In This Edition

 

Tensions on the ground in Israel and the Gaza Strip remain high, as both sides in this week's growing conflict continue trading shots.

The United States signs a new defense pact with Thailand.

British oil giant BP settles with the US government with 4.5-billion dollars for the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

China plans to hone its spacecraft docking capabilities on its next manned space mission.

 

Hot Issue Reports

 

Improving People's Livelihoods Stressed at Party Congress

 

Issues connected to subsidized housing, environmental protection and workers incomes dominated a news conference held at the recently-concluded party congress. CRI's Shen Ting has more.

 

Reporter: The wellbeing of the Chinese people, including their rights to education, employment and housing, have been highlighted in a report by Chinese President Hu Jintao at the opening of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

 

To echo this, a press conference focusing on people's livelihoods was held on the sidelines of the Party Congress. Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Jiang Weixin pledged at the event that China would begin building about 6 million affordable housing units in 2012.

 

China is engaged in building more than 7 million government-subsidized units this year as part of its five-year plan to construct 36 million affordable homes by 2015 in a bid to make housing accessible to low-income families.

 

Jiang Weixin also discussed the difficulties of carrying out this gigantic project.

 

"It is also a big task to build the affiliated infrastructure, including road, subways, schools, clinics and nurseries. In addition, there are many problems that arise from the distribution and management of these apartments, which will pose difficulties in the future."

 

Pollution has become a major societal concern in recent years. Minister of Environmental Protection Zhou Shengxian cited the control of nitrogen oxide, a major pollutant, as one of the obstacles in reducing pollution.

 

In 2011, emissions of nitrogen oxide rose in China. But during the first half of this year, levels of all four major air pollution emissions -- namely carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, ammonia nitrogen and nitrogen oxide -- began to drop.

 

Zhou Shengxian finds out the reason.

 

"It has been proved in many real situations that whenever there was a big environmental problem, we could always look back at our economic policies for an answer. So in the future we will employ additional market mechanisms and the law of value to improve the performance of our pollution control work."

 

Hu Jintao also stated in his speech that people's incomes should rise along with the country's economic growth. He pledged to deepen the reform of the country's income distribution system.

 

Zhu Zhixin, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, summarizes the main goals of Hu's report.

 

"Four goals were announced, including doubling the country's GDP, doubling rural and urban residents' incomes, ensuring that people's incomes rise in tandem with economic growth and issuing remuneration for workers in tandem with productivity."

 

Improving people's livelihoods has always been a priority for the Chinese government, which has worked hard to step up a series of reforms on the ground, such as those in health care infrastructure, to successfully address these issues, help maintain social stability, and increase the popularity of the ruling party.

 

For CRI, I'm Shen Ting.

 

Fighting Continues in Gaza

 

Tensions on the ground in Israel and the Gaza Strip remain high, as both sides in this week's growing conflict continue trading shots.

 

The Israeli airforce has continued to strike targets inside Gaza.

 

So far the strikes have left over 20 Palestinians dead, including a number of civilians.

 

At the same time, Hamas fighters continue to launch missiles into Israeli territory, with one missile fired unsuccessfully into Tel Aviv.

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered a 3-hour truce today to allow a visit into Gaza by Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil.

 

Qandil said his country will spare no efforts to end the Israeli "aggression" on the Gaza Strip and to restore a continuous ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militant groups.

Meanwhile, Egypt and Turkey are both calling for bilateral talks with Israel to try to bring the conflict to an end.

 

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.

 

"I spoke to the Secretary General of the Arab League and I requested we hold an emergency session of the Arab League on the Foreign Ministerial level at the soonest possible time to examine the ways in which aggression against Gaza can be prevented and to support the Palestinian people and stand by their side."

 

Meanwhile, Turkish President Abdullah Gul is calling on the United States to "warn" Israel about the strikes in Gaza.

 

"These attacks might get worse in the future but everybody is expecting the United States to warn Israel. I hope that this will not create a new problem within the fragile nature of the Middle East."

 

At the same time, thousands of Israeli reservists are being called up, signalling the conflict isn't likely to end anytime soon.

 

U.S., Thailand Sign Defense Alliance Pact

 

The United States and Thailand have signed a new defense pact.

 

The agreement has been inked during U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's trip to Thailand.

 

Panetta says the defense deal covers 4 key areas.

 

"As listed in this vision statement, U.S and Thailand military cooperation will be concentrated in four areas: the first is the maintenance of peace in South-East Asia region; the second is to maintain stability in Asia-Pacific and other areas; thirdly, strengthening the military capacity for common action; and, finally, all-round strengthening US-Thai bilateral military cooperative relationships."

 

US President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Thailand this coming weekend.

 

BP Settles with U.S. for US$4.5 Billion in Gulf Spill

 

British oil giant BP has agreed to pay 4.5-billion U.S. dollars in fines and other payments to the United States government.

