CHINA'S STRONG FOURTH QUARTER GROWTH

HONG KONG – Quarterly and monthly indicators released by China point to strong growth momentum in the fourth quarter of 2010. Full-year growth came in at 10.3%, underpinned by Q4 growth of 9.8%. BBVA Bank estimates that China’s fourth-quarter growth (seasonally-adjusted and annualised) at a “very strong” 12.1%, compared to 8.0% in Q3. Headline CPI inflation for December eased to 4.6% year-on-year, from 5.1% in November, due to base effects and a softening in food prices. “Underlying inflationary pressures, nevertheless, remain high, and the December outturn is still well above the authorities’ comfort range,” BBVA says. “Given the strong growth momentum, we anticipate more monetary tightening measures, including three interest rate hikes in 2011, and at least 1% increase in the required reserve ratio (RRR) in addition to the most recent 0.5% RRR hike. We maintain our GDP growth outlook at 9.2% for 2011.” On the demand side, December retail figures grew faster than expected, at 19.1% year-on-year, indicating robust consumer spending. www.bbva.com (ATI).

The Natural Environment

Tibetan Plateau

As the largest continent, Asia contains some of the world’s most spectacular natural features, including high mountain ranges, vast plateaus, majestic river basins, and lakes and inland seas. The centerpiece is the high mountains of the Himalayas and the associated Tibetan Plateau (Qing Zang Gaoyuan). To the far north are vast plateau regions of Siberia and open waterways such as Lake Baikal. Located in an arc around the eastern rim of the continent are the plateaus of China, dissected by great rivers, including the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang). In South Asia, the Deccan Plateau dominates India. Toward the west is the Arabian Peninsula, and in a northwesterly direction are the steppes of Central Asia.
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Himalayas

China Newspapers And Magazines

While the traditional means of communication are waning, modern communication facilities are developing rapidly. In the early 21st century more than 2,000 newspapers were being published in China. Major national newspapers include Renmin Ribao (People's Daily), the official paper of the CCP; Jiefangjun Bao (Liberation Army Daily), the paper of China's Central Military Commission; and Guangming Ribao (Guangming Daily), a paper popular among scientists and educators. Among the most influential magazines are Liaowang (Outlook) and Qiushi (Seeking Truth). Magazines that cover social, cultural, and economic topics are very popular. The Chinese government pressures those who work in the media to avoid politically sensitive subjects. Consequently, the media practices a high degree of self-censorship.

Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2007. © 1993-2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Asia's Dharmic and Taoist

The religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated in India, South Asia. In East Asia, particularly in China and Japan, Confucianism, Taoism and Zen Buddhism took shape.

Mad rush for last batch of tickets for Olympics

Mad rush for last batch of tickets for Olympics

Chua Chin Hon
The Straits Times
Publication Date : 26-07-2008
ASIA NEWS NETWORK

Olympic mania arrived early in Beijing yesterday as tens of thousands of people queued, pushed and jostled for the last batch of Games tickets to go on sale.

At stake for these ordinary Chinese was an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to catch mainland sporting heroes, such as hurdler Liu Xiang and diver Guo Jingjing, in action and possibly win an Olympic gold on home soil.

The overwhelming demand sparked angry exchanges between frustrated ticket buyers and the edgy security forces at the most crowded ticketing station in Beijing, located south of the National Stadium, the main Olympic venue nicknamed the 'Bird's Nest'.

This station, which sold tickets for events at the National Stadium and the 'Water Cube'' stadium, drew a 50,000-strong crowd yesterday morning. Some people had been queuing since Wednesday.

Pandemonium broke out when ticket sales began at 9am. The police's badly organized attempts at crowd control resulted in queue-cutting and ill-tempered shoving matches between ticket buyers, many of whom appeared severely worn out by the long wait.

Several middle-aged men were hauled away for rowdy behavior. That did not stop the crowd from jeering at the security forces and giving them the thumbs-down sign.

Adding to the chaos was a scuffle between the police and several Hong Kong journalists who tried to film the unruly scenes.
Footage on Hong Kong television, which swiftly made its way to YouTube, showed one reporter being pushed to the ground while another was detained and held in a police van.

A police spokesman admitted that they had underestimated the number of ticket buyers.

