News & Reports 2011-10-22

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In This Edition

 

The head of Libya's National Transitional Council confirms that Muammar Gaddafi has been killed in crossfire¹ after being captured in his hometown of Sirte.

 

World leaders offer their thoughts over the development in Libya, urging the country's transitional authorities to carry through their promised reforms.

 

China and ASEAN convene² their 8th summit to seek ways to boost regional cooperation and sustain growth amid global economic uncertainties³.

 

 

Hot Issue Reports

 

Mahmoud Jibril: Gaddafi 'Killed in Crossfire' 1

The head of Libya's National Transitional Council has confirmed that Muammar Gaddafi was killed in crossfire after being captured in his hometown of Sirte.

 

Mahmoud Jibril says Gaddafi was shot in the head after being captured and driven away.

 

"When the vehicle started moving, it was caught in cross fire between the revolutionaries and the loyalists. He was injured with a shot to his head."

 

Jibril says Gaddafi's last moments were spent holed up in a culvert under a road in Sirte.

 

"Gadhafi was pulled out from a drainage pipe and he was completely in good health. He was wearing underwear more like a vest and normal trousers and armed with a gun and he did not resist. As soon as the revolutionary fighters' pick-up trucks started moving towards him, he was shot with a bullet in his right hand. When they transferred him to the pick-up truck to take him in, Gadhafi had no other injuries apart from the injury he had to his right hand."

 

Gaddafi's body is reportedly to be buried in Mistrata on Saturday.

 

Jibril has also confirmed one of Gadhafi's sons, former national security adviser⁴ Muatassim, has also been killed in Sirte.

 

However, the fate of Gadhafi's second son, Saif al-Islam, remains⁵ unclear at this point.

 

Reactions Cross Libya and the Arab World 2

 

Gaddafi's death has sparked wild celebrations across Libya.

 

Libyans have taken to the streets of Tripoli, with people waving Libyan independence flags amid the sounds of honking⁶ horns and joy shots.

 

Libyan refugees in Tunisia are turning out in the hundreds outside their country's embassy to celebrate the news of Gaddafi's death.

 

"This should be the end all dictators get, he killed us, made us homeless, made us refugees in many countries, this was his end, your day has come Gaddafi, God is great."

 

Iraqi government spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh says Gaddafi should have taken a lesson from the fate of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

 

"I reminded Gaddafi of the fate of Saddam Hussein when I met him, Saddam killed his people. Now Gaddafi met the same fate because he committed crimes against the Libyan people."

 

In Jordan's capital Amman, Syrians are flocking to the Syrian embassy, celebrating and expressing hope that their country's leader, Bashar al Assad, will meet a similar fate.

 

"We call for your support after you recognized Syria's national council, the first free Arab country to recognize a legitimate⁷ revolution. We salute⁸ you and God willing, Syria to freedom and Bashar to demise⁹."

 

World Leaders Reactions 3

World leaders have been offering up their thoughts over the development in Libya, urging the country's transitional authorities to carry through its promise to reform the country.

 

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon.

 

"Let us recognize, immediately, that this is only the end of the beginning. The road ahead for Libya and its people will be difficult and full of challenges. Now is the time for all Libyans to come together. Libyans can only realize the promise of the future through national unity¹⁰ and reconciliation¹¹."

 

Ban is also pledging UN support to Libya's transitional authorities as they try to rebuild their country.

 

In Washington, US President Barack Obama has cast the demise of Gadhafi as a momentous¹² opportunity for Libya.

 

"This marks the end of a long and painful chapter for the people of Libya who now have the opportunity to determine their own destiny in a new and democratic Libya.…Libya will travel a long and winding¹³ road to full democracy. There will be difficult days ahead. But the United States, together with the international community is committed to the Libyan people."

 

Meanwhile, Across the Atlantic, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso is calling on the NTC in Libya to make democracy a priority.

