Li urges Tokyo to respect Beijing's interests, concerns

China wants to deepen the strategic and mutually beneficial relations with Japan and hopes Tokyo will respect Beijing's core interests and major concerns, Vice-Premier Li Keqiang said on Friday.

Li made the remarks during a meeting with former Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama, who is in Beijing at the invitation of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs.

Li reiterated China's stance on the Diaoyu Islands and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, urging Japan to adhere to the guiding principles outlined in the four bilateral political documents and properly deal with troublesome issues that exist between the two countries.

Tokyo's dispute with Beijing over China's Diaoyu Islands has adversely affected relations between the two countries.

Last month, Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said his city prefecture was negotiating with the "owner" of the islands in the hope of "buying them by the end of this year".

Last week, Tokyo's bid to upgrade the status of Okinotori Atoll, a Pacific reef, into an island, and claim an outer continental shelf with an exclusive economic zone, was dismissed by a United Nations commission. Countries including China and the South Korea have been against Japan's moves.

Healthy and stable relations between China and Japan, two important powers in Asia, benefit the peoples of both countries, as well as peace and prosperity in Asia and the world, Li said.

Both sides should enhance mutual political trust and concrete cooperation in various fields, and promote people-to-people exchanges to strengthen bilateral ties, Li said.

Hatoyama said that he would continue his efforts to solve differences, expand mutually beneficial cooperation and deepen friendship between the two countries.

Hatoyama is among the leading political figures in Japan who value the country's ties with Asian countries, but these forces are contained by the United Sates, said Feng Zhaokui, a Japanese studies researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Washington launched its "Pivot to Asia" strategic shift and strengthened ties with allies in Asia last year, arousing widespread suspicion that the US move is aimed at containing the rise of China.

China should cooperate with "Asia-friendly" figures, who are still a considerable force on Japan's political stage, to move China-Japan relations in the right direction, Feng said.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan, with the two countries holding a number of activities to mark the Year of China-Japan National Exchange and Friendship.

zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn

The US Department of State will sort out a visa issue that affects Confucius Institute teachers in the country and will "do its best to fix it without having anybody have to leave", said department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on Thursday, following confusion over a visa policy directive issued on May 17.

The directive was sent to universities that sponsor Confucius Institutes, a program of the Chinese government to promote Chinese language and culture overseas.

The document said faculty members who enter the United States through exchange program visas but also teach elementary or secondary school students are violating visa rules and must return to China by June 30 to reapply for an appropriate program.

If enacted, the directive could force as many as 51 teachers to return to China. About 600 teachers currently work in Confucius Institutes in the US, according to Confucius Institute Headquarters, also known as Hanban.

Nuland told reporters on Thursday at the State Department's daily briefing that the US values people-to-people exchanges with China. She said the directive isn't aimed at interfering with Confucius Institute operations but previous "muddling and messing up" in the exchange program visa.

"So we're going to sort these out. Nobody's going to have to leave the country," she said. "It's all going to get cleared up. But there was some confusion on the front end, so we're going to fix it."

Schools were also taken aback by the directive's demand that Confucius Institutes must obtain US accreditation in order to continue accepting foreign scholars and professors as teachers.

"The department is reviewing the academic viability of the Confucius Institutes. Based on the department's preliminary review, it is not evident that those institutes are US-accredited," the directive states.

But according to a Chinese education official who participated in Thursday's meeting with State Department officials, the accreditation issue appeared to be the result of miscommunication between different US administrative divisions about the status of Confucius Institutes, and the State Department may not pursue it anymore.

"The accreditation issue has been mostly cleared up through our candid discussion," the official told China Daily on the condition of anonymity.

"The US State Department will make proper arrangements for those affected and ensure the smooth operation of Chinese-language programs at the schools."

The first Confucius Institute in the US was established at the University of Maryland in 2005. Since then, Hanban has dispatched more than 2,100 teachers to 81 Confucius Institutes across the country, which are jointly established by US and Chinese universities. Each institute is run independently.

The issue has drawn grave concerns among US educators.

"We were quite taken aback at the State Department's directive, which has caused us to suspend some of our programs, disrupted our planning and created a great deal of uncertainty for our staff from China," said Kristin Stapleton, director of the Confucius Institute at the University at Buffalo.

"At a time when universities and K-12 schools should be encouraged to work together closely to improve education in the United States, it's hard for me to understand why the State Department has decided to throw a roadblock in the way of some very fruitful partnerships."

Peng Tao, director of the Confucius Institute at Alfred University in western New York, said the directive severely hurts US universities.

"I doubt whether policymakers have a sound understanding of the huge demand for qualified Chinese teachers in the US and how these teachers have contributed to bilateral cultural and economic cooperation," he said.

Both sides need to find a middle way to resolving the visa issue, said Huajing Maske, director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Kentucky.

"I understand the concern about the exchange program visa from the State Department. But I would also like to think that the department is thinking about and preparing for the expansion of the Chinese programs in the K-12 schools, brought on by the huge success of these programs and the warm welcome they have received," she said.

As the number of Confucius Institutes in the US grows to meet the strong demand for Chinese-language study, the program is also facing criticism from some politicians.

In March, the US Congress held a hearing on China's public diplomacy in the US and strongly criticized the operation of the Confucius Institutes.

Kelly Dawson in New York contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at tanyingzi@chinadailyusa.com and chenjia@chinadailyusa.com.cn

Zhang Jianlin displayed pride in two things on his first trip to the United States - as a father preparing for his daughter's graduation from two of the world's most distinguished universities, and as a master of the bench press in the gym at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's sports center.

"I invited my father to share the joy of my graduation ceremony, and I gave him a two-month tour around the States," Zhang Huanhuan told China Daily.

"My father used to be a weight lifter in China, so he enjoys the lifestyle of Americans, who love jogging and working out," said Huanhuan, who will receive two master's degrees - one in public administration from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and one in business from the Sloan School of Management at MIT.

With commencement season here, many Chinese parents such as Zhang have booked travel to the US to watch daughters and sons begin their transition from academic study, while immersing themselves in American culture.

"Many students make travel and shopping plans for their parents during commencement season, from April to June," Zhu Chuanfei, a Beijinger who works in Los Angeles, said in an interview.

"When I was a student at Southern Polytechnic State University (in Georgia) in 2006, only a few Chinese parents paid for an expensive trip to attend their children's commencement ceremonies," she said. "Now it's common for (US-bound) travelers to have a Chinese mother or father sit next to them on the plane during graduation season."

Under the Jobs Diplomacy initiative of US President Barack Obama, the State Department has been streamlining visa processing because travelers from abroad are an important driver of the US economy. US officials recently announced a 46 percent increase in visas processed for Chinese citizens during the first half of the current fiscal year (October-March) than in the first six months of fiscal 2011.

Zhang's father, who is 60, was urged to rehearse likely questions and answers in preparation for his visa interview with a US consulate official. In the end, the interview and application process were easier and less bureaucratic than he expected.

"Everyone understands it is an important trip for a Chinese family, and also I had gotten special vacation approval from my boss," said Zhang Jianlin, who still works at the same middle school where his daughter was a pupil. He's something of a celebrity among his colleagues for having raised a girl to become a success in American academia.

Leading up to Harvard's commencement, which took place on May 24, father and daughter spent a month visiting New York, Washington and Boston. The morning after the gown ceremony, they flew west to begin touring the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

"Then we will come back to Boston for my MIT commencement," Zhang Huanhuan said.

Hong Shan, whose job at a Chinese State-owned company involves international trade, flew to New York to see her daughter graduate from Columbia University - her second trip to the US this year.

"The round-trip ticket is less than 10,000 yuan ($1,600), and that's a small piece of cake for us," she said. "Most Chinese families have only one child now, so we try our best to support our child in studying in America. Of course, we also want to share the honor at their commencement.

"My budget for the tour is about 80,000 yuan, and I might fly to the US again at the end of this year when the discount season arrives," Hong added.

Earlier this year, Obama called for a national strategy to create more jobs for Americans by increasing inbound travel from other countries as well as domestic trips. In 2011 the US received 62 million international tourists, who spent a record $153 billion, providing a crucial boost to local economies and the 7.6 million jobs in US travel and tourism.

The goal is to attract 100 million foreign visitors by 2021, who are projected to pump $250 billion a year into the US economy, while encouraging more travel within the country by US residents.

Chinese from the mainland made 70 million trips to other countries, as well as to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, in 2011, up 22 percent from 2010, the National Tourism Administration and the China Tourism Academy recently reported.

chenjia@chinadailyusa.com

Runoff called likely in presidential vote

A Muslim Brotherhood official said on Friday the group's candidate in the first free presidential election in Egypt is expected to enter a runoff vote next month with the last prime minister to serve Hosni Mubarak before he was ousted in a popular uprising.

"It is clear that the runoff will be between (the Brotherhood's) Mohamed Mursi and Ahmed Shafiq," the official said.

The official results of the first round of voting will not be announced until next week.

United States

Man confesses to 1979 killing of New York boy

Police on Thursday arrested a New Jersey man who they said had confessed to the 1979 killing of 6-year-old Etan Patz in a case that drew national attention to the plight of missing children and had frustrated law enforcement officials for more than three decades.

Raymond Kelly, New York police commissioner, said Pedro Hernandez, 51, confessed to luring the boy to the small food market where he stocked shelves with the promise of a soda, then choked him and disposed the body in a plastic bag, which he threw in the trash.

Hernandez will be charged with second-degree murder, Kelly said.

China

Sino-Thai military exercise concludes

Chinese and Thai marines concluded a joint military training exercise in the waters off Shanwei, South China's Guangdong province, on Friday. The drill improved cooperation in anti-terrorist and enhanced military exchanges between the two countries.

Codenamed "Blue Strike 2012", the half-month exercise was the second time that marine units from the two countries have held a joint drill since 2010.

Vice-Admiral Du Jingchen, chief of staff of the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, said the drill demonstrated Sino-Thai friendship and marine cooperation.

Nearly 500 marines from the Royal Thai Navy and the South China Fleet under the PLA Navy took part in the drill, which began on May 11 in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, and included skill demonstrations, mixed training, comprehensive exercise and joint research and exchanges.

Reuters - China Daily

China confirmed on Thursday that some of the Chinese citizens arrested by Nigeria on charges of illegal trading have been released.

Around 70 of the 100 Chinese citizens who were arrested for living or doing business in the country illegally have been released, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Thursday.

The Nigerian immigration office recently arrested 45 Chinese traders in the northern city of Kano.

The 21 Chinese citizens released in Kano on Wednesday night have been returned to China one by one, while 13 Chinese accused of illegal trading will be sent back to China soon, a spokesman at the Chinese embassy in Nigeria told China Daily.

The embassy in Abuja and the general consulate in Lagos have made prompt inquiries concerning the case and visited the arrested Chinese, said the spokesman. "We have lodged humanitarian demands to Nigeria."

For those who may face repatriation, the Chinese embassy would continue to offer consular assistance to protect their legitimate rights, he said.

Hong said China has urged Nigeria to handle the case carefully according to law and would work closely with their Nigerian counterparts to resolve the case.

Emmanuel Brisca Ifeadi, Nigeria's state comptroller of immigration, said the Chinese arrested at the market in Kano were "scavengers" taking jobs away from Nigerian people.

He denied this action was targeted at Chinese residents in general, saying that Nigeria welcomes Chinese investments and supports legitimate trade, but it prohibits those who undercut Nigerian businesses. National law bans foreigners from the retail sale of textiles, according to AFP.

Chinese nationals in Nigeria have enjoyed a good relationship with local government and residents, and China has made considerable contributions to the country through trade in textiles and automobiles, said Wang Yusheng, former Chinese ambassador to Nigeria.

"Given the friendly exchanges between the two sides in the past, the recent arrest is considered a minor incident," Wang said, adding that it could hardly escalate into a large-scale anti-China movement in Nigeria.

The Chinese embassy has urged Chinese citizens to become more integrated into Nigerian society by observing local laws and communicating more with local people. There are currently 20,000 Chinese nationals living in Nigeria.

China is a major investor in Nigeria, accounting for some 25 percent of the country's foreign direct investment, according to figures provided by Nigeria's trade and investment ministry.

Some Nigerians blame Chinese imports for the decline of local textile mills, though chronic power shortages are at least as much to blame.

To protect local people's employment and some industries, Nigeria has carried out quota control on foreign employees. It also has put a ban on textile imports to protect its domestic industry.

Contact the writers at zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn and zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn.

Reuters and Xinhua contributed to this story.

Top Chinese legislator Wu Bangguo arrived in the Spanish capital, Madrid, on Wednesday, kicking off a goodwill visit to inject new vitality into bilateral cooperation amid the European country's financial woes.

The visit will deepen the China-Spain comprehensive strategic partnership and promote bilateral cooperation in politics, culture, economy and trade, said Zhu Bangzao, Chinese ambassador to Spain, in an interview with Xinhua News Agency.

Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's legislative body, said in a written speech released upon his arrival that his visit is intended to improve mutual understanding and deepen cooperation amid the ever-challenging global situation.

During the six-day tour, Wu will meet King Juan Carlos and other Spanish leaders, including Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, President of the Congress Jesus Posada and President of the Senate Pio Garcia-Escudero, to exchange views on promoting bilateral ties.

China is Spain's largest trade partner outside the European Union. The two-way trade volume reached $27.3 billion in 2011, up 11.7 percent from 2010, according to statistics provided by the Chinese embassy in Spain.

In 2011, the two countries signed 15 government agreements and economic and commercial contracts worth $7.5 billion.

Spain is the last stop on Wu's four-nation European tour. He completed a two-day visit to Luxembourg, where he envisioned more financial cooperation between China and the financial center of the EU.

"China supports its enterprises to expand its investment in Luxembourg, a country that can serve as a bridge for Chinese companies to enter the European market," Wu said on Tuesday during a meeting with Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.

Wu urged the two countries to promote exchanges between central banks and enhance financial cooperation, including the legislation of economic laws, business management and personnel training.

He said China welcomes Luxembourg companies to take part in economic restructuring and industrial upgrading in China and cooperate in high-end manufacturing, high technology and other emerging industrial fields.

"We hope that Luxembourg can offer more favorable conditions on financing, visa applications and personnel recruitment to Chinese investors," Wu said, adding that both sides should expand bilateral trade.

Trade relations between China and Luxembourg have flourished in the past decade, with bilateral trade volume up from around $100 million before 2002 to nearly $3.3 billion in 2009 despite the international financial crisis, Xinhua News Agency reported.

During the meeting, Wu also stressed that China is concerned with the ongoing debate about euro bonds, while reaffirming the country's support and confidence in the regional economy and its currency.

"As the largest economic body worldwide, the EU's efforts to maintain stability and achieve economic growth weigh heavily not only on the region itself but also on China and the world," he said.

Wu said the remedy of the debt crisis lies in regional perseverance to restore a dynamic and sustainable economy, rather than in outside support.

Wu's words came ahead of an informal meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Wednesday.

Analysts said the debate on austerity measures may shift its focus to rejuvenating growth in the region.

"China is willing to import more goods from Europe to help balance the trade deficit, and in turn, we hope that Europe can recognize China's market economy as soon as possible," he said.

Referring to China as a major force in revitalizing the world's economy, Juncker said Luxembourg had many shared interests with China and welcomed Chinese investors to set up businesses in his country, especially in financial services, aviation, tourism and education.

zhaoyinan@chinadaily.com.cn

Huntsman says 'stakes are too high' to let relationship fail

Jon Huntsman, former Utah governor and US ambassador to China, believes the best way to advance US-China ties is to rise above the "noise", humanize the relationship and recognize that the relationship is no longer simply bilateral, but global.

Huntsman made the statement in New York on Wednesday at a meeting hosted by the National Committee on US-China Relations. Many in the audience were top China hands in the US.

Huntsman referred to the turbulence in the relationship caused by thorny issues such as arms sales to Taiwan and meetings with the Dalai Lama. "The best we can hope for is to be frank and be upfront about what it is we stand for, be upfront about what our interests are and recognize that we are going to have some separations on some of the issues," he said.

"The relationship is no longer simply a bilateral relationship, it's a global one," he said, adding that it has been hard for many to recognize that.

The bilateral yet global relationship Huntsman talked about covers a host of issues, such as rebalancing the world economy, the eurozone crisis, the Korean Peninsula, Iran and the environment. He went further to describe the US-China tie as "the only relationship in the world that matters in the 21st century".

He said part of the problem in US-China relations is the sheer noise level, with many competing priorities from various people. "As ambassador, one job is how you strip the noise away from the relationship and put on the table the priorities that really matter to both sides," said Huntsman, who was a candidate for the Republican nomination for the US presidency until mid-January this year.

Huntsman lamented the fact that not many US politicians were willing to invest their time in the relationship. His insights seemed less popular among members of the audience when he debated other mostly China-bashing candidates.

"Right now, a lot of folks in the US don't see the value in forming a stronger US-China relationship. So politicians get away with bashing and using stereotypes in their town hall meetings and speeches," he said.

"But we also have a relationship that we must make work. We have no choice. It's important for people in both countries. It's important for the region and it's increasingly important for the world," he said.

"We cannot let it fail. The stakes are way too high," he said repeatedly.

Huntsman said one of the jobs that could be done is to step up and humanize the US-China relationship because that's the only way to get the attention of Congress in the longer term.

He cited two concrete examples when he was Utah governor from 2005 to 2009. One was to be an advocate for closer ties and the introduction of Mandarin study to the school system. "We had more Mandarin-speaking students than any other US state at one time," he declared.

"Because young kids, when they are introduced to a language, particularly a strategic language in the 21st century, their minds are going to be open not just to language, but culture as well. It will be a prism through which they can understand the other side of the world," Huntsman said.

He said those parents lining outside the classroom to get their kids to Chinese class also knew that their kids will be stepping onto a much different world stage from what they understood in their lifetime.

The other example Huntsman cited was the changing attitude when Utah and other western US states started to export alfalfa hay to China. "Just in my state, all of a sudden, China becomes less a threat, and more of a customer," he said.

"We have to make the relationship relevant in the lives of people at all levels of society because of trade and education prospects," he said.

"When you humanize the relationship, then the politicians get involved because they are going to follow the people," Huntsman said.

While many are worried about the harsh tone toward China of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, Huntsman, who endorsed Romney, told China Daily after the meeting that he was not sure if Romney has fully articulated his China policy.

"In elections you have to give it time before all of the policies are properly introduced and we're still many months away," he said, implying that Romney's China policy is going to be more practical than his early campaign rhetoric.

Contact the writers at atung@chinadailyusa.com and chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com.

In a move analysts say is designed to give it more say in disputes over the South China Sea, the United States began a new push to join the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which it has not ratified for 30 years.

The Obama administration, backed by senior military officials and business leaders, is making a new push to win US Senate ratification of the treaty, reported Reuters.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified before the committee on Wednesday at the start of several months of hearings, said Reuters.

There have been debates in the United States about whether to join the treaty over the years, and the latest push has much to do with its strategic pivot toward Asia, said Gong Li, director of the Institute of International Strategic Studies of the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

Supporters say the agreement would vastly expand US control of resource-rich maritime regions off the coastal United States and give the military firmer footing to assert rights of navigation and overflight around the world, according to Reuters.

But critics, who have succeeded in blocking the accord since it first came to the Senate in the mid-1990s, said the United States stands to gain little beyond what it can already claim, while it will cede some of its sovereignty to an international organization, according to Reuters.

"Not joining the treaty puts the US in a passive position on many occasions. Many of its rights are not protected, and it has been criticized by other countries for telling them to abide by a treaty that the US itself is not a party to," Gong said.

The United States has claimed national interests in the oil-rich South China Sea, where territorial disputes over some islands are simmering between China and the Philippines as well as among other Southeast Asian nations.

Some Filipino-Americans are hoping the United States finally ratifies the treaty as a way to keep China at bay in the South China Sea, reported ABS-CBN, a major commercial TV network in the Philippines.

The Philippines is relying on the treaty to provide the foundation for the peaceful settlement of the overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea, it said.

"By ratifying the treaty, the US could increase its voice on the South China Sea issue legitimately," Gong said. "But meanwhile its behaviors will also be restrained by the treaty, which will be good for China."

During Congressional hearings on Wednesday, John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he will wait until after the presidential election to call a vote on the treaty, which is opposed by some conservatives, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"I do not want this treaty to become victim to that race or the politics of the moment," Kerry said. "We will wait until the passions of the election have subsided before we vote," the newspaper said.

The treaty was drafted in 1982, and US President Ronald Reagan declined to send it to the Senate for ratification because of concerns over seabed mining provisions.

Those provisions were modified in 1994, and former US presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush supported ratifying the pact.

chengguangjin@chinadaily.com.cn

Beijing on Thursday warned that Manila's recent provocations have forced Beijing to strengthen the level of alert in the waters off Huangyan Island and doubt its sincerity in seeking a proper solution to the island impasse.

The Philippines urged China to withdraw vessels from the island and increased its effort to drag third parties into the island standoff, which began on April 10 when a Philippine warship harassed Chinese fishermen in the waters off the island.

Philippine Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez on Wednesday demanded that China immediately withdraw vessels from the waters around the island.

According to Hernandez, the Philippines has raised its seventh diplomatic protest against China since the start of the island impasse.

The Philippine side is still taking provocative actions in the related waters, which "forced China to strengthen its alert on the site", Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a daily news conference on Thursday, in response to Hernandez's statement.

Hong stressed that the Chinese public service ships currently in the waters are providing services and administration to the Chinese fishing boats. The waters have been a traditional fishery of Chinese fishermen for generations.

After the April 10 incident, China lodged several representations to the Philippine side, urging the Philippines to withdraw its ships from the waters around the island.

"China urged the Philippines to pay due respect to China's sovereignty, stop further provocations and demonstrate tangible sincerity to embark on diplomatic dialogue with China," Hong said.

Meanwhile, Manila has recently attempted to involve third parties, including the United States and United Nations, in the situation, which was firmly opposed by Beijing earlier in the week and is believed to be leading to further escalation.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario on Wednesday told the UN General Assembly that the Philippines will continue to pursue "mediation" to resolve its "territorial dispute" with China, the Philippine Star newspaper reported on Thursday.

"Mediation and other third party mechanisms" are what Manila is pursuing to resolve its conflicting claims, according to the secretary's statement delivered before the General Assembly's High Level Meeting.

Although Washington in early May publicly refused to take a stand on the island impasse, the Philippines said recently that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta had pledged to honor the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty.

Bonnie Glaser, Asia-Pacific security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told China Daily that the treaty, signed in 1951, predated the Philippines' claims in recent years to those particular reefs and shores in the South China Sea.

"The wording is somewhat ambiguous, and more importantly the statements made by the US officials are ambiguous," said Glaser, indicating that the US sees the ambiguity as serving its interests.

You may contact the writers at zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn and tanyingzi@chinadailyusa.com.

'Respect' ruling in doctor case

The United States should respect a Pakistan court's decision to imprison a doctor accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden, the Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

"I think as far as the case of Mr. Afridi is concerned, it was in accordance with Pakistani laws and by the Pakistani courts, and we need to respect each other's legal processes," Moazzam Ali Khan told reporters.

Pakistani authorities have sentenced a doctor recently accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden to 33 years in jail on charges of treason.

10 killed by US drone aircraft

A US drone strike on suspected Islamist militants in northwest Pakistan killed 10 people on Thursday, Pakistani intelligence officials said, an attack likely to raise tensions in a standoff with Washington over NATO supply routes to Afghanistan.

The pilotless drone aircraft attacked a compound in a village in North Waziristan, a day after a similar attack killed four suspected militants in the same region.

"The drone fired two missiles at the compound. We believe it was being used by militants," one of the Pakistani officials said.

Iran

Nuclear curbs rejected

Iranian negotiators on Thursday rejected proposals by six world powers to curb Teheran's nuclear program, and demanded answers to their own counteroffer meant to alleviate concerns about Iran's ability to build atomic weapons.

The stance underscored the difficulties facing the nuclear talks as both sides stake out their terms and agendas for a second day in the Iraqi capital. Still, the negotiations did not appear in danger of collapse as envoys convened again in Baghdad. Envoys added extra hours to their meetings as a sandstorm closed down the Baghdad airport.

Proposals for another round next month in Geneva also met with resistance from Iran, which is pushing for a venue not considered supportive of Western sanctions.

Reuters-AP

More than 50 million eligible voters can choose one of 12 candidates

Egyptians were voting on Wednesday in presidential elections contested by Islamists and secularists promising different futures for the country after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.

Queues formed outside polling stations long before they opened at 8 am, with voters in a festive mood.

"I can die in a matter of months, so I came for my children, so they can live," a tearful Medhat Ibrahim, 58, who suffers from cancer, said as he waited to vote in a poor district in the south of Cairo. "We want to live better, like human beings."

Across the city, in the leafy Mohandesseen neighborhood, Rania, wearing gym clothes and a ponytail under her baseball cap, was at the front of the line.

"It's the first time in Egypt's history that we choose our president," she said, preferring to keep her choice "a secret between me and my ballot box".

More than 50 million eligible voters have been called to choose one of 12 candidates wrestling to succeed ousted president Mubarak.

Voting over two days is taking place at 13,000 polling stations, with initial results expected on Sunday.

Among the leading contenders is former foreign minister and Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa, who is seen as an experienced politician and diplomat but like Ahmed Shafiq, Mubarak's last prime minister, is accused of belonging to the old government.

The powerful Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi faces competition from Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, a former member of the Islamist movement who portrays himself as a consensus choice with a wide range of support.

Islamist candidates have promised an Islamic-based project that will meet the revolution's goals, prompting fears among secularists and Egypt's Coptic minority over personal freedoms and raising questions over the future of the country's lucrative tourism industry.

Shafiq and Moussa have vowed to maintain stability and restore law and order but their ties to the old government sparked fears of renewed protests by those who will feel their revolution threatened.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China wishes success for Egypt's first presidential election since the fall of Mubarak last year.

"The presidential vote is a major event in Egypt's political process following the successful election of its People's Assembly and Advisory Council earlier this year," Hong said.

"China hopes the election and subsequent progress of the country's political process will be smooth."

Ren Guoqing, an expert on Middle East and North African studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that there are still serious differences among Egyptians.

"Of course, this divergence also means that all of Egypt's domestic political factions are waging a fierce struggle around the presidency," he said.

"The election would probably have a second round because nobody could get more than half the votes."

A runoff between the two top finishers might be held on June 16-17 and the winner will be announced on June 21.

Ren predicted that Fotouh would eventually win, as he represents moderate Islamic forces and could represent most of the people.

"The presidential election is the most important change in Egyptian politics in the past 30 years. The new president will have to deal with various religious forces, political factions and the army," he said.

An Huihou, a former Chinese ambassador to Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt, said the Egyptian presidential election could be an indication of future political developments in the region.

China Daily-AP-AFP

Will Egypt go Islamist?

A victory by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi will likely mean a greater emphasis on religion in government. The group, which already dominates parliament, says it won't mimic Saudi Arabia and force women to wear veils or implement harsh punishments like amputations. But it says it does want to implement a more moderate version of Islamic law, which liberals fear will mean limitations on many rights. Two secular front-runners in the race say they will prevent Islamization, but that will likely mean friction with parliament if they win.

Will Egypt become a democracy?

The two secular front-runners, former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq and former foreign minister Amr Moussa, are both veterans of Mubarak's government and their opponents fear they will do little to change Mubarak's system. The security forces and intelligence agencies that long prevented real change in Egypt remain in place, and there has been little move to end entrenched corruption and the intertwining of business interests and politics. The military, which took power after Mubarak's fall, is due to hand over authority to the vote's winner.

Will Egypt's attitude to Israel change?

Many of the candidates in the race have called for amendments to Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel, which remains deeply unpopular. None is likely to dump it, but a victory by any of the Islamist or leftist candidates in the race could mean strained ties with Israel and a stronger stance in support of the Palestinians in the peace process.

Associated Press

Two countries with close ties to the West are keen to get closer to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as it enhances its security and economic cooperation in a changing regional environment.

Deputy Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping said at a briefing in Beijing on Wednesday that the upcoming SCO summit, scheduled for June 6 and 7, will review applications from Afghanistan for observer status and from Turkey as a dialogue partner.

The SCO member countries will make a decision on the applications based on coordination and consensus, Cheng said.

Both of the countries have closely interacted with the West, with Afghanistan hosting the US-led NATO anti-terrorism mission, and Turkey as a member of NATO.

Established in 2001, the SCO currently has Russia, China and four Central Asian countries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - as full members. India, Pakistan, Iran and Mongolia are observers, and Belarus and Sri Lanka are dialogue partners.

The bloc has been focusing on regional security and business cooperation.

Analysts said the interest shown by more countries in the SCO means that the number of world powers that recognize it as a serious player is growing.

But Qu Xing, director of the China Institute of International Studies, warned that the SCO should learn a lesson from the rapid expansion of the European Union, which gave rise to potential frictions within the bloc.

"Members might differ on the same topic. The SCO should first deepen its mutual trust and cooperation before cautiously taking in new members or partners."

The Voice of Russia quoted analyst Stanislav Tarasov as saying that the move with Turkey is a "real breakthrough".

"Turkey has been sticking to pro-Western policies. It has been trying to join the EU for 10 years, but it was in vain. So now it has to develop a new scenario of drifting to the east, which implies changes in Turkey's foreign policy," Tarasov said.

Ankara applied for dialogue partner status in October. Partner states are not entitled to take part in all SCO events and do not have access to the non-public documents of the organization.

Yao Kuangyi, former Chinese ambassador to Turkey, said Ankara is an active regional player and interacts with all SCO members.

"Turkey's participation will contribute to the security and stability of the Eurasian region," Yao said, adding that Turkey wants to expand its influence in the Central Asian region, with which it has a similar cultural background.

Afghanistan applied for observer status in April, against the backdrop of the US and NATO withdrawal from the country, which is planned to take place in 2014.

Cheng said internal issues in Afghanistan have affected regional security and stability, and the SCO will work with the United Nations to play a more active role in addressing Afghan-related issues, Cheng said.

Sun Zhuangzhi, a Central Asian Studies scholar at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Afghanistan's participation would strengthen the SCO's anti-drugs and anti-terrorism efforts.

The SCO has established a liaison group with Afghanistan and held six rounds of deputy-foreign-minister-level consultations on the issues.

The forthcoming SCO summit will adopt several major documents, which will guide and enhance cooperation in the organization amid a changing regional scenario.

According to Cheng, member countries will adopt a key development plan for the SCO, the first such development guideline in its history.

The SCO will also modify a 2009 foreign policy coordination mechanism that coordinates members' anti-crisis efforts, and approve a cooperation program to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism.

The summit will also see progress in building a transnational transportation network and speeding up the process of setting up a regional bank.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier this month that following the June SCO summit, the range of functions of the organization will be "significantly enhanced".

From now on, the SCO will formulate a unified policy for all its participants in case of crises in the region, said Lavrov.

Turbulence in the Middle East, the US withdrawal from Iraq, and the forthcoming completion of the US/NATO mission in Afghanistan demanded the SCO make due changes, said analysts.

Sun said this situation made the SCO members more aware of the previous shortcomings in terms of cooperation within the bloc.

The latest developments will have an immediate influence on SCO members' security cooperation, said Sun.

Putin's China visit

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit China next month, a move that analysts said underscores the importance the current Russian leadership attaches to Moscow-Beijing ties.

Cheng said at Wednesday's briefing that Putin, who is due to attend the SCO summit in Beijing, will pay a state visit to China at that time.

China will be Putin's first destination outside the Commonwealth of Independent States, a group of former Soviet republics, since he was sworn in as Russian president earlier this month.

Liu Guchang, China's ambassador to Russia from 2003 to 2009, said Putin's visit is a prudent political arrangement that sends positive signals to the global community that China and Russia view each other as key partners.

Apart from bilateral ties, Liu said the Chinese and Russian leaders will focus their discussion on world and regional issues, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.

Liu also said the two countries will release a joint political declaration, showing their consensus on major world issues.

Contact the writers at wujiao@chinadaily.com.cn and zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

A video grab shows a building on fire from shelling in Homs, Syria, on Wednesday. A UN team in Syria says it has brokered an exchange between forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and opposition fighters seeking to topple his government. Shaam News Network via Associated Press

The Syrian government must abide by the UN ceasefire agreement while seeking the help of the international community to combat terrorism inside the country, researchers said.

Ruan Zongze, deputy director of the China Institute of International Studies, said the Syrian government is now in a dilemma over counterterrorism, although the United Nations has acknowledged the presence of terrorism in the country.

"It's a highly sensitive period. Once it takes military action to target 'terrorist' attacks, it breaks the ceasefire agreement, which creates more difficulties to ease the current crisis," he said. "So it's quite important to ask the international community for help, especially through UN channels."

He added that when terrorism takes root in Syria, all neighboring countries and the world will be severely affected.

On Monday, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous warned of the presence of terrorists inside Syria whose aim is to achieve their own agenda and not that of the Syrian people.

"We know that there are ... terrorist groups which are trying to gain advantage for themselves ... but we have to see this as an issue within Syria, between the Syrians," he said, during his visit to assess the current deployment of UN military observers.

"We do know that there were terrorist attacks and bombings, and that is something to be taken very seriously," he said. "Any further militarization of the crisis is not to be accepted ... It's a crisis between the Syrians and there is no justification in fueling the fire."

Ladsous also said that although concerned parties had not committed fully to the six-point peace agreement initiated by UN envoy Kofi Annan, the violence has "clearly diminished" since the arrival of UN observers in April.

Ye Hailin, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said chaos had opened the door to a third power.

"There was no soil for terrorism in Syria previously," he said. "Terrorist groups like al-Qaida have a global appeal, but their approach is to localize their aim, using people's grievances to facilitate their 'justice' movements." He said the desperate determination by Western countries and some Arab countries to end President Bashar Assad's government accelerated the process.

"Syria was a highly modernized, secularized and educated country, in which there were no prominent conflicts among religions or ethnicities," he said, adding that the terrorist attacks were more likely "transplanted".

"Western countries hesitated to acknowledge the presence of terrorism inside Syria. To combat it, Syrian governmental forces would need to be reinforced and fight back, which is not what they wanted. They needed a weaker government and an immediate stepdown by Assad," he said.

lilianxing@chinadaily.com.cn

Outstanding Brazilian projects and investment opportunities for foreign investors were showcased at Brazil Invest 2012, held in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region from May 21 to 23.

Senior government representatives and well-known executives from the most-important Brazilian and Asian companies showed the visitors the best vehicles for effective investment in Latin America's leading economic power.

Among them were Antonio Jos Rezende de Castro, ambassador of the Consulate General of Brazil in Hong Kong, and Eduardo Andre de Brito Celino, general coordinator of investments for the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.

Having introduced the Brazilian investment climate, they said that long-term foreign investments are especially welcome to Brazil.

Brazil has shown its capability to achieve not only sustainable growth, social inclusion and environmental advances but also political stability and the strengthening of law and institutions, the ambassador said.

In 2011, Brazil had more investments in Hong Kong than any other Latin American country, and China is now the biggest foreign direct investor in Brazil.

"Hong Kong is the right place for investment promotion, and it's the right time to do so," said Andrew Davis, associate director-general of investment promotion at Invest Hong Kong.

Companies come to Hong Kong not only to find partners from China but from Asia as well, he added.

Over the past 25 years, Brazil has become Latin America's leading economic power, offering foreign investors a wide array of investment opportunities.

Brazil Invest 2012 covered the most profitable investment projects in the sectors of oil and gas, agriculture, mining and infrastructure.

Speakers, such as the general manager of Investment, APEX-Brazil and the commercial director of Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation, shared their ideas in the conference and tried to help and explore the new trends of investment, as well as best strategies for accessing the Brazilian market.

In the three-day event, people discussed how investors can conduct business effectively and legally with local companies in the public and private sector. They also talked about how to successfully adapt to new local government policies and identify innovative investment opportunities in new economy sectors.

Case studies, in-depth training workshops, roundtables and panel discussions have been organized to ensure participants get the practical hands-on information they need at this event.

The investment event was organized by Beacon Events together with Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade, Apex Brazil, and ENRC.

Contact the writers at mayi@chinadaily.com.cn and jiajingqi@chinadaily.com.cn

World powers are seeking more consensus with Iran at the Baghdad talks after Teheran agreed "in principle" to permit nuclear watchdog inspectors to investigate a key site.

Representatives of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany, arrived in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, on Wednesday for the two-day talks.

The main concern of the meeting is Iran's production of uranium enriched to 20 percent, which is far higher than needed for regular energy-producing reactors. Iran says it needs it for medical research.

Yukiya Amano, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Tuesday that Iran agreed, in principle, to allow UN inspectors to restart probes into the Parchin military site. This site is suspected of being used for tests related to the development of nuclear weapons.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Wednesday welcomed the efforts from Iran and the IAEA, and called for more dialogue and cooperation between the two sides.

The tentative agreement over Parchin is likely to be used by Iran as added leverage to seek concessions from the West on sanctions, The Associated Press said.

Washington remains cautious, saying that the proposed agreement marked a "step forward" but that Teheran would be judged on its actions.

"We're not at the stage of negotiating what Iran would get in return for fulfillment of its obligations," said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney.

The US would "continue to move forward with the sanctions that will be coming on line as the year progresses", he said.

On Monday, the US Senate backed proposals for further sanctions on Iran, including requiring companies listed on US stock exchanges to disclose any Iran-related business. US and European measures already have targeted Iran's oil exports - its chief revenue source - and banking industry.

Vice-Foreign Minister Cheng Guoping on Wednesday reiterated the importance of observing UN resolutions and the peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue.

"But we oppose sanctions that are against UN resolutions and international law.

"Chinese companies have normal and transparent business relations with Iran. These relations do not contravene the relevant US resolutions, neither do they harm the international community," Hong said.

US officials have said Washington will not backpedal from its stance that Iran must fully halt uranium enrichment.

Both Iran and the West are willing to talk about the 20 percent enrichment, especially Iran, whose economy has been hit by the sanctions, said Yao Kuangyi, former Chinese ambassador to Turkey.

If the IAEA and the six powers at the Baghdad talks agree that Iran has the right to enrich uranium up to 3.5 percent for civilian use, Iran will probably cease aiming for 20 percent, Sadeq Zibakalam, a professor of political science at Teheran University told Xinhua News Agency.

If Iran does agree, it will definitely ask for some Western sanctions to be lifted, Zibakalam said. "That may be a kind of solution."

Xinhua, Reuters and AP contributed to this story.

zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn

Two men suspected of fatally shooting two Chinese students during a botched robbery were charged on Tuesday with capital murder and other counts, local authorities said.

If convicted of the charges, announced by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, Bryan Barnes, 20, and Javier Bolden, 19, might face the death penalty.

The suspects, arrested on Friday and being held without bail, made a brief court appearance in Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles, but their arraignment was postponed until June 25.

Sources from the court said the defendants' lawyer argued that he had no time to go over all the information.

The Los Angeles Police Department said they were confident they got the right guys.

Deputy District Attorney Deborah Brazil with the major crimes division is prosecuting the case, according to a statement from the district attorney's office.

Barnes and Bolden, both from Los Angeles, are charged with the April 11 murder of Qu Ming and Wu Ying, both 23 and second-year graduate students studying in the University of Southern California .

The crime sent shockwaves through the university community.

The men wore street clothes and answered, "Yes sir," when Superior Court Judge Upinder Kalra asked if they understood the charges against them and waived the requirement for a speedy hearing. Their cases were assigned to the public defender's office.

They also were charged with attempted murder in unrelated shootings of three people at parties in South Los Angeles a few months earlier.

Authorities believe the killings occurred during a robbery, leading to special circumstance allegations that make Barnes and Bolden eligible for the death penalty if convicted. The judge noted these were capital crimes in denying bail.

The district attorney's office will decide later whether to seek the death penalty. Police said shell casings tied the suspects to the shooting of the Chinese students and the other attacks.

In addition to the killing of the students, Barnes and Bolden were charged with the attempted murder of a 20-year-old man who was shot and wounded at a party last Dec 3.

Barnes also was charged with one count each of attempted murder and assault with a semiautomatic firearm at another party on Feb 12.

Xinhua - AP

European leaders were expected to discuss how to keep Greece in the eurozone at their informal dinner on Wednesday.

The gathering is not on the official agenda, said people familiar with the decision-making process.

The leaders, including the new French president, traveled to Brussels for the event, arranged before their summit at the end of June.

Without mentioning Greece, Brussels was cautious in wording its discussion highlights, which became available on Tuesday.

"The reason I called this meeting is very simple," said European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.

"A lot has happened since we last met at the beginning of March and this is the appropriate time to hold an open and informal exchange of views among us on how we can boost growth and jobs across the EU."

Van Rompuy underlined some recent issues, such as the failure of Greece to form a coalition government, the heated discussion among the public and media on a possible Greek exit from the eurozone and the conflict between France and Germany over growth and austerity policies.

Van Rompuy suggested the leaders discuss national economic policies, European policies, finance and jobs, which are essential to rejuvenate growth in Europe.

The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development supported introducing euro bonds to help recapitalize banks and ensure the stability of the eurozone.

OECD Chief Economist Pier Carlo Padoan said on Wednesday that a full set of structural reforms is essential to boost financial consolidation and growth in the eurozone.

Padoan called on eurozone countries to adopt a "policy compact" to promote sustainable growth in the medium term. "The eurozone will not return to sustainable growth unless internal imbalances in the area are addressed.

"We began to see adjustments in some countries but they are too slow. We are not moving fast enough, and that is why we are dragged down by a vicious circle of debt and fiscal imbalances."

The OECD, in its latest economic outlook, forecasts that the eurozone economy will shrink by 0.1 percent this year and grow by 0.9 percent in 2013.

Wolfgang Pape, researcher at the Center for European Policy Studies of the European Commission, said the Growth Pact would be high on the agenda for the informal gathering among European heads.

He said Germany went too far on austerity policy and some Germans admitted that the measures "imposed" on Greece seemed to be excessively harsh.

Tan Xuan contributed to this story.

No increase in ships near island

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Wednesday dismissed media reports that Beijing is increasing ships around Huangyan Island.

"Some 20 Chinese fishing boats are operating around Huangyan Island, similar to last year," he said. "The way they operate is in compliance with the relevant laws in China, and it is in accord with China's fishing ban," he added.

Pakistan

Doctor jailed in bin Laden death

Pakistani authorities have sentenced a doctor accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden to 33 years in jail on charges of treason, officials said.

Shakil Afridi was accused of running a fake vaccination campaign, in which he collected DNA samples, that is believed to have helped the CIA track down bin Laden.

China Daily-Reuters

Molly Bodurtha, an American high school student, should have gone back home to New Haven, Connecticut, six months ago. But she tried hard to persuade her parents and her home school to allow her to stay longer in China, which has become just like a second home to her.

Presenting a study on education in fluent Chinese to teachers and schoolmates in No 2 Middle School, affiliated with Beijing Normal University, part of the evaluation of her study here, Bodurtha will soon conclude her nine months abroad in China.

She and another 54 high school students from various parts of the United States arrived in Beijing last August to study Chinese culture and live with Chinese families for a semester or two.

Though she had learned some Chinese in the 9th and 10th grades and knew something about China from Chinese restaurants and news reports in the US, Bodurtha said she had very limited knowledge about China before she came.

But now she lives like a Chinese person, talks to people in Chinese "instinctively", enjoys eating jianbingguozi, a popular snack in North China, bought from stands on streets, and can make dumplings and several other kinds of Chinese food.

From Monday to Friday, Bodurtha usually rides a bike from her host family's house to school, attending classes that include Chinese language, Chinese society and culture and Chinese history, all taught by Chinese teachers.

All of the Chinese teachers are experienced in teaching Chinese overseas. They are accustomed to teaching in an American way that gives students most of the class time in which to practice the language, instead of in the traditional Chinese way, where teachers talk for most of the time, said Zhang Tong, Chinese language coordinator of School Year Abroad China.

The students were divided into six levels at the beginning of the first semester. Some couldn't speak Chinese at all before they came, said Zhang.

"We can provide a good language environment for beginners, in order to lay a firm foundation for studying the Chinese language."

Bodurtha also studies Taichi, martial arts, watercolor painting and calligraphy on weekdays, in addition to math taught by teachers from the US.

The School Year Abroad program was founded in 1964 and recognized as the premier secondary school study abroad program in the US.

Students with the program earn full academic credit for their work overseas and return to the US to apply, and be admitted to, some of the most selective colleges and universities in the country, said Shi Lili, assistant program director with SYA China.

China is the third country that SYA has cooperated with, after Spain and France, said Shi, who has been working for the program since it started in China in 1994.

"SYA China provides an exceptional opportunity to gain true insight into Chinese culture while mastering Mandarin through intensive language instruction," said Jack Creeden, SYA president.

Bodurtha said that, in the US, many people misunderstand Chinese culture. "I want to actually understand it from a Chinese person's perspective."

Kyle Laracey, Bodurtha's classmate from the US, said he came to China because he thought his 11th-grade year back home would be kind of boring and just the same as all the previous years.

After spending nearly nine months in China, Laracey can not only speak fluent Chinese, but also finds that "living in a foreign country for this long, it just changes your attitude, your viewpoint on the whole world".

He said that before coming to China, when he thought about the world in his head, he thought of America as being in the middle with everybody else on the side.

"Now we have moved to China. Japan and Korea are very close to us. We now have a new understanding of China's role in the world," Laracey said.

Bodurtha shares the same feeling. "Our perspective has shifted from being very centered around the US to something more open. We think we value the opinions of other countries more."

During the school year, the students take three trips, totaling more than 30 days, to other parts of China. They visited the southeast province of Fujian last November, the southwest province of Yunnan in winter and will soon set off on a trip to the northwest province of Gansu in late May.

Bodurtha treasures every opportunity to learn more about the Chinese people.

Her "most memorable experience" and "favorite pastime", which she will miss when she returns to the US, was "talking to the cab drivers in Beijing".

Beijing cab drivers are famous for being hospitable and talkative.

"They tell me their favorite recipes for home-cooked food," Bodurtha said. She was impressed by a cab driver who told her his life story of working as a cab driver since he was 14 years old and had proudly sent two children to Peking University, one of the top universities in China.

Bodurtha also remembers another conversation about US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, when the cab driver gave her his opinion of America's leadership and diplomacy.

"I love talking with the cab drivers here," she said. "They express a lot of opinion."

Living with the host families is an important part of the program for students.

Bodurtha lives with her Chinese host mother, father and elder sister. She remembers that on the first day she arrived in Beijing, her Chinese sister came to the school to pick her up. They walked home together and the first thing they talked about was Harry Potter.

"She is a Harry Potter fanatic. For her birthday this year I ended up sending her a fake letter from Hogwarts," Bodurtha said.

It's easier for young people from different parts of the world of a similar age to get along together than it is for the parents and students, especially when there are cultural differences.

Bodurtha's Chinese father is a very "social guy", who goes out playing cards and drinking Tsingtao Beer with his friends every night.

"At the beginning he would always tell me to come along, and I would come along," said Bodurtha.

She played cards with them. Her Chinese father would offer drinks to her. "I had to keep objecting, and he was a little offended in the beginning.

"I told him that in the US you don't offer minors alcohol. I know he was just trying to be courteous to the new guest," said Bodurtha.

"The host families, inarguably, are at the core of the program," said Hilde Becker, resident director of SYA China. But she admitted that living with a Chinese family could be quite a challenge for the students.

"There are, of course, misunderstandings. But I think this is part of the experience. We expect our students to be ready and willing to immerse themselves in Chinese culture," said Becker.

Becker expects the students to adjust to their Chinese family's way of life instead of having the Chinese families adjust to them, so "they will gain a lot from that experience."

According to Becker, over the years Chinese parents have been very willing to open their homes to American students. "This is beneficial for both sides. Their own children will benefit from an American student staying with them."

There are certain standards for selecting a host family. The house must be located near the school, the parents must stay in Beijing for most of the time and they must have a loving heart, said Shi.

Most of the families have a child and are subsided 2,600 yuan (about $411) each month by the school, said Shi.

chengguangjin@chinadaily.com.cn

A file photo of China's most advanced fisheries patrol ship Yuzheng 310. The vessel reached the waters off Huangyan Island on April 20 and conducted law enforcement in the area. Liang Ganghua / Xinhua

As the Philippines seeks to buy weapons abroad amid a diplomatic crisis with China over the two countries' territorial dispute in the South China Sea, Beijing warned on Tuesday that any attempt by a third country to get involved in the territorial dispute over Huangyan Island between Beijing and Manila will only make the situation worse.

On April 10, a Philippine warship harassed 12 Chinese fishing vessels that had sailed near Huangyan Island, which is part of China's territorial waters in the South China Sea, to seek shelter from a storm. The incident later escalated into a month-long dispute between the two countries.

"The Philippine decision to draw a third party into the incident in any way will further escalate the situation and even change the nature of the issue," Hong Lei, foreign ministry spokesman, said at a regular media briefing.

The comments came as the United States is scheduled to deliver a retired Hamilton class cutter to Manila on Tuesday. This will be the second Hamilton class cutter Manila has obtained from the US.

The first one, also retired from the US, arrived in the Philippines last year, giving the Philippine navy its largest and most advanced warship.

Moreover, Philippine President Benigno Aquino told media outlets that Manila intends to buy a batch of jets ranging in price from $4 million to $8 million.

Albert del Rosario, Philippine foreign affairs secretary, said some other countries are helping Manila establish a "minimum credible defense posture" to complement its diplomatic capacity to deal with territorial disputes with China.

Rosario told media on Sunday that at least three nations besides the United States are on the list - Japan, South Korea and Australia.

He said Japan is likely to provide 12 patrol ships, while the Philippines is considering entering into plane deals with South Korea. The Philippines are also likely to obtain some search and rescue ships from Australia and have a large number of military personnel trained there.

A 47-year-old Hamilton class cutter that was purchased last year from the US was sent to arrest the Chinese fishermen involved in the April 10 incident and was confronted by two Chinese maritime patrol ships. It retreated soon and was replaced by patrol boats.

Qu Xing, director of the China Institute of International Studies, said Manila can improve its military by purchasing arms. But its military can by no means be compared with China's, which is also developing.

And with the Philippine economy performing worse since Aquino became president, the country will face rising financial dangers if it spends too much on its military, Qu said.

Song Xiaojun, a Beijing-based commentator, said the plan to buy arms shows that the government has more or less been "kidnapped" by the military, which Manila depends on in its fights against anti-government forces.

The Aquino administration has spent $395 million on the country's military since it took office in 2010. In the 15 years up to that, Manila spent $51 million on average, Song said.

"And even the Philippines itself knows there is something wrong in their logic of one hand taking massive preferential loans from China and one hand using that money to buy weapons."

Major General Xu Yan from the National Defense University of the People's Liberation Army said in an article published on Monday that China has absolute advantage in air and naval forces over the Philippines.

"Once (the Philippines) dares escalate the movements of maritime police into military operations, it will suffer a great calamity from China's strike in response to their attack."

In the past, it usually took two days for Chinese ships to arrive in the waters around Huangyan Island, but China now has "a large batch" of large and advanced ships that it can use in maritime patrols, Xu wrote.

Xu said the Philippines used to arrest and even shoot at Chinese fishermen who were near the island in the 1990s.

"But those days are gone."

lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn

The pursuit of oil, rising jobless rates and the need to cover up domestic public fury are behind Manila's recent territorial claims and its drive for oil drilling in the South China Sea, experts said.

Tensions have been flaring up between Beijing and Manila amid an impasse on China's Huangyan Island as the Philippine government laid a groundless claim over the island and sent a gunboat in early April to harass Chinese fishermen within China's territorial waters off the island.

Media in Manila on Tuesday questioned attempts by some Philippine companies to speed up the joint development of oil and gas in the South China Sea, claiming that the so-called "sovereignty" issue is more important than business interests.

Beijing warned that any unilateral development by the Philippine side will violate China's rights and interests, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, who also urged Manila to show sincerity.

However, the looming fluctuations triggered by Manila in the South China Sea are, to some extent, showing the Philippines' need for energy, said Chen Qinghong, a researcher on Philippine studies with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

"The Philippine economy depends heavily on energy supplies from abroad, and rising oil prices are also prompting major Philippine oil producers to seek more deposits from the waters nearby," said Chen.

The oilfield at Liyue Bank in the South China Sea could hold nearly twice as much gas as the Philippines' largest known deposits, Philex Petroleum said last month.

Some prominent Philippine figures are believed to be connected to the oil companies, and the government has been using the profits from oil for arms purchases, analysts said.

The South China Sea, as the deepest and largest sea of China, boasts abundant natural resources, including 23 to 30 billion tons of oil resources and around 16 trillion cubic meters of natural gas deposit.

In another development, a survey result released on Monday showed that the Philippine jobless rate in the first quarter hit a record high, and President Benigno Aquino is believed to be facing mounting pressure from the public.

The number of jobless adults in the Philippines increased during the first quarter of this year, reaching 34.4 percent, according to a recent survey released by local research institute Social Weather Stations.

It is 10 points higher than the 24 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Yang Baoyun, a professor of Southeast Asia studies at Peking University, said that Aquino has been haunted by the job figures since taking office in June 2010.

"Given the current overall economic situation in the Philippines, Aquino is now having a hard time fulfilling his promises to voters, not to mention the domestic dissatisfaction about corruption and the rebels in the south," said Yang.

Public satisfaction with the performance of the president has also slipped from a "very good" net score of plus-56 in December to a "good" net score of plus-46 in March, according to another recent survey by the institute.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

A staff worker takes a nap in the empty Philippine pavilion of the 2012 World Travel Fair in Shanghai on May 11. Many Chinese travel agencies suspended trips to the country over safety concerns. Yong Kai / for China Daily

Even more than being banned from working in China, Filipinos are worried about the hard-line position their leaders have taken on the South China Sea, several of them said.

Teodorico Haresco, a Philippine lawmaker, has warned that Beijing might prohibit Filipinos from working in China, including in Hong Kong and Macao, The Philippine Star reported on Friday.

"My work hasn't been affected by the recent dispute between China and the Philippines over Huangyan Island, and my Chinese friends and colleagues seldom talk to me about this issue," said Shi Huali, a 24-year-old Filipino working in Guangdong province.

"Instead, I've heard that Chinese Filipino's businesses in the Philippines have been affected somehow," she said, noting that anti-China demonstrations have occurred in Manila.

The country's embassy in China has sent e-mails to Philippine citizens in China to remind them to ensure they can protect themselves amid the tension, said Aizelle Andrade, 23, a Filipino studying at Beijing Language and Culture University.

In protest of the Philippines' actions and words concerning the Huangyan Island, China has exerted economic pressure on the Philippines, blocking imports of bananas and canceling tour packages.

Chinese businessman Yu Jinyong said earlier this month on his micro blog, which has more than 1 million followers, that he had fired two Filipino housekeepers.

But Favorite Employment Co, a company that provides Filipino housekeepers in China, disputed the statement, saying that none of its clients had been fired or repatriated.

According to estimates, about 60,000 Filipino housekeepers are employed on the Chinese mainland, Chinese media reported.

As China more strictly enforces its rules pertaining to foreigners, Philippine housekeepers will find it more difficult to work here, said a Shanghai businessman surnamed Li. He has hired an English-speaking Filipino housekeeper for a year.

Young Filipinos should not worry greatly about the embassy's warning, said Andrade. She said many of her friends want to work in China, which they consider to be a friendly and economically strong place.

Filipinos also tend to be friendly to the Chinese, said Zhang Cheng, a Chinese engineer who once worked in the north of the Philippines for more than a year.

"So I don't think it's fair for Filipino agricultural producers and tourism agencies to have to pay for their government's behavior."

From January to October last year, the value of Philippine exports to China was $14.6 billion, an increase of 21 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, the value of Chinese exports to the Philippines exceeded $11.4 billion, up 50 percent.

"For ordinary people, we are just hoping for peace and stability. Both sides should sit down and solve these problems through dialogue as soon as possible," Shi said.

Tan Zongyang in Fuzhou contributed to this story.

zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn

Glyn Davies, US special envoy for Democratic People's Republic of Korea policy, emphasized a need for sanctions against the DPRK during meetings with Chinese officials on Tuesday.

The envoy told reporters at his hotel that he raised the issues when meeting with Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Fu Ying and Wu Dawei, the special representative for affairs on the Korean Peninsula.

Davies stressed that peace, stability and denuclearization are common fundamental interests of China and the US in the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula.

Regarding food aid, which was scuttled because of the DPRK's rocket launch on April 13, Davies said the US is willing to resume negotiations as long as Pyongyang demonstrates its sincerity through actions.

Davies' visit to Beijing followed his meeting in Seoul with his counterparts from Japan and the Republic of Korea.

On Monday during those talks, he warned Pyongyang against "further miscalculation", as fears of a new nuclear test after Pyongyang's rocket launch in mid-April were aroused worldwide.

China again urged all relevant parties to further strengthen communication and create condition to ease the tension on the Korean Peninsula, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Tuesday.

China will work closely with all other relevant parties for that aim, Hong said.

According to Xinhua News Agency, Davies told reporters that it is important that the DPRK not miscalculate again or engage in any provocation.

The US obviously is in a bit of an uncertain period with the DPRK, he was quoted by the Associated Press as saying, and he described Washington's Pyongyang policy as "engagement on the one hand, pressure on the other".

Davies warned that another nuclear test would result in "swift and sure" punishment at the UN Security Council, according to Xinhua.

The DPRK said the launch in April was to mark the hundredth birthday of its founding father Kim Il-sung.

The failed launch led to the collapse of a food aid deal between Pyongyang and Washington under which the DPRK promised to refrain from nuclear and missile tests. Davies expressed Washington's disappointment about Pyongyang's decision to launch the rocket.

It sent a "signal that they can't be trusted to follow through on their own undertakings and their own promises," he was quoted by the AP as saying, adding that the US was no longer interested in words and wants to see actions from the DPRK.

The US has now attempted to win China's support for its sanctions toward the DPRK, said Wang Fan, a professor from China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing.

Washington hopes that China can contribute more to solve the issue on the Korean Peninsula, but at the same time, it expects China will do what the US wants it to do, which is impossible, Wang said. US policies toward the DPRK will not change soon, Wang added.

Huang Youfu, an expert on Korean studies at Minzu University of China, agreed with Wang, saying that the US will continue its tough policies toward Pyongyang, considering the election pressure.

zhouwa@chinadaily.com.cn

China's Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday confirmed that Guo Boxiong, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission can hardly make the trip to Japan because of a "work commitment".

The Information Office of the National Defense Ministry replied to China Daily in written form, saying that China attaches great importance to its friendship and cooperation with Japan, and the Chinese government had previously discussed Guo's visit with Japan.

The senior military official's trip was originally planned to start on Thursday and would have included a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda as well as a visit to the base of Japan's Self-defense Forces.

Citing diplomatic sources, Japan's Kyodo News agency on Saturday said Guo's visit was postponed in protest due to the Diaoyu Islands issue and a scheduled meeting of the World Uyghur Youth Congress, which China sees as a separatist group, in Japan.

Previously, Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara reignited tensions between Beijing and Tokyo by raising the idea of buying the Diaoyu Islands from so-called private owners during a speech to the Heritage Foundation in Washington.

Satsuki Eda, a sitting member of the Japanese legislature and the Democratic Party of Japan's chief advisor, emphasized in an exclusive interview with China Daily that the Tokyo governor's plan "does not represent the position of the Japanese government".

"I think he just wanted his announcement to create a sensation, but it does no good to resolve problems, " Eda said.

Eda said that some Japanese always hate to see a friendship developing between the two neighboring countries.

"But only a few Japanese think like this. The majority of the public support an improved relationship with China," he said.

He told China Daily that the overall perspective of bilateral relations will not be affected.

The chief advisor of Japan's ruling party also reviewed the progress that has been made since 1972 and said he was confident in the future development of the Sino-Japanese ties.

Tokyo has been embroiled in disputes with China since earlier this year due to Japan's malicious destruction of bilateral relations, said Yang Bojiang, a professor of Japanese studies at the University of International Relations in Beijing.

"This year was widely viewed as a good chance to deepen political trust between Beijing and Tokyo, but the friendly atmosphere has been destroyed," Yang said. He thought the cancellation of Guo's visit was Beijing's response to a series of inappropriate actions by Japan.

"But both sides should prevent disputes from escalating into conflicts. Especially the ruling DPJ government should act quickly to block Ishihara's proposal in Tokyo's municipal assembly," Yang said, urging both China and Japan to keep their dispute "under control".

Major parties in Tokyo's assembly are divided over Ishihara's plan.

The DPJ, which holds the majority of seats, convened all its members on Tuesday to reach an agreement about the purchase plan, but a deep rift has been seen in the party ever since the conservative governor raised the idea, Japan's J-cast news network reported.

According to a survey conducted by Yomiuri Shimbun, all Tokyo parliament members are "racking their brains" right now to choose sides, and more than 90 percent of the 124 assemblymen are abstaining against Ishihara's proposal. Only seven gave their approval, four of which are with DPJ.

"My personal opinion is another matter. And I will not jump to a conclusion until the plan is proposed to the parliament," said Akira Miyazaki, the Liberal Democratic Party's secretary-general in the Tokyo.

Contact the writers at wangchenyan@chinadaily.com.cn and cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn

The so-called Smart Defense approach adopted by the alliance and the network of partnerships it is seeking to build around the world, coupled with a detailed exit from Afghanistan, all point to a declining and less capable NATO.

Capability building, partnership and Afghanistan dominated the Chicago summit, the biggest of its kind in history.

The Smart Defense notion was first broached by NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in February 2011 in response to the financial constraints facing the transatlantic community and the yawning gap in defense capabilities between Washington and its European allies as a result of reduced European spending on defense for years.

The approach calls for pooling resources and capabilities of the member states to maintain and develop capabilities needed to confront the complex challenges of the 21st century, as stated in the strategic concept adopted in Lisbon in November, 2010, when NATO leaders last met.

The Chicago summit saw a number of multinational projects unveiled, including a declared interim ballistic missile defense capability as an initial step to establish NATO's missile defense system, the deployment of a highly sophisticated Alliance Ground Surveillance system and the extension of the air policing mission in the Baltic states.

In addition, the summit sought to have on board more partner nations to make up for the capability deficiency resulting from member nations' refusal to engage in operations, as was the case in Libya.

US President Barack Obama on Monday afternoon hailed the role of partners as critical to NATO's operations after representatives of 13 partners engaged in the Afghan mission joined NATO leaders on the sidelines of the Chicago summit.

At a news conference, the president even talked about the role partners could play in helping thwart terrorist threats in Yemen, Somalia and Mali, pointing to their "more effective intelligence operations, more diplomatic contacts".

Building on a transition plan agreed on at their Lisbon summit, NATO leaders finalized details in Chicago of the exit strategy from Afghanistan, foreseeing a change to a support role from the current combat mission by mid-2013 for NATO forces and the withdrawal of most NATO combat forces by the end of 2014, when the Afghan forces are expected to take over the security lead across the country.

Though the Afghan war has entered its 11th year, the Taliban-led insurgency still has the ability to launch coordinated attacks in the most heavily fortified part of Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, and NATO's rushed exit will not contribute to a stable and peaceful Afghanistan.

However, the military alliance can no longer afford a prolonged war in Afghanistan, both financially and politically, if not morally.

Libyan model

At the Lisbon summit, NATO leaders pledged to adapt what they called the world's most successful political-military alliance to confront the 21st-century security challenges.

Analysts say Washington hopes NATO will continue to evolve to protect its members from new threats like ballistic missiles and cyber attacks, by preserving and developing essential defense capabilities.

The United States values the military bloc's role as the world's only institution capable of rapid and effective multilateral military action.

However, the Libyan operation laid bare not only the limited capabilities of NATO's European allies, including Britain and France, but also their lack of political will to join discretionary non-collective defense operations, as only eight of NATO's 28 members participated in the operation there.

As Washington's inclination and ability to act alone in case of contingencies are declining, there is a growing chorus of calls for future resort to the so-called Libyan model, in which the United States led from behind by having other allies and partners take the lead.

The proponents, among them Brent Scowcroft, a former two-time national security adviser to US presidents, call for the establishment of a coalition of the willing, involving allies and partners alike and using NATO structures, to operate in future contingencies as NATO is winding down its intervention in Afghanistan.

Bus collision kills at least 24

At least 24 Hindu pilgrims were killed when a packed bus plunged into a fast-flowing river in northern India on Tuesday after colliding with a truck, officials said.

The bus, which was on its way back from the holy shrine of Badrinath, rammed into the truck near the town of Byasi, 150 kilometers from Uttarakhand state capital Dehradun.

"The bus plunged into the Alaknanda river following the collision and 24 people died," said Kunal Sharma, the local civil administrator.

Another 24 people injured in the crash were treated in nearby hospitals.

The driver of the bus survived as he jumped out of the vehicle before it plunged down the steep, rocky terrain, Sharma said.

Spain

Strikes shut down schools

Teachers and students from every level of Spain's education system went on strike on Tuesday to protest wide-ranging government spending cuts, erecting makeshift tombs at university campuses to symbolize what they claim will be the death of the country's schooling system.

Union officials said 80 percent of the country's teachers took part. All but three of Spain's 17 regions participated in the stoppage, the biggest in a series of strikes so far this year that had until now been scattered around the country.

Tunisia

Gadhafi PM to be extradited soon

Tunisia will extradite former Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi's prime minister to Libya and the handover could take place in "days or weeks", Tunisia's Justice Minister Noureddine Bouheiri said on Tuesday.

A Tunisian court dropped charges of illegally entering the country against Al Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmoudi in February but he has remained in jail since last year, pending a decision on his extradition to Libya.

"The government has decided to hand over Mahmoudi and all that remains is the completion of some organizational issues," Bouheiri said.

"This could be within days or weeks or perhaps longer ... Our Libyan brothers have pledged to respect Mahmoudi physically and emotionally and to give him a fair trial," he said.

AP - AFP - Reuters

"You are tall in height. I hope you can also be a giant at learning Chinese."

The words of visiting top Chinese legislator Wu Bangguo sparked a burst of laughter from the Croatian students on Saturday.

Wu, chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee, China's legislative body, attended the opening ceremony of Croatia's first Confucius Institute at Zagreb University and talked to the students there, who are learning Chinese part-time.

"To better understand Chinese culture, you have to visit the country. I think more opportunities and scholarship will be given to you after the Confucius Institute is established," he told students.

Tanja Grilec, dressed in traditional Chinese clothes, was preparing for a welcoming song. She said she has been studying Chinese in her free time at the school for about a year.

"My friends and I have been preparing traditional dance and songs for several weeks, to celebrate the opening of the Confucius Institute here," the architecture student said.

One of about 100 students in the Chinese culture center who studies Chinese language and art part-time, Tanja said she has been interested in Chinese for a long time, although she has never been to the country.

"I am especially interested in the strokes of Chinese characters, since I think it can help improve my understanding of building structure," the Croa tian student said, while humming a Chinese tune she was going to perform at the opening ceremony.

The Confucius Institute, which is affiliated to Zagreb University, is expected to bring more teaching faculties, learning materials and exchange opportunities to the school.

Mislav Jezic is the dean of the Chinese culture department. The professor said the school currently has five teachers - two from China and three from Croatia - "far from enough" to meet the growing interest among Croatians in China.

"I hope that, by being part of the Confucius Institutes, our school can have more teaching resources, scholarships for students to study in China and opportunities to organize cultural festivals for ordinary Croatians at weekends," he said.

The newly opened institute is also the latest outlet of China's Hanban, a public institute affiliated to the Ministry of Education, committed to providing Chinese language and cultural teaching resources and services worldwide.

Hanban has seen more than 350 similar outlets and 470 classrooms established across the world since 2004, and the outlets are named Confucius Institutes after the great philosopher in ancient China, whose thought has influenced China for more than 2,000 years.

Zagreb University started teaching the Chinese language in 1981 and began to provide courses about Chinese culture and art in 1994. Hundreds of students have graduated from the school since then.

"By taking these lessons we can be exposed to many facets of China, including art, literature, history and calligraphy, and that can be beneficial to us in the long run," said Rin Mikulic, a part-time student in his third year.

The 25-year-old man, an auditor by trade, said he started to learn Chinese because he believes "many people in the West think of China in a biased way", and he hopes he can help correct the prejudice.

"The company I am working for also has branches in China, and I hope my expertise in Chinese can help me pin down an opportunity there," he said in fluent Chinese.

Unlike similar language and culture promotion centers, such as France's Alliance Francaise and Germany's Goethe-Institute, which are independently organized, the Confucius Institutes cooperate with established universities, colleges and secondary schools around the world.

Every institute is managed by the combination of a Chinese director and a foreign counterpart.

zhaoyinan@chinadaily.com.cn

The sun and moon aligned over the Earth in a rare astronomical event on Sunday - an annular eclipse that dimmed the skies over parts of Asia and North America, briefly turning the sun into a blazing ring of fire.

As the eclipse reached its peak, a crowd of several thousand viewers gathered in a Utah field took a collective gasp and erupted into applause, cheers and even some howling.

"The wonder of it, the sheer coincidence that this can happen, totally amazes me," said Brent Sorensen, a physics professor at Southern Utah University, who brought a half-dozen telescopes to the rural town of Kanarraville for the public to peek through. "It never ceases to amaze me."

Eclipses of some type occur almost every year, but stargazers have not seen an annular - shaped like a ring - eclipse on US soil since 1994, and the next one won't occur until 2023. That is because the phenomenon requires a particular set of orbital dynamics, NASA Space Scientist Jeffrey Newmark said.

An annular eclipse occurs when the moon's orbit is at its furthest point from the Earth and closer to the much larger sun. That juxtaposition allows the moon to block more than 90 percent of the sun's rays when the two orbs slide into alignment.

"It's like moving your fist in front of your eyes," Newmark said. "You can block out the view of a whole mountain. It's the same kind of effect."

The eclipse was first visible over southern Asia and then moved across the Pacific. Traveling on a diagonal path, it later crossed parts of Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico before disappearing in Texas with the sunset.

Day did not turn into night. But light faded as the moon slid in front of the sun, much like turning down a dimmer switch, and then slowly returned as the moon moved away.

In Utah, the "sweet spot" for viewing the full eclipse was Kanarraville, a small community about 375 kilometers south of Salt Lake City.

Patrick Wiggins, who is part of the NASA ambassador outreach program, was emotional once the moon slipped into place. "I've been planning this since the 1980s," he said, his voice breaking. "You're seeing the solar system in motion."

Reuters

Incident ends peacefully after 10 days as men return from DPRK

Chinese fishermen detained by men from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea arrived with their vessels in Northeast China's Dalian on Monday, bringing a peaceful end to an international incident that lasted for 10 days.

They were released from the custody of men in DPRK military uniform without paying any fines or "ransom".

It was reported that the men initially demanded payment of 400,000 yuan ($63,200) for each boat before lowering their request to 300,000 yuan, and they even set a deadline of May 17. The men demanded that the fishermen sign a confession to fishing illegally in DPRK territory, and they were forced to pledge never to do it again.

The 28 fishermen arrived at Dalijia fishing harbor at about 7 am and received medical tests in a local hospital. According to the observations of a China Daily reporter, they appeared unharmed and had no cuts or bruises.

Earlier, media had reported that 29 fishermen were captured, but one captain explained that a crew member was ill and didn't get on board that day.

Han Qiang, captain of the Liaodanyu 23536, said his boat was seized along with two others in the Chinese section of the Yellow Sea on May 8 and dragged to a DPRK island, where the crew was held in custody by armed militiamen in DPRK uniform. "I was so afraid to lift my head up and see their faces because some of us got slapped for doing that," he said.

The DPRK captors stripped them of their good shoes and clothes, and some of the detained fishermen came back with plastic slippers on their feet.

Additionally, Han said they took everything they could move from the ship, including fishing nets, fish, phones and all the crew members' belongings. "They even took the washing powder away, and also pumped out the diesel from the fuel tank, just leaving enough for us to go back."

Zhang Shouyi, 28, from Taihe county in Anhui province, was a sailor on one of the ships. He said he and the seven other crew members were held below deck in a small, unlit room of about 3 square meters.

"They locked the door with iron wires, and if the guards were in a good mood, they would accompany us to allow us to use the bathroom. Otherwise, we were only allowed to relieve ourselves in that small space," he said.

Zhang said they did not have enough sleep or enough food. "Since being caught, we could hardy fall asleep these days."

The crew members were cut off completely from their family members.

"I was afraid that they would worry about me if I told them. They thought I was working in Shandong and do not know I'm here. So I plan to call them in a day or two."

The wife of detained fisherman Zheng Xiujun, 31, rushed from Suihua in Heilongjiang province upon hearing the news of her husband's return.

