Learn Chinese online - Putin firm in final union address

WORLD / Europe

Putin firm in final union address

(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-04-27 07:51

Russian President Vladimir Putin attacked US foreign policy and urged a
revival of traditional values Thursday in a hawkish speech that laid out
a route for Russia to follow long after he steps down next year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers the annual state of the nation
address to the Federation Council, the upper house of parliament in
Moscow's Kremlin Thursday, April 26, 2007. [AP]

Making his last annual address to lawmakers, Putin said he was suspending
Russia's commitments under the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty and
linked the move in part to US plans for a missile shield in eastern
Europe.

He gave no clear answer to the question preoccupying Kremlin-watchers and
investors who Putin would endorse as his replacement when his second and
final term ends next March.

But he set the tone for Russia's next presidency, announcing a spending
splurge on housing, pensions, defense and mammoth infra-structure
projects including a canal to link the Caspian and Black Seas.

In a swipe at opposition groups who have taken to the streets alleging he
is backtracking on democracy, the president railed at "extremists" and
said foreign cash was being used to upset Russia's political stability.

However, the thread that ran through his 72-minute address was what he
called Russia's moral state.

"Our nation's spiritual unity and the moral values which unite us are as
important a factor in our development as political and economic
stability," he said, urging greater efforts to preserve Russia's culture
and language.

First deputy prime ministers Sergei Ivanov and Dmitry Medvedev, the men
regarded as front-runners for Putin's job, sat side by side listening to
the speech along with lawmakers, religious leaders and ministers in the
Kremlin's Marble Hall.

Putin confirmed next year's address would be read by a different
president. "It is premature for me to come out with political last wills
and testaments," he added, to applause.

In his seven years as Russian leader, Putin has overseen steady growth in
incomes and a return to political stability after years of turmoil.

But relations with the United States have soured dramatically and his
critics say he is turning Russia away from the West and tightening state
control over all areas of life.

1 2 

Top World News 

� Abe meets Bush, renews sympathy for 'comfort women'

� Bombers strike at Iraqi army, civilians

� Putin firm in final union address

� US House OKs Iraq troop pullout bill

� Japanese PM to meet Bush in summit

Today's Top News 

� China to act on pollution, warming gases

� Yang a popular choice as FM

� Hu, Lien stress cross-Straits peace

� US captures senior Al-Qaida operative

� Yang Jiechi named new FM, replacing Li Zhaoxing

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Learn mandarin - US shooter troubled parents as kid

WORLD / America

US shooter troubled parents as kid

(AP)
Updated: 2007-04-19 16:28

SEOUL, South Korea - The shooter in the Virginia Tech massacre had
troubled his parents as a child because of speech difficulties, a
newspaper reported Thursday.

South Korean citizens participate in a candlelight vigil for the victims
of the Virginia Tech shooting massacre in Blacksburg, Va., in front of
Seoul City Hall Wednesday, April 18, 2007. [AP]

Cho Seung-hui left South Korea with his family in 1992 to seek a better
life in the United States, Cho's grandfather told the Dong-a Ilbo daily.
Cho killed himself and 32 others at Virginia Tech in the deadliest
shooting rampage in US history.

Relatives said they had minimal contact with the family after they left
South Korea.

"How could he have done such a thing if he had any sympathy for his
parents, who went all the way to another country because they couldn't
make ends meet and endured hardships," Cho's maternal grandfather,
identified only by his last name Kim, was quoted as saying.

The 81-year-old Kim said Cho "troubled his parents a lot when he was
young because he couldn't speak well, but was well-behaved," the report
said.

Kim said he had little communication with Cho's family after they left
for the US

Cho's uncle - his mother's younger brother - also told the newspaper that
he was unaware of how Cho's family was doing.

"I don't even know my sister's phone number," the uncle said, adding he
last talked to Cho's mother in October, the report said.

"Before she emigrated in 1992, she told me she was leaving for her
childrens' education. Since she emigrated, I haven't seen her for nearly
15 years," the uncle - also identified by just his last name Kim - was
quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, South Koreans mourned the deaths of those killed in the
Virginia Tech shootings at a special church service Thursday, some
fighting back tears from the guilt that a fellow South Korean was
responsible for the massacre.

About 130 people gathered at Myeongdong Cathedral in central Seoul,
casting their heads low as they sang sad hymns and prayed for the souls
of those killed. A small table adorned with white flowers, candles and a
US flag was set up in the center of the chapel in memory of the victims.

"As a mother myself, my heart really aches as if it happened to my own
children," said Bang Myung-lan, a 48-year-old housewife, holding back
tears. "As a Korean, I am deeply sorry for the deceased."

"Among the 32 killed were bright students who could have contributed
greatly to society, and it's a big loss for all of us," Cardinal Nicolas
Cheong Jin-suk told parishioners. "As a South Korean, I can't help
feeling apologetic about how a Korean man caused such a shocking
incident."

The cardinal said everyone should work together to prevent a recurrence
of "such an unfortunate event."

"It is beyond my understanding how such a thing can occur - especially to
think a Korean is responsible for this," said 68-year-old Lee Chun-ja
after the service. "It really tears my heart. Something like this should
never happen again."

Top World News 

� Abe meets Bush, renews sympathy for 'comfort women'

� Bombers strike at Iraqi army, civilians

� Putin firm in final union address

� US House OKs Iraq troop pullout bill

� Japanese PM to meet Bush in summit

Today's Top News 

� China to act on pollution, warming gases

� Yang a popular choice as FM

� Hu, Lien stress cross-Straits peace

� US captures senior Al-Qaida operative

� Yang Jiechi named new FM, replacing Li Zhaoxing

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Learn mandarin - McCain stands firm on right to bear arms

WORLD / Reactions

McCain stands firm on right to bear arms

(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-04-18 06:45

LAREDO, Texas: US Senator John McCain says the shooting rampage at
Virginia Tech does not change his view that the Constitution guarantees
everyone the right to carry a weapon.

"We have to look at what happened here, but it doesn't change my views on
the Second Amendment, except to make sure that these kinds of weapons
don't fall into the hands of bad people," McCain said on Monday in
response to a question.

The Arizona Republican was campaigning in the Texas-Mexico border city.

"I do believe in the constitutional right that everyone has, in the
Second Amendment to the Constitution, to carry a weapon," he said.
"Obviously we have to keep guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens."

The Second Amendment reads: "A well regulated militia being necessary to
the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear
arms shall not be infringed."

McCain and other presidential hopefuls issued statements expressing shock
and grief over the attacks.

"As a parent, I am filled with sorrow for the mothers and fathers and
loved ones struggling with the sudden, unbearable news of a lost son or
daughter, friend or family member," read a statement by Senator Hillary
Rodham Clinton.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a Republican, called it a "day of
national tragedy, when we lost some of our finest to a senseless act".
Giuliani canceled all his campaign events for yesterday.

Democratic candidate John Edwards said in a statement: "We are simply
heartbroken by the deaths and injuries suffered at Virginia Tech. We know
what an unspeakable, life-changing moment this is for these families and
how, in this moment, it is hard to feel anything but overwhelming grief,
much less the love and support around you. But the love and support is
there."

Republican candidate Mitt Romney said: "The entire nation grieves for the
victims of this terrible tragedy that took place today on the campus of
Virginia Tech. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their
families and the entire Virginia Tech community."

Democratic Senator Barack Obama said the nation is mourning the dead and
praying for their families and for the wounded. "Today, we are a grieving
and shocked nation. Violence has once again taken too many young people
from this world."

An outpouring of horror filled US newspapers yesterday raising questions
about gun regulations seen by some as too lax.

