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In This Edition
China and South Korea ban imports of some food and agricultural produce from Japan amid concerns of radiation contamination.
NATO assumes command of the allied military operation in Libya from the United States.
European leaders agree a restructuring of a financial bail-out fund that they hope will help resolve the bloc's debt crisis.
And Chinese legislators suggest implementing a nationwide law to encourage food waste recycling.
Hot Issue Reports
China, South Korea ban Japanese food imports
China's top quality watchdog has ordered a ban on imports of some food and agricultural produce from Japan amid concerns of radiation contamination.
Imports of dairy products, vegetables, fruits and aquatic products from areas around quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant in northeast Japan will be stopped.
The quality watchdog also announced alarmingly high levels of radiation were detected on two Japanese tourists upon their arrival in east China's Wuxi City from Tokyo.
They were sent to a hospital in Suzhou City for medical treatment and officials say they have not caused harm to others.
In addition, the local quality control bureau in Fujian province has found "abnormal" levels of radiation on a Japanese merchant vessel that berthed in Xiamen port.
Meantime, South Korea has also banned food imports from four areas of Japan affected by the country's nuclear crisis.
Yoon Dong-han is the vice minister for government policy at the prime minister's office.
"We will strengthen our safety measures including tentative bans on importing food products from contaminated areas. First all of, we will tentatively stop importing food products, which were designated to not be shipped from Japan until worries over current radioactive contamination are resolved."
The South Korean government also says the ban could be expanded if necessary.
Expert: Japan Not to Copy Ukraine's Way of Sealing Nuclear Reactors
Anchor: In the wake of the nuclear leakage from Japan's quake-hit Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex, some experts suggest sealing the nuclear reactor with concrete by following the way Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear complex was covered. But a Ukrainian expert warns that sealing the plant may not be effective.
CRI's Wei Tong has more.
Reporter:
The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex continues radioactive materials, which have been polluting the local environment after the devastating earthquake and tsunami. Some Japanese officials and experts have advised to sealing the entire nuclear reactor, like the way of Ukraine treated Chernobyl's nuclear wastes, whose blast is considered the world's most disastrous nuclear accident.
However, Ukainian nuclear expert Dmitri Pobro notes sealing the plant is not necessarily an effective way to prevent the leaking radioactive wastes.
"Compared with the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, which was completely destroyed in the blast, the one in Fukushima is only partly damaged. On the other hand, unlike the Chernobyl's big fire which disrupted all of the nuclear fuel and equipment, Fukushima's nuclear reactors only emitted smoke. The plant's security protection system still remains intact. So there is not as much radioactive materials leaking as in Chernobyl."
Dmitri says it is still too early to seal the Fukushima's nuclear plant since more needs to be done.
"Currently, Japan's nuclear crisis is still undergoing. I think it is more urgent to lower the temperature of nuclear reactors and prevent it from catching fire again. Not until all the risks in the nuclear plant are ruled out can we think about the next step, including sealing the reactors."
Dmitri points out sealing nuclear reactors can stop radiated materials leaking but it is only temporarily effective. More advanced facilities and protection measures are necessary to prevent additional leakage.
Facing growing worry and panic among the public, some countries are rethinking about the necessity and feasibility of nuclear power. Dmitri says the nuclear accident can give each country a lesson so that they will learn to take safer measures to harness nuclear power.
For CRI, I am Wei Tong.
Expert: Earthquake Prone to be More Frequent
Southwest China's Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have reported experiencing tremors from the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit northeast Myanmar.
The earthquake, occurred near the junction of Thailand and Laos, triggered mudslides and disrupted some local telecommunications services. The quake was followed by several aftershocks while the death toll has so far risen to at least 75 and 110 others injured.
Seismic expert from the China Earthquake Network Center, Jiang Haikun, says devastating earthquakes have become more frequent in the past decade.
"Since the 21st century, there is an increasing number of tremors in the world. Generally speaking, there is an average of 18 quakes above a magnitude 7 each year. But last year, the number hit its record high of 28. The devastating quakes that recently hit Japan and Myanmar are part of the increase."
But Jiang Haikun says the public should not be worried and panic about more frequent quakes.
So far, no casualties have been reported in China.
Libya-6th night: Nato takes over, finally
As the US, European-led air strikes in Libya enter the 6th night, NATO has now agreed to take command of the operation from the United States.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
"What we have decided tonight is to take responsibility for enforcing the no-fly zone with the aim to protect the civilian population, and the mandate doesn't go beyond that."
Different opinions emerged on whether Gaddafi's ground forces should be targeted.
The handover comes after Turkey changed its stance.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu originally opposed a NATO controlled mission.
