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BEIJING — An explosion at a coal mine in northeast China early Saturday killed 31 workers and left 82 trapped, state-run China Central Television (CCTV) said, the latest deadly incident to hit the industry. The blast happened at 2:30 am (1830 GMT Friday) at a mine in Heilongjiang province, according to a statement issued by the State Administration of Work Safety. A total of 528 miners were working in the pit, near Hegang City, when the blast occurred, the state administration said. The previous toll given by CCTV was 15 dead and 114 trapped. The mine is owned by the...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: The Gallup poll will announce -- they effectively have announced it -- the Gallup poll will announce that for the first time in their poll Barack Obama's approval rating has fallen below 50%. In fact, a little story about this. This from Ben Smith at The Politico: "His approval numbers have bounced down to the 50% mark several times, driven by weaker support from independents and Republicans, but hadn't crossed it. The slide is worrying for the White House, but it's probably not yet panic time. Ronald Reagan's approval numbers dropped well below 40% during the depths...

While on the board of a Chicago-based charity, Barack Obama helped fund a carbon trading exchange that will likely play a critical role in the cap-and-trade carbon reduction program he is now trying to push through Congress as president. In 2000 and 2001, while Barack Obama served as a board member for a Chicago-based charitable foundation, he helped to fund a pioneering carbon trading exchange that is likely to fill a critical role in the controversial cap-and-trade carbon reduction scheme that President Obama is now trying to push rapidly through Congress. During those two years, the Joyce Foundation gave nearly...

US admiral defends Obama's Japan bow (AFP) – 1 day ago WASHINGTON — The former top commander of US troops in Asia on Thursday strongly defended President Barack Obama against critics of his bow to Japan's Emperor Akihito, calling it a gesture of respect. Admiral Timothy Keating, who retired last month ...

Christian Children's Fund is changing its name to ChildFund International. The board of directors of the worldwide relief organization voted this week on the change as part of a new strategy. The new name aims to reflect the charity's worldwide reach and its affiliation with the ChildFund Alliance, a coalition that includes 11 other international organizations that help children living in poverty. Chief executive Anne Lyman Goddard said Friday that the name change, which takes effect July 1, will standardize the ChildFund name globally among groups that work to connect donors to programs that help children. "Now working under different...

Days before India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to be welcomed in the White House for his first state visit with President Obama, two perceived missteps by the Obama administration have concerned Indian officials that New Delhi suddenly has been relegated to the second tier of U.S.-Asian relations. Singh arrives Sunday on a four-day trip that is meant to solidify a relationship transformed under the Bush administration by a deal on nuclear technology, increasing trade and investment, immigration, educational exchanges and unprecedented security cooperation. But ever sensitive to perceived slights, Indian officials and analysts say two statements made by the...

During President Obama's high profile visit to China this week, the most frequently discussed, yet least understood, topic was how currency valuations are affecting the economic relationship between the United States and China. The focal problem is the Chinese government's policy of fixing the value of the renminbi against the U.S. dollar. While many correctly perceive that this 'peg' has contributed greatly to the current global imbalances, few fully comprehend the ramifications should that peg be discarded. The common understanding is both incomplete and naive. Most analysts simply see the peg as China's principal weapon in an economic struggle for...

(China Daily/Agencies) – Mattel Inc, the world’s biggest toymaker, lowered the sales target for its Barbie store in Shanghai by at least 30 percent after deciding the original marketing concept didn’t work. “The initial sales targets were astronomical,” said Dann Murphy, who took over as general manager as his predecessor left eight months after the store opened. Targets for the six-story outlet’s restaurant and “retail experience”, which includes designing personalized Barbie dolls, have been revised down three times since its opening in March. Mattel chose Shanghai for its first dedicated Barbie store as consumer demand slumped in the United...

The latest United Nations concern is the fear of a global food shortage. However, the U.N. and the United States are to blame for the crisis. It is interesting that food shortages in the world first became apparent over the last decade coinciding with the US-led effort to change the world's industry from growth to stagnation in an attempt to convert it to a green-based economy.

BEIJING – Washington's ambassador to Beijing hit out Friday at negative U.S. media coverage of President Barack Obama's visit to China, saying it failed to take into account important progress on many issues. Although producing no breakthroughs on key issues, Obama's first state visit to the Asian giant that ended Wednesday was heralded by both sides as a success. The trip was the top news story in China, drawing strong interest from the Chinese public who, surveys suggest, are largely positive in their view of the American president.

