In This Edition

 

South Korea has postpones the launch of its first domestic space rocket after engineers found a technical glitch hours before the scheduled lift-off.

U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta says inadequate intelligence led to the military not intervening soon enough during the attack on a US Consulate in Libya last month.

A record number of Asian Americans run for US Congress this year.

And China's first weather-proof high-speed train passed a snowstorm test.

 

Hot Issue Reports

 

Glitch Halts South Korea's Third Attempt at Rocket Launch

South Korea has postponed the launch of its first domestic space rocket after engineers found a technical glitch five hours before the scheduled lift-off.

 

Cho Yul-rae is South Korea's Vice Minister of Education, Science and Technology.

 

"We did not get enough pressure while trying to inject helium, so we examined it closely. We found a gas leakage with the seal swelled out due to pressure."

 

Repairing the faulty seal found on the rocket is expected to take at least 3 days.

 

This is South Korea's third launch attempt after the first two in 2009 and 2010 failed even before the rocket could release its payload.

 

The latest attempt to put a satellite in orbit comes after North Korea succeeded in launching a rocket in April.

 

North Korea said the rocket was carrying a satellite, but the mission was aborted early in flight.

 

Panetta Says Lack of Intel Prevented Military Intervention during Benghazi Attack

U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said a lack of adequate intelligence led to the military not intervening soon enough during the attack on a US Consulate in Libya last month.

 

The U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens and three other American diplomats were killed in the attack in Benghazi on September 11th.

 

Panetta said US forces were on heightened alert because of the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and were prepared to respond.

 

However he said the US leadership didn't get a chance to know what was really happening, due to the attack lasting just a few hours.

 

"The basic principle is that you don't deploy forces in to harm's way without knowing what's going on, without having some real time information about what's taking place," "I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation."

 

Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, said the American public deserved to understand exactly what happened and he hoped the reviews would give them a clearer picture of what happened.

 

The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has announced it will hold a closed hearing on the 15th of November, into the circumstances surrounding the attack, including the intelligence and security situation.

 

Additional hearings will follow.

 

Record Number of Asian-Americans Running for Congressional Office

A record number of Asian Americans are running for US Congress this year.

 

21 contenders have won their primaries and are now campaigning for congressional seats.

 

Judy Chu, the first Chinese American congresswoman, is running for re-election.

 

"Many immigrants come to this country not really being familiar with the American political system in which you really are expected to participate. If you don't raise your voice, then you will never be heard and your needs will not be met."

 

Meanwhile, first time congressional candidate Grace Meng wants to move from the New York state assembly to the US House of Representatives.

 

"People on both sides of the aisle, all they want to do is rock the boat. A boat that's rocking side to side doesn't go anywhere, you know. It's important not only to make noise, but also to be able to compromise."

 

If elected, she will become New York City's first Asian-American member of Congress.

 

36 Chinese Americans have signed up for the primaries this year - that's double the number in 2010.

 

Hurricane Sandy Bearing down on US

Hurricane Sandy is continuing its path across the Caribbean and now threatening the US east coast after sweeping north over the Bahamas.

 

U.S. government forecasters are saying the hurricane could bring flooding to the east coast by early next week.

 

Reports say the hardest-hit areas could span anywhere from the coastal Carolinas up to Maine, but New York City and Boston could also be in harm's way.

 

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg however, says there's no need to panic yet.

 

"There is no reason to panic. We are going to do what we have to do and as we get closer I think a good update would be Saturday probably before you really know something. We saw hurricanes like Irene can really do damage and you have to take them seriously, but we don't expect based on current forecasts to have anything like that."

 

Florida is already on a tropical storm alert with the state's Atlantic coast experiencing high winds and rains.

 

Sandy is expected to remain a category one hurricane over the next 2 days, after leaving some 20 people dead and a trail of flooding in Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica.

 

South Africa Unions Reached Gold Mine Deal

South African gold mining firms and trade unions have reached an agreement to end strikes in the sector.

 

The National Union of Mineworkers and two other major unions signed the agreement, although few details have been revealed.

 

A spokesperson for the NUM said they were satisfied with the deal and about 80 percent of the striking miners have returned to work.

 

CRI's South African correspondent Zhang Jun says the tension is cooling down.

