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Strong quakes again rock shaken New Zealand city

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

Strong quakes again rock shaken New Zealand city

Strong aftershocks rattled New Zealand’s quake-devastated city of Christchurch again Monday, toppling one of the few buildings still standing downtown and sinking thousands of homes into darkness.

Bricks crashed down in the cordoned-off city center, where only workers have tread since it was devastated in February’s major earthquake. About 200 people were there when the quakes struck Monday, and two were briefly trapped in a church. More than 40 people have been taken to hospitals with minor injuries from falling debris, the city council said.

“We are being enveloped with dust,” Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker told New Zealand’s National Radio.GHD Rare “It is very, very scary.”

All across the city, people fled buildings in panic when a 5.2-magnitude quake struck during lunchtime; just over an hour later, a 6.0 hit, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.GHD Precious Smaller quakes were also recorded.

Several buildings were damaged in the central city and suburbs.

“All the shops have fallen down,Instyler” said Renee Murray, who works at a Domino’s Pizza in a suburb. “Half of the roof has fallen in (but) they have not fully collapsed.”

Thousands of aftershocks have followed the 6.3-magnitude quake that killed 181 people on Feb. 22. That tremor and its aftershocks have been very shallow, which along with proximity to the city, have made them very destructive. Monday’s temblors were six miles (10 kilometers) deep, according to the USGS.

About 47,000 homes in the city’s eastern suburbs were without power Monday night, when temperatures were expected to approach freezing. Rocks tumbled down hills in the area, which was among the hardest hit in February, and silt bubbled from the earth — a process known as liquefaction that sometimes happens during a quake.

After the February quake, 300,000 tons of silt had to be scraped away,Authentic NFL Jerseys and the silt alone made thousands of homes uninhabitable.

On one road Monday, an SUV tipped front-first into a sinkhole that opened in the asphalt. A police car sank into another.

Roger Sutton, chief executive of the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority, said the extra damage to the city center means some buildings that had been salvageable “are now seriously damaged and will have to be brought down.”

The group’s demolition manager “was driving (during the 6.wholesale authentic nfl jerseys0 quake), and there were buildings coming down in front of him, coming down behind him,” Sutton said. “He’s very lucky to be alive.”

Two people who were injured were salvaging windows from St. John’s Church when the facade, the last wall standing after February’s quake, collapsed. Police said they were rescued and taken to a hospital with cuts and bruises.

Another building nearby fell, according to police, and the dean of Christchurch Cathedral said the collapsed building suffered new damage.

“This has been a setback for Christchurch and its people, but it does not lessen our resolve to rebuild,” Prime Minister John Key told reporters. “The people of Christchurch should know all New Zealanders are thinking of them and will continue to support and stand by them in this very difficult time.”

New Zealand’s earthquake monitoring service GNS Science said Monday’s quakes were within a predicted range but are likely to trigger new aftershocks themselves.

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Hungry For Power, Sicily’s Mafia Tries to Go Green

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

Hungry For Power, Sicily’s Mafia Tries to Go Green

Since the time of Phoenician sailors and Greek settlers, Sicily’s Most coveted resources have been the sun and the wind. These days, drive nearly any stretch of the Mediterranean island and you’ll likely come across wind farms, looming like giants from behind the mountains. In some parts of Sicily, solar-power plants alternate with farmers’ fields; in some cases the two are even combined in photovoltaic-covered greenhouses. Italy is now the third-largest producer of wind power in Europe and its production of solar energy is booming, driven by generous government subsidies - with much of that growth in the sunny, windy south.

No surprise, then, that along with environmentally minded entrepreneurs, Sicily is attracting an organization that cares only about the other kind of green: the mafia.steeler jerseys cheap “The mafia goes where the money is” says Domenico Fontana, head of the Sicilian branch of Legambiante, the country’s largest environmental group. ?”[Renewable energy] is one of the richest sectors of the economy. It’s obvious that the mafia wants to be there.” (See how the mafia is spreading beyond Italy’s borders.CHI Camo Green)

And the Sicilian mafia, the Cosa Nostra, seems to have already gained a foothold in the relatively young industry. Last September, Italian police confiscated their largest ever collection of mafia assets when they seized assets worth $1.9 billion from a Sicilian businessman named Vito Nicastri. The haul included 43 wind and solar companies and around 100 properties, including luxury villas in western Sicily. Nicastri, known as “The Lord of the Wind” because he was the island’s largest developer of wind farms, had been arrested the year before and accused of ties to Matteo Messina Denaro,Cell mobile phone accessories a man believed to be the head of the Sicilian mafia.

