Final goodbye: Recalling influential people who died in 2020

December 08, 2020

(AP) In a year defined by a devastating pandemic, the world lost iconic defenders of civil rights, great athletes and entertainers who helped define their genres. Many of their names hold a prominent place in the collective consciousness — RBG, Kobe, Maradona, Eddie Van Halen, Little Richard, Sean Connery, Alex Trebek, Christo — but pandemic restrictions often limited the public's ability to mourn their loss in a year that saw more than a million people die from the coronavirus.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — known as the Notorious RBG to her many admirers — was one of the many noteworthy figures who died in 2020. In a court known for solemn legal proceedings, Ginsburg became a cultural and social media icon whose fierce defense of women's rights earned her a devoted following. She died in September after 27 years on the country's highest court. Making few concessions to age and health problems, she showed a steely resilience and became the leader of liberal justices on the court.

The world also said goodbye to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement who died in July. Other former political figures who died this year include Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, New York Mayor David Dinkins, Arizona Gov. Jane Hull, Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui, U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, U.N. Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar and FBI Director William S. Sessions.

Some of the year's deaths struck down relatively young people, leaving mourners with the heartbreak of a life gone too soon. Basketball great Kobe Bryant died along with several others in a January helicopter crash at age 41. And in a shock to fans, actor Chadwick Boseman, who inspired audiences with his portrayal of comic book superhero Black Panther, died of cancer in August at age 43.

Others in the world of arts and entertainment who died in 2020 include actors Olivia de Havilland, Kirk Douglas, Irrfan Khan, Max von Sydow, Diana Rigg, Ian Holm, Rishi Kapoor and Franca Valeri; musicians Ellis Marsalis Jr., John Prine, Bonnie Pointer, Kenny Rogers, Juliette Greco and Toots Hibbert; filmmakers Nobuhiko Obayashi, Joel Schumacher and Ivan Passer; authors Mary Higgins Clark and Clive Cussler; TV hosts Regis Philbin and Jim Lehrer; magician Roy Horn; and fashion designer Kenzo Takada.

Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2020 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):

JANUARY

David Stern, 77. The basketball-loving lawyer who took the NBA around the world during 30 years as its longest-serving commissioner and oversaw its growth into a global powerhouse. Jan. 1.

Nick Gordon, 30. He was found liable in the death of his ex-partner, Bobbi Kristina Brown, the daughter of singers Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown. Jan. 1. Heroin overdose.

Don Larsen, 90. The journeyman pitcher who reached the heights of baseball glory when he threw a perfect game in 1956 with the New York Yankees for the only no-hitter in World Series history. Jan. 1. Esophageal cancer.

Neil Peart, 67. The renowned drummer and lyricist from the influential Canadian band Rush. Jan. 7.

Elizabeth Wurtzel, 52. Her blunt and painful confessions of her struggles with addiction and depression in the bestselling “Prozac Nation” made her a voice and a target for an anxious generation. Jan. 7. Cancer.

Buck Henry, 89. “The Graduate” co-writer who as screenwriter, character actor, “Saturday Night Live” host and cherished talk-show and party guest became an all-around cultural superstar of the 1960s and 70s. Jan. 8.

Ivan Passer, 86. A leading filmmaker of the Czech New Wave who with Milos Forman fled Soviet-controlled Prague and forged a celebrated career in Hollywood. Jan. 9.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said, 79. He was the Mideast’s longest-ruling monarch who seized power in Oman in a 1970 palace coup and pulled his Arabian sultanate into modernity while carefully balancing diplomatic ties between adversaries Iran and the U.S. Jan. 11.

Jimmy Heath, 93. A Grammy-nominated jazz saxophonist and composer who performed with such greats as Miles Davis and John Coltrane before forming the popular family group the Heath Brothers in middle age. Jan. 19.

Thomas Railsback, 87. An Illinois Republican congressman who helped draw up articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon in 1974. Jan. 20.

Terry Jones, 77. A founding member of the anarchic Monty Python troupe who was hailed by colleagues as “the complete Renaissance comedian” and “a man of endless enthusiasms.” Jan. 21.

Jim Lehrer, 85. The longtime host of the nightly PBS “NewsHour” whose serious, sober demeanor made him the choice to moderate 11 presidential debates between 1988 and 2012. Jan. 23.

Kobe Bryant, 41. The 18-time NBA All-Star who won five championships and became one of the greatest basketball players of his generation during a 20-year career spent entirely with the Los Angeles Lakers. Jan. 26. Helicopter crash.

John Andretti, 56. Carved out his own niche in one of the world’s most successful racing families and became the first driver to attempt the Memorial Day double. Jan. 30.

Mary Higgins Clark, 92. She was the tireless and long-reigning “Queen of Suspense” whose tales of women beating the odds made her one of the world’s most popular writers. Jan. 31.

Anne Cox Chambers, 100. A newspaper heiress, diplomat and philanthropist who was one of America’s richest women. Jan. 31.

FEBRUARY

Andy Gill, 64. The guitarist who supplied the scratching, seething sound that fueled the highly influential British punk band Gang of Four. Feb. 1.

Bernard Ebbers, 78. The former chief of WorldCom who was convicted in one of the largest corporate accounting scandals in U.S. history. Feb. 2.

George Steiner, 90. He became one of the world’s leading public intellectuals through his uncommon erudition, multilingual perspective and the provocative lessons he drew from his Jewish roots and escape from the Holocaust. Feb. 3.

Daniel arap Moi, 95. A former schoolteacher who became Kenya’s longest-serving president and presided over years of repression and economic turmoil fueled by runaway corruption. Feb. 4.

Kirk Douglas, 103. The intense, muscular actor with the dimpled chin who starred in “Spartacus,” “Lust for Life” and dozens of other films, helped fatally weaken the blacklist against suspected communists and reigned for decades as a Hollywood maverick and patriarch. Feb. 5.

Beverly Pepper, 97. A fixture of the Roman “Dolce Vita” and renowned American sculptor who made Italy her home and backdrop to many of her monumental steel creations. Feb. 5.

Roger Kahn, 92. The writer who wove memoir and baseball and touched millions of readers through his romantic account of the Brooklyn Dodgers in “The Boys of Summer.” Feb. 6.

Orson Bean, 91. The witty actor and comedian who enlivened the game show “To Tell the Truth” and played a crotchety merchant on “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.” Feb. 7. Hit by a car.

Robert Conrad, 84. The rugged, contentious actor who starred in the hugely popular 1960s television series “Hawaiian Eye” and “The Wild Wild West.” Feb. 8.

Mirella Freni, 84. An Italian soprano whose uncommon elegance and intensity combined with a sumptuous voice and intelligence to enthrall audiences for a half-century. Feb. 9.

Joseph Shabalala, 78. The founder of the South African multi-Grammy-Award-winning music group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Feb. 11.

Charles “Chuckie” O’Brien, 86. A longtime associate of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa who became a leading suspect in the labor leader’s disappearance and later was portrayed in the Martin Scorsese film, “The Irishman.” Feb. 13.

Zoe Caldwell, 86. A four-time Tony Award winner who brought humanity to larger-than-life characters, whether it be the dotty schoolteacher Miss Jean Brodie, an aging opera star Maria Callas or the betrayed, murderous Medea. Feb. 16.

Charles Portis, 86. The novelist was a favorite among critics and writers for such shaggy dog stories as “Norwood” and “Gringos” and a bounty for Hollywood whose droll, bloody Western “True Grit” was a bestseller twice adapted into Oscar-nominated films. Feb. 17.

Mickey Wright, 85. The golf great with a magnificent swing who won 13 majors among her 82 victories and gave the fledgling LPGA a crucial lift. Feb. 17.

Sy Sperling, 78. The Hair Club for Men founder who was famous for the TV commercials where he proclaimed “I’m not only the Hair Club president but I’m also a client.” Feb. 19.

Barbara “B.” Smith, 70. She was one of the nation’s top Black models who went on to open restaurants, launch a successful home products line and write cookbooks. Feb. 22.

Thich Quang Do, 91. A Buddhist monk who became the public face of religious dissent in Vietnam while the Communist government kept him in prison or under house arrest for more than 20 years. Feb. 22.

Katherine Johnson, 101. A mathematician who calculated rocket trajectories and Earth orbits for NASA’s early space missions and was later portrayed in the 2016 hit film “Hidden Figures,” about pioneering Black female aerospace workers. Feb. 24.

Clive Cussler, 88. The million-selling adventure writer and real-life thrill-seeker who wove personal details and spectacular fantasies into his page-turning novels about underwater explorer Dirk Pitt. Feb. 24.

Hosni Mubarak, 91. The Egyptian leader who was the autocratic face of stability in the Middle East for nearly 30 years before being forced from power in an Arab Spring uprising. Feb. 25.

MARCH

Jack Welch, 84. He transformed General Electric Co. into a highly profitable multinational conglomerate and parlayed his legendary business acumen into a retirement career as a corporate leadership guru. March 1. Renal failure.

Ernesto Cardenal, 95. The renowned poet and Roman Catholic cleric who became a symbol of revolutionary verse in Nicaragua and across Latin America, and whose suspension from the priesthood by St. John Paul II lasted over three decades. March 1.

James Lipton, 93. The longtime host of “Inside the Actors Studio.” March 2. Cancer.

Bobbie Battista, 67. She was among the original anchors for CNN Headline News and hosted CNN’s “TalkBack Live.” March 3. Cancer.

Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, 100. The two-term United Nations secretary-general who brokered a historic cease-fire between Iran and Iraq in 1988 and who in later life came out of retirement to help reestablish democracy in his Peruvian homeland. March 4.

Amory Houghton Jr., 93. He led his family’s glass company in upstate New York and later spent nearly two decades in Congress as a Republican with a reputation for breaking with his party. March 4.

Max von Sydow, 90. The actor known to art house audiences through his work with Swedish director Ingmar Bergman and later to moviegoers everywhere when he played the priest in the horror classic “The Exorcist.” March 8.

