cotton bags,messenger bag,reusable bags-Bonded labor: Victims of slavery in their own land

Slavery was first abolished in Nepal in 1924 by Chandra Shamsher Jung Bahadur Rana who was the country’s prime minister then. He was said to have had 65 slaves. Along with freedom, they were given land in Amlekhganj in southern Nepal for rehabilitation, says Uddhav Raj Poudel, national chief technical officer of the “sustainable elimination of child bonded labor” project of the International Labor Office.?

Yet ironically, slavery still persists in the same southern plains, fueled by poverty and indigenous culture.?

Every January, the Tharu community of original inhabitants in Nepal’s fertile plains celebrates its biggest festival Maghi in western Nepal. Padma Mohini Mathema, a national rapporteur on trafficking in women and children for the National Human Rights Commission says: “It is also the occasion when the Tharus, men, women and children, enter into contractual agreements with landlords that virtually amount to bonded labor.”?

The Tharus are believed to have been a dynasty of kings who were the ancestors of the Buddha. Displaced by migrating hordes from the hills of Nepal and from neighboring India, they became serfs in their own land.?

It became known as the kamaiya tradition, wherein landless peasants worked for rich landlords for grain. When a man became a kamaiya, his wife and children were also reduced to working for the same landlord without wages. The male children who passed into bonded slavery were called kamlaras and the girls kamlaris. Dang, Banke, Baridiya, Kailali and Kanchanpur, five remote western districts overlooked by a succession of governments, became the hub of bonded Tharu labor.?

“I became a kamlari when I was eight,” says Shanta Chaudhury, who comes from Dang. “My parents had nine children, and the entire family worked for the same landlord. I had to get up at 4 am, and my day ended after 11 pm. My mother went to the forest at sunrise to collect wild corn, which we ate boiled with salt. Often, there was nothing to eat at night.?

“Once, when I broke a pitcher, the landlord hit me on the head with the shard until I bled profusely. When I was 16, he ordered that I marry another bonded laborer owned by another landlord. I had no say in the matter.?

“When the kamaiya system was abolished, my husband was thrown out by his landlord. We began to live in a shack in the forest. The forest authorities set fire to it saying we were encroachers. I was pregnant at that time. For three days, we lived only on water.”?

Chaudhary joined the anti-kamaiya movement and today, is a member of parliament representing the ruling Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist. She says she has a single aim: the new constitution must ensure kamaiyas’ rights.?

The government abolished the kamaiya system in 2000. Six years later, the Supreme Court, responding to a writ petition by a child rights organization, asked the state to eradicate the kamlari tradition and create a fund to rehabilitate freed kamlaris. However, Friends of Needy Children, the NGO that had filed the writ, estimates there are still nearly 7,000 to 8,000 kamlaris in existence. Also, the system has now become more covert and has spread farther.?

“Bonded labor was the result of an agro-based economy and a feudal society,” says Mathema. “Though abolished on paper, it still continues because poverty drives the freed laborers to go back to the same masters. Now there are also cases of children being sent to India. While some work in factories, some are sold into prostitution and some given to circus owners. We have conducted raids in Indian metros and rescued children who were tricked into slavery and paid a fraction of the money the parents were promised. Giving (freed bonded laborers) land is not enough; they have to be given access to education, health and employment opportunities.”

China Daily Asia Weekly on April 29, 2011, page 12-13

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cotton bags,messenger bag,reusable bags-Boost amid alarm

The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) joined six of the world’s leading central banks recently to help shore up liquidity and restore confidence in markets battered all year from Europe’s debt crisis.

China’s new cash reserve ratio went into effect on Dec 5 with some analysts speculating another cut before the Chinese New Year.

The PBOC cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for banks by 50 basis points – the first such cut since December 2008.

The RRR for large banks fell from 21.5 percent to 21 percent, freeing up around 390 billion yuan (about $61 billion) in funds for the banks to lend, according to calculations by The Wall Street Journal.

As China goes about reorienting its growth model from being export-driven (and with a large current account surplus) to domestic demand-focused, the attempt at monetary easing should encourage credit growth and help reinvigorate the economy, analysts say.

China’s move came as the US Federal Reserve, along with five other leading central banks, reduced the cost of borrowing US dollars by 50 basis points.

China’s top leaders have been hinting for several weeks that policy will be fine-tuned to support growth. But up until now, China has resorted to targeted easing to prop up small manufacturers under stress without loosening overall monetary policy.