The New York Times called Monday's carnage "another horrifying reminder
that some of the gravest dangers Americans face come from killers at home
armed with guns that are frighteningly easy to obtain".

"It seems a safe bet that in one way or another, this will turn out to be
another instance in which an unstable or criminally minded individual had
no trouble arming himself and harming defenseless people," the paper's
editorial said.

The Washington Post said it was "the deadliest mass shooting of civilians
in American history".

"Young lives brimming with promise and possibility were cut short by that
now familiar campus scourge: an aggrieved gunman, or gunmen, on a
rampage," the Post wrote, referring to earlier incidents such as the
Columbine High School shootings in Colorado in 1999.

"Under what circumstances, and where, did the gunman obtain his weapons?"
the paper added. "And why are gunmen so apt to carry out their lethal
rampages at American schools?"

The New York Times emphasized that Virginia imposes few restrictions on
the buying of handguns and has weak gun licensing requirements.

"What is needed, urgently, is stronger controls over the lethal weapons
that cause such wasteful carnage and such unbearable loss."

Agencies

Top World News 

� Abe meets Bush, renews sympathy for 'comfort women'

� Bombers strike at Iraqi army, civilians

� Putin firm in final union address

� US House OKs Iraq troop pullout bill

� Japanese PM to meet Bush in summit

Today's Top News 

� China to act on pollution, warming gases

� Yang a popular choice as FM

� Hu, Lien stress cross-Straits peace

� US captures senior Al-Qaida operative

� Yang Jiechi named new FM, replacing Li Zhaoxing

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Learn Chinese - Richardson sees N.Korea set for nuclear deal

WORLD / Asia-Pacific

Richardson sees N.Korea set for nuclear deal

(Reuters/AP)
Updated: 2007-04-09 13:31

U.S. presidential candidate and governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson,
center, poses with his delegation members on arrival at an airport in
Pyongyang, North Korea Sunday, April 8, 2007. The four-day trip that
started Sunday with the endorsement of the administration of U.S.
President George W. Bush comes days before a crucial deadline in a recent
nuclear disarmament accord. [AP]

WASHINGTON - New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, leading a U.S. delegation
on a visit to North Korea, said he believed Pyongyang was ready to end
its nuclear weapons program and improve relations with the United States,
NBC Nightly News reported on Sunday.

Richardson's delegation arrived ahead of an April 14 deadline for North
Korea to begin dismantling its nuclear program under an agreement in
six-party talks with the United States, South Korea, Japan, Russia and
China.

Special coverage:
North Korea Nuclear Issue 
Related readings:
US, DPRK 'reach deal on frozen funds'
N.Korea plans to close nuke facility
N.Korea insists US unfreeze $25m
Dispute over N.Korea funds may be over
Nuke disarmament complex: IAEA
DPRK 'committed' to disarmament pact

"I believe for the first time they do want to enter into an agreement
with the six-party countries and they want a better relationship with the
United States," Richardson told NBC.

"They know that the key is dismantling their nuclear weapons."

Richardson's delegation is on a mission to oversee the return of remains
of American soldiers from the Korean War but many hope to get a sense of
the reclusive communist country's thinking about the nuclear issue during
the visit.

The Bush administration's top Korea expert, Victor Cha of the National
Security Council, is part of the U.S. delegation, signaling a willingness
by the White House to engage the North Koreans if they reciprocate, NBC
said.

Richardson, a Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S.
ambassador to the United Nations, visited North Korea in the 1990s and in
2005.

Although North Korea invited Richardson alone, the White House joined the
trip partly to make sure he did not deviate from official U.S. policy,
NBC said.

Willing to allow UN inspections

North Korea's top nuclear negotiator told U.S. envoys Monday that his
government would immediately invite U.N. nuclear inspectors into the
country if US$25 million in disputed North Korean funds are released to
Pyongyang.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan met with Bill Richardson
and Anthony Principi, U.S. President George W. Bush's former veteran
affairs secretary, who were visiting Pyongyang.

Kim "indicated that the North Korean government would invite the ...
inspectors back the moment the funds are released to the North Korean
government," Principi told reporters after the meeting.

Kim also told the U.S. delegation of the difficulty of shutting down its
main nuclear reactor by a Saturday deadline called for in a February
nuclear disarmament accord, he said.

"They can make a beginning, but whether they can completely shut down a
nuclear reactor in such a short time would be very difficult," Principi
said.

There has been little progress in implementing the landmark February 13
nuclear agreement in which North Korea promised to take initial steps
toward dismantling its nuclear program, including closing its main
nuclear reactor and providing a full list of its nuclear facilities.

North Korea has refused to move forward due to the delayed transfer of
US$25 million frozen by Macau authorities after the U.S. blacklisted a
bank in that Chinese administrative region in 2005 for allegedly helping
Pyongyang launder money.

Last week, the State Department said that a hitch stalling the release of
the funds had been resolved, potentially clearing the way for the
disbursement of the money. No details were released on when or how the
money would be transferred.

Richardson said his delegation pushed Kim for a show of good faith that
North Korea was ready to move forward in it obligations under the
February 13 deal. He said the U.S. side asked for a meeting of the
six-nations involved in nuclear disarmament talks before Saturday, when
Pyongyang is supposed to shut down its nuclear reactor and let in U.N.
nuclear inspectors.

"Our negotiators are ready to meet with the North Koreans immediately so
that this effort to dismantle their nuclear weapons is concluded,"
Richardson said.

Reporters were allowed to view the first minutes of the meeting. Kim said
that the visit was the first one that included both Democratic and
Republican American officials since Bush took office.

"In light of current international relations and DPRK-US relations, your
current visit to our country is of very great significance," Kim said
through an interpreter.

As the officials met, hundreds of children and women in brightly colored
traditional Korean dresses practiced dances that they will perform on
Sunday, when North Koreans celebrate the 95th anniversary of the birth of
Kim Il Sung, the country's founding president and the father of current
leader Kim Jong Il.

Richardson has regularly made diplomatic trips, often on his own
initiative, to a number of global hot spots. Though visits to North Korea
by senior U.S. officials are rare, this was Richardson's sixth.

He said the timing of his visit is important and will show North Korea
the United States' good intentions.

Richardson's group is expected to oversee the transfer of remains from
the North Korean army to U.N. personnel.

On Wednesday, the delegation plans to drive from Pyongyang to South
Korea, hopefully with the U.S. remains.

Top World News 

� Abe meets Bush, renews sympathy for 'comfort women'

� Bombers strike at Iraqi army, civilians

� Putin firm in final union address

� US House OKs Iraq troop pullout bill

� Japanese PM to meet Bush in summit

Today's Top News 

� China to act on pollution, warming gases

� Yang a popular choice as FM

� Hu, Lien stress cross-Straits peace

� US captures senior Al-Qaida operative

� Yang Jiechi named new FM, replacing Li Zhaoxing

Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours

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Chinese Online Class - Bush to Iran: 'Give back the hostages'

WORLD / Middle East

Bush to Iran: 'Give back the hostages'

(AP)
Updated: 2007-04-01 15:08

US President Bush listens to a question regarding Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales during a joint news conference with Brazil's President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, not pictured, at Camp David, Md., Saturday,
March 31, 2007. [AP]

CAMP DAVID, Md. - US President Bush on Saturday said Iran's capture of 15
British sailors and marines was "inexcusable" and called for Iran to
"give back the hostages" immediately and unconditionally.

