Japanese woman caught living in man's closet

By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer

TOKYO - A homeless woman who sneaked into a man's house and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious when food mysteriously began disappearing.

Police found the 58-year-old woman Thursday hiding in the top compartment of the man's closet and arrested her for trespassing, police spokesman Hiroki Itakura from southern Kasuya town said Friday.

The resident of the home installed security cameras that transmitted images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing from his kitchen over the past several months.

One of the cameras captured someone moving inside his home Thursday after he had left, and he called police believing it was a burglar. However, when they arrived they found the door locked and all windows closed.

"We searched the house ... checking everywhere someone could possibly hide," Itakura said. "When we slid open the shelf closet, there she was, nervously curled up on her side."

The woman told police she had no place to live and first sneaked into the man's house about a year ago when he left it unlocked.

She had moved a mattress into the small closet space and even took showers, Itakura said, calling the woman "neat and clean."

China’s Cyber-Militia

Chinese hackers pose a clear and present danger to U.S. government and private-sector computer networks and may be responsible for two major U.S. power blackouts.

by Shane Harris

Sat. May 31, 2008

China angry over Sharon Stone's quake karma remark

BEIJING (Reuters) - Luxury retailer Christian Dior has pulled advertisements featuring Sharon Stone from stores across China after the actress suggested the country's earthquake was "bad karma" for Beijing's policies in Tibet.

At least 68,000 people died in the May 12 quake in southwest China, which came months after unrest in Tibet that sparked an international outcry over Beijing's handling of the predominantly Buddhist region, which Communist troops entered in 1950.

"Due to some customer reaction we have decided to pull her image from all of the department stores and from all of China," Christian Dior China said in a statement.

Stone has a modeling contract with the cosmetics arm of the luxury retailer for which newly rich China is a fast-growing market.

"We just want our customers and fans to realize that her personal comments are not related to the company and of course we don't support any type of commentary that will hurt the feelings of our customers," Dior said.

The Beijing Times reported that Chinese cinemas would not show Stone's films, though China already strictly limits the number of foreign movies it distributes in theatres.

Her movies include "Basic Instinct" in 1992 and "Casino" and "The Quick and the Dead," both in 1995.

Stone apologized for her comments in remarks carried in Chinese media on Thursday.

"In the course of the interview I made inappropriate remarks and for any harm created towards the Chinese people I am extremely sad and apologize," the Beijing News quoted Stone as saying in a Chinese translation of her statement.

China's Foreign Ministry also weighed in on the controversy.

"We hope that as an American actress she can contribute to our two people's trust, understanding and friendship," spokesman Qin Gang told a news conference.

In Stone's initial remarks made on the red carpet at the Cannes film festival, she called the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism -- whom China reviles as a traitor -- a "good friend."

After mentioning the Tibet unrest she said in the comment replayed on video-sharing Web site YouTube: "And then all this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and I thought, is that karma -- when you're not nice that the bad things happen to you?"

Chinese bloggers, who were particularly active in criticizing the West over its attitude towards Tibet, have exploded in anger over Stone's comments.

"Don't give any attention to this old lady -- don't watch her movies, don't buy the products she represents," read one.

Another called her a "dirty swine."

In response to a China Daily story on Stone, one reader wrote, "All Chinese should boycott her to let her know our power ... She should go to hell."

(Reporting by Lindsay Beck; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Lisa Ling to join CNN for "Planet in Peril"

Lisa Ling, host of the television series 'National Geographic Explorer' arrives as a guest for the premiere of the new film 'Better Luck Tomorrow' in Beverly Hills April 8, 2003. Ling will join CNN for a documentary that follows up on the network's 'Planet in Peril.'

(Fred Prouser/Reuters)

 

 

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - "Oprah" special correspondent and National Geographic host Lisa Ling will join CNN for a documentary that follows up on the network's "Planet in Peril."

Ling will report from countries where battles are being waged over oil, land, water and food. Also reporting for "Planet in Peril: Battle Lines" will be anchor Anderson Cooper and chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. It will be televised at year's end.

The documentary will focus on the conflict over the ownership of the North Pole; food shortages and disease in Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and Indonesian shark fishing. The first "Planet in Peril" aired in October and visited 13 countries to see the environmental impact of overpopulation, deforestation, species loss and climate change.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

China's Wen 10th top politician on Facebook

 

A resident stores a photograph of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, copied from a newspaper, in her mobile phone in the earthquake-hit township of Longmenshan in Pangzhou county, northwest of Chengdu, in China's Sichuan province May 23, 2008.

(Bobby Yip/Reuters)

 

 

Thu May 29, 5:01 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, hugely popular at home for his visits to quake-hit Sichuan, has emerged as the 10th most popular politician on the Facebook social networking site.

His Facebook page says he had 20,136 supporters as of Tuesday, most of whom signed up after the earthquake that killed more than 68,000 people.

