News & Reports 2010-12-25

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In This Edition

Amid tensions on the Korean peninsula, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak is using tough rhetoric 1 and vowing 2 a counterstrike against North Korea.

An Italian anarchist 3 group claims responsibility for parcel bombs that wounded two people at the Swiss and Chilean embassies in Rome.

China's Minister of Health Chen Zhu says the reform of public hospitals is the most difficult issue contained within the country's medical reforms.

Panic buyers queue up at showrooms for days and car dealerships work overnight in response to government measures to curb 4 automobile 5 increases in the Chinese capital.

Hot Issue Reports

Lee Myung-bak Vows 6 Counterstrike against North Korea

Amid tensions on the Korean peninsula, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak is using tough rhetoric and vowing a counterstrike against North Korea.

During a visit to a military unit in Yanggu, Lee met with soldiers and inspected South Korea troop's defensive 7 readiness against the North.

"Our military should maintain an iron-tough defence posture 8 to protect our territory. And we should launch a merciless counterattack if our territory is attacked."

South Korea held a major land drill on Thursday in the Pocheon region, between Seoul and the heavily armed Demilitarized zone, separating the two Koreas. It also continued naval 9 live-fire exercises 100 km south of the maritime 10 border with North Korea.

North Korea's Armed Forces Minister Kim Yong-chun said its military would wage a "sacred war" using its nuclear deterrent 11 to quash any aggression 12 by the South, accusing Seoul of making war preparations with the recent drills.

Meanwhile, a research report from South Korea says North Korea could carry out a third atomic test next year.

The regular report by a South Korean Foreign Ministry 13 institute was published after Pyongyang's threats of waging a nuclear "sacred war" if attacked by the South.

Pyongyang carried out nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

Parcel Bombs in Rome Injure Embassy Staff

An Italian anarchist group has claimed responsibility for parcel bombs that wounded two people at the Swiss and Chilean embassies in Rome.

The explosions wounded two people and triggered heightened security checks at diplomatic missions just as holiday deliveries deluged 14 their post rooms.

Speaking outside the Swiss Embassy, Rome Mayor, Gianni Alemanno, said the motive 15 of the Swiss attack appeared to be "international" as opposed to domestic in nature, distinguishing the blast from the fake bomb that was discovered on a Rome subway earlier this week.

"I believe this attack is not related to the recent false alarm that we've had in the last few days. This is completely different. The investigators 16 are following an international path. It is surely nothing to do with the Roman context."

Italian investigators suspect the attacks are the work of anarchists 17, similar to the two-day wave of mail bombs that targeted several embassies in Athens last month - including those of Chile and Switzerland.

Swiss Ambassador Bernardino Regazzoni, spoke 18 to reporters after the explosion.

"Early in October we found a rudimentary device on the outer wall of the embassy. At the same time we found some graffiti on the walls which could have been a claim to the act. A month after what happened in Athens, we also found out about a campaign on the internet from certain groups that were announcing imprecise actions. Thus, we have raised our security level."

Last month, suspected Greek anarchists sent 14 mail bombs to foreign embassies in Athens, as well as to Berlusconi, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor 19 Angela Merkel.

Somalia's Militant 20 Groups to Intensify 21 Attacks on Burundi and Uganda

Somalia's al Qaeda-linked Islamist al Shabaab rebels say they will increase attacks on Uganda and Burundi after tightening 22 their grip on much of Somalia by joining forces with a rival militant group.

The rebels, who have waged a three-year insurgency 23 aimed at imposing 24 a strict form of Islamic law, merged 25 this week with Hizbul Islam, a smaller group which had battled them for control of southern towns.

Al Shabaab's spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage:

"After successive meetings, and relentless 26 debate between the leadership of the Mujahideen al-Shabaab and that of Hizbul Islam, the day which we have been waiting for has finally arrived. The day of unity 27, the day of understanding and gathering 29 and oneness."

The rebels now control most of central and south Somalia and much of the capital, hemming 30 Western-backed President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed's government into a few blocks.

Uganda and Burundi have troops in Somalia as part of an 8,000-strong African Union force protecting the government.

Al Shabaab claimed responsibility for twin suicide bombings in the Ugandan capital Kampala on July 11th which killed 79 people watching the World Cup final on television.

Burundi said it is increasing security around the holidays.

U.N. General Assembly Recognises Alassane Ouattara as Cote d'Ivoire's President

The United Nations General Assembly has recognised Alassane Ouattara as the winner of Cote d'Ivoire's presidential election, after the UN said he beat Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to step down.

The UN warned that at least 173 people have died in violence over the disputed presidential election and that government forces were blocking access to a possible mass grave.

On Thursday the UN Director of Human Rights for the Ivory Coast Simon Munzu appealed for a peaceful solution to the impasse 31, and called for an end to the recent violence.