Rev. Darius L. Swann, 95. His challenge to the notion of segregated public schools helped spark the use of busing to integrate schools across the country. March 8.

Charles Wuorinen, 81. A winner of the 1970 Pulitzer Prize in Music and composer of the operas “Brokeback Mountain” and “Haroun and the Sea of Stories.” March 11. Injuries suffered in a fall.

Lyle Waggoner, 84. He used his good looks to comic effect on “The Carol Burnett Show,” partnered with a superhero on “Wonder Woman” and was the first centerfold for Playgirl magazine. March 17.

Kenny Rogers, 81. The Grammy-winning balladeer who spanned jazz, folk, country and pop with such hits as “Lucille,” “Lady” and “Islands in the Stream” and embraced his persona as “The Gambler” on records and TV. March 20.

Terrence McNally, 81. He was one of America’s great playwrights whose prolific career included winning Tony Awards for the plays “Love! Valour! Compassion!” and “Master Class” and the musicals “Ragtime” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” March 24. Coronavirus.

Manu Dibango, 86. He fused African rhythms with funk to become one of the most influential musicians in world dance music. March 24. Coronavirus.

Floyd Cardoz, 59. He competed on “Top Chef,” won “Top Chef Masters” and operated successful restaurants in both India and New York. March 25. Coronavirus.

Fred “Curly” Neal, 77. The dribbling wizard who entertained millions with the Harlem Globetrotters for parts of three decades. March 26.

Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, 98. A veteran civil rights leader who helped the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and fought against racial discrimination. March 27.

Tom Coburn, 72. A former U.S. senator from Oklahoma who earned a reputation as a conservative political maverick when he railed against federal earmarks and subsidies for the rich. March 28.

Krzysztof Penderecki, 86. An award-winning conductor and one of the world’s most popular contemporary classical music composers whose works have featured in Hollywood films like “The Shining” and “Shutter Island.” March 29.

Joe Diffie, 61. A country singer who had a string of hits in the 1990s with chart-topping ballads and honky-tonk singles like “Home” and “Pickup Man.” March 29. Coronavirus.

Bill Withers, 81. He wrote and sang a string of soulful songs in the 1970s that have stood the test of time, including “Lean on Me,” “Lovely Day” and “Ain’t No Sunshine.” March 30.

APRIL

Ellis Marsalis Jr., 85. The jazz pianist, teacher and patriarch of a New Orleans musical clan. April 1. Coronavirus.

Adam Schlesinger, 52. An Emmy and Grammy-winning musician and songwriter known for his work with his band Fountains of Wayne and on the TV show “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” April 1. Coronavirus.

Tom Dempsey, 73. The NFL kicker born without toes on his kicking foot who made a then-record 63-yard field goal. April 4. Coronavirus.

Honor Blackman, 94. The potent British actress who took James Bond’s breath away in “Goldfinger” and who starred as the leather-clad, judo-flipping Cathy Gale in “The Avengers.” April 5.

Earl Graves Sr., 85. He championed Black businesses as the founder of the first African American-owned magazine focusing on black entrepreneurs. April 6.

John Prine, 73. The singer-songwriter who explored the heartbreaks, indignities and absurdities of everyday life in “Angel from Montgomery,” “Sam Stone,” “Hello in There” and scores of other songs. April 7. Coronavirus.

Herbert Stempel, 93. A fall guy and whistleblower of early television whose confession to deliberately losing on a 1950s quiz show helped drive a national scandal and join his name in history to winning contestant Charles Van Doren. April 7.

Linda Tripp, 70. Her secretly taped conversations with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky provided evidence of an affair with President Bill Clinton that led to his impeachment. April 8.

Mort Drucker, 91. The Mad magazine cartoonist who for decades lovingly spoofed politicians, celebrities and popular culture. April 9.

Phyllis Lyon, 95. A gay rights pioneer who, with her longtime partner, was among the first same-sex couples to marry in California when it became legal to do so in 2008. April 9.

Nobuhiko Obayashi, 82. He was one of Japan’s most prolific filmmakers who devoted his works to depicting war’s horrors and singing the eternal power of movies. April 10.

Stirling Moss, 90. A daring, speed-loving Englishman regarded as the greatest Formula One driver never to win the world championship. April 12.

Brian Dennehy, 81. The burly actor who started in films as a macho heavy and later in his career won plaudits for his stage work in plays by William Shakespeare, Anton Chekhov, Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Miller. April 15.

Jane Hull, 84. She was Arizona’s first woman elected governor and part of the “Fab Five” celebrated as the nation’s first all-female elected state executive branch leadership group. April 17.

Paul O’Neill, 84. A former Treasury secretary who broke with George W. Bush over tax policy and then produced a book critical of the administration. April 18.

Irrfan Khan, 54. A veteran character actor in Bollywood movies and one of India’s best-known exports to Hollywood. April 29.

Denis Goldberg, 87. A South African anti-apartheid activist. April 29.

Rishi Kapoor, 67. A top Indian actor who was a scion of Bollywood’s most famous Kapoor family. April 30.

MAY

Bobby Lee Verdugo, 69. One of the leaders of the 1968 East Los Angeles high school walkout to protest discrimination and dropout rates among Mexican American students, which triggered a movement across the American Southwest. May 1.

Shady Habash, 22. An Egyptian filmmaker detained without trial for over two years for making a music video that mocked President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi. May 2. Died in prison.

Rosalind Elias, 90. An American mezzo-soprano who created roles in a pair of Samuel Barber world premieres and made her Broadway debut at 81. May 3.

Don Shula, 90. He won the most games of any NFL coach and led the Miami Dolphins to the only perfect season in league history. May 4.

Roy Horn, 75. He was half of Siegfried & Roy, the duo whose extraordinary magic tricks astonished millions until Horn was critically injured in 2003 by one of the act’s famed white tigers. May 8. Coronavirus.

Little Richard, 87. He was one of the chief architects of rock 'n’ roll whose piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour irrevocably altered popular music while introducing Black R&B to white America. May 9. Bone cancer.

Betty Wright, 66. The Grammy-winning soul singer and songwriter whose influential 1970s hits included “Clean Up Woman” and “Where is the Love.” May 10.

Jerry Stiller, 92. For decades, he teamed with wife Anne Meara in a beloved comedy duo and then reached new heights in his senior years as the high-strung Frank Costanza on the classic sitcom “Seinfeld” and the basement-dwelling father-in-law on “The King of Queens.” May 11.

Astrid Kirchherr, 81. She was the German photographer who shot some of the earliest and most striking images of the Beatles and helped shape their trend-setting visual style. May 12.

Phyllis George, 70. The former Miss America who became a female sportscasting pioneer on CBS’ “The NFL Today” and served as the first lady of Kentucky. May 14.

Fred Willard, 86. The comedic actor whose improv style kept him relevant for more than 50 years in films like “This Is Spinal Tap,” “Best In Show” and “Anchorman.” May 15.

Ken Osmond, 76. On TV’s “Leave It to Beaver,” he played two-faced teenage scoundrel Eddie Haskell, a role so memorable it left him typecast and led to a second career as a police officer. May 18.

Saleh Abdullah Kamel, 79. The billionaire Saudi businessman who founded the banking and real estate conglomerate Dallah Albaraka Group. May 19.

Jerry Sloan, 78. The Hall of Fame coach who was a fixture for decades in Utah and took the Jazz to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998. May 22.

Eddie Sutton, 84. The Hall of Fame basketball coach who led three teams to the Final Four and was the first coach to take four schools to the NCAA Tournament. May 23.

Stanley Ho, 98. A casino tycoon whose business empire dominated the Portuguese gambling enclave of Macao for decades. May 26.

Larry Kramer, 84. The playwright whose angry voice and pen raised theatergoers’ consciousness about AIDS and roused thousands to militant protests in the early years of the epidemic. May 27. Pneumonia.

Christo, 84. He was known for massive, ephemeral public arts projects that often involved wrapping large structures in fabric. May 31.

JUNE

Wes Unseld, 74. The workmanlike Hall of Fame center who led Washington to its only NBA championship and was chosen one of the 50 greatest players in league history. June 2.

Shigeru Yokota, 87. A Japanese campaigner for the return of his daughter and more than a dozen others who were abducted to North Korea in the 1970s. June 5.

Bonnie Pointer, 69. She convinced three of her church-singing siblings to form the Pointer Sisters, which would become one of the biggest acts of the 1970s and ’80s. June 8. Cardiac arrest.

Pierre Nkurunziza, 56. As president of Burundi, his 15-year-rule was marked by deadly political violence and a historic withdrawal from the International Criminal Court. June 8.

William S. Sessions, 90. A former federal judge appointed by President Ronald Reagan to head the FBI and fired years later by President Bill Clinton. June 12.

Charles Webb, 81. A lifelong nonconformist whose debut novel “The Graduate” was a deadpan satire of his college education and wealthy background adapted into the classic film of the same name. June 16.

Edén Pastora, 83. Better known as “Commander Zero,” he was one of the most mercurial and charismatic figures of Central America’s revolutionary upheavals. June 16.

Jean Kennedy Smith, 92. She was the last surviving sibling of President John F. Kennedy and who as a U.S. ambassador played a key role in the peace process in Northern Ireland. June 17.

Vera Lynn, 103. The endearingly popular “Forces’ Sweetheart” who serenaded British troops during World War II. June 18.

Ian Holm, 88. An acclaimed British actor whose long career included roles in “Chariots of Fire” and “The Lord of the Rings.” June 19.

Joel Schumacher, 80. The eclectic and brazen filmmaker who shepherded the Brat Pack to the big screen in “St. Elmo’s Fire” and steering the Batman franchise into its most baroque territory in “Batman Forever” and “Batman & Robin.” June 22.

Milton Glaser, 91. The groundbreaking graphic designer who adorned Bob Dylan’s silhouette with psychedelic hair and summed up the feelings for his home state with “I (HEART) NY.” June 26.