'The queue was orderly at first, but once sales began, some members of the public got very excited, so we must maintain order and safety,' he said.

The Games' organizers announced on Tuesday that the last batch of tickets would go on sale yesterday. A total of 6.8 million tickets have been made available for domestic and foreign sales.

About 820,000 tickets were up for grabs yesterday in Beijing and several co-host cities such as Tianjin, Shanghai and Shenyang. The most coveted ones were undoubtedly the 250,000 tickets for events to be held in the Chinese capital.

Some hardcore fans, such as Zhao Yufeng, said they had been queuing for nearly 40 hours. They had roped in friends and family members to help keep their place in the queue, survived on bottled water, biscuits and instant noodles as well as slept in the open.

The hardship was well worth it, a jubilant Zhao told reporters as she waved two tickets priced at 150 yuan ($22) each for the diving competition.

Undergraduate Sun Jia-ao, who obtained tickets for the same event, said, 'It was definitely well worth the wait. This is a big event for our country, and I naturally want to be a part of it. It won't be the same if you just watch it on television.'

A woman who wanted to be identified only by her surname Liu said she was in a queue for nearly 36 hours, but was squeezed out early yesterday morning when the police began cordoning off some areas near the ticketing station.

Another man complained that he lost his place in the queue after leaving for two minutes to buy a bottle of mineral water.

Ticket sales at the other co-host cities were reportedly brisk, though not as intense as the scenes seen in Beijing.

Ticket scalpers also appeared to have kept a low profile, after police warned a day earlier that they had nabbed 60 such suspects in the past two months. These scalpers could face up to 15 days in detention if found guilty.

My Friends Favorite Blogs

http://americaupdate.blogspot.com/

http://saudiupdate.blogspot.com/

http://newyorkcityfinest.blogsome.com/

http://rosesredlove.blogsome.com/

http://canadatourmanager.blogsome.com/

http://catslovely.blogsome.com/

http://chinatourmanager.blogsome.com/

http://dogslovely.blogsome.com/

http://floridatourguide.blogsome.com/

http://flowerslovers.blogsome.com/

http://francetourguide.blogsome.com/

http://greecetourguide.blogsome.com/

http://italytourguide.blogsome.com/

http://japanhistorian.blogsome.com/

Jordan marks Eid Al Adha

Jordan marks Eid Al Adha
VIEW SOURCE

Children at a sheep bought to be slaughtered ahead of Eid Al Adha in the Sahab area, south of Amman. According to Islamic tradition, two-thirds of the udhiya’s (slaughtered animal) meat goes to the poor (AFP photo by Awad Awad)

AMMAN (JT) - Jordan today joins other Arab and Islamic countries in celebrating the Eid Al Adha feast marking the end of hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

The Kingdom started a five-day holiday Tuesday, with the closure of government agencies, banks and educational establishments. Bridge crossings to the West Bank and Israel are also closed.

The eid rituals start with special prayers at 7:00am, usually performed in open spaces like football fields or public parks, weather permitting.

Eid prayers in some parts of the Kingdom are likely to be performed inside mosques as the Jordan Meteorological Department announced Tuesday that wet and cold weather will prevail during the holiday as a result of unstable weather conditions.

After the prayer, people, by the virtue of tradition rather than religion, visit cemeteries to pay tribute to the dead, and those who can afford to slaughter sheep do so. According to Islamic teachings, they have to distribute at least two-thirds of the meat to the poor in a gesture of social solidarity.

The Greater Amman Municipality and other municipal councils around the country have designated places for pens to sell sheep, which are confined to locations removed from residential areas.

Over the past several days, Amman and major cities witnessed traffic jams as people were shopping for the eid, buying mainly sweets, coffee and new clothes.

In preparation for the feast, the Public Security Department (PSD) announced earlier in the week that it would intensify security procedures during the holiday season culminating in New Year’s Eve.

PSD Spokesperson Major Mohammad Khatib said the measures will include increasing the number of uniformed and plain-clothed manned patrols and rangers.

On the occasion, His Majesty King Abdullah received cables and exchanged over phone congratulations with several leaders of Arab, Islamic and foreign countries and senior officials and officers. Also yesterday, King Abdullah received cables from Christian communities in the Kingdom congratulating him and the Arab and Christians in the Arab world on the occasion of Eid Al Adha, Christmas and the New Year.