Dong Tao, head of non-Japan economics with Credit Suisse, said he saw the cut as “monetary policy fine-tuning.” In his assessment, the move will release about 396 billion yuan of liquidity into the banking system.

“The move is essentially aimed at helping smaller financial institutions whose liquidity conditions have been tighter vis-à-vis the larger banks,” he wrote in a note.

“We think the move was part of a co-ordinated intervention by global central banks to address the tight liquidity conditions worldwide, although China seems to have chosen not to officially join the global action and announced the RRR cut separately,” he said.

“The sharp fall in the A-share market and a weak PMI number may have helped firm up the government’s decision to cut as well,” he said.

The purchasing manager index (PMI) for November was down 1.4 percentage points to 49, compared to 50.4 in the previous month. This is the first time the headline PMI fell below the 50 mark since February 2009.

Tao said he expects the PBOC may cut the RRR one more time to 20.5 percent but added, “I do not think this action is the start of a reversal of the official prudent monetary policy stance.”

Yu Song of Gao Hua Securities said the fact the PBOC cut the RRR “shows the government wishes to send a clear signal to the market that they are loosening policy.”

“Going forward, I expect continued policy loosening as exports slow and inflation moderates,” Yu said in a note.

The cut in the RRR “is a clear signal that Beijing has decided that the balance of risks now lies with growth, rather than inflation,” wrote Stephen Green, regional head of research in Greater China for Standard Chartered, in a note.

Green said he expects China will reduce the reserve ratio again in January due to a potential liquidity crunch coming up before the Chinese New Year.

In recent months, capital flows into China have slowed amid general unease over the global economy, worries about China’s slowing growth and reduced expectations for appreciation of the yuan.

In October, China recorded its first monthly outflow of foreign currency since 2007.

RBS analyst Li Cui said the RRR cut had been widely expected by the market as part of the government’s “targeted loosening.”

“In recent months inflows from foreign trade and investment have slowed,” Li said. “In response the PBOC injected liquidity through open market operations to maintain steady base money growth, prompting expectations for possible RRR cuts. This is a cautious shift towards easing in a constrained monetary policy space,”

Meanwhile, China’s banks have been reporting strong results so far this year.

The Bank of China results for the first three quarters of 2011 showed a profit after tax of 101.28 billion yuan up 22.09 percent over the same period last year.

Of all the Chinese banks, the Bank of China is said to have the biggest exposure to Europe.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China reported after tax profit for the nine months ending Sept 30 of 164 billion yuan up 28.31 percent over the same period last year.

While the banks have reported solid results so far this year, the results are not reflected in the share prices which have been less than spectacular.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in a report last month said China’s banks are strong enough to resist a one-off shock, such as a plunge in property prices or a jump in exchange rates, but not necessarily strong enough to cope with several shocks coming at the same time.

The report, part of a review of the world’s 25 major financial sectors, said China’s recent progress in creating a “properly functioning financial system” has helped the economy weather the global economic crisis.

“As the world’s second largest economy continues to grow, the demand for credit is growing rapidly, exacerbated by rising asset prices, including housing. As a result, credit is increasingly being sought from outside the formal banking system as the government tries to manage the flow of bank credit,” the IMF said.

In its first assessment of the health of China’s financial system under the Financial Sector Assessment Program, the IMF said the risks are manageable, and can be addressed by reforms that upgrade the country’s capacity to respond to crises while supporting strong domestic demand.

“China’s banks and financial sector are healthy, but there are vulnerable elements that need to be addressed by the government, and experience in other countries has demonstrated the sooner these are addressed, the better,” said Jonathan Fiechter, deputy director of the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department and the head of the IMF team that conducted the assessment.

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cotton bags,messenger bag,reusable bags-Bombings, shootings kill at least 22 across Iraq

BAGHDAD - A suicide car bomber blew himself up in front of a Baghdad police academy on Sunday, killing 15 people and wounding 21 others in the deadliest attack for weeks in the Iraqi capital, security officials said.

At least seven other people were killed in attacks elsewhere in Iraq.

The suicide bomber "blew himself up at the entrance of the police academy on Palestine Street", an interior ministry official said, putting the toll at 15 killed and 21 wounded. A police colonel confirmed the toll.

The ministry official later told AFP that the assailant was at the wheel of a car bomb and most of his victims were students applying to join the police force.