"Compromise has been reached in principle. The coalition that is established after the Paris conference will end its operations at the earliest (opportunity) and the operation will be handed over to NATO completely at the earliest and there will be a single command and control."
The handover of the no-fly mission could come as early as weekend.
European leaders are now taking part in a crucial EU summit, discussing, among other things, the military campaign in Libya.
Meantime, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed NATO's decision.
"NATO is well-suited to coordinating this international effort and ensuring that all participating nations are working effectively together toward our shared goals."
The United States agreed to lead the operation at first, but made clear it wanted only a limited role and would hand over responsibility as soon as possible.
Eurozone agrees bail-out fund restructuring
European leaders have agreed a restructuring of a financial bail-out fund that they hope will resolve the bloc's debt crisis.
During a summit in Brussels, eurozone ministers bowed to German demands to renegotiate the timeframe for contributions to the fund.
But the deal was overshadowed by concerns about Portugal, which rejected suggestions it needed a bail-out.
Despite stepping down, Portugal Prime Minister Jose Socrates is still in attendence at the two-day Euro summit, and remains adamantly opposed to requesting aid.
''I am here with a one and only concern: to defend Portugal and to defend the common currency and defend the European project.''
Many analysts believe Lisbon is in denial about its need for a rescue.
The new plan provides for the creation of a permanent fund, the European Stability Mechanism, to help troubled eurozone countries.
A major sticking point was the speed with which countries had to pay cash into the 700 billion euro fund.
The agreement requires 80 billion euros of cash provided by eurozone countries in five equal annual instalments. There will be a further 620 billion euros in guarantees.
There had been expectations that the two-day summit in Brussels would agree a resolution over rescuing Portugal's stricken economy.
Privately, eurozone ministers believe it is only a matter of time before Lisbon asks for aid.
BRICS think-tanks call for closer economic ties
Think-tanks from five major developing economies are now calling for closer economic ties among the BRICS countries, just ahead of the group's summit in Hainan, China next month.
BRICS countries include China, Brazil, India, Russia and South Africa.
International relations expert Jin Canrong from China's Renming University says, despite booming economies, the five countries still do not have enough say in global economic dialogues.
"The top agenda of the next summit is still the economy, and especially the top ten topics talked about at this year's G20 summit in France. For instance, the fluctuating raw material prices, and the possibility of giving an index for economic imbalance – those are all important."
Samir Saran, senior researcher with India's Observer Foundation, says the BRICS countries could find more shared interests economy-wise.
"For the BRICS countries, there is still enough room to enhance their cooperation in energy, electricity, food security, agriculture and technology. Also, the five countries could learn from each other regarding eliminating poverty, improving healthcare and education."
Light News
Government to Tackle Problem of Food Waste
ANCHOR: In China around 60 million tones of kitchen waste is created each year. That's the equivalent amount of grain harvested from eight thousand square kilometres of land. Much of this ends up landfill sites, which are fast running out of space. To combat this problem Chinese legislators have suggested implementing a nationwide law to encourage food waste recycling. And, as CRI's Dominic Swire finds out, the idea has been well received.
REPORT: Rubbish trucks dump their load at one of Beijing's 23 waste treatment sites. Each day it's estimated the city's 17 million residents produce over 18,000 tonnes of household waste per day. Much of this is from waste food.
The Chinese catering sector is one of the culprits, as this chef in a medium-sized Beijing restaurant admits.
"Here we throw away about 50-100 kilograms of food every day. It's sad to see so much food wasted. I was born in a small village in Sichuan. People there keep pigs and use food waste as animal feed."
Treated properly, kitchen waste can be turned into animal feed or fertilizer. Around twenty cities in China already have rules about reprocessing leftover food. But the absence of a national law makes this difficult to enforce. That's why Yao Aixing and some other members of China's top political advisory body, the CPPCC, are calling for national standards to ensure safety and quality of recycled waste food.
Bill Kung is director of Ecovane, a Shanghai-based environmental consulting firm. He welcomes the idea. "If we have these measures about handling kitchen waste in place then we can also introduce other measures at the same time without too much effort setting up other bins to recycle plastics and papers. By introducing kitchen waste as a special initiative as a standard or law I think it will encourage the whole population of China to raise awareness about separating different kinds of waste."
One challenge of reducing food waste in China will be to tackle the tradition of offering guests more food than necessary.
Back in the restaurant one foreign customer says this felt strange at first.
"I feel awkward about it because in my family we were always taught so adamantly to clean your plate. And then here there's the custom of always leaving food on the table to show that you have more than other people. So it feels a little weird but I've kind of gotten used to it."
According to the UN, around half the food the world produces ends up as waste. If the new proposal goes ahead, it will help ensure that, in China at least, this doesn't end up as landfill.
