Asia News

Off-course penguin gets NZ health clearance

2011-08-01T14:41:00.000-07:00

29 July 2011 Last updated at 04:26 GMT "Happy Feet", the lost penguin, could get back to Antarctica early next month A young emperor penguin found washed up on a New Zealand beach is recovering well and could swim home next month.

Staff at Wellington zoo said results of an X-ray and blood test showed "Happy Feet", as it has been named, is fine after endoscopic surgery.

The penguin was found on Peka Peka beach, about 60km (37 miles) north of Wellington - some 3,000km from its home in Antarctica.

Experts had been reluctant to intervene as the bird appeared to be healthy.

However, it later grew lethargic and was operated on to remove sand from its stomach.

A Zoo spokeswoman, Kate Baker, said the penguin has gained about 4kg (9lb).

It was given a first swim at the zoo earlier this week, in salt water that was cooled to below 0C (32F).

Crowds have been flocking to the zoo to see the bird - the first such arrival of an Emperor penguin in New Zealand in at least 44 years.

The bird's plight has attracted worldwide attention.

Hundreds of people had gathered to watch a leading gastroenterologist from Wellington Hospital perform the endoscopy on the bird at the zoo in late June.

To help it feel more at home, the penguin is being kept in a room chilled to about 8C. There is a bed of ice for it to sleep on.

Zoo staff said the bird would probably be released offshore from the south end of the country early next month.

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China media criticise US on debt

2011-08-01T12:49:00.000-07:00

29 July 2011 Last updated at 11:21 GMT Republican John Boehner and the president are at loggerheads over debt plans China's state-run media have labelled US domestic politicians "dangerously irresponsible" for wrangling over debt.

In an editorial, Xinhua news agency accused US politicians of playing a "game of chicken" over the issue, saying the rest of the world had been "kidnapped" by American politics.

Beijing has not officially commented on the US battle to avoid a debt default.

The US Congress needs to agree on raising its borrowing limit by next Tuesday or it will default on its debt.

Although most Democrats and Republicans broadly agree on raising the debt ceiling and reducing public spending, the sticking point is the length of time the higher debt limit is in place.

The Democrats want the higher ceiling to remain until after next year's presidential election, but Republicans will agree only to a short-term measure.

Liquidity 'flood'

The Xinhua editorial said many other countries would be in the "impact zone" if US politicians failed to agree a deal.

"With leadership comes responsibility. It is unfortunate and disappointing that when political leaders in Washington spar over who is doing good for their country, they take little account of the world's economic soundness," the article said.

"Given the United States' status as the world's largest economy and the issuer of the dominant international reserve currency, such political brinkmanship in Washington is dangerously irresponsible.

"It risks, among other consequences, strangling the still fragile economic recovery of not only the United States but also the world as a whole."

The mouthpiece of China's ruling Communist Party, the People's Daily, also warned of the consequences of a default.

In comments translated by the AFP news agency, the paper said a default could hurt the US dollar and trigger a "torrential flood" of liquidity into the global economy, fuelling inflation in emerging economies such as China.

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Eight die in China street attack

2011-08-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

31 July 2011 Last updated at 08:23 GMT Two men have launched a street attack in China's western Xinjiang region, official media say, leaving at least eight people dead.

The assailants reportedly hijacked a truck late on Saturday in Kashgar city, killing its driver. They then ran the vehicle into a group of pedestrians and attacked them with knives.

One attacker died and one was captured.

This is the second attack in a month in Xinjiang, home to a Muslim Uighur minority and scene of ethnic tension.

The attack was preceded by two explosions, media said, but it is not clear whether the events were connected.

A local official was quoted as saying that both attackers were Uighurs.

"The case is still under investigation so I don't have more information," Hou Hanmin told AFP news agency.

Ethnic unrest

According to tianshannet.com, a Xinjiang government-run website, the assailants hijacked a truck waiting at traffic lights, stabbing the driver to death before ploughing the vehicle into bystanders.

They then got out of the vehicle and started attacking people at random, the report said.

It said the crowd then turned on the men, killing one of them. The second man was captured.

State-run news agency Xinhua said the attack had been preceded by two explosions.

Twenty-eight people were reported to have been taken to hospital.

On 18 July, several police officials and a number of civilians were killed in an attack on a police station in the city of Hotan.

Chinese officials blamed the attack on "terrorists" from the Uighur minority.

Uighur activists said the security forces had provoked clashes by opening fire on a peaceful demonstration.

The majority of Xinjiang's population is ethnically Uighur - who are Muslims with strong cultural ties to Central Asia.

The BBC's Martin Patience in Beijing says many Uighurs are unhappy about what they say is the repressive rule of Beijing and are angered by the migration of the majority Han Chinese to the region.

In 2009, riots erupted in Xinjiang in which nearly 200 people died after tensions flared between the Uighurs and the Han.

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Mongolian spy chief loses appeal

2011-08-01T09:01:00.000-07:00

29 July 2011 Last updated at 12:34 GMT A Mongolian spy chief - who claims he was tricked into coming to the UK so he could be arrested - can be extradited, the High Court has said.

In February, District Judge Quentin Purdy, at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court, ruled Bat Khurts should be sent to Germany.

Mr Bat, 41, is wanted for kidnapping a Mongolian national suspected of murdering a government official.

His appeal was rejected by the High Court on Friday.

The Mongolian government said it was "very disappointed" with the judgment.

It declined to appeal to the Supreme Court but said it would be "taking this matter to the International Court of Justice".

At the earlier hearing Mr Bat's lawyer claimed he was lured to the UK by the Foreign Office, on the pretence of attending high-level government talks on intelligence co-operation, so he could be arrested and extradited to Germany.

Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Foskett dismissed his appeal but his lawyers said the case may now be taken to the European Court of Human Rights.

'No evidence of luring'

Lord Justice Moses said Mr Bat "has not established that he was lured into this country".

He said: "Far from being lured, at every stage when the government of Mongolia, particularly through its ambassador, attempted to arrange meetings, they were rebuffed."

Lord Justice Moses said they rejected the allegation that Mr Bat was tricked into coming to Britain and said there was "no question of any official in the United Kingdom luring the appellant to this country in the belief that he was going to meet United Kingdom officials to discuss security matters".

Mr Bat was allegedly involved in the 2003 kidnap of Enkhbat Damiran, who was taken from France to Berlin, drugged and flown to the Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator.

Mr Enkhbat was wanted in connection with the murder of Mongolia's Infrastructure Minister Zorig Sanjasuuren in 1998.

At the hearing earlier this year his lawyer, Alun Jones QC, claimed Mr Bat, head of the executive office of Mongolia's National Security Council, should not have been detained at Heathrow Airport in September because he was covered by diplomatic immunity.

He said Mr Bat had been granted a business visa for a visit during which he was supposed to meet Britain's National Security Adviser, Sir Peter Ricketts, and strategy and counter-terrorism director, William Nye.

Judge Purdy said he believed Mr Bat was invited for genuine security talks but the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) had heard about it and were aware of the outstanding warrant from Germany.