Wen flew to the site hours after the quake, clambering over shattered buildings and tearfully comforting weeping children.

Since becoming premier in 2003, "Grandpa Wen" has honed a role as a gently spoken man focused on solving the country's social ills.

He has spent Lunar New Year holidays down a coal mine and in an AIDS-stricken village, vowed to retrieve migrant workers' unpaid wages, and this year he flew into areas paralyzed by severe winter storms to take personal responsibility.

It was not clear whether the Facebook page was set up by Wen himself, and Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said he had not heard of the site when asked to comment at a regular news conference on Thursday.

"What you mentioned seems related to our quake relief efforts. I do hope the international community can have a better understanding of China through the unity and heroic acts of the Chinese people in battling the disaster," Qin said.

In the Facebook photo album called "Wenchuan Earthquake," Wen is seen in a black jacket, addressing a crowd in the quake zone.

"He is a good premier and should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize," a girl called Violette Qin from Switzerland wrote in a comment under the photo.

"He should be the role model for every politician ... Keep up the good work, the people need you," a man called Wilson Lee wrote.

There were more than 1,868 posts on Wen's Facebook Wall, some in Chinese, some in English.

"I do not know whether you really go to this page, I really want to tell you: Take care of yourself!" a post by Angel Chau read.

Wen now ranks 10th in a feature on Facebook called Browse All Politicians, which ranks them by the numbers of supporters on their pages.

Barack Obama, who appears set to win the Democratic nomination for November's U.S. presidential election, ranked first with 864,832 supporters at last look.

(Reporting by Sally Huang; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Hello Kitty is named Japan tourism ambassador

AP Photo: Kimono-clad Hello Kitty holds her certificate received from Japan's Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister.

 

By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA, Associated Press Writer Mon May 19, 3:11 PM ET

TOKYO - Hello Kitty — Japan's ubiquitous ambassador of cute — has built up an impressive resume over the years. She is Global marketing phenomenon, Fashion diva, and Pop culture icon. Now, the moonfaced feline can add "government envoy" to the list. The tourism ministry on Monday named Hello Kitty as its choice to represent the country in China and Hong Kong, two places where she is wildly popular among kids and young women.

 

Officials hope that tapping into that fan base will lead to a bigger flow of tourists into Japan, and closer toward their goal of attracting 10 million overseas visitors every year under the "Visit Japan" campaign.

Last year the number of foreign tourists traveling to Japan hit a record high of 8.35 million, up 60 percent since the government began the marketing effort in 2003.

Arrivals from China and Hong Kong, who accounted for 16.5 percent of visitors to Japan last year, are poised this year to become the second-largest group of tourists after South Koreans.

At a press conference, Sanrio Co. President Shintaro Tsuji called Hello Kitty's new appointment "an honor" and pledged to "work hard to attract many visitors."

Japan's other goodwill tourism ambassadors include Korean singer Younha, Japanese actress Yoshino Kimura and Japanese pop/rock duo Puffy AmiYumi.

Although this is the first time the tourism ministry has tapped a fictional character for the role, the foreign ministry in March inaugurated blue robo-cat Doraemon as Japan's "anime ambassador."

Designed in 1974 by Sanrio, Hello Kitty first appeared on a plastic coin purse. Her image today has become one of the most powerful brands in the world, adorning some 50,000 products in 60 countries.

In China, Kitty-fever has already broken out.

A multi-million-dollar musical featuring Hello Kitty opened earlier this year in Beijing and is in the midst of a national tour. "Hello Kitty's Dream Light Fantasy" is then scheduled to travel to Malaysia, Singapore and the U.S. over its three-year run.

According to her official profile from Sanrio, Hello Kitty lives with her family in London. It does not mention how often she visits Japan.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

What the F*^K!

 

-Curtis

What the F$*k?!

You are sheep. Look into my eyes.

You are sheep. Look into my eyes.

Buy things you do not need.

Buy things you do not need.

Buy things on credit.

Buy things on credit.

Watch TV.

Watch TV.

I am your friend!

I am your only friend.

You are nothing but sheep.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Like they say, " A picture is worth a thousand words."

-Curtis in Asia

P.S. I am your friend. Read my blog. LOL

Betel Nut Girls -Taiwan

Betel Nut Girls (Video)

We all have something in common

Chubei, Taiwan - April 2008

China's quake felt in heart of Bangkok

The 7.6-Richter earthquake in China Monday afternoon was felt in the heart of Bangkok, the director-general of the Mineral Resources Department said.
Apichai Chavacharoenphan said the quake could be felt by people in highrise buildings on Sathorn, Silom, Sukhumvit and Rama III roads.
Apichai said the management of the buildings also evacuated tenants of the buildings for fear of aftershocks.
The earthquake struck at 2:28 pm (0628 GMT) and could be felt in cities hundreds of kilometres away.

source: BahtandSold

Japan: Underground Sex Parties Rampant

A popular buzzword on the Internet these days is the Japanese phrase for "orgy party" -- Google the term ranko party and you'll come up with hundreds of thousands of hits.
Some of the Web sites are for swingers, people who enjoy making out with groups of consenting friends or strangers. But the vast majority are merely ads for the latest trend in prostitution. At these so-called "orgies," the guys pay money to take part, and the women are professionals.