 

The company has pleaded guilty to misconduct in connection with the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that left 11 dead and caused one of the largest oil spills in human history.

 

The settlement includes a 1-billion dollar criminal fine, the largest criminal fine in U.S history.

 

US Attorney General Eric Holder.

 

"BP has agreed to plead guilty to all 14 criminal charges, including responsibility for the deaths of 11 people and the events that led to an unprecedented environmental catastrophe. The company has also agreed to pay four billion dollars in fines and in penalties. This marks both the largest single criminal fine, more than 1.25 billion dollars and the largest total criminal resolution in the history of the United States."

 

The Deepwater Horizon rig caught fire and later collapsed 50 nautical miles off the coast of Louisiana on April 20th, 2010.

 

The open well then spewed 5-billion barrels of oil into the Gulf over a nearly three-months period, killing wildlife and closing the area to fishing.

 

IMF Chief Says Asian Economies Have Driven Global Growth

 

The head of the International Monetary Fund says emerging Asian economies have been driving global growth in recent years.

 

Christine Lagarde's comments have come during a visit this Friday in the Philippines.

 

Lagarde says Asia can offer lessons to eurozone countries on how to pull-out of the current financial crisis.

 

"When you look at their contribution to global growth, it's very significant, particularly in the tough years that we have just gone through. Global growth was essentially driven out of this part of the world and out of emerging market economies in the main."

 

At the same time, Lagarde says hope is not lost for Europe, saying its important countries like Greece operate on a sustainable basis.

 

The Greek Parliament last week passed a new austerity package.

 

The package has raised the retirement age and taxes, while at the same time, cutting pensions.

 

The World Needs a Strong Europe

 

Germany's Finance Minister has issued a new statement, saying Europe must be united in order to remain a big player.

 

Wolfgang Schaeuble has made the comments at a meeting of economic leaders in Berlin.

 

"About one fourth of the world currency reserves are in euros. It is an important currency by now. And if you listen to any global meeting, be it the IMF or G20, then you get the feeling that the world would be in much more trouble if we had not had an increasingly stable and trustworthy European currency for the last 10 years."

 

Schaeuble is also calling for more flexibility of the member states in fighting the downturn in Europe, particularly in choosing the tools to overcome the situation.

 

Light News

 

China to Strengthen Docking on New Space Mission

 

Chinese space authorities are planning to hone their spacecraft docking capabilities on its next manned space mission.

 

The Shenzhou-10 spacecraft is due to be launched in June.

 

The next Shenzhou mission will include 3 astronauts, including another woman.

 

The mission will see them dock with the Tiangong-1 space lab, where they will conduct scientific experiments and give lectures from space.

 

Jia Shijin is the assistant chief engineer of China's manned spacecraft project.

 

"China has mastered the rendezvous and docking techniques in the Shenzhou-8 and Shenzhou-9 missions. But we plan to further strengthen and improve our docking skills in the Shenzhou-10 mission, in order to make technical preparations for our third-phase space-station project."

 

The launch rocket and spacecraft are now being assembled and tested.

 

The 3 astronauts have not yet been selected.

 

Rural Healthcare Insurance System Benefits Severe Disease Patients

 

New statistics from the Ministry of Health are suggesting more than 800-thousand people living in China's rural areas who have suffered from severe disease have benefited from China's rural healthcare insurance system.

 

The system was established 10-years ago.

 

Health Minister Chen Zhu.

 

"As rural residents have enjoyed extensive benefits from the system, more and more severe disease patients have obtained higher reimbursement, which have effectively relieved their financial burdens."

 

The rural healthcare insurance system covers over 800-million people in China's rural areas, accounting for 98 percent of the overall rural population.

 

The system provides reimbursement for 20 severe diseases including hemophilia, cleft palates and lung cancer.

 

The reimbursement covers more than 70-percent of the overall medical costs.

 

Highlife and Lowlife

 

A new exhibition of prints by foreign artists who captured images of China during the 18th century is underway at Peking University's Sackler Museum. CRI's Dominic Swire popped in to check it out.

 

REPORT: "In the 18th century, it was thought by Europeans that China was a happy place where everybody was well off, they sang, they danced..."

 

Donald Stone is a professor of art history at Peking University.

 

"So China was, for the Europeans, a kind of fantasy, a dream where everything is not only happy and beautiful, but it allowed the artist - you see these Pillements - to let their imaginations run wild."

 

The exhibition consists of over 60 prints all made just before the start of the French Revolution in 1789.

 

DOMINIC: "So, if you look carefully at these prints, of course, they're made up of lots and lots of lines and these lines would have been drawn or scratched or engraved by hand on....

 

DONALD: "Absolutely, absolutely. You know, nowadays the reproductions are made by cameras. In those days they had to hire etchers to draw every single line by hand on a piece of copper. It must have been an enormous labour."

 

The exhibition's titled 'High Life and Low Life'. The name came from a street scene by English artist William Hogarth called Southwark Fair.