 

"The companies agreed on a 1.5% to 10% pay rise for workers who are still working in the mines. Previously, the companies would rehire the dismissed miners, as it takes time to train a skilled worker. However, this time the firms decided not to do so. On the other hand, most of the miners are the breadwinners of their family; losing their jobs means they will have nothing to support the family. So the deal will be a relief for miners who choose to return to work. "

 

Earlier, South Africa also cut its growth forecasts and predicted a wider budget deficit, citing fallout from the on-going mining strikes.

 

Pravin Gordhan is the Finance Minister.

 

"Economic growth in South Africa has slowed to 2.5% this year held back by both global uncertainty and disruptions to domestic productions. Revenue collection is expected to be 5 billion rand less this year, than the February estimate. The budget deficit is expected to be 4.8% of GDP the current year as a consequence."

 

South Africa is reported to hold about 35 percent of the world's gold reserves, and its gold mining sector is regarded as a major contributor to its economic growth.

 

China Launches 16th Satellite for Independent Navigation System

Chinese space engineers have successfully launched another satellite into space for the country's satellite navigation system.

 

The Beidou satellite, is the 16th of the Beidou system, and was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern Sichuan province.

 

The launch allows the system to officially provide services for most parts of the Asia-Pacific region from early next year.

 

Space authorities say the Beidou system has been stable since it started trial services last year.

 

Sun Jiandong, the Chief Designer of the Satellite System, says this will also allow China to be less dependent on the GPS systems of the US.

 

"In the past, we had to rely on the GPS system, for example, China's power industry, and the mobile communication industry have been requiring time calibration based on the GPS system. If any error occurs to the GPS system, those industries get affected and stop working right away."

 

China started building its own navigation system back in 2000, which is now being gradually used in extended sectors.

 

This includes transportation, weather forecasting, marine fisheries, forestry, telecommunications, hydrological monitoring as well as mapping.

 

The system's also expected to have global coverage by 2020.

 

Light News

 

China's Weather-proof Bullet Trains Stand First Snowstorm Test

China's first weather-proof high-speed train has passed a snowstorm test on north China's Harbin-Dalian Railway.

 

The train was running on the tracks during a snowstorm that had dumped some 120 millimeters of snow in northwestern Jilin province.

 

The test makes the home-made model the only high-speed train that can travel from China's southern-most tropical Hainan province to the northern-most cold-temperate Heilongjiang province.

 

The train can stand temperatures ranging from 40 degrees Celsius to Minus 40.

 

Zhao Minghua is the chief engineer of CNR Changchun Railway Vehicles Company, who are the manufacture of the train.

 

"'No snow got into the equipment and all the functional parts were left intact.' After that day's running, we think that the bullet train has stood the snowstorm test."

 

The weather-proof train ran at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour in the test run.

 

It will go into service by the end of the year, which will shorten the travel duration between Harbin and Dalian to three and half hours.

 

Mental Health Workers Call For Higher Allowance and Compensation

China's top legislature has approved the new mental health law, which is expected to protect the rights and prevent the abuse of mentally ill people, while also raising public awareness about the condition.

 

Mental health advocates are also suggesting one of the ways the government can help, is to spend more money on the salaries for care-givers.

 

CRI's Su Yi has more.

 

The Ministry of Health says China currently has about 16 million people with severe mental disorders, but only about 20,000 registered psychiatrists.

 

Given that the number of mental health institutions and doctors lags far behind the need, lawmakers suggest increased government's spending on mental health, including raising workers' payment.

 

The Beijing Huilongguan Hospital is a leading public mental institution in the capital.

 

Deputy director Wang Shaoli says their income is relatively low compared to other hospitals.

 

"As far as I know, among the 21 hospitals directly under the Administration of Hospitals of Beijing, including general hospitals and specialized hospitals, the income of our employees is the lowest."

 

Currently, the allowance for medical care providers in mental institutions in Beijing is merely 30 yuan a month, which was according to a provision back in 1985.

 

It has not been raised since then.

 

Wang Shaoli adds that the low income leads to a high turnover rate, which may cause the hospitals to be short handed.

 

What's more, insiders point out that working in mental institutions is also of high risk.

