News & Reports 2010-10-08

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In This Edition

Floods which have been tearing through China's southern-most province of Hainan forced schools on the island to remain closed.

Delegates to the UN climate change talks in Tianjin say the session is laying the groundwork for the year-end Cancun summit in Mexico, even though it may not reveal a clear consensus 1.

A spokesman for Hungarian disaster crews says the Danube has suffered no damage following a pollution scare.

And thousands of vacationing Chinese return to work after a week-long National Day holiday.

Hot Issue Reports

Floods swept through Southern China's Hainan

Floods which have been tearing through China's southern-most province of Hainan have forced many of the schools on the island to remain closed on Friday.

The rains, which have been pelting 2 the island for a week now, are the worst in nearly half-a-century.

They have forced the evacuation of more than 210,000 people and have inundated 3 over 1,100 villages.

Flood water has also cut off over a dozen roads and have submerged hectares of farmlands in the region.

Soldiers have been mobilized to help people evacuate 4 and reinforce dykes 5 on rivers.

Chen Shang is the deputy director of the Wanning 6 Branch of the Hainan Traffic and Highway Administration.

"Out of safety concerns, we have placed 500 blocks up for safety on the highways, in order to remind the drivers to slow down."

Chen Mingqiang is with the Wanning Traffic Police.

"The max speed per hour should be 120km for the highway, but we have adjusted it to 60 right now, and our people are patrolling along it 24 hours a day."

The national weather center says further rainstorms are expected to batter 7 the provinces of Hainan, Yunnan and Guangdong over the next three days.

The flooding in Hainan has killed at least one person and left three others missing.

Meantime, heavy rains and flooding has also hit other areas of south-east Asia, including Indonesia and Vietnam.

Emergency services in Asia have been stretched to the limit by the current flooding crisis that has swept across several countries and killed over a 150 people.

Delegates in Tianjin say climate change talks moving

United Nations talks on climate change are nearing a close in Tianjin. Some delegates say this session is laying the groundwork for the year-end Cancun summit in Mexico, even though it may not reveal a clear consensus.

This week's conference in Tianjin is designed to be the precursor 8 to the world's next big attempt at reaching a legally binding 9 document for fighting climate change. The Kyotol Protocol 10 is set to expire in late 2012.

Edvardo Calvo with the Peru delegation 11 calls the Tianjin meeting a "milestone 12".

"Tianjin has been very helpful for all the parties to get clarity on the different options that have been submitted. The connections and implications are now clearer. And for sure Tianjin is a very important milestone on the road to Cancun."

The UN climate change body is said to be open for more proposals for the final text before the Cancun meeting. Some say this slows down the process because it appears the talks have been focused on procedural, rather than substantive 13, issues.

But Marcelo Theoto Rocha from the Brazil delegation disagrees. He says it is better to hear more voices, rather than rushing into an inconclusive agreement.

"The idea is since we don't have enough time here, people need to continue to exchange views. And one way could be through (proposals) submission 14 as everybody is free to do that."

The international community failed to reach an agreement last December in Copenhagen.

But Edvardo Calvo from the Peru delegation says the mistrust between industrialized and developing counties following Copenhagen is now fading.

"There is a growth in the sense of understanding and therefore, for the first time in a long time, I have seen some common grounds under their proposals."

Calvo also says he expects a series of decisions ahead of Cancun will be made at the on going Tianjin meeting.

Hungary Official Say Danube Suffered No Damage From Toxic 15 Spill

A spokesman for Hungarian disaster crews now says pollution levels from a red sludge spill in the country have declined, and that the Danube has suffered no damage.

Fresh data shows pH levels in the Danube have decreased from a level of 9 when the sludge first reached the river, to 8-8.2, which can be considered "normal.

Officials have said gypsum will be dropped into the river to neutralize 16 the alkaline effect of the fluid.

Meanwhile, fishermen in Bezdan, Serbia, don't seem to be too worried about the spill either.

"Personally, I think that the amount spilled is insignificant 17, because the Danube is a big river and it has big volume."

"I think the Danube is a mighty 18 river and that it won't affect us too much, but it will have consequences on us and our children in the long term."

The toxic red sludge that burst out of a metals plant reservoir and inundated three villages in Western Hungary reached the Danube earlier this week.

