China Daily back issues from February 2007:
Gov't achievement
Feb 01, 2007 ... Comment on the story "Farmers' protests decline sharply" (ChinaDaily, January 31, 2007 ) No other government can bring about such a great improvement insuch a short time. Yes, lots still need to be done and people should help thegovernment to do it. China is going to make ...
Not by numbers alone
Feb 01, 2007 ... An official report released on Monday at the 2007 NationalConference on Science and Technology showed that 2006 was anotheryear of bumper harvests, statistically speaking. The new achievements cited include a historical high in totalinput in research and development, enterprises' ...
Who's in
Feb 01, 2007 ... Family sue singer Brandy for $50mThe parents of a woman killed in a freeway crash involving actress-singer Brandy sued the star for $50 million on Tuesday. The wrongful-death suit claims Brandy was driving recklessly when her Land Roverstruck the back of a Honda driven by Awatef ...
China Scene: West
Feb 01, 2007 ... Together for 7 decades, couple die on same day An old couple in Dujiangyan, Sichuan, were so close that they diedon the same day. Xuan Xuejian, 86, and his wife, Wang Huiqing, 87, had livedtogether for seven decades. About two months ago, both were confinedto bed because of ...
Pyongyang eyes 2nd nuclear test: source
Feb 01, 2007 ... The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will feelcompelled to announce plans for another nuclear test if a financialdispute with Washington is not resolved, a source said yesterday, asign of Pyongyang's impatience with a lack of progress in talks. US Deputy Assistant ...
Biggest ticket racket busted
Feb 01, 2007; ... GUANGZHOU: Railway police busted the country's largest fake-ticket production racket on Monday, seizing 3,019 tickets that couldhave been sold for 720,000 yuan ($92,300) and detaining four persons. Among the suspects are the gang leader and a woman. Types by the hundreds, ink, ...
Pupils 'drop out' of top HK schools too
Feb 01, 2007; ... HONG KONG: Students at lower-tier schools aren't the only onestempted to drop out of school. The phenomenon is also in evidence attop schools and the rate is as high as 8.5 percent. Most teachers hold students' domestic problems responsible for it.But a large majority of parents ...
Two-tier house registration system set to change
Feb 01, 2007; ... Two decades after he arrived in the southern city of Shenzhen towork as a construction worker, Zou Yang still does not have access tobasic services like social welfare and healthcare. Unlike many of his neighbors, he is unable to search for a betterjob, and his child will not ...
Thanks to Google, Bush no longer a 'miserable failure'
Feb 01, 2007 ... SAN FRANCISCO: US President George W. Bush is no longer Google'stop response to Internet searches for "miserable failure". Queries for French military victories no longer take one to"defeats." The Mountain View, California-based search colossus says it hasfinally defused such ...
Across asia: Indonesia
Feb 01, 2007 ... Bird flu a national disaster Indonesia will declare bird flu a national disaster following afresh flare-up in the country, which has the world's highest humandeath toll from the virus, the planning minister said yesterday. The move will guarantee ...
Around the world: Russia
Feb 01, 2007 ... Court backs tycoon A Russian court ruled in favour of jailed tycoon MikhailKhodorkovsky yesterday, saying it was unfair to put him in solitaryconfinement as a punishment for keeping lemons in his Siberian prisoncell. The former head of oil company YUKOS, serving an 8-year ...
Celebrity hen show off its math skills
Feb 01, 2007 ... A smart hen who can do calculations and kiss has become famous ina residential area in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province. Some neighbors visit Guai Guai, who is 6 months old, daily to seeher performance. "What is 8 plus 2?" asks a woman surnamed Li, the hen's ...
News Makers: Author Sidney Sheldon dies at 89
Feb 01, 2007 ... Sidney Sheldon, an Oscar-winning Hollywood screenwriter who wenton to become one of the world's most prolific novelists, died inCalifornia on Tuesday at the age of 89, a publicist said. Sheldon died of complications from pneumonia at the EisenhowerMedical Center in Rancho Mirage, ...
