News & Reports 2010-08-07

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In This Edition

The Japanese city of Hiroshima marks the 65th atomic bomb anniversary, calling for a world free of nuclear weapons.

NATO acknowledges an undetermined number of Afghan civilians have been killed in fighting with the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan.

BP has finished pumping cement into the top of its damaged Gulf of Mexico oil well, hoping to seal for good the underground reservoir.

And Chinese regulators extend the stress tests on loans to a range of industries, including cement and steel, whose fortunes are closely tied to property markets.

Hot Issue Reports

Hiroshima Marks 65th Anniversary of Atomic Bombing

The Japanese city of Hiroshima is marking the 65th atomic bomb anniversary, calling for a world free of nuclear weapons.

UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon attended the ceremony in Hiroshima Peace Park, along with high-ranking officials from the US, Britain and France, the first time ever for these countries to make official appearance at the memorial.

Calling nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation a top priority of his work, Ban Ki-moon said "the moment has come" for the world to become free of weapons of mass destruction.

Yao Yongmei has the details.

Reporter: The site of the world's worst atomic bomb attack echoed with choirs of schoolchildren and the solemn ringing of bells as Hiroshima marked its biggest memorial yet and the first to be attended by a United Nations chief and the US and other major nuclear powers.

UN Secratary General Ban Ki-moon, who presented flowers at the Eternal Flame in Hiroshima's Peace Memorial Park, said this year's memorial will send a strong signal to the world that nuclear weapons must be destroyed.

Ban said that the time has come to move to a world without any nuclear arms.

"Now is the time, the time for rapid entry into force of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty, CTBT. Let us set the goal of 2012, now is the time to prohibit the production of materials for weapon purposes. Now again the time to move towards an agreement on a No-First-Use Doctrine paving a way towards a No-Use Doctrine."

Ban Ki-moon said he has made non-proliferation a top priority for the United Nations.

Hiroshima was careful to ensure that the memorial, while honoring the 140-thousand who died on or soon after the attack on August 6th, 1945, emphasised a look-forward approach, focusing not on whether the bombing was justified, a point which many Japanese dispute, but on averting a future nuclear attack.

Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said Japan must take the lead in ridding the world without nuclear weapons.

"As the only country to suffer a wartime nuclear bombing, Japan has to bring about a world without nuclear weapons. We have a moral duty to take leadership and act."

Washington's decision to attend the anniversary has been welcomed by Japan's government, but has generated complex feelings among some Japanese who see the bombing as unjustified and want the United States to apologise.

But others, like Taga, a Hiroshima resident and high school teacher, think that although it might not be enough, it is still "an achievement".

"I welcome the attendance by the US ambassador although I think it is not enough. But, I still think it is an achievement as he came while there are still people who support the usage of nuclear weapons in his country."

Three days after the Hiroshima bombing, about 80-thousand people died after the United States attacked Nagasaki.

Japan surrendered on August 15th, 1945, ending World War II.

For CRI, I'm Yao Yongmei.

NATO Acknowledges Afghan Civilian Casualties

NATO has acknowledged an undetermined number of Afghan civilians were killed in fighting with the Taliban in eastern Afghanistan and promised to provide compensation to their families.

Local officials say the civilian deaths occurred in two separate attacks before dawn in eastern Nangarhar province.

Local officials say eight members of an extended family died when a helicopter opened fire on vehicles carrying the family to their home village in Khogyani district.

Separately, 13 people were killed when the coalition forces raided a compound in the Sherzad district.

But Abdul Baqi, a relative of one of the victims gives a slightly higher death toll, saying 10 people were killed in Khogyani and 14 in Sherzad.

"Fourteen were killed there and here while people were carrying a coffin of flood victim, they were bombarded and 10 people were killed here and we don't know if there are any other women and children killed in the area."

Civilian casualties at the hands of international forces are a major source of friction between President Hamid Karzai's government and the international coalition.

Two Hundred Nazi Descendants Apologize for WW II Crimes

Two hundred Nazi descendants have apologized in the Ukrainian capital Kiev for World War II crimes committed by their ancestors against the Jews and Ukrainians.

