News & Reports 2012-07-22

 Hello and Welcome to News and Reports on China Radio International.

 

In This Edition

 

US President Barack Obama promises to ensure the safety of American citizens after one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent US history in Colorado.

Israel warns of military action to ensure Syrian missiles or chemical weapons does not reach the Shi'ite Islamist movement of Hezbollah in Lebanon.

And the Olympic flame begins a week-long journey that will take it through every London borough as it is carried to the Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony.

 

Hot Issue Reports

 

Obama Promises Safety for Citizens after Shooting in Colorado

US President Barack Obama has promised to ensure the safety of US citizens after one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent US history in Colorado on Friday.

 

In his weekly internet address, Obama condemned the cold-blooded massacre, in which at least 12 people were killed and scores more wounded.

 

"We will take every step possible to ensure the safety of all our people. And we will stand by our neighbours in Colorado during this extraordinarily difficult time. Such evil is senseless - beyond reason. But while we will never know fully what causes someone to take the life of another, we do know what makes that life worth living."

 

The president offered his assurance that the federal government would take all necessary steps to ensure justice for the victims of the shooting.

 

Meanwhile, in Denver, hundreds of residents turned out to mourn the victims of Friday's movie theatre shooting.

 

Near the entrance to the movie theatre parking lot, a makeshift memorial with 12 candles in a row and piles of flowers was set up.

 

The suspect, identified by police as 24-year-old James Holmes, used a military-style semi-automatic rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, to kill his victims.

 

Holmes is in police custody and is expected to make his first court appearance on Monday morning.

 

Police Investigation into Colorado Shooting Underway

US police say they have removed one trip wire and one explosive device at the apartment of the suspect of the Colorado movie theatre shooting.

 

The suspect, 24-year-old James Holmes, lived on the third floor of an apartment complex in Aurora that had been evacuated.

 

Sergeant Casidee Carlson with the Aurora Police Department said the Aurora Fire Department was on standby as police continued the intricate process of entering Holmes' apartment.

 

"The most immediate threat is the trip wire. The booby trap that we've been talking about over the last day. So once that device, situation is mitigated, that may also include a controlled detonation that may cause a loud boom and then from that, there may also be a fire that erupts at that point. We have AFD on standby, ready to handle any situation that occurs."

 

Initial Details about Colorado Shooting Unveiled

US police are attempting to piece together the chain of events a day after a gunman opened fire at a packed theater and killed 12 people in Aurora, Colorado.

Police say 70 people were injured in the shooting and 30 remained hospitalized, 11 of them in critical condition.

 

Armed with an assault rifle, a shotgun and a pistol, the black-clad gunman carried out a shooting rampage at the premiere of "The Dark Knight Rises" at a mall in Aurora.

 

Suspect James Eagan Holmes was detained in a parking lot behind the cinema, where he surrendered without a fight.

 

Aurora police chief Dan Oates reveals how the 24-year-old suspect obtained his weapons.

 

"In the last 60 days, he purchased 4 guns at local metro gun shops and through the internet he purchased over 6000 rounds of ammunition, more than 3000 rounds of 223 ammunition for the assault rifle, 3000 rounds of 40 caliber ammunition for the two Glocks in his possession and 300 rounds for his 12 gauge shotgun."

 

Police were unable to enter Holmes' apartment on Friday, saying he had booby-trapped it with what appeared to be sophisticated explosives.

 

Police evacuated five nearby buildings and created a perimeter of several blocks and said they planned to detonate the suspected explosives with a robot on Saturday.

 

Holmes was a dropped-out graduate student of the University of Colorado. He is due to make an initial court appearance on Monday.

 

The motives for the massacre are still under investigation.

 

UN Extends Observer Mission in Syria

The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution extending the 300-strong UN observer mission in Syria for a final 30 days.

 

Li Baodong, China's ambassador to the UN, welcomed the rollover resolution, saying it's a "very united, important signal to support a political solution to the Syria issue."

 

Li reiterated that China urges all the parties and forces in Syria to end the violence, achieve a ceasefire and cooperate fully with the work of the UN observer mission.

 

He also stressed that China has all along maintained that the destiny of Syria should be independently determined by the Syrian people, rather than by outside forces.