It was the deadliest attack in Iraq since January 27, when a suicide bomber detonated an explosives-packed car outside a hospital in the Iraqi capital, killing 31 people.

Also on Sunday, gun and bomb attacks in other parts of the country killed seven people, among them four police informants, a policeman and two militiamen, and wounded four others, security officials said.

"A group of suspected ai-Qaida gunmen attacked a house in the centre of Baquba around 7:30 am," a police major in Baquba, 60 km north of Baghdad, told AFP.

"The attackers killed three women and one man from one family inside the house," the major said, adding they were all police informants.

Gunmen in a civilian car also attacked a checkpoint manned by police and Sahwa militia members in Abu Khamis, north of Baquba, killing a policeman and two militiamen, a police lieutenant colonel said.

And two more Sahwa members were wounded by a roadside bomb near Samarra, 110 km north of Baghdad, a lieutenant colonel in the Samarra police said.

The Sahwa are made up of Sunni tribesmen who joined forces with the US military against al-Qaida from late 2006, helping turn the tide of the insurgency.

Violence in Iraq is down from its peak in 2006 and 2007, but attacks remain common, killing 151 people in January.

A Baghdad military spokesman told media earlier this month that the ranks of Al-Qaeda, for which suicide bombings are a favoured tactic, have thinned dramatically but the organization remains a danger in Iraq.

"According to the numbers of our intelligence services, which are the same as those of the Americans, al-Qaida had 33,000 members in 2006. Today, they are no more than 3,000," Qassem Atta told Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

"Despite this dramatic drop, al-Qaida remains a danger," he said.

Only two to three potential suicide bombers enter Baghdad each month compared to 100 would-be martyrs in 2006, when sectarian violence killed on average 180 people per day, according to the same source.

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cotton bags,messenger bag,reusable bags-Border clash kills 3 Pakistan soldiers

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -Three Pakistani soldiers were killed and one Indian trooper was hurt in an exchange of fire by the rival militaries across their sensitive border in disputed Kashmir, authorities said on Thursday.

Both sides accused each other of starting the hostilities in the first deadly incident across the de facto border in the Himalayan region in more than three months.

The incident comes as tentative diplomatic steps were being taken to make peace between India and Pakistan, who have fought two of their three wars over Muslim-majority Kashmir.

Cross-border fire breaks out sporadically across the border known as the Line of Control and each side usually accuses the other of starting it.

Pakistan army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said that the Pakistani soldiers had been moving between posts when they got lost in bad weather in the Neelum River valley before the gunfire started.

"There was a fire exchange between the two sides. This was started by the Indian side - completely unprovoked firing, breaking the cease-fire, and after search of 24 hours their bodies were recovered," he said.

Indian army spokesman J.S. Brar said the Pakistanis shot first. 

"There was a cease-fire violation by Pakistani troops in (northern) Keran sector that left our soldier injured," he said from India-controlled Kashmir.

The injured soldier was taken to an Indian army base hospital in Srinagar, the capital of India-controlled Kashmir, he said, adding that he had no knowledge of Pakistani casualties.

Abbas said a meeting had been requested with local Indian commanders and that the deadly incident was under investigation.

India and Pakistan agreed to a cease-fire along the Line of Control in 2003, and a year later launched talks aimed at brokering a regional peace.

The process was suspended by India following the 2008 Mumbai attacks which killed 166 people and which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.

Pakistan denies Indian allegations that it helps insurgents in disputed Kashmir.

The latest incident came after Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart, Hina Rabbani Khar, met in New Delhi last month and both vowed to fight militancy, boost trade and sustain the peace process.

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cotton bags,messenger bag,reusable bags-Bombing at High Court in India capital kills 9

NEW DELHI - A powerful bomb placed in a briefcase outside the High Court in New Delhi killed at least nine people and injured 45 on Wednesday, a senior official said, prompting the Indian government to put the capital on high alert.

Home Secretary R.K. Singh told CNN-IBN the explosives were placed in a briefcase at the High Court reception in central New Delhi where hundreds of people come through every day to attend court cases.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Television images showed scores of lawyers in black coats running from one of the main gates of the building. Police cordoned off the area, not far from parliament and the prime minister's office.  

"This appears to be a bomb explosion and it is at least a medium-intensity bomb... The site has been fully secured and Delhi has been put on high alert. Whatever precautions need to be taken are being taken," said U.K. Bansal, in charge of internal security at the home ministry.  