The procession from the German city of Tubingen followed the so-called death road to the monument near the Babi Yar ravine in Kiev, the site of one of the most horrific chapters of the Holocaust.

Anke Krueger is a German Nazi soldier's granddaughter.

"I am a representative of a new generation that cannot keep silent any more. From the bottom of my heart I would like to apologize for all that was done and say that it won't happen any more."

Similar processions are expected in 15 Ukrainian cities.

The massacre began on September 29th in 1941, when Kiev's Nazi occupiers ordered all Jews to report to Babi Yar.

More than 33,700 Jews were shot by the ravine over 48 hours. The exact death toll at Babi Yar remains unknown.

Venezuela's Chavez Says Ready to Resume Ties with Colombia

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said his government is ready to resume the diplomatic relations with Colombia.

He made the announcement when meeting Nestor Kirchner, secretary-general of the Union of South American Nations.

"There should never be a war between Venezuela and Colombia.' That's true. And this man who is coming here, Nestor Kirchner: he has done so much for integration."

Kirchner, who was also the former Argentine President, visited Venezuela to discuss regional integration and a row between Caracas and Bogota.

"We had an excellent meeting with President Chavez. The truth is that I'm leaving very satisfied over the meeting that we had with the president."

Chavez broke off ties with Colombia after Bogota accused Caracas of harboring Colombian guerilla chiefs in its territory. Security has been beefed up on both sides of the Venezuela-Colombia border.

BP Finishes Cementing Damaged Oil Well

BP has finished pumping cement into the top of its damaged Gulf of Mexico oil, hoping to seal for good the underground reservoir that blew its top in April and spread crude around the Gulf of Mexico in one of the world's worst spills.

Crews forced a slow torrent of heavy mud down the broken wellhead to push the crude back to its underground source earlier this week.

The so-called "static kill" is intended to keep the oil from finding its way back out.

The next step will be intersecting an 5,500-meter relief well with the old well.

US national incident commander Thad Allen warned that the operation is not over.

"Let me state, and I have stated this several times, that this is not the end but it will virtually assure us that there will be no chance of oil leaking into the environment. We will then proceed to finish the relief well."

The relief well is about 30 meter from intersecting with the damaged well. It will then be killed with mud and cement from the bottom.

A government report claimed only a quarter of the oil remains in the water and that it is "degrading quickly".

It reported the majority has been captured, burned off or evaporated.

Thousands Evacuated As New Monsoon Rains Threaten Further Destruction

Hundreds of families took shelter in a makeshift camp in Pakistan's Nowshera district on Friday, after the worst monsoon rains in decades caused floods that have killed about 1,500 people and affected upward of three million over the past week.

The camp in the grounds of Nowshera's Government College of Technology is providing tents and basic supplies to people made homeless by the disaster.

Nowshera is one of the areas worst affected by the flooding, which has spread from the northwest down the country.

Hajra Bibi is living at the camp with several members of her family, including her husband who is paralysed.

"The flood came at 2pm. One of my daughters-in-law had an operation four days before the flood. We rescued her with a tyre tube. When I came out of my house and saw the horrific situation, I left my house along with all my belongings and the flood took everything with it."

More bad weather was hampering relief efforts across the region on Friday, with storms grounding helicopters carrying emergency supplies.

A spokeswoman for the National Disaster Management Authority, said all helicopters currently stationed in the northwest were grounded because of poor weather.

The flooding is spreading south down the country as more heavy rain continues to fall.

China Widens Stress Tests to Steel, Cement

Chinese regulators have extended the stress tests on loans to a range of industries, including cement and steel, whose fortunes are closely tied to property markets.

The tests are part of a broader investigation into banks' ability to withstand falls in housing prices.

They are believed to point to the governments' determination to hold tightening policies in place until the property sector cools off.

Banks in seven cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, have been asked to examine the impact of a fall in property values of up to 60 percent.

But analysts have warned against reading too much into the extreme scenario, saying the market was likely to weaken but not collapse in such a spectacular fashion.

Li Wenjie is a vice chairman of Intermediary Agent Association.

