Worldcrunch
Photo: Zhao Yingquan/Zuma NEW BOKO HARAM MASSACRES At least 148 people have been gunned down by suspected Boko Haram fighters in separate attacks across northeastern Nigeria over the the past few days, Vanguard reports. According to witnesses, gunmen stormed villages, entered homes and mosques before rounding up people and shooting at them. The New York […]
BEIJING — How many certificates or other public documents does a Chinese citizen need through a typical lifetime? A senior official of China’s Communist party recently reckoned the answer is 103. A newborn baby changing residence needs a proof of non-criminality. A Chinese grown man who lists his mother as the emergency contact person on […]
At 6 a.m. on Feb. 18, 2001, the roar of the engines from 12 Russian-built SU-27s ripped through Vietnamese airspace. Within minutes, burning phosphorus, shrapnel and delayed-reaction mines were falling on Vietnam’s main naval base. Operation Dragon Strike had begun. An hour later, a Chinese M-17 troop transport helicopter fired warning shots while six fiberglass […]
The People’s Daily, June 30, 2015 The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, featured on its front page today a large photograph of the representatives of 50 countries that signed an agreement Monday for the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The […]
DENGFENG — When Dominique Saatenang was a young boy back in his native village of Bafou, Cameroon, he was transfixed by Bruce Lee films. “I’ve been fascinated by martial arts since I was 10,” he explains. “My father wanted me to be a soccer player. It’s thanks to kung fu movies and thanks to Bruce […]
As the largest consumer of tobacco in the world, China stunned everybody when it started imposing a tough smoking ban in Beijing this month. This comes as new smoking bans are being inaugurated in several other countries, particularly in Europe. Some 90 countries around the world now have anti-smoking legislation that just a few years […]
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank that China is leading will launch with 57 founding members, but Japan isn’t among them. Its dependency on the U.S. is a symptom of its outdated thinking, and will leave it badly isolated.
Amid growing ties, the youths of the Arab Spring could come between Beijing and its local partners
Tensions are playing out in the South China Sea, and stakes couldn’t be higher.
Behind the Chinese government’s easy shows of strength is a rising sense of insecurity within the regime.
They’ve got it covered…
BEIJING — In Bijie, an impoverished rural area of Guizhou Province, children are dying, some in ghastly accidents, some by their own hand. It’s as if the place is cursed. Earlier this month, four “left-behind” siblings, aged five to 13, committed suicide by ingesting pesticide. Their father works in the city all year, and their […]
GUNMAN KILLS 9 AT SOUTH CAROLINA CHURCH A man opened fire in a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, last night, killing nine people, according to local authorities. 60 MILLION The number of people displaced by war, conflict and persecution around the world reached a record high of almost 60 million in 2014, a […]
Reflections on the influx of (mostly) wealthy Chinese students enrolling at New York’s Columbia University.
A murder case in which a Chinese student poisoned and killed his roommate has brought out the worst in the Chinese public, which is practically marching with pitchforks for his execution. Attorneys, meanwhile, are urging that he be spared.
-OpEd- BEIJING — After studying China’s lottery operations, the country’s National Audit Office recently identified “violations of discipline, misuse of funds, system deficiencies, poor management, and a lack of supervision in certain cities and provinces.” The disclosures around this murky institution are startling, but sadly, Chinese citizens are hardly surprised. The China Welfare Lottery Management […]
In Northern China“s Shanxi Province, the Xuankong Temple, also known as Hanging Temple, clings precariously to a sheer precipice, some 75 meters above the ground. It’s not as dangerous as it looks, though: The temple hangs thanks to oak crossbeams fitted into the cliff — the supporting beams below were put there merely for dramatic […]
Some prominent thinkers believe that Asian values can better manage human affairs and our relationship with nature. And yet, sadly, selfishness is a universal condition.Â
In this traditionally Catholic province, government authorities are quietly removing the prelates who stayed loyal to the Vatican.