More than 100 groups seemed to have sprung up since last year in central Tokyo, but there are only three authentic, not-for-profit ones," says an anonymous man, who counts himself among the very few authentic swingers.

Why the proliferation of these professional "orgy parties" in Tokyo? The main reason is the crackdown against local naughty nightlife, which city hall has been waging during the last few years, according to Spa! As the authorities drive prostitution deeper and deeper underground, sex-establishment operators have discovered that the sex parties are a relatively safe and highly profitable field of business.
Advertising is done furtively, on the Internet or through word of mouth. The venues are usually hotel rooms.

"Mr. D," an organizer of such soirees, says there are four basic categories of commercial orgies: the high-class member system, common member system, high-class 'guerrilla' (one-off) system and common guerrilla system.
"The difference between the high-class and common categories are the fees and thus the quality of the girls," says Mr. D.
As for the fees, male participants in the classy members-only orgies pay anywhere from 100,000 yen to 500,000 yen per session. Yearly memberships can run as high as 5 million yen. For these prices, participants can expect to cavort with aspiring fashion models and actresses. On the other end of the fee scale are the common one-off parties, costing from 10,000 yen to 50,000 yen per session. The women usually hail from massage parlors and other sex establishments.
The most expensive -- and secretive -- of all are the high-class guerrilla events, according to Mr. D.
"These are completely underground. Like, once a Diet member came to me to say he wanted to entertain some people from his local constituency," he says.
Why do some customers opt for the priciest options? "The more expensive the session, the greater the secrecy," Mr. D answers. "Customers who can afford to fork out huge fees are usually people with social status, and these people tend to be discreet."
But regardless of the fees, all the events have one thing in common: they earn their organizers huge profits.
Spa! draws up a balance sheet for a typical, midrange orgy that took place recently. It cost the organizer 630,000 yen to stage, including paying 90,000 yen for each of five women who worked at three different sessions throughout the day.
Revenue, meanwhile, came to 900,000 yen: a total of 15 customers taking part in the three sessions, each paying 60,000 yen.
So the guy who planned all the fun pocketed 270,000 yen. Not bad for a day's work.
With money like that to be made, we can expect the orgy parties to become a more common part of the sex scene -- at least until the Tokyo government's next round of crackdowns.

Source: asiansexgazette

BBC Documentary Program “Sex In Japan”

Toll from China quake estimated at 3,000 to 5,000

 

 

 

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer

BEIJING - A massive earthquake struck central China on Monday and state media reported that as many as 5,000 people were killed in a single county while nearly 900 students were trapped under the rubble of their school.

The official Xinhua News Agency said 80 percent of the buildings had collapsed in Beichuan county in Sichuan province after the 7.8-magnitude quake.

Xinhua reported that 3,000 to 5,000 people had died in Beichuan, which has a population of 160,000, raising fears the overall death toll could increase sharply. Another 10,000 people were believed to be hurt.

The earthquake sent thousands of people rushing out of buildings and into the streets hundreds of miles away in Beijing and Shanghai. The temblor was felt as far away as Pakistan, Vietnam and Thailand.

Rescuers had recovered at least 50 bodies from the debris of the school building in Juyuan township, about 60 miles from the epicenter. Xinhua did not say if any students had been pulled out alive.

An unknown number of students also were reported buried after buildings collapsed at five other schools in Deyang city in Sichuan, Xinhua reported.

It said its reporters saw buried teenagers struggling to break loose from underneath the rubble of the three-story building in Juyuan "while others were crying out for help."

Two girls were quoted by Xinhua as saying they escaped because they had "run faster than others."

The earthquake comes less than three months before the start of the Beijing Summer Olympics, when China hopes to use to showcase its rise in the world.

Shanghai's main index inched up Monday, but the advance was capped by worries over inflation and potential damage from the earthquake. Analysts said that shares of companies located in the Sichuan region may fall in coming sessions due to the quake.

It struck in the middle of the afternoon when classes and office towers were full, about 60 miles northwest of Chengdu. There were several smaller aftershocks, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site.

Calls into the city did not go through as panicked residents quickly overloaded the telephone system. The quake affected telephone and power networks, and even state media appeared to have few details of the disaster.

"In Chengdu, mobile telecommunication convertors have experienced jams and thousands of servers were out of service," said Sha Yuejia, deputy chief executive officer of China Mobile.

Although it was difficult to telephone Chengdu, an Israeli student, Ronen Medzini, sent a text message to The Associated Press saying there were power and water outages there.