Related readings:
Iran airs second British's apology
Iran broadcasts sailors' apology
Britain seeks to raise pressure on Iran over sailors
UN urges resolution of Iran seizure
Female sailor's release may be delayed
UK rejects demand to admit trespassing
Britain urged to admit navy trespassed
Blair warns Iran standoff could escalate
Blair hopes diplomacy gets sailors back
Iran: Brit sailors may face charges
Blair calls capture of sailors 'serious'

Bush said Iran plucked the sailors out of Iraqi waters. Iran's president
said Saturday they were in Iranian waters and called Britain and its
allies "arrogant and selfish" for not apologizing for trespassing.

"It's inexcusable behavior," Bush said at the Camp David presidential
retreat, where he was meeting with the president of Brazil. "Iran must
give back the hostages. They're innocent. They did nothing wrong."

It was the first time that Bush had commented publicly on the captured
Britons. Washington has taken a low-key approach to avoid aggravating
tensions over the incident and shaking international resolve to get Iran
to give up its uranium enrichment program.

Bush did not answer a question about whether the United States would have
reacted militarily if those captured had been Americans. The president
said he supports British Prime Minister Tony Blair's efforts to find a
diplomatic resolution to the crisis, now in its second week.

Bush would not comment about Britain's options if Iran does not release
the hostages, but he seemed to reject any swapping of the British
captives for Iranians detained in Iraq.

"I support the prime minister when he made it clear there were no quid
pro quos," Bush said.

Like Bush's words, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments were
his most extensive on the crisis. They tracked tough talk from other
Iranian officials, an indication that Tehran's position could be
hardening.

"The British occupier forces did trespass our waters. Our border guards
detained them with skill and bravery," Iran's official news agency quoted
Ahmadinejad as saying. "But arrogant powers, because of their arrogant
and selfish spirit, are claiming otherwise."

Britain, however, appeared to be easing its stance, emphasizing its
desire to talk with Iran about what it termed a regrettable situation.

"I think everyone regrets that this position has arisen," British Foreign
Secretary Margaret Beckett said at a European Union summit in Bremen,
Germany. "What we want is a way out of it."

Iran appeared unreceptive to possible talks with Britain.

"Instead of apologizing over trespassing by British forces, the world
arrogant powers issue statements and deliver speeches," Ahmadinejad told
a crowd in southeastern Iran.

The British sailors were detained by Iranian naval units March 23 while
patrolling for smugglers near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway
that has long been a disputed dividing line between Iraq and Iran.
Britain also insists the sailors were in Iraqi waters.

In London on Saturday, the political wing of the Iranian opposition group
Mujahedeen Khalq said the capture was planned in advance and carried out
in retaliation for U.N. sanctions over Iran's nuclear program. The group
is listed as a terrorist group by Britain, the U.S. and the European
Union.

Blair has expressed disgust that the captured service members had been
"paraded and manipulated" in video footage released by Iran. He warned
Tehran that it faced increasing isolation if it did not free them.

Britain has frozen most contacts with Iran. The U.N. Security Council has
expressed "grave concern" about the incident. The EU has demanded the
sailors' unconditional release and warned of unspecified "appropriate
measures" if Tehran does not comply - a position the Iranian Foreign
Ministry called "bias and meddlesome."

Ahmad Bakhshayesh, a professor of politics in Tehran's Allameh
University, said he's convinced that Iran is prepared to stand its ground
and insist that the British violated Iranian territory.

"Iran will seriously continue the case and will put them on trial,"
Bakhshayesh said. "Only an apology by Britain can stop it. Iran thinks
that Britons trespassed to test Iran's reaction, and now London is trying
to isolate Tehran instead of apologizing."

But British officials are hopeful that diplomacy can resolve the crisis.
The Foreign Office confirmed Saturday that Britain had replied to a
letter received earlier in this week from the Iranian embassy. It
declined to reveal the nature of either letter.

"We have been exchanging letters with the Iranian government, and we will
continue to conduct or diplomatic discussions in private," a spokesman
said on the government's customary condition of anonymity.

Top World News 

� Abe meets Bush, renews sympathy for 'comfort women'

� Bombers strike at Iraqi army, civilians

� Putin firm in final union address

� US House OKs Iraq troop pullout bill

� Japanese PM to meet Bush in summit

Today's Top News 

� China to act on pollution, warming gases

� Yang a popular choice as FM

� Hu, Lien stress cross-Straits peace

� US captures senior Al-Qaida operative

� Yang Jiechi named new FM, replacing Li Zhaoxing

Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours

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Chinese Online Class - Bush to Iran: 'Give back the hostages'

WORLD / Middle East

Bush to Iran: 'Give back the hostages'

(AP)
Updated: 2007-04-01 15:08

US President Bush listens to a question regarding Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales during a joint news conference with Brazil's President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, not pictured, at Camp David, Md., Saturday,
March 31, 2007. [AP]

CAMP DAVID, Md. - US President Bush on Saturday said Iran's capture of 15
British sailors and marines was "inexcusable" and called for Iran to
"give back the hostages" immediately and unconditionally.

Related readings:
Iran airs second British's apology
Iran broadcasts sailors' apology
Britain seeks to raise pressure on Iran over sailors
UN urges resolution of Iran seizure
Female sailor's release may be delayed
UK rejects demand to admit trespassing
Britain urged to admit navy trespassed
Blair warns Iran standoff could escalate
Blair hopes diplomacy gets sailors back
Iran: Brit sailors may face charges
Blair calls capture of sailors 'serious'

Bush said Iran plucked the sailors out of Iraqi waters. Iran's president
said Saturday they were in Iranian waters and called Britain and its
allies "arrogant and selfish" for not apologizing for trespassing.

"It's inexcusable behavior," Bush said at the Camp David presidential
retreat, where he was meeting with the president of Brazil. "Iran must
give back the hostages. They're innocent. They did nothing wrong."

It was the first time that Bush had commented publicly on the captured
Britons. Washington has taken a low-key approach to avoid aggravating
tensions over the incident and shaking international resolve to get Iran
to give up its uranium enrichment program.

Bush did not answer a question about whether the United States would have
reacted militarily if those captured had been Americans. The president
said he supports British Prime Minister Tony Blair's efforts to find a
diplomatic resolution to the crisis, now in its second week.

Bush would not comment about Britain's options if Iran does not release
the hostages, but he seemed to reject any swapping of the British
captives for Iranians detained in Iraq.

"I support the prime minister when he made it clear there were no quid
pro quos," Bush said.

Like Bush's words, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments were
his most extensive on the crisis. They tracked tough talk from other
Iranian officials, an indication that Tehran's position could be
hardening.

"The British occupier forces did trespass our waters. Our border guards
detained them with skill and bravery," Iran's official news agency quoted
Ahmadinejad as saying. "But arrogant powers, because of their arrogant
and selfish spirit, are claiming otherwise."

Britain, however, appeared to be easing its stance, emphasizing its
desire to talk with Iran about what it termed a regrettable situation.

"I think everyone regrets that this position has arisen," British Foreign
Secretary Margaret Beckett said at a European Union summit in Bremen,
Germany. "What we want is a way out of it."

Iran appeared unreceptive to possible talks with Britain.

"Instead of apologizing over trespassing by British forces, the world
arrogant powers issue statements and deliver speeches," Ahmadinejad told
a crowd in southeastern Iran.

The British sailors were detained by Iranian naval units March 23 while
patrolling for smugglers near the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway
that has long been a disputed dividing line between Iraq and Iran.
Britain also insists the sailors were in Iraqi waters.

In London on Saturday, the political wing of the Iranian opposition group
Mujahedeen Khalq said the capture was planned in advance and carried out
in retaliation for U.N. sanctions over Iran's nuclear program. The group
is listed as a terrorist group by Britain, the U.S. and the European
Union.