 

"What I hope now is that today people of Libya can embrace freedom, building a new democratic future. That is why we are calling on the National Transitional Council to pursue a broad based reconciliation process that can reach to Libyans and enable a democratic and peaceful and transition in this country."

 

NTC officials say a formal announcement of liberation will come out over the weekend, which will set the clock ticking on a timeline to elections.

 

In the UK, Prime Minister David Cameron says he wants people to take time to remember Gaddafi's victims.

 

"I think today is a day to remember all of Colonel Gaddafi's victims. From those who died in connection with the Pan-Am flight over Lockerbie, to Yvonne Fletcher in a London street, and obviously all the victims of IRA terrorism who died through their use of Libyan Semtex. We should also remember the many many Libyans who died at the hands of this brutal¹⁴ dictator and his regime."

 

Russia's President Dimitry Medvedev says he is hoping that Libya could achieve modern democracy.

 

"All those who govern the country today, representatives of various Libyan tribes, will be able to reach agreement on the configuration¹⁵ of the government, and Libya will become a modern and democratic state."

 

China Calls for Early Establishment of Inclusive Political Transition Process in Libya

China is calling for Libya to launch an inclusive political transition process as early as possible.

 

Foreign Ministry¹⁶ spokeswoman Jiang Yu says Libya has turned a new page on its history.

 

"We hope that the transition to an inclusive political process will start as soon as possible. We also hope Libya can safeguard national unity and ethnic¹⁷ unity. China will continue to support the efforts of the Libyan people to restore stability and rebuild their country."

 

Jiang says China always respects the Libyan people's choice and China-Libya relations will continue to develop steadily¹⁸ on a new basis.

 

She says the Chinese Embassy in Libya operates smoothly¹⁹ and China maintains normal communication with relevant parties of Libya.

 

Greek MPs Pass Austerity Measures amid Violent Protests

The Greek capital, Athens, is gradually returning to normal after two days of violent protests, which have left one person dead and about 100 people injured.

 

The protests were aimed against legislation on new austerity measures that were finally passed by Greek lawmakers.

 

The bill includes plans for further cuts to pensions and salaries and temporary lay-offs of 30,000 public sector²⁰ workers.

 

Homemaker Arme-lina Kolla says she no longer has any expectations from the government.

 

"Everything looks bleak²¹, absolutely bleak. They are cutting our pensions, there is garbage everywhere, nobody gives a toss about us. There is no government, there is nothing. We are desperate, desperate."

 

The vote is needed to secure an 8-billion-euro EU and IMF bailout loan within weeks, which can help the country stay solvent²².

 

The details of the second rescue plan have yet to be finalized²⁴.

 

Market Eyes on the Weekend's EU Summit

Euro zone leaders are set to meet on Sunday in Brussels for another attempt to tackle the region's worsening sovereign debt crisis.

 

The summit has already been delayed this week because the leaders think they need more time to finalize²³ a plan.

 

Shen Chengcheng has more.

 

The EU leaders are under mounting pressure to deliver a decisive plan this weekend, which will restore the confidence in the region and prevent the crisis from dragging the rest of the world into another recession.

 

Carsten Brzesk, a senior economist²⁵ at ING, says the main focus of the summit will be on how to boost the firepower of the European Financial Stability Facility, or EFSF.

 

"What has to come out of the meeting is at least clarity on the EFSF, on the rescue fund. Whether the euro zone is able to come up with this bazooka to prevent contagion²⁶ or not. I think this is what markets will be focusing at."

 

The new powers of EFSF, the eurozone's main bailout fund, have been ratified²⁷ by all 17 member states, following the ratification²⁸ by the Slovakia's parliament earlier this month.

 

However, Paul Taylor, European Editor at Reuters, says the issue is the disagreements between France and Germany, the main players in the group.