"Traffic jams, no running water, power outs, everyone sitting in the streets, patients evacuated from hospitals sitting outside and waiting," he said.

Xinhua said an underground water pipe ruptured near the city's southern railway station, flooding a main thoroughfare. Reporters saw buildings with cracks in their walls but no collapses, Xinhua said.

The earthquake also rattled buildings in Beijing, some 930 miles to the north, less than three months before the Chinese capital was expected to be full of hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors for the Summer Olympics.

Many Beijing office towers were evacuated, including the building housing the media offices for the organizers of the Olympics, which start in August. None of the Olympic venues was damaged.

"I've lived in Taipei and California and I've been through quakes before. This is the most I've ever felt," said James McGregor, a business consultant who was inside the LG Towers in Beijing's business district. "The floor was moving underneath me."

In Fuyang, 660 miles to the east, chandeliers in the lobby of the Buckingham Palace Hotel swayed. "We've never felt anything like this our whole lives," said a hotel employee surnamed Zhu.

Patients at the Fuyang People's No. 1 Hospital were evacuated. An hour after the quake, a half-dozen patients in blue-striped pajamas stood outside the hospital. One was laying on a hospital bed in the parking lot.

Skyscrapers in Shanghai swayed and most office occupants went rushing into the streets.

In the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, 100 miles off the southeastern Chinese coast, buildings swayed when the quake hit. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

The quake was felt as far away as the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, where some people hurried out of swaying office buildings and into the streets downtown. A building in the Thai capital of Bangkok also was evacuated after the quake was felt there.

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake is considered a major event, capable of causing widespread damage and injuries in populated areas.

The last serious earthquake in China was in 2003, when a 6.8-magnitude quake killed 268 people in Bachu county in the west of Xinjiang.

China's deadliest earthquake in modern history struck the northeastern city of Tangshan on July 28, 1976, killing 240,000 people.

Malaysian blogger charged with sedition for implying deputy PM involved in murder

 

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - A prominent Malaysian blogger has been charged with sedition for allegedly implying that the deputy prime minister was involved in the killing of a young Mongolian woman.

 

Dozens of opposition members and other bloggers gathered at court in support of Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin who was charged Tuesday.

Sedition is punishable by up to three years in jail. Raja Petra's supporters called the government's move a blow to freedom of speech.

Raja Petra is in trouble because of an April 25 article he wrote for his web site Malaysia Today. It implied that Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansoor were involved in the 2006 murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu, a 28-year-old Mongolian interpreter.

Japanese official suspended for surfing porn at work

 

TOKYO (Reuters) - A city bureaucrat in western Japan was suspended from his job after officials discovered he visited porn websites at work almost every day, often spending hours gazing at nude photos, a city official said.

 

The 57-year-old man, who was working in the construction division of Kinokawa City in Wakayama, surfed porn sites from an office computer almost every day for eight months from June 2007, spending up to three hours a day on the websites, said Kazuhiko Ueyama, a Kinokawa City official.

Angered citizens called city hall all day on Friday, saying the suspension was not enough, he added.

The city only found out about his activities in February when it noticed that his computer had picked up the same virus repeatedly from the sites, Ueyama said.

"These were foreign 'adult sites' and they got through the security net" that the city had installed for its computers, he said.

"The man apologized each time we spoke to him, but we couldn't quite get him to explain to us why he did this," Ueyama added.

The bureaucrat was suspended from the office for three months and was demoted as of Thursday, Ueyama said.

(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Editing by David Fox)

China drivers fined for slow-drive on scenic bridge

 

Reuters Photo: Vehicles move on the Hangzhou Bay Bridge during a trial operation in Ningbo, Zhejiang province...

 

BEIJING (Reuters) - China opened the world's longest cross-sea bridge last week aiming to cut travel time between two major ports, but hundreds of drivers have been fined already for, unexpectedly, driving too slow to enjoy the view.

 

The 22.4 mile structure spans Hangzhou Bay in the booming province of Zhejiang, designed to slash travel time between its port city of Ningbo and the financial hub Shanghai from four hours to two and a half.

But since its opening on May 1, police have fined more than 300 drivers, most for driving too slowly or illegal parking on the emergency lanes while enjoying the ocean view and taking photos, local media reported on Monday.

"I just wanted to drive a bit slowly and enjoy the sea breeze. Is that wrong?" Zhejiang's official news portal (www.zjol.com.cn) quoted an unnamed driver as complaining.

Long lines of cars carrying whole families eager to see the bridge and sea vista have caused serious traffic problems and led to a series of accidents, the news portal said.

Some drivers busted for illegal parking even posed in front of police cameras, hoping to turn police snapshots into souvenirs, it said.

"Traffic jams should be impossible under normal circumstances given the capacity of the bridge," the news portal said.