Thomas Edwin Blanton Jr., 82. He was the last of three one-time Ku Klux Klansmen convicted in a 1963 Alabama church bombing that killed four Black girls and was the deadliest single attack of the civil rights movement. June 26.

Rudolfo Anaya, 82. A writer who helped launch the 1970s Chicano Literature Movement with his novel “Bless Me, Ultima,” a book celebrated by Latinos. June 28.

Carl Reiner, 98. The ingenious and versatile writer, actor and director who broke through as a “second banana” to Sid Caesar and rose to comedy’s front ranks as creator of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and straight man to Mel Brooks’ “2000 Year Old Man.” June 29.

Johnny Mandel, 94. The Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer, arranger and musician who worked on albums by Frank Sinatra, Natalie Cole and many others and whose songwriting credits included “The Shadow of Your Smile” and the theme from the film and TV show “M(asterisk)A(asterisk)S(asterisk)H.” June 29.

JULY

Hugh Downs, 99. The genial, versatile broadcaster who became one of television’s most familiar and welcome faces with more than 15,000 hours on news, game and talk shows. July 1.

Nick Cordero, 41. A Tony Award-nominated actor who specialized in playing tough guys on Broadway in such shows as “Waitress,” “A Bronx Tale” and “Bullets Over Broadway.” July 5. Coronavirus.

Ennio Morricone, 91. The Oscar-winning Italian composer who created the coyote-howl theme for the iconic spaghetti Western “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” and soundtracks for such classic Hollywood gangster movies as “The Untouchables” and “Once Upon A Time In America.” July 6. Complications of surgery after a fall.

Charlie Daniels, 83. Country music firebrand and fiddler who had a hit with “Devil Went Down to Georgia.” July 6. Stroke.

Mary Kay Letourneau, 58. A teacher who married her former sixth-grade student after she was convicted of raping him in a case that drew international headlines. July 6. Cancer.

Naya Rivera, 33. A singer and actor who played a gay cheerleader on the hit TV musical comedy “Glee.” July 8. Drowning.

Kelly Preston, 57. She played dramatic and comic foil to actors ranging from Tom Cruise in “Jerry Maguire” to Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Twins” and was married to actor John Travolta. July 12. Cancer.

Joanna Cole, 75. The author whose “Magic School Bus” books transported millions of young people on extraordinary and educational adventures. July 12. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

John Lewis, 80. An icon of the civil rights movement whose bloody beating by Alabama state troopers in 1965 helped galvanize opposition to racial segregation, and who went on to a long and celebrated career in Congress. July 17.

Rev. C.T. Vivian, 95. An early and key adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. who organized pivotal civil rights campaigns and spent decades advocating for justice and equality. July 17.

Regis Philbin, 88. The genial host who shared his life with television viewers over morning coffee for decades and helped himself and some fans strike it rich with the game show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” July 24.

Peter Green, 73. The dexterous blues guitarist who led the first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac in a career shortened by psychedelic drugs and mental illness. July 25.

John Saxon, 83. A versatile actor with a lengthy and prolific career who starred with Bruce Lee in “Enter the Dragon” and appeared in several “Nightmare on Elm Street” movies. July 25. Pneumonia.

Olivia de Havilland, 104. The doe-eyed actress beloved to millions as the sainted Melanie Wilkes of “Gone With the Wind,” but also a two-time Oscar winner and an off-screen fighter who challenged and unchained Hollywood’s contract system. July 26.

Connie Culp, 57. She was the recipient of the first partial face transplant in the U.S. July 29.

Lee Teng-hui, 97. A former Taiwanese president who brought direct elections and other democratic changes to the self-governed island despite missile launches and other fierce saber-rattling by China. July 30.

Herman Cain, 74. A former Republican presidential candidate and former CEO of a major pizza chain who went on to become an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump. July 30. Coronavirus.

Alan Parker, 76. A successful and sometimes surprising filmmaker whose diverse output includes “Bugsy Malone,” “Midnight Express” and “Evita.” July 31.

AUGUST

Wilford Brimley, 85. He worked his way up from movie stunt rider to an indelible character actor who brought gruff charm, and sometimes menace, to a range of films that included “Cocoon,” “The Natural” and “The Firm.” Aug. 1.

John Hume, 83. The visionary politician who won a Nobel Peace Prize for fashioning the agreement that ended violence in his native Northern Ireland. Aug. 3.

Shirley Ann Grau, 91. A Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction writer whose stories and novels told of both the dark secrets and the beauty of the Deep South. Aug. 3.

Brent Scowcroft, 95. He played a prominent role in American foreign policy as national security adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush and was a Republican voice against the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Aug. 6.

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, 83. A prolific Jewish scholar who spent 45 years compiling a monumental and ground-breaking translation of the Talmud. Aug. 7.

Franca Valeri, 100. An elegant, ironic and versatile actress who pioneered female comic roles in Italy’s post-war years and helped the nation laugh at its foibles. Aug. 9.

Robert Trump, 71. President Donald Trump’s younger brother, he was a businessman known for an even keel that seemed almost incompatible with the family name. Aug. 15.

Slade Gorton, 92. A cerebral politician from Washington state who served as a U.S. Senate Republican leader before he was ousted by the growing Seattle-area liberal electorate in 2000. Aug. 19.

Gail Sheehy, 83. A journalist, commentator and pop sociologist whose best-selling “Passages” helped millions navigate their lives from early adulthood to middle age and beyond. Aug. 24. Complications from pneumonia.

Lute Olson, 85. The Hall of Fame coach who turned Arizona into a college basketball powerhouse. Aug. 27.

Osamu Masuko, 71. A former Mitsubishi Motors chief executive who engineered the Japanese automaker’s alliance with Nissan. Aug. 27. Heart failure.

Chadwick Boseman, 43. He played Black American icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown with searing intensity before inspiring audiences worldwide as the regal Black Panther in Marvel’s blockbuster movie franchise. Aug. 28. Cancer.

John Thompson, 78. The imposing Hall of Famer who turned Georgetown into a “Hoya Paranoia” powerhouse and became the first Black coach to lead a team to the NCAA men’s basketball championship. Aug. 30.

Lady Yvonne Sursock Cochrane, 98. One of Lebanon’s most prominent philanthropists and a pioneer defender of the country’s heritage. Aug. 31. Injuries suffered from a massive explosion in Beirut.

Tom Seaver, 75. The Hall of Fame pitcher who steered a stunning transformation from lovable losers to Miracle Mets in 1969. Aug. 31. Complications of Lewy body dementia and the coronavirus.

SEPTEMBER

Kaing Guek Eav, 77. Known as Duc, he was the Khmer Rouge’s chief jailer, who admitted overseeing the torture and killings of as many as 16,000 Cambodians while running the regime’s most notorious prison. Sept. 2.

Diana Rigg, 82. A commanding British actress whose career stretched from iconic 1960s spy series “The Avengers” to fantasy juggernaut “Game of Thrones.” Sept. 10.

Toots Hibbert, 77. One of reggae’s founders and most beloved stars who gave the music its name and later helped make it an international movement through such classics as “Pressure Drop,” “Monkey Man” and “Funky Kingston.” Sept. 11.

Terence Conran, 88. The British designer, retailer and restaurateur who built a furniture empire around the world, founded The Design Museum in London and modernized the everyday lives of British people. Sept. 12.

Florence Howe, 91. An activist, educator and major contributor to American literature and culture who as co-founder of the Feminist Press helped revive such acclaimed and influential works as Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wall-Paper” and Rebecca Harding Davis’ “Life in the Iron Mills.” Sept. 12.

Winston Groom, 77. The writer whose novel “Forrest Gump” was made into a six-Oscar winning 1994 movie that became a soaring pop culture phenomenon. Sept. 17.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 87. The U.S. Supreme Court justice developed a cultlike following over her more than 27 years on the bench, especially among young women who appreciated her lifelong, fierce defense of women’s rights. Sept. 18.

Rev. Robert Graetz, 92. The only white minister to support the Montgomery bus boycott and who became the target of scorn and bombings for doing so. Sept. 20.

Michael Lonsdale, 89. An enigmatic giant of the silver screen and theater in France who worked with some of the world’s top directors in an acting career that spanned 60 years. Sept. 21.

Ang Rita, 72. A veteran Nepalese Sherpa guide who was the first person to climb Mount Everest 10 times. Sept. 21.

Gale Sayers, 77. The dazzling and elusive running back who entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame despite the briefest of careers and whose fame extended far beyond the field for decades thanks to a friendship with a dying Chicago Bears teammate. Sept. 23.

Juliette Greco, 93. A French singer, actress, cultural icon and muse to existentialist philosophers of the country’s post-War period. Sept. 23.

Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, 91. The ruler of Kuwait who drew on his decades as the oil-rich nation’s top diplomat to push for closer ties to Iraq after the 1990 Gulf War and solutions to other regional crises. Sept. 29.

Helen Reddy, 78. She shot to stardom in the 1970s with her rousing feminist anthem “I Am Woman” and recorded a string of other hits. Sept. 29.

Timothy Ray Brown, 54. He made history as “the Berlin patient,” the first person known to be cured of HIV infection. Sept. 29.

Mac Davis, 78. A country music star who launched his career crafting the Elvis hits “A Little Less Conversation” and “In the Ghetto,” and whose own hits include “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me.” Sept. 29.

Sister Ardeth Platte, 84. A Dominican nun and anti-nuclear activist who spent time in jail for her peaceful protests. Sept. 30.

OCTOBER

Bob Gibson, 84. A baseball Hall of Famer and the dominating St. Louis Cardinals pitcher who won a record seven consecutive World Series starts and set a modern standard for excellence when he finished the 1968 season with a 1.12 ERA. Oct. 2.

Kenzo Takada, 81. The iconic French-Japanese fashion designer famed for his jungle-infused designs and free-spirited aesthetic that channeled global travel. Oct. 4. Coronavirus.

