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Putin compares U.S. plan to Cuban missile crisis
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MAFRA, Portugal (AP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday compared the U.S. proposal to build a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe to the Cuban missile crisis of the 1960s.


Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) with Portuguese PM Jose Socrates at the EU-Russia summit in Portugal.

"Analogous actions by the Soviet Union, when it deployed missiles in Cuba, prompted the 'Caribbean crisis,"' Putin said at a news conference at the end of a European Union-Russian summit in Portugal, using the Russian term for the Cuban missile crisis.

"Such a threat is being set up on our borders," he said.

At the same time, Putin suggested the tension was much lower than during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis because Russian-U.S. relations have moved on since the Cold War. He also said he believes the United States is listening to Moscow's concerns about its missile plans.

Putin said his relationship with President Bush helps solve problems in relations with the U.S., calling him a friend.

The U.S. plan would install a radar base in the Czech Republic and 10 interceptor missiles in Poland -- both former Soviet satellites that are now NATO members. It is part of a wider missile shield involving defenses in California and Alaska which the United States says are to defend against any long-range missile attack from countries such as North Korea or Iran.

Russia strongly opposes the idea, saying Iran is decades away from developing missile technology that could threaten Europe or North America, and it says the U.S. bases will undermine Russia's own missile deterrent force.

Turning to his future, Putin said he would not assume presidential powers if he became prime minister after finishing his term in the spring.

"If someone thinks that I intend to move, let's say, into the government of the Russian Federation and transfer the fundamental powers there, that's not the case," he said at a news conference. "There will be no infringement on the powers of the president of the Russian Federation, at least while it depends on me."

The popular Putin is barred from seeking a third consecutive term in the March 2008 presidential election. But he suggested earlier this month that he could become prime minister after his term ends in May, leading some to speculate that the substantial powers now invested in the presidency might be transferred to the prime minister.

After repeating his insistence that he does not intend to change the constitution in order to run for a third term, Putin said he had not yet decided where and in what capacity he would work as former president. He is expected to remain an influential figure in Russia.

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Putin and EU leaders put a positive spin on Friday's Portugal summit. Many observers had approached the meeting with low expectations, given deepening disputes between Moscow and the 27-nation union over issues such as energy, human rights and the Balkans.

Putin, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and other EU officials repeatedly characterized the talks as "open, frank and productive."

However, the two sides failed to sign a new cooperation agreement to replace an expiring one, and two minor deals -- on drug trafficking and steel exports -- were the only concrete results announced.

Topping the list of concerns for a growing number of European nations is Russian energy policy -- the reliability of supplies and the intentions of state-run oil and gas companies. Russia already provides 30 percent of EU energy imports, including 44 percent of natural gas imports.

The state-controlled gas giant OAO Gazprom has recently moved to acquire assets in Europe and strike bilateral deals with some EU countries.

That has led the EU to consider new restrictions on non-EU companies owning majority stakes in gas pipelines or electricity power grids without additional agreements -- much to the Russians' consternation.

Earlier, Putin tried to assure European leaders that Russian investment was not to be feared.

"When we hear in some countries phrases like, 'The Russians are coming with their scary money,' it sounds a bit funny," he said.


He said money flowing into Russian government coffers -- largely from oil and gas exports -- was being used to resolve domestic problems. And he noted that private foreign investors hold large amounts of shares in Gazprom.

Putin held talks Friday with Barroso and Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, at an 18th-century baroque palace in Mafra, a small town about 30 miles north of Lisbon

China's Olympic torch relay: 'Harmony' the goal
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HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- China is in the mood for harmony.


A woman in Beijing walks past a billboard illustrating the planned Olympic torch relay in 2008.

more photos »  Ever since Chinese President Hu Jintao floated the idea of "building a harmonious society" -- an attempt to tackle myriad domestic problems brought about by China's unrestrained growth -- "hexie," or harmony, has become one of the most beloved words in the Chinese communist vernacular, suggesting anything from social stability to world peace. With the Beijing 2008 Olympics, China is seeking to demonstrate to the world its penchant for harmony.

In March of next year, Beijing will launch the Olympic torch relay under the theme "the Journey of Harmony." The longest in Olympic history, the relay will see torch-bearers transport the Olympic flame across five continents.

The route is planned to traverse through an estimated 20 international cities and 113 more than 100 cities on mainland China, together with a side trip to the peak of Mount Everest from the Tibet side. Torch-bearers will carry a scroll-shaped torch adorned with the traditional Chinese xiangyun, or "lucky cloud" that symbolizes harmony.

