An earth quake toppled houses and injured a hotel and supermarket in China's great southwest near the edge with Myanmar on Thursday, killing at least 22 people and injuring more than 200, officials and state media said.Photos from the scene showed buildings that buckled, crushing their lower floors. Police, firefighters and soldiers rushed to the area to pull out people attentive in the rubble, including a man and girl stuck in the stairwell of a four-story building, according to state newscaster China Central Television.One sidewalk was lined with offended people, lying on blankets and being secured from the sun by large wholesaler umbrellas.Full Storyuseful links:
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The protest in Egypt is about free elections and overthrows a longtime dictator? Not according to China's state media, which is picturing them as the kind of chaos that comes with Western-style democratic system?The new uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia are no doubt giving silence to many strict regimes around the world, other than nowhere else appears to be as strong-minded to control the communication as China.Chinese censor have blocked the ability to explore the term "Egypt" on microblogging sites, and user notes that draw parallels to China have been delete from Internet forums. The People's Daily, the flagship daily of the Communist Party, carried only a short details Thursday saying Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would not rest for re-election.Full story
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Chinese President Hu Jintao heard anxiety about China's human being rights and financial policies as he wrapped up his visit to Washington with convention on Capitol Hill.Hu met unconnectedly with House and Senate leaders previous to a scheduled lunch with businessmen and going away for Chicago.House Speaker John Boehner (BAY'-nur) said participants at the House meeting "raised our strong, ongoing anxiety with reports of human rights violations in China, as well as the denial of sacred freedom and the use of coercive abortion" as a result of China's one-child rule.He said they also address the need for China to better keep academic property and restrain the aggressive deeds of North Korea.Full Story
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At the same time as the leaked United States delegation cables appear to put forward widening cracks in China's relations with North Korea, analysts here have played down the claims as a amalgamation of wishful accepted wisdom on the part of South Korean diplomat and a misreading of China's wider calculated affiliation with its long-time ally.More than a few cables released by WikiLeaks quoted South Korean officials suggestive of rising frustration among Chinese officials towards the North's actions — a few even telling Pyongyang as a “spoiled child”.The cables even propose an increasing appetite in the middle of Chinese officials for nonviolent reunification under South Korean leadership, a claim that contradict China's official line towards the North.Full story
Fire engulf a high-rise apartment building beneath renovation in China's business center of Shanghai on Monday, killing 42 people and sending inhabitants scrambling down scaffolding to escape, city establishment said.The official Xinhua news organization cited a witness proverb the fire began when building materials had wedged alight. The blaze increase to scaffolding and then to the 28-story apartment block itself, which houses a number of retire teachers, it said.The government said more than 100 fire trucks were called to fight the blaze, and streams of water could be seen graceful into the building which was shrouded in plumes of thick black smoke. The fire was mainly put out about four hours afterward, it said. Firefighters could be seen taking bodies from the building.Full story