Eddie Van Halen, 65. The guitar virtuoso whose blinding speed, control and innovation propelled his band Van Halen into one of hard rock’s biggest groups and became elevated to the status of rock god. Oct. 6. Cancer.

Johnny Nash, 80. A singer-songwriter, actor and producer who rose from pop crooner to early reggae star to the creator and performer of the million-selling anthem “I Can See Clearly Now.” Oct. 6.

Mohammad Reza Shajarian, 80. His distinctive voice quavered to traditional Persian music on state radio for years before supporting protesters following Iran’s contested 2009 election. Oct. 8.

Whitey Ford, 91. The street-smart New Yorker who had the best winning percentage of any pitcher in the 20th century and helped the Yankees become baseball’s perennial champions in the 1950s and ’60s. Oct. 8.

Joe Morgan, 77. The Hall of Fame second baseman became the sparkplug of dominant Cincinnati teams in the mid-1970s and was a two-time National League Most Valuable Player. Oct. 11.

Bernard S. Cohen, 86. He won a landmark case that led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of laws forbidding interracial marriage and later went on to a successful political career as a state legislator. Oct. 12. Complications from Parkinson’s disease.

Mahmoud Yassin, 79. An Egyptian actor and pillar of the country’s film industry during the second half of the 20th century. Oct. 14.

Christopher Pendergast, 71. A suburban New York teacher who turned a Lou Gehrig’s disease diagnosis into a decadeslong campaign to raise awareness and fund research. Oct. 14.

Rhonda Fleming, 97. The fiery redhead who appeared with Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Charlton Heston, Ronald Reagan and other film stars of the 1940s and 1950s. Oct. 14.

Sid Hartman, 100. The Minnesota sports columnist and radio personality was an old-school home team booster who once ran the NBA’s Minneapolis Lakers and achieved nearly as much celebrity as some of the athletes he covered. Oct. 18.

Spencer Davis, 81. A British guitarist and bandleader whose eponymous rock group had 1960s hits including “Gimme Some Lovin’” and “I’m a Man.” Oct. 19.

James Randi, 92. A magician who later challenged spoon benders, mind readers and faith healers with such voracity that he became regarded as the country’s foremost skeptic. Oct. 20.

Lee Kun-Hee, 78. The Samsung Electronics chairman who transformed the small television maker into a global giant of consumer electronics but whose leadership was also marred by corruption convictions. Oct. 25.

Diane di Prima, 86. A poet, activist and teacher who was one of the last surviving members of the Beats and one of the few women writers in the Beat movement. Oct. 25.

Billy Joe Shaver, 81. An outlaw country singer-songwriter who wrote songs like “Honky Tonk Heroes,” “I Been to Georgia on a Fast Train” and “Old Five and Dimers Like Me.” Oct. 28.

Sean Connery, 90. The charismatic Scottish actor who rose to international superstardom as the suave secret agent James Bond and then abandoned the role to carve out an Oscar-winning career in other rugged roles. Oct. 31.

NOVEMBER

Robert Fisk, 74. A veteran British journalist, he was one of the best-known Middle East correspondents who spent his career reporting from the troubled region and won accolades for challenging mainstream narratives. Nov. 1.

Tom Metzger, 82. The notorious former Ku Klux Klan leader who rose to prominence in the 1980s while promoting white separatism and stoking racial violence. Nov. 4. Parkinson’s disease.

Norm Crosby, 93. The deadpan mangler of the English language who thrived in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s as a television, nightclub and casino comedian. Nov. 7.

Alex Trebek, 80. He presided over the beloved quiz show “Jeopardy!” for more than 30 years with dapper charm and a touch of schoolmaster strictness. Nov. 8.

Saeb Erekat, 65. A veteran peace negotiator and prominent international spokesman for the Palestinians for more than three decades. Nov. 10. Coronavirus.

Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, 84. As Bahrain’s prince, he was one of the world’s longest-serving prime ministers and led his island nation’s government for decades. Nov. 11.

Paul Hornung, 84. The dazzling “Golden Boy” of the Green Bay Packers whose singular ability to generate points as a runner, receiver, quarterback and kicker helped turn the team into an NFL dynasty. Nov. 13.

Soumitra Chatterjee, 85. The legendary Indian actor with more than 200 movies to his name and famed for his work with Oscar-winning director Satyajit Ray. Nov. 15. Coronavirus.

Walid al-Moallem, 79. Syria’s longtime foreign minister, he was a career diplomat who became one of the country’s most prominent faces to the outside world during the uprising against President Bashar Assad. Nov. 16.

Jan Morris, 94. The celebrated journalist, historian, world traveler and fiction writer who in middle age became a pioneer of the transgender movement. Nov. 20.

David Dinkins, 93. He broke barriers as New York City’s first African American mayor but was doomed to a single term by a soaring murder rate, stubborn unemployment and his mishandling of a riot in Brooklyn. Nov. 23.

Bruce Carver Boynton, 83. A civil rights pioneer from Alabama who inspired the landmark “Freedom Rides” of 1961. Nov. 23.

Diego Maradona, 60. The Argentine soccer great who scored the “Hand of God” goal in 1986 and led his country to that year’s World Cup title before later struggling with cocaine use and obesity. Nov. 25.

Dave Prowse, 85. The British weightlifter-turned-actor who was the body, though not the voice, of archvillain Darth Vader in the original “Star Wars” trilogy. Nov. 28.

Eddie Benton-Banai, 89. He helped found the American Indian Movement partly in response to alleged police brutality against Indigenous people. Nov. 30.

DECEMBER

Thomas M. Reavley, 99. He was the oldest active federal judge who served for 41 years on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Dec. 1.

Valery Giscard d’Estaing, 94. He was the president of France from 1974 to 1981 and became a champion of European integration. Dec. 2.

Rafer Johnson, 86. He won the decathlon at the 1960 Rome Olympics and helped subdue Robert F. Kennedy’s assassin in 1968. Dec. 2.

Alison Lurie, 94. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist whose satirical and cerebral tales of love and academia included the marital saga “The War Between the Tates” and the comedy of Americans abroad “Foreign Affairs.” Dec. 3.

David L. Lander, 73. An actor who played the character of Squiggy on the popular ABC comedy “Laverne & Shirley.” Dec. 4.

Tabaré Vázquez, 80. He was Uruguay’s first socialist president, rising from poverty to win two terms as leader. Dec. 6. Cancer.

Paul Sarbanes, 87. He represented Maryland for 30 years in the Senate as a leader of financial regulatory reform and drafted the first article of impeachment against Republican President Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal as a congressman. Dec. 6.

Japan to deliver 12 amphibious aircraft to Indian Navy

Washington (UPI)
Jan 5, 2016

Japan is scheduled to deliver 12 Utility Seaplane Mark 2 amphibious search-and-rescue aircraft to the Indian Navy.

The delivery is part of a $1.65 billion deal reached between both governments to facilitate the export of the aircraft. The deal was signed following Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to India, where leaders from both countries agreed to further their cooperation on procuring defense and security equipment, according to The Hindu Business Line.

The "agreement provides a framework to enhance defense and security co-operation by making available to each other, defense equipment and technology necessary to implement joint research, development and production," sources told The Hindu.

The Utility Seaplane Mark 2 is the basis for the model known as the US-2i for India. It has the same capability as the US-2, with some equipment modifications specific to India's requirements. The plane, crewed by 11, is capable of carrying 20 passengers or 12 stretchers for search-and-rescue missions.

The first two US-2i will be imported, while the remaining 10 are scheduled to be manufactured in India.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Japan_to_deliver_12_amphibious_aircraft_to_Indian_Navy_999.html.

India and China withdraw troops from Himalayan face off

By Fayaz Bukhari and Satarupa Bhattacharjya
SRINAGAR/NEW DELHI, Indian | Mon May 6, 2013

(Reuters) - India and China simultaneously withdrew troops from camps a few meters apart in a Himalayan desert on Sunday, apparently ending a three-week standoff on a freezing plateau where the border is disputed and the Asian giants fought a war 50 years ago.

The two sides stood down after reaching an agreement during a meeting between border commanders, an Indian army official told Reuters, after the tension threatened to overshadow a planned visit by India's foreign minister to Beijing on Thursday.

But it was not immediately clear how far China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers had withdrawn - Delhi had claimed they were 19 km (12 miles) beyond the point it understands to be the border with China, a vaguely defined de facto line called the Line of Actual Control, which neither side agrees on.

Defense and foreign ministry spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

"Our troops have moved one kilometer backwards from the position they were on since April 16," said the officer, from the Indian army's Northern Command, which oversees the disputed region on the fringes of India's Jammu and Kashmir state.

"Chinese troops have also moved away from their position they were holding on since April 15 when they intruded in Indian territory. It is not clear yet how (far) the PLA moved back."

India considered it the worst border incursion for years.

New Delhi often appears insecure about relations with its powerful neighbor, despite slowly warming relations between Asia's largest countries. China is India's top trade partner, but the unresolved border sours the friendship.

India's opposition and much of the media has been critical of the government's handling of the standoff, drawing parallels with a 1962 war which ended in its humiliating defeat. On Friday, parliament was adjourned after members shouted "Get China out, save the country".

"YOU ARE IN CHINESE TERRITORY"

India says Chinese troops intruded into its territory on the western rim of the Himalayas on April 15. Some officials and experts believe the incursion signaled Chinese concern about increased Indian military activity in the area.

A group of about 30 Chinese soldiers, backed by helicopters, had pitched several tents near a 16th century Silk Road campsite called Daulat Beg Oldi, close to an air strip New Delhi uses to support troops on the Siachen glacier.

Each day since, Indian and Chinese soldiers and border guards left their camps and stood about 100 meters (330 feet) apart on the Depsang Plain, a 5,000 meter (16,400 feet) high desert ringed by jagged peaks of the Karakoram range.

Winter temperatures can drop to minus 30 degrees centigrade, and the area is lashed by icy strong winds all year round.