Police Steps Up Control in Karachi After Suicide Attack Kills 8

Police have now stepped up patrols in Karachi to try and prevent renewed violence after angry mobs rampaged through the city in the aftermath of a suicide attack on a Sufi shrine 19 that has left at least eight dead and 65 others injured.

The attack by two suicide bombers 20 hit the most beloved Sufi shrine in Pakistan's largest city, with the explosions taking place as the suicide bombers entered through a metal detector 21.

Faizan Ahmed Khan lives in the area.

"These kind of terrorists will not succeed in their mission. In yesterday's incident the loss of lives of innocent children and people were very sad. How did they do wrong to them? This is a big conspiracy 22 against our nation and country, we condemn 23 this act strongly."

The city of more than 16 million is said to be quiet today after mobs took to the streets after the attack, firing weapons, setting tires on fire and torching at least two buses

Kyrgyzstan Set to Hold Parliamentary Elections After Months of Instability and Violence

Kyrgyzstan is now set to hold parliamentary elections after months of political instability and violence.

Of the 29 parties in the running in the weekend elections, at least half a dozen are expected to make it into a newly strengthened parliament, as an intensely fought political battle draws to an end.

Meanwhile, people living in the capital of Bishkek say they feel more secure after the government set up checkpoints around the city to check for weapons.

"This checkpoint can help us at any time. I think it's a good decision and one that no one here is against, on the contrary, thanks to this checkpoint we can sleep peacefully."

"Nowadays everything can happen, every kind of sabotage 24, so this is a good measure."

The former Soviet 25 republic has struggled to achieve normalcy since former President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was overthrown 26 in deadly street protests in April.

Israel Buys 20 American Made F-35 Fighter Jets for $2.75 Billion

The US and Israeli governments have now signed an agreement for Israel's purchase of a squadron of 20 American-made F-35 stealth fighter jets that have the capability 27 of reaching Iran undetected by radar 28.

The deal is worth some 2.75 billion US dollars.

Israeli Ministry 29 of Defense 30 Director-General Ehud Shani says the jets will shift the balance of power in the Middle East, strengthening Israel's ability to defend its borders or counter with its own attack.

"In the region there are a lot of problems. In the region there are a lot of new aims and challenges, and part of the solution are military capabilities 31, is this type of aircraft."

Israeli leaders have said that Iran potentially might be able to develop a nuclear weapon by mid-decade, though Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful.

"This is a very important step on a eventual 32 near future when the F-35 with Israeli markings will be over the skies of a free and secure Israel."

The aircraft will be adapted to Israeli technical specifications 33 and delivery is expected between 2015 and 2017.

Russian Rocket Successfully Blasts Off for International Space Station

A Russian rocket with a US astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts onboard has now blasted off successfully for the International Space Station from Kazakhstan, with alleged 34 Russian spy Anna Chapman making an unexpected appearance at the cosmodrome to wave them off.

Chapman is one of 10 alleged Russian spies deported 35 from the US earlier this year in the much-publicized spy-swap.

Meanwhile, the space crew is due to reach the orbiting laboratory in two days, where they will join two US astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut who have been at the station since June.

The crew is set to spend six months aboard the station, which is a $100 billion US dollar project involving 16 nations that has been under construction about 355 kilometers above Earth since 1998.

The growing orbital complex, a mix of mostly Russian and American-built modules 36, can now accommodate a six-member crew all the time.

Construction of the orbital outpost is expected to be finished following the last U.S. space shuttle missions set for next month and February.

Light News

Trapped Chilean Miner Promises Church Wedding for Wife of 25 Years

There's a certain routine that seems to have set in at the scene of the Chilean mining disaster. Every night, to the hum of drills and trucks, relatives of the 33 trapped miners sit under tents, eat, talk and joke; but mostly, they wait.

Jessica Yanez, whose husband and nephew are trapped below, continues to wait for her husband of 25 years, Esteban Rojas, to be freed, and yearns 37 for a special day she believes will come soon.

The couple, who have three children and two grandchildren, never had a church wedding. But trapped 700 meters below the ground, Rojas has now proposed to Yanez and is promising 38 her a church wedding when he is freed.

"He told me to say that we're going on a trip with the children, with the grandchildren. We're going to go relax for a few days and, after that comes the wedding. I'm waiting for him to come out to put a date on it."

After nine weeks, that day may come sooner than expected. Officials originally estimated that the miners would be trapped until Christmas.