"I personally think this is only a risk reminder, but I don't think there is such a risk as price could drop by 60 percent. If we lower our expectation to the second half last year, I think commercial banks could handle it."

The government stepped up tightening measures earlier this year to squeeze bubbles out of the red-hot property market, but while transactions have fallen, prices have barely dipped.

Overseas Chinese

Millions of overseas Chinese are flocking home in a marked reversal of the outgoing flow of the last thirty years.

It isn't just China's flourishing economy that is bringing them home, however. It is something much deeper, their yearning for closer social and cultural ties.

Zhang Cheng has their stories.

Reporter: It's said studying aboard is the first step toward future emigration, and this especially applies to the U.S.

Alex Fan has certainly given the U.S a good chance. He first went there as a high school student, then graduated in biology and political science from Yale, and is now studying law at Harvard.

His reasoning was the same as for many other Chinese students, to pursue a better education.

"My initial plan was to emigrate to the U.S and live there for the rest of my life because I thought the quality of life was much better than here. But now I realize there are great opportunities in China, too. As a Chinese, I've come to see that I can get opportunities and be successful here, so I've changed my mind and decided to come back after law school."

Alex says there are good reasons for his change of mind. Despite the western media's tendency to focus on the negative aspects of life here, many graduates still choose to return, lured back by China's great potential.

"Since this country is experiencing enormous economic growth, the advantage of living in the States may not be that obvious. Maybe 20 years ago, the States had a stronger attraction for Chinese but now the gap is narrowing."

There are also those who have ventured overseas but had a clear plan they would always return home. Larry Zhang, also a would-be lawyer, has been attending a New York college for several years but is currently doing his internship in Beijing.

" I still remember that when I decided go to the States five years ago, my initial plan was to come back in 5 years, so I did. I came back this summer. I kept my promise."

Apart from being attracted by China's economic growth, there are other, more subtle, reasons for overseas graduates returning home. Wang Xiaobei from Michigan University has studied in the U.S. for 10 years and is well-known for his blog about life as a Chinese student there. He had a good job in New York and traveled widely around the States but came back six months ago. He has settled down in Beijing, working in one of the world's biggest law firms.

"My other reason for coming back was to further my career. I worked in New York for a year and a half. The more deals I saw, the stronger my desire became to come back. A lot of them involved major national corporations, who were doing deals in Europe and Latin America. I didn't get the chance to work on any Asian or Chinese business but during the last six months I've worked here in the Beijing office, I've been able to work on many deals I care deeply about. I work for clients that are also Chinese. I care much more about the things I'm working on now than I did before."

Back then, just as his wife was about to resign from her prestigious bank job in the States, it offered her a suitable position in its Beijing office. The couple and their two children have quickly settled into life in the CBD. Xiaobei often has to work overtime but he is quite content because he is passionate about his job.

Larry Zhang says many Chinese discover sensitive cultural differences while living overseas.

"If you can casually stop and chat with your neighbors, that's really important. All over the States, Chinese sometimes just choose to stay together and maintain their old lifestyles."

Xiaobei also believes that even those overseas Chinese who speak English fluently often struggle to truly blend into the local culture.

A graduate of Beijing Foreign Studies University, Xiaobei speaks excellent English and had many friends in the U.S. But he says he never abandoned his old beliefs and habits.

"If I had a choice, I would definitely choose Chinese food over anything else. I think there is the notion of what is home to us. Really deep down inside I consider China to be my home, the place where I am most comfortable. It's where my parents are, it's where I want my children to grow up, it's where a lot of my long-term friends are."

Most Chinese overseas still prefer Chinese food, still like to hang out with friends in karaoke bars and, of course, watching the annual Spring Festival gala on New Year Eve also became a sure-fire way to make them feel closer to home.

Li Li graduated from the University of Melbourne, then worked overseas for three years before deciding to come back. She worried about whether she'd ever really fit into her foreign surroundings but there was another, perhaps very Chinese, reason for her decision - she feared being left "on the shelf" at the tender age of 24. Nor is this an exclusively female angst. Economics graduate Chen Yu was anxious not to remain a bachelor for too long. He is now in Beijing helping Chinese companies to go public and is dating a girl from his hometown.

