New Delhi. India, China, the US, Russia, Brazil and another 21 nations have decided to retaliate against the EU decision to collect billions of dollars every year by unilaterally imposing a carbon tax on flights landing in Eurozone. The retaliatory measures decided include reviewing or abrogating the bilateral service agreements and open skies' agreements with each European country, suspending all negotiations on operating rights for the EU airlines and aircraft operators and imposing additional levies and charges on flights coming in from European nations. The fallout could hit the domestic consumers hard since the number of European flights landing and flying from India could be reduced and the cost of tickets could increase exponentially. The decision to launch an all-out trade war against EU airlines was taken at a meeting of the 26 countries in Moscow on Wednesday after the EU refused to withdraw the unilateral carbon tax on fliers from other nations. The measure would help EU pocket around $1.5 billion starting 2013 that will go up every year, thanks to the annual carbon tax at the cost of fliers from India and other countries ostensibly to combat climate change, some ...
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Washington, The Obama administration has exuded confidence that it would comfortably sail through the challenging phase in its relationship with India on the issue of purchase of oil from Iran. "We've worked through hard issues before with India, and we're looking forward to working through this one," the State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, told reporters at her daily news conference. Nuland said the US is talking to India along with other countries like China on reducing their dependence on Iranian oil. "Our goal is to continue to work with India to encourage it to do what it can to reduce its dependence on Iranian crude. We will continue those discussions," she said. "We have been saying for a number of weeks now, we're also working with oil producers who might be able to provide alternative sources of supply. This includes a number of countries around the world," Nuland said. The State Department spokesperson said the US has been talking with countries around the world about the implications of the legislation with regard to its expectation that countries will increasingly wean themselves of dependence on Iranian oil. "We're talking to India, ...
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Brasilia, Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Wang Qishan met Monday with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and expressed his country's interest in expanding bilateral relations, especially trade, in light of the "complex economic situation" in the world. Wang headed a Chinese delegation that took part in a bilateral meeting to analyze political and trade relations, as well as cooperation in the financial, agriculture, energy, science, health, space, industrial and technology areas. China wants to move "forward with a strategic partner like Brazil" and expand bilateral trade, which totaled $77.1 billion last year, with a surplus of $11.5 billion for the South American country, the deputy prime minister said. China has been Brazil's No. 1 trade partner since 2009, but the goal is to increase exports of value-added products, Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer, who took part in the meeting, said. "We are also interested in increasing exports of Brazilian meats," Temer said. Bilateral trade grew 36.7 percent between 2010 and 2011, but the rise was largely due to an increase in the price of raw materials, which account for the bulk of Brazil's exports, the vice president ...
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Beijing, At least three people were killed and 12 injured in a shipyard blast in east China's Jiangsu province Sunday, the authorities said. The accident occurred in the afternoon on a ship that was under construction at the Wujiazui shipyard in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu, Xinhua reported. The explosion was triggered by sparks in a space with combustible gas during the construction, the work safety watchdog said following an initial investigation. The injured workers were shifted to local hospitals, sources said. ...
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Beijing, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao met Beijing-appointed Panchen Lama in Beijing on Friday in the backdrop of top Communist party officials describing the situation in Tibet as "grave". The meeting took place after a senior Communist party official advised the government to prepare for "war against secessionist sabotage" by the Dalai Lama. There are clear indications that China has decided to adopt its traditional "strike hard" strategy to stanch the rising wave of dissent among a section of Tibetans. Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that the police in the western Sichuan province had shot and killed a monk and his brother. RFA said the 40-year-old monk, Yeshe Rigsal, and his brother, were hiding from police, which was looking for them for participating in an anti-government demonstration on January 23. Their bodies were found, shot dead by the police, RFA said, while also reporting another self-immolation by a monk in Qinghai province. The Communist party's regional chief for Tibet, Chen Quanguo, indicated the forthcoming meeting of the party's national congress in November will adopt a programme for a "decisive battle" against "revolting monks". The official Tibet ...
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Beijing, Rising manufacturing costs and weak external demand for China-made goods have dented the profits of industrial hubs in southeast China. Industrial output in Guangdong surged 20.9 percent year-on-year in 2011, but industrial profits rose by only 2.4 percent, down sharply from over 30 percent annual growth in 2010, Xinhua reported Friday quoting the provincial statistics bureau. In Zhejiang, industrial profits rose 9.9 percent year-on-year, 37.4 percentage points lower than the growth pace in 2010, officials said. Small and micro-enterprises on the Yangtze river and Pearl river deltas and the economic belt surrounding the Bohai Sea were also squeezed by the credit crunch, rises in costs, and declines in orders, according to a survey by e-commerce group Alibaba and Peking University's National School of Development. These enterprises have urged the government to tame inflation to reduce the impact of the increase in material and labour costs on profitability, and also cut taxes to reduce their operation burden. ...
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Beijing, China is going to increase mineral exploration and development within a decade to keep up with its rapidly growing demand, as it believes dependency on foreign sources for energy and minerals can threaten its security. Addressing a national videoconference in Beijing, Xu Shaoshi, minister of land and resources, said China plans to increase mineral exploration and development within 10 years, the China Daily reported. The minister said the country faces a major challenge in meeting the soaring demand for minerals and energy, with peak demand for energy expected to come between 2025 to 2035. China's dependency on foreign sources for energy and many minerals threatens the country's security, Xu said. China has discovered 172 varieties of minerals, 159 of them with proven reserves; of these, 45 are considered key ...
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Moscow, Russia has defended its rejection of a UN resolution condemning the violent crackdown in Syria, saying the Security Council was too hasty in putting it to a vote. "It is unfortunate that the (resolution's) co-authors decided to put it to a vote urgently, although we had asked them to delay it for several days so that we could discuss the situation after (Russian Foreign Intelligence Service head) Mikhail Fradkov and I visited Damascus on February 7," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday. "Nothing would have changed if they had waited three days," Lavrov said. Lavrov and Fradkov are due to hold talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Russia and China vetoed the draft resolution criticising Damascus, claiming it lacked balance. Vitaly Churkin, Russian envoy to the UN, said it targeted al-Assad's government but contained no measures against rebel armed groups. The vetoes drew a barrage of criticism from Western powers and the Syrian opposition. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called them a "travesty", and the Syrian National Council said Russia and China were "responsible for the escalating acts of killing". But Lavrov said Monday the ...
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Beijing, Russian helicopter maker Rostvertol has partnered with a Chinese firm to set up a plant in northern China, authorities said. The plant will be capable of manufacturing 100 lightweight civil Mi-2A helicopters annually, the government and the company reported Monday. Construction of the plant, located near Beijing in Hebei Province, will be completed by the end of July, officials said, adding that the plant will also serve as a repair hub for Russia's Mi-series choppers in the Asian region, reported Xinhua. The investment for the first phase of the plant, spread across 47 hectares, was estimated at 1.4 billion yuan ($224 million), Rostvertol's Chinese partner Hebei Xi'Ao Aeroplane Manufacturing Co. Ltd. said on its ...
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Moscow, Russia would make another attempt to send a Phobos-Grunt probe to Mars' satellite in 2018, a leading space expert has said. According to Lev Zeleny, director of the academy's Institute of Space Research, the probe would be named Phobos-Grunt-2. The plan was initiated by the Russian Academy of Sciences, Xinhua reported. Speaking at a press conference, Zeleny said 2018 was chosen because it would be the shortest distance between the Earth and Mars that year and that Russia's domestic space industry would also see a dramatic improvement by then. The second Phobos-Grunt would cost "a little more than 50 percent of previous costs," as the infrastructure was already in place from when they built the first probe, said Zeleny. As per specialists' estimate the crashed Phobos-Grunt interplanetary station, which failed to reach orbit after a computer malfunction and crashed back to Earth last month, cost five billion rubles (USD 164 million). The probe, carrying China's Yinghuo-1 satellite, had been launched Nov 9, 2011. It crashed Jan 15, 2012. On Tuesday, Vladimir Popovkin, the head of Russia's space agency said Russia would send another sample mission to the ...
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Washington, Noting that India is increasingly getting concerned about China's posture on its border, a top US intelligence official on Wednesday said that the Indian Army is strengthening itself for a "limited conflict" with China. "Despite public statements intended to downplay tensions between India and China, we judge that India is increasingly concerned about China's posture along their disputed border and Beijing's perceived aggressive posture in the Indian Ocean and Asia-Pacific region," director of national intelligence James Clapper said in his prepared testimony before the Senate Select Committee on intelligence. "The Indian Army believes a major Sino-Indian conflict is not imminent, but the Indian military is strengthening its forces in preparation to fight a limited conflict along the disputed border, and is working to balance Chinese power projection in the Indian Ocean," he said. India, Clapper said, has expressed support for a strong US military posture in East Asia and US engagement in Asia. He said China in 2011 appeared to temper the assertive behavior that characterised its foreign policy the year before, but the internal and external drivers of that ...
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Islamabad, Pakistan may increase prices of petroleum products Jan 31, a media report said. The price rise is expected between Rs.3 to Rs.6 per litre. An official said that tension between the US and Iran has prompted heavy buying by China and Japan, resulting in a high demand and increase in prices, reported the daily Dawn. He said that oil prices in the Middle East have risen to $112 per barrel. Pakistan's major supplies come from the Middle East. In December last year, Pakistan increased the price of diesel by Rs.4.67 to Rs.98.94 per litre and that of petrol by 48 paisa to Rs.87.89 per litre. ...
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New Delhi, India and Pakistan are closer to agreeing on a transit fee and a joint strategy to develop gas fields and import the hydrocarbon via pipeline from the central asian republic of Turkmenistan, oil ministers of the two sides said Wednesday. The statements came during a joint press conference by India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister S. Jaipal Reddy and his Pakastani counterpart Asim Hussain, after a bilateral meeting on energy cooperation. Turkmenistan has the world's fourth largest reserves of natural gas. India and Pakistan are both keen to tap this source through a pipeline via the Central Asian country's eastern neighbour, Afghanistan. "The issue of transit fee is being discussed with Afghanistan. A joint strategy is being evolved between India and Pakistan on this issue," Hussain told reporters, referring to the proposal that was formalised among the four countries in 2008. "We also intend to have a joint strategy on the up-stream sector in Turkmenistan where it is developing gas fields," he added, speaking also about India and Pakistan hoping to help in developing and exploiting gas fields in the Central Asian country. In 2008 when the four ...
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CHINA : Four people were killed on late Sunday morning when a man detonated explosives at his cousin's dinner table in central China, state-run media reported on Monday. The bomber was also killed. The attack happened at around 11:50 a.m. local time on Sunday, China's Lunar New Year's Eve, when a suicide bomber attacked his cousin's home in the village of Tielu in Lianyuan City, which is located in Hunan province. Police told the state-run Xinhua news agency that the man, who was only identified with his last name Liao, broke into his cousin's house with explosives strapped to his body. He then detonated his explosives at the family's dinner table. Xinhua said the blast killed Liao, his cousin, the cousin's parents, and a child. Six others were seriously injured and rushed to a local hospital, but all of them were believed to be in a stable condition on Monday, the report said. The motive behind the attack was not immediately clear, but police believe it may have involved a dispute over land. Liao had returned to the village several days earlier after working in a city for several years, Xinhua said. Suicide attacks in China are extremely rare. In May 2011, a ...
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Beijing, A 39-year-old man in China's southwestern province of Guizhou died Sunday from the bird flu virus H5N1, the health ministry said. The man felt unwell Jan 6. He was taken to hospital in the provincial town of Guiyang Jan 19 after his health condition deteriorated. Despite intensive therapy, the man died, reported RIA Novosti. The man's death is the second case of lethal outcome from the H5N1 virus in China since December. The bird flu virus was confirmed by laboratory tests. Medics have examined 71 residents who had contact with the bird flu victim but have not found any symptoms of the virus. Although there have been no incidences of human-to-human infection, experts fear the virus may mutate into a form that could be easily transmitted from person to person, causing a global pandemic. A total of 331 people across the world have died of the H5N1 virus since it was detected in ...
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Beijing, China injected one billion yuan (around USD 158 million) in 2011 to protect the Sanjiangyuan nature reserve, where China's three major rivers have their sources. Sanjiangyuan -- with an area of 150,000 square km -- has the sources of the Yangtze, Yellow, and Lancang rivers, Xinhua reported. The Lancang is also known as the Mekong, which originates from China and flows through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. The money was spent on afforestation projects and recovery of degraded grasslands in the area, an official said. The ecology deteriorated in recent years due to global warming and excessive herding, before the government initiated a 7.5-billion-yuan (over USD 1 billion) programme, which included the resettlement of 50,000 Tibetan herders in ...
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Beijing, A Chinese locomotive company has rolled out the country's first home-made magnetically levitated (maglev) train that creates less pollution than the conventional ones and ideal for transport in the urban and ecologically fragile tourist areas. The low-cost three-carriage train is designed to run at a maximum speed of 100 km per hour and carry 600 passengers, Xinhua news agency reported. Trains run on coal or diesel creates more pollution. Maglev also runs quietly, said Xu Zongxiang, general manager of the Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co. Ltd., maker of the train in central Hunan province. A conventional train moves forward by using friction between its wheels and the track. The maglev replaces wheels by electromagnets and levitates on the guideway. "It's ideal for mass transportation, as it is quiet and environment-friendly. Its manufacturing cost is about 75 percent of a conventional light-rail train," said Xu. Maglev has a minimum turning radius of 50 meters and can run easily in the residential areas or on the hilly slopes. "It's an ideal public transport option for Chinese cities and major tourist destinations," said Xu. Railway transport ...
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Beijing, China's Sunway BlueLight supercomputer, which was built with domestically-produced microprocessors and is capable of performing around 1,000 trillion calculations per second, has officially begun operations. The computer began working Thursday at the National Supercomputing Centre in the easten city of Jinan in Shandong province, Xinhua reported. The computer was installed in September 2011 and underwent a three-month trial period before going into official use, making China the third country in the world -- after the US and Japan -- to produce such a supercomputer with domestically-produced processors. Developed by the National Research Centre of Parallel Computer Engineering and Technology, the Sunway BlueLight marks a great technological leap for China's indigenous innovation in development and utilisation of high-performance computers, the centre said. The Sunway BlueLight will promote scientific and economic development of Shandong in fields of ocean utilisation, biopharmacy, industrial design and financial risk prediction. The computer will also serve as a node in China's national computing grid, contributing to scientific and economic development ...
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Beijing, China is against the Dalai Lama's activities in the international arena, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. China opposes contact between political figures, official representatives of countries and the Dalai Lama, said ministry spokesperson Liu Weimin. Liu made the remark when asked to comment on the Dalai Lama's visit to Britain in June, reported Xinhua. The Dalai Lama has never simply been a "religious person", but the general head of a political bloc which seeks to break up China, Liu said. The Dalai Lama lives in Dharamsala in India at the head of a government-in-exile's spiritual leader. ...
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Beijing, China plans to launch 21 rockets with 30 satellites in 2012, the China Aerospace and Technology Corporation (CASC) said Wednesday. The country’s ambitious space programme will see a steady increase in the number of space launches in the near future. Last year, China launched 20 rockets with 25 satellites to become the world’s second country after Russia in terms of the amount of space launches. As part of the 2012 schedule, China will launch six more geostationary satellites of the Beidou-2 (Compass) system to expand its own global positioning network to 16 satellites as an alternative to US GPS and Russian Glonass. Another key event on the Chinese space industry calendar is the launch of Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spacecraft to rendezvous and dock with the currently orbiting Tiangong-1 vessel as part of an ambitious project to start building a 60-tonne space station by about 2020. ...
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