A photograph released by a source in the Indian army showed a group of six Chinese soldiers on a rock-strewn landscape holding a bright orange banner that read, in English and Mandarin, "This is the Line of Actual Control, You are in Chinese territory".

Delhi reopened the Daulat Beg Oldi airstrip in 2008. Two other runways, out of use since the war, have been opened and Daulat Beg Oldi has been upgraded since.

Siachen, at the north of the disputed region of Kashmir, is claimed by both India and Pakistan and has the dubious distinction of being the world's highest battlefield.

Tensions are likely to persist given India and China's increased presence in an area that for centuries was largely unclaimed and criss-crossed with caravan routes. Now the land abuts the Karakoram Highway joining Pakistan to China, which Beijing hopes to develop further as trade route linking it to the Arabian Sea port of Gwadar.

Speaking before Sunday's resolution, Srikanth Kondapalli, an Indian analyst who specializes in China studies, said the dispute lay close to large hydroelectric projects and an ambitious plan to expand the Karakoram highway.

He said the lack of agreement about where the border lies, combined with increased military and infrastructure activity meant more flashpoints were likely.

"It is a no-man's land," said Kondapalli, who considers the current standoff to be more serious than the usual cross-border incidents. "Even if the (present) issue is resolved, this will only flare up."

(Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/06/us-india-china-idUSBRE9440B220130506.

Japan to shut down crippled Fukushima nuclear plant by end of 2011

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- Japenese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told the United Nations' (UN) General Assembly on Friday that the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant will be fully shut down by the end of the year.

Noda said Japan was making steady progress in stabilizing the nuclear power plant damaged by the massive earthquake and catastrophic tsunami which hit the country in March, but a number of challenges remain, including the removal of debris and restoring the livelihoods of people in the affected region.

At the Assembly's general debate in New York, Noda said the country was currently focusing on efforts to move up the existing target period to achieve a cold shutdown of the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant by the end of the year.

"Although some countries, regrettably, are still imposing undue restrictions on imports from Japan, our Government will continue to provide prompt and accurate information on this matter, with transparency," Noda stated, requesting that all countries "make sound judgements based upon scientific evidence."

In addition, the Japanese Prime Minister announced that the country would hold an international conference next year in the Tohoku region that was struck by the earthquake and tsunami in an effort to boost international cooperation on responding to natural disasters.

The country will also co-host with the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) a second international conference next year to share the results of the overall assessment of the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, as a contribution to the various measures taken by the international community to raise the standards of nuclear energy safety.

Noda also stated that Japan is pursuing a growth path that promotes low-carbon technologies and a transition to a greener economy. "The key to achieving these goals is technological innovation in the areas of renewable energy, energy saving and clean use of fossil fuels," Noda said, also stating that the first lesson from Japan's recent tragedy is the importance of international cooperation in disaster risk reduction.

On the UN's peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Noda said Japan was ready to support the mission and announced that his country is preparing to send military officers to serve in it, as well as a Japanese military engineering unit.

On the drought-induced humanitarian emergency in the Horn of Africa, Noda said that Japan had already disbursed about $100 million in assistance. He also announced that Japan will support reforms and democratization efforts in North Africa and the Middle East, saying Tokyo will provide the equivalent of $1 billion in loans to fund infrastructure and industrial development projects as a way of boosting employment and human resource development.

Saturday, September 24th, 2011

Source: WireUpdate.
Link: http://wireupdate.com/news/japan-to-shut-down-crippled-fukushima-nuclear-plant-by-end-of-2011.html.

China to launch moon-landing probe around 2013

Beijing (XNA)
Sep 22, 2011

China will launch its lunar probe Chang'e-3 around 2013, which is expected to conduct the first softlanding of a Chinese spacecraft on an extraterrestrial body.

The mission of Chang'e-3 is to land on the moon safely and carry out a large number of experiments, according to sources with State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence.

This mission serves as a key part in the second stage of China's three-phase lunar exploration program.

Source: Moon Daily.
Link: http://www.moondaily.com/reports/China_to_launch_moon_landing_probe_around_2013_999.html.

US in $5.85 billion Taiwan jet upgrade, China protests

Washington (AFP)
Sept 22, 2011

The United States announced a $5.85 billion upgrade of Taiwan's fighter jets Wednesday, triggering swift rebuke from China even though the deal stopped short of the island's ambitions to buy new F-16s.

Taiwanese and US officials said that the upgrade would improve the island's defenses as it faces a rising China, which has ramped up military spending and widened its strategic edge over the self-governing territory.

"After the upgrade, the air force's combat capability will be advanced hugely," Taiwan's defense minister Kao Hua-chu told a hastily called press conference in Taipei.

Officials in Washington and Taipei said Taiwan would get a retrofit of 145 F-16 A/B fighter jets, which will be equipped with modern weapons and radar capable of detecting China's new stealth airplanes.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called the package a "substantial" move that will "help ensure that Taiwan maintains the capability to protect its airspace in both peacetime and during any crisis."

"We firmly believe that our arms sales to Taiwan contribute to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," she said.

But China, which claims Taiwan as its territory and has repeatedly warned the United States not to sell weapons to the island, said it was summoning the new US ambassador to Beijing, Gary Locke, and lodged a protest in Washington.

"The wrongdoing by the US side will inevitably undermine bilateral relations as well as exchanges and cooperation in military and security areas," China's vice foreign minister Zhang Zhijun said, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

China snapped military exchanges with the United States in January 2010 after President Barack Obama's administration approved an earlier $6.4 billion package that included helicopters and Patriot missiles, although cooperation resumed within months.

The Obama administration had kept quiet for months over Taiwan's request, first lodged in 2007, to buy 66 F-16 C/D fighters -- which have better radar and more powerful weapons systems than its F-16 A/Bs -- in response to China's growing military muscle.

The decision to upgrade the existing fleet was seen by some Taiwanese observers as a consolation prize. Obama also came under fire from members of the rival Republican Party who said that jet sales would have created badly needed US jobs.

Republican Senator John Cornyn, whose state of Texas stands to benefit from arms sales, accused Obama of failing to meet obligations under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which requires Washington to ensure Taiwan's self-defense.

The arms decision "bestows upon Communist China a newfound sway over American national security, and this capitulation should be met with concern by US allies everywhere," said Cornyn, who has introduced legislation that aims to force the sale of 66 new F-16s.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Obama "caved in to the unreasonable demands of China at the cost of well-paying American jobs."

A senior administration official shot back at the criticism, saying that the more than $12 billion in arms approved for Taiwan under Obama contrasted favorably with the record of Republican President George W. Bush.

"Essentially, we have provided twice the amount in half the time. And that is a substantial commitment and I don't think it's fair to turn this into a partisan issue," the official said on condition of anonymity.

The official said that the United States was not ruling out future sales of new F-16 C/D jets but said that the retrofit was the best option in the near term.

"It is our belief that we are going to be able to get greater capabilities more rapidly and a large number of airplanes into the field in a more decisive way," he said.

Richard Aboulafia, an aviation expert and vice president of the Teal Group Corp., said that Taiwan's F-16 A/Bs were already unusually modern and included many of the technical features of C/Ds.

But he said that the upgrade decision meant that Taiwan would not increase its fleet at a time that China is boosting its military spending.

"This is a numbers problem," he said.

The package, which will take place over 12 years, also includes training for Taiwanese pilots at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.

China's defeated nationalists fled to Taiwan after losing the civil war in 1949 and the island has since transformed into a vibrant democracy. US officials reiterated that Washington still only recognizes Beijing.

Ties between China and Taiwan have improved markedly since Beijing-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008 and ramped up trade and other links.

But China has refused to renounce the use of force against the self-governing island and Ma has publicly sought new F-16s.

Source: Sino Daily.
Link: http://www.sinodaily.com/reports/US_in_585_billion_Taiwan_jet_upgrade_China_protests_999.html.

'Mutant' dogs to spawn from hundreds of feral pups still living in Fukushima no-entry zone, suggest officials

Wednesday, September 21, 2011
by: Jonathan Benson

(NaturalNews) It resembles the plot line of a cheesy horror flick, but the idea that a new generation of vicious "mutant" dogs will one day spawn from puppies still living in and around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster zone is something that Japanese officials are taking very seriously. According to a recent report in The Seattle Times (ST), efforts aimed at capturing the hundreds of wild dogs still living in the Fukushima no-entry zone are failing, and many of the dogs are growing ever more wild as they freely scour the human-less fallout zone.

"If these puppies become parents, their offspring will be wild dogs with no experience with people," a government official is quoted as saying to ST. "We want to catch these puppies before they grow up."

But most capturing efforts initiated thus far have been unsuccessful, as the "dead zone" dogs still living are becoming increasingly more estranged and savage. Though the Japanese government had successfully captured several hundred dogs in the months immediately following the Fukushima disaster, more-recent efforts to locate and apprehend remaining dogs have been fruitless.

For unknown reasons, the remaining wild dogs are not responding to the food-baited cage traps that they once did, which has left authorities scratching their heads as to what to do next. The dogs, many of which would have formerly responded to human petition, have now apparently transformed into beasts of a different variety.

"The dogs have gone wild," added Kunitoshi Baba, a 63-year-old veterinarian from Kawasaki, who has been helping the local government try to capture the loose canines. "If infected dogs go outside the zone and attack people, disease could spread," he added, noting that many of the loose dogs apprehended thus far are infected with various diseases.

Back in June, we posted a video clip to NaturalNews.TV that shows what appears to be an earless bunny rabbit allegedly born this way as a result of exposure to nuclear radiation from the crippled Fukushima plant. The mutation, if a legitimate result of nuclear fallout, may have been an early prelude of worse things to come.

Source: NaturalNews.
Link: http://www.naturalnews.com/033644_Fukushima_mutants.html.

Japanese demand end to nuclear power

Mon Sep 19, 2011

Thousands of Japanese people have rallied in the capital Tokyo to demand an end to nuclear energy, six months after twin disasters of quake and tsunami led to an atomic crisis in the tremor-prone country.