"When I first saw him in the hospital, it was impossible to hold back my tears. I was crying for his return, and it was a load off my mind," she said. "He looked visibly thinner. My heart hurt when I saw his bushy beard because he normally shaves every day."

Han said he does not want to repeat this incident and will shy away from fishing too far out into the ocean in the future.

Dong Manyuan, a researcher with the China Institute of International Studies, said the Chinese government should reflect on this incident and strengthen the safety education provided to those who fish offshore, especially in border areas.

The Chinese government should also encourage fishermen to abandon methods that seriously damage coastal resources to protect them for future generations, he said.

In addition, China should develop an emergency response mechanism to prevent such incidents from happening again.

Since the incident, the Chinese government had been in close communication with the DPRK to push for a speedy resolution to the issue. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China demanded the DPRK ensure the safety and legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese fishermen.

Contact the writers at zhangxiaomin@chinadaily.com.cn and cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn

Xinhua contributed to this story.

Russian President Vladimir Putin (top) and (from left) Deputy Prime Ministers Arkady Dvorkovich and Vladislav Surkov, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev take part in a meeting of the new cabinet team in Moscow's Kremlin on Monday. Yekaterina Shtukina / Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin put his stamp on a new government on Monday that kept his most trusted allies in charge of finance while leaving tested veterans at the helm of foreign affairs and defense.

But the cabinet also saw a top liberal aide of Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev win a key industry post after a reportedly bruising battle with some of the more hawkish members of Russia's government.

Putin assembled his new team two weeks after being sworn in for a third term at the Kremlin and somberly pronounced their mission a difficult one at a time of global economic flux.

"The situation the world economy finds itself in today is uncertain. There are a lot of uncertainty factors," Putin said in televised remarks.

"You will have to implement Russia's development program in these conditions."

Putin's crushing victory in March elections sparked immediate fears of a return to the confrontational tone with the West that characterized much of his 2000-2008 presidency.

Putin and Medvedev went on to complete a disputed job swap after the polls that will stretch Putin's 12-year domination until 2018 and was one of the primary triggers for mass protests in recent months.

Many of the faces in Russia's new cabinet featured in the outgoing cabinet while some of those not making the cut are expected instead to move over to Putin's Kremlin administration.

Putin kept close ally Igor Shuvalov as first deputy prime minister in charge of finance while handing the vital industry sector to Medvedev's former adviser Arkady Dvorkovich a market darling who favours privatization.

"It looks like we might still see some reforms Dvorkovich is confirmation of that," said Olga Mefodyeva of the Center for Political Technologies.

The finance ministry brief went to its current holder and Russian budget mastermind Anton Siluanov while senior cabinet veteran Andrei Belousov was named the new economic development minister.

Putin also reappointed long-serving Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov while replacing his scandal-tainted interior minister Rushid Nurgaliyev with Moscow police chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev.

Russia's current energy czar Igor Sechin viewed as one of Putin's most powerful and trusted allies left Medvedev's cabinet but was still expected to keep broad influence over industry and future oil and gas deals.

Sechin and Medvedev's aide Dvorkovich have clashed previously over the pace at which Kremlin-controlled banks and industries should be sold off to private investors in a bid to stimulate Russia's stalling growth.

The new cabinet features just two women one in charge of social affairs and the other health in what Putin called a disappointment.

"Unfortunately, there are not too many women. But they are there," he said.

The government's makeup had been kept under wraps for two weeks in an unusual departure from the earlier practice of instant appointments.

The delay provided Putin with an excuse for skipping a G8 summit hosted by US President Barack Obama last week - a move the Kremlin insisted was not a slight for Washington's criticism of Russia's record on rights issues.

Agence France-Presse

Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the only person convicted over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing which killed 270 people, is to be buried on Monday after he died of cancer protesting his innocence to the end.

Megrahi was found guilty of blowing up Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988, which killed all 259 people on board along with 11 people on the ground.

He died on Sunday, almost three years after the Scottish government freed him from jail on compassionate grounds following his prostate cancer diagnosis.

Megrahi's death has revived the debate on whether the initial verdict was flawed and prompted sharply contrasting reactions on both sides of the Atlantic.

"His pain is over now - he is with god," said Mohammed al-Megrahi, insisting that his brother died an innocent man.

"There never was exact proof," he stressed.

Relatives said the funeral would be held on Monday afternoon.

On Monday, Britain's Independent newspaper cast doubts on the conviction by a Scottish court in 2001 and called for an official probe.

"Megrahi's death is no reason to stop trying to get to the truth," said the newspaper's editorial.

"With so many loose ends remaining and so many questions about the original trial unresolved, the Scottish government should agree to a public inquiry into the tragedy," it said.

But British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday flatly rejected calls for an inquiry into the conviction and said that the Libyan should never have been released from prison.

"There was a proper process, a proper court proceeding and all the rest of it. We have to give people the chance to mourn those that were lost," he said.

The US government, which was outraged by Scotland's decision to free the former Libyan airline security chief, said his death concluded "an unfortunate chapter".

Megrahi had always maintained his innocence, arguing that US agencies "led the way" in securing his conviction.

Some have suggested the decision to allow Megrahi to return to Libya was taken to smooth the way for lucrative oil deals struck by British firms.

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond argued that Megrahi's death vindicated his administration.

His death "puts to rest some of the conspiracy theories which have attempted to suggest that his illness was somehow manufactured", Salmond said.

The fact that Megrahi survived much longer than the doctors had estimated provoked indignation in Britain and the United States.

The convict had been greeted as a hero on his return to Muammar Gaddafi's Libya, after having served eight years of a minimum 27-year sentence for his role in the Lockerbie bombing.

Several relatives of US citizens killed in the Lockerbie bombing said they were pleased that Megrahi had died.

"He deserved to die," said Susan Cohen, whose daughter Theodora was one of the victims.

"He was a mass murderer. I feel no pity around him. He got to die with his family around him. My daughter, at age 20, died a brutal, horrible death," she told CNN.

But the father of one of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing, who has long believed Megrahi was innocent, said it was a sad day.

"It is a sad time, I think. I have been satisfied for some years that this man had nothing to do with the murder of my daughter," Jim Swire, whose daughter Flora was killed in the attack, told BBC TV.

"I think Scotland has a big question to answer as to why his verdict hasn't long since been reviewed."

In December, Megrahi told several British newspapers in what was billed as a "final interview" that a book being written by investigative journalist John Ashton would clear his name.

"I am an innocent man," he told the papers, including The Times and the Daily Mail.

"I am about to die and I ask now to be left in peace with my family," he said.

Agence France-Presse

The United States is trying to spoil relations between Beijing and Taipei by deliberately playing up the imbalance in their military power in a Pentagon report, the Defense Ministry said on Monday.

Moreover, the report also serves as an excuse to sell 66 US F-16 jets to Taiwan, ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said in a news release on the ministry's website.

"In trying to find excuses to sell arms to Taiwan, the US has been deliberately playing up the imbalance in military power between the mainland and Taiwan and sowing dissension between them, irrespective of the peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Straits," Geng said.

He made the remarks in response to the US Defense Department's annual report on China's military power, published on Friday.

China has made representations to the US and expressed "strong dissatisfaction" and "firm opposition" to the report, he said.

Geng said China's justified and normal military development has been unfairly depicted in the report, adding that Beijing has always maintained a transparent strategic intent and made efforts to expand military exchanges.

He also denied US accusations that China engaged in cyber attacks against the US.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said earlier this month, after meeting his Chinese counterpart Liang Guanglie in the US, that China is also a victim of cyber attacks, after years of accusations of alleged Chinese attacks on the US.

Geng said US suspicions and efforts to discredit China go against the country's promise to build healthy, stable, reliable and sustainable military ties with China.

China has cut its military exchanges with the US several times over US plans to sell arms to Taiwan. Liang's May visit to the US was the first by a Chinese defense minister to the US in nine years.

The Pentagon announced that Panetta will visit China later this year.

To avoid disturbing relations, Geng said the US must respect facts, change its attitude and cease issuing similar reports year after year. It should also take concrete steps to promote bilateral military relations, he said.

The Pentagon document was released as the US House of Representatives voted to force the US government to sell 66 new fighter-jets to Taiwan last week. The measure still needs Senate approval.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Monday that Beijing firmly opposed the move.

"We'll urge US lawmakers to cease their Cold War mentality, stop pushing for arms sales to Taiwan and stop interfering in China's internal affairs," he said.

Liu Hui, an expert on US studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said it is "highly possible" that the US Senate will approve the arms sales deal.

But Liu pointed out that there are other methods available to limit the deal's impact on China-US relations, citing the Bush administration's continued delaying of the delivery of the jets.

But the Pentagon report and arms sales plan to Taiwan, once approved, will "undoubtedly" overshadow recently improved military ties between Beijing and Washington.

"So far it seems the Obama administration doesn't want to hurt relations with Beijing over the arms deal," Liu said. US President Barack Obama's administration is only planning to upgrade Taiwan's existing planes.

lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn

A Yemeni soldier packing powerful explosives under his uniform blew himself up in the middle of an army battalion in Sanaa on Monday, killing 96 troops and wounding around 300, a military official said.

The suicide attack was the deadliest in the country's capital since newly elected President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi pledged to oust al-Qaida militants from Yemen's mostly lawless and restive southern and eastern provinces.

Medics said the casualties were being treated in seven hospitals across Sanaa. All of the dead and injured were soldiers, they added.

No one has claimed responsibility for the massive blast, which according to witnesses echoed loudly across the city, causing panic among residents.

Yemeni police officer Colonel Abdul Hamid Bajjash, in charge of security at the blast area, said the attack "bears the hallmark of al-Qaida".

The unidentified bomber detonated his explosives as soldiers from the government's central security forces, commanded by a nephew of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, rehearsed for an army parade, according to the military official.

Yemen's Defense Minister Mohammed Nasser Ahmed, was present at the time of the explosion but escaped unharmed, the official added.

Witnesses said human remains were scattered across the site of the blast at Sanaa's Sabeen Square, where the Yemeni government often holds large military parades.

An AFP correspondent said dozens of ambulances rushed to evacuate the dead and wounded, as security forces cordoned off the area.

Monday's attack is Sanaa's most deadly since Hadi took power in February with a pledge to fight al-Qaida's growing presence in the county.

It also comes 10 days into a massive army offensive against al-Qaida in Yemen's restive southern Abyan province, where jihadists have seized control of a string of towns and cities in attacks launched since May, 2011.

With the support of the US experts and drones, the Yemeni government has been engaged in an "all-out offensive" against al-Qaida militants for nine days in the southern province of Abyan.

The ongoing fighting has left more than 200 people from both sides dead, while thousands of civilians have fled to the neighboring provinces of Aden and Lahj.

Hadi, who was elected in a single-candidate vote, stipulated by the transition deal that forced Saleh's ouster, was expected to give a speech at the military ceremony scheduled for Tuesday.

It remains unclear if the parade will take place as planned.

Yemeni military and tribal sources said on Monday that 11 al-Qaida fighters and three Yemeni soldiers were killed in the latest fighting around the southern city of Jaar.

The clashes took place mainly at the city's western entrance, a military source said, adding that 17 soldiers were wounded in the clashes.

AFP-Xinhua

Obama, Karzai discuss alliance's future commitment to Afghanistan

Leaders of the NATO allies on Sunday agreed on over 20 multinational defense programs to enhance the missile shield capability, while an anti-NATO protest outside the summit venue escalated into a clash.

The alliance now has an interim ballistic missile defense capability, the first step toward the long-term goal of providing "full coverage and protection for all NATO European populations, territories and forces," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said after heads of state and government met for the first day of the summit.

"Our system will link together missile defense assets from different allies' satellites, ships, radars and interceptors under NATO command and control. It will allow us to defend against threats from outside the Euro-Atlantic area," said Rasmussen.

He also said NATO has made progress on "smart defense," which means pooling resources to acquire costly capabilities in age of austerity.

Leaders approved "a robust package of more than 20 multinational projects to provide the capabilities we need, at a price we can afford," the NATO chief said.

The package includes the establishment of a $17 billion Alliance Ground Surveillance system, in which NATO countries will purchase five Block 40 Global Hawk unmanned aircraft equipped with an advanced ground surveillance radar sensor as well as the associated command and control base stations.

The programs also include the extension of Baltic Air Policing, in which NATO allies' fighter jets patrol the skies of the three Baltic nations, allowing them to forgo the acquisition of expensive planes and focus their security resources on other high-priority NATO capabilities and operations.

"In these difficult economic times, we can work together and pool our resources," said US President Barack Obama at the summit opening.

Afghan exit

Hours ahead of the summit, Obama met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to discuss NATO's future commitment to Afghanistan. Karzai said Afghans are "looking forward to an end to this war," and are "fully aware of the task ahead and what Afghanistan needs to do."

NATO will hand over the lead role in combat operations to Afghan forces across the country by mid-2013, alliance leaders said on Sunday as they charted a path out of a war that has lost public support and strained budgets in Western nations.

The NATO summit was scheduled to formally endorse a US-backed strategy for a gradual exit from Afghanistan, a move aimed at holding together an allied force scrambling to cope with France's decision to withdraw its troops early.

Obama and NATO partners want to show their war-weary voters the end is in sight in a conflict that has dragged on for more than a decade while at the same time trying to reassure Afghans that they will not be abandoned.

"There will be no rush for the exits," Rasmussen said.

He sought to put up a show of unity even as France's new President Francois Hollande vowed to stick by his pledge to withdraw French troops by year's end, two years earlier than the alliance timetable.

NATO's plan is to shift full responsibility to Afghan forces for security across the country by the middle of next year and then withdraw most of the alliance's 130,000 combat troops by the end of 2014, Rasmussen said.

While foreign forces will continue to fight the Taliban and other militants as necessary - and it may be very necessary - the new mission for US and NATO troops will assume a new focus on advising and supporting Afghan soldiers.

Xinhua-Reuters

CHICAGO - Thousands of protesters marched through downtown Chicago in one of the city's largest demonstrations in years, airing grievances about war, climate change and a wide range of other complaints as world leaders assembled for a NATO summit.

The protest Sunday, which for months had stirred worries about violence in the streets, drew together a broad assortment of participants, including peace activists joining with war veterans and people more focused on economic inequality. But the diversity of opinion also sowed doubts about whether there were too many messages to be effective.

And some of the most enduring images of the event were likely to be from the end - when a small group of demonstrators clashed with a line of police who tried to keep them from the lakeside convention center where President Barack Obama was hosting the gathering.

The protesters tried to move east toward McCormick Place, with some hurling sticks and bottles at police. Officers responded by swinging their batons. Police and protesters were locked in a standoff for nearly two hours, with police blocking the protesters' path and the crowd refusing to leave. Some protesters had blood streaming down their faces.

AP

A Chinese official said on Monday that he hopes substantial progress can be made in negotiations about Iran's nuclear issue, which he said is the only correct way of dealing with such matters.

"The Baghdad dialogue, if it goes well, will add to the momentum of dialogues and cooperation, stabilize Iran's nuclear issues and promote peace and stability in the region," Ma Zhaoxu, assistant foreign minister, said on Monday.

Ma, who will lead a delegation to the talks, said China is looking forward to starting a "substantial process of negotiations" at the Baghdad dialogue, which will follow talks held in Istanbul on April 14 that broke a 15-month hiatus in the negotiations.

His comments came as leaders from G8 countries - France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Russia - began to exert more pressure on Iran prior to further talks with the country.

Representatives from Iran, five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany and the European Union plan to discuss Iran's nuclear program in Baghdad on Wednesday.

Ma said China continues to be committed to encouraging dialogues with Iran. He also called on every party with an interest in the matter to show respect toward the others involved in the talks.

China has invited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Beijing, Hong Lei, Foreign Ministry spokesman, said on Monday.

The negotiators will try to persuade Iran to stop any sort of uranium enrichment that might produce materials suitable for weapons, Reuters reported. Iran maintains it needs to enrich uranium to a fissile concentration of 20 percent for use in a medical research reactor.

Yukiya Amano, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived in Teheran on Monday for a day of nuclear talks with prominent Iranian officials.

The talks are meant to push Iran to give IAEA access to various sites, people and documents that could be seen as evidence for the agency. The IAEA needs such evidence to assess whether the country has been working on nuclear weapons.

"I really think this is the right time to reach an agreement," Amano said. "Nothing is certain, but I stay positive."

Amano's visit is vital since he may set the dialogue framework of the Baghdad talks with Teheran, said Hua Liming, a former ambassador to Iran. "If Washington and the EU would lift their sanctions on Iran's oil exports and banks, the nuclear talks would be likely to lead to a breakthrough."

On Saturday, the G8 leaders agreed that Iran has the right to have nuclear power for peaceful purposes.

Even so, they continue to have grave concerns about Iran's nuclear program, and they urged Teheran to comply with its international obligations as soon as possible, according to a declaration issued after the G8 summit.

zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn

US 'not trying' to contain China

The United States government is renewing its focus on Southeast Asia, but it is not a part of the efforts to contain China, the former US ambassador to China said at the first Meeting of the ASEAN-US Eminent Persons Group in Manila on Monday.

Former ambassador James Stapleton Roy, the US representative at the meeting, which started on Monday, said in his opening statement that the reason Washington is returning to the region after years of preoccupation with the Middle East is the region's importance to US economy, and it should not be seen as part of the "containing China" strategy.

"If we are approaching it that way, then that would be a failed policy because there is no support for that approach," said Roy on the sidelines of the meeting.

Republic of Korea

Meeting focuses on DPRK

Senior diplomats of the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea gathered in Seoul on Monday to discuss solutions for the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

Glyn Davies, the US special envoy, ROK envoy Lim Sung-nam and his Japanese counterpart Shinsuke Sugiyama joined the trilateral dialogue and separate bilateral discussions.

The three allies are believed to be focusing on what action they could take when facing possible escalating tension on the Korean Peninsula amid concern that Pyongyang proceed with a third nuclear test.

US envoy Davies will arrive in Beijing on Tuesday for talks with China.

United States

Dispute over Castro's visa

The political hubbub over Washington's decision to grant a visa to the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro has eclipsed the fact the State Department simultaneously denied nearly a dozen other prominent Cubans permits to attend an academic conference in California,.

They include academics with a history of collaborating with US researchers, distinguished visiting professors who took up temporary posts at universities like Harvard and Columbia, and some of the most outspoken voices for change on the island, analysts said on Friday.

The ruling has many scratching their heads.

"It's just bizarre," said Joy Olson, executive director of the Washington Office on Latin America, an independent think tank. "I have trouble believing that all of these people who have been up here working at the most prestigious universities in the United States have gone from one day to the next to being a security threat."

Xinhua-China Daily-AP

All detained Chinese fishermen and their vessels have been freed, the Foreign Ministry of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea said on Sunday.

Counselor Jiang Yaxian of the Chinese embassy in Pyongyang told Xinhua News Agency that the DPRK Foreign Ministry had notified the embassy of the latest development.

It was reported that three Chinese fishing boats and their crews in the Yellow Sea were held in custody by people from the DPRK on May 8.

The ships were freed and were on their way home, Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV quoted an owner of one of the ships as saying on Sunday.

All 29 detained staff members were on the ships, which will arrive in Dalian, in northeastern China, on Monday, Phoenix TV said.

The Chinese side reportedly did not pay any "ransom".

The people who put the ships in custody initially demanded a payment of 1.2 million yuan ($189,800), 400,000 yuan for each boat, then lowered their request to 300,000 yuan for each and set a deadline of Thursday, according to Zhang Dechang, owner of one of the ships, Liaodanyu 23536.

There has been no official confirmation about the identities of the people who carried out the seizure of the boats.

Analysts said the hows and whys of the detainment had not been clarified.

"Both countries should keep calm and solemn when viewing bilateral ties, and give deserved emphasis on uncommon situations in the waters in between," said Zhang Liangui, an expert on Korean Peninsula studies at the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

Failure to release information about such fishery incidents to the public in a timely manner may lead to misunderstandings and mistrust, Zhang added.

Beijing has kept in close touch with Pyongyang about the detainment via relevant channels, and on Thursday and Friday called for an "early and appropriate resolution", according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei.

Jiang told Xinhua on Friday that Chinese Ambassador to the DPRK Liu Hongcai and other fellow Chinese diplomats had been working actively on the release of the Chinese fishermen, along with their vessels, "through negotiation and close contact".

Pyongyang on Friday told the Chinese embassy in Pyongyang that the detained crew members were all "safe and sound" with their food and health guaranteed.

Such incidents "are commonly seen" in the waters off the maritime boundary between China and the DPRK, according to a source with Liaoning Marine Fisheries Office who requested anonymity.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

An early morning earthquake tore through northern Italy, damaging homes and ancient buildings and killing at least six, including a 100-year-old lady.

The magnitude 6 quake occurred at 4:05 am on Sunday. It lasted about a minute, and a second tremor took place one hour later. The epicenter was about 35 kilometers north of the city of Bologna, and many cities in Italy could detect the quake.

Italian TV reported that at least six died in the earthquake, and about 50 were injured. Four people were killed when a factory building collapsed on them during the night shift. Two women, including one aged 100, died of panic in Sant'Agostino.

Several Chinese were lightly injured by the quake, said the Chinese consulate general in Milan. And it warned that all Chinese students and businesspersons in Italy should be on high alert about their safety.

The opening of the jewelry fair on Saturday in Vicenza marked the start of tourism season in Italy, and many Chinese tourists are now traveling in the cities nearby.

Local officials said flights, traffic and electricity supply have not been affected by the quake. The area is an important industrial zone and is densely populated.

Rescue is under way, and it is possible that more dead and injured will be found in the rubble.

Italian TV Sky also reported that a 15th-century castle was severely damaged in San Felice sul Panaro. In Finale Emilia, a bell tower collapsed, crushing cars, and in Buonacompra, a historic church was destroyed.

A China Daily journalist was traveling with a group of international journalists in Padova, a city 100 kilometers away from the epicenter, when the quake occurred. The 10-story hotel began to shake for about one minute, and the second tremor at around 5 am was also felt.

Nearly half of the guests ran out of the building, although the hotel did not organize the evacuation.

"The quake was so strong and even five of my lovely dogs started to bark when the quake took place, and they didn't fall asleep after that," said a receptionist at the Sheraton Padova hotel.

BBC said northern Italy is frequently rocked by minor earthquakes, but the country is well prepared to deal with them.

In January, a magnitude 5.3 quake hit northern Italy but caused no injuries. The last major quake to hit the country killed nearly 300 people in the central town of L'Aquila in 2009.

fujing@chinadaily.com.cn

As Manila softened its attitude over the Huangyan Island incident while displaying gamesmanship under the table, analysts called for a more substantial demonstration of goodwill from the Southeast Asian nation.

According to China Review, Noel Servigon, Philippine consul general in Hong Kong, expressed optimism that war would not break out in the South China Sea, saying that Beijing and Manila could settle the dispute in an amicable way.

Considering there is no ambassador in Beijing, and Servigon is a senior Philippine diplomat in China, his remarks could be seen as the prominent voice of Manila, said Ren Yuanzhe, a researcher at China Foreign Affairs University.

It could be seen as another way to express Manila's softened attitude, Ren said, mentioning that Philippine President Benigno Aquino and Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario have recently voiced similar opinions on different occasions, after heightened tensions caused tremendous losses for the Philippine tourism industry and fruit exports.

"Of course, China has suffered a loss, too, but it is totally sustainable. China has enough time and energy to push and see more substantial actions from Manila," Ren added.

The Philippines might take up the issue while it hosts three days of meetings of senior officials from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the United States, which began on Sunday.

However, Del Rosario said the dialogue "is a regular meeting aimed at enhancing the relations of both sides and charting the course of ASEAN-US partnership", the Philippine Daily Inquirer, based in Manila, reported.

Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin revealed on Friday that Manila would obtain 10 new patrol ships from Japan, saying it would increase Philippine maritime security forces. But the Japanese embassy in Manila said on the same day that the Japanese government had not made a formal decision.

"This is not a good sign and will certainly cast a shadow over the issue, so there is still a long way to go before a final solution is found," Ren said.

Media reported that Aquino had named veteran banker Cesar Zalamea and Philippine-Chinese business leader Domingo Lee as "special envoys" to China. Servigon said it was a positive step toward resolving the dispute on the South China Sea.

Del Rosario said on Wednesday that he hoped a breakthrough would soon end the dispute so the two countries could resume normal relations.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei later called for clear and consistent diplomatic solutions from the Philippines to the current situation.

Tensions in the South China Sea escalated on April 10 when a Philippine warship harassed 12 Chinese fishing vessels that had sailed near the island to seek shelter from inclement weather.

A two-and-a-half-month fishing ban began at noon on Wednesday in most parts of the South China Sea as part of ongoing efforts to rehabilitate the area's marine resources. The fishing ban also applies to foreign ships.

This fishing ban could be seen as a goodwill gesture from Beijing, and "kick the ball back" to its southeastern neighbor, said Yang Danzhi, an Asian studies researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, adding that China maintains the right of sovereignty over the island by sending the fishery patrol ships.

"Now the incident has entered a key period to seek a peaceful solution, and Manila should proceed from its national interests and adopt considerate actions," he said.

The Philippine Basketball Association has invited Yao Ming, the Chinese basketball star, and his Shanghai Sharks to visit the Philippines and play friendly matches, hoping to ease the current tensions.

But Zhang Mingji, a spokesman for Team Yao, said they were still considering the invitation.

Expressing "concern", Russian Federation Ambassador to Manila Nikolay Kudashev told the Manila Bulletin over the weekend that the Russian Federation declared it is against any meddling by nations other than the claimant countries in the South China Sea dispute.

"This is our official position," Kudashev said.

He said Russia is "mindful" of the fact that, like the United States, it is not a party to the dispute between China and the Philippines.

"Otherwise it will sound like we are interfering in the internal affairs (of the claimant countries)," he said.

This is the first time that a Russian government official has spoken directly about the ongoing standoff in the South China Sea.

cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn

The China International Machine Tool and Tools Exhibition (CIMES 2012), a leading industry sector event, will once again build a bridge for buyers and suppliers at the New China International Exhibition Center in Beijing on June 12-16.

As one of the largest machine tools exhibitions of the year in the Asian continent, CIMES has become a world-renowned platform for engineers and business people in key manufacturing sectors.

Traditionally industries such as automotive, aerospace as well as emerging industries, including medical equipment manufacturing all rely on machine tool innovations to sustain fast growth, insiders said.

After generating $284 million in revenues during its 2010 edition, CIMES 2012 is expected to become a center for transfer and exchanges of technology breakthroughs to realize many major manufacturing projects in the pipeline for the country.

Presenting over 1,300 exhibitors from 28 countries and regions, this year's CIMES will feature 3,000 displays of metalworking machinery and related solutions that can be tested and evaluated onsite.

Due to the strong influence of the domestic machine tools sector, the exhibition attracts a strong line-up of local and global participants.

CIMES will feature 10 international pavilions this year and many global companies including MAG, Trumpf, DMTG and Jiangsu Yangli Group. They plan to launch their latest machinery and solutions, such as Ecoline universal lathes from DMG and cost-effective locally produced machine tools to sharpen the competitive edge of manufacturers.

Along with the main exhibition, CIMES will offer over 30 conferences and technical seminars that are expected to draw tens of thousands of professionals from all across Asia, Europe and the Americas.

From 2011 to 2015, the nation is set to realize the transformation from simulation to innovations, from low-end manufacturing to advanced productions.

The machine tools industry is projected to become a key backbone industry for the country that will be called upon to serve major projects in the years ahead.

Reed Exhibitions and the China National Machine Tool Corporation are organizing the exhibition.

For more information, please visit: www.cimes.net.cn

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

Lockerbie bomber dies

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, the only person convicted for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing over Scotland in which 270 people were killed, died on Sunday.

Doctors had yet to determine the cause of death, his brother said.

Megrahi, 60, suffered from prostate cancer and was hospitalized for a few days in April before being sent back home to be with his family.

Greece

Central bank warns on risk

Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann has warned Europe's central banks not to increase their exposure to Greece because of the high level of political uncertainty there ahead of next month's elections.

Weidmann told German Sunday paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that it lies "in the hands of the Greek people and their elected lawmakers" to decide if they want to abandon the 17-nation euro currency.

Weidmann was further quoted as saying that pending those political decisions, central banks "must ensure that the risk on our balance sheets remains manageable".

Pakistan

Twitter blocked over images

The chairman of Pakistan's telecommunications authority says the government has blocked the social networking website Twitter because of material considered offensive to Islam.

Muhammad Yaseen said the website was blocked on Sunday because Twitter refused to remove material related to a competition on Facebook to post images of Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

Many Muslims regard depictions of the prophet, even favorable ones, as blasphemous.

Twitter and Facebook were not immediately reachable for comment.

AFP-AP

Protesters run away from police during street demonstrations ahead of the NATO Summit in Chicago on Saturday. Adrees Latif / Reuters

On Sunday, Asia-Pacific allies in the war in Afghanistan made their first ever appearance at a meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

With the goal of charting a path out of Afghanistan, NATO launched the largest summit in its history in Chicago. Experts said the summit exemplifies the next phase of NATO's efforts and is an important indication of its expanded range of action, although it has yet to present concrete plans.

Topping the agenda are such issues as the war in Afghanistan, the construction of a missile shield for Europe and pooling military resources in times of austerity.

Leaders of more than 60 countries and organizations attended the summit. All 28 NATO members attended as well as all the nations involved in the Afghanistan International Security Assistance Force.

Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand made their debut at the summit to discuss their involvement in the security and reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan.

Mongolia also sent a high-level delegation to the summit for the first time, after signing a cooperation partnership with NATO in March. According to media, the country is a NATO "ally-to-be" wedged between China and Russia.

US President Barack Obama is hosting the summit in his hometown. The Obama administration, looking ahead to the November presidential elections, is expected to emphasize a united vision for gradually pulling out most of the NATO force of around 130,000 by the end of 2014.

But Francois Hollande, France's new leader, repeated a pledge during his inaugural visit to Washington last week to pull "combat troops" from Afghanistan this year.

A last-minute addition to the list of leaders was President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan, whose western tribal areas provide shelter to militants attacking the Afghan government and NATO forces.

Zardari may encounter friction in interactions with NATO leaders, who have been pressing Islamabad to reopen routes used to supply NATO soldiers in Afghanistan. Pakistan shut those routes in protest when US aircraft killed 24 Pakistani soldiers along the Afghan border in November.

Severe fiscal pressures, including plans for major cuts to defense spending in Europe and the United States, are sure to color the talks in Chicago as they did those among G8 leaders.

Austerity has played a role in the efforts of NATO leaders to make progress on "smart defense", which means making resources go farther by encouraging allies to share key capabilities.

NATO is expected to announce a milestone in the objective of providing a pan-European missile defense system, which has now reportedly reached an "interim" stage of operational capability.

Chicago police trying to keep the peace during the NATO summit faced their biggest test on Sunday when thousands of demonstrators marched near the NATO meeting site.

Terrorism charges against three self-described anarchists arrested in Chicago earlier in the week were a reminder that the threat of violence is out there.

Representatives from the Coalition Against NATO-G8, the group behind Sunday's parade, have said they hope as many as 10,000 people will show their opposition to the war in Afghanistan by participating in the march.

Qu Xing, director of the China Institute of International Studies, doubts NATO nations will make a breakthrough on troop withdrawal.

"Hollande has promised in the elections that he will order combat troops to withdraw from Afghanistan this year. It is unlikely for him to compromise now," he said.

Qu also noted the debut of Washington's Asia-Pacific allies at the summit. "This reflects the US desire to expand NATO into Asia or to establish closer ties with allies in the region to handle the challenges that the US mentioned in Asia, especially East Asia," he said.

Dean Cheng, an expert on Asia security with the Heritage Foundation, said although NATO remains primarily focused on European affairs, "given the growth in transnational threats, such as terrorism and drug trafficking as well as the global nature of some military systems, it is natural that NATO should expand its ties and attention to the Asia-Pacific region".

"I doubt it will fundamentally change Asia-Pacific geopolitics. The post-colonial history, ongoing economic turmoil in Europe and limited resources will limit the impact of Europe," he said.

Despite the presence of a number of Asian countries at the Chicago summit, it is uncertain whether anything more concrete will develop in the near future, said David Fouquet, director of the Brussels-based Europe-Asia Research Network.

"Few NATO members have direct, firm defense-security strategies, policies or capabilities in the Asia-Pacific region, with the notable exception of the United States," he said.

"Only a change in US administrations and policies would radically change what are now only slow, modest prospects for such contacts. It really still has its hands full in its immediate region."

However, Bjorn Hultin, managing director of Intercity Consulting, said the move "could be regarded as related to China, which is nowadays, the unquestionable dominating regional power".

Contact the writers at lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn and tanyingzi@chinadailyusa.com.

Reuters, AFP and Tan Xuan in Brussels contributed to this story.

Close links between Mongolia and NATO are a step forward for Mongolia to implement its "third neighbor" policy of building ties with partners other than neighboring Russia and China, analysts said.

The links also came amid the strategic shift of NATO and the United States toward the Asia-Pacific, analysts said.

Mongolia attended the 2012 NATO summit in Chicago on Sunday, with the Individual Partnership and Cooperation Program status for the first time.

In March, Mongolia and NATO signed their first bilateral cooperation program under NATO's new policy of developing more flexible partnerships with countries that engages significantly with international security affairs. Under the program, Mongolia will cooperate with NATO in security, disaster prevention and personnel training and exchange.

Since the Cold War ended, Mongolia has been focusing on strengthening cooperation with Western countries and major international bodies, under the "third neighbor" policy to counterbalance the pressure of lying between two neighboring powers, China and Russia, said Zhang Xiaoming, a professor at the School of International Studies with Peking University.

The most-prominent third neighbors have been the US, the European Union, Canada, Japan and South Korea, Julian Dierkes, an Asian studies expert from the University of British Columbia, was quoted by East Asia Forum as saying.

NATO could help Washington accelerate its shifting strategic emphasis to the Asia-Pacific by growing toward the East, said Zhai Dequan, deputy secretary-general of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association.

China Daily

Although the United States has toned down accusations about China's military expansion in its report released on Friday, some judgments made by the Pentagon might still further disrupt rocky Sino-US military ties, some analysts have said.

In its annual report on the development of China's military, the US Department of Defense said China is pursuing fast military modernization to help expand its economic and diplomatic interests around the world, including the possible construction of China's first domestically built aircraft-carrier.

It also claimed China was carrying out aggressive cyber espionage. It further pointed out that many of the cases of global cyber intrusion and data theft in 2011 originated within China, and it said the Chinese government is using cyber technology to collect strategic intelligence from the US government and private companies. Beijing expressed its "firm opposition" to the findings of the annual assessment.

The release of the report was also coupled with an action in the US House of Representatives, which voted to force President Barack Obama's administration to authorize the sale of 66 new fighter jets to Taiwan, which China considers to be historically part of its territory.

However, the measure, part of the National Defense Authorization Act, is not likely to get further approval from the Senate, according to US media.

Beijing on Saturday firmly opposed the Pentagon's report and demanded that Washington stop speculating about the intent of China's defense buildup.

"This Pentagon report makes irresponsible remarks about China's justified and normal defense development and spreads the theory that China is a military threat," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei.

He said the goal of the limited development of China's military force is to safeguard China's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and it is not aimed at any other country or specific target.

"Countries without hostility toward China should not worry about such developments," he said. "We ask the US side to respect the fact, change the mentality and stop releasing such annual reports."

The People's Liberation Army Daily called the allegations "imaginary threats" caused by the US military's Cold War mentality.

The Pentagon has been issuing an annual report on China's military to Congress since 2000, continuing a Cold War-style practice that the United States once adopted toward the former Soviet Union in an attempt to put pressure on its archrival, according to Xinhua News Agency.

But this year's report is much shorter than previous ones, and it was released in a low-profile manner. Some US analysts and media said that the annual assessment of China's military resembled previous reports but adopted more diplomatic language -possibly to avoid aggravating delicate relations with Beijing.

"I am struck by the decidedly mellow tone," said Christopher Johnson, a researcher with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in an interview with AFP.

Despite a change in Washington's rhetorical strategy, the United States is not compromising on some issues vital to China's core interests, said Zhai Dequan, deputy secretary-general of the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association. "The sale of arms to Taiwan is one of the most prominent problems."

China's military buildup is a central focus of the Obama administration, which is shifting its attention toward the Asia-Pacific region after a decade of wars in the greater Middle East, the Associated Press reported. The US is not building new permanent bases in Asia but is seeking more security partnerships in the region.

The Pentagon report says that Taiwan remains the PLA's most critical potential mission.

David Helvey, acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, at the Pentagon Friday press briefing also said China places a high priority on its maritime territorial claims in both the South China Sea and East China Sea, but there is still "very positive potential" for the two countries to develop a sound military-to-military relationship.

The cooperative signals in the report are to play down its strategic goal of containing China and dominating the Asia-Pacific region, Zhai said.

The report emphasized the US efforts to build a "healthy, stable, reliable and continuous" military-to-military relationship with China, which the Pentagon views as an essential component of the overall bilateral relationship.

China's growing military capability means opportunities for the two countries to tackle the common challenges together, such as noncombatant evacuation, counter-piracy and peacekeeping, according to the report.

Contact the writers at tanyingzi@chinadailyusa.com and zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn.

Russian President Vladimir Putin snubbed a G8 summit in the United States this weekend and instead made a summit of post-Soviet leaders his first meeting with foreign heads of state since his May 7 inauguration.

The summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States on Sunday, along with the summit of Collective Security Treaty Organization days ago, reaffirmed Putin's main foreign policy direction in his new term, analysts said.

Putin called for more economic integration and cooperation in innovation with neighboring countries during the CIS summit. On Wednesday, an informal summit discussed ways to further integrate the natural resource, technological, intellectual and labor potential of the countries.

Putin referred to the CIS members as Russia's closest, strategic partners during the informal CIS summit on Tuesday, saying, "Virtually all aspects of our interaction are vital for our countries".

"We can hardly develop and function efficiently without each other," Russia's RIA Novosti news agency quoted Putin as saying.

This year, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan instituted a common economic zone that provides free movement of commodities, services and capital across the partners' borders. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which both host Russian military bases, also indicated they might join the Customs Union among these three countries.

Based on the union, the common economic zone is designed as a step toward a Eurasian economic union.

Strengthening ties with the former Soviet republics and accelerating regional integration is the priority of Putin's foreign policy, said Pang Dapeng, an expert on Russian politics with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"The Eurasian economic union is seen as the only way for Moscow to achieve Russian revival," he said. "If successful, the union will have an impact on world structure."

Russian media earlier reported that Putin - who indicated in a policy article while running for president that he would make strengthening cooperation with former Soviet states a priority - will pay his first official visit as president to neighboring Belarus on May 31.

The one-day CIS summit comes four days after the summit of the CSTO, a group of seven former Soviet states that was founded in 1992, during which Putin also called for stronger security cooperation and the group's increasing influence in regional and international affairs.

He also indicated that Russia would take a leading role in forming the new security policies of the CSTO, which operates a 3,500-soldier force with a structure resembling that of NATO.

Igor Korotchenko, editor of National Defense magazine, told the Moscow Times that with growing instability near the borders of the organization's Central Asian members, they "will be pushed toward greater loyalty to Moscow".

zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn

The Southeast Asian country's best Olympic hope is training hard

The sun is setting over the scruffy outdoor stadium as Kilakone Siphonexay, the fastest man in Laos, lies on the homemade, wooden weights bench, raises both arms and grips the scaffolding pole above.

On either end of the metal spar, paint-tins filled with concrete serve as weights, forming a makeshift barbell to hone the muscles of the poor, Southeast Asian country's leading Olympic hope.

"There's no weights room," says the thin, bespectacled 100-meter sprinter with an apologetic smile, before pumping some quick bench-presses aided by his coach.

When it comes to the Olympics, there are the strong nations, the less good, the weak and the abject. Laos is in the last category. But with facilities like this, it's hardly a surprise.

The landlocked country, which was extensively bombed during the war in neighboring Vietnam and ranks as one of the world's poorest states, has not only never won an Olympic medal, it hasn't even come close.

In an Olympic history stretching back to Moscow 1980, no Laotian competitor has ever made it past the first round, where required. Success at the coming Games in London would be easily defined: not finishing last.

"We're not strong like the USA or the British," chef de mission Kasem Inthara tells AFP, as he sits in a dingy stadium office. "We're in a group like Brunei or East Timor. We're a small country.

"If we can beat only one country in the first heat, that would be a success."

Even getting to London would be a victory after not one Laotian qualified for the 2012 Games by right, leaving them waiting for special dispensations to compete in athletics, swimming and taekwondo.

Kilakone, 23, clings to this hope after missing the 100-meter qualifying time of 10.24 seconds, already snail-like compared to Usain Bolt's world record of 9.58 seconds. The personal best of Kilakone, Laos' national champion, is 10.73 seconds.

"I like to train hard," he says. "In London, I would like to try my best to beat my personal record. But we're still lacking weight training. I need weight training and equipment."

Kilakone, wearing an Arsenal football team shirt and tight running trousers, trains for three hours each evening in Chao Anouvong Stadium, an ageing facility in the heart of the capital, Vientiane, which dates back to 1961.

Vandalized advertising hoardings are strewn on the floor and children noisily chase a football as Kilakone jostles for space on the track with dozens of other amateur enthusiasts on a warm, sticky evening.

For Kilakone, and female 100-meter hopeful Lealy Phoukhavont, 16, it's a simple routine consisting mainly of sprinting and acceleration work. Weight training is minimal, and specialist nutrition is non-existent.

"They don't eat anything special. They eat with their families," says coach Chaleunsouk Aoudomphanh, who seems surprised at the question. Kilakone says he eats "local food - sticky rice and vegetables".

Chaleunsouk himself shouldered the hopes of Laos at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, where he ran his 100-meter heat in a disappointing 11.30 seconds - a time he still remembers with a rueful shake of the head.

Now he trains Kilakone and Lealy as a part-time volunteer, in between the demands of looking after his newborn daughter and helping run a small business at a Vientiane market.

"I take standard training courses and modify some parts of them," explains Chaleunsouk, who has coaching qualifications with the International Association of Athletics Federations.

"Because we don't have the equipment, and you have to take into account the individuals - everything's different, but I modify the training so it's suitable for Laos people."

According to Kasem, the challenges facing Laos' athletes are simple: no facilities, few competitions and the weather is too hot. Plus, the people are too short, he says.

"Even in the Southeast Asian Games we can't get medals from swimming and athletics because if compared to the form of more talented people, we are short!"

While such problems are not easy to fix, more money would help. However, with Laos aid-dependent and short of major industry, grants and sponsorship are not forthcoming.

Laos students have sports on their curriculum, but many schools have no facilities. And there are few opportunities for athletes - just the national, military, police and university games which are held in rotation, one per year.

Kasem has been ever-present in Laos's Olympic campaigns since he went to Moscow 1980 as a coach. But when asked to describe the country's best moment at a Games, he is at a loss. "We just like to participate, we don't expect to get a medal," he shrugs. "If we can't develop to the top ranking, we can't compete."

If only petanque were an Olympic sport, things might be different. Laos is a gold medal winner at Southeast Asian Games level in the popular bowling game, a legacy of French colonialism.

Until that day, the Laos' Olympic dream rests largely with Kilakone, Lealy, Chaleunsouk and their home-made weights in the sweaty, crowded Vientiane stadium.

Agence France-Presse

Long before he became Canada's second federal cabinet minister of Chinese descent, Michael Chong attracted attention growing up in the southwest Ontario community of Fergus.

The son of a Hong Kong-born Chinese physician-father and a Dutch-born mother, Chong entered kindergarten with a slight Dutch accent.

"Kids thought it was Chinese," he said during a recent interview with Xinhua.

Administrators at the school he attended also found the way he spoke rather curious.

"They initially thought I had some learning or speech disability because I couldn't pronounce anything, so they called my father at work," recalled Chong, whose Chinese name is Chong Mun Ho. "He told them, 'No, his mother's Dutch!'"

Now a Conservative member of Parliament who served as Canada's minister of intergovernmental affairs and minister of sport, Chong recently spoke about his Chinese cultural background at a public event in Ottawa to mark Asian Heritage Month.

He said that as a child he studied Mandarin every weekend at a Chinese school in the nearby community of Guelph, a process "every single Chinese-Canadian kid has been subject to and detests because while the other kids are out playing on a Saturday morning, you're locked in the classroom learning Chinese".

However, his father, Paul (Chong Wing-Nien in Chinese), was determined to instill as much Chinese culture as possible into his four children.

Chong, the politician, remembers growing up in a home where he was exposed to the mother tongues of his parents when each spoke to him in their own language, but spoke to each other in English.

"My father couldn't really understand Dutch and my mother couldn't understand Chinese, so the lingua franca of our house was English," he said.

Xinhua

It's been hundreds of years since the Tasmanian devil last lived on the Australian mainland but, in the misty hills of Barrington Tops, a pioneering group is being bred for survival.

Rat-like in appearance but with a marsupial pouch and carnivorous jaws that can crack bone, Tasmanian devils are an enigmatic Australian species.

They are reclusive creatures who sleep by day and forage by night, and are best known for the guttural cries which saw the early British settlers call them "devils" and inspired a Warner Bros. cartoon character.

But the burrowing, tree-climbing animals are in a battle for survival against an aggressive and contagious facial cancer, which experts fear could see them become extinct in the wild in as little as five years.

"Its viability at present seems critical," Tim Faulkner, a conservationist, said.

"In 1996 the disease was first found. Since then you've had a 91 percent population decrease," Faulkner, who is based at the Australian Reptile Park, said. "There's no sign of a cure, there's no sign of a vaccine and there's no sign of the disease slowing up."

Devil facial tumor disease has seen the animals plunge from a pest species to endangered in a very short period.

Enter "Devil Ark" - 500 hectares of farmland set in pristine national park which was gifted to the Tasmanian devil conservation movement by the wealthy Packer family of casino and media fortunes.

Each pen contains six to 10 devils, with an even mix of males and females. There was excellent breeding success last year, with 24 babies - or "joeys" - born.

Agence France-Presse

Love-struck teenagers, angry parents, rowing couples: Somali youth tired of seeing their homeland portrayed as a war-torn famine zone have started making films to show a different side to their country.

"The world knows Somalia for war," said Adirahman Ali Suge, a 19-year-old writer and film director, part of a group of refugee Somali filmmakers in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. "But we have love stories and drama to tell, too."

Several films have been made so far, along with a few soap operas. They are either in Somali, English or Swahili - the main language of east Africa - and net a few thousand dollars in profits at most.

The shoe-string budget films of Eastleighwood, named after Nairobi's bustling Somali district, is a world away from Hollywood, India's Bollywood or Nigeria's Nollywood, Africa's biggest film industry.

In central Africa, Nollywood movies are the only ones sold by market vendors as "African movies", with the Nigerian productions dubbed into French in countries such as Cameroon and Gabon.

In Kenya, Nigerian films are also a hit - many of them broadcast on terrestrial networks - but face competition from Bollywood due to a historically large Indian population.

However, Suge, who fled Somalia as a child shortly after the start of civil war in 1991, which continues today, sees the similarities.

"I like to watch Bollywood movies, with all their singing and dancing, and that is in our films, too," he said, speaking as actors rehearsed the latest drama, set in a small shop plastered with posters of Indian movie stars.

"In Somali culture, when a man and women love each other, they sing to each other," he added. "Love is something all over the world: we have it, they have it, so you really shouldn't be surprised."

The aim is to portray a "normal" Somalia, rather than the usual television footage dominated by war, rebels and hunger.

Cameraman Abuker Yusuf cites the Hollywood film Black Hawk Down - the story of the 1993 battle between US troop and Somali fighters in the capital, Mogadishu.

"Of course there is fighting in Somalia, that is true," said Yusuf, aged 24, who fled Mogadishu for Ethiopia a decade ago, before later moving to Kenya. "But the films show normal life too, our daily lives."

Somalia's war is far from over - regional armies are battling al-Qaida-allied Shebab insurgents, while aid agencies fear a slip back to catastrophic humanitarian crisis that saw famine zones declared in several regions last year.

But Martin Gumba, a Kenyan director who in 2010 helped set up the youth groups to make films and act, believes the fledgling industry is important to help young people to look toward a more peaceful future.

"People need a platform to tell their own story, to allow their hopes and dreams," Gumba said. "Mainstream media is not a fair representation ... you hardly ever see Somalia images unless it is of conflict, hunger or piracy."

But the filmmakers have to be careful. While hardline Shebab appear to be on the backfoot militarily, the extremists remain influential and have outlawed the watching of films and football, as well as clamping down on non-religious music.

Films are screened in public in Eastleigh, before being sold on DVDs, with some copies of the movies being taken back to Mogadishu following the Shebab's pullout from fixed positions there last year.

"There have been private screenings in Mogadishu, but small ones because people still fear Shebab," said Gumba. "Some people don't like it and you have to be careful ... but it is the voice of a people showing the better side of their country."

Sales of the DVDs are raising money for Eastleighwood's first feature length film, which is currently in the planning stages, with filming hoped to start later this year.

The planned film, titled Green Oasis, revolves around a family hit by drought and conflict and how they are forced to migrate.

The hoped-for budget is a stunning 100 million Kenyan shillings ($1.19 million) and its backers hope to raise the money from private financiers and film institutes.

Some of the Somali films have been broadcast on Kenyan television stations but profits in general are held back by a different form of problem, which Somalia has become infamous for in the outside world: piracy.

"It is a big issue," Gumba said, adding that pirated copies of the films circulate a week after the films are released.

Filming is done in Eastleigh's muddy streets amid the crowded high-rise buildings here, with actors weaving in and out of the crowds at the street markets selling fried spicy snacks, heaps of bananas and piles of melons.

"The people here look Somali, they are Somali," said actress Hibo Abdi, waving at the women on the crowded pavements.

"Conflict is the background, but the story is of life."

Agence France-Presse

Beijing has vowed to remain on "high alert" over Huangyan Island in case of any provocations, after Manila on Friday postponed a protest trip to the island.

Analysts said Manila's last-minute cancellation shows it has realized the mounting pressures caused by its previous provocations, and it remains to be seen if the protest trip will resume.

A group of about 20 people, led by outspoken former Philippine Marine officer Nicanor Faeldon, and television crews was set to depart from the northern coastal town of Masinloc.

Faeldon served time in prison and was discharged from the Philippine Marines for a 2003 coup attempt. He was granted amnesty last year.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino's last-minute telephone call led to the protesters calling off their trip, Faeldon told reporters.

"I received a call from the president requesting the postponement of this voyage ... I consulted the group and we agreed to concur with the wisdom of the government to postpone it," he added.

In response to the attempted trip, China's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that China will remain on high alert on Huangyan Island to stop any further provocative moves.

"We also call on the related authorities of the Philippines not to make any irresponsible remarks or give rise to any extreme actions," ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news conference.

Yang Baoyun, a professor of Southeast Asia studies at Peking University, told China Daily that the protest trip, although called off, is still viewed as a provocative behavior against China.

"Manila has felt the influence of Beijing's recent moves and started to restrain its moves to avoid prompting an escalation. Yet Beijing should be cautious about Manila's plans to make the dispute a constant issue," Yang warned.

Hong also called on the Philippines to get back on the right track for a diplomatic resolution and send "clear and consistent messages" for it.

Huangyan Island has been China's undisputable territory for centuries, and the Philippines did not officially lay rival claim over it until 1997.

The Philippines bases its territorial claim on its argument that the island is within its so-called 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone, and it has vowed to raise the issue of the island before international tribunals.

On April 10, a Philippine warship harassed 12 Chinese fishing vessels that had sailed near Huangyan Island in Chinese territorial waters in the South China Sea to seek shelter from a storm.

The warship left, but the impasse around the island continued.

Although Philippine Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said on Thursday that he expected "modest" economic fallout from the territorial dispute, Philippine fruit exporters have incurred losses of around $33.6 million since the standoff, local reports said.

In the wake of the April incident, China tightened quality controls on fruit imported from the Philippines, including bananas, and cut the number of tourist visits and flights to Manila.

Several Philippine cargo ships with mangoes destined for sale in China dumped their loads into the South China Sea after being denied break-bulk in China, the Manila Standard Today reported.

Manila is sending officials and experts from the Bureau of Plant Industry to Beijing next week to check on exported bananas deemed unfit for sale due to infestation.

Aquino signed appointment papers on May 10 for two envoys to China, including former Philippine ambassador-designate to China, Domingo Lee, and Cesar Zalamea, chairman and chief executive officer of Focus Range International.

AFP contributed to this story.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

Development model can be applied to underdeveloped economies: Official

China has made tremendous strides in sustainable development, and its successful experience in economic growth and poverty elimination could be shared with underdeveloped economies, a senior United Nations official said on Friday in Beijing.

"China has enjoyed a period of tremendous growth and has learned many lessons along the way," said Helen Clark, administrator of the United Nations Development Program.

"It is important that we work together to share these experiences in a way that is most beneficial to developing countries, and I have been encouraged by China's willingness and commitment to do so."

Clark arrived in China on Wednesday for a four-day official visit.

China is much less dependent on outdated, carbon-intensive methods for growth, she said. It provides an opportunity for the world's biggest developing economy to promote a new development model of inclusive growth, which is vital to human development in the fight against poverty and inequality, she said.

"Taking agriculture for example, successful experiences China has gained and those applied technologies are of great reference for African countries," she said.

Despite the huge achievements China has made in economic growth and poverty elimination, Clark also pointed out the challenges the world's second-largest economy faces to balance its development and improve energy efficiency through sustainable practices.

It is Clark's fourth visit to China since her appointment as UNDP administrator in 2009. She previously served as New Zealand's prime minister for three terms from 1998 to 2008.

Premier Wen Jiabao met Clark on Thursday and said China will cooperate more closely with the agency and will unremittingly strive for the common development of all countries and regions around the world.

China still has a long way to go in realizing the country's modernization, said Wen, adding that the country will continue to open up to the world, reform and promote comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development.

As China prepares for the Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development in June, Clark's visit signals the importance she attaches to China, UNDP said in a news release. China has outlined plans to reduce emissions per unit of GDP by 40 to 45 percent by 2020, using 2005 levels as a reference.

The Rio+20 Conference should inspire nations by enabling leaders to share experience on what works in their countries, Clark added.

More than 100 world leaders, including Premier Wen, have confirmed they will attend the conference, and more than 1,000 CEOs are expected to participate in what could be the largest event in UN history, Janos Pasztor, executive secretary of the Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Global Sustainability, told China Daily previously in an exclusive interview.

cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn

China's top legislator Wu Bangguo called attention to Sino-Croatian friendship and cooperation upon his arrival in Croatia's capital, Zagreb, on Thursday, kicking off an official goodwill visit to the Balkan country.

Describing Croatia as a reliable friend and partner, Wu, chairman of China's National People's Congress Standing Committee, said China is willing to push forward bilateral ties in the spirit of mutual respect, equality and reciprocity.

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries 20 years ago, the development of bilateral relations has been smooth, Wu said.

He added that the Sino-Croatian relationship was elevated to a new chapter after a comprehensive cooperative partnership was established between the two countries in 2005, followed by Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Croatia in 2009, he said.

"China is willing to work with Croatia to further advance our comprehensive cooperative partnership," Wu said in a statement.

The top Chinese legislator is scheduled to hold separate meetings with Croatian President Ivo Josipovic, Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic and Parliament Speaker Boris Sprem during his visit.

Croatia is the second leg of Wu's European tour, which will also take him to Luxembourg and Spain. The lawmaker has already paid a three-day visit to the Netherlands, where he held talks with Queen Beatrix, caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Dutch counterparts Fred de Graaf and Gerdi Verbeet, presidents of the First and Second Chamber of Dutch parliament.

During his meeting with Fred de Graaf and Gerdi Verbeet in The Hague on Wednesday, Wu urged the government to streamline procedures, including visa application and quality testing at customs, to facilitate bilateral exchanges.

Legislative exchange will be a priority of his visit and is an important ingredient of country-to-country relations, Wu said, adding that he believes his visit will play a significant role in promoting political trust and pragmatic cooperation between the two nations.

He also expressed hopes for potential visits between subordinate committees under the two countries' legislatures to deepen communication.

Wu called on the two legislatures to fully use their resources and act as a go-between for businesses and local governments to bring about cooperation, especially in industries such as high-end manufacturing, energy conservation, environmental protection, new energy and biological technology.

"Bilateral ties can go beyond the differences in ideology and social mechanism as long as we hold onto the principles of mutual respect and equality," he said.

During the meeting, Fred de Graaf and Gerdi Verbeet reaffirmed that bilateral relations should be based on the one-China policy. Dutch lawmakers said they appreciate China's commitment to democracy, rule of law and human rights protection and that Wu's visit has improved mutual understanding on many crucial issues.

Cross-cultural exchanges between China and the Netherlands have increased from less than 1,000 in 1972 to more than 1.3 million over the past four decades, according to statistics provided by the Chinese embassy to the Netherlands.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

zhaoyinan@chinadaily.com.cn

Dan Shapiro's message resonated on Thursday far beyond the closed forum in which it was made: Iran should not test Washington's resolve to act on its promise to strike if diplomacy and sanctions fail to pressure Teheran to abandon its disputed nuclear program.

Shapiro told the Israel Bar Association that the US hopes it will not have to resort to military force.

"But that doesn't mean that option is not fully available. Not just available, but it's ready," he said. "The necessary planning has been done to ensure that it's ready."

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, such as energy production. The US and Israel suspect Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons, but differences have emerged in how to persuade Teheran to curb its program.

Washington says diplomacy and economic sanctions must be given a chance to run its course and is taking the lead in the ongoing talks between six global powers and Iran.

Israel, while saying it would prefer a diplomatic solution, has expressed skepticism about these talks and says time is running out for military action to be effective.

US President Barack Obama has assured Israel that the US is prepared to take military action if necessary, and it is standard procedure for armies to draw up plans for a broad range of possible scenarios. But Shapiro's comments were the most explicit sign yet that preparations have been stepped up.

In his speech, Shapiro acknowledged the clock is ticking.

"We do believe there is time. Some time, not an unlimited amount of time," Shapiro said. "But at a certain point, we may have to make a judgment that the diplomacy will not work."

The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany are gearing up for a meeting on Wednesday with Iran in Baghdad. Shortly after the meeting, the UN atomic agency will release its latest report on Iran's nuclear efforts.

In Teheran on Thursday, top Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili warned against Western pressure at next week's talks, which are a follow-up to negotiations in Istanbul last month that all sides praised as positive.

"Cooperation is what we can talk about in Baghdad," Jalili said in comments broadcast on Iranian state TV.

"Some say time is running out for the talks," he added. "I say time for the (West's) pressure strategy is running out."

Four rounds of UN sanctions have failed to persuade Iran to halt its uranium enrichment, a process that has civilian uses but is also key to bomb-making. But recent US and European measures, including an oil embargo and financial and banking sanctions, have bludgeoned Iran's economy by curtailing its ability to carry on economic transactions with the international community.

Halt of legislation

US Senate Republicans blocked legislation for new economic sanctions on Iran's oil sector on Thursday saying they needed more time to study the bill, a surprise move that drew anger from Democrats who wanted approval ahead of nuclear talks next week.

"I feel I've been jerked around," Democratic leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor after Republicans said they could not immediately approve the bill.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said his staff members did not receive a draft of the bill until late Wednesday, and needed more time to make sure it was as strong as possible.

"I don't think there is anything to be outraged about," he told Reid on the floor. "Why don't we get to work - work out the differences - and pass the resolution?"

Iran sanctions are politically popular and draw broad support from both sides of the political spectrum. The delay on the bill is one of many examples of partisan sniping that has stalled work in Congress ahead of November's presidential and congressional elections.

Senators from both parties said they still expect the sanctions will pass, although the timeline was not immediately clear.

AP - Reuters

German police began removing anti-capitalist protesters on Friday from outside the offices of Goldman Sachs in Frankfurt.

The demonstration was part of a four-day-long "Blockupy" protest, due to run until Saturday, against capitalism and austerity measures implemented to tackle the eurozone crisis.

"Hungry? Eat a banker," read one of the banners the protesters held up.

Police closed off the road and flooded it with officers. They far outnumbered the group of some 50 protesters, and began detaining them. There was no violence.

Police said they detained 40 activists elsewhere in Frankfurt.

The protesters are angry at the misery they say governments are inflicting on people with their response to the crisis, which has intensified since inconclusive elections in Greece this month fueled concerns about its future in the eurozone.

Friday's protest followed a legal scrap between activists and authorities over whether the demonstrations should be allowed to go ahead. A court on Monday gave the go-ahead for a rave on Wednesday and protests on Saturday but ruled against them taking place on the other days.

On Thursday, police said they detained 150 demonstrators for defying the protest ban. On Wednesday, police peacefully removed demonstrators from outside the European Central Bank's Frankfurt headquarters.

The ECB reported no trouble on Friday and commercial banks, many of which have made contingency plans to cope with the protests, said their operations were running smoothly.

"Our operating business is not curtailed. We were well prepared," said a Commerzbank spokeswoman.

Police sealed off Deutsche Bank's headquarters. Germany's biggest bank said its business was unaffected.

Faced with calls from politicians, investors and protesters to do more, the central bank says it has already headed off a major credit crunch with unprecedented funding operations in December and February, and is putting on the onus on governments to act.

Leaders of major industrial economies are meeting this weekend to try to tackle a full-blown crisis in Europe where fears are growing that Greece could leave the eurozone bloc, threatening the future of the common currency.

US President Barack Obama, the G8 host, has urged European leaders repeatedly to do more to stimulate growth, fearing contagion from the euro crisis could hurt the US economy and his chances of re-election in November.

British Prime Minister David Cameron, who has been increasingly vocal in urging Europe to do more to resolve the debt crisis, will tell leaders they must work together to stop it from spreading worldwide, an aide said.

No major economic policy decisions are expected from the talks, but officials said Obama hoped to promote a discussion on a comprehensive approach to resolving the crisis.

Francois Hollande, sworn in this week as French president, has already made waves by challenging Europe's austerity focus and saying he will pull French combat troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year.

Obama may use their introductory meeting in the Oval Office to encourage the 57-year-old Socialist to rethink his Afghanistan plans that put France on an earlier exit timetable than other NATO allies.

But the two leaders, who have both expressed support for pro-growth policies in Europe, are expected to form a common front on the eurozone crisis that could dominate this weekend's G8 talks.

Obama's administration spent heavily to tackle the 2008 US recession, and Hollande is seeking to take the edge off austerity with more job-creating infrastructure investments.

He is not alone. Cameron has become increasingly vocal in demanding Europe's leaders act more decisively, Canada's Stephen Harper has been a frequent critic, and of the eurozone G8 members, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti was calling for profound growth measures even before Hollande did.

That could leave Germany's Angela Merkel, who insists debt-cutting programs cannot be diluted, cutting a lonely figure.

The G8 summit comes as Greeks are pulling cash from banks amid growing fears that it might crash out of the single currency eurozone. Financial markets fear for the future of the entire currency zone, with Spain's banking sector also under pressure.

The US dollar climbed, world shares fell and German borrowing costs hit record lows on Friday as a deepening Spanish banking crisis, uncertainty about Greece's future in the eurozone and lackluster US data provoked a rush for safe-haven assets.

Heather Conley, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Hollande and Obama "see things very similarly about the need for a better balance between fiscal consolidation, austerity and economic growth".

National Security Adviser Tom Donilon said the United States welcomed the evolving debate in Europe about the "imperative for jobs and growth", but he said the president's intention was not to drive a wedge between Europe's two biggest economies, Germany and France.

"The president looks forward to leading a discussion among the leaders about the imperative of having a comprehensive approach to manage the crisis and get on a sustainable path toward recovery in Europe."

Cameron, worried about the effects of the eurozone crisis on a weak British economy, will call for a "strong and united commitment to securing the economic recovery and to support job creation", his aide said.

Also on the summit agenda will be the price of oil and policy options to address it, although Brent crude hit a 2012 low on Friday.

"I'm sure that the leaders will discuss the range of options that they might have before them," Donilon said.

Van Rompuy held a conference call with the European attendees on Thursday to "coordinate positions".

Conley of CSIS acknowledged Obama's power to exert influence over Europe over weekend was "somewhat limited".

"Nevertheless, I think the president can play a role of listening, helping leaders find common ground," she said. "We are going to have to watch how this plays out with the frustration in recognizing that it will have a profound impact for the global economy and for the US economy."

Reuters

When Zhong Weichao, a doctoral student at Harbin Institute of Technology in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, started a yearlong exchange in Israel five months ago, he soon thought you can never judge a country by its size.

"Until I got here, I didn't realize the academic environment would be so dynamic. We have classmates and visiting scholars in our lab who are from Italy, Spain, Romania and so on. It's really an international team," the 27-year-old told China Daily on Wednesday.

Zhong is researching aerospace engineering at Israel Institute of Technology (known as Technion), one of the country's leading technology and scientific research institutes. It has three Nobel laureates on its staff.

"The coolest thing here is that the environment is very open. You can challenge the teacher by asking whatever questions interest you, and they are capable of and willing to answer them all. And the technology you are engaged in is world-class," he said.

Constrained by the global financial crisis, Europe and the United States are cutting their education budgets for international students.

Israel, however, is looking for more promising Chinese students like Zhong. Each year, 100 million shekels ($26.13 million) is expected to be invested in attracting Chinese students, said Manuel Trajtenberg, director-general of the Israeli Council for Higher Education and the Planning and Budgeting Committee, during a visit to China in early May.

According to Trajtenberg, Israel has a clear plan for realizing that goal: first, bring Chinese post-doctorate researchers to Israel; then bring Chinese undergraduate and graduate students to study in Israel; and finally, strengthen collaboration in scientific research together.

Technion has about 20 Chinese students, undergraduates to post-doctorate, on the campus studying different majors and researching various fields. The institute sees great potential to expand that number, said Boaz Golany, Technion's vice-president for external relations.

Since 2010, Technion has granted scholarships to eight Chinese high school students each year to begin their undergraduate studies in Israel.

"We have worked closely with Tsinghua University, Peking University and so on, and take proactive measures to enhance the cooperation (for more to come)," he said.

Other Israeli universities have recently started offering bachelor's and master's programs taught in English, which provides more opportunities for Chinese students.

Chances to learn

As a leader in research into areas of engineering and natural sciences, Israel's technologies, such as irrigation in agriculture and seawater desalination, are attractive to Chinese students.

And China's fast-growing economy may arouse the interest of Israeli students. Chinese has become one of the most popular foreign languages among Israeli students, said Eyal Zisser, a professor at the University of Tel Aviv, where Israel's first Confucius Institute was set up in 2007.

Jiang Xueqin, deputy principal of the Affiliated High School of Peking University, led a study tour to Israel in early May. He was impressed by the Israeli students and understood what makes the country a well-known "innovative powerhouse": the fact that Israeli students are encouraged to ask questions.

"It's not simply raising your hand and opening your mouth. It entails a radical revamping of how you relate to yourself and to the world around you," Jiang told China Daily. "Shyness is considered a learning disability here."

qinzhongwei@chinadaily.com.cn

Cuban President Raul Castro's daughter is scheduled to visit California next week to speak at a conference of experts on Latin America during a rare trip to the United States by a member of Cuba's ruling family.

Sexologist Mariela Castro, 50, will discuss Cuba's policies on sexual issues on May 24 at a Latin American Studies Association conference in San Francisco, an association spokesman said on Wednesday.

She heads Cuba's National Center for Sex Education and is an outspoken advocate for gay rights.

Her father Raul Castro, 80, took over as president four years ago from his ailing older brother Fidel Castro, who ruled the island for 49 years after taking power in a 1959 revolution.

A US State Department spokesman in Washington refused to confirm during a briefing whether Castro had been granted a visa to visit the country, which has been Cuba's ideological foe for more than half a century.

The spokesman for LASA, an international group based at the University of Pittsburgh for people who study Latin America, said she was registered to attend the conference, scheduled for the speech and likely has a visa.

In Washington, US Senator Robert Menendez, an anti-Castro Cuban exile, said in a statement he was disappointed by the decision to give Castro a visa and questioned whether the government had the authority to do so.

Menendez said a US presidential proclamation prohibited travel visas for members of Cuba's government or its Communist Party. A State Department spokesman told Reuters in an e-mail the same proclamation provided authority for granting exceptions.

Neither Castro nor anyone with knowledge of her visa situation could be reached for comment.

Her uncle Fidel, who is 85, has been to the US several times. It is not known whether she or her father have visited the US, located just 145 kilometers across the Florida Straits from Cuba.

US-Cuban relations have warmed slightly since President Barack Obama took office. But progress has come to a virtual halt since US contractor Alan Gross was arrested in Havana in December 2009 and sentenced to 15 years in prison for setting up Internet networks under a semi-covert US program aimed at toppling the Cuban government.

Reuters

Member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization should work together to promote trade and investment exchanges, so as to stabilize regional economic growth amid global uncertainties, Vice-Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday.

"The recovery of the global economy still faces severe challenges (SCO) member countries should strengthen coordination in macro policies, and intensify cooperation within international organizations to protect common benefits," the vice-premier said.

Meanwhile, Li said, China still possesses huge potential for development. The country will continue improving its economic regulations, seek an economic transformation amid steady development and contribute to global economic growth, he said.

Li was speaking to finance ministers and central bank governors of SCO member countries - China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - who were in Beijing for a meeting before the organization's Beijing Summit.

The participants agreed that the global economic recovery remains weak because of debt problems, unemployment and insufficient growth faced by developing countries.

The fluctuation of commodity prices and increasing trade protectionism also pose challenges to the growth of the global economy, according to a joint statement by the ministers published on the website of Ministry of Finance.

In response to these challenges, member countries are considering establishing an SCO Growth Fund and SCO Development Bank, according to the statement.

"The delegates have also agreed to explore multilateral financial cooperation, and enlarge the settlement in home currencies in bilateral trade, so as to boost regional trade and investment, and enhance the ability to withstand external impact," the statement said.

Ten years after its establishment in 2001, SCO member countries have a population of 1.5 billion. Member countries had a combined GDP of around $7.6 trillion in 2011, and trade volume reached $90 billion.

According to Sun Ping, vice-president of the Export-Import Bank of China, China's investments to the other five member countries accumulated to nearly $6 billion by 2011, while the investments in China from the other member countries reached $2 billion.

However, due to disparities in wealth, resources and technologies among the six member countries, establishing a sustainable economic cooperation benefiting all member country citizens would be a challenging task, according to Sun Zhuangzhi, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

For instance, "the financing problem has been a bottleneck for the cooperative projects, because of the ongoing global financial crisis and lack of financing channels", Sun Zhuangzhi was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying.

Chen Fengying, director of the Institute of World Economic Studies under the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, views the establishment of an SCO Development Bank as an important step in the internationalization of the RMB, but she warned the process may face opposition from the US dollar, which is the current base currency in global trade.

In the future, the SCO FTA may include more countries to the west, such as Afghanistan and India, Chen said.

Contact the writers at weitian@chinadaily.com.cn and cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his former wife Mary Kennedy attend the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights' 2010 Ripple of Hope Awards dinner in New York in this Nov 17, 2010 file photo. Mary Kennedy was found dead in her Mount Kisco, New York home on Wednesday. Kimihiro Hoshino / Agence France-Presse

52-year-old Mary Kennedy struggled with drug, alcohol abuse

Mary Richardson Kennedy's life had both highlights and troubled moments, just like other members of the famous political family she married into in 1994.

The estranged wife of Robert Kennedy Jr. was an architect and designer who struggled with drug and alcohol abuse. The 52-year-old mother of four was found dead on Wednesday, adding to the list of Kennedy family tragedies.

Her body was discovered at family property in suburban New York City. An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday, and no cause of death had been released.

The former Mary Richardson married Robert Kennedy Jr., a prominent environmental lawyer and the son of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy, in 1994 aboard a boat in the scenic Hudson River Valley. The couple had four children, the youngest born in July 2001. Robert Kennedy Jr also has two children from a previous marriage.

She was an architect and designer and had overseen the renovation of the couple's home into an environmentally advanced showpiece.

In a statement issued by Robert Kennedy Jr.'s chief of staff, the family said Mary Kennedy "inspired our family with her kindness, her love, her gentle soul and generous spirit.

"Mary was a genius at friendship, a tremendously gifted architect and a pioneer and relentless advocate of green design who enhanced her cutting edge, energy efficient creations with exquisite taste and style," the family said.

Her family cited her devotion to her children in remembering her.

"We deeply regret the death of our beloved sister Mary, whose radiant and creative spirit will be sorely missed by those who loved her," the family said in a statement issued by Lawrence. "Our heart goes out to her children who she loved without reservation."