But as genial as China appears to be, some critics are not impressed. They are determined to embarrass the Olympic host.

Before the relay begins, it has already courted controversy. The dispute centers on the plan to include Taiwan and Tibet in the domestic route of the torch relay. Critics have slammed the route as Beijing's cunning ploy to legitimize its claims over the two regions -- Taiwan is considered by Beijing to be a renegade province -- and some are threatening to boycott the relay.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, responsible for the self-ruled island's relations with mainland China, refuses the route and dismisses it as "a brazen attempt [of Beijing] to downgrade Taiwan to a part of China." The issue remains unresolved.

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In the case of Tibet, pro-independence activists outside China have mounted similar attacks on Beijing; last April the Chinese authorities briefly detained a small group of American activists after they staged a protest at Mount Everest against the torch relay route.

"China is embarrassed, and so it should be," says Lhadon Tethong of the U.S.-based Students For a Free Tibet, which organized the protest. "If they don't take any step toward resolving the issue, they will only see more protests as a platform to shame them."

But so far as the torch relay is concerned, it may not be just Tibet and Taiwan that are the areas of embarrassment for China. Recent surges of social unrests plaguing China may also disrupt the theme of harmony.

While its economy is growing at a remarkable rate, China has in recent years seen a sharp rise in large-scale -- and often violent -- protests, demonstrations and petitions across the country. Many of these incidents have been triggered by illegal land grabs, inadequate compensation for land requisition, official corruption or closure of state-owned factories. The majority of protesters are poor rural workers and peasants, who until a few years ago have been a relatively quiet lot.

According to official statistics from China's Public Security Bureau, the number of "mass incidents" -- an official euphemism for any social disturbance that involves 100 people or more -- totaled 87,000 in 2005, up 6.6 percent on 2004 and 50 percent in 2003. While the bureau recently said the figure had dropped by 16.5 percent in 2006, reports on violent protests and public clashes with the authorities continue to flood the media.

In Chongqing in western China, for example, three large-scale protests erupted in the space of merely four weeks between June and July. The first outbreak saw 10,000 locals clashed with police after city inspectors beat a flower seller to death. Three weeks later, 10,000 villagers protested outside a government office against the authorities' alleged failures in a school murder case. This was soon followed by a violent protest, in which more than 5,000 residents, dissatisfied with a land compensation arrangement, confronted 1,000 armed police. One man was reportedly killed.

In many other regions, public protests were just as bloody. One reported incident was a three-month standoff that began in July 2005, when residents from Taishi village in Guangzhou sought to oust a corrupt village chief. Later, about 1,500 villagers clashed with riot police. Reporters, lawyers and academics going to the village were reportedly beaten up.

According to Hong Kong-based China scholar Willy Lam Wo-lap, the sharp rise of protests across China points to an uneven justice system in the communist country.

"After nearly 30 years of reform, China is divided into various power blocs ... and classes. Some are preying on the weak and defenseless, such as peasants, rural workers or the urban unemployed. There is no level playing field and no resort to justice," he says.

Wu Zhong, China editor of Asia Times Online, claims the absence of fair play, coupled with China's insatiable appetite for economic growth, has helped fuel Chinese society with anger.

"The performance of local officials is judged by the GDP of their localities," says Wu, citing the country's environmental degradation. "This drives them to push for economic growth at the expense of people's interest. They don't care if people live or die. There is a lot of anger in society."

To restore social stability, Chinese President Hu Jintao proposed in 2004 the notion of "building a harmonious society," which covered such areas as democracy development and a better relationship between the people and the government. A series of measures then ensued, including the abolition of the 2,600-year-old agricultural tax and education subsidies for poor rural children.

"However, laudable these policies are, they cannot solve the basic problem: there is no level playing field. There are built-in, institutional injustices in the system," Lam says.

With less than one year to go before the torch relay begins, Lam believes Beijing will go to great lengths to stifle social unrest because the Hu leadership "can't afford to lose face."

"More than a year ago Beijing set up a system of security [featuring] electronic surveillance systems to snuff out seeds of dissent," Lam says. "The chances for large-scale outbreaks of disorder during the torch relay or the Games itself are small."

But Wu says the time has changed and "mass incidents" during the torch relay or the Games cannot be ruled out. "Ordinary people in China today are not as easy to manipulate as before. They may make some noise just to let outsiders know [their plight]."


As for the controversy over Taiwan and Tibet, Wu believes it will die down eventually.

"The pro-independence force doesn't have much impact on Tibet today... And I reckon Taiwan and Beijing would eventually reach some kind of agreement," he says. "After all, this is China's first Olympics. It is eager to do a good job."