When the apocalypse comes, China will save the world. Or at least that's how Chinese audiences are interpreting "2012," Hollywood's latest blockbuster disaster movie. "It's about time the world sees us as a dominant ally," said Liu Xinliang, 27, a Beijing-based computer programmer who watched the movie twice.

'Pakistan has nothing to fear from India' By Lally Weymouth Sunday, November 22, 2009 NEW DELHI -- Wearing white robes and a blue turban, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appeared relaxed this week as he discussed his upcoming state visit to Washington. Singh, 77, will meet President Obama next week at a time when many Indians fear that Obama will focus less on India than did previous American administrations, particularly as the U.S.-Chinese relationship grows in importance. Singh sat down in his Delhi residence with Newsweek-Washington Post's Lally Weymouth to discuss terrorism, trade and why it is critical that the...

resident Barack Obama may not be getting many more invitations from foreign governments after an embarrassing display of submissiveness in front of the Japanese emperor and a delegation of Chinese technocrats. Members of the Obama team say he's afflicted with a severe case of submissive urination that causes him to leak when he feels nervous or is in the presence of Alpha males... and alpha females. And, occasionally, beta males, females, and children. He once peed through a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, an unnamed Obama official said. The official also said Obama repeatedly urinated in Tokyo's Imperial...

Original article from Thursday (19), links to the Japanese "Sankei Shimbun" website. FReepranslation is provided as a summary; the original Japanese version directly by the author governs and takes precedence over the unofficial English.Troubling developments.

Trying to counter perceptions that the trip failed to bring about solid results, advisor David Axelrod says, 'Things don't change overnight.' Reporting from Seoul - Even before President Obama boarded his home-bound flight for Washington, capping a grueling weeklong Asian tour, the White House was scrambling to combat perceptions that the trip failed to produce concrete results. Compared to Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, the U.S. is putting its alliances "on a firmer footing" and has "reasserted our leadership in the region," the White House said in a statement released to reporters hours before the president's flight home.

Obama 'shocker' leaves New Delhi confused, suspicious Last updated on: November 20, 2009 09:22 IST A week before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [ Images ] and United States President Barack Obama's [ Images ] first high-level talks in Washington, India [ Images ] got a 'shocker' from Obama via Beijing [ Images ]. The joint statement issued by US and China, after the talks between Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao, declared that both sides "support the improvement and growth of relations between India and Pakistan." This created much confusion and suspicion in New Delhi [ Images ]. "At a...

New Delhi: US president Barack Obama ruffled Indian feathers on Tuesday. The next day, the American ambassador to India spent considerable effort in soothing offended sentiments. Timothy Roemer almost ran out of adjectives to describe the state of India-US ties, even as the ministry of external affairs expressed displeasure at Obama's statement with Chinese president Hu Jintao, which seemed to project China as the prime mover for peace and stability in South Asia. Roemer's charm offensive is a bid towards damage control ahead of prime minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Washington next week. A joint-statement by the US and China...

NEW DELHI: A day after US ambassador Timothy Roemer tried to douse the China fire and create a positive atmosphere for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the US, Washington went on the charm offensive, playing up the importance of India in the US’ scheme of things and acknowledging Indo-Pak issue were by and large a bilateral concern. Trying to mollify an annoyed New Delhi, Under-Secretary of State William Burns maintained that both China and India were important to the US. Mr Burns attempted to clarify the intention of the US-China joint statement saying that Washington looked to Beijing as...

President Obama hosted a “townhall” meeting in Shanghai, accepting questions from his Chinese audience. One questioner gave Obama the opening to discuss the prospect of arms sales to Taiwan, an issue that is sure to arise when the President meets with Hu Jintao in Beijing. Unfortunately, rather than forthrightly stating that the United States, in line with longstanding policy and the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), was prepared to sell Taiwan defensive weapons, President Obama said nothing at all. Instead, he chose to dodge the question, noting that the US favored “dialogue and negotiations.” The problem is that this answer does...

