News & Reports 2012-06-10

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In This EditionSpain will become the fourth country receiving financial help after Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
Russia reiterates its opposition to outside military intervention in the Syrian crisis, warning it would lead to grave consequences for the whole region.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda orders to restart two nuclear reactors to avoid a summertime energy crunch.
And China is ready to launch its spacecraft for the first manned space docking in the next few days.
Hot Issue ReportsSpain to Ask for Bailout from EUSpain's Economy Minister Luis de Guindos says Madrid will ask for assistance for its troubled banks.
De Guindos made the remarks after a meeting with Euro-zone finance ministers.
"The Spanish government declares its intention to request European financing for the recapitalisation of Spanish banks that need it. This is a loan with very favorable conditions which will be determined in the following days. The FROB bank fund will receive and then, with the instruments at its disposal, will inject into those Spanish entities that need it."De Guindos added that the amount of the bailout would be known after an audit of the Spanish banking system is carried out by independent auditors, due later in June.
Euro-zone finance ministers agreed on Saturday to lend Spain up to 100 billion euros to shore up its teetering bank.
The loan amount must cover estimated capital requirements with an additional safety margin, estimated as summing up to 100 billion euros in total.
With Spain's formal request, European officials and the IMF still need to conduct an assessment before distributing the assistance.
In Greece, austerity-choked residents say Spain's need for a bailout casts new uncertainties on the entire Euro zone.
"It is slowly being proven that the crisis is not only Greek, but is primarily European, and particularly affects the countries of the south. After Spain perhaps it will be time for Italy.""I am more worried about us first. But then after that I am worried about the future of the whole euro zone, because we young people see a very unclear future ahead."Spain will be the fourth country receiving financial help after Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
Syrians Condemn Recent Violence in Damascus and HamaSeventeen people, including 10 women, were killed overnight by shelling in the southern Syrian town of Deraa.
Fighting in the town between the army and rebels was also reported after the shelling.
In the capital Damascus, at least three people died and 26 more were injured when a car bomb exploded at the entrance to a police station.
Syrian Television has released footage of the aftermath of an attack on Hama.
The broadcaster said children were shot in the head by armed groups in the Hama massacre that killed nine on Wednesday.
But other reports claim that shelling by government troops killed more than 80 people in the village.
Ordinary people are condemning the violent killings and say they are worried about their country's future.
"People are filled with fear and barely venture outside their homes. Workers have lost their jobs, and students have dropped out of school. The side effects of the massacre are too much to bear, as they have cost us our youth and our future."The Hama massacre is the second such attack in a week to rattle Syria.
Last week, a massacre occurred in the central village of Houla in Homs province, claiming the lives of more than 100 people.
The government and the opposition have been trading barbs over the carnage.
Russia Opposed to Military Intervention in Syria: Russian FMRussia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has reaffirmed Russia's opposition to outside military intervention in the ongoing conflict in Syria.
"The situation there is becoming increasingly worrying. An impression is being created that Syria is on the verge of a full-scale civil conflict. Our position to this regard is unchanged - we will not sanction the use of force in Syria in the Security Council. This would lead to grave consequences for the whole Middle Eastern region."Russia has previously blocked proposed U.N. resolutions to impose sanctions on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
But Russia has been a strong supporter of the mission of U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, who has put forth a plan for ending the violence between Assad's forces and opposition fighters.
But the plan is severely stumbling amid the rise in violence, and Lavrov said an international conference should convene to galvanise international commitment to the plan.
"The international conference that we are suggesting is planned exactly to create these conditions, when outside players do not obstruct this process. Today these outside players obstruct it, instigate one of the sides to continue a so-called liberation struggle until the world community interferes and intervenes."Despite the presence of an UN observer mission, violence in Syria flared up in recent weeks with grisly killings reported one after another, including the Houla massacre last month.
Syrian National Council Vows to Represent Syrian PeopleThe frontrunner for the presidency of the opposition Syrian National Council, or SNC said that the group would continue to strive to become the real representative for the people in Syria.