Coalition: 80 Taliban killed
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- U.S.-led coalition forces killed about 80 Taliban fighters during a six-hour battle outside a Taliban-controlled town in southern Afghanistan Saturday, the latest in a series of increasingly bloody engagements in the region, officials said.


U.S. Maj. Gen. David Rodriguez briefs reporters Sunday in Kabul, Afghanistan.

1 of 2  Major General David M. Rodriguez of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division briefed reporters at an International Security Assistance Force press conference in Kabul Sunday.

The battle near Musa Qala in Helmand province -- the world's largest poppy growing region -- is at least the fifth major fight in the area since September 1. The five battles have killed more than 250 Taliban fighters, a possible sign that U.S. or British forces could be trying to wrest the area back from Taliban militants.

The latest fight began when Taliban fighters attacked a combined U.S. coalition and Afghan patrol with rockets and gunfire, prompting the combined force to call in attack aircraft, which resulted in "almost seven dozen Taliban fighters killed," the U.S.-led coalition said in a statement early Sunday.

The coalition said that four bombs were dropped on a trench line filled with Taliban fighters, resulting in most of the deaths.

Taliban militants overran Musa Qala in February, four months after British troops left the town following a contentious peace agreement that handed over security responsibilities to Afghan elders. Musa Qala has been in control of Taliban fighters ever since.

Situated in the north of Helmand, Musa Qala and the region around it have been the front line of the bloodiest fighting this year. It is also the heartland of Afghanistan's illicit opium poppy farms.

Violence in Afghanistan this year has been the deadliest since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. More than 5,200 people have died this year due to the insurgency, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Afghan and Western officials.

Also Saturday, a suicide bomber wearing an Afghan security uniform detonated his explosives at the entrance to a combined U.S.-Afghan base in the east of the country, killing four Afghan soldiers and a civilian, officials said.

The suicide bomber walked up to a security gate for Afghan soldiers outside Forward Operating Base Bermel in the eastern province of Paktika, near the border with Pakistan, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said.

Four Afghan soldiers and a civilian were killed and six Afghans were wounded, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said. No Americans were hurt.

It was not immediately clear if the bomber had been trying to gain entry to the base.

Taliban insurgents have set off more than 100 suicide blasts this year, a record pace.

Elsewhere, Taliban militants killed three Afghan police who had been trying to prevent them from carrying out a kidnapping, said Helmand provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal. The militants successfully kidnapped an Afghan man during the gunbattle, he said.

Australia's prime minister, meanwhile, said more NATO powers must directly engage the Taliban to help ease the burden on Australia, the United States, Britain, Canada and the Netherlands, which all have troops in the dangerous southern and central parts of Afghanistan.

Germany, Italy, France and Spain have troops in the relatively safer northern sections, a fact that is causing a rift within NATO. Australian Prime Minister John Howard said those countries need to help ease the burden on countries operating in the south.

"Some of the other countries have lots of troops in Afghanistan, but they're not in some of the areas that are experiencing the heaviest fighting," he said.

The governments of the Netherlands and Canada, in particular, are coming under domestic pressure to pull out troops because of heavy casualties.

"I think the Dutch government has been very courageous to date," Howard said. "It's not for me to comment on Dutch politics, but I do observe that the Dutch are making a great contribution and as are of course the Canadians."

Question of the week: Home comforts
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(CNN) -- According to the International Energy Outlook, 11 percent of the world's energy is consumed in the home. Everything from air conditioners to televisions go towards making up this figure, but, as our homes vary in size and content, so their potential for impacting world energy use varies too.

The decision regarding how to cut down on energy-hogging devices is different for people around the world. In many parts of Asia, air conditioners are ubiquitous, for example, while in Europe, it's a luxury afforded to less than 5 percent of home-owners.

Question: What household luxuries would you sacrifice to reduce energy use?

Fighter jet crashes on takeoff
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TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- A Japanese fighter jet crashed an instant after takeoff and went up in flames Wednesday at an airport in central Japan, leaving the two pilots with minor injuries, an official for aircraft's manufacturer said.


Firefighters stand near the wreckage of the F-2B jet, which crashed on a test flight.

The F-2B fighter was on a test flight prior to delivery to Japan's air force when it crashed, said Hideo Ikuno, a spokesman for the Daiya public-relations firm representing the plane's maker, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Footage on commercial broadcaster TV Asahi showed the jet taking off from the runway in Nagoya, only to suddenly tip downward and skid along the ground in flames. National broadcaster NHK showed the pilots jumping from the burning plane.