 

Meanwhile, General Babacar Gaye, the UN'S new head of the mission to Syria, is scheduled to arrive in Damascus on Tuesday.

 

He indicated it's still very difficult for his observer mission to help solve the Syrian crisis in a short time.

 

"Upon arriving to Syria, first of all I will ensure that the mission is in a position to use these 30 days in the best way. I don't consider them to be a last chance. The reality is that everything will depend on the reality on the ground. And we have to confess that our ability to influence this reality on the ground so far has not met our expectations."

 

The UN Security Council launched the Syrian observe mission in April with an initial 90-day mandate, which expired on Friday.

 

Major General Robert Mood, former head of the U.N. monitoring mission, left Damascus a day earlier.

 

The UN mission was tasked with monitoring the cessation of violence in Syria and the full implementation of the international peace plan put forward to end the ongoing crisis.

 

However, the mission has suspended its regular patrols since June 16 due to the escalating violence in the country.

 

Israel Considers Military Action to Prevent Hezbollah Accessing Syria's Weapons

Israel says it will consider military action if needed to ensure Syrian missiles or chemical weapons does not reach Syria's ally in Lebanon, the Shi'ite Islamist movement Hezbollah.

 

Defence Minister Ehud Barak reveals that Israeli military is preparing for certain situation.

 

"...Hezbollah will try and put their hands on advanced anti-aircraft, or heavy ground-to-ground missiles or elements of chemical weapons, and move them into Lebanon. I can say that I have instructed the military to prepare in a way that if certain situations do occur in which we will have to consider action."

 

Syrian rebels assassinated four of President Bashar al-Assad's closest aides in Damascus and seized three border crossings with Iraq and Turkey in the past week. Analysts say that the Syrian leader is facing greater pressure than at any time in the 16-month conflict.

 

Barak has earlier toured the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau that Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and from where it can monitor movements inside its northern foe.

 

Hezbollah launched thousands of rocket attacks at Israel during the Jewish state's 2006 offensive in southern Lebanon. The Israel-Lebanon border has been largely quiet since then.

 

South-South Cooperation Urged to Promote Sustainable Development

UN officials and Chinese experts have called for intensified South-South cooperation to promote sustainable development in developing countries.

 

The remarks were made at a symposium in Beijing for UN Environment Program officials and Chinese ecological experts.

 

The symposium was a follow-up event to the fifth ministerial meeting of the Forum on China-African Cooperation, which concluded on Friday.

 

Amina Mohamed, deputy executive director of the UN Environment Program, says developing countries can learn from each other to balance their economic development with conservation of resources and the environment.

 

"We need to devise an avenue to make sure South-South cooperation contributes increasingly to poverty alleviation. We must ensure that activities in South-South cooperation improve, not degrade our ecosystems which are the foundation of our sustainability."

 

She added that capacity-building, including green technologies, is the prerequisite for promoting sustainable economies in developing countries.

 

Liu Yanhua, president of the Chinese Association of Geography, also urged developing nations to enhance their cooperation in areas such as small hydro-power projects, clean energy, and ecological farming.

 

North Korea Says It is Forced to Reexamine Nuclear Programme

North Korea says it was forced to "reexamine" its nuclear programme because of fresh signs the United States continued to foster hostile intent against it, indicating it will step up efforts to boost its nuclear arsenal.

 

North Korea accused the United States of masterminding the sabotage of statues of its dead leaders in Pyongyang by sending a defector who had fled to the South back into the country to destroy them.

 

The North's unnamed foreign ministry spokesman said in comments carried by the North's state-run television KRT.

 

"An insurgent, who sneaked in to destroy our most sacred statue and monument, was arrested. Through the arrested criminal's statement, the truth was brought to light that the United States was deeply involved in the super-size conspiracy hatched by South Korea's puppet groups."

 

The North has denied in recent months that it was preparing to conduct a third nuclear test, after a failed rocket launch widely seen as a long-range missile test in disguise.

 

Meanwhile, On Thursday, a man named Jon Yong-cho, a defector to the South was arrested for attempting to destroy the statues.

 

Jon held up a South Korean passport and insisted it's his in efforts to prove he's from South Korea.

