My tableau

Premier Wen Jiabao Monday visited an exhibition on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and heard a report on the academy’s efforts in independent scientific innovation.
During his tour, Wen called the academy a “national, strategic power in the field of science and technology” and “China’s supreme academic hall for the study of natural sciences.”
The CAS should play a better role as a think tank to help lead the economic and social development of the country, said the premier, who is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau.`
The CAS was established in October 1949, together with the founding of New China, or officially known as the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Since then, several generations of CAS members have made tremendous achievements, which are presented by the exhibition.
Viewing the photos on the history of the academy, the premier praised it for its major historic contribution to the development of the country in different periods. The CAS deserves the title as the “national team” that presents the country’s highest level in developing science and technology, he said.
In 1998, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council ordered the academy to take the lead in experimenting with a national innovation program and so far, it has played a leading role in building up the country’s innovative system, the premier said retrospectively.
Wen was accompanied during his visit by State Councilor Liu Yandong, CAS President Lu Yongxiang, who is also a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPC),and Minister of Science and Technology Wan Gang, who is also a vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference .

Chinese senior officials on Monday called for enhanced measures to curb lake pollution and facilitate lake rehabilitation at the 13th World Lake Conference that opened Monday in Wuhan, known as “the city of a hundred lakes”.
Chen Zhili, vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, called for greater legislative powers to stop lake water pollution and to prevent lakes from disappearing.
Chen called for the establishment of special lake protection laws and regulations and implementation of strict judicial and administrative means in the management and supervision of industrial, agricultural and household waste, especially that of highly-contaminating facilities such as paper mills and chemical plants.
Lakes, a key element in sustaining ecological balance, remained fragile in the face of rapid industrial growth and increasing human activities, which led to serious contamination and shrinkage that in turn threatened people’s living environment, she said.
China has more than 24,800 natural lakes. However, an average of 20 lakes disappeared every year, and about 88.6 percent of the lakes are in eutrophic state, she said.
Hubei Province, once known as “a province with 1,000 lakes,” currently has 2,438 square kilometers of lakes, or about 34 percent of the total in the 1950s.
The shrinkage of water area, water pollution and the degradation of ecological functions are the major problems threatening worldwide lakes and bringing direct impact on people’s lives and production activities.
Efforts must be taken to further restructure economic development and to eradicate outdated production methods that consumed enormous natural resources and produced massive waste, a main challenge to the fresh water ecological system, she said.
People should have a correct understanding of ecological characteristics of lakes, based on which industries and development scale by the lakeside are determined, she said.

Police in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have launched a security campaign to crack down on criminal activities. It will last from the beginning of November to the end of the year, according to a spokesman with the regional public security bureau on Monday.
Police will continue to look for suspects involved in the July 5 riots which left 197 people dead and more than 1,600 injured in Urumqi.
The crackdown targets criminal cases that involve terrorism and infringement of properties, and activities that threaten public security, according to the spokesman.
Syringe attacks occurred in Urumqi in August right after the city recovered from the bloody riots in July this year. Four people related to the syringe attacks were arrested and sentenced.