 

"The central sticking point between France and Germany at the moment seems to be, from everything we hear, the question of how you leverage²⁹ up the 440 billion euros which is in the euro zone rescue fund, some of which in fact is already been earmarked for Greece and Ireland and Portugal, but how you leverage up the rest of that money so as to stabilise the bond market for Italy and Spain, put simply, the French think the only way you can do it sensibly is to involve the European Central Bank, both Germany and the European Central Bank say that is politically illegitimate, that essentially³⁰ it is getting the central bank in dangerous territory of financing governments which they are not supposed to do. So that is a fundamental difference."

 

However, the eurozone leaders say they will hold another summit by next Wednesday, because they will not be able to agree on a rescue plan Sunday.

 

A spokesman for German Chancellor³¹ Angela Merkel says the additional summit would give the German parliament time to approve any changes to the bailout fund.

 

Senior economist Brzesk says many more summits will have to follow to put an end to this crisis.

 

"We will have the all known four elements, bank recapitalisation, Greek debt restructuring, we will get some information on a leverage on how to increase the rescue fund and I think we will also get a clear political commitment on more economic governance, clearly showing that eurozone leaders are not willing to give up the eurozone, but on the contrary are moving towards more political integration³², but that is a long shot."

 

Apart from the leverage up of the EFSF, eurozone leaders will also have to deliver a comprehensive package on how to reinforce the region's banks and tackle Greece's debt, including a second bailout agreement for Greece.

 

For CRI, I am Shen Chengcheng.

 

The Eighth China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit On in Nanning

Chinese Premier³³ Wen Jiabao says China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations can rise above their differences to deepen cooperation.

 

He made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the eighth China-ASEAN Summit being held in the southwestern city of Nanning.

 

He says China will continue to expand imports from ASEAN nations.

 

"We need to address several issues, first, jointly³⁴ build a free trade zone; second, improve communications and exchanges between the two sides; third, expand bilateral³⁵ investment; fourth, deepen our regional economic cooperation and last but not least, broaden the understanding and friendship among peoples."

 

China and ASEAN are expected to build the China-ASEAN Plaza³⁶ in Nanning, to serve as a marketing³⁷ platform and logistic base for products from both sides.

 

Bilateral trade increased by 37.5 percent year-on-year to more than 290 billion U.S. dollars last year, when the two sides established the free trade area.

 

ASEAN has surpassed Japan to become China's third-largest trading partner.

 

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

 

"As we get together here today, we should pay attention to the challenges facing the Europe and the US, and possible impacts on the Asian countries. The Europe and the US are buying less, so we must find other ways to develop. I hope we keep up the momentum³⁸, improve cooperation and create a win-win situation."

 

China and ASEAN are aiming to increase annual bilateral trade to 500 billion U.S. dollars by 2015.

 

8th China-ASEAN Expo

Earlier, CRI's Liu Yan talked with our reporter Su Yi who is covering the event in Nanning.

 

Bio-fuel Made from Algae³⁹

Algae might be nothing more than an unsightly water weed in most people's eyes, but a team of Scottish scientists have grand plans. It's hoped that the mineral and oil rich algae growing around the remote Scottish town of Oban could provide diesel⁴⁰ fuel for tractors.

 

Li Dong has more.

 

Rich in minerals and oils, algae has always been an excellent form of sustenance⁴¹ for all forms of life: from dinosaurs⁴² and fish to ancient societies around the world.

 

But can this water weed be used to power our fuel-thirsty transport needs?

 

The BioMara project, a group of marine⁴³ biologists with the European Centre for Marine Biotechnology, are at the forefront of this research.

 

This entire project began when Dr. Michelle Stanley, a marine biochemist, noticed farmers in distant villages were struggling to afford diesel for their tractors.

 

She knows that work in marine-based energy needed more research and would be the future of bio-fuels.

 

"BioMara is looking at the feasibility of producing biofuels from algae. And when we say algae, that's both micro-algae- small, single celled organisms right the way up to seaweeds. In terms of micro-algae, there's interest in bio-diesel production and in terms of seaweed, we're looking at bio-methane and bio-ethanol."