Blair has expressed disgust that the captured service members had been
"paraded and manipulated" in video footage released by Iran. He warned
Tehran that it faced increasing isolation if it did not free them.

Britain has frozen most contacts with Iran. The U.N. Security Council has
expressed "grave concern" about the incident. The EU has demanded the
sailors' unconditional release and warned of unspecified "appropriate
measures" if Tehran does not comply - a position the Iranian Foreign
Ministry called "bias and meddlesome."

Ahmad Bakhshayesh, a professor of politics in Tehran's Allameh
University, said he's convinced that Iran is prepared to stand its ground
and insist that the British violated Iranian territory.

"Iran will seriously continue the case and will put them on trial,"
Bakhshayesh said. "Only an apology by Britain can stop it. Iran thinks
that Britons trespassed to test Iran's reaction, and now London is trying
to isolate Tehran instead of apologizing."

But British officials are hopeful that diplomacy can resolve the crisis.
The Foreign Office confirmed Saturday that Britain had replied to a
letter received earlier in this week from the Iranian embassy. It
declined to reveal the nature of either letter.

"We have been exchanging letters with the Iranian government, and we will
continue to conduct or diplomatic discussions in private," a spokesman
said on the government's customary condition of anonymity.

Top World News 

� Abe meets Bush, renews sympathy for 'comfort women'

� Bombers strike at Iraqi army, civilians

� Putin firm in final union address

� US House OKs Iraq troop pullout bill

� Japanese PM to meet Bush in summit

Today's Top News 

� China to act on pollution, warming gases

� Yang a popular choice as FM

� Hu, Lien stress cross-Straits peace

� US captures senior Al-Qaida operative

� Yang Jiechi named new FM, replacing Li Zhaoxing

Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours

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Chinese School - Wednesday's order of play

Sports / Games Info

Wednesday's order of play

(worldsnooker.com)
Updated: 2007-03-28 10:04

Here's the schedule for day three of the Honghe Industrial 2007 World
Snooker China Open at the Student Gymnasium in Beijing.

All times are local (GMT + 7 hours)

3pm

Mark Williams v Jamie Cope

Steve Davis v Stuart Bingham

Shaun Murphy v Mei Xiwen

Stephen Maguire v Mark King

7.30pm

Barry Hawkins v Ding Junhui

Ken Doherty v Li Hang

Anthony Hamilton v Mark Selby

Peter Ebdon v Joe Swail

Top Sports News 

� Bulls push Heat to brink of elimination

� China punishes player for "unsportsmanlike" message

� Reviving the Olympic spirit 75 years later

� Owen set for Newcastle comeback

� Gerrard rested as Liverpool eye Champions League

Today's Top News 

� China to act on pollution, warming gases

� Yang a popular choice as FM

� Hu, Lien stress cross-Straits peace

� US captures senior Al-Qaida operative

� Yang Jiechi named new FM, replacing Li Zhaoxing

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Chinese Mandarin - Iran seizes 15 British sailors

WORLD / Middle East

Iran seizes 15 British sailors

(AP)
Updated: 2007-03-24 08:54

Commodore Nick Lambert, commander of the British Royal Navy frigate HMS
Cornwall, speaks aboard his ship Friday March 23, 2007in this image made
from television. [AP]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Naval forces of Iran's Revolutionary Guards
captured 15 British sailors and marines at gunpoint Friday in the Persian
Gulf - a move coming during heightened tensions between the West and Iran.

U.S. and British officials said a boarding party from the frigate HMS
Cornwall was seized about 10:30 a.m. during a routine inspection of a
merchant ship inside Iraqi territorial waters near the disputed Shatt
al-Arab waterway.

Iran's Foreign Ministry insisted the Britons were operating in Iranian
waters and would be held "for further investigation," Iranian state
television said.

A U.S. Navy official in Bahrain, Cmdr. Kevin Aandahl, said Iran's
Revolutionary Guard naval forces were responsible and had broadcast a
brief radio message saying the British party was not harmed.

In London, the British government summoned the Iranian ambassador to the
Foreign Office, and Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said he "was left
in no doubt that we want them back."

Iranian TV quoted an Iranian Foreign Ministry official as saying the top
British diplomat in Tehran had been called in to receive Tehran's protest
of the "illegal entry" into Iranian waters.

"This is not the first time that British military personnel during the
occupation of Iraq have entered illegally into Iran's territorial
waters," the unidentified official was quoted as saying.

Britain's Defense Ministry said the Royal Navy personnel were "engaged in
routine boarding operations of merchant shipping in Iraqi territorial
waters" and had completed a ship inspection when they were accosted by
Iranian vessels.

The eight Royal Navy sailors and seven Royal Marines were part of a task
force that protects Iraqi oil terminals and maintains security in Iraqi
waters under authority of the U.N. Security Council.

The Cornwall's commander, Commodore Nick Lambert, said the frigate lost
communication with the boarding party, but a helicopter crew saw Iranian
naval vessels approach.

"I've got 15 sailors and marines who have been arrested by the Iranians
and my immediate concern is their safety," he told British Broadcasting
Corp. television.

Lambert said he hoped it was a "simple mistake" stemming from the long
dispute between Iraq and Iran over demarcating their territorial waters
just off the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway that divides the two
countries.

White House press secretary Tony Snow said the Bush administration was
monitoring events. "The British government is demanding the immediate
safe return of the people and equipment and we are keeping watch on the
situation," Snow said.

The incident occurred as the U.N. Security Council debates expanding
sanctions against Iran seeking to force Tehran to suspend uranium
enrichment. The U.S. and other nations suspect Iran is trying to produce
nuclear weapons. Iran denies that and insists it won't halt the program.

Iran's leaders also have denied allegations by the U.S., Britain and
others that Iranians are arming Shiite Muslim militias in Iraq.

Hours before the seizure of the Royal Navy team, British Lt. Col. Justin
Maciejewski told BBC Radio 4's "Today" program from the Iraqi city of
Basra that Iranians provided weapons and money to militants who are
attacking British troops in southern Iraq.

The U.S. military has leveled similar charges, saying Iranians send arms
to Iraqi extremists, including sophisticated roadside bombs.

This week, two commanders of an Iraqi Shiite militia told The Associated
Press in Baghdad that hundreds of Iraqi Shiites had crossed into Iran for
training by the elite Quds force, a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard
thought to have trained Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon.

With tensions running high, the United States has bolstered its naval
forces in the Persian Gulf in a show of strength directed at Iran. A
strike group led by the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis recently
joined a similar force led by the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.

U.S. officials have expressed concern that with so much military hardware
in the Gulf, a small incident like Friday's could escalate into a
dangerous confrontation.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, warned this week that if
Western countries "treat us with threats and enforcement of coercion and
violence, undoubtedly they must know that the Iranian nation and
authorities will use all their capacities to strike enemies that attack."

The seizure of two Royal Navy inflatable boats took place just outside
the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab waterway, a 125-mile channel dividing Iraq
from Iran. Its name means Arab Coastline in Arabic, and Iranians call it
Arvandrud �� Persian for Arvand River.

A 1975 treaty recognized the middle of the waterway as the border. Iraqi
leader Saddam Hussein canceled the treaty five years later and invaded
Iran, triggering an eight-year war.

"It's been in dispute for some time," said Aandahl, the U.S. Navy
official in Bahrain. "We've been operating there for a couple of years
and we know the lines very well. This was a compliant boarding, this
happens routinely. What's out of the ordinary is the Iranian response."