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A new approach

2011-08-01T07:16:00.000-07:00

29 July 2011 Last updated at 10:52 GMT Forty people died in Saturday's train crash Commentators in the Chinese press are demanding that the government put respect for life before economic development, following Saturday's high-speed rail crash in eastern China and the subsequent public anger over the way officials handled the incident.

Some accuse the authorities of disregarding people's sensitivities in the development of the high-speed network and managing information about the crash, and urge officials to act to restore the trust of the public.

After the incident, which killed 40 people, several relatives criticised local officials and the railways ministry for what they saw as poor crisis management.

EDITORIAL IN BEIJING'S CHINA DAILY

How to deal with public opinion during crisis is a new challenge for the Chinese government. Yet, it is more than obvious that respecting people's lives should be made the prerequisite for government efforts to deal with and prevent any similar accident.

EDITORIAL IN BEIJING'S GLOBAL TIMES

Many choose not to believe whatever results the authorities provide. Microblogs are prime evidence of this... The government should first change the way it handles crisis management. Ensuring open, transparent investigations is the only way to reduce social doubts. The government's voice should be convincing and powerful enough to restore its credibility with the public.

ZHONG YIWEI IN BEIJING'S PEOPLE'S DAILY ONLINE

Safety is the foundation for the operation of high-speed railways, as well as the foundation for the high-speed railways' trustworthiness. Without this foundation, the people will not get on the trains no matter how advanced the high-speed rail technology will be.

COMMENTARY IN BEIJING'S QINGNIAN CANKAO

We do not oppose the development of high-speed rail, but we oppose the rash development of high-speed rail, and especially oppose the rash development of high-speed rail driven by profit and career ambitions. We want speed, but we do not want speed that bears blood... Development that pursues speed and efficiency at the expense of basic security and that puts development above people's lives and safety is only detrimental to society.

EDITORIAL IN HONG KONG'S WEN WEI PO

As long as lessons are earnestly learned from this accident, more importance is attached to safety issues in high-speed rail construction, speed, quality and effectiveness are integrated with safety, and high-speed rail technology and management is perfected, China's high-speed rail will be safer, more reliable and more competitive.

EDITORIAL IN HONG KONG'S MING PAO

If the authorities take the lives and safety of the people as the primary consideration, they should immediately deactivate signal devices that have not undergone an independent review and have been proved safe, to ensure that the people are not at risk.

LEE PING IN HONG KONG'S APPLE DAILY

Stand up those who are unwilling to be high-speed rail slaves! Stand up, those who are unwilling to be censored online! First, the incident must be investigated thoroughly and those responsible held accountable... Second, high-speed rail expansion plans should be suspended... Third, the ministry of railways should be abolished or restructured... Fourth, freedom of expression must be valued, just as life is valued.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.

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Malaysia FA sorry for Israel 'abuse'

2011-08-01T06:13:00.000-07:00

Benayoun joined Chelsea from Liverpool in July 2010 Malaysia's football federation has apologised after Chelsea complained that Yossi Benayoun had suffered racist abuse during last week's friendly.

The Football Association of Malaysia said "if such an incident did happen, we would like to apologise to the player... and also to Chelsea FC."

Chelsea responded on Friday, saying "the matter is now closed".

Benayoun is one of the few Israelis to have played in Malaysia, a country which does not recognise Israel.

The 31-year-old Benayoun was jeered each time he touched the ball in a match against a Malaysian XI on 21 July. Agency reports from the match in Kuala Lumpur said the abuse was directed at Benayoun.

The Malaysian FA, however, said the abuse would have "involved a small section of spectators".

In reply to the MFA's statment, Chelsea said: "We appreciate the prompt ttention the Malaysian FA has given our complaint.

"Chelsea Football Club is committed to eradicating all discriminatory behaviour from the game and urges the MFA to take appropriate steps to stamp out this type of behaviour in future.

"The club and Yossi accept the apology."

Chelsea have one more match left on their Asian tour - against Aston Villa in Hong Kong on 30 July - before they return to England.

Anti-racism campaigners Kick It Out have called for Malaysia's football authorities to look at the issue of anti-semitic prejudice.

A spokesman for the group said: "Kick It Out supports the action taken by Chelsea on this matter.

"After working with the club on the recent 'Y-Word' film, aimed squarely at challenging anti-semitism and anti-Jewish abuse and featuring Frank Lampard, it's a strand of discrimination which is front of mind for both organisations.

"In addition, the campaign is keen to engage with Malaysian authorities around the issue and how football can play its part in educating mass audiences to become better versed on issues around faith and religion."

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Return to Fukushima

2011-08-01T05:11:00.000-07:00

25 July 2011 Last updated at 00:00 GMT By Roland Buerk BBC News, Fukushima prefecture Residents of Fukushima had to don radiation suits to visit their former homes

The people gathered in a school gym on the edge of the Fukushima exclusion zone could not have imagined, only months ago, that they would need a radiation suit to visit their own homes.

They were being helped into the unfamiliar outfits by workers already wearing the white plastic overalls, overboots, masks and hats. The floors and the walls had been coated with pink plastic.

Continue reading the main story

"Radiation is invisible, so we are worried ...we're wearing these suits because we were told to. This is the only way we can come here. ”

End Quote Shigeru Suzuki Former resident They were people who lived in the area around the reactors, still leaking radiation more than four months after they were crippled by Japan's earthquake and tsunami.

Now they are being allowed to go home, but only for a few hours, to look at the places they left behind.

Some had pet carriers, hoping to pick up animals they had to abandon - if they had survived. Others were hoping to collect documents, or treasured belongings.

Organisers called on them to line up in groups, depending on which village or town they wanted to get to. A dozen buses were going in today, carrying just a few of the 80,000 people who have had to evacuate.

Japan's government has promised everyone will have the opportunity.

Abandoned zone

They struggled on board, sweating in the heat and the plastic suits. Even the very old were keen to go and they were pushed in wheelchairs to the steps.

With the reactors still out of control who knew when they would get another chance?

The Fukushima exclusion zone is enforced by police roadblocks

The exclusion zone is enforced by police roadblocks, 20km (12 miles) from the plant. Beyond the countryside is empty. Homes are shuttered, traffic lights have been switched off. Plants are creeping into the road and colonising the pavements.

Outside a hospital, beds had been left strewn in the driveway, a sign of how quickly the patients were evacuated. Gardens are filled with four months and more worth of weeds and the paddy fields are fallow.

A few cattle on the verge were startled by the buses and cantered off into the distance, enjoying their freedom with the farmers gone.

We were going to the town of Okuma. Two busloads of people from there were using their hour-and-a-half or so at home to remember their dead.

Continue reading the main story

We have to rebuild this town in the future and get back to how things were before, or even better”

End Quote Toshiami Watanabe Mayor of Okuma It is near the sea and was badly hit by the tsunami, but they had left in such a hurry as the power station just 3 or 4 kilometres up the road was rocked by explosions, that they had little time to commemorate those who were lost.

The people gathered in front of an altar set up on trestle tables in a car park. Freshly ironed white table clothes had been brought, and flowers in bowls and candles.

Only the Buddhist priest, chanting and ringing his bell chose not to wear a mask or radiation suit. He was in his purple kimono, his faith his only protection. His prayers competed with the clicking of geiger counters.