Africa still trying to raise Somalia force
Feb 01, 2007 ... An African summit ended yesterday with a proposed peacekeepingforce for Somalia still lacking firm commitments for thousands oftroops, despite fears the country could plunge back into anarchy. Much of the second day of the African Union (AU) summit wasdominated by discussions on ...
Bin Laden's brother-in-law killed by burglars
Feb 01, 2007 ... A brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden, who had been sought in thePhilippines for alleged terror financing, has been killed inMadagascar in what appeared to be a burglary, the victim's brothersaid yesterday. Jamal Khalifa, who was married to a sister of the Al-Qaida leader,was ...
Beijing leader hopes for 'warm, festive' Games
Feb 01, 2007; ... Beijing's top leader Liu Qi said he hopes that the 2008 OlympicGames would be prudent and corruption-free, and has called for publicsupport to create "a warm, festive atmosphere" in the run-up to theevent. The secretary of the Beijing municipal committee of the CommunistParty of ...
Advertising master: China to rule e-commerce
Feb 01, 2007; ... E-commerce is about to explode in China, Eric Buskirk says. And hewants to help lead the change. He relocated his company, which coordinates Internet advertising,to Beijing about a year and a half ago after starting in Californiaand Nevada. But succeeding in the China market ...
Green watchdog targets hidden polluters
Feb 01, 2007; ... China's top environmental watchdog yesterday vowed to expand thetough green measures to more industries and regions to ensure thatapprovals for projects found wanting are suspended. Vice-minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration(SEPA) Pan Yue said the next round ...
Across asia: Nepal
Feb 01, 2007 ... Federal state in view Nepal aims to become a federal state after constituent assemblyelections this year, a minister said, a move that would help endcenturies of central rule and appease regional groups complaining ...
News Makers: Enron executive pleads guilty
Feb 01, 2007 ... The former Enron Corp executive who was the first to plead guiltyto charges stemming from the company's collapse and cooperate withprosecutors has reported to prison, officials said. Michael Kopper, 42, reported on Tuesday to a men's prison in theBig Spring, Texas, prison spokesman ...
Around the world: Germany
Feb 01, 2007 ... Arrest warrants issued Arrest warrants have been issued for 13 suspected CIA agents inconnection with the alleged kidnapping of a German citizen, a Munichprosecutor said ...
Ronaldo relishing AC Milan challenge
Feb 01, 2007 ... MILAN: Brazilian megastar Ronaldo said he hoped he could fulfillthe dreams of AC Milan fans after leaving Real Madrid to join the six-time European champions on Tuesday. After two weeks of negotiations between the two clubs, the 30-year-old striker finally signed an 18-month ...
Former coach looks to the future
Feb 01, 2007; ... CHANGCHUN, Jilin Province: China's former short track speedskating coach Xin Qingshan may no longer be working with the nationalteam, but results at the sixth Asian Winter Games in Changchun provehe is still an influential figure. Xin now coaches Jilin's provincial team, a hotbed ...
Landis: I won't race this season
Feb 01, 2007 ... WASHINGTON: Embattled 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis ismore and more doubtful of racing professionally this season even ifthe American cycling star is cleared of doping charges. In an interview with the US sports television network ESPN, Landissaid he and his lawyers have ...
A maid to order job
Feb 01, 2007; ... Wearing a pink apron, 19-year-old college student Zhang Jingjinglistened attentively in an early morning cookery class, recently. Upuntil now she had not even cut vegetables but here she was, startingfrom scratch, to learn to be a qualified housekeeper. Zhang was one of 28 Beijing ...
Icahn wants seat on Motorola board
Feb 01, 2007 ... Billionaire investor Carl Icahn said on Tuesday (local time) hewill seek a seat on Motorola Inc's board and has taken a stake in themobile phone maker, aiming to convince it to do a big share buyback. The news sent Motorola's shares up 7 percent as investors hopedpressure from ...
