News & Reports 2010-07-25（在线收听） |
Hello and Welcome to News and Reports on China Radio International. In This Edition North Korea vows to respond with "powerful nuclear deterrence" to joint US and South Korean military exercises poised to begin on Sunday. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused Russia of turning against Tehran and joining the US in spreading lies about its nuclear program. At least 15 people were killed and 45 others seriously injured in stampede during a Love Parade techno music festival in Western Germany. China vows to enhance workplace safety in accident prone industries, and will sharply raise compensation for victims.
N.Korea Threatens Nuclear Deterrence to US-S.Korea Drills North Korea has vowed to respond with "powerful nuclear deterrence" to joint US and South Korean military exercises poised to begin on Sunday. North Korea's National Defence Commission issued a statement, saying it will counter "the largest-ever nuclear war exercises". The statement was read by a newsreader on state broadcaster KRT. "The army and people of the DPRK will legitimately counter with their powerful nuclear deterrence the largest-ever nuclear war exercises to be staged by the US and the South Korean puppet forces. The army and people of the DPRK will start a retaliatory sacred war of their own style based on nuclear deterrent at any time necessary in order to counter the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet forces deliberately pushing the situation to the brink of war." The latest threat comes amid increased tensions on the Korean peninsula over the sinking of a South Korean warship that Seoul and Washington blame on Pyongyang. The US and South Korea had announced that they would stage joint military drills to send a clear message to North Korea to stop its "aggressive" behaviour. North Korea vehemently denies any involvement in the sinking of the South Korean warship and says any punishment would trigger war. A day earlier in Hanoi, a North Korean spokesman for the delegation attending a regional security conference warned the drills would draw a "physical response" from Pyongyang. In response, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US is willing to meet and negotiate with the North, but this type of threat only heightens tensions. "The door remains open for North Korea, if they are willing to commit themselves to the irreversible denuclearisation that would make the entire Korean peninsula, not just the South but the North as well, free of nuclear weapons, we are willing to meet with them, we are willing to negotiate, to move toward normal relations, economic assistance, we want to help the people of North Korea." Clinton stressed that a peaceful resolution of the issues on the Korean peninsula will be possible only if North Korea fundamentally changes its behavior. The nuclear-powered USS George Washington supercarrier is already docked in the southern port of Busan for the military drills. About eight-thousand US and South Korean troops on some 20 ships and submarines will be involved to carry out the exercises in the East Sea.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused Russia of turning against Tehran and joining the US in spreading lies about its nuclear program. Ahmadinejad said in a speech that Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had entered a "propaganda drama" directed by Washington by saying last week that Iran was getting closer to being able to develop nuclear weapons. He said any propaganda attempt against Iran is doomed to failure. "If America, its allies and all the world's powers deploy all their power and the power of their propaganda to force Iran into retreat even one iota, they will take this dream to their graves." However, Ahmadinejad stressed that Russia is a great nation and Iran is interested in continuing friendship between the two nations. Russia has a series of energy and weapons contracts with Iran, including a batch of sophisticated S-300 ground-to-air defence missiles. Last month, the Russian government said the new UN sanctions forbid delivering the weapons, while Iranian officials later insisted the sanctions don't cover contracts signed before the restrictions entered force.
A stampede killed at least 15 people and seriously injured 45 others in Germany after mass panic broke out in a tunnel at a Love Parade techno music festival. The accident took place in the industrial city of Duisburg in western Germany. Overcrowding at the entrance tunnel to a former freight rail station where the event was being held sparked the stampede and then a crush among the mainly young festival-goers. Alex Dueben is a witness of the tragedy. "I was standing between the two bridges and saw that more and more people kept coming through. They walking into each other and tried to run up stairs and to climb up flood defense. It was an absolute panic situation. Nothing went forwards, nothing went backwards. We couldn't do anything." Officials said rescue work was hampered by the huge crowds attending one of Europe's biggest electronic music events in fine weather. People had come from around Europe to the Love Parade with most in the 18-25 age bracket. The festival, attended by about 1.4 million people, was not immediately cancelled because authorities feared that could spark a second panic and more chaos at the crowded venue. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has issued a statement saying she was appalled and saddened by the tragic event. The Love Parade is one of Europe's largest electronic music festivals, which was originally hosted in Berlin from 1989 to 2006. Other German cities began to host it afterwards.