"Our appeal is to everyone to recognise that we are not going to solve the current political crisis by extra-judicial killings 32, by looting and burning, by illegal arrests and detentions 33, by enforced disappearances 34. That is not the way out of the present political crisis."

Hundreds of UN peacekeepers have been protecting the hotel where Ouattara is based.

Gbagbo has ordered all U.N. peacekeepers out of the country immediately in an escalation 36 of tensions.

But the U.N. is staying put, raising fears that U.N. personnel and other foreigners could be targeted in violence as tension mounts.

The United States and the EU are imposing sanctions targeting Gbagbo, his wife and political allies.

UN Special Rapporteur on Right to Food Says China Must Maintain Small Farms

One of the United Nations top food officials says China's best protection from food shortages is this country's traditional small farming operations.

The UN's Special Rapporteur Olivier de Schutter's has just concluded a 10-day mission to China. CRI's Allie Johnson finds out more.

Olivier de Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, says that when it comes to food production, China is standing 28 on its own two feet.

"It is feeding itself instead of depending on the unpredictable international markets like many other countries do."

And the country hasn't done this through big industrial farms.

On the contrary, de Schutter says China's success has come from maintaining its agricultural traditions.

"One of the most impressive achievements of China is that small scale farming has proven it is capable of feeding this huge population of 1.3 billion."

De Schutter says 200 million households in China farm plots of on average 0.65 hectares. Yet, he says, they are highly productive.

de Schutter commends another key aspect of China's traditional farming: intercropping.

This means diverse crops are planted side by side instead of as a monoculture.

Recent tests in Yunnan province show that rice that being planted alongside other crops requires very little pesticide 37 input 38. Their findings could be a model for other places.

"This is one way first to make it less expensive to produce rice, and also to increase the yields quite significantly. In the area where this has been tested the yields have increased by 89 per cent."

All this may seem counter-intuitive. Shouldn't bigger farms mean more food, faster? Well, de Schutter says, not if you're thinking long-term. Large industrial farms need a lot of fossil fuels, chemical fertilizers, and large machinery 39. In the future, those resources will simply not be available.

"And so we have to plan the transition to more sustainable types of farming."

He also warns against the single biggest danger facing agriculture: climate change.

Extreme weather-related events like droughts and floods will make it very difficult for farmers to plan production. He says that planting diverse crops protects farmers against losing everything in a disaster.

"And this is something small farms are much better at achieving–more diverse types of farming–instead of large monocultures which are generally much more fragile in the face of weather-related events."

de Schutter says small farms in China are productive because small scale agriculture has been a government priority for years. But today, family farms face a new threat: urbanization.

"The danger I see is that pressure on land is increasing, that developers pressure farmers to abandon their land for the development of urbanization and industrial projects, and that pressure on land means that an increasingly large number of farmers shall leave their farms for the cities. And I think this is a trend which has to be very carefully monitored."

de Schutter is concerned that China may begin prioritizing industrial agriculture over small family farms.

"And I do not think that this is a path which is sustainable and desirable."

De Schutter does not deny that small farms are very labour intensive. But, he says, it's worth it.

"If well organized and well supported, small scale farming can be very effective in feeding the population."

De Schutter says that current government support for farmers and farmers' cooperatives should be continued and increased. He also recommends that rural counties are supported to better provide basic services like health care and education. This will encourage people to stay on the farm instead of leaving for the cities.

For CRI, I'm Allie Johnson.

China to Promote Direct Clearing Payment Method in Hospitals

China's Minister of Health Chen Zhu says the reform of public hospitals is the most difficult issue contained within the country's medical reforms.

He says people's complaints about how hard it can be to get a doctor and the high price of medical services both focus on public hospitals. To solve the problems, besides the reform on the overall medical system, more favorable and human-oriented measures are needed.

"We'll develop appointment treatments, convenience clinics and high quality nursing service at large. And we'll mobilize all the public hospitals to build up a long-term mechanism 40 for supporting grass-roots level and rural medical services."

Chen made the statement at a consultant 41 conference of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. The state's Ministry of Health also points out that the portion of individual medical treatment costs will be lowered to 30 percent or less in the coming 5 years. And 25 first-class hospitals in Beijing will have outpatient services all-year-round, regardless of all holidays.

Chen Zhu, Minister of Health says the reform will also put forward the upgrade of payment measures.

"We prepare to strengthen the direct clearing in the health care system. Through adopting informatized technique, the smart card, people can clear the treatment fee directly at the hospital."

Currently, around 1.2 billion people are included in the basic health care system in China. And the new medical reform launched in April, 2009 has pledged that by 2020, the country's basic health care system will cover all its citizens.