The blast in the heart of the capital will renew concern about the authorities ability to prevent attacks, particularly in high-security areas.  

Several ambulances took away the injured to a nearby government hospital. Fire trucks were also sent to the scene.

"There was a bomb blast where you enter the court... there was panic everywhere. Now we are on the way to the hospital," witness Kriti Uppal told CNN-IBN. "It seems to be very powerful (blast). Seems to be many casualties."

In May, a low-intensity blast outside the same court triggered panic but injured no one.

Near-simultaneous triple bomb attacks in India's financial capital, Mumbai, in July killed 24 people. Police have yet to identify those behind the attacks.

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cotton bags,messenger bag,reusable bags-Bomb plot deepens in Bangkok

Iran and Israel dropped diplomatic bombshells on each other yesterday, accusing one another of being behind Tuesday's bomb blasts in Bangkok.

Israel was quick to implicate Iran in the bomb incidents. "The attempted attack in Bangkok proves once again that Iran and its proxies are continuing to act in the ways of terror and the latest attacks are an example of that," Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said.

But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast denied his country was involved in any of the cases and said Tehran condemned any "terrorist action". He told the official IRNA news agency: "The aim of the Zionist regime's claims is to overshadow the assassination of Iranian scientists."

The Iranian spokesman also accused Israel of "trying to harm the friendly and historic relations between Iran and Thailand".

Also yesterday, the United States--a close ally of Israel--condemned the blasts in Thailand's capital and suggested they may be linked to Iran.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the US was awaiting the results of investigations. She offered condolences to those injured.

'Iranian-sponsored links'

Nuland did not blame Irandirectly. But she noted Monday's incidents in India and Georgia,

and recent "Iranian-sponsored" and "Hezbollah-linked" plots to attack Israeli and Western interests in Azerbaijan and Thailand. She called it "reprehensible" for states to use terrorism as a foreign policy tool.

Thai authorities are holding two Iranians in connection with the three explosions in Bangkok on Tuesday.

One of the men, named as 28-year-old Saeid Morati according to a passport found in his possession, lost both his legs when he tried to hurl an explosive device at police while fleeing an earlier blast at a house in the Sukhumvit area. The other Iranian was detained as he tried to board a flight out of Thailand. A third suspect who fled to Malaysia was arrested at Thailand's request.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul yesterday said Thai authorities have not described Tuesday's incident as an act of terrorism. But he urged terrorist groups not to include Thailand in their plots.

"At the moment, there is no evidence linking this incident to terrorism. So far the arrested [men] are accused of illegal use of explosives and of attempting to kill others and officials on duty," Surapong said. "Personally, I believe the incidents in Georgia, India, and Thailand have no connection."

He added, however, that: "I would like to ask people who think of plots harmful to Thailand to stop them. And I ask terrorists not to use Thailand as their base."

The foreign minister called his press conference yesterday after 10 foreign countries issued travel ad-visories for their citizens following the blasts. They are the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Norway, and Ireland.

Surapong meets US ambassador

Surapong said the US ambassador to Thailand, Kristie Kenney, had called him on Tuesday evening to ask for details about the blasts. The US Embassy later issued a warning advising American citizens to be careful when travelling in Thailand.

"I thank Ambassador Kenney for calling first. That allowed me an opportunity to explain the situation and the actions by the Thai authorities aimed at restoring foreigners' confidence," he said.

The foreign minister had earlier expressed his disappointment over a warning last month by the US Embassy about possible terrorist attacks in Bangkok.

Terrorism fears

Meanwhile, concerned tourism businesses yesterday called on the government to make it clear to the international community that the bomb blasts in Bangkok on Tuesday had nothing to do with terrorism.

"Reports from foreign news agencies have linked the bombing with terrorism in India and Georgia…[similar to] the US travel warning issued in January," said Kongkrit Hiranyakit, president of the Tourism Council of Thailand.

The reports said terrorists were targeting tourist spots and travellers. This will result in more countries issuing travel warnings, he said.

Kongkrit said such warnings would have a psychological effect on tourists, who would delay their trips to Thailand, as they did after similar advisories last month. Further violence or discovery of bomb-making ingredients would affect tourists' decision on whether to come to Thailand even more.

He said that when the United States and the United Kingdom issued warnings, other countries would follow. The government should investigate Tuesday's event and clarify the situation as soon as possible to reduce the number of countries issuing such advisories for travellers.