Mary Richardson had known the Kennedys for years, through her friendship with Robert Kennedy Jr.'s sister, Kerry Kennedy, whom she met at boarding school when they were teenagers. She had been Kerry Kennedy's maid of honor at her wedding in 1990 to now-Governor Andrew Cuomo. The couple later divorced.

But recent years had seen darker moments.

She had had trouble with drugs and alcohol and had two high-profile arrests around the time her husband filed for divorce in 2010.

Kennedy was first arrested May 15 of that year on a charge of driving while intoxicated after a police officer reported seeing her drive her car over a curb near the family's Bedford home. Her only passenger was a dog, and police said she had a blood-alcohol level of 0.11 percent; the legal limit is 0.08 percent. Her license was suspended.

At the time of her sentencing, famous family and friends spoke in support of her.

Her mother-in-law, Ethel Kennedy, wrote in a letter that she "is a caring, nourishing mother who has nursed her four children through lifelong bouts of debilitating allergies," according to an account in the local newspaper, The Journal News, at the time.

1941

Rosemary Kennedy, who is mentally ill, is institutionalized following a failed lobotomy. She is the eldest Kennedy daughter of Joseph and Rose.

1944

Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., the oldest Kennedy son, dies in a plane crash over the English Channel during World War II. The pilot was 29 at the time of his death.

1948

Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish dies in a plane crash in France at age 28.

1963

Patrick Bouvier Kennedy, the second son of President Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, dies on Aug 7, two days after he was born almost six weeks premature. President John F. Kennedy is assassinated on Nov 22 in Dallas. He was 46.

1968

Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated on June 5 in Los Angeles. The 42-year-old had just won California's Democratic presidential primary election.

1969

Edward M. Kennedy drives off a bridge on his way home from a party on Massachusetts' Chappaquiddick Island. Mary Jo Kopechne, an aide who was in the car with him, dies in the accident.

1984

David A. Kennedy, son of Robert, dies of a drug overdose in a Palm Beach, Florida, hotel. He was 28.

1997

Michael Kennedy, 39, the son of Robert, dies in a skiing accident in Aspen, Colorado.

1999

John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and his sister-in-law, Lauren Bessette, die when their plane crashes in the waters off Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

2009

Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy dies of brain tumor on Aug 25. His sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, died two weeks earlier, on Aug 11.

Source: infoplease.com

Greece's caretaker cabinet was sworn in on Thursday and will lead the country into next month's election, after a deadlocked vote sparked more political turmoil and brought the country's use of the euro currency into question.

The 16-member cabinet was sworn in during a ceremony in the presidential mansion in Athens, followed by the swearing in of parliament's 300 legislators, who will take their seats for just one day before the body is dissolved for the new vote.

The parliamentarians were elected in the May 6 vote, which left no party with enough votes to form a government. Coalition talks collapsed after nine days.

Among the legislators who took their seats for the day were 21 from the extremist right-wing Golden Dawn party, which vehemently rejects the neo-Nazi label. The party campaigned on pledges to rid Greece of immigrants and clean up crime-ridden neighborhoods. It also advocates planting landmines along Greece's border with Turkey to stop more immigrants entering the country.

The party won nearly 7 percent of the vote on May 6, a massive increase from the 0.31 percent it had won in the 2009 parliamentary election.

The cabinet sworn in Thursday is led by Council of State head Panagiotis Pikrammenos, a 67-year-old judge appointed Wednesday as Greece's interim prime minister.

Giorgos Zanias, a top negotiator in the nation's huge debt write down deal concluded earlier this year, has been appointed caretaker finance minister. Zanias is a senior Finance Ministry official and an Athens University professor of economics.

Veteran diplomat Petros Molyviatis was named foreign minister, a post he also held in 2004-2006.

The caretaker government will not be able to take any internationally binding decisions, and its sole aim is to lead the country into the new elections, which are expected June 17. Parliament is to be dissolved Friday, and the election date officially set.

Professor of constitutional law Manitakis takes over as interior minister, and former head of Greek police Lefteris Economou will hold the portfolio of the citizen's protection minister, in charge of public order.

Academic Christos Yeraris, former senior judge, will take the helm of the Justice Ministry, and photographer and television programs producer Tatiana Karapanagioti is the new culture and tourism minister.

The uncertainty over whether Greece will stick to the austerity and reform pledges undertaken under bailout deals with international lenders since 2010, has increased anxiety that the country could eventually sink in a disorderly bankruptcy and exit the euro, rocking the international financial system.

Following the sworn in ceremony of the new government that succeeds the six-month interim coalition administration of technocrat Lucas Papademos, the new parliament convened. The 300-member assembly is due to be dissolved shortly, opening the way for the new elections.

The appearance of a United States nuclear-powered submarine near the Philippines violates a Philippine law banning nuclear weapons and is escalating the country's territorial row with China, Filipino citizens and analysts said.

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, a Filipino nationalist group also known as Bayan, said in a statement that the presence of the USS North Carolina in the country's waters may be a violation of a provision of the Philippines Constitution.

"The Philippines is de facto hosting US warships presumably armed with nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. The entry of the nuclear submarine may be in contravention of the Philippines constitutional ban on nuclear weapons," Bayan Secretary-General Renato Reyes was quoted by Gulf News as saying.

"Article II, Section 8 of the Philippines Constitution states that the Philippines, consistent with the national interest, adopts and pursues a policy of freedom from nuclear weapons in its territory."

Reyes said the submarine, one of the world's most stealthy and advanced, "is directed at all countries in the region but most especially China, in order to keep China subservient to US diktats", according to GMA News.

Reyes also warned that the visit may create a "host of social and legal issues", including possible prostitution and even rape by visiting troops, GMA reported.

However, Philippines Navy spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Omar Tonsay was quoted as saying that the submarines' presence in the country is part of a "routine ship replenishment" of supplies.

Lieutenant Lara Bollinger, Submarine Group 7 Public Affairs of US Navy, said the vessel's entry to Filipino territory was part of its Western Pacific deployment.

The North Carolina has a crew of 133, measures more than 107 meters long and weighs more than 7,800 tons when submerged.

"She brings to the region the capability to conduct the full spectrum of potential submarine missions including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface ship warfare, strike, naval special warfare involving special operations forces, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and mine warfare," Bollinger added.

The US nuclear-powered submarine docked at a former US Navy base in Subic, which is just 222 km from Huangyan Island, over which both China and the Philippines claim sovereignty.

The maritime dispute over Huangyan Island blew up after a Philippine Navy ship last month accosted four Chinese vessels operating in the island's waters. China says it has held the island as part of its territory for centuries.

The visit of the nuclear-powered vessel is a strategic threat to China rather than a concrete tactic, said Xu Liping, an expert on Asia-Pacific studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"The visit shows America's clandestine support for the Philippines on the issue, despite the US saying it takes no stance on territorial claims," Xu said.

"What the US does is more important than what it says. China should be alert to the issue."

Yang Baoyun, a professor of Asian studies at Peking University, told China Daily that the vessel's visit may not be solely due to the recent tension between China the Philippines. It is also a step in Washington's "return to Asia" strategy.

"If there was no issue over Huangyan Island, the US will still increase its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region ... The Huangyan Island issue is accelerating Washington's pace in returning to the region."

Asia News Network contributed to this story.

zhouwa@chinadaily.com.cn

Hijackers take 29 Chinese hostage, demand nearly $200,000 ransom

China on Thursday urged the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to guarantee the legitimate rights of Chinese crewmen of fishing ships, as a DPRK gunboat hijacked three boats with 29 Chinese fishermen onboard and demanded 1.2 million yuan ($189,800) for their release.

"China is keeping close contact with the DPRK via relevant channels, and we hope this problem will be appropriately resolved as soon as possible," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular news conference.

There has been no official confirmation about the identities of the people who carried out the seizure of the boats.

Previously, one ship owner whose surname is Zhang told the Chinese-language newspaper the Global Times that hijackers called him on Tuesday, urging the payment of ransom and threatening to "dispose of" the hostages.

He also said that citizens from both the DPRK and China are among the hijackers. "They are carrying guns, and those hijacked fishermen, who are locked in cells without any food, dare not resist," he was quoted as saying.

Sun Caihui, owner of one of the three fishing boats hijacked in the Chinese section of the Yellow Sea on May 8 and dragged to DPRK waters, said the DPRK gunboat, which has the ship number "No.189" painted on the side, was manned by armed men in blue hats and uniforms.

"The gunboat's size is similar to Chinese maritime surveillance boats and it seems to have about 1,000 horsepower," he said, mentioning that he was not on the boat when the seizure took place.

He told China Daily that seven boats were towed away from May 8 to May 10 - four of which have returned after paying what he described as "ransom". But he did not specify the exact amount, saying his boat was still in the hands of the DPRK. "Now we can't get in touch with them (the fishermen)," he said.

He emphasized that the vessels were fishing in Chinese waters, about 10 nautical miles from the maritime boundary between the two countries, when the seizure took place in what was long considered a traditional Chinese fishing area.

A source with Liaoning Marine Fisheries Office, who requested anonymity, said: "These kinds of incidents are commonly seen" in the waters off the maritime boundary between China and the DPRK, "but it is quite uncommon for the DPRK to seize Chinese people in Chinese waters".

The hijackers, still holding the boats and crewmembers, initially demanded payment of 400,000 yuan for each boat, then lowered their request to 300,000 yuan for each and set a deadline of Thursday, said Zhang, the ship owner.

It was not the first occurrence of this type of incident between the two sides, according to Zhang, and he said Chinese ships owners usually paid the "ransom" through private channels. There were many individuals and even companies involved in the previous cases. On many occasions, these people were well connected to DPRK marine forces.

Coast guards in northeastern China's coastal Liaoning province said they were in contact with the DPRK captors, but declined to comment further, China National Radio reported.

So far the DPRK has remained silent on the seizure incident.

Dong Manyuan, a researcher with the China Institute of International Studies, said this incident, individual in nature, would not affect political ties between the two countries.

The Chinese government needs to establish some basic facts before making any further response, he said, adding that the diplomatic services should make strong representations to urge the DPRK to protect the safety of these fishermen.

In addition, Dong said China should further enhance its maritime surveillance and protection, and develop an emergency response mechanism to prevent such incidents.

cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn

If Republican and Democratic leaders want to avoid a reprise of last year's nasty showdown over raising the federal debt limit, they are not off to a good start.

After meeting with President Barack Obama and senior Democratic lawmakers over lunch at the White House on Wednesday, top Republicans came away thinking the Democratic president does not want new spending cuts to accompany any legislation to increase the debt limit.

Democrats disputed the accuracy of that impression, but such a stance by Obama would put Democrats on a fiscal collision course with Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, who, according to aides, told the president that "I'm not going to allow a debt ceiling increase without doing something serious about the debt".

After the meeting, White House spokesman Jay Carney did not specify whether Obama would refuse to consider spending cuts as part of a plan to increase the debt limit.

But Carney said Obama made it clear to Boehner "that we're not going to re-create the debt ceiling debacle of last August".

The lengthy stalemate between Congress and the White House over raising the debt ceiling last summer brought the United States to the brink of a historic default, and led Standard and Poor's to downgrade the triple-A US credit rating.

The episode did not push up interest rates, but economists say the uncertainty it created contributed to a slowdown in economic growth last year.

The US Treasury is now expected to reach the $16.4 trillion debt limit sometime between the Nov 6 election and early 2013, an event that eventually would halt government borrowing, force shutdowns of many operations and threaten the government's ability to repay maturing debt.

"It is simply not acceptable to hold the American and global economy hostage to one party's political ideology," Carney said, an apparent reference to compromise-resistant Republicans in Congress who will not accept any tax increases as part of a plan to trim the government's debt.

Carney added that Obama wanted a "balanced approach" to deficit reduction - a phrase Democrats have used to refer to tax increases on the wealthy alongside spending cuts.

Besides Obama and Boehner, Wednesday's meeting over Italian-style sandwiches included House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, both Democrats, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican.

Reuters

Suicide attack claims seven

Gunmen dressed in Afghan police uniforms and wearing suicide vests stormed a government compound on Thursday, killing seven people and wounding 12 others in the southwest, police said.

The four attackers targeted the offices of Governor Mohammad Ikhpolwak in Farah, capital of the southwestern province Farah, which borders Iran and is considered a trouble spot for the decade-old Taliban insurgency.

Pakistan

Air force planes crash, four killed

Police said two Pakistani air force planes crashed on Thursday on a training mission in the country's northwest, killing all four pilots.

Mohammad Hussain said the planes crashed in Nowshera city, with at least one of them landing in a residential area. Hussain is the Nowshera police chief.

Police official Fazil Khan said that in addition to the four pilots killed, five people on the ground were injured.

AFP-AP

Kooky comedy and buffoonery are on the agenda on Wednesday as the 65th Cannes Film Festival, with its trademark mix of high cinematic art and Hollywood glitz, kicks off on a light note.

US director Wes Anderson brings his whimsical touch with the opening film Moonrise Kingdom, a pre-teen elopement fantasy whose star-packed cast includes Bruce Willis as a small-town cop and Bill Murray as a morose parent.

But as the celebrities march up the red carpet for the gala premiere, Sacha Baron Cohen's zany alter ego General Aladeen, star of The Dictator, will try to hijack media attention with a news conference in the nearby Carlton Hotel.

Nicole Kidman, Brad Pitt and Robert Pattinson are among the Hollywood royalty who will join high-brow film-makers at the Riviera resort for the next 12 days at the world's top film showcase.

This year's bash features druggy roadtrips, soul-searching drama and stylish gangland flicks and sees the return of such Cannes grandees as David Cronenberg, Ken Loach and Michael Haneke.

The 2012 line-up promises to dazzle with stars such as Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Jessica Chastain, Kylie Minogue, Kristen Stewart, Pattinson and Pitt. More A-listers are expected in town as well.

The festival will feature its usual dose of champagne-fuelled parties, high-stakes movie deal-making, and publicity stunts, such as British comic Baron Cohen's armed intervention at the Carlton Hotel.

The Ali G, Borat and Bruno star, who turned up in military regalia at the Oscars and pretended to pour late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's ashes onto an interviewer, has already premiered his movie and is in Cannes simply to cause a stir.

He turned up at the festival in a "mankini" in 2006 to promote Borat.

Twenty-two films - none of which was directed by a woman - are vying for the coveted Palme d'Or award at the festival's glitzy gala finale on May 27.

Palme d'Or-winner Nanni Moretti of Italy heads up a nine-strong jury, including actor Ewan McGregor and fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier, that will decide the winner.

Moretti was due to hold a news conference later on Wednesday ahead of the evening opening ceremony.

Two US mavericks are running for Cannes gold: Lee Daniels's keenly awaited The Paperboy stars Kidman opposite John Cusack and Zac Efron in the tale of a reporter investigating a death row case.

The second is Jeff Nichols, whose Mud, about two teenage boys who form a pact with a fugitive, was a surprise entry.

Canada's Cronenberg brings Manhattan thriller Cosmopolis, adapted from Don DeLillo's novel and starring Pattinson as a billionaire asset manager journeying through the city in a stretch limo.

Brazil's Walter Salles has adapted Jack Kerouac's cult novel On the Road, while Australians John Hillcoat and Andrew Dominik bring two US-set works: bootlegging drama Lawless and the mobster flick Killing Them Softly.

Among the European giants, Austria's Haneke will show Amour (Love), starring Isabelle Huppert as the daughter of a woman hit by a stroke.

Britain's Loach returns for the 17th time with the comedy The Angel's Share, about ex-offenders who turn to whisky-making.

One of three French filmmakers in the race, Jacques Audiard has cast Cotillard as a killer-whale trainer hit by a tragedy in Rust and Bone.

Romania's Cristian Mungiu, who scooped the 2007 Palme for a Communist-era abortion drama, returns with Beyond the Hills about two orphans, while Italian Matteo Garrone takes on TV culture with Reality.

Politics holds a slot in the Palme d'Or race with After the Battle by Egypt's Yousry Nasrallah, while French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy shows an out-of-competition documentary on the Libyan war.

Asia gets a look-in with two South Koreans: Im Sang-soo with erotic thriller Taste of Money, and Hong Sang-soo with In Another Country.

And Palme-winning Iranian Abbas Kiarostami returns at 71 with Like Someone in Love, a story set in Japan about a student who works as a prostitute.

Last year's jury, chaired by Robert De Niro, crowned Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life starring Pitt and Sean Penn.

Agence France-Presse

Carlos Fuentes, who died on Tuesday aged 83, was one of the Spanish-speaking world's best known writers, famous for his prolific output and his use of experimental language.

President Felipe Calderon announced the writer's death in a message on his Twitter account. The National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature confirmed he had died in a Mexico City hospital.

The author's doctor Arturo Ballesteros told reporters that Fuentes had died after suffering a massive hemorrhage in his digestive tract in the home in the early hours of Tuesday.

On Wednesday, a tribute to Fuentes will be held at the Palacio Nacional de Bellas Artes in the capital, with his casket on display, the institute said.

Arguably Mexico's best known contemporary author, Fuentes, the son of a diplomat, was born in Panama City on Nov 11, 1928. He spent parts of his childhood in Quito, Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro, and was enrolled in a US public school when his father was transferred to Washington.

"You have to take some time out to be able to give literature the attention it deserves - for journalism, for speaking, for friendship. I cannot be cloistered like a monk because I would lose contact with human beings, with life," Fuentes told AFP in a 2003 interview.

A leading figure in the 1960s Latin American literature boom, Fuentes befriended both Colombian leftist Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Peruvian conservative Mario Vargas Llosa, and was known for criticizing both the harsh side of capitalism and communism.

Unlike his contemporaries though, Fuentes never won a Nobel Prize in literature, although for years he was said to be on the shortlist and collected a clutch of other prestigious awards.

"I met him 50 years ago," Vargas Llosa said in a Twitter message upon learning of Fuentes' death, "and we were friends all that time without anything ever impoverishing that friendship."

Fuentes' travels helped shape his leftist political views and fueled his passion for political activism.

Like many Latin American intellectuals of his era, for years Fuentes was fascinated by the Cuban revolution and leftist rebel movements. But over time, his opinions grew more nuanced.

"Cuba is worthy of condemnation, and so is the United States," he was quoted as saying.

Fuentes published his first collection of short stories, Masked Days, under the guidance of his father Rafael.

In 1958, when he was 30, he achieved international renown with The Most Transparent Region, a portrayal of Mexico City's explosive growth.

At the time, Mexico City was, in literary terms, "just an orange falling off a tree... all I did was eat it," Fuentes said in 2003.

The novel The Death of Artemio Cruz (1967) won Fuentes both critical and public acclaim and became his best known work.

Fuentes was appointed Mexico's ambassador to France in the 1970s, an assignment that lasted only two years.

Not long afterwards he scored a new literary success with Terra Nostra, a novel on the complex cultural issues of the Iberian and Latin American worlds for which he was awarded the prestigious Romulo Gallegos prize in 1977.

Other prizes followed, including the Cervantes (1987), the Ruben Dario (1988) and the Prince of Asturias (1994).

His 1985 novel Old Gringo, about the disappearance of US writer Ambrose Bierce during the Mexican Revolution, was a bestseller in the United States.

"It's a great loss for the whole world," lamented Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos via Twitter.

Agence France-Presse

Andrew I-Jen Chen swapped a career crunching numbers at French bank BNP Paribas to take up an apprenticeship at one of Switzerland's most prestigious watchmaking schools.

He is one of a growing number of people attracted to a career in horology as Swiss watch firms vie for staff to meet buoyant Asian demand for high-end timepieces and fill the hole left when industry heavyweight Swatch decided to cut the volume of mechanical watch parts it sells to others.

"In banking you just sit there working with numbers that don't mean anything," the 29-year-old from Taiwan said, as he turned a hand lathe to painstakingly cut the tip of an axle, a component used in the balance wheel, which makes a watch tick.

Legislation to tighten the rules on what can be called a Swiss-made product also means that watch companies are ploughing millions into new factories at a time when many Swiss firms are thinking of moving production abroad.

Exports of Swiss timepieces soared 19 percent to a record 19.3 billion Swiss francs ($20.8 billion) last year, rebounding from the 13.2 billion low hit in 2009 in the depths of the financial crisis.

This feat was achieved despite the handbrake of the Swiss franc, which rocketed from one record high to another as investors sought safety from the eurozone's debt troubles, pushing a third of mechanical and electrical engineering firms into the red.

Lessons from past

At the heart of the watch sector's success is a disciplined approach to innovation, says Maarten Pieters, director of the Watchmakers of Switzerland Training and Educational Program, based in Neuchatel.

Discipline and innovation were the industry's progenitors; in 16th-century Geneva, the city's strict Calvinist elders banned citizens from wearing jewelry, among other pleasures, forcing the local jewelers and goldsmiths to find a new craft.

The industry outgrew the city, expanding into a region now known as "Watch Valley", which winds about 200 kilometers from Geneva to Basel.

Over the next four centuries it consolidated its reputation for quality and innovation, traits that have helped it overcome one crisis after another and stay ahead of the crowd. The first wristwatch, quartz watch and water-resistant watch were all Swiss inventions.

"Companies prepare for the future," Pieters said in an interview in the school's kitchen overlooking lake Neuchatel. "They think about what is going to happen in the next 10 years."

They don't always get it right, though.

Caught off guard by the explosion of Japanese quartz watches on the market in the 1970s, about 60,000 jobs evaporated between 1970 and 1984 and nearly 1,000 firms shut up shop.

Lebanese immigrant Nicolas Hayek is widely regarded as saving the industry from cheap Asian imports by launching the colorful plastic Swatch watch in 1983.

"Something very bad happened in the 1970s. It was a lesson learned," Pieters said.

Hiring spree

Now, even with the franc about 30 percent stronger than when the financial crisis hit in 2008, demand for fine pieces is keeping the industry booming and propping up national trade figures.

It is Switzerland's third most important export sector. Its sales abroad rose 18 percent in the first quarter of 2012, helping to keep the overall fall in Swiss exports to just 0.5 percent in real terms.

By contrast, exports in the machinery and electrical engineering industries, the second most important sector, tumbled 10.5 percent, while exports in the paper and graphics industry plummeted 20 percent.

Swatch has pledged to create 500 new jobs in Switzerland this year, while Richemont, the world's second largest luxury goods company, has said it plans to create up to 2,000 jobs over two years.

Richemont said it would invest 100 million francs in a training center near Geneva. It also plans to recruit two-thirds of workers for its new Cartier jewelry production site from France.

Reuters

China, Japan agree to hold second round of maritime consultations later this year

China and Japan on Wednesday vowed to further put maritime incidents and disputes in the East China Sea "under control", as both sides are committed to boosting maritime cooperation.

During the first round of China-Japan maritime affairs high-level consultation in Hangzhou of Zhejiang province, Beijing also reiterated its stance on the Diaoyu Islands issue, over which China has undisputable sovereignty.

Analysts said the Diaoyu Islands issue is not the only topic of the talks, which also include fishery regulation, maritime crisis management, maritime cooperation and security.

The first round of consultation, held from Tuesday to Wednesday, brought together Chinese officials from the Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry, Ministry of Transport, State Oceanic Administration and their Japanese counterparts.

Senior officials from both countries agreed to fully utilize the high-level consultation platform and boost dialogue and communication on maritime issues in various fields.

Beijing and Tokyo also vowed to beef up understanding and mutual trust as well as substantial cooperation.

"Tightening up control on conflicts and disputes" and properly handling related issues are also topics that the two sides plan to discuss, according to Xinhua.

Both nations agreed to hold the second round of consultation in Japan within the second half of the year.

Gao Hong, a Japan studies researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told China Daily that the consultation is a well-established mechanism which involves various governing bodies of both sides for comprehensive participation.

"The final resolution to bilateral maritime issues cannot be achieved overnight, yet both countries are eliminating some stumbling blocks in an effort to create more stable relations and a win-win situation," Gao said.

During Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's state visit to China last December, both countries reached consensus on establishing the China-Japan high-level consultation mechanism on maritime affairs.

"We hope the mechanism will provide a platform for China and Japan to communicate on maritime issues of various dimensions," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Friday.

Beijing also said there is no limitation on the consultation's topics.

The consultation is also an opportunity for both sides to exchange views in the context of recent fluctuations between China and Japan, experts said.

Tension between both sides flared up last month as Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said his city prefecture is negotiating with the "owner" of the islands in hope of "buying them by the end of this year".

Some media reports in Japan even played up the possibility that the resumption of negotiations on joint oil and gas development would be mentioned at the consultation, but it was not on the agenda.

"Given Tokyo's recent remarks and moves, it has not created ideal conditions to talk about the resumption," Gao said.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

President Francois Hollande's new Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault got straight to work hiring a cabinet on his first day on the job on Wednesday, vowing to get France back on its feet.

Ayrault, a 62-year-old former German teacher, lawmaker and longtime Hollande ally bade farewell to former president Nicolas Sarkozy's premier Francois Fillon and said his first cabinet would meet on Thursday, a public holiday.

"The government will be ready and set up by the end of this afternoon," Ayrault told journalists before heading off to the presidential Elysee Palace to put his cabinet suggestions to Hollande.

"What's essential, and that's why the cabinet will meet already on Thursday, is to get quickly to work to allow France to get back on its feet in a just way."

Despite some fears of what a Socialist president would do to the economy, France on Wednesday raised almost 8 billion euros ($10 billion) in bond sales at lower rates than in its last comparable operation.

Like Hollande, who on Tuesday became France's first Socialist president since 1995, Ayrault has never previously held a ministerial post, but he is mayor of Nantes, a veteran parliamentarian and seen as a consensus builder.

Hollande has been criticized for naming Ayrault, who has a conviction for favoritism in awarding a local government contract, with opponents noting that as candidate he promised not to work with anyone with a criminal record.

He was named to the job of prime minister over other potential candidates, including Socialist Party leader and former labor minister Martine Aubry, who reportedly refused to join the cabinet if she did not get the top job.

One of her aides told the Le Monde newspaper that Aubry, who is mayor of the northern city of Lille, saw "no sense" in being a member of Hollande's cabinet if she were not to be the prime minister.

French media have been rife with speculation about other appointments, with Spanish-born Manuel Valls, 49, mooted as interior minister and Hollande's campaign chief Pierre Moscovici mentioned as foreign or finance minister.

Laurent Fabius, a former prime minister in the government of France's last Socialist president Francois Mitterrand, could get either the defense portfolio or the foreign ministry, observers said.

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe could become justice minister, as could Christiane Taubira or Michel Sapin.

Hollande made an electoral promise to have just as many women as men in his government.

After meeting on Thursday, Ayrault's cabinet will help plan the Socialist strategy for their campaign to win a parliamentary majority in June legislative elections - a key test for the party.

The Socialists must win a comfortable majority in parliament in order to pass legislation without requiring the support of smaller parties such as the Greens or Communists.

Sarkozy's UMP party is hoping to win seats from the Socialists, but is also under threat from the far-right National Front, whose leader Marine Le Pen scored almost 18 percent in the first-round of the presidential vote.

Agence France-Presse

The Socialist Hollande jetted to Berlin only hours after being sworn in to meet Merkel, a conservative, for the first time, arriving over an hour late after his plane was hit by lightning and he was forced to return briefly to Paris.

The meeting was being closely watched for signs the leaders of Europe's biggest economies will be able to move beyond a war of words over how to resolve the debt crisis that now threatens to tear apart the 13-year-old currency bloc.

Hollande sharply criticized Merkel during his election campaign for insisting on tough austerity to bring down suffocating debt levels across the euro zone. She in turn had backed Hollande's rival, conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. Merkel's five-year double act with Sarkozy earned the duo the moniker "Merkozy" for their close cooperation during Europe's debt crisis. The new Franco-German couple - referred to by some as "Merkollande" - took care to play down their differences on Tuesday, hoping to send a signal of unity at a time when speculation is growing that Greece may have to exit the eurozone and return to the drachma.

Reuters

China regards the Netherlands as an important partner in Europe, said top Chinese legislator Wu Bangguo while meeting with Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands in Amsterdam on Tuesday.

"China attaches great importance to friendly cooperation with the Netherlands," said Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, during a meeting with the queen shortly after his arrival for an official goodwill visit.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries, and the development of bilateral relations is at a new starting point, said Wu.

The queen saw Wu's visit as extremely meaningful in deepening friendship and cooperation at all levels between China and the Netherlands, and she will continue to promote sound Sino-Dutch relations.

Wu later also met Mark Rutte, the caretaker Dutch prime minister.

It is the "best time in history" for bilateral ties between the Netherlands and China, said Wu, as he arrived in Amsterdam.

"It has brought concrete benefits to people on both sides and has contributed to overall Sino-European relations," Wu said.

The visit marks the top lawmaker's first time in the Netherlands. It is the third time in one month that a member of China's top leadership has visited the debt-ridden continent.

Wu's visit can help remove any uncertainty around Sino-European ties, said Zhao Junjie, an expert on European studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Zhao added that China and the Netherlands, as well as other European countries, can learn from each other during Wu's visit.

China can learn how to deal with the problems created when large numbers of farmers come into cities and how to solve urban traffic problems because Europe is one of the places where urbanization occurred first, he said.

Wu's visit again demonstrates Chinese support for European countries, which are in the throes of a fiscal crisis, said Shan Yannan, an expert on European studies with the Chinese Association for European Studies.

During Wu's visit, China can also gain more information about Europe and where governmental changes have taken place, Shen said.

Wu's visit comes after a series of visits by top Chinese leaders.

Vice-Premier Li Keqiang concluded an official 10-day tour to Europe on May 4, following Premier Wen Jiabao, who had highlighted China's confidence in the European economy during his stay. Both tours have put trade and expanding opportunities for investment on the top of the agenda.

Wu Jianmin, former Chinese ambassador to France, said that close visits by top Chinese leaders to Europe are not common, but they are a gesture of good will toward European countries, which are still struggling.

The Netherlands is China's second-largest trade partner and export market in the European Union. It is also China's third-largest source country of foreign capital, with an estimated $11.9 billion in more than 2,600 projects across China, including petrochemical processing, manufacturing, finance and logistics.

Sino-Dutch trade reached $68.2 billion in 2011, a 21 percent increase, according to China's Ministry of Commerce.

The year 2011 saw China become the second-largest source of investment in the Netherlands, next only to the United States, with a 62 percent increase in direct investment.

The Netherlands is the first stop of Wu's four-nation visit. He will also visit Croatia, Luxemburg and Spain.

Contact the writers at zhaoyinan@chinadaily.com.cn and zhouwa@chinadaily.com.cn

Pakistan and the United States appeared on the verge of clinching an agreement to reopen ground supply lines into Afghanistan, a US official said, as Islamabad confirmed its president will attend a summit of NATO leaders this weekend in Chicago.

Reopening the supply route would be a major breakthrough in ties between Washington and Islamabad. Strained relations have fuelled speculation Pakistan might be excluded from NATO talks on Afghanistan's future.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told ministers that Pakistan, which shut the transit lines in November after US airstrikes killed 24 of its soldiers, should not take "emotional decisions, which do not augur well for us in the long run".

He said relations with NATO and the United States were at "a delicate phase where we need to take critical decisions" for Pakistan's "strategic importance" in the region and in its national interest.

Army commanders also met on Wednesday to discuss the matter.

Reopening approved

Pakistan's cabinet meeting on Tuesday night principally agreed to reopen the NATO supply line, sources close to the meeting told Xinhua News Agency.

The sources, which requested anonymity, also said that the decision of reopening the NATO supply line, which will be renamed as Ground Line of Communication, will be officially announced at the forthcoming Chicago summit.

Nadeem Hotiana, an embassy spokesman, confirmed that Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari will attend the May 20 to 21 summit.

"This meeting will underline the strong commitment of the international community to the people of Afghanistan and to its future. Pakistan has an important role to play in that future," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said in a statement on Tuesday.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is also expected to attend the meeting, where NATO nations will hone their plans to withdraw most of their troops by the end of 2014. As the Western presence ebbs, Pakistan, whose tribal areas are home to Taliban and other militants, will be key in shaping Afghanistan's future.

But the supply routes have been a major sticking point.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the deal now appeared almost certain, even while stressing that nothing had been finalized and surprises were always possible.

The official added that the US military might see some higher costs to receive goods in Afghanistan than it did before Pakistan cut off the supply lines, but did not elaborate.

The United States and Pakistan, which now says it expects the routes to reopen, have long been expected to strike a deal that would include tariffs on NATO supplies going into Afghanistan.

After weeks of talks between US and Pakistani officials in Islamabad, a Pentagon spokesman on Tuesday said he hoped that would occur in the "very near future".

In a statement, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani's office said ministers had backed a proposal to allow NATO to send only non-lethal equipment into Afghanistan on Pakistani roads.

"It was also decided that the military authorities should negotiate fresh border ground rules with NATO ... to ensure that (such border) incidents do not reoccur," the statement said.

Reuters-Xinhua-AFP

Since South Sudan became the world's newest independent nation in July, 2011, its government has accused northern neighbor Sudan of continuing aerial bombing raids on South Sudanese territory, a charge routinely denied by Khartoum.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has also called on Sudan to halt what she called "provocative" air bombardments.

Last week, a former US special envoy to Sudan, Andrew Natsios, urged his country to send weapons to Juba.

"The only way to end the North's bullying and foster peace talks is to give the South the right tools: American anti-aircraft weapons," Natsios wrote in an article published in the Washington Post.

Experts said acquiring anti-aircraft weapons would certainly strengthen the South Sudanese army's arsenal against the generally better-armed northern forces, but would not necessarily end the bombings or the conflict.

Foreign reporters in South Sudan have witnessed bombings by Sudanese warplanes of targets including a market, a refugee camp and oil infrastructure, and border skirmishes between the two countries' armies last month included a series of air raids by the northern nation.

The United Nations' top human rights official said on Friday she was outraged by Sudan's "indiscriminate" bombings of South Sudan that killed and injured civilians, after UN officials verified damage and casualties caused by recent raids.

South Sudanese army spokesman Philip Aguer said on Wednesday Juba's military intended to acquire anti-aircraft missiles as part of the new African nation's plans to modernize and re-equip its armed forces, which had previously fought for years as a rebel guerrilla army against Khartoum. "It will enhance our defenses. All strategic points need to be protected, including oil-producing areas and airports," Aguer said. He did not say where South Sudan would seek to purchase the anti-aircraft weapons, nor exactly what kind they would be.

He did not specify a time-frame for the South Sudanese army to acquire the anti-aircraft capability, but The Sudan Tribune newspaper quoted the head of South Sudan's army James Hoth Mai as saying his troops would be equipped with anti-aircraft missiles within a "few months".

Last month's fighting broke out amid disputes between the two former civil war foes over oil exports, border demarcation, citizenship rights and financial arrangements.

On May 2, the UN Security Council, endorsing an African Union peace plan, gave the two sides two weeks to resume talks on the outstanding disputes, but there was no indication that a firm date has been set for negotiations to restart. The Security Council gave them three months to solve the issues or face sanctions.

Consolidation

Aguer said acquiring air-defense capability would help South Sudan to consolidate its newly-won independence, unanimously endorsed by its population in a referendum following an initial 2005 peace agreement that ended more than two decades of civil war between the North and the South.

"Prior to independence, it was not easy to acquire these weapons but now I believe we will," Aguer said.

"This will promote the confidence of South Sudanese citizens that their airspace will not be violated again. That will have a psychological and physical impact," he added.

Jonah Leff, project coordinator for the Small Arms Survey Sudan Project, said that the South Sudan's army would have to be trained to use the surface-to-air missiles effectively.

"I wouldn't expect for Khartoum to back down, but anti-aircraft missiles would give the SPLA an advantage that they didn't previously have," he told Reuters by email.

"Even if Khartoum decides to cease its aerial operations, which I find doubtful, the two sides still seem to have an appetite for war, which could be fought on the battefield," Leff added.

Reuters

Beijing to host SCO summit

The 12th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will be held in Beijing from June 6 to 7.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the announcement at a news briefing on Wednesday.

President Hu Jintao will chair the meeting, said Hong, adding that leaders from SCO member states and observer countries, as well as guests of China and heads of international organizations will attend the meeting.

How to further improve friendly cooperation among SCO members given the new circumstances will be discussed at the meeting, Hong said. Heads of the SCO members will also exchange views on the current international and regional situation, and map out an overall plan for the future development of the SCO, he said.

The SCO, founded on June 15, 2001, groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Syria

UN observers evacuated

A team of international observers was evacuated from a tense town in northern Syria on Wednesday, one day after a roadside bomb hit their convoy and left them stranded overnight with rebel forces, a UN spokesman said.

The team's vehicles were struck by the blast on Tuesday during a mission in Khan Sheikhoun, which has witnessed anti-government protests since an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March in 2011.

Xinhua-AP

French President Francois Hollande vowed to tackle the ongoing eurozone debt crisis with efforts to stimulate growth as he was officially sworn in as the country's next president on Tuesday.

Hollande, 57, succeeded Nicolas Sarkozy, becoming the country's first Socialist president in 17 years to occupy the Elysee Palace.

At the inauguration ceremony, Hollande said he would step up efforts to stimulate growth while reducing the debts of the government.

"I will propose a new pact to our partners that will combine necessary reduction of public debt with indispensable stimulation of the economy," said Hollande in his inauguration speech.

"It is time to put production before speculation, investment in the future before the satisfaction of the present, sustainable employment before instant profits," he added.

Hollande has previously urged renegotiation with Germany over a growth pact on the eurozone's austerity plan.

His first official act as French president will be to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, to build a new French-German consensus on tackling the eurozone debt crisis.

"Both know that the meeting is crucially important and they have to come out arm in arm, smiling," said Giles Merritt, Secretary General of Friends of Europe. "It would create a negative impact on EU politics if Germany and France were to be seen in disagreement."

David Fouquet, director of the Brussels-based Europe-Asia Research Network, said that Hollande is unlikely to remove the austerity policies in the region's new fiscal treaty but will seek to balance the approach with growth stimulus policies.

"What Hollande will advocate is to better balance such approaches with economic growth stimulus policies. Further, France has not had a balanced or surplus budget in nearly 30 years, and this must be corrected by any government," he said.

Analysts said that Hollande's criticism of the austerity plan and his approach to fight the eurozone crisis may rattle financial markets across Europe. Cooperation between France and Germany is essential for the stability of the region.

"I hope that Hollande and Merkel can display signs of cooperation, solidarity and competence to positively influence the unforgiving financial and stock markets, their other European partners and the international community," Fouquet said.

Meanwhile, the crisis in Greece would also be high on the list of topics for discussion between Hollande and Merkel, analysts said.

"They must find an agreed approach to deal with the current situation in Greece, in order to ensure that the Greeks will conform to the conditions of the European bailout," Merritt said.

At the low-key inauguration ceremony on Tuesday, Hollande was met by Sarkozy on the red carpet on his way to the Elysee Palace. Then he traveled by car along the Champs Elysees, where he waved to crowds despite the rain and visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe.

Contact the writers at lixiang@chinadaily.com.cn and fujing@chinadaily.com.cn

Tan Xuan in Brussels contributed to this story.

France will continue to have a good relationship with China, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, former French prime minister and now vice-president of The Union for a Popular Movement, the majority party in the French parliament, told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

Questions have been raised as to whether Francois Hollande, the new French president, will bring volatility to Sino-French relations.

Hollande has little experience in foreign affairs, including with China. Some of his remarks about China have some observers wondering if there is a bumpy road ahead.

But Raffarin said he was not worried about the future of the relationship, for two reasons.

First, Hollande received China's ambassador to France, Kong Quan, on the day after he was elected. The only other person to be received was the United States ambassador to France.

Second, Hollande picked China hand Paul Jean-Ortiz as his diplomatic counsel. Paul can speak fluent Chinese and has worked in China as a diplomat for years. In 2009, he was appointed Director, Asia and Oceania, of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Hollande's predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, who never concealed his reverence for the US, picked a former ambassador to the US as his diplomatic counsel.

"I'm confident that he is well acquainted with the role of China," Raffarin said. "He has never been to China, but he is not a big traveler, either."

Hollande's former constituency, Corrze, borders Poitou-Charentes, where Raffarin was president of the regional council.

"He is a very experienced politician. He graduated from an elite school and is a clever, cultured person," Raffarin said.

Raffarin said Hollande has a very full agenda, and the number one item is France's coordination with Germany.

Hours after Hollande was sworn in on Tuesday as France's next president, he headed to Germany to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel to talk about growth and austerity measures.

Unlike Sarkozy, who stood firmly with Merkel on austerity, Hollande is less enthusiastic. But they will find a compromise eventually, Raffarin said.

"We need to balance our budget - Hollande knows that. But I think, as we say in China, he can't lose face. So I think Mr Hollande and Mrs Merkel will reach a compromise eventually. We have consensus on growth," Raffarin said.

"Admittedly, Mr Hollande has adopted a sharp tone ahead of his meeting with Mrs Merkel later this week, but that is probably because, having presented himself as an emollient personality, he does not want to appear weak in international negotiations," Stephen Lewis, an analyst with Monument Securities, told The Associated Press.

zhengyangpeng@chinadaily.com.cn

Beijing raises objections to Cameron-Dalai Lama talks

Deputy Foreign Minister Song Tao summoned UK Ambassador Sebastian Wood on Tuesday morning and condemned British Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's meeting with the Dalai Lama in London on Monday.

The meeting disregards the repeated Chinese representations and the overall interest of bilateral relations and constitutes serious interference in China's internal affairs, said Song.

"It has impaired China's core interest and hurt the feeling of the Chinese people There must be concrete actions on the British side to create enabling conditions for the sound development of bilateral relations," Song added.

Also on Tuesday, China lodged representation to the two British leaders' meeting with the Dalai Lama, who, according to analysts, has been used as a "political tool" by Western countries to exert pressure on the rising China.

China voiced "strong indignation and stern objection" to the meeting, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei at a regular press conference.

On Monday in London, Cameron and Clegg met with the Dalai Lama, who, Hong said, is "a political exile who has long been engaged in anti-China secessionist activities in the name of religion".

The meeting sent false signals to the "Tibet independence" forces, said Hong.

The meeting was described as "private" and was not held at the prime minister's Downing Street residence, AFP reported.

The Dalai Lama was in London to receive the $1.8 million Templeton Prize, said the report. The British side organized the occasion, despite repeated representations from China, said Hong.

The Chinese embassy in London also lodged solemn representations to the British side, he added.

Hong said the issue regarding Tibet is of exclusive concern to China's internal affairs. "China objects firmly to any foreign leader's meeting with the Dalai Lama in any form and opposes any country, or anyone, interfering in China's internal affairs by using Tibet-related issues," he said.

Hong urged the British side to treat seriously China's solemn stance, stop indulging and supporting anti-China "Tibet independence" forces and take immediate and effective measures to minimize the baneful impact, so as to safeguard the overall development of bilateral ties.

The Dalai Lama fled to exile in India in 1959 during a failed uprising against the Chinese government.

A string of self-immolations broke out in Tibetan areas in the provinces of Sichuan and Qinghai bordering Tibet in recent months.

At least two mob attacks on police stations were reported in Sichuan's volatile Tibetan areas in late January, leaving at least two people dead and more than a dozen injured, Xinhua News Agency reported.

"The Dalai Lama clique has made more attempts to split China, and a few monks and nuns in the Tibetan-populated regions echoed them at a distance," said Li Changping, a top provincial official in Sichuan, during a recent meeting in Beijing, reported Xinhua.

"The Dalai Lama allows himself to be used as a tool by Western powers keen to humiliate China," said Brendan O'Neill, editor of an online magazine named "spiked", in an article published in the Guardian, a British national daily newspaper.

Contact the writers at chengguangjin@chinadaily.com.cn and zhouwa@chinadaily.com.cn

Qiangba Puncog, head of the standing committee of the Tibet autonomous region's people's congress, talks with Patrick Moriau, member of the house of representatives of Belgium, in Brussels, on Tuesday. Zhou Lei / Xinhua

The Chinese government will not involve the Dalai Lama group in talks if it continues to promote separatism and incite monks and young Tibetans to carry out self-immolations, a visiting leader of China's Tibet autonomous region said on Tuesday in Brussels.

Even if conditions allow the Chinese government to engage the Dalai Lama group, the "only topic" on the agenda should be the "personal future of the Dalai's followers and Tibetans overseas", said Qiangba Puncog, head of the standing committee of the Tibet autonomous region's people's congress.

"This is our principle of holding talks with the Dalai Lama's representatives," Qiangba said, sending a strong message at the seminar organized by the Brussels Institute of Contemporary Chinese Studies. Qiangba is leading a delegation to introduce the development of Tibet in Belgium and the European headquarters.

But the Dalai Lama's representatives are sticking to the points of separating Tibet from China and forming a "bigger Tibetan region", which includes parts of Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan, where other Tibetans live. "The union of a country and future of Tibet are not negotiable, and the only topic we want to talk is the personal future of Tibetans overseas," said Qiangba.

Self-immolations of monks and young Tibetans aroused much concern among Europeans at the seminar. Participants asked Qiangba to reveal the "true stories".

As a Tibetan, Qiangba said encouraging suicide is not a part of Tibetan Buddhism, and it is clear that the self-immolations are nothing but staged scenes directed by the Dalai Lama group, serving their separatist motive and agenda.

However, Qiangba clarified the misunderstanding that the self-immolations took place in Tibet. "So far there is not a single case of self-immolation in Tibet," said Qiangba, adding that Tibetans are also living in Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunan provinces.

Since last year, about 30 cases of self-immolations have happened in temples outside Tibet, and more than 20 monks and young Tibetans have died in the wrongdoings arranged by the Dalai Lama group. "I am very sad because of the self-immolations, and I am urging the Dalai Lama group to stop as soon as possible," said Qiangba.

Qiangba said all of the self-immolations took place at temples outside Tibet, and evidence showed that they were supported by the Dalai Lama group.

"Video materials clearly show who is setting the fires, who is taking photos and who is spreading such photos outside China to institutions such as the European Parliament," said Qiangba, who also gave videos to European researchers as references for research.

"And even though there is no such case in Tibet, Dalai Lama followers and some foreigners play up the issue and say 'Tibet is on fire'."

Qiangba said it is important for Europeans to remove their misunderstandings, biases and wrong ideas about Tibet, which is open to tourists, journalists and scholars.

Regarding China's firm stances on engagement with the Dalai group, Jonathan Holslag of the Brussels Institute of Contemporary Chinese Studies said: "I think every country has the right to decide the way to deal with its domestic issues. We Europeans should not be in the positions to lecture."

Holslag said it is very useful to have this kind of candid talk with Tibetan leaders and Western scholars. He said his institute will continue to play a bigger role to bridge the understanding gap between China and Europe, especially on sensitive topics such as Tibet.

fujing@chinadaily.com.cn

China and Australia should deepen cooperation and provide a fair and friendly investment environment for each other's enterprises, Vice-Premier Li Keqiang said on Tuesday.

During a meeting with visiting Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr, Li called for respect for each other's core interest and proper resolution of differences, saying moving China-Australia ties to a higher stage would contribute to peace, stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region and the world.

Carr, on his first visit to China after taking office in March, reiterated Canberra's commitment to the Australia-China Joint Statement signed in 2009 of strengthening cooperation in various fields.

Carr on Tuesday also launched this year's Australian celebration activities for the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Australia and China.

On Monday, he met his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi and Wei Fenghe, deputy chief of general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

Regardless of which party takes power, Canberra always attaches great importance to the development of China-Australia ties, Carr said when addressing the launching ceremony, adding that both sides have made major progress in the fields of trade, defense and education.

Despite the tight fiscal situation, Australia still decided to establish a consulate in Chengdu, capital city of Southwest China's Sichuan province, Carr said.

China is by far Australia's biggest trading partner with two-way trade worth $113 billion representing about 25 percent of Australia's total trade volume, according to official statistics.

In addition to traditional investments in resources and energy, Australia is beginning to see more investment in agriculture and financial services, Carr noted.

The talks between Australia and China about a free trade agreement have picked up pace recently, he added. China has been in talks with Australia about an agreement since 2005, but they remain bogged down over issues such as how to treat agricultural goods.

In March, China's biggest maker of equipment for the telecommunication industry, Huawei, was barred from bidding for a $37.5 billion project in Australia "over security concerns".

Australia has made great profits from exporting mineral and livestock products to China, but both sides have differences over prices and market openness, said Su Hao, an expert on international affairs with China Foreign Affairs University.

"Both countries have to strengthen coordination on pricing based on equality and mutual respect," he added.

Meanwhile, Carr's visit was overshadowed by concerns over Canberra's ties to Washington, with Beijing raising questions over their close military alliance, reports said.

zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn

Philippine President Benigno Aquino said that the Huangyan Island dispute might soon be resolved as he gave assurances that discussions with China had taken a clearer direction.

"Our discussions with China have never stopped. There is direction now, whereas before the talks were not as clear. Now there appears to be some clarity in the talks," the president told reporters on Monday.

"It's too early to say the situation has already cleared, but at least we are now moving nearer toward resolving the situation using diplomatic means," he said, adding that Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario was given "terms of reference" by various legal consultants on how to resolve the issue.

Aquino also implied that it might not bring the case before international courts on the Law of the Sea, Philippine media said.

Tensions in the South China Sea escalated on April 10 when a Philippine warship harassed 12 Chinese fishing vessels that had sailed near the island to seek shelter from inclement weather.

Experts said Aquino's comments reflected that the Philippine side had softened its position. The Philippines is believed to have been under pressure from both the United States and its own people, said Ren Yuanzhe, a researcher at China Foreign Affairs University.

China, through Defense Minister Liang Guanglie's visit to the United States and the Sino-US strategic and economic dialogue that recently ended, has informed the United States of its position in the South China Sea, and the United States does not want to see the situation deteriorate, he said.

The Philippine people have also put pressure on their government out of fear that trade prospects would be negatively affected if tensions intensified, and it would be a disaster for ordinary citizens, Ren said.

China is the third-largest trade partner of the Philippines, and the Philippines is China's sixth-largest trade partner among ASEAN members. Bilateral trade grew fast over the past decade and reached $30 billion in 2011, according to the Chinese embassy in the Philippines.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Tuesday repeatedly stated that the Chinese government has sought to resolve the dispute through diplomatic negotiations and urged the Philippine side to respect China's territorial sovereignty over Huangyan Island and return to the right track.

Ren said each party should learn from this incident and consider establishing a crisis management mechanism for the South China Sea to avoid potential conflicts.

Also on Tuesday, China Southern Airlines, one of the three major Chinese airlines, announced that it is cutting flights to the Philippines as tourist numbers have shrunk amid tensions over Huangyan Island.

The company will reduce its flights between South China's Guangzhou city and Manila to just once a day on certain dates from May 26 to June 30. The airline normally operates two flights daily on the route.

A spokesman for the airline said the adjustment was made in accordance with the cancellation of "a large number of tourist groups" lately.

Major Chinese travel agencies canceled tours to the Philippines earlier this month after the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines warned Chinese citizens of "massive anti-China demonstrations". The Chinese tourism administration on Sunday said almost all Chinese mainlanders on group tours would leave the Philippines by Wednesday.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn

Japan maritime talks planned

China and Japan on Wednesday will hold the first high-level maritime consultation talks in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Tuesday.

"We expect the consultation mechanism to provide a platform for timely communication between both countries on maritime issues," Hong said.

Officials from the foreign ministry, defense ministry and oceanic administration from both sides will take part in the talks.

Greece

Nation to hold new election

Attempts to form a government in Greece collapsed on Tuesday, jolting financial markets at the prospect leftists opposed to the terms of an EU bailout could sweep to victory and nudge the eurozone crisis into a dangerous new phase.

The turmoil in Athens sent waves around other troubled members of the 17-nation European single currency area. The euro slipped below $1.28 while Spanish and Italian bond yields rose above the danger level of 6 percent as investors scurried for shelter in safe haven German Bunds.

Iran

Talks with UN agency 'good'

Iran's envoy to talks with the UN nuclear agency said on Tuesday the meeting was going well, as the two sides began their second day of discussion about suspicions that Teheran might have tested atomic arms technology.

Reuters-China Daily-AFP

The girls slumped in wheelchairs look barely conscious, their blond heads lolling above the plastic vomit bags tied like bibs around their necks.

It's an hour to midnight on Friday, and the two girls, who look no older than 18, are being wheeled from an ambulance to a clinic set up discreetly in a dark alley in London's Soho entertainment district.

They're the first of many to be picked up on this night by the ambulance, known as a "booze bus", and carried to the clinic, both government services dedicated to keeping drunk people out of trouble and out of emergency rooms.

Binge drinking has reached crisis levels in Britain, health experts say, costing the cash-strapped National Health Service 2.7 billion pounds (US$4.4 billion) a year, including the cost of hospital admissions related to booze-fueled violence and longer-term health problems. Unlike all other major health threats, liver disease is on the rise in Britain, increasing by 25 percent in the last decade and causing a record level of deaths, according to recent government figures.

Doctors believe rising obesity is combining with heavy drinking to fuel the spike in liver disease, which is hitting more young people than ever.

"Undoubtedly professionals are seeing more (patients) in their late-20s to mid-30s, which would have been unusual 20 years ago," said Chris Day, a liver disease specialist at Newcastle University.

On the streets of Soho, most people are too busy drinking to notice passed-out partyers. The streets, lined with pubs and nightclubs, are just beginning to get rowdy: Men chasing each other and shrieking like teenagers; women stumbling and falling over in their too-short skirts and high heels. Soon the sidewalks are littered with empty beer bottles and reeking puddles.

Such public displays of extreme drunkenness are inexplicable and shocking to many foreigners living in Britain, even those who come from heavy drinking cultures.

"(At home) it's embarrassing to be drunk. Here it's kind of something you brag about," said Kaisa Toroskainen, a Finnish graduate student in London having a beer with her friends.

The headline-grabbing figures about ever-younger liver disease victims may seem to suggest that Britain has quite recently turned into a nation of raging alcoholics. But it's not news that the British like their tipple. This is, after all, a nation known around the world for its ales and its pubs, the default venue for any British social gathering from a quiet date to after-work networking.

Despite that, most experts agree that Britons, on the whole, don't drink more than other Europeans. In fact, overall alcohol consumption levels here have come down since the mid-2000s.

But that's the average. The problem seems to lie with a minority of hard-core drinkers who tend to down a huge amount in a short time.

"The key point is the ways in which we behave when we're drinking - it involves very public displays of reckless drunkenness," said Jamie Bartlett, a researcher at the London-based think tank Demos who has written about alcohol abuse.

"It's not an issue of consumption. It's an issue of behavior."

Anyone who's gone out on a Friday night in any of Britain's larger towns and cities will be familiar with boozed-up groups of people shouting, brawling and causing a scene as they spill out of bars and pubs. Commuters aren't immune to the antics, especially on evenings when soccer matches are on.

"We are the whites, we are we are the whites!" one clearly intoxicated young man was heard relentlessly singing on a train carriage on a recent night, urging wary strangers to join in.

The problem isn't confined to a particular class, and even members of the social elite can be caught in embarrassing drink-fueled trouble. In 2000, the teenage son of then Prime Minister Tony Blair was arrested for being "drunk and incapable" when he was found semiconscious and vomiting on the sidewalk in London's Leicester Square. The event was remarkable only because of his father's prominence.

The legal drinking age in Britain is 18, compared to 21 in the US, but many drinkers start younger. Social workers say lax control of retail sales and cheap alcohol, commonly available for less than 70 pence ($1.10) a can in supermarkets, makes it easy for young people to experiment with liquor.

Descendants of US Civil War hero Robert Smalls are celebrating the former slave who, 150 years ago this weekend, commandeered a Confederate steamship and evaded batteries overlooking Charleston harbor to reach a Union blockade and freedom.

Calling themselves the "family of cousins" and ranging in age from 3 months to 94 years old, Smalls' descendants came to the Charleston Museum on Saturday for weekend events that included dedicating historical markers at harborside and retracing the route of the steamship Planter through the harbor.

They have known the story since childhood, Smalls' great-granddaugher, Helen Moore, said.

"My grandmother was on the Planter. She was Robert Smalls' oldest daughter. She was 2 years old at the time," Moore, a psychologist who lives in Sarasota, Florida, said at the museum.

Smalls was born a slave in 1839 in Beaufort, South Carolina, a town where his name now adorns schools, parkways and military facilities.

When he was 12, his owner sent him 100 kilometers up the coast to Charleston to enter the "hired slave" system. He trained as a boat deckhand and earned a small wage. In 1861, the year the Civil War began, he was hired aboard the Planter, a cotton transport.

On May 12, 1862, while the captain and crew were off the ship, Smalls sailed from a Charleston wharf and picked up his wife and children, and other African-American slaves and their families.

Early the next morning, he donned the captain's broad straw hat as a disguise and turned his face away from Confederate soldiers manning forts as he escaped.

Once outside the harbor, Smalls lowered the ship's Confederate flag, hoisted a white bedsheet to signal surrender and delivered the boat to the Union blockade at sea.

"This is a day that I have always noted as our personal independence day," Smalls' great-great-grandson, Michael Moore, chairman of Glory Foods Inc, told an audience at the museum.

"It's 150 years that our family has been free."

The man known as "Grampa" by his family would have been put to death, along with everyone on board, had he been captured, Moore said.

"He made the decision to stick his neck out," Moore said. "He was going to be free or he was going to be dead."

The exhibit that Moore helped put together at the South Carolina State Museum has traveled to a dozen East Coast cities and will be on tour through 2017, said program manager Jeff Powley.

"History is as much a tool of culture as it is an articulation of events," Moore said.

Smalls was elected to Congress five times from South Carolina and wrote the legislation that created the Parris Island Marine base near Beaufort. He died in 1915, aged 75.

Reuters

Queen Elizabeth II is meditating. Swathed in white fur and with her eyes closed, she seems momentarily far from the heavy responsibilities she carries.

This intimate portrait, a hologram by photographer Chris Levine, is one of 60 pictures of the British monarch on show at London's National Portrait Gallery from Thursday to mark her diamond jubilee.

From stiff official portraits to her defaced image on an infamous record sleeve by punk rockers the Sex Pistols, the exhibition explores many facets of a queen who, after six decades on the throne, is still something of a mystery.

"The queen remains a fascinating character, an enigma," said Paul Moorhouse, curator of The Queen: Art and Image, which has come to the capital following a tour of Britain.

"These are questioning images," he told AFP. "Some of these pictures really ask: Do we need a queen? And what is she for?"

From the 1960s, snapshots of the queen at breakfast with her family or sifting through paperwork with her private secretary began to appear alongside the traditional portraits of her in full regalia.

This portrayal of her as a working woman and a mother marked a radical departure from previous monarchs who maintained a distance between themselves and their subjects.

As one image from 1968 recalls, the queen even invited television cameras to film a fly-on-the-wall documentary about the royals a decision she reportedly later regretted.

"I think the decision to shed the regal image and try to become more ordinary, more down to earth, was a risky move," said Moorhouse.

"When you become more informal, contempt can creep in - and that's actually what happened."

By 1977 the Sex Pistols had dared to black out the queen's eyes and mouth on the cover of their single God Save the Queen, which was banned by the BBC for comparing the British monarchy to a "fascist regime".

"The Sex Pistols image actually desecrates the image of the queen," said Moorhouse. "That still creates a lot of controversy, even now."

Several photographs explore the major crises suffered by the family over the following two decades, which saw, among other setbacks, the divorce of three of the queen's four children.

A grainy image captures her shock as, garbed in a raincoat, she inspects the wreckage of her Windsor Castle residence following a devastating fire in 1992.

Another shows the queen and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, standing at the gates of Buckingham Palace, among huge piles of flowers left in homage to Princess Diana after her death in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

Their grim faces recall the huge plunge in public support for the monarchy following the queen's initial refusal to speak publicly about the death of her former daughter-in-law.

Since then, said Moorhouse, "she has regained the affection and the respect of the nation" - but works from the last decade suggest contemporary artists felt free to let their views on the monarchy be known.

Agence France-Presse

Donald "Duck" Dunn, the bass player with Booker T and the MGs who helped shape the sound of the Memphis soul scene in the 1960s and 1970s, has died in Tokyo at the age of 70.

Dunn died in his sleep in a hotel room in the Japanese capital on Sunday after performing at Blue Note Tokyo, according to a Facebook entry of friend and fellow band member Steve Cropper.

A house bass player at the Stax label in Memphis, Dunn played on such classics as Otis Redding's Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour by Wilson Pickett.

His official discography spans four decades from the mid-1960s and features appearances alongside legends such as Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Muddy Waters and Eric Clapton.

Dunn earned himself a little Hollywood glitter when he appeared as himself in the 1980 cult classic, The Blues Brothers, starring comedians John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.

"Today I lost my best friend, and the world has lost the best guy and bass player to ever live," Cropper, who played guitar with Booker T and the MGs, said in a brief Facebook message posted on Sunday.

Cropper and Dunn, the two white members of the band, played alongside keyboardist Booker T. Jones and drummer Al Jackson, who were both black, making the band a beacon of racial integration during the civil rights years.

Born in 1941 in Memphis, Dunn picked up the ukulele when he was around 10 years old and moved on to the bass at 16, according to his official website.

"I tried the guitar but it had two strings too many. It was just too complicated, man!" he said.

"Plus, I grew up with Steve Cropper. There were so many good guitar players, another one wasn't needed. What was needed was a bass."

He formed a band with Cropper, who later became a full-time session player at the Stax studio in the Tennessee capital - a role Dunn followed.

"Man, we were recording almost a hit a day for a while there," he later said.

In 1964 he joined Booker T and the MGs, which had already enjoyed electrifying success with tracks including Green Onions.

In a message on his website, frontman Jones expressed his sadness over Dunn's death, saying the loss marked the passing of another of the legendary artists who had helped shape the sound of the 1960s and 1970s.

"God is calling names in the music world. He gave us these treasures and now he is taking them back," Jones said.

"I can't imagine not being able to hear Duck laugh and curse, but I'm thankful I got to spend time and make music with him," he said.

"His intensity was incomparable. Everyone loved him. None more than Otis Redding.

"I just know that Duck is somewhere smiling down on all of us."

After Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul announced plans on Sunday to start talking about a trilateral free trade agreement this year, a joint declaration released on Monday said the three countries also have set their sights on reaching a trade pact that will apply to all of East Asia.

The proposed trilateral agreement, if brought into existence, will provide a path leading to a broader East Asian agreement, a high-level diplomat and Chinese experts have said.

Premier Wen Jiabao, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and President of the Republic of Korea Lee Myung-bak signed a "milestone" trilateral investment agreement on Sunday during an annual meeting. The pact came as the result of years of negotiations and paved the way for trilateral talks on a free trade agreement.

They also announced that talks on a proposed trilateral agreement, which would exercise influence on a fifth of world trade, are to begin this year.

The joint declaration said the three countries should immediately prepare for the talks.

Moreover, it said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, Plus Working Groups need to be established "without delay" to speed up discussions about establishing a comprehensive regional economic partnership that will take into account "the initiatives of the East Asia Free Trade Area and Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia".

The three nations have long said they are willing to reach a trade pact with ASEAN.

The existing free trade agreement between ASEAN and China is the largest such agreement in the world measured by the population it concerns and third largest measured by nominal GDP. It came into effect on Jan 1, 2010, and has since helped to bring about a huge increase in bilateral trade.

The joint declaration also said China, Japan and the ROK have "fully realized" how important cooperating among themselves is, especially as the world economy remains grim and the situation in West Asia and North Africa remains turbulent.

"In that regard, we agree unanimously to further strengthen the three nations' forward-looking comprehensive cooperative partnership," the declaration said.

President Hu Jintao also met Lee Myung-bak and Yoshihiko Noda on Monday.

Luo Zhaohui, director of the Foreign Ministry's department of Asian affairs, told reporters on Monday that the start of talks on the trilateral free trade agreement is "a historical achievement and a strategic breakthrough".

"And we hope the trilateral agreement can pave the way toward an East Asian agreement," he said.

Once a trilateral trade pact is signed, "the establishment of an East Asia agreement will be nearly assured", Luo said.

Economic cooperation will fill the three nations with more feelings of mutual trust, he said.

Liu Jiangyong, vice-dean of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University, said the approaching negotiations on the proposed trilateral trade agreement "are the key to the future trade agreement talks of ASEAN+3" and will contribute to the establishment of an East Asian community.

"Given the fact that we already have an ASEAN free trade agreement and ASEAN-China trade agreement, the trilateral agreement will be the last step for an East Asia agreement," he said.

"Although it will be a process full of difficulties, it will finally forge an economic community in East Asia, which will be a milestone in building a real East Asian community."

Qu Xing, director of the China Institute of International Studies, said the proposed trilateral agreement and regional integration will encourage the three nations to share natural resources, helping to reduce tensions.

"Territorial disputes among the three nations have given rise to more bad feelings in recent years," Qu said. "But if natural resources recovered in one country can be used by another country, a system used by some European nations, I believe confrontations stemming from territorial disputes will become far less common."

Some observers, meanwhile, have said the formation of a free trade agreement among China Japan and South Korea will introduce a competitor to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free trade agreement that applies to the Asia-Pacific region and is supported by the United States. Qu said more communication and less confrontation among the three Asian nations do not go against US interests.

More than 100 overseas Chinese protest over the Philippines' claim of China's Huangyan Island in the South China Sea in front of the Consulate-General of the Philippines in New York on Sunday. Li Yang / China News Service

China on Monday again urged the Philippines to avoid actions that may increase tensions in the dispute over Huangyan Island, which is irrelevant to the upcoming routine fishing ban in northern parts of the South China Sea.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the remarks at a regular news conference, as some Chinese netizens speculated whether the ban was a preparation for war with the Southeastern Asian nation.

"The ban is an annual attempt that has been taken by the national administration for decades, and the aim is to protect fishery resources in the South China Sea. It is irrelevant to the dispute over Huangyan Island," he told reporters.

According to a statement from the South China Sea Fishery Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture, fishing will be banned beginning on Wednesday in northern parts of the South China Sea, including the waters around Huangyan Island, for the next two and a half months.

All fishing operations, except gill-netting and angling, will be banned, the statement said.

Violators of the ban will see their catches and boats confiscated and fishing licenses revoked and face fines up to 50,000 yuan ($7,900), apart from the seizure of their catches and illegitimate earnings, it said.

"The ban has no relation to the current tensions in the dispute over Huangyan Island. It is a regular measure that China takes to protect fishery resources in this area every year," said Yang Shaosong, an official with the South China Sea Fishery Bureau.

The ban is a measure that has been issued annually since 1999 to preserve biodiversity, as local fishing resources have declined greatly due to over-fishing in the past few decades, fishery authorities and experts said.

There are currently about 90,000 Chinese fishing boats in the South China Sea, said Qiu Yongsong, a researcher with the South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences.

"The number of Philippine fishing boats around Huangyan Island is always very small," he said.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said on Monday that President Benigno Aquino has decided Manila should impose its own ban, and details were expected in the coming days, AP reported.

Although China and the Philippines have resumed negotiations over Huangyan Island, Rosario said on Saturday that the Philippines will never agree to the demands and will instead seek only a temporary agreement to the stalemate until a long-lasting solution can be obtained.

Philippine officials have asked for the dispute to be settled at the International Tribunal on the Law of the Seas.

"We hope the Philippines respects China's sovereignty and avoids adopting any actions to make the issue bigger and more complicated," Hong Lei said, stressing that the dispute should be settled through diplomatic means.

Huang Shanchun, commissar of Guangzhou Military Area Command, said on Monday that the Chinese army has the ability and determination to defend Huangyan Island.

"Whatever the Philippines does or if it draws other countries into the dispute, it will not change the fact that the Huangyan Island is an inherent part of Chinese territory," he said.

Abdullah Badawi, former prime minister of Malaysia, said during a speech on Monday at Beijing Foreign Studies University that China has the confidence to solve the problem through diplomatic efforts, and ASEAN countries will be happy to see the problem solved.

"I believe that if any problem happens, it will be solved through engagement and open dialogue," he said.

A group of Chinese gathered on Sunday at the Philippine embassy in Washington to protest Manila's groundless claim over the sovereignty of Huangyan Island, Chinese media reported.

The protesters turned up in the morning in front of the Philippine embassy, carrying banners and chanting slogans that Huangyan Island is an inherent territory of China and demanding that Philippine ships leave the area, people.com.cn reported.

Organizers of the protest handed out official Philippine maps published in 1990 and 2008 and said the maps show that Huangyan Island has never been a part of the Philippines, the report said.

In London, dozens of Chinese protesters defied rain on Monday morning to gather outside the Philippine embassy to protest against Manila's claim.

Many protesters are Chinese students, who waved national flags, chanted slogans, and carried signs calling for the Philippines to keep its "hands off our Huangyan Island". Some students even took a train to arrive in London from Nottingham.

China and the Philippines have been embroiled in a dispute over Huangyan Island in the South China Sea for a month, stemming from Philippine harassment of Chinese fishermen who sought harbor at the island from bad weather.

Contact the writers at cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn and jinzhu@chinadaily.com.cn

Zhang Chunyan in London and Qiu Quanlin in Guangzhou contributed to this story.

India is likely to withdraw from oil block No 128 in the South China Sea after gas and oil did not show up in an exploratory well, and officials have conveyed to Vietnam plans to terminate operations based "on commercial considerations", Indian media reported.

In 2006, Vietnam assigned oil block No 127 and No 128 to an Indian oil gas company named ONGC Videsh Ltd, the global arm of the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp.

Despite objections from the Chinese government, the company began production tests in September 2009.

India also left oil block No 127 in 2011 after oil did not show up in an exploratory well.

On Saturday, Indian media said that ONGC had written the Oil Ministry, expressing its intent to relinquish the block, and sought the opinion of the Foreign Ministry on the issue.

The Oil Ministry said in a letter to the MEA that OVL's decision to relinquish the block is "based purely on techno-commercial considerations".

Though New Delhi maintained that its exploration activities in the South China Sea were purely commercial, Beijing has said it was an issue of sovereignty.

Sun Weidong, deputy director of the department of Asian affairs with Chinese Foreign Ministry Asian Affairs, said the region is a disputed territory and it does not benefit India to carry out explorations in the area.

China Daily

Washington is considering redeploying nuclear weapons in the Republic of Korea, a move that analysts say will further complicate the situation on the Korean Peninsula, where tensions are already high from fears that Pyongyang may conduct a third nuclear test.

The US House Armed Services Committee adopted an amendment to the fiscal 2013 national defense authorization bill that supports "steps to deploy additional conventional forces of the United States and redeploy tactical nuclear weapons to the Western Pacific region," Foreign Policy magazine in Washington reported.

The committee also instructed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to submit a report on the feasibility and logistics of redeploying forward-based nuclear weapons there, "in response to the ballistic missile and nuclear weapons developments of (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) and the other belligerent actions (it) has made against allies of the United States," the report said.

Fan Jishe, deputy director of the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the amendment is unlikely to be approved because US President Barack Obama has been calling for "a world without nuclear weapons".

The US withdrew its last nuclear weapons from the ROK in December 1991.

Fan said two nuclear tests conducted by the DPRK, which is reported to be preparing a third test, and the artillery engagement on Yeonpyeong Island in November 2010 between the two nations "have made the ROK worried about a nuclear threat from the DPRK".

"The ROK hopes for a US redeployment of nuclear weapons in the country to prove its protection is reliable and intimidating," Fan added.

If the US does so, it will contradict Obama's call for a world without nuclear weapons, said Fan, adding that because of the US capability in long-range missile launches, it would be unnecessary to deploy nuclear weapons in the ROK.

"The US may have Panetta or Clinton make remarks on public occasions to ensure the ROK that its protection is effective and reliable, but not really deploy nuclear weapons in the country," Fan said.

Zhang Liangui, an expert on Korean Peninsula studies at the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, also sees little chance of the weapons' deployment being approved, which would hurt Sino-US ties and further complicate the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

Zhang said the ROK is seeking a nuclear balance by possessing nuclear weapons, which would bring a "terrible and dangerous peace".

The DPRK and ROK signed the Joint Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in 1992. Later, the DPRK pulled out of the declaration, breaking the balance, Zhang said.

The ROK had pinned its hopes on the Six-Party Talks to peacefully realize the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

The Six-Party Talks - involving the DPRK, ROK, United States, China, Japan and Russia - began in 2003 but stalled in December 2008. Pyongyang quit the talks in April 2009.

Zhang noted that Japan would also have concerns if the US deployed nuclear weapons in the ROK, and if all of them have nuclear weapons, China would be in a terrible situation and it would be a "psychological blow".

China should now stick to its efforts for denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, said Zhang.

Zhang noted that even if the US put nuclear weapons in the ROK, "it would only be psychological warfare without a real military function".