 

Earlier in the day, South Korea's unification ministry denied the North's accusation.

 

A 4.9-magnitude Earthquake Hits Yangzhou City in Jiangsu

China Earthquake Networks Center says a 4.9-magnitude earthquake has hit Yangzhou city in east China's Jiangsu Province.

 

A total of four people were slightly injured. The quake has also caused cracks to several residential buildings and toppled a few chimneys atop residential buildings in Zhouxiang Township.

 

Many people stayed on streets or squares overnight, for fear of aftershocks.

 

"We stay here for the safety of our child. We live in a high building. It is safer to stay outside and we feel better here."

 

The quake was also strongly felt in Zhenjiang and Nanjing, capital city of Jiangsu, which is about 100 km away from Yangzhou.

 

Nine Formerly Unknown Australian Solders have been Honoured

96 years to the day after they lost their lives in the First World War's Battle of Fromelles, nine formerly unknown Australian soldiers have been honoured in a ceremony in northern France.

 

Headstones bearing the names of the fallen troops were dedicated in the service which was attended by families of those who lost their lives, as well as representatives from the Australian and French governments.

 

Over 5,000 Australian soldiers were killed, captured or injured in the assault, and the final resting place for many of the men was an unmarked mass grave outside the small French village of Fromelles.

 

Among them was Australian Parliamentary Secretary for Defence David Feeney, who addressed the guests promising that the sacrifice of the men would not be forgotten.

 

Also at the ceremony was Melissa Reed, the great great niece of New South Wales labourer Peter John Wynn who lost his life at Fromelles when he was 19.

 

His body was amongst those that had recently been identified and Reed said it was important to the family to have a dedicated grave.

 

"To have somewhere where we can remember him rather than just an unmarked grave, it's good for the family to be able to have that space."

 

The Battle of Fromelles was the first full-scale engagement by Australian troops on the Western front.

 

Meanwhile, the Fromelles Project will run until 2014, continuing to identify unknown soldiers.

 

The Olympic Flame Begins a Week-long Journey and Authorities Maintained Good Preparation

The Olympic flame has begun a week-long journey that will take it through every London borough as it is carried to the Olympic Stadium for the opening ceremony.

 

Saturday's journey began in Greenwich Park outside the royal Observatory.

 

Natasha Sinha, the first torchbearer of the day, ran through the park past soldiers who lined the route and met the second torchbearer, Ella Statham, at the Olympic Equestrian centre which was erected outside Greenwich's Maritime college.

 

The flame also passed by the world's only surviving tea clipper, the Cutty Sark, carried by Robin Knox-Johnston, the first man to sail around the world single-handed.

 

Meanwhile, the British Olympic Association and Team GB have maintained they have done a good job with preparation and given great support to their athletes.

 

Over 150 athletes and more than 800 support staff will represent Great Britain as they compete at the London Games, the largest ever contingent in British Olympic history.

 

British Olympic Association chairman Lord Colin Moynihan says the London Games will be the most competitive ever, but that the home team are ready and keen to make their mark.

 

Britain ranked 4th on the medal table at the 2008 Beijing Games, and Moynihan said that fourth is again the aspirational target this time around.

 

"You can have an aspirational target of fourth place but the great excitement of sport is that uncertainty and the recognition of how tough it is."

 

To allow the athletes to better handle the pressure of competing on home soil, Sir Clive Woodward, deputy Chef de Mission, said they have prepared videos about other countries' athletes talking about how to cope with the weight of expectation.

 

Japan and Russia Launch Ceremonies for the London Olympics

Japan has officially launched its squad for the London Olympics with Crown Prince Naruhito encouraging the national players before their fight for the gold medals.

 

In a ceremony at Tokyo's Yoyogi National Stadium, Prince Naruhito told the members of the squad their toil for medals in London will shed light to people back in Japan, especially those who're still struggling in the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

 

"The fighting spirit you will display during the Olympics will give courage and hope to people especially those who are struggling to recover from the great east Japan earthquake."

 

Japan is aiming for the world's fifth top slot in the London Olympics with between 15 to 18 gold medals.

 

Meanwhile in Russian, members of the national Olympic team have visited the Kremlin to take part in the farewell ceremonies before leaving for the London Olympics.