About 60,000 people turned up on Monday in what organizers said was one of the biggest demonstrations since March 11 quake which sparked a nuclear crisis at Fukushima Daiichi power plant, Reuters reported.

“No more nuclear power plants! No more Fukushimas,” protesters chanted as they gathered in Meiji Park in central Tokyo before the march began.

Japanese government has banned people from within 20 kilometers of the crippled plant where the continuous leakage of radiation has forced some 80,000 residents to leave their homes.

The nuclear crisis dealt a heavy blow to Japan's former Prime Minister Naoto Kan who faced escalating criticism over his handling of the trouble and was finally forced to leave office in late August.

Kan told Kyodo News agency on Monday that he had contemplated evacuating as many as 30 million people from Tokyo and surrounding prefectures in a worst-case scenario of the nuclear crisis.

The former premier said there were no effective safeguardS since ''we had never foreseen a situation in which a quake, tsunami and a nuclear plant accident would occur at the same time."

While still in office, Kan had said that Japan had to reduce its reliance on nuclear energy which accounted for nearly 30 percent of the country's electricity supply before the crisis.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.com/detail/200005.html.

China officially recognizes Libyan rebels-Xinhua

Mon Sep 12, 2011

BEIJING Sep 12 (Reuters) - China has officially recognized the Libyan rebels' National Transitional Council as the "ruling authority and representative of the Libyan people", the official Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

The brief announcement ended weeks of uncertainty about when Beijing would formally embrace the rebel forces that have overwhelmed Muammar Gaddafi's beleaguered supporters as the legitimate rulers of Libya.

China had been one of the few countries to withhold recognition from the rebels.

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFL3E7KC37520110912.

Four Sentenced to Death

2011-09-14

Courts in Xinjiang sentence four Uyghurs to die for their alleged role in bloody attacks.

China has sentenced four ethnic Uyghurs to death in connection with a series of July attacks in the northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region which left dozens of people dead, state media reported Thursday, drawing condemnation from overseas groups.

Abdugheni Yusup, Ablikim Hasan, Muhtar Hasan, and Memetniyaz Tursun were handed the death sentence while two other men—Abdulla Eli and Pulat Memet—were sentenced to 19 years in prison and a five-year suspension of their political rights for their part in the attacks, according to tianshannet.com, a state-run website.

The mainly Muslim Uyghur minority has long chafed against Chinese rule in Xinjiang, and authorities have accused "terrorists" of operating in the region.

Tianshannet said that the defendants were convicted of “forming and participating in a terrorist organization, the illegal manufacture of explosives, premeditated homicide, arson, and several other related crimes” over an attack on a police station in Hotan and two separate attacks in Kashgar.

The verdicts were handed down Wednesday by intermediate courts in the two Silk Road cities, the report said.

It said the Hotan court convicted Abdugheni Yusup of leading a group of men carrying axes, machetes, and Molotov cocktails in a July 18 attack on the Nawagh Police Station in the city.

During the attack, the report said, the group killed one member of a security team, injured two bystanders, and took two hostages. The group also set fire to the police station and surrounding commercial property, it said.

When confronted by police, the report said, the group killed one armed police officer and injured a SWAT officer and another security team member.

Tianshannet said the Kashgar court convicted Ablikim Hasan of carrying out a July 30 attack on the Kashgar Fragrant Food Street, an alley of Chinese-owned restaurants, along with Urayim Memet, a Uyghur who was later killed by police.

During the attack, the report said, the two men killed a truck driver and rammed his vehicle into a group of bystanders. They then attacked onlookers with knives, it said, leaving a total of eight people dead and 31 injured.

The court also sentenced Muhtar Hasan who, along with four others, Tianshannet said, detonated an explosion in a vehicle and slashed bystanders with knives at another location in Kashgar, killing five people and injuring 13, including three police officers.

Memetniyaz Tursun was sentenced for training the perpetrators of the Kashgar attacks, the report said.

Sentence condemned

Rebiya Kadeer, president of the Munich-based World Uyghur Congress, strongly denounced the sentencing in statement Wednesday.

"Any country in which the court and press are not free makes it impossible to expect a fair and just verdict."

She called the court decision, which was handed down barely two months after the events took place, "motivated by hatred and politics," accusing the government of "trying to comfort some people in Chinese society with Fascist ideas" and "encouraging Chinese migrants" to Xinjiang.

Kadeer said that the Chinese government's policy of harshly punishing or crushing dissent has been used for decades without success, and that by handing down the sentence, authorities were only increasing tensions in the region.

"[The authorities] talked about how the incident was carried out, but they never talked about why they happened and never investigated the cause of the events, which was ethnic discontent," she said.

"What should be investigated are the unjust policies and who should have been brought to justice were the people who wrote these policies and carry them out ... Instead, they became the judges of the people."

Kadeer said that the Chinese government should be working to create "peaceful and equal living conditions" among China's ethnic nationalities.

"This should be achieved not through the power of guns, but through the power of civilization and justice."

Many of Xinjiang’s estimated 8 million Uyghurs complain of strict controls on their religion and culture that China enforces and resent influxes of Han Chinese migrant workers and businesses.

Uyghurs say they have long suffered ethnic discrimination, oppressive religious controls, and continued poverty and joblessness despite China's ambitious plans to develop its vast northwestern frontier.

Source: Radio Free Asia.
Link: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/uyghur/death-09142011181933.html.

Pet hotel thrives as Koreans seek canine companions

By Nam You-Sun | AFP
(8th of July 2012 Sunday)

Checking into one of Seoul's newest luxury clinics just because your companion needs a shower may seem extravagant, but Cho Hang-Min said he had no other choice.

"Other places won't do it," said Cho, a student, explaining why he and his Border Collie have stopped off at Irion.

The two-storey establishment in the city's wealthy Gangnam district is a luxury hotel and clinic for pampered pets -- a rising trend in South Korea where dogs were once treated as guard animals or as something to eat.

These days younger Koreans are spending more on their pets, enabling the rise of a high-end industry out to ensure that canine companions are just as pampered as their style-conscious owners.

Irion, which means "Come here" in Korean, opened in February 2011 as a one-stop complex offering a veterinary clinic, grooming salon, cafe, shop, daycare center, an exercise area and "hotel" rooms for dogs and cats.

"I opened Irion because I saw the demand in the industry, to keep pace with the growing animal companion culture in Korea as the economy develops," Park So-Yeon, head of the DBS company which runs the facility, told AFP.

"These facilities are necessities, not luxuries, for people raising animals. Unfortunately I couldn't find facilities good enough to feel safe and satisfied before I opened Irion."

Irion offers 36 rooms of varying sizes and high-end clinical equipment including computer tomography, X-ray and ultrasound machines. At the front door a shop sells everything from snacks to pet strollers.

Hotel fees range from 40,000 won ($35.26) to 200,000 won a night.

"People say it's nonsensical to spend all that money on animals, but we provide daily health checkups, a hygienic environment, large hotel rooms and an exercise area and I'm pretty sure this is not a high price," said Park.

"And as for the clinic, we have vet specialists for different body parts, even a herbal medicine vet and high-technology equipment that smaller hospitals don't possess."

Despite the price, Park said about 2,000 dogs and cats come to Irion every month for all sorts of services. During the summer vacation season, rooms are booked out.

Cho, 19, was not quibbling about cost after reclaiming his newly fragrant pooch. "The hospital is big and clean...I like it here and plan to come here once every two weeks to shower my dog," he said.

Another patron, Lee Ji-Hyun, said price was not a problem in return for good care. "Services are great and my babies love the place," she said of her two Maltese terriers and a Yorkshire terrier.

Increasingly affluent and urbanized South Koreans in recent decades have been cherishing dogs as companions.

The state-run Rural Development Administration estimates the pet dog industry was worth 1.8 trillion won ($1.58 billion) as of 2010 and growing at an average annual rate of 11 percent.

Nearly 20 percent of households have pets, according to official statistics, with about 95 percent of them owning dogs. But Park thinks the country still has some way to go.

"Korea is relatively slow in pet industry growth because it has unique traditions, such as raising animals out of the house, and some other extreme ones," she said, referring to eating dogmeat.

"But those are changing nowadays."

Eating dogs is a longstanding custom. But growing numbers of Koreans oppose the practice and consider it an international embarrassment.

In June last year the Korea Dog Farmers' Association cancelled a planned dogmeat festival following protests from animal rights activists.

The Rural Development Administration said Koreans have begun seeing dogs as partners for life rather than toys and started treating them as family members.

Park said there is still room for improvement in petiquette (pet etiquette) such as always using a lead outdoors and training dogs to behave.

"Owners still need to learn petiquette because I don't think we are quite there yet in terms of animal culture compared to other countries like the US and Japan," she said.

"What's so sad is that even up to now the largest number of dogs and cats are being adopted at Christmas and Children's Day...people must consider whether they are responsible enough to raise animals."

Park now operates four Irion multi-complexes and four which provide only veterinary treatment. She says she plans to open more in coming months.

Japan to reduce reliance on nuclear power?

Sept. 13, 2011

TOKYO, Sept. 13 (UPI) -- Japan aims to reduce dependence on nuclear power, new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said Tuesday in his first policy address to Parliament.

Noda's stance contrasts with that of his predecessor Naoto Kan, who called for Japan to end its reliance on nuclear energy after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that triggered the radiation-leaking crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.

Kan was widely criticized for his handling of the response to the crisis.

While Japan must try to reduce dependence on nuclear energy "as much as possible" in the mid- to long-term, Noda said, nuclear power stations would restart after regular inspections in which safety "has been thoroughly verified and confirmed, under the premise that a relationship of trust is developed with the local government."

Japan's Nuclear Safety and Security Agency would be established as an affiliated agency under the Ministry of the Environment and work to "boldly unify regulations" for nuclear power safety, Noda said.

He said Japan will introduce a new energy plan around summer 2012 to replace its current policy, set to expire in 2030.