"Putting the weapons in the ROK would certainly press the DPRK, but it would also be a provocation for China," said Zhang. "Obama has to take Sino-US relations into consideration."

The amendment is a political move rather than a military one, which the US can use to remind the countries concerned to "stick to the stance for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and take concrete measures," Zhang said.

chengguangjin@chinadaily.com.cn

Six Chinese join UN peacekeeping mission to monitor fragile cease-fire

Despite his daughter's pleas to stay, 39-year-old Che Lijie left Beijing for Syria on Monday to monitor a fragile cease-fire between government and opposition fighters.

Chen is one of six Chinese military observers joining the UN's mission, bringing the total number of Chinese observers in Syria to nine.

"As a soldier, I have to and am willing to go," he said.

The first two observers from China were sent to Damascus on April 25, just days after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution to deploy cease-fire observers to Syria under the peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

The UN is accelerating the deployment of unarmed observers to Syria to ensure that 300 observers are on the ground by the end of May.

China selected six military officers for the mission who had good professional, foreign language and driving skills, according to the spokesman for the peacekeeping affairs office of the Ministry of National Defense.

All six have participated in previous UN peacekeeping missions and received intensive training in anti-terrorism, anti-abduction, explosive identification, first aid and vehicle repairs. They hold military rankings up to colonel.

Patrolling unarmed in residential and conflict areas makes this mission more dangerous than previous UN peacekeeping missions, said Captain Liu Yong, who was a staff officer at the UN headquarters and is one of the six Chinese observers leaving for Syria.

"Our fundamental guideline is to accomplish the UN's peacekeeping mission and guarantee our own safety," he said.

The group has been equipped by the UN with bulletproof vests, helmets and first aid kits. Emergency management plans have also been enacted.

Out of respect for Syria's sovereignty, the nationality of the UN observers has to be approved by both the Syrian government and opposition parties, said Li Guofu, director of Middle East studies with the China Institute of International Studies.

"China's political resolution and mediation at the Security Council have been recognized by most of the Syrian people," Li said.

"The observers must be neutral and fair, but cannot use force. Therefore, both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition parties have to keep the promise of supporting and protecting the unarmed observers," he added.

The Syrian government has refused three observers based on their nationalities, which have not been identified.

"There must be uncertainties and hardships, but we're confident that we will accomplish this mission," Liu said.

European Union foreign ministers on Monday agreed on fresh sanctions, the 15th round so far, against Assad and warned of more action if the regime fails to abide by a cease-fire that was implemented on April 12.

Meanwhile, the 27-nation bloc has offered to provide assistance to the observers and is expected to finance 25 armored vehicles to help the mission, EU diplomats said. Further medical assistance may also be offered.

Xinhua and AFP contributed to this story.

zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn

With power shortages looming in the region when demand peaks this summer, the central government has been trying to win approval from towns and prefectures that host reactors. All 50 reactors are off-line since the last one shut down for maintenance on May 5.

The government is set to urge businesses and consumers in Kansai Electric Power Co's service area in western Japan to make voluntary power cuts of 15 percent this summer to cope with shortages, media reported.

The Nikkei business daily, however, said that the government would also consider mandatory power cuts and rolling blackouts if necessary.

Mandatory restrictions were imposed in some regions last year after the Fukushima crisis, the worst since Chernobyl in 1986, with three reactors suffering meltdowns after the plant was hit by a huge earthquake and tsunami.

The central government last month said reactors No 3 and No 4 at Kansai Electric Power Co's plant in Ohi, Fukui prefecture, 360 kilometers west of Tokyo, were safe to restart.

Officials must still persuade a wary public - including residents of regions close enough to be at risk from a nuclear accident but too distant to reap economic rewards - that a resumption is safe. Delays in setting up a new nuclear regulatory agency due to disputes in parliament have further spooked voters.

Kinya Shintani, the chairman of Ohi town assembly, said that the local economy and employment have been affected by the reactor halts.

"Largely understanding the necessity of nuclear power and taking into consideration the residents' opinions as well as the impact on consumers' livelihoods and the economy, we decided to agree to a restart," he said.

Ohi received about 2.5 billion yen ($31 million) in subsidies in the financial year to March 2010 related to Kansai Electric's four reactors. Many jobs also depend in some way on the plant. Kansai Electric's share price closed up almost 5.6 percent after the news, helping the benchmark Nikkei share index break a three-day losing streak.

Tokyo Electric Power Co, Japan's biggest utility and the owner of the Fukushima nuclear plant, posted on Monday an annual loss of almost $10 billion as compensation claims for the radiation disaster brought it to the brink of bankruptcy.

Reuters

Military experts begin tour

Foreign military attaches to China on Monday began a research tour to Chengdu in Sichuan province and Kunming in Yunnan province to investigate local social and military development.

Invited by the Chinese defense ministry, 67 foreign military attaches and their wives from 39 countries will visit aviation and special operation brigades in Sichuan and an academy for officials from ethnic groups in Kunming.

Similar research tours have been organized by the ministry every year to promote understanding and friendship between Chinese and foreign militaries.

Greece

Elections loom as talks rejected

Greece on Monday faced the prospect of fresh polls after failing to narrow divisions over a painful EU-IMF bailout accord as EU partners pressed for a political deal so as to avoid its exit from the euro.

Party leaders hosted by President Carolos Papoulias were to resume talks at 4:30 pm local time as eurozone finance ministers meet in Brussels, where officials insist Greece must stick to the tough austerity measures it agreed to in return for the debt rescue.

If Athens does not, and the debt accord lapses, it appears that eurozone leaders are reluctantly prepared for Greece to leave the 17-nation bloc despite fears that that outcome could destabilize the whole euro project.

Germany, the eurozone's paymaster and biggest economy, said on Monday that forming a government was the most important consideration but at the same time stressed that there could be no relaxation in the bailout terms for Greece.

Nepal

Plane crash leaves 15 dead

Fifteen passengers died on Monday when a plane carrying Indian pilgrims crashed near a treacherous high-altitude airport in northern Nepal, while six made a miraculous escape, police said.

The Agni Air plane plunged into a hill close to Jomsom near the Annapurna mountain range, police spokesman Binod Singh told AFP.

"The plane was about to land at Jomsom airport. It hit a muddy slope and the plane is now buried in the side of the hill," he said.

China Daily-AFP

An increasing number of people in Western countries view China's influence in a favorable light, according to a BBC World Service poll published on Friday.

The percentage of people in the United Kingdom who view China's influence as positive grew from 38 percent in 2011 to 57 percent in 2012. Similar increases were reported in Australia (43 to 61 percent), Canada (35 to 53 percent) and Germany (24 to 42 percent).

In the United States, the percentage of people holding negative views of China dropped from 51 percent to 46 percent during the same period, and the number of people holding positive views of the country increased from 42 to 46 percent.

Fifty percent of the people interviewed for the poll regard China as having a positive influence on the world, up 6 percentage points from 2011. The percentage of people who view China's influence as positive has increased in each of the last three years.

People from Africa, Asia and Latin American countries were more likely to have favorable opinions of China, while people in major Western countries tend to have negative opinions.

The survey was conducted for the BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan, its research partners across the world and the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland in the United States.

A total of 24,090 people from 22 countries including the US, the UK, China and Egypt were interviewed face-to-face or by telephone between Dec 6, 2011 and Feb 17.

While favorable opinions of China have increased dramatically in Western countries, some of China's neighbors and emerging countries still hold negative opinions on the country's influence on the world.

According to the poll, 64 percent of people in South Korea have a negative opinion of China, up 11 percentage points from 2011. One out of every two Japanese have negative views of the country, compared to just one out of 10 in 2011.

The trend is similar in emerging countries such as Brazil, where the percentage of people with favorable opinions of China dropped from 55 to 48 percent, and Russia (52 to 46 percent).

The more favorable image of China among Western countries shows that these countries need China more than ever to solve their economic problems, said Su Hao, an expert on international affairs with China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing.

"People from Western countries themselves have benefited from cheap Chinese products with relative good quality. The Chinese products are more appropriate to meet their needs," Su said.

"It is Chinese economic assistance to these countries and their closer economic ties with China that have improved China's popularity in these countries."

The negative opinions of China in neighboring countries is due to maritime disputes and sensitive issues such as the confrontation between a Chinese captain and South Korean coastguard officers, Su added.

China's economy is more complementary with Western countries, and more competitive with emerging markets, which explains the decrease in positive views of China in some emerging countries, said Jin Canrong, an expert on international relations with Renmin University of China.

Both Su and Jin warned that the poll is based on people's perceptual knowledge of China and does not reflect the practical ties between China and relevant countries.

zhouwa@chinadaily.com.cn

Peace council member killed

An assassin on Sunday shot dead a former high-ranking Taliban official working on reconciling Afghanistan's insurgency with the government, a fresh blow to peace efforts on the day Kabul announced it was gradually taking the lead from the US-led coalition for providing security in much of the country.

A gunman with a silenced pistol killed Arsala Rahmani as he was riding in his car in one of the capital's most secure areas near Kabul University, police said. The death of Rahmani, a top member of the Afghan peace council and a senator in parliament's upper house, dealt another setback to efforts to negotiate a political resolution to the decade-long war.

Rahmani was a former Taliban official who reconciled with the government and was active in trying to set up formal talks with the insurgents.

Greece

Coalition govt talks flounder

Critical last-ditch talks to form a coalition government in crisis-struck Greece floundered once more Sunday, leading the country one step closer to new elections, although the socialist party leader said he retained "existing but limited" optimism for a deal.

The political uncertainty has alarmed the international creditors who have given Greece billions of euros in bailout loans over the past two years, and has thrown the country's continued presence in the European Union's joint currency into serious doubt.

President Karolos Papoulias convened the heads of the parties that came in the top three spots in last Sunday's inconclusive elections, in an ultimate effort to broker an agreement after a week of talks led to deadlock.

AP

Q+A: Deng Zhonghua

Editor's note: On April 10, a Philippine warship entered waters near China's Huangyan Island, dispatched personnel to harass Chinese fishing boats and acted violently toward Chinese fishermen, infringing on China's sovereignty and triggering a monthlong impasse between the two countries. Deng Zhonghua, director of the department of boundary and ocean affairs with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gave an exclusive interview to China Daily on Friday.

A whole month has passed since the Huangyan Island incident. What efforts has China made to resolve the incident? And what has the Philippines done?

In the wake of the incident, the Chinese government immediately lodged a strong protest and made a solemn representation to the Philippines, urged due respect for China's territorial sovereignty, required an immediate stop of any infringement on China's sovereignty and called for the withdrawal of Philippine vessels. China's official ships also ensured the safety of the Chinese fishermen.

The Philippines has claimed on several occasions that it was willing to resolve the situation with diplomacy, but over the past period, the Philippines has resorted to moves that only would escalate the tension and instigate rivalry.

Some Philippine senior officials, politicians and the servicemen have frequently made harsh and sometimes even irresponsible remarks trumpeting extreme nationalist sentiment in the country. The Philippine defense minister even called on Philippine citizens to support the government's confrontation with China. The Philippines connived to set up protests and demonstrations aimed at the Chinese embassy in Manila and encouraged its overseas citizens to launch more massive protests against China.

Manila unilaterally announced the suspension of diplomatic dialogue with Beijing over the incident.

In contrast to Manila's provocation and serious infringement on China's sovereignty and the Chinese fishermen's human rights, Beijing has been unswervingly seeking a diplomatic solution to properly address the situation. Beijing sent patrol ships, rather than warships, to the island's waters to safeguard China's sovereignty and Chinese citizens' safety, in a legal and civilized manner. Beijing has been reasoning with facts in its remarks, and has never made provocative and irresponsible remarks.

Can you brief us on the current situation in the Huangyan Island's waters?

Currently, the waters are relatively peaceful. China's patrol ships are there on a regular mission, and Chinese fishermen and fishing boats are operating without being disturbed.

Both sides have their claims over the island's sovereignty. A number of Chinese scholars have refuted Manila's claims in recent articles. Can you tell us more about China's stance?

There are two indisputable facts about Huangyan Island. First, Huangyan Island has been part of China's territory since ancient times, and many historical records can prove it. It was China that first incorporated the island into its territory, and exercised jurisdiction over it. All the official maps published by Chinese governments from different historical periods marked Huangyan Island as Chinese territory, and all the official ways of naming the islands in South China Sea by the Chinese government include Huangyan Island. Through Chinese government's legislative moves in history, China succeeded in naming the island and its adjacent islets in 1935, 1947 and 1983, which again justified China's sovereignty over the island.

The waters around the island have been a traditional fishery area for Chinese fishermen, and many generations of fishermen have been fishing there. Moreover, China often conducts activities such as scientific researches facilitated by radio equipment on the island.

It is also an indisputable fact that the Philippines, for a long period of time, admitted that Huangyan Island is not part of its territory. In 1990, the Philippine ambassador to Germany said in a letter to a German radio station that Huangyan Island is not part of the Philippines' territory. The letter represents the country's official stance. Moreover, the country's Department of Environment and Natural Resources in 1994 also made it clear in an official document saying Huangyan Island is not the Philippines' territory.

Manila's rival claim over the island started in 1997, yet even all its official maps issued since 1997, including the one published in 2006, did not include the island into its territory.

Since 1997, Manila has based its territorial claim over the island on the excuse that the island is within its 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone, which is not supported by any international laws, not to mention the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The convention has never authorized any country to use the country's definition of EEZ to infringe other country's territorial sovereignty. It is quite paradoxical that Manila even swayed its claim over the island between two versions, "within the territory" and "within the EEZ". The paradox again justifies that Manila's claim is totally groundless.

Manila has persisted in raising the so-called territorial dispute before international tribunals. What's your opinion?

Raising the dispute for international tribunals is totally out of the question. We noticed that some people in the Philippines said raising the issue was not a move related to jurisdiction, but a display of Manila's "sovereignty" over the island. So we believe their motive is to fabricate a territorial dispute, which seriously infringed on China's sovereignty. Raising disputes involving another country's indisputable territory to international tribunals not only violates the ground rules of contemporary international relations, but also seriously disrupts international order. If everyone acts like this, the world will be in utter chaos.

The international community has paid great amount of attention to the development of Huangyan Island incident. What's China's next step?

Chinese fishermen, like their generations of ancestors, will continue to operate in the waters around the island. Those fishermen's dignity and lawful rights deserve respect, and the safety of their lives and properties should not be threatened and their regular fishery work should not be disrupted or even banned.

China's official ships, according to related laws, will continue to provide administration and services for the fishermen's work. China again urges the Philippines to immediately withdraw all of its vessels operating on the waters of the island, and to not disrupt the operations of Chinese fishing boats patrol vessels.

Moreover, both countries are close neighbors, and are connected in history, culture and even in blood ties. Peoples of both countries enjoy a long history of friendship, which could be traced back to China's Tang Dynasty, about 1,400 years ago.

At present, both countries have close exchanges in many regards, such as economy, trade and culture. We have a thousand reasons to protect and deepen traditional friendship between us, not to resort to any excuse to damage it.

Therefore, on the basis of ensuring China's sovereignty, we will take greatest sincerity and patience to communicate the incident with the Philippine side, and we hope that the Philippines can also take China's concerns into serious consideration and get back on the correct track of finding a diplomatic solution.

China Daily

A food company that Chinese netizens have threatened to boycott denied on Sunday having a connection with Loida Nicolas Lewis, the organizer of recent campaigns to protest China's claims on Huangyan Island.

Li Feng, the deputy general manager of Xiamen Beatrice Chain Stores Co Ltd, told China Daily that the company now has no relations with TLC Beatrice International Holdings and Lewis, the group's CEO.

According to Li, Lewis began selling her company's retail businesses in China in 2008. A businessman from Zhangzhou, Fujian province, bought all the chain stores in Xiamen.

Chinese media recently reported that Lewis, a Philippine-born American businesswoman who has led anti-China protests among Filipinos worldwide, runs a retail business in China.

Lewis, chairman and CEO of TLC Beatrice International Holdings, a multinational food company, began to operate retail convenience stores in Xiamen in 1997, and expanded the business to in other four major Chinese cities, the Chongqing Morning Post reported on Sunday.

The report aroused public anger online. Many Chinese netizens said they planned to boycott the convenience stores in support of the Chinese government's territorial claim on Huangyan Island in South China Sea.

China Daily

Japan says governor's plan to buy Diaoyu is 'independent action'

Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday called for Japan's due respect for China's core interests and major concerns as Japan's local government recently beefed up campaigns for "buying" the Diaoyu Islands.

Last month, Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said his city prefecture is negotiating with the "owner" of the islands in hope of "buying them by the end of this year". The emotional remarks and moves are believed to have overshadowed China-Japan ties.

The Tokyo Prefecture's interest in buying the Diaoyu Islands is an "independent action" irrelevant to the Noda cabinet, Noriyuki Shikata, Japanese Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Public Affairs, said in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

During his Sunday bilateral talk with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Wen reiterated China's principles and stances on issues regarding Xinjiang and the Diaoyu Islands.

Tokyo issued an entry visa to Uygur separatist leader Rebiya Kadeer on Friday to attend the World Uyghur Congress, which China sees as a separatist organization, and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei condemned the Japanese move, according to AFP.

Wen also urged Japan to follow the guidelines and spirit of the four political documents signed between the two nations, pay due respect to China's "core interests and major concerns", discretely and properly handle related issues and stick to the right direction to develop bilateral relations.

Noda said Japan "does not intend to interfere" in China's internal affairs, and is willing to focus on the bigger picture and properly handle existing issues between two countries to avoid overshadowing the bilateral relationship.

Bilateral ties have seen great development and undergone ups and downs with profound experiences and lessons since the normalization of bilateral diplomatic relations 40 years ago, Wen said.

Japan is willing to follow the guidelines and spirit of the four political documents to boost high-level exchanges, political mutual trust, cooperation and civil exchanges, Noda said. Now the bilateral ties face new opportunities for development, and both sides enjoy wider shared interests, Wen said.

Also on Sunday, Shikata, the Japanese Deputy Cabinet Secretary and a spokesman for the Japanese prime minister's office, told China Daily that Ishihara's recent campaigns for purchasing the islands, which are believed to have haunted the Noda cabinet, are "his own" and an "independent action".

The cabinet does not intend to come up with an "emotional reaction" to the islands issue, Shikata said.

Shikata declined to comment on how bilateral ties would be affected if Japan purchased the islands.

In the wake of the fifth trilateral summit meeting among China, Japan and the ROK, Japan and China are scheduled to hold their first high-level maritime talks on Tuesday in Hangzhou of eastern China.

Intensive discussions are expected to take place to achieve "better overall communication and coordination" in maritime incidents, Shikata said.

Contact the writer at zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

China, the Republic of Korea and Japan reached agreement on Sunday that they will not accept further nuclear tests or provocations from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Analysts said the united stance of major countries in the region could cool the escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula stemming from fears of the DPRK possible conducting a nuclear test.

"What is most urgent is to make all-out efforts to prevent the escalation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula," Premier Wen Jiabao said at a joint news conference with ROK President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda after the fifth trilateral meeting.

Fears of a third DPRK nuclear test have grown since a failed rocket launch by Pyongyang last month. Satellite photos have recently shown work in progress at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, Agence France-Presse reported.

"Our three countries agreed that we will not accept further nuclear tests or further provocations from (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea)," Lee told reporters, according to AFP.

Noda called on the three countries to strengthen cooperation in order to "further prevent provocations" by the DPRK, AFP said.

As major nations in Northeast Asia, China, Japan and the ROK bear a responsibility in the region, Wen said.

"We should absolutely get rid of the Cold War mentality and work hard to address issues through dialogue and negotiation, keeping in mind the legitimate security concerns of all sides," Wen said.

"All parties should give full play to their wisdom, remain patient and show their goodwill to alleviate conflict and return to the right track of dialogue and negotiations," Wen said, calling for continued efforts for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through the Six-Party Talks.

The Six-Party Talks - involving the DPRK, ROK, United States, China, Japan and Russia - opened in 2003, but stalled in December 2008. Pyongyang quit the talks in April 2009.

The DPRK attempted to launch its Kwangmyongsong-3 observation satellite on April 13 to mark the 100th birthday its founder Kim Il-sung. The long-range rocket crashed into the sea after going a short distance, and the DPRK confirmed the failure later that day.

On April 16, the United Nations Security Council issued a presidential statement condemning the launch and demanding that Pyongyang fully comply with resolutions and suspend all activities related to its ballistic missile program.

US President Barack Obama warned Pyongyang that its "old pattern of provocation" had to end and insisted that the US would not buy "good behavior" from the DPRK at a joint news conference with Noda in Washington this month.

"If the parties concerned don't refrain from their tough stances, the possibility for a war is looming large," warned Zhang Liangui, an expert on Korean studies at the Party School of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

However, the united stance adopted by the three major nations in the region is likely to defuse escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Zhang told China Daily.

"This is a solemn warning to the DPRK, which will feel more pressure, especially with China's clear attitude," said Zhang.

"Such an agreement reached now will play an active role in stabilizing the situation on the Korean Peninsula," Zhang said.

Zhang said the three countries reaching this agreement is out of their common interests related to the stability of the Korean Peninsula.

Contact the writer at chengguangjin@chinadaily.com.cn

A free-trade agreement among China, Japan and the Republic of Korea would be a major achievement in trilateral economic integration, but it needs thorough preparation, said a top official from a regional inter-governmental organization.

Negotiations among the countries were expected to begin before the annual summit, but were delayed by Seoul's reluctance, Kyodo News cited a senior official in Tokyo as saying. The parties agreed to hold talks on the agreement by the end of the year.

"The important thing is that all three parties agreed to start negotiations. Whether they start tomorrow or some other time within this year is not so important," Shin Bong-kil, the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat's secretary-general, said on Saturday in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

"We have studied this project (the FTA) for the last 10 years, and we need some more patience. The three countries have differences in their approaches to the negotiations, but mostly they agree on the necessity," he said.

Shin and his team from the TCS were in Beijing for the fifth trilateral summit meeting.

They also participated in the last meeting, which was held in September in the ROK, where the three countries also discussed FTA negotiations.

"We also talked about the TCS' role. Basically, they agree that we should explore more possibilities of active participation in this process," he said.

Established eight months ago, the TCS is an inter-governmental organization that aims to systematically push forward trilateral cooperation, Shin said.

"As a representative of the TCS, I naturally support the trilateral FTA. I think it will bring trilateral cooperation as a whole to a new high level," Shin said.

An FTA would create more opportunities for bigger trade and investment among the three countries, he added. Shin also said that he believed a trade agreement would certainly affect the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and push it to open up.

One of the major problems in FTA negotiations is the gaps in development among the three countries, Shin said. "It will take quite a long time to reach an agreement. An immediate resolution is not possible. But it is the will of solving the problems that has pushed these countries together."

Earlier this month, during a meeting of financial ministers from 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries and China, Japan and the ROK (10+3), the group agreed to double the size of their foreign reserve pool, the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization program, to $240 billion to shield the region from global financial risks.

China, Japan and the ROK also agreed at the same meeting on May 3 to increase cross-investment in government bond markets, worth nearly $15 trillion, to better protect themselves in the global financial market.

Contact the writer at maliyao@chinadaily.com.cn

In a Tinseltown love-in at George Clooney's Hollywood Hills home, the US president praised his host's support for liberal causes but also gently teased the A-list actor and Democrat supporter.

"Yesterday, we made some news," he joked about his public endorsement of gay marriage on Wednesday. "The truth is, it was a logical extension of what America's supposed to be ... Are we a country that includes everybody?"

"Does that make us stronger? I believe it does," he said to applause at the dinner in a party tent on Clooney's basketball court, beneath the trees of the wooded hillside property.

Dubbed "Starmageddon", the event at the Oscar-winning star's mansion, which united Hollywood glitz and Washington power, was aimed at swelling Obama's campaign coffers six months before he asks voters for a second term.

Around 150 well-heeled guests paid $40,000 a ticket to get into the exclusive soiree, the latest in a string of big money events as Obama builds an expensive campaign machine for his re-election and buys top dollar advertising slots.

The Obama campaign also conducted a draw for tickets, asking less wealthy supporters for contributions of at least $3 for a chance to chow down with the star of Ocean's Eleven and the US leader.

DreamWorks Animation chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, who organized the fundraiser, introduced Obama after remarks by Clooney and recalled Obama's 2008 campaign slogan: "Yes we can".

He continued: "Yes, we have. Yesterday, he did the right thing yet again" - sparking renewed cheers. Katzenberg was also overhead saying the fundraiser was set to make "close" to $15 million, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

Obama paid tribute to Clooney in remarks at the start of the evening, saying: "We raised a lot of money because everybody loves George. They like me, they love him. And rightfully so."

Referring to the iconic "Hope" poster from 2008 by Shepard Fairey, he said: "People don't realize that the photograph of me is actually me sitting next to George", who was advocating on behalf of Darfur.

"We struck up a friendship. This is the first time that George Clooney has actually been photoshopped out of a picture," he quipped.

In fact, Fairey did a poster for Clooney with both men on the same picture, Obama revealed. "Why he said at the bottom, 'Dope and Hope', I don't know", he joked.

The guest list included A-listers from Barbra Streisand and Robert Downey Jr to Jack Black, Billy Crystal and Salma Hayek, and fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg.

Obama's decision to publicly endorse gay marriage has electrified his liberal base and restored some of the transformative luster that had dimmed since his 2008 campaign.

"Pretty darn happy today. Thanks Mr President, for supporting the dignity of my family and so many others!" said actress Jane Lynch of the hit TV series Glee on her Twitter feed.

Hollywood is a traditional source of funding and adulation for Democratic presidents, though there have been persistent reports that Tinseltown feels it has not been feeling sufficient love from Obama.

Many in California remember the attention that former president Bill Clinton lavished on them. Hollywood was also a prime source of funding for Clinton's wife Hillary when she ran against Obama for the Democratic nomination in 2008.

Republicans seized on Obama's evening rubbing shoulders with the stars to claim that the "Celebrity in Chief" was out of touch with ordinary Americans.

"With middle-class Americans reeling from the effects of Obama's failed leadership, not even Hollywood magic can cover up the truth," said Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus on the blog Red State.

"With a first term this disastrous, we can't afford to see the second - because if we've learned anything from Hollywood, it's that the sequel is always worse."

Agence France-Presse

Afghan teenager Malek Mohammad balances on his hands, readies his stumps, then dives perilously into the water. The 18-year-old, whose legs were blown off by a Soviet land mine, dreams of swimming for Afghanistan in the London Paralympics.

"I hope they select me to participate in the London Games. So I am just praying," he said in Kabul.

"If I get a medal at the Olympics, it will be good for my country, for my people. Disabled people will be proud of me, my family, everyone."

Malek is one of tens of thousands of Afghan amputees, victims of three decades of war - 10 years of fighting against Soviet troops in the 1980s, civil war and the current Taliban insurgency - that have made Afghanistan one of the most heavily mined countries in the world.

In January, the United Nations estimated that in 20 years, it had dismantled more than 500,000 anti-personnel mines, 22,000 anti-tank mines and 15 million unexploded munitions.

Such weapons killed or wounded 375 people in 2011, according to the UN. Last year, homemade bombs planted by the Taliban along roads and ditches killed another 1,000 people, the world body said.

Malek's life changed forever in 2005, when he walked into a Russian mine field near Kabul airport. He stepped on one of them and landed on another that then exploded.

Malek lost both legs and any hope of a normal life in a country where ordinary life was already difficult.

When the US government's development agency, USAID, heard about his condition, it managed to get him treated in the United States, where he ended up staying for two years.

"I learned English, I learned how to swim, how to walk with (prosthetic) legs, I learned how to make friends," he said.

Malek is covered in scars. Surgeons have yet to remove all the shrapnel from his body, but his experiences in the US turned him into a huge supporter of the country, which has nearly 100,000 troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

He met former president George Bush Sr, and treasures an autographed photograph taken with him with the message: "Good luck and have a great life".

A handsome boy with a muscular chest, Malek appeared on television, and newspaper articles were written about him after he won a local swimming competition in San Diego, California, and posed for a calendar of handicapped athletes.

"Before the accident, I was nothing. I was just a child with my family. I was a bakery worker and a student," he says, fitting his US-made prosthetics decorated at the bottom with a star-spangled banner.

"I want to go higher, higher, higher."

He now has to wait to see whether the International Paralympic Committee decides to invite him - along with half a dozen other handicapped Afghan athletes - to go to the London Games, which start on Aug 29 and run until Sept 9.

Malek is hopeful of making the Afghan delegation, despite his limited preparation.

The small pool where he trains has recently opened in Kabul, but the only way he can get there is in taxis, which are expensive.

"I need support. My family is poor. We are really not rich," he said.

His mother, Sabza Gul, says she does her best.

"Sometimes Malek gets sick and because our situation is not good, I cannot give him the kind of food an athlete needs. Most of the time I feel sorry for myself and I pray to God: You have given me this son, please feed him and help him."

Kabeer Khoshbeen, an Afghan athlete with an amputated arm, believes that Malek is just weeks away from winning Afghanistan's first medal at the Paralympics and becoming a national hero.

"Disabled people - they are all waiting for him to get a medal. They hope he will become a hero."

Agence France-Presse

Costs mount as sanctuaries fight to prevent poaching

Claus Mortensen is a private Kenyan rancher with a passion - endangered rhinos - and now a mission: Save his herd from slaughter by ruthless poachers who sell their horns to Asia, where they are prized as a miracle drug.

But costs are spiraling for Mortensen and other ranchers as they battle to keep one step ahead of the hunters and guarantee the survival of rhinos, and elephants, on their expansive, remote reserves.

"Seeing a dead rhino is terrible," said Mortensen, who runs Mugie ranch, about 300 kilometers north of the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

"Mugie is located in such a remote corner that to secure it, we need many more helicopters and airplanes," he said.

Twenty rhinos were reintroduced to the 18,000-hectare sanctuary in 2004. Four years later, poachers struck, killing one animal and hacking off its horns.

"It happened again and again," said Mortensen, explaining that his work - and that of other ranchers - has changed from basic conservation to intelligence-gathering operations aimed at deterring poachers.

And the change has pushed up bills: Private ranchers have had to triple the number of rangers working their reserves. It now costs an average of $1,200 a month, up from $150, to keep one rhino alive.

"All night, all day ... you have your telephone on, radio on, next to your bed. And when somebody calls, your heart stops beating," Mortensen said.

Kenya, which has the world's third-largest rhino population - around 600 black and 300 white rhinos, is constantly battling poachers. In 2009, it suffered its worst year for rhino poaching when 12 black and six white rhinos were killed.

The illegal trade is driven by the voracious Asian and Middle Eastern demand for the animals' horns for use in traditional medicines for fevers, convulsions and as an aphrodisiac.

The horns mainly contain keratin - a substance also found in animal hooves, human nails and hair - and despite having no medicinal value, demand continues to rise.

"The increase, escalation of poaching is driven by the growing influence of the Asian economy. There is a legal market for illegal horns," said Patrick Bergin, the director of the Washington-based African Wildlife Foundation.

"It is a complex phenomenon. Poachers are from international gangs and have sophisticated arms - and they are ready to do anything," said Patrick Omondi of the state-run Kenya Wildlife Service.

A kilogram of rhino horn can cost as much as $60,000, according to KWS estimates.

The KWS has transferred 11 of Mugie's rhinos to a park near the shores of Lake Victoria, and will relocate the rest to another more secure private ranch.

Poachers have also hit Kenya's renowned rhino sanctuaries in Laikipia, on the equator in the foothills of snowcapped Mount Kenya.

"Private sanctuaries do not have enough money. They cannot afford to protect the rhinos," said Mordecai Ogadam of the Laikipia Wildlife Forum.

Agence France-Presse

A year ago, South Korean executive Chung Man-gyoo spent weekdays driving his Hyundai Grandeur sedan through the jammed streets of Seoul to his suburban office. On weekends, he drove it to the golf course.

Now, the 53-year-old fills the rear seat of the same black car with tools and fertilizer for his 4,047-square-meter farm in the rural east of the country. His golf clubs lie unused except when his wife swings them to chase stray cats away from their house.

"I don't miss life in the city at all," said Chung, who used to work for an electronics company that supplied components to Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

One of the growing number of South Koreans moving back to the countryside, Chung lives in Mungyeong, where it takes an hour by car to get to the nearest train station.

"My wife misses the pizza delivery sometimes," joked Chung, as he sat on his porch in a short-sleeved shirt, sipping juice made from the berry bushes he now tends.

"I now wake up in the morning with pleasure. I also have more time to be with my wife and talk with her. Our relationship has never been closer."

According to government statistics, 10,503 families left Korean cities in 2011 to take up farming, more than double the number in 2010. For many, the constant need to compete for jobs, promotion and space in the city was just not worth it.

"Every day, I woke up, went to work and then drank with friends and coworkers. I began asking myself: What am I doing," said Yoon Woo Jin, 32, who quit his real estate job a month ago and plans to move to the countryside with his wife.

Korea's government, which, hand-in-hand with big business, drove the rapid industrialization of the 1970s to create what is now the world's 13th-largest economy, wants to breathe life back into rural communities.

The downside of leaving the city? Farm incomes are generally markedly lower, averaging 32 million won ($27,888) per year, according to government data, against the average city income of 42 million won.

Chung used to earn about 90 million won per year in the city. His income as a farmer last year was about 20 million won. But he said it was worth it.

"You have to leave your greed behind," he said. "If you want to make a lot of money, you should stay in the city."

Reuters

Connie Chen had been expecting a meeting with Defense Minister Liang Guanglie for two weeks.

The senior at the United States Military Academy at West Point was among two dozen Mandarin-speaking cadets chosen to greet the visiting Chinese military leader on Thursday morning at the campus' Jefferson Hall Library.

"I am pretty excited," Chen told China Daily. "It's very rare."

Liang is the first Chinese defense minister to visit the US in nine years. A trip planned for 2011 was postponed after Washington announced it would sell weapons to Taiwan, a move Beijing strongly opposes.

Liang's weeklong visit was capped by Thursday's stop at West Point, the main training academy for US Army officers.

When the general arrived at the library, he shook hands with each cadet waiting in line and asked about their hometowns, Chinese-language studies and career plans. He also gave each a souvenir - a personal pin bearing his name and the insignia of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

Thursday was Liang's second visit to West Point; on his first, in 2004, he was taken with the school's advanced teaching and research capabilities.

"I was very impressed last time, so I asked to come here again," the general told the students.

West Point, whose hilly campus along the Hudson River is about an hour's drive north of New York City, has exchange programs with China's PLA University of Science and Technology in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

This time Liang brought from China a collection of books and videos, in Mandarin and English, to the library, to add to the future officers' knowledge and understanding of Chinese history, culture and military development.

The books included The Wisdom of Sun Tzu, History as a Mirror and Chinese Ancient Military Strategies.

In exchange, US Army Lieutenant General David Huntoon, superintendent of West Point, presented Liang with a shako - ceremonial headgear worn by cadets in full dress.

"We thank you very much for your effort to build mutual trust and cooperation between the United States and China," Huntoon told his guest.

"This visit is very successful and it has deepened the understanding between our two militaries, and enhanced our mutual trust and cooperation," Liang said. "We also witnessed the achievement of US military modernization."

Since May 4, the minister has visited the US Naval Base in San Diego; met with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Deputy Secretary of State William Burns in Washington; and visited military bases in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.

According to the Chinese delegation, Liang's talks with US officials covered issues including the South China Sea, cybersecurity and US military deployment in the Asia-Pacific region.

Liang expressed Beijing's will to develop a sound relationship with the US military and enhance communication and exchanges between the two sides.

He also asked his US hosts to respect Beijing's core interests and major concerns, such as arms sales to Taiwan, US surveillance flights near Chinese coastlines and controls on technology exports, which Beijing considers discriminatory.

In addition, the minister met representatives of the Flying Tigers, pilots who helped China fight Japanese forces in World War II; lunched with US Marines; and watched the training of new soldiers.

Liang's contacts and meetings with American soldiers and people show that "China cherishes the historic communication and friendship with the US side and its sincerity to promote Sino-US relations," said an officer with the foreign affairs office of the defense ministry accompanying Liang for the visit, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Liang's West Point stop wrapped up his six-day visit in the US starting on May 4, which, analysts said, has promoted trust and cooperation between the two militaries.

The visit is an implementation of the consensus reached by the two countries' leaders, and has promoted mutual trust and pragmatic cooperation between the two militaries, Xinhua quoted the officer as saying.

"It is the general trend of history that China and the US, as well as their militaries, take responsibility for peace, stability and prosperity in the region," said Wang Xinjun, a researcher on defense policies with the Academy of Military Sciences.

"Though it's impossible for China and the US to agree on every issue, dialogue between the two militaries can avoid any dangers resulting from misjudgments of each other's intentions," Wang wrote in a recently published article.

The Pacific Ocean is broad enough to hold China and the US, as well as other regional countries, said Wang, adding, "A cooperative bilateral relationship is very necessary for the security of the Asia-Pacific region and the future of the two countries."

Cheng Guangjin in Beijing contributed to this story.

Contact the writer at tanyingzi@chinadailyusa.com

Foreign ministers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization member countries gather in Beijing for a meeting hosted by Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to discuss preparations for the 12th SCO summit in Beijing in June. Jiang Dong / China Daily

Organization encouraged to stick to the 'Shanghai Spirit'

In the face of new challenges, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization should deepen cooperation to ensure mutual, reliable security for its member countries, President Hu Jintao said on Friday.

Hu made the remarks in a meeting with foreign ministers from the SCO member countries and its secretary-general. The organization has recently been preparing for the 12th SCO summit, which will be held in June in Beijing.

Hu said the SCO has become an important force in this region in the last 10 years.

Hu encouraged all member countries to stick to the "Shanghai Spirit", concentrate on security and comprehensively strengthen communication and expand cooperation in all areas to make the SCO a "reliable security mechanism and effective cooperation platform".

He added that the SCO should continue to protect the common interests of its member countries and promote regional economic development and prosperity.

Founded on June 15, 2001, the SCO includes China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

On behalf of the foreign ministers of the SCO member countries, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the council reached many important agreements during the meeting, which will be submitted for review by the leaders of each country.

"I believe the SCO summit in Beijing will be extremely fruitful and point out the direction for the organization's development," he said.

During a SCO ministerial meeting on Friday, the six countries decided to upgrade the organization's capabilities in crisis awareness and management, which will help safeguard national sovereignties and security in the areas of finance, energy and food, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said.

They also agreed to accelerate the establishment of an SCO development bank, he said.

Premier Wen Jiabao first proposed the founding of a bank to explore new ways of pursuing common benefits in 2010. The initial funding of the bank could be up to $10 billion.

Since all the members were affected by the ongoing global economic crisis, the bank could help stimulate economic recovery, said Li Xin, director of the Center for Russia and Central Asia Studies with the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.

It could also provide funding to help upgrade the outdated infrastructure of its Central Asian members, he added.

"China, which assumed the rotating presidency of the SCO last June, expects the other top leaders to officially approve this proposal during the SCO summit in Beijing this June," he said.

Konstantin Syroezhkin, chief researcher at Kazakhstan Institute for Strategic Studies, said that while the six countries understood the importance of increasing economic cooperation to combat the global recession, lack of funding and conflicting interests among the members were obstacles.

Closer cooperation on infrastructure, transportation and the establishment of a regional energy organization could help fend off future crises, he said.

The SCO also urged its members to play a constructive role in reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan, the Middle East and North Africa and called for all parties to respect the United Nations Charter, international laws, and people's independent choices in the region, Yang said.

After the United States completely withdraws from Afghanistan in 2014, members of the SCO, as a diplomatic force and security group, must continue counter-terrorism efforts and support for regional and global peace, Li said.

Contact the writers at chengguangjin@chinadaily.com.cn and zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn

Outgoing French leader Nicolas Sarkozy will face a slew of legal probes into corruption and campaign financing violations after he leaves office next week and loses his presidential immunity.

Sarkozy could face questioning as soon as mid-June because he will lose his immunity a month after his successor, Socialist Francois Hollande, is sworn in on May 15.

The outgoing leader has denied any wrongdoing in a raft of cases, but the conviction last year of his predecessor Jacques Chirac on graft charges has shown that French courts are now willing to go after former leaders.

"In the past the kind of behavior that Nicolas Sarkozy is accused of was very common, but the courts did not launch prosecutions," said Philippe Braud, a political analyst at the Paris-based Center for Political Studies.

"Things have very much changed. The courts have become more courageous."

The most immediately dangerous case for Sarkozy involves a series of overlapping inquiries surrounding alleged illegal campaign financing by L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, France's richest woman.

Magistrates are investigating claims that Bettencourt's staff handed over envelopes stuffed with cash to Sarkozy aides to finance his 2007 campaign, with her former bookkeeper testifying to one 50,000 euro ($65,000) donation.

Under France's electoral code, individual election campaign contributions may not exceed 4,600 euros.

Sarkozy and his camp have also been accused of ordering an illegal police investigation to identify an official leaking information on the Bettencourt scandal to a journalist from the newspaper Le Monde.

Judges have charged both a prosecutor close to Sarkozy and the head of France's domestic intelligence agency, Bernard Squarcini, with having illegally obtained the journalist's mobile phone logs in 2010.

Another high-profile case is the so-called "Karachi Affair", in which two close aides to Sarkozy were charged by judges investigating alleged kickbacks on a Pakistani arms deal.

In more serious but harder to prove allegations, magistrates are probing whether a 2002 Karachi bombing that killed 11 French engineers was revenge for the cancellation of bribes promised to Pakistani officials.

Claims were made that former Libyan strongman Muammar Gadafy's regime financed Sarkozy's 2007 campaign to the tune of 50 million euros, but no investigation is known to have been opened.

Sarkozy has denounced that claim as "grotesque" and said he will sue French media website Mediapart over the reports.

Agence France-Presse

The first drug shown to prevent HIV infection won the endorsement of a panel of US federal advisers, clearing the way for a landmark approval in the 30-year fight against the virus that causes AIDS.

In a series of votes on Thursday, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended approval of the daily pill Truvada for healthy people who are at high risk of contracting HIV, including gay and bisexual men and heterosexual couples with one HIV-positive partner.

The FDA is not required to follow the panel's advice, though it usually does. A final decision is expected by June 15.

Gilead Sciences Inc, based in Foster City, California, has marketed Truvada since 2004 as a treatment for people who are infected with the virus. The medication is a combination of two older HIV drugs, Emtriva and Viread. Doctors usually prescribe it as part of a drug cocktail to repress the virus.

While panelists ultimately backed Truvada for prevention, Thursday's 12-hour meeting highlighted a number of concerns created by the first drug to prevent HIV. In particular, the panel debated whether Truvada might lead to reduced use of condoms, the most reliable defense against HIV. The experts also questioned the drug's effectiveness in women, who have shown much lower rates of protection in studies.

Panelists struggled to outline steps that would ensure patients take the pill every day. In clinical trials, patients who didn't take their medication diligently were not protected, and patients in the real world are even more likely to forget than those in studies.

"The trouble is adherence, but I don't think it's our charge to judge whether people will take the medicine," said Dr Tom Giordano of Baylor College of Medicine, who voted in favor of the drug. "I think our charge is to judge whether it works when it's taken and whether the risks outweigh the benefits."

Panelists stressed that people should be tested to make sure they don't have HIV before starting therapy with Truvada. Patients who already have the virus and begin taking Truvada could develop a resistance to the drug, making their disease even more difficult to treat. The experts grappled with how to protect patients while avoiding hurdles that could discourage them from seeking treatment.

"If we put up too many hoops to jump through, there will be people who don't make it through those hoops," said Daniel Raymond, the panel's patient representative.

Truvada first made headlines in 2010, when government researchers showed it could prevent people from contracting HIV. A three-year study found that daily doses cut the risk of infection in healthy gay and bisexual men by 42 percent, when accompanied by condoms and counseling. Last year another study found that Truvada reduced infection by 75 percent in heterosexual couples in which one partner was infected with HIV and the other was not.

Because Truvada is on the market to manage HIV, some doctors already prescribe it as a preventive measure. FDA approval would allow Gilead Sciences to formally market its drug for that use.

But Truvada's groundbreaking preventive ability has exposed disagreements on prevention. While Truvada's supporters say the drug is an important new option, critics worry that the drug could give users a false sense of security and encourage risky behavior.

During the meeting's public comment period, FDA panelists heard from more than two dozen doctors, nurses and patients who said patients would not take the drug as recommended - every day, in addition to using condoms.

"Truvada needs to be taken every day, 100 percent of the time, and my experience as a registered nurse tells me that won't happen," Karen Haughey told the panel. "In my eight years, not one patient that I've cared for has been 100 percent adherent."

Other speakers worried that wide scale use of Truvada would divert limited funding from more cost-effective options. Truvada sells for about $900 a month, or just under $11,000 per year. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which opposes approval of Truvada, estimates that 20 HIV-positive patients could be treated for the cost of treating one patient with preventive Truvada.

"Truvada for prevention will squeeze already constrained healthcare resources that can be better spent on cheaper and more effective prevention therapies," the group stated in a petition to the FDA.

An estimated 1.2 million Americans have HIV, which develops into AIDS unless treated with antiviral drugs. AIDS causes the body's immune system to break down, leading to infections, which are eventually fatal.

The Associated Press

Greek Socialists ploughed ahead on Friday with talks to form a coalition government, citing some progress after indecisive weekend polls that have caused widespread unease across the eurozone.

Liberal daily Kathimerini spoke of a "slim opportunity" and pro-Socialist Ethnos said a "step forward" had been made after Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos on Thursday won the conditional support of the conservative Democratic Left (Dimar) party in negotiations to form a cabinet.

The stalemate in Greece has raised fears of political chaos that could kill off reforms and eventually force the debt-laden nation to leave the eurozone.And a poll published on Friday showed that the radical leftist Syriza party, which wants to repudiate the country's EU-IMF loan agreement and came out strongly against tough spending cuts, could emerge as the victor in repeat elections.

The poll by Marc for Alpha television gave Syriza 27.7 percent of the vote, far above their score of just less than 17 percent in last Sunday's elections, in which voters delivered an anti-austerity backlash.

More than 35 percent of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the verdict of the vote, and 62.7 percent favored the formation of a coalition government, while 32 percent called for fresh elections.

The European Union is sending a strong message that Greece must honor the bailout conditions of budget cuts and deep reforms after even mainstream parties advocated renegotiating the deal to boost growth.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in an interview published on Friday that the eurozone will cope if Greece left the currency union.

"We want Greece to remain in the eurozone," he told the regional Theinische Post. "But it also has to want this and to fulfill its obligations. We can't force anyone. Europe won't sink that easily."

Creditors have also warned that a rescue loan instalment that was paid on Thursday could be the last if Athens reneges on its reform commitments, raising questions over Greece's future in the 17-member eurozone.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Friday that Greece would get no more money without reforms.

Venizelos on Friday met briefly with Antonis Samaras, the leader of the New Democracy conservative party which topped lists in the elections.

"We have made a first step" on forming a cabinet, Venizelos said on Thursday, adding that there had been a "good omen" in his meeting with Dimar leader Fotis Kouvelis.

Venizelos, whose party came a distant third at the polls, winning 41 seats in the 300-seat parliament, had earlier said he wanted to create a unity government.

The European economy is forecast to begin recovering later this year and gather speed in 2013, European Commission officials in Brussels said on Friday. The forecast comes nearly two years after Europe's debt turmoil started and four years after its financial crisis began.

The European economy remains "extraordinarily fragile" because the risk of a renewed aggravation of the crisis is still present, officials said.

Politicians and analysts agreed that the European Union and its common currency were being challenged like never before, especially against the backdrop of elections in France and Greece.

On Friday, Brussels said that real GDP this year was projected to stagnate in the EU and to contract by 0.3 percent in the eurozone. For 2013, growth is forecast at 1.3 percent in the EU and 1.0 percent in the eurozone.

Unemployment is expected to remain high in 2012, at 10 percent in the EU and 11 percent in the euro area. Inflation is set to moderate gradually as the impact of higher oil prices and tax increases fades away.

Fiscal consolidation is forecast to progress, with public deficits in 2013 declining to 3.3 percent in the EU and just below 3 percent in the eurozone. It also said that the economic situation differs considerably across member states, in view of the ongoing adjustment to the large disparities in external positions and structural conditions that have come to the fore over the last few years.

Brussels said that Poland is set to register the highest economic growth in the EU in 2012, despite a moderate slowdown, and will maintain the pace in 2013.

Olli Rehn, European Commission vice-president for economic and monetary affairs and the euro, said: "A recovery is in sight, but the economic situation remains fragile, with large disparities across member states."

Rehn also said the EU is witnessing an ongoing adjustment of the fiscal and structural imbalances built up before and after the onset of the crisis, made worse by still weak economic sentiment. Without further determined action, however, "low growth in the EU could remain," he said.

Rehn said sound public finances are the condition for lasting growth, and building on the new strong framework for economic governance, Brussels must support the adjustment by accelerating stability and growth-enhancing policies.

The London-based consultancy company, Exclusive Analysis, said the current elections in France and Greece may have an impact on Europe's economic situation.

Exclusive Analysis said French President-elect Francois Hollande is likely to focus on domestic policy until after the parliamentary elections in June. Eurozone policy and the relationship with German Chancellor Angela Merkel are not likely to be his priorities until after then, given the political sensitivity of the austerity debate.

"But he will have to intervene, at least orally, as Greece's political crisis affects its bailout program in June. This is likely to make for a tense Franco-German relationship for the next three months," the company's latest report said.

The company also said that in Greece, another round of elections is likely. One scenario is that New Democracy and PASOK will be able to get a thin majority in June, if they frame the vote as a referendum on Greece staying in the euro. But this does not remove the fact that they will still find it politically difficult to implement deeper cuts in their austerity plans as requested by the International Monetary Fund and the EU.

The latest developments in Europe have triggered debates among politicians on Europe's future. The European Parliament debated the achievements and the challenges facing the EU in the midst of the current crisis on Wednesday.

On that day in 1950, French minister Robert Schuman made a historic declaration that paved the way for the EU.

In the debate, led by European Parliament President Martin Schulz called for courage in the face of the crisis and reminded everyone that Europe was built in "a quiet revolution" in the aftermath of a war between its nations.

"Yet why is the current crisis, like a centrifugal force, driving us apart rather than binding us more closely together?" he asked. He warned that the euro was in danger of becoming "a symbol of national egotisms or even division".

Schulz said that if budget discipline is essential, so is growth: "Only together can we act to prevent the economic decline of Europe and halt unemployment."

Joseph Daul, French leader of the Christian-Democrat group, emphasized that reducing debt and stimulating growth should not be considered separately. He added that investments in growth could not be made by increasing expenditure. Instead, he said, the EU should aim to achieve growth by making its economies more competitive.

"This can be done through completing the single market, investing in research and development, reducing red tape and freeing up small and medium-sized enterprises," said Daul.

Hannes Swoboda, the Austrian leader of the Social-Democrat group, said there was a need to think about the construction and reconstruction of Europe: "The austerity budget is undermining public investment, instead of creating growth and jobs, especially for young people who are the victims of mass unemployment," said Swoboda.

Contact the writer at fujing@chinadaily.com.cn

During their meeting with visiting Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Premier Wen Jiabao and Vice-Premier Li Keqiang called for an early start to negotiations on a bilateral free trade agreement.

Wen also said China encourages its companies to participate in infrastructure construction and resource development in the Latin American nation.

Santos is on a five-day visit to China that started on Tuesday.

China and Colombia share broad common interests, Li said, urging the two sides to implement the consensus reached between the leaders of the two nations.

Nine deals were signed on Wednesday after talks between Santos and President Hu Jintao, including partnerships in the fields of energy, mining and agriculture as well as a plan to jointly study the feasibility of a bilateral free trade agreement.

Colombia is rich in natural resources, and has an important geopolitical location in Latin America, Li said.

Li called for the two countries to deepen economic ties as well as enlarge and balance bilateral trade. He said it is necessary to carefully study the feasibility of a free trade agreement, which can promote cooperation between companies from each country.

China's energy cooperation with Latin America began as early as 1993, but it has only just begun working with Colombia, where security concerns had been an obstacle in the past, analysts said.

"Colombia has made huge security strides since Santos became president," said Qi Fengtian, an expert on Colombian studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"The country is safer than people generally think, and the investment environment has improved a lot since security is much better now," Qi said.

In 2011, Sino-Colombian trade reached $8.2 billion, a 39 percent increase over the previous year, making China Colombia's second-largest trading partner after the United States.

"I see great prospects for both countries to cooperate on agribusiness because of China's strong demand for grains and Colombia's potential to increase agricultural production," Santos said at the Colombia-China Trade and Investment Forum on Thursday morning.

Colombian Agriculture Minister Juan Carlos Restrepo added that the small amount of foreign investment in agriculture - less than 1 percent of the country's FDI in 2011 - means there are great business opportunities for Chinese investors.

Restrepo added that the widening of the Panama Canal will mean growth in agricultural trade, especially meat, with China.

Colombia's infrastructure development also requires large amounts of foreign investment, and China has rich experience in funding overseas infrastructure projects, Santos said.

"Underdeveloped infrastructure is now the bottleneck of Colombian economic growth. We have great demand for highways, railways, canals and airports, and China means opportunity to Colombia. We are planning to build the railway network to transport coal and mineral resources for export," said German Cardona Gutierrez, minister of transport of Colombia.

Wang Yongsheng, vice-president of China Development Bank, said the bank will provide loans for Chinese companies investing in Colombia's energy, mining and infrastructure sectors.

Wang Chenyan contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at chengguangjin@chinadaily.com.cn and lijiabao@chinadaily.com.cn

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi meets his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Thursday. Lavrov is in Beijing to attend a meeting of foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Jiang Dong / China Daily

China and Russia will strengthen their comprehensive strategic partnership, which is completely in the interests of the two countries, foreign ministers from both sides said on Thursday.

The frequent high-level exchanges will further facilitate China-Russia ties in politics, the economy and culture, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Lavrov started his visit to China on Thursday to make preparations for newly-elected President Vladimir Putin's upcoming trip to China, and attend a meeting of foreign ministers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi called for more coordination between the two countries to enhance development and regional stability.

Both sides agreed to raise the quality of cooperation in the fields of trade, direct investment, energy, high-tech, and especially, strategic large projects, according to Yang.

"I believe that Russia's development and China-Russia ties will keep a good momentum under the new leadership of Putin," Yang said.

In 2011, bilateral trade volume between China and Russia reached about $80 billion, a 42.7 percent year-on-year increase. The number is expected to hit $100 billion in 2015 and $200 billion in 2020, a target set by both Chinese and Russian leaders.

Russia, a large energy exporter, has largely recovered from the global recession, and the country's economy has greatly benefited from increases in the price of oil, Qu Xing, director of the China Institute of International Studies, told Chinese media.

Sergei Minenko, general representative of Irkutsk regional government of Russia in China, said China-Russia relations will continue to develop in a stable manner since Putin's and Medvedev's strategy has not changed.

"Their political directions are consistent," Minenko said.

Due to Putin's desire for a powerful country and the overlapping interests between China and Russia, Putin will continue his friendly diplomacy to China, just as he had stated before the election, Pan Lide, a Russian studies expert with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Chinese media earlier.

There's great potential for bilateral cooperation in anti-drug trafficking, counter-terrorism and energy development in the Far East region, Pan said.

Lavrov also stressed the importance of mutual understanding between the people of the two countries. Lavrov on Thursday morning spoke at an opening ceremony for the museum of liberation of northeastern China from Japanese invaders in 1945 in Dalian of northeast China's Liaoning province.

The brotherhood, like the one shared by the Chinese and Russian peoples during the World War II, could lay a solid foundation for closer bilateral ties, Lavrov said.

Contact the writers at zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn and wanghuazhong@chinadaily.com.cn

Two suicide car bombs ripped through the Syrian capital on Thursday, killing 55 people and shaving the facade off a military intelligence building in the deadliest explosions since the country's uprising began 14 months ago, the Interior Ministry said.

More than 370 people also were wounded in the attack, according to the ministry, which is in charge of the country's internal security.

There was no claim of responsibility for Thursday's attack on a military intelligence headquarters. But an al-Qaida-inspired group has claimed responsibility for several large explosions targeting mostly security facilities since last December, raising fears that extremist groups are entering Syria's conflict and exploiting the chaos.

Thursday's explosions, which ripped the facade off the intelligence building, went off at about 7:50 am when employees are usually arriving at work. The building is part of a broader military compound for a feared section of the intelligence services known as the Palestine Branch.

A China Daily reporter at the scene saw some student bags scattered among the debris near the building. The explosions left a crater around 3 meters deep in the front of the heavily damaged building.

The Syrian government blamed "terrorists" and said dozens were killed or wounded, most of them civilians.

Major General Robert Mood, the Norwegian head of the UN's ceasefire monitors in the country, toured the site and said the Syrian people do not deserve this "terrible violence".

"It is not going to solve any problems," he said, when asked what his message was to those who are carrying out such attacks. "It is only going to create more suffering for women and children."

Central Damascus has been struck by several bomb attacks, often targeting security installations or convoys. The latest major explosion in the capital occurred on April 27 when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives belt near members of the security forces, killing at least nine people and wounding 26.

Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi posted a message on his Facebook page urging people to go to hospitals to donate blood, saying that Thursday's blast "might be the strongest" of a wave of explosions that have hit Damascus since late December.

Thursday's bombings were among the deadliest since such spectacular attacks started in 2011, with a double suicide bombing of a Damascus security building that killed at least 44 people. Fresh attacks have followed in other cities, including Idlib in the north and Aleppo, Syria's largest city and long considered an Assad stronghold.

Most of the attacks target state security offices and occur early morning.

The government blames the bombings on the terrorists it says are behind the anti-Assad uprising. Opposition leaders and activists routinely blame the regime for orchestrating the attacks, saying they help it demonize the opposition and maintain support among those who fear greater instability.

A shadowy group called the Al-Nusra Front has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks in statements posted on military websites. Little is known about the group, though Western intelligence officials say it could be a front for al-Qaida's Iraq branch.

Violence condemned

International mediator Kofi Annan condemned deadly twin bomb explosions in Damascus on Thursday and called on Syrian forces and opposition fighters to halt the bloodshed in line with an agreed month-old cease-fire.

Annan said in a statement issued in Geneva: "These abhorrent acts are unacceptable and the violence in Syria must stop."

"Any action that serves to escalate tensions and raise the level of violence can only be counter-productive to the interests of all parties," he said. China hopes that all parties will honor the cease-fire, said Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Thursday.

AP-Reuters-China Daily

The flame that will burn during the London Games was lit at the birthplace of the Ancient Olympics on Thursday, heralding the start of a torch relay that will culminate with the opening ceremony on July 27.

Actress Ino Menegaki, dressed as a high priestess, stood before the 2,600-year-old Temple of Hera, and after an invocation to Apollo, the ancient Greeks' Sun God, used a concave mirror to focus the sun's rays and light a torch.

The triangular torch is designed to highlight the fact that London is hosting the Olympics for the third time. It also staged the games in 1908 and 1948.

Under bright sunny skies there was no need for the backup flame that was used during the final rehearsal for the Olympic torch lightning a day earlier.

After the choreographed ceremony, the priestess handed the flame to the first torchbearer, Greek swimmer and Olympic silver medalist Spyros Gianniotis.

The 32-year-old Gianniotis, the Liverpool-born son of a Greek father and a British mother, is the first in a line of 490 torchbearers to carry the flame across 2,900 kilometers on Greek soil before the flame will handed over to London organizers on May 17 in Athens.

Gianniotis then handed over the torch to 19-year-old Alex Loukos, born of a Greek father and British mother and raised in the east London borough of Newham next to the Olympic Park.

"It is an unbelievable honor to be a torchbearer ... especially carrying the flame in Olympia and representing the city of London," Loukos said. "I have grown up with London 2012 - from helping with the bid in Singapore when I was 12, to witnessing the incredible regeneration of my home in East London."

The final torchbearers for the Greek relay will be two veteran athletes: Greek weightlifter and three-time Olympic gold medalist Pyrros Dimas - who was elected a Socialist member of Parliament last Sunday - and former Chinese gymnastics champion Li Ning.

From Greece, the flame will travel to Britain for a 70-day torch relay covering a further 12,800 km across the UK.

The Associated Press

Rescuers discovered bodies on Thursday near the shattered wreckage of a new Russian-made passenger plane that smashed into the steep side of an Indonesian volcano during a flight to impress potential buyers. All 45 people on board were feared dead.

Due to the remoteness of the crash site, the bodies will be placed in nets and lifted by ropes to a hovering chopper, national search and rescue agency spokesman Gagah Prakoso said. They will be evacuated to the capital, Jakarta, for identification by family members.

"So far we haven't found any survivors, but we are still searching," he said, as more soldiers, police and volunteers hiked through the mist-shrouded slopes toward the wreck.

"I cannot say anything about the condition of the bodies," said Prakoso, but he added: "A high-speed jet plane hit the cliff, exploded and tore apart."

The Sukhoi Superjet-100 - Russia's first new model of passenger jet since the fall of the Soviet Union two decades ago - was in Indonesia as part of a six-nation tour of Asia aimed at drumming up new customers.

It was carrying dozens of representatives from Indonesian airlines and journalists on what was supposed to be a quick, 50-minute demonstration flight on Wednesday. Some excited passengers snapped pictures of themselves smiling and waving in front of the twin-engine jet before liftoff, quickly posting them as their profiles on Facebook and Twitter.

Just 21 minutes after taking off from a Jakarta airfield, however, the Russian pilot and co-pilot asked air traffic control for permission to drop from 3,000 meters to 1,800 meters, said Daryatmo, chief of the national search and rescue agency.

They gave no explanation, dropping off the radar immediately afterward.

It was not clear why the crew asked for the shift in course, he said, especially when they were so close to the 2,200-meter volcano, or if they got the OK.

Communication tapes will be reviewed as part of the investigation.

Soon after, they hit the jagged ridge on top of Mount Salak, a long-dormant volcano, leaving a giant earthy gash along the steep slope as it stripped trees.

Family members, many of whom spent a long, sleepless night at the airport, broke down in tears on hearing news that the wreckage had been spotted, first by helicopter, then by land search-and-rescue teams.

Others stared blankly ahead in disbelief.

The Associated Press

Obama gambles on gay marriage

US President Barack Obama took a calculated gamble and stepped into the political unknown on Wednesday with his firm public backing for gay marriage, after a long period of personal soul searching.

Obama's move, in an interview with ABC News, sent seismic waves through pre-election politics and sparked immediate speculation as to whether he had hindered his chances of winning a second term in November.

But it also led his election foe Mitt Romney and his Republicans onto tricky ground, as the party's social conservative base opposes same sex marriage, even as it becomes quickly more accepted across the broader political spectrum.

Greece

Power-sharing talks continue

Socialist leader and former finance minister Evangelos Venizelos has received the mandate to seek partners for a coalition government, after weekend elections produced a deadlocked result.

Venizelos, who received the mandate from the country's president on Thursday, has a maximum of three days to seek a deal. He is the third party leader to try to find an agreement. Antonis Samaras, whose conservative New Democracy won the most votes, and runner-up Radical Left Coalition leader Alexis Tsipras, have already tried and failed to reach agreement.

AFP-AP

Forty years have passed since the massacre of Israeli athletes

It began as a glorious late summer's day: Clear blue sky, shorts and shirt-sleeve kind of weather. Sunlight twinkled off the acrylic glass at the Olympic stadium. Tourists lounged beneath the umbrellas of outdoor cafes, chatting and sipping beer.

The scene in Munich's Olympic Park on Sept 5, 1972, was idyllic, except for a helicopter from the German border police circling over buildings of the nearby village where the athletes lived.

If you shaded your eyes, squinted against the blinding sunlight and knew where to look, you could just make out the images of armed uniformed German police standing on the buildings. Turn away and the horror of what was unfolding seemed to disappear.

Forty years later, the stark images of what became known as the Munich Massacre remain seared in my memory.

Eight Palestinian gunmen from the Black September organization had broken into the Olympic Village. There they seized 11 Israeli athletes, coaches and officials in their apartments.

Two of the hostages were slain in the first moments. By the end of the day, the nine other Israeli hostages and all but three of the gunmen would be dead. The stain of that terrible day would remain for decades - on the city of Munich, on German officials and on the Olympic movement's leadership, which tried to downplay the tragedy.

My wife and I were there, among the tens of thousands of people who had come to Munich that day to take part in what the Germans had advertised as the "friendly Olympics".

We'd heard about the hostage-taking on Armed Forces Radio before leaving our home in Augsburg, a city just northwest of Munich where I was stationed in the US Army. We decided to go anyway. We'd won discount tickets for a football match in a lottery for American soldiers and had planned to attend with two other couples.

There had been no announcement that events would be canceled. As a lieutenant I was earning less than $500 a month, and we didn't want to waste the price of the ticket, even at discount rates.

Once we got there, the decision seemed a wise one. Despite the tension around the building where the hostages were being held, everywhere else things seemed pretty normal. At the Olympic Park, there were no security checkpoints, no looks of fear or apprehension among the crowd and no sense of alarm, except around the athletes' quarters. And those were off-limits to spectators anyway.

A few policemen ambled among the crowds. But there were no signs of the extra security that today, in the post-9/11 world, is standard.

In an era before the Internet, before smartphones and before 24-hour news cycles, there was little tension in the air. No one was huddling over a radio trying to follow events.

The only sign of trouble was the helicopter and armed police on the rooftop. It was hard to find a clue that anything was wrong. And that's the way the president of the International Olympic Committee, Avery Brundage, wanted it.

The 84-year-old philanthropist and art collector resisted calls to suspend the games and hoped the German authorities could resolve the crisis quickly, without more bloodshed. As hours passed with no resolution, the party outside the Olympic Village rolled on.

Coming less than 30 years after World War II ended, the choice of Munich as a venue had been controversial from the outset. More than most German cities, Munich had been closely associated with the rise of the Nazi Party. The first concentration camp, Dachau, was located on Munich's outskirts, and the Israeli team had visited the site just before the opening ceremony.

It was the first time Germany had hosted the Summer Games since the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, which were presided over by a confident and increasingly menacing Adolf Hitler. Hoping for redemption, the Germans had promoted a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. Instead, the 1972 Summer Games will always be remembered as "the Munich Massacre".

The Associated Press

Maurice Sendak, the children's book author and illustrator who saw the sometimes dark side of childhood in books such as Where the Wild Things Are, died early Tuesday. He was 83.

Longtime friend and caretaker Lynn Caponera said she was with him when Sendak died at a hospital in Danbury, Connecticut. She said he had a stroke on Friday and never regained consciousness.

Where the Wild Things Are earned Sendak a prestigious Caldecott Medal for the best children's book of 1964 and became a hit movie in 2009. Former president Bill Clinton awarded Sendak a National Medal of the Arts in 1996 for his vast portfolio of work.

Sendak didn't limit his career to a safe and successful formula of conventional children's books, though it was the pictures he did for wholesome works such as Ruth Krauss' A Hole Is To Dig and Else Holmelund Minarik's Little Bear that launched his career.

Where the Wild Things Are, about a boy named Max who goes on a journey - sometimes a rampage - through his own imagination after he is sent to bed without supper, was quite controversial when it was published, and his quirky and borderline scary illustrations for E.T.A. Hoffmann's Nutcracker did not have the sugar coating featured in other versions.

Sendak also created costumes for ballets and staged operas, including the Czech opera Brundibar, which he also put on paper with collaborator Pulitzer-winning playwright Tony Kushner in 2003.

He designed the Pacific Northwest Ballet's Nutcracker production that later became a movie shown on television, and he served as producer of various animated TV series based on his illustrations, including Seven Little Monsters, George and Martha and Little Bear.

But despite his varied resume, Sendak accepted and embraced the label "kiddie-book author".

"I write books as an old man, but in this country you have to be categorized, and I guess a little boy swimming in the nude in a bowl of milk (as in In the Night Kitchen) can't be called an adult book," he told The Associated Press in 2003.

"So I write books that seem more suitable for children, and that's OK with me. They are a better audience and tougher critics. Kids tell you what they think, not what they think they should think."

During that 2003 interview, Sendak felt as if he were part of a dying breed of illustrators who approached their work as craftsmen. "I feel like a dinosaur. There are a few of us left. (We) worked so hard in the 1950s and 1960s, but some have died and computers pushed others out."

Sendak, who did his work in a studio at the Ridgefield, Connecticut, home he moved into in the early 1960s, never embraced high-tech toys. He did, however, have a collection of Mickey Mouse and other Walt Disney toys displayed throughout the house.

When director Spike Jonze made the movie version of Where the Wild Things Are, Sendak said he urged the director to remember his view that childhood isn't all sweetness and light. And he was happy with the result.

"In plain terms, a child is a complicated creature who can drive you crazy," Sendak told the AP in 2009. "There's a cruelty to childhood, there's an anger. And I did not want to reduce Max to the trite image of the good little boy that you find in too many books."

Sendak's own life was clouded by the shadow of the Holocaust. He had said that the events of World War II were the root of his raw and honest artistic style.

Born in 1928 and raised in Brooklyn, Sendak said he remembered the tears shed by his Jewish-Polish immigrant parents as they'd get news of atrocities and the deaths of relatives and friends. "My childhood was about thinking about the kids over there (in Europe). My burden is living for those who didn't," he said.

The Associated Press

China and Colombia signed nine deals on Wednesday to boost cooperation in areas including energy, agriculture and trade, as the two countries are expecting to open a new chapter in their relationship.

One-third of the deals are in the energy and mining sectors, while the others involve economic and trade, agriculture, quality inspection, water conservancy and cultural cooperation.

Analysts said that as China is trying to diversify its energy sources and has good political ties with the oil and coal-rich Colombia, bilateral energy cooperation has a promising future.

The two countries also signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the joint study of the feasibility of a bilateral free trade agreement.

Sino-Colombian cooperation has "strong vitality and broad space for development", President Hu Jintao told visiting Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

Hu said China has always seen Colombia as China's "good friend and good partner in Latin America".

The two countries should increase trade and two-way investment and enlarge cooperation in areas including infrastructure, energy, mining, water conservancy, telecommunication and agriculture, Hu said.

Financial institutes in the two countries should expand business exchanges and provide financial services for bilateral economic, trade, and technical cooperation, Hu said.

China is ready to have closer coordination and cooperation with Colombia on international and regional issues, he said, and to jointly tackle global challenges and promote the comprehensive development of Sino-Latin-American relations.

Santos, who began a five-day visit to China on Tuesday, hailed the sound development of bilateral ties in recent years and said Colombia sees China as an important partner and hopes to add to the cooperation with China.

He said he hopes the two countries will strengthen cooperation in areas including the economy and trade, investment and agriculture.

Colombia will create favorable conditions to attract investment from Chinese companies and cooperation in areas including infrastructure, energy and resources, Santos said.

He said Colombia has a positive attitude toward bilateral negotiations on a free-trade agreement.

Colombia is ready to play an active role in promoting China's relations with Latin America, he said.

In a speech at Peking University earlier in the day, Santos said Colombia would like to serve as a platform for China and American countries to enter one another's markets.

In 2011, Sino-Colombian trade reached $8.2 billion, a 39 percent increase over the previous year, making China Colombia's second-largest trading partner, after the United States.

He Shuangrong, a professor with the Institute of Latin American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Colombia has been looking toward Asia, especially China, since Santos took office in 2010.

"The current Colombian government believes in free trade and welcomes foreign investment," He said. "Such a policy means opportunity."

Bilateral cooperation in energy has a promising future because China is trying to diversify its energy sources and has good political ties with Colombia, said Xia Yishan, a senior expert on energy strategies and a researcher at the China Institute of International Studies.

The two countries supplement each other's needs, because Colombia must export energy to support its infrastructure construction, Xia said.

Santos will visit Shanghai, China's economic hub, on Thursday and meet business leaders from both countries there on Friday.

Zhao Shengnan contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at chengguangjin@chinadaily.com.cn and wangchenyan@chinadaily.com.cn

China wants to strengthen its exchanges and cooperation with Japan in various ways and hopes Japan will take steps to properly and prudently deal with troublesome issues that exist between the two countries, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Wednesday.

Wen made the remarks during a meeting with former Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda at the 30th Annual Plenary Meeting of the InterAction Council, which was slated in Tianjin from Wednesday to Saturday.

Tokyo's disputes with Beijing over which country holds sovereignty over China's Diaoyu Islands have given rise to frequent disputes between the two countries. Last month, Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara said his city prefecture is negotiating with the "owner" of the islands in the hope of "buying them by the end of this year".

At the council, Wen reiterated the guiding principles outlined in a fourth bilateral political document guiding relations between the two countries, saying "the two countries should treat each other as long-term cooperative partners and support each other's peaceful development".

The document was signed by President Hu Jintao and Fukuda in May 2008.

