Is the party over in China? Massive unemployment looms

China watchers are predicting a drop in the GNP growth rate this year and for the foreseeable future. Most are attributing the expected fall off this year — from last year’s official 11.4 percent, the fifth year in a row of double digit expansion — to the expected downturn in the U.S. and the world economy in general.

A group of unemployed Chinese migrant workers take a nap in the shade of a building.      
Even the 2007 growth rate wasn’t that high when compared with the peaks of the 1980s and 1990s, when GDP growth in some years surpassed 15 percent, coming out of the stagnation and even losses at the end of the Maoist era.

The downturn is going to be welcomed in some Chinese leadership quarters because of the fear of runaway inflation from an overheated economy — now fed by food shortages and the impact of the worst winter in 50 years.

Cooked Dog Paws

Cooked dog paws at a Chinese restaurant. A French association of animal lovers on Monday launched a petition aimed at encouraging China to ban, by the Summer Olympics, the killing of dogs for food.

(afp.com/toru yamanaka)

Songkran Festival-Applying Powder

Songkran Festival-Applying Powder

Nude photo suspect freed after Hong Kong outcry

Fri Feb 15, 5:23 AM ET

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A jobless Hong Kong man, detained for weeks and denied bail in the city's nude celebrity photo scandal was released on Friday following a public outcry that he was unfairly victimized by police.

 

Chung Yik-tin, 29, was arrested and detained in late January after police raided his home and accused him of publishing an obscene photograph, one of hundreds, of top city celebrity Edison Chen nude in bed with a string of prominent starlets.

But a Hong Kong court on Friday decided to drop the obscene publication charge against Chung and release him, following the reclassification of the photograph by the Obscene Articles Tribunal as "indecent" -- a lesser offence.

Chung's detention without bail, over the Lunar New Year break, provoked protests from Internet activists who said he was unfairly singled out by police and was a victim of excessive police enforcement.

But the police denied any wrongdoing.

"I am very clear that we had sufficient evidence and in a legal sense, our actions were correct," assistant police commissioner Vincent Wong Fook-chuen told reporters afterwards.

"We followed regular procedures so I don't think we did anything wrong, it was just that there were different views on whether the photograph was indecent or obscene," Wong added.

Chung, dodged a media scrum outside the courthouse and left without making a comment.

To date, a territory-wide police investigation has led to nine arrests including Chung and several staff of a computer shop where over 1,300 obscene images were stolen from Edison Chen's laptop computer while it was being serviced, police said.

Tabloid newspaper in star-obsessed Hong Kong have devoted blanket coverage to the scandal, which has seemingly snared at least six stars including actress Cecilia Chung, singer Gillian Chung, Hollywood actress Maggie Q and Taiwan's Jolin Tsai.

Besides igniting debate about sexual morality, with schoolchildren among those spreading the images -- the police crackdown has sparked fears of Web censorship and a curtailing of Internet privacy rights.

"The police were a bit panicked two weeks ago, and they felt the pressure or the concern of the public," said James To, a legislator and deputy Chairman of the legislative council's Security panel.

"They wanted to silence the whole internet community, so therefore they just picked out one person (Chung) to be the scapegoat to prosecute ... to deter other people from further distributing the articles," To added.

Chen, the Canadian-born rap singer and actor, will give a press conference on Sunday in Hong Kong, the Apple Daily newspaper reported.

Bai Ling arrested for shoplifting in L.A.

 

Thu Feb 14, 7:25 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Chinese-born actress Bai Ling was arrested for shoplifting at Los Angeles International Airport after a gift shop employee accused her of stealing two magazines and a pack of batteries, police said on Thursday.

 

Ling, who has appeared in such films as "The Crow" and "Red Corner," was taken into custody on Wednesday afternoon after leaving the store with two tabloid magazines and the batteries, Los Angeles Airport Police spokesman Jim Holcomb said.

She was booked on suspicion of shoplifting the items worth $16, a misdemeanor, and ordered to appear in court on May 5.

"She was pointed out by somebody in the store has having shoplifted," Holcomb said. "She went to another gate and they basically confronted her and that was it."

Holcomb said the 37-year-old actress was cooperative and admitted to police officers that she hadn't paid for the merchandise.

On her personal blog, Ling posted pictures of herself standing outside the Southwest Airlines terminal at LAX on Wednesday but did not mention the arrest.

Ling was born in Chengdu, China and appeared in Chinese films before moving to the United States in the 1990s and landing her first major Hollywood film role in "The Crow."