In June 2004, six British marines and two sailors were seized by Iran in
the Shatt al-Arab. They were presented blindfolded on Iranian television
and admitted entering Iranian waters illegally, then released unharmed
after three days.

Vali Nasr, a senior fellow for Middle East Studies at the Council on
Foreign Relations, suggested Friday's detention could be connected to the
arrest of five Iranians in a U.S.-led raid in northern Iraq in January.
The U.S. said the five included a Revolutionary Guard general.

"I think Iran sees this as retaliation for the arrest of their own
personnel. They have repeatedly said that they want their personnel
released," Nasr said. "So they are either signaling that they can do the
same thing or they are trying to bring attention to it."

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Today's Top News 

� Chief judge pledges to fight judicial corruption

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� Iran seizes 15 British sailors

� China's richest oil strike near Dalian

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Free Chinese Lesson - Thousands protesters against Iraq war

WORLD / America

Thousands protesters against Iraq war

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-03-18 09:06

Thousands of anti-war demonstrators, some carrying yellow and black signs
reading "U.S. out of Iraq now!" marched on the Pentagon on Saturday, one
of several protests worldwide to mark four years of war.

Thousands of protesters against the war in Iraq walk in the March on the
Pentagon in Washington, March 17, 2007.[Reuters]
The march, on a cold, cloudy and windy St. Patrick's Day, comes just
before the fourth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war on Tuesday and
40 years after a similar protest at the Pentagon over the Vietnam War.

On a stage in the Pentagon parking lot, speaker after speaker demanded
the end of the war in Iraq and some called for President George W. Bush's
impeachment. A flag-draped coffin was displayed near the stage bearing a
picture of a young soldier killed in Iraq.

"We're here in the shadow of the war machine," peace activist Cindy
Sheehan said. "We need to shut it down."

Wearing a black ski cap, Sheehan said soldiers like her son, Casey, who
was killed in Iraq, were being sent "to die for nothing."

A woman for the group that organized the protest told the cheering crowd,
"Impeach Bush, impeach Cheney, impeach Gates." The latter references were
to Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Jonathan Hutto, a 29-year-old active-duty sailor who served in Iraq,
urged the demonstrators to tell lawmakers "to get a backbone and spine"
and stop the war.

The march began near the Vietnam War Memorial, just a few blocks from the
White House, and proceeded across the Potomac River toward the Pentagon.

A smaller group of war supporters held a counter-demonstration with signs
that said: "Win the war or lose to jihad," "Our troops are shedding their
blood to keep terrorists from America," and "St. Patrick: Drive the
Democrats from our land."

One of the supporters, Vietnam War veteran David Warne, 57, said, "What
you need to have is the military fight a war, not a bunch of
politicians," referring to efforts by Democrats in Congress to limit the
war.

1 2 

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Chinese Mandarin - Japan to probe WWII military brothels

WORLD / Asia-Pacific

Japan to probe WWII military brothels

(AP)
Updated: 2007-03-09 06:43

TOKYO - Under intense pressure from Asia and the United States, Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that ruling party lawmakers will
conduct a fresh investigation into the Japanese military's forced sexual
slavery of women during World War II.

Abe triggered outrage in China, North and South Korea and the Philippines
last week by saying there was no proof the women were coerced. He said
Monday that Japan will not apologize again for the Japanese military's
"comfort stations."

Abe also faces pressure from the United States, where the House of
Representatives is considering a resolution urging Japan to formally
apologize for its wartime brothels. Japanese leaders apologized in 1993
for the government's role, but the apology was not approved by
Parliament. Abe said Thursday that he "basically stands by the 1993
apology."

The government is ready to cooperate with the investigation, Abe said
Thursday, amid calls for a review from conservatives who question many of
the claims by victims and others who say the government kidnapped the
women and forced them into sex slavery.

"I was told the party will conduct an investigation or a study, so we
will provide government documents and cooperate as necessary," Abe told
reporters.

The top government spokesman said earlier Thursday that Japan's position
on the coercion of women into sex slavery during the war had been
misinterpreted and misrepresented by the U.S. media, and that Tokyo would
soon issue a rebuttal.

Demonstrators hold banners at a rally to protest Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe's remarks on 'comfort woman'--Japan's euphemism for wartime
sex slaves-- near the parliament in Tokyo March 7, 2007. The protestors
are holding banners calling on Japan to acknowledge that comfort women
were coerced into serving in Japanese military brothels. [Reuters]

"My remarks have been twisted in a sense and reported overseas, which
further invites misunderstanding," Abe said. "This is an extremely
unproductive situation."

Historians say that about 200,000 women �� mostly from Korea and China ��
served in Japanese military brothels throughout Asia in the 1930s and
1940s. Accounts of abuse by the military have been backed up by
witnesses, and even former Japanese soldiers.

Abe's statement contradicted evidence in Japanese documents, unearthed in
1992, that historians said showed that military authorities had a direct
role in working with contractors to forcibly procure women for the
brothels.

But prominent Japanese scholars and politicians routinely deny direct
military involvement or the use of force in rounding up the women,
blaming private contractors for the abuses.

The fallout from the remarks continued to build Thursday.

The coercion of women into prostitution was "one of the key, serious
crimes committed by Japanese imperial soldiers," Qin Gang, a Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesman said during a regular news briefing.

"We hope that Japan can show courage, take a responsible attitude toward
history," he said.

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Today's Top News 

� Lawmakers deliberate bills on property, corporate tax

� Paulson: Open financial markets wider

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Chinese language - Athlete and actress give New Year blessing

Sports / Celebrity

Athlete and actress give New Year blessing

(sina)
Updated: 2007-02-14 11:16

Shuttler Bao Chunlai (L) and actress Liu Tao pose for a group of photos
for Power Sports, a Chinese language sports newspaper before the Chinese
Lunar New Year comes to give readers New Year blessing. [sina]

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 

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Today's Top News 

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� Parents pick lucky year for "piglets"

� Graft prevention body to be set up

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Learn Chinese - N.Korea talks resume amid report of US deal

WORLD / Asia-Pacific

N.Korea talks resume amid report of US deal

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-02-08 09:43

EIJING - Six-party talks aimed at dismantling N.Korea's nuclear program
start in Beijing on Thursday, with a Japanese newspaper reporting that
DPRK has already signed a memorandum with the US.

US Assistant Secretary of State and chief negotiator Christopher Hill
speaks to journalists upon arriving for the six-party talks in Beijing,
February 7, 2007. [Reuters]

Participants have played down hopes of an immediate settlement of the
protracted standoff, which took a higher profile around the world when
the DPRK staged its first test atomic blast in October, prompting UN
sanctions.

But Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper said North Korea and the United
States signed a memorandum in Berlin last month in which Pyongyang agreed
to move toward shutting down its nuclear reactor in exchange for aid.

It called for simultaneous steps to be taken, with Pyongyang moving
within weeks to freeze its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon and agreeing to
accept inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United
Nations nuclear watchdog.

In return, the United States expressed support for providing energy and
humanitarian aid, although no details were given on the amount of aid and
what it might consist of, the Asahi said.

Asked to comment on the report, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack
said in Washington: "We had a good set of consultations in Berlin with
the North Koreans as well as with our other partners in the six-party
talks prior to the commencement of this round."

He declined to comment further.

Negotiators from the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and
host China gather later on Thursday at a secluded compound in western
Beijing where they will turn their attention to a 2005 statement offering
North Korea economic and security concessions in return for abandoning
its nuclear weapons ambitions.

"I want to emphasize that the real success is when we complete the
September 05 agreement," chief US negotiator Christopher Hill told
reporters in Beijing on Wednesday.