"Radiation is invisible, so we are worried," said Shigeru Suzuki, a former resident. "We're wearing these suits because we were told to. This is the only way we can come here. We just have to trust the people who brought us."

Slow rebuilding

The ceremony was led by the mayor of Okuma, Toshiami Watanabe. The community he leads no longer exists, it is scattered in evacuation centres across northern Japan. He admitted being angry with TEPCO, the operators of the Fukushima plant.

Only the priest chose not to wear a mask

"Yes, lots of thoughts are running through my mind," he said. "But we have to rebuild this town in the future and get back to how things were before, or even better."

Rebuilding will have to wait, though, until the nuclear crisis is over. Some progress has been made: phase one of the operation has been completed. A closed system has been installed to clean contaminated, radioactive water at the site, and use it to cool the reactors.

It means they no longer have to be hosed down. The plan is to bring them to a cold shutdown by January at the latest.

But cleaning up around Fukushima could take years. After the memorial service the people of Okuma got back on their buses to be driven out of the exclusion zone.

It may be a long time before they are together again.

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Lyon picked for Aussie Test squad

2011-08-01T03:35:00.000-07:00

Copeland is one of four uncapped players in the Test squad Australia have included four uncapped players in their 15-man squad for the forthcoming Test series in Sri Lanka.

Off-spinner Nathan Lyon, batsman Shaun Marsh, and pacemen Trent Copeland and James Pattinson have been selected.

Leg-spinner Steve Smith and seamers Ben Hilfenhaus and Doug Bollinger miss out as Michael Clarke prepares for his first Test as permanent captain.

Former skipper Ricky Ponting, Shane Watson and Mike Hussey provide the experience for the three-Test series.

The last Test Australia played was the final Ashes Test against England at Sydney in January - and batsman Usman Khawaja and spinner Michael Beer keep their places after making their debuts in that game.

Lyon, 23, is expected to make his international debut, despite playing in only four first-class matches.

He recently impressed for Australia A in Zimbabwe and earned selection ahead of Jason Krejza, who also played on that tour.

Chief selector Andrew Hilditch said: "Nathan may be a surprise selection, but he impressed all who have seen him in the last year and bowled beautifully [in Zimbabwe].

"He is a young man with immense potential and we feel he will take this opportunity should he get the chance to play in Sri Lanka.

"The intention was to take Jason Krejza to Sri Lanka provided he proved he was bowling at his best. Unfortunately Jason did not bowl as well as we, or I am sure he, would have liked in Zimbabwe.

"Michael Beer bowled well on his debut without luck, and it will be an important tour for him on grounds where we expect spin to play a major role.

"Shaun Marsh has been in our minds for some time, and we continue to see Steve Smith as a player of the future in all forms of the game but at this stage we do not feel he has cemented his position as a top six batsman or as a leg-spin bowler.

"Ben Hilfenhaus did not have as good an Ashes series as he would have liked, and Doug Bollinger needs to improve his ability to bowl spells at full intensity and maintain it over the course of a match."

Lyon and Copeland have no full international experience, although Pattinson made his one-day international debut against Bangladesh in April - while Marsh has played in 33 ODIs and three Twenty20 internationals.

The first Test begins in Galle on 31 August and is followed by matches in Kandy from 8 September and Colombo from 16 September.

Australia will play two Twenty20 matches and five one-day internationals - for which the squads had already been announced - before the Test series begins in Galle on 31 August.

Australia Test squad: Michael Clarke (capt), Shane Watson (vice-capt), Michael Beer, Trent Copeland, Brad Haddin (wk), Ryan Harris, Phillip Hughes, Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, James Pattinson, Ricky Ponting, Peter Siddle.

Australia Twenty20 squad: Cameron White (capt), Shane Watson (vice-capt), Aaron Finch, Brad Haddin (wk), John Hastings, David Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, Steve O'Keefe, James Pattinson, Steve Smith, David Warner.

Australia one-day squad: Michael Clarke (capt), Shane Watson (vice-capt), Doug Bollinger, Xavier Doherty, Brad Haddin (wk), John Hastings, David Hussey, Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, James Pattinson, Ricky Ponting, Steve Smith.

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Saying sorry

2011-08-01T01:46:00.000-07:00

29 July 2011 Last updated at 23:41 GMT By Phil Mercer BBC News, Sydney Australia has a thriving Chinese community, but it was not always that way. Chinese migrants endured more than a century of government-backed discrimination in Australia. Now, Chinese Australians are about to ask for a formal apology.

Dennis O'Hoy's grandfather arrived in the southern Australian goldfields from Hong Kong in 1860. He was forced to live in squalid settler camps, surrounded by poverty and racism.

"Many committed suicide by hanging or drowning themselves," says Mr O'Hoy, remembering his grandfather's descriptions of the plight of Chinese men who could not cope.

"It's just tragic because they didn't have money to get back to China and there was no-one to look after them in Australia."

Descendants of those 19th Century labourers and miners say it is time that Australia said sorry for the past.

'Evil and opium-smoking'

In the middle of the 19th Century, the newly found goldfields of Victoria and New South Wales attracted settlers from China. They were prolific and arrived in large numbers - but were often viewed with jealousy and suspicion.

19th Century laws specifically targeted Chinese immigration

In the early 1860s, those feelings boiled over into one of the worst race riots in Australian history. Hundreds of white miners attacked Chinese prospectors at Lambing Flat in the New South Wales gold belt.

Armed with pickaxes and spades, the mob burned camps, looted property and seriously injured dozens of Chinese workers.

In response, the government punished the victims rather than the aggressors. They passed the Chinese Immigration Restriction and Regulation Act in 1861, subjecting the Chinese to entry taxes in a bid to reduce their number.

"The Chinese community back then was painted as evil and opium-smoking. There was very heavy stereotyping and I'm glad I didn't live in that era," says Anthony Pun, president of Chinese Community Council of Australia, the most high-profile group representing Chinese Australians.

Anti-Chinese discrimination did not end in the 19th Century though. The Immigration Restriction Act of 1901, which ushered in the so-called White Australia Policy, subjected all immigrants to prohibitive tests.

Under the policy, officials would dictate a 50-word passage in any European language. If the would-be immigrant failed to write down the passage correctly, they would be refused entry into Australia. That policy was in force for most of the 20th Century.

Layers of discrimination

Currently more than 600,000 Australians claim to have Chinese ancestry - about 3% of the population. The Chinese Community Council is leading the calls for an apology and intends to write to the federal government to request a formal apology in the next few weeks.

Mr Pun says a statement of regret similar to those expressed to the Chinese in New Zealand and Canada would heal old wounds.

Continue reading the main story Some 600,000 Australians have both parents born in ChinaHalf of Chinese Australians live in SydneyChina the third most common country of birth for foreign-born Australians, after UK and New Zealand

Source: 2006 Australian Census

"Let us once and for all recognise what happened in history, acknowledge it and move on," he says.

Daphne Lowe Kelley, the head of the Chinese Heritage Association of Australia, says other groups of imported workers also faced subjugation and abuse - but it was the Chinese who suffered the most.

Not only did they endure legislative discrimination, they were also forcibly separated from their families and denigrated in newspapers, she says.

"They depicted the Chinese as being sub-human as if they were barbarians and were corrupting the morals of white society," she says.

