China and the United States ratified the Paris agreement to cut climate-warming emissions on Saturday, marking a major step toward the enactment of the pact as early as the end of the year and setting the stage for other countries to follow suit. The world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases made the landmark announcement as heads of state from the Group of 20 biggest economies, or G20, arrived for a summit in the city of Hangzhou, parts of which resembled a ghost town as Chinese security locked down the area. U.S. President Barack Obama's last scheduled trip to Asia before leaving office however got off to an awkward start. Soon after Air Force One landed, a Chinese security official blocked National Security Adviser Susan Rice on the tarmac, speaking angrily to her before a Secret Service agent stepped between the two. China has gone to great lengths to try to make the Sept 4-5 G20 summit a success, hoping to cement its standing as a global power, but a range of thorny … [Read more...] about U.S., China ratify Paris climate deal, setting stage for G20
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Curbing Ebola spread in West Africa could take six months
It will take months to curb an Ebola outbreak in West Africa that probably involves far more cases than the 2,100 officially recorded by governments there, global health leaders said. "We are not talking weeks; we're talking about months to get an upper hand on the epidemic," Joanne Liu, international president of Doctors Without Borders, said yesterday at a news conference in Geneva. Liu, whose organization has almost 700 health workers in West Africa, said a turnaround should take six months and called for more help by global health groups against the outbreak. She said others need to "step up to the plate" in aiding the four countries battling the virus. "It needs to happen now if we want to contain this epidemic," Liu said. She said more health-care workers are needed to follow up on cases and educate the public about what the disease and the outbreak entails. "Some of our staff, they are not accepted in their village anymore," Liu said. The outbreak "will only improve if … [Read more...] about Curbing Ebola spread in West Africa could take six months
The power struggle behind China’s corruption crackdown
, then governor of Liaoning Province, gestures as he delivers a speech at a China Entrepreneur annual meeting in Beijing, in this December 7, 2003 file photo. Photo: Reuters Liu Han seemed to thrive in the company of officials. Even a birthday party in 2011 for Liu's primary-school aged son drew a crowd of bureaucrats in Chengdu, the capital of China's western Sichuan province where the flamboyant mining tycoon was based. "There was a mayor of a nearby city with a population of three or four million," recalls Australian political lobbyist John Halden who helped win approval for Liu's mining investments in Western Australia and was invited to the October 15 celebration. "There were senior people from the provincial treasury and about seven or eight officials from the city of Chengdu." But Liu's close ties with officialdom didn't last. When Xi Jinping was named Chinese President at the end of the annual parliamentary session in March last year, the 48-year-old Liu was detained and … [Read more...] about The power struggle behind China’s corruption crackdown
U.S. Company Puts Crowdsourcing To Work In Search For Malaysian Jet
A Colorado-based company has put "crowdsourcing" to work in the search for a missing Malaysia Airlines jet, enlisting Internet users to comb through satellite images of more than 1,200 square miles (3,200 square km) of open seas for any signs of wreckage, the company said on Tuesday. DigitalGlobe Inc to scan images the company uploaded from two of its five satellites covering an area between the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea where the jetliner was first believed to have vanished on Saturday. The Boeing 777-200ER, with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board, had taken off from Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, on a flight bound for Beijing when it lost contact with civilian air traffic controllers. The Malaysia Airlines aircraft was initially thought to be roughly midway between Kota Bharu, a town on West Malaysia's eastern coast, and the southern tip of Vietnam, flying at an altitude of 35,000 feet (10,670 meters), when it disappeared. The … [Read more...] about U.S. Company Puts Crowdsourcing To Work In Search For Malaysian Jet
WHAT’S ON NOVEMBER 1-15 (DAILY UPDATE)
VNSO Special Concert 4 Fri 13 Nov 2015, 8 pm Hanoi Opera House 1 Tràng Tiền, Hà Nội Come to VNSO Special Concert 4 with the performance of: Conductor: Honna Tetsuji Violin Soloist: Bui Cong Duy and the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra Program Johannes Brahms - Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D major, op.77 Interval Johannes Brahms - Symphony No.2 in D major, op.73 Tickets Ticket prices: 200,000 - 350,000 - 500,000 VND. All tickets available at Hanoi Opera House or can book online at vnso.org.vn. For free delivery Call: 0913489858, 0983067996. HCMC Premier - Opera Carmen 08 and 09 Nov 2015, 8 pm HCMC Opera House No. 7 Lam Son Square, D.1, HCMC Georges Bizet's opera CARMEN is one the most famous, successful and most performed operas in history. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy based on the Prosper Mérimée's novel of the same name. Opera CARMEN will be performed at the Ho Chi Minh City Opera House on November 8th and … [Read more...] about WHAT’S ON NOVEMBER 1-15 (DAILY UPDATE)