For CRI, I'm Dominic Swire
Ministry: China Aims to Improve Management of its Road System
Anchor: China's Ministry of Transport says it aims to establish a toll-free road system and strengthen road safety and management. Some analysts applaud the move, saying the government should pay more attention to road management after decades of intensive construction.
Zhang Cheng has the details.
Reporter: The Ministry of Transport says that toll-free roads will account for 96 percent of China's road mileage in the future.
The ministry reveals that it's considering building two road networks. The first will mainly consist of low-charge but highly efficient expressways, and the second one is made up of more average, toll-free roads.
Guo Runhua, a road transport expert from Tsinghua University, says the announcement, though without a timetable, responds to people's interests.
"China's road mileage has reached a sizeable amount. In the past, tolls were collected to pay back the cost of road construction. Now, decades have passed, many citizens hold that it's not necessary or right to continue collecting the tolls."
Official figures show China now has about four million kilometers of operational roads as of the end of last year. Its expressway system has reached 74,000 kilometers, the second longest in the world.
In the past several decades, the country mainly has relied on bank loans and social funding to build roads, especially expressways.
The Ministry of Transport said that authorities have to collect tolls to repay the loans, despite frequent complains of high road tolls.
He Jianzhong, spokesman for the Ministry of Transport, says the government will finance the expected toll-free road network.
He adds that road regulators will make greater efforts to ensure safe, orderly and smooth traffic on the road system.
"We will strengthen the monitoring of overloaded vehicles on the roads. We have clarified the responsibilities of various road regulators. For example, local authorities are required to establish checkpoints in their jurisdiction to closely oversee overloaded behavior."
The State Council, China's cabinet, has issued a new regulation on road safety, which will take effect July 1st.
The regulation stipulates that the government will revoke the operational license of a driver or a vehicle if they conduct overloaded transport three times within a year.
Guo Runhua, the expert from Tsinghua University, says overloaded vehicles can do a great harm to roads, especially expressways. He urges the authorities to take effective steps to curb the overloading behavior to better manage the country's road system.
According to the Ministry of Transport, China's road system handles 74 percent of the country's freight traffic and 95 percent of passenger volumes.
For CRI, I'm Zhang Cheng.
Talks between Baidu and Chinese writers collapse
Anchor: Negotiations to resolve a copyright dispute between search engine giant Baidu and Chinese writers have broken down. The internet company is now facing potential court action, Wang Jing has more.
Reporter: The dispute began from Baidu Wenku, an online library for internet users, offered uploading and downloading of documents for free.
However, 50 leading Chinese writers have signed a public letter criticizing Baidu Wenku for providing their works as free downloads without their permission.
Wan Rong Books publisher Lu Jinbo is an representative for the writers in the negotiations. He says the first round of talks with the search engine giant Baidu had collapsed after the firm rejected all of their requests, including a public apology and compensation for losses.
"We ask Baidu Wendu to give full protection of legal rights of writers, and set up a mechanism that's agreed by both sides, which checks content before it is published. But the requests have all been dismissed by the firm. So, the negotiation broke down."
Launched in 2009, Baidu Wenku's online library had stockpiled more than 10 million files and books as of last November, accounting for 70 percent of China's online file-sharing market.
The current law on internet piracy states that internet search companies would be exempt from compensation to rights holders if they remove links of pirated contents when informed; links that the search provider had no previous knowledge of their copyright status.
But a poet and publisher Shen Haobo, also an of the representative in the negotiation, says Baidu can not be sheltered under this umbrella.
"Baidu took the initiative to set up such a warehouse, a warehouse for pirated contents, and it takes different approaches, like giving credits or online coins, to encourage internet users to upload pirated documents."
In response to the escalating disputes, Baidu says it wants to implement technology from mid-April that will systematically delete pirated content already uploaded on Baidu Wenku. But in order for that premise to work, the company would need a complete copy of the original documents to which the technology could compare.
The writers are now collecting evidence of Baidu's copyright infringement and vowed to take legal action.
For CRI, I'm Wang Jing.
A Top academic at Fudan University was told to pay 18,000 yuan (US$2,744) compensation to an associate professor at Shanghai University for plagiarizing her work.
Xu Yan, 39, also an associate professor, was ordered by a local court to publish an apology in Journalist Magazine, a major journalism publication.
Han Yuan, an associate professor of finance and economics, discovered in September 2009 that a thesis collection titled "Choice of History" published by Wuhan University Press included an article about style changes in Chinese news by Xu, which plagiarized her unpublished post-doctoral thesis.
Wuhan University Press, which published a book including Xu's plagiarized thesis, was also told to pay 6,000 yuan in compensation for not checking the article carefully. |