News & Reports 2010-08-28

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In This Edition

China's top nuclear envoy 1 meets South Korean officials in Seoul to continue discussions about the potential the resumption of six-party talks.

China's top legislature, the National People's Congress, proposes a quick launch of reforms in income distribution to curb 2 the widening wealth gap in the country.

Hundreds of thousands people in the southern part of Pakistan have now been ordered to evacuate 3 their homes as surging floodwaters are posing new threats to several cities.

And a recent attack on a taxi driver in New York City reignites concern over a proposed Islamic centre near Ground Zero.

Hot Issue Reports

China Nuclear envoy continues visit aimed at reviving six-party talks

China's top nuclear envoy has now met with South Korean officials in Seoul to continue discussions about the potential the resumption of six-party talks.

Wu Dawei has told South Korea's First Vice 4 Foreign Minister Shin Gak-soo that China wants the six-party talks to resume "as soon as possible."

"China and South Korea, each of us have our own thoughts on details. We are willing to closely communicate and arbitrate with the South Korean side."

North Korea pulled out of the talks last year in protest against international condemnation 5 of a long-range rocket launch by the North.

Prospects 6 for restarting the talks were further put into doubt after a South Korea-led international investigation 7 in May blamed North Korea for torpedoing 8 a South Korean warship 9 which killed 46 sailors. North Korea denies the attack.

The South Korean government has maintained a firm stance that North Korea must take "responsible action" on the sinking before restarting the nuclear talks.

Also on Korean Peninsula, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has now left Pyongyang after securing the release of a US man inprisioned in the North Korea since January.

Carter and 30-year old Aijalon Mahli Gomes, who was sentenced to 8-years in prison for illegally enterning North Korea via China, boarded a plane and left the country this afternoon after a pre-arranged agreement for his release.

During the trip, Carter also met with the President of Presidium of the North Korea Supreme 10 People's Assembly, Kim Yong Nam.

According to North Korean state media, Kim Yong Nam relayed Pyongyang's interest in resuming the six-party talks to the former President, even though Carter was not travelling to Pyongyang in an official capasity.

China propose income distribution reform

China's top legislature, the National People's Congress, has now proposed a quick launch of reforms in income distribution to curb the widening wealth gap in the country.

The proposal is included in a research report on the distribution of national income completed by a committee of the NPC.

The research report proposes increasing the proportion of both residents' incomes and labor 11 rewards in the nation's gross domestic product.

The proposal says the reforms should try to enlarge the middle class until it becomes the largest sector 12 in society.

Anny Jiang, a senior consultant 13 from Antal International, says income disparity is already a big concern for the government.

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The legislature has not released any other details of the proposed reforms.

Meanwhile, a separate report on unreported income is also bringing the income gap into the limelight.

The report claims China's average urban household income is up to 90 percent higher than official data, because gray income such as kickbacks 14 and bribes 15 are not included.

The figures, however, have been dismissed as unreliable by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Accident Insurance On Hot Sale After the Air Crash

In the wake of this week's deadly crash landing in Yichun which killed dozens of people, a lot of people are now talking about accident insurance, and what kind is right for people who are travelling cheaply. Liu Min has more.

Reporter:

Fourteen insurance companies are paying compensation to the insured victims of the Yichun air crash. The amount is expected to total nearly 15 million yuan, or about 2.2 million U.S. dollars.

As a result, the tragedy has roused public concern about accident insurance for air travel. Some have called several airlines to inquire about accident insurance, but they found that many call representatives had no clue about the insurance their carriers offered.

Here is a representative from Shenzhen Airline Company.

"I guess our partner is China Life Insurance Company. The fare information is attached to the air ticket, and you can check it out to see how much the insurance will cost you."

Every time an air crash occurs, sales of accident insurance tend to surge. This time has been no exception. The country's 14 insurance companies have reported that many airline passengers are buying accident insurance before their flights.

But few passengers know about their freedom of choice about different kinds of accident insurance and the companies that provide them.