Unlike the mob’s usual criminal activities - trafficking in arms or drugs, investments in real estate, waste management and construction - the renewable-energy sector requires technical prowess. Which is why the mafia seems to have mainly taken on the role of middle man: arranging contracts, buying up land, organizing government permissions, snatching up the construction contracts. The overheated demand caused by subsidies has brought in financial speculation - some 90% of the authorizations to build power plants are subsequently sold - making the market particularly permeable to organized crime. “They [in the mafia] know everybody,” says Giosue’ Marino, Sicily’s councilor for energy and a former police prefect of Palermo, adding that the mob’s involvement in the sector undermines legitimate competition. “The mafia doesn’t need to go into a bank and apply for loans. They don’t have problems with unions. So it’s the healthy entrepreneur who suffers and finds himself left in the margins.” (See the 5 most prolific mafia leaders.,nike lebron baltoro shoes for sale,)

On top of that, prosecutors say the mafia uses investments in clean energy to launder its dirty money - funds gained from less reputable sources, such as arms and drug trafficking, which are then used to continue to challenge the government for control of the island. “The mafia and the state can’t coexist,” says Francesco Messineo, the public prosecutor in charge of Sicily’s anti-mafia operations. “One is the negation of the other.” The government, says Messineo, has managed to wrestle the mafia to the ground. The next step is to choke off its cash flow. “Controlling the energy sector is fundamental,” he says. “Keeping the mafia outside would be an important success [for the government].”

The mafia’s foray into green technology shows how much Sicily’s Cosa Nostra has changed since the 1990s, when it waged a high-profile war on the state, assassinating judges and prompting the government to send in the military. The subsequent crackdown and outrage over the murders has pressed the Sicilian mob to the margins and made it far less dangerous that the organized crime gangs operating on the Italian mainland. Violence on the island has fallen. The last mafia murder in the economic capital Palermo took place four years ago. Not only have businesses started to refuse to pay protection money, industry organizations have made it a policy to throw out any member that collaborates with the mob. (See who’s behind Italy’s newest mafia war.The anime figure comes in various sizes and colors. Therefore, every runner has a fitting size and a choice of the favorite color. When you purchase this shoe) ?

But just because the mafia seems to be slowly fading into the island’s history doesn’t mean Sicily’s problems are over. One legitimate investor in alternative energies, Moncada energy CEO Salvatore Moncada, twice denounced mob interference in his business - once in 2002, when he refused to be extorted and lived with a 24-hour police escort for 18 months, and once in 2009 when he alerted police to a mafia buy-up of the land around one of his wind-power plants. Moncada says his biggest worry today isn’t the mob or the threat of violence. It’s wringing out permission for the construction of his power plants from allegedly corrupt bureaucrats. “The mafia used to shoot,” says Moncada. “Today it doesn’t. So it’s become a lot less of a threat?than the white-collar criminals.”

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Russia’s turnabout on Libya arouses doubts, welcome

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

Russia’s turnabout on Libya arouses doubts, welcome

Russia’s change of its stance on the chronic Libyan crisis raised doubts from the Libyan government, but was applauded by the Libyan opposition.
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Russia, which had criticized the NATO-led air strikes on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces, surprisingly toughened its stance on Libya during the just wrapped-up G8 summit held in France’s seaside resort of Deauville.
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The summit from Thursday to Friday, attended by eight world powers including Russia and the United States, ended with a unanimously-adopted declaration.

It said “Gaddafi and the Libyan government have failed to fulfill their responsibility to protect the Libyan population and have lost all legitimacy.” “He (Gaddafi) must go,” it stressed.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday called on Gaddafi to give up power and said Russia would not offer shelter to him.SuperBowl jerseys

“The world community no longer sees him as the Libyan leader,” he said.

“If you saw the (G8) declaration, it says that Gaddafi’s regime has lost its legitimacy. He must go,” Medvedev said, “It was adopted unanimously.”

While Western countries would use force to overthrow Gaddafi, Russia said it still favors Gaddafi’s decent departure through negotiations.

Medvedev had sent an envoy to the rebel bastion of Benghazi to seek solutions to the conflict.

Disturbed by Russia’s change of position, Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim Friday said the Libyan government was in contact with the Russian side to better understand its position.
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Russia had been critical of the NATO-led air raids, which started over two months ago, saying air strikes went beyond the UN Security Council resolution, which mandated a no-fly zone over the North African country.

“Russia is one of the traditional friends of Libya,” Kaim said. “We don’t think Russia will sway its position to side with NATO.”

Kaim said the Libyan government wasn’t concerned about the events at the G8 meeting. It only supports the proposals of the African Union (AU), and would never join discussions of plans that attempt to marginalize AU proposals, he added.

“Any decision taken about the political future of Libya belongs to the Libyans, no one else,” Kaim said.

