be common in the railway projects, according to the report. Some construction changes started without approvals, said the audit authorities. Along the Nan'ning-Guangzhou line, construction began on nine sub-projects, worth more than 267 million yuan, after design changes but without the properly renewed approvals. Problems of lax money management and corruption have been found in recent years with the country's railway boom and problems that led to the downfall of the former railways minister, Liu Zhijun. |
| Builder allowed to wreck home of famous general Posted: 19 Jun 2012 09:38 AM PDT CULTURAL heritage protection authorities in east China's Nanjing City have come under fire again after the former residence of Zhang Zhizhong, a late Chinese heroic WWII general, has been rebuilt as a developer's sales office, reportedly to be sold for 60 million yuan (US$9.44 million). The brick-and-tile Western-style compound, built in 1934, was purchased by Nanjing Zhuoli Properties Co before it was listed by Nanjing authorities in 2006 as a heritage site. The compound once belonged to Zhang, who was honored as a "Peace General" for his strong resistance to China's civil war. His heroism was best displayed during the China's War Against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945). The developer said the buildings were "in a dilapidated condition" and applied for renovation, but it almost demolished the buildings, worth millions of yuan, and rebuilt a Chinese-style compound in 2007. It was accused of expanding the interior space in pursuit of more profits when selling the buildings. The developer has now been fined 250,000 yuan for rebuilding a fake heritage site, which has triggered widespread rage, the People's Daily reported yesterday. The compound is now a mess filled with construction waste and abandoned office furniture. A big pond was dug in the yard, and the original brick-and-tile structure has become a cement one. Authorities said Zhuoli was allowed to set up offices there because it didn't threaten the buildings' safety. |
| Architect 'linked to Bo' arrested Posted: 19 Jun 2012 08:21 AM PDT A French architect, Patrick Devillers, who is reportedly linked to the disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai, is arrested in Cambodia, officials say. |
| Hollywood filmmakers gather in China at Shanghai film festival Posted: 19 Jun 2012 08:47 AM PDT  Source: Los Angeles Times By Jonathan Landreth SHANGHAI — Hollywood and Chinese film veterans eager to take part in the world's fastest growing movie market gathered in this historic city to kick off the 15th annual Shanghai International Film Festival. China's movie ticket sales rose 30% last year to $1.2 billion, and a lot of those tickets were sold for American movies. Hollywood films accounted for about three-quarters of the ticket sales in China in the first three months of the year. Ticket sales also topped those in Japan for the first time, making China Hollywood's biggest export market. Representing the two nations on the red carpet were American actors Aaron Eckhart and Heather Graham alongside Chinese box-office sensations Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-Fat. American producer Mike Medavoy, who was born in Shanghai, received an honorary achievement award and was feted by, among others, French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud, the festival's jury head. The event's first panel Sunday was titled "Tell a Chinese Story to the World," and turned into a discussion about how to make movies with global appeal. A test case might be legendary comic book creator Stan Lee, who made a festival announcement by video message that his Chinese superhero "The Annihilator" is on his way to the big screen. The upcoming 3-D movie topped the inaugural slate of feature film co-productions announced Monday by state-run National Film Capital. NFC, a Beijing entertainment industry fund management company chaired by former China Film Group President Yang Buting, will draw on an initial $422 million raised by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and other partners, said NFC co-founder Kathy Peng, a former investment banker in Hong Kong. "The Annihilator" producer Eric Mika said the film is a planned 2014 release, to be shot in China in English with a budget of more than $100 million. The script is being written by "Bourne Legacy" author Dan Gilroy. Creator Lee has said the movie will star a Chinese actor. "It will be a 100% Hollywood-China co-production," Mika said. He declined to say how much of the budget would come from NFC and how much from the Hollywood studio co-production partner he hopes to attract. "It's a Hollywood film with global appeal." Mika said there was also lots of "soft money" from brands interested in being attached to "The Annihilator" — both Chinese brands wanting to go West and Western brands wanting to break into China. Among the festival's panel attendees Sunday night was "American Graffiti" and "Star Wars" producer Gary Kurtz, who cautioned that films work best globally when they first work locally. "You've got to make films for your culture first," said Kurtz, who is helping a Chinese partner develop a $25-million animated film based on the historical classic "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms." Kurtz's animated effort is based on the same material as "Red Cliff," a live-action 2008 film from Chinese director John Woo, who parlayed Hong Kong action movies such as "Bullet in the Head" into big-budget American jobs on "Face/Off" and "Mission: Impossible II." However, "Red Cliff" fared poorly at the U.S. box office. Kurtz will