But they now believe the end of the ordeal 39 could be in sight and the miners could be freed within the week, possibly starting as early as this weekend.

Chinese Crowds Return Home After National Holiday

Thousands of vacationing Chinese returned to work Friday, as the week-long National Day holiday came to an end, putting the usual pressure on the national transportation infrastructure 40.

Despite the crowds, many travelers appeared to be ready for it this year.

"It's difficult to get a train ticket, but I bought one four days ago."

"I see huge crowds scrambling 41 to get on trains. Many passengers even have to stand during long train rides just to get to their destination."

The national civil aviation sector 42 made full preparations to handle the increased number of long-distance passengers.

The Beijing Capital International Airport says 1.75 million passengers passed through the airport over the holiday period, up 30 percent from the same period last year.

China's National Day holiday is a peak travel period, especially for people living in the urban areas who most often return to their rural hometowns to visit family.

Q&A Shanghai limits buyers to one new apartment

The Shanghai municipal government has now issued new rules to limit home buyers to one new apartment.

The tightening 43 policies echo recent measures announced by the central government to cool the red-hot property market.

According to the new rules, every family in Shanghai will temporarily be permitted to buy only one more home, regardless of whether it is a second-hand 44 unit or newly built apartment.

The local government also says it will limit the amount of mortgages banks can issue and is preparing to introduce a trial launch of a real estate tax.

For more on this latest development in Shanghai we talked to Gu Wei, columnist 45 from Reuters.

WHO Issues Guideline to Raise Mental Health Awareness 46

World Mental Health Day, which falls on Sunday, is a day designated by the World Health Organization to raise public awareness about mental health issues.

With the date quickly approaching, the WHO has posted a Mental Health Gap Intervention 47 Guide on its Web site to offer help to health-care providers, especially those from developing countries, better cope with mental health patients.

Julian Eaton, a professor from the University of London, who was in the Guideline development group, explains how they came up with the main questions the guideline is trying to answer.

"More than 200 people from all over the world were involved in the process. We went down to scoping questions; these were issues on which we were genuinely uncertain about what recommendations to make. And went through detailed 48 process we identified 93 questions which we very much wanted to answer and two years ago we couldn't. So we then detailed evidence profiles, very very scrupulous 49 and evidence base processes to look all the possible evidence around the world and to be able to answer the questions we brought in two extra filters-is the evidence at all doable, is it feasible? And if it is, would it be acceptable to consumers, to service users and to families all around the world?"

Margaret Chan, head of the World Health Organization, argues that mental health care is not a "luxury item."

"It costs 2 dollars per person per year. It's one of the best values you can get. People don't like to talk about mental health disorders 50, this is the kind of situation we are living in. So high profile diseases would always get the resources. But we do need to make some priorities. We do have very good reason to challenge the mentality 51 that mental health services are expensive."

According to WHO, more than 150 million people worldwide suffer from depression, while 125 million people are affected 52 by alcohol use disorders, and as many as 40 million people suffer from epilepsy.

IOC President Urges Israel to Ease Travel Restrictions 53 for Palestinian Athletes

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge continued his tour of the middle East, visiting the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and meeting with Israeli president Shimon Peres in Jerusalem.

Rogge invited Olympic leaders from both Israel and Palestine to the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, in an effort to find some progress on the issue of freedom of movement for Palestinian athletes.

"Palestinian athletes ... to these travels."

Israeli officials refute the charge that its border controls prevent many of Palestinian athletes from taking part in regular training sessions and get-togethers.

Hong Kong's First 3-D Horror Premieres

The rising 3-D trend in the film industry has struck again here in Asia.

"The Child's Eye," Hong Kong's first 3-D horror movie, has now premiered in Hong Kong, with cast members Shawn Yu, Rainie Yang and Elanne Kong in attendance.

Directed by the Pang 54 Brothers, "The Child's Eye" takes place at a hotel in Bangkok where one friend sees a ghost, and another finds a disembodied hand.

Elanne Kong says the cast had a lot of fun on set, even scaring themselves at times.

"I was bewitched by a ghost in a scene and I had to be painted in green, grey and white all over my body. When I went to (the) wash room, it's a shock to see myself, it's scary."

"The Child's Eye" first screened at the Venice International Film Festival in September.

The film is set to be released on the mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia later this month.

Media Digest