The flames were extinguished within 10 minutes of the crash, Ikuno said. The two crew members were taken to a hospital with minor injuries, Ikuno said.

Ikuno said the company was seeking further details about the crash.

Philadelphia officer dies; police hunt doughnut shop gunman
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PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A police officer shot in the head by a doughnut shop robber died Thursday morning, the police commissioner announced.


Officer Charles Cassidy walked in on a robbery and was shot in the forehead, police officials say.

1 of 3  The 54-year-old officer, Charles Cassidy, died at 9:40 a.m. at Albert Einstein Medical Center, police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said.

He was the third city officer shot in the span of four days.

Cassidy was wounded Wednesday at a Dunkin' Donuts when a hooded robber spun from the counter and fired at him as he walked in the door, according to an employee.  Watch security video of the robbery »

Cassidy, who had his hand on his gun, fell backward to the ground just outside the shop. The bullet went through his brain, Johnson said.

The officer came in twice a day for a large coffee with cream and sugar, shop employee Sandra Kim said. "He's always nice to all the employees," she said. "The officer was just coming in for a cup of coffee like normal."

Police swarmed the North Philadelphia neighborhood on foot, in squad cars and a helicopter looking for the robber, who grabbed the officer's weapon as he fled, according to security camera images released by police.

The gunman went into the shop, pushed aside two customers while waving a gun and demanded money just before Cassidy opened the door, according to video and Kim. He then whirled and shot the officer as he held the door.

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Johnson said video showed the gunman running through the shop's parking lot with a distinctive gait, almost as if he had a limp.

Johnson said the officer was doing a routine check on the shop, which had been robbed September 18. He said he didn't think the robber got away with any money.

The shooting came about 12 hours after a masked gunman shot traffic Officer Mario Santiago in the shoulder during a chase downtown.

Santiago was responding to a report of a gunman in a sport utility vehicle shooting at another car, injuring two men and a woman, police said.

He was chasing the SUV when the gunman eventually got out of his vehicle and approached the squad car, firing twice through the window. Santiago was hit once in the right shoulder, police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said.

Santiago was in fair condition Wednesday.


The gunman in that shooting apparently jumped into the Schuylkill River, where searchers later recovered a body. Police said Wednesday morning that they had not determined whether it was the suspect's body.

Early Sunday, an officer responding to a melee at a West Philadelphia nightclub was shot in the ankle. More than two dozen bullets were fired, police said. One suspect was fatally shot and another was arrested.

Venezuelan troops use tear gas on Chavez protesters
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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuelan troops used tear gas and water cannons Thursday disperse demonstrators who turned out by the tens of thousands to protest constitutional reforms that would permit President Hugo Chavez to run for re-election indefinitely.


Riot police officers protect themselves Thursday as university students protest in Caracas.

1 of 3  Led by university students, demonstrators chanted, "Freedom! Freedom!" and warned that 69 amendments drafted by Venezuela's Chavista-dominated National Assembly would violate civil liberties and derail democracy.

Authorities broke up the protest outside the electoral agency's office.

There were no reports from authorities of arrests or serious injuries, but the local Globovision television channel showed footage of several students who suffered minor injuries.

Students also hurled rocks and bottles. A few lifted up sections of metal barricades and thrusted them against police holding riot shields. Students retreated later as police fired plastic bullets.

"Chavez wants to remain in power his entire life, and that's not democracy," said Gonzalo Rommer, a university student who joined protesters as they marched to the National Elections Council.

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Deputy Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami blamed students for the violence, saying they forced their way through police barricades. But Vicente Diaz, one of the National Election Council's five directors, criticized National Guardsmen and police for using excessive force to disperse protesters.

The amendments would give the government control over the Central Bank, create new types of cooperative property, allow authorities to detain citizens without charges during a state of emergency and extend presidential terms from six to seven years while allowing Chavez to run again in 2012.


Opposition parties, human rights groups and representatives of the Roman Catholic Church fear civil liberties would be severely weakened under the constitutional changes.

Chavez -- a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro -- denies the reforms threaten civil liberties. He and his supporters say the changes will help move the country toward socialism, while giving neighborhood-based assemblies more decision-making power in using government funds for local projects such as paving streets and building public housing.

UN: Asia's gender imbalance grows
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HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Vietnam's preference for boys over girls is further tipping the balance between the sexes in Asia, already skewed by a strong bias for boys among Chinese and Indians. The trend could lead to increased trafficking of women and social unrest, a U.N. report says.