 

Athletes layed wreaths to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and met with President Vladimir Putin for the last parting words.

 

"You have reached a lot already. But you have a chance to make one more step - to win at these Olympic Games. This is what every sportsman aspires to.

Hundreds of thousands will be looking at you from the stands. Millions will be watching your performance on television all around the planet."

 

The Olympics may mark the first visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to Britain in nine years.

 

UK Olympics Accommodation

A room with an Olympic view. That's what guests at the Holiday Inn Stratford city in London will be getting for around 110 pounds a night when the Games begin.

 

But it's too late now to find a room overlooking the Games, the hotel and its neighbours sold out months ago after being block booked by Olympic organisers.

 

Chris Hale is from the IHG hotel group which owns the Holiday Inn.

 

"We're seeing bookings at very good levels in advance of where they'd normally been this year that's partly because a lot of our inventory has been given over to LOCOG to give to the whole family, the people who are putting on the games so we have less rooms available then we would normally."

 

But elsewhere in London there hasn't been the expected bonanza for hotels over the Olympics, with demand being lower than expected by many.

 

While some hotels may be suffering, enterprising Londoners say they have benefited from Olympic visitors looking to find cheaper options.

 

Meanwhile, for those willing to brave the elements, 'Camp in London' is offering space for up to 5,000 people to pitch their tents on a site just minutes from the Olympic Park.

 

Xinhua: Western Efforts to Force Syria Resolution is Doomed and Dangerous

 

The UN Security Council failed, for the third time, to adopt a Western resolution on Syria after a double veto from Russia and China, exposing the profound divisions among key council members on how to end the escalating violence in the Middle East country.

 

A commentary from Xinhua suggests China's stance on the Syria issue is consistent and clear. The country has long called for an immediate end to all kinds of violence and worked hard with other countries to pave the way for a political solution to the 16-month long crisis.

 

The commentary goes on to say given to the unbalanced nature of the draft and the Western envoys' intransigence in the negotiations, no one has really expected the document to get anywhere.

 

The commentary says unfortunately, some Western countries hastily pushed for a vote on the immature draft, which, if adopted, will only lead to more violence in Syria. And the UN Security Council's credibility has been further damaged as major powers are locked in fierce internal bickering.

 

The commentary says western attempt to force the draft resolution through the Council has also poisoned the atmosphere among key council members.

 

It points out that instead of taking up a confrontational approach, major Western powers should work with Russia and China to support the peace-making efforts of UN-Arab League joint special envoy Kofi Annan.

 

Council members should enhance coordination and display flexibility to convey a unified message to all concerned parties in Syria. Only through this way can the council find an effective resolution to the crisis and secure its own credibility.

 

The Xinhua opinion piece concludes that the future of Syria should only be decided by the Syrian people. Any outside intervention will only further complicate the situation.

 

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China Daily: China's Aid to Africa Creates Win-Win Situation

 

The Fifth Ministerial Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation concluded in Beijing on Friday.

 

During the two-day meeting, Chinese President Hu Jintao unveiled a package of measures to further enhance China-Africa cooperation.

 

Hu announced that China will provide 20 billion US dollars in credit to African countries to help them develop infrastructure, agriculture and manufacturing.

 

Besides that, other pledges included an "African Talents Program" to train 30,000 personnel in various sectors, offering 18,000 government scholarships, and projects to provide safe drinking water for the African people.

 

A commentary by China Daily says these measures will enrich Sino-African cooperation and open up new prospects for the development of the bilateral partnership.

 

The editorial notes that in recent years China has focused on helping build Africa's productive capacity by improving its infrastructure and boosting the manufacturing sector.

 

Statistics indicate that by August 2011, China had built thousands of roads and railway as well as hundreds of schools and hospitals on the African continent.

 

The newspaper says it's noteworthy that China's generous assistance to Africa has helped improve the lives of African people and contributed to the continent's social and economic development.

 

Meanwhile, China Daily notes that Africa's exports of raw materials and agricultural products have played an important role in supporting China's economic development and raising Chinese people's lives.

 

With China's new pledges to Africa, the newspaper says the two sides, based on equality, can further promote their win-win cooperation and contribute to each other's progress.