News & Reports 2012-05-27

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In This EditionChina rejects a recent U.S. government report which criticized China's human rights practices calling it "biased 1."Afghan parliament approves a strategic pact 2 that clears the way for U.S. presence in the country after foreign combat troops leave in 2014.
Greek pro-bailout New Democracy Party, which takes slight lead in polls, tries to gain support before key votes next month.
And astronauts aboard the International Space Station float inside the SpaceX Dragon capsule, the first privately 3 owned spaceship to reach the orbital outpost.
Hot Issue ReportsChina Lashes 4 at US Biased Views on China's Human RightsChinese Foreign Ministry 5 spokesman Hong Lei says a recent U.S. government report on China's human rights practices is "biased.""It's a solid fact that remarkable 7, well-recognized progress has been achieved in China's human rights over the past 30 years and more. There is always room for improvement on human rights for any country."He also urged the United States to stop interfering 8 in the internal affairs of other nations.
"We sincerely advise the U.S. side to do more self-examination and change its erroneous ways of thinking and doing things on the issue."In response to U.S. attacks, Chinese authorities have released a report on the "Human Rights Record of the United States in 2011", revealing U.S. violations 9 of human rights in its own territory and in other countries as well.
Afghan Parliament Ratifies 10 Strategic Pact with U.S.
Afghanistan's parliament approved on Saturday a strategic pact between Kabul and Washington, clearing the way for a U.S. presence in the country for at least a decade after most foreign combat troops leave in 2014.
The deal, signed by U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai in Kabul on May 2, sets up a long-term U.S. role in Afghanistan, including aid and advisers 11.
The pact is viewed by some of Afghanistan's neighboring states as a threat to regional stability.
However, President Karzai assured the country's neighbors again that a strategic partnership 12 with the U.S. does not pose any threat to them.
Around 180 members of parliament were present and only four voted against the strategic pact. Qazi Nazir was one of those who opposed it.
"All the talks on the strategic pact meant to prolong the conflict in Afghanistan and subsequently a grim future in Afghanistan under the Westerners. The concern that Iran raises about foreigners in Afghanistan is understandable because Iran feels threatened by the permanent base of western forces in Afghanistan."While MP Shukria Barikzai held a different opinion.
"This is the time that we should think about what is for the benefit of Afghani people? We shouldn't believe and we shouldn't care in our minds what our neighbor country wants. Afghanistan needs peace, stability, security, democratic processes, good economy and that is why we signed that agreement, and we approve."The pact will be sent to the Upper House of Parliament for approval and then to the president for a final signature making it a legal document.
Traces of High-grade Uranium Detected in Iranian Site: IAEA ReportThe International Atomic Energy Agency said in its latest report that inspectors 13 detected traces of up to 27 percent-purity enriched uranium in Iran's Fordow nuclear fuel enrichment plant.
The purity level is higher than the 20 percent Tehran said it was enriching to fuel its research reactor 14 and for medical purposes. The higher enrichment insists a proximity 15 to weapons-grade uranium.
But the report was careful to avoid any suggestion that Iran was intentionally 16 increasing the level of its uranium enrichment, noting that Tehran said a technical glitch 17 was responsible.
British-based analyst 18 Mark Fitzpatrick said it was "not a sign that Iran is moving closer to weapons grade material".
"There are good reasons to be concerned about Iran's enrichment program but the fact that at the start-up of a cascade 19 they hit a 27 percent level initially 20 is not a reason to be overly concerned. It's a natural development at the beginning of a cascade when you're feeding in low levels of gassified uranium to not be able to hit the 20 percent target right the first time, it's very usual to go above it."The UN nuclear watchdog is assessing Iran's explanation and has requested further details.
In recent negotiations 21, Western countries have demanded Iran close the Fordow site, an underground facility well protected against potential air strikes, and stop the production of 20-percent enriched uranium. Iran denies any plans to possess nuclear weapons.
The latest round of talks to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue ended in Baghdad Thursday with a plan to hold fresh talks in Moscow next month.