Kongkrit said 60-70 per cent of tourists coming to Thailand decided for themselves the destinations of their trips and might be influenced to avoid Bangkok. Although the government has said the bombings were not the work of terrorists, foreign news agencies were still linking them to terrorism. The government should present evidence to refute this belief, he said.

Sisdivachr Chewarattanaporn, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents, said it had been receiving questions from trading partners and tourists concerned over the bomb blasts. However, they have not cancelled their trips to Thailand yet, but are waiting for the government's investigation.

"We have been informed that Thailand is not placed on the risk country from tourists but Thai travel agents instead," Sisdivachr said.

He said that if the government did not come out with clear information and security protection measures, it would affect Thailand's tourism industry in the long run.

The private sector cannot assess the situation but has to monitor the progress closely day by day.

"The government should control the situation as fast as it can and should be careful when releasing details [so as not] to create panic that leads embassies here to issue warnings," Sisdivachr said.

He added that in some sensitive countries such as China, such warnings would discourage tourists from travelling here. Sisdivachr pointed that the government should more careful for foreign tourist entering into Thailand.

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cotton bags,messenger bag,reusable bags-Bombings claim at least 44 in Iraq

Bombings across Iraq killed 44 people on Tuesday, striking police and Shiite pilgrims in a torrent of violence that officials had dreaded in the run-up to a Baghdad meeting of the Arab world's top leaders, which the government hoped would showcase the nation's stability. 

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, which also wounded nearly 200 people. But authorities have feared al-Qaida or its Sunni sympathizers would try to thwart next week's annual Arab League summit. 

The gathering is to be held in Iraq for the first time in a generation. Plans for Baghdad to host the meeting last year were postponed, in part because of concerns about Iraq's security. 

One of the deadliest strikes on Tuesday hit the Shiite holy city of Karbala, where officials said two car bombs exploded in a crowded shopping and restaurant area. Thirteen people were killed and another 50 were wounded in that attack, said local provincial council member Hussein Shadhan al-Aboudi. 

"The intention of these attacks is to destabilize the security situation in Karbala and other Iraqi cities and to shake the people's confidence on the government," al-Aboudi said. "It seems that the terrorists want to abort the upcoming Arab Summit in Baghdad. The message is directed to the Arab leaders that Iraq is not safe enough to be visited." 

Karbala, 80 kilometers south of Baghdad, is a destination for thousands of Shiite pilgrims from around the world who visit the golden shrines of two revered imams each day. Five Iranian pilgrims were among the dead. 

The wave of violence began after dawn on Tuesday. 

Militants blew up the house of a police official in the western city of Fallujah, planted bombs near the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, set off an explosion at a police station in the northern city of Kirkuk and attacked restaurants and shopping areas in two southern towns. 

In all, eight cities were hit in attacks that mostly appeared to target police and government officials. 

Police and health officials in each city who confirmed the casualties spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. 

Saman Majid, a cameraman for the Kirkuk police department said he had just arrived at work when the bomb outside the station exploded. He said he was wounded by small shrapnel that hit his head and ran to the Kirkuk General Hospital for treatment instead of waiting for an ambulance. 

"I quickly got out of my car to see burned bodies trapped inside the cars," he said. "Dozens of cars were on fire. It was a scene from hell, where there is only a huge fire and dead people and nothing else." 

Thirteen people, most of them policemen, were killed in Kirkuk, said Brigadier General Sarhad Qadir. An additional 59 were wounded. Kirkuk is 290 km north of Baghdad. 

Officials have been bracing for attacks in the run-up to the Arab League summit during which the Shiite-led government hopes to showcase Iraq's improved security and stability since the sectarian fighting a few years ago that almost pulled the country into civil war. 

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cotton bags,messenger bag,reusable bags- BOC offers $1.9b of loans to Tibet

BEIJING - Bank of China (BOC), a major state-owned commercial lender, said Thursday that it has provided more than 12 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) of loans to support Tibet's development over the past ten years.

These loans have made possible the much-needed assistance to the development of the region's transportation, telecommunications, energy, and water-related infrastructure sectors.

They have also boosted the mining, tourism, Tibetan medicine and ethnic handcraft industries in the southwestern region, said a statement publicized Thursday on the BOC's website.

The statement said that in recent years, the bank has opened more services to meet Tibetan people's daily needs for housing, education, personal investment options and credit.