Abdulbaset Sieda was speaking at a two-day SNC meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, in which he was expected to be confirmed as SNC's new president.
"We will continue our reform and we will do our new structure in the council. And it's most important to us that all of our members they will in active way and connected with the opposition. Also we will continue and we will try that with SNC it will become the real representative for the people in Syria."The SNC is the largest umbrella group representing the opposition outside Syria.
Saturday's gathering comes days after the latest reported massacre in the Syrian village of Mazraat al-Qubair, where activists say nearly 80 people were killed.
The killings were another blow to international envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan.
Annan brokered a cease-fire that went into effect in April but has since been violated many times and never properly took hold.
Four NATO Soldiers Killed in Suicide Attack in AfghanistanFour NATO soldiers have been confirmed dead following a suicide-bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan.
The soldiers were all French.
A Taliban spokesperson claimed responsibility for the attack.
France's defense ministry has confirmed the nationalities of the dead and said another five French troops were wounded in the blast.
NATO spokesman Carsten Jacobson has more.
"We have lost in the incident in the eastern Afghanistan this morning four coalition soldiers who perished in a suicide attack, and of course we are deeply sorry about this incident."The bombing was the second deadly attack on NATO troops reported on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, a service member was killed in a bomb attack in the east.
So far this year, 189 international service members have been killed in Afghanistan.
UN Chief Condemns Attacks on Cote d'Ivoire PeacekeepersUnited Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has strongly condemned an ambush in Cote d'Ivoire that killed seven UN peacekeepers.
The peacekeepers were part of a patrol south of the town of Tai in an area that the UN mission recently reinforced because of threats of attacks against civilians.
Ban Ki-moon said the seven peacekeepers killed were from Niger, and expressed his "deepest condolences" to the Niger government and the peacekeepers' families.
"I'm saddened and outraged. These brave soldiers died in the service of peace. I condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms. My heart goes out to the families at this difficult time, and I express my deepest condolences to the government of Niger for this tragedy."The UN Secretary-General said more than 40 UN peacekeepers remained with villagers in southwestern Cote d'Ivoire to protect them from the armed group.
He warned that the peacekeepers still in the area remained in danger from the attackers.
The United Nations has had a peacekeeping mission in Cote d'Ivoire since 2004.
At the end of April, the UN said there were about 9,400 peacekeeping troops stationed there. More than 40 countries are contributing military personnel.
Japan to Restart Nuclear Reactors to Offset Energy ShortfallJapanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has decided to restart two nuclear reactors to protect the economy and people's livelihoods.
All 50 of Japan's workable reactors have been offline since the Fukushima nuclear crisis triggered by a powerful earthquake and ensuing tsunami in March last year.
Noda sought to assure the people that his decision serves the national interest despite high public concerns about the safety of nuclear energy.
"It is my decision that we should restart the Ohi No. 3 and No. 4 reactors in order to protect the people's livelihoods. I had to reach one conclusion, while the public opinion was polarised. I take full responsibility."The two reactors at the Ohi nuclear plant are the first two ready to resume operation, but the public has shown great concern that government failures worsened last year's nuclear crisis and may recur.
The government wants the reactors to be operational to avoid a summertime energy crunch.
Noda said a 15 percent power deficit is expected in the western region, a level he called "severe."The restart could take place within days as Noda said the peak of energy demand for the summer is approaching, requiring "a quick decision."China to Launch Spacecraft in Mid-June for Manned Space DockingChina will launch its Shenzhou-9 manned spacecraft sometime in mid-June to perform the country's first manned space docking mission with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab module.
The spacecraft and its carrier rocket, the Long March-2F, are now moved to the launch platform at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
Niu Hongguang, Deputy Commander-in-chief of China's manned space program, said a three-person crew onboard the Shenzhou-9 might include female astronauts, but the final selection would be decided later.