Mothers hold their newborn babies at Hanoi Maternity Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam, in late October.

Vietnam is now positioned where China was a decade ago, logging about 110 boys born to every 100 girls in a country where technology is readily available to determine the sex of a fetus and where abortion is legal, according to research released this week by the U.N. Population Fund.

The sex ratio at birth generally should equal about 105 boys to 100 girls, according to the report.

"The consequences are already happening in neighboring countries like China, South Korea and Taiwan. They have to import brides," said Tran Thi Van, assistant country representative of the Population Fund in Hanoi, adding that many brides are coming from Vietnam. "I don't know where Vietnam could import brides from if that situation happened here in the next 10 or 15 years."

The report, which looked at China, India, Vietnam and Nepal, warned that tinkering with nature's probabilities could cause increased violence against women, trafficking and social tensions. It predicted a "marriage squeeze," with the poorest men being forced to live as bachelors.

Gender imbalance among births has been rising in parts of Asia since the 1980s, after ultrasound and amniocentesis provided a way to determine a fetus' sex early in pregnancy. Despite laws in several countries banning doctors from revealing the baby's sex, many women still find out and choose to abort girls.

"I have noticed that there have been more and more boys than girls," said Truong Thi My Ha, a nurse at Hanoi's Maternity Hospital. "Most women are very happy when they have boys, while many are upset if they have girls."

In China, the 2005 estimate was more than 120 boys born to 100 girls, with India logging about 108 boys to 100 girls in 2001, when the last census was taken. However, pockets of India have rates of 120 boys. In several Chinese provinces, the ratio spikes to more than 130 boys born to 100 girls.

Reports of female infanticide still surface in some poor areas of countries and death rates are higher among girls in places like China, where they are sometimes breast-fed for shorter periods, given less health care and vaccinations and even smaller portions of food than their brothers, the report said.

It estimated Asia was short 163 million females in 2005 when compared to overall population balances of men and women elsewhere in the world. It said sex ratios at birth in other countries, such as Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh, also should be closely monitored to avoid uneven trends there.

Earlier research has documented the gender imbalance in the region. A UNICEF report last year estimated 7,000 girls go unborn every day in India.

"It's very difficult to imagine what's going to be the exact impact of these missing girls in 20 years," said Christophe Guilmoto, an author of the report presented this week at a reproductive health conference in Hyderabad, India. "No human society that we know has faced a similar problem."

The reasons boys are favored over girls are complex and deeply rooted in Asian society. In many countries, men typically receive the inheritance, carry on the family name and take care of their parents in old age, while women often leave to live with their husband's family.

In India, wedding costs and dowries are usually required of the parents of the bride, and sons are the only ones permitted by the Hindu religion to perform the last rites when their fathers die.

"My husband took me to a private clinic to be checked. I broke down in tears when I saw the result because I knew this is not what my husband wanted," said Nguyen Thi Hai Yen, 33, recalling when she discovered her second baby was a girl. "But he was good. He told me it was OK."

China has a one-child policy, while Vietnam encourages only two children per family after relaxing an earlier ban on having more. Such limits have led many women to abort girls and keep trying for sons who can carry on the family lineage.

The report calls for increased public awareness, more government intervention and steps to elevate women's place in society by promoting gender equality.

Setting back clocks can be a killer
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- This weekend is the time to turn back those clocks, and according to two scientists, time to be extra careful when walking during evening rush hour.


Most of the country got an extra hour of sleep Sunday morning.

At 2 a.m. local time Sunday, standard time returned. That means clocks should have been set back an hour.

It also means that pedestrians walking around dusk are now nearly three times more likely to be struck and killed by cars than before the time change, the researchers calculate.

Ending daylight saving time translates into about 37 more U.S. pedestrian deaths around 6 p.m. in November compared to October, the professors report.

Their study of risk to pedestrians is preliminary but confirms previous findings of higher deaths after clocks are set back in fall.

It's not the darkness itself, but the adjustment to earlier nighttime that's the killer, said professors Paul Fischbeck and David Gerard, both of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Fischbeck, who regularly walks with his 4-year-old twins around 6 p.m., is worried enough that he'll be more cautious starting Monday.

"A three times increase in the risk is really dramatic, and because of that we're carrying a flashlight," he said.

Fischbeck and Gerard conducted a preliminary study of seven years of federal traffic fatalities and calculated risk per mile walked for pedestrians. They found that per-mile risk jumps 186 percent from October to November, but then drops 21 percent in December.

They said the drop-off by December indicates the risk is caused by the trouble both drivers and pedestrians have adjusting when darkness suddenly comes an hour earlier.

