Dedication: When an earthquake hit in China on Saturday, reporter Chen Ying was just about to get married, but instead found herself covering a breaking news story, complete with camera and microphone … and wedding dress. And with good reason: The 6.6-magnitude quake, in the Sichuan province, killed at least 189 and injured more than 11,000. The wedding could wait.
In the present situation, China believes all sides must remain calm and exercise restraint and not take actions which are mutually provocative, and must certainly not take actions which will worsen the situation.Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei • Responding to the news that North Korea has barred South Korean workers from entering the jointly-run Kaesong Industrial Region six miles north of the infamous Demilitarized Zone which separates the North and South. While North Korea has apparently decided to deny South Koreans’ access to the complex, those already inside of Kaesong are reportedly not being threatened or held against their will. source
On February 9, 2011, LVSC received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) requesting that the Company produce documents relating to its compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”). The Company has also been advised by the Department of Justice (the “DOJ”) that it is conducting a similar investigation. It is the Company’s belief that the subpoena may have emanated from the lawsuit filed by Steven C. Jacobs described above.
After the Company’s receipt of the subpoena from the SEC on February 9, 2011, the Board of Directors delegated to the Audit Committee, comprised of three independent members of the Board of Directors, the authority to investigate the matters raised in the SEC subpoena and related inquiry of the DOJ.
As part of the annual audit of the Company’s financial statements, the Audit Committee advised the Company and its independent accountants that it had reached certain preliminary findings, including that there were likely violations of the books and records and internal controls provisions of the FCPA and that in recent years, the Company has improved its practices with respect to books and records and internal controls.
The New York Times reports that the case roots from a 2010 lawsuit filed by the company’s former president of its operations in Macau, Steven C. Jacobs. Jacobs, in his 2010 lawsuit, claimed he was pressured by company officials to use leverage against of the Chinese administrative region’s government illegally.
Sandstorm sends Beijing pollution levels off the charts
Officials are warning residents in Beijing and other parts of northern China about hazardous air pollution levels after strong winds blew in a sandstorm today.
Air in the capital turned a yellowish hue and the sky turned into a noxious soup of smog and dust, NBC News reports. At 6 a.m. local time, the U.S. Embassy’s air quality index showed a reading of 516 for particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. On the American air pollution index, the air at that time and throughout much of the morning was classified as “beyond index.”
Photo: This composite image shows Beijing’s skyline during Thursday’s sandstorm (top) and during good weather on Feb. 19, 2013. (Feng Li / Getty Images)
It’s odd that a sandstorm caused such awful air quality. They have plenty of other reasons to be concerned about the terrible air quality.
Syrian leaders should be brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face justice for murder and torture, UN investigators urged on Monday as the EU renewed its blanket arms embargo on both sides in Syria’s bloody conflict.
Britain, however, secured the agreement of its partners to make it easier to supply “non-lethal” equipment and training to maintain security in rebel-held areas, which was not previously possible. But it had not sought agreement to send weapons, Whitehall officials insisted, rejecting claims from Brussels that it had.
Unfortunately, efforts to bring justice to the Syrian leadership loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are unlikely to go anywhere, because they requires the full support of the UN Security Council’s five permanent members. Considering Russia and China’s previous reluctance to support Western intervention in Syria, it’s unlikely that either will suddenly be supportive of charging the Assad regime with war crimes.
Today in hackings originating from China: The New York Times. The hacking incident began after The Times started working on this story about Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao’s fortune. Every Times employee had their corporate password stolen, and 53 employees had their personal computers infiltrated, mostly outside of the office. So yeah, kind of a big story.
Nope, this is not a still from Blade Runner. It’s smog in Beijing.
Some of my friends in Beijing have said the air burns their eyes and lungs. Here’s a picture of my colleague with his double-barreled air mask. Intense. Note he’s wearing a trash bag to protect his suit from the dirty air when he goes out.
As we pointed out the other day, Beijing hit an extremely high level on the air-quality chart over the weekend. This is scary stuff, guys.
We need a new scale: On Saturday, the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, which marks off the city’s air quality based on a 0-500 scale set by the EPA, detected air quality so bad that the Twitter account that updates people on the embassy’s air quality detection spat out a 755. 500 was supposed to be the maximum, by the way.
[America is] most corrupt in the world. …Where does this Great Breakdown [financial crisis] come from? It started exactly from the world, the United States. When I was interviewed in the U.S., people asked me, I said the same thing. I said now that China has become strong, everyone is making an issue of China. If our own countrymen don’t support our country, who will support our country? We know our country has many problems. We [can] talk about it when the door is closed. To outsiders, [we should say] ‘our country is the best.’Chinese film star Jackie Chan • Condemning America as the world’s most corrupt country in an interview on Chinese television. This isn’t a perspective that’s so out of character for him – Chan is a noted supporter of China’s ruling Communist party (to the extent of suggesting he’s come to believe “we Chinese people need to be controlled”), which has been criticized through the years as shot through with corruption, censorship and disrespect for human rights. Which is not to say he’s wrong in citing the 2008 financial crisis as an example of a corrupted relationship between American government and business, and one that had disastrous implications for the entire global financial system. But his final takeaway, that Chinese people should deny any discord within their system when speaking to an outsider, seems itself a strike against the sort of transparency that might loosen corruption’s hold. source
Wrote a thing.
Hat tip to this headline writer.
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swagandpassion asks: Hey SFB. Are there fundamental differences with Libya and Syria as far as Western powers intervening? Logistically I can assume Europe had more interest in a stable Libya & Obama leading behind scenes, but is intervention not a good idea for Syria?
Scott had a really long answer to this, so we’re gonna jump it, so we don’t just give you a long block of text. Here’s the tl;dr version: The biggest challenge raised is from Russia and China, and it’s making it difficult for western forces to get involved.
Anyway, click on to read. — Ernie @ SFB
An extraordinary picture of a house in the middle of a newly built road in Wenling, Zhejiang province, China. An elderly couple refused to sign an agreement to allow their house to be demolished. They say that compensation offered is not enough to cover rebuilding costs. This and all the best news images from Thursday here: Photograph: China Daily/Reuters
Don’t be surprised if this image becomes iconic among U.S. opponents of eminent domain.
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