"Not just when we start the 05 agreement, but when we finish it, so we're
not going to finish that this week. We'll just maybe take a good first
step."

South Korea's envoy Chun Yung-woo said that after much negotiation it was
time for results, and he urged compromise.

"North Korea must be prepared to show, in actions, its commitment for
denuclearisation and must not make unreasonable demands, and the other
five countries must not be ungenerous or hesitant in taking rational
corresponding measures," Chun told reporters.

These talks are likely to focus on persuading North Korea to first freeze
its Yongbyon nuclear plant.

Hopes that such a deal would be sealed at the previous round in December
faded after North Korea focused on its objections to a US financial
crackdown.

David Albright, a Washington-based nuclear expert who visited Pyongyang
last week, told Reuters that chief North Korean negotiator Kim Kye-gwan
was "optimistic" a deal, including a freeze on plutonium production at
Yongbyon, was within reach this time.

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Today's Top News 

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Learn Chinese - Chinese women biathletes invincible at Winter Asiad

Sports / Team China

Chinese women biathletes invincible at Winter Asiad

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-02-01 15:15

JILIN, Northeast China - Chinese women biathletes seemed invincible at
the ongoing sixth Asian Winter Games by sweeping all gold medals at the
Beidahu ski resort, the venue of all snow sports of the Games.

Liu Xianying and Kong Yingchao finished the top two positions in the 15km
individual race here on Thursday, splitting the gold and silver medals
between themselves for the third time in a row at the Games.

China's Liu Xianying competes in the women's 15km biathlon individual at
the 6th Winter Asian Games Feburary 1, 2007.

"Chinese women biathletes are strong in Asia, we must win here, " said
German Klaus Siebert, head coach of the Chinese biathlon team.

China will make a clean sweep of the women's events if it takes the 4x6km
relay on Friday.

"We are good enough to win, but we can not take anything for granted,"
Siebert said. "We have to fight for the gold."

Chinese women biathletes have done a good job at international stage this
season, but they have to work very hard to enhance their hope for a medal
at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, according to Siebert.

"This season, our athletes were good at shooting most of the time, and
their running is OK," Siebert said. "but we have to improve stability,
because shooting is so important in biathlon."

"And I also think our athletes should focus on biathlon. Some of our
athletes are doing both biathlon and cross-country, but biathlon is a
very difficult sport, it will be too difficult to do another sport at the
same time," Siebert added.

"At the Asian Winter Games, it's OK. But at the international stage, our
athletes have to focus on one sport."

Following a victory in the 7.5 kilometers sprint event on Monday, Liu
pocketed her second personal title Thursday morning at the Beidahu skiing
resort, clocking on 56 minutes and 27.6 seconds, 1:06.9 ahead of Kong,
winner of the 10km pursuit.

Liu embraced Siebert and her husband Du Bo after crossing the finish line.

"I am very happy to win my second gold of the Games," said Liu. "I have
to thank our coach, he made a good plan for me before the race and I did
what he told me to do."

"My running was good, and my shooting was OK," Liu added.

Liu had two misses in 20 tries in the shooting range.

Inna Mozhevitina of Kazakhstan took home the bronze in one hour and 8.6
seconds.

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Learn Chinese online - Ding crushes Hendry to reach final

Sports / China

Ding crushes Hendry to reach final

(AFP)
Updated: 2007-01-21 08:42

LONDON - Chinese teenager Ding Junhui continued his impressive run at the
British Masters at Wembley when he crushed former world champion Stephen
Hendry 6-2 in their semi-final.

China's Ding Junhui prepares to hit his shot against former world
champion Stephen Hendry in their semi-final at the British Masters at
Wembley. [China Poto Press]

Ding, who won a wildcard tie to qualify for the event and made a maximum
147 in the process, will now play Ronnie O'Sullivan who beat Stephen
Maguire 6-4 in Sunday's final.

He will be trying to win his fourth career title, all before the age of
20.

"It's the first time I've beaten Stephen in the UK," said Ding, who got
the better of Hendry 9-5 in the final to win the China Open in Beijing in
2005.

"He is a very difficult opponent and he's familiar with the conditions
here so it's a good acheivement to beat him.

"But I still have room for improvement."

Hendry, who rates Ding as the best talent to emerge in the past decade,
said: "I made three or four silly errors in different frames, but he
played fantastically well from the sixth onwards.

"He seemed to go up a gear. The best compliment I can give him is that
there are only two or three players in the world who, when youre sitting
there, you consistently think youre not going to get back to the table,
even with 15 reds on.

"If hes going to keep playing like that hell be around the top four
players for the next 10 to 15 years."

Ding edged the first frame and took the second before Hendry got into the
match by winning the third.

The Chinese star then took the next before Hendry fired in a break of
129. However, Ding reeled off the next three with a break of 128 in the
seventh frame.

Impressively, Ding kept Hendry pointless in the last two frames of the
tie.

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Chinese Online Class - Blast at US embassy called 'terrorism'

WORLD / Europe

Blast at US embassy called 'terrorism'

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-01-12 14:24

The US Embassy is seen after an explosion in Athens early Friday, January
12, 2007. [AP]

ATHENS, Greece - Assailants fired a rocket at the the U.S. embassy in
Athens on Friday but no one was hurt in the attack, which anonymous
callers said was staged by Greek leftists, authorities said.

In the most serious attack against the mission in 10 years, the small
rocket launched from across the street shattered windows and woke up
nearby residents in the central Athens area at 5:58 AM (0358 GMT).

"There is one or two anonymous phone calls which claim that the
Revolutionary Struggle was behind the attack," Public Order Minister
Byron Polydoras told reporters outside the embassy.

The leftist guerrilla group has emerged as the most serious domestic
threat since the dismantling of the deadly November 17 group in 2002. It
claimed an assassination attempt on Greece's Culture Minister last May
and a bomb at the Economy Ministry which wounded two people and damaged
buildings 13 months ago.

"I am treating this as a very serious attack," U.S. ambassador to Athens,
Charles Ries, told reporters outside the mission. "The embassy was
attacked in a senseless act of violence. There were no injuries."

Greek police said the rocket was launched from a building across the road
from the mission, which is often the target of Greek protests and
demonstrations, and landed inside a toilet on the third floor.

"The projectile caused slight damage to the facade's glass and the
ceiling," police said in a statement.

ATTACK CONDEMNED

Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyanni rushed to the embassy to meet Ries
and condemn the attack.

"Such acts have cost us dearly in the past," she told reporters. "The
government will do everything in its power so they are not repeated."

In February 1996, November 17 claimed responsibility for a rocket attack
at the back of the compound, which caused minor damage to three
diplomatic vehicles and some surrounding buildings.

Once Greece's biggest security threat, the group was dismantled two years
before the Athens 2004 Olympics. It had staged dozens of bombings,
shootings and rocket attacks, and killed U.S. and other foreign diplomats
in Greece.

Dozens of police cars surrounded the embassy and hundred of police
cordoned off all roads in the area, including a major boulevard in front
of the mission. Police helicopters hovered overhead.

Local residents called in to state television saying they had felt the
explosion, which shattered some windows.

"It was a huge explosion, the ground shook. I woke up and rushed to the
balcony to see what happened," a local resident, who was not identified,
told Greek state TV.

The heavily-guarded embassy building, surrounded by a 3-metre
(9-feet)-high steel fence, has guards are posted at every entrance and at
street corners around it.

In November last year, Greek riot police fired tear gas to disperse
demonstrators marching to the U.S. embassy in Athens who chanted slogans
including "Bush the butcher, out of Iraq" and "The USA is the real
terrorist".