Cairo Residents Optimistic about Future after ElectionResidents in the Egyptian capital Cairo expressed confidence in Egypt's political future prior to the official release of this week's presidential election results.
Official results are due on Tuesday, but a senior judge involved in supervising the vote said Muslim Brotherhood 22 candidate Mohamed Mursi and former air force chief Ahmed Shafiq were in the lead.
The election has split Egyptians between those who oppose a return to the Mubarak era and those who fear an Islamist monopoly of ruling institutions. A run-off election will be held next month if no candidate wins an outright 23 majority in the first round.
But Cairo's residents appeared to be optimistic, believing that whoever wins will be accountable to the people.
"We'll just have to give a chance to these people who want to rule the country. We'll give them four years, if they really want to fix things we'll know. If not, then they can go."The presidential election, the first after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, was overseen 24 by a military council that has pledged to hand power over to the new president by July 1.
Greece Pro-bailout ND Tries to Gain Support before Key Votes Next MonthGreek conservative New Democracy party leader Antonis Samaras says a vote for the left Syriza party would drive Greece out of the Euro-zone and into poverty.
His comments came as a new poll showed New Democracy having a slight lead over the leftist Syriza ahead of the June 17 election.
"If Greece condemns 25 the bailout agreement, it will remain isolated 26 internationally for many years, and will be exploited by many from every direction. There will be no food, no medicines or petrol, at night we will live in a continuous blackout, and our social cohesion 27 will be torn apart. PASOK opened the road towards the endless recession. SYRIZA will take us one step further, to derailment, to bankruptcy 28."PASOK was in power when the debt crisis erupted and introduced the economic austerity measures.
Syriza has caused shockwaves by saying it will tear up the bailout agreement made with the European Union and IMF and ignited chatter 29 of Greece leaving the Euro-zone. The leftist party is neck and neck with New Democracy in opinion polls.
The New Democracy party, which backs the international bailout, finished first in the last elections early this month but failed to clinch 30 a majority.
Nine days of negotiations to form a coalition 31 failed after the Syriza party refused to join a coalition supporting economic reforms that have hurt wages and pensions.
Surveys show an overwhelming majority of more than 75 percent of Greeks want to stay in the Euro, but two thirds oppose the austerity measures agreed to for the bailout.
Hotel Workers Stage a Strike in AthensMeanwhile, Greek hotel workers staged a 24-hour strike in Athens on Saturday to protest against labor 32 reforms ahead of new elections whose central theme continues to be deeper austerity.
The protesters left behind tourists who had to make up their own beds, get their own breakfast and would have to struggle past thousands of demonstrators to reach the city's main attraction.
Workers oppose the recent passing of legislation that changes collective wage agreements allowing for the reduction of the minimum wage by employers, as well as wage cuts and job reductions in the sector 33 that have taken place since two years ago.
The reduction of the minimum wage was introduced by the government in order to make the economy more competitive.
Unions said it puts workers at the mercy of employers. Nikos Papageorgiou is a unionist for hotel workers.
"We demand that no wage be reduced, that no worker sign any wage agreement, and that we do not lose any of our rights. We demand viable 34 collective wage agreements for everyone in Athens and all of Greece, not just for hotel workers."Hotel maid Christina Pontikaki said she could barely survive on current "starvation wages".
"My wage has been so far reduced by 32 percent. Slowly it will reach 40 percent. I earn 400 euros. I can't live on 400 euros, I am already paying rent of 380 euros. Even if I paid less rent I still wouldn't be able to make ends meet. These are starvation wages."Greece goes to a repeat poll next month which has pitched parties against each other over the economic reforms that have been introduced since 2010 that have cut wages, jobs, pensions, benefits and increased taxes.
The reforms were introduced to reduce the country's ailing 35 debt and needed in order for Greece to be given aid by the European Union and IMF, but have also caused recession and high unemployment.
Astronauts Spoke 6 Inside the First Commercial SpacecraftAstronauts aboard the International Space Station opened the hatch and floated inside a Space Exploration Technologies' Dragon capsule on Saturday, the first privately owned spaceship to reach the orbital outpost.