The majority of Japanese believe that relations between China and Japan are important and that their interests are interdependent, Fukuda said. He said the countries should move their relationship in the right direction and cooperate with each other in a way that provides for their long-term interests.

He also thanked China for giving aid to Japan after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck the country in March 2011.

Also on Wednesday, Wen called for the formation of closer ties when he met with Goh Chok Tong, Singaporean emeritus senior minister; Jean Chretien, former Canadian prime minister; and Abdullah Badawi, former Malaysian prime minster.

The InterAction Council is an independent international organization that counts more than 30 former heads of states or heads of government as its members. The members meet regularly to come up with recommendations for how the world might overcome some of its political, economic and social troubles.

Perhaps most notably, the organization drafted the 1997 Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities - a document meant as a counterbalance to the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights - as well as the recent Hiroshima Declaration, a plea for the abolishment of nuclear weapons.

The meeting's topics this year will include the global financial crisis, global security and the global water crisis.

The council is having greater influence on the world, Vice-President Xi Jinping said during a meeting with members of the group in Beijing on Wednesday morning.

China has played an important role on the international stage, and the way it deals with various world troubles could be taken as an example by the rest of the world, said former West German chancellor Helmut Schmidt.

In a world going through large changes and adjustments, China will continue to work for global prosperity and stability, Xi said.

Contact the writers at zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn and lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn

Beijing on Wednesday warned Manila not to "further harm bilateral relations" in response to Manila's repeated provocations, which have worsened the month-long Huangyan Island impasse.

Analysts said upcoming anti-China demonstrations, encouraged by the Philippines, will increase tension and hostility between peoples of both countries.

The Philippine side recently urged both its domestic public and overseas citizens to launch protests and demonstrations aimed at China, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

A Philippine civic organization also announced plans to hold a series of protests on Friday in front of Chinese embassies and consulates in some major cities worldwide, according to the Philippine television network ABS-CBN.

"Such moves have triggered a strong response from Chinese people, both domestic and overseas. China calls on the Philippines not to further harm bilateral relations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at Wednesday's daily news conference.

The Philippine side made a series of tough remarks in regard to the island incident and inflamed the public mood in the Philippines, which "seriously damaged the atmosphere of bilateral relations", Hong said in response to questions about the possibility of further escalation.

Yang Baoyun, a professor of Southeast Asia studies at Peking University, warned that Manila's decision to stir up nationalist feelings within the country is to seek greater support from voters at the cost of China-Philippine bilateral relations.

"The Philippine government is trying to play up the island dispute to shift the focus of its public from the domestic economic downturn and other instabilities," Yang said.

China's embassy in the Philippines has issued a safety alert for Chinese enterprises and nationals in the country ahead of massive protests against China.

The embassy's notice said that "massive anti-China demonstrations" are about to happen within days, and Chinese nationals are advised to be on alert and avoid going out, according to the Tuesday notice issued by the embassy's economic and commercial section.

It also urges Chinese nationals to stay away from protesters, keep a low profile and abide by local laws.

Beijing is still willing to show the "greatest sincerity" to resolve the island impasse through diplomacy with Manila, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Tuesday.

"We have a thousand reasons to ensure and develop the bilateral traditional friendship," Deng Zhonghua, director of the department of boundary and ocean affairs with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in an interview with Phoenix TV.

Deng reiterated that the island has been China's indisputable territory since ancient time, and the waters around the island have been Chinese fishermen's traditional fishery.

Philippine media on Tuesday said that Filipino fishermen told the local government that Chinese vessels were preventing them from fishing inside the island's lagoon.

"Our fishermen and fishing boats' safety must be ensured, our fishermen's dignity should not be offended and their regular fishery operations should not be interrupted or blocked," Deng said.

Philippine vessels were reportedly still in China's territorial waters on Wednesday.

Joint drilling request

Beijing on Wednesday reacted positively to a Philippine mineral company's request to jointly develop oil and gas resources at Liyue Bank of Nansha with China National Offshore Oil Corp.

Hong reiterated that Liyue Bank is a part of China's Nansha Islands, over which China enjoys indisputable sovereignty.

Any unilateral development by the Philippine side will violate China's rights and interests, Hong said.

"Beijing is willing to talk with Manila about the joint development, and the key is that the Philippine side should be sincere," the spokesman added.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

Media from China and Africa must cooperate to provide a perspective that can counter inaccurate reports from dominant Western sources, experts said on Tuesday at the International Seminar on International Media Coverage of China-Africa Relations.

Chinese and African media cannot rely on Western media outlets, which sometimes make misleading reports on Sino-African ties based on the personal values of reporters or motivated by the company's drive for profit, said Yang Guang, an expert on African studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Chinese and African media should further promote communication between media staff members and send more reporters to work in Africa and China by themselves, said Wang Nan, a researcher from the China Chahar Institute.

Most voices on Sino-African ties do not come from Chinese or African media, so it is essential to develop media cooperation, said Zhang Yonghong, a professor from Yunnan University.

Zhang said 90 percent of reports on African affairs are from Western media, while Western media accounts for 75 percent of the 300 main media outlets around the world.

It is necessary to improve the professional skills of media staff members from China and Africa, said Liu Shuiming, deputy director-general of the international department of People's Daily.

"Chinese and African media should be more careful when reprinting stories reported by Western media," Liu said, adding reporters and editors from China and Africa should verify the information used in reports from Western media.

Considering Chinese and African media cannot exchange reporters at the moment because of high costs, experts suggested media outlets recruit local media professionals.

"It is a good idea," said Jacob Jomogoa, a Kenya media professional working for Chinese radio station China Radio International, when asked whether he is for the idea of local recruitment. "Local people surely have more advantages when doing local reports, especially those who are familiar with China," he added.

Jomogoa's colleague Ronald Mutie agreed with him, saying that local reporters like himself are eager to come to China to get a deeper understanding of the country and the Communist Party of China.

Experts also warned about difficulties for media working in each other's countries.

Zhang Ping, editor of the Social Sciences in China Press, warned the media staff members about the differences in values between China and African countries.

"The values from African countries are more similar to Western values," she added.

"The way to do reporting where I come from is different from here," said Mandy Rossouw, a correspondent from Media 24, a South African publishing group based in Johannesburg, adding that she and her colleagues focus more on telling the readers "how bad the situation is".

Despite the differences, Rossouw still expected Chinese reporters to work in Africa.

"I would like to read the stories written by them, because they may report a different angle," Rossouw said after visiting the offices of China Daily's website in Beijing with other African media representatives.

zhouwa@chinadaily.com.cn

Kofi Annan says plan could be last chance to avoid civil war

Syria is fully committed to the United Nations peace mission inside the country, and is not on the fringe of civil war, a senior Syrian diplomat said.

"The more observers on the ground the better for us, because (UN-Arab League envoy) Kofi Annan will see the reality through the observer's eyes, not through some security members' eyes who want to politicize the mission," Jihad Makdissi, spokesman of the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told China Daily.

Annan on Tuesday gave a briefing to the UN Security Council, saying that the six-point peace plan he has proposed could be the "last chance to avoid civil war" in Syria.

He said the violence continues in Syria, and he was particularly concerned that torture, mass arrests and other human rights violations were "intensifying".

He also told the council that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad bore the "primary responsibility" for ending the military campaign.

But Makdissi said Annan's peace plan requires a cease-fire from all sides, not just the Syrian government.

"The problem is who has leverage on those militants?" he said. "As we can only speak on behalf of the government, we will commit to the mission and hope Mr Annan will succeed because (peace) is in the interests of the Syrian government."

Makdissi said the UN Security Council is the strongest tool available to solve the crisis, and council members should be more vocal about the transfer of weapons into the country.

The biggest challenges ahead are stopping the violence and revitalizing the economy, which has been severely affected by international powers, he said.

"The sanctions actually are against the normal Syrian people rather than political pressures," he said. "For instance, the sanction of banning buying spare parts of airplanes has directly threatened the life of civilians."

If the peace plan fails, Syria will continue political reforms and let the people decide the future of the country, Makdissi said.

"Mistrust between opposition groups and the government has hindered the process," said Bassam Abu Abdallah, director of the Damascus Center for Strategic Studies.

"But all parties should prioritize the national interests at this stage," he said. "Everything is open now under the new constitution."

Observers targeted

A roadside blast hit troops escorting UN observers in Syria's south on Wednesday.

The explosive device, apparently planted underground, wounded six Syrian soldiers escorting the convoy as it entered the city of Daraa, cradle of a 14-month uprising against Assad's government.

Major General Robert Mood, the head of the 60-strong UN mission, was in the convoy but escaped unharmed along with 11 other observers and his spokesman Neeraj Singh, said an AFP photographer traveling with them.

Election 'crucial'

Adel Naise, a former provincial leader in the Baath Party, was imprisoned for 25 years after Hafez al-Assad seized power in 1971.

After the first multiparty parliamentary election in Syria in five decades, Naise, who is in his 70s, is now a top leader in an opposition coalition.

"I spent the best part of my life in the prison because of the Asaad government," he said. "Although the government mismanaged the country, it's still my homeland, and I don't have time to seek revenge."

He said a civil war could ruin the country. "The election is crucial and even if there is a little progress, it will be a big step for the system as previously the only thing people sitting in the parliament could do was applaud," he said.

Developing a new political system takes time, and reversing back to the old one will not happen because the people have been enlightened, Naise said.

"At this stage we need to find a balance between cracking down on armed opposition groups and overthrowing Bashar al-Assad's regime," he said.

"The election is normal and has relative supervision mechanisms," said Ye Hailin, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and member of the international observation group for the parliamentary election.

"But the problem is whether an election like this can solve the current crisis," he said.

Some Arab League countries, overseas opposition groups and the West will likely reject the results of the elections, so the daily operation of the new parliament will be confronted with difficult situations.

"As long as the West doesn't recognize its efforts in political reform, the current situation will remain because international factors play a bigger role in this crisis," he said.

"It's similar to situation in Libya, where the opposition required Gadhafi to step down. But they didn't have a clear roadmap for the future of Libya, and now the country is a total mess," he added.

A consensus from the international community is vital to solving the long-standing crisis in Syria, he added.

AFP contributed to this story.

lilianxing@chinadaily.com.cn

The six-lane highway to Homs was busy with trucks and buses. This, our guide said, wouldn't have been seen several months ago.

But I was shocked on arriving at the Baba Amr district of Homs - it's nearly deserted, but wounded by the fierce fighting between the government and opposition.

An elderly Homs resident told us people were used to getting along peacefully, and please, let the terrorists get out of this place.

Yes, terrorists. No one is saying that the armed opposition are terrorists, but amid the chaos, terrorists have carried out suicide bombings in the country and threatened people, according to intelligence sources.

So it's already not a civil crisis, but a potential universal threat, considering Syria's underdeveloped counter-terrorism resources. Don't forget, Syria has direct flights to Europe.

To end the crisis, efforts should be made by all sides and the international community. If there is no consensus from the opposition, how likely is a political resolution and total cease-fire?

The government has promised further political reform and will let the people decide their future.

Having talked to many people at Damascus polling stations, I can say the Syrian people, those who vote, want to use the election to ease the crisis and make a step forward in their political history.

However the key to resolving the problems is not political reform, because it will be rejected by some Arab countries and the West.

It's about reshuffling the political order in the Arab world and restructuring the regional power constellation, given Syria's location and ties with Iran.

Contact the writer at lilianxing@chinadaily.com.cn

President Vladimir Putin, speaking in Moscow's Red Square with military generals at his side, said he would promote Russia's might on the world stage in a patriotic speech on Wednesday glorifying the Soviet victory over Germany in World War II.

Two days after being sworn in for a six-year term that has drawn protests against his return to the Kremlin, Putin used the address to troops and war veterans at the annual military parade on Red Square to reinforce appeals for national unity.

Putin faces a battle to reassert himself after the biggest protests since he rose to power in 2000 and the detention of hundreds of protesters this week to keep a lid on dissent.

"Russia consistently follows a policy of strengthening global security, and we have a great moral right to stand up determinedly for our positions because our country suffered the blow of Nazism," Putin said on a podium flanked by military chiefs bristling with medals under the Kremlin's red walls.

He did not refer to any enemy other than evoking the victory over Nazi Germany in 1945 at a great human cost, including millions of Soviet victims, at a parade in which goose-stepping troops, tanks and trucks carrying missiles filed past him.

"Barbarians were plotting to destroy whole nations," he said. "The inevitable happened - responsibility and common resolve prevailed over evil.

Putin, 59, has often used tough statements on foreign policy to rally people and resorted to anti-American rhetoric in the run-up to the March 4 presidential election. The tactic was also used by Soviet leaders, and featured prominently on national holidays such as Victory in Europe day.

During the election campaign, Putin accused US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of stirring the protests against his 12-year rule by encouraging "mercenary" Kremlin foes.

A Russian general also warned last week that Moscow could carry out pre-emptive strikes on future NATO missile defence installations. NATO called such threats "unjustified" and said the system posed no threat to Russia's security.

Putin has said he is ready to go a long way to develop ties with the United States, Moscow's former Cold War enemy and its fellow veto-weidling member of the United Nations Security Council, but has made clear it must be on equal terms with Washington.

Reuters

Nations' leaders to hold meeting

The fifth meeting of the leaders of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea will be held in Beijing from Sunday to Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Wednesday.

Premier Wen Jiabao will chair the meeting, Hong told a regular press conference, and ROK President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will attend the meeting. Cooperation among China, Japan and the ROK has developed rapidly with remarkable results, Hong said.

United States

Bomber was double agent

The man ordered by al-Qaida's branch in Yemen to blow up a US-bound airliner was a double agent who infiltrated the group and volunteered for the suicide attack, with Saudi intelligence likely playing a key role, US media reported.

American officials leaked out details of the extraordinary intelligence coup two days after the White House announced a plot by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula had been successfully thwarted.

The double agent managed to spend weeks with AQAP before handing over information that allowed the United States to launch a drone strike on Sunday that killed Fahd al-Quso, a senior figure who was wanted for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.

Xinhua-AFP

A new study suggests that dinosaurs may have helped keep an already overheated world warmer with their flatulence and belching 200 million years ago.

The research published on Monday in Current Biology suggests that large dinosaurs made a significant contribution to the greenhouse effect back then. Study author David Wilkinson of Liverpool John Moores University in England estimated that about 570 million tons of methane came from dinosaurs. That is similar to total atmospheric levels of methane today produced by livestock, farming and industry. Cows alone now produce nearly 100 tons a year of methane.

The study looks at the biggest and presumably gassiest dinosaurs, called sauropods. These were the long-necked plant eaters that munched on the top of trees. They were large animals that had food fermenting in their guts for long periods of time because of their gigantic size, said University of Maryland paleontologist Thomas Holtz, who was not part of the study.

Wilkinson said dinosaur gas was just one factor at a time when the world was quite tropical, about 18 degrees warmer than now. But he said some in the media and blogosphere have misinterpreted his study to say it was the main cause of ancient warming. In a phone interview, Wilkinson said it was only one of the causes, but dinosaur gas "is big enough to be a measurable effect".

What caused the ancient pre-human world to be so hot - just the way the dinosaurs needed it - was a variety of factors. Volcanoes spewed much more greenhouse gases than now, Holtz said. Swamps, water currents, shallow seas and plentiful plankton combined to raise greenhouse gas levels far higher than today, he said.

Outside climate experts say the study makes some sense, but the warming from dinosaur gas back then is dwarfed by man-made carbon dioxide today from industry.

NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt quickly ran some calculations based on Wilkinson's figures. Dinosaur methane would have increased temperatures about half a degree, which is a fraction of what has been caused by the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil in the 20th century, he said.

It also is wrong to suggest the study blames dinosaur flatulence for their extinction, Holtz said. He noted that the sauropods started showing up, and getting gassy, around 200 million years ago and did not die off until 65 million years ago.

University of Victoria climate scientist Andrew Weaver said: "Frankly, methane emissions from dinosaur burps is probably not the number one thing we should be concerned about in modern society."

The Associated Press

Britain's Prince Harry is presented with the Atlantic Council's 2012 Distinguished Humanitarian Leadership award by former US secretary of state Colin Powell in Washington on Monday. Haraz N. Ghanbari / Associated Press

Britain's Prince Harry accepted an award for his charitable work with wounded soldiers during a black tie event on Monday in Washington, his first visit to the US capital.

Harry, an Apache helicopter pilot in the British military, told guests at the awards dinner that many servicemen and women have "paid a terrible price and keep us safe and free".

"The very least we owe them is to make sure that they and their brave families have everything they need for the darkest days, and, in time, regain the hope and confidence to flourish again," Harry said.

Harry, 27, was being recognized along with his older brother Prince William for their charitable foundation's work. Harry, the third in line to the British throne after his father and brother, has worked with a number of charities. Those include Walking with the Wounded, a British charity that retrains and re-educates veterans, and Help for Heroes, which helps wounded servicemen and women.

Harry served as an air controller in Afghanistan for 10 weeks during 2007 and 2008, but was sent home early after details were made public. Last year he joined four soldiers who had been wounded in Afghanistan for part of their expedition to walk to the North Pole.

"For these selfless people, it is after the guns have fallen silent, the din of the battle quietened, that the real fight begins, a fight that may last for the rest of their lives," Harry said.

Harry, who spoke for about five minutes, urged Americans and the British to work together to heal and support wounded veterans, pooling expertise and experience.

Former secretary of state Colin Powell presented Harry with the humanitarian leadership award from the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank. Powell joked that Harry's presence meant that the average age for the annual awards dinner dropped 25 years.

"We have a record number of young, single women attending this year," Powell said.

The award doesn't come with any money; honorees get a glass globe trophy.

The annual award ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel also honored violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, who received an artistic leadership award, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who accepted an international leadership award.

"I believe the United Nations can and must be the solution to the world's great challenges," Ban said.

Earlier in the day, Harry was at the British ambassador's residence to visit with wounded veterans who last week participated in the Warrior Games athletic competition for those injured while serving in the military.

He also helped plant a tree in honor of his visit and in honor of his grandmother's 60 years as British monarch. Queen Elizabeth II is marking her Diamond Jubilee this year.

The Associated Press

A woman looks at souvenirs from Kyrgyzstan at the China-Eurasia Expo in Urumqi, capital city of Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, on Sept 1, 2011. Wang Fei / Xinhua

Experts and former leaders from China and Central Asian countries called on Monday for the expansion of cooperation beyond ties in the energy sector.

"Energy is fundamental, but the economic ties between China and Central Asia are wide-range and multi-form," said Xing Guangcheng, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

China should "broaden the thinking" in its collaboration with Central Asia, Xing emphasized.

Trade between China and its five neighbors is growing rapidly. The total volume increased from $465 million in 1992 to $23.77 billion in 2010, according to customs statistics.

Chinese energy enterprises have participated in oil and gas development in Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

China's role in Central Asia's energy sector remains small compared to Russia and the European Union.

Former leaders from five Central Asian countries and China vowed to diversify cooperation beyond the core sphere of fossil fuel on Monday at the China-Central Asia Cooperation Forum in Zhejiang Province.

Cooperation potential with "common interests" is especially huge in agricultural products, renewable energy technologies and transnational land transport, the former leaders said.

They also expressed the expectation of extending cooperation coverage from Northwest China - the place closest to Central Asia - to the economically powerful eastern and coastal parts of China.

"We can restore the glory of the ancient Silk Road," said Roza Otunbayeva, former president of Kyrgyzstan.

Zhanibek Karibzhanov, former deputy spokesman of the lower house of the Kazakhstan parliament, said his country, as one of the biggest exporters of flour and wheat in the world, can provide China with agricultural products.

Both the former foreign minister of Tajikistan, Talbak Nazarov, and Deputy Consul General of Uzbekistan in Shanghai, Makhmudov Shukhrat, said China can share its knowledge of solar and wind energy with the Central Asian side.

The two countries have favorable climates for solar energy. According to official estimates, the gross potential of renewable energy resources in Uzbekistan is equivalent to nearly 51 billion tons of oil.

Bilateral cooperation has been enhanced in educational, cultural and humanitarian areas, but "unfortunately" the focus of China and Uzbekistan cooperation in previous years has been around fossil fuel resources, Shukhrat told China Daily.

Chinese pro-communication organizations agreed and spoke highly of the potential of cooperation diversification beyond the traditional energy sphere with Central Asia.

The organizer of the forum, the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, said such cooperation is mutually beneficial.

Zhang Deguang, president of the China-Central Asia Friendship Association and former ambassador to Kazakhstan, said "increasing agricultural cooperation is especially important as it can safeguard food security and poverty relief to maintain stability".

Some groups in the West are suspicious about the motives behind Beijing's interest in the region.

"When we look at ties between China and Central Asian counties, we should start with the good-neighborly relations. And Beijing has relied on economic exchanges to benefit all of its partners while strengthening foreign relations," Xing said, adding that such principles are the foundation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Xing refuted what some western media have alleged, that "China is widening its muscular diplomacy".

Zhang Deguang, the first Chinese ambassador to Kazakhstan, might never figure out why a Kazak police officer stopped his car in the early 1990s.

"As the Soviet Union has dissolved, why did you put its national flag on your car?" Zhang said the police officer asked him, apparently mistaking the red Chinese flag for the flag of the former Soviet Union.

His story reflected that fact that people in Central Asian countries had a very limited knowledge of China at the time. Twenty years later, the knowledge gap still remains.

Edil Baislov, leader of the Kyrgyz party Aikolel, made an emotional plea to China and Central Asian countries at a regional forum to boost youths' understanding of each other .

"The Kyrgyz youth and Chinese youth, for example, have zero understanding about each other's country. Some even have an incorrect knowledge of the history of each nation," he said.

"We must foster their knowledge on the commonness of our ethic traditions that are normally forgotten."

Acknowledging the knowledge gap - which starkly contrasts with the closeness in energy cooperation between China and Central Asia - the two sides vowed at a high-level forum in Eastern China's Zhejiang province to boost social and cultural communications on Monday.

"We can't merely understand the geographic importance of Central Asia, and the history of the silk road linking the sites," said Li Xiaolin, president of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.

The association - the largest folk diplomatic organization in China - hosted the China-Central Asia Cooperation Forum in Tongxiang city, Zhejiang province.

"We, and especially the youth, also have to update ourselves on how Central Asian countries have been doing after gaining independence," Li said.

"Only through enhanced people-to-people exchanges, mutual understanding and trust, can our bilateral and multilateral relations develop in a healthy manner."

wanghuazhong@chinadaily.com.cn

China's political ability and economic strength could play an important role in Central Asia's development, said former Kyrgyz president Roza Otunbayeva.

"Every one of the Central Asian countries welcomes China's positive role in the region," she said in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

Otunbayeva made her remarks while attending a high-level forum in East China's Zhejiang province marking the 20th anniversary of the establishment of relations between China and Central Asia.

She said countries could benefit from China's latest round of investment in the nation's northwestern Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. They are also encouraged to cooperate with China's more-developed areas and economic growth hot spots.

Moreover, "China is gradually getting involved and succeeding in solving some very problematic issues in the region."

She gave an example of two states in Central Asia that built up "deadly" tensions last year until China's efforts brought them back to the negotiating table.

"There are some issues in which no country would mediate or bring the two sides together. In last year's case. In last year's case, neither the West nor Russia has the intention to defuse the tension."

"China then stepped forward and sort of eased this matter successfully."

Otunbayeva said some unions and political alliances in the region exhaust themselves and their mandate fast, so they just last 20 or 30 years. Then "all of the capacity, the strength of the organization just disappears", she said.

But China has the ability to play a positive role because it provides real help, she said.

China was one of the first countries to recognize the independence of the Central Asian countries that broke off from the Soviet Union 20 years ago.

Otunbayeva became president of the country of 5 million after opposing and overthrowing the former regime in 2010. She stressed that "statehood in the region is fresh but also fragile and challenging".

"Central Asian states are newly independent and gaining experience. Twenty years sounds like just a drop in the bucket compared to big countries, such as Russia, China, the United States and India."

Some citizens of Kyrgyzstan - especially doctors and teachers - left the country after the collapse of Soviet Union because "they didn't feel they belonged to this country", she said.

Roza said the number of hotly contested issues is also on the rise among Central Asian countries, which sometimes harm each other's interest.

The cluster of five - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - face challenges and threats from the outside.

"We are going through transition, transition is painful and difficult."

"All these issues make us fragile."

Otunbayeva said many large actors, such as Europe, the US, Russia, Japan and India, offer her country and Central Asia experience. However, drawing on such a broad range of experience means many of the lessons learned are contradictory.

There are also conflicts among the great powers about stabilizing regional stability. One example is the recent dispute between the United States and Russia over closing a transfer center for moving troops in and out of Afghanistan.

"For a young country such as mine, it is important to chose assistance according to our national interests."

wanghuazhong@chinadaily.com.cn

Beijing warned Manila that it is "hard to be optimistic" about the impasse over Huangyan Island, and authorities say they are prepared for any escalation of the situation by Manila.

Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Fu Ying on Monday summoned Alex Chua, charge d'affaires of the Philippine embassy in Beijing. It was the third summons following previous ones on April 15 and 18.

Analysts said the Monday summon shows the strongest protest from Beijing against Manila's rival claims over China's territorial island since the island impasse started on April 10.

Despite the two summons last month, "the Philippine side has not realized that it is making serious mistakes and instead is stepping up efforts to escalate tensions", said the vice-minister.

Manila's moves are "severely damaging the atmosphere of the bilateral relations between China and the Philippines", Fu said. "Therefore it is hard for us to be optimistic about the situation."

Manila has been playing with fire and trying to push the bottom line of Beijing, and the Monday summon serves as a sturdy protest against Manila's recent provocations, said Yang Baoyun, a professor of Southeast Asian studies at Peking University.

"The neighboring countries' decisions to not take sides on the issue show that the Philippine's territorial claim has received little support. Now the Philippines also finds it hard to change its stance overnight," Yang said.

Huangyan Island has been an integral part of China's territory for centuries, and Beijing expects Manila not to misjudge the situation and not to "escalate tensions without considering the consequences".

On Tuesday, Beijing also slammed Manila's recent attempts to raise the island dispute before international tribunals as well as some remarks that called on judgment from a third party.

"Isn't it a weird thing among international affairs to raise a country's territory to international tribunals? How chaotic the world would be?" Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a daily news conference.

China's sovereignty over the island is justified in both historical records and legal documents, Hong said.

"Whatever the Philippine side said and did about Huangyan Island does not change the basic fact that the island belongs to China," he added.

On April 10, a Philippine warship entered the island's territorial waters, dispatched personnel to harass Chinese fishing boats and attempted to detain Chinese fishermen.

Beijing said the move infringed on China's sovereignty. Two Chinese patrol ships in the area later came to the fishermen's rescue, and the warship left.

But the impasse continued in the wake of the incident as the Philippine side continued to send government vessels to the lagoon of Huangyan Island.

Manila also repeatedly made erroneous remarks that mislead the public in the Philippines and the international community and played up public feelings.

Fu urged Manila to withdraw all Philippine vessels in the island waters and warned Manila not to disturb operations by Chinese fishing boats as well as the Chinese government's law enforcement vessels.

Philippine vessels were reportedly still in China's territorial waters on Tuesday.

An opinion article in Tuesday's People's Daily Overseas Edition warned the Philippine side not to take China's sincerity as a chance to bully China.

Given recent challenges by the Philippines, China's patrol ships will remain alert in the waters of Huangyan Island, and Chinese fishery administration vessels will also ensure that Chinese fishermen can perform their jobs in their traditional fishing areas without interference, Fu added.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

The US defense secretary said on Monday that China is also a victim of cyber attacks, after years of accusations of alleged Chinese attacks on the US.

Based on this understanding, the defense ministers of the two nations vowed to work together on cyber security issues to avoid miscalculations that could lead to future crises, after a meeting in the Pentagon marking the first visit by a Chinese defense minister to the US since 2003.

"It's true, as the general pointed out, that obviously there are other countries, actors, others involved in some of the attacks that both of our countries receive," US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters after the meeting.

"But because the United States and China have developed technological capabilities in this arena, it's extremely important that we work together to develop ways to avoid any miscalculation or misperception that could lead to crisis in this area."

Six months ago, senior US intelligence officials publicly accused China of systematically stealing American high-tech data for its own national economic gain.

It was the most forceful airing of US allegations against Beijing after years of private complaints. China has long said that it has been wronged and that it is also a victim of such attacks.

Defense Minister Liang Guanglie said he and Panetta talked about ways to strengthen cyber security, but they are leaving the details to the experts.

Luo Yuan, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Military Science, said Panetta's remarks showed "the Pentagon has been more reasonable than before on the cyber attack dispute".

"They have noticed some troubles China is facing in that regard," the major general said. "Cyberspace should be a field of cooperation, not battle, for the two nations."

Given the fact that the US is among the few countries with a cyber war headquarters and troops, Luo said Beijing also expects the US to ensure that it would not impose dangers on China in that regard.

"The US needs to start laying the groundwork for better understanding by the Chinese of what we expect from them in cyberspace," James Lewis, a cyber security expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies who has met with Chinese officials and scholars for informal discussions, told The Associated Press.

"We want to figure out some way to get some understanding in place before something bad happens."

If there is a cyber incident in China, Lewis said, "we need the Chinese to feel confident that they can call us up and ask, `Was it you?', and get a straight answer."

At the press conference, Liang told reporters that the two sides are committed to building a sound, stable and reliable military-to-military relationship.

"Facing the complicated and serious security situation in the Asia-Pacific, both of us agree that it is in line with our own interests to strengthen the cooperation between the two militaries in order to protect the peace and stability of the region," he said.

Panetta hailed the talk with Liang as "productive".

"The United States and China are both Pacific powers and our relationship is one of the most critical in the world," he said. "We share many interests across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond."

Contact the writers at lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn and tanyingzi@chinadailyusa.com

AP contributed to this story.

Defense Minister Liang Guanglie greeted World War II veteran J. V. Vinyard on Monday morning with a surprising gesture, raising his right hand with a loud bellow of "Salute to a veteran".

The 88-year-old Vinyard was a pilot on the first American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force in 1941-42, famously nicknamed the Flying Tigers.

Liang met with representatives of the Flying Tigers and their families on Monday, noting that China will never forget those who offered their help.

Chennault's granddaughter, Nell Calloway, also joined in the talk.

More than 9,000 American pilots helped China in World War II. To date, 1,500 of them are still alive.

"China and the US have achieved many successes together in the past, and the Flying Tigers story is the hard evidence," Liang said.

The Flying Tigers and the Hump, an air transport route flown by US pilots during the war, are household names in China.

During the meeting with Liang, representatives and family members shared their memories and exchanged gifts.

"I really appreciate that the Chinese people remember this history," said Vinyard, who is also the president of the Hump Pilots Association. Vinyard said he has been invited to go to China several times.

China Daily

Beijing supports any plans widely accepted by all parties, FM says

The Syrian National Council agrees with UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Kofi Annan's peace plan and values China's role in working toward a political resolution to the crisis, Burhan Ghalioun, head of the opposition, said on Tuesday.

During a meeting with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, Ghalioun said that his party opposed any outside interference and appreciated China's humanitarian aid to Syria.

Annan's mediation efforts have created an important opportunity and a practical way out of the crisis, said Yang, urging related parties to maintain the cease-fire and cooperate with UN observers in the country.

China supports any plans that are in the fundamental interest of the Syrian people and widely accepted by all parties, said Yang, adding that China would like to play a constructive role in a proper and early resolution to the Syria conflict.

Ghalioun, invited by the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs, is visiting China from Sunday to Wednesday.

Unlike the opposition parties backed by outside forces, the Syrian National Council has been calling for a political resolution of the Syrian issue, said Hua Liming, a former ambassador to Iran.

"The ongoing parliamentary election can further promote Syria's democracy, but if it is boycotted by too many oppositional parties, its effects would be questionable," he said.

Syrians voted on Monday in parliamentary elections under a new constitution that ends the monopoly on power of President Bashar al-Assad's Baath Party and allows a multi-party system.

The election is part of the government's reform program aimed at quelling the unrest, which began in March 2011.

Syrian authorities said 7,195 candidates from 12 political parties were competing for the 250 parliamentary seats. However, the main opposition groups boycotted the vote amid fighting with government security forces.

The United States on Monday dismissed the election as "ludicrous", saying credible elections were not possible when the country was beset by continuing violence.

Annan is to brief the UN Security Council on Tuesday about the situation in Syria. The UN said more than 9,000 people have been killed in the turmoil.

UN leader Ban Ki-moon said through his spokesman Martin Nesirky that only a comprehensive and inclusive political dialogue can lead to a genuine democratic future in Syria.

Xinhua and AP contributed to this story.

zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn

Drills planned with Thai forces

Chinese and Thai marine forces will hold joint exercises from Wednesday to May 29 in Zhanjiang and Shanwei in South China's Guangdong province, the Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

The exercises will focus on counter-terrorism measures.The two countries also conducted bilateral drills in 2010.

Both sides aim to enhance cooperation and the capability to tackle various security threats through the exercises, the ministry said in a press release.

Greece

Efforts to form new govt fail

Greece sank deeper into a political and financial morass as initial efforts to form a new coalition government failed a day after angry voters punished parties backing the country's international bailout.

The result of Sunday's parliamentary election raised troubling new questions about Greece's ability to stay solvent and in the euro currency bloc.

And the political impasse means Greece could face another round of elections next month.

China Daily-AP

On a thundery night on May 6, 1937, the era of commercial airship travel came to a fiery end when the hydrogen-filled Hindenburg burst into flames, killing 36 and shocking the world with images of the blazing dirigible.

In just over 30 seconds, the largest object ever to roam the skies turned into a plummeting fireball, crashing onto the airfield at Lakehurst, New Jersey.

The explosion of the Hindenburg was not the deadliest airship accident in history and its death toll appears relatively modest compared to many plane crashes today, yet 75 years later the demise of the German zeppelin is still remembered as one of the 20th century's most spectacular catastrophes.

"It was one of the first disasters to be documented as it happened," said Carl Jablonski, president of the Navy Lakehurst Historical Society.

"We all heard of the Titanic, but we only have the accounts of the people who were rescued," he said. "For the Hindenburg, we have newsreel footage, the recording of radio transmissions and pictures."

At the time, newsreels shown before feature films at movie theaters brought the horrifying images to every corner of the US and countries abroad.

"It was right there, you couldn't miss it," Jablonski said.

On the scene was 31-year-old radio reporter Herbert Morrison from Chicago, whose compelling narration was broadcast nationwide a day after the Hindenburg crash, sending chills down the spines of the audience.

"It's burst into flames and it's falling, it's crashing," he wailed, crying out his now famous words: "Oh, the humanity."

Even though the majority of the passengers and crew on board survived, Morrison deplored "one of the worst catastrophes in the world".

The 1920s and 1930s were the golden age of airship travel. The Germans, in particular, fell in love with the technology invented by their aviation pioneer, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, and affectionately called the silvery behemoths "flying cigars".

The zeppelins became the epitome of luxury travel, shuttling the rich and powerful between Europe and North and South America.

After the Nazis rose to power in Germany, the floating giants had swastikas emblazoned on their tail fins, turning their trips into propaganda missions.

The Hindenburg, which went into service in 1936, was the pride of the Third Reich's zeppelin fleet.

The airborne luxury liner featured a promenade with a breathtaking view of the earth and the oceans below, a lavish dining room, a specially designed lightweight piano - and even a smokers' lounge. The voyage across the Atlantic took about two and a half days, much faster than a steamboat at the time.

On May 3, 1937, the Hindenburg left Frankfurt for its first transatlantic flight of the season. When the airship reached the US East Coast three days later, it ran into bad weather.

Thunderstorms over Lakehurst delayed the landing for several hours. As the Hindenburg finally attempted to dock with the mooring mast, it suddenly burst into flames.

"The actual cause is not really known," said Jablonski. American and German investigators concluded at the time that a discharge of static electricity set fire to highly flammable hydrogen that was escaping through a small gas leak, ultimately blowing up the entire airship.

Other theories blame the flammable outer skin of the Hindenburg in combination with a static spark, an engine failure or even lightning as causes for the disaster.

The uncertainty surrounding the catastrophe has also nourished conspiracy theories, with some believing sabotage was committed by an opponent of the Nazis traveling aboard the Hindenburg.

Jablobski rejects such speculations. "Sabotage was ruled out by the investigation," he said. "We stick to the mainstream explanation."

The Hindenburg disaster and the images of the inferno effectively ended the age of airship travel, shattering the public's confidence in the zeppelins forever.

The remaining airships of the German fleet were sent for salvage. The Hindenburg's equally mighty sister ship, the Graf Zeppelin II, never went into service.

Agence France-Presse

Peru's government declared a health alert along its northern coastline on Saturday and urged residents and tourists to stay away from long stretches of beach, as it investigated the unexplained deaths of hundreds of dolphins and pelicans.

At least 1,200 birds, mostly pelicans, washed up dead along a stretch of Peru's northern Pacific coastline in recent weeks, health officials said, after an estimated 800 dolphins died in the same area in recent months.

The Health Ministry recommended staying away from beaches, although it stopped short of a ban, and called on health officials to use gloves, masks and other protective gear when collecting dead birds.

The peak tourism season around Lima's beaches is over, although many surfers are still venturing into the waters near the capital.

The Agriculture Ministry said preliminary tests on some dead pelicans pointed to malnourishment. Oscar Dominguez, head of the ministry's health department, said experts had ruled out bird flu.

"The Health Ministry ... calls on the population to abstain from going to the beaches until the health alert is lifted," the ministry said in a statement on its website, along with a photograph of a dead pelican.

The ministry said that, so far, officials had checked 18 beaches in and around Lima for dead birds, but gave no details on any findings.

"We're starting from the hypothesis that it's because the birds are young and unable to find enough food for themselves, and also because the sea temperature has risen and anchovies have moved elsewhere," said Deputy Agriculture Minister Juan Rheineck.

A mass pelican death along Peru's northern coast in 1997 was believed to have been caused by a shortage of feeder anchovies due to the El Nino weather phenomenon.

Some were undeterred by the mysterious deaths.

"We eat fresh fish on the quay of Chorrillos every day, and no fisherman has died yet, so don't worry, it's nothing," said Gloria Rivera, a seafood restaurant owner.

Russia's outgoing President Dmitry Medvedev (left) looks at his successor Vladimir Putin during Putin's inauguration ceremony in Moscow, Kremlin, on Monday. Putin took his oath of office to become Russia's president for a historic third mandate at a glittering ceremony inside the Kremlin. Yekaterina Shtukina / Ria-Novosti Via Agence France-Presse

A woman passes by graffiti depicting Russian President Vladimir Putin in downtown Moscow on Monday. Denis Sinyakov / Reuters

Ties between nations 'have good momentum' as leader takes office

President Hu Jintao on Monday congratulated Vladimir Putin on his taking office as Russian president, wishing the people of Russia greater success in developing their nation under his leadership.

China and Russia are each other's largest neighbor and most important strategic partner, and the relationship between the two countries has maintained good momentum, Hu said.

Developing a comprehensive strategic partnership is in line with the fundamental interests and common aspirations of the people from the two countries, and is conducive to regional and world peace, stability, development and prosperity, Hu said.

Putin was sworn in on Monday as Russian president and began his third term in the Kremlin following two consecutive terms from 2000 to 2008, saying he considered service to his country to be the meaning of his life. Putin was prime minister from 2008 to 2012.

The Kremlin bells echoed across Moscow and the presidential guard donned Tsarist-era uniforms for the brief but spectacular inauguration.

Placing his right hand on a copy of the constitution, Putin swore to "respect and protect the rights and freedoms of the people" and defend Russia's security as he officially took over from Medvedev for a six-year term.

After taking office, Putin submitted to the State Duma a bill, nominating Medvedev as prime minister in the new government.

China attaches great importance to its relations with Russia, and is willing to work with Russia to deepen pragmatic cooperation in various fields and at various levels, and strengthen strategic coordination in international and regional affairs to push China-Russia relations to new levels and benefit the two peoples, he added.

Hu urged the two countries to make the implementation of a 10-year blueprint for the development of bilateral ties a priority.

In a brief speech after taking office, Putin said Russia's future depended on the efforts toward helping people and supporting Russian families, the management of vast Russian territories from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean and the ability to become leaders for Eurasia.

Winning the election on March 4 with 63.6 percent of the vote, Putin's new six-year term will keep him in power until 2018 with the option of running for a fourth term.

Meanwhile, riot police nervous dispelled protesters at an anti-Putin rally on Sunday, in which at least 22 were led away when a crowd of more than 100 started shouting anti-Putin slogans near two luxury hotels 500 meters from the Kremlin, and dozens of others were detained by police on a boulevard near the route of Putin's motorcade to the ceremony, AFP reported.

"It seems that Putin is faced with unprecedented challenges to his rule, but the sayings created by some dissents and western media are not true," said Yu Sui, an expert on Russian studies with the Research Center of Contemporary World.

"Putin is famous for his toughness toward the West, so the Western allies are not fond of his rule and aim at exerting more pressure on him."

Yu said the biggest challenge for Putin will be improving the economy. Russian society is experiencing a transformation, and Putin has to deal with serious problems including coordinating power between the central government and local authorities and the interests between state-run and private institutions, Yu added.

Xing Guangcheng, an expert on Russian issues with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said "the key issue is whether Putin can create a stable and efficient system for Russian development, instead of a situation in which the country's development highly relies on the strong leader himself".

Putin will pay more attention to domestic development, and Sino-Russian ties will have further development, although there might be some small up and downs, Xing added.

zhouwa@chinadaily.com.cn

"Our countries are closely allied. A constructive political dialogue, consistent implementation of joint projects in the economy and active humanitarian contacts contribute to a vigorous development of interstate cooperation."

Alexander Lukashenko, president of the Republic of Belarus

Serzh Sargsyan, Armenian president

Viktor Yanukovych, Ukrainian president

More than 3,000 homes were without electricity on Monday, a day after apparent tornadoes tore through eastern Japan, killing one person and injuring at least 46 more.

Nearly 900 houses were damaged as gusting winds whipped through the prefectures of Ibaraki and Tochigi, near Tokyo, splintering wooden homes and tearing down trees and power cables.

The only known fatality from the storms, which hit on Sunday afternoon, was a 14-year-old boy who was crushed to death when his house collapsed, officials said.

The government's Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 36 people were injured in Ibaraki, on the northern edge of a plain stretching from the capital, and 440 homes were damaged, some of them badly.

In the neighboring prefecture of Tochigi, about 450 houses were hit and nine people were injured. One person was injured in another prefecture on the plain, the agency said.

A spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power, the utility that supplies the area, said of the more than 19,000 homes that lost power when the storms hit, more than 3,000 were still without electricity at midday on Monday.

Several clips of amateur video footage aired by local broadcasters showed twisting columns of wind wreaking havoc as they tore through residential areas.

Scientists said tornadoes, which are commonly associated with North America, are difficult to predict.

Japan's meteorological agency issued 589 warnings in 2011, but only eight actual tornadoes occurred.

"We have to use past data and projected data to make our predictions in given places," said an agency spokesman.

"You cannot observe it using radar."

Syrians cast ballots on Monday in parliamentary elections billed by the government as key to President Bashar al-Assad's political reforms, but the opposition dismissed the vote as a sham meant to preserve his rule.

Polls opened at 7 am, and Syrian state TV showed voters lining up and dropping white ballots in large, plastic boxes. There are 7,195 candidates in the election competing for 250 seats in the new parliament.

Results from 12,152 polling stations across the country are expected to be announced on Tuesday or Wednesday.

The opposition has called the elections a farce and says it will accept nothing short of the fall of Assad's rule.

China has taken note of the election proceedings in Syria, and hopes the election will help promote the reform process.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the remarks at a regular news briefing on Monday while commenting on the current situation in Syria.

Hong added that he hopes the election will also help the country respond to the Syrian people's reasonable demands for reform and the protection of their interests.

"We hope all sides will take into consideration the fundamental interests of the country and its people and earnestly implement their commitment to the cease-fire and troop withdrawal," Hong said.

Saying there is an important opportunity for a political resolution to the issue, he also urged all sides to implement relevant resolutions passed by the UN Security Council and the six-point proposal of UN-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan in a serious and comprehensive way.

All sides should actively cooperate with the deployment of a UN supervision mission, and create conditions for further easing the situation and promoting a political resolution to the Syrian issue, Hong added.

Omar Ossi, a candidate from the National Front for Change and Liberation, said although there has been progress in Syria, the current democracy is not enough.

"As a Kurd, now I can talk about our political and cultural demands through various channels and discuss this on television live, which was not allowed previously," he said.

He said this election is a start, and the democratization of Syria will keep going forward.

"Although we are an opposition, we are different from those who are overseas and want to disintegrate our country and those who don't want to talk and find a political resolution," he said. "We Syrians have the right to decide our own future."

The elections are the first under a new constitution, adopted three months ago. The charter for the first time allows the formation of political parties to compete with Assad's ruling Baath party and limits the president to two seven-year terms.

In recent weeks, candidates' photographs and banners have adorned the capital, Damascus, in what government supporters say is a sign of burgeoning reform in a country ruled by a single family for more than four decades. But critics are deeply skeptical, saying the vote - and the candidates - have been orchestrated by the government.

At a polling station in central Damascus, Rehab Alhatem, a 35-year-old businesswoman, said this voting right belongs to every Syrian, and she hopes her vote will help further open Syria to the world, ushering in more reforms.

"Corruption is seriously weakening our country and I hope this new parliamentary election could convey our voice to the highest level," she said, adding that this election gives more choices for them to vote new people into office.

Another 53-year-old voter who called himself an "Arab Syrian" said this is the freest and most open election in his country, as previously he could only vote for the Ba'ath party.

"We have past the most dangerous time for this country and we hope this election could bring Syria real progress," he said.

AP and Xinhua contributed to this story.

lilianxing@chinadaily.com.cn

32 troops killed in militant attack

Islamist gunmen killed at least 32 soldiers on Monday when they stormed a military position in southern Yemen where militants control broad swathes of territory, a military official said.

Yemen has a seen a surge in violence in the south since President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi took office in February. The government has responded with air strikes and the United States has repeatedly used drones to kill militants.

The attack on Monday came hours after a suspected US drone strike killed two men in a neighboring province, including one the government described as a senior member of al-Qaida.

Nepal

Flood death toll rises to 17

Rescuers searching through mud and debris for flash-flood victims in northwestern Nepal had found 17 bodies by Monday, police said. Another 47 people, including three Ukrainian tourists, were missing and presumed dead.

Houses, farms, trucks and trailers were swept away when the Seti River, held back by an avalanche, burst through the snow blockage and sent water gushing through villages along its banks. The flooding came with little warning on Saturday - a day when villagers traditionally wash clothes and bathe in the Seti and picnic with family and friends along the river.

Police official Shailesh Thapa, who is coordinating recovery efforts, said soldiers and police were working with villagers, wading through the muddy areas to search for bodies.

Armenia

President's party wins election

Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan's Republican Party won a parliamentary election, early results showed on Monday, in a poll that was seen as a test of democracy in Russia's main ally in the South Caucasus region.

The Republican Party took 44 percent of votes in Sunday's vote, giving Sarksyan a platform to seek a second term as leader of the former Soviet republic.

Reuters-AP

Supporters of Francois Hollande, Socialist Party candidate for the 2012 French presidential election, wave flags as they celebrate during a rally at Place de la Bastille in Paris on Sunday. Francois Hollande becomes the nation's first Socialist president in 17 years. Charles Platiau / Reuters

Experts predict Hollande will negotiate with Germany to boost growth

The newly elected French president Francois Hollande will face a prominent challenge in tackling the eurozone crisis, and the Socialist victory has put Europe's ongoing effort to balance the region's public finances in doubt, experts said on Monday.

While the Socialist victory will bring changes to the country's handling of its diplomatic and military affairs, the most prominent challenge for Hollande is negotiating with Germany over a growth pact to the region's new fiscal treaty, experts said.

"Hollande will try to create a new French-German consensus in terms of boosting growth in the European Union," Francois Heisbourg, a senior adviser with the French think tank Foundation for Strategic Research, told China Daily.

Incumbent French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had led a strident drive for budget cuts across Europe as the only way to drag the region out of the crisis. Merkel has publicly vowed support for Sarkozy during the general election.

However, Hollande had campaigned on a platform of boosting growth instead of introducing huge spending cuts to overcome the country's deficit. It is widely speculated that the sharp divergence will throw EU debt crisis plans into doubt. "France is unlikely to challenge Germany. But Hollande has made it clear that France is not going to ratify the fiscal treaty if there is no growth element in it," Heisbourg said.

"The question is whether Merkel will be politically able and personally willing to work toward such consensus."

Jean-Marc Ayrault, president of the Socialist Party group in the National Assembly of France, said the situation Holland is facing "is serious and it should be redressed".

One major task he needs to tackle is to "negotiate with his European partners to bring back growth in Europe".

"It is important for the world, it is important for us," he told China Daily.

Zhang Jianxiong, a researcher on European studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said he is optimistic about the future of the fiscal treaty.

"At first there will be disputes between France and Germany, but both sides are likely to compromise, while France is likely to take a larger step backward. After all, the collapse of the eurozone is not good for France," Zhang said.

But the quarrel will make the process "longer and more painful" and might lead to a weaker policy in the end, he said.

Zhang noted that Socialists in Europe usually pay more attention to social balance and are not that good at spurring the economy.

"That is why Hollande strongly opposes the fiscal treaty plan which cuts public spending. So far, his campaign slogans have shown nothing impressive in regard to managing the economy."

Market reacts

The performance of the European market on Monday reflected such concerns, Zhang said.

European stocks and the euro fell sharply on Monday after Hollande won the presidential election.

The difference between interest rates on French and German debt, a critical measure of tension in the eurozone, widened slightly.

At Capital Spreads in London, where trading was closed for a holiday, trader Nam Truong told AFP that the votes "brought eurozone fears back to the fore".

"The strong bond formed between Merkel and Sarkozy has been broken, and investors are concerned that austerity talks between Merkel and Hollande will collide," he said.

Some French voters are concerned about the country's deteriorating fiscal situation as France has been stripped of its AAA credit rating.

"The most urgent problem for Hollande to fix is to reduce the country's debt. He needs to make sure that the country does not go bankrupt," a French voter who declined to be named told China Daily.

The incumbent Sarkozy was defeated on Sunday as a result of the sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone and voters' increasing dissatisfaction with the country's weak economic growth and high unemployment rate.

Analysts said that "anti-incumbent" sentiment has swept Europe, making Sarkozy the 11th eurozone leader to be ousted from office since the beginning of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe.

Fu Jing and Tan Xuan in Brussels contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn, lixiang@chinadaily.com.cn

The French Fifth Republic is a semi-presidential system. Although it is the prime minister of France and parliament that oversee much of the nation's actual lawmaking, the president holds the nation's most senior office, has the ability to choose the prime minister and outranks all other politicians.

The president promulgates laws.

The president may dissolve the French National Assembly.

The president may refer treaties or certain types of laws to popular referendum, within certain conditions, among them the agreement of the prime minister or the parliament.

The president is the commander-in-chief of the armies.

The president may order the use of nuclear weapons.

The president names the prime minister, but he cannot dismiss him. He names and dismisses the other ministers, with the agreement of the prime minister.

The president names most officials (with the assent of the cabinet).

The president names certain members of the Constitutional Council.

The president receives foreign ambassadors.

The president may grant a pardon (but not an amnesty) to convicted criminals; the president can also lessen or suppress criminal sentences.

She says she will happily play "second fiddle as first lady" while remaining a working mum. She has followed changes in the Elyse Palace for years and now she can experience it herself when accompanying the new president.

But, she said, complaining a bit, she cherishes the already too-rare moments when the two shared dinner on the sofa in front of the television.

She is Valerie Trierweiler, a well-dressed political journalist who was seen as "a charming asset" to the campaign of Francois Hollande, who styled himself as Mr Normal during the election.

The French "first girlfriend" tweeted her joy on Sunday.

"Simply proud to accompany the new president of the republic and still just as happy to share Francois' life," Trierweiler announced.

Such a partner of a president can fundamentally change the role of France's first lady.

Carla Bruni, the heiress, supermodel, folksinger and former French first lady who was world famous in her own right, eventually contributed to the unpopularity of her husband, Nicolas Sarkozy.

In 2008, on the eve of French president's state visit to the United Kingdom, people showed greater interest in Bruni's wardrobe than in her brain.

Trierweiler, claiming to be the exact opposite of "bling", says she buys clothes at the market and spends time searching for stray socks under her children's beds. She also helped Hollande slim down.

In an interview with a woman's magazine, Femme Actuelle, days before Sunday's ballot, Trierweiler, laughing heartily, revealed that Hollande never closes the door behind him.

"He never closes the door to anyone, as he has nothing to hide," said the experienced journalist, managing to turn her partner's bad habit into an advantage.

The 47-year-old journalist still works for the magazine Paris Match. She was previously married twice and has three teenage sons. If she continues to work after Hollande takes office, Trierweiler would be the first among French presidents' partners to earn a regular salary.

The new French president has had a lively personal life. The mother of his four children is the politician Segolene Royal. Hollande and Royal were partners both in their lives and careers. They had been together for 30 years when Royal, the Socialist candidate for president who lost in 2007 to Sarkozy, broke up with him weeks after her defeat.

The former partners became rivals, but Royal, still influential in the party, is expected to play a role in Hollande's new government.

AFP contributed to this story.

wangchenyan@chinadaily.com.cn

With a record number of top-level visits between China and Europe in recent months, Washington is most likely to be focusing greater attention on military and economic issues, say experts in the United States.

In February, European leaders held their annual summit with Beijing. In April, Premier Wen Jiabao took a trip to Iceland, Sweden, Poland and attended an industrial expo in Germany, followed by Vice Premier Li Keqiang's recent tour to Russia, Hungary, Belgium and the European Union headquarters.

This latest round of visits comes when Europe needs good relations with China, much more than it did 10 years ago, due to its own economic downturn. It also takes place in a year when little is happening regarding China-US relations because of the US presidential election, according to some analysts.

"Historically, Europe - especially Germany, France and Britain - tends to look at China's rise more sympathetically than Americans do," said Matthias Matthijs, assistant professor of global political economy at the American University in Washington DC.

"Americans think China is a rival. Europeans think of China as economic partner."

On closer Sino-EU ties, he said: "Americans might look at it with some suspicion, especially on some sensitive issues, such as arms sales and military technology."

Though the professor did not expect the EU to relax the ban on arms sales to China this year, he said if the fiscal crisis gets worse in Europe, the Chinese might use the opportunity to ask Europe to sell them more advanced technology.

"That's something Americans will be very closely watching if there is closer cooperation on military issues or arms sales," he said.

For most Europeans, however, closer ties with China do not mean less close ones with the US, he added.

"Every country wants to have strategic ties with China, which is the major player in Asia," he said. "This is not something that will split the West."

On the trade side, Washington will see how Chinese investment in Europe, through direct investment and buying bonds, will affect industry in the US as well as European financial market, said Ting Xu, senior project manager at the German think tank Bertelsmann Foundation's Washington office.

Xu is the leading author of a comparative report on Chinese investment in the US and in Germany, which was released in April.

In February, leaders from China and EU pledged to discuss several significant issues, such as investment pacts and granting China market economy status. More trade deals were also signed during Wen and Li's trips.

"How much China will get involved in the European sovereign debt crisis will affect the position of US dollar, the stability of the European financial crisis and the recovery of the European economy," she said.

"As China and Europe are forging strong economic ties, we should not forget that the transatlantic relationship is still very strong in this aspect."

EU is China's largest trading partner, while China is EU's second-largest trading partner after the US.

tanyingzi@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily 05/07/2012 page3)

China and the United States have started a new round of negotiations on exchanges pertaining to culture, education and science and technology and have reached agreement on a series of projects to promote youth exchanges.

On Friday, Hao Ping, vice-minister of education, reported results from the past two days of negotiations between US and Chinese officials.

The two parties reached agreements on projects meant to provide music and dancing classes to young Chinese under the tutelage of US teachers, on exchanges of library and museum staff members and on communications among female leaders in both countries.

"On Thursday, US and Chinese representatives had a five-hour discussion on nearly 30 issues," Hao said. "We reviewed our past work, exchanged ideas on the next steps of our cooperation and reached a consensus."

The negotiations came as part of the third Annual China-US High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange.

The past two rounds led to projects such as the US' 100,000 Strong Initiative, which calls for the country to send 100,000 students to study in China between 2010 and 2013. Last year, 23,292 US students were studying in China, a rise of 18.4 percent from the year before.

Hao Ping said China and the US are planning to embark on eight new education projects. One of their goals is to strengthen local governments' cooperation on primary education.

"This year we started to organize talks among state and provincial education officials," Hao said. "The cooperation has the goal of improving higher vocational colleges and community colleges in China.

"Also, we are pushing for teacher exchanges under the primary education program."

Meanwhile, the US is trying to send more students to receive primary education in China.

The Chinese government, for its part, offered 10,000 scholarships to US students from 2010 to 2013.

But to date, fewer than a quarter have been taken up, according to Liu Jinghui, secretary-general of the China Scholarship Council, which manages the government's scholarship programs.

Contact the writers at chengyingqi@chinadaily.com.cn and tanyingzi@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily 05/07/2012 page2)

Lip service or sea change? Skeptics wonder whether Vogue magazine's vow to ban models under 16 or those of any age with visible signs of eating disorders is more hype than health.

The 19 editors of Vogue around the world made the promise on Thursday, beginning with June issues and including editions in America, France, Britan and China. They also encouraged fashion designers to reconsider "unrealistically" small sample sizes that make ultra-thin models necessary in the first place.

Vogue didn't address the widespread industry practice of digitally altering photos that critics believe promotes an impossible standard of beauty.

While the new initiatives are certainly good news for models, Susan Linn of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood said Vogue didn't go far enough.

"If Vogue was really concerned about the well being of girls in terms of their health, then they would have done what Spain and Italy did and use only girls who have what has been deemed a healthy Body Mass Index."

The health of models, especially their weight, has been in the spotlight over the past few years, especially after the death of two models from apparent complications from eating disorders in 2006 and 2007, but the focus, until now, has been on runway fashion shows.

The primary fashion organizations in Italy and Spain banned catwalk models who fall below a certain BMI level. Israel's government passed an anti-skinny-model law earlier this year.

The Council of Fashion Designers of America adopted a voluntary initiative in 2007 emphasizing age minimums and healthy working environments during New York Fashion Week. London Fashion Week designers signed a contract with the British Fashion Council to use models who are at least 16.

Anna Wintour, Vogue's US editor-in-chief, was instrumental in crafting the CFDA's guidelines.

Still, there is persistent criticism that the fashion world creates a largely unattainable and unhealthy standard that particularly affects impressionable young girls.

Audrey Brashich, a former teen model and ex-editor of a teen magazine, called the Vogue announcement a "tiny baby step of progress", at best.

"The cynic in me feels like they are simply grandstanding while really just throwing a bone to an audience that is getting ever more savvy and tired of the tricks of the trade," she said.

Linn agreed, adding: "It's not going to help the millions of young girls who turn to these magazines to decide what they should aspire to look like."

Conde Nast publishes other magazines, including Glamour and Allure, but a spokeswoman said there are no current plans for these guidelines to be adopted across the company.

Glamour said in a statement on Friday the magazine's policy already was not to book models under 16 or those who appear to have an eating disorder.

The Hearst Corp, home to Elle, Harper's Bizarre and Marie Claire, said in a statement that it supports the CFDA guidelines, adding: "Good health is something we strive to promote in our magazines, both in our fashion and beauty stories and in our features. We make every effort to educate our readers and present images that reflect strong, beautiful women."

Associated Press

Test-tube babies have higher rates of birth defects, and doctors have long wondered: Is it because of certain fertility treatments or infertility itself? A large new study from Australia suggests both may play a role.

Compared to those conceived naturally, babies that resulted from simple IVF, or in vitro fertilization -mixing eggs and sperm in a lab dish - had no greater risk of birth defects once factors such as the mom's age and smoking were taken into account.

However, birth defects were more common if treatment included injecting a single sperm into an egg, which is done in many cases these days, especially if male infertility is involved. About 10 percent of babies born this way had birth defects versus 6 percent of those conceived naturally, the study found.

It could be that the extra jostling of egg and sperm does damage. Or that other problems lurk in the genes of sperm so defective they must be forced to fertilize an egg.

"I don't want to scare people" because the vast majority of babies are born healthy, said the study's leader, Michael Davies, of the University of Adelaide in Australia.

Couples could use simple IVF without sperm injection, freeze the embryos and implant only one or two at a time, he said. All of those can cut the chance of a birth defect.

The study was published online on Saturday by the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at a fertility conference in Barcelona, Spain. Health agencies in Australia paid for the research.

More than 3.7 million babies are born each year through assisted reproduction. Methods include everything from drugs to coax the ovaries to make eggs to artificial insemination and IVF. Fertility treatments account for about 4 percent of births in Australia and as many as 8 percent of them in Denmark, where costs are widely covered, Davies said.

In the United States, more than 60,000 babies were born in 2009 from 146,000 IVF attempts. About three-quarters of them used ICSI, or intracytoplasmic sperm injection.

ICSI was developed because of male infertility. But half the time, it was not done for that reason but to improve the odds that at least some embryos will be created from an IVF attempt. Many clinics do it in all cases.

IVF costs around $10,000 to $12,000 per attempt and another $2,000 for sperm injection.

Associated Press

Hope and change powered Barack Obama to the White House four years ago, but can he play the same gambit twice?

Conventional wisdom says no, given the fact that the US president is the steward of America's demoralized economic state, but Obama, setting off on a six-month trek to a new presidential election, begs to differ.

"If people ask you what this campaign is about, you tell them it's still about hope," Obama on Saturday told crowds chanting "four more years" in battleground states Ohio and Virginia.

"I still believe ... I still believe we are not as divided as our politics suggest," Obama said, in an echo of the 2004 Democratic convention speech which shot the then unknown Illinois lawmaker to prominence.

"I still believe we have more in common than the pundits tell us. I still believe in you, and I'm asking you to keep believing in me."

Obama, at the first official rallies of his bid for the second term that all presidents crave, injected some badly needed poetry and excitement back into his brand after three prosaic, slogging years of governing.

The president showed again on Saturday he can still move core supporters, who left an arena here buzzing.

Carolyn Johnson - who traveled to the rally in Virginia's state capital Richmond from Warsaw, 80 kilometers to the east - said she was inspired by Obama's pep talk.

"You have to have hope, and you have to look for change because of the way things are going," she said, in a reference to the current tough economic times.

The president seems bent on renewing the passion of 2008 in parts of his new stump speech, though other passages seemed to reflect an attempt by his campaign to throw out red meat to Democratic interest groups to see what works.

Before he bounded on stage, his campaign showed a video featuring Edith Childs, the elderly woman who inspired a tired Obama on a tough day in South Carolina four years ago and coined his chant "Fired, Up, Ready to Go!"

Both rallies went ahead on Saturday under banners reading "Ready to Go".

And Obama tried to duplicate the simple clarity of his previous campaign theme "Hope" with his new rallying cry "Forward".

His foes however dispute the idea that his campaign is powered by a positive stream of hope.

In fact, many accuse the president of deliberately dividing Americans with crusades on issues like women's health for naked political gain.

And the Obama camp set the table for his debut swing with scorched earth negative campaign ads, questioning millionaire Romney over his Swiss bank account and asking whether he would have had the moxie to kill Osama bin Laden.

Obama's hopeful rhetoric also masked a sharp critique of Romney and Republicans.

"Over and over again, they will tell you that America is down and out, and they'll tell you who to blame," he said.

There are also questions whether Americans are still receptive to Obama's message of hope, after grim years of painful recovery from the deepest recession in decades and with unemployment nationwide at 8.1 percent.

Some 61 percent of those asked in a recent poll by CBS and the New York Times said they believed their country was on the wrong track.

Agence France-Presse

With booming trade links to Southeast Asia and the Indian Subcontinent, Kunming is expected to become a regional logistics hub in 20 years, Ruan Fengbin, the city's deputy mayor, told reporters before the China International Logistics Week opened in the city yesterday.

Since the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area became operational in 2010, authorities have stepped up efforts to improve Kunming's logistics infrastructure, according to Ruan.

With a number of railways, highways and an air transport network reaching other parts of China and neighboring countries, Kunming is already the cargo hub for Southwest China.

But new facilities are still planned, including five international and national highways, five international dry ports, 10 logistics parks and 14 cargo distribution centers.

"Logistics is an industry that is now bringing great changes to the world," Ruan said.

"Today in Kunming, we can have easy access to commodities from all over the world - fruit from Thailand, red wine from France and ores from Australia."

Yet Ruan admitted there are still many challenges ahead.

One of the problems is high transport costs to and from the landlocked city.

"Logistics now account for almost 23 percent of local gross domestic product, much higher than the national average of 18 percent," the deputy mayor said.

Ruan said joint efforts by governments and logistics enterprises are needed to solve the problem, such as expansion of infrastructure facilities, the wide use of information technology and tax breaks.

Ruan also urged closer cooperation between Chinese and foreign logistics companies.

In February, he headed a delegation to visit Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore to promote the city's logistics week.

As he traveled on the highways from Kunming to Bangkok and Singapore, it was also a research trip on logistics.

"We drove all the way to Singapore during an 11-day trip with at least 10 hours in the cars every day," Ruan said.

"We are satisfied with the new highway. Except for a bridge linking Laos and Thailand over the Mekong River, the project is almost complete," Ruan added.

But he noticed that there was not too much traffic on the road.

Ruan discussed the issue with local governments, agreeing that closer partnership among logistics companies is the key to the industry's development.

"The governments in the regions already have close cooperation, but the links among the enterprises are not close enough," Ruan said.

He suggested logistics companies should learn from travel agencies to forge "seamless cooperation".

"A tourist group trip from Kunming can be well arranged by a travel agency in Bangkok because of the cooperation between agencies in different countries," Ruan said.

"This should also be used in the logistics industry."

Ruan said he believes the ongoing logistics week should be a good opportunity to bring together the region's logistics enterprises for forging closer partnerships.

You may contact the writers through liyingqing@chinadaily.com.cn

Expected to give a strong boost to the local industry, Asia's largest and most influential logistics show kicked off on May 6 in Kunming, the capital of Southwest China's Yunnan province.

The eighth-annual China International Logistics Week, which will continue until May 8, is highlighting ways to further internationalize the sector by sharing the best practices in the industry, according to organizers.

"The event will present unprecedented opportunities for Kunming's logistics industry," said Cheng Siwei, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of National People's Congress.

The city's logistics industry will benefit from the provincial government's strategy as a "gateway" for trade and investment in Southeast Asian and South Asian countries, as well as the central government's Western Development program and the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area that began operation in 2010, he added.

Participants from neighboring countries also deem the event a good opportunity to promote cooperation with Yunnan.

Kate Choomchaiyo, director of Thailand's Office of Trade Logistics, said: "Trade between Thailand and Yunnan grows steadily in recent years, which offers ample space for logistics cooperation."

The China International Transportation and Logistics Expo is a major component of the three-day event.

Covering more than 30,000 square meters, the expo is displaying a large variety of products, technologies and services from globally renowned transportation and logistics businesses.

It has attracted not only individual visitors but also delegation groups from six countries and regions including Thailand, Singapore, and South Korea.

The expo first held in 1995 is the largest and oldest of its kind in China and Asia as a whole. It has previously been held in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Nanjing.

The logistics week also includes a global logistics forum and the China logistics industry awards ceremony.

A seminar on Kunming's gateway strategy and the Pan-Asian logistics summit forum are new highlights of the events.

The host city of Kunming holds a pivotal position in Yunnan's strategy to ship goods to other Asian regions to the south.

Yunnan shares a border more than 4,000 kilometers long with Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. It also offers the gateway to an overland shortcut to the Indian Ocean.

Kunming, the hub of Yunnan's land and air transportation network, is also a logistics and financial center serving the region's booming cross-border trade.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

France gave its final verdict on Sunday in the tense presidential battle between right-wing incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy and his Socialist challenger Francois Hollande.

The election outcome will affect its debt crisis, how long French troops stay in Afghanistan and how France exercises its military and diplomatic muscle around the world.

China-France relations will be further cemented regardless of which of the two assumes the leadership of France, said Zhang Jinling, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"The next president will never neglect France's ties with its strategic cooperative partner, especially when China's emerging economy may serve as a cooperation and growth engine for it," he said.

Opinion polls and electioneering were banned in the final 32 hours before polling stations opened on Sunday morning, but Hollande began the day as a firm favorite despite signs that Sarkozy was closing the gap.

When the French went to the polls on Sunday for their second and final round of voting for a president, they may also have tilted the balance of power in Europe in the midst of the European Union's worst crisis, the British newspaper Observer said.

Under Sarkozy, fears of low economic growth, rising joblessness and the 25-nation EU austerity pact have worked in favor of the Socialists.

"France needs some changes, and that's why I'm willing to give Francois Hollande a chance, even if my family and I used to support Sarkozy," said Nicolas Carre, who runs a French restaurant in Beijing.

Hollande has campaigned as a critic of austerity policies associated with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Sarkozy, which he said choke growth.

For Merkel, who has struck up a close, if awkward, alliance with Sarkozy through more than two years of single-currency turbulence, France's runoff is more important than many of her domestic campaigns, Germany's Der Spiegel magazine said last week.

Hollande has said that if he wins the election, he plans to meet Merkel as soon as he is sworn in.

While that trip would be mostly a symbolic exercise to show Franco-German relations were intact, it would also allow him quickly to impress his pro-growth ideas on his German counterpart, said Pierre Moscovici, Hollande's campaign manager.

Due to the gloomy economy and complexities working with the various political parties in France, it's difficult for any new leader to immediately propose efficient policies to boost growth and employment, Xing Hua, a French studies expert told Chinese media.

"We are seeing real punishment of those governments that were saddled with handling the economic and financial crisis. And France is no exception," said Jorge Crespo, a professor of political science and public administration at Complutense University in Madrid.

"The unemployment rate was only about 6 to 7 percent when Sarkozy was first elected as the president in 2007, but it's now 10 percent - five years after becoming the president of France Sarkozy seemed didn't put too much effort into it," said Jean-Marc Nolant, a 37-year-old sommelier at a five-star hotel in Shanghai.

"But I didn't see Hollande's potential to become a president either," Nolant added.

Hollande's plan of raising taxes drove some Frenchmen, especially the wealthy, to more fiscally friendly climes, including London, Geneva and Brussels.

At LVMH, the luxury products group, there has been talk about moving the headquarters to London, on the grounds that Hollande's new tax rate will make it harder to lure top-level managers to the luxury capital, The Sunday Times reported.

Contact the writers at zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn and shiyingying@chinadaily.com.cn

AP, Reuters and AFP contributed to this story.

Priority of trip was to boost cooperation

Vice-Premier Li Keqiang called attention to the complementary nature of relations between China and the European Union during his recent 10-day official tour of Europe.

"When made-in-China meets designed-in-Europe, and when EU technology meets Chinese markets, the outcome can be wonderful," Li said while visiting EU headquarters in Brussels, the last stop of a visit that also took him through Hungary and Russia.

The priority of Li's visit is to seek new areas for China-EU cooperation, such as urbanization and alternative energy.

During Li's visit, China and the European Union signed a series of agreements related to urbanization and energy.

Li's visit comes at a time when Europe is still struggling to solve debt problems, and many EU nations hope China can help.

"The economic recovery is not only important for the EU but also the whole world, including China," said Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo.

But China has repeatedly insisted that Europe should address existing systemic problems before it provides any aid.

During this visit, Li spent little time discussing aid to the European Union. However, he did point out that China has aided the region over the past two years by importing more goods, investing and buying bonds.

In 2011, Sino-EU trade volume hit a record high of $567 billion, a year-on-year increase of 18.4 percent, according to statistics from the Ministry of Commerce.

In an article in the Financial Times, Li said China will join other nations and institutions to explore solutions to the debt crisis.

His remarks mainly focused on the significance of two-way economic and trade cooperation during the visit, especially with regard to urbanization, new energy and energy conservation.

"Urbanization is the growth engine that has the most lasting effect on the Chinese economy," Li said.

He said urbanization has the most potential to expand China's domestic consumption, a major goal of China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).

During the visit, the China Investment Corporation and Belgium's Federal Holding and Investment Company signed an agreement to launch the China-Belgium Mirror Fund.

The fund provides a platform for Chinese companies to expand in all 27 member countries of the European Union.

While Li was in Budapest, China and Hungary signed a series of agreements covering agriculture, telecommunications, infrastructure and finance to help China strengthen its presence in Central and Eastern Europe.

