CRI中国国际广播电台 News & Reports 2012-08-11（打印版）

Envoys from more than 30 countries including China and Russia gather in Tehran to discuss a possible resolution to the Syrian conflict.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's visit to disputed islets claimed by both South Korea and Japan touches off diplomatic rows between the two countries.

Libya's newly formed national assembly elects former opposition leader Mohammed Maqrif as the country's interim president.

And Chen Roulin picks up China's only gold in the women's 10m platform diving event at the London Olympics.

At a meeting in Tehran on Thursday, envoys from more than 30 countries, including China, Russia, Iraq and Jordan, gathered to discuss a possible resolution to the Syrian conflict.

However, the conference was dismissed by Washington, who accused Iran of aiding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in killing his own people.

At its conclusion, Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi announced the results of the discussions.

"It was proposed that a contact group, made up of neutral countries, is created to manage the conflict on both sides and pave the way for mutual understanding, interaction and dialogue."

He added the discussions focused on a ceasefire for Syria, humanitarian aid, and preparing the ground for national dialogue, but the biggest obstacle hindering a peaceful solution to the Syrian problem was foreign intervention.

Meanwhile, the Syrian army started a ground operation and entered several key districts in the northern Aleppo city.

Hundreds of armed insurgents were killed and their hideouts in the most troublesome Salahuddien district destroyed.

But the rebels denied the government's full control of the area, saying they had launched a counter-attack.

At the same time, veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi is expected to be appointed as the new special envoy for Syria early next week.

South Korean President Lee Myung- bak has become the first South Korean leader to visit a set of disputed islets claimed by both South Korea and Japan.

South Korea controls the islands, known as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japan, with a coast guard presence.

"It's our territory. So it's quite natural that our president visits there. If other countries say anything against it, it should be an infringement of sovereignty. It's natural that he visits there."

"It's natural that President Lee Myung-bak visits the islands and he's doing the right thing. However, from the diplomatic point of view, Japan might take actions against us economically or there might be diplomatic problems."

"In protest, we are temporarily pulling out Ambassador Mutoh from the Japanese embassy in South Korea. Additionally, we passed the message to the South Korean ambassador that we were given no choice but to take suitable measures against it."　

The disputed island is surrounded by rich fishing waters of the East Sea and is believed to lie near natural gas deposits.

Libya's newly formed national assembly has elected former opposition leader Mohammed Maqrif as the country's interim president.

Mohammed Ali Abdullah is a member of the congress, He said the result was a victory for Libya.

"The next phase is very sensitive and full of obstacles and challenges, Doctor Mohamed al-Magarief is efficient enough to lead this phase and we hope that all the state's associations will support him and continue electing leaders in the same way."

Maqrif was a leading figure in Libya's oldest opposition movement which made several attempts to end Moammar Gaddafi's rule.

Maqrif will hold the office until a new constitution is in place sometime next year. He replaces Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, head of the outgoing transitional council, which was disbanded earlier this week when Abdul-Jalil handed power to the new assembly.

The assembly will choose a prime minister within 30 days, then decide on a mechanism to select a 60-member panel tasked with writing a constitution.

Chinese internet-based clothing company Vancl has decided to outsource some of its operations to Bangladesh.

China has always been competitive as an outsourcing destination for overseas manufacturing industries.

But local garment companies such as Vancl are looking to OEMs in Southeast Asia to alleviate production cost pressure.

Hu Haishen, Vancl's assistant CEO, says 10 percent of the company's shirts will be labeled "made in Bangladesh."

"Considering increasing per capita wages in China, we do think cooperating with overseas manufacturers is a trend. And the number of orders we have received is growing very fast. From these two perspectives, we can see that a bottleneck may appear in local manufacturing industries in China."

Not only local companies, but also foreign investors are seeking substitute manufacturers in other southeast Asian countries because of high labor costs in China.

For example, sportswear company Adidas recently withdrew its factories from China to locate them in Myanmar. Media reports indicate that the average monthly wage in Adidas' factories in Myanmar is 800 yuan, or 130 U.S. dollars, per capita, while workers in its Suzhou factory receive an average monthly salary of 3,000 yuan.

Huo Jianguo is President of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.

"Chinese workers' wages have been increasing by 15 percent in the past few years. The productivity cannot offset the pressure from surging labor costs. As a result this development model is unacceptable. Balancing the growth of productivity and workers' wages is essential to maintaining the advantages of China's manufacturing industry."