"All the astronauts and three reserve crewmembers are scheduled to enter the launch site where all kinds of preparations are completed before the launch. At present, the astronauts are in good shape and well meet the standards required to perform their duties."Niu also said the space-docking mission would be manually conducted by the astronauts, giving China another chance to test its docking technology.
The target module Tiangong-1, which blasted off last year, went into long-term operation in space awaiting the docking attempts by the Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spacecrafts.
China's CPI Up 3.0 Percent While PPI Down 1.4 Percent in MayChina's consumer price index, a main gauge of inflation, slowed to 3.0 percent year-on-year in May.
The National Bureau of Statistics said the drop marked a 17-month-low, easing from April's 3.4 percent and 3.6 percent in March.
Food prices, which account for nearly one-third of the weighting in the calculation of China's CPI, rose 6.4 percent last month from a year earlier. Food prices have seen an increase with the highest rate compared with that of other items.
Zhou Wangjun, Deputy Chief of the Price Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, said the goal set to curb CPI growth within 4 percent in the first half of 2012 has been realized.
"We have set the goal of curbing the average CPI growth in the first half of this year to less than 4 percent. Now the growth has been brought under control and the figure is lower than this target thanks to our macroeconomic policy which attempts to curb inflation."In the meantime, China's Producer Price Index, or PPI, a main gauge of inflation at the wholesale level, fell 1.4 percent in May from a year earlier.
China Makes New Findings about Terracotta WarriorsChinese archeologists have started to release their findings about the country's famous Terracotta Army statues after years of excavation work at an ancient burial site in western China.
Three years ago, archeologists started the third large-scale excavation of the No. 1 Pit at the Qinshihuang Mausoleum just outside the city of Xi'an.
Cai Wei, curator of the Museum of Terracotta Warriors and Horses at the Qinshihuang Mausoleum, says the archeologists have made some new discoveries.
"We found some trails of damage on the warriors, such as trails that show they were hooked, chopped and cut. These trails provide precious clues for us to understand the damage in the pit. We didn't find these trails during the first and second excavations, but we have found them this time."After years of work, archeologists say they have dug out 310 sets of weaponry, chariots and production tools as well as more than 100 terracotta statues.
Among them, the most noticeable is a giant warrior statue as high as 2.2 meters, excluding the height of its head.
The Terracotta Warriors were buried about 2,200 years ago to guard the tomb of Emperor Qin Shihuang, who created China's first unitary state by conquering rival kingdoms.
After Qin Shihuang's death in 210 BC, he was buried in the city-size mausoleum outside Xi'an, which was discovered in 1974.
The site has since become one of China's top tourism destinations.
More than a thousand life-size statues have been found so far, including soldiers, archers, horses and chariots representing the emperor's army.
Myanmar Reinforces Security in Western Rakhine StateMyanmar has sent troops and naval vessels to the western state of Rakhine after seven people died in the worst fighting in years between minority Muslim Rohingya and Buddhists.
A senior government official said hundreds of Rohingya had rioted on Friday in Buddhist communities and an overnight curfew had been imposed in Maungdaw Township.
It was not clear what had sparked the unrest but the western region has been tense for days after reports of gang rape and murder of a Buddhist woman blamed on Muslims and the reprisal killing of 10 Muslims during last weekend.
Former political prisoner Khaing Kaung San.
"I want the government to get better peace for Rakhine and the other ethnicities. Because there won't be safe lives for Rakhines whenever the villages of Muslim people are staying beside the beach of Maungadaw township. Even in Sittwe, people can't sleep well, they can't eat well, they have to close their shops, they have to stop working. These all are disadvantages of the country too."Naval vessels had been patrolling the river and sea off Maungdaw.
Seven people died and 17 were wounded in the unrest and around 500 buildings were destroyed.
Immigrant Groups and Activists Join Anti-fascist MarchAbout 1,500 people marched across downtown Athens Friday evening to show their support for victims of racially motivated assaults in an antifascism rally.