Li also expressed concern about the European Union's ban on high-tech exports to China, saying it should loosen the restrictions as soon as possible, which could help the region resolve debt problems and create benefits for both sides.

Li's trip to Russia - the first stop of the tour - is also expected to have a long-lasting effect on bilateral ties. Li spent more time in Russia than in the other two nations.

Despite Europe's debt woes, China-Russia trade surged 42.7 percent from a year earlier to $79.25 billion in 2011, outperforming the 22.4 percent average growth of China's foreign trade during the same period, according to the General Administration of Customs.

During the China-Russia Trade and Investment Promotion Forum held in Moscow, the two nations signed 27 cooperative agreements worth $15 billion in the sectors of energy, equipment, information technology and finance.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is due to take office as president in May, and he plans to officially visit China in June.

Trade and cooperative agreements are only one part of Li's visit, and the other part is a cultural exchange between Li and the Russian people.

Li met with China-Russia friendship representatives as well as students from Moscow State University and Russian World War II veterans.

China and Russia have set up a strategic partnership in all aspects, Li said.

"I believe the cooperation between the two countries could reach a new high as there is a wide range of areas that we could jointly develop," Li said during his meeting with Putin.

Li depicted Russia and China as "good neighbors, good friends and good partners".

"In such a large-scale cooperation between the two sides, there are many issues that need our attention, but there are not substantial problems between China and Russia," Putin said.

"We have learned to treat each other as good friends when we jointly deal with the problems."

dingqingfen@chinadaily.com.cn

60 feared dead in flooding

Rescuers scouring Nepal's central Annapurna region after severe flash flooding said on Sunday that there was almost no hope of finding survivors and that the final toll could be as high as 60 dead.

The bodies of 15 people have been recovered, but district police superintendent Sailesh Thapa told AFP that 43 missing people, including three Ukrainian tourists, were feared dead.

"So far, 12 of the 15 bodies have been identified. An excavator has reached the worst affected areas and is clearing the mud," he said.

South Korea

Karaoke bar fire kills nine

Nine people were killed, including three migrant workers, and 25 others injured when a fire swept through a karaoke bar in South Korea's southern port city of Busan, police said on Sunday.

The fire broke out in one of the 28 rooms of the karaoke lounge on the third floor of a six-story building late on Saturday. The victims included three Sri Lankan men.

Thailand

Factory explosions claim 12

Explosions and a fire in one of the world's largest petrochemical plants have killed 12 and injured more than 100 people in eastern Thailand.

The blaze at a factory belonging to Bangkok Synthetics, a synthetic rubber manufacturer, forced an evacuation of workers and more than 1,000 residents on Saturday in Rayong province, 180 kilometers southeast of Bangkok.

Rayong governor Seni Jittakasem said on Sunday that authorities are investigating the cause of the explosions that started when workers were cleaning a chemical tank.

AFP-Reuters-AP

During his last months holed up in a villa in Pakistan, one of the concerns on Osama bin Laden's mind was image control: Al-Qaida's branches and allies were making the terror network look bad in the eyes of the Islamic world.

A newly released selection of letters captured in the US raid that killed bin Laden a year ago shows that the al-Qaida leader was meticulous in tracking how his associates' actions and public statements reflected on the cause of jihad, or holy war. And he frequently tried to keep them in line.

In an October 2010 letter to a top lieutenant, bin Laden complains about Faisal Shahzad, the militant recruited by the Pakistani Taliban to set off a car bomb in New York's Times Square. The May 2010 bombing failed.

During his trial, Shahzad, a Pakistani who gained US citizenship, told the court he "didn't mean it" when he took his American citizenship oath, which includes a vow not to harm the United States.

Bin Laden said lying about an oath breaks Islamic law.

"This is not the kind of lying to the enemy that is permitted. It is treachery," bin Laden wrote. He told his lieutenant to take it up with Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, and ensure it didn't happen again.

"You know the negative effects this has if this matter is not resolved and if the mujahedeen are not cleared of the suspicion of breaking an oath and treachery."

The letters point to the complicated relationship between bin Laden's "al-Qaida Central" and its branches and allies. The Pakistani Taliban are close to al-Qaida and the branches in Yemen, Iraq and North Africa use the al-Qaida name. But they largely operate independently of the top leadership in Pakistan and Afghanistan, which does not appear to know about most operations beforehand and offers advice and guidance, which is not always heeded.

The 17 letters released on Thursday by US officials do not give a full picture of al-Qaida's operation or of bin Laden. The messages, written by bin Laden and senior associates, are only a small sampling of the trove seized in the raid on the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, last year.

In his audiotapes to the world over the years, bin Laden was known for his florid rhetoric and highly elevated vocabulary, obscure even to some Arabic speakers.

But there is almost none of that in the private messages to associates. Bin Laden is businesslike and to the point, whether it's discussing travel arrangements for his sons, advising Algerian militants to plant tamarind and acacia trees in their desert hideouts (they're cheap, don't need much water, and can hide you from drones), or telling his lieutenants to try to shoot down President Barack Obama's plane on a visit to Afghanistan.

He is also unflaggingly polite, even in firm criticism of his "brothers" - consistent with the soft-spoken, soothing personality many militants who met him described. He repeatedly prefaces orders with the phrase, "It would be good if ..."

Bin Laden appears intent on imposing greater control over the al-Qaida "franchises", though it is not clear he was ever able to do so.

He raises alarm that attacks by the branches killing Muslim civilians have "cost the mujahedeen no small amount of sympathy among Muslims. The enemy has exploited the mistakes of the mujahedeen to mar their image among the masses," according to the Arabic originals of the letters posted by West Point's Combatting Terrorism Center.

Once again, he turns to Islamic law, pointing to "tatarrus" - literally "shielding" - a set of Shariah rules on when civilian casualties are acceptable during jihad. The branches are playing too loosely with the rules, he says: They expand what should be an exception allowed "only in extreme necessity" and set off bombs without regard to whether Muslim bystanders are likely to die.

"First of all, we will be held responsible for this before God Almighty. And in practical terms, it causes great damage to the message of jihad," he writes in a May 2010 letter to the same lieutenant, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, who was himself killed in an August airstrike in the Waziristan region of Pakistan.

The Associated Press

An AvtoVAZ Lada 2107 car on the road in St Petersburg. Many Russians consider it a last link with an era when they believed the Soviet Union could win the Cold War. Alexander Demianchuk / Reuters

Russia is ending its long love affair with a car that was once prized by the nation but has come to symbolize the decline of its automobile industry and, for some, the country itself.

The decision by state car maker AvtoVAZ to halt production of the last models in the Lada Classic series this year after four decades is more than just the end of the road for an automobile.

Although the outmoded box-like series of family cars is ridiculed abroad, many Russians consider it a last link with an era when they believed the Soviet Union could win the Cold War.

"It's a case of national affection. For many years in Soviet times the Classic was an unattainable dream for many men. It was very hard to get hold of one and people waited in queues for years," said Vyacheslav Lysakov, a member of parliament and the head of the motorists' association, Free Choice.

"A lot of things from that (Soviet) time have already gone and the Classic was one of the remaining links."

AvtoVAZ halted production last month of the seventh model in the series, the 2107, leaving only one Classic in production - the 2104 station wagon. The company said it was also "time to say goodbye" to that model at the end of this year.

Lada is often the butt of jokes abroad because of its square shape and reputation for breaking down when you least want it to. One joke asks: How do you double the value of a Lada? Answer: By filling the tank.

Jeremy Clarkson, host of British TV car show Top Gear, memorably called the Lada 2107 "simply the worst car ever". Style-conscious young Russians would not be seen dead in one.

But many middle-aged and elderly Russians regret the Classic's passing and see bad omens for the future.

"It was the best-designed car in the world. You won't see a more beautiful car," Alexander Fyodorov, a 65-year-old architect, said as he strolled across Moscow's Red Square.

Under a deal with Italian car company Fiat, the first Lada Classic 2101 was produced in 1970, based on the Fiat 124 four-door sedan that was popular across Europe.

The Classic, or Zhiguli as it is also known in the former Soviet Union, was a big hit in a country where car ownership itself was a status symbol and Western brands were not on sale.

Resourceful owners made do with what they had and soon learned how to fix the car themselves.

Its simplicity was a selling point, as was its ability to keep going in the severe cold. In later years, its low price and durability made it attractive, especially in Russia's provinces.

"I love my car," said Nikolai Dashkevich, a trained mechanic in Moscow who has a 25-year-old white Lada 2105, the fifth in the series. "More than half the parts are the original ones but it's done more than 1 million kilometers."

AvtoVAZ officials said the seven cars in the series had sold more than 17.75 million vehicles by March of this year.

Reuters

After being forced to drop out of school last year because his family needed more income, Gio Vakaloloma turned to the only job available - selling coconuts on the streets of Suva.

Early every morning, the slightly built 13-year-old shimmies up the palm trees that grow abundantly in the Fijian capital and begins throwing down green coconuts to his friends below.

Vakaloloma is among the one-third of Fiji's 840,000 population who live below the poverty line, in conditions far removed from the postcard idyll of beaches and cocktails normally associated with the Pacific island nation.

"It's good to get money to give my family so they can buy more food," said Vakaloloma, who joined a loose-knit group of about a dozen youths who sell coconuts to passing motorists at a roadside stall in the suburb of Raiwaqa.

He did not regret swapping the classroom for an often dangerous existence climbing coconut trees, saying he was proud to help his family survive.

Shimmying up palms to retrieve coconuts, which contain watery milk that provides a refreshing drink when the top of the shell is lopped off, is a traditional test of endurance and strength for village youths in Fiji.

Guinness World Records says the fastest-ever tree climb was performed by a Fijian, Fuatai Solo, when he a scaled a 9-meter coconut palm in 4.88 seconds during a competition in Suva in 1980.

But the Pacific staple, found growing wild all over the islands, has also become an important source of income in urban areas for groups like Vakaloloma's as Fiji's economy struggles after years of military dictatorship.

"We can earn Fj$60-100 ($34-56) a day, much more than what you get working in a shop," said Ben Tiko, who, at 22, is the informal leader of the group.

"Business is pretty good. People used to prefer fizzy drinks but more people want coconuts now because they're healthy. The men all come for them in the morning when they've had grog the night before."

He explained that police kept the groups of roadside coconut sellers separated, dotted a interval about 1 kilometer apart along the roadside to prevent them encroaching on each other's territory.

The work begins at 6 am, when they scale the palms and fill hessian sacks with as many coconuts as they can carry, removing the outer husk with machetes before they are sold.

He said the operators of Fiji's luxury resorts also hired his group and others once or twice a year to remove coconuts from their properties so they did not fall on the heads of unsuspecting tourists.

Tiko said the job was not without its risks but was an only option in an economy which the IMF said earlier this year, had little prospect of growth in the immediate future.

"I've fallen down and hurt myself," he said. "People break an arm or break a leg. The main thing is not to fall on your head."

Agence France-Presse

When Christianity fades, it doesn't just leave empty pews behind. With each church that shuts, the statues, crucifixes, chalices, paintings or vestments that were part of regular Sunday services suddenly have no liturgical home.

In the Netherlands, where faith has faded more dramatically than in many other parts of Europe, two churches close down on average every week. The sacred art left over is piling up in cellars and storerooms around the country.

Some congregations elsewhere have the opposite problem. New Catholic and Protestant churches are springing up in Latin America, Africa and Asia, and pastors in eastern Europe are seeking to refurbish churches used for decades as warehouses or factories.

A pioneering network of Dutch religious art experts, concerned by the accumulation of objects with both artistic and spiritual significance, has been struggling to match some of their supply to this new demand.

Thanks to their work, a Roman Catholic cathedral in the Dominican Republic now boasts a marble altar from a church in Eindhoven that is being turned into a health center.

Another Catholic church slated to become a municipal library and theatre has donated pews, statues and crucifixes to a church in Lviv, Ukraine, that was used as a gas mask factory in the past. A Dutch Reformed church has donated a silver communion set to a Protestant parish in Romania.

"If we have something we can't use, there is nothing better than to know it is being used in another church," said Rev Martien Mesch, who has sent truckloads of surplus items to Ukraine from two Catholic churches he had to close down in the town of Vught, near the southern Dutch city of s-Hertogenbosch.

Eugene van Deutekom, diocesan archivist and historian for the Catholic diocese headquartered in this southern Dutch city, said surplus objects should be transferred if possible to churches still in use and valuable ones donated to museums in the Netherlands.

But if there is no place for them at home, the experts help closing churches donate this heritage to the growing number of churches abroad who have asked for everything from fine gold and silver vessels to heavy wooden pew benches.

"We give parishes a way to find a good second life for sacred objects," van Deutekom explained. "If an object was made to be used in the liturgy, I want to keep it in the liturgy."

The religious aspect makes this work unique in the art world.

"I'm not a fine arts dealer," said van Deutekom, stressing even simple statues could have special meaning for the faithful. "My interest is not in the economic value of an object, but its devotional value."

The steep drop in religious practice over the past half century and the population shift toward the more secularized cities are two main factors driving the phenomenon.

"Catholic Church attendance here was the highest in Europe, over 90 percent," said Rev Jan Stuyt from Nijmegen, where he is part of a team choosing which churches to close in the city.

"Now it's down to French levels," the Jesuit priest said, meaning under 10 percent. "That's the Dutch way of doing things - all or nothing!"

Surplus sacred art is a bigger problem for Catholics because specially blessed sacred objects play a larger part in Catholic liturgy and devotional practices than in the more austere Protestant churches.

The world's largest church has also experienced a global shift. In 1900, two-thirds of Catholics lived in Europe, but now two-thirds are found in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

From 1970 to 2008, 205 Dutch Catholic churches were demolished and 148 more converted into bookshops, health centers, restaurants, apartments or other uses.

Marc de Beyer, curator of Utrecht's Museum Catharijnecovent, the national museum of Christian art, said the resulting oversupply of religious art prompted church and national heritage officials to organize a Year of Religious Art in 2008 to draw attention to the problem.

One result was a guidebook to help closing churches assess the value of their art and find other owners for it. Interest has spread among church heritage experts across Europe, so an English-language version is now being prepared.

De Beyer gets 2 or 3 offers of surplus religious art every day. "We hardly accept anything at all now," he said. "Our storerooms are full and, more importantly, we already have most of the objects that are being offered."

Reuters

Chinese leaders and the head of the opposition Syrian National Council, who will begin a visit to China on Sunday, will discuss whether the council can be involved in the peace plan brokered by UN envoy Kofi Annan, experts said on Friday.

China will hear the council's opinion of Annan's peace plan and explore whether the opposition can hold a dialogue with the Syrian government, said Gong Shaopeng, a professor of international politics at China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing.

The UN peace plan cannot achieve a practical and positive result until every party related to the Syrian issue is involved in the UN framework, said Zhang Xiaodong, an expert on Middle East studies with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

At the invitation of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs, Burhan Ghalioun, head of the council, will hold talks with Chinese Foreign Ministry officials during his visit from Sunday to Wednesday, ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said at a routine news briefing on Friday.

When asked whether China had changed its position on the Syrian issue and its attitude toward the council, Liu said China's stance on the issue has been consistent.

China has always believed in safeguarding the purpose and principles of the UN Charter and the basic norms governing international relations, he said.

Liu added that China always advocates maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East and the fundamental interests of the Syrian people.

To promote dialogue and ease tensions in Syria, China has kept in contact with the Syrian government and opposition groups, and will continue to play a positive and constructive role in promoting a fair, peaceful and proper resolution of the Syrian issue, Liu said.

Gong said: "China realizes that Syrian opposition groups hold different ideas toward the UN peace plan, but we cannot overrate the practical influence of Ghalioun's visit on the situation in Syria. His group is not leading the fight against the government."

Zhang said: "Although Ghalioun's visit may only have limited influence, it is positive that the council would like to talk about the issue."

On Friday, at least four people were killed by Syrian security forces in the central provinces of Homs and Hama, where anti-government protests were set to take place, said Agence France-Presse.

UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi was quoted by AFP as saying that "the Annan plan is on track and a crisis that has been going on for over a year is not going to be resolved in a day or a week".

"There are signs on the ground of movement, albeit slow and small," said Fawzi.

Nabil Elaraby, secretary-general of the Arab League, was scheduled to visit Shanghai and Beijing to hold discussions on the issue of Syria with Chinese leaders through Wednesday, Liu said.

Both sides will discuss methods for deepening strategic China-Arab relations, and conduct preparatory work for the upcoming Fifth Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab Cooperation Forum, Liu said.

The influence of Elaraby's visit on the situation in Syria is limited because the Arab League's impact on the issue is not strong and the members within the league have not reached agreement, said Zhang.

Elaraby's visit will emphasize the ties and cooperation between China and Arab countries, Zhang added.

Agreeing with Zhang, Gong said there is a chance now for China and Arab countries to shape bilateral relations, especially following the societal changes that have taken place in Arab countries.

"China hopes the cooperation between China and Arab countries can continue, despite those changes in society," Gong said.

zhouwa@chinadaily.com.cn

British voters showed their anger against the government's failure to revive the economy in local elections that saw Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives outflanked on the left by Labour and on the right by the anti-European fringe party, the UK Independence Party.

Cameron hopes a likely win for his party's flamboyant London mayoral candidate, incumbent Boris Johnson, will deliver some positive headlines later on Friday. But the bigger story was the damage to his party's electoral prospects at national level.

"People are hurting; people are suffering from the recession; people are suffering from a government that has raised taxes for them and cut taxes for millionaires. I think that's what we saw last night," said Ed Miliband, leader of the opposition Labour Party.

Britain tipped into a double-dip recession last week, unwelcome news for a government that has staked its reputation on economic competence. Two years into a painful austerity drive, a recent cut in the income tax rate for high earners went down like a lead balloon with the hard-pressed millions.

Derided as "arrogant posh boys who don't know the price of milk" by a rebel from within their own ranks, Cameron and Finance Minister George Osborne have struggled with a perception that they are out of touch with ordinary voters. This was reinforced by a row on the so-called "pasty tax", a VAT hike that raised the price of pasties, a cheap and popular snack.

With results declared in 100 of the 181 councils being contested across the country, Labour had gained 475 new councilors while the Conservatives had lost 279 and their Liberal Democrat coalition partners had lost 133.

UKIP was contesting only a fraction of the total seats up for grabs but where it did field candidates, it averaged a record 14 percent of the vote.

This translated into just seven councilors because UKIP's support is geographically scattered, which makes it hard for the party to win any individual ward.

However, UKIP's surge in support was a clear threat to the Conservatives, who need to increase their popular support before the next national election in 2015.

"There's absolutely no doubt that UKIP is taking away votes from the Conservatives," Philip Davies, a Conservative member of parliament, told Reuters.

"UKIP is a massive threat. It will undoubtedly stop us from winning seats that we would otherwise win (in 2015), and given how difficult it is for us to win an overall majority, every seat counts," he added.

Conversely, UKIP reported that its good result would help it increase its presence in future elections.

"There's been a whole slew of people saying that's it, next time I'll stand because we don't have a UKIP candidate here," a UKIP spokesman told Reuters.

During the last national parliamentary election in 2010, the Conservatives fell short of an overall majority even though Labour was unpopular after 13 years in power. Cameron was forced to form an uneasy coalition with the Liberal Democrats.

Vociferous right-wingers within the Conservative Party have always maintained that Cameron should have done more to appeal to the party's traditional supporters by attacking the European Union and talking tough on crime and immigration.

UKIP's success at Thursday's local elections is sure to embolden those Conservative right-wingers. Calls to hold a referendum on whether Britain should leave the EU will become more strident.

Reuters

Beijing strongly urged Manila on Friday to return to "diplomacy" to resolve the island impasse in the South China Sea, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The call came in response to remarks by the Philippine military and media on Thursday, claiming that China sent more ships to the waters of China's Huangyan Island, over which the Philippines laid rival claim recently.

Media reports quoted a regional military spokesman with Manila as saying that four Chinese surveillance ships and 10 fishing boats had anchored off the island. Reports called it the largest number of Chinese vessels seen in the waters since the impasse occurred on April 10.

The spokesman said the reported move was an insult that would further inflame tensions.

China's stance on resolving the situation by diplomatic reconciliation is "unchanged", Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said at a daily news conference in Beijing on Friday.

"We strongly urge the Philippines to get back on the correct track of resolution through diplomacy, and any remark or move that complicates or intensifies the situation makes no sense to the resolution," Liu warned.

Huangyan Island has been an integral part of China's territory for centuries.

The Philippine government made no challenge to China's sovereignty over the island before it started to officially lay rival claims in 1997.

Yet on April 10, a Philippine warship entered the island's territorial waters, dispatched personnel to harass Chinese fishing boats and became violent toward Chinese fishermen.

The move infringed on China's sovereignty. Two Chinese patrol ships in the area later came to the fishermen's rescue, and the warship left.

But the standoff continued as Philippine vessels were reportedly still in China's territorial waters on Friday.

In the wake of the incident, Manila called on neighboring countries in the region to "take a stand" but received little response. The United States refused to take sides.

"China's sovereignty over the island is justified in both historical records and legal documents, but the Philippines' claim is not," said Luo Yuan, deputy secretary-general of the China Association of Military Science.

China succeeded in naming the island and its adjacent islets in 1935, 1947 and 1983, and the related international treaties also recognized the legitimacy of the naming.

China's sovereignty over the island is not subject to any attempt to seek an international judgment, Luo said.

Analysts said the Philippine public has expressed discontent over its government's groundless claim and legislative attempts in recent years to annex Huangyan Island.

Huangyan Island "does belong to China, which discovered it and drew it in a map as early as 1279 during the Yuan Dynasty", said an opinion article in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on April 28.

"By contrast, the 'old maps' being relied upon by our Department of Foreign Affairs in its spurious claim on the same territory were drawn up only in 1820, or 541 years after China's," said the article.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

Defense Minister Liang Guanglie began a landmark six-day visit to the United States on Friday, which experts say will help reduce misunderstandings between the world's two largest economies and major military powers.

Liang, the first Chinese defense minister to visit the US in nine years, will meet US counterpart Leon Panetta on Monday.

The defense minister's visit follows a day after meeting James Miller, US acting under secretary of defense for policy, in Beijing amid tense bilateral relations.

Poor Sino-US military relations, in particular, have been a thorn in bilateral relations, said Jin Canrong, deputy dean of the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China. "It lags behind economic, political and cultural relations (between China and the US). If it can be improved, it will benefit the stability of Sino-US relations as a whole," he said.

"The Defense Minister's visit is projected to deepen trust and reduce misgivings on both sides," Jin said.

On Thursday at the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, President Hu Jintao said that Beijing and Washington should escape from the outdated belief that major powers are destined to clash with one another.

The lack of mutual respect and trust between the two nations may lead to difficulties in resolving the issues in Iran, the Korean Peninsula and Syria, as well as the ongoing standoff between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, said Jiang Chunliang, a researcher at the PLA Academy of Military Sciences.

Liang's meetings with top military officials in Washington are significant in facilitating high-level communications, particularly at a time when reducing tensions and conflicts between China and the US are imperative to safeguarding global peace, Jiang said.

Liang is expected to further discuss Beijing's stance on the South China Sea during his US visit, said Shi Yinhong, head of the Center for American Studies of Renmin University.

The defense minister will also visit Naval Base San Diego, US Southern Command in Florida, Fort Benning in Georgia, Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, West Point academy and other military sites.

In the US, Pentagon spokesman George Little said earlier that Liang's visit will help to "further strengthen our military relation and contacts with the Chinese".

It "follows on the heels of Vice-President Xi's recent visit to the Pentagon and we believe this is an important point on the trajectory of increased cooperation with our Chinese counterparts", he said.

Panetta is also due to make a trip to Beijing "in a not too distant future", Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

Military relations between China and the US soured after the Obama administration announced plans to sell $6.4 billion worth of arms to Taiwan in January 2010. A US deal to sell $5.85 billion in military hardware to the island in September 2011 again disrupted Sino-US military relations.

In late April, the White House again pledged to give "serious consideration" to sell new F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan.

huyinan@chinadaily.com.cn

Senator Bob Carr has called for broader military ties between Australia and China before his first official visit to China as Australian foreign minister.

Carr will visit China next week for three days at the invitation of Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi.

Carr told Xinhua that the bilateral relationship between Australia and China needed to be deepened beyond what he called " the transactional economic agenda" by creating confidence-building measures, including military cooperation.

"I'm open to any approaches, any ideas from our Chinese partners in an expansion of points of contact between Australia and China and there is already a level of military-to-military cooperation between Australia and China and that's in the interest of both countries and I want to see that broadened," he said.

Carr's first visit to China as foreign minister comes at a time of growing regional disquiet about Australia's strategic stance, with 2500 US marines taking up a controversial new deployment in Darwin, a deployment that the foreign minister was keen to play down.

"The US troop presence is a rotating troop presence - not a base," he said.

"Those troops are in, they do training, they do joint exercises and then they're out. It's not a base. The numbers are small ... so small as to render that presence insignificant."

China is one of Australia's key trading partners.

Enhancing that trade will be a key objective of Carr's visit, as he battles a growing perception in Chinese business circles that Australia is ambivalent toward foreign investment after highly publicized government interventions in investments and contracts involving companies such as the telecom giant Huawei.

Carr said the perception is mistaken and Australia is open to Chinese investment and wants more.

"Chinese investment in Australia has grown. It's grown in strategic sectors of the economy - for example in mining. There are huge Chinese investment now in the mining sector.

"Australia's got a very open investment climate. And this is true of foreign direct investment originating in China. We want to see more Chinese investment in Australia,"he said.

Carr will also seek to reassure Chinese students after a vicious attack in Sydney last month left one Chinese national with a broken cheekbone and caused a furor on micro blogs around the region.

"Australia is one of the safest places to live in and to study. I'm very proud that Australia offers a safe environment for overseas students, Chinese students to live in and work in," Carr said.

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said in a news release issued on Friday that Chen Guangcheng, a Chinese citizen, may apply to study abroad through the same channels as all Chinese citizens in accordance with the laws of relevant departments.

Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said Chen, a native of Yinan county in eastern China's Shandong province, is currently receiving treatment at a hospital.

The spokesman said on Wednesday that China demands an apology from the United States for taking Chen "via abnormal means" into the US Embassy in Beijing.

It's a scream that is still reverberating around the world.

One of the most iconic images in art history - Edvard Munch's The Scream - has become the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction.

During an intense 12 minutes, the 1895 artwork - a modern symbol of human anxiety - was sold at Sotheby's in New York on Wednesday for a record $119,922,500. Neither the buyer's name nor any details about the buyer was released.

The previous record for an artwork sold at auction was $106.5 million for Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, sold by Christie's in 2010.

Munch's image of a man holding his head and screaming under a streaked, blood-red sky is one of four versions by the Norwegian expressionist painter. The auctioned piece at Sotheby's was the only one left in private hands.

The image has become part of pop culture, "used by everyone from Warhol to Hollywood to cartoons to teacups and T-shirts," said Michael Frahm, of the London-based art advisory service firm, Frahm Ltd. "Together with the Mona Lisa, it's the most famous and recognized image in art history."

"As popular culture, it provides an analogy for both individual and collective experiences of, variously, loss, pain, grief, modernity, nature gone awry, the body out of control, and existential struggle," said Patricia Berman, chairwoman of the art department at Wellesley College.

A buzz swept through the room when the artwork was presented for auction as two guards stood watch on either side. Bidding started at $40 million with seven buyers jumping into the competition early.

The battle eventually boiled down to two phone bidders as the historic hammer price was finally achieved after more than 12 minutes. The record price includes the auction house's fee.

Sotheby's said the pastel-on-board version of The Scream is the most colorful and vibrant of the four and the only version whose frame was hand-painted by the artist to include his poem, detailing the work's inspiration.

In the poem, Munch described himself "shivering with anxiety" and said he felt "the great scream in nature".

Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, whose father was a friend and patron of the artist, said he sold the piece through Sotheby's because he felt "the moment has come to offer the rest of the world the chance to own and appreciate this remarkable work".

"I have lived with this work all my life, and its power and energy have only increased with time," Olsen said.

Proceeds from the sale will go toward the establishment of a new museum, art center and hotel in Hvitsten, Norway, where Olsen's father and Munch were neighbors.

A total of nine works now have sold for $80 million or more at auction, according to Sotheby's.

Besides The Scream and Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, only two other works have sold for more than $100 million at auction. Those are Picasso's Boy With a Pipe (The Young Apprentice) for $104.1 million in 2004 and Alberto Giacometti's Walking Man I for $104.3 million in 2010.

The Associated Press

A college student picked up in a drug sweep in California was never arrested, never charged and should have been released. Instead he was forgotten in a holding cell for four days and says he had to drink his own urine to stay alive.

Without food, water or access to a toilet, Daniel Chong began hallucinating on the third day.

He said in an interview on Wednesday that he saw little Japanese-style cartoon characters that told him to dig into the walls to find water. Chong tore apart the plastic lining on the walls.

"I ripped the walls and waited for the room to flood for some reason," said the 23-year-old student at the University of California, San Diego, three days after he left the hospital where he was treated for dehydration and kidney failure. "I can't explain my hallucinations too well because none of them make sense."

Later, he added, "I felt like I was completely losing my mind."

Four days later, agents opened the door on a fluke and found him covered in his own feces, Chong said.

Chong's attorneys filed a $20 million claim on Wednesday against the Drug Enforcement Administration, saying his treatment constitutes torture under US and international law.

"He nearly died," said Chong's lawyer, Eugene Iredale. "If he had been there another 12 to 24 hours, he probably would have died."

The five-page notice, a required precursor to a lawsuit, was sent to the DEA's chief counsel in Washington and cites damages for pain and suffering, future medical and psychiatric treatment, and loss of future earnings.

The $20 million figure refers to the maximum Chong and his lawyers would seek.

The top DEA agent in San Diego apologized on Wednesday for Chong's treatment and promised an investigation into how his agents could have forgotten about him.

The incident stands out as one of the worst cases of its kind, said Thomas Beauclair, deputy director of the National Corrections Institute, a federal agency that provides training and technical assistance to corrections agencies.

"That is pretty much unheard of," he said, noting that, in his 40-year career, he has heard of instances where people were forgotten overnight but not for days.

A federal law enforcement official familiar with DEA operations said the agency's protocols require that cells be checked each night. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter, said the cell where Chong was held is not intended for overnight stays because it does not have a toilet.

Chong said that he went to his friend's house on April 20 to get high. Every April 20, pot smokers light up in a counterculture ritual held around the country at 4:20 pm.

Chong slept there that night and, at around 10:50 am the next day, he said, agents stormed into the house as he was rolling a joint at the kitchen table. The raid netted 18,000 ecstasy pills, other drugs and weapons.

Nine people, including Chong, were taken into custody, according to the DEA.

Chong was moved from cell to cell for several hours and then questioned. He said agents then told him that he was not a suspect and would be released shortly. He signed some paperwork, was put in handcuffs and sent back to the holding cell, a small, windowless room.

The Associated Press

Looser restrictions on high-tech goods could 'stimulate region'

The European Union should loosen its restrictions on high-tech exports to China as soon as possible, a move that could help the region resolve debt problems and create benefits for both sides, said Chinese Vice-Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday.

"Belgium is the first country in the EU to lift the ban on high-tech exports to China. China expects it could open up more in that respect, further stimulating the whole region to follow suit," said Li.

Li's remarks were made during his meeting with representatives of overseas Chinese in Brussels.

In an earlier meeting with Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, the prime minister said he expects China "could provide its support to the EU, as the EU is experiencing a hard period at the moment and the region's economic recovery is important to both the region but also the whole world".

The EU remains the largest trade partner for China and China is the second-largest trade partner for the EU, but the region still sets curbs on technology exports to China. Experts suggested the EU ease the curbs to help stimulate the region's exports while the region struggles to address debt woes and seeks economic recovery.

Zhong Shan, vice-minister of commerce, said in an article published in People's Daily on Wednesday that China will actively expand its imports from the EU as part of its efforts to enlarge Chinese imports. But he also urged the EU to push forward the liberalization and convenience of trade and investment exchanges.

In late April, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao asked German Chancellor Angela Merkel to lobby fellow European Union leaders to ease the curbs.

"China is happy to import more from Germany and also hopes the German side will move the EU toward a loosening of export restrictions against China in the field of technology," Wen said at the time.

In 2011, China-EU trade volume reached a record $567.2 billion.

"China and the EU are highly complementary to each other in economies and advantages," Li said during the meeting with the representatives.

China is implementing its 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), and the EU in 2010 launched the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.

On Thursday, Li attended the China-EU Urbanization High-level Conference, discussing cooperation on the issue with his counterparts.

Li wrote in an article on Wednesday in the Financial Times that if EU high-tech exports to China gained 1 percentage point, there would be extra exports worth 2.2 billion euro ($2.9 billion) for the region. "Relaxing control over high-tech exports to China is conducive to growing China-EU economic ties and so is beneficial for both sides," Li said.

China has repeatedly said the Chinese government is confident that the EU could solve its debt problems through joint efforts, and the nation has also lent a hand to the region.

Last year, China's direct investment in the region doubled, and the nation bought government bonds on many occasions.

"China and Europe are strategic partners. We are ready to work with Europe to ensure our mutual hopes will enhance trust, support and cooperation," Li wrote.

Contact the writers at dingqingfen@chinadaily.com.cn and Fujing@chinadaily.com.cn

Workers assemble solar photovoltaic battery parts, which will be exported to the European Union, at a factory in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province. Provided to China Daily

China and the European Union will expand collaboration in the alternative energy sector to achieve shared objectives in terms of energy conservation and emissions reduction, officials said.

The two sides will further cooperate in nuclear technologies, including uranium enrichment and experimental fast reactors, and they will jointly develop new-energy vehicles, said Xu Xianping, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission.

Cooperation in the development of green technology is another area that can draw China and Europe closer together, said Han Wenke, director-general of the Energy Research Institute, under the National Development and Reform Commission.

EU countries have technological advantages. France is at the forefront of nuclear technologies, while Denmark is strong in wind power, and Germany excels in solar energy.

China's drive to achieve environmentally sustainable growth will mean these technologies have a market for years to come.

"Over the past five years, China has led the world in the rate at which it has installed new clean energy generating capacity," said Phyllis Cuttino, director of the clean energy program for the Pew Charitable Trusts, a Washington-based research group.

A recent Pew report said China's investment in clean energy totaled $45.5 billion in 2011, which meant it fell behind the United States for the first time since 2009.

"While China's growth may have been flat in 2011, it remains a formidable contender in the global clean energy race, leading the world in the production of wind turbines and solar modules," Cuttino said.

Furthermore, she said China has maintained strong national clean energy goals that ensure high levels of investment for the foreseeable future. The country has deployed an impressive amount of clean energy infrastructure.

China aims to increase the proportion of non-fossil fuels to 15 percent of primary energy consumption by 2020, and technology is the key to realizing the potential of China's clean energy market, she said.

China and the European Union have complementary roles, said Zhang Min, head of the department of science and technology policy studies under the Institute of European Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

EU countries have core technologies and research funding, while China has a huge market and plentiful resources. These elements form a solid basis for cooperation, Zhang said.

"But there are problems that need to be addressed - such as the slow pace of technology transfer - that hinder the effectiveness of new energy cooperation," Zhang said.

Overcapacity is another issue facing China's emerging green energy industry, Zhang said.

Taking advantage of preferential policies, a large number of Chinese companies have entered the clean energy market, leading to a surplus in the green energy equipment industry in China.

Furthermore, many domestic alternative energy companies are largely assembly plants and lack a competitive advantage in clean energy technology.

lanlan@chinadaily.com.cn

Vice-Premier Li Keqiang is paying a significant visit to Belgium amid a "special global backdrop", and he is expected to lay a solid foundation for another four decades of fruitful bilateral relations, said China's ambassador to Belgium Liao Liqiang.

Liao made his comments before Li's ongoing tour of Russia, Hungary, Belgium and the headquarters of the European Union. "This visit is happening against a special and important backdrop," he said.

Li's visit to Belgium is another "significant diplomatic move toward Brussels and Europe", indicating that China is putting Belgium and the EU high on its foreign relations agenda, Liao said. He made two points to explain the backdrop of Li's visit to Belgium, which began on Wednesday.

First, the international situation is undergoing complicated and deep change, with deepening globalization and increasing inter-dependency between countries. "To realize their own sustainable development and solve global problems, China and the EU must strengthen their strategic partnership," said Liao.

Second, China and Belgium have already achieved sustainable progress in all sectors and the two sides have maintained smooth communication regarding major global issues. "The bilateral relations between China and Belgium are at a new level, and we are facing important development opportunities," said Liao.

Last year, the two countries celebrated the 40th anniversary of establishing official diplomatic relations. Liao said Li's visit is expected to lay a solid base for fruitful bilateral relations for the coming four decades.

Liao said Belgium is representative of medium- and small-sized developed countries in Europe and also the heart of Europe. "Belgium has special influence in Europe and on the global stage."

The two sides have attached great importance to bilateral political trust, said Liao. Meanwhile, two-way trade and investment activities are in full swing.

"Even against the background of the European debt crisis, bilateral trade achieved a historic high of $29 billion in 2011," said Liao.

He said Chinese private investors have shown great interest in investing in Belgium. China's investment volume in Belgium has surpassed $100 million.

fujing@chinadaily.com.cn

Wu Hailong, China's ambassador to the EU, said Beijing and Brussels have "unprecedented necessity and urgency" to accelerate cooperation and tackle global challenges amid the new international situation.

Wu said that visiting Vice-Premier Li Keqiang is scheduled to exchange ideas and beef up global cooperation when he meets leaders of the European Union.

"Vice-Premier Li will push forward the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and the EU during his visit ... urbanization and energy cooperation will bring more opportunities for both sides," Wu said.

Wu urged the two sides to respect each other and boost political trust as they have different histories and cultures, various social systems and stages of development.

"The two sides should go beyond differences of political ideologies and values, and respect and understand each other's development model," said Wu.

Wu said the two sides should also devote enough energy and time to matching China's 12th Five-Year Plan and the EU 2020 strategy, exploring cooperation opportunities in renewable energy, urbanization, science and technology sector.

"We need to find the real opportunities to realize win-win situations and sustainable development," said Wu.

Based on political, economic and trade cooperation, Wu said China and the European Union should accelerate the pace of people-to-people exchanges and make people on both sides increase mutual understanding and recognition.

"We should work toward fostering EU-China friendship for generations," said Wu.

Wu said China and the EU should work toward building an open and inclusive international system and strengthen cooperation and communication on international financial system reform, global governance, climate change, energy security and grain security.

fujing@chinadaily.com.cn

The incumbent French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his Socialist rival Francois Hollande confronted each other in a last minute attempt to woo voters ahead of the final runoff of the 2012 French election to be held on Sunday.

The two candidates clashed on Wednesday in a face-to-face televised debate on issues including public spending, the eurozone crisis and immigration.

Hollande, the French Socialist Party candidate, criticized Sarkozy's economic policies, saying they resulted in high public debt, and accused him of passing tax reform that favored the wealthy.

Sarkozy fought back by emphasizing Hollande's lack of experience in government and economic affairs.

Hollande won the first round of the election on April 22 with 28.6 percent of the vote, while the incumbent came second with 27.8 percent. The most recent polls predict that Hollande is likely to beat Sarkozy by 54 to 46 percent on Sunday.

If Hollande wins, he will be France's first Socialist president in 17 years, since Francois Mitterand left the office in 1995, and Sarkozy will be the first right-wing French president in 30 years who failed to be re-elected.

While the debate was viewed as Sarkozy's last chance to turn the tide in his favor, analysts have said debates have never radically changed voters' intentions and it is unlikely to have much influence on the election results on Sunday.

Analysts are watching whether Sarkozy can successfully woo far-right voters, whom they say will play a key role in the final stage of the presidential campaign because the far-right candidate Marine Le Pen gained a surprising 18 percent of the vote in the first round of the election.

However, on Tuesday, Le Pen persuaded her supporters to cast a blank vote in the runoff. This would make it even harder for Sarkozy to pull off a last-minute victory on Sunday.

During the presidential campaign, Sarkozy made immigration a major issue, and Holland focused on the eurozone crisis and boosting domestic growth.

Sarkozy has stressed the importance of patriotism and the value of work while Hollande has promised to balance French finances by 2017 through means including levying higher taxes on the rich.

Sarkozy has been viewed by domestic voters as having lost the ability to pursue a course that would address France's economic problems, such as weak growth and an unemployment rate as high as 10 percent.

"People are getting tired of Sarkozy because he has made mistakes in the past five years," Sylvain Maillefent, 36, a French voter, told China Daily.

"I hope Hollande could be better represent the people and come up with better solutions," he said.

Some campaign watchers have said that voters support Hollande not so much because they are satisfied with his campaign proposals but because he is the "anti-Sarkozy" candidate.

"I will vote, but both candidates have failed to convince me," a voter in Paris who declined to be named told China Daily. "They talk about symbolic things but they are unlikely to change much."

Analysts said that if Sarkozy loses the election, that could get in the way of progress in the eurozone crisis and cause fluctuations on the financial markets.

Sarkozy and Hollande have stepped up their appeal to voters of Asian and Chinese heritage to gain wider support for the runoff on Sunday.

"Regardless of who wins the election, President Sarkozy wants to make sure that Sino-French relations remain stable and can move forward," Michel Lu, Sarkozy's advisor on Asian affairs, said during a news briefing in Paris.

Bruno Le Roux, a spokesman for Hollande, told reporters that Hollande would like to visit China in the fall if he wins the election.

lixiang@chinadaily.com.cn

Vice-President Xi Jinping on Thursday stressed the importance of risk management and control for both China and Japan while meeting with a group of lawmakers from the Japanese Diet's Japan-China Friendship League in Beijing.

Xi said both sides should be "prudent" in handling sensitive issues, especially those of great concern and related to core interests.

He gave a positive evaluation of the efforts that the league has made to deepen the friendship between China and Japan.

"Both sides should carry out the important consensus reached by both countries' leaders and enhance political and strategic trust," said Xi, urging both Beijing and Tokyo to move forward in "the right direction".

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties between China and Japan, but relations between the countries have been rather tense, sparked by a denial of the Nanjing Massacre by the mayor of Nagoya and a recent proposal from the mayor of Tokyo to buy China's Diaoyu Islands from so-called "private owners".

Zhou Yongsheng, a professor of Japanese studies at China Foreign Affairs University, expressed his concern over the "discordant voices" from the Japanese side since the beginning of the year.

"It has already cast a shadow on the celebration of the 40th anniversary," Zhou told China Daily, adding that it was hard to tell if Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's administration could properly handle the strategic development of Sino-Japanese relations.

"The Democratic Party of Japan is lacking a strategic view and its members tend to cater to public favor. So the powerful local politicians have made use of it to preserve their political interests."

Masahiko Komura, president of the Japanese Diet's Japan-China Friendship League, said it is "significant" to promote strategic, mutually beneficial Japan-China relations, and the league will take the opportunity of the 40th anniversary to make the bilateral ties stronger.

Xi said he hopes both sides attract more people, especially the youth, to participate in various activities to celebrate the anniversary and improve the nations' feelings toward each other.

"We can see that Beijing has drawn a line to keep Sino-Japanese relations from getting worse," Zhou said.

wangchenyan@chinadaily.com.cn

British detectives arrested a former police special operations officer as part of an investigation into phone-hacking and bribery at Rupert Murdoch's newspapers, Scotland Yard said on Thursday.

The unnamed 57-year-old man was arrested in a dawn raid at his house in Surrey, southwest of London, on suspicion of misconduct in a public office, the force said in a statement.

He previously served in the Metropolitan Police's specialist operations command and retired several years ago, it said.

The arrest was made as a result of information provided by the Management Standards Committee of Murdoch's US-based News Corp, a panel set up by Murdoch to probe illegal activity at his British newspapers, it added.

"It relates to suspected payments to a former police officer and is not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately," the statement said.

"He is currently being questioned at a southwest London police station and his home address is being searched."

Scotland Yard's special operations command covers a range of roles including counter-terrorism, organized crime, firearms and royal and diplomatic protection.

A spokesman declined to confirm which section the arrested man had worked in.

The arrest was made by officers from Operation Elveden, a Scotland Yard investigation probing allegations of inappropriate payments to police and public officials.

It is being run in tandem with Operation Weeting, the original investigation launched in January 2011 into phone-hacking at the News of the World newspaper.

Police have arrested more than 40 current and former journalists, police officers and public officials as part of the twin investigations.

The arrests have recently included several staff from The Sun, Murdoch's top-selling British daily tabloid.

A British parliamentary committee on Tuesday said in a report that Murdoch was not a fit person to lead an international company, although the cross-party panel was split on the decision.

It also charged the company with misleading lawmakers and said Murdoch and his son James should take responsibility.

The board of News Corp declared "full confidence" in Murdoch on Wednesday, citing his "vision and leadership" and "his demonstrated resolve to address the mistakes" identified in the report.

Murdoch closed the News of the World in July 2011 amid public outrage in Britain over the hacking of a murdered schoolgirl's voicemails.

Beijing on Thursday said it has remained in contact with the Republic of Korea and is willing to work with Seoul to properly handle the recent clash between a Chinese fishing boat and the ROK's Coast Guard.

The response came amid a series of fishery disputes between both countries in the past year, and analysts said it will take time to eradicate violence and clashes between Chinese fishermen and Seoul's Coast Guard.

Reports say the conflict took place in the Yellow Sea between a Chinese vessel and ROK coast guard officers on Monday morning. The incident left four of the coast guards injured and resulted in nine Chinese fishermen being detained.

China's consulate-general in Gwangju has sent personnel to greet the detained Chinese crew, and has kept in close touch with Seoul to jointly handle the incident, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said at a daily news conference in Beijing.

Beijing has said that Chinese fishermen must adhere to the related regulatory provisions of the China-ROK Fishery Agreement while implementing fishery operations in defined waters, Liu said.

"In the meantime, we hope the related governing bodies of Seoul will enforce laws in a civilized way, and urge Seoul to jointly promote the healthy development of bilateral fishery cooperation," Liu said.

More detailed information needs to be verified, and Beijing has urged Seoul to ensure the safety, lawful rights and interests of the detained Chinese fishermen.

In April, a Chinese fishing boat captain who allegedly killed a Seoul coast guard officer during a conflict last December was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The Incheon District Court also ordered Cheng Dawei to pay 20 million won ($17,600) in fines.

Beijing rejected the judgment, and said the court's decision was based on Seoul's domestic law regarding exclusive economic zones.

Meanwhile, Seoul on Thursday vowed to resort to protective measures to ensure its agricultural and fishery sectors in the China-ROK bilateral free trade agreement negotiation, which was initiated on Wednesday.

"The close proximity of China, the similar agricultural structure and sizable difference in product prices has raised considerable concerns that an open trade arrangement will hurt local farmers," the ROK Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said in a press release.

The ministry also said Seoul will work for more provisions to cut or exempt tariffs for agricultural and fishery products, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

Early vote set for September

Israel is expected to hold early elections on Sept 4 after the ruling Likud party submitted a bill to dissolve parliament, with opinion polls on Thursday giving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a clear lead.

Although a national vote was not due until 2013, tensions within Netanyahu's rightist coalition over domestic issues, such as military draft for ultra-orthodox Jews, have convinced the prime minister to push for a pre-emptive ballot.

Russia

Missile dispute near 'dead end'

Russia said on Thursday its dispute with the United States over missile defense was near a "dead end" and warned it might have to deploy new rockets in Europe to take out elements of the controversial shield.

"We have not been able to find mutually-acceptable solutions at this point and the situation is practically at a dead end," Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told a televised conference on missile defense issues.

Iraq

Vice-president's trial postponed

The trial of Iraq's fugitive vice-president, Tareq al-Hashemi, accused of running death squads, was postponed on Thursday after defense lawyers argued it should be held in a special court.

The leading Sunni Muslim politician fled Baghdad in December when the Shiite-led government issued a warrant for his arrest.

Reuters-AFP

The study, published in the Canadian Journal of Zoology, tracked 52 female polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea off Alaska. Between 2004 and 2009, a period of extreme summer-ice retreat, about a third of those bears made swims exceeding 48 km in distance, according to the study results.

The 50 recorded ultra-marathon swims averaged 155 km, and one bear was able to swim nearly 354 km, according to the study results. The duration of the long-distance swims lasted from most of a day to nearly 10 days, according to the study.

The bears' movements were tracked using global positioning system collars. All the animals in the study were females because male polar bear necks are too thick for GPS-equipped collars, said Karen Oakley, a supervising biologist at the USGS Alaska Science Center.

Many of the polar bears in the study had young cubs with them, and it appears that at least some cubs might have been able to keep up with their mothers in the water.

The scientists were able to track 10 of the studied bears within a year of collaring and found that six still had their cubs, the lead scientist said in a statement.

"These observations suggest that some cubs are also capable of swimming long distances. For the other four females with cubs, we don't know if they lost their cubs before, during, or at some point after their long swims," Anthony Pagano, a scientist and lead author of the study, said in the statement.

Oakley said the study sample was too small to allow the scientists to draw conclusions about the fate of the entire polar bear population, which in 2008 was granted Endangered Species Act protections because of rapid warming in their Arctic habitat.

The study simply describes behavior that was observed, Oakley said. "It's just very interesting that in fact they can swim long distances, and cubs can swim long distances," she said. "Do all the cubs that attempt to swim these long distances survive? We don't know."

Polar bears probably lacked the need to make such long swims in that part of the Arctic in the past.

In past decades, polar bears were always able to rest on available floating summer sea ice, she said.

Reuters

Nearly 15 percent of people worldwide believe the world will end during their lifetime and 10 percent think the Mayan calendar could signify it will happen in 2012, according to a new poll.

The end of the Mayan calendar - spanning about 5,125 years - on Dec 21, 2012, has fuelled interpretations and suggestions that it marks the end of the world.

"Whether they think it will come to an end through the hand of God, or a natural disaster or a political event - whatever the reason - one in seven thinks the end of the world is coming," said Keren Gottfried, research manager at Ipsos Global Public Affairs, which conducted the poll for Reuters.

"Perhaps it is because of the media attention coming from one interpretation of the Mayan prophecy that states the world 'ends' in our calendar year 2012," Gottfried said, adding that some Mayan scholars have disputed the interpretation.

Responses to the international poll of 16,262 people in more than 20 countries varied widely, with only 6 percent of French residents believing in an impending Armageddon in their lifetime, compared to 22 percent in Turkey and the United States, and slightly less in South Africa and Argentina.

But only 7 percent in Belgium and 8 percent in Britain feared an end to the world during their lives.

About one in 10 people globally also said they were experiencing fear or anxiety about the impending end of the world in 2012. The greatest numbers were in Russia and Poland, the fewest in Britain.

Gottfried also said that people with lower education or household income levels, as well as those under 35, were more likely to believe in an apocalypse during their lifetime or in 2012, or have anxiety over the prospect.

"Perhaps those who are older have lived long enough to not be as concerned with what happens to their future," she explained.

Ipsos questioned people in China, Turkey, Russia, Mexico, South Korea, Japan, the United States, Argentina, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, France, Spain, Belgium, Canada, Australia, Italy, South Africa, Britain, Indonesia and Germany.

Reuters

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks with State Councilor Dai Bingguo at Wanshou Temple before their dinner in Beijing on Wednesday. The fourth round of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue is due to be held from Thursday to Friday in Beijing. Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

Amid a flurry of regional hotspot issues in the Asia-Pacific region, the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue is an opportunity for the world's sole superpower and a major rising power to learn how to cooperate with each other on overlapping security interests, experts said.

The fourth round of the S&ED is scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Beijing.

Vice-Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo will join US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to co-chair the annual double-channel dialogue on macroeconomic policies and major international issues.

High-ranking officials from more than 20 government agencies on both sides will attend the gathering. Bilateral foreign policies, climate change, energy security, the Sudan issue and the security situations in Southeast Asia, among others, are expected to be discussed at the high-level talks.

"Against the background of regional hot issues, how Beijing and Washington will coordinate mutual stances has attracted particular attention," said Qu Xing, director of the China Institute of International Studies.

Jin Canrong, deputy dean of the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China, said with China's rapid growth and the eastward shift of the strategic focus of the US, deeper strategic trust has been a key precondition for a healthy partnership between the two world powers.

"We noticed that this round of dialogue has put more attention on the small-scale talks (which are more secretive and usually touch upon sensitive issues). Besides, there will be a second round of strategic security talks. Such an arrangement reflects the common will of both sides to make the dialogue a more in-depth and productive one," Jin said.

Under the framework of the S&ED, the first Asia-Pacific strategic security talks, which brought together diplomatic and military personnel from both sides, were launched last year as part of the broader dialogue mechanism.

"This kind of security dialogue remains particularly important, especially at a time when regional security tensions have deteriorated following Pyongyang's failed rocket launch and the escalated confrontation between China and the Philippines on China's Huangyan Island," Qu said.

"It is expected that China and the US ... can find the way for a major rising country to get along with a holding power," Xinhua said on Wednesday.

The talks, which will take place ahead of both the US presidential elections and China's upcoming leadership transition, have further attracted attention from the international community, said Li Xiangyang, director of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The US is expected to continue to urge China to accelerate reforms of its State-owned financial sector and the exchange rate of its currency, said Song Hongru, a researcher with the Institute of World Economics and Politics under the CASS.

"(But) considering the basic balanced exchange rate level the yuan has approached and China's decision to allow bigger daily fluctuations, the yuan's exchange rate issue is not expected to dominate this year's talks," Song said.

IPR protection is also expected one of the main topics of the Beijing dialogue, according to Zhang Yansheng, director of Institute for International Economics Studies under National Development and Reform Commission.

The US Trade Representative's annual Special 301 report - which designates the world's worst offenders of US intellectual property rights in Washington's eyes - on Monday once again listed China and Russia among the most serious offenders.

However, Beijing has long said it expects the US to take more practical measures and suspend its long-established restrictions on high-tech exports to China, reduce prejudices on China's investment and handle bilateral trade frictions in a more cautious manner.

Contact the writers at wuyixue@chinadaily.com.cn and lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn

The White House is reconsidering the trade barriers it has put up before exports of advanced technology to China, a US official said on Wednesday.

"As you know, we are reviewing our high-technology export regulations," said John Holdren, US assistant to the president for science and technology.

"Certainly, I hope some of those changes will address some of the concerns that our colleagues in China have had, but this is a complicated domain. Where the technologies are judged to be relevant to national defense, those prescriptions will continue. But we hope that in other domains, there will be changes that will benefit China."

Earlier reports said that China has called for the US to ease the restrictions it has placed on exports of high-tech products. That will help to meet the increasing Chinese demand for technology related to clean energy and environmental protection.

But, despite China's willingness to buy such products from the US, the US has not changed its export regulations.

According to media reports, 16.67 percent of China's imports from the US were composed of high-tech products in 2001. By last year, the number had fallen to 6.26 percent, a result of tightened US export restrictions.

In late March, Gary Locke, US ambassador to China, said at a news conference that the US was planning to lift a ban imposed on exports of 46 high-tech products to China. Even so, a Ministry of Commerce spokesman said on April 17 that the ministry had not seen any steps taken toward that end.

Holdren spoke to China Daily at a conference that last from Tuesday to Wednesday in Beijing, where China and US science and technology officials discussed the possibility of cooperating on projects related to environmental protection, clean energy, agriculture technology, health and similar matters.

At the conference, China's Ministry of Science and Technology signed a project protocol with the US Department of Agriculture and a memorandum of understanding with the US National Science Foundation.

Meanwhile, Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang said the Chinese government is doing more to protect intellectual property rights as international cooperation on science and technology becomes more common.

"In 2011, China's number of innovation patents increased by 30 percent, while the value of technology trading increased to 476.4 billion yuan ($75.75 billion), an increase of 33 percent," Wan said.

"With stricter law enforcement, the Chinese government is trying to foster a more open and fair atmosphere for innovation and to promote global cooperation," Wan said.

The talks will be the third round in a series that China and the US have held on similar topics. The first took place in October 2010 and the second in May 2011.

Through the first two rounds, the negotiators agreed to carry out various research projects together, such as building and operating a $150 million China-US Clean Energy Research Center.

"The two countries also signed an agreement to share the intellectual right of innovation at the center," said Cao Jianlin, deputy minister of science and technology.

Besides such cooperation on science and technology projects, science policies is also an important topic in the dialogue, Cao said.

"China did not move away from a planned economy until recent decades, so these enterprises have only a few research departments. That's different from the US," Cao said.

"In order to encourage enterprises to innovate, we should do more to protect intellectual property."

chengyingqi@chinadaily.com.cn

The US should loosen its curbs on high-tech exports to China as soon as possible, and take action as it has pledged, said Zhou.

Zhou's remarks came ahead of the fourth round of the China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue which is due to be held from Thursday to Friday in Beijing. Issues including the US trade deficit with China and China's currency policies will be discussed, said experts.

"The US has no reason to blame China (for the deficit), as it has a trade deficit with more than 90 nations worldwide and the deficit is a common, long-term and structural problem," said Zhou.

Resource-related products, labor-intensive goods and industries that the US does not enjoy strong competitiveness all contribute to the US trade deficit, he said.

In 2011, China's exports to the US rose 14.5 percent to $324.5 billion, and imports surged by 19.6 percent to $122.2 billion, leaving a trade surplus of $202.3 billion, compared with the overall US deficit of over $730 billion in 2010.

Despite the deficit, US exports to China have been expanding at an extraordinary pace during the past decade.

In 2000, US shipments to China were worth $16.25 billion, but the figure grew by more than 500 percent and shot up to $103.9 billion in 2011. But comparatively, US exports to Japan, the third-largest economy worldwide, grew by merely 1.4 percent during the same period.

"China is a big contributor to US exports," said Zhou.

Erin Ennis, vice-president of the US-China Business Council, which represents about 240 US companies doing business in China, said in March that China is vital to US economic health as it imports a lot from the US and creates jobs for US workers.

The US has repeatedly requested China to allow its currency to appreciate further and faster to narrow the deficit, but experts said the appreciation of the yuan cannot resolve the problem. While Chinese export growth slows and the ratio of the nation's trade surplus to GDP shrinks, the appreciation of the yuan will decelerate and there is not much room for the yuan to rise, said experts.

China's current account surplus has shrunk from more than 10 percent of GDP in 2007 to 2.8 percent in 2011.

Premier Wen Jiabao said in March the yuan may be near "equilibrium" and policymakers will allow greater exchange rate volatility. China has allowed yuan to weaken 0.2 percent this year against the dollar, following 2011's 4.7 percent gain in the currency.

Exports curb

According to Zhou, who is a senior researcher on China-US economic and trade issues, the US deficit with China started in the early 1990s, when the US began to tighten the screws on its high-tech exports to China.

"I have to say the right and efficient way to resolve the trade imbalance would be the if the US manages to loosen the restrictions," said Zhou. "If the country did that, there is a high possibility that the US will narrow its trade deficit with China."

Recent signals seem to show that the US aims to make some changes on the issue. But for Zhou, these are just empty words.

In late March, US Ambassador to China Gary Locke said during a function to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Shanghai Communique that the US will allow 46 of the 141 high-tech items requested by China to enter the Chinese market, and some may not need a license. And he added that the US embassy will bring a delegation of US companies to China to meet Chinese companies interested in purchasing these goods.

But Zhou pointed out that Locke's words do not mean the US would like to make substantial efforts on the matter.

"The 46 items are comparatively low-end goods, and the high-tech goods are still not allowed to be exported to China. More than that, the US will examine them (the 46 items) case by case," he said.

dingqingfen@chinadaily.com.cn

State Councilor and Defense Minister Liang Guanglie meets US acting Undersecretary of Defense for Policy James Miller on Wednesday in Beijing. Provided to China Daily

State Councilor and Defense Minister Liang Guanglie will pay an official visit to the United States from Friday to May 10, the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

It is the first high-level military exchange between the two countries since relations were hurt by the US' plan to sell arms to Taiwan last year.

During the visit, Liang will meet with US state and military leaders, and hold talks as well as a joint news conference with US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, the Defense Ministry's Foreign Affairs Office said in a news release.

Liang will also visit the US Southern Command, Fort Benning, Naval Base San Diego, the 4th Fighter Wing of the US Air Force, the II Marine Expeditionary Force of the US Marine Corps and the US Military Academy at West Point.

Liang said in the news release that he is looking forward to the visit, which aims to implement the consensus of the two countries' leaders on building a cooperative partnership of mutual respect and benefit.

The visit is also expected to enhance mutual understanding and trust, promote cooperation and push forward the healthy and stable development of bilateral ties as well as military ties, he said.

Liang on Wednesday met the visiting US acting Undersecretary of Defense for Policy James Miller, a member of US delegation in Beijing for the fourth round of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

The US would like to work with China for the common interest of security and healthy bilateral military ties, an important part of China-US relations, Miller said.

The overall China-US relationship has maintained good momentum, while the military ties face a new development opportunity, Liang said. "Both sides need to expand common interests and resolve differences."

However, the US arms sale to Taiwan, an inalienable part of China, remains the biggest obstacle to normal military-to-military exchanges.

In 2010, China canceled military dialogue with the US after the Obama administration announced plans to sell $6.4 billion worth of arms to Taiwan, including Patriot air defense missiles and Blackhawk helicopters.

China-US military relations have warmed since 2011 through increased exchanges and cooperation. Former US defense secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen visited China in 2011, while Chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army Chen Bingde visited the US in May 2011.

However, the ties were disrupted again when Washington said in September it would sell $5.85 billion in military hardware to Taiwan.

Beijing repeatedly asserted that the sale severely violates the three Sino-US joint communiques, particularly the principles specified in the Aug 17 Communique, in which the US agreed to gradually reduce its arms sales to Taiwan.

The military ties between China and the US are important for overall bilateral relations and the regional situation, said Ni Feng, deputy director of the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "Even they are not as mature as the economic and political ties between the two countries, but they've been much more normal than before."

Xinhua contributed to this story.

zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn

Former Aussie PM Rudd says trade agreement with China key

Chinese investors have a promising future in Australia, former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd told China Daily on Wednesday.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of China-Australia diplomatic relations, and last year bilateral trade reached more than $110 billion.

Concerns arose recently over the resistance Chinese investors face in the country, and analysts warned that the bilateral trade tie is warmer than the investment boom.

During a visit to Australia in April, Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said that the country's recent rejection of a bid by leading Chinese telecommunication company Huawei for an Australian internet broadband project is "unfair".

Rudd said many people have ignored the fact that Australia is still one of China's major overseas investment destinations, and he stressed that Australia attracted investments of more than $19 billion from China in 2010 alone.

"An early signing of a bilateral free trade agreement will be applaudable to promote direct investment in various fields," he said.

Before his trip to China this month, Rudd stepped into the spotlight when he responded to a request through social media to help two Chinese students who were assaulted on April 23 while riding on a train from Sydney. Chinese micro bloggers asked Rudd to contact key officials from both countries, including Australia's minister for immigration and the deputy secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Some Australian authorities of higher levels had not heard of the story until Rudd contacted them about the Weibo story. "The police knew about it, and they acted quickly," Rudd said.

The case triggered widespread fury online and concerns from China over the safety of international students in Australia. Rudd responded to the concerns with posts in Mandarin, explaining that the violence was not directed at Chinese students.

Rudd said "Australia is still a safe place" for international students.

Rudd has gained around 160,000 followers since he joined the Chinese social network weibo.com. On Monday, a post that featured a picture of him looking at a Chinese dictionary with his youngest son received more than 2,000 comments and was forwarded more than 1,500 times in one day.

You may contact the writers at zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn and wanghui@chinadaily.com.cn

The future of Afghanistan is deeply uncertain, experts said on the anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden, as the US pledged to end combat operations in the country.

Shortly after President Barack Obama made the announcement during a surprise visit to the country on Wednesday, a car bomb exploded outside a guesthouse used by Westerners in Kabul.

Seven people were killed after attackers dressed in burqas detonated a suicide car bomb and clashed with guards at the "Green Village" compound for foreign organizations including the European Union, the United Nations and aid groups, Afghan officials said.

Kargar Noorughli, spokesman for the Afghan health ministry, said 18 people were wounded and eight admitted to a hospital.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault and said it was a riposte to Obama, who declared in an address targeting domestic voters that the war was ending.

The attackers' ability to penetrate a tightened security cordon in Kabul raises fresh concerns about the resilience of the insurgency as NATO hands over responsibility for security across the country to Afghan forces and winds down its combat presence in the next two years.

"Yet here, in the pre-dawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon," Obama said, adding that he expected "a future of peace" after recalling a decade-long war since bin Laden plotted the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.

Obama flew into Kabul in secret and signed a deal with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, cementing 10 years of US aid for Afghanistan after NATO combat troops leave in 2014.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told AFP that Wednesday's attack "is a message to Obama that he and his forces are never welcomed in Afghanistan and that we will continue our resistance until all the occupiers are either dead or leave our country".

The assault came just over two weeks after one of the largest attacks in Kabul, where squads of militants targeted government offices, embassies and foreign bases more than 10 years after the Taliban were driven from power for refusing to hand over bin Laden.

After a war that has left nearly 3,000 US and allied troops dead, killed thousands of Afghans and cost hundreds of billions of dollars, Afghanistan's future is very uncertain, experts said.

"The war against terrorism has weakened both the national strength and soft power of the US," said Fan Jishe, a US studies expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "Consequently, the Obama administration has been determined to 'fade away' from it."

The pact signed between Obama and Karzai shows that Washington will stay behind Afghanistan, "but the stability of the region depends more on whether Kabul signs a peace treaty with the Taliban and if Karzai's government is strong enough to handle security challenges," Fan told China Daily.

"Karzai's government is facing a test of its leadership," said Sun Zhe, a professor at Tsinghua University's department of international relations.

"It wants to prevent the Taliban from using peace talks to recapture the regime. And meanwhile it cannot afford the cost of another domestic war. Karzai needs to make a hard decision," Sun said.

Neighboring Pakistan has long been seen as another major concern. Its relationship with both Kabul and Washington remains mired in mistrust a year after bin Laden was found and killed by US commandos on its soil.

"Despite of the raid on Pakistan's territory, scandals involving US troops such as the abuse of corpses are serious emotional assaults and have angered both the Afghan and Pakistan peoples," Sun said, adding that he did not believe it was possible for relations among the three countries to improve under current conditions.

AFP contributed to the story.

wangchenyan@chinadaily.com.cn

United States President Barack Obama's speedy visit to Afghanistan is aimed at winning the domestic election and shows confidence in Kabul's government, experts said on Wednesday.

"Obama's visit serves his re-election," said Jin Canrong, an expert on American studies with Renmin University of China.

"He is attempting to show the capacity and strength of his government and win the trust of voters."

"Security is a big problem for Afghanistan after NATO's military withdraw, Obama needs to encourage the Afghanistan government."

To mark the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death, Obama early on Wednesday paid his third visit to Afghanstan, signing a strategic pact with Kabul and delivering an election-year message to Americans that the war is winding down, said Reuters.

During his trip, Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed a strategic partnership agreement that sets out a long-term US role in Afghanistan. The deal may provide Afghans with reassurances that they will not be abandoned when most NATO combat troops leave as planned in 2014, according to Reuters.

The Republican candidate Mitt Romney, Obama's election rival, said he was "pleased" by Obama's visit to Afghanistan.

"I am pleased that President Obama has returned to Afghanistan. Our troops and the American people deserve to hear from our president about what is at stake in this war ... Success in Afghanistan is vital to our nation's security," Romney said on his website.

Obama has three target groups: the Afghan people, the international community and domestic voters, said Tao Wenzhao, an expert at the Institute of American Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Obama would like to pacify the Afghanistan people, show Washington's responsibility to the international community, and show his government's capacity and strength to US citizens, Tao said.

Tao added that the US president is responding to suspicions that the US and Afghanistan are suffering from bad ties because of recent incidents including the burning of a Quran at the US-run Bagram Airbase near Kabul, and the killing of 16 Afghanistan villagers by a US soldier.

Despite domestic political considerations, no one could deny that the demise of bin Laden is a victory for the present US government, Tao said.

The strategic partnership agreement between the two countries guarantees America's continued economic and development aid as well as the promise of a future security arrangement, the New York Times reported.

Two other deals recently signed by the countries gave the Afghan government authority over detentions and transferred primary authority over special operations raids, including night raids, the paper said.

"This agreement will close the season of the past 10 years and is going to open an equal relationship season. With the signing of this agreement, we are starting a phase between two sovereign and independent countries that will be based on mutual respect, mutual commitments and mutual friendship," Karzai was quoted by CNN as saying.

"There will be an essential change for the post-war US-Afghan ties, because Afghanistan is not a sovereign country before the withdrawal of US military," said Tao."The agreement marks the beginning of the new bilateral relationship after the war, and will promote the bilateral relations."

zhouwa@chinadaily.com.cn

China on Wednesday urged the United States to stop misleading the public after US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made a statement on taking a Chinese citizen via abnormal means into the US embassy in Beijing.

"What the US side should do now is stop misleading the public and making every excuse to shift responsibility and conceal its wrongdoing," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said in response to a question about Clinton's statement. "Nor should it interfere in the domestic affairs of China."

Chen Guangcheng, a native of Yinan county in eastern China's Shandong province, entered the US embassy in Beijing in late April and left of his own volition after a six-day stay, according to the spokesman.

"(The US side) should learn from the incident in a serious and responsible attitude and reflect on its own policy and moves," Liu said, calling for the United States to "take necessary measures to prevent a similar incident from happening again and maintain the overall situation of China-US relations."

Earlier on Wednesday, Clinton said she was "pleased" the US side was able to "facilitate Chen Guangcheng's stay and departure from the US embassy in a way that reflected his choices and our values".

"The US embassy in Beijing has the obligation to observe relevant international laws and Chinese laws, and it should not do anything irrelevant to its function," Liu said, adding China will never accept the practice of the United States to interfere in China's internal affairs.

Vessels patrol near islands

The East China Sea Fishery Administration Bureau under China's Ministry of Agriculture confirmed that fishery vessels 203 and 204 are on duty patrolling in waters near the Diaoyu Islands.

Kyodo news reported on Wednesday that Japan's Coast Guard discovered Chinese boats about 30 kilometers northwest of the Islands around 8 am on Wednesday morning.

The ministry said the two vessels started patrols on April 29 and would end the task on May 9.

Myanmar

Suu Kyi joins parliament

Myanmar's two-house parliament declared the end of its third session Wednesday hours after Aung San Suu Kyi and her party's elected parliament members took the oath of office to join the parliament for the first time.

A total of 34 NLD elected members of parliament, including Suu Kyi and excluding the absent three, took the seats of the House of Representatives, while four others took the seats of the House of Nationalities.

China Daily-Xinhua

Leonardo da Vinci may be best known for painting the world's most enigmatic smile, but a new exhibition at Buckingham Palace explores the Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, inventor and scientist's breathtaking anatomical studies of the human body.

"Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist", which runs from Friday to Oct 7, features 87 anatomical drawings by Leonardo, the largest collection to ever go on show, including a detailed portrayal in red chalk of a child in the breech position and pencil drawings of the human skull.

The body of work, which was never published in the artist's lifetime, would have made Leonardo one of greatest Renaissance scientists to this day, said Martin Clayton, exhibition curator at The Queen's Gallery.

Leonardo's desire to be "true to nature" saw the artist dissect 30 corpses and compile hundreds of sheets of drawings of the human body, but his research stayed among his private papers until 1900, when they were finally published and understood by the scientific world.

"Had Leonardo published, he would have been the most important figure ever to publish on human anatomy and we would regard him now on par with Galileo or Newton," Clayton told Reuters.

"Leonardo has a reputation as a great painter who did a bit of science on the side, almost like a hobby. People think of his flying machine and submarine."

Clayton said the exhibition shows that Leonardo's work as an anatomist was deeply serious, incredibly detailed and hugely important.

The artist's drawing of the cardiovascular system was compiled in several stages, sketched first in red and then black chalk, his fingerprints still visible on the paper.

Francis Well, associate lecturer at the University of Cambridge, said the 500-year-old drawings are still relevant to modern science.

"Examining these drawings of the heart as a group, and indeed reading the notes, it is extraordinary to think that they are now 500 years old and yet they still speak to us in current times in a useful way," Wells said in a news statement.

Leonardo's drawings have been in the possession of the English monarch's Royal Collection since 1690.

"I think people are so seduced by Leonardo's paintings that one will always expect it to be a sell-out exhibition," Clayton added.

"But this exhibition shows the other side of Leonardo. It shows that as well as being a consummate painter, he was also a great scientist."

Reuters

Caro publishes fourth volume on Kennedy's successor

Robert Caro receives the most interesting mail.