The $1.7-billion bridge's much publicized "sightseeing platforms" in the middle of the span will not be ready for tourists for another two years, local media have reported.

(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

 

 

Burma death toll worse than Tsunami

 

Buried ... cars just visible under remains of Dedaye

 

By NICK PARKER
Chief Foreign Correspondent at Mae Sot on the Burmese border
and JAMES CLENCH

 

THE death toll in cyclone-ravaged Burma could hit 500,000 – more than TWICE the total killed by the Boxing Day Tsunami.

Last night’s warning came as it emerged that 17 Britons, including ex-pats and backpackers, were still missing.

The UN World Food Programme said on Friday it would resume aid flights, despite the military government’s seizure of deliveries at Yangon airport.

"The World Food Programme has decided to send in two relief flights as planned tomorrow, while discussions continue with the government of Myanmar on the distribution of the food that was flown in today, and not released to WFP", said Nancy E. Roman, WFP’s communications and public policy director.

The UN food agency had previously said it would suspend aid flights over the seizure today.

The shipments of 38 tonnes of high-energy biscuits, enough to feed 95,000 people, were intended to be loaded on trucks and sent to the inundated Irrawaddy delta where most of the estimated 1.5 million victims of Cyclone Nargis need food, water and shelter.

Sources said 200,000 people were already dead or dying.

But the figure could rise to HALF A MILLION through disease and hunger if the nation’s hardline army rulers continue to block aid for the devastated lowlands of the Irrawaddy Delta.

That would dwarf the 230,000 deaths across South East Asia in the 2004 catastrophe.

Nyo Ohn Myint, of exiled opposition party The National League for Democracy, told The Sun at a border crisis centre: “Much of this will be a man-made disaster, caused by the military regime.

“The bodies need to be collected and burnt as soon as possible or disease will claim many more lives. But the government has organised nothing and its 400,000 soldiers are doing nothing while undistributed aid piles up.

 

“They are hoping bodies will be washed out to sea so the final count is smaller – but it could kill half a million people within a matter of weeks. The world must know what is going on.”

Disaster struck on Saturday when 120mph Cyclone Nargis forced ashore waves up to 20ft high. The Irrawaddy town of Labutta – population 80,000 – was wiped off the map.

Devastation ... map shows area

Local doctor Aye Kyu told how families clung to trees as their homes were swept away.

He said: “I asked survivors how many there were left. They said about 200.”

A spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid said: “The entire lower delta region is under water.

Teams are talking about bodies floating around. This is a major, major disaster.”

The UN World Food Programme said up to a million may have been left homeless in the vital “rice bowl” farming region alone.

In the city of Bogalay, 95 per cent of homes are thought to have been destroyed.

In the township of Dedaye, south of the main city Rangoon, desperate kids scavenged among the debris of their homes for anything useful to survival.

On the outskirts of Rangoon forlorn families, including a mother cradling her screaming baby, queued for emergency handouts of rice.

 

 

In Britain, International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander told MPs the situation was “grave”.

The UK has so far pledged more aid than anyone, announcing a £5million package to be channelled through the UN.

Charities Save the Children, Oxfam and the British Red Cross have also swung into action.

But most of the aid is yet to be distributed because of the secretive Burmese junta, led by ruthless General Than Shwe.

His isolationist regime is paranoid an influx of foreigners might have a political impact on a national referendum due tomorrow, set to strengthen the army’s grip still further.

Just four of the air force’s 80 helicopters have been used to move food, water and medical shipments.

In need ... baby cries

Meanwhile, many desperately needed supplies remain in neighbouring countries awaiting clearance, along with aid workers denied visas.

Aid packages which have made it to Rangoon Airport were still on the tarmac.

There were fears that some could be stolen and sold on by corrupt officials.

Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, insisted: “We can’t wait for them any more.

“The Security Council must pass a resolution for aid delivery now.

“We need to see the British, French and US navies begin delivering assistance. Every extra day lost is causing the deaths of yet more innocent victims.”

The Burmese embassy in London claimed aid workers were not being allowed in because of fears for their safety.

An official said: “The Irrawaddy Delta region is hard to travel at the best of times. Once it is safe, we want more in the country as soon as possible.”

 

CIA: China's military could get 'adversarial'

CIA Director Michael Hayden said China was beefing up its military with "remarkable speed and scope," calling the buildup "troubling."       AFP/Saul Loeb

 

 

China and India will affect strategic planning, he said. “Competition for influence will characterize the relationships between China, India, Japan and other emerging powers,” Hayden said during a speech at Kansas State University

“But China, a communist-led nuclear state that aspires to and will likely achieve great power status during this century, will be the focus of American attention in that region of the world.”

Hayden said there are differing views about China’s rise and its motivations. His view is that China is an economic competitor and increasingly becoming a “geopolitical” competitor.

“But China is not an inevitable enemy of the United States of America. There are good policy choices available to both Washington and Beijing that can keep us on the largely peaceful, constructive path that we've both been on now for about 40 years,” he said.

China’s military buildup is the most significant aspect of Beijing’s growth, Hayden said, noting that the PLA has integrated the U.S. conflict lessons learned in both Persian Gulf wars. “They've developed an integrated advanced weaponry into a modern military force,” he said.

The new Chinese military power could pose a risk to U.S. forces and interest in the region, and the military buildup is also about projecting the image of strength, he said.

“It sees an advanced military force as an essential element of great power status, and it is the intelligence community's view that any Chinese government, even a democratic one, would have similar nationalist goals.”

China’s rise is posing serious challenges and its military buildup and international behavior could produce an “adversarial” relationship with the world, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said last week.

“After two centuries of perceived Western hegemony, China seems to be determined to flex its muscles,” Hayden said.

 

Source: www.worldtribune.com

Deadly virus spreads among children in eastern China

Medical workers examining a young patient on Thursday at No.2 People's Hospital in Fuyang City, in east China's Anhui Province. (Li Jian/ Xinhua, via The Associated Press)

By Andrew Jacobs
Published: May 2, 2008

BEIJING: A fast-spreading viral outbreak in eastern China has killed 21 children, sickened nearly 3,000 others and caused panic among parents in an impoverished corner of Anhui Province, state news media reported Friday.

The intestinal virus, commonly known as hand, foot and mouth disease, has been spreading in the city of Fuyang since early March, but local health officials only announced the outbreak last week, raising questions of whether they were trying to conceal word of the growing problem. In recent days the Chinese media have heavily criticized the government response, offering comparisons to the SARS epidemic of 2003, which drew widespread attention to China's shaky public health system and official attempts to cover up the outbreak.

On Thursday the World Health Organization warned that the disease, which thrives in warm weather, could spread in the coming months. It advised child-care centers and schools to stay closed until the spread of new infections was curtailed.

The virus, which has no relation to the foot-and-mouth disease that infects livestock, is easily passed between children. The illness begins with a fever and often leads to mouth ulcers and blisters on the hands, feet and buttocks. There is no vaccine or cure, but most patients recover in a week without treatment. In severe cases, however, brain swelling can lead to paralysis or death. Rigorous hygiene dramatically reduces the spread of the pathogen, which is an enterovirus known as EV71.

Health officials in Fuyang say that more than 700 children remain hospitalized, 36 of them in serious condition. All of the fatalities have been in children younger than 6, the majority of them under 2. Although the number of infected children has been steadily climbing, the fatality rate has dropped substantially in recent weeks, falling to 0.2 percent from 11 percent in March, according to World Health Organization officials.

Anxious parents have been overwhelming local hospitals in Fuyang, a hardscrabble city of 170,000 people. A doctor at No. 2 People's Hospital said by telephone that health care workers there were coping with 200 sick children. He said there had not been any fatalities in the past five days.

"I think the disease itself can be controlled, but it is hard to treat if there are complications," said the doctor, who would only give his surname, Li.

Among parents, though, there is still widespread concern and confusion. Reached by telephone, the father of a 1-year-old boy said misinformation was rife. The current rumor, he said, suggested that a local river was the source of the infection. The man, a truck driver surnamed Wang, said schools had been closed and local health officials were instructing parents to frequently wash their children's hands. "We really hope journalists can come and report more on this," he said.

Since early April, teachers at the Dongfanghong kindergarten have been assiduously cleaning children and classrooms with a daily disinfectant spray. Still, the measures did not assuage everyone's fears. By Tuesday, when the authorities shut the school, nearly 100 of the school's 500 students were being kept home by their parents. "A lot of parents are concerned about the contagiousness," said Xu Yanyan, the school's headmistress.

Fuyang is perhaps best known as the epicenter of a powdered milk scandal four years ago that sickened 200 infants, killing 13 of them.

In recent days the Chinese media have not been shy about lambasting health officials for waiting a month to sound the alarm bells. In mid-April, they noted, local officials who were confronted by reporters denied there was a problem. Two weeks later, after more than a dozen children had died, they were forced to acknowledge that an outbreak was well under way.

In an editorial headlined "Tragic Costs of Delay," the state-run English-language China Daily cited the SARS epidemic and the powdered milk scandal, and chastised the government for its sluggish response. "The memory of the last tragedy only adds to the bitterness of the new one," it said.

During the SARS outbreak, Chinese officials withheld information from the World Health Organization, restricted media reporting and undercounted the cases of those stricken. After the disease spread beyond China's borders and provoked worldwide panic, the government apologized and pledged to confront future health emergencies with greater openness.

