Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Navigation
Primary Navigation
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Top Stories
Most Popular
Secondary Navigation
Australia
China
India
Indonesia
Japan
Malaysia
Philippines
Thailand
Vietnam
Search
Search:
Chinese hope for bullish Year of the Ox
Reuters - 2 hours 40 minutes ago
By Lucy Hornby
BEIJING - Chinese celebrated the Lunar New Year on Monday with hopes that the Year of the Ox will be more bullish than disaster-stricken 2008.
"Goodbye to the snows of 08, the quake of 08, the pain of 08, the bitterness of 08; May 2009 be bullish for you," read one greeting sent by text message at midnight, as fireworks exploded across the nation in a raucous welcome to the New Year.
The Year of the Rat was not a good one for China, despite high hopes for the Olympic games hosted in Beijing in August. Ice storms interrupted the last Lunar New Year, Tibetans staged a brief but widespread uprising, tainted milk sickened thousands of babies and a slowing economy heralded heavy job losses.
In Sichuan, where a devastating May 12 earthquake killed more than 80,000 people, some survivors put on a brave face.
"We've cobbled together a new house. It's not too bad," said Liu Shaoyun, whose nephew was killed when his school dormitory collapsed in Muyuzhen, in northeastern Sichuan. "It's a little cold, but what can you do?"
Premier Wen Jiabao this weekend visited villagers, factory workers, and children across the quake zone, urging victims to keep up their spirits and move forward.
The economy is a more immediate worry for most Chinese, as a real estate slump at home and drop in export demand from abroad have caused factories to close and businesses to cut bonuses.
Many migrant workers, whose remittances sustain the rural economy, are now home for the New Year but could have trouble finding jobs when they return to the cities next month.
Unemployed people have been allowed to peddle wares without paying a fee at the temple fair in Beijing's Temple of the Earth, the Beijing Times said on Monday.
NEW BEGINNING
Chinese are expected to send 18 billion greetings by text message this week, as friends and families unable to reunite in person do so electronically.
For some, the holiday brought sorrow. In Beijing, a 3-year-old girl and her grandparents died in a house fire, while her parents, migrant workers who sell vegetables, were out celebrating.
Fireworks were so thick in the air in Shanghai on New Year's eve that they generated 1,200 tonnes of debris, the Xinhua news agency said.
Chinese president Hu Jintao pledged more "equal development across society" during a pre-holiday visit to Jinggangshan, a poor Communist revolutionary base in the southern mountains that has been mostly left out of China's headlong rush to riches over the last three decades of economic reform.
State television showed Hu beaming as a baby kissed his cheek, visiting a marketplace, and singing with villagers at Jinggangshan, where an embattled Mao Zedong regrouped communist forces in the late 1920s before embarking on the Long March.
Acknowledging the winter storms and power outages that ensnarled much of South China last winter, Hu also visited a power plant and called for steady electricity supply.
China Central Television used the holiday to showcase Hu's slogan of scientific development, by unveiling a model for a space station, known as "Tiangong" or Heavenly Palace, that China plans to launch before the end of next year.
Email Story
IM Story
Printable View
Blog This
Recommend this article
Average (1 vote)
Sign in to recommend this article »
Most Recommended Stories »
Related Articles: Asia Pacific
'Dozens of civilians killed' in Sri Lanka fightingAFP - 18 minutes ago
Economist magazine curbs distribution in ThailandAP - 1 hour 4 minutes ago
China reports 5th bird flu death this yearAP - 1 hour 11 minutes ago
Turkmens remove late dictator from newspaper titleAP - 1 hour 22 minutes ago
China reports fifth bird flu death this yearAFP - 1 hour 28 minutes ago
Most Popular – Asia Pacific
Viewed
Child matador kills six bulls in Mexico
Hudson 'miracle' pilot gets hero's homecoming
Global warming could unleash ocean 'dead zones': study
'Dogs don't wear condoms,' says Baywatch star Anderson
Ring of fire: Indian Ocean to see solar eclipse
View Complete List »
Search:
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Top Stories
Most Popular