"I really have no idea about how much compensation my family can receive if an accident occurs."

"I never pay special attention to which insurance company I need to use. It was attached to the airfare. Do we actually have such choices? I don't know."

Accident insurance is sometimes defaultly included in the price that air passengers pay for their tickets. It usually costs 20 yuan and offers top compensation of 400-thousand yuan, or 59-thousand U.S. dollars. But what many passengers don't know is that they still have a right to choose the insurance company they want to buy insurance from and the amount of coverage 16 they want even though the airline companies usually recommend their own insurance partners.

If passengers are not satisfied with the insurance provided by an airline's partner, they are free to select another insurer at no additional cost.

Professor Wang Guojun from the Insurance Research Center at the University of International Business and Economics, says travel insurance and short-term accident insurance could be a better choice especially for frequent travelers.

"Short-term accident insurance can be obtained from local insurance agencies or their websites. The fee is much lower than buying it from airline counters at the airport, and it can cover a wider range of accidents and include other modes of transportation. For example, you could buy a one-time policy for less than a hundred yuan a year with compensation as high as a million yuan."

Short-term accident insurance is more economical for those who travel within a short period of time. For example, a 30-day travel insurance policy costs only 45 yuan and provides coverage up to 600-thousand yuan for air travel, 150-thousand yuan for travel by rail and ship, and 100-thousand yuan for car accidents. Experts suggest travelers consider buying this kind of insurance for travel during the upcoming Mid-Autumn and National Day festivals.

But such short-term policies do not cover high-risk activities such as bungee jumping, rock climbing and scuba 17 diving. They also do not include coverage for acts of war, riots, nuclear explosions and terrorist attacks.

For CRI, I'm Liu Min.

Tibet Airlines has ambitious plans for Europe

Tibet Airlines is only five months old, but now claims that it will be operating direct flights to Europe within five years. Our Ting Ting now on what it might take to make that happen, and what effect it may have on Tibet.

REPORTER:

Liu Yanping, general manager of Tibet airlines, believes that the routes to Europe will not only make flights cheaper and quicker, but boost the region's tourism industry.

"Now, if tourists from Europe come to Tibet, they need to transfer in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong or Nepal. Take Beijing for example. Travelers need to go an extra 5000 kilometers just to get to Lhasa. What a waste of money, time and energy! By opening direct routes to Europe, we can instantly get ride of that. "

Liu Yanping, who has worked in the civil aviation industry for 25 years, admits direct flights to and from Europe are still at the planning stage but he's confident they'll become reality.

He says as China makes Tibet a priority tourism destination, future policies to support that plan shouldn't be a problem. But he admits that the real challenge is to guarantee the safety of flights as they fly at a high altitude.

"We are building a team of skilful 18 pilots and maintenance staff, to make sure our Europe route flights are as safe as possible."

Tibet Airlines is the first carrier to be based in the autonomous 19 region. Founded in March this year, its main aim is to connect the region's five existing airports and improve transportation throughout the vast region.

Six domestic airlines operate flights to Tibet from 16 cities. None, however, operates flights from one Tibetan spot to another or direct routes to Europe.

Tibet Airlines will make its maiden 20 flight in August next year.

For CRI, I'm Tingting, in Lhasa.

Pakistan floods update, Chinese rescue team arrives at south Pakistan

Hundreds of thousands people in the southern part of Pakistan have now been ordered to evacuate their homes as surging floodwaters are posing new threats to several cities.

Floodwaters have breached 21 the embankments of the Indus River, sweeping 22 into villages and swamping vast areas of farmland.

Children, as one of the most venerable groups, are now getting diarrhea and upset stomachs from drinking dirty water.

"Diseases are spreading because of the floods. The skin on children's feet is getting infected. They also have upset stomachs and gastric 23 problems. All sorts of ailments 24 are affecting them."

The worst floods ever in Pakistan have now killed at least 1,600 people, left 4 million homeless and have disrupted over 20 million lives.

