Santa Claus descends on zoo

A zookeeper dressed as Santa Claus feeds monkeys at a zoo in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, Dec 23, 2010. Animals at Xi'an Wildlife Zoo received special gifts from zookeepers before Christmas
Source:chinadaily.com.

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Official arrested for killing mistress

HEFEI - Prosecutors in east China's Xuancheng city, Anhui province, approved the arrest of an official Saturday for the murder of his mistress, local authorities said Sunday.

Investigations prove Zhang Hongbin, 44, deputy district mayor of Xuanzhou district, Xuancheng city, murdered his 26-year-old mistress surnamed Mei by strangling her after they quarrelled at around 4:00 pm Wednesday.

Zhang turned himself in to police and confessed to the murder in central Hubei's Huangshi city at around 3:00 pm Thursday.

Zhang and Mei met in August and started their extramarital affair in October. Zhang was sacked from his position on Friday.

Source:chinadaily.com.cn

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Profiles Reporter's Notebook: Being Somali

Their countrymen are now better known to the world as desperate adventurers on the high seas. But for many Somalis living in Kenya, everyday life can be an adventure, as China Daily's Hu Yinan finds out.

The trip to Kenya, to investigate the plight and status of Somalis living in Kenya, took a month of planning. After intensive research, I sent out more than 100 e-mails to local administrative bodies, foreign NGOs, analysts and reporters. Only three bothered to reply, and in the end, I did not use any of them. I met all the sources in my story on the ground. Luck, to be honest, played a big part. I only had nine days in Kenya. In order to talk to Somalis living in communities in Nairobi's Eastleigh neighborhood and the northeastern town of Mandera which borders Somalia, as well as a key source in the eastern port city of Mombasa, my timing had to be very precise. I also had to meet various other sources within the tight deadline.  
The trip to the border could have been much simpler had I bought a plane ticket from Nairobi to Wajir, a northeastern hub from where I could take the bus to Mandera. But there were few scheduled flights. I also thought the best way to get Somalis to open up and talk would be to be part of them, including riding with them on a bus that had frequent accidents and was always a police target - for days.

So early on the morning of Nov 9, I boarded a bus in Eastleigh with nothing more than a backpack and a little money, determined to travel alone to Mandera, where even UN staff members never leave their quarters without armed escort.

My top concern was never about security, but time. I was expected in Mombasa for a face-to-face interview at noon on Nov 13, and in Nairobi for two other interviews the following day. The bus to the border takes 30-odd hours and the return trip takes even longer, with police roadblocks for human-trafficking checks. It meant I had to get a bus ticket the very night I arrived.

The result was fruitful, among other things. Aside from learning what was needed for the stories I wanted to write, I escaped an abduction attempt in the first hours of my trip with the help of newly met friends, in whose company I made it through hours of anti-terrorism police questioning in Mandera

The result was fruitful, among other things. Aside from learning what was needed for the stories I wanted to write, I escaped an abduction attempt in the first hours of my trip with the help of newly met friends, in whose company I made it through hours of anti-terrorism police questioning in Mandera.

There are no proper roads northeast of Garissa, capital of the North Eastern Province, but that didn't matter. The 14 roadblocks on the 42-hour ride back, and a road accident that triggered instant armed police response, helped me understand better what it meant to be a Somali.

For me, coming and leaving on a chopper and talking to "those who are authorized to speak with the media" in a fortified compound for an hour or two does little to explain the complexity of situations in any part of the world.

It is my belief that investigative reporters are duty-bound to be at the scene of what they're trying to uncover.

I believe that by taking the initiative, it is possible to reclaim the journalistic integrity lost to many in the profession.

The graphic, photographs and text try to recapture bits and pieces from this unique experience from Nov 9 and Nov 13.

I am indebted to the China-Africa Journalists' Study Tour Program arranged by the University of Witwatersrand's school of journalism in South Africa, which made my trip possible.  

Source:chinadaily.com.cn

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China mourns victims of Nanjing Massacre

BEIJING - China said it will make greater efforts to start Six-Party emergency consultations because tensions on the Korean Peninsula have not eased.

"The Six-Party Talks are a very important way to advance the denuclearization process on the Korean Peninsula and maintain peace and stability in northeast Asia. We, the concerned parties, should make full use of the talks," Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said in an interview in Beijing Friday.

Launched in 2003 and stalled since the end of 2008, the Six-Party Talks involve China, Russia, the United States, Japan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK).

"While the talks have yet to be resumed, we think it is the proper time for emergency consultations between the heads of the delegations of the six parties," said the foreign minister.

Tensions remain high on the Korean Peninsula after the DPRK and the ROK exchanged artillery fire on Nov 23. China proposed emergency consultations among the chief negotiators in December.

Amid the international community's repeated calls for restraint and calm, the United States held separate large-scale naval drills with the ROK and Japan in waters near the peninsula.

"We will continue to make patient efforts to persuade the parties to engage in consultations," Yang said.