"It really painted a terrible picture of the Chinese, who had to live through this for quite a long period of time."

Wider apology

There are still surviving links to those oppressive days. Arthur Chang came to Australia as a teenager to join his father, who arrived in Australia from China in 1885 and had travelled the outback looking for work.

Mr Chang, now 90 years old, says his father had a tough life, punctuated by bigotry and hardship.

China proved a valuable source of labour for tobacco plantations in the early 1900s

"The Australian people were very good, but it was government policy in those days that was really very discouraging," he says.

So what would a formal apology mean to him?

"It would ease my mind," he says, adding that the country is more tolerant now, and Chinese people are more respected.

In recent times Australian prime ministers have said sorry for the past mistreatment of the country's indigenous peoples and child migrants, who were abused in state care.

But Ross Fitzgerald, an emeritus professor of history and politics at Griffith University, believes it would be a mistake to offer Chinese Australians a similar act of contrition.

"Where do you stop? If you apologise to the Chinese, surely you've got to apologise to those South Sea islanders who were brought here as indentured labourers, you'd have to apologise to the gay community and you'd have to apologise to a whole lot of different groups," he says.

"On the face of it seems to be a rather perverse idea."

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Mark Webber column

2011-08-01T00:34:00.000-07:00

By Mark Webber
Red Bull driver and BBC Sport columnist Highlights - Hamilton wins German GP

Although the German Grand Prix did not go my way in the end, I still really enjoyed it.

Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and myself were pushing each other right to the limit throughout the race and it was good to be involved. It is very rare to have three cars battling for the lead for that long.

Even in the last stint, when I knew I could not catch them, I still wanted it to go on longer.

There is not a driver on the grid who does not want to drive off into the distance but when you have a race like that it is really enjoyable, even if I was not super happy with the result.

We all made little mistakes at various times but we were at a different pace from everyone else. That is a good feeling.

There is a lot of mutual respect between us and you could see that when we were chatting before we went out on to the podium.

Of course it does not always end up sweet and rosy like that when you have tough race - sometimes there is a bit more friction, which is not hard to pick from our body language but that is the name of the game.

Red Bull Racing and myself were very quick, and we put up a good fight, but we were not quite strong enough.

Qualifying went very well for us and we put ourselves in a position to fight from the front but from very early in the second stint I could sense the race was slipping away from us.

I was in the lead and I put in some laps I was really happy with but I could not get the gap over 1.5 seconds. I just could not shake off Lewis and Fernando.

I knew then it was going to be very difficult to do two further stops and keep them out.

Lewis came out after his second stop just in front of me. I had a go at passing him around the outside into Turn Two but it did not come off.

If I had been a metre and a half further alongside him, it would have been much harder for him to stay ahead but if you are on the outside and not quite ahead, you deserve to get run out of road. It was fair play.

What was different about the next lap, when Fernando came out ahead of Lewis, was that Lewis had that extra half a car's length on him on the outside, so Fernando could not do to him what Lewis had done to me.

I had a grandstand view of that and obviously I was hoping they would hit each other! But, on the other hand, with Fernando you know it is always going to be hard but fair.

After that, I was fighting very hard to stay in touch but it was difficult for me to keep the lap times or squeeze more pace out of the car without hurting the tyres.

The only way we were going to be able to jump the guys was if we could still do a reasonable pace and stay out a bit longer on the soft tyres when they were trying to warm up their harder tyres at the beginning of their last stint.

We did manage to do that but that pace turned out to be too slow.

ON THE MARK Evans saw off the Schleck brothers to achieve glory in the Tour de France

What a great weekend for Australia. Casey Stoner won the MotoGP at Laguna Seca, Will Power won the Indy Car race at Edmonton, the Wallabies beat South Africa in the opening Tri-Nations game and Cadel Evans took the big one - the Tour de France.

It was a great ride by Cadel. He has the true Aussie fighting spirit. He has not always had the same top quality support from his team riders that some of the other Tour winners have had and that makes his win all the more impressive.

Cycling is never short of a bit of controversy but I try to ignore most of that and focus on the man and the bike taking on the mountains, the beautiful backdrops and how phenomenal it is that they can race flat out day after day.

I am off to cycle one of the famous Tour stages, l'Alpe d'Huez, next month during the Formula 1 summer break. None other than four-times world F1 champion Alain Prost- who is no mean cyclist - will be one of my companions.

I hope I can keep up with him and keep chatting - he is unbelievably fit on a bike as it has been one of his main hobbies since he stopped racing.

It will be an enjoyable day and good to catch up with Alain as I have not seen him for a while. You will be able to read about how we got on in F1 Racing magazine later in the year.

OFF THE MARK

I have always spoken about how F1 can improve the post-race spectacle and over the past couple of years I have tried to do my bit.

Mansell gives Senna a lift (UK users only)

I threw my helmet into the crowd when I won the Spanish Grand Prix last year and I did a few doughnuts at the end of the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Last Sunday, you may have seen me give Fernando a lift back to the pits.

It did not strike me at the time but a lot of people said it turned back the clock to when Ayrton Senna hitched a ride on Nigel Mansell'scar after Nige had won the 1991 British Grand Prix.

I saw Fernando had stopped so I pulled up beside him and tapped on my side-pod to see if he wanted a lift. He gave me the thumbs up.

I was pretty keen for him to get out of his car and hop on mine quickly as I was keeping an eye on the car's temperatures. We conducted all of this in sign language but there was no miscommunication!

Once he was comfortable and had a good grip of the car, we made our way back to the pits. I heard that David Coulthard and Martin Brundle were a bit nervous on the BBC commentary that we might be breaking the rules but everyone took the gesture in the spirit it was intended.

WEBBER UNSPUN

It has been a hectic week. I came back from Germany on Sunday night and watched the MotoGP and then caught up with a bit of paperwork and e-mails on Monday.

Then it was some debriefing from Germany with the team and talking about how we are going to handle the next one and then off to Hungary on Thursday morning.

The layout of the track should be suited to our car and it is important we have a good race because the next two tracks, Spa and Monza after the summer break, are traditionally places we do not go so well.

I am looking to get another big chunk of points - the first win of the season would be nice - and hopefully take some points off Sebastian Vettel and trim his championship lead a bit more.

Mark was talking to BBC Sport's Andrew Benson. His exclusive column can be read every Thursday.

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Alibaba takes on Google and Apple

2011-07-31T23:09:00.000-07:00

29 July 2011 Last updated at 06:57 GMT Alibaba operates some of China's biggest e-commerce websites China's Alibaba has taken on established players such as Google and Apple in the mobile operating system market.

It has launched its own operating system, Alyun OS, in a bid to capture the fast-growing Chinese market.

The launch comes as sales of smartphones in China, the world's largest mobile handset market, are expected to grow rapidly.

Alibaba is one the world's biggest internet conglomerates.

The company said the operating system will feature services such as email, internet search and support web-based applications.

"Mobile users want a more open and convenient mobile operating system (OS), one that allows them to truly enjoy all that the internet has to offer, right in the palm of their hand," said Wang Jian, president of Alibaba Cloud Computing.

"The cloud OS, with its use of cloud-based applications, will provide that," he added.