In the first half of the year, the BOC extended 1 billion yuan of new loans, which accounted for more than 30 percent of the total new lending in the period in the region, according to the statement.

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cotton bags,messenger bag,reusable bags-Blasts in Baghdad claim 34

Bombings struck several areas in Baghdad and to the north on Thursday, killing at least 34 people in the first major attacks in Iraq in nearly a month. The violence stoked fears that insurgents were trying to undermine confidence in the Shiite-led government amid rising sectarian tensions. 

In all, officials said extremists launched 12 attacks in the Iraqi capital and in the cities of Kirkuk, Samarra, Baqouba, Dibis and Taji. Mortars were fired into the northern cities of Beiji and Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, but no injuries were reported there. 

Nearly 100 people were wounded in the rapid-fire explosions that unfolded over an hour and 15 minutes. Half of the bombs struck at security forces and government officials - two frequent targets for insurgents still seeking to undermine Iraq's efforts to normalize after years of war and violence. 

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but Baghdad military command spokesman Colonel Dhia al-Wakeel said they resembled those carried out by al-Qaida. 

"They want to send a message that they can target the stability that has been achieved recently," al-Wakeel said. "This will not discourage our security forces." 

Deadliest day 

It was the deadliest day in Iraq since March 20, when shootings and bombings claimed by al-Qaida front group the Islamic State of Iraq killed 50 people and wounded 255 nationwide. 

A car bomb targeting Health Minister Majid Hamed Amin's convoy in Haifa Street in the heart of the capital, killed two civilians and wounded nine people, including four of the minister's guards. 

Another car bomb in the Al-Amil neighbourhood of south Baghdad killed two people and wounded 17. 

Two people were killed and four wounded in a car bomb against a checkpoint in Palestine Street in the east of the capital, while a fourth car bomb in Kadhimiyah, a Shiite shrine district in north Baghdad, killed two people and wounded seven. 

AP-AFP 

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cotton bags,messenger bag,reusable bags-Bitter memory of collision off Diaoyu Islands remains divisive

BEIJING - A fishing boat collision in waters off the Diaoyu Islands remains a major obstacle in cementing Sino-Japanese ties, according to a public opinion poll. 

The poll found that 51 percent of the Chinese general public believes the Japanese government's tough stance escalated the incident. And 62.1 percent of Chinese students hold the view that the sensitive nature of the territorial disputes has made the situation worse. 

Sino-Japanese relations have been at a low point since a Chinese fishing boat and two Japanese patrol boats collided in waters off China's Diaoyu Islands last September. 

The Chinese captain was held in custody in Japan for half a month, and the incident disrupted official and non-official exchanges between the two countries. 

Forty-eight percent of the general public says the collision remains an obstacle because of the different views the two nations have toward sensitive issues, and 41.2 percent says it is because of the lack of negotiations and consultation between the two governments. 

The Japanese elite respondents think the two reasons above are equally important. 

According to the poll, the people of Asia's two biggest economies view each other as a military threat. 

The poll showed that most of the Chinese general public and students think the No 1 threat to China is the United States and Japan is second. 

Fifty-one percent of Chinese people believe that Japan's strategic policy always follows the United States, which makes it a military threat to China. 

And 49.7 percent are worried about the Japanese attitudes toward the war. 

Unlike the general public, Chinese students pay more attention to conflicts between the two countries, with 70.8 percent of students believing the disputes over territory and maritime resources have made Japan a military threat to China. Less than 40 percent of the general public shares that opinion. 

Also, 36.7 percent of the students say Japan has begun to dispatch self-defense forces abroad, a move that is likely to help the country to develop into a military power. 

In Japan, 57.5 percent of the general public views China as a threat, a 10 percent increase from the previous year. Among the Japanese elite, the figure is even higher. 

Eighty percent of the Japanese elite respondents express concern about China's growing power, while 69 percent believe the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is a threat. 

This is the first time since the question was placed on the survey in 2006 that more members of the Japanese elite consider China more of a threat than the DPRK. 

Also, 58.3 percent of the Japanese general public says the reason for seeing China as a threat is the territorial and maritime disputes between the two countries, and 64.5 percent says the Chinese should reconsider their protest against Japan after the fishing boat collision. 

Only 0.7 percent of the Japanese general public says Japan shares responsibility for the incident. 

In its 2011 annual defense report released last week, Japan officially challenged Beijing's military budget and voiced concern over China's "assertiveness" in dealing with international conflicts. 