Phone home and talk to your TV
Feb 01, 2007; ... If you want to phone your refrigerator and tell it to power up, orsend a mobile message to your TV and begin recording, you may be astep closer as the global wave of "digital convergence" grows. The Chinese government has approved a networked home appliancestandard, which will take ...
Uniform tax to create level playing field
Feb 01, 2007; ... The unification of the corporate income tax rate is set to createa level playing field for local and foreign-funded automanufacturers. The draft, if passed in March, is undoubtedly exciting and welcomenews for domestic car manufacturers. Under the existing law, foreign ...
China helps meet global goal of food for all
Feb 01, 2007; ... It is a remarkable achievement that China, with only 7 percent ofthe world's arable land, is able to feed its 1.3 billion peope aquarter of the global population. And, while working for more accomplishments at home, China is alsoreaching out to help other countries overcome ...
First exchange outlet on the cards
Feb 01, 2007; ... SHANGHAI: Chinese authorities are considering setting up a non-bank money exchange outlet in the city, as China pushes for freeconversion of renminbi into foreign currencies, a government sourcesaid yesterday. Once approved, the company will be the first in the country toprovide ...
China leads the world in entrepreneurial passion
Feb 01, 2007 ... While it is unclear whether the percentage of Chinese who areentrepreneurs will match the percentage of Americans or for thatmatter even those in smaller countries, there is no doubt that thenumber of Chinese entrepreneurs could soon give China a No 1 ranking. During my nearly two ...
Secessionist textbooks
Feb 01, 2007 ... History is made by man but not man-made. Such a truth foretellsthe doomed Taipei secessionist attempt to rewrite the island'shistory through promoting pro-independence culture. Under the orders of the island's "ministry of education", anyphrase defining Taiwan as part of China has ...
Wang's killer comments that rocked a nation
Feb 01, 2007 ... On A Dream of the Red Mansions the Chinese classic that Wang saysall current fiction should be measured against the 1987 TV versionand various TV interpretations of the novel The 1987 series is way off. The characters are supposed to speakBeijing dialect, but many of the actors ...
Windows Vista fails to 'wow' the online world
Feb 01, 2007 ... While Microsoft trumpeted Vista worldwide on Tuesday, the Internetabounded with postings from people unimpressed or downrightdisappointed with the new operating system. As Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates headed a multi-million dollar"The Wow Starts Now" ad campaign for Vista, ...
'You won't find this place on a map'
Feb 01, 2007 ... BULUNGULA, South Africa: The green hills and thatched huts dottingthe countryside could be part of a miniature toy landscape but are areminder that we are in one of South Africa's least developedregions. Only a Land Rover can tackle the last stretch to Bulungula whichis a bumpy ...
Around the world: United states
Feb 01, 2007 ... Satellite destroyed A communications satellite built by Boeing Co was destroyed onTuesday when its booster rocket exploded in a fireball during lift-off from a converted oil rig in the Pacific Ocean. Sea Launch, the operator of the Zenit rocket, ...
Public spending pushes toward the fore in policy debates
Feb 01, 2007; ... Forget the marathon debates about corporate taxes. Talk of the corporate tax will be more or less extinct if nationallawmakers approve a unified tax rate for domestic and foreigncompanies in March. The law has a very good chance of passing. However, the lengthy, unfruitful ...
Across asia: Afghanistan
Feb 01, 2007 ... Donors' conference wraps up A conference aimed at ensuring greater coordination between thecivilian and military efforts to secure and rebuild war-scarredAfghanistan drew to a close yesterday. The ...
News Makers: Bollywood's Shetty to meet UK Queen
Feb 01, 2007 ... Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty, who won the British realitytelevision show at the heart of a racist bullying row, looks set tomeet Britain's Queen Elizabeth and Prime Minister Tony Blair. "It's a huge honor. I am humbled," the Indian actress told theDaily Mirror in an interview ...
