If you’re in a mess, say yes. That may be what Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou was thinking when he gave his official nod to the controversial visit of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s leader-in-exile, to Taiwan next week. Ma has been facing his lowest approval ratings — around 20% — since he took office more than a year ago
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Hu calls for reform in China’s Uyghur region
China’s President Hu Jintao called Tuesday for a "prosperous and harmonious" Xinjiang province during his first visit to the country’s western Uyghur region since last month’s deadly riots, state-run media reported.
China to close smelting plants in lead-poisoning cases
China is shutting down a pair of smelting plants suspected of sickening several thousand children with lead poisoning, according to state-run media. At least 851 children living near a plant in northwestern China’s Shaanxi province were found to have excessive lead levels in their blood, according to the Xinhua news agency.
Deadly mudslides strike across East Asia
The wrath of Typhoon Morakot has affected nearly 9 million people across four coastal China provinces and killed dozens in Taiwan, officials said Tuesday.
Reports: Typhoon triggers China landslide
A massive mudslide unleashed by Typhoon Morakot spilled into a coastal China town, crushing a half dozen buildings and burying an unknown number of people, state-run media reported Tuesday. The mudslide occurred at about 10:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m
One million flee as deadly storm slams into China
A deadly typhoon that slammed into China’s coastal provinces and Taiwan over the weekend has displaced nearly one million people and left dozens missing, state-run media reported Monday. High winds and torrential rain from Typhoon Morakot hit coastal provinces Fujian and Zhejian hardest, and caused the worst flooding in decades in Taiwan — where flood waters as high as seven feet were reported, China Daily said
Inmates in chopper jail break on crime spree
Three men who escaped from prison in Belgium in a daring helicopter escape committed a string of robberies on Saturday, a police spokesman said. The escapees, who include a man considered to be one of the country’s most dangerous criminals, robbed a bank, a gas station and two storage facilities, said the Bruges police spokesman Sunday.
Yemeni judge sentences al Qaeda members to death
A judge in Yemen sentenced six al Qaeda terrorists to death and sent 10 others to prison for up to 15 years, the state-run Saba news agency reported. The ring, known as the Tarim cell, belonged to the Yemen wing of the al Qaeda terrorist organization, the agency said. The group, which included four Syrians and a Saudi, had been convicted of bombing oil and military facilities and foreign diplomatic missions, including the U.S.
Report: Urumqi bans illegal public assembly
A city in China’s far west that witnessed deadly protests last weekend has banned public assembly without police approval, state media reported. “Assemblies, marches and demonstrations on public roads and at public places in the open air are not allowed without the permission by police,” read a notice by the Public Security Bureau of Urumqi, the Xinhua news agency reported. Violent demonstrations in Urumqi on July 5 claimed at least 184 lives
Death toll in China ethnic unrest rises to 184
At least 184 people died in last weekend’s violent protests in China’s far-west Xinjiang region, state-run media reported. That number raises the death toll from a previously reported 156.