The reverse happens in the morning when clocks are set back and daylight comes earlier. Pedestrian risk plummets, but there are fewer walkers then, too. The 13 lives saved at 6 a.m. don't offset the 37 lost at 6 p.m., the researchers found.

The risk for pedestrian deaths at 6 p.m. is by far the highest in November than any other month, the scientists said. The danger declines each month through May.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety of Arlington, Virginaia, in earlier studies found the switch from daylight saving time to standard time increased pedestrian deaths. Going to a year-round daylight saving time would save about 200 deaths a year, the institute calculated, said spokesman Russ Rader.

"Benjamin Franklin conceived of daylight savings time as a way of saving candles," Rader said Friday. "Today we know it saves lives."

The risk at 6 p.m. in November, after daylight saving time ends, is 11 times higher than the risk for the same hour in April, when daylight saving begins, according to the Carnegie Mellon researchers.

Fischbeck and Gerard used federal traffic fatality data that they've incorporated into a searchable database for different risk factors. Their analysis was not peer-reviewed or being published in a scientific journal.

But it does jibe with other peer-reviewed studies that looked at raw fatalities.

A 2001 study by John M. Sullivan at the University of Michigan looked at national traffic statistics from 1987 to 1997 and found that there were 65 crashes killing pedestrians in the week before the clocks fell back and 227 in the week after.

Fischbeck and Gerard found the increase in fatality risk after the end of daylight saving time is only for pedestrians. No such jump was seen for drivers or passengers in cars.

Once everyone "springs forward" to daylight saving time in April, there is a 78 percent drop in risk at 6 p.m., they said.

But overall for the evening rush hour, turning the clock back is a killer. In seven years there have been 250 more deaths in the fall and 139 fewer deaths in the spring.

"This clearly shows that both drivers and pedestrians should think about this daylight savings adjustment," Gerard said. "There are lives at stake."

The time change does not apply in Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Lunar probe enters moon's orbit
————China Daily     
China's first lunar probe, Chang'e I, successfully completed its first braking at perilune and entered the moon's orbit Monday morning, becoming China's first circumlunar satellite.

Chang'e I, following the instructions of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC), started braking at 11:15 am at a position around 300 km away from the moon and entered the moon's orbit at around 11:37 am after completing the braking, according to the BACC.

The speed of Chang'e I reached about 2.3 km per second when it started braking. It would likely fly away from the moon if the braking was too early, or it would crash into the moon if the braking was too late, scientists explained.

After the braking, the probe's speed was slowed down to 1.948 km per second and is now traveling along a 12-hour elliptical moon orbit, with a perilune of about 200 km and an apolune of about 8,600 km.Chang'e I, named after a legendary Chinese goddess who flew to the moon, blasted off on a Long March 3A carrier rocket on October 24 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern Sichuan Province.

The probe completed its fourth orbital transfer on October 31, which shifted it to the earth-moon transfer orbit and pushed it to fly to the moon "in a real sense". Then it flied another 114 hours to arrive at the perilune 200 km away from the moon.

It was previously moving around the earth and experienced three orbital transfers, which lifted it up first to a 16-hour orbit with an apogee of 50,000 km, then to a 24-hour orbit with an apogee of 70,000 km and next to a 48-hour orbit with an apogee of more than 120,000 km.

On November 2, BACC successfully carried out an orbital correction for Chang'e I to ensure that it traveled on the pre-set orbit.

A second orbital correction scheduled for November 3 was called off because it was "unnecessary" -- Chang'e I had been running accurately on the expected trajectory, a BACC scientist said.

The 2,350-kg satellite carried eight probing facilities, including a stereo camera and interferometer, an imager and gamma/x-ray spectrometer, a laser altimeter, a microwave detector, a high energy solar particle detector and a low energy ion detector.

The ultraviolet image sensors, put into actual use on a satellite for the first time, has begun working since October 30 to collect information on both the earth and the moon.

Chang'e I is expected to relay the first picture of the moon in late November.

It will fulfil four scientific objectives, including a three-dimensional survey of the Moon's surface, analysis of the abundance and distribution of elements on lunar surface, an investigation of the characteristics of lunar regolith and the powdery soil layer on the surface, and an exploration of the circumstance between the earth and the moon.

China's lunar orbiter project has cost 1.4 billion yuan (US$187 million) since research and development of the project was approved at the beginning of 2004.

The launch of the orbiter kicks off the first step of China's three-stage moon mission, which will lead to a moon landing and launch of a moon rover at around 2012. In the third phase, another rover will land on the moon and return to earth with lunar soil and stone samples for scientific research at around 2017.