 

The researchers says they won't extract the seaweed on a large scale, instead, they will try to cultivate it - taking seeds from some wild specimens⁴⁴ but then actually growing it on long line systems in a way people could use.

 

To begin with, BioMara says the first step is figuring out which seaweeds are the best at producing large quantities of fuel the quickest - that is, which ones grow the most and have the fattiest oils.

 

Once new specimens have been collected, Brunner brings them back to the lab's aquarium⁴⁵ rooms and temporarily preserves them.

 

The algae are given to Dr Day, the head of Culture Collection, who identifies the species and records their molecular⁴⁶ make-up. He also investigates ways to improve them to make the algae more commercially viable⁴⁷ and scaleable.

 

"If you look at terrestrial agriculture, terrestrial agriculture is some tens of thousands of years old. Growing micro-algae in vast amounts is literally⁴⁸, 30, 40, 50 years old - it depends on who you take as the first people who did it. So there's a tremendous amount of process catch up, a tremendous amount of strain development - the sort of thing that's been done in agriculture for generations. All of this work is being done now - much of it must be condensed. We also need to know the fundamental processes behind that. Before you can adapt or change or develop something, you have to know how it works."

 

Stanley is in charge of decomposing⁴⁹ the algae into fuel energy.

 

"Once the material is harvested, it would then be a question of doing the fermentation on that to then produce the ethanol. And then the ethanol would have to be cleaned up."

 

Although BioMara says it doesn't have an estimate for when algae will be commercially available for cars, it believes it will be in this generation.

 

For CRI, I am Li Dong.

 

Newspapers

 

China Daily

 

School children in Xi'an were recently made to wear green scarves if they were under performing at school and if their behavior was not good enough, while the rest got to wear red scarves for performing well.

 

Its caused some controversy⁵⁰ in the Chinese press as many parents are saying it is causing a real knock to the green scarf students self esteem⁵¹. Even a famous CCTV news anchor Bai Yansong, has been wearing a green tie in support of the children, he has reportedly said he wants the students to know we are all great people and they are as good as those wearing red scarves." The headteacher of the First experimental primary school in Xi'an has hit back and said "The original idea for designing the green scarf was to strengthen education and to encourage the pupils to work harder,".However this practice of dividing the students into good and bad has provoked a lot of discussions amongst netizens on Weibo. Some reckon it's a violation⁵² of dignity and could bring them inferiority and even jealousy⁵³ against each other.

 

Telegraph

 

Britain's Telegraph reports that the head of the Jamaican Teachers' Association has made claims that many boys perform poorly because their fear that appearing studious undermines their masculinity.

 

He reckons many boys with Afro-Carribean heritage living in both the UK and Jamaica tend to turn to a so-called "hustle⁵⁴ culture" to make money, rather than chasing careers built on academic achievement and hard work.. He has warned that the attitude is affecting the academic standards of Afro-Caribbean boys both in Jamaica and in Britain.

 

Statistically⁵⁵ they are one of England's worst-performing ethnic groups in schools. Last year just 40 per cent of Afro-Caribbean boys achieved five good GCSEs including English and maths, compared with the national average of 58.5 per cent.

 

Apparently⁵⁶ it is quite a problem in the both cultures and boys are preferring to under perform than risk being targeted as too feminine or not manly⁵⁷ enough. Academics are calling for ways to tackle the issue .This is an interesting one and quite a contrast to educational attitudes here in China where both sexes basically have to study hard in order to get anywhere in life.

 

Market Update

 

U.S. stocks rallied on Friday, with the Dow ending higher for the fourth week in a row, as investors⁵⁸ expect a solution to the European debt woes⁵⁹.

 

The Dow Jones industrial average surged 2.3 percent to 11,809. The Standard & Poor's 500 rallied 1.9 percent to 1,238. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.5 percent to 2,637.

 

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 gained 1.9 percent to 5489. Frankfurt's DAX rose 3.6 percent to 5971. And CAC-40 in Paris added 2.8 percent to 3171.

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