The protesters waved large banners with slogans against neo-Nazis and fascism, saying they were concerned about an increase in xenophobic sentiment in crisis-stricken Greece.
Javied Aslam is the president of Unity Pakistani Community Group in Greece.
"Here in Greece where democracy was born, we need humanity, not fascist actions. That is why we are here until this fascism ends."Demonstrators urged Greeks not to reelect politicians from the extreme-right party Golden Dawn in next week's repeat national elections.
Golden Dawn has been accused of violent attacks against immigrants in Greece.
But the party denies involvement in the attacks, insisting it is a nationalist patriotic group.
Golden Dawn won nearly seven percent of the vote in May's inconclusive national elections, giving it 21 seats in the 300-member Parliament.
Search for Survivors in a Collapsed Building in Kenya UnderwayMany residents are feared trapped under the rubble of a four-storey building that collapsed in Nairobi.
The local Red Cross, Kenyan Police and firefighters rushed to the collapsed building to save lives from the debris.
A large crowd had also gathered shortly after the collapse to help move away the wreckage.
Some eyewitnesses said the building had been already partly occupied although it was still under construction.
"The building was under construction, but the ground floor was already occupied even before completion. There is a restaurant here which is always packed to capacity and a chemist, and we suspect that most people are trapped there.""I was working on a car adjacent to the building when I saw it coming down. We rushed to the scene and managed to save three people."It's still unclear if there were any fatalities from the accident.
Last month, a building under construction collapsed in Nairobi's wealthy Westlands area, leaving one dead.
People's Daily: SCO Says "No" to InterventionismMembers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, SCO, concluded their summit in Beijing this week with a statement opposing military intervention in Syria and reject the idea of forced regime change in the country.
The leaders also rejected the idea of using military means to solve the Iranian nuclear dispute, instead choosing to support dialogue and other diplomatic methods.
A commentary in the People's Daily newspaper suggests history has shown that using violence to fight or stop other violence only begets more loss of life and sparks hard-to-heal hatred.
The commentary cites the example of Libya as a country where resolving a problem by violence has had a negative impact on the nation and its people. More than a year has passed since NATO air forces started to drop bombs on Libya to drive its previous government out of power, but the country is still in chaos.
As for war-torn Afghanistan, the article goes on to say that as the United States drafts a plan for withdrawal from that country, it appears that few are optimistic about Afghanistan's ability to stand on its own considering its weak security forces and frequent suicide bombings.
Therefore, the time has come to say "no" to military intervention, as the painful experiences of the past should not be allowed to repeat themselves.
The People's Daily commentary adds that the Beijing summit marked the first time for the leaders of all the SCO member states to stand together and speak with one voice on major international issues. The paper says with its growing economic power and unambiguous position, the multinational organization will definitely become a key force for world peace.
***************************China Daily: Japan Must Respect China's Core InterestsChina and Japan are supposed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of normalization of their diplomatic relations this year. However, a series of provocative moves by some Japanese politicians concerning territorial disputes seem to leave little to cheer.
One recent such move was by Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara and other Japanese officials who have been pushing for a ridiculous plan to "purchase" China's Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea from Japan's self-claimed "private owners."Moreover, two Japanese lawmakers were scheduled to visit the Diaoyu Islands this weekend in preparation for a House of Representatives' hearing next week.
An editorial in China Daily warns that Japan is testing China's patience with its antics. It says the actions of Ishihara and other Japanese officials have erected barriers for the advancement of China-Japan relations. As a result, some of the exchanges between high-ranking officials of the two countries have been canceled.
The editorial goes on to say that Japan should understand that China will not allow its core territorial interests, including the Diaoyu Islands, to be violated. It stresses that the integrity of its territory is China's bottom line and Japan should keep this in mind.
In conclusion, the China Daily editorial urges Japan to make conciliatory efforts to maintain its friendship with China and advance the hard-won progress the two countries have made in their bilateral relations over the past 40 years.