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Posts Tagged ‘Shanghai’

North Carolina Most At-Risk Against Rising Sea Levels

July 6, 2011 Comments off

takepart

n_carolina_storyIf one man could hold back the sea, North Carolina wouldn’t need to worry about rising ocean levels. Neither would New York, Boston or Miami. (Photo: Reuters Photographer/Reuters)

The problem with reports about rising sea levels is that the damn thing—the world’s ocean—seems to creep up very, very slowly. In the past 21 centuries it’s raised an average of .07874 an inch every year, about the thickness of a nickel.

That doesn’t sound like much, right? Nothing to worry about! But what makes rising sea levels a deadly serious problem is that the ocean just keeps creeping up, up, up. And the average in recent decades is more like an inch a year.

In fact a new report from the National Academy of Sciences says the rate of Read more…

China Adds New Limits on Foreigners

March 4, 2011 Comments off
 

Shiho Fukada for The New York Times

A police officer, left, filmed a foreign journalist as street cleaners swept water to keep passersby moving and a plain clothes officer, right, watched pedestrians on Sunday along Wangfujing Street in Beijing, where a protest had been called.

By SHARON LaFRANIERE

BEIJING — Apparently unnerved by an anonymous Internet campaign urging Chinese citizens to emulate protests that have rocked the Middle East, the authorities this week have begun a forceful and carefully targeted clampdown on activities by foreigners that the government deems threatening to Read more…

China tamps down Middle East-inspired protests before they can gain momentum

March 1, 2011 Comments off

washingtonpost.com

The Chinese government met protesters with a show of force Sunday. In Shanghai, police converged whenever a group of more than a dozen people seemed to be forming. (Peter Parks)

BEIJING – Police and security officials displayed a show of force here and in other Chinese cities Sunday, trying to snuff out any hint of protests modeled on the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa. In Shanghai, several hundred people trying to gather were dispersed with a water truck.

Premier Wen Jiabao, meanwhile, used a morning Internet chat to promise to purge senior officials who are corrupt and to rein in inflation and rising home prices, directly addressing some of the most common grievances of ordinary Chinese.

Since a January uprising in Tunisia spurred similar anti-government protests across the Arab world, threatening long-entrenched authoritarian regimes, China’s Communist rulers have reacted nervously, with both defensive and aggressive tactics.

Officials have used state-run media outlets to dismiss any comparisons of those regimes with China. At the same time, they have stepped up public comments on the need to address “social conflict” and to tackle problems such as the growing income disparity between the rich and poor. They also have Read more…

Russia to Impose Internet Controls Like China?

February 23, 2011 Comments off
Russian Prime Minister Igor Sechin

David Makarewicz, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

In a Wall Street Journal interview, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin has publicly accused Google executives of causing the Egyptian revolution by manipulating the energies of the people.  Although he did not specifically address Internet freedom in Russia, these statements may signal growing concern among Russian hardliners about the Internet’s role in global unrest.

The Russian government does not control the Internet the way it controls other forms of media.  However, analysts say there are close allies of Putin who would like to impose controls similar to China’s in order to silence the criticism of the Russian Read more…

Arrests as China web users call for revolution

February 20, 2011 Comments off

As many as 100 high-profile Chinese activists and human rights lawyers have been rounded up by authorities, according to their supporters.

They are reportedly being held in custody without charges.

The detentions follow calls on the internet for Read more…

The African Chinese Connection

January 29, 2011 Comments off

Shu Yunguo & James Shikwati

China and Africa had established relations as early as 2,000 years ago, during which, there were no wars, aggression or looting but only exchanges of trade between China and Africa. The history and tradition of China-Africa relations not only exerted positive and enormous influence, but also laid a solid foundation on the relationship development between countries in modern times.

Secondly, developing countries have common qualities. Both China and African countries are developing countries meaning they have not only common history, but also share similar targets for development. Developing countries’ common qualities determine that there is no conflict of interest between them, and also that the countries have the same or similar opinions on many major international issues (such as the establishment of a new international political and economic system).

Thirdly, they are all eager to develop themselves. Currently, developing countries are still weak compared with the strong developed countries. When dialogue between developing and developed countries is progressing slowly, the cooperation between developing countries becomes especially important. Both China and African countries are developing countries, and strengthening cooperation is the request of the era and the common need to develop.

Fourthly, the countries stood the test of practice. The establishment of the People’s Republic of China and African countries gaining independence proved that the equal, reciprocal and win-win relationship between China and Africa has strong vitality and the prospect of sustainable development. Fifthly, the relationship can be guaranteed by a system and mechanism. China and Africa launched the Read more…