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Chinese Online Class - US commanders wary of Iraq troop plan

WORLD / Middle East

US commanders wary of Iraq troop plan

(AP)
Updated: 2006-12-21 14:35

Newly installed US Defense Secretary Robert Gates (L) greets General
George Casey (R) and General John Abizaid (C) upon arriving in Baghdad
December 20, 2006. [Reuters]

BAGHDAD, Iraq - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates found American
commanders wary of a proposal to rush more UStroops to Iraq as he visited
the war-ravaged country Wednesday.

Special coverage:
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US President Bush is considering that idea and others in his search for a
fresh path in a 3 1/2-plus year war that has no end in sight and has lost
the support of the American public.

On just his third day in charge of the Pentagon, Gates made the
unannounced trip with the administration under intense pressure to forge
a new strategy - and just hours after the president conceded, for the
first time, that the US is not winning the conflict.

After meeting with top US generals at Camp Victory, Gates acknowledged
concerns that rushing thousands more American troops to the battlefront
could allow the Iraqis to slow their effort to take control of the
country. He said no decisions have been made.

"It's clearly a consideration," Gates said of how an infusion of American
troops might affect Iraqi leaders. "I think that the commanders out here
have expressed a concern about that."

Gen. George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq and one of several
generals who met with Gates, said he supports boosting troop levels only
when there is a specific purpose for their deployment. Other military
leaders have expressed uncertainty over the purpose and results of
injecting more troops.

"I'm not necessarily opposed to the idea, but what I want to see happen
is whether, if we do bring more American troops here, they help us
progress to our strategic objectives," Casey told reporters during a news
conference with Gates and other military leaders.

Gen. John Abizaid, top US commander in the Middle East, sounded a more
favorable tone. The military, he said, is "looking at every possible
thing that might influence the situation to make Baghdad in particular
more secure."

Bush said Wednesday he is considering sending more troops to Iraq but has
not made up his mind. No timetables or troop totals have been mentioned
publicly, but by some accounts roughly 20,000 troops would be added to
the 140,000 already there.

The president is expected to announce his decisions next month - when a
new Congress convenes, controlled by Democrats ready to make the war
their top concern.

Echoing some of his commanders' questions about a troop surge, Bush said,
"In order to do so, there must be a specific mission that can be
accomplished with more troops."

Bush is considering choices ranging from a short-term increase of
thousands of troops to bring the escalating violence in Baghdad and Anbar
province under control, to removing combat US forces and accelerating the
training and equipping of Iraqi security forces. More than one-third of
the US troops in Iraq are combat forces.

Gates, on his third day on the job, said he would not form a judgment
until he has spoken to Iraqi leaders, which he is scheduled to do during
his visit.

Also on the trip was Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, plus officials from the State Department, the National Security
Council and the White House.

The timing of Gates' trip, and his entourage, underscored how important
the administration believes it is to set a new direction in the Iraq war.

Gates was noncommittal when asked whether the sectarian violence in
Baghdad can be quashed without taking action against the Mahdi Army of
anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. Al-Sadr is a main supporter
of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Gates said he is looking for ways to help the Iraqi government bring down
the violence and "that will be a principle theme of discussions."

Bush and Gates also said they are considering increasing the overall size
of the US military following recent complaints by top generals that the
forces have been stretched too thin by the worldwide campaign against
terrorists. They used no figures, but Bush said he was asking Gates to
produce a plan for the expansion.

Gates said he was just starting to study that idea. He expressed concern
that the Army and Marine Corps are not large enough to face challenges of
the 21st century that might include threats in Iran and North Korea, as
well as natural disasters.

The debate over increasing troops has continued for months, as the
military has been struggling to quell the escalating violence -
particularly sectarian bloodshed - in Iraq. The war has claimed more than
2,950 US casualties and cost roughly US$350 billion.

Some top US commanders have been wary of even a short-term troop
increase, saying it might bring only a temporary respite to the violence
while confronting the US with shortages of fresh troops in the future.

Military leaders are also considering an increase in the number of
American advisers for Iraqi security forces.

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Chinese Mandarin - China win 151st gold in Doha

Sports / China

China win 151st gold in Doha

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-12-15 08:48

China scooped up their 151st gold medal at the 15th Asian Games on
Thursday, beating their total from the 2002 Games in Pusan with two days
to go.

China's Yuan Xiaochao competes in the men's cudgel of the wushu event at
the Asian Games in Doha December 14, 2006.[Reuters]

Yuan Xiaochao claimed their 151st gold in the martial art wushu.

Seconds earlier, clad in yellow and red spandex, cyclist Li Yan put on a
burst of speed at the velodrome to take the women's points race and make
the 150 milestone.

The world's most populous nation leads the medals table by some distance
-- second-placed South Korea are 100 behind.

China are still way off their Games record of 183, which they won on home
soil in Beijing 16 years ago.

They have plenty of opportunity to add to their haul later on Thursday,
however, with Chinese athletes continuing to dominate in Doha.

The Chinese can win their first Asian Games hockey gold when their men
take on defending champions South Korea as the sport in Asia undergoes a
radical shift in power.

China have never featured strongly in hockey but their drive to succeed
in all sports with the Beijing Olympics looming in 2008 has sparked
radical progress.

"We have practised a lot of technical moves... we have been preparing for
two years," Chinese captain Song Yi said.

Fresh from her victory in the women's tennis singles, Zheng Jie is
favourite to claim her second gold medal when she partners Yan Zi in the
women's doubles final at Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex.

The Chinese top seeds meet Taiwan's Chan Yung Jan and Chuang Chia Jung.

China did not have it all their way, however.

Taiwan staged a stunning recovery to shock them 10-7 in a softball
thriller and qualify for the gold medal game against Japan later on
Thursday.

"Small cerebral mistakes at the highest level of play really hurt you,"
Chinese coach Michael Bastian said. "We need to get a lot tougher."

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Learn mandarin - Six-way talks blocked - report

WORLD / Asia-Pacific

Six-way talks blocked - report

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-12-06 16:02

MOSCOW - Six-way talks on North Korea cannot restart this year or in the
foreseeable future because of "unacceptable" US conditions, Russia's
Interfax news agency quoted a North Korean diplomatic source as saying on
Wednesday.

"The demands the United States put forward at consultations between the
heads of delegations to the six-way talks .... which took place in
Beijing on November 28 and 29, are unacceptable for North Korea," the
agency quoted the source as saying.

"As a result, the renewal of the negotiation process in December 2006 is
impossible, and -- if there is no change in the United States' position
-- in the foreseeable future too."

Interfax quoted the unnamed source in a report datelined Hong Kong.
Russian media are among the few with regular access to official circles
in reclusive North Korea.

The six-way talks on North Korea's nuclear program have been stalled
since Pyongyang walked out a year ago. South Korea, North Korea, Japan,
China, Russia and the United States are the participants in the talks.

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� John Bolton quits UN post

� Pakistan would give up claim to Kashmir

Today's Top News 

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� Party gets tough against corruption

� Oil pricing method to change: report

� Half of stomach cancer death in China

� WB: Poverty relief efforts impressive

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Learn Mandarin online - N.Korean envoy Kim Kye-gwan arrives in Beijing

WORLD / Photo

N.Korean envoy Kim Kye-gwan arrives in Beijing

(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-11-28 11:15

North Korean envoy Kim Kye-gwan arrives at Beijing airport November 28,
2006. North Korea is ready to return to talks on ending its nuclear
weapons programme but still had difficult issues to iron out with the
United States, Kim said on Tuesday. [Reuters]

1 2 3 4 

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Today's Top News 

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Chinese language - Most Japanese favor non-nuclear policy

WORLD / Asia-Pacific

Most Japanese favor non-nuclear policy

(AP)
Updated: 2006-11-20 13:57

TOKYO - Nearly 80 percent of Japanese favor preserving the country's
anti-nuclear weapons policy, a newspaper reported Tuesday, amid ongoing
debate over whether Japan should re-examine its stance.