trim the complicated plot to appeal overseas without alienating Chinese fans. "The U.S. audience doesn't need to know that they're watching Chinese history," Kurtz said. "As long as the story core is universal, the environment is immaterial." Medavoy, who grew up in Shanghai as the child of Ukrainian Jewish refugees, has made multiple visits to the Middle Kingdom and has been bullish on future co-productions between American and Chinese filmmakers. Joining Kurtz, "Star Trek" director Nicholas Meyer and Shanghai Film Studio President Ren Zhonglun for the Sunday event, Medavoy also seemed dubious about any efforts to make movies for foreign audiences. Meyer agreed. "Hollywood is making wind-up toys for the Chinese market and the rest of the world," he said. "Where I come from, you'll only find universality in specificity. You'll never find universality in universality. You'll just get cafeteria food." He got no argument from Ren. "Filmmaking is a fuzzy, vague industry," he said. "Data come out after you've released a movie, but you can't count on it to help you make the next one a hit. This is the beauty of the industry and what makes it fun." Also in attendance was Steven Saltzman, a Los Angeles attorney with deep China experience who helped put Christian Bale in director Zhang Yimou's "The Flowers of War," and then helped that wartime saga get released in the U.S. "In 2007, when I first spoke in Shanghai about co-productions, it was hard to get people to come," Saltzman said. "These days, people write to me all the time asking if I can get them on a panel." Other Hollywood executives in Shanghai this week include Danielle Dajani of Raleigh Entertainment, the new management company of a Chinese studio complex outside Shanghai; Frederic Rose, chief executive of Technicolor, which recently helped restore a Chinese animated classic; and Kevin Arnold, head of product placement at 20th Century Fox Film, whose parent company, News Corp., recently bought 19.9% of Chinese distributor-producer Bona International. Donald Deline, a Hollywood studio producer whose "Green Lantern" was a hit in China last year, was excited to be visiting the country for the first time. "Everything's changing. I've had some movies released in China and some that weren't," Deline said. "It's too important now to not understand what works and what doesn't." The festival will screen more than 300 films to an expected 10,000 attendees, and will run through June 24 |
| Tsang’s Exit in Hong Kong Marred by Scandal Posted: 19 Jun 2012 08:52 AM PDT  Source: Wall Street Journal By Te-Ping Chen HONG KONG—Donald Tsang is preparing to leave office after seven years as Hong Kong's leader mired in scandal and record-low approval ratings, tainting a legacy that until just a few months ago would remember him for his market acumen and decades of loyal government service. This year, a series of scandals pointing to a cozy relationship with local tycoons, including acceptance of private jet and yacht rides, provoked public ire and drew thousands to street protests. As the end of his term nears, critics are lambasting the 67-year-old Mr. Tsang, nicknamed "Bow Tie" for his accessory of choice, mostly for failing to address the city's widening wealth gap or to boost its competitiveness. His abrupt fall from grace followed a career that had earned praise for several accomplishments, including steering Hong Kong through the global financial crisis and helping pass the city's first minimum-wage bill. He was awarded British knighthood just before Hong Kong's 1997 handover to China. He is a practicing Catholic known to attend church every morning. Mr. Tsang's support level has dropped to 39%, his lowest ever, according to a poll taken this month by the University of Hong Kong, compared with a popularity rating of 72% when he first took office in 2005. "It's disappointing," says political observer Cheung Chor-yung of Mr. Tsang's final months in office. "People didn't anticipate that he would leave office like this." Mr. Tsang, who steps down on June 30 as chief executive after 45 years in government, will be succeeded by former cabinet leader Leung Chun-ying, who was chosen to lead Hong Kong on a platform promising affordable housing and a government free of ties to powerful tycoons. Mr. Leung was selected by the city's election committee after lobbying by Beijing, a choice that underscored the public's broad resentment over Mr. Tsang's administration. Mr. Tsang, for his part, had resisted calls to resign and repeatedly issued tearful apologies for his errors in judgment, which include staying at luxury hotel suites costing more than US$6,000 a night on official trips, a sum nearly three times the local median monthly income. He admitted to legislators in a recent session that he failed to adequately address the city's wealth gap, currently the highest in the developed world. "Before, I always believed that you just needed to make the economy grow, to make the pie grow bigger—and through the trickle-down effect, every level of society could benefit," he said. "But practice and theory aren't the same thing." His office didn't return calls seeking comment on Monday.  