Flight Engineer Don Pettit spoke inside the unmanned capsule.
"There's not enough room in here to hold a barn dance, but for transportation of crew up and down through Earth's atmosphere and into space, which is a rather short period of time, there's plenty of room in here for the envisioned crew."The mission is seen as a historical step forward in space travel and follows US NASA's shuttle program that ended last year. But Pettit said the success or failure of SpaceX mission "neither confirms nor negates 36 the viability 37 of commercial space flight.""Commercial space flight will blossom due to its own merits and doesn't really hinge on one mission. It will hinge on the viability of launching many missions over a long period of time and being able to provide useful commercial goods and services in the lower orbit arena 38."Before Dragon's lift-off, flights to the space station have always been a government-only affair.
Until their retirement 39 last summer, U.S. space shuttles carried most of the gear and many of the astronauts to the orbiting outpost. Since then, American astronauts have had to rely on Russian capsules for rides. European, Japanese and Russian supply ships have been delivering cargo 40.
NASA is looking to the private sector, in this post-shuttle era, to get American astronauts launching again from U.S. soil. It will be at least four to five years before SpaceX or any other private operator is capable of flying astronauts.
Japanese Environment Minister Visits Fukushima Nuclear PlantJapanese Environment Minister Goshi Hosono visited the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Saturday, heading to the fuel area of the facility's Number 4 reactor for the first time.
The reactor was under maintenance when last year's devastating 41 earthquake and tsunami 42 struck.
But its used fuel pool, containing some 1,500 radioactive fuel rods, caught fire and caused an explosion.
Currently, activists 43 worry that the pool will further release radioactive material in the event of another earthquake and advise Japan to move the rods to a safer location as soon as possible.
Hosono said the clean-up process would likely take some time.
"Over the next 30-40 years we have a tough job ahead of us to sort all this out. During that time, we will have to tackle the extremely tricky 44 task of removing the spent fuel rods from the radioactive pools and then removing them from the reactor."The government said it could cost up to nearly 15 billion US dollars to clean up the Fukushima Daiichi facility, with an area roughly the size of Luxembourg likely requiring decontamination.
Storm Bud Leaves Mexico with Little DamageCleaning has begun after the remnants of tropical storm Bud whipped Mexico's Pacific coast with heavy rains and winds.
The storm, which on Friday threatened to hit land with hurricane-force winds, lost strength as it neared the coast. It has been downgraded to a tropical depression.
Jalisco State Civil Protection Director Major Trinidad Lopez said that officials found no signs of damage or reports of injuries.
"We were checking highways, communities, with people from the municipalities as well as our own people. We found no damage until now. There were no injuries either. I think it's a good result. Fortunately, it didn't reach land with the category that had been forecast. That helped us a lot in the end."South of Jalisco, in the port city of Manzanillo, Storm Bud washed out some roads but drainage ditches did not overflow 45 as they did during last year's Hurricane Jova.
The port, which ships cars, cattle, metals and tequila to Asian and U.S. markets, closed on Friday as a precaution. It was due to reopen at midday on Saturday.
Mexico has no significant oil installations on the Pacific coast. Most of Mexico's oil platforms and exporting ports are in the Gulf 46 of Mexico and affected 47 by storms in the Atlantic. Forecasters are expecting a "near-normal" hurricane season this year with up to 15 tropical storms and four to eight hurricanes along the eastern coast.
Pile-up Kills Six in BrazilAt least six people were killed and 200 injured in a massive collision on a fog-covered road in Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia.
The crash, which involved 6 buses, a truck and a police car, occured as morning fog settled over a stretch of an interstate road in the southern part of the state.
An unidentified woman, who was in one of the buses, said the fog had cut visibility down to zero.
"It was very foggy, and we couldn't see a thing."Police officer Valdomiro Rodrigues was also caught up in the accident while riding in a car with another two officers.
"When we noticed the fog, we slowed down and started going at 20 kilometres per hour. Then I turned and told our driver to go slower and stop. When I finished my sentence the bus appeared right in front of us and we hit it."The six dead were rural workers who were heading to coffee farms in northern Minas Gerais state to help during the harvest period.