Mobile phones ban for Thai cinemas

Mobile phones will soon be banned from Thai cinemas as the Thai government strives to combat the high level of intellectual-property-rights (IPR) violations in the Kingdom.
The move follows a meeting yesterday between Deputy Commerce Minister Banyin Tangpaporn and officers of the International Intellectual Property Association (IIPA).
The association urged the creation of a law forbidding mobiles in cinemas, because it found that easy access for high-technology late-model phones had increased copyright infringements.
Yesterday's meeting also sought closer cooperation between the IIPA and Thai authorities in the suppression of IPR violations, following Thailand's relegation to the US Priority Watch List (PWL) for failing to protect US movies, music and computer programs against piracy. The list entails extra scrutiny and the threat of economic sanctions if the US decides to pursue complaints before the World Trade Organisation.
"The IIPA has called for stringent laws to forbid mobile phones in cinemas, because there is reportedly a high level of violations when they are allowed in," Banyin said.
Thai police say cases of mobile phones being used to violate film copyright in cinemas have been reported to them.
The Intellectual Property Department will be asked to call a meeting of relevant agencies, including cinema operators and owners of film copyrights, to discuss the problem.
Banyin said film-copyright violations have destroyed the country's image in the eyes of the international community.
"We have the Copyright Act to control such crimes; we may need more regulations and stringent punishments."
Source

Thai ship latest victim of Malacca pirates

Kuala Lumpur - Heavily armed pirates in Malaysian waters attacked a Thai oil tanker carrying jet fuel bound for Phuket, a maritime watchdog said Tuesday.
Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre, said that in the April 25 incident, eight armed pirates on a powerful speedboat boarded the Thai tanker.
Maritime officials identified the tanker as "Pataravarin 2."
Choong said the pirates attacked the ship's master and stole the seafarers' money before escaping in the dark.
The ship was heading into the Singapore Strait on the way to Phuket in southern Thailand, he said.
Choong said this was the second pirate attack in the past three months in Malaysian waters.
In another incident in the pirate infested waters of the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia, a South Korean bulk carrier came under pirate attack on Monday at about 0940 GMT (4:40pm Thailand time), he said.
Choong said pirates believed to be from Somalia attacked the ship for about 40 minutes with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
"The ship was hit by a rocket and bullets," he said, adding that the captain took evasive measures "to prevent the 10 pirates in two speed boats from boarding," he said.
Choong said the ship was still sailing to its destination in Europe despite the damage suffered in the attack.
There has been an unprecedented surge in pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden with 13 attacks so far this year, Choong said.
He urged seafarers to remain on high alert while plying the waters off Somalia which has emerged as one of the most dangerous waterways for seafarers amid a non-functioning government in the country for almost two decades.
The waters off Nigeria and Somalia are the world's most dangerous hotspots for seafarers, with pirate attacks increasing globally in the first quarter of this year, the IMB said last week.
It recorded 49 incidents worldwide in the period, compared with 41 last year. (Compiled by BangkokPost.com from Agency reports)
Source

70% of Thai women cannot achieve orgasm, according to survey

A recent global sex survey found that 70 per cent of Thai women cannot achieve orgasm.
Others reach orgasm through masturbation or having sex with another woman, while 79 per cent of Thai men climax during sex, according to research by condom manufacturer Durex.
The survey was conducted in 26 countries and questioned 26,000 respondents about their sexual behaviour and attitudes.
Source

Alia Sabur "just became the youngest professor in the history of the world (Konkuk University in Seoul)

A RECORD-SETTING FEAT
By KIERAN CROWLEY

HEAD OF THE CLASS: Alia Sabur, here teaching in New Orleans, was hired as a full-time professor of cell science in Seoul.

April 21, 2008 --

A Long Island whiz kid who left fourth grade to start college at SUNY Stony Brook has become the youngest college professor in history - at 18.

The Guinness Book of World Records is officially recognizing Alia Sabur, who on Feb. 19 was appointed a full-time faculty professor of cell science in the Department of Advanced Technology Fusion at Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea.

Sabur "just became the youngest professor in the history of the world, breaking a 300-year-old record," a Guinness spokesman said. He said Alia broke the record set in the year 1717 by 19-year-old professor Colin Maclaurin, a protégé of Isaac Newton.

"It's really a great honor to be in the company of such great scientists," Sabur, who has since turned 19, told The Post by phone from Louisiana, where she is helping with relief efforts by teaching at the Katrina-ravaged Southern University at New Orleans.

"It's really exciting and it's also a challenge because, obviously, when you get awards and recognition for being so young - you have to live up to the expectations, and I do hope I can do that," Sabur said.

Konkuk University spokesman Choon Ho Kim said, "We are all very excited to welcome Alia Sabur. Alia is quite a unique individual and we are looking forward to her making great contributions at our university."

Sabur, a clarinetist who for good measure is a musical prodigy, will begin her physics research and teaching at Konkuk next month.

Sabur added that "there were some ruffled feathers" on the first day of classes in New Orleans but that the students her age were often more accepting of her than the older adult students - all of whom were surprised to see that their physics professor was a cute teenager.