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of National Defense jointly criticized the report's "irresponsible comments" and reaffirmed that "China has not and will never be a threat to any other country". 

Analysts said that Japan's political strategy toward China has been twisted - on one hand it wants to make good use of China's economic development and on the other it always tries to constrain China in the defense and security sector. 

Liu Jiangyong, a professor of Japanese studies at Bejing's Tsinghua University, said the responses and mentality of the Japanese have something to do with Japan's current defense guidelines, which were adopted at the end of last year. 

In these, it was claimed that China's military development and lack of transparency were matters of concern to the region and international community. 

Japan labors under a long-standing Cold War mentality and is trapped in the US-Japanese alliance, Liu said. 

He said Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has attached great importance to the US military presence in Japan and this alliance and Japan's current implementation of US policy toward China will hinder the improvement of Sino-Japanese strategic relations. 

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cotton bags,messenger bag,reusable bags-Birthday turns into memorial for Kim

PYONGYANG, DPRK -Smiling and saluting, new leader Kim Jong-un reviewed a parade of thousands of soldiers on Thursday who vowed to protect him with their lives as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea commemorated the 70th birthday of his late father, Kim Jong-il. 

Kim Jong-un, wearing a dark suit and a solemn expression, bowed deeply before a large portrait of his smiling father in Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang. Hundreds of senior officials, military leaders and citizens followed to pay their respects. 

Outside the palace, a huge crowd of DPRK soldiers lined up in neat rows, listening to speeches praising the Kim family. Later, the new leader and other officials watched as goose-stepping soldiers marched by, followed by military jeeps and trucks carrying artillery guns and rocket launchers. Fireworks exploded and military music boomed. 

Steadfast devotion 

Battles can break out without warning, Military General Staff Chief Ri Yong-ho told the televised ceremony, vowing to "wipe out US imperialists and Republic of Korea puppet traitors" and reunify the peninsula in case of war. 

"Kim Jong-un! Protect him with all our might!" roared thousands of troops from the army, navy and air force, state television showed. 

The event was the latest in a series designed to bolster loyalty to Kim Jong-un, after Kim Jong-il died suddenly on Dec 17 at age 69 and was succeeded by his son. 

The parade outside Pyongyang's Kumsusan Memorial Palace marked the changing of its name to the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a TV announcer said, in a tribute to the late leader and to his own father and founding president Kim Il-sung. 

Just beforehand, hundreds of top military and civilian officials paid tribute inside the marble-pillared palace to Kim Jong-il. 

Since Kim's death two months ago, expressions of mourning and adoration have been common in Pyongyang. 

Soldiers in large-brim caps saluted a smiling portrait. Civilians bowed deeply before the image as solemn music played. 

Kim Jong-un led the commemoration inside Kumsusan, where his father's embalmed body will lie in state. Kim Il-sung's body is already on display there. 

Their voices throbbing with emotion, TV commentators said "father General" Kim Jong-il had "brought proud victory and glory to the country". 

"There will be only victory and glory in the future of the DPRK ... led by the respected leader Kim Jong-un," a commentator predicted. 

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cotton bags,messenger bag,reusable bags-Bills call for legalization of gay marriage in Australia

SYDNEY - Two bills calling for the legalization of gay marriage were introduced to Australia's parliament on Monday in a move campaigners said would add momentum to the push for equality. 

The private member's bills, introduced by left-leaning Greens lawmaker Adam Bandt and Stephen Jones from the ruling Labor party, take to three the pieces of legislation now before the parliament calling for gay marriage rights. 

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young brought a similar bill in the upper house in September 2010 which is now being examined by a legislative inquiry. 

None of the bills have enough support to pass into law but rights campaigners said their introduction, which follows Labor's reversal of its official policy to pro-gay marriage in December, showed the tide was turning. 

"The Jones bill demonstrates the immense momentum behind reform," said Alex Greenwich, convenor of the Australian Marriage Equality lobby group. 

"Three months ago the Labor Party was officially opposed to reform and now we have a Labor member leading the way towards equality." 

He described Monday's events as a "milestone on the road to equality". 

Greenwich said rights advocates wanted both Jones and Bandt's bills to be examined by the Senate committee looking into Hanson-Young's bill so that "the best possible legislation can be developed and put forward". 

Jones said there would not be a debate or vote for some months yet. 