Report: Chinese name kids 'Olympics'
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BEIJING, China (AP) -- The upcoming Beijing Olympics is more than just a point of pride for China -- it's such an important part of the national consciousness that more than 3,000 parents named their children after the event, a newspaper reported Sunday.

Most of the 3,491 people with the name "Aoyun," meaning Olympics, were born around the year 2000, as Beijing was bidding to host the 2008 Summer Games, the Beijing Daily reported, citing information from China's national identity card database.

The vast majority of people named Aoyun are male, the newspaper said. Only six of them live in Beijing, though the report didn't say where the others lived.

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Asian births lean toward boys
Names related to the Olympics don't just stop with "Olympics." More than 4,000 Chinese share their names with the Beijing Games mascots, the "Five Friendlies." The names are Bei Bei (880 people), Jing Jing (1,240), Huan Huan (1,063), Ying Ying (624) and Ni Ni (642). When put together, the phrase translates to "Beijing welcomes you!"

Chinese have increasingly turned to unique names as a way to express a child's individuality. In a country with a population of 1.3 billion people, 87 percent share the same 129 family names.

Girl with 8 limbs' surgery going well
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BANGALORE, India (AP ) -- Surgeons in India said a mammoth 40-hour operation on a two-year-old girl born with four arms and four legs was going according to plan.


Lakshmi, pictured with her mother prior to surgery.

"So far, so good," Dr. Sharan Patil, the head surgeon, told reporters after 10 hours of surgery to separate Lakshmi Tatma from her "parasitic twin."

The task began early Tuesday in the southern Indian city of Bangalore and is expected to go on through the night.

Patil told reporters the team of 30 surgeons had begun the process of severing Lakshmi from her conjoined twin, which stopped developing in the mother's womb and has a torso and limbs but no head.

He said the spinal cord had been successfully separated and that body tissues vital for the girl's survival had been isolated and retained.

Patil said orthopedic surgeons would now begin the painstaking task of separating fused bones connecting the girl to her twin. He said Lakshmi was in a stable condition and was responding well to the surgery. Watch images of Lakshmi as she prepares for surgery .

When Lakshmi was born into a poor, rural Indian family, villagers in the remote settlement of Rampur Kodar Katti in the northern state of Bihar believed she was sacred. As news of her birth spread, locals queued for a blessing from the baby.

Her parents, Shambhu and Poonam Tatma, named the girl after the Hindu goddess of wealth who has four arms. However, they were forced to keep her in hiding after they were approached by men offering money in exchange for putting their daughter in a circus.

The couple, who earn just $1 a day as casual laborers, were keen for her to have the operation but were unable to pay for the rare procedure, which has never before been performed in India.

Many villagers, however, remain opposed to surgery and are planning to erect a temple to Lakshmi, who they still revere as sacred.

After Patil visited the girl in her village from Narayana Health City hospital in Bangalore, the hospital's foundation agreed to fund the $200,000 operation.

The non-stop procedure will go on through the night with surgeons working eight-hour shifts to separate her spinal column and kidney from that of her twin.


The operation is being conducted by specialists in pediatrics, neurosurgery, orthopedics and plastic surgery. Without it, doctors say, Lakshmi would be unlikely to survive beyond early adolescence.

Her parents are being given regular updates but are not allowed to see their daughter during the operation.

Environmental fears over palm oil
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LONDON (CNN) -- Destruction of Indonesia's peatlands to make way for the production of palm oil is leading to a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions, a problem that will get worse as demand for biofuel grows, Greenpeace reported Thursday.

The environmental group said Indonesia's carbon-rich peatlands are being razed, drained and burned to make way for plantations of oil palm trees, which are used for the production of palm oil.


Indonesia : peatlands in Riau province are being razed, drained and burned to make way for plantations of oil palm trees

Palm oil is used in food products ranging from potato chips to cream cheese and is also used for biofuel.

The destruction of the peatlands releases 1.8 billion tons of greenhouse gas each year, Greenpeace said. That figure represents 4 percent of global emissions from an area representing 0.1 percent of the land on earth.

"We're talking about enormous carbon stores basically being released into the atmosphere when these forests are being burned and cleared," said Andy Tait, a forests campaigner for Greenpeace

Tait said the razing of the peatlands is so destructive that the planting of palm oil trees cannot make up for the greenhouse gases emitted in the process.

In a report released Thursday titled "Cooking the Climate," Greenpeace also said only a third of the land cleared since 1990 has been planted with oil palm plantations.