Police are investigating details of the accident.
Quebec Students Challenge Anti-protest Law amid Tuition ProtestsQuebec students and trade unions have formally challenged a new anti-protest law amidst mass protests over tuition hikes.
They asked the Quebec superior court to suspend parts of the law, which requires advance notice of protests and sets out stiff fines for those who disobey. The court will hear the request next Wednesday.
Many people are disobeying the law with noisy nightly marches through the city of Montreal to show their dissatisfaction with the government.
Leo Bureau-Blouin is head of the Quebec College Student Federation 48.
"As a Quebec citizen, we are concerned by the fact that the Quebec government is attacking our fundamental rights that are guaranteed by our charter."The campaign against the anti-protest law came following months of demonstrations 49 by students against planned tuition hikes.
More than a third of Quebec college and university students are striking against the plans, which would increase annual tuition fees to around $3,700.
Students, protesting against what they see as European-style austerity, said the hikes would leave them deep in debt.
China Daily: US Actions Confusing and Do No GoodThe US State Department recently sent out a policy directive to US universities sponsoring Confucius Institutes, putting dozens of Chinese teachers' visa status into question.
The document said faculty 50 members who enter the United States through exchange program visas but also teach elementary or secondary school students are violating visa rules.
If enacted 51, the directive could force as many as 51 teachers to return to China by the end of June.
But more recently, the State Department said it will sort out the visa issue and will "do its best to fix it without having anybody have to leave."An editorial in the China Daily says the US moves are confusing and will do no good for cultural exchanges between the two nations.
The newspaper notes that the Confucius Institute is a Chinese government program aiming to promote Chinese language and culture overseas.
Since 2005, a total of 81 such institutes have been established across the United States through partnership. They are primarily engaged in supporting the study of Mandarin 52 by local Americans. Currently, about 600 Chinese teachers work in those institutes according to China's official figures.
China Daily doubts the intentions of the US State Department to raise the visa issue amid the rising popularity of Chinese language and culture among the US public.
The editorial says it's very important for the two peoples to learn more about each other's language as Sino-US relationship is growing rapidly and deeply.
But the newspaper notes that some in the US have a lingering Cold War mentality 53 and allege 54 that Confucius Institutes will corrupt 55 American minds.
In conclusion, China Daily calls for open-mindedness among US officials toward bilateral 56 cultural exchanges so that both sides can better learn from each other.
***************************Only Difficult Compromise can Ensure Survival of EuroThe latest European Union summit in Brussels ended this week with a warning to Greece that it will have to stick to its bailout terms if it wants to stay in the eurozone.
Meanwhile, leaders were also advised to prepare contingency 57 plans in case Greece decides to quit the single currency, as the country's ability to implement 58 austerity measures in exchange for funding from international creditors 59 is in question, following its failure to form a coalition government.
A commentary from China's Xinhua News Agency pointed 60 out that the 27-single-currency bloc 61 still falls short of an effective common approach to bringing an end to the worsening debt crisis, and it will survive only if all members work together to make the right choice and shoulder their responsibilities.
The article says Germany, as the EU economic powerhouse, has benefited a great deal from the formation of the eurozone and use of the single currency. Its long-term interests in the stability of the currency and the bloc may well outweigh 62 what it has to offer today. So, to save the eurozone, it is necessary for Germany to strictly 63 enforce fiscal 64 discipline and demand debt-ridden Greece to commit itself to fiscal restraint and tough austerity measures.
Meanwhile, for Greece, the article warns that it could face fiscal default and an even deeper recession if the country withdraws from the bloc. Worse still, it could trigger the exit of other debt-stricken members and lead to a final disintegration 65 of the eurozone.
The Xinhua commentary suggests the EU start considering a more balanced policy underpinned 66 by both reasonable austerity measures and well-elaborated pro-growth options, as further enforcement of drastic spending-cut measures would not be helpful to the Greek economy. It may instead stimulate 67 even stronger opposition 68 from the Greek public.