Biz Scene: BIZ UNUSUAL
Feb 01, 2007 ... Fishy business A fish normally costs less than 10 yuan, but with an auspicioustattoo it can fetch hundreds of renminbi. "My fish are manmade beauties," said the owner of a fish store inChangsha, who tattoos tropical fish with Chinese characterssymbolizing fortune or wealth ....
Around the world: France
Feb 01, 2007 ... Minister denies accusation French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy denied as "slander andlies" a newspaper report yesterday that police intelligence agentshad been ordered to investigate the real estate assets of hisSocialist rival for the French presidency and her ...
Biz People: Star witness gets off lightly
Feb 01, 2007 ... A former Cendant Corp executive, the star witness against thecompany's chairman and vice-chairman in a $3 billion accounting-fraud case, was sentenced to six months' home detention on his estateafter helping convict the two men. Cosmo Corigliano, 47, also received three years' ...
Check willful local spending
Feb 01, 2007 ... Fiscal policy should be altered to check willful spending by localgovernments, says a signed article in Legal Daily. An excerptfollows: Puyang County in Henan Province, Central China, reportedly builtmany luxury office buildings despite the fact that the county relieson ...
Middle-class 'affluenza' epidemic nothing new
Feb 01, 2007; ... LONDON: In 1974, Richard Easterlin, a California economist,examined hundreds of surveys that asked Americans how happy theywere. His conclusion so shocked his colleagues he gave up hisresearch. He found that the explosion in wealth created by thepostwar boom had not made Americans ...
Biz People: Top executive quits Nikko
Feb 01, 2007 ... Nikko Cordial Corp, Japan's third-largest brokerage, said a fifthtop executive quit after he was implicated in accountingirregularities that may cost the company its stock market listing.The firm's shares plunged 14 percent. Hajime Yamamoto (above), a board member and former chief ...
Biz Scene: LOCAL
Feb 01, 2007 ... Coal reserves to grow North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region may replace itsneighbor Shanxi Province as the country's largest coal reserve, anofficial said. A major geological survey in the region conducted since June 2004has led to the discovery of new coalfields ...
Stop global warming blame game
Feb 01, 2007; ... Although only the first part of the United Nations' Climate Report2007 will be officially unveiled in Paris tomorrow, a draft of parttwo was leaked to the press early this week. The leaked draft, on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability causedby climate change, is alarming. For ...
China Scene: North
Feb 01, 2007 ... Female bird pleasant only with male owner A 5-year-old female mynah bird kept by a woman surnamed Wu inBeijing only "talks" with her husband and doesn't greet her with goodmanners. The bird usually starts dancing and singing whenever her husbandshows up. It greets the man by ...
Castro: Recovery battle 'far from lost'
Feb 01, 2007 ... A stronger-looking Fidel Castro said his recovery from anintestinal ailment was "far from a lost battle" as state televisionshowed a video of him meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavezalmost six months to the day after he temporarily gave up power. Castro stood, appeared ...
Across China: Sichuan
Feb 01, 2007 ... Official elected Jiang Jufeng was elected governor of Southwest China's SichuanProvince by the provincial legislature yesterday. Jiang, ...
Shanghai targets 10 million visitors
Feb 01, 2007; ... Having bypassed the 6 million mark for overseas tourists lastyear, Shanghai has set its sights on attracting 10 million in 2010,when it will host the World Expo, officials at the municipal tourismadministrative commission said. No other city on the Chinese mainland, including ...
Unclear signs in English to be history
Feb 01, 2007; ... Toilet will replace W.C. (or water closet) and "Exit" signs willstop "Export"-ing people or showing them their "Way Out". These are just a few of the inappropriate and embarrassing signsin English that will be changed to make life more convenient forforeigners in Beijing, ...