"I get letters, constantly, saying, 'I see your book's coming. I hope you're going to prove in this book that LBJ did it,"' the award-winning and ongoing biographer of Lyndon Johnson says during a recent interview at his New York office. "Did it," as in killed President John F. Kennedy.

"When I talk at colleges, you can hardly have a lecture or a speech without one of the first questions being, "Are you going to prove that Johnson did it? Or, are you going to show that Johnson was involved in it?' And when you say Johnson had nothing to with it, you can feel the audience doesn't accept it. You lose your audience."

Believers in Oliver Stone's JFK and other conspiracy theorists who hoped that Caro, the most hard-working of historians, would finally nail Johnson will have to look elsewhere. In The Passage of Power, the fourth of five planned volumes on Johnson, Caro devotes more than 100 pages to the events immediately before, during and after Nov 22, 1963. Nothing in his many years of research made him suspect Johnson.

"I never came across a single hint, in anything I did - in interviews or all the documents - that would lead you to make such a conclusion," he says.

The Johnson books are an obsession, regardless of who you blame for the death of JFK. Caro has been writing about the late president for nearly 40 years, and fans, as anxious in their own way as followers of Harry Potter, have waited a decade for the latest volume. The Passage of Power begins in 1958 when Johnson is considering a presidential run, continues through his unhappy time as vice-president and ends in early 1964, weeks after he succeeds Kennedy.

Published this week, the new book is around 700 pages and the series totals more than 3,000. Length has not deterred readers or critics. The first three volumes have sold more than 1 million copies. Caro has won two National Book Critics Circle awards, a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize, for Master of the Senate. More honors seem likely for The Passage of Power, which The New York Times' Michiko Kakutani has praised for its "consummate artistry and ardor".

But his influence reaches beyond sales and prizes. The author, who has never held or sought political office, has become a kind of wise man in Washington. President Barack Obama has met at the White House with Caro and has said that The Power Broker, Caro's Pulitzer winner about municipal builder Robert Moses, influenced his own political thinking.

Caro mentions a review in Newsweek by David Frum, a contributing editor for the magazine and former speechwriter for President George W. Bush. Frum greatly admired The Passage of Power and called it a primer for how a president might lead. He then labeled it an "unspoken critique of President Obama".

Ridiculous, Caro responds. Any critique is not only unspoken, but "unwritten, unthought".

"I have a high opinion of Obama," says Caro, praising the president for the healthcare bill and other legislation.

For Caro, lean and determined at age 76, a sign of achievement is when someone complains about his work. His success rate is high. Johnson aides and family members were angered by his early books on LBJ, especially the second volume, Means of Ascent, which presented Johnson as vicious and unprincipled as he won a highly questionable Senate race in 1948. But Master of the Senate was a redemptive book for both subject and biographer and Caro was welcomed, for the most part, by the Johnson camp.

The historian says the fourth volume on LBJ tells two stories: "The deep hatred" between Johnson and the Kennedys, especially Robert Kennedy, and what happens when JFK is dead and roles are overturned. Johnson, the unwanted vice-president, is in charge.

"That's why I call the book The Passage of Power. The title is what it is. You examine something in its moment of greatest crisis and you see what it has to do," Caro says. "To watch Lyndon Johnson grab up the reins of power and get Kennedy's legislation moving, how he keeps the people in the Kennedy administration from leaving and reassures the American people, is to see political genius in action."

The Associated Press

The United States said on Monday that it would not take sides in the Huangyan Island standoff between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea and reiterated support for a diplomatic resolution to the territorial dispute.

Washington does not take sides on competing sovereignty claims there, but has a national interest in maintaining freedom of navigation as well as peace and stability, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, after meeting top diplomatic and defense officials from the Philippines.

Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto del Rosario and Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin attended the 2+2 dialogue with their US counterparts, Clinton and Leon Panetta, in Washington.

"The United States supports a collaborative diplomatic process by all those involved for resolving the various disputes that they encounter," Clinton said. "We oppose the threat or use of force by any party to advance its claims."

Gazmin alluded to tension with China over islands in the South China Sea as he called for the need to "intensify our mutual trust to uphold maritime security and the freedom of navigation".

"We should be able to work together to build a minimum, credible defense posture for the Philippines, especially in upholding maritime security," Gazmin said.

The Philippines and China have been embroiled in the Huangyan Island dispute, with both nations stationing vessels there for nearly three weeks to assert their sovereignty.

China on Monday highlighted remarks made by the Philippine president about de-escalating the tension over the island, urging the Philippines to "match its words with deeds" and return to the proper pathway of diplomatic solutions.

Speaking of the tension, Philippine President Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III said he had issued instructions to his military, telling them not to intensify the issue.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin stressed that there is no change in China's stance of using diplomatic channels to peacefully resolve the issue, which was triggered when a Philippine warship harassed Chinese fishermen and raised concerns over China's sovereignty of the island.

The Philippine officials also stressed diplomacy when asked what aid they had requested from Washington, saying that Manila sought to bring the South China Sea issue to international legal bodies.

Clinton reaffirmed the US commitment to the 60-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty with the Philippines, calling the Philippines a country "at the heart" of the new US strategy toward the Asia-Pacific.

Washington would help improve the Philippines' "maritime presence and capabilities" with the transfer of a second high-endurance (coast guard) cutter this year, Panetta said.

The US emphasis on neutrality and a diplomatic resolution would encourage Manila to be more restrained on the Huangyan Island issue, said Fan Jishe, a US studies expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"Washington doesn't want territorial disputes between its Asian allies and China to be obstacles to China-US relations," he said.

Xinhua and Reuters contributed to this story.

zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn

Two Chinese fishermen were facing formal arrest by South Korea after they were believed to have injured four South Korean fishing officials who boarded their vessel, South Korean media said on Tuesday.

The vessel had been suspected of illegal fishing.

The two - the 36-year-old captain and a 29-year-old navigator - are among nine Chinese fishermen who were detained early on Monday after the conflict with the South Korean officials on the Yellow Sea, Yonhap said.

The South Korean coast guard imposed 15 million won ($13,292) bail for the release of the detained fishing boat. The remaining seven Chinese sailors were freed because they were not involved in the attack, said Yonhap.

All nine Chinese fishermen are now at the Mokpo port in South Korea, according to China Central Television.

Yonhap earlier reported that the four injured officials work for South Korea's West Sea Fisheries Supervision Office, which is affiliated with the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The ministry on Tuesday filed a protest over the attack to He Ying, consul general of the Chinese embassy in South Korea.

China felt "sad" about the conflict and promised to further promote the education of its fishermen to prevent similar attacks in the future, the Chinese official was cited by Yonhap as saying.

Beijing is working together with Seoul to verify the details of the conflict, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

China hopes South Korea can guarantee the safety and legitimate rights of the fishermen, and will keep contact with South Korea to solve the issue appropriately, the ministry said. South Korea has vowed a tougher reaction to illegal fishing by Chinese boats since a Chinese captain killed a South Korean coast guard officer in a conflict last December.

In mid-April, the local court of Incheon City, in South Korea, gave Cheng Dawei, the captain, a sentence of 30 years in jail, with a fine of 20 million won.

However, China does not accept South Korea's unilateral application of the Exclusive Economic Zone law on the verdict, according to Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin, as the two countries have not yet delineated the border of the EEZ in the Yellow Sea.

Cheng and nine other fishermen were fishing in the Yellow Sea on Dec 12 when the South Korean coast guard officer led two other policemen to arrest Chinese fishing boats in that area.

During the confrontation, the captain accidentally stabbed the official to death, and injured another in the stomach. In the end, the captain and nine other crew members were detained and escorted to Incheon.

During his visit to China in January, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak discussed the issue of illegal fishing with Chinese President Hu Jintao, and the two sides have pledged to continue regular meetings to resolve the issue.

zhouwa@chinadaily.com.cn

US President Barack Obama and visiting Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Monday vowed to boost the countries' existing security alliance, as the leaders in Washington agreed to a joint vision that they say will "help shape the Asia-Pacific for decades to come".

The details of the talks between Obama and Noda, the first Japanese leader to be hosted at the White House since his Democratic Party of Japan came to power in 2009, were not immediately clear.

In a news conference after their meeting, both leaders highlighted their earlier, long-anticipated agreement to move some 9,000 US Marines on Japan's Okinawa Island to other regions in the Pacific region.

The move will see the US streamline its military presence in Japan, now with about 50,000 troops, around the Western Pacific, as Washington forged closer military ties with traditional allies such as the Philippines, Australia and Singapore in recent months.

Obama reiterated support on Monday for Japan to join talks with the US and eight other countries, including Vietnam and Australia, on a Washington-led free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific. He said the proposed trade pact would benefit both the American and Japanese economies and the region.

Noda, for his part, sounded conservative. "In the economic area, we shall deepen bilateral economic ties and fortify the growth and prosperity of the two countries through the promotion of economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region," he said.

"Our countries will work on regional trade and investment rules-making with a view to building FTAAP, or the Free Trade Area of the Asian-Pacific," he said, referring to a longer-term goal of crafting a free trade pact among all 21 members of APEC, a broader group of regional economies.

That "will advance consultations with a view to participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations", Noda said.

Beijing is working on a free trade agreement with both Tokyo and Seoul. China and South Korea, both members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, are not included in the TPP, which many see as an idea to counter China's economic rise.

Speaking of his talks with Noda, Obama on Monday said: "All of our actions are not designed to in any way contain China."

"But they are designed to ensure that they (China) are part of a broader international community in which rules, norms are respected, in which all countries can prosper and succeed," Obama said.

"We want China to be strong, and we want it to be prosperous. And we're very pleased with all the areas of cooperation that we've been able to engage in," he said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the host of a gala dinner for Obama and Noda after Monday's joint news conference, was scheduled to leave for Beijing later the same day. She and US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will attend the annual China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue on Thursday and Friday.

Hu Yinan in Beijing contributed to this story.

Army divers and rescue workers pulled 103 bodies out of a river after a packed ferry capsized in heavy winds and rain in remote northeast India, an official said on Tuesday.

At least 100 people were still missing on Tuesday after the ferry carrying about 350 people broke into two pieces late on Monday, said Pritam Saikia, the district magistrate of Goalpara district.

Deep sea divers and disaster rescue soldiers worked through the night to pull bodies from the Brahmaputra River in Assam state. Rescue operations were centered around the tiny village of Buraburi near the India-Bangladesh border.

Heavy winds and rain hampered rescue operations, said Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Assam's top elected official.

"I will be ordering an inquiry into the cause of the accident, but right now our priority is to account for every person who was on the ferry," Gogoi said.

Around 150 passengers swam to safety or were rescued by villagers, said Saikia, who was supervising the rescue operations.

Divers and rescue workers with rubber rafts scoured the river on Tuesday in search of survivors amid the floating debris, which was all that remained of the ferry.

Passenger Hasnat Ali told local television the storm tossed about the ferry, and he and others who were riding on the roof were thrown off or managed to swim ashore before the vessel was dashed to pieces. But about 200 people were packed inside the ferry along with cargo.

Another passenger told New Delhi Television channel there was no lifeguard or life boats on the ferry.

The accident occurred near Fakiragram village in west Dhubri district, about 350 kilometers west of the state capital, Gauhati, and close to where the Brahmaputra River enters Bangladesh.

The area is dotted with riverside settlements and islands, and boats are the most common mode of transport. Most ferries are overcrowded, with little regard for safety regulations.

Army soldiers and members of India's disaster response team on Tuesday pulled the remains of the ferry from the river using ropes tied to two tractors.

Hundreds of anxious people, many weeping, waited for hours near Buraburi, looking for their loved ones.

Indian authorities have sought the help of their Bangladeshi counterparts to locate bodies that may have been swept away by the fast current of the Brahmaputra River.

Associated Press

A Pakistani boy tries to break a concrete block as he and other children look for iron from the demolished compound of Osama bin Laden on Sunday, in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The compound that housed him for six years has been razed to the ground. Associated Press / Muhammed Muheisen

Committee formed to probe strike on compound hasn't released report

One year since US commandos flew into this Pakistani army town and killed Osama bin Laden, Islamabad has failed to answer tough questions over whether its security forces were protecting the world's most wanted terrorist.

The Pakistani government initially welcomed the raid that killed bin Laden in his three-story compound, but within hours the mood changed as it became clear that Pakistan's army was cut out of the operation. Any discussions over how bin Laden managed to stay undetected in Pakistan were drowned out in anger at what the army portrayed as a treacherous act by a supposed ally.

That bin Laden was living with his family near Pakistan's version of West Point - not in a cave in the mountains as many had guessed - raised eyebrows in the West. A week after the raid, President Barack Obama said bin Laden had a "support network" in Pakistan and the country must investigate how he evaded capture. Pakistan responded by announcing the formation of a committee to investigate bin Laden's presence in Pakistan as well as the circumstances surrounding the US raid.

Soon after it began its work, the head of the committee said he was sure that security forces were not hiding bin Laden. Other statements since then have also suggested the report will be more of a whitewash than a genuine probe.

Last week, committee spokesman retired Colonel Mohammad Irfan Naziri said its findings were being written up but they might not be released publicly.

"We're disappointed," a US official said about the investigation. "They promised to do it, but they haven't yet."

The public line of the Obama administration is that no evidence has emerged to suggest bin Laden had high-level help inside Pakistan. Pakistan's Inter-Service Intelligence agency said bin Laden's long and comfortable existence in the country was an "intelligence failure".

But suspicions have increased following recent disclosures by one of bin Laden's wives in a police interrogation report that the al-Qaida leader lived in five houses while on the run and fathered four children, two of whom were born in Pakistani government hospitals.

"I just find the idea that he lived in a place like Abbottabad without the ISI's knowledge strains credibility," said Shawn Gregory, director of the Pakistan Security Research Unit at Bradford University in the UK. "It is ridiculous that he wasn't being protected."

Since the raid, Pakistan has tried to close one of the most notorious chapters in its history.

The three-story compound in Abbottabad that housed him for six years was razed by bulldozers in a surprise, nighttime operation. Just last week, his three wives and 11 daughters, children and grandchildren were deported to Saudi Arabia; their side of the story is unlikely to be told anytime soon.

In this relatively wealthy and well-ordered town that has become infamous for hosting bin Laden for so long, it's hard to find anyone prepared to say they supported the American operation. Many don't believe bin Laden ever lived in the house, reflecting the popularity of conspiracy theories in a country where the rulers often obscure the truth.

Umair Ishaq, who grows vegetables close to the empty lot, said he remained angry about the raid.

"You go there to the compound, there is a still a fragrance from those who were killed," he said, referring to Islamic belief that those who die as a martyr to the faith give off a sweet smell at death. "They were innocent, and they were martyrs."

Most of the rubble has been hauled away from the site, on which local children now play cricket. Farmers cross over it on their way to the fields, and on a recent day older boys were smashing away at bits of masonry, trying to extract the metal poles inside so they could sell them.

After the helicopter-borne operation, the country's generals retaliated by kicking out US special forces trainers operating close to the Afghan border, cutting intelligence cooperation with the CIA and restricting the travel of foreign diplomats and aid workers.

Authorities arrested a Pakistani doctor who assisted America in tracking down bin Laden. The doctor remains in detention, facing possible treason charges. The country has made not made public the arrests of anyone connected bin Laden's time on the run.

Relations had barely recovered when in November US airstrikes inadvertently killed 24 Pakistani troops along the Afghan border. Pakistan immediately blocked US and NATO supply routes across its soil into Afghanistan. They remain shut, despite US attempts to renegotiate a new deal with Pakistan.

Despite reservations about Pakistan's commitment to US goals in Afghanistan and doubts over how bin Laden managed to evade capture for so long, the Obama administration feels it has little choice but to ally itself with the country. Pakistan has nuclear weapons and will remain important in the fight against al-Qaida in years to come.

Many believe Islamabad's cooperation will be essential for getting any Afghan peace deal to stick, allowing the US to withdraw troops.

President Barack Obama's top counter-terrorism aide John Brennan on Monday also argued that a US drone campaign had left al-Qaida seriously weakened, and unable to replace wiped-out leaders.

Brennan said in a speech in Washington that the terror group was losing "badly", was a "shadow" of its former self and that its core leadership would soon be "no longer relevant".

He said the al-Qaida leader's frustration at the demise of his group, which was behind the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, poured out in documents seized from his Pakistan compound by US Navy SEAL commandos who killed him a year ago.

"He confessed to 'disaster after disaster'" for al-Qaida, Brennan said. He also said that subsequent US operations to wipe out senior al-Qaida leaders in Pakistan had left the group reeling.

"Under intense pressure in the tribal regions of Pakistan, they have fewer places to train and groom the next generation of operatives, they're struggling to attract new recruits.

"Morale is low," Brennan said in a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, which was briefly interrupted by a Code Pink anti-war demonstrator who was hauled out of the room by a burly policeman.

Brennan said that the documents gathered at bin Laden's lair in Abbottabad, outside Islamabad, show the late al-Qaida leader urged subordinates to flee for places "away from aircraft photography and bombardment".

Things got so bad for the group which plotted the Sept 11 attacks, the deadliest terror strike in US history, that bin Laden considered changing the group's name in a rebranding effort, he said.

Brennan's speech will likely prompt new claims by Republicans that the Obama campaign is exploiting the anniversary of the bin Laden raid to boost the president's prospects of re-election in November.

Brennan also claimed that the administration's tactics against al-Qaida had made it harder than ever for the terror network to plan and execute large-scale, potentially catastrophic attacks.

"Today, it is increasingly clear that compared to 9/11, the core al-Qaida leadership is a shadow of its former self," Brennan said.

"Al-Qaida has been left with just a handful of capable leaders and operatives, and with continued pressure is on the path to its destruction.

"And for the first time since this fight began, we can look ahead and envision a world in which the al-Qaida core is simply no longer relevant."

Brennan's speech amounted to the administration's most comprehensive public survey about the state of the struggle against al-Qaida.

Despite lauding the administration's achievements in hammering top al-Qaida leaders and the group's capacity, Brennan also warned that global terror threats were still potent, particularly those emanating from Africa.

"As the al-Qaida core falters, it continues to look to its affiliates and adherents to carry on its murderous cause," Brennan said, warning that the group's merger with the Shebab group in Somalia was "worrying".

Documents released

US officials say the American public will soon be able to read some of Osama bin Laden's last written or typed words on line.

Brennan says some of the declassified documents will be posted online by the Army's Combating Terrorism Center at the US Military Academy this week. The documents were gathered by Navy commandos from bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2 last year.

AFP-AP

Ayman al-Zawahri

The Egyptian cleric took over the organization after Osama bin Laden's killing last year by Navy SEALs. Presumed hiding in Pakistan, Zawahri has released a near-record number of propaganda videos since the bin Laden raid, exhorting followers to violence.

Abu Yahia al-Libi

The Libyan militant, as his name implies, is now the group's de facto No 2 moving up a notch in al-Qaida's hierarchy after the bin Laden raid.

A key al-Qaida propagandist whose video appearances outnumber those by leader Zawahri, he escaped a high-security US prison in Bagram, Afghanistan, in 2005.

Mullah Mohammed Omar

Leader of the Taliban, Afghan Mullah Omar has sheltered al-Qaida during the Taliban rule and since. Thought to be hiding in Quetta, Pakistan, Omar continues to command the militant forces who work together with al-Qaida, responsible for killing some 1,500 US troops in Afghanistan since 2001.

Nasser al-Wahishi

Once Osama bin Laden's aide-de-camp, Wahishi commands Yemeni affiliate al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula the group US counterterrorist officials warn is most capable of launching an attack on US soil.

Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri

Chief bombmaker for al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, responsible for building the underwear bomb used to try to bring down a Detroit-bound jetliner on Christmas 2009 and the printer-cartridge bombs intercepted in US-bound cargo planes a year later.

Associated Press

Obama accused Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, of being inconsistent on whether he would have ordered bin Laden's killing had he been president.

"I said that we'd go after bin Laden if we had a clear shot at him and I did," Obama said during a White House press conference. "If there are others who've said one thing, now suggest they'd do something else, then I'd go ahead and let them explain," he said, without mentioning Romney by name.

Obama's re-election campaign issued a video last week that highlighted Romney, in reference to bin Laden, remarking several years ago that it was "not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person".

Speaking on the eve of the first anniversary of bin Laden's killing by US Navy SEALs in Pakistan, Obama said there had been no "excessive celebration" of the moment by the White House. Obama's remarks were the latest volley in a not-so discrete White House campaign to allude to the bin Laden anniversary, while mostly letting the result of the event speak for itself.

Republicans have complained that the White House and Democrats are politicizing a moment they say should have been an opportunity for national unity. Romney insisted on Monday that "of course" he would have authorized the action against the man behind the Sept 11, 2001 attacks on Washington and New York.

CARTER 'WOULD HAVE GIVEN ORDER'

"Even Jimmy Carter would have given that order," Romney said in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, recalling the former Democratic president who was derided by critics for weak leadership during the 1979-1980 Iran hostage crisis.

The May 2 pre-dawn raid on bin Laden's compound a few hours drive from Islamabad - it occurred on May 1 Washington time - sent Americans onto the streets in celebration.

Obama said Americans would "rightly remember what we as a country accomplished in bringing to justice somebody who killed over 3,000 of our citizens", which he said was a time to reflect and "give thanks" to US intelligence and the military.

Obama traveled with his wife, first lady Michelle Obama, to a US military base on Friday at which he thanked US troops and special operations forces for their achievements, in a clear allusion to bin Laden's death.

Reuters

Murdoch 'unfit' to run company

A scathing British parliamentary report said on Tuesday that Rupert Murdoch had shown "willful blindness" over phone hacking at his News of the World tabloid and was not fit to run a major company.

The 81-year-old tycoon's British newspaper wing, News International, also misled parliament during its inquiry into the scandal at the News of the World, which Murdoch closed down in disgrace in July 2011, the committee found.

"Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company," the cross-party culture media and sport committee said in its report on the scandal.

France

Le Pen vows to abstain in poll

The leader of France's resurgent, anti-immigrant far right, Marine Le Pen, is refusing to endorse either candidate in the country's presidential runoff and said on Tuesday she will cast a blank protest ballot.

Le Pen, who came in a strong third place in the first round of voting April 22, told her supporters at a big rally in Paris to "vote according to your conscience". She assailed conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has borrowed some of Le Pen's rhetoric about immigrants and Muslims in his campaign, accusing him of impoverishing the French and giving up too much sovereignty to the European Union.

Mali

Counter-coup try defeated

The soldiers who staged a putsch in Mali five weeks ago said on Tuesday they had defeated an overnight counter-coup by foreign-backed forces loyal to ousted president Amadou Toumani Toure.

Gunfire had erupted at the national television and radio station, the airport and at the garrison town near the capital Bamako that is the headquarters of the rebel soldiers led by Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo.

An employee of the TV and radio station, which had been held by rebel soldiers since the March 22 coup, told AFP that "there were deaths" in the gunfight, without giving casualty figures.

AFP-AP

Gunmen killed at least 15 people and wounded many more on Sunday in an attack on a university theater being used by Christian worshippers in Kano, a northern Nigerian city where hundreds have died in Islamist attacks this year.

Security sources said gunmen arrived on motorbikes and threw small homemade bombs into the theater before shooting fleeing worshippers.

There was sporadic gunfire in other parts of the city later on from attackers driven from the university by the army, the sources said.

"I counted at least 15 dead bodies. I think they were being taken to the Amino Kano teaching hospital," said a witness who did not wish to be identified.

He said he saw many more people being treated for injuries.

A security source said at least 15 people were dead and a source at the hospital said by telephone he had seen 10 to 15 bodies brought in with gunshot wounds and dozens more wounded being treated.

Bayero University spokesman Mustapha Zahradeen said two university professors had been killed in the attacks.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the deadly attack.

Radical Islamist sect Boko Haram, which wants to carve out an Islamic state in northern Nigeria, has killed hundreds in bomb and gun attacks this year.

It mainly targets police and authority figures but has also attacked churches.

The army said it had secured the area.

Place of worship

"The attack took place in one of the lecture theatres used as a place of worship by Christians. For sure there are casualties but I can't say how many," said Ikedichi Iweha, an army spokesman.

"The elements came, used explosives and guns to attack them. We have repelled them and cordoned off the area," Iweha said.

Red Cross officials said they were trying to get access and had no details on casualties.

"For over 30 minutes a series of bomb explosions and gun shots took over the old campus, around the academic blocks," said Mohammed Suleiman, a history lecturer at the Bayero University.

"It started this morning. Our school security men had to run for their dear lives. You could see smoke all over," Suleiman said.

Clashes between Boko Haram gunmen and security forces have flared up several times in Kano since the sect killed 186 people in January in its deadliest attack so far.

On Easter Sunday, 36 people were killed when a suspected member of Boko Haram attempted to force a car packed with explosives into a church compound during a service in the northern town of Kaduna.

After being stopped by security he turned back and the bomb exploded near a large group of motorbike taxi riders.

Boko Haram set off a series of bombs across Nigeria on Christmas Day last year, including one at a church outside the capital, Abuja, that killed at least 37 people.

Africa's most populous nation of more than 160 million is split roughly equally between a largely Christian south and a mostly Muslim north.

Suicide car bombers targeted the offices of Nigerian newspaper This Day in Abuja and in Kaduna last week, killing at least four people in coordinated strikes.

This Day is based in southern Nigeria and is broadly supportive of President Goodluck Jonathan's government - the main target of Boko Haram's insurgency.

Jonathan has been criticised for failing to get a grip on the sect's wave of violence, which has gained momentum since his presidential election victory a year ago.

The president has relied mostly on a heavy-handed military approach to dealing with the violence, and an attempt at mediated dialogue with the sect broke off last month after details of negotiations were leaked to the media.

On a visit to the This Day bomb site in Abuja on Saturday, Jonathan refused to be drawn on whether talks with Boko Haram were ongoing, but he did not count them out.

"Just like a war situation, you may dialogue, you may not dialogue, depending on the circumstances. But we will exploit every means possible to bring this to an end," Jonathan told reporters.

Reuters

About one in 88 in United States now diagnosed, says study

Brandon was 18 months old when he started walking on his toes and flopping his hands. He had not started talking yet. When he flipped a toy car over and kept turning its wheels instead of actually playing with it, his mother, Michele Montanez, realized that something was wrong.

Friends suggested she take Brandon for a medical evaluation and the doctors confirmed Michele's ultimate fear. Her son was diagnosed with autism, a developmental neurological disorder that causes reduced emotional response and other behavioral issues.

"Your heart sinks," is how Michele remembers the day she first learned about the diagnosis. "I think the first question that any parent wants to know is: Will my child ever speak to me? Will my child ever give me a hug, say I love you?"

A recent study published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an alarming increase in the prevalence of autism among children. About one in 88 children in the US are now diagnosed with autism, a 78 percent increase compared to 2002.

More children are now affected by autism-related disorders than by diabetes, cancer, AIDS, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome combined, according to the research group, Autism Speaks.

Scientists and doctors are still desperately searching for decisive answers to what causes the disorder. "We now have some preliminary evidence suggesting that age of the parents, low birth weight or prematurity may be possible risk factors," Vice-President of Scientific Affairs for Autism Speaks Andy Shih explains.

"Pesticides and other industrial chemicals may play a role as well," she said, adding that "autism in this country has truly reached epidemic proportions".

Brandon started extensive therapy sessions just a few weeks before his second birthday. His daily routine included a curriculum of speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy and, as he got older, behavioral therapy. To his mother's great relief, he finally started to speak.

"Once he started talking, he really started talking," Michele remembers. Like most children on the autism spectrum, Brandon switched from not speaking at all to being hyper-verbal. He started to babble words he had picked up on TV or he imitated the sounds of penguins, his favorite animal.

As Brandon got older, he was slowly able to communicate and have short conversations. He is now nine years old and attends a special state-funded school for children and young adults on the broad spectrum of autistic disorders. Each class consists of eight children, one teacher and two assistants.

In addition to regular school subjects, such as math, reading and writing, the children here also learn life skills. They take cooking classes and they are taught how to clean an apartment or do laundry.

After years of behavioral therapy, Brandon has adapted well. He is now able to tell his mother what he did in school or who his friends are.

"We got lucky," Michele says, as not all autistic children are able to respond to social cues or show emotions.

"That's to me the more heartbreaking thing, to sit with your child and to love them with everything that you have and not to know if your child even knows that you love them," she says.

Michele said she hopes studies like the one released by the CDC will lead to more research and eventually to answers to what causes the disorder. She also believes that society needs to be aware of the increasingly larger group of children and young adults on the autism spectrum.

"We need to start integrating them into society. There's going to be a whole generation. It's less than a decade away," she says.

She is convinced that given the right support, some autistic adults could be integrated into the workforce and live independent lives.

Xinhua

A former aide acknowledged during John Edwards' campaign finance fraud trial on Thursday that much of nearly $1 million in cash from donors went to build the aide's dream house, not to buy the silence of the presidential candidate's pregnant mistress.

Andrew Young testified for a fourth straight day at the trial, peppered with questions from Edwards' attorney Abbe Lowell about the money from two donors that flowed into personal accounts controlled by Young and his wife.

The star prosecution witness is key to the government's case that while campaigning for the White House in 2008, Edwards directed a scheme to use the secret payments to conceal an affair with his pregnant mistress.

Edwards, whose affair shattered his carefully cultivated image as a committed family man, has pleaded not guilty to six criminal counts. He faces up to 30 years behind bars if convicted.

Young has said he took secret payments from wealthy donors at Edwards' direction to help conceal the presidential contender's affair with Rielle Hunter and keep his presidential campaign viable.

Young said the checks secretly provided by a then-96-year-old heiress were mixed with the couple's other funds as they built their $1.5 million hilltop house in North Carolina. Young often deferred questions on the payments to his wife, Cheri, saying "my wife is the one who handles the finances in our family".

Young initially claimed he was the father of Hunter's daughter and took her into his home with his wife.

Lowell asked Young about numerous changes to the construction of the North Carolina house after the payments started coming in, including a pool, home theater and extra bedroom.

At the time, Young and his wife were living with Hunter in a $20,000-a-month rental mansion along the California coast, paid for by a wealthy lawyer who served as Edwards' campaign finance chairman.

Edwards denies knowing about the $725,000 in checks from heiress Rachel "Bunny" Mellon sent to Young through her interior designer. In addition to the maximum $2,300 to the Edwards campaign allowed by law, Mellon also provided another $6.4 million to a political action committee and anti-poverty foundation tied to Edwards.

A second pool of money at issue in the case involves another $200,000 given by the wealthy lawyer, Fred Baron. Records shown at trial show Baron paid for private jets, five-star hotels and other expenses incurred by Hunter and the Youngs while they were in hiding. Baron died in 2008 of cancer at age 61.

Young testified on Thursday he had sent Baron an invoice for many of the expenses the aide had already paid for with money from Mellon; he said Baron then wired another $325,000 to the builder constructing the Young's house.

The questions about the cash from Mellon funneled to Young's house came toward the end of a full day of cross-examination, in which Lowell sought to undermine the ex-aide's credibility and paint him as a pathological liar.

Lowell pointed out inconsistencies with Young's account of the scandal at trial this week and in multiple other accounts, including grand jury testimony and his 2010 tell-all book about Edwards.

Lowell asked Young whether he first learned that Hunter was pregnant in May 2007, as his book says; in June 2007, as he testified; or in early July, a date backed by phone records and Hunter's medical records.

The timeline issues could challenge the accounts of conversations Young said he had with Edwards in a car discussing who to ask for money to help take care of Hunter and discussing Hunter's pregnancy.

Soccer-mad Chinese welcome

Poland is hoping to attract Chinese tourists to visit the European country when it hosts the Euro 2012 soccer tournament later this year.

Authorities are hoping that Chinese people, who tend to choose more familiar western European countries as their destinations for shopping and sightseeing, will turn their attention to the culture-rich and soccer-mad nation from June 8 to July 1.

Some hard-core fans and Europe-oriented companies have joined tourism agencies to provide trips to Poland that will include Euro 2012 matches.

According to Shankai Sports, a sports marketing company providing sports business solutions and services for international organizations and companies, it has the right to provide VIP reception packages for Chinese businessmen and major companies that are interested in using Euro 2012 as a platform to expand their influence as well as to entertain important clients.

"Chinese companies are aware of the importance of taking advantage of major sports events," said Gong Hua, senior vice-president of Shankai Sports. "Euro 2012 is a huge chance for them to expand their brand and have exchanges with potential partners from Poland and other European countries.

"Many members of the Chinese media are also going to Poland to cover the event. We also provide services in terms of visa application and accommodation for them."

The Polish Embassy in China has also been making efforts to use Euro 2012 to promote the image of the nation.

"I have to confess - I am not much of a football fan myself. I prefer golf and skiing. But I can tell you - it is going to be a great, joyful festival, even for those who are not really crazy about football," the Polish ambassador, Tadeusz Chomicki, told a press conference in the embassy recently.

"For a month our country will transform itself into a meeting place for people from all corners of the world.

Chomichi said Poland hopes to emulate the success of the Beijing Olympic Games.

"It is an opportunity for the host country to showcase its achievements, its economic and cultural strengths, and the hospitability of its people. I hope that, just like the Beijing Olympics in 2008 helped to show the world the new, dynamic, modern face of China and overcome many stereotypes, Euro 2012 will help present Poland in a true light."

Minister of Sports and Tourism Joanna Mucha also sent out a warm invitation to Chinese people and said she hopes they will come to know more about her country.

"Chinese football fans are invited to the modern stadiums to experience emotional football games, excellent Polish cuisine and tourist attractions."

To make the trip simple and cheap, LOT Polish Airlines will open a Warsaw-Beijing route from May 30 using its Boeing 767 aircraft.

The flights will operate between Warsaw and Beijing three times a week, departing from Warsaw every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, and from Beijing every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

chenxiangfeng@chinadaily.com.cn

The logistics of such a plan are enormous even in a relatively small country of 24 million people.

Just keeping the stockpiles of vaccines cool is tough in a tropical nation where average daytime temperatures are 30 C and rural electricity supplies are not reliable.

Then there are the training programs for tens of thousands of healthcare workers, the bottom-up public awareness campaigns taken to outreach centers in rural villages, and the upgrading and reissuing of millions of child health record cards.

But as the manager of Ghana's Expanded Program on Immunization, faced with stubbornly high child mortality rates, Antwi-Agyei says he had no time for defeatism.

"We looked at our mortality and saw that some of our highest causes of death are from vaccine preventable diseases. Pneumonia and diarrhea are killing our children," he said.

"This calls for business unusual. Business as usual is not enough. We have to do things differently."

In 2008, the last year for which full data are available, more than 54,000 Ghanian children died before they had reached their fifth birthday. Public health officials say 20 percent of those deaths were from pneumonia and diarrhea.

So this year, starting this week, Ghana will vaccinate the first babies in a new campaign against rotavirus - a cause of severe diarrhea - and pneumococcal disease, which causes pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis.

The vaccines - oral rotavirus shots made by GlaxoSmithKline, and Merck, and pneumococcal shots made by GSK and Pfizer - are in large part funded by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, a donor-backed group that funds bulk-buy vaccination programs for poorer nations that cannot afford to pay developed-economy prices.

Emma Agbesi paid the highest price of all with her child. The 25-year-old's second son - a "beautiful, fat, fair baby" as she describes him - died two years ago after failing to fight off the pneumonia that took over his lungs.

Isaac was five months old when he became very sick. "He had a fever and he couldn't breathe properly. There was a lot of noise when he was breathing, and it was very short and fast," she remembers.

With Isaac's temperature rising and his lungs struggling, staff at the local health clinic told the mother to take him to the hospital - a 45-minute taxi drive away over the rough roads and red earth of the mango-growing district where she lives.

At the Princess Marie Louise Children's hospital in Accra, doctors say such heartbreaking tales are common. "Last month in our emergency room, 75 percent of the deaths were from diarrheal diseases and respiratory infections like pneumonia," said Eric Sifah, medical superintendent at the 74-bed hospital. "In one month we could have 30 deaths from diarrhea and at least one a day from pneumonia."

Reuters

Premier Wen Jiabao on Friday wrapped up a weeklong European trip, in which China secured trade deals in the strategically important Arctic, consolidated ties with the continent's largest economy and boosted relations in Central and Eastern Europe.

The Auschwitz death camp in southern Poland's Krakow was the last destination of his four-nation tour, which sought to expand trade with the region.

China aims to double its trade with Central and Eastern European states to $100 billion by 2015, Wen said, adding that Beijing is setting up a $10 billion credit line to support joint projects - particularly in infrastructure and new energy - with countries in the region.

China and countries from Central and Eastern Europe have enjoyed sound ties in tradition, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin at a regular news conference on Friday.

It is the common hope of both sides to deepen mutual trust and to benefit from the cooperation, particularly with the financial and debt crisis lingering over Europe, Liu said.

China and those countries are standing in an important period of development. The economies of the two sides are highly complementary with each other, and economic cooperation is the most dynamic part of bilateral ties, Liu added.

Every country in Europe is unique and essential for cooperation with China. One cannot replace the other, said Feng Zhongpin, director of the Institute of European Studies under the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

Wen's trip has made Sino-European ties more balanced and showed that the debt crisis in Europe hasn't broken China's trust in Europe, Feng said.

As the world's largest exporter, China will showcase its greatest sincerity by importing more from the 16 states in Central and Eastern Europe, Wen told an unprecedented meeting of the region's heads of government in Warsaw on Thursday.

Plans for a $500 million startup fund backing Chinese business ventures in the region, which Wen announced the same day, would help this process, he said.

In his earlier meeting with Wen on Wednesday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the deepening of bilateral relations was beneficial for both sides and that it was bound to have a positive effect on China's relations with Europe.

Wen's visit to Sweden, meanwhile, reaffirmed Sino-Swedish cooperation and saw him tour the headquarters of the automaker Volvo Car Corp - which is now owned by China's Zhejiang Geely Group Holdings - in Stockholm.

During Wen's visit to Sweden, Volvo signed a long-term financing contract with the Development Bank of China for efficient energy cars and its production facilities in China.

Sweden, which chairs the eight-member Arctic Council, has supported China's bid to become a permanent member since 2005. Iceland, another member of the council and the first stop of Wen's visit, has also stated explicit support.

China vowed to broaden its scopes of cooperation with and seal free trade negotiations with Reykjavik, a $13 billion island economy that relies heavily on geothermal utilization.

Both sides hope the talks can be completed next year.

Contact the writers at huyinan@chinadaily.com.cn and zhouwa@chinadaily.com.cn

Chinese, Russian military officials show enthusiasm for closer ties

Chinese and Russian navies announced the conclusion of a six-day joint naval exercise on Friday, with Russian warships departing from a naval base in Qingdao, Shandong province.

The Chinese navy is committed to pursing peace, but is able and willing to safeguard it through warfare if necessary, Rear Admiral Duan Zhangxian, deputy chief of staff of the People's Liberation Army Navy, said on Friday.

"The Chinese navy strives for peace. However, if anyone infringes on the country's peace, we will not be afraid to fight for it," said Duan, who is also the executive director of the Chinese navy for the drill.

The two navies improved mutual understanding, capabilities and confidence during the drill, which added to China's experience in hosting such exercises, said Duan.

A total of 16 vessels and two submarines from the Chinese navy and seven Russian ships, led by the flagship Russian cruiser Varyag, participated in the defense exercises, according to official reports.

The drill focused on joint maritime air defense and the safeguarding of shipping lanes, with exercises involving joint escort, search and rescue operations, anti-submarine tactics and counter-piracy operations.

Vice-Admiral Ding Yiping, China's general director for the joint exercise, described it as a "complete success" and "pioneering". According to preliminary reports, both navies performed excellently during the ammunition drill, which was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday.

China and Russia will continue to expand cooperation and increase efforts to make the naval drill a regular one in future, said Duan, adding that naval officials from both sides show enthusiasm for further collaboration.

Russian Naval Deputy Chief of Staff Rear Admiral Leonid Sukhanov said on Thursday that Russia's navy was willing to explore future cooperation opportunities with its Chinese counterpart, since both countries share a long history of cooperation and exchanges.

The drill is a good opportunity to learn from each other, as the Chinese navy has made significant progress in recent years, said Li Jie, a researcher from the Naval Military Studies Research Institute.

The two navies took concrete steps to increase military transparency through the exercise, said Ren Yuanzhe, a researcher at China Foreign Affairs University.

The Associated Press said that recent technological advances in China have made the country far less dependent on Russian weaponry, while AFP questioned the value China would receive from holding exercises with Russia, given Moscow's diminished military role in the world.

Most of China's weaponry used in the drill was independently developed, but Russia's military technology is still more advanced, said Zhang Junshe, deputy director of the Naval Military Studies Research Institute.

"More importantly, the joint exercise with Russia, China's strategic partner, benefits the maritime interests of both countries, as well as regional peace and stability," he said.

Contact the writers at zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn and cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn

Former British PM calls for far more China-UK ties

China's support is vital to Europe's recovery from the deteriorating financial crisis and the United Kingdom has the willingness and openness to embrace more Chinese partnerships in the future, said former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Blair told China Daily, in an exclusive interview on Friday, that having China buy more bonds and make more investments is crucial in terms of supporting the European economy.

"The key thing is to understand that, without China, the world economy can't move forward," he said.

Regarding the collaboration between China and the UK, he said, far more ties need to be established and the respective strengths of China and the UK in technology and infrastructure should be merged in collaboration in emerging market countries.

"The UK now is very open to Chinese investments, and UK companies are very open to collaboration and partnerships with Chinese companies," he said.

According to the figure released by the UK Office for National Statistics on Wednesday, the UK's economy has fallen back into recession for the first time since 2009 as the economic output measured by gross domestic product fell by 0.2 percent in the first three months of the year.

But Blair said it's not the time to judge if this 0.2 percent drop is a real recession or just fluctuation for Britain.

Although the UK is not a part of the single currency zone, "if Europe is slowing down Britain gets affected".

"We are still dealing with the aftermath of the financial crisis and there is a need to calibrate very carefully the macroeconomic policy. So we are doing as much as we can to stimulate growth," he said.

More than $430 billion raised in the G20 meetings indicates that the financial markets have sufficient firepower to tackle any new problems arising from the prolonged European debt crisis, according to International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde.

In a highly interdependent world, according to Blair, China is expected to play a major role in the world economy and in the global financial crisis.

"We also need China's economy to carry on growing, and the process of stability in China is vital and important economically to Europe today," he said.

"The single currency is essentially inspired by a political idea, which is great European integration," he said. "But it is an economic monetary union, so the economic should come in line with politics and really that didn't happen in the way that it had to."

Blair said Europe is still very fragile and needs a combination of policies to produce growth.

According to him, fundamental structural reform is vital to revitalize the European economy, and stimulating its growth has a worldwide influence.

"Europe has to do this major structural reform, the European social model has to undergo fundamental change," he said, adding that pensions, welfare and public services, as well as the way the states operate, should all be part of the reform.

"I think these reforms were necessary, even before the crisis," he added.

But he also admits it would be quite difficult for European countries to change the system significantly to become competitive worldwide when growth rates are low and when countries are in recession.

liliangxing@chinadaily.com.cn

Armed police arrested a man at the scene of a siege in central London on Friday after reports that a suspect had taken several office workers hostage and threatened to blow himself up. A shirtless man in green khaki pants was seen being led out with his hands behind his back by two unarmed officers. Armed officers followed behind.

Metropolitan Police said the 49-year-old man was in police custody and that searches of the building on Tottenham Court Road were ongoing. British media had claimed that the man was holding people captive, but police said they were "not aware of any hostages at this stage".

Police had surrounded an office block and evacuated hundreds of people from one of the capital's busiest roads after a man began throwing office equipment out of a fifth-floor window.

Witnesses said the man, aged 49 or 50, had taken around four people hostage and had threatened to detonate gas canisters he was carrying. Police had no comment on those reports. A source said the incident was not terror-related and was thought to involve a man who had a grievance against a company.

Police in the capital are on alert as the city prepares to host the Olympic Games and celebrate the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's reign this summer.

"We have arrested a man (and) a search of the building is under way," the Metropolitan Police said in a statement. "We are not aware of any hostages at this stage."

Police sent a negotiator to the office block and imposed a 300-meter cordon around the building after the man entered the building before lunchtime.

One office worker said she had been inside the building when the man arrived and threatened staff.

"He turned up, strapped up with gasoline cylinders, and threatened to blow up the office," Abby Baafi, 27, said in a video clip posted on the website of The Huffington Post, the US news website that has offices in the area. Staff from the company were among those evacuated.

"He said he doesn't care about his life. He doesn't care about anything."

Hundreds were evacuated from the scene, a busy area of shops and offices close to the University of London and the British Museum.

Transport for London said the nearby underground station at Goodge Street was closed and traffic jams built up across the center.

An Italian tourist named Giuseppe Mossini, 22, told China Daily on the scene that he was walking along the street at noontime when he heard some bangs from one of the office buildings next to him.

"Then I saw some people begin to run away and I heard someone screaming," Mossini said. "People say a man was trying to bomb a building, then I rushed away immediately."

China Daily contributed to this story.

About 9,000 US Marines stationed on the Japanese island of Okinawa will be moved to the US territory of Guam and other locations in the Asia-Pacific, including Hawaii, under a US-Japan agreement announced on Thursday.

The move is part of a broader arrangement designed to tamp down tensions in the US-Japan defense alliance stemming in part from opposition in Okinawa to what many view as a burdensome US military presence.

It also reflects a desire by the Obama administration to spread US forces more widely in the Asia-Pacific region as part of a rebalancing of US defense priorities in the aftermath of a decade of war in the greater Middle East.

The agreement was outlined in a joint statement issued on Thursday night by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and their Japanese counterparts.

Citing an "increasingly uncertain security environment" in the Asia-Pacific region, they said their agreement was intended to maintain a robust US military presence to ensure the defense of Japan.

"Japan is not just a close ally, but also a close friend," Panetta said in a separate comment. "And I look forward to deepening that friendship and strengthening our partnership as, together, we address security challenges in the region."

The joint statement made no mention of a timetable for moving the approximately 9,000 Marines off Okinawa. It said it would happen "when appropriate facilities are available to receive them" on Guam and elsewhere.Under the new agreement, about 10,000 Marines will remain on Okinawa, which has been a key element of the US military presence in Asia for decades. The US also has a substantial Air Force presence on Okinawa.

The Obama administration believes the new agreement with Japan will make the alliance more sustainable, while also giving the Marines more regional flexibility.

Between 4,700 and 5,000 Marines will relocate from Okinawa to Guam, according to a US defense official who briefed reporters on some of the details before the agreement was officially announced in Tokyo and Washington.

The remainder of the 9,000 who are to relocate from Okinawa will move to Hawaii or be part of a rotational presence in Australia and elsewhere in the region, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was previewing the official announcement.

The official would not say how many would be moved to Hawaii.

Of the $8.6 billion estimated cost of relocating Marines to Guam, Japan agreed to pay $3.1 billion, the official said. The total cost includes an unspecified amount for possible construction of new training ranges in the Northern Mariana Islands that could be used jointly by US and Japanese forces, he said.

The agreement also calls for a phased return to Japanese control of certain parcels of land on Okinawa now used by the American military.

The shift of Marines from Okinawa to Guam has been in limbo for years because it was linked to the closure and replacement of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. Okinawans fiercely oppose Futenma and believe the base should simply be closed and moved overseas or elsewhere in Japan. The U.S., however, has insisted that Japan find a Futenma replacement on Okinawa.

That issue remains unresolved.

The whole dispute over the US military presence on Okinawa has its roots in the 1995 kidnapping and rape of a schoolgirl by three American servicemen. Top US government officials publicly apologized for the crime, but tensions continued to grow despite a strong desire by Tokyo and Washington to maintain their historically close military and political alliance.

The accord was timed for completion and public announcement before Japanese Prime Minster Yoshihiko Noda's scheduled visit to Washington on Monday for talks with President Barack Obama.

This file photo from Nov 3, 2006 shows Irish artist Louis le Brocquy and his wife, Anne Madden, during his 90th birthday celebration at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin. Le Brocquy, an Irish expressionist painter who was best known for his abstract portraits of Ireland's literary and artistic figures, died on Wednesday in Dublin. He was 95. [Niall Carson / PA Wire Via Associated Press]

Irish expressionist painter Louis le Brocquy, who was best known for abstract portraits of Ireland's literary and artistic figures, died on Wednesday. He was 95.

Irish President Michael D. Higgins praised le Brocquy's work as "amongst this country's most valuable cultural assets".

His family said he died in his Dublin home with his wife of 54 years, the artist Anne Madden, at his side. The cause of death was not announced, but he had been ill for the past year.

Born in Dublin in 1916, le Brocquy traveled widely in Europe throughout his seven-decade career and was an accomplished painter in oil and watercolors, an illustrator, lithographer, sculptor and tapestry maker. His best-known works regularly commanded six-figure prices at auctions over the past two decades, reflecting his status as Ireland's greatest living painter.

In the late 1930s he studied art in London and Venice, settled in the French Riviera, but fled back to Ireland to avoid Nazi occupation in 1940.

His first major paintings in 1945-47 were Cubist portraits of Ireland's often-demonized Gypsy community, the Travelers, produced during his frequent trips into the rural West of Ireland.

His work wasn't initially appreciated in his conservative homeland. His first masterpiece, the gray-and-white oil on canvas, A Family, in 1951, was brusquely rejected for display in Dublin. However, it won accolades at the Venice Biennale and today is featured in a major display of le Brocquy's works in the National Gallery of Ireland, where he became the only living Irish artist to be included in the gallery's Permanent Irish Collection.

As a contemporary member of Ireland's cultural elite, he spent decades producing unique images of artists and writers - and sought, he said, to capture a glimmer of their souls.

"Clearly, it is not possible to paint the spirit. You cannot paint consciousness," le Brocquy said in a 1995 interview. "You start with the knowledge we all have that the most significant human reality lies beneath material appearance.

"So, in order to recognize this, to touch this as a painter, I try to paint the head image from the 'inside out' as it were, working in layers or planes, implying a certain flickering transparency," he said.

Among his subjects were playwright Samuel Beckett, fellow artists Picasso and Francis Bacon, author James Joyce, poets W.B. Yeats and Seamus Heaney, and singer Bono. That latter 2003 portrait fronted a global Irish advertising campaign called "The Irish mind".

Le Brocquy received Dublin's highest honor, the Freedom of the City, in 2007.

He is survived by his wife and their two sons, Pierre and Alexis. Relatives said a public service commemorating his life would be held on Saturday at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, but his funeral that day would be private.

Antarctica's massive ice shelves are shrinking because they are being eaten away from below by warm water, a new study finds. It suggests that future sea levels could rise faster than many scientists have been predicting.

The western chunk of Antarctica is losing 7 meters of its floating ice sheet each year. Until now, scientists were not exactly sure how it was happening and whether or how man-made global warming might be a factor. The answer, according to a study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, is that climate change plays an indirect role - but one that has larger repercussions than if Antarctic ice merely were melting from warmer air.

Hamish Pritchard, a glaciologist at the British Antarctic Survey, said research using an ice-gazing NASA satellite showed that warmer air alone could not explain what was happening to Antarctica. A more detailed examination found a chain of events that explained the shrinking ice shelves.

Twenty ice shelves showed signs that they were melting from warm water below. Changes in wind currents pushed that relatively warmer water closer to and beneath the floating ice shelves.

The wind change probably is caused by a combination of factors, including natural weather variation, the ozone hole and man-made greenhouse gases, Pritchard said in a phone interview.

As the floating ice shelves melt and thin, that in turn triggers snow and ice on land glaciers to slide down to the floating shelves and eventually into the sea, causing sea level rise, Pritchard said. Thicker floating ice shelves usually keep much of the land snow and ice from shedding to sea, but that is not happening now.

That whole process causes larger and faster sea level rise than simply warmer air melting snow on land-locked glaciers, Pritchard said.

"It means the ice sheets are highly sensitive to relatively subtle changes in climate through the effects of the wind," he said.

What's happening in Antarctica "may have already triggered a period of unstable glacier retreat," the study concludes. If the entire Western Antarctic Ice Sheet were to melt, which would take many decades if not centuries, scientists have estimated it would lift global sea levels by 3 meters.

NASA chief scientist Waleed Abdalati, an expert in Earth's ice systems who was not involved in the research, said Pritchard's study "makes an important advance" and provides crucial information about how Antarctica will contribute to global sea level rise.

Another outside expert, Ted Scambos of the National Snow and Ice Data Center, said the paper will change the way scientists think about melt in Antarctica. Seeing more warm water encircling the continent, he worries that with "a further push from the wind", newer areas could start shrinking.

The Associated Press

Chinese and Russian warships and aircraft participate in a live ammunition exercise on Thursday, marking a successful end to the live sea drill between the two countries. [Zou Hong / China Daily]

Chinese and Russian warships concluded an ammunition drill on Thursday, marking a successful end to the live sea exercise, both countries' drill directors said.

Vice-Admiral Ding Yiping, deputy commander of the Navy of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, said the two navies accomplished all of the goals of the exercises, with excellent results. The drills began on April 22, and will conclude on Friday.

Six warships, including the Chinese navy's missile destroyer Harbin and the Slava-class guided missile cruiser Varyag, the flagship of the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet, met near Qingdao, Shandong province, in the Yellow Sea and fired hundreds of shells at surface, underwater and air targets.

The two sides also had a fleet review on Thursday afternoon, involving 19 warships and 19 aircraft.

"It's not easy for both sides to conduct a live-fire confrontation drill under such a tight schedule, especially when there is strong fog and wind," Ding said at a news conference. "But both navies devoted the most advanced vessels, submarines and aircraft, as well as proficient information command technologies."

"Only countries that are highly friendly and trustworthy to each other would like to do conduct such as confrontation drill," The Hong Kong-based Wen Wei Po newspaper said.

Russian Naval Deputy Chief of Staff Rear Admiral Leonid Sukhanov said China and Russia improved their coordination and cooperation ability to uphold both sides' maritime safety. The Russian and Chinese navies, which have participated in escort missions in the Gulf of Aden, conducted operations on Wednesday such as rescuing hijacked vessels.

"It's not aimed at any third parties, but to enhance regional peace and stability, and especially to safeguard both sides' transport routes and economic interests," he said.

The live naval exercise between Russia and China, which was agreed to last year, is not related to the current regional situation, China's National Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said on Wednesday.

"The joint military exercise is being conducted without an imaginary enemy, and it fully reflects the new form of the relationship between the nations, which is no alliance, no conflict and no moves against any third country," the spokesman said.

The Chinese and Russian navies have maintained long-term friendly exchanges, but will not form an alliance, Sukhanov said.

The speculation from other groups over the China-Russia alliance is aimed at obstructing enhanced ties between the countries, Jin Yinan, a professor at the PLA National Defense University, told Chinese media.

The PLA Daily said on Thursday that a military alliance based on a Cold War mentality is against the China-Russia strategic partnership.

"China pursues unswervingly an independent foreign policy of peace, and would not join any alliances or military blocs to engage in military competition, expansion and hegemony."

Chinese and Russian navies have reached a consensus about relations and further cooperation, and would discuss the possibility of making the joint drill a regular part of military cooperation between the two countries, Ding said.

China and Russia have great cooperation potential in escorting ships and regular joint drills, said Zhang Junshe, deputy director of Naval Military Studies Research Institute.

Contact the writers at zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn Cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn

China's Vice-Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Russia, the first visit by a Chinese leader after Russia's presidential election in March, would further facilitate the development of relations, said Russian Ambassador to China Sergey Sergeevich Razov.

"It's certain that Russia would cement its strategic partnership with China under a new leadership. The president-elect Vladimir Putin had pointed out before the election that Russia needs a prosperous and stable China, and China also needs a strong and successful Russia," he told China Daily.

During the visit from Thursday to Monday, Li will meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Putin, the Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko and Chairman of State Duma Sergei Naryshkin to promote the implementation of a plan for the development of China-Russia ties over the next 10 years, according to China's Foreign Ministry.

Both countries expect to improve bilateral ties and further explore cooperative potential through the talks, said the ambassador. "This is in the best interests of the two countries and peoples."

Li is scheduled to attend a China-Russia investment and trade promotion conference on Saturday that will introduce many large-scale and potential investment projects to Chinese entrepreneurs. According to official information, Sino-Russian cooperation in the Far East is one of China and Russia's pragmatic cooperation projects.

Bilateral trade volume between China and Russia reached about $80 billion in 2011, a 42.7 percent year-on-year rise. The number is expected to hit $100 billion in 2015 and $200 billion in 2020, a target set by both Chinese and Russian leaders.

However, Sergey Sanakoev, chairman of the Russian-Chinese Center for Trade and Economic Cooperation, told Xinhua that "bilateral investment still falls short of our expectations", and many Russian regions are eagerly looking forward to Chinese investment.

Razov said that trade between China and Russia is growing much faster than trade between China and its other partners.

"Both sides have done enormous work recently to boost economic cooperation, especially in the fields of foreign exchange, nuclear energy, telecommunications, transportation, space and military technologies," he said. "If the momentum continues, I'm optimistic about a goal of $100 billion in 2015."

"There's still great potential for bilateral cooperation in nanometer technology, wood processing and agricultural products, as well as the creative industry, to realize the modernization of both countries," said Razov, adding that the ongoing "Tourism Year of Russia" in China and 2013 "Tourism Year of China" in Russia could also motivate economic vitality and infrastructure construction in both countries.

Meanwhile, the ambassador noted that China and Russia should enhance the quality of economic cooperation by optimizing trade organizations, boosting investment and establishing industrial coordination. "I believe China-Russia economic cooperation will maintain a high growth rate and lay a solid foundation for bilateral strategic partnership," he said.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin is currently in Beijing for a three-day visit. He met Vice-President Xi Jinping on Thursday.

Cheng Guangjin contributed to this story.

zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi insists China is now coming to the rescue of Africa after a failed Western ideology of the past three decades has let the continent down.

He said the so-called Washington Consensus that aimed to liberalize the economies of developing countries had demonstrably failed and the Chinese were now picking up the pieces.

"The official doctrine among the international financial institutions which in the past determined policy in Africa was that infrastructure would be taken care of by the private sector. Well, we have waited 30 years and nothing much has happened," he said.

"When the Chinese companies came in and started building infrastructure in a big way they were filling this major gap in the development of Africa. We, in Africa, should feel very satisfied with it."

Zenawi, who was speaking from his expansive office complex near the center of Addis Ababa, said China's investment in Africa was transforming the economic fortunes of the continent.

"Firstly, it is the growth of China that has increased the prices of commodities, minerals and other products of Africa which had been in secular decline for decades leading to the marginalization of the African economy as a whole," said Zenawi, who has been prime minister for the past 21 years.

"Secondly, Chinese companies have come in in a big way to develop these resources that had been sitting idle for some time. And, thirdly, the Chinese have trillions of dollars of savings, a small proportion of which is being used to develop infrastructure in Africa."

Chinese investment in infrastructure in Ethiopia dates back to 1972 when it financed the Wereta-Weldiya road across the Rift valley.

Over the next three years, a Chinese state-owned company is to build the final section of a 339 km railway line linking Addis Ababa to the Red Sea state of Djibouti.

The Chinese are also funding a toll road along the same route, and leading Chinese companies are making major investments in hydro power and setting up cellular and 3G networks.

Zenawi, who lives in a city dogged by frequent power cuts and gridlocked roads, says a lack of infrastructure is one of the Africa's most serious economic challenges.

The World Bank estimates the continent as a whole has an annual infrastructure funding gap of $90 billion.

"When you have a gap that size in a key sector like infrastructure, you can imagine to what extent it affects the prospects of the development of this continent," he said.

Dominating the Addis Ababa skyline is the new gleaming $124 million African Union Headquarters, which is in marked contrast to much of the city's older rundown architecture.

It was not only built and constructed by the Chinese but donated as "China's gift to Africa".

Zenawi rejects criticism from some elements within the continent that such a high profile building should have been built using solely African resources.

"I am sure if we had done that we would have been accused of going after 'white elephants' projects. When it comes to certain quarters in Africa, you are damned if you do and you are damned if you don't," he said.

"The fact of the matter is that it was the Africans who asked the Chinese to build this conference hall for Africa. It is not the Chinese who offered to build it. We asked them to build it and they agreed and they have delivered, and we have no reason to criticize this," he said.

Zenawi made an official visit to China last August and said while touring the Pearl River Delta he was keen to encourage Chinese manufacturers to Ethiopia.

Within weeks of his visit an official Chinese delegation visited the country, and one Guangdong manufacturer, Huajian, has now set up a shoe manufacturing facility.

"I thought they would be fast, but I didn't expect them to be that fast," he said with a laugh.

Zenawi believes Ethiopia can be just as an attractive alternative manufacturing center to China as Cambodia, Thailand and Bangladesh.

China is expected to shed some 80 million manufacturing jobs over the next three to four years as a result of rising labor costs, according to the World Bank.

"I don't think it is an either or because China is as big as all these countries combined and more. So whatever labor-intensive manufacturing is shed from Africa, it should be adequate for everyone," he said.

The prime minister dismissed notions that Africa had to also overcome perceptions that its workers were not as productive as those from Asia.

"The same has been said of Asian workers at some stage, including the Japanese (in the 19th Century). History and practice have shown that these are tricks that can be learned very quickly," he said.

He said the newly arrived Guangdong manufacturer, which has sent some of its Ethiopian workers for training in China, was a case in point.

"They are extremely surprised to find the Ethiopians quite capable of doing as well as the Chinese despite the fact an industrial culture here is absent," he said.

"All it requires is commitment and belief in the capacity of Africans to do what others have done, and if they are given a fighting chance I am sure they will survive."

Pakistan's Supreme Court convicted the prime minister of contempt on Thursday but gave him only a symbolic few minutes of detention inside the court, leaving the premier in power but weakened and facing fresh calls to resign.

The ruling against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani sharpened political uncertainty and tensions between the government and the court that have effectively crippled an administration struggling to tackle enormous economic and security challenges.

The court had the power to sentence the prime minister to prison and order his immediate dismissal from office.

It chose not to, delivering instead a symbolic punishment but one that could be used as the basis to push Gilani from power in the months to come.

The parliamentary speaker and election commission must now decide whether the conviction is reason to dismiss Gilani as a lawmaker, and hence as prime minister.

This could take up to four months and be contested legally every step of the way, meaning Gilani could remain prime minister until elections this year or early next. That may be taken as an achievement in itself in a country with a history of repeated coups and judicial machinations against elected governments.

Gilani's resignation was out of the question, said Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira. "The prime minister has not been convicted of any moral crime. No one needs to give us a lesson in morality."

Gilani is the longest-serving prime minister in the history of Pakistan, where civilian governments have repeatedly been toppled by the country's powerful military, often with the support of the Supreme Court, which critics allege is heavily politicized. Corruption charges have routinely been used to target those in power, or seeking to return.

The prime minister arrived at the court house flanked by government ministers and in a shower of rose petals tossed by supporters.

The ruling said he was guilty of contempt but would serve a sentence only "until the rising of the court", or by the time the judges left the chamber. That happened about three minutes after the verdict was handed down.

Thursday's verdict was the culmination of a process that began in a Supreme Court decision in 2009 ordering the government to ask authorities in Switzerland to reopen a long dormant corruption probe against President Asif Ali Zardari dating back to the 1990s. Gilani refused, saying the president had immunity from prosecution, and in January the court ordered contempt proceedings against him.

Outside the court, government loyalists fumed at Thursday's ruling.

"With utmost respect, I have to say this court order is absolutely illegal," said Attorney General Arfan Qadir.

Associated Press

Murdoch admits he panicked

News Corp chief Rupert Murdoch said on Thursday that he panicked when he closed the News of the World tabloid last year, one of a series of revealing exchanges made at an inquiry into British media ethics.

The 81-year-old media magnate acknowledged that the scandal which erupted at the Sunday tabloid last July was a "serious blot" on his reputation, but claimed his company was drawing a line under the sordid episode.

Norway

Thousands protest at trial

Tens of thousands of rose-waving Norwegians gathered in central Oslo on Thursday to deride mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik by singing a song he hates.

Some 40,000 people, according to police, massed in the rain at a square near the Oslo district courthouse where Breivik is on trial for his July 22 attacks that killed 77 people, to sing Children of the Rainbow by Norwegian folk singer Lillebjoern Nilsen.

AP-AFP

It's Sunday lunchtime in Las Vegas and Justin looks like he wants to curl up and die. He has a monster hangover after drinking for two days solid. But help, he hopes, is at hand.

The 38-year-old from Seattle is among the first customers trying out a new service, Hangover Heaven, which promises to "cure" his throbbing head, sweaty pallor and general feeling of death, all within 45 minutes.

"I knew I was going to drink too much," Justin, an aeronautics industry executive, said with a fragile smile, as an intravenous drip fed nausea-reducing drugs into his left arm.

"It's been a guy weekend. We arrived on Thursday. Last night we went out to a club, drank too much, stayed up all night," he added, estimating that he slept for maybe three hours.

Justin - who asks sheepishly not to give his surname - was speaking on board the shiny blue-and-white Hangover Heaven bus, parked outside the Mandalay Bay casino on the southern end of the infamous Vegas Strip.

From the outside it looks like any other tour bus. Inside, the vehicle is rigged out not unlike an ambulance: IV tubes, pulsometers, attentive nurses and, if it all gets too much, soothing, darkened bunks.

The new service, which opened on Aug 14, is the brainchild of Doctor Jason Burke.

The trained anesthesiologist, who still works in hospitals locally in his "day job", came up with the idea while working with patients in recovery rooms, after qualifying in 2001.

"Watching patients in the post-anesthesia care unit, I noticed that they had a lot of the same symptoms that people with a hangover have: The nausea, headache, aches and pains, and disoriented feeling.

"And I thought maybe these medications that I'm using to treat them in the recovery room could work for a hangover," he said.

Happily for him, he lives in the Nevada gambling capital - internationally renowned as a center for partying and intoxication of all kinds, and, of course, the setting for the first of the blockbuster Hangover movies.

"When people come to Vegas and drink, they're much more prone to get a hangover because of the time span over which they drink. It's much longer and they get more dehydrated because they're in the desert. "So it's the perfect set-up for hangovers," Burke said.

He was sitting on the bus outside Caesar's Palace, the latest stop on a constant circuit up and down the sun-soaked Strip to pick up and drop off customers.

The service offers to "cure" shell-shocked morning-after revelers of their hangover, using a combination of anti-nausea and rehydrating drugs, as well as vitamins and other medicines.

The bus promises an "ultra-smooth ride" to spare queasy stomachs, a mid-section with four bunks, a rear lounge, a bathroom and a "private interview room for people who have sensitive medical issues they wish to discuss".

All of this care does not come cheap: there are two basic packages: "Redemption" and "Salvation", offered at the introductory prices of $90 and $150, respectively.

Agence France-Presse

Romeo is Shiite, Juliet Sunni, and they must contend not only with warring families but a country torn by conflict and sectarian strife: This is the story of Romeo and Juliet in Baghdad.

Pistols have replaced swords and some characters wear traditional dishdashas, abayas and keffiyah scarves, but the changes go far beyond props and costumes.

The play is a distinctly Iraqi take on William Shakespeare's 16th-century classic. It is in the Iraqi dialect of Arabic, with an Iraqi cast and an Iraqi director who also adapted the play, weaving in the conflict and suffering with which Iraqis have had to live for the past nine years and more.

One of the final scenes combines the general horror of suicide bombings in Iraq with a reference to a specific attack on Oct 31, 2010, in which militants killed 44 worshippers and two priests in Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad.

Romeo flees to the church after killing the hot-headed Tybalt, and is later joined there by Juliet.

In the play's biggest departure from Shakespeare's original story, Juliet's spurned suitor, Paris, enters the church wearing a belt of explosives and blows himself up, killing Romeo and Juliet.

Monadhil Daood, 52, who adapted and directed the play, said that Paris is a member of al-Qaida and not an Iraqi - a reference to foreign fighters who came to Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion.

The reality of Iraq, and especially the sectarian violence here, ultimately provides a more tragic setting for the story of the two star-crossed lovers than Verona, Italy, where the original Romeo and Juliet was set.

In 2006, militants bombed the Shiite Al-Askari shrine in Samarra, unleashing a sectarian war of bombings and death squad murders that killed tens of thousands of Iraqis and forced many more from their homes.

That violence was eventually brought under control, but attacks remain common even today, and many Iraqis face other problems, including a lack of basic services, such as electricity and water.

The play's leading actors want to convey the reality of life here, which they have experienced firsthand.

"Romeo and Juliet in Baghdad is 100 percent about an Iraqi problem, so Romeo will suffer Iraqi sufferings," said Ahmed Salah Moneka, 23, who plays Romeo. "Now," he said, "it is an Iraqi story."

He said: "I want to convey messages of the suffering of this generation and previous generations, and the suffering of love."

Sarwa Rasool, 23, who plays Juliet, said: "There are two sects in Iraq, and it has happened many times that two people from those two sects love each other and they cannot continue" their relationship, adding that this not only goes for Sunnis and Shiites, but also for Arabs and Kurds.

Both Moneka and Rasool have had personal experience with sectarian tragedy.

"My friend committed suicide because her lover was Arab and she was Kurdish and her family did not accept him," said Rasool, who is Kurdish.

The play, which opened to a packed house at Iraq's National Theatre on April 16, was commissioned for the World Shakespeare Festival, part of the cultural program for the London 2012 Olympics.

It will be performed in Stratford-upon-Avon from today until May 5, and in London from June 28 to 30.

Agence France-Presse

China will encourage more companies to invest in South Sudan and called on the country to create a better environment for investment and protect the safety of Chinese employees and their property, Vice-Premier Li Keqiang told visiting South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Wednesday.

Kiir arrived in China on Monday as violence between the world's newest nation and Sudan intensified over the unresolved issues of oil revenues and their disputed border. Kiir cancelled a two-day visit to Shanghai, according to the foreign ministry, without elaborating on the reason.

Li said China is ready to support South Sudan on issues concerning each other's core interests and major concerns. China will provide aid to the country to help its people, Li said.

Li also said China will encourage more competent companies with good reputations to invest in South Sudan, and hopes the South Sudan government can create a better investment environment and provide protection for the employees of Chinese companies in the country.

Li called on the South Sudan government to properly deal with bilateral cooperation in oil and ensure the stability and continuity of the oil cooperation.

Sudan and South Sudan, which broke away and became independent last year, have been unable to resolve disputes over oil revenue sharing and border demarcation.

South Sudan got most of Sudan's oil and provided some 5 percent of China's oil until it shut down production in January due to simmering tensions.

Kiir thanked China for the aid and said South Sudan values its friendly relationship with China.

South Sudan is ready to deepen cooperation with China in all areas and provide a safe and convenient environment for Chinese investment in the country, Kiir said.

Regarding the current tension between South Sudan and Sudan, Kiir called for a peaceful resolution instead of military force.

He also said resolving the border dispute with Sudan is critical to achieving peace.

"No border, no peace", Kiir said in a speech at Peking University on Wednesday morning.

According to Reuters, South Sudan accused Sudan on Tuesday of mounting air raids in its oil-producing border region, after weeks of cross-border fighting threatened to turn into full-blown conflict.

The two countries should work together to boost long-term development in the region, said Wang Jinglie, an expert on Middle East and North African studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"The two sides should settle the remaining differences and try to boost development in the region together," Wang said.

Contact the writers at chengguangjin@chinadaily.com.cn

and zhouwa@chinadaily.com.cn

Vice-Premier Li Keqiang will start a four-day visit to Russia on Thursday, which is expected to promote bilateral pragmatic cooperation and signify the direction of future bilateral ties.

The visit will be the first by a Chinese leader to Russia after its presidential election in March.

Li is expected to meet with Russian leaders including President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister and President-elect Vladimir Putin, and exchange views on the development of China-Russia ties over the next 10 years.

Analysts said promoting bilateral cooperation in trade, energy, investment, technology, communication and regional cooperation will be some of the priorities of the visit.

Li's visit is significant because both countries are facing important opportunities in economic development, said Wu Enyuan, head of the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. "Developing Sino-Russian economic and political ties are the goals of both sides," Wu wrote in a recent article.

"The visit is also likely to signify the future direction of bilateral ties," he added.

Li's visit will also "pave the way for Putin's visit to China and his meeting with President Hu Jintao", said Ding Yuanhong, former Chinese ambassador to the European Union.

Putin, scheduled to take office as president on May 7, will visit China in June and attend the Beijing Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Russia is the first stop of Li's nine-day visit to Europe, which will also take him to Hungry, Belgium and the EU headquarters in Brussels.

China Daily

China has maintained close communication with the US over the South China Sea and hopes the interactions between the two sides remain positive, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Wednesday in Beijing, ahead of the fourth mutual strategic and economic dialogue next week.