In contrast to the Libyan government’s confusion, Chairman of the Libyan opposition’s National Transitional Council (CNT) Mustafa Abdel Jalil on Saturday hailed Russia’s latest position.
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“We welcome the position shown by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev,” Jalil said in Benghazi.

“We believe the role of Russia in international affairs, but these relations must take place in a mutual interest and mutual respect,” Jalil added.

Russia’s change of stance on Libya may come as a surprise, but recent developments seemed to suggest it is by no means impromptu.

On May 23, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met an envoy of the Libyan opposition in Moscow, during which they discussed ways to realize a ceasefire in Libya.

There were other signs that Russia began to put stakes on the Libyan opposition to hedge risks to its interests, as NATO escalated its raids on Gaddafi’s government with an explicit determination to force him out.

Russian media reports said in order to win Russia’s support on the Libya issue, the West offered new incentives during the G8 summit, among which was the promise to facilitate Russia’s entry into the World Trade Organization by the end of this year.Women jerseys

In a related development, Medvedev and his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday reached a long-awaited agreement on a Russian purchase of four French-made Mistral class amphibious assault ships.

The deal, Moscow’s first major foreign arms purchase since the collapse of the Soviet Union, was driven by its need to modernize its ageing armed forces, but it had been criticized by some of France’s NATO allies.

Russian media said the previous guess is the agreement was still one or two years away, but it was inked much quicker than expected.

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Officials in key sectors lured by corruption

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

Officials in key sectors lured by corruption

Urban construction, rural infrastructure, transport, and railway projects are the sectors worst hit by corruption and other crimes stemming from abuse of power, a senior prosecutor said.
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Officials from key departments, such as land and resources, housing and rural-urban development as well as law enforcement, tend to be the most vulnerable as the bribes they are offered reflect the significance of their departments, Song Hansong, head of the department targeting crimes committed by officials, under the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP), told China Daily.

“Corruption and bribery account for the majority of crimes committed by officials,” he said.
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From January to March, prosecuting agencies nationwide charged 1,923 suspects in major construction projects with crimes related to their office, according to SPP statistics. Of the 1,923 suspects, 160 were senior officials. The charges covered activities in 1,583 cases.

Of these, more than

94 percent, 1,498, were related to corruption and bribery involving 270 million yuan ($41.5 million), according to the SPP.

Cases related to negligence and infringement of public rights accounted for 85.
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Song said bribery was particularly rampant in construction projects.

The vast majority of corruption-related crimes in construction occur during bidding and approval procedures as well as land transfers, he said. Along with crimes involving administration, they account for 75 percent of cases in the construction sector.
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Bribery occurs in many forms, including so-called information and consultation fees to officials, share offers, and the provision of cheap or free housing. This makes it more difficult to detect, Song said.

In March 2011, Jiangsu provincial higher people’s court upheld the death sentence meted out by a lower court to Jiang Renjie, former vice-mayor of Suzhou city in Jiangsu, for accepting bribes of up to 100 million yuan.

From 2001 to 2004, Jiang, who was in charge of urban construction, planning and real estate development, abused his position to help secure “illegal interests” in land development, land ownership swaps, and project bids.

Prosecuting agencies should pay special attention to crimes that violate public economic interests and individual rights, Song said.long evening dresses

Demolition, land approval and resource development are areas that are directly linked to people’s well-being and crimes committed in these sectors can easily spark social unrest, Song said.

Supervision is the key, he suggested, for prosecutors to tackle crimes involving corruption.

“Clues can be found in audits, financial documents, inspections and even from the Internet and mass media,” he said.

“The fundamental causes of corruption are flawed regulations combined with a lack of administrative supervision,” said Li Guifang, deputy chief of the criminal defense committee under the All China Lawyers Association.

“Some government officials have distorted values,” he said.

These distorted values and absolute power over their sector can lead to absolute corruption, he said.

Prosecuting agencies should establish a risk prevention and control mechanism, said Hong Daode, a law professor at China University of Political Science and law.

“Strengthening cooperation with government departments, especially in key sectors, will help root out crime at its source,” Hong said.

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Mitt Romney’s law, Affordable Care Act very similar

Thursday, May 12th, 2011

Mitt Romney’s law, Affordable Care Act very similar

It’s a rare area of agreement in the contentious health reform debate: the Massachusetts health reforms passed by Mitt Romney in 2006 and the federal law passed last year are really,archway metal detector really similar.

In a span of just a few hours and in the lead up to Romney’s health speech, the point has been made by everyone from The Wall Street Journal editorial page and Cato Institute to the Center for American Progress.

“As everyone knows, the health reform Mr. Romney passed in 2006 as Massachusetts governor was the prototype for President Obama’s version and gave national health care a huge political boost,” The Wall Street Journal wrote in a scathing Thursday morning editorial, contending that if Romney did not apologize for his leadership on Massachusetts’s health reform, “he might as well try to knock off Joe Biden and get on the Obama ticket.”

“The similarities between what he championed in Massachusetts and what the president has championed are about 100 percent,” Center for American Progress’s Neera Tandeen, who heads up the pro-reform group Protect Your Care, said on MSNBC Thursday morning.

“It doesn’t even seem fair to call them similarities, it seems like they’re identicalities,” says Michael Cannon, health policy director with the Cato Institute.The manufacturer is similar to steel parts , the RUBBER MATS parts manufacturer 2009 jerseys also plays in middle important development of one national economic development role. India Countries is to be full of such manufacturing industry company for instance. Organization and all childbirth building the inevitable basis touch these companies together.

Presidential contender Mitt Romney will use Thursday’s speech in Michigan to lay out a new platform on health reform, one that centers on widespread Republican health policy ideas like increasing the availability of Health Savings Accounts and reforming medical liability.La Martina T-shirt

Those proposals have gotten some attention. Former Sen. Jim Talent, now a fellow at the Heritage Institute, praised Romney’s proposals writing in the National Review Online Thursday that Romney’s new plan “would create no new federal agencies, does not raise taxes and would aim to reduce federal spending.”

But even Cannon dismissed Romney’s platform as “Republican boilerplate,” recycling ideas well accepted in Republican circles for years now.

And, on the balance, what’s received more attention than Romney’s plan for the future is his work in the past: his role as Massachusetts governor in passing a sweeping health reform law that, in many ways, laid the foundation for the federal overhaul Congress passed last year.

In three main ways, the two health overhauls are remarkably similar. Both rely on a three-legged stool of universal coverage, mandated purchase of insurance and subsidies to those who cannot afford the insurance premiums.

Passed in 2006,Ronaldo soccer jersey Massachusetts was the first state in the nation to mandate the purchase of health insurance. Those who do not carry insurance are assessed a tax penalty as high as $1,116. When passed at the state level, the mandate received much less attention than it has in the federal reform, with more than half the states challenging the provision’s constitutionality.Wholesale cheap jordan shoes All told, most Massachusetts citizens comply with the mandate: just about 1 percent of citizens paid the penalty in 2009, the most recent year for which data is available.

That mandated purchase of insurance comes along with tax subsidies for individuals who earn up to 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Line, to make insurance affordable.

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Disney Declines After Japanese Tsunami, Studio Flops Overshadow TV Gains

Thursday, May 12th, 2011

Disney Declines After Japanese Tsunami, Studio Flops Overshadow TV Gains

Walt Disney Co. (DIS), the world’s biggest theme-park operator, fell the most in two years after second- quarter profit missed estimates, as a shrinking box-office,archway metal detector a park shortfall and the Japanese tsunami overshadowed TV gains.

Disney, based in Burbank, California, dropped $2.39, or 5.4 percent, to $41.52 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the biggest decline since March 2009. The stock has gained 11 percent this year.

Profit at Disney’s theme-park unit, which collects licensing fees from the Tokyo resort, fell 3.3 percent in the wake of the March 11 disaster. U.wholesales mac Lip glossS. parks were hurt by this year’s later Easter break. The film studio failed to match last year’s results from “Alice in Wonderland,” with income down 65 percent on box-office letdowns such as “Mars Needs Moms.”

“The noisy elements, the studio and Japan, clearly were the problem and they are hard to predict,” said Matthew Harrigan, a Wunderlich Securities analyst in Denver who recommends investors buy Disney shares. “The good news is that the core of this company, ESPN and its TV business, still performed very well.”

Net income decreased 1.2 percent to $942 million, or 49 cents a share, in the quarter ended April 2, from $953 million, or 48 cents, a year earlier, Disney said yesterday in a statement. Earnings missed the 58-cent average of 14 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The rise in earnings per share reflects stock buybacks.

Park Bookings

Advance bookings at Disney parks are down 2.5 percent from a year earlier,,Anime importers, Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo said on a conference call.

Room rates have increased by a double-digit percentage, reflecting the decision to phase out discounts as the economy improves, Rasulo said. Excluding the impact of the timing of the Easter holiday, domestic theme park attendance increased by 2 percent from a year earlier, he said.

The March 11 film release “Mars Needs Moms” cost $150 million to make and generated $20.9 million in U.S. ticket sales, according to Harrigan. Last year, Disney’s home entertainment sales benefited from Pixar’s movie “Up.” So far this year, industry DVD sales are down at least 20 percent, according to an industry group.

Disney’s total sales rose 5.8 percent to $9.08 billion, trailing the $9.19 billion average of 20 analysts’ estimates. Revenue was $8.58 billion a year earlier.

‘Factors’

“Our revenue was up nicely but we had $170 million of factors, basically, that had an impact on where we were and where the Street thought we would be in terms of our earnings,” Robert Iger, Disney’s president and chief executive officer, said in an interview on CNBC.

Revenue at Disney’s media networks increased 12 percent to $4.32 billion, buoyed by advertising and affiliate revenue at cable networks such as ESPN. Profit rose 17 percent to $1.52 billion, with cable earnings up 15 percent.

ABC broadcasting posted a 4.5 percent increase in revenue to $1.5 billion on advertising growth and higher affiliate fees. Profit gained 36 percent to $167 million.

Profit in consumer products increased 6.,Weft hair,8 percent to $142 million as sales expanded 5 percent to $626 million.

Disney’s Interactive unit saw its loss more than double to $115 million on a 2.6 percent gain in revenue. Results included a $34 million cost linked to how the company accounts for the purchase of Playdom, Iger said.

The company will continue to take charges for the 2010 acquisition of the social game startup.

“That was unexpected and we’d like to hear more about that,” said Robin Diedrich, an analyst with St. Louis-based Edward Jones & Co., who recommends investors buy Disney.,digital video recorders, “But it’s a small segment of the company. The main segments — advertising and its parks — are doing well.”

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Long road to human rights in the US

Thursday, May 12th, 2011

Long road to human rights in the US

The mainstream media in the United States raises the issue of human rights in China whenever it gets the chance, so it was no surprise it arose again during the two-day China-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue, which concluded on Tuesday.

Although co-chairs of the dialogue from both countries hailed their discussions as fruitful, as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remarked during a joint press briefing on Tuesday, most of the achievements may not make it to the media.

Instead, officials were again pressed about their human rights discussions, with one journalist citing events in the Middle East. Western media have long prided themselves on their objectivity and apolitical stance, but the questions prompted Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai to remind them that they should beware of those with political agendas.

Anyone without prejudice will readily acknowledge the “historic” improvement China has made in improving the human rights of its citizens, Cui said.

Prejudice distorts people’s thinking and prevents them from looking at things - such as other countries - with objectivity. And prejudice comes from ignorance.

When some Chinese people emerged from behind the “iron curtain” to visit Western countries in the 1970s, they examined local life through colored lenses. It is said that after touring a shopping mall one morning and seeing few customers, one revolutionary veteran remarked that capitalism was so cruel that people couldn’t afford to go to these department stores.

Chinese people today no longer draw such distorted conclusions, as similar shopping malls and department stores have spread throughout the major cities in China to accommodate the growing appetite of domestic consumers.GHD Black

But similarly, some in the West have not learned much about China. Some misread the government’s reliance on the masses of residents - especially retirees - in helping with social order,CHI Camo Green accusing China of being a “police state”. What they fail to acknowledge is that these elderly are willing to participate because they are safeguarding their homes against possible chaos.

Any Chinese person who suffered during the “cultural revolution” (1966-1976) - which was once called an era of “great democracy” - will not want to see those days return.

We Chinese never say that our political and social systems are without faults. In fact, one of our goals in building a well-off society is to ensure better democratic participation in political decision making. Many rural communities have introduced a series of programs to ensure that community affairs are decided by the farmers for the farmers.

It will be a long, hard political and legal process for China to reach its goal, just as it was for the US, which had to overcome many trials and tribulations. US citizens are proud of their history of democracy and freedom,chi flat irons but during my visit to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, the museum guide stressed that most of the early American revolutionaries kept slaves even when they were drafting the Declaration of Independence to ensure that “all men were born equal”.

During my visit to Chicago History Museum, I learned that in 1887, four men were executed in Chicago for the Haymarket massacre on May 4, 1886, even though there was no evidence linking these men to the bomb that went off at the market.,the north face jackets,

It took women in the US 144 years to win the same voting rights as men. It took 188 years before all barriers were removed to enable African-Americans to enjoy the same civil rights as white people.

Some 25 years ago, I had a chance to ride a Trailways bus from North Carolina to New York. I was shocked to see the harsh stare the white driver gave to a bookish African-American young man.

These days, when I walk in the streets of Washington and New York, I see African-Americans with more confidence and pride than I remember seeing during my first trips in the US 25 years ago.

But some of the surviving Freedom Riders, who are gathering to mark the 50th anniversary of their campaign, still see the need to address racial discrimination and ensure full civil rights for African-Americans.

So,CHI Turbo 1′ we should stop the finger pointing and promote programs to improve both of our societies.

The author is assistant editor-in-chief of China Daily and its chief US correspondent. E-mail: lixing@chinadailyusa.com

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Shared fate beckons China, US

Thursday, May 12th, 2011

Shared fate beckons China, US

Old disagreements do remain between China and the United States after the third Sino-US Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED), but the consensus is that the overall atmosphere during the meeting was constructive, realistic and even cautiously optimistic.

The third S&ED was held under the relative calm of some signs of recovery in the United States and relatively robust growth in China, which may not be the case with the next round of the dialogue.

The economic environment is likely to be shadowed by darker clouds in the next few months. So the task is to prepare and sustain the dialogue through rising turbulence.

After the US debt surpassed $10 trillion, the National Debt Clock in Times Square, New York City, ran out of digits, and the share of each American family ballooned to more than $86,000.

During the global financial crisis, informed Americans thought that the lessons had been learned, that there would be no return to business as usual, and that the US’ growth trajectory would have to change. Simply put, the US would have to invest and save more - and consume less.

But today, the US public debt subject to legal limit has risen to about $14.3 trillion, which translates into almost $130,000 per taxpayer. The bottom line: the problem of public debt in the US is neither new nor easily resolvable.

The US debt dilemma began to evolve in the 1980s - years before the S&ED, the global financial crisis, China’s membership in the World Trade Organization, and even the Clinton-Gore era.

Like the global financial crisis, the soaring US debt evolved during the Ronald Reagan administration, the low interest rates of the Alan Greenspan years and the laissez-faire mantra of deregulation, privatization and liberalization.

The US debt as percentage of GDP decreased steadily from the World War II peak of 118 percent to 36 percent in 1981. During the Reagan-George H. Bush years, it almost doubled, jumping to 66 percent of GDP in 1993. It was cut by 10 percent during Bill Clinton’s presidency.

But the return to the laissez-faire during the George W. Bush era caused the debt to jump by a stunning,digital video recorders, 27 percent. When Barack Obama entered the White House, US debt had reached 84 percent of GDP. With the global financial crisis, private sector losses were shifted to the public sector, and the debt soared again.Ronaldo soccer jersey And by the end of 2011, US debt is likely to climb to more than 103 percent of GDP.

Historically, economic growth begins to slow down when the level of debt exceeds 90 percent. The economic downturn, the bailout packages, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the war against terrorism have all added to recent increases in the debt. But the principal reason why the debt has soared is the George W. Bush-era tax cuts,The manufacturer is similar to steel parts , the RUBBER MATS parts manufacturer 2009 jerseys also plays in middle important development of one national economic development role. India Countries is to be full of such manufacturing industry company for instance. Organization and all childbirth building the inevitable basis touch these companies together. which provide minimum stimulus for recovery, but contribute the maximum to deepening income polarization.

Unfortunately, the debt dilemma is not about to vanish. This is only the beginning. In the absence of effective healthcare reform, the US debt crisis will begin to escalate after the mid-2010s because of America’s aging population.

Not so long ago, US Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner urged congressional leaders to take the debt issue seriously because the legal debt limit of $14.3 trillion would be met in May and could be extended only till early July.

Soon after the death of Osama bin Laden, Geithner wrote to congressional leaders again saying that, because of “stronger-than-expected tax receipts” and by taking “extraordinary measures”, the US can continue to borrow until Aug 2, after reaching the legal debt limit.,Weft hair,

But the simple truth remains that one can live beyond one’s means some of the time, but not all of the time.

Today, US-Chinese economic relationship is symbiotic. Despite recent trimming of its holdings, China remains the largest foreign holder of US Treasury securities, with a $1.archway metal detector2-trillion portfolio. China also has $3 trillion in currency reserves.

Understandably, China is closely watching the debate over raising the US debt ceiling and wants the Obama administration to take more measures to curb the deficit. With the current legal limits, the US can avoid an unprecedented default on national debt possibly only for another two to three months. In the near future, however, Washington will be swept by a debate on US debt, and this debate will be very, very divisive.

At the same time, the Obama administration has been hoping to re-ignite growth by doubling exports in the next five years. Yet, the US’ two closest trade partners - the European Union and Japan - are struggling with massive debt problems of their own. In Japan, the impact of the triple disaster will be long-term. In the eurozone, the debt crisis is structural and deteriorating.

In brief, the third S&ED demonstrated increasing maturity, and even cautious optimism. It is vital to build on this sense of shared fate in the coming months because the fourth dialogue may well take place under darkening economic clouds.

The author is research director of International Business at the India, China and America Institute, an independent think tank in the US, and visiting fellow at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.

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Remembering Minnesota’s deadly tornadoes

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Remembering Minnesota’s deadly tornadoes

Most days go by so fast I hardly realize it. The grand days - weddings, the births of the babies, vacations - quickly become a joyful blur.

Other days - the painful days - become etched in time and memory forever.Christian Louboutin shoes sale We remember September 11, 2001, in excruciating detail - who we were with,Ronaldo soccer jersey how we first heard the news, how we spent our day.

Us older folks recall November 22, 1963. Even as children, we suffered along with our countrymen and women as we buried our President.

This week, watching the news stories about the devastating tornadoes in Alabama, I find myself remembering back into my childhood, into a day that I will never forget: April 30, 1967.

Anyone who lived in south-central Minnesota that Sunday remembers when seven tornadoes, F3s and F4s, ripped through four counties, killing 13 people, leaving hundreds of people homeless and thousands in shock.

It was my confirmation day. The events started with the church service at our tiny white-framed Danish Lutheran church in Alden. We had big plans for company that afternoon. I will admit that my thoughts focused more on my new green, very short tent dress and the money I’d rake in than on the religious significance of the day.

All of my aunts, uncles, cousins attended, each bringing cards with cold hard cash. My two oldest sisters were there with their husbands and babies.

I was caught up in the moment, but the adults commented frequently on the weather. It was very warm and very humid. I found my sister listening out the window. “Hear that roar,” she said, “It sounds like a freight train going by.”

The Weather Channel didn’t exist in 1967, and the TV and radio were off. There was little warning of what was to come.

Most of our guests had left for home by 5 or 5:30 p.m., but one aunt and uncle were still gabbing when about 6 p.m., it started to get very dark and rain. “We’d better go,” my uncle said, and he, his wife and the three kids piled into their car for home.

It is very unusual for the heavy wall of rain to precede a tornado, but it did this time. No one saw the funnels. The wind was furious and it was dark as night. At 6:12 p.m. the power went out and our clocks stopped. Later, we concluded that the power went out when the funnels pulled down the main power lines just to our south.

We each grabbed a kid or two, and headed to our basement. The roars of the wind and the rain were deafening, and we were very afraid. We cowered in a corner until the gales started to diminish.

Dad went out first, and gave the all clear.

An eerie clear sky surrounded the farm. My first memory is of my father running up our half-mile driveway to the neighbor’s house.Wholesale cheap jordan shoes Something was terribly wrong there. We could see what looked like a one-story shed - where was the two story farmhouse? Where were the trees? Where was the barn?

Only after Dad had inspected the driveway for live power lines did he let us venture out. My neighbor’s house had been ripped off at the second story, only the first floor remained and that was open to the elements. Trees, clothes, farm equipment, garbage were twisted and strewn everywhere.

I recall my neighbor could only talk about one thing - a ring that had been lost in the storm. I think it was her grandmother’s ring. Lila blocked out the destruction of her home and farm, and focused only on finding that ring.

Joe stood in silence. He kept his farm in perfect order every day - every tool put away, every blade of grass neatly mowed, the tractors in perfect line, every tree trimmed. In a few minutes, a lifetime of work and diligence had been turned to rubble.The manufacturer is similar to steel parts , the RUBBER MATS parts manufacturer 2009 jerseys also plays in middle important development of one national economic development role. India Countries is to be full of such manufacturing industry company for instance. Organization and all childbirth building the inevitable basis touch these companies together.

Other neighbors started stopping by. The news was grim. Every farmhouse and barn along our county road was gone. A woman just a half-mile south of us was dead. A neighbor just to the north was dead. My aunt and uncle returned. They were physically all right,La Martina T-shirt but terrified. They had cowered in a ditch as the F4 tornado passed feet away from them.

Stunned farm families were given shelter by townspeople. School was canceled. Everyone walked the fields to pick up debris, or sifted through household remains for salvageable items.

A few of the farms were bulldozed over and turned into cornfields. Most families, however, rebuilt. Lila found the ring she cherished so much.

No one who has seen the destruction first-hand will ever doubt the power of a tornado.

My prayers are with the people of Alabama today. I understand their pain.

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Pakistan won’t change a bit even after Osama

Tuesday, May 10th, 2011

Pakistan won’t change a bit even after Osama

Children say the damnedest of things. They also make the wisest of statements. A Malayalam poet wrote, ‘Children, who cannot put words together, you are the ones,chi flat irons who have the vision and the knowledge of God’s will.’

This has been proved once again, when my granddaughter Durga’s response to the news of Osama bin Laden’s death was, “Oh! I thought he was dead long ago!” Apparently,other children reacted similarly, according to Facebook entries from around the globe.
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Then why are the adults so excited? Why are they over analysing the impact of a death that occurred, at least figuratively, quite some time ago? Are we not exaggerating the importance of Osama’s death to the US, to President Obama, to Pakistan, to international terrorism, and most of all, to India?

I do not dispute President Obama’s claim that Osama was found hiding under the nose of the Pakistanis and that, in a swift and efficient operation, US soldiers killed him in a firefight, with no losses to American lives.

I do not also dispute the claim that Osama was given a decent burial, with Islamic funeral rites in the deep sea.CHI Camo Green I am sure the DNA has been preserved before the body was disposed off. But this was clearly the whirlwind which came after the wind was sewn decades ago.

The world will move on, more or less in the same wayward way as before, even after his death. Osama could well have lived on without making much of a difference to the world.

There was only one logic in the timing. President Obama’s re-election campaign had begun and it was time that he justified his Nobel Prize [ Images ] for Peace by getting out of at least one of his wars. The timing of the killing was chosen by him to register a victory and to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan after installing a hotch-potch government which would not threaten his homeland security.

He may well win his second term on account of bringing Osama to justice, though public memory may not outlast any other event that may affect the verdict. Osama had become irrelevant to Al Qaeda except as a symbol of jihad. The terrorist outfit will survive and regroup itself to give cause for concern to the West and others, but this was inevitable whether Osama died in his bed or killed in battle.

As for the war on terror,CHI Turbo 1′ this is a milestone, but the road extends beyond the horizon. There are enough individuals, organisations and States which believe in terrorism as a justifiable way of gaining the advantages that cannot be obtained by legitimate means. No reason exists for jubilation, as was seen in the streets of the US.

The US and the world cannot afford to bring their guard down. The massive investments made for security around the world will still be justified as terrorists look for new and innovative methods to beat the system.,the north face jackets,

In fact, one of the legacies of Osama is the suffering undergone by ordinary people at the airports and elsewhere. As someone observed rightly, the best punishment for Osama would have been to make him go through airport security day in and day out for the rest of his life.

Pakistan will not change a bit even after Osama. Someone said Pakistan has not yet decided whether it should take cash or credit for Osama’s killing. They are inclined to claim cash from the US rather than deny the US the credit for the masterly operation. It suits them to protest about violation of sovereignty and appear disgruntled, having done nothing to protect their prized possession.

The whole point of protecting him was to fatten him and to hand him over to the US at the most opportune moment as Pakistan had no use for him. No one believes that Pakistan was unaware of Osama’s whereabouts or the timing of the US operations.

More information will become available about Pakistan’s complicity and duplicity, but that will not add anything to the information the world already has, if it wants to punish Pakistan.

Pakistan’s friends, particularly China, will continue to nurse it as a potential guarantee against India’s unbridled rise politically and economically. Nothing will change even in the US position that Pakistan should not be allowed to fail.

The US does not want Pakistan either to break up or fall into the hands of fundamentalists. The US has been saying for long that India should work with those in power in Pakistan, because those who came after them would have longer beards!

Osama or no Osama, Obama or no Obama, the US-Pakistan relations will remain robust. Tensions and differences of opinion will persist between them, but, in the ultimate analysis, the big brother will prevail.

India has no reason to rejoice in Osama’s exit from the scene. Laskar-e-Tayiba and the other outfits are nurtured not by Al Qaeda, but by the Pakistani intelligence and State. They will not change their spots. The hope that the world will be convinced that Pakistan was culpable for 26/11, now that it has been caught cheating the US is far-fetched.

Nobody is looking for new evidence. Whether we begin the dialogue or not, the perpetrators of 26/11, including Kasab will survive one way or another.

Brave words have been spoken by our hawks that we should follow the US example and take out the criminals ourselves, but there are more who say we do not have either the will or the capability to do that. Even nuclear war is considered a possibility in the event of any dirty trick.

We have no lesson to learn from the Osama killing. Our enemies are better protected than the hapless, sick (and reportedly phoneless and internetless) and fragile Osama, who found his watery grave. They do not face the wrath of a superpower as Osama did.

India has to muddle its way through the perfidy of Pakistan, blowing hot and cold, using the carrot and the stick. The dead Osama will not influence war or peace with Pakistan, just as the living Osama did not.

Elimination of Osama was a declared objective of the war on terror. His killing was essential for the US to declare victory before beginning its withdrawal from Afghanistan. An Afghan dispensation friendly to Pakistan will more than compensate for the present loss of face for Pakistan. Sacrificing Osama is a small price to pay for such a long term gain for Pakistan.

The timing of the killing of Osama may have suited the US strategy in the Afpak region and it may have executed it on its own,hair flat irons but Pakistan may well stand to gain by the action, whether there is already a deal or not. On previous occasions, reports on Osama’s death were exaggerated, but this time the implications of his death are unduly exaggerated.

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