Hardware Continue reading the main story

We are not responsible for selling the phone, we just provide the system, so there is no hard number”

End Quote Wang Jian Alibaba Cloud Computing Alibaba also launched K-Touch, the first smartphone to run the OS. The phone will be manufactured by handset maker Tianyu.

The company said it was also in talks to with phone manufacturers to develop low-end mobile phones that will run the operating system.

However, Alibaba said it has no plans to enter the phone manufacturing sector on its own.

"We shouldn't make a phone. We're not in that ecosystem," said Mr Wang.

He also added that the company is concentrating only on developing the operating system and was not focussing too much on the sales of mobile phones that will use the software.

"We are not responsible for selling the phone, we just provide the system, so there is no hard number," he said.

Alibaba said it plans to launch a tablet PC running on the software by the end of this year.

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Earthquake hits off Japan coast

2011-07-31T21:34:00.000-07:00

30 July 2011 Last updated at 20:06 GMT A 6.4 magnitude earthquake has been felt in north-east Japan, shaking buildings in the capital Tokyo, reports say.

The quake's epicentre was off the east coast of Honshu.

It struck in the same area as the 11 March earthquake and tsunami but no abnormalities at Japanese nuclear plants were reported, Reuters says.

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries and no tsunami warning was issued.

More than 20,000 people died or were reported missing as a result of the disaster in March, which also crippled nuclear reactors in the Fukushima area.

The quake occurred close to Iwaki, with its centre around 100km (60 miles) south-south-east of Fukushima city.

It occurred at 0354 local time on Sunday (1854 GMT Saturday), at a depth of 44km (27 miles).

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Japan data shows further recovery

2011-07-31T20:01:00.000-07:00

29 July 2011 Last updated at 02:15 GMT Japanese manufacturers have been working at reduced capacity after the earthquake and tsunami Japan's economy has continued to recover from the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami, latest government data showed.

Factory output rose 3.9% in June from the previous month as supply chain concerns eased, while household spending increased by 0.8%.

Analysts said it showed the economy was recovering faster than expected.

The data comes a day after Japan reported a rise in retail sales for the first time since the 11 March quake.

"I thought we had to wait until the middle of next year for production to come back up to levels seen before the earthquake," said Seiji Adachi, of Deutsche Securities.

"But it now looks like manufacturing activities might go back to where they were as early as January-March next year," he added.

Strong forecast Continue reading the main story

The yen's strength, if sustained for a long time, could dampen production in the longer term by hurting corporate earnings and thus their capital expenditure”

End Quote Tatsushi Shikano Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities Japanese manufacturers were hit hard by the devastation caused by the earthquake and tsunami.

Disruption to the country's supply chain saw some of the biggest manufacturers curb or suspend production.

However, as the infrastructure is restored, manufacturers are becoming increasingly optimistic.

According to a survey done by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, manufacturers expect output to rise 2.2% in July and 2% in August.

"Manufacturers' strong forecasts for July and August suggest the recovery in output remains on track," said Tatsushi Shikano, of Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

Overcoming challenges

The recovery in the supply chain and factory output has come despite the manufacturers facing various challenges, not least a shortage of electricity.

Japan has been facing a power shortage after the twin natural disasters damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant and forced the closure of various other nuclear plants in the country.

There were concerns that the electricity shortage would hit production, especially during summer months, when demand for power is at its peak.

However, analysts said manufacturers were able to overcome this shortage by implementing changes to their working hours.

"Power problems are having less of an impact than previously thought, thanks to companies' efforts to avoid operating during peak power demand hours," said Mr Shikano.

Currency woes

While the manufacturers have been able to overcome these challenges to get their production back on track, other factors continue to remain a threat.

The biggest amongst them has been a strengthening Japanese currency.

The yen, a traditional haven, has been rising against the US dollar in wake of the ongoing debt issues in the US and Europe.

A strong currency does not bode well for Japanese manufacturers as it not only make their goods more expensive to foreign buyers, but also hurts the companies' profits when they repatriate their foreign earnings.

"The yen's strength, if sustained for a long time, could dampen production in the longer term by hurting corporate earnings and thus their capital expenditure," said Mr Shikano

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Australia probes refugee self-harm

2011-07-31T18:11:00.000-07:00

29 July 2011 Last updated at 05:11 GMT Unrest and demonstrations have hit several asylum seeker detention centres Australian officials have announced an investigation into rising rates of self-harm and suicide attempts by asylum seekers in detention centres.

Allan Asher, who heads a government watchdog body, said official data indicated there was a problem.

There were more than 1,100 actual or threatened self-harm incidents in the past year, government figures show.

The UN has criticised Australia's policy of detaining all asylum seekers while their applications are processed.

Mr Asher said he had spent a week at the Christmas Island detention centre in June, and there had been 30 incidents of self-harm during that time.

"We then heard that in the first week in July there were 50 in all the places of detention and it just tells us there is something wrong and it needs to be looked at," he told ABC television.

Mr Asher said the inquiry would examine the root causes, and consider practical steps that can be taken to identify and manage those at risk of suicide and self-harm.

Continue reading the main story Irregular maritime arrivals (IMAs) in 2010: 134 boats carrying 6,535 peopleIMAs up to 19 April 2011: 16 boats carrying 921 peopleAs of 20 April 4,552 IMAs detained on the mainland, 1,748 on Christmas Island

Source: Australian Department of Immigration

His report is due by the end of the year.

The immigration spokeswoman from the Australian Greens, Sarah Hanson-Young, said it would add weight to earlier assessments by the UN Human Rights High Commissioner and the Australian Human Rights Commission.

"We know the policy of mandatory detention, in place since 1992, has ruined many people, some of whom have taken their lives, harmed themselves and are still recovering from trauma years after being accepted as refugees," she said.

Earlier this week, Australian and Malaysian officials signed a controversial deal intended to stem the flow of asylum seekers travelling to Australia by boat.

The deal allows Australia to send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia. In return, Australia will take 4,000 refugees from Malaysia over the next four years.

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Japanese MotoGP 'will go ahead'

2011-07-31T16:32:00.000-07:00

Mito is 27 miles from the race circuit and suffered earthquake damage The Japanese MotoGP is set to go ahead in October despite leading riders refusing to go.

The International Motorcycling Federation said the race at Motegi will be held after receiving an encouraging preliminary report.

It follows the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear emergency that struck the country in March.

The preliminary overview of the report claims that "the radiation risk during the race event is negligible".

The full report - which looked at radiation levels from a number of sources including air, environment and food - will be published later this week.

In a statement, the FIM confirmed that "based on this information the FIM will announce later this week that, subject to there being no further serious incidents, the Grand Prix of Japan will take place on October 2 as planned".

The Motegi circuit is situated less than 100 miles from the site of the Fukushima nuclear plant, which suffered meltdowns and nuclear leaks in the wake of the devastating magnitude 9.0 quake and subsequent tsunami on 11 March.

Reigning MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo and current series leader Casey Stoner have already stated that they do not intend to take part in October's race, which has been rescheduled from its original date of 24 April.

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Inside Huawei

2011-07-31T14:40:00.000-07:00

25 July 2011 Last updated at 23:18 GMT By Nick Mackie Shenzhen, China WATCH: Nick Mackie gets a rare look inside Huawei Technologies in Shenzhen, China

It's one of the world's leading - and somewhat inscrutable - technology companies.

Its telecom systems connect a third of the world's mobile phones. And globally, it employs 110,000 staff - more than Cisco or Microsoft.

The company is Huawei - born and bred in Shenzhen, southern China. And it epitomises today's power of Asia.

"It's a very young company, it's less than 20 years old," explains Ross Gan, global head of Huawei Technologies' corporate communications.

"Our workforce is also very young - the average age is 29 - so there's a very dynamic environment within the company."

This is certainly the impression one gets at the sprawling headquarters campus in Shenzhen's Longgang district, where 40,000 employees work.

Here, the company houses key research-and-development units, global testing facilities, and an executive training centre. But the enthusiasm on show isn't all down to the youth factor.

Huawei's workforce is young, with an average age of just 29 years old

Huawei is owned totally by its employees - with around 60% of its staff holding non-tradable shares that are allocated according to position and performance.

Rural roots

In its early days, Huawei had to fight its corner for a share of China's mobile telecoms market.

Back then, the main orders for the lucrative urban network systems went to either state-owned companies or foreign firms. So Huawei, instead, focused on the challenging countryside.

"Huawei actually cut its teeth in the rural markets where the conditions were such that we had to design very specialised and customised equipment in order to meet our customers' needs," says Ross Gan.

This included developing infrastructure that could withstand variable power supplies, lightning and attacks by rats.

As the company grew and expanded into foreign markets, it made a name for itself as a problem solver - listening to its potential customers' needs or problems and designing solutions.

Huawei's Ross Gan says the company cut its teeth on rural markets

Huawei is now the world's second-largest supplier of mobile telecom equipment, after Ericsson, serving 45 of the top 50 telecoms operators. It also boasts 55% of the global market share in 3G dongles.

Engineering cream

Revenues in 2010 topped $28bn, and the company predicts an aggressive expansion over the next 10 years to $100bn.

The main driver is its workers - of which 46% are engaged in research and development (R&D). The company has applied for more than 49,000 patents.

Huawei attracts the cream of China's engineers - postgraduates like Zhong Jianwei, project manager at the company's technical compliance unit.

He discovered that working here is very different from most large Chinese companies with their typical rigid, statist, chains of command.

"Every day, I need to communicate with Huawei staff all over the world. It's international here - global," remarks Zhong Jianwei.

"I've never experienced this before."

To achieve its growth targets, Huawei wants new experiences.

It's not going to drop its core business - providing the systems for mobile operators in 140 countries - but it is developing two new strategic pillars.

Zhong Jianwei is a project manager in Huawei's technical compliance unit

"A lot of it is driven by the larger forces of convergence," says Ross Gan.

"There are other customer segments out there - such as the enterprise market and increasingly the device markets."

Enterprise is about developing technology that helps make companies, even cities, more efficient and even more secure.

At the Shenzhen headquarters, it's clear that huge efforts are going into video conferencing - from standard desktop or mobile use to the kind of systems used by large corporations and governments. The goal is to create near face-to face communication.

The design team is now working on reducing today's distracting seams between the multi-screens.

"Within the next one-to-two years, we will, step-by-step, go from a narrow gap to no gap, to even 3D, " enthuses Luo Shan, software development engineer.

"Now we're working on the technology. We want to deliver a trusted high-level experience."

Enterprise has moved the company into the IT sector. It plans to be a big player in providing solutions for tech convergence.

Huawei has also set its sights on the cloud - from creating the basic hardware to developing the software and applications.

The company is moving aggressively into consumer electronics

It's also marketing the cloud in a box - kitting out standard shipping containers as fully functional data centres which can then be dropped off ready for use.

Gadgets and gizmos

For large operations, customers need only prepare a shell of a building that can house multiple containers.

Huawei is making an aggressive push into the consumer market - video on demand, phones, 4G network cards - albeit delivering in much smaller boxes.

This year, it expects to ship 60m cellphones - from entry level to smart.

Much of the manufacturing is outsourced - including to Foxconn which has its huge Shenzhen manufacturing complex close by.

Huawei mainly supplies, wholesale, to the likes of mobile operators - though this strategy is changing.

After two decades of being in the crucial, but "boring", end of the mobile revolution - and largely unknown among the world's public at large - it's now seriously into brand building.

The company is rolling out tablets and smart phones and establishing new marketing channels.

Taking a leaf out of Apple's book, the company plans to develop a network of retail stores, in China and overseas.

Security concerns The company has an image problem, however, among US lawmakers - who accuse it of maintaining links with China's military.

Citing national security concerns, they've vetoed two Huawei purchases of US technology firms.

Huawei has long rejected such concerns - stressing it is an employee-owned company that welcomes a serious discussion with its detractors in order to put the accusations to rest.

"There is no link between Huawei and the military," stresses Ross Gan.

"The reality about Huawei is that it is a private company, wholly owned by its employees, who are its shareholders - and the company operates on a commercial basis and nothing more."

That said, the company hasn't made life easy for itself. It lifted a cloak of secrecy over its board membership only in April 2011.

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Vietnam shoe plant fire kills 17

2011-07-31T12:47:00.000-07:00

30 July 2011 Last updated at 06:25 GMT Burning debris blocked escape routes in the factory At least 17 people have been killed in a fire at a shoe factory in northern Vietnam, police and local media say.

Some 21 other people were injured in the blaze at the plant in the port city of Hai Phong, reports say.

Local media quoted a survivor, Bui Thi Them, as saying sparks from a welding machine had ignited the roof of the building.

Burning material fell from the roof, blocking the exit, Mr Them said, trapping the victims inside.

"The fireball blocked the factory's main entrance and there is no exit on the back," Mr Them told the Thanh Nien newspaper, AFP news agency reported.

"Many people in the middle of the factory which was engulfed with fire and smoke could not escape and were burned to death."

Ten of those killed were women, the Associated Press new agency said.

Thanh Nien was quoted as saying six people, including the factory owner, her husband and a welder, have been detained over the incident.

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Korea deluge hits weapons dumps

2011-07-31T11:00:00.000-07:00

29 July 2011 Last updated at 10:16 GMT Amateur footage captured the dramatic moment a landslide struck at Mount Umyeon

Torrential rain in South Korea has caused landslides and floods, and hit arms dumps in the north of the country.

Military officials said all weapons had been recovered after an arms depot in Yangju, near the northern border, was hit by a mudslide.

But soldiers were still searching for about 10 landmines they fear may have been washed away near Seoul.

The country has been hit by the most intense downpour for a century, leaving at least 50 people dead.

'Raise the bar'

Blogs and newspaper editorials have been critical of the government - many blaming the country's fast-paced development for denuding tree coverage and worsening the chaos.

President Lee Myung-bak said no country in the world could endure such a downpour.

But he added: "We should raise the bar of safety standards to deal with such natural disasters."

Among the worst single incidents this week, a landslide on Wednesday crushed a hotel at a mountain resort in Chuncheon, east of Seoul, killing 13 people - most of them students.

And 17 people were killed when mud smashed into their homes from a mountain slope in Seoul.

Several arms dumps near the tense border with North Korea were wrecked by landslides.

And there were fears that a small number of landmines planted on a mountain near Seoul during the 1950-53 war with the North had been washed away.

Meanwhile, North Korean state news agency KCNA carried a report saying large areas of the country had been badly hit by flooding.

KCNA reported that thousands of homes and hundreds of factories and public buildings had been destroyed.

The agency said an initial survey showed more than 560 sq km (216 sq miles) of farmland had been flooded.

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Urban jungle

2011-07-31T09:32:00.000-07:00

26 July 2011 Last updated at 23:07 GMT By Alan Johnston BBC News Christian the lion lived with his owners in a flat in Chelsea

It is almost exactly 40 years since two young Australians had what has become a famous encounter with a lion in the depths of the African bush.

The huge, powerful animal strode towards the men, and then instead of launching an attack, lolloped up to be hugged, petted and stroked.

The explanation for this extraordinary behaviour is that the men and the lion were old friends.

Almost incredibly, they had first met in a shop in London. John Rendall and Anthony "Ace" Bourke had come across "Christian" late in 1969, at what was then a zoo in the upmarket department store, Harrods.

"In the centre of it were these two beautiful, beautiful lion cubs," Mr Rendall told the BBC World Service's Witness programme.

He was immediately drawn to the male of the pair.

"He had a nature that was instantly attractive. You could see that he wasn't frightened, he wasn't distressed. He was just above it all. And that is very, very irresistible."

The two Australians, who had only just arrived in London, decided almost immediately that they would buy Christian.

After the Harrods staff had been convinced that they would be the right kind of owners, the friends paid 250 guineas - about ?3,500 ($5,736) in today's money - and then walked out of the shop with the lion on a lead.

Remarkable relationship

Mr Rendall said they put their faith in the fact that lions are not solitary beasts. Unlike others in the cat family, they live in groups and have convivial instincts.

Christian visited the BBC studios in 1969

"If you have a lion by itself in any circumstances it is going to look for friends. And if there are no other lions it will create a friendship with human beings," he said.

And so this threesome began to forge a remarkable relationship, with the cub padding around their London flat, and the furniture shop below where his owners worked.

"We realised that we were living with an incredibly complex, intelligent animal," said Mr Rendall. "He was very observant, always looking."

But what of the dangers to other staff, customers and people passing in the street?

"You think, 'is someone going to come in the door now? Is someone going to bring a child - will they have a dog?'

"It was double-guessing to see that a 'situation' didn't arise. And I'm very proud to say that it didn't happen. You could see that he was a gentle, gentle creature."

And Christian was not living just anywhere. His flat was on the King's Road, the heart of "Swinging London" in the last days of the 60s.

The neighbourhood was home to rock stars and celebrity fashion designers. And as he prowled around the shop, the little lion became something of a celebrity himself.

There were television appearances - when he called by the BBC's studios our security men decided that although no dogs were allowed in, the regulations didn't actually mentions lions - and Christian was welcomed in.

Return to the wild

Christian soon outgrew his urban environment

But nearly a year on Christian already weighed as much as a man, and he was growing fast. It was definitely time to find him more secure surroundings than his flat in Chelsea.

Eventually the renowned expert in lion behaviour, George Adamson agreed to try to release him into the wild in Kenya.

A year later John Rendall and Ace Bourke decided to go and see how their old friend was getting on. But would he remember them? How would he react?

Just a few weeks earlier another lion in the process of being returned to the wild in the same area had killed a man.

Eventually, in the depths of the bush in the remote Kora region, Christian came over the brow of a hill - now a really large creature with a fine mane.

"He starts walking very very slowly down towards us. The body language was of curiosity - not attack," said Mr Rendall. "Eventually we couldn't resist, and called him - and that's when he took off."

He bounced down the hill and into his friends' arms, letting them hug, play and wrestle with him.

"It was a euphoric moment."

Naive

The whole scene was captured on film, and decades later it surfaced on the internet.

Soon this dramatic revival of an unlikely friendship became a YouTube sensation, moving millions of people around the world.

Archive: John Rendall and Ace Bourke speak to BBC Breakfast in 2009

In their recently re-published book A Lion Called Christian, John Rendall and Anthony Burke acknowledged that back in 1969 they were naive.

They concede that buying exotic animals only serves to fuel the trafficking of them.

Today Mr Rendall says nobody should try to raise a lion in an urban environment in the way that he did.

The dangers are obvious.

But Mr Rendall was profoundly influenced by his time with Christian.

He became interested in conservation work, and today he is heavily involved with the George Adamson Wildlife Preservation Trust.

As for Christian, his re-introduction to the wild was successful.

He was last heard of crossing the Tana River and heading further north.

And it is very likely that right now there are lions prowling the Kenyan bush who are descendants of Christian the Lion from London.

You can hear Alan Johnston's interview with John Rendall on BBC World Service's Witness via iPlayer or download the podcast.

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Former Yankees pitcher Irabu dies

2011-07-31T08:19:00.000-07:00

28 July 2011 Last updated at 23:48 GMT Mr Irabu's best season was 1999, when he won 11 games and lost 7 in 27 starts Baseball pitcher Hideki Irabu, who played on two World Series championship teams and was one of the first Japanese players in US baseball, has died at 42.

Irabu's death at his home near Los Angeles was being investigated as a suicide, police said.

Beginning in 1997 he pitched six seasons in the Major Leagues, including three with the New York Yankees.

He had a career record of 34 wins and 35 losses in 80 starts, and retired from Major League baseball in 2002

Born in Hyogo, Japan, Irabu was a hard-throwing right hander for the Chiba Lotte Marines in the Japanese Pacific league, when his contract was purchased by the San Diego Padres baseball team in 1997.

He said he would only play for the New York Yankees, and the San Diego club traded him. The Yankees signed him to a four-year, $12.8m (?7.83m) deal.

After a brief stint on a Yankees minor league team, he joined the Yankee's starting pitching rotation in the 1997 team. He was a starting pitcher on the Yankees' 1998 and 1999 World Series championship teams.

In 1999, Irabu angered the famously irascible Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, who disparaged him about his weight and called him a fat toad.

In 2009, Irabu said he hoped to return to Japanese baseball.

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N Korea nuclear talks 'serious'

2011-07-31T07:10:00.000-07:00

29 July 2011 Last updated at 00:15 GMT North Korea's nuclear strength remains unclear as efforts to restart talks falter The US says a first day of talks on North Korea's nuclear programme had been "serious and business-like".

The talks between US North Korea envoy Stephen Bosworth and North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan are to continue on Friday in New York.

US officials stress that the talks are "exploratory", aimed at gauging whether North Korea is serious about resuming negotiations that ended in 2008.

North Korea conducted nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

"Today's discussions have been serious and business-like," a US statement said after Thursday's talks. "We look forward to continuing our meetings tomorrow."

Mr Kim said: "The atmosphere was good, the meeting was constructive and interesting. We exchanged views on general issues."

The US wants North Korea to fulfil commitments it signed up to in a 2005 document, which provided for North Korea to end its nuclear programme in return for energy and economic aid.

"We're quite clear, broadly, on what we're looking for, which is for North Korea to live up to its commitments," said state department spokesman Mark Toner.

"It needs to take concrete steps toward denuclearisation."

Six party talks involving North and South Korea, the US, Russia, China and Japan were last held at the end of 2008.

In a surprise move, North Korean officials met their counterparts from the South last week on the sidelines of a security conference in Indonesia.

Tensions between the Koreas increased last year after two attacks that left 50 South Koreans dead.

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China families reject crash offer

2011-07-31T05:24:00.000-07:00

30 July 2011 Last updated at 15:10 GMT Many relatives of the dead and injured are angry at the authorities Relatives of some of those killed in a major train crash in China are refusing to accept an offer of compensation from the government.

The 915,000 yuan ($142,000; ?87,000) total is double the initial offer made to the families of the 40 victims.

There has been widespread anger at the official response to the disaster.

The crash happened when one train came to a standstill on a viaduct near the eastern city of Wenzhou, and another ploughed into it.

State media say that 10 families have accepted the compensation offer.

Lawyers warned

Meanwhile local lawyers have been told to report to the authorities any relatives seeking legal advice, AFP news agency reported, citing the official Xinhua agency.

Law firms should not "unauthorisedly respond and handle the cases", because "the accident is a major sensitive issue concerning social stability", the lawyers are said to have been warned in a statement.

Four carriages plunged from the viaduct

The crash has provoked much anger against the government, not just for its response, but also over its conduct in pushing for rapid development of high-speed train lines.

Many web users, and even some state-media outlets, have accused officials of putting economic development above the safety of the people.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who visited the crash site on Thursday, vowed to "severely punish" those responsible.

Reports from Hong Kong say the communist party has ordered the media to tone down its coverage.

The Hong Kong Journalists' association said the party's propaganda bureau has told newspapers to focus on positive coverage and stick to comments made by officials.

Flagship project

Officials believe a faulty signal may have caused the crash. Four train carriages fell about 30m (100ft) from the viaduct.

On Friday, about two dozen relatives gathered at the crash site to lay flowers and burn incense.

The accident came four years after the opening of the country's first high-speed railway line - one of the government's flagship projects.

Rail experts had warned against the rush to build the world's longest and fastest high-speed rail network in record time amid safety concerns.

Critics of the government allege that corners were cut during construction because of corruption, raising questions about infrastructure across the country.

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Samsung profit dips on low demand

2011-07-31T04:15:00.001-07:00

29 July 2011 Last updated at 05:27 GMT Falling demand for LCD televisions has hit profits of electronics manufacturers in Asia Samsung has become the latest electronics maker to report a drop in profits due to a weak demand for TVs.

Samsung said net profit was 3.5tn won ($3.3bn; ?2bn) in the second quarter, an 18% drop from a year earlier.

The company said its TV unit made a loss for the second successive quarter as sales of Liquid Crystal Display's (LCDs) fell 15%.

On Thursday, Sony reported a loss of $199m for the first quarter due to falling TV sales.

Analysts said weak demand for TVs would continue to hurt its profits in the short term.

"It will be difficult to boost earnings sharply in the third quarter as demand for memory chips and TVs will continue to remain depressed," said Song Myung-sup, an analyst at HI Investment & Securities.

"Its loss-making flat-screen business will also report break-even at best," he added.

However, the company reported robust growth in its mobile phone business with a 43% surge in sales.

Profits in the telecom unit rose by 6.3% from a year earlier to 1.7tn won.

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China buys Canadian oil producer

2011-07-23T07:32:00.000-07:00

20 July 2011 Last updated at 10:40 GMT The Syncrude extraction facility is one recipient of Chinese investment Chinese state oil company CNOOC has agreed to buy Canadian oil sands producer OPTI for $2.1bn (?1.3bn).

The deal - which must be approved by regulators - is the latest move by state-run Chinese firms to buy stakes in North American oil producers.

Canada's Alberta province is believed to have the third-largest reserves of oil in the world.

However it is far more expensive to extract oil from Canada's oil sands than from conventional fields.

CNOOC says it will pay OPTI shareholders $34m, but will also take on the firm's $2bn worth of debt.

The firm's main asset is a 35% stake in the Long Lake oil sands project in Alberta.

OPTI says the deal will allow it to continue to invest further in the project.

"CNOOC is a technically experienced and well capitalised company," said OPTI chief executive Chris Slubicki.

China expansion The International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that in the next five years almost half of global oil demand growth will come from China.

Rising demand for oil and significant cash reserves have led Chinese energy firms to buy into foreign oil reserves.

"We are pleased to expand our presence in the oil sands business," said CNOOC chief executive, Yang Hua.

In 2005 the firm bought a 17% stake in Canadian oil sands firm MEG Energy. CNOOC has also obtained minority stakes in oil projects in Texas and Colorado.

CNOOC is not the only Chinese state oil firm investing in the region.

In 2009 PetroChina bought a $1.7bn share in Athabasca Oil Sands, and Last year Sinopec paid $4.6bn for a 9% share of Syncrude, Canada's largest oil sands producer.

The IEA estimates that by the end of 2010 Chinese state energy companies operated in 31 nations and held shares in oil firms in 20 of those countries.

Environmental concerns

Environmentalists have criticised extracting oil from sand and clay which leads to higher carbon emissions than conventional production.

Such concerns may affect demand for crude from oil sands in the US and Europe where new environmental regulations are planned.

California recently announced new low-carbon fuel standards and plans for a new pipeline from Alberta to Texas have been delayed.

Most oil from Alberta is currently exported to the US.

However a second proposed pipeline would take oil to Canada's pacific coast making it easier to export to China instead.

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China will 'ordain more bishops'

2011-07-23T06:26:00.000-07:00

22 July 2011 Last updated at 10:19 GMT By Annemarie Evans BBC News, Hong Kong Christianity is growing in China, as is the rift with the Vatican over who controls it A senior church official in China has announced that the country's state-controlled church plans to ordain seven more bishops.

The statement was carried by the state-run China Daily newspaper.

The announcement comes amid increased tension with the Vatican, which insists the Pope is the only authority who can ordain bishops.

The Beijing government sees this as foreign interference. The Vatican and Beijing have not had ties since 1951.

The Reverend Joseph Guo Jincai, the vice-chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, did not specify when the ordinations would take place, just that local churches in seven dioceses were preparing for them.

There has been a recent spate of ordinations by Beijing's government, which have not been recognised by the Vatican.

Anthony Lam, senior researcher at the Holy Spirit Study Centre in Hong Kong, said that bishops appointed solely by Beijing and not by the Vatican were at risk of excommunication.

Underground bishops

The bishops were illegitimate, had no credibility within the diocese and were unable to work effectively, he said.

"Unfortunately the government interferes. They want this kind of candidate to be limited to their preference.

"This kind of illegal consecration is violating the Canon law. Such action is harmful and painful to the Catholic Church.

"Anyone who commits this kind of consecration is in danger of being excommunicated under Canon law Article 1382," he said.

Dr Lam said he did not know who the proposed bishops were in the seven dioceses.

There have been occasions where the Beijing government has appointed bishops who were also approved by the Vatican.

But some Vatican bishops have been forced underground in China, due to persecution from the Beijing government.

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