Engineers have prepared to abandon their vigilance over BP's broken oil well as Tropical Storm Bonnie reached the United States' Florida coastline. Ships cleaning oil from near the well site have left for either open waters or safe harbors. The mechanical plug that's stopped the oil for a week is also closed. The only way BP would know if the cap had failed would be satellite and aerial views of oil gushing to the surface. Retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen says he's confident the cap will hold, despite a few leaks that raised concerns last week. "We will leave hydrophones at the base of the well to be able to monitor any anomalies that could develop. We've also coordinated with Admiral Zukunpt, the local unified area commander for overhead sorties by Coast Guard aircraft to make sure if there's any leakage or seepage to the surface. Also coordinating with National Geospatial Intelligence agency for satellite assets to do surveillance. So while we may have to leave the site, we are prepared to optimise our surveillance platforms as we do that." Allen says increased activity on the surface caused by the storm could help the oil emulsify. But he adds that the storm could also drive oil onto the beach and marsh areas where it would not be found otherwise. Scientists say even a severe storm shouldn't affect the plug, nearly a mile beneath the ocean surface. Bonnie has made landfall in Florida south of Miami with top sustained winds of 40 miles per hour. The storm is on track to pick up strength as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico, reaching the site of the massive oil spill by Sunday.
Russia is suffering from a severe heatwave, with central Russia, the southern Urals and Siberia affected the most. Many areas haven't seen rain for over a month. In the Tverskaya region, about 100 kilometers north-east of Moscow, it has not rained for 40 days. The drought has destroyed or caused severe damage to crops, and badly affected milk production. Nikolai Popov, who has been the director of the "Mir" collective farm for the past 30 years, does not remember such a drought. "The forecast for this week says the temperatures will rise up to plus 38 Celsius, that's it. You know, I even stopped waiting for the rain. But we need it really badly otherwise everything we have will be destroyed." A heatwave which has destroyed Russian crops over an area the size of Portugal showed no sign of abating. Moscow has been experiencing a record-breaking heat wave and the temperature on Saturday hit another record of 36.7 degrees Celsius.
While in Peru, people there are experiencing just the opposite. The government has declared a state of emergency for more than half the country in response to severely low temperatures which have fallen to minus 23 degrees centigrade. Health Minister Oscar Ugarte made the announcement at a news conference. "It has been agreed to declare a state of emergency for the situation relating to cold in practically 19 departments of the country - this is a phenomenon covering almost all of the country." With the state of emergency in effect, regional and local governments can quickly use funds to help the affected communities. Ugarte said children have been hard hit by the severe weather, with more than 200 deaths of children under five years reported in the central city of Puno. Some areas of Lima were also placed under a state of emergency, according to the government. The capital has been hit by the lowest temperatures in 46 years and meteorologists are predicting a new cold snap next week. China Continues Oil Cleanup Efforts China is continuing to battle the country's largest reported oil spill off the northeastern port of Dalian. Officials have mobilized hundreds of vessels to clean up the spill which happened last week after two oil pipelines exploded. Sun Jianli is a military commander responsible for the cleanup efforts. "We have arranged large numbers of soldiers in recent days to tackle the clean up from different directions. We will continue to be persistent, and will win the battle against the oil spread." Local government says the oil spill has "seriously polluted" 11 square-kilometers of sea and "slightly affected" another 50 square-kilometers. Fishing communities living close to the area affected by the spill said the impact on their livelihood was severe. Tourists also complained that the spill had spoiled their beach holiday. Official investigation says improper desulfurizer injections into one oil pipeline first caused an explosion and triggered an adjacent pipeline to also explode. China National Petroleum Corporation said that the pipelines has now resumed operations.