Despite the advantages of low labor costs in other Southeast Asian countries, textile enterprises like Vancl face other problems when they search for overseas markets.

Hu Haishen says the production cycle is only four to six months if the company chooses Bangladeshi manufacturers, while in China it takes 30 to 45 days.

To solve this problem, Huo Jianguo from the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation encourages labor-intensive companies to look to local markets in western China rather than rely on manufacturers in developed cities in the East. What's more, industury structural adjustments are becoming a must.

"In the future, China together with some newly developed economies will be the main contributors to the world's manufacturing output. This trend will not be changed. China should upgrade the structure of its manufacturing industry. That is to produce products with more added value and replace labor intensive industries with capital- and technology-intense industries."

Chinese and foreign experts have re-affirmed achievements made by the Chinese government to continuously improve the ecological environment in Tibet.

Tibet, located on Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, provides sources of many famous Asian rivers such as the Ganges and the Indus River.

Moreover, more than one hundred rare animals including Tibetan antelopes and wild donkeys live here. However, due to its unique plateau climate and geographic conditions, the ecological environment in Tibet is very fragile.

In recent years, Chinese central government has upgraded building Tibet's green ecological shelters as a national strategy.

Dawa Tsering, a researcher with the Academy of Social Sciences of the Tibet Autonomous Region, says Chinese government has invested more and more every year so as to protect Tibet's ecological environment.

The government has achieved positive results in protecting wild animals, building nature reserves and treating pollution. Aimed at protecting the fragile ecological environment, the government also takes special measures on tourism routes and large projects.

"The growth of tourist number brings pressure on natural environment of tourist sites and we specially design the tourism routes to release the pressure. On the other hand, in terms of large projects, for example, we have banned mining sites since 2005 so as to protect the vegetation of districts with fragile ecological environment."

China also actively conducted international cooperation to protect Tibet's ecological environment. Andreas Gruschke, a German professor of University Leipzig, is one of scholars to join the international cooperation. He has visited Tibet over fifty times since 1984. He says the improvement of ecological environment in Tibet has made great progress.

"The first time I came to China was in 1984. It has made great changes. Many people who lived in the prairie have moved into cities. Now in their houses, you can see televisions, motorcycles even cars. They are indeed richer than the past."

Meanwhile, experts say the protection of ecological environment in Tibet still faces many challenges.

Among them, climate change is the biggest one. The side effects of climate change include melting polar ice, rising lake levels and other environmental reactions that ultimately affect local plants, animals and herdsmen.

China's latest medals came on Thursday from Chen Roulin who picked up China's only gold in the women's 10m platform diving event.

"I think I am very lucky, as I knew before the competition, if I win, it will be the 200th gold of China's Olympic history. But I really didn't think about too much about this issue, because I didn't want to be nervous or have any pressure."

Chen successfully defended her title by beating out Australian Brittany Broben for the victory.

China also picked up a few silvers as Ren Cancan grabbed the silver in the women's flyweight boxing event.

"I am already very satisfied with the result. Whether it's a gold, silver or even a bronze medal, I feel no pressure at all, because this is the Olympic arena. What's important is the experience. As I have enjoyed the process and gained experience, I am very content with the game."

Britains Nicola Adams took home the gold in the event becoming the first woman to secure an Olympic boxing gold medal.

Elsewhere, Hou Yuzhuo had to settle for the silver in the women's featherweight event after losing to British teenager Jade Jones who claims her country's first gold in the sport.

And in the women's boxing middleweight Li Jinzi picked up the bronze in that event for China.

So far China has garnered a total of 81 medals, with 37 golds, 25 silvers and 19 bronzes, ranking second in the medal tally after the United States. Britain and Russia come in third and fourth.

As the Olympic Games continue in London we can all imagine the level of competition and the amount of stress athletes have to deal with.

Through the summer as he prepared for the race that could change his life, Britain's rowing star Alan Campbell played Christmas carols to keep his spirit up.

He did so because they remind him of the training he did last Christmas when what he really wanted to do was to spend time with his parents in Northern Ireland.

Physically he spends 30 minutes flipping six foot tall tractor tires, hours running across giant sand dunes on the beach near his Coleraine home and doing shuttle runs hauling 350 kilogram sandbags.

The training is grueling, but single scullers like Alan also know his psychological strength will make all the difference.