 

"In this print you have the highlife and lowlife together in one print. You have high theatre and low theatre, high born people and low born people. And in connection with Hogarth you really have the extremes of the English classes, the upper classes and lower classes. So, it was just the title that popped into my head."

 

This is the latest of many collaboration between Professor Stone and the university.

 

The works on display were bought by Professor Stone, but most will stay at the gallery permanently as he has pledged to donate all his print works to Peking University.

 

For CRI, I'm Dominic Swire.

 

New Occupations Emerge Online Shopping Boom

 

A number of new professions, including online product photography and cyber modelling, have been popping up here in China in recent years as more and more people turn to the internet for their shopping needs. CRI's Wang Wei has more.

 

Reporter: A growing number of photo studios, as well as individual photographers are providing product photo shooting services for online businesses and most of them are able to make some 10 thousand yuan, or about 1,600 US dollars, a month.

 

Huang Jingyi runs one such photo studio in Beijing. Caught up in the recent Singles Day online shopping sales frenzy, Huang says photo orders started to flood in a month in advance and he and his staff rushed to get the work done.

 

"At the busiest time, we had to work day and night, nonstop for three consecutive days. We took photos of at least ten thousand products."

 

A senior female online shop owner surnamed Li uses the product photography service and says competition between shop owners is fierce nowadays. Having presentable product pictures on a store's webpage is an effective way to be more competitive and Li talks about her own experience.

 

"I sell purses and bags online. The business was good, until more competitors entered the market in recent years, and my sales started to go down. However, I found one other shop selling basically the same products as mine that stood out strong. It was largely due to the attractive promotion pictures on its page. The pictures have beautiful models in them and are well shot, and even I felt like shopping at that store after seeing the pictures. So I began to use the photo service and now spend 800 yuan every week for it."

 

The lowest price for taking picture of one product is 35 yuan, so that means there is at least 40 million yuan in the pool.

 

Another occupation that booms is the cyber model. A young woman surnamed Yang is a sophomore student who does cyber modeling work part time, and says she's been making quite a fortune out of it.

 

"I work on weekends, posing in front of cameras in different clothes. The payment is about 7 or 8 thousand yuan a month."

 

Taobao has its own "T-Lady" online model platform, where women interested in the job can register and put up their profiles and pictures on the page, and shop owners can find the a model that suits their product and directly contact the model. According to Taobao's statistics, there are 35 thousand cyber models registered at the platform and the models have made a total value of more than 1 billion yuan.

 

For CRI, I'm Wang Wei.

 

[Media Digest]

 

CHINA DAILY

 

"Disabled to Get Better Access to Devices to Lead Fuller Lives"

 

Sun Xiande, vice-president of China Disabled Persons' Federation, said the government is also encouraging more companies and organizations to participate in research and development of mechanical aids and devices for the disabled.

 

China is home to 85 million people with disabilities and 185 million people aged 60 or older.

 

Studies show that about 90 percent of the disabled and at least one-third of the elderly need devices to assist them.

 

However, the reality in China is that less than 7 percent of people living in rural areas can access aid facilities and the coverage rate in cities is only 12 percent.

 

SHANGHAI DAILY

 

"Claims for Masks Can Be Misleading"

 

Doctors and experts said consumers should be wary of claims that masks filter out tiny PM2.5 particles as the country so far has no regulations governing the masks and some may cause respiratory problems.

 

Many different masks are available, such as medical masks, activated carbon masks and industrial masks, in drugstores, supermarkets and online for "PM2.5 protection."

 

In a drugstore on Jiangning Road, a medical mask with activated carbon costs 10 yuan or $1.6 US dollars. A sales clerk said she didn't know whether the mask can stop PM2.5 particles.

 

In some online stores, however, vendors boast that masks costing from 3 to 20 yuan stop PM2.5 particles. None, however, have the certificates that could help prove their claims.

 

DAILY MAIL

 

"The 'Sun' Glasses That Can Bring the Daylight inside Even on the Darkest of Days"

 

A pair of glasses could be a ray of hope for the depressed office worker facing a long dark, winter.

 

According to scientists, light therapy is an effective treatment for seasonal affected disorders that affects around 1 in 50 people in UK, whose main symptom is a persistent low mood.

 

The glasses which cost 54 are designed to be worn during daily routine without obscuring wearer's vision, and they are now available on Amazon.

 

The makers say wearing the glasses for up to 30 minutes a day will give them more energy during winter months.

 

ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

"Brazil Aims to Clone Wild Animal Species"

 

Brazilian researchers are turning to cloning to help fight the perilous decline of several animal species.

 

Scientists said they have spent two years building a gene library from eight native species, and the research is still in early stages.

 

The team leader of the Brazilian scientists said their idea was not to use cloning as a primary conservation tool, and instead they aims to expand the gene library to include more samples under pressure.