Under Mr. Tsang's administration, the ranks of people in poverty rose 5.4% to 1.2 million, while the waiting list to receive public housing—home to nearly half the city's population—also expanded. Last year, the average wait time was two years. Meanwhile, the city's fiscal reserves ballooned, growing from 296 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$38 billion) in 2005, when Mr. Tsang took office, to HK$679.9 billion this year. Such growth has been fueled, in part, by a surge in Hong Kong's property market, which has seen prices rise 82% since late 2008. The government, which owns all land in the city, has been a major beneficiary of the boom. Last year, the government used part of its surplus to give HK$6,000 payments to all permanent residents, a move widely panned by lawmakers and administration critics. "The government isn't without money," says Christine Fang, who heads the Hong Kong Council of Social Services. "But they just give it out as candy. There's no real planning." As a seasoned bureaucrat, Mr. Tsang was criticized for being too hesitant in his approach. "He didn't need to account to the people, and of course he didn't want to bite the hand that feeds him," said Alan Leong, member of the city's Civic Party who unsuccessfully ran against Mr. Tsang for the city's top job in 2007. In his previous role as the city's finance chief, however, Mr. Tsang won wide praise for successfully staving off short-sellers and currency speculators during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis by buying billions of dollars worth of stock in Hong Kong-listed companies. In 2005, Mr. Tsang—then the city's No. 2 official—was tapped for leadership by Beijing after mass protests effectively ousted his predecessor, Tung Chee-hwa, over the former chief executive's handling of a severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, outbreak, and for controversial antisubversion legislation. Mr. Tsang was selected for his post not by popular vote, but by an election committee of 800 largely pro-Beijing business and political elites. Mr. Tsang's administration will be remembered for a number of accomplishments, among them helping successfully shepherd the minimum-wage bill, as well as a bill to ban anticompetitive practices. Still, the minimum wage's benefits have been offset by rising inflation, particularly food prices, which rose 7% in 2011. Legislators likewise say the city's competition bill—passed last week—has been watered down. Under Mr. Tsang's watch, Hong Kong weathered the global financial crisis relatively well, helped by the government's transparent communications and tightening measures, says HSBC economist Donna Kwok. Mr. Tsang's team also helped successfully launch and develop a robust offshore business for the Chinese yuan in the city, capitalizing on efforts to internationalize the currency. In 2011, for example, Hong Kong handled 1.9 trillion yuan ($298 billion) in trade settlement and clearances. Meanwhile, retail growth has climbed, fueled by millions of tourists from across the border. "The continued resilience of the job market and consumer spending is reflective in part of all the ground work that the authorities have done," said Ms. Kwok. However, Mr. Tsang's successor faces a host of problems, including levels of air pollution that surpass most major Chinese cities, and an international school system oversubscribed by locals and expatriates. Surveys repeatedly indicate such poor air quality and difficulty finding schools have made regional rival Singapore—whose gross domestic product eclipsed that of Hong Kong in 2011— a more attractive base for expatriates in the region. |
| China Leads Nations Boosting IMF’s Firewall to $456 Billion Posted: 19 Jun 2012 08:56 AM PDT  Source: Bloomberg News By Sandrine Rastello Emerging-market nations including China and Brazil formalized funding pledges to the International Monetary Fund, helping to almost double its lending power to protect the world economy from Europe's debt turmoil. With the addition of new pledges from 12 nations that also includes Russia, India and South Africa, the Washington-based lender said it now has received funding commitments of $456 billion, up from the roughly $430 billion it said it had secured in April. The temporary contributions will add to the $380 billion the IMF currently has available for lending. "Countries large and small have rallied to our call for action," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in a statement on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit, adding that the new contributions would only be used as "second line of defense" after existing resources are depleted. G-20 leaders are gathering in the Mexican beach resort of Los Cabos for a two-day summit dominated by the financial crisis in the 17-country euro region just as Spanish borrowing costs soar to a euro-era record. Canada and the U.S. abstained from pitching in for the IMF, despite calls by German Chancellor Angela Merkel for the rest of the world to do more. "It's going to be the first time the fund is capitalized without the U.S., which reflects the importance of emerging markets," Mexican President Felipe Calderon said on June 16. Pledge Amounts The meeting's host said Mexico would contribute $10 billion to the fund, matching pledge amounts made here by Russia, India and Brazil. China said it will provide $43 billion, while South Africa, Colombia, Malaysia, New Zealand and the Philippines were among nations offering smaller amounts. The second replenishing of the IMF's coffers in three years, while marking a victory for Lagarde, falls short of her initial fundraising goal of $600 billion. "There is concern that the firewall available may not be adequate to deal with contagion," Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told leaders at the summit yesterday. "The resources currently expected to be mobilized by Europe and the IMF are less than was estimated a year ago, and the crisis is actually more serious." BRICS Pressure After meeting yesterday, leaders from the so-called BRICS group — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa –said in a statement that their contribution was based on the expectation that IMF members follow through "in a timely manner" on a 2010 pledge to give them a bigger say in how the IMF is run. That includes an increase in their voting rights to better reflect their growing weight in the world economy. The changes aren't yet in place because some nations including the U.S., the largest IMF member nation, haven't yet ratified the changes in their legislatures. "Emerging economies are bailing out Europe" and deserve a seat a the decision-making table, Jasmine Burnley, a spokeswoman for aid group Oxfam International, said in an e-mailed statement. "It's outrageous that a country the size of Belgium has more voting weight at the IMF than South Africa or Argentina." G-20 leaders focused their response to Europe's financial crisis on stabilizing the region's banks, raising pressure on Merkel to expand rescue measures as contagion from the crisis engulfs Spain. The IMF has also been pressing European officials to increase fiscal and banking integration, including letting the financial rescue mechanism recapitalize banks directly and by issuing common bonds. European Union leaders will discuss paths to closer political and economic union at a summit in Brussels June 28-29. The IMF, which is co-funding bailouts to Greece, Ireland and Portugal, now has a very high concentration of its loans, and therefore risks, in the region, Lagarde said on a panel in Los Cabos on June 17. "That requires clearly that very significant progress be put in place," she said. |
| Posted: 19 Jun 2012 09:03 AM PDT  Source: Wall Street Journal By Brian Spegele BEIJING—China successfully achieved its first manned space docking, an important step in the country's quest to launch a space station by around 2020. The Shenzhou-9 spacecraft on Monday docked with China's Tiangong-1 space laboratory. The mission's three astronauts included China's first woman in space, an air-force pilot named Liu Yang. China's political leadership has heavily promoted the mission as proof of the country's growing clout. Additionally, the Shenzhou-9 mission reinforced China's long-term aspirations for a manned space presence just as the U.S. has significantly drawn down its own manned space program and retired its aging fleet of space shuttles. The Shenzhou-9 mission is the first time China has sent a person into space since 2008. It follows China's first unmanned space docking in November and is the latest step in a 30-year plan to assemble a space station by about 2020, part of an effort known as Project 921. When Chinese leaders approved a plan for a space station in 1992, "Chinese space professionals believed they would be latecomers to an expanding human presence in low Earth orbit," said Gregory Kulacki, a senior analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists, in a recent research note. "Ironically, by the time they finish their space station in the early 2020s, the Chinese might be the only people left up there," he added. Washington's decision to end the shuttle program left Russia with a virtual monopoly over manned spaceflight. China's space program, while decades behind the achievements of the U.S. and Russia, has made steady progress in recent years. Its planned space station is expected to come online around 2020, just as the $100 billion International Space Station is expected to cease operation. The U.S., meanwhile, is hoping the private sector can pick up where the shuttle program left off. Now that docking technology has been achieved, analysts say, other significant hurdles to establishing a space station include the logistics of keeping humans alive in space for extended periods. A Chinese space station's launch will also rely in part on the successful development of the Long March-5 rocket, which officials have said will make its maiden flight in 2014. Unlike in the U.S., where civilian and military space programs are by and large kept separate, China's space program is run by the People's Liberation Army. U.S. defense officials and analysts have expressed concern about a lack of transparency and the potential for China's space program to contribute to the country's growing military capabilities. "The space program, including ostensible civil projects, supports China's growing ability to deny or degrade the space assets of potential adversaries and enhances China's conventional military capabilities," said Lt. Gen. Ronald L. Burgess Jr., director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, during Senate testimony in February. In particular, according to the Pentagon, Beijing continues to develop antisatellite capabilities, which first received international attention after a 2007 missile test in which China shot down one of its own weather satellites. Additionally, according to defense analysts, China is developing optical imaging technologies and near-real-time data-communication systems that will allow it to monitor U.S. naval activity in the Asia-Pacific region. Beijing also is seeking to cut its reliance on the U.S. Global Positioning System, which the U.S. could in theory deny access to in the event of a conflict. China's indigenous Beidou positioning system, which began offering initial services to China and surrounding areas late last year, is expected to have dual military and civilian uses. |
| Have You Heard… Chinese Hit New Space Heights China Leads Posted: 19 Jun 2012 09:06 AM PDT |
| Bird flu `epidemic' sparks chicken cull Posted: 19 Jun 2012 08:25 AM PDT |
| Posted: 19 Jun 2012 08:25 AM PDT |
| 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