 

A survey says over 330 out of the 1300 employees of Beijing Huilongguan Hospital were injured by the patients during the past five years.

 

As such, deputy director Wang Shaoli says more needs to be done to better protect those injured.

 

"For the mentally ill, some have no relatives. It would be impossible for them to take liability even if we did claim damages. As far as I'm concerned, first, raise the payment for mental health workers in an attempt to protect them from high risk. Second, establish a system that allows the state to compensate workers who are injured by the patients. In that way, they can work without the worries."

 

After three readings, the mental health law is expected to take effect by the end of this year as the earliest.

 

For CRI, I'm Su Yi.

 

Talks on RMB Appreciation

The Chinese Renminbi currency strengthened Friday to over 6.3 against the U.S. dollar.

 

The yuan hit the daily trading limit on Thursday by closing at under 6.25 against the Dollar.

 

It is the first time this has happened since China's central bank expanded the daily fluctuation band of the pair to 1 percent from 0.5 in April.

 

Experts say paper making shares and airline shares may also benefit from RMB appreciation.

 

Ren Chengde is an Senior Investment Consultant at Galaxy Securities.

 

"Paper making shares may turn good if there's no problem with market demand. RMB appreciation may also spark airline shares, which is affected by RMB exchange rate and oil price. "

 

For more on the RMB hitting a new high against the US dollar, Abhijan Barua spoke earlier with Shen Hong, China Bureau Chief of Dow Jones Newswires.

 

CHINA DAILY

 

Tree climbing as PE fashion in campus

 

Southeast China's Xiamen University is the first one in the country to open a brand new PE course named tree climbing.

 

Only one out of 10 students can be lucky enough to have the class.

 

Tree climbing is known as an outdoor sport with the skills of rope knots and other equipment.

 

As a sport item in university, tree climbing needs particular attention to keep balance and can exercise bodies and minds.

 

There are three sections in tree climbing class, which are climbing skills, escaping techniques and competitive games.

 

SHANGHAI DAILY

 

Female commuters deter thieves with spiky bags

 

Pictures showing Shanghai commuters getting onto a crowded Metro train with spiky bags were posted online recently.

 

Bag owners claimed the items are stylish and also useful tools to keep fellow passengers and possible pickpockets away.

 

This has sparked a debate about the potential risk to other passengers.

 

Some also said the studs and spikes can scare off indecent guys.

 

According to an owner of one such handbag store, the hedgehog handbags are very popular among young women.

 

CNN-Tech

 

The 25 worst passwords of 2012

 

SplashData, which makes password management applications, has released its annual "Worst Passwords" list compiled from common passwords that are posted by hackers.

 

New ones include "jesus" and "welcome."

 

Other passwords have moved up and down on the list, such as abc123, qwerty, monkey, letmein, dragon, 111111, baseball, iloveyou, so on.

 

CEO Morgan Slain suggest that people should have different passwords for different accounts.

 

To make it easier to remember them all, Slain suggests thinking about passwords as "passphrases."

 

For instance, use a phrase like "dog eats bone" and add underscores, dashes, hyphens, and other punctuation marks to satisfy the special character requirement: "dog_eats_bone!"

 

DAILY MAIL

 

The real Eyephone

 

A Danish company has revealed software to control gadgets just by LOOKING at them.

 

Researchers say users can use it for basic control, such as turning to the next page in an e-book, and playing games with your eyes.

 

The software uses infrared light reflected from the pupil of the eye, which is recorded by the device's camera, enabling users to scroll or click on their screens with their eyes.

 

According to the researchers, the technology is expected to significantly change the way users play games and use apps, adding that disabled people would also benefit greatly because it is hand-free.

 

The company, called The Eye Tribe, is now in discussion with major phone makers to include the software and infrared camera.

 

Market Update

 

U.S. stocks ended basically flat on Friday as investors weighed disappointing earnings from Apple and Amazon against stronger-than-expected economic growth.

 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.03 percent to 13,107. The Standard & Poor's 500 dipped 0.07 percent to 1,412. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.06 percent to 2,988.

 

European markets traded higher. London's FTSE 100 added 0.03 percent to 5,807. Frankfurt's DAX gained 0.44 percent to 7,232. CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.69 percent to 3,435.