Communist China, 1995, The Dawn Of Capitalism Economics / Economic Theory Nov 19, 2009 - 07:47 AM By: Steve Selengut The Hong Kong based guide talked about the free enterprise zones, building projects, golf courses, and roads with a chest full of pride and visible excitement. Capitalism was everywhere along the tour route, and judging from the advertisements on billboards and posters, the world was coming to China! But although the government was embracing "for-profit" business for the first time, the train-ride out of the country evidenced the abject poverty of what would become a willing and able workforce. Another...

U.S. President Barack Obama says he took five minutes out of his busy overseas diplomatic schedule to meet a half-brother who lives in China. Mr. Obama told a U.S. television network that he met Mark Ndesandjo and his wife briefly Monday in Beijing, where the U.S. president held meetings with Chinese leaders this week. The president has the same Kenyan father as Ndesandjo, who recently published a book, Nairobi to Shenzhen, describing Barack Obama Sr. as abusive. President Obama said he does not know his half-brother very well. He said it was not a secret that his father was a...

So Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs has said “We are dismayed at the Jerusalem planning committee’s decision to move forward on the approval process for the expansion of Gilo in Jerusalem.” The Obama administration could have been a lot less dismayed and actually showed some success on the world stage vis a vis Israel/Palestine if they had started by trying for something realistic. Instead this crowd of amateurs blundered into the area, acting as if they knew nothing about the past fifteen years and about the brutal civil war splitting the Palestinian territories. The Obama folks roared in imperiously, made an...

Listening to President Obama and his Chinese counterpart this week, it was hard to tell who was Hu. One is the leader of a great democracy. The other is the head of a repressive regime. But as the two men faced reporters in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Obama deferred to the wishes of President Hu Jintao: They would not take questions. In lieu of this rite of freedom, the two leaders exchanged platitudes. Obama, by contrast, didn't hold a news conference in China. Instead, he answered questions in Shanghai from students, who were apparently members in good standing...

A large bubble is forming in China’s property market as a result of Beijing’s credit-driven stimulus programme, one of the country’s most prominent real estate developers warned. Zhang Xin, chief executive of Soho China, one of the country’s most successful privately owned property developers, told the Financial Times the asset bubble was leading to rampant wasteful investment in the sector, undermining the country’s long-term growth prospects. “Real estate prices should only go up because people want to actually use the space, but at the moment we can see more and more empty buildings across the whole country and in every...

WASHINGTON: He bowed deeply before the Japan emperor out of respect in a moment captured by the cameras, but did he bend unseen before the Chinese leadership in acknowledgment of the Beijing's growing clout? As President Barack Obama winds up his four-country East Asia tour with a final stop in South Korea on Wednesday before returning to Washington DC in time for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit next week, it's the China leg of his travels that has pundits of all aflutter. The question agitating their minds is whether his engagement with Beijing marked a visible shift in the...

If you were troubled by President Obama's "Wow Bow" in Japan, you won't be any happier with the "kowtow" during his just-concluded trip to the People's Republic of China. In the latest chapter of Team Obama's at-best-mediocre, teetering-on-the-disastrous foreign policy, the president and a slew of Cabinet secretaries roared into Asia like lions, promising a new era in US diplomacy in the region. But they're leaving like pussycats -- accomplishing, well, a whole lot of nothing so far. So much for our "first Pacific president," as Obama anointed himself at the start of the eight-day, four-country swing through Asia last...

Listening to President Obama and his Chinese counterpart this week, it was hard to tell who was Hu. One is the leader of a great democracy. The other is the head of a repressive regime. But as the two men faced reporters in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Obama deferred to the wishes of President Hu Jintao: They would not take questions. In lieu of this rite of freedom, the two leaders exchanged platitudes. "We reached agreement in many important fields," the communist leader assured everybody. "Our two governments have continued to move forward in a way that can...

Heads were certainly turned during Barack Obama's goodwill tour of China, as this cheeky sailor's expression reveals. The American leader was inspecting the country's naval forces yesterday when the sailor dropped his mask of indifference and openly gawped at the president. America and China emerged from hours of intense, closed-door talks yesterday after making little progress on the key issues that divide the two nations. Despite reaffirming the importance of greater U.S.-China co-operation to world peace and stability, President Obama and President Hu Jintao were unable to disguise the deep differences that separate their countries on trade, security, climate change...

Why the president can't wait to come home....