Under Japan's previous energy plan, prior to the Fukushima disaster, nuclear power had been set to meet more than half of demand by 2030, up from about one-third. In his first speech to the nation as prime minister Sept. 2, Noda said it was "unrealistic" to build new reactors and that existing reactors would be decommissioned at the end of their life spans.

Only 12 of Japan's 54 commercial nuclear power plant reactors are currently in operation.

Pointing to the nation's limited fossil fuel resources and advanced technological power, the Noda also said Japan must take the lead globally on new forms of energy, presenting "a cutting edge model for energy conservation and renewable energies."

A report from Greenpeace International says that by switching to renewable energy, Japan could permanently shut down all its nuclear stations by 2012 and maintain economic growth and meet its carbon dioxide emission reduction goals.

Greenpeace's plan calls for Japan's solar power and wind energy generation to increase from the current level of 3,500 megawatts to 47,200 megawatts by 2015.

"The tremendous potential of Japan's renewable energy industry not only allows it to retire its existing nuclear plants, but provides a huge opportunity to boost the economy by creating thousands of green jobs," Greenpeace International Renewable Energy Campaign Director Sven Teske said in a statement.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2011/09/13/Japan-to-reduce-reliance-on-nuclear-power/UPI-19221315934345/.

South Korean detained for unapproved trip to North

July 06, 2012

PANMUNJOM, Korea (AP) — As North Koreans cheered and waved white "unified Korea" flags, a South Korean activist was detained as soon as he set foot on home soil Thursday, resisting police in a stunt of defiance after an unapproved, three-month stay in the North.

Turning around to face crowds of cheering North Koreans before stepping over the line, No Su-hui raised his arms and shouted "Long live reunification," a white unified Korea flag in his right hand and a bouquet of flowers in his left. Behind him on the South Korean side, South Korean soldiers stood in taekwondo poses, their eyes concealed behind dark sunglasses.

Associated Press photos showed South Korean officials in suits grabbing a resistant No just after he stepped over the demarcation line inside the Demilitarized Zone as South Korean soldiers snapped photographs at a close distance. From the North Korean side, soldiers and officials stood watching the melee as crowds of North Koreans waved "unified Korea" flags.

The stunt by No, 68, was designed to draw attention to the division of the Korean Peninsula. He had gone to Pyongyang from China in March even though South Koreans are prohibited from traveling to North Korea without government approval.

"The conservative forces are saying they will put me on trial, but I will judge them," No said. "Please watch and see what will happen." No, who is vice chairman of South Korea's Pan-Alliance for Korea's Reunification, was dressed in a gray suit and white tie, a pin of unified Korea — a symbol of reunification — on his jacket. His pointed decision to cross back through the truce village of Panmunjom was a highly symbolic move to draw attention to his cause. Most tourists must enter and exit North Korea via China.

The Korean Peninsula has remained in a state of war since a truce ended three years of fighting in 1953. After a decade of warming ties, relations have soured since a new conservative administration took office in Seoul in 2008. Following the sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010 that killed 46 sailors, which South Korea blames on the North, Seoul has severed nearly all ties with Pyongyang.

Only a handful of South Koreans have been granted permission to visit Pyongyang in recent years, including two delegations that went to pay their respects to late leader Kim Jong Il after his December death. Last year, a Christian minister was sentenced to prison for making a similar, unauthorized trip, and Seoul officials have said No will face punishment.

According to South Korea's National Security Law, sneaking into North Korea without government permission is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, while praising the country could draw seven years. No remained under questioning in the South Korean border city of Paju on Friday and police planned to seek a warrant later in the day to formally arrest him, an official at the National Police Agency in Seoul said, declining to be named citing office policy.

North Korea has accused South Korean President Lee Myung-bak of being a traitor to the cause of reunification. No, who went to Pyongyang to pay his respects to Kim on the 100th day after his death, visited major tourist sites and met with North Korean officials during his visit, North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said.

In Paju, hundreds of anti-North Korean protesters rallied Thursday against No's return, slashing his photo and burning mock figures of No and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Associated Press photographers Kim Kwang Hyon in Panmunjom and Hye Soo Nah in Paju, South Korea, contributed to this report.

Chinese Rights Lawyer Guo Feixiong Released After 5 Years in Prison

By Gu Qing’er & Liang Xin
September 13, 2011

Chinese human rights lawyer Guo Feixiong was released from prison on Sept. 13. Although in poor health and weakened by the ordeal of five years imprisonment, he declared himself unchanged in his core.

Prior to his detention in September 2006, Guo (whose original and pen name are Yang Maodong) was active in the “weiquan” or rights defense movement—a loose collection of lawyers and intellectuals that sought to protect the rights of ordinary Chinese through litigation.

Guo defended poor peasants whose land had been stolen, Christians, Falun Gong practitioners, and others who have suffered under the Chinese regime. He was a close associate of human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who advocated for Guo’s release before Gao himself was imprisoned. Gao’s current whereabouts are unknown.

Guo’s conviction in November 2007 for “illegal business activity” was widely regarded as simply a means to silence him.

While still a free man, Guo was beaten several times by Public Security agents, and in prison he suffered torture.

Soon after his arrival home to Guangzhou, Guo told The Epoch Times: “Right now my health is very bad and very weak, because the conditions in the prison were so different from the outside. My health situation and experiences are widely known by everyone. I think I experienced a lot more than other people.”

In prison, Guo suffered several tortures, including the notorious “tiger bench,” hanging from the ceiling with his hands tied together, and having his penis shocked with high voltage electric batons. His vision is said to have deteriorated and he has chronic pain in the area of his waist.

Nonetheless, Guo declared himself unbowed by the severe abuse.

“When a person lives for his principles, no matter what happens, he is still happy at his core,” Guo said. “My principles have never changed. In the coming months, I want to spend more time seeing, asking, and listening. I will not become radical, cowardly, or weak because of what happened to me over the past five years. I’m still the old me.”

Upon his release, Guo’s sister and brother rushed to Guangzhou to assist him. His sister was not allowed to pick him up at the prison.

His wife and children could not be present for Guo’s homecoming, as they were forced to seek asylum in the United States in April 2009. The Chinese regime had caused Guo’s wife, Zhang Qing to lose her job, didn’t allow his children to go to school, and froze their bank accounts, among other acts of harassment.

Guo was able to call Zhang upon arriving home. Guo’s sister said, “Zhang Qing and the kids were waiting for the news. The two kids just called and said they miss their dad badly.”

Guo said he wanted to rest and recuperate for a while at home. He also wished to express his thanks. “To all those who cared for me, who supported me through various means, I express my deepest gratitude.”

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/chinese-rights-lawyer-guo-feixiong-released-after-5-years-in-prison-61568.html.

Whistleblower wins in Supreme Court in Japan first

June 30, 2012

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a whistleblower for the first time in a case that highlights the harsh treatment outspoken employees have endured in a nation that zealously values loyalty and conformity.

Despite being a good salesman with experience in the United States, Masaharu Hamada, 51, was demoted at Olympus Corp., forced to take rudimentary tests and ignored by colleagues, in what he alleged was reprisal for raising the issue of supplier complaints.

He received a notice Saturday from this nation's highest court, dated Thursday, dismissing the appeal by Tokyo-based camera and medical equipment maker Olympus of a 2010 lower court decision. It sealed the victory of the little "salaryman" against a giant of Japan Inc.

"We need a society where honest hard-working people don't lose out," Hamada told The Associated Press. "This is about justice and human rights." Hamada's story highlights how workers labeled as misbehaving are punished in Japan, where major companies like Olympus offer lifetime employment, although they more freely fire contract and part-time workers.

That means employees like Hamada become targets of cruel harassment designed to silence them or make them quit. Hamada was nearly driven to breakdown during his five-year battle. Japan is behind some Western nations in protecting whistleblowers. A law to protect them was enacted only in 2006, and critics say it is inadequate because it does not penalize companies that punish whistleblowers. To pursue legal action, whistleblowers can't quit as the law only applies to employees.

Only a handful of whistleblower has come forward in Japan in the past few decades. When they do, they are treated as outcasts, sometimes being told to sit in closet-sized offices or to mow the lawn. Sometimes even their children become victims of discrimination. So abhorred is the employee who dares to question the company.

Hamada sued Olympus in 2008, saying he was punished for relaying a supplier's complaint that its best employees were being lured away by Olympus. Olympus said he was merely transferred, not demoted. His case is considered a whistleblowing case in Japan because he went first to his bosses and then to the company compliance unit, trying to raise questions about the professional behavior of colleagues for the public good, and, as the Supreme Court found, was punished unfairly in retribution.

Last year, the Tokyo High Court reversed an earlier district court decision and ordered Olympus to pay Hamada 2.2 million yen ($28,000) in damages for the transfer. Olympus had appealed. Olympus was not immediately available for comment Saturday. In the past, it has called the court rulings favoring Hamada "regrettable."

Olympus has been targeted recently by another high-profile whistleblower, Briton Michael Woodford, the former chief executive. Woodford was fired in October after he blew the whistle on dubious accounting at Olympus. The company later acknowledged it hid 117.7 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in investment losses dating back to the 1990s. Three former Olympus executives, including the ex-chairman, were arrested earlier this year on suspicion of orchestrating the accounting cover-up.

Woodford has become a hero in Japan. Three weeks ago, Woodford won a 10 million pound (1.2 billion yen, $15.4 million) settlement from Olympus in a British court. He had sued alleging unlawful dismissal and discrimination as he was not given the same treatment as a Japanese employee.

How Hamada will be treated at Olympus on Monday remains unclear. He plans to show up at work at 8:45 a.m. as usual, wearing his company color, blue, as he is confident he is an upstanding "Olympus-man."

Hamada said he would like to be transferred to the corporate compliance division, given the serious problems that have surfaced with Woodford's case and the knowledge he has gained about proper management through his court battle.

"I would like to work for the true revival of Olympus, where dedicated employees can work and feel joy, in a nurturing environment, and be proud," said Hamada.