There are currently more than 1.1m Chinese studying abroad, a staggering increase of 25.8 per cent every year for the last three decades. But just under two thirds of those who've gone abroad have since returned to China, a reversal that has rapidly gained momentum in the last two years.

Chinese returning home is not altogether a one-way flow, however.

Despite all the talk of widespread recessions in the Western world, more and more successful Chinese businessmen, high-end managers and other established middle-aged people - are still heading overseas. The State Council's Overseas Chinese Affairs Office says more than 45 million Chinese are now abroad, making this country the largest supplier of immigrants worldwide.

Xiaobei says while everyone is free to pursue their own path, he urges those considering leaving these shores to think twice before giving up everything they've worked so hard to achieve here.

"For example there is a risk that you won't be able to blend in and you might not find the kind of work you want. And even if you do find work you love, you might well be working with people you don't identify with. When you're just starting out in your career and even if you're still in school I suppose you've got nothing to lose. You can just have a nice break. But if you're already advanced in your career, moving to different country simply because you think you might have even better prospects somewhere else may well not be a well-informed decision, at the very least!"

Baby Online

A parent's worst fear is having to send their children to a school that is not safe. In order to guarantee the safety of children, a nursery in Wuxi, Jiangsu province carried out a communication platform-baby online-a plan that allows parents to watch their child at school through the Internet.

Zhang Wan takes a closer look at how it works.

Reporter: "How can we talk about improving education, if the security of students can not be guaranteed? This is the principal we should keep in mind."

This is the minister of education Yuan Guiren, he says a school which fails to guarantee the safety of students is not an eligible school. A teacher who is not aware of the students' security is disqualified.

Following several school attacks this year, many cities in China have taken action to bolster campus security.

Experienced police officers have been deployed to patrol nurseries and schools, and some schools hold disaster prevention drilling.

Recently, a nursery in Wuxi, Jiangsu province set up a communication platform online, with that, parents are able to always keep an eye on their child.

Every morning when students arrive at the kindergarten, they must swipe their "baby card" at the gate. Then their icons on the computer screen in their classroom will become active. At the same time, their parents will receive a message through their mobile phone saying their child has arrived at the classroom. A parent says:

"I don't have to worry about the safety of my child when I leave him with the kindergarten."

After students arrive in the classroom, the camera inside starts to record what is happening. Every morning from 9am to 10am, parents can log onto the website of the kindergarten with a password and watch the real-time video of their child. Video recording the public area from 8 am to 3 pm is also available online.

In the afternoon, when parents pick up their child, they must swipe their card or mobile phone, meanwhile, the icon of their child in the classroom will pop up, and teachers will send the child to their parent waiting outside.

Zhao Shuwei is a teacher from Taihu experimental nursery in Wuxi.

"After parents swipe their card, we'll instantly get a note on the computer and send their child to them. It avoids the possibility that children are picked up by others rather than parents."

The nursery is also equipped with a Push-To-Talk alarm system, which connects with the police station. When an emergency happens, police will receive a report in no time at all.

In addition, parents can be informed about their children's academic and social progress through their mobile phones everyday. For these services, parents need to pay 20 yuan a month.

For CRI, I am Zhang Wan.

Newspaper Picks

From the Shanghai Daily: Shen Yingwei and 82 households in a residential complex in Shanghai have set up the tents in protest against large cracks appearing in their 14-story building.

Shen and others have been protesting on the road for a week about the cracks, which appear to be getting larger.

Despite the recommendation for repairs, residents said they have seen none in their complex, apart from workers repairing cracks on the walls between the two sites.

Residents, local government authorities, and building's owners have met to negotiate but none of the meetings have ended in any agreement.

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From China Daily: A report of Best Employers 2010 unveiled that state-run enterprises have topped the chart.

Many believe state-owned enterprises offer stable payment and welfare look more attractive to graduates than foreign companies affected by the global financial crisis.

More than 200,000 college graduates of 700 universities across the nation participated in the ChinaHR.com survey.

The top 5 best employers were China Mobile, Alibaba.com Corporation, Haier, Microsoft China, and Bank of China.