A Panoramic Look at Skateboarding in Shanghai
“The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart | Thu. Jan. 24, 2013
Things May Be Bad, But at Least We Can’t Chew Our Air: America’s stagnant economy and unhealthy school lunches don’t look so bad when compared with China’s hazardous, record-high air pollution levels.
Yesterday’s News You Should Know: Tuesday 9/25/2012
Armed conflicts and attacks
Syrian civil war: A Save the Children report details the plight of children in Syria. (CBS)
An academic report from the U.S. finds that American drone attacks “terrorize” the civilian population of northern Pakistan, further stating that the benefits of drone attacks for the U.S. are “ambiguous at best”. (BBC)
A bombing in the eastern Turkish city of Tunceli kills at least seven people. (BBC)
The People’s Republic of China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, commences service. (BBC)
Disasters
A 6.2-magnitude earthquake hits near the Baja California peninsula with no immediate reports of injuries or damage. (CNN)
International relations
Senkaku Islands dispute: Over 50 Taiwanese ships clash with ships from the Japan Coast Guard in waters off the Senkaku Islands. (The Japan Times)(Kyodo News via Mainichi Shimbun)(Yomiuri Shimbun)
Senkaku Islands dispute: Chinese and Japanese diplomats meet in Beijing to lay out their respective countries’ positions on the Senkaku Islands dispute. (Kyodo News)
Senkaku Islands dispute: South Korea expresses concern over China’s plan to monitor the disputed Socotra Rock area with unmanned drones. (Yonhap)
Politics and elections
Activists from the Enough Project reveal through The Guardian newspaper that Omar al-Bashir’s Sudan and Joseph Kabila’s DR Congo together received 2.4 million pound sterling (around USD 4 million) in British military aid, in the last five years alone. (The Guardian)
Protestors and police clash in Madrid over Spanish anti-austerity measures. (BBC)
Yesterday’s News You Should Know: Monday 9/24/2012
Jewish Democrats ask Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu to stop bringing “daylight” into Israel–United States relations. (JTA)
Armed conflicts and attacks
Syrian civil war: At least 24 people are killed in violence across Syria. (DPA)
Kenyan AMISOM troops, advancing towards the al-Shabaab stronghold of Kismayo, “deliberately” shoot dead seven Somali civilians, according to a Somali Army spokesman. The Hizbul Islam faction announces that it leaves the al-Shabaab. (BBC)
Business and economy
Multiple reports suggest that North Korea is to introduce reforms allowing farmers to keep more of their produce, rather than handing it to the state. (BBC)
International relations
Senkaku Islands dispute: Dozens of Taiwanese fishing boats set sail for the disputed Senkaku Islands which are also claimed by China and Japan. (Kyodo News)(The Bangkok Post)
Senkaku Islands dispute: An estimated 1,000 people protest in Taipei over Japan’s nationalization of the Senkaku Islands. (Kyodo News)
Senkaku Islands dispute: China cancels events commemorating the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations with Japan. (Mainichi Shimbun) (Jiji Press)
Senkaku Islands dispute: Three Chinese surveillance ships enter Japanese territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands. (Yomiuri Shimbun)
Senkaku Islands dispute: Bookstores in China suspend sales of books by Japanese authors or about Japan. (Jiji Press)
Senkaku Islands dispute: Japan sends its vice foreign minister, Chikao Kawai, to China in order to improve the status of relations between the two countries. (Yomiuri Shimbun)
Law and crime
Wang Lijun, the former police chief and vice-mayor of Chongqing, China, is sentenced to 15 years in prison for corruption-related charges and defection. (The Global Times)(AP)
Manufacturer Foxconn closes a factory in Taiyuan in China’s Shanxi province after a fight breaks out between thousands of workers. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Three bloggers in Vietnam are sentenced to four, ten and twelve years’ imprisonment for “anti-state propaganda”. (al-Jazeera)
Former Israeli minister of industry, trade and labor Ehud Olmert, who is also a former prime minister, is given a fine and a suspended 1-year jail sentence for cronyism while in office. A bribery case related to a housing project in Jerusalem is still being investigated. (Reuters)
The U.S. military announces that two U.S. Marines are charged with urinating on Taliban corpses in Afghanistan and failing to stop other misconduct by subordinates. (BBC)
Politics and elections
South Korean presidential candidate Park Geun-hye, daughter of former president Park Chung-hee, apologises for abuses committed under her father’s regime. (al-Jazeera)
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe says recent parliamentary elections in Belarus were neither free nor fair. VRT calls them “a farce”. (Reuters)(VRT)