SHANGHAI: Mickey Mouse and friends are on their way to Shanghai after long-awaited plans for a Disney theme park near China’s financial hub got the thumbs-up from central authorities.
The news was announced yesterday by both the company and Shanghai’s municipal government.
The United States-based company and its Chinese partners will now begin detailed talks about the project, which will be based in Pudong New District, the government’s information office said in a statement.
With a new Disneyland theme park slated for their Shanghai neighborhood, workers, including this woman at a garment factory in Zhaohang village, in Chuansha township, wonder what the development will mean for them. (Asianewsphoto)
Walt Disney Co welcomed the news.
“China is one of the most dynamic, exciting and important countries in the world, and this approval marks a very significant milestone,” said Robert A. Iger, the company’s president and CEO.
The approval paves the way for Disney and its Shanghai partners to nail down a final agreement, detailing the construction and operation of the park, the company said.
The first phase of the project will include a “Magic Kingdom-style theme park with characteristics tailored to the Shanghai region and other amenities consistent with Disney’s destination resorts worldwide”, the company added in its statement.
Zhang Huiming, an economist at Fudan University, said the upcoming visit of US President Barack Obama will help promote the project.
“For the US, it’s a matter of the export of American culture,” Zhang said.
And, on the streets of Shanghai, Donald Duck and gang already have their supporters.
“I’m thrilled to hear the news,” said Lin Fuli, a 23-year-old student from Shanghai Institute of Foreign Trade. “I’ve been looking forward to this ever since my first visit to the Hong Kong park two years ago.”
Lin said the Hong Kong Disneyland was smaller than she hoped and she expects the Shanghai one to be bigger.
The park in Hong Kong, at 1.26 sq km, is the smallest of Disney’s five major parks, which are located in the US, France and Japan.
Previous media reports said the first phase of the Shanghai Park, which is expected to be located in Chuansha township, will cover around 4 sq km and cost about $3.6 billion. It is slated for opening in 2014.
“The landing of Disneyland will drive up prices of commercial property, which, in turn, will send local house prices rocketing to a new high soon,” predicted Xue Jianxiong, an analyst at real estate services provider E-House (China) Holdings Ltd.
Experts predicted that the dense population of Shanghai and the proximity of other major cities, including Hangzhou, Nanjing and Suzhou, means the park will not have a problem attracting visitors.
“Unlike Hong Kong Disneyland, we expect the park in Shanghai will turn profit quickly,” said Qi Xiaozhai, director of Shanghai Commercial Economic Research Center.
However, some were unhappy that the company is moving to town.
Min Guoyao, a resident at Zhaohang village of Chuansha, has lived with his family in a two-floor home for more than 50 years. He now expects his house will be demolished to make way for the project.
“Our family has been living here for many generations. I really have no idea how we’ll be resettled in another place,” Min said.
And workers at a brick kiln factory in the village also had concerns.
“Our boss will probably shut down the factory next year as he cannot afford the rising rental fee,” said a worker surnamed Chen. “We have to find other places to work, which is very hard for us.”
The two existing theme parks in Shanghai, Jin Jiang Action Park and Happy Valley, were philosophical about the arrival of Disney.
“We take the Shanghai Disneyland not as a competitor, but as a foreign counterpart that will inspire us to provide better services,” said Cui Zhineng, general manager of Jin Jiang Action Park.
Shanghai Happy Valley, which opened to the public on Sept 12, is one of four parks in that group on the mainland. A spokesperson said the arrival of Disney will stimulate the tourism market.
“As a home-grown theme park, we have more products based on the Chinese culture and cater to Chinese visitors and we cost less,” said Ren Kelei, chairman of OCT Enterprise Co, which runs Happy Valley.

China’s polluted lakes will never be clean unless efforts are made to eradicate land and water pollution together, a leading Chinese water resources expert said Tuesday.

“For a long time, China has not paid enough attention to land polluting sources while curing lake contamination. That’s why the results were not satisfactory,” Wang Hao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told Xinhua at the ongoing World Lake Conference held in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province.

A survey by the National Audit Office last week showed water quality in three major rivers and lakes in the country had improved only slightly despite continued pollution control efforts between 2001 to 2007 at a cost of 91 billion yuan (13.3 billion U.S. dollars).

“Lakes don’t produce pollutants themselves, they receive everything left by human activities on land and drainage areas. How can we clean a lake when pollutants keep pouring in from outside?”

Lakes were vulnerable to pollution from activities such as fish breeding, the release of sediment contaminants, and the growth of invasive species in lake waters. They also faced pollution from domestic sewage and industrial wastewater discharges, agricultural fertilizers, soil erosion and over-extraction, Wang pointed out.

He proposed an integrated lake-land treatment mechanism, which combined comprehensive land pollution control measures, including higher waste discharge standards, stringent punishments by economic and administrative means, and greater public awareness through education.

The International Lake Environment Committee believes that integrated lake basins management, which are widely adopted in international practice, encompasses six key elements: institutions, policies, participation, technological possibilities, information, and sustainable financing.

He called on Chinese authorities to quickly work out systematic pollution control measures based on the situation of each lake basin while taking into consideration the factors of climate change, the emergence of new types of pollutants amid expanding human activities, and establishing effective risk assessment and prevention mechanisms

A charity fund was set up here Saturday to aid patients with Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), often known as brittle bone disease.

The fund, “China-Dolls care and Support Association”, launched by the China Social Welfare Education Foundation (CSWEF), will focus on improving public knowledge of OI and other rare diseases, and providing social and legal assistance to patients and their families

The CSWEF said it had earmarked 100,000 yuan (14,000 U.S. dollars) to the fund and welcomed donations from various sectors.