One of the few concrete signs of cooperation to emerge from this week's U.S.-China summit could boost Beijing's drive to become a global aircraft maker. President Barack Obama pledged Tuesday to push for closer technical collaboration and eventual U.S. safety approval for China's ARJ21 commuter jet. That amounts to both a symbolic and practical step to counter Beijing's growing frustration with U.S. aviation policy and U.S. restrictions on the purchase of certain technologies. The high-profile U.S. initiative is especially significant because China's own safety regulators are still a year or more away from approving the 70-to-100-passenger aircraft being developed by...

A terra cotta warrior and horse is seen during a media preview for the exhibit "Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China's First Emperor" at the National Geographic in Washington on November 17, 2009. The exhibit, which opens November 19, features 15 terra cotta figures. UPI/Kevin Dietsch

State media heralded President Barack Obama's maiden trip to China as a triumph, but ordinary Chinese were largely shielded by their government from his most critical remarks and activists were disappointed by the measured tone of those they did hear. One blogger even pined for the tough line taken by former President George W. Bush. "Like a star rushing from one show to another, Obama has come and gone, without stirring the slightest ripples," blogger Zhao Dezhu wrote in an online post. Zhao, who writes a popular blog and twitters under the name Hecaitou, said the visit made him miss...

Yesterday you undoubtedly saw my letter to The Chinese Premier. Today, it's your turn. You could have made quite a splash over there in China - and made a difference for all Americans. But instead, you did nothing of the sort - you simply continued the sell-out that has been going on for the last two decades in the so-called "strong relationship" between China and America. That "strength" has included selling China advanced radar technology allowing them to shortcut 20 years of development time off their ICBM targeting, making their nuclear weapons far more lethal to potential targets - including...

BARACK Obama's three-day trip to China has become a potent symbol of rapidly shifting global power, with the Asian superpower refusing to hand any concessions to Washington in a relationship that appears to be rapidly becoming one of equals. In China, the general commentary on Mr Obama's visit had an air of self-satisfaction and was almost exclusively focused on economic issues. But despite China's attempts to deflect concerns over its currency - a key problem for global markets - on to America's deficit during the visit, a veteran government economist and policy adviser joined a growing chorus warning that the...

All right, so both Richard Nixon and Barack Hussein Obama went to China. But when it comes to comparing the presidents’ visits – and their leadership and foreign policy skills in general – Nixon trumps Obama hands down. Let’s begin with what is perhaps the least important but symbolic: Nixon and Obama’s trips to The Great Wall. Nixon’s political finesse was sharply refined, even if the liberal press often refused to give him his due. What did he say upon visiting The Wall in 1972? Something that doesn’t sound so sharp – “I think you would have to conclude this...

Animal rights campaigners have criticised the Chinese over their extreme eating habits after a video of diners eating a live fish became a hit on the internet. The film, in which a part-fried fish is shown breathing and wriggling on a plate as it is being slowly eaten alive in a restaurant, has been posted on the video-sharing website YouTube. In order to keep the carp alive chefs cook its body but wrap its head in a wet cloth to keep it breathing, before covering it in sauce and serving in on a plate. The YouTube video shows diners, who...

It is a bit extensive of an article (linking to the original Japanese here), so I will just give the opening paragraph as a general tone-setter. (My Translation)"Beijing-Reporter Takashi Arimoto, Sankei News ... Obama has ended his visit of China, by going to the outskirts of Beijing to visit the Great Wall of China. On the previous day he visited the Forbidden City in Beijing, and had been in China since the 16th. There was of course no chance at all for him to have any contact with leaders of the Democracy Movement, nor average Chinese. Priority was placed on...

BEIJING — President Barack Obama absorbed history's expanse Wednesday from atop the Great Wall of China, a manmade wonder of such enormity that Obama found himself putting daily life in perspective. "It's magical," Obama said, walking down a ramp alone, his hands in his pockets. "It reminds you of the sweep of history and our time here on earth is not that long. We better make the best of it." A must-see for presidents from President Richard Nixon on, the Great Wall was one of Obama's major sightseeing stops during his diplomatic tour of Asia. Dressed in a winter jacket...