Meantime, a 55-member Chinese rescue team arrived Friday night in Thatta, a town populating one million people in the southern Sindh Province, one of the worst flood-hit areas.

Team leader Huang Jianfa says they will first set up a field hospital.

"Our team will focus on dealing 25 with infectious diseases. The field hospital can perform all basic treatments and small surgeries like other common hospitals."

The team brought with them 25 tons of medical equipment and medicine. The medicine is enough for 20 to 30 thousand people.

The Chinese government has already sent three batches 26 of aid worth some 60 million yuan to Pakistan since early August, and has promised another 60 million.

Chile miners make video message

A newly-released video appears to show that 33 miners trapped deep underground in Chile are in good spirits.

The video was taken with a camera dropped down the narrow bore-hole that is the miners' lifeline to the surface.

Chile's health minister Jaime Manalich says the miners are thin but are "reasonably" healthy.

"We estimate they have lost 10 kilograms each in these days, which is a lot for that much time."

The miners have been trapped since 5 August and were only found to be alive on Sunday. It could take as long as four months to rescue the men.

A shaft 27 wide enough for the men to be lifted up must be drilled about 700 meters through the earth to the section of the San Jose mine where the men are trapped.

A special exercise and recreation programme is being set up to keep the men mentally and physically 28 fit during their long wait.

Meantime, the family of one of the miners is suing the mine owners and government inspectors 29. They accuse the owners of the San Jose mine of safety lapses 30 and officials of negligently 31 allowing it to reopen in 2008 following an accident.

Amid the lawsuit 32 announcement, a judge has ordered 1.8 million US dollar of the mine's assets frozen to cover possible compensation costs.

Chile's Congress is investigating the accident and President Sebastian Pinera has vowed 33 to punish anyone found to be responsible for what happened.

Attack on taxi driver reignites concern over Islamic centre near Ground Zero

A Muslim taxi driver in New York, who was attacked with a knife in a suspected hate crime, has now appeared with Mayor Michael Bloomberg as city officials try to ease tensions in the debate over a plan to put a huge mosque 34 just blocks away from the site of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre.

The Bangladeshi driver, Ahmed Sharif, says the proposed mosque and Islamic centre north of the World Trade Centre site didn't come up in his conversation with the passenger, who allegedly used a folding knife to slash 35 Sharif's neck and face after asking whether he was a Muslim.

"If this one (pointing to wound on his arm) could put it here (pointing to his neck), I'm not supposed to talk right now, I'm dead. So, when the attack came from the back, it was a shock. Still I am scared, I mean I still have a view of the knife when I close my eyes."

Speaking outside city hall, Mayor Michael Bloomberg says violence and being disrespectful to each other is not why America was formed:

"It is very sad that we are here today. This should never have happened and hopefully won't happen again. Hopefully people will understand that we can have a discourse 36. That is what the First Amendment 37 is all about. That is what America is all about."

Passenger Michael Enright remains 38 jailed without bail 39 on charges of attempted murder and assault as a hate crime, along with weapons possession.

Investigators 40 are still trying to make sense of what they know about the 21-year-old visual arts student, who once volunteered with a group that promotes interfaith tolerance 41 and has supported a proposal for the mosque.

Cleaner Hospitals Needed to Fight Superbugs

The issue of so-called Super Bugs 42 are cropping up once again, after a new drug-resistant 43 strain of infection has begun popping up in UK hospitals. To that end, CRI's Today program took on the topic. Our Dominic Swire has a recap.

REPORT

The new superbug discovered in the UK has been named NDM-1. Although other superbugs, such as MRSA, already exist, experts have warned that the new strain may be the most resistant yet, sparking fears of a future epidemic 44.

"I don't think we have accurate data yet on how prevalent this mutation 45 is."

Dr Betsy McCaughey is founder 46 of the New York-based 'Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths'.

"There's a very narrow selection of drugs so far that seem to treat this, certainly not a broad range of commonly used antibiotics 48. I think that is a major concern, that it's almost untreatable."