The brittle bone disease is a genetic bone disorder. Fragile bones and bone deformities are among its clinical characteristics.

There are estimated five million OI patients in the world and the number for China is about 100,000.

The death of a British corporal in a blast on Thursday – since named as James Oakland, of the Royal Military Police – took the number of UK personnel killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 222.
Demonstrators are expected to gather at Speakers’ Corner, in Hyde Park, from 1200 BST on Saturday.
They will then march to Trafalgar Square where a rally will be held at about 1500 BST, with speakers including MP George Galloway and campaigner Tariq Ali.
L/Cpl Glenton will also give a speech despite being advised not to do so by military commanders.
Andrew Burgin, from the Stop the War Coalition, told the BBC News website: “He has just been told by his commanding officer that he should not enter the demonstration and he should not speak.
He has decided to disobey those military orders.”
L/Cpl Glenton, based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, is facing a court martial in November for alleged desertion after going absent without leave in 2007.
In an interview with BBC Radio York, L/Cpl Glenton’s wife Claire said he was “proud” to be taking part in the march.
Lindsey German, convener of the coalition, said it would be the first time a serving soldier had openly attended a national anti-war demonstration.
“This shows how deep feeling against the war in Afghanistan goes,” she said.
“Barack Obama and Gordon Brown will soon find that this war turns out to be their Vietnam if they keep pouring in troops.”
Also speaking in Trafalgar Square will be Peter Brierley whose son, L/Cpl Shaun Brierley, was killed in Iraq.
Mr Brierley, from Batley in West Yorkshire, confronted former Prime Minister Tony Blair at a memorial service at London’s St Paul’s Cathedral, telling him: “You have my son’s blood on your hands.”

In an “unprecedented joint statement”, the alliance predicted a “lawless free-for-all” unless the government ensured the “safe and secure delivery of legal content”.
It reports that in 2007 an estimated 98 million illegal downloads of films and more than a billion illegal downloads of music tracks took place in the UK. It says more than six million people in the country regularly file-share copyright content without permission.
The previous tactic of pursuing individual file-sharers in the courts appear to have been abandoned.
“Suggestions for rights-owners to take many thousands of legal actions seeking damages against individual file-sharers in court are neither practicable nor proportionate and would create a drain on public resources,” the joint statement reads.
The statement stops short of calling on the government to introduce legislation with detailed technical measures to prevent illegal file-sharing.
“Instead, [the government] should provide enabling legislation, for the specific measures to be identified and implemented in an Industry Code of Practice,” it recommends.

The leader of the Methodist Church in Jersey has said he wants to see greater equality for people in same-sex relationships in the island.
The States are due to debate the legality of civil partnerships later.
The partnerships, which give gay couples similar rights to married couples in the UK, are not legally recognised in Jersey.
The Reverend David Coote said he hoped politicians would realise that civil partnerships were sensible and just.
He said he supported the introduction of civil partnerships in Jersey.
feel it is a matter of justice,” he said.
Civil partnerships were introduced in the UK in 2005.
They offer gay couples the same inheritance, pension, tax, immigration and property rights as people who are married.
The States of Jersey have drawn up a Civil Partnerships Act which, if passed, would legally recognise the unions.
The church still affirms that traditional marriage is the way forward for most people, Mr Coote told BBC Jersey.
“But for those that cannot enter into that kind of relationship because of their sexuality, it seems entirely fair that there is the opportunity for a just and fair relationship which enables them to have legal security.”
When Jersey’s politicians debate the legality of civil partnerships they should do it sensitively and openly, he said.
“I hope in the end they will see that a civil partnership is a sensible and just arrangement for those who are in a committed, loving same-sex relationship,” Mr Coote added.

The leaders of all parties at the assembly have agreed that MLAs expenses will be published in full in September.
However, only claims dating from April 2009 will be revealed; some details are also likely to be kept private for security reasons.
The leaders have also agreed 10 principles focusing on openness and transparency.
Assembly speaker Willie Hay said he was pleased by the move and hoped the public will have confidence in it.
“Although we have a completely different system than Westminster, I am aware that the recent negative publicity about how MPs claim expenses has dented public trust and confidence,” he said.
“I hope that the public will be encouraged that our local politicians are determined to ensure that the Assembly has an open, transparent and robust expenses system in which the public can have confidence.”
Earlier this week assembly members agreed a new code of conduct which means they will have to register any family members they employ.
MLAs will also have to register any money earned from outside work.