In Australia marriage is mandated by federal legislation, so although civil same-sex unions are recognized in five states, the couples are not seen as "married" by the federal government. 

All the same, same-sex couples have equal rights with heterosexual couples in areas such as pension schemes and medical benefits. 

Until December there had been bipartisan opposition to same-sex marriage in Australia and though Labor's official platform has changed, the party agreed to vote on conscience rather than en bloc, meaning there is presently little prospect of legal change. 

Prime Minister Julia Gillard opposes gay marriage, and the conservative Liberal-National coalition has made clear that its members will be expected to uphold the current heterosexual definition of marriage if a vote is called. 

"Our position is clear. We believe that a marriage is between a man and a woman and that's the way the Coalition will be voting," said Liberal front-bencher Joe Hockey. 

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cotton bags,messenger bag,reusable bags-Black monster’s debilitating grip

It is everywhere, is unaccounted for and is so monstrously big that one can only guess at the magnitude of the corruption and the effects it has had on India. The corpus of illicit money, known as “black money” in India, is estimated to be almost half of its GDP. ?

Black money refers to earnings not declared for tax purposes or income from crime or illicit dealings or amounts circulating in an underground or parallel economy unmonitored by the authorities. This is simply a tale of bonanza for a few, and bane for the country of 1.2 billion people, mostly poor.?

“Everybody in India is concerned about the extent of corruption and the unchecked generation of black money in India. The problem is increasingly getting acute and has started to hurt the lives of everyone,” says H.P. Agarwal, a tax expert with a Delhi-based consultant firm, SS Kothari Mehta (SSKM).?

“The unfortunate aspect of black money in India is that it hurts even the poorest. If India manages to claw back a small fraction of the black money (estimated to be anything between $460 billion and $1.4 trillion) that is hoarded abroad, imagine what it could do to help India’s burgeoning external debt problems, or eradicate poverty or illiteracy,” Agarwal says. That may be easier said that done, he adds.?

Not only is the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government under persistent attack from the opposition, it is also getting nudged by the judiciary. That partly explains why the country has suddenly decided to walk that extra mile to confront this “menace” head on.?

While presenting his budget for 2011-2012 this week, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced a five-fold strategy to tackle the generation and circulation of black money. He said “the generation of black money is an area of serious concern.”?

This “strategy”, he added, consists of “joining a global crusade against black money, creating an appropriate legislative framework, setting up institutions for dealing with illicit funds, developing systems for implementation and imparting skills to manpower for effective action.”?

Indeed, the all-pervasive Indian black economy has been growing unabated over the past six decades since the country won political freedom in 1947. It has been drained of $462 billion of illegal cash between 1948 and 2008, according to a study entitled The Drivers and Dynamics of Illicit Financial Flows from India: 1948-2008 conducted by the Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a crusader against illicit capital.?

GFI Lead Economist Dev Kar says India’s underground economy is closely tied with illicit financial outflows and that almost three quarters of the illegal assets estimated to account for 50 percent of GDP, end up outside the country.?

According to the Bharatiya Janata Party, the main opposition party, India may have illicit cash hoarding of more than $1.4 trillion, with about a third of it stashed abroad.?

Other estimates suggest the black economy has grown from about 3 percent in the mid-1950s to 20 percent, and 40 percent by 1995, to perhaps over 50 percent now.?

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), has classified 37 territories, known as tax havens, whose economies subsist chiefly on the inflow of illicit funds from across the world.?

These territories have nominal or no taxes, no effective exchange of information with other countries, hardly any substantial economic activity, and above all, laws which allow absolute secrecy of financial transactions, OECD adds.?

Although it is hard to say where the illicit funds ends up for certain, experts say Switzerland, Luxembourg, Cayman Islands and Mauritius have emerged as the most favorite destinations for parking and laundering such moneys. ?

While India has become more aggressive in pushing the tax havens to share information regarding entities that are hoarding black money, the country has no laws to fight their secrecy.?

“Moreover, until now India has focused primarily on unearthing black money in India, but has never taken active steps to get them back from the tax havens,” says Agarwal of SSKM.?

“Although India needs to take a plethora of measures – including amnesty schemes, reforms, revamping legal structure, et al. – to stem the outflow of illicit money from the country, illicit financial flows cannot be curtailed without the collaborative effort of both developing and developed countries,” says Kar of GFI.

China Daily Asia Weekly on March 04, 2011, page 03

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