China plant resources need additional protections

Washington DC (SPX)
Sep 13, 2011

China needs to change where it sites its nature reserves and steer people out of remote rural villages toward cities to protect its valuable but threatened wild plant resources, according to an article published in the September issue of BioScience.

The article, by Weiguo Sang and Keping Ma of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Botany and Jan C. Axmacher of University College, London, lists seven strategic steps that are needed to secure the future of China's wild plants, which the authors say are not effectively conserved by the country's existing protected areas.

Many of those areas exist only on paper and are located far from Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, where rare species are found in the largest numbers, according to Sang and his coauthors.

Protected area managers in many cases currently lack basic data about which plant species are present on their reserves and even the exact area and extent of the reserves. Consequently, the effects of China's rapid economic development, the related spread of invasive species, and the growth of tourism could drive to extinction species that could be sources of future crops and medicine.

Apart from creating well-enforced reserves in appropriate areas and encouraging the rural poor, who often overexploit plant resources, to move into cities, China should develop accurate data on threats to its plant species, develop specific management and monitoring plans for the most threatened, and encourage sustainable eco-tourism that does not damage plants, the BioScience authors argue.

The country should also consider temporary protection of very rare species in botanical gardens and expand funding and training for traditional taxonomy, as well as experimental ecosystem laboratories and management.

Source: Seed Daily.
Link: http://www.seeddaily.com/reports/China_plant_resources_need_additional_protections_999.html.

China ready to help Libya reconstruction

Auckland (AFP)
Sept 9, 2011

China is ready to help Libya rebuild after Moamer Kadhafi's downfall and it supports the United Nations taking a leading role in reconstruction efforts, Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai said Friday.

"It depends on the needs of the Libyan people themselves, whatever they need we will be willing to help them," Cui told reporters on the sidelines of the Pacific Islands Forum in Auckland.

Cui said that while the north African nation's first priority was restoring order after almost seven months of conflict, Beijing stood ready to offer assistance when the rebuilding began.

Asked what part the UN could play in the reconstruction, he replied: "We will support the United Nations to play a leading role", while also noting that any mission would first need approval from the UN Security Council.

China, which long helped prop up the Kadhafi regime, has extensive business interests in the north African state.

It has invested billions of dollars in rail, oil and telecoms in the country, and has commercial and strategic reasons for not wanting Western countries to exert too much influence there.

China is a major oil importer and needs to secure stable supplies of the resource to help keep its huge economy moving.

Libya produced about 1.6 million barrels of oil per day before the rebellion broke out, but output has since slowed to a trickle.

Source: Energy-Daily.
Link: http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/China_ready_to_help_Libya_reconstruction_999.html.

China: 9-month sentence for protester

Sept. 9, 2011

BEIJING, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- A 56-year-old woman who'd protested in support of three bloggers in China last year was sentenced to nine months in prison Friday in eastern Fujian Province.

The sentence against Wang Lihong, a retired businesswoman, was for obstructing traffic and "stirring up trouble," the Los Angeles Times reported, noting it as a test case for freedom of expression in China.

The report said the three bloggers, whom Wang supported, were charged with defamation after they tried to help a mother investigate her daughter's death, the Times said.

Dissident artist Ai Weiwei, speaking for Wang, said: "If you have a mother, if you are a woman, if you are an ordinary person, if you don't want to be forced to disappear or face false accusation, please pay attention to Wang Lihong," the report said.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2011/09/09/China-9-month-sentence-for-protester/UPI-95951315548834/.

One Suicide Every 2 Minutes in China

By Peter Yan
September 8, 2011

This Saturday, Sept. 10, is World Suicide Prevention Day. In China, which accounts for 25 percent of all the world’s suicides, an average of 287,000 people—or one every 2 minutes—commit suicide every year, and 2,000,000 attempt suicide but are unsuccessful, according to data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Suicide is the 5th leading cause of death in China but it has become the leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 34.

The unusually high suicide rate among Chinese youth and young adults has been attributed to intense academic and employment pressure. High school and college students, as well as young parents, are the groups suffering under the most pressure in China, a Sichuan News commentary opined in a Sept. 8 piece.

Students are stressed by a heavy academic burden, body growth, emotions, and prospects for employment, while young parents face pressure from high costs of living, their job, and their children’s education, it said. The article also attributes the high suicide rate to the current education system in China, a system that emphasizes grades and status at the expense of societal relations.

Stress can exacerbate the likelihood of depression, which is the primary cause of suicide in China, according to the Beijing Morning Post. Depression increases the risk of suicide by 6 to 10 times.

China’s suicide rate has soared 60 percent in the past 50 years and the relatively high suicide rate in China also shows a different pattern between city-dwellers and country folk: the rural rate is triple that of the urban. Seventy-five percent of suicides by Chinese take place in the countryside and about 58 percent of them are done by taking pesticides.

In addition, China is one of few countries where the women’s suicide rate is higher than the men’s. More than 150,000 women commit suicide and 1.5 million attempt suicide annually in China, Wu Xuehua, Director of the National Women’s Federation’s Rights and Wellbeing Division said.

Source: The Epoch Times.
Link: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/china-news/one-suicide-every-2-minutes-in-china-61344.html.

Beijing stays aloof of Arab Spring – for now

By DAVID ROSENBERG / THE MEDIA LINE
09/09/2011

But recent controversy in Libya points up depth of business ties China has in region, and its confusion in the face of the changing political landscape.

China’s traditional foreign policy of staying aloof of other countries’ internal affairs is being sorely tested in the turmoil of the Arab Spring as Beijing’s commercial ties with the Middle East have grown, Chinese analysts say.

China has a huge economic stake in the region, which is an important source of energy as well as a market for goods and services such as construction. But analysts said they don’t see Beijing raising its political profile for fear it lacks sufficient knowledge of the region and to avoid bumping heads with the West.

“This region is very, very complicated, with its religions, ethnic groups and big-power struggles” Wei Da, a researcher at China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations in Beijing, told The Media Line.

“The US and Europe care very much about it. We worry that if we invest too much politically, they will say ‘the Chinese are coming,’” he said in the sidelines of a conference near Tel Aviv on Wednesday organized by the Center for Global Research in International Affairs (Gloria) and Signal, a non profit that fosters Israeli-Chinese relations.

Nevertheless, China suffered an embarrassment this week when documents uncovered in a Tripoli waste bin by a Canadian journalist revealed that Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi’s government was conducting talks for some $200 million in arms purchases with a Chinese company as late as July, despite a United Nations ban.

Although the rebels asserted that Chinese state-owned companies did deliver the weapons, Yin Gang, a research professor at Beijing’s Institute of West Asian and African Studies, said Beijing’s denials were probably true.

“The government can’t control everything,” he told The Media Line, suggesting that junior-level employees were behind the effort but that they could not have transferred any material without the government’s permission. “They tried to do business with sales to Gaddafi, but it was only the first stage, just talking about a sale.”

Like the rest of the world, Beijing was taken by surprise by the eruption of rebellions across the Arab world this year. The country’s leaders initially adopted their traditional attitude of non-interference, but as unrest continued, scholars say, Beijing found it increasingly difficult to avoid.

A key event for China was the evacuation of its nationals from Egypt and Libya. Some 30,000 people had to be rescued from Libya alone, in the biggest such operation by the Chinese armed forces since the end of the Cold War.

However, it was as much a humanitarian effort as a sign of the increasingly commercial presence of China’s booming economy in the Middle East. China had more than $18 billion in deals with Libya before the revolution and had doubled oil imports in recent years, even though the two countries squabbled over issues like Taiwan and influence in Africa.

Libyan rebels, who have indicated they will reward with oil and other contracts the West and other foreign powers that helped their fight against the Gaddafi regime, reacted angrily to the news of the Chinese arms talks, Yin said.

Beijing had been hesitant to back the rebels and has yet to recognize the National Transitional Council (NTC) now ruling Libya. Yin suggested that rebel anger of the alleged oil-arms sales might be a reaction to that.

“They are not pleased with China’s attitude toward the revolution,” he said on the sidelines of a conference in Israel Wednesday.

But Da, of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said Beijing often ends up supporting the status quo in countries like Libya not because it supports despots but because it doesn’t know who among the opposition to support.

“In the Arab Spring, there are no clear leaders. It’s not a very pleasant situation for foreign policy makers,” he said. “We don’t know which voice is the official voice.”

He noted that some members of the TNC had visited Beijing while other had criticized Chinese policy toward Libya.

The turmoil in the Arab world presents Beijing’s leaders with a foreign policy dilemma but it has also aroused concerns that unrest could well up at home, even though a small protest inspired by Tunisia’s so-called “Jasmine Revolution” last February quickly dissipated.

Activists began wearing jasmine flowers on Sunday strolls in an otherwise silent campaign to demand more government accountability. But Chinese analysts said the protest never attracted a large number of supporters. The government, however, was concerned enough to ban the sale of the flowers in China.

Yin said that while China wants to do business with “all groups,” it does respond to international pressure. It has cancelled arms deals with Iran and stopped cooperating with it on nuclear power from 1997 as the West, led by the US, campaigns to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran denies its atomic program has any purposes other than peaceful ones.

“China has slowed down cooperation with Iran on energy as well, under pressure from the Arabs,” he added.

Vis-à-vis Israel, China has signaled in recent months closer relations, even though Beijing has come out in support of the United Nations’ recognizing Palestinian statehood – an initiative Jerusalem strongly opposes. Defense ties had been frosty after US intervention twice scuttled Israeli arms deals with China: The sale of advanced Phalcon spy planes in 2000 and of spare parts for Israeli-built Harpy killer drones five years later.

China's chief of staff, Gen. Chen Bingde, met his Israeli counterpart Gen. Benny Gantz and Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Tel Aviv three weeks ago. In June, Barak made a rare visit to Beijing for talks with Chinese leaders, at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Liang Guanglie.

Source: The Jerusalem Post.
Link: http://www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/Entertainment/Article.aspx?id=237317.