Japan's Yomiuri newspaper said 79.9 percent of 1,757 respondents polled
support maintaining the country's three-pronged policy of not possessing,
developing or allowing the introduction of nuclear weapons on its
territory.

Special coverage:
Parties agree to resume talks on N.Korea nuclear issue 
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Only 17.6 percent of those asked said revising the principles was
acceptable, while 2.6 percent had no response, the Yomiuri said.

The poll also found that 50.9 percent of the respondents opposed the idea
of debating the policy, while 45.9 percent said they would accept debate.

The question of whether Japan should discuss its nuclear weapons policy
is a touchy subject. Japan is the only nation to have suffered a nuclear
attack when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki near the end of World War II.

But after North Korea detonated a nuclear device on October 9, some in
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government - including Foreign Minister Taro
Aso - have publicly suggested Tokyo should allow a re-examination of its
non-nuclear policy.

Abe has repeatedly insisted he would stick to the non-nuclear policy. He
has also stated several times that the position will not be debated
formally in either the government or his ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

The Yomiuri did not provide a margin of error for the poll conducted
November 11-12 in face-to-face interviews.

1 2 

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Learn Mandarin online - Gunmen kill 10 Shiites, abduct 50

WORLD / Middle East

Gunmen kill 10 Shiites, abduct 50

(AP)
Updated: 2006-11-12 07:33

BAGHDAD- Sunni gunmen ambushed a convoy of minibuses Saturday night at a
fake checkpoint on the dangerous highway south of Baghdad, killing 10
Shiite passengers and kidnapping about 50. Across the country at least 52
other people were killed in violence or were found dead, five of them
decapitated Iraqi soldiers.

Police said the mass kidnapping and killing was near the volatile town of
Latifiyah, about 20 miles south of Baghdad in the so-called Triangle of
Death.

Shiite Muslims, a minority in that district, have routinely come under
attack from Sunni insurgents who control the territory. The highway
passing through the region from Baghdad leads to Najaf, the holiest
Shiite city in Iraq. Shiite pilgrims have become a favorite target of
Sunni gunmen, although it was not immediately known where the victims of
Saturday night's assault were headed.

Sectarian revenge killings in Baghdad and the mixed Sunni-Shiite regions
surrounding the capital have reached civil war proportions. Morgues
across a wide sweep of the center of the country are full as Shiite
militiamen and death squads range through the region killing Sunnis.

The Shiites are falling in large numbers as well in attacks from a
growing network of Sunni insurgent groups, including radical
organizations such as al-Qaida in Iraq. The U.S. military has admitted in
recent weeks that its mission to pacify the capital has not met
expectations. And now the problem appears to spreading outward at an
extraordinarily rapid rate.

The spiraling violence coincides with increasingly strident demands from
the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for
American forces to pull back into bases and leave Iraq's cities and towns
under the control of his military and police forces. But the highly
partisan troops and police are believed to be involved in sectarian
killings themselves or to look the other way, allowing Shiite death
squads and militias to operate unmolested.

In the capital, the United States military offered a $50,000 reward for
an Iraqi-American soldier kidnapped nearly three weeks ago.

Ahmed Qusai al-Taayie, a 41-year-old translator from Ann Arbor, Michigan,
was handcuffed and driven away by gunmen of a rogue Shiite militia while
visiting his Iraqi wife and her family on Oct. 23.

Al-Taayie's uncle last week said he had received through an intermediary
a demand of $250,000 from the kidnappers, but there was no word on
further communications.

There were no reported deaths among America's 152,000 service men and
women in Iraq on Saturday. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and Gen.
George Casey, the top commander in Iraq, oversaw a Veterans Day ceremony
at which 75 members of the armed forces from 33 countries were sworn in
as American citizens.

In Baghdad, eight people died and at least 38 were wounded when two bombs
hidden under parked cars exploded among noontime shoppers in downtown
Baghdad's Hafidh al-Qadhi square. Police and a medical workers said at
least 38 others were injured in the explosion at the formerly bustling
area on the eastern bank of the Tigris River.

A Slovak and Polish soldier were reported killed overnight by a roadside
bomb. Slovakian defense ministry spokesman Vladimir Gemela said the two
died when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb near Kut, 100 miles
southeast of Baghdad where coalition troops have fought fighters with the
Mahdi Army militia loyal to the radical anti-American cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr.

The deaths marked the 18th among Polish troops and fourth among those
from Slovakia, which has about 100 troops in Iraq operating jointly with
the 900 Polish troops in the country.

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico has said his country will pull its
troops out of Iraq in February.

Baghdad police 1st Lt. Thayer Mahmud said his men found 25 corpses dumped
in several parts of the capital in the 24 hours from 6 p.m. Friday.

A Samarra police captain, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he
feared retribution, said the city morgue had received the beheaded bodies
five soldiers who were kidnapped last week in the Meshahda area, 20 miles
north of the capital.

Top World News 

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Chinese School - Abbas, Hamas fail to agree on joint gov't

WORLD / Middle East

Abbas, Hamas fail to agree on joint gov't

(AP)
Updated: 2006-11-07 09:57

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The Palestinian president and prime minister,
heading rival movements, on Monday failed again to agree on a joint
government that might lead to lifting Western sanctions that have
bankrupted their administration - but they planned to keep trying.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, waves to
Palestinian students demonstrating as he leaves after opening an
exhibition in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Monday, Nov. 6, 2006. [AP]

President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate, and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of
Hamas met in Gaza for more than two hours. But officials said the talks
ended with no accord on a national unity government made up of
independent experts. Both sides said talks would continue Tuesday; they
would not say what issues remain open.

Mustafa Barghouti, an independent politician playing a key role in the
talks, called the meeting "fruitful." He said, "There was agreement on
some issues, but some issues still need to be discussed."

The talks came as fighting in northern Gaza heated up on the sixth day of
an Israeli offensive. At least seven Palestinians were killed, including
a suicide bomber.

Islamic Jihad released a video of the bomber, identified as Mirvat
Masoud, after she blew herself up, wounding an Israeli soldier. "My dear
mother, I ask you to remain strong and forgive me, and God willing, we
will meet in heaven," she said on the video. Only a few of the more than
100 Palestinian suicide bombers in the past six years were women.

An Israeli missile aimed at a group of militants landed near a
Palestinian kindergarten, killing a teenage boy, critically wounding a
teacher and seriously wounding eight children, doctors said.

The army said an airstrike in the same area targeted four militants
coming to collect launchers used to fire rockets into Israel.

Abbas has been urging Hamas, which controls most government functions, to
join his Fatah movement in a coalition to end international sanctions.
The platform of the emerging government is vague about the key
international demand of recognizing Israel and may not be enough to end
the painful aid boycott.

Negotiators and officials in Hamas, which has repeatedly rejected the
international conditions since winning legislative elections in January,
said an agreement on forming a government was imminent.

"We are getting closer and closer toward a deal. Without having a strong
opportunity for this deal, Abu Mazen would not have come," Barghouti
said. Abbas is also known as Abu Mazen.

Under the emerging plan, the Hamas Cabinet and prime minister would step
down and be replaced by a team of experts in hopes of ending the Western
boycott, imposed when Hamas came to power in March.

1 2 

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Today's Top News 

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