She has since starred opposite film star Richard Gere in "Red Corner" in 1997 and on the TV series "Lost."

Reuters

A breach in North Korea's iron curtain

 

A breach in North Korea's iron curtain
By Andrei Lankov
Last December 5th, when the Hyundai Asan group, a South Korean company specializing in business interaction with North Korea, launched a new tourist program, it did not attract much attention in the media. However, this was an event of historic importance, with far-reaching social and political implications.

World of noise proves too much for deaf teen to bear

source: www.BahtSold.com February 4, 2008
"It was so noisy and gave me such a headache," Nanthaporn Kulpiyavaja, 19, said using sign language translated to words by her younger sister.
Nanthaporn referred to the world she entered after receiving cochlea implants three years ago.
Born profoundly deaf, Nanthaporn lived in a world with no voices until she was 16 when a public hospital doctor agreed to implant her with an artificial cochlea. Unfortunately, she didn't believe she belonged to the new world of noise introduced to her which cost her parents almost Bt1 million. "I heard all the voices but did not know their meaning," she reasoned as to why she prefers not to use an electronic device that assists her hearing.
Cochlea implantation is regarded as a safe and effective treatment for the profoundly deaf. Besides an artificial cochlea that is implanted inside the patient's ear, there is an external electronic device that sends sound-generated impulses directly to the brain and bypasses the flawed part of the inner ear.
Nanthaporn, a second-year accountancy student at Rajabhat Institute Bansomdej Chao Phraya, could not remember how long she used the electronic device but is sure that the world of voices is not for her.
Her father Preecha said he could never have imagined that his daughter would find her new world so noisy and disturbing.
"I never thought that hearing voices would be my daughter's problem. The doctor never informed us that she would not be able to understand the voices she heard. I believed that once my daughter could hear she would be automatically be able to communicate normally," he said.
Before Nanthaporn had the cochlear implants, the family had to undertake a gruelling schedule of checks and tests for almost a year to make sure she was suitable for the treatment.
"The doctor told us that she would hear everything and would have to train to improve her hearing skills and learn how to talk. What he didn't mentioned was how difficult it would be for a 16-year-old girl who was born deaf to learn such skills," he said.
Preecha now understands that her daughter is not happy in a world of unintelligible voices and has allowed Nanthaporn to discard the device and abandon the hearing and speaking lessons.
The case of Nanthaporn demonstrates the improper use of medical technology, said Dr Yot Teerawattananon, a senior researcher and programme leader of the Public Health Ministry's Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Programme (HITAP). Yot said a doctor must first study carefully the implications for each individual before introducing any technology.
"It doesn't mean that one health technology can be applied to all patients that have the same problem or illness. A doctor must be ethical and use his judgement to introduce the right technology to the right patient," he said.
Yot said cochlear implantation was not the only health technology that was reported as being used improperly, which is why the country needs health-technology assessment.
HITAP was set up last year to appraise a wide range of health technologies, including pharmaceutical and medical devices. Besides cochlea implants, HITAP is now conducting research into the practice of Caesarean sections.
Preferring not to criticise the doctors who treated Nanthaporn, Dr Kiertiyos Komin, head of the Centre of Excellence in Otolaryngology at Rajavithi Hospital, said for children born deaf the cochlea implants would be beneficial only if they were implanted before the age of five and before they had learned to communicate with sign language. Adult or aged people could benefit from cochlea implants only if they were not born deaf but lost their hearing later.
"It is very difficult for those who never heard a single voice in their life to enter into a world filled with voices. Having no hearing or speaking skills, they cannot understand the voices they hear and are unable to correctly pronounce words," said Kiertiyos.
In addition to age and hearing condition, Kiertiyos said the background and circumstances of a patient are part of his criteria when considering whether they would benefit from the device.
Though Preecha spent almost Bt1 million for a device that is now useless, he does not cry over spilt milk.
"At least she has a new life now as she is able to step out of the deaf community and live with normal people who don't have a hearing problem," he said.
Preecha said that, after the implants, the doctor recommended he encourage Nanthaporn to study and spend time with normal people instead of studying in a deaf school. The doctor reasoned that living with normal people would drive her to improve her speech skills. With strong support from her family, Nanthaporn now lives a happy life as a deaf person in a world of voices.
"If she hadn't received an implant, no one would have recommended us to bring her out of the deaf community," Preecha said optimistically.