Most positive cases in the UK have been linked to medical tourism and undergoing hospital treatment in the Indian subcontinent. With this in mind, some have suggested screening patients before entering hospital. However, Professor Xiao Yonghong from Peking University's Institute of Clinical Pharmacology points out, this would be very difficult in a country such as China.

"Everyday we have to treat lots of patients, we don't have a chance to screen one by one. So, in China, I think we can just ask it patient has a travel history in south Asian countries."

Instead, Dr McCaughey believes the focus should be on stopping the spread of the infection through improving hospital hygiene 49.

"If I could say one thing tonight that's really important to the audience, it's that we have underestimated the importance of rigorous cleaning of hospital surfaces to protect patients from this new mutation and from all the other superbugs that have been around much longer."

Professor Xiao also calls for people to use antibiotics more responsibly.

"If we reduce antibiotic 47 use and use them in a more rational way, the bacteria would have less chance to develop resistance, which means the resistant bacteria will decrease gradually."

Perhaps it's a little too early to panic yet as we're still a long way from a global epidemic. So says Xu Jianguo, a medical expert at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

"So far we have no evidence to say this can cause a globally infectious disease. This is different. If you talk about superbugs, people think of SARS and influenza 50, but this is a different story. This is only a hospital associated infection."

However, the worry is, if global medical standards don't improve, NDM-1, or a new superbug like it, could spread round the world with little to stop it.

For CRI, I'm Dominic Swire

Double amputee wows talent show playing piano with toes

Skillful musician Liu Wei has proved to be a big hit on "China's Got Talent", a leading talent show in China, by playing the piano with his toes.

Liu's arms were amputated from the shoulders at the age 10 after he was electrocuted while playing hide-and-seek with his friends.

In his first "Got Talent" performance, he smoothly 51 played "Mariage D'amour," by Richard Clayderman.

He won a standing 52 ovation 53 from the audience, many of whom were moved to tears.

Liu only began playing the piano in his late teens, when he decided 54 that instead of attending university he would rather make music.

He uses his feet to navigate 55 online, eat, dress and brush his teeth. However, he laughed when asked about the female fans his newfound fame has won him, saying he is too busy to think about getting a girlfriend.

Liu says his aim is to be recognized for his quality of his music, rather than his unusual style of playing the piano.

"Right now, everyone looks at me and says, 'Oh, Liu Wei has no arms and it's very difficult for him to play the piano.' In the future, I want them to say, 'Oh he's good.' To first notice the work is great, and then say, 'Liu Wei did it.'"

Liu is now staying in Shanghai to prepare for the next round of "China's Got Talent" show, in about a week's time, and hopes to make it to the final.

From the Shanghai Daily: Ever-Spring Hall, which became Shanghai's first Catholic Church in 1640 but is now a desolate 56 wreck 57, finally caught the Huangpu District government's attention after the roof over one of its rooms collapsed 58 this week during heavy rains.

The hall, although listed as a protected architecture by Huangpu District government, has been left unattended for dozens of years, stuck at the end of a narrow lane near its more famous contemporary, Yuyuan Garden.

A property-management worker blames the government for inaction in protecting the architecture and says he's worried that the typhoon predicted for September might tear apart the whole building.

An official with Huangpu Culture Bureau says they are working on a proposal to conduct emergency repairs to the building and promises they will have it done before next Wednesday.

From the People's Daily online: More than 200 Chinese residential 59 complexes touting 60 themselves as winners of United Nations habitat award actually bought the honors from fake awards mills.

These "award winning" complexes were all for sale, and therefore excluded from qualifying for the actual UN Habitat Scroll 61 of Award, because those are given only to public welfare programs.

The People's Daily online is reporting that at least 200 Chinese residential complexes for sale bought the fake award in the last five years.

Instead of being ashamed of the phony awards, which can be bought for around 360,000 yuan, they bragged 62 about it, hoping it could boost housing prices.