"In the three rounds of strategic consultations held so far, we have given full presentations to the US side on China's position. I hope it would help the American side to keep adopting a reasonable position," Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said at a news briefing.

With tensions already high in the South China Sea, the Philippine foreign and defense ministers are planning to discuss an updated defense agreement with their US allies in Washington next week.

"The South China Sea issue is not an issue between China and the US, because the US doesn't have claims over the South China Sea and does not take sides, and we take this position as a reasonable one," the foreign minister said.

But the US has interfered with the disputes, said Ren Yuanzhe, a researcher with the department of diplomacy at China Foreign Affairs University. The United States has increased its presence in the Asia-Pacific region, claiming it has a national interest in the peaceful resolution of disputes within the area, Ren said.

The foreign minister's words indicated that the disputes over the South China Sea have been rather serious, Ren said, adding that the United States should take some responsibility for the current standoff over the Huangyan Island since it was the force behind it.

"China did not start the current standoff in the South China Sea. We would not like to see more tensions in that region," Cui Tiankai said. China is still committed to resolving disputes in the region through dialogue and diplomacy, Cui said.

"The Chinese government has taken a positive attitude to alleviate this kind of crisis, and the US also needs to restrain its ally to cool it down," Ren said.

Minor scuffles over the South China Sea issue are not in the interests of China, the Philippines nor the US, Ren said. A peaceful solution to the standoff could play an exemplary role in resolving similar problems in the future, he added.

The situation in the South China Sea has remained stable for many years thanks to the efforts of China and relevant parties, Cui Tiankai said. But "some people are trying to mix two unrelated things - territorial sovereignty and freedom of navigation - and such comments and actions go against the willingness of regional countries to deepen friendship and cooperation and will not help anybody".

Also on Wednesday, hundreds of American and Philippine troops waded ashore in a mock assault to retake a small island near the western island of Palawan, coinciding with the standoff starting on April 8 between Chinese and Philippine vessels near the Huangyan Island in a different part of the South China Sea.

China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have claims over some islands and waters in the South China Sea.

China's Defense Minister General Liang Guanglie on Tuesday said any military action to show sovereignty over the South China Sea "will be based on the needs of diplomacy", Hong Kong's Phoenix Television reported.

But Liang also said he believes that China and the Philippines will be able to peacefully resolve the escalating row over the Huangyan Island.

cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn

Syrian protestors gather around UN observers during their visit in Douma near the capital of Damascus, Syria. Rebels seeking to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad launched three separate attacks on his security forces around Damascus on Tuesday. [Photo / AP]

A handful of UN observers resumed their tour of Syrian hotspots on Wednesday as envoy Kofi Annan urged the fast deployment of the full, 300-strong mission and voiced alarm about persistent violence.

A suicide bomber blew up his booby-trapped car on Wednesday at one of the law-enforcement checkpoints in Syria's northern province of Idlib, killing one agent and wounding two others, the SANA news agency reported.

The attack took place on the Idlib-Salqin highway, said SANA, giving no further details.

Earlier in the day, a roadside bomb exploded in the al-Marjeh neighborhood in the northern province of Aleppo, critically injuring three people and damaging buildings nearby, SANA said.

Policemen have been tipped off recently by residents in different parts of Damascus about explosive devices attached underneath their cars.

The rebel forces seem to resort to such tactics to destabilize the rule of President Bashar al-Assad after the government dealt them a strategic blow and prevented them from making territorial gains.

The Syrian government has reported a surge in murder, kidnapping and attacks by "armed terrorist gangs" in Syria since the arrival of the UN observers while other groups claimed the government was behind the blast.

Annan branded the bloodshed "unacceptable" as he and world powers called for the speedy deployment of the 300 observers, but a top UN official said it would take at least a month to get the first 100 in place.

Addressing the UN Security Council via teleconference, the UN-Arab League envoy said he was "concerned" about the violence growing after observers visit individual cities.

More than 30 people were also killed in a government assault on Hama's Arbaeen neighborhood on Monday, monitors have said, prompting anger and criticism by activists who questioned the use of the UN observer mission.

Neeraj Singh, spokesman for an advance team of UN monitors who began arriving in the country on April 15, said the observers were conducting visits in various regions on a daily basis.

He said there were two observers based in the central town of Hama and two others in Homs, the scene of fierce fighting between government forces and rebel troops. The rest of the team is based in Damascus.

Singh said the observers, who now number 15, report what they witness to Annan on a daily basis.

"Whatever the observers see on the ground they are reporting to the joint special envoy Kofi Annan," he said. "It's not something that they discuss with the media."

Annan on Tuesday told the Security Council that Syria has failed to comply with a pledge to withdraw weapons from population centers, and towns where citizens met with UN truce monitors may have been attacked. He also made clear that Syrian forces had not followed the six-point peace plan he drew up.

Given the ongoing violence, Annan said it was urgent for the 300 monitors to arrive in Syria quickly.

AFP-Xinhua

UN observer Zhang Fu from China leaves a hotel in Damascus to patrol flashpoint areas in Syria on Wednesday. Two new UN observers arrived in Syria on Tuesday, to join the 11-member team which has been operating on the ground in the country. [Photo by Louai Beshara / AFP]

An assault against two Chinese students on Monday on a train from Sydney whipped social networks into a fury in both countries, prompting a reaction from local legal authorities.

Police said six people, aged 14 to 18, robbed passengers, including two Chinese students, on a train between Sydney and Rockdale around 12:30 am on Monday (local time), the Sydney Morning Herald said on its website on Wednesday.

Officers were called to Rockdale station, where they arrested three men, a 14-year-old boy and two girls.

China's consulate-general in Sydney contacted the two Chinese and provided consular assistance on Monday night. The consulate also warned local Chinese from unnecessary commuting at night.

Local police said there were four more passengers assaulted in the case in addition to the two Chinese. The six suspects were charged with robbery and assault offenses on Tuesday.

"We hope Australia can beef up public security and provide better circumstances for expats in the country," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said in a response on Wednesday.

Hours after the assault on Monday, blogger XuanHao, who claimed to be one of the victims of the attack, posted messages about the assault on weibo.com, a leading social network in China.

A picture showing a bruised nose was also attached to his micro blog, which received thousands of comments within the first day and was forwarded throughout major social networks in China.

On Wednesday, however, the Chinese micro blogger deleted all the blogs related to the assault's details to "ensure his privacy and eliminate rumors in the comments attached to the posts".

Yet online fury and looming concerns were sparked over the safety of international students in Australia.

Another micro blogger, Jingziyu, even contacted former Australian foreign affairs minister Kevin Rudd for help, requesting a boost in communication with local authorities.

Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking Australian political figure who is quite familiar to the Chinese public, contacted some key officials of both countries, including Australia's minister for immigration and the deputy secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

In one of his Mandarin micro blogs on Tuesday, Rudd said he had talked to the police chief of the state and was informed of the case.

"Apart from the two Chinese students, other people were also robbed. The attack was not directed at Chinese citizens," said Rudd, who also expressed his hatred toward racism on his Mandarin micro blog, which was launched in mid-April.

In recent years, foreign political figures and organizations have launched micro blog accounts to beef up their presence in China's social networks.

Tian Zhihui, a professor in new media at the Communication University of China, said the overseas politicians' micro blog boom is aimed at further reaches into the Chinese netizens, in which "the well-educated public makes a major trunk".

"It is a coincidence that Rudd's micro blog was launched days before the assault case, and the social network's huge influence has played a role in the spreading of the case's details," Tian said, adding that the Australian side made timely responses to the online concerns.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

Rupert Murdoch began giving evidence on Wednesday to confront charges that he used his clout to curry favor with a succession of British leaders, electrifying a media inquiry that has become increasingly damaging for the government.

An appearance by Rupert's son James on Tuesday revealed how a government minister had sought to help Murdoch's News Corp in an ultimately abortive takeover bid, a toxic admission for Prime Minister David Cameron, who is already seen as too close to the Murdochs.

The 81-year-old media mogul, wearing a bright blue tie, appeared under oath at the Victorian gothic courtroom, watched by his son Lachlan and wife Wendi Deng.

Murdoch was immediately asked about his relationship to politics and British "toffs", a reference to his regular attacks on Britain's gilded establishment, which he says is snobbish and inefficient. "I have never asked a prime minister for anything," Murdoch said. "I welcome the opportunity (to appear) because I wanted to put some myths to bed," he added, weighing his words before replying to questions from one of London's top lawyers.

Many are expecting Murdoch, who has courted prime ministers and presidents for decades, to come out fighting, having been on the back foot for almost a year over a newspaper phone hacking scandal.

"He's the master of the barbed quote, the one-liner," Neil Chenoweth, a veteran Australian investigative journalist who has written two books on Murdoch, told Reuters. "He just lets it drop, and his delivery makes it absolutely lethal."

The revelation that a government minister had sought to help Murdoch in his business dealings go to the heart of the issue in Britain, that Murdoch wields too much influence and that this resulted in a company culture that rode roughshod over rules and regulations.

The minister, media secretary Jeremy Hunt, briefed News Corp on the thinking of regulators and leaked confidential information, while at the same time acting for the government in deciding whether to approve the $12 billion deal.

The pressure on Hunt dominated the local news agenda on Wednesday, with newspaper front pages declaring that the Murdochs had declared revenge on the government. The front page of the left-leaning Guardian described Hunt as the "Minister for Murdoch".

News Corp said it had been required by law to produce the e-mail documents that revealed the contact with Hunt.

Living in fear

Cameron appointed judge Brian Leveson to examine Britain's press standards after journalists at Murdoch's News of the World tabloid admitted widespread hacking into phones to generate exclusives.

Cameron is himself already under pressure after a series of mishaps by his government. To compound his problems, economic data released on Wednesday morning showed that Britain had slipped back into recession.

Reuters

Mitt Romney laid claim to a fiercely contested Republican presidential nomination after sweeping five primary contests and immediately set the tone for the general election campaign by attacking President Barack Obama over his handling of the economy.

After struggling for months to prevail over unexpectedly persistent rivals, the Republican nominee-in-waiting was eager to refocus his efforts on the campaign against Obama.

"Tonight is the start of a new campaign," the former Massachusetts governor said on Tuesday night as he celebrated his primary victories with a blast at Obama as a man whose time in office has been marked by "false promises and weak leadership" in a time of economic struggle.

He delivered his remarks to a national television audience from New Hampshire, the state where he won his first primary of the campaign and one of about a dozen states expected to be battlegrounds in the campaign for the White House.

Romney won primary victories on Tuesday in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York in the first contests since his chief rival, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, conceded the race.

Romney was eager to leave the nominating campaign behind.

"After 43 primaries and caucuses, many long days and not a few long nights, I can say with confidence - and gratitude - that you have given me a great honor and solemn responsibility," he said.

Romney planned to intensify fundraising efforts on Wednesday and Thursday to prepare for what may be the most expensive presidential contest in the history of American politics. The presumptive Republican nominee has at least six fundraising events in two days in New York and New Jersey. Romney's campaign had only about $10 million in the bank at the end of March, according to federal filings. All told, Obama reported more than $104 million in his account, having already spent nearly $90 million on the general election. Election Day is Nov 6.

Six months before the election, opinion polls show the economy to be the top issue by far in the race.

The same surveys point toward a close contest, with several suggesting a modest advantage for Obama.

Obama won the presidency in 2008 in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and since then economic growth has rebounded slowly and joblessness has receded gradually while housing prices have continued to drop in many areas of the country.

Pakistan successfully launched an upgraded ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead on Wednesday, days after its neighbor and archenemy India conducted its own missile test, the Pakistani military said.

The Hatf IV Shaheen-1A missile was fired into the sea, the military said in a written statement.

It was described as an intermediate-range missile having a longer range than its predecessor, the Shaheen-1, which is believed to fly up to 750 kilometers.

"The improved version of Shaheen-1A will further consolidate and strengthen Pakistan's deterrence abilities," said Lieutenant General Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, who witnessed the launch and is responsible for the country's nuclear program.

Intermediate-range ballistic missiles have a range of 3,000 to 5,000 km, according to the website GlobalSecurity.org.

If the Shaheen-1A is indeed an intermediate-range missile, it would represent a quantum leap from the previous version. Pakistan's longest range missile before Wednesday's launch was believed to be the Shaheen II, with a range of 2,000 km. That is far enough to hit targets anywhere in India.

India announced last Thursday that it had successfully test-launched a new nuclear-capable, long-range missile, the Agni-V, which has a range of 5,000 km.

Pakistan and India have fought three major wars since they achieved independence from the British empire in 1947. Relations have warmed somewhat over the last year, especially with respect to trade, but the two still consider each other enemies and regularly conduct tests of weapons systems to display their military prowess.

"This is what has been happening over the past few years," said Talat Masood, a Pakistani defense analysts and retired army general. "The tests by Pakistan and India follow each other to show that their programs are robust."

India had already achieved the ability to reach anywhere in Pakistan with the development of its Agni-I and Agni-II missiles, according to Rahul Bedi, a defense analyst in India.

"Agni-V has nothing to do with Pakistan," said Bedi.

US intelligence estimates last year put the number of nuclear weapons deployed by Pakistan at 90 to 110. Analysts say the strategic US ally's nuclear arsenal is the fastest growing in the world.

Pakistan, like neighboring India, is not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

AP-Reuters

Rhetoric against ROK escalates

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea sharply escalated the rhetoric against its southern rival, claiming it will soon conduct "special actions" that would reduce the Republic of Korea's conservative government to ashes within minutes.

The special operation action group of the Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army on Monday issued a notice that the special actions by the armed forces of the DPRK would start soon to meet the reckless challenge of ROK's Lee Myung-bak group of traitors, according to Korean Central News Agency of DPRK.

Upon hearing the notice, the servicepersons of the Korean People's Internal Security Forces began intensifying their combat training.

Afghanistan

NATO reports 4 troop deaths

NATO says that two service members have been killed in separate attacks in southern Afghanistan, while two others have died of non-battle injuries.

The coalition said in statements that one service member was killed by an improvised explosive device on Wednesday and another by a similar weapon on Tuesday.

NATO said the two other service members died of non-battle injuries.

United Kingdom

Missing girl may be alive

Missing girl Madeleine McCann, who vanished while on a family vacation in Portugal five years ago, may be alive, UK police said on Wednesday as they announced new efforts to solve the case. London's Metropolitan Police said they are still investigating the disappearance of the girl, who vanished shortly before her fourth birthday in May 2007.

China Daily-Reuters-AP

Google Inc executives Larry Page and Eric Schmidt and filmmaker James Cameron are among those bankrolling a venture to survey and eventually extract precious metals and rare minerals from asteroids that orbit near Earth, the company said on Tuesday.

Planetary Resources, based in Bellevue, Washington, initially will focus on developing and selling extremely low-cost robotic spacecraft for surveying missions.

A demonstration mission in orbit around Earth is expected to be launched within two years, said company co-founders Peter Diamandis and Eric Anderson.

Planetary Resources' aim is to open deep-space exploration to private industry, much like the $10 million Ansari X Prize competition, which Diamandis created.

The prize, which galvanized the emerging commercial human spaceflight industry, was awarded in 2004 to Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne for the first flights beyond Earth's atmosphere by a privately developed, manned spaceship. Commercial suborbital spaceflights are expected to begin next year.

Planetary Resources' first customers are likely to be science agencies, such as NASA, as well as private research institutes.

Within five to 10 years, however, the company expects to progress from selling observation platforms in orbit around Earth to prospecting services. It plans to tap some of the thousands of asteroids that pass relatively close to Earth and extract their raw materials.

Not all missions would return precious metals and minerals to Earth. In addition to mining for platinum and other precious metals, the company plans to tap asteroids' water to supply orbiting fuel depots, which could be used by NASA and others for robotic and human space missions.

"We have a long view. We're not expecting this company to be an overnight financial home run. This is going to take time," Anderson said.

The real payoff, which is decades away, will come from mining asteroids for platinum group metals and rare minerals.

"If you look back historically at what has caused humanity to make its largest investments in exploration and in transportation, it has been going after resources, whether it's the Europeans going after the spice routes or the American settlers looking toward the West for gold, oil, timber or land," Diamandis said.

"Those precious resources caused people to make huge investments in ships and railroads and pipelines. Looking to space, everything we hold of value on Earth - metals, minerals, energy, real estate, water - is in near-infinite quantities in space. The opportunity exists to create a company whose mission is to be able to go and basically identify and access some of those resources and ultimately figure out how to make them available where they are needed," he said.

Diamandis and Anderson declined to discuss how much money has been raised for their venture so far. In addition to Google billionaires Page and Schmidt and filmmaker Cameron, Planetary Resources investors include former Microsoft chief software architect Charles Simonyi, a two-time visitor to the International Space Station, Google founding director K. Ram Shriram and Ross Perot Jr.

Planetary Resources also declined to discuss specifics about how and when asteroid mining would begin. A 30-meter long asteroid can hold as much as $25 billion to $50 billion worth of platinum at today's prices, Diamandis said.

The company's first step is to develop technologies to cut the cost of deep-space robotic probes to one-tenth to one-hundredth of the cost of current space missions, which runs into hundreds of millions of dollars, Diamandis said.

Among the targeted technologies is optical laser communications, which would eliminate the need for large radio antennas aboard spacecraft.

"We're taking new approaches to design," Diamandis said. "Part of the philosophy we're taking is building very low-cost, very small spacecraft." The key is reliability, he said.

Reuters

Number living in the US drops significantly due to lack of jobs

In a dramatic shift, the number of Mexican immigrants living illegally in the US has dropped significantly for the first time in decades. Many illegal workers, already in the US and seeing few job opportunities, are returning to Mexico.

An analysis of census data from the US and Mexican governments details movements to and from Mexico, a nation accounting for nearly 60 percent of the illegal immigrants in the US. It comes amid renewed debate over US immigration policy as the Supreme Court hears arguments this week on tough immigration law in Arizona, a border state.

Roughly 6.1 million unauthorized Mexican immigrants were living in the US last year, down from a peak of nearly 7 million in 2007, according to the Pew Hispanic Center study released on Monday. It was the biggest sustained drop in modern history, believed to be surpassed in scale only by losses in the Mexican-born US population during the Great Depression.

Much of the drop in illegal immigrants is due to the persistently weak US economy, which lost construction and service-sector jobs, attractive to Mexican workers, following the housing bust.

But increased deportations, heightened US patrols and violence along the border also have played a role, as well as demographic changes, such as Mexico's declining birthrate.

In all, the Mexican-born population in the US last year - legal and illegal - fell to 12 million, marking an end to an immigration boom dating back to the 1970s, when foreign-born residents from Mexico stood at 760,000. The 2007 peak was 12.6 million.

Christian Ballesteros, who has been at a shelter for immigrants in Matamoros, Mexico, across the border from Brownsville, Texas, pointed to stiffer US penalties for repeat offenders and brutal criminal groups that control the Mexican side of the border as reasons for the immigration decline. Ballesteros, who has been deported four times, was recently caught after hopping the border fence near Nogales, Arizona.

"The Mexican cartels are taking over, are actually being like the border patrols on this side," Ballesteros said. "They say: 'If you don't pay, we're going to cut your head off.' That's the worst part," Ballesteros said.

After his last apprehension by US authorities, Ballesteros was sent to a detention facility in Las Vegas for two months. He fears it could be six months, if he is caught again. "You can lose money, but if you lose time, there's no way you can recover that time," Ballesteros said, noting that many immigrants have families to support.

Jeffrey Passel, a senior demographer at Pew who co-wrote the analysis, said Mexican immigration may never return to its height during the mid-decade housing and construction boom, even with the US economy recovering. He cited longer-term factors such as a shrinking Mexican workforce.

He noted that government statistics show a clear shift among Mexican workers already in the US who are returning home. He said the numbers are a sign that many immigrants are giving up on life in the US.

A fleet of Chinese and Russian navies, with three warships from each side, arrived at a joint drill area on Tuesday to conduct live-fire exercises, a move to ensure both sides' maritime interests by tackling new challenges and threats in the region.

The six-day drill has formally entered the live-fire stage, experts said.

Both navies will begin exercises including defense of air routes and maritime traffic routes, search and rescue operations and anti-submarine tactics, as well as practice on air, sea and underwater targets with cannons of various calibers on Wednesday and Thursday.

The joint drills, taking place in the Yellow Sea from April 22 to Friday, involve 25 naval vessels, 13 aircraft, nine helicopters and two special fighting groups, making it the largest joint navy drill between the two nations in recent years.

Four Russian warships from the Pacific fleet, including the aircraft carrier Varyag, are participating in the drills. Missile destroyers, missile frigates, missile boats, a support vessel and a hospital ship gathered from China's side.

The exercises are practical and advanced since both navies have devoted their main forces, such as China's Harbin guided missile destroyer and Russia's Varyag, said Zhang Junshe, deputy director of Naval Military Studies Research Institute.

Li Jie, a researcher with the same institute, told Chinese media that both countries have displayed more technologically-advanced weapons compared with the military exercise in 2005.

China and Russia have held four military exercises since 2005, some of which have involved other countries.

People's Liberation Army Navy Commander Wu Shengli said on Tuesday that the first navy drill between Chinese and Russian navies could start a regular cooperation and more diversified joint exercises under the strategic partnership.

However, the drill has unsettled China's neighbors, as another drill is being conducted by the Philippines and the United States near the South China Sea.

The PLA Daily said on Monday that unnecessary concerns over the drill could become an obstacle to forging even closer ties between China and Russia and the development of both countries.

The drill no longer focuses as usual on anti-terrorism but on safeguarding regional security, said Liang Fang, a professor at the Strategic Research Institute at the National Defense University of the PLA.

"Both China and Russia are strong maritime powers that want to use the drill to ensure the safety of their maritime territories and sea lines of communication," she said.

"The defensive exercises are common and indispensable for those close countries to coordinate their actions with each other," she added.

"Besides, this navy drill, though the biggest one between the two countries so far, is smaller than those conducted by the US and its allies."

The US and the Philippines' military exercises are scheduled to last until Friday. Philippine officials have said the exercises are not linked to the Huangyan Island standoff and are not meant to provoke China.

Philippine Department of National Defense also said on Monday that there was nothing unusual with the naval exercises between China and Russia.

zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn

Manila's claims over territory make no sense, FM says

Beijing on Tuesday criticized Manila's attempt to expand the Huangyan Island dispute over the entire South China Sea and rejected Manila's accusation over the freedom of navigation.

Huangyan Island has been an integral part of China's territory since ancient times, and the Philippines' groundless claim over the island's sovereignty is "the fundamental cause" of the complicated situation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said.

His remarks were made in response to Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, who accused China on Monday of "claiming virtually the entire South China Sea".

"Expanding the Huangyan Island dispute to involve the entire South China Sea makes no sense," Liu said at a daily news conference.

Also on Monday, the foreign secretary said "the message is" that China "can set the rules for anybody".

"I think the current standoff is a manifestation of a larger threat to many nations," del Rosario told ABS-CBN TV network in an interview.

Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez also said that China is posing "a potential threat to freedom of navigation as well as unimpeded commerce in the area".

Beijing on Tuesday responded that freedom of navigation in the South China Sea "has never been an issue", and China's long-term exercise and protection of sovereignty over the island "has never and will not influence" freedom of navigation in the waters.

On the contrary, Manila's recent decision to send a warship to the island and dispatch personnel for a forced inspection of Chinese fishing boats triggered the existing tension, said the Chinese spokesman.

"Manila's moves unavoidably gave rise to massive concerns over security in the related waters," Liu added.

Yang Baoyun, a professor of Southeast Asian studies at Peking University, said Manila's current remarks and stances "show few signs of sincerity" to resolve the dispute.

No country is allowed to misuse international laws to serve its interest, Yang said, adding that Manila did not lay territorial claim to the island until 1997.

Hernandez also said on Monday that Manila planned to exchange views with Washington on the island dispute during the upcoming "2+2" US-Filipino talks, scheduled to start on Monday.

"Generally, a country does not take sides on other countries' sovereignty disputes. And we have noticed that none of the other countries has taken sides on the issue," said Liu, the spokesman.

Manila's standoff against Beijing in the waters of Huangyan Island entered its fifteenth day on Tuesday.

On April 10, 12 Chinese fishing boats were harassed by a Philippine warship while taking refuge from harsh weather in a lagoon near the island. Two Chinese patrol ships in the area later came to the fishermen's rescue, and the warship left.

The Chinese fishermen returned home, but the standoff remains. There were still two Philippine vessels and one Chinese ship in the waters on Tuesday.

Xinhua News Agency on Monday reported that two Chinese vessels, a Fishery Administration ship and a Chinese Maritime Surveillance ship, left the area on Sunday.

"The withdrawal of the two ships proves once again that China is not escalating the situation as some people said, but de-escalating the situation," said Zhang Hua, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines.

China is ready to settle this incident through friendly diplomatic consultations, Zhang added.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

Under the theme of "strengthening media cooperation to promote bilateral trade and economic relations", delegates attending the meeting discussed the importance of the media in bilateral economic and trade relations and utilizing new media technology to promote ties. Around 100 experts, scholars and government officials attended.

Wang Zhongwei, deputy minister of the State Council Information Office of China, said the media has played an important role in Sino-Arab trade and economic relations, which could be further promoted by cooperation in this field.

"Compared to the rapid development of economic and trade relations between China and Arabian countries, there are still broad spaces for the development of media exchanges between us."

Trade and economic cooperation is the oldest and most active tie in Sino-Arab relations, Wang said, adding that Arabian countries have become China's seventh-largest trade partner.

Omani Ambassador to China Abdullah Saleh Al Saadi said the Western media's distorted reports are not consistent with the true images of Arabian countries and China.

Western media often apply double standards when reporting on developing countries. The two sides need show a true, clear image to the world through media cooperation, Wang said.

Editors from China Daily, People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency and China News Service also attended the forum and discussed ways to boost new media cooperation.

The China-Arab Press Cooperation Forum was co-hosted by the State Council Information Office and the Secretariat of the League of Arab States.

The forum is an important part of the framework of the Sino-Arab Cooperation Forum. The first forum was held in Beijing in 2008, and the second was held in 2010 in Manama, the capital of Bahrain.

President Nicolas Sarkozy starkly laid out his path to re-election on Monday: He will be plunging deep into far-right territory to hunt the votes he needs to beat Socialist challenger Francois Hollande in the runoff.

A day after Hollande won a slim upper hand in the first round of voting, Sarkozy candidly ogled voters of the far-right National Front whose candidate, Marine Le Pen, placed a solid third. She gave the party its highest-ever score, nearly 18 percent - close to one-in-five voters and the biggest surprise of Sunday's first round vote.

Le Pen and her anti-immigration party want to pull France out of the euro currency, reinstate border controls, crack down on immigrants and stamp out what she claims is the Islamization of France.

"The word 'protectionism' isn't a dirty word," Sarkozy said on Monday during a rousing speech in Saint-Cyr-Sur-Loire, near Tours, southwest of Paris.

Protecting the French identity, French civilization, French borders, French workers, French youth, French retirees were all on Sarkozy's agenda - and all are themes dear to the National Front.

Sarkozy and Hollande, both 57, used their first post-election speeches to lure far-right voters to their respective camps ahead of the May 6 final round. But Hollande did so more softly.

The math is brutal. Hollande won 28.6 percent of Sunday's vote, Sarkozy won 27.2 percent and both need votes from Le Pen's far right to climb over 50 percent - but mostly Sarkozy. Hollande is expected to get many of the backers of far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon who won 11 percent. The 9 percent who voted for centrist candidate Francois Bayrou are also in play.

Sarkozy named the National Front, and in a bid to destigmatize those who vote for the far-right party, said he respects them.

On the left some people "hold their noses", he said. "I want to say that we have heard them (the far right) and know how to respond with precise commitments."

The commitment he clearly named was tightening French borders - with or without other European countries - to keep them from becoming a "sieve" for immigrants and others.

"Europe must change so as not to be perceived as a threat but as a protection," he said.

For his part, Hollande said some voters cast ballots for Le Pen because they feel the system has left them behind.

"We have to look further for voters," Hollande said in a speech in Quimper, in the western region of Brittany. "Women and men who don't know where to go ... go toward the extreme."

Both candidates warned about the spread of populism around Europe - what Sarkozy called a "crisis vote" by a population hurt by the effects of the debt crisis and left behind in a globalized world.

Voter frustration with the status quo and with the EU fed a rise of support for extremes at both ends of the political scale, with nearly 30 percent of France's 44 million voters backing candidates of the far right and left.

Wooing Le Pen's supporters is a more difficult task. She has said in the past she won't give followers instructions on how to vote on May 6.

"I've long considered Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande as being of a same mind on issues I consider essential, starting with the sovereignty of our country," she told French television Monday evening.

"I no longer believe in Nicolas Sarkozy's sincerity," she added.

AP-AFP

A polarized Dutch Parliament will debate on Tuesday how to get the country's economy back on track and try to set an election date after the collapse of the country's conservative government.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte's 18-month-old conservative coalition resigned on Monday after it failed to agree on cutting its own budget deficit to meet the EU limits it had itself demanded of other countries.

The immediate question facing party leaders will be what budget statement they can allow Rutte - now caretaker leader - to deliver to Brussels by April 30, a deadline for submitting a preliminary 2013 budget. The note must explain how the Netherlands plans to bring its projected 4.6 percent 2012 budget deficit below the 3 percent European limit.

One of only four eurozone nations with a coveted AAA credit rating, the government is keen to reassure markets it is doing all it can to rein in spending and meet the EU limit. Rating agencies have warned they are closely watching events in The Hague.

A credit downgrade would drive up borrowing costs for the government, further compounding the economic malaise in a country already mired in recession.

So far, financial markets appear to be giving the Netherlands the benefit of the doubt: Early on Tuesday the government was able to auction around $2.6 billion in bonds at highly reasonable rates, including $1.3 billion worth of 2 year bonds at a yield of 0.523 percent, according to treasury spokesman Ben Feiertag - lower than before the political crisis began.

As head of a caretaker administration, Rutte will likely have to agree some cuts with leftist parties he snubbed during his two years as prime minister.

Key leftist opposition parties say they are willing to discuss more austerity, but have repeatedly stressed that spending cuts and tax rises could do more harm than good to the ailing Dutch economy.

Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager said on Monday reaching the 3 percent limit is "feasible", but the ball is now in Parliament's court and he urged lawmakers to work with the caretaker government.

"This is important not only because Europe and Brussels is asking for it," De Jager said. "It is important for the Netherlands."

Parliament must also agree on a date for national elections, perhaps as early as June.

The attacks took place as a UN team observing Syria's violence-ridden truce was visiting another area near the capital, the restive suburb of Douma. Activists and amateur videos reported shelling and gunfire in that area on Tuesday, just a day after 55 people were killed across Syria - most of them in a city the observers had recently visited.

Tuesday's attacks underline the increasing militarization of the 13-month-old conflict and show the effort by Assad's opponents to chip away at the security services he relies upon to quash dissent.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one intelligence officer was killed in the capital's Barzeh neighborhood but gave no information on how he died.

Separately, an army truck blew up as it was driving through downtown Damascus. The blast in Marjah Square near the Iranian Cultural Center left blood and shattered glass on the road. The truck's driver and two passengers in a nearby car were injured and taken to a hospital.

Security officials at the scene said the truck driver did not appear to be implicated in the blast, suggesting the explosives had been planted on the vehicle. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The Syrian government did not immediately comment on those attacks.

The state news service, however, said "terrorists" killed a retired lieutenant colonel and his brother in a Damascus suburb in a third attack.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks.

An 11-person monitoring team is currently in Syria to observe the cease-fire and prepare for a total team of 300 monitors to arrive later.

Syria's state news agency said UN observers were visiting the restive suburb of Douma on Tuesday, their second visit in two days.

Food aid increased

The United Nations said on Tuesday it aimed to deliver food aid to 500,000 people in Syria "in the coming weeks", double the number of people it thinks it will have fed by the end of this month.

In a statement, the UN's World Food Program conceded it faced challenges in delivering the food, but said it was increasing its assistance at the request of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and was ready to expand its operations in the country further "when access permits".

Elisabeth Byrs, a WFP spokeswoman, told a news conference the agency was aiming to radically increase its efforts in the weeks ahead. "We are trying to reach 250,000 by the end of April and then double this figure with the goal of reaching half a million in coming weeks," she told reporters.

John Ging, a senior UN humanitarian official, said last Friday that the United Nations hoped to get permission from the Syrian government in the coming days to launch a major aid operation to help at least 1 million people affected by the country's violence.

AP-Reuters

James Murdoch defended his record at the head of his father's scandal-tarred British newspaper arm on Tuesday, saying that subordinates prevented him from making a clean sweep at the now-defunct News of the World tabloid.

Speaking under oath at Lord Justice Brian Leveson's inquiry into media ethics, Murdoch repeated allegations that the tabloid's then-editor Colin Myler and the company's former in-house lawyer Tom Crone misled him about the scale of illegal behavior at the newspaper.

Leveson asked Murdoch: "Can you think of a reason why Mr Myler or Mr Crone should keep this information from you? Was your relationship with them such that they may think: 'Well we needn't bother him with that' or 'We better keep it from it because he'll ask to cut out the cancer'?"

"That must be it," Murdoch said. "I would say: 'Cut out the cancer,' and there was some desire to not do that."

James Murdoch arrives at the Levenson media inquiry to give evidence at the High Court in London, on Tuesday. [Alastair Grant / AP]

The 39-year-old Murdoch said that at the time he had no reason to doubt his subordinates when he took over at News International, which published the News of the World, saying he had repeatedly been told that nothing was amiss.

"I was given assurances by them, which proved to be wrong," he said.

Revelations that reporters at the News of the World had hacked into the phones of hundreds of high-profile people, including a teenage murder victim, pushed Murdoch's father Rupert to close the 168-year-old newspaper, triggered three UK police investigations, led to more than 100 lawsuits, and launched Leveson's inquiry into media practices.

James Murdoch has found himself sucked into the center of scandal, with critics saying that he should have found out about the wrongdoing once he took over at News International in December 2007.

The uproar over illegal behavior at the News of the World has already scuttled Murdoch's multibillion dollar bid for full control of satellite broasdcaster British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC. He resigned from his post as chairman earlier this month "to avoid being a lightning rod", he said.

Xi urges defense cooperation

Vice-President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday that China was ready to make solid efforts with other Shanghai Cooperation Organization members to advance defense cooperation.

Xi made the remarks as he met with defense ministers from SCO members, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Xi said China placed great importance on defense and security cooperation within the SCO framework. He expressed China's readiness to work with other SCO members to develop a blueprint for defense and security cooperation in the future and make solid efforts to advance practical cooperation in this field.

Venezuela

Chavez to return home from Cuba

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said by phone that he will return home this week after cancer treatment in Cuba, in an apparent bid to quash speculation that his health is failing.

"I should be there in Caracas, God willing, on April 26," Chavez told state television VTV on Monday, in a telephone call that marked the first time Venezuelans had heard his voice live on state media in more than a week.

The 57-year-old president also said he would need to return to Cuba for another round of radiation and tests.

United States

Romney set to win big

Mitt Romney's expected wins in five US states that hold primary votes on Tuesday will earn him scores of delegates on his way to becoming the Republican presidential nominee and allow him to concentrate on a general election campaign against President Barack Obama.

The two sides have already engaged in heavy combat and that will only increase in the six months of campaigning that are to follow until Americans vote on Nov 6 to decide whether to give the incumbent another four years or install a new leader.

Egypt

Mubarak-era officials banned

Egypt's ruling army council approved a law that bans Hosni Mubarak-era officials from running for the presidency, the state newspaper al-Ahram said on Tuesday, a move that excludes former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq from running.

A copy of the law published on al-Ahram's website said it was effective from Tuesday and showed the law had been printed in the official gazette, confirming that the legislation drafted by parliament this month had been approved by the ruling generals.

Xinhua-AFP-Reuters

China welcomes the prospect of peace between South Sudan and Sudan, which appeared possible after South Sudan's army said on Sunday that it had pulled back from Heglig, a contested border area and the site of weeks of intense fighting.

"We hope both sides respect each other's sovereignty and enhance mutual trust," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said. Both sides should restart talks as soon as possible, Liu said, urging "calm and restraint" from both Khartoum and Juba.

Liu added that China would work with the international society and play a constructive role in advising and encouraging negotiations for both sides.

Khartoum has said that 938 soldiers from the Sudan People's Liberation Army, South Sudan's army and the Darfur rebel Justice and Equality Movement were killed during the battle to restore the Heglig oil area.

"The Sudanese army has managed to kill 938 soldiers, dispersed seven battalions of the SPLA and JEM and arrested many of their commanders during the battles to restore Heglig," Major General Kamal Abdul-Marouf, the Sudanese army commander who led the Heglig battle, was quoted by the Al-Sudani daily as saying.

"The Sudanese armed forces have led fierce hand-to-hand battles with the enemy inside the town to avoid harming oil facilities with firearms," he added, noting that the Sudanese army has confiscated most of the weapons used by the SPLA during the battles.

South Sudan's army said 19 of its soldiers and 240 enemy forces had been killed during its 10-day occupation of Heglig.

The Sudanese government on Friday announced that the oil-rich area of Heglig was "liberated" after being seized by the SPLA, but didnot say how many of its soldiers died in the operation.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir said that the Sudanese army has "forcibly" restored the area, insisting that South Sudan forces have fled and not voluntarily withdrawn, as the South Sudan government has claimed.

In a related development, the Al Ray Al Am daily reported that the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Khartoum to consult on measures to bury the bodies of SPLA soldiers killed during the battles in Heglig.

The ministry said the move demonstrates its commitment to international and humanitarian laws, namely, the four Geneva agreements and the annex and protocol related to international conflicts, adding that the two sides have agreed to follow the procedures stipulated in those agreements.

In another development, the Sudanese Oil Ministry has started to make necessary arrangements to resume pumping oil from Heglig oilfields after taking the area back.

Sudanese State Minister for Oil Ishaq Bashir said oil-pumping in Heglig would resume very soon, adding that the operation of the oilfields and oil facilities would be undertaken in coordination with Sudanese Armed Forces, the paper reported.

President al-Bashir has vowed not to hold talks with South Sudan on the oil issue and to restrict South Sudan from transporting oil through Sudanese territory.

Juba would only "use the oil revenues to destroy Sudan and to finance the criminals in Sudan", President al-Bashir said, while addressing a mass rally on Friday evening in central Khartoum.

"Oil is the economic lifeline for both Sudan and South Sudan. We hope rewards from the oil industry could be appropriately distributed, comforming to the fundamental interests of both sides," Liu said, emphasizing that the legitimate rights and interests of China's oil producers and their partners, who have major projects in the two countries, should be protected.

The South seized Heglig on April 10 and occupied it for 10 days, sparking the worst battle since its independence in July 2011, as well as serious international concerns.

Xinhua - China Daily

Following a first round of voting Sunday in the French presidential elections, President Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Francois Hollande have emerged as the leading candidates who will face off in a decisive second round on May 6.

Hollande won the first round with 28.56 percent of the vote, followed by Sarkozy, the Union for a Popular Movement candidate, with 27.07 percent, according to returns issued by the interior ministry.

French election laws state that if no candidate gains at least 50 percent of the votes in the first round, the two highest-scoring candidates will have a run-off a fortnight later.

After the returns, Sarkozy supporters still held out hopes for a win.

"We think the election of Sarkozy is still possible now. It is difficult, but possible. It will depend on the dynamic of the second round," said Senate vice-president Jean-Pierre Raffarin, a Sarkozy supporter.

"In the second round of voting, the candidates will be compared in terms of what they are best at: best project, best personality, best solutions. It will be a very different election," Raffarin explained.

The capacity to deal with emerging economies should be a major job description for the next French president, as the solutions to the pressing challenges facing the French depend largely on relations with external partners in a globalized world, Raffarin said.

"Sarkozy meets such demanding requirements, compared with other candidates and his main competitor," Raffarin told China Daily.

"He knows the 'new world', what we call the emerging countries, very well," especially in promoting stronger links with China, he said.

Raffarin said Sarkozy's "global vision" helped push forward the G20 in addressing the global financial crisis in 2008. Last year, the G20 summit was held in Cannes.

Hollande, on the other hand, has no such international experience, Raffarin said, although he has worked very hard for the French Socialist Party.

"The man has never been a minister in France. He has never been in charge of European affairs and has never been in multilateral actions, " Raffarin said.

However, he admitted, with "the difficulties in our country, in our democracy, the French people are not very interested in international affairs, but they are very focused on domestic affairs".

Raffarin added: "That is the reason why it is not easy for Mr Sarkozy."

Socialist party chief Jean-Marc Ayrault said Sarkozy's five-year term "has weakened France, with public debt and the unemployment rate rising, the trade deficit expanding, increasing inequality and decreasing efficiency in our educational system".

Ayrault said his party's candidate, Hollande, has a very clear objective to balance the budget by 2017, the end of his five-year presidential term. "This is a very strong commitment," said Ayrault.

"He (Hollande) wants to reduce the debt and the deficit, to improve the country's budget and explore new initiatives to bring growth."

As to international experience, Ayrault said Hollande would negotiate with European partners to bring back growth in Europe. "It is important for the world - it is important for us," he said.

Hollande is keen to deepen Sino-French relations and will visit China after he wins the election, Ayrault told China Daily before Sunday's vote.

Tan Xuan contributed to this story.

fujing@chinadaily.com.cn

President meets with high-level DPRK official in Beijing

President Hu Jintao on Monday expressed confidence in Kim Jong-un, the young leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, while promising Beijing will work with Pyongyang for peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Hu made the remarks while meeting with Kim Yong-il, alternate member of the Political Bureau and secretary of the central committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, the DPRK's ruling party, at the Great Hall of the People. Kim is heading a WPK delegation visiting China.

This is the first time Hu has met a high-level official from Pyongyang since the DPRK's failed rocket launch on April 13, which rattled the nerves of neighboring countries.

Kim was sent to Beijing soon after the Fourth Conference of the WPK, held earlier this month, to share the content of the meeting, Hu said at the start of the meeting.

This "fully reflected the high importance" the DPRK attaches to the relationship, Hu said.

Kim Jong-un was elected first secretary of the WPK at the conference, and was elected first chairman of the DPRK National Defense Commission during the fifth session of the 12th Supreme People's Assembly.

According to a press release issued by the Foreign Ministry, Hu told Kim Yong-il that he believes the WPK and the DPRK government will lead the country to achieve new accomplishments and build a prosperous nation under the leadership of Comrade Kim Jong-un.

On Saturday, Kim Yong-il and Wang Jiarui, the head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China, led a meeting under a strategic communication mechanism between the ruling parties.

Xinhua said they discussed the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Kim has also met State Councilor Dai Bingguo, China's most senior official on foreign policy.

Wang Junsheng, an Asian studies expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Monday's meeting might have been an in-depth discussion with some substance, covering topics such as the domestic and foreign policy of the DPRK's new leadership.

Chen Qi, an expert on East Asian studies at Tsinghua University, said the DPRK also wanted to mend the bilateral relationship, which could have been affected by the rocket launch.

Chen said Pyongyang is in urgent need of support from China because Washington suspended food aid to the DPRK after the launch.

Also on Monday, the DPRK's military vowed to launch soon unspecified "special actions" meant to reduce the Republic of Korea's government and media companies "to ashes" in less than four minutes, in an escalation of its recent threats.

Pyongyang last week renewed its promise to wage a "sacred war", saying ROK President Lee Myung-bak had insulted Pyongyang's April 15 celebrations of the birth centennial of national founder Kim Il-sung.

A large-scale rally denouncing Lee's government was held on Friday in Pyongyang at Kim Il-sung Square. Similar demonstrations followed in provinces and cities nationwide.

The threat follows the UN's condemnation of Pyongyang's rocket launch.

Some ROK analysts speculated Pyongyang's statement was meant to unnerve Seoul. Others said it could be planning terrorist attacks.

Contact the writers at

lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn and cuihaipei@chinadaily.com.cn

AP contributed to this story.

Tourists visit a Chinese navy guided missile destroyer in Qingdao, Shandong province, on Monday. More than 16 vessels and two submarines from the Chinese navy are taking part in the exercises. [Zhou Kun / for China Daily]

China reiterated on Monday that a drill with Russia in the Yellow Sea has a peaceful purpose and is not a response to the drill being conducted by South Korea and the United States.

The six-day drill is meant to deepen the partnership that exists between China and Russia, said Liu Weimin, Foreign Ministry spokesman. It is also intended to ensure regional peace and stability by tackling threats such as terrorism, natural disasters and piracy, Liu said.

"As a big country in the Asia-Pacific region, China has a great responsibility to use this drill to contribute to regional stability and peace," he said. "We hope the various parties will view this drill objectively and not link it with other events."

China and Russia launched their first joint naval exercise on Sunday near Qingdao, a city in Shandong province. The drill was the result of an agreement reached during a visit by Chen Bingde, People's Liberation Army chief of general staff, during a visit to Moscow in August last year.

Both countries have repeatedly said the exercises are normal and defensive in nature. But the unprecedented number of ships and servicemen that are taking part in it has aroused suspicions that China is flexing its military muscles and sending a warning to neighbors with which it has had maritime disputes.

The drill unsettled several of China's neighbors - including South Korea, Japan, Vietnam and India - which are already concerned about China's role in the region, Joshua Eisenman, a researcher in China studies at the American Foreign Policy Council, told AFP.

China's National Defense Ministry said the exercises consisted of maritime air defense and anti-submarine tactics, maritime searches and rescues and rescuing hijacked vessels.

More than 4,000 Chinese servicemen, 16 vessels and two submarines from the Chinese navy are taking part in the drill, as are 13 aircraft and five shipboard helicopters.

Also taking part is a Russian task force consisting of four warships from the country's Pacific fleet and three supply ships. China and Russia have joined together to hold four military exercises since 2005, some of which have involved other countries within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

"Joint drills have become the regular means of military cooperation between China and Russia, helping to improve both armies' structures, mutual trust and military transparency," Luo Yuan, a researcher with the PLA Academy of Military Sciences, told Xinhua on Sunday.

zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn

Beijing on Monday slammed Manila's call for other countries to take a stand on China in the lingering dispute over China's Huangyan Island in the South China Sea.

Filipino Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario on Sunday urged other nations to "take a stand" on China's latest move in the Huangyan Island dispute. Del Rosario even urged related nations to consider "what China is endeavoring to do".

The secretary on Monday claimed that China poses a "larger threat to many nations" in an interview with ABS-CBN, a Filipino television network.

The Manila senior diplomat's remarks came as the Philippines' stand-off against China in the waters off Huangyan Island entered a 14th day on Monday.

Huangyan Island "matters to China's territorial sovereignty", and the Chinese government's stance on guarding sovereignty is clear and firm, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said on Monday.

"Urging other countries to take sides on the territorial issue will do nothing but complicate the dispute and intensify the situation, and it means nothing to an appropriate solution of the current situation," Liu said at a daily news conference.

Few countries responded to Manila's call on Monday, as Filipino vessels are reportedly still in the waters near Huangyan Island. Manila has also asked other ASEAN members to "take a stand on China", analysts said.

Yang Baoyun, a professor of Southeast Asian studies at Peking University, said it would be a harsh decision for most Southeast Asia countries to respond to Manila.

"The Philippines has been playing with fire, and it has dragged the dispute off the track to a rapid, peaceful resolution," Yang said.

Twelve Chinese fishing boats were harassed by a Philippine Navy gunboat on April 10 while taking refuge from harsh weather in a lagoon near Huangyan Island.

Two Chinese Marine surveillance ships conducting routine patrols in the area later came to the fishermen's rescue. The Filipino warship then left and the Chinese fishermen started to return home on April 13. The Philippines has claimed sovereignty over the island, which is part of Chinese territory.

Meanwhile, the Philippines planned to seek counsel from the United States, Filipino Foreign Affairs Department spokesman Raul Hernandez said on Monday.

Hernandez told reporters that "they (the US) should be apprised of what is happening" in the Huangyan Island dispute, according to AFP.

During the so-called "2+2" talks scheduled to start on April 30, del Rosario and Filipino Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin will talk to their US counterparts Hillary Clinton and Leon Panetta.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

Cabinet, PM Rutte resign

The Dutch government information service said that Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his Cabinet have resigned after failing to reach agreement on reducing the country's budget to meet European guidelines.

The information service said on Monday that Rutte had met with Queen Beatrix and she had accepted his resignation, asking him to tend to pressing matters of state with a caretaker government for the time being.

AFGHANISTAN

Deal reached on strategic pact

The US and Afghanistan reached a deal on Sunday on a long-delayed strategic partnership agreement that ensures Americans will provide military and financial support for at least a decade beyond 2014, the deadline for most foreign forces to withdraw.

AP

Up to 300 unarmed observers will go into conflict area for 3 months

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Saturday that authorizes an initial deployment of up to 300 unarmed military observers to Syria for three months to monitor a fragile week-old cease-fire between the military and opposition.

It's the first time the council has authorized unarmed UN military observers to go into a conflict area. Saturday's resolution gave UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon the final say on when to deploy them, based on his assessment of the situation.

The Security Council said it "decided to establish an initial period of 90 days a United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria under the commander of a Chief Military Observer, comprising an initial deployment of up to 300 unarmed military observers as well as an appropriate civilian component as required by the mission to fulfill its mandate".

Explaining China's vote and its co-sponsorship of the resolution, the Chinese Permanent Representative to the UN, Li Baodong, said the country always supports and is "actively committed to promoting the just, peaceful and proper settlement of the Syrian crisis through political dialogue"

Vitaly Churkin, Russia's permanent representative to the UN, told the council that the resolution is "of fundamental importance to push forward the peace process in Syria".

Russia and China two of the five permanent members on the 15-nation council who vetoed two resolutions on Syria in October and in February, said they supported resolving the Syrian crisis through international dialogue instead of "regime change".

This might be the last chance for the Syrian government and opposition to resolve differences peacefully within the framework of the UN, said Zhang Xiaodong, secretary-general of the China Association for Middle Eastern Studies, mentioning it was not common for all five permanent members to reach consensus on this issue.

Considering the substantial difference between the government and the opposition over the resignation of Assad, "the cease-fire is rather fragile and even a slight matter could reignite the fighting", Zhang said.

Meanwhile, Western diplomats put the onus on Syria to make the mission work. The US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, warned that the US would pursue sanctions if Assad doesn't comply. "We will not wait 90 days to pursue measures against the Syrian government if it continues to violate its commitments or obstruct the monitors' work," Rice said.

However, George Gabbour, a Syrian political analyst, said that the UN decision is a "good step" and the mission would help to pinpoint the party that is responsible for the violence.

"We are optimistic about their task and it will eventually lead to a full halt of violence," he said.

Chinese and Filipino hackers "exchanged fire" in cyberspace over the weekend, adding to the two countries' recent tensions over disputes in the South China Sea.

GMA News Online reported that Filipino "hacktivists" struck back on Saturday at Chinese websites after hackers - "apparently from China" - defaced the official website of the University of the Philippines on Friday.

The news organization reported that the attack targeted some Chinese sites with calls for sovereignty over the Huangyan and Nansha Islands.

The attacks were apparently the work of individuals and were not condoned or encouraged by either government, the report said.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not issued any comment about the attack by press time on Sunday.

According to Agence France-Presse, hackers claiming to be from China defaced the website of the Philippines' top university on Friday to assert China's claims over the South China Sea.

A screen capture of the defaced site showed a map with Chinese characters that highlighted islands in the South China Sea that are also claimed by the Philippines, said AFP.

"We come from China! Huangyan Island is ours," a caption on the map stated.

Huangyan Island is where the two countries have had vessels stationed for nearly two weeks in a standoff to assert their territorial claims in the area.

A spokesman for the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs, Raul Hernandez, suggested the hacking could be linked to the standoff, said AFP.

"These computer hacking(s) are sometimes ... done by some people who are passionately affected and involved in the discussion," he said.

"We denounce such cyber attacks, regardless of which side they are coming from. They are counter-productive and will only add to the tensions.

"We call on both Filipino and Chinese netizens to be more responsible and encourage dialogue rather than discord," he was quoted as saying by GMA News Online.

The standoff erupted earlier this month when Chinese vessels blocked a Filipino warship from arresting the crews of Chinese fishing boats in the area, which is west of a former United States Navy base at Subic Bay.

China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei all have claims over some islands and waters in the South China Sea, and the US has increased its presence in the Asia-Pacific region, claiming that it has a national interest in the peaceful resolution of disputes in the South China Sea.

US and Filipino troops launched two weeks of annual naval drills on April 16 amid the standoff between China and the Philippines, according to Reuters.

China's Liberation Army Daily warned the US on Saturday that US-Philippine military exercises have raised the risks of an armed confrontation over the South China Sea.

chenggunangjin@chinadaily.com.cn

"It's time to let the market more or less decide the rate while reducing the intervention," Yi said at a panel discussion on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund's annual spring meetings. Yi, who is also the director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, answered "Yes" when asked if Beijing would act further to make the foreign exchange rate more flexible.

China's central bank announced a widening of the yuan's trading band against the US dollar from 0.5 percent to 1 percent on April 14, its first move since 2007.

On Thursday, the IMF said the decision was a step in the right direction, and an assessment of the currency's valuation will be seen in the coming months.

"This reform is aiming at increasing the flexibility of the renminbi exchange rate and making market forces play a more important role in determining the rate," Yi said.

He did not outline specific plans or schedules, but said there have been "persistent two-way bets" on the renminbi exchange rate in the last two quarters, as opposed to the one-way bet of the past. Doubling of the yuan's trading band last week was the first widening since 2007.

Account surplus

China's current account surplus dropped to about 2.7 percent of GDP in 2011 from over 10 percent in 2007, and the IMF's latest World Economic Outlook has sharply reduced its prediction for its growth.

"I'd say around two-thirds (of the decline in the surplus) is due to long-term structural changes, for example, the increasing labor costs and rising renminbi exchange rate. The other third comes from weakening external demand," Yi said.

An IMF official said previously that the decline in China's current account surplus was driven more by investment than consumption, raising the concerns of the country risking new domestic imbalance.

"In terms of stimulating domestic demand, it is definitely the right direction to go, and lots may be done to achieve the goal, but we must avoid economic bubbles and exchange rate overshooting," Yi said.

maliyao@chinadaily.com.cn

The joint naval exercises that China and Russia launched on Sunday morning highlight the warming ties between the militaries and growing cooperation under the China-Russia strategic partnership.

The exercises near Qingdao, Shandong province, will last six days and focus on joint maritime air defense, anti-submarine tactics, maritime search and rescue as well the recovery of hijacked vessels, according to China's Defense Ministry.

"Participating naval forces will train in the prevention of armed conflicts in exclusive economic zones," Russian naval deputy chief of staff Rear Admiral Leonid Sukhanov was quoted by People's Daily as saying.

The two navies will also deploy aircraft and special force units to conduct joint maritime anti-terror drills.

China and Russia have conducted four bilateral and multilateral military exercises since 2005 within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a grouping of China, Russia and four Central Asian states for regional peace.

These exercises are the first dedicated to naval drills.

The number of ships involved was unprecedented, Yin Zhuo, a navy expert, told Chinese media. A total of 16 vessels and two submarines from the Chinese navy were to participate in the drill, including five missile destroyers, five missile frigates, four missile boats, a support vessel and hospital ship, 13 aircraft and five shipboard helicopters.

More than 4,000 Chinese servicemen were to attend the drill, the navy sources said.

The Russian task force, four warships from the Russian navy's Pacific Fleet and three supply ships arrived at the naval base in Qingdao on Saturday.

The Russian warships include the Pacific Fleet's flagship Varyag, a slava-class guided missile cruiser, and the Marshal Shaposhnikov, Admiral Panteleyev and Admiral Vinogradov, three Udaloy-class destroyers.

The main forces from both navies were to participate in the drill, said Zhang Junshe, deputy director of Naval Military Studies Research Institute, calling it a showcase of a high degree of trust between the two sides.

China and Russia, which already conduct frequent military exchanges, want to enhance practical cooperation to counter new challenges and threats in the region, he added.

But AFP said the exercises could cause concerns among China's Asian neighbors since Beijing has experienced more territory disputes recently. The Washington Times said the exercises are an aggressive gesture by the two navies to counter the naval bravado and resolve expressed by the navies of Japan, South Korea and the United States recently.

China's Defense Ministry said the two navies had decided to hold the normal exercises under an agreement reached during a visit by PLA Chief of General Staff Chen Bingduring a visit to Moscow in August last year.

"The exercises China and Russia would conduct are defensive ones, not aiming at any third parties," Zhang said.

"Every military needs drills to test its armed forces through exercises, neither China nor its neighbors are exceptions," he said. "There is no need to speculate about each other's normal military activities."

The Philippines and the US began joint military exercises on April 16 in the South China Sea. The drill is scheduled to end on Friday.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

zhaoshengnan@chinadaily.com.cn

Kelly was thrust into the spotlight in January 2011 after his wife was critically injured in an assassination attempt near Tucson, Arizona, that left six people -including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl - dead.

"I found my wife in China, but the shooting completely changed our lives", he told China Daily on Sunday.

Kelly was in Beijing - his third trip to China - to deliver a speech to employees at Shaklee Corporation.

Kelly, 48, enlisted in the US navy in 1987 and served as a pilot before joining NASA in 1996. He was a pilot on space shuttle flights in 2001 and 2006, and then commanded missions in 2008 and 2011.

During the 2006 flight on space shuttle Discovery - the second mission after space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry in 2003 - Kelly said he realized the risk but still called it "a big reward" and "worthwhile".

"When you're going to take that amount of risk ... you have to make a decision based on what's worthwhile It's not what's worthwhile personally. It's what's worthwhile for society," he said.

A vibrant, attractive, forward-looking space program that tries new technologies benefits society, Kelly said. "China is experiencing this right now."

"Astronauts like Yang Liwei are under tremendous pressure, but it has got to benefit the country," he said.

Yang was China's first astronaut to go into space in 2003.

The same sense of responsibility also motivated Kelly to accept his last mission in May, when Giffords was still recovering from the gunshot wound she suffered to her head.

"It was a hard decision, but I eventually realized that it was what my wife wanted me to do, even though she could not speak at that time," Kelly said. "It would put my crew at risk without a commander."

Kelly retired from NASA and the US navy in June. He wrote on his Facebook page that he wanted to devote more time to helping Giffords recover from her injuries and spend more time with his daughters.

"This was not an easy decision. Public service has been more than a job for me and for my family," he wrote.

US Vice-President Joe Biden attended Kelly's retirement ceremony in October, calling the couple "examples of sheer, sheer courage and selflessness and dedication" that people cannot encounter every day.

As for his future, Kelly said a children's book inspired by mice he took into space during his missions will be released in October. Kelly's first book, Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope, was co-written with Giffords in collaboration with Jeffrey Zaslow, and was a New York Times bestselling memoir after released in November.

"She's a very courageous person, and faced her disability with a great attitude. She often tells me in the morning: fight, fight, fight!" Kelly said.

Watergate conspirator dies

Charles Colson, a Watergate scandal conspirator who emerged from prison to become an evangelical Christian leader, died on Saturday. He was 80 years old.

Colson, who served seven months in prison for masterminding dirty tricks during the Watergate scandal, died from complications resulting from a brain hemorrhage at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia, his ministry said.

A self-described "hatchet" man for Richard Nixon, Colson compiled an infamous "enemies list" of major political opponents of the president, including politicians, journalists and activists.

The Netherlands

Train crash injures 125

Almost 125 people were injured, many seriously, when two Dutch commuter trains crashed head-on in Amsterdam on Saturday, police said.

There were no immediate reports of fatalities, but of those injured, 13 suffered major injuries while 43 or 44 were badly injured, a spokesman said. About 70 suffered minor injuries. A trauma helicopter was used to bring the injured to hospital, a spokesman for railways group NS said.

Bahrain

Rage boils after protester death

The discovery of a protester's body near the scene of clashes has threatened to tip Bahrain deeper into unrest as a 14-month-old uprising overshadows the return of the Formula One Grand Prix to the strategic Gulf kingdom.

Bahrain's Sunni rulers have pressed for the race to be held as a chance to rebuild their credibility on the world stage after it was called off last year as police and army troops cracked down on dissent.

Persistent protests, however, have left the monarchy struggling to keep attention on Sunday's Formula One race as the country's Shiite majority pressed ahead with a campaign to break the near monopoly on power by the ruling Sunni dynasty.

AFP-Reuters-AP

No more talks with South Sudan

Sudanese President Omar al- Bashir vowed not to hold any talks with South Sudan on the oil issue, and will not allow South Sudan to transport oil through the Sudanese territory, local media reported on Saturday.

Addressing a mass rally on Friday evening in central of the capital Khartoum to celebrate the "liberation" of the Heglig oil field, al-Bashir said "we will no longer allow South Sudan's oil to pass through, even if they split the oil revenues with us," according to the reports.

The president said that Juba would only "use the oil revenues to destroy Sudan and to finance the criminals in Sudan," adding that the door for talks with South Sudan on the oil issue had been closed.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir Mayardit is scheduled to visit Beijing on Monday.

Germany

Expo expects drama from China

The world largest industrial expo Hannover Messe expects a spectacular presentation this year by its official partner China, Wolfram von Fritsch, chairman of the event organizer Deutche Messe AG, told Xinhua.

With the theme "Greentelligence," Hannover Messe 2012 will focus on green energy, industrial automation, mobile technology and other fields in eight flagship shows.

As the official partner, China is set to attend all the eight shows this week under the slogan "Green + Intelligence."

"China has been at the leading position of wind energy and other technological fields, and has not stopped its advance," said von Fritsch. "It will present itself with an unprecedented quality and scale, and is expected to surprise exhibitors from other countries and regions."

Canada

Nation ready for Chinese tourists

Canada is rolling out the welcome mat in an effort to get more Chinese travelers to visit the country as the May Labor Day holiday is approaching.

After being one of the last major countries to receive Approved Destination Status from China in June 2010, Canada hosted more than 242,000 Chinese tourists last year. With the designation making it easier for a Chinese tourist to travel to an approved destination, Canadian tourism officials say the numbers could realistically rise by 12 to 15 percent this year.

The government spent about $3 million in marketing and advertising in 2011 targeted at prospective Chinese tourists.

United Kingdom

Soccer star among hacking claimants

England soccer star Wayne Rooney and former British prime minister Tony Blair's wife Cherie are among a new group of 46 people suing over alleged phone-hacking by Rupert Murdoch's News of the World newspaper, court documents showed on Friday.

Other celebrities listed included singer James Blunt, soccer players Ryan Giggs and Peter Crouch and former England rugby union player Matt Dawson.

Murdoch faces a two-day grilling at the UK's High Court this week by a judge investigating whether the political ties of the world's most powerful media tycoon created a company culture where illegal phone hacking could flourish.

Mexico

Deals signal 'new relationship'

Mexico said on Friday it had reached an accord with China aimed at promoting fairer bilateral commerce and announced joint business deals and investment worth some $560 million.

Mexico's Economy Ministry said the agreement with Beijing would stop controversial Chinese practices in shoemaking, one of the main industries in Mexico to complain that China is flooding it with cheap imports.

The two signed business deals worth $300 million and agreed on new investments worth $260 million, the ministry said.

United States

Biden's plane struck by birds

The Air Force Two plane carrying Vice-President Joe Biden was struck by birds in California on Thursday, a spokeswoman for his office said, but it landed without problem and the vice-president, passengers and crew were safe at all times.

The incident occurred on Thursday night as Air Force Two was landing in Santa Barbara, California. A person familiar with the situation said the landing felt normal to people on board.

Syria

'Terrorists' blast an oil pipeline

An "armed terrorist group" blasted an oil pipeline on Saturday in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, triggering a fire at the explosion point, state media reported.

The blast was the latest in a string of other explosions that have targeted many oil and gas pipelines across Syria since the unrest began last year.

Syrian officials have estimated losses in the energy sector at millions of US dollars. The Syrian government blames the yearlong crisis in Syria on armed groups working out a foreign conspiracy.

News Watch

Japan has agreed to forgive Myanmar 303.5 billion yen ($3.72 billion) in debt and overdue charges, and resume development loans to the Southeast Asian country, the two nations said on Saturday, in a move to help foster economic development.

They have decided to cooperate in drawing up a blueprint for the Thilawa Special Economic Zone in Myanmar, potentially giving Japanese firms a leg-up over rivals in winning infrastructure projects for the area.

Xinhua - Reuters

The workers, in gray or blue overalls, shuffle around, smoking and talking. Most of the machinery is at least 50 years old and unmanned.

From time to time, someone spots the cameras and microphones of visiting reporters and shouts a curse against the faraway officials who are sending the shipyard into bankruptcy to comply with European Union competition rules.

"After spending a lifetime here, it is not easy to accept that tomorrow it will be gone, because it shouldn't be. If there was some goodwill from the owners, the state, if we were restructured properly, we could survive," said metal tube welder Emil Matetic, who, at 63, is two years away from retirement.

Matetic and many other workers are angry at the role the EU has played and believe their shipyard may have been offered up as a kind of sacrifice."It's the rule of profit that grinds," he said. "There is only profit, profit, profit. No sentiment there."

Industry analysts say the docks had it coming after failing to modernize and overhaul their business for years.

Croatia has five large shipyards. Only one of them runs a profitable business. The remaining four, including Kraljevica, generate losses of around $175.30 million a year, despite receiving hefty state aid, considered illegal in the EU.

"Croatia does not even want to admit how much money it has poured into an industry that was globally competitive in the early 1980s, but went steadily downhill since then," said Ante Babic of the Center for International Development think tank.

"In a way, the EU has done us a favor because we never tried to restructure them ourselves."

Slow, steady fall

Located in a small, picturesque bay in the northern Adriatic, the shipyard was founded by King Charles VI in 1729. It built wooden warships for the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Wood later gave way to metal, and business peaked during World War I.

Bombing in World War II almost reduced it to rubble. Communist Yugoslavia, whose leader, Tito, briefly worked there in the 1920s, rebuilt it and made sure it worked at full capacity for 50 years.

Shipbuilding was a flagship export sector in Yugoslavia, which had been among the top five global players. But the sector declined irrevocably in the 1990s, due to the wars in the Balkans, the loss of the traditional Russian market, mismanagement and failure to modernize.

Though global shipbuilding boomed in 2004-2008, Croatia's share of European shipbuilding output shrank from 13 percent in 2004 to 6 percent in 2008, according to a study by the Community of European Shipbuilding Associations.

After three centuries of venerable history, the shipyard is now quiet.

"What's left for us is to finish these boats, but even that is questionable. So the question is: Will I earn my pension here or out on the street?" asked Matetic.

Reuters

The objects displayed in the US state of Michigan's newest museum range from the ordinary, such as simple ashtrays and fishing lures, to the grotesque, namely, a full-size replica of a lynching tree. But all are united by a common theme: They are steeped in racism so intense that it makes visitors cringe.

That's the idea behind the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, which says it has amassed the nation's largest public collection of artifacts from the segregation era, from Reconstruction to the civil rights movement, and beyond.

The museum, in a gleaming new exhibit hall at Ferris State University, "is all about teaching, not a shrine to racism", said David Pilgrim, the founder and curator, who started building the collection as a teenager.

Pilgrim, who is black, makes no apologies for the provocative exhibits. The goal of the $1.3 million gallery, he explained, is "to get people to think deeply".

The displays are startling. Many items portray black men as lazy, violent or inarticulate. Black women are shown as kerchief-wearing mammies and sexually charged Jezebels. The shocking images exact an emotional cost.

"There are parts of that room - the main room - where it's quite gut-wrenching," said Nancy Mettlach, a student at Ferris State. "And the thought that was going through my mind was: 'How can one human being do this to another human being?' "

Pilgrim, a former sociology professor at the university, started the collection in the 1970s, in Alabama. Along the way, he "spent more time in antique and flea markets than the people who work there". His quest for more examples was boundless.

"At some point, the collecting becomes the thing," he said. "It became the way I relaxed." He spent most of his free time and money on acquisitions.

In 1996, Pilgrim gave his 2,000-piece collection to the school, after concluding that it "needed a real home".

The collection spent the next 15 years housed in a single room and could be seen only by appointment. Thanks to the financial support of the university and donors - notably from the charitable arm of the Detroit utility, DTE Energy -Pilgrim's collection now has a permanent home, which will have a grand opening ceremony on April 26.

Admission to the museum is free.

Today, the school has 9,000 pieces that depict black Americans in stereotypical ways and, in some cases, glorify violence against them.

Not all of the museum's holdings are on display. A space in the lower level of the university library is packed with items that demonstrate how racist ideas and anti-black images were common in American culture for decades.

Visitors can forget about touring the exhibits and retiring untroubled to a cafe or gift shop. Some leave angry or offended. Most feel a kind of "reflective sadness", Pilgrim said.

But that's not enough. If the museum "stayed at that, then we failed", he said. "The only real value of the museum has ever been to really engage people in a dialogue."

So Pilgrim designed the tour to give visitors a last stop in a "room of dialogue", where they're encouraged to discuss what they've seen and how the objects might be used to promote tolerance and social justice.

Some of the objects in the museum are a century old. Others were made as recently as this year.

Ferris State sophomore Nehemiah Israel was particularly troubled by a series of items about US President Barack Obama.

One T-shirt on display reads: "Any White Guy 2012". Another shirt that says "Obama '08" is accompanied by a cartoon monkey holding a banana. A mousepad shows robe-wearing Ku Klux Klan members chasing an Obama caricature above the words, "Run Obama Run".

"I was like, 'Wow. People still think this. This is crazy,' " Israel said.

The location of the museum - in the shadow of the statue of the university's founder, Woodbridge Ferris - also catches some by surprise. Ferris, who later served as Michigan governor and as a US senator, founded the school more than a century ago. He once said Americans should work to provide an "education for all children, all men and all women".

The mostly white college town of Big Rapids is 150 miles from Detroit, the state's largest predominantly black city.

Pilgrim, who is Ferris State's vice-president for diversity and inclusion, considered giving his collection to a historically black college, but he wanted to be "near it enough to make sure it was taken care of".

Most items "are anti-black caricatures, everyday objects or segregationist memorabilia", he said. Because they represent a cruel, inflammatory past, they "should either be in a garbage can or a museum".

The Associated Press

Supporters loyal to the Future movement and Jamaa Islamiyyah use the Syrian flag as a prayer mat. They demonstrated against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad following Friday prayers in Beirut's Tariq al-Jadideh, a Sunni Muslim neighborhood, on Friday. [Joseph Eid / Agence France-Presse]

Beijing has offered to send observers to take part in the United Nations' monitoring mission of the cease-fire in Syria.

China supported the UN's decision to send 300 observers and an advance team of 30 truce monitors to Syria, and is willing to send personnel to assist the mission, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told a news briefing on Friday.

"China is liaising with the UN Secretariat over details of the arrangement," said Liu, who did not say how many observers China would send.

The statement reflected a development from Thursday, when Liu had said the move was only being considered.

The monitoring mission and the peace plan promoted by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan is the only existing channel to curb the Syrian crisis, and China is expected to be part of the observer team, analysts said.

"China has been a frequent supporter of the UN's peacekeeping missions. The Chinese participation as observers serves as further support to Annan and will bring Beijing more information when analyzing the developing situation," said Zhang Xiaodong, secretary-general of the China Association for Middle Eastern Studies.

On Friday, Syrian troops shelled a rebel-held neighborhood and sent reinforcements to border areas after the opposition called for fresh protests.

Kofi Annan's spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi, said on Thursday that Syria and the UN have reached an agreement on the rules governing the advance team of truce monitors.

The agreement covers how a team of up to 300 observers will "monitor and support a cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties" and implement Annan's six-point peace plan.

Beijing welcomed the progress achieved between Annan and the Syrian government on deploying observers.

"China endorses any effort that may bring the parties in Syria to sustainable cessation of violence, and to initiate political talks. China hopes Syria can get back to order and stability as soon as possible," Liu, the ministry spokesman, said.

A cease-fire brokered by Annan has been in place since last week. The UN Security Council approved, in a resolution on April 14, the dispatch of an advance team of 30 observers to Syria.

Seven unarmed UN observers are already in Syria monitoring the week-old truce, with two more to follow on Monday. The full advance team of 30 is due to be deployed in the coming week, Fawzi said on Friday.

The cease-fire is "very fragile" and the situation on the ground is "not good", with incidents and casualties reported every day, Fawzi said.

More than 9,000 people have died since an uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began 13 months ago.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday pressed the UN Security Council to quickly approve the 300-member cease-fire monitoring mission in Syria, but also acknowledged that it involved risks.

Fawzi said preparations are already under way for the arrival of the larger contingent, whose deployment he hoped the UN Security Council would approve within the next three days.

Beijing on Friday also called for the early dispatch of the 300 observers.

AP contributed to this story.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn