News & Reports 2010-08-08

Hello and Welcome to News and Reports on China Radio International.

In This Edition

Ten members of an international medical team have been shot and killed as they were returning from providing eye treatment and other health care in remote villages in northern Afghanistan.

Juan Manuel Santos is sworn in as Colombia's new president.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and visiting Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari agree to intensify cooperation on fighting terrorism.

And dense smog from raging wildfires in the Rostov region of Russia shroud Moscow.

Hot Issue Reports

10 medical team members killed in Afghanistan

Ten members of an international medical team have been shot and killed as they were returning from providing eye treatment and other health care in remote villages in northern Afghanistan.

Dirk Frans is director of the International Assistance Mission, a charity organization serving in Afghanistan. He says the team, made up of doctors, nurses and logistics personnel, was attacked as it was returning to Kabul after a two-week mission in Nuristan province.

"We have this eye care team that went to Nuristan and we have the security system that they call us every night, the team leader calls us every night. The last call that we got from our team was on Wednesday evening. Thursday we didn't hear anything. Then on Friday we got the news from the local authorities, the police in particular, that 10 bodies had been found, eight foreigners and two Afghans."

Frans said the eight foreign victims are six Americans, one German and one British citizen.

Local police described the incident as a robbery.

But Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press in Pakistan that his group killed the foreigners because they were "spying for the Americans" and "preaching Christianity."

Frans said the International Assistance Mission is registered as a non-profit Christian organisation but does not proselytise.

He said that he found it a little bit strange that the Taliban has taken responsibility a number of days after the apparent incident.

Memorial marks 2nd anniversary of Georgian-Russian war

Georgia has marked the second anniversary of its 2008 war with Russia over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Defence Minister Bacho Akhalaia pledges that Georgia will not forget the soldiers who died in the short war.

"I want to say once again that the State and the Armed Forces will do their best for their memory not to be forgotten and their deeds to be continued properly."

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili, who is in Bogota for the inauguration of Colombian president-elect Juan Manuel Santos, says it's his nation's duty to continue the struggle every day for liberation.

"It's our duty to our boys who died, to continue the struggle every day for the liberation of our land, for as long as at least one invader remains on our land, this struggle must be conducted both in our country and outside its borders."

In the five-day war with Russia in 2008, Georgia entirely lost control of separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Russia now recognises them as independent, a position shared by only three other countries, and has a strong military presence in both.

The war ended in an agreement brokered by French President Nicolas Sarkozy under which both sides were to pull troops back to pre-war positions.

Colombian President-elect begins presidential handover

Colombian President-elect Juan Manuel Santos begins the presidential handover with a symbolic ceremony with leaders of Colombia's Arhuaca, Kogui and Wiwa indigenous tribes.

Santos officially takes office with a strong mandate to keep fighting left-wing guerrillas, spur economic growth and tackle a messy diplomatic dispute with neighbouring Venezuela.

"Earth and water produce the food and now I understand what I have received: water, earth, food, the people and the government. That is going to be my inspiration during my term as president. I receive these elements with a great commitment and I will take good care of them."

Santos takes over the helm of a much safer Colombia after eight years of President Alvaro Uribe's U.S.-backed campaign against Latin America's oldest rebel insurgency.

A U.S. and British-trained economist, Santos has vowed to continue Uribe's crackdown on FARC rebels and maintain his pro-business approach.

Among Santos' challenges will be managing relations with his Andean neighbors, particularly Venezuela, where President Hugo Chavez has broken off diplomatic and trade ties in a confrontation causing concern about Andean stability.

Four US Detainees Whisked from Guantanamo Bay

Four of the United States' most highly valued detainees have been whisked back into overseas prisons from Guantanamo Bay, 3 months early, before the US Supreme Court could give them access to lawyers.

According to Matt Apuzzo, an Associated Press reporter, the transfer of these four detainees allows the US to interrogate the detainees in CIA "black sites" for two more years without allowing them to speak with attorneys and human rights observers or challenge their detention in US courts.

Jonathan Hafetz, a law professor who used to represent several detainees, says the secret move-in-and-out is a "kind of shell game".

"This elaborate ruse was set up to try to hide the ball from the courts and once the government knew or feared the supreme court might grant jurisdiction over Guantanamo they wanted to get these people out because it wasn't going to be a safe place to bring them, but they didn't want people to know that they were engaging in these elaborate ruses to avoid the courts. That was really what they were doing."

Among the four detainees, secretly moved to Guantanamo Bay in 2003, Binalshibh and Al-Hawsawi helped plan the 9/11 attacks, Al-Nashiri was the mastermind of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole and Zubaydah was an al-Qaida travel facilitator.

Removing them from Guantanamo Bay underscores how worried George W. Bush's administration was that the Supreme Court might lift the veil of secrecy on its detention program.

It also underscores how insistent the Bush administration was that detainees must be held outside the US court system.

Years later, the program's legacy continues to complicate President Barack Obama's efforts to prosecute the militants behind the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Britain, Pakistan Agree to Boost Anti-Terrorism Cooperation

British Prime Minister David Cameron and visiting Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari have agreed to intensify cooperation on fighting terrorism.

Cameron and President Asif Ali Zardari also discussed the situation in Afghanistan and how to help people affected by recent floods that have killed around 1,500 people.

Describing Friday's talks as productive, Cameron said both leaders had committed to boosting strategic and cooperative ties.

" Above all what we've been talking about is our strategic partnership and how we can deepen and enhance that partnership to make sure we deal with all the issues where we want to see progress, whether that is in trade, whether it's in education and also in the absolutely vital area of combating terrorism, where we want to work together to combat terrorism to make sure, whether it is keeping troops safe in Afghanistan or keeping people safe on the streets of Britain, that is a real priority for my government."

The meeting came roughly a week after the British leader ignited a diplomatic row by accusing Pakistan of allowing the "export of terror" during a trip to India.

Zardari spoke to the French daily Le Monde this week, rejecting Cameron's criticism that Pakistan wasn't doing enough to combat extremism.

After meeting with Cameron, Zardari described Pakistan's alliance with the UK as unbreakable.

"We have a hundreds of years old relationship, we've been allies in the cold war era. We are the allies for the last 62 years, before that we were friends, and it's a friendship which will never break, no matter what happens. And storms will come and storms will go, and Pakistan and Britain will stand together and face all the difficulties with dignity."

A joint statement released after their talks Friday said British Home Secretary Theresa May would travel to Pakistan in the autumn, and the UK recognized the "sacrifices" Pakistan had made in the fight against terrorism.

Pakistan is one of Britain's most important allies in fighting extremism; nearly one million people of Pakistani origin live in Britain, and Pakistani intelligence has been crucial in several extremism-related investigations, including the 2005 suicide attacks that killed 52 London commuters and a 2006 trans-Atlantic airliner plot.

Light News

Torrential rains continue to dislodge people in central Pakistan

Fresh torrential monsoon rains have dislodged the already displaced people of central Pakistan.

The people of Mehmood Kot in Punjab province have had to evacuate, taking their families and whatever they could carry or pack into carts with them.

Over the last week, floods have spread from the northwest down through Pakistan, killing around 1,500 people and affecting more than 4 million.

Some 30,000 Pakistani soldiers are rebuilding bridges, delivering food and setting up relief camps in the northwest, which is the main battleground in the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban.

The army has established a relief camp distributing food aid in the district of Muzaffargarh, Punjab province.

Area Commander Lieutenant General Shafqat Ahmed:

"Most of the people have been rescued, they were the people who had by choice, had decided to stay, they didn't want to leave their area. So that, because of their own personal compassion, this rescue has been about 120 thousand (people)."

The flood is considered the worst of its kind in Pakistan's 63-year history.

The government has come under criticism for not doing enough, especially since President Asif Ali Zardari chose to go ahead with a trip to Europe at the height of the crisis.

In the worst-hit Swat valley, many people complained that they had not yet received any government help and were being forced to repair flood damage using their own resources.

Said Ur Rehman is a local resident.

"This footbridge in our village was destroyed by the flood water, and no one came from the government to help us, or anybody from outside the village; we are repairing this bridge with our own resources and without any donations from anybody."

The United Nations said the disaster was "on a par" with the 2005 Kashmir earthquake - which killed about 73,000 people - in terms of the numbers of people needing assistance and damage to infrastructure.

Foreign countries and the UN have donated millions of dollars.

Wildfires Continues Around Russia with Dense Smog Shrouding Moscow

Dense smog from raging wildfires in the Rostov region of Russia has shrouded Moscow.

The smog grounded flights at the city's airports, plunging its iconic Red Square into a sea of dirty mist and stinging eyes and throats across the city.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited an emergency medical aid station in Moscow's Western District, where staff received 10 percent more calls for higher blood pressure.

Muscovites and tourists donned face masks to make their journeys more bearable.

"The smog is so heavy, there's no way to breath. It irritates the eyes so much and one can not breathe over it. We wear masks, put wet cloths on windows, just nothing special, but nothing helps."

"It's just impossible to work. I don't know what the government is doing; they should just cancel office hours."

Dozens of forest and peat bog fires have ignited around Moscow amid the country's most intense heat wave in 130 years, as over 500 separate blazes were burning nationwide.

In the far-south region of Rostov, at least 52 people have died and 2,000 homes have been destroyed in the blazes.

The forecast for the week ahead says temperatures will approach 38 degrees Centigrade, showing little change in Moscow and surrounding regions, where the average summer temperature is around 23 degrees Centigrade.

Brazilians React to the Presidential Election Debate

Brazilian voters remained uncertain on who they will cast their ballots for in October's elections, after the four top presidential candidates gathered for the first nationally televised debate.

Ruling party candidate Dilma Rousseff, Social Democracy Party candidate Jose Serra, Green Party's Marina Silva and leftist Plinio Sampaio discussed security, health and education issues in a polite and mostly uneventful debate on Thursday night.

Rousseff, a technocrat who has never run for public office, recently opened up her biggest lead yet in opinion polls and emerged largely unscathed, defending her track record in the government as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's Chief of Staff.

However a data analyst, Alceu Matubaiashi, said he thought Rousseff lacked confidence.

"Dilma was very insecure, she was very repetitive. Without Lula by her side, she becomes insecure because she doesn't have the charisma he has."

Runner-up Serra passed up several opportunities to hit Rousseff hard, preferring instead to make general criticisms of Brazil's poor infrastructure and health system.

Green Party's Marina Silva, who stands alongside both Serra and Rousseff in polls, wasn't very critical either and pledged a clean government and sustainable development.

Fireman Marcos Santos said the top three candidates protected themselves.

"Dilma, Serra and Marina, they were all on the fence, they didn't want to expose themselves too much."

Engineer Adriane Oliveira said she would wait for the next debates to decide on her candidate.

"From this first debate, I think we can draw some conclusions, but others will happen and I believe there will still be many surprises."

Brazil will hold an election on October 3 to choose a successor to President Lula, who is barred by the constitution from running for a third straight term.

The Prevailing Trend of Study Abroad at a Young Age

According to a recent survey, the number of Chinese students studying abroad at their own expense reached 270 thousand, making the country the biggest source of overseas students.

Among this large group of students, the number of those aged 18 or below is increasing rapidly.

Our reporter Chen Zhe takes a closer look into this prevailing trend.

Reporter:

More than 70 percent of Chinese parents prefer their children to study at foreign senior high schools as long as they have enough money, according to a recent survey.

Among various reasons behind this trend, the desire to avoid crippling pressure from the national college entrance exam tops the list, followed by the dissatisfaction with the unbalanced distribution of educational resources in China.

"I don't think it's worthwhile that all the hard work goes into a one-time exam."

"I think domestically our educational resources have been distributed in an unbalanced way, otherwise no one would like to spend so much money for school."

Bearing this thought in mind, more and more parents choose to remove their offspring from the national college entrance exam, and apply to a foreign high school instead for their children, who can quickly get involved in the local cultural and social environment, and have a greater chance to enter a foreign university.

Statistics from the National Education Ministry show that in the year 2010, an expected 200 thousand high school students might quit the college entrance exam, due to their plans to study abroad.

The trend is also increasing as a result of the recent increase in strength of the RMB, and the gradually widening enrollment allowance from overseas schools.

Liu Peng, a staff member from the Chinese office of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, tells more.

"Our school plans to enroll 100 Chinese students this year, which is a 30 percent increase from last year."

Many experts point out that it reflects the flaw in the current domestic education system, especially in the national college entrance exam.

Wang Boqing is president of the human resources company, Macos.

"I think first of all, higher education institutes in China should realize the fact that there's a huge gap between them and the prestigious colleges abroad. So along with the increasing income for many Chinese families, study abroad is a no-brainer choice."

However, experts also note that while applying for foreign schools, parents and students themselves should have more consideration of their personal interest and future career plans, rather than just focusing on the school's ranking.

Meanwhile the psychological fragility of many young students studying abroad is also a concern. Leaving their homeland at a young age, they can easily feel homeless, isolated in a strange environment and depressed.

Lian Xiao is the principle of the National Institute Of Technology, an international school in Beijing.

"I think for most students who study abroad, the best place for their future development is still China. So they shouldn't lose their Chinese root, their home-land culture while studying abroad, otherwise they will lose their sense of belonging."

Lian also suggests that it's better for those young foreign-school applicants to improve their ability to take care of themselves before leaving home and living alone far away.

For CRI, this is Chen Zhe.

Media Digest

Luminaries Are Responsible to Behave Properly

Quite a number of stars or their followers have been caught behaving badly in public of late.

The latest celebrity to be dissected under the spotlight is crosstalk performer Guo Degang, one of whose students beat up a TV reporter recently, when the latter was trying to interview the celebrity at his residence.

In a video piece shown to the public, Guo's disciple came off as being snide and insulting, resorting to fisticuffs against the reporter and basking in the glow of his teacher's fame. What infuriated many was that Guo tried to turn that brash follower into a national hero when he went on stage that night.

An editorial in the China Daily points out that in the era of cellphone cameras which can record any undesirable act, the luminaries should be well-behaved, as their less-than-stellar performances in public have come under intense scrutiny.

The article notes that stars benefit a lot from being publicly recognizable and popular, but they do have a certain responsibility to set a good example that their fans can follow unflinchingly.

It concludes that this incident should serve as a timely reminder for other celebrities to mind their manners.

Well Preparation Needed for Levying Environment Tax

It's been recently reported that the State Administration of Taxation, the Ministry of finance and the Ministry of Environmental Protection will soon submit a proposal for an environment tax on a trial basis.

Just as its name implies, an environment tax refers to a tax levied to protect the environment. In some western countries, it consists of many types of taxes, including fuel tax, water pollution tax, waste tax and noise tax.

The Beijing News carries a commentary, saying that to levy the tax can be conducive to both environmental protection and economic development. However, more effort should be focused on how to implement the tax properly.

The article cites an example from the implementation of environment tax in Sweden, where the sulfur content in fossil fuels decreased to less than 50 percent of the national standard, since the country began levying the tax in 1991.

The article points out that, compared with the current pollutant discharge fee which started being imposed on enterprises in 2003, the environment tax is more flexible and covers a wider range from producer to consumer. And levying the tax by taxation departments can also avoid the problems that some local governments cancel the pollutant discharge fee to attract investment.

The article further notes that related departments should think more about the details, such as the tax rate and the collection range. Under the current situation, paying the environment tax might be a heavy burden for many domestic enterprises. And the taxation departments also need advanced technology and scientific standards to evaluate the pollution degree of each tax payer.

In conclusion, the commentary says levying the environment tax is an effective method for the country to make its economic growth cleaner. However, the related departments should be well-prepared before a comprehensive implementation.