Pacts signed on wide range of subjects
Feb 01, 2007; ... China and Portugal signed eight agreements yesterday to strengthenpartnership in the fields of the economy, finance, investment,education and extradition. Premier Wen Jiabao and visiting Portuguese Prime Minister JoseSocrates witnessed the signing of the deals after official talks ...
Roof of World climate shift sends signs of warning
Feb 01, 2007; ... The rising temperatures on the Roof of the World will have arippling effect on climate and environmental changes, Chineseresearchers said yesterday. The data collected from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau by scientistsshow that its temperature has risen by up to 0.42 C each decade ...
Berlusconi apologizes to his wife
Feb 01, 2007 ... Silvio Berlusconi, publicly challenged by his wife overflirtatious comments he reportedly made to other women, issued anequally public apology yesterday, saying he never meant to hurt herdignity. "Forgive me, I beg you. And take this public show of my privatepride giving in to ...
Around the world: Norway
Feb 01, 2007 ... Cruise ship runs aground A Norwegian cruise ship with nearly 300 passengers on board ranaground in the Antarctic and damaged its hull before getting free ofrocks, a ferry company said. No one was injured. The ...
Ex-minister forcibly kissed young soldier, court rules
Feb 01, 2007 ... Former Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon was convicted yesterdayof kissing a young female soldier against her will a case thatriveted the country's attention and added another layer of scandal toIsrael's beleaguered leadership. The verdict was expected to clear the way for Prime ...
Scandal suspects held
Feb 01, 2007; ... SHANGHAI: Most of the suspects involved in the misappropriation ofmore than 3 billion yuan ($386 million) from Shanghai's socialsecurity fund have been turned over to judicial departments forprosecution, Mayor Han Zheng was quoted by the Shanghai SecuritiesNews as ...
Biz People: Vodafone nets 200m customers
Feb 01, 2007 ... Arun Sarin (right), chief executive of British mobile phone giantVodafone, announced yesterday it had crossed the 200-million customermark, as it beat third-quarter forecasts for new sign-ups andreiterated its full-year expectations. The acquisitive firm, which is now eyeing a ...
President's visit strengthens ties with Cameroon
Feb 01, 2007 ... YAOUNDE: Visiting President Hu Jintao proposed yesterday thatChina and Cameroon intensify communication at all levels and supporteach other on core issues. He made the remarks in a meeting with his Cameroonian counterpartPaul Biya on the first leg of his African trip. Hu ...
Across asia: Australia
Feb 01, 2007 ... Inmate strains ties with US The United States may speed up the trial of Australia's onlyGuantanamo Bay inmate, David Hicks, following a rare split betweenthe two allies over accusations he faced "Nazi concentration camp"conditions. With his five-year detention shaping as an ...
Husbands struggling to rekindle marriages
Feb 01, 2007 ... Mitsutoshi Fukatsu has been with his wife for three decades, buttheir lives have grown apart. As a busy stationmaster in centralJapan, he returned home only to eat, bathe and sleep. Now with retirement looming, the 56-year-old wants to get to knowhis wife better. He is helping with ...
Resigning Bonds was a risk worth taking: Giants president
Feb 01, 2007 ... SAN FRANCISCO: The president of the San Francisco Giants said onTuesday there was some risk in signing Barry Bonds but was hopefulthe controversial slugger could pass Hank Aaron's all-time home runmark this season. The team signed the holder of a record seven Major League ...
Knicks hold off slumping LA Lakers
Feb 01, 2007 ... NEW YORK: The New York Knicks survived a late rally to record a 99-94 home victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Tuesday, handing thevisitors a season-high third straight loss as a suspended Kobe Bryantsat out the game. Earlier in the day, the league suspended Bryant for one ...
Reviews: ARTS
Feb 01, 2007 ... Blossoming art scene A 100-member jury comprising of art critics and journalists chosethe 50 winners from five categories, which included the mostinfluential Chinese art events, people from the art circles, artgalleries, auction companies and art institutions. A 160 million ...