South China Morning Post, June 5, 2015 Tens of thousands of people held a candlelight vigil Thursday night in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park to mark the 26th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, the student-led demonstrations in which hundreds — thousands, according to some estimates — are believed to have died. The Hong […]
TOLL OF CHINESE SHIPWRECK CLIMBS Photo: Stringer/Cpressphoto/ZUMA Hopes of finding survivors of China’s shipwreck were fading Wednesday, after a total 14 survivors were rescued from the Eastern Star, the cruise ship carrying 456 that sank Monday night in China’s Yangtze River after a storm hit. So far, 19 bodies have been recovered, leaving more than […]
Rescue efforts continued into Wednesday as a total 14 survivors were rescued from the Eastern Star, the cruise ship carrying 456 that sank Monday night in China’s Yangtze River. So far, 19 bodies have been recovered, leaving more than 420 people unaccounted for, most of whom are by now feared dead. The boat, which departed […]
SYDNEY — Recently in this city’s trendy Darling Harbor district, a new high-end housing project of 581 apartments sold out in just five hours. One third of these flats — costing from 800,000 Australian dollars ($611,000) for a one-bedroom unit to more than 10 million ($7.6 million) for a luxury penthouse loft — were sold […]
The 12th Shanghai International Tea Culture Festival ended last week in the Chinese megalopolis. Hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world came to buy, taste and learn more about the ancient and ever-popular beverage. But where does tea come from and how is it produced? Here are five facts tea drinkers can ponder […]
NSA’S SPYING POWERS EXPIRE Key parts of the U.S. Patriot Act that allow the National Security Agency to collect citizen data in bulk have expired after the Senate failed to reach a deal before last night’s midnight renewal deadline. Sen. Rand Paul, who strongly opposes the NSA’s carte blanche spying powers, was triumphant, The Hill […]
-Analysis- BEIJING — There is a popular Chinese television series called “Tiger Mom: My Sweat, Your Success” that has prompted no shortage of debate in China. Indeed, discussion has even extended to Chinese people living in America, where the concept of Tiger Moms made waves after the publication of a book in by a hard-driving […]
BEIJING — China’s Prime Minister, Li Keqiang, completed a tour last week of four South American countries — Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Chile — that marks a turning point between the Asian power and the Latin American region. With his arrival in Brazil on the second day, May 19, Li unveiled a major achievement: a […]
I’ve already shared a first glimpse of the lush gardens of Suzhou, the “Venice of China” on the country’s east coast. Here’s another shot of the city’s “Lingering Garden,” which boasts more than 500 valuable penjing specimens, the miniature trees comparable to the Japanese bonsai.
Rich families from Guangzhou or Beijing are flocking to the new Asian “villages” of the famous French vacation brand. Activities include mahjong and karaoke but the beloved GOs (Genteel Organizers) are still here.
Invisible to the naked eye, the attitudes and regulations of local officials are blocking an expansion of private hospitals that most agree is much needed in China.
-Analysis- BUENOS AIRES — As China extends its investment reach to just about every corner of the globe, the enormous amounts of capital at play are transforming economic and strategic relations the world over. Latin America is one of the Asian giant’s key investment targets. But of all the region’s countries, only Brazil appears to […]
MINKEBE — Seen from the helicopter, the canopy of Minkébé National Park, in northern Gabon, looks like a green carpet that stretches to the horizon. The immobile uniformity is only broken up here and there by the veins of muddy rivers or a flock of birds flying. There’s no road or village here near the […]
Over the past two years, so-called “Female Virtues classes” have become popular across China, particularly among the less-educated. The classes mainly promote antiquated ideas about how women should be submissive. It’s obviously a shrewd businessmen’s way of cashing in — but the fact that flocks of women attend them also demonstrates a certain deep-seated ethical […]
-OpEd- BEIJING — When Macau authorities recently uncovered a prostitution ring, the most shocking aspect of the case was that its alleged mastermind was a 16-year-old boy. Needless to say, the teenager in Macau, one of two special Chinese administrative regions, represents an extreme example of the more diffused problem of the millions of minors […]
The American beverage giant has tried to pursue customers interested in healthier and more traditional beverages. But can they sell tea to the Chinese?
GUNMEN WHO ATTACK ANTI-MUSLIM EVENT KILLED Police shot and killed two gunmen after they opened fire outside a building in Garland, Texas, where a contest for cartoons depicting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad was being held, The Dallas Morning News reports. The attackers’ identities haven’t been released. 101 Funchu Tamang, a 101-year-old man, was pulled from the […]
MINQIN — Here, where the sand threatens to encroach, China is waging a long-term war against desert expansion. Just a few steps beyond the cultivated fields, the desert stretches as far as the eye can see. Minqin is menaced by the Tengger Desert to the west and by the Badain Jaran Desert to the east, […]
The number of ceramic figures decorating the roofs of Beijing’s Forbidden City is proportionate to the status of the building: Only the Hall of Supreme Harmony at the Imperial Palace Museum boasts 10 such mystical beasts. The person who lived in this building must still have been pretty important, as 8 is also a lucky […]
SHANGHAI — The Ford Motor Company is taking a notably bling-bling approach to this year’s Auto Shanghai 2015 exhibition, leaving the peppy-sporty market to competitors like Toyota and Volkswagen as it angles instead for China’s high rollers. As part of its push for the Asian giant’s upscale markets, the U.S. auto manufacturer debuted its Taurus […]
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