"Of the 2,000 meters that we race, the first 1500 meters is all about training over a four year period. Thirty six thousand kilometers (932 miles) over those four years, 800 hours of weight training and 400 hours of cross training; all that plays a part in the first 1500 meters. The last 500 meters just comes down to soul, who wants it the most, who's sacrificed the most, who's determined the most and, you know, who really, really wants it."

He's been through eleven psychological profiles with experts. They've worked out how he can best motivate himself and how to change the way the coach teaches so he can respond more effectively to training.

"You've got one moment in a four year cycle to deliver at the Olympics. You have to be able to focus only on those things which are most relevant, that are going to help you get the most out of every minute of training that you've put in place. So that quality of focus, knowing that you're focusing on the right thing in the right way and you're able to do that consistently under any form of pressure, you have got to be superb at doing that. "

In a rowing team coordination is essential because everyone has pull together as though they are one, both physically and mentally.

Mental training is also essential for controlling nerves. This can be difficult in the middle of the Olympic village surrounded by swarms of other athletes all in a state of high tension.

Media reports about the outstanding performance of Chinese athletes at the London Games has set off a wave of domain squatting on the internet as cyber-squatters have registered the domain names of many Olympic champions.

Some insiders say the prices of domain names based on sports stars' names have reached as high as the hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent years. The London Olympics is driving a pick-up in the domain market.

Hong Jianxing is a calligraphy and paintings investor in Hangzhou. He says over the past couple of years, he started investing in domain names. Although he has resold only a small number of the domain names he bought, he still made a profit.

Hong says investing in domain names is more profitable than investing in trademarks because of the low cost of domain registrations. For example, by simply selling several domain names from the hundreds he purchased, Hong was able to make ends meet.

While more people like Hong Jianxing have seen cybersquatting as a great business opportunity, the number of legal disputes concerning it have also increased.

Xu Tao is a lawyer in Zhejiang Province. He says Olympic champions are considered public figures; therefore, using their names to register trademarks is type of infringement of their rights. If the athletes themselves raise an objection, there would be a great possibility that the registered trademark would be revoked. As for domain name registration, it's also possible that they would be revoked as well, he says.

"There are two aspects to consider. First, finding out if the domain name registration does harm to public order or custom. Second, seeing if the domain name is maliciously registered. If the registration is considered to be malicious behavior, it will be revoked."

Some experts say the best way to protect the infringement of athletes' rights is for the athletes themselves register their domain names ahead of time.

There is a growing awareness among athletes about the importance of protecting their rights. NBA star Jeremy Lin, for instance, paid about 1,600 U.S. dollars to register his name as a trademark before he became popular.

During the devastating rainstorms last month in Beijing, a group of migrant workers rescued over 180 people who got trapped on the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway.

However, as some of the workers claimed, the same amounts of reward were later deducted from some workers' salaries, or the money was never passed along.

The head of one of the construction teams admitted that some of the reward money had been confiscated, saying they were afraid the workers would leave after getting the money.

He claimed that about 10 workers out of the members in his team had quit after receiving the reward.

Experts are suggesting that the charity organizations or individuals should consider give goods as donations.

A dozen luxury cars including Land Rovers and Audis in Shanghai offered free ride to take people to subway stations as typhoon Haikui bashes the city.

One of the good Samaritans said they were inspired by what happened in Beijing's rainstorm in June.

Also, as the risk of outdoor travel became apparent, Shanghai residents started an online campaign that called on residents not to order food delivery in the foul weather.

A delivery person was hospitalized after getting an electric shock while trying to deliver food by bike in deep water on Wednesday evening.

A recent study suggests that elite athletes who have to travel very long distances are nearly three times likelier to fall ill than when they play at home.

Researchers suggest this could contribute to a home advantage for Team GB in the Olympic Games.

Researchers said the problem lies with adaptation to foreign conditions, include differences in pollution, temperature and humidity and exposure to new allergens, kinds of food and germs.

They say some of the athletes can lead to very serious medical complications, with viral infection of the cardiac muscle. In extreme cases, they can culminate in sudden death.

Wall Street turned positive in the final minutes of trading and ended higher on Friday, despite the influence of disappointing trade data from China.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 0.3 percent to 13,208. The Standard & Poor's 500 added 0.2 percent to 1,406. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.1 percent to 3,021.

European markets, however, traded low. London's FTSE 100 lost 0.1 percent to 5,847. Frankfurt's DAX went down 0.3 percent to 6,945. CAC 40 in Paris shed 0.6 percent to 3,436.

CRI中国国际广播电台 News & Reports 2012-08-11（在线收听）