"Oh, my God," said one adult female student. "I have kids your age and you're teaching my class."

Sabur replied, "Well, you know, this is how old I am. I can't help that."

"I can't believe you're our age," laughed one student. "That's so cool."

Sabur encouraged those with problems to give her a chance - and told them they could drop her course later, if her age still bothered them. "Nobody left my class," Sabur said. "We have a good rapport."

Sabur, who got her BA at 14, would be a freshman in college this year if she hadn't jumped ahead eight grades when she was 10.

Professor Sabur cringed when asked the inevitable question: Does she have a boyfriend?

"I'm accepting applications," Sabur quipped, with a smile. She said she does have friends from New York and from Philadelphia, where she studied at Drexel University - but her travel and killer schedule leave less time for a complete social life at the moment.

kieran.crowley@nypost.com

Chinese build secret nuclear submarine base

By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
China has secretly built a major underground nuclear submarine base that could threaten Asian countries and challenge American power in the region, it can be disclosed.

 

 

Satellite imagery, passed to The Daily Telegraph, shows that a substantial harbour has been built which could house a score of nuclear ballistic missile submarines and a host of aircraft carriers.

• Satellite image of the harbour: click to enlarge

In what will be a significant challenge to US Navy dominance and to countries ringing the South China Sea, one photograph shows China’s latest 094 nuclear submarine at the base just a few hundred miles from its neighbours.

Other images show numerous warships moored to long jettys and a network of underground tunnels at the Sanya base on the southern tip of Hainan island.

Of even greater concern to the Pentagon are massive tunnel entrances, estimated to be 60ft high, built into hillsides around the base. Sources fear they could lead to caverns capable of hiding up to 20 nuclear submarines from spy satellites.

The US Department of Defence has estimated that China will have five 094 nuclear submarines operational by 2010 with each capable of carrying 12 JL-2 nuclear missiles.

The images were obtained by Janes Intelligence Review after the periodical was given access to imagery from the commercial satellite company DigitalGlobe.

Analysts for the respected military magazine suggest that the base could be used for "expeditionary as well as defensive operations" and would allow the submarines to "break out to launch locations closer to the US".

It would now be "difficult to ignore" that China was building a major naval base where it could house its nuclear forces and increase it "strategic capability considerably further afield".

The development so close to the sea lanes vital to Asian economies "can only cause concern far beyond these straits".

Military analysts believe that China’s substantial build up of its forces is gaining pace put has remained hidden from the world in the build-up to the Olympics.

China has diverted much of its resources from the huge Peoples Liberation Army to the navy, air force and missile development.

An old Russian aircraft carrier, bought by Beijing for "leisure activities" has been picked over by naval architects who hope to "reverse engineer" the ship.

Within the next five to 10 years the Peoples Liberation Navy is expected to build up to six carriers which will also coincide with the Royal Navy’s construction of two major carriers.

The location of the base off Hainan will also give the submarines access to very deep water exceeding 5,000 metres within a few miles, making them even harder to detect.

Britain’s Trident submarines have to remain on the surface when they leave Faslane in north east Scotland and cannot dive to depth until outside the Irish Sea.

While it has been known that China might be developing an underground base at Sanya, the pictures provide the first proof of the base’s existence and the rapid progress made.

Two 950 metre piers and three smaller ones would be enough to accommodate two carrier strike groups or amphibious assault ships.

Christian Le Miere, editor for Jane's Intelligence Review, said the complex underlined Beijing’s plan “to assert tighter control over this region".

"This is a challenge to any hegemonic power, particularly the US which still remains dominant in the region."

So far China has offered no public explanation for its building at Sanya.

 

China builds its large-scale future

Terminal 3 at Beijing International Airport was designed by the British architect Norman Foster. (Jason Lee/Reuters)

 

By David Barboza
Published: May 1, 2008

BEIJING: The new Terminal 3 at the airport in Beijing is twice the size of the Pentagon.

China opens one of world's largest bridges

 

May 1 01:30 PM US/Eastern

 

China has just inaugurated one of the world's longest bridges, which will provide an important new route into Shanghai, state press said.

Presented as the "world's longest sea bridge", the 36-kilometre (22-mile) structure connects Jiaxing city near Shanghai to the port city of Ningbo in the eastern province of Zhejiang.

It is slightly shorter than the 38.4-kilometre Lake Pontchartrain Causeway Bridge in the southern United States, which is often billed as the world's longest.

The 11.8 billion yuan (1.7 billion dollars) bridge cuts the length of the road trip from Shanghai to Ningbo by 120 kilometres, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Construction of the six-lane bridge started in November 2003 in an effort to reduce traffic congestion in the booming area, Xinhua said.

Hundreds of people attended an opening ceremony on Thursday afternoon, it said.

The bridge was opened to traffic on a trial basis at 11.58 pm (1658 GMT), Xinhua said. However, officials did not know how long the trial would last, it added.