Q&A on Traffic Measure Backfires

The municipal government of Beijing has adopted new rules to restrict car purchases in an effort to combat serious traffic problems in the capital.

The city authorities will allow no more than 240,000 vehicles to be registered next year, one third of this year's total.

Under the new rules, car registrations 42 will be allocated 43 by a number plate lottery 44 system. The measures took effective Friday.

Panic buyers have been queuing up at showrooms in the past few days and many car dealerships worked throughout the night to beat the deadline.

More than 30,000 vehicles were sold last week, more than twice as many as normal.

For more about the impact of the new rule on China's car market, we talked to Yale Zhang, an independent car market analyst 45.

Four Injured in Northeast China Home Explosion

Four family members have been injured in a natural gas explosion and subsequent fire at their apartment in northeast China's Jilin Province.

The accident happened Friday morning in the family's fifth floor apartment in the Longtan District of Jilin City.

The four injured were hospitalized immediately and are now in a stable condition.

The explosion shook six apartment buildings in the neighborhood and broke the window panes 46 of more than 300 homes. Several hundred residents were evacuated 47 after the blast.

Xin Li is a local journalist of the Jilin Radio.

"The local government has urged hospitals to give immediate 35 treatment to the wounded; asked related departments to ensure the heating system in the area and also evacuated the nearby residents to ensure the road for rescuers is clear of traffic. Related departments are also working hard on repairing the broken windows and doors."

The cause of the explosion is under investigation 48.

Entertainment-Preview to the Queen's Christmas Day Speech

The role of sport will be the theme of this year's Christmas Day broadcast by Britain's Queen Elizabeth the Second.

In an excerpt 49 released ahead of the broadcast, the Queen praises Britons who lead active lives and take part in community sports events.

"In the parks of towns and cities, and on village greens up and down the country, countless 50 thousands of people every week give up their time to participate in sport and exercise of all sorts, or simply encourage others to do so".

The 84-year-old monarch 51 continues by saying that participating in sport provides "a different perspective on life".

The queen has made a Christmas radio broadcast since 1952 and on television since 1957.

She writes the speeches herself and the broadcasts are one of the few occasions where she voices her own opinions without government consultation 52.

The message will air Christmas Day on radio, television - and the royal family's YouTube channel.

US, Colombia Suffer Heavy Rains

Twenty people are missing in Colombia after another mudslide caused by weeks of rains destroyed more than 50 makeshift mountainside homes.

The landslide 53 took place in Santander province, 300 kilometres northeast of the capital, Bogota.

President Juan Manuel Santos visited the area and promised government help.

"I came here to tell the Gamaroteros that they are not alone and that we are going to rebuild and re-found this beautiful town that unfortunately disappeared."

Colombia is suffering its worst rains since records began 42 years ago.

Meanwhile, many Californian residents who endured flooding, mudslides and evacuations during a week downpour face a massive clear-up as the Christmas festivities approach. Bill Peters, of California's Department of Forestry 54 and Fire Protection, said hundreds of metric tons have had to be dug out, carried away and dumped.

"Because of all of this mud... We're talking probably hundreds of metric tons of dirt and mud, so you gotta dig out, you gotta put it on a truck, you gotta dump it, you gotta come back. It becomes a 24-7 process."

The inland region of Southern California, east of Los Angeles, was among the hardest-hit areas.

Downtown Los Angeles received more than a third of its annual average rainfall in less than a week.

Media Picks

From the Shanghai Daily: A paralysed single father in Shandong Province's Huangjia Town is to receive free medical treatment, after the story of how his three-year-old daughter was nursing him touched the heart of the nation.

Brutal 55 reality darkened the childhood of Dong Xinyi when her father was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident only five months after she was born; then her mother divorced him and left the family. But the little girl took on the responsibility of nursing her father, twenty three year old Dong Jianshe, cooking instant noodles, fetching water and cleaning rooms. Now after all the hardships the little girl has endured, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. The township government has offered medical treatment for her father and promised to cover all medical expenses. Meanwhile, the government of Leling City is also planning to raise money for the little girl's education.

Another one from the Shanghai Daily: Shanghai students have invented a mobile ladder which can "climb" buildings and may help firefighters who are trying to put out fires in high-rises. The model ladder was displayed at the Seoul International Invention Fair 2010 this month and won high acclaim 56. Firefighting in high-rise buildings has always been a problem as the ladders on current fire engines cannot reach higher than 20 stories. Lu Wenchen, a 14-year-old student at Shixi Middle School, thought about how to make a ladder reach higher floors, following the - Jiaozhou Road building inferno 57 on November 15th. The new ladder can 'climb' like a centipede, using an engine and hooks, which can secure themselves to windowsills. The hooks can grasp most protruding parts of a building and secure the ladder to the exterior and enable it to move upward