He said the tensions on the peninsular will ease "only if all the parties show their sincerity and make joint efforts".

"Stability on the Korean Peninsula is good for all. Chaos there is detrimental for all," he added.

During the interview, the foreign minister reiterated China's policy to be a good neighbor and partner in Asia while continuing to make contributions to the rise of the region.

Yang said China suggests a new security concept that features "mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination" be fostered, adding that countries in the region should step up cooperation in anti-terrorism and non-proliferation work.

"China welcomes other relevant countries playing a constructive role in regional cooperation to help shape an open, inclusive, and win-win cooperative framework in the region," he added.

Source:chinadaily.com.c

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Chinese passports enter electronic era

Printing of China's first electronic passports began Friday in Shanghai with the production of official passports containing microchipped information.

The adoption of electronic official passports complied with international trends and played an important role in international travel for officials, said Huang Ping, director-general of the Department of Consular Affairs of China's Foreign Ministry, at a launch ceremony.

The ministry issues official passports, including service passports and passports for government officials traveling on state business and those working in state-owned enterprises.

The electronic passport features an electronic data storage chip that contains personal data including given name, family name, personal numeric code, the document's term of validity, the issuing body, and citizenship.

An electronic passport looks almost the same as a non-electronic one, but it has new digital encryption and printing technologies and is designed to foil forgers.

Shanghai Banknote Printing Co, Ltd. and Shanghai Mite Speciality & Precision Printing Co, Ltd. won the contract to print the electronic official passports.

The two companies will also print electronic private passports in the future, but the ministry gave no specific timetable.

Source:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn

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3 teens survive 50 days adrift in Pacific

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - Three teenaged boys who were rescued after spending 50 days adrift in the South Pacific have reached land in Fiji.

The trio from the New Zealand territory of Tokelau walked ashore on shaky legs Friday, two days after a passing tuna boat spotted them drifting and picked them up.

Officials say the boys are dehydrated and badly sunburned but otherwise appear to be in good health.

They were taken to hospital in the Fijian capital of Suva for medical checks.

Tai Fredricsen, the first mate of the boat that picked the boys up, said they told him they survived by collecting rain water and by eating coconuts, raw fish and a sea bird that they caught.

The trio - Samuel Pelesa and Filo Filo, both 15, and Edward Nasau, 14 - had been given up for dead on their coral atoll in the Tokelau islands, where a memorial service was held for them after extensive searches failed to find them.

The boys set off on October 5 in their aluminum dinghy from their home island to one nearby. It's not known how they went missing, but the outboard motor on their boat may have broken down at sea.

Worried family members reported them missing and the New Zealand air force launched a sea search. No sign of the tiny boat was found.

On Wednesday, the tuna boat San Nikuna spotted a small dinghy bobbing in the open sea northeast of Fiji, with three people aboard waving frantically, said first mate Tai Fredricsen. They had drifted 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) from where they set out.

"We saw a small vessel, a little speedboat on our bows, and we knew it was a little weird," Fredricsen said.

The fishing boat pulled up alongside the smaller vessel and asked the teenagers if they needed any help, to which they readily replied that they did.

"All they could say was 'thank you very much for stopping," Fredricsen told New Zealand's National Radio on Thursday by phone from the ship. "In a physical sense, they look very physically depleted, but mentally - very high."

The teens and their boat were hauled aboard the fishing trawler, which was on its way to Fiji Friday where it would deliver the trio into medical care.

Fredricsen said the boys were dehydrated, sunburned and very thin, but otherwise seemed well. The tuna boat's crew gave them small portions of fruit and fluids.

Fredricsen said the boys reported having just two coconuts with them when they set out. During their ordeal, they drank rainwater that collected in the boat and ate fish they had caught. Once, they managed to grab a sea bird that landed on the boat and they devoured that, Fredricsen said.

The rescue came not a moment too soon: Fredricsen said they had begun to drink sea water because it hadn't rained in the past few nights.

He said the waters where the teenagers were spotted are very isolated and commercial vessels rarely pass through. The San Nikuna was there trying to shorten its return journey to New Zealand.

The boys come from the atoll of Atafu, one of three that comprises the tiny Tokelau island group where 1,500 people live.

The teens were able to telephone home from the San Nikuna, where one of them spoke to his grandmother and gave them the news that they were alive.

"It's a miracle, it's a miracle," said Tanu Filo, the father of Filo Filo. "The whole village, the whole village, they were so excited and cried and they sang songs and were hugging each other. Everybody was yelling and shouting the good news," he told Radio New Zealand International.

Atafu, Nukunonu and Fakaofo, picture-perfect South Pacific islets, lie 300 miles (500 kilometers) north of Samoa, surrounded by 128 mostly uninhabited coconut palm-covered islets. The territory has a total land area of just 4.7 square miles (12.2 square kilometers).

Source:http://www.chinadaily.com.cn

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