Greenpeace said large food and consumer product companies including Unilever, Nestle, and Procter & Gamble are driving the peatland destruction because the companies account for a significant volume of global palm oil use.

These companies, Greenpeace said, "are complicit in the expansion of palm oil at the expense of Indonesia's peatlands."

The group called on companies that use palm oil to make sure it does not originate from destroyed peatland.

In response to the report, Procter & Gamble said it is committed to sustainable palm oil and shares guidelines on sustainability to its suppliers.

"We encourage our suppliers to follow sustainable practices and we support various initiatives for the sustainable production and use of palm products, such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)," Procter & Gamble said in a statement.

Greenpeace said the RSPO's efforts are hampered because member companies often can't trace the palm oil beyond the processor, leaving companies unable to determine whether it comes from destroyed peatlands.

Tait said the problem will get worse as demand for biofuel increases. Greenpeace said compared to 2000, demand for palm oil is predicted to more than double by 2030 and triple by 2050.

But Tait said using biofuel from crops connected to deforestation defeats the purpose of trying to produce an eco-friendly fuel.

"Using biofuel made of palm oil to tackle climate change is like putting gasoline on a fire to put it out," he said.

To highlight the effects of peatland destruction, Greenpeace focused on the Indonesian province of Riau, where it said a quarter of the country's oil palm plantations are located and more are planned.

The group said that if Riau's peatlands are destroyed, the resulting greenhouse gas emissions would be equivalent to the amount emitted by the rest of the world in a year.

Russian oil tanker breaks in two
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MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- A Russian oil tanker split in two during a fierce storm early Sunday, spilling some 560,000 gallons of fuel into a strait leading to the Black Sea in one of the worst environmental disasters in the region in years, authorities said.

Two freighters carrying sulfur also sank nearby in the Strait of Kerch, a narrow strait linking the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov to the northeast, said Sergei Petrov, a spokesman for the regional branch of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry.

Operations to rescue the crews of all three ships were under way, officials said.

The oil tanker, the Volganeft-139 -- loaded with about 1.3 million gallons of fuel oil -- was stranded several miles from shore. Stormy weather was preventing emergency workers from collected the spilled oil, authorities said.

"There is serious concern that the spill will continue," Oleg Mitvol, head of the state environmental safety watchdog Rosprorodnadzor said on Vesti 24 television.

He said it could take "several years" to clean up the spill, one of the worst in the region in recent years.

Maxim Stepanenko, a regional prosecutor, told Vesti 24 that the oil tanker -- designed during Soviet times to transport oil on rivers -- was not built to withstand a fierce storm. He said a similar tanker battered by storm developed a crack in its hull but hasn't yet leaked any oil.

Mitvol said while the spilled sulfur did not present an environmental danger, the two freighters could also leak fuel oil from their tanks, adding to the pollution.

A Turkish freighter also has run around in the strait, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Vladimir Yerygin, chief administrator in the nearby Russian port city of Novorossiisk, as saying.

The Black Sea is bordered by Russia, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Georgia.

Expert warns of worsening AIDS infection in China
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(Xinhua)from chinadaily

SHENYANG -- China sees increasing cases of AIDS infection and wider spread of the disease among the public, an anti-AIDS expert has warned, calling for immediate measures.

China reported 218,107 AIDS cases by the end of August this year, with an increase of 3,807 cases in August, said Dai Zhicheng, director of the Chinese Association of STD (sexually transmitted disease) & AIDS Prevention and Control.

In central Henan and southwestern Yunnan provinces, the reported infected cases exceeded 30,000, Dai said at a recent seminar to raise people's awareness of AIDS in Liaoning Province.

Some western areas, including the Tibet Autonomous Region, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Qinghai Province, and northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region reported less than 2,000 infection cases, he said.
The disease is mainly transmitted by sex and needle sharing of drug users, which account for 43.6 percent and 44.3 percent of the total infections respectively.
The rate of HIV infections among drug users rose from 1.95 percent in 1998 to 7.5 percent in 2006. The rate of HIV infections among male homosexuals stayed between 1 percent to 4 percent, according to the monitoring data obtained by Dai's association.

China's anti-AIDS efforts are hampered by many factors, including inadequate publicity and funding, inefficient health care facilities in rural areas and ineffective control on floating population, said Dai.

The increasing number of floating population and drug users also pose difficulties for the campaign against AIDS.

He suggested compulsory urine test be adopted to keep drug addicts clean and anti-AIDS knowledge be made well-known among migrated population in the hope of curbing the virus spread.