New Delhi: Angered by US President Barack Obama’s attempt to envisage a role for China in South Asia, India on Wednesday made it clear that it objects any move to give a wider footprint to China in the region. The Ministry of External Affairs said that it had objections to Obama giving China a greater role in South Asian affairs, adding a third country’s role cannot be envisaged in the bilateral relationships between countries of the region. The MEA further said a role for a third country in the region was not necessary and India was committed to resolving all...

General Electric Co. (GE) and China's Ministry of Railways signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) Tuesday, committing to jointly pursue partnership opportunities for high-speed rail projects in the US. According to the MOU, GE and Chinese State-owned railway companies will begin preparation work to construct high-speed rail projects in the US that run at speeds of more than 350 kilometers per hour. Tim Schweikert, president and chief executive of GE transportation in the China market said the company's technology in locomotive diesel and railway electrification is a world leader, and the technology and skills that Chinese companies grasp in building...

New Zealand PM will not meet Dalai Lama IANS 18 November 2009, 01:17pm WELLINGTON: New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said on Wednesday that he would not meet the Dalai Lama when he visits the country next month. "The reason simply is I've decided that I wouldn't get a lot out of that particular meeting," he told reporters. "I don't see every religious leader that comes to town. I've seen him in the past, I may see him in the future." Key, who said before he was elected a year ago that he would meet the Dalai Lama on future...

Chinese and U.S. regulators are negotiating a pact aimed at encouraging Chinese financial institutions to buy into small and medium-sized banks in the United States, bankers briefed on the plan said on Tuesday. Chinese bankers have complained that it's been difficult for them to set up branches or invest in banks in the world's leading economy, due partly to U.S. regulators' tough supervision and strict approval process for financial deals. But the global financial landscape has been revamped by the credit crisis, and cash-rich Chinese banks are now bigger players on the world scene and are scouting around for investment...

Heading to Oslo in Weeks, President Obama Faces Tough Days on the Diplomatic Front November 17, 2009 7:27 AM MoreBEIJING, CHINA -- In less than a month, President Obama will step onto a stage in Oslo, Norway, to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. If Mr. Obama hoped that his week-long four-country visit to Asia, his first as president, would yield concrete accomplishments that might silence critics skeptical that he deserves that prize, he might be disappointed. Though White House aides insist the president's trip was mainly to reassert a US presence in Asian diplomacy, and that his itinerary set no...

BEIJING — Something got lost in transit in US President Barack Obama's visit to China -- the charismatic rhetoric and dominance of mass communication that took him from nowhere to the White House. Obama built his political persona with soaring speeches on a grand stage and by reaching out to a vast grassroots network on the Internet. But in China, Obama's hosts successfully stifled those prodigious public talents, keeping his message from the people with media censorship and smothering it in staid diplo-speak.

Climate change legislation is an economy killer. An August study by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) and the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) measured the impact of The Waxman-Markey Bill (HR 2454) or Cap and Tax. As a reminder the bill passed the House of Representatives by a slim margin (219-212) early this summer. As with most of the democratic party legislation passed this year, Waxman-Markey was passed without being read by most of its proponents. The Study show that Cap and Tax will be a disaster for the American Economy: * Cumulative Loss in Gross Domestic Product...

It was brought to my attention today that the cost of the current Healthcare bill is equal to our Total current debt to China (1.3 Trillion dollars).

In case anyone needed another big move in gold prices to confirm the coming currency crisis, there is was Monday with gold at $1,140 (and even a few dollars higher in after- hours trading). Oil prices, which have doubled since lows at the end of 2008, inched ahead Monday as well, while the dollar continued its slide. For the ancient Greeks it was the three fates that spun the destiny of life, measuring and finally cutting it short. Now, highlighted by events of the past few days, the unmistakable hands of reserve currency, monetary, and fiscal fates can be seen...

Behind the communist curtain, this video and photograph show Obama bowing at a town hall meeting in Shanghai, China. The man he bowed before wasn't royalty. He was just a University official. Video and photo included.

Note: The following text is a quote: Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release November 17, 2009 U.S.-China Joint Statement Beijing, China At the invitation of President Hu Jintao of the People’s Republic of China, President Barack Obama of the United States of America is paying a state visit to China from November 15–18, 2009. The Presidents held in-depth, productive and candid discussions on U.S.-China relations and other issues of mutual interest. They highlighted the substantial progress in U.S.-China relations over the past 30 years since the establishment...