Workplace accidents have left 33,876 people dead in China during the first half of this year, which is 4000 less than that of last year. This is the latest figure issued by the State Administration of Work Safety on Friday. According to the country's work safety watchdog, China will raise the compensation for workplace injury and death much higher, so as to make enterprises pay more attention to work safety. Huang Yi, the spokesperson for State Administration of Work Safety: "The average lump-sum compensation from enterprises for per work-related death will be around 340,000 yuan, or about 50,000 US dollars. It will be no less than 600,000 yuan if we add funeral cost and blood pension for relatives on top of that. But no money is enough to compensate the loss of a life. We will make more thorough inspections and more enterprises to be involved in safety checks at a regular basis." The State Council, China's Cabinet, also issued a circular on Friday, urging local governments and companies to strengthen work safety by improving corporate safety management, providing technical support and enhancing safety supervision. The new compensation standard will be introduced from the beginning of next year.
The new executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change says that governments could aim higher and make "progress" at the climate summit in Mexico later this year. Christiana Figueres, who took office this month, told reporters in Bonn, Germany that governments must have a "more serious conversation" about the Kyoto Protocol to reach an agreement on emissions reduction. She called on governments to work together at the Mexico summit to establish what form a legally binding agreement on climate change would take. "Governments can take the politically possible and convert it in Cancun into an unmistakable step of progress. It will be one step in the long evolution of the climate regime. What is very clear is what the elements are going to be and those will be mitigation, finance, implementation, accountability, and then of course the question about what the form of that legal agreement is going to be." A December summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, fell far short of the goal of a full-fledged and legally binding accord setting emission reduction targets for major countries. Expectations for the Mexico summit have been lowered as a result. Figueres was appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in March and succeeded Yvo de Boer.
China's sailing capital Qingdao has kicked off its 2010 International Marine Festival at the Olympic Sailing Center. Now in its eleventh year, the festival invites visitors especially sailing enthusiasts from around the world to an ocean feast. Media: Flood Situation Teaches Us to Respect Nature Most Chinese newspapers including the Beijing News and the China Daily pay great attention to the grim flood situation this year, saying that the nation has paid a huge price for being short sighted on the question of flood control. An article in the Beijing News points out that human activities are to blame for the great losses in the natural disaster. It attributes the disaster to vegetation degradation along the middle- and up-stream of the Yangtze River, massive constructions of dams, the shrinkage of lakes as well as land reclamation from the sea. Meanwhile, an editorial in the China Daily indicates that controlling the deluge along the Yangtze River would have been far easier if the lakes had been carefully preserved. It says more than 100 lakes have either been artificially filled to meet construction needs or reclaimed for farming just in Wuhan during the past half century. This year too, part of a well-known lake was reportedly filled to make way for a holiday resort. Several famous freshwater lakes such as Poyang, Dongting and Taihu along the Yangtze have shrunk considerably in the past decades due to farming, real estate development projects or industrial units. The editorial says we should respect nature more. Otherwise, we will be more vulnerable to such disasters. ================================= China Daily: Population Concern According to the blueprint approved by China's State Council, the population of Beijing should not exceed 18 million by 2020. But latest local statistics show the city's resident population has already reached nearly 20 million. And there is no sign of a slowdown. An editorial in the China Daily says Beijing cannot afford unlimited expansion. It says the expansion of metropolises is the inevitable consequence of the imbalance, and inequity, in the way public resources are distributed. People across the country covet to live in Beijing and the few other major cities because they have the country's best schools, hospitals and other facilities. Therefore, it points out that the ultimate solution is to narrow the regional development gap. The article says the central authorities have been concentrating the entire national wealth on "key" projects and areas. Beijing and the other municipalities under direct jurisdiction of the State Council have benefited tremendously from such special favors. But that is unfair to the rest of the country. The editorial goes on to say that it is the time to tilt the balance toward the underdeveloped central and western regions. It notes unless the promises of support for the central and western regions are matched with genuine action of substantial allocations from the central funds, unless people can find quality supplies and services that are now available only in places like Beijing, there is no way people can be stopped from flocking to the mega-cities. |
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