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Appropriations committee suspends $900m in aid to Islamabad for this year and next will be unless military supply routes to Afghanistan are reopened

Appropriations committee suspends $900m in aid to Islamabad for this year and next will be unless military supply routes to Afghanistan are reopened

The Congressional Budget Office warned the US will probably plunge into recession if lawmakers fail to prevent $607bn in scheduled tax increases and spending cuts

Two men have been charged with the recent murders of two Chinese students in Los Angeles, and could face the death penalty. The case stirred up resentment of China’s growing income inequality when early reports falsely referred to the students’ “brand new” “$60,000″ BMW. From Reuters:

Two men accused of fatally shooting a pair of Chinese graduate students at the University of Southern California were charged on Tuesday with capital murder, making them eligible to face the death penalty if convicted, prosecutors said ….

The men arrested in the case, 20-year-old Bryan Barnes and 19-year-old Javier Bolden, have been charged with capital murder during a suspected robbery. Prosecutors have not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty or life in prison, both options in a capital case, the district attorney’s office said.

The two will face the charges when they appear in a Los Angeles court later on Tuesday afternoon.

The victims’ parents sued USC last week, accusing the university of making misleading claims about students’ safety. From The Los Angeles Times:

Their attorney, Alan Burton Newman, alleges in the lawsuit that USC inaccurately claimed on its website that it “is ranked among the safest of U.S. universities and colleges, with one of the most comprehensive, proactive campus and community safety programs in the nation.” The suit notes that USC says it provides 24-hour security on campus and in surrounding neighborhoods.

The suit says USC “provided no patrolling” in the neighborhood where the shooting occurred. After the killings, USC persisted with a “clearly misleading” portrayal of safety, reiterating in a letter to the campus community that crime “is low compared to other areas of Los Angeles,” according to the lawsuit.

In response, USC attorney Debra Wong Yang said the university is “deeply saddened by this tragic event, which was a random violent act not representative of the safety of USC or the neighborhoods around campus. While we have deep sympathy for the victims’ families, this lawsuit is baseless and we will move to have it dismissed.”

Stan Abrams, commenting on the case at China Hearsay, agreed, concluding that whatever precautions are taken, “these things just happen.”

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© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: death penalty, Los Angeles, murders, USC Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Fast Company Magazine recently named Chinese environmental activist Ma Jun to the #1 spot on their list of the 100 Most Creative People in Business. Christina Larson profiles him for the magazine:

An environmental researcher by trade, Ma spent years chronicling China’s ecological catastrophes. Some of what he witnessed was inexorable and slow, like the graying of the Beijing sky; last December, the World Health Organization ranked Beijing 1,035th, out of 1,100 international cities, in air quality. Other results of his country’s unfettered growth were horrific, like the massive flooding of the Yangtze in 1998, after years of deforestation and soil erosion. Eventually, he decided that merely telling the story was not enough. “As a media person, you look to expose the problem,” he says, “but you can’t stop there-—people are looking for answers.”

Ma founded the not-for-profit Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE) in 2006. Since then, more than anyone else in China, Ma has channeled the power of the Internet and the optimism of China’s younger generation into a force for environmental change. Working with a devoted national network of young volunteers, Ma and his nine full-time staffers have compiled an open-source online database of water, air, and hazardous-waste pollution records—-in the country that generates the world’s highest emissions. Those records are damning: Over five years, IPE volunteers have helped hunt down some 97,000 records of factories operating in violation of China’s green laws. And those efforts lead to change.

“When I look at China’s environmental problems, the real barrier is not lack of technology or money,” he says. “It’s lack of motivation. The motivation should come from regulatory enforcement, but enforcement is weak and environmental litigation is near to impossible. So there’s an urgent need for extensive public participation to generate another kind of motivation.” Ma has become expert at using his database to create that motivation, especially when it comes to helping global companies police their suppliers.

Read more about Ma Jun and about environmental activism in China, via CDT. See also our special section on the Environment.

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© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: corporate responsibility, environmental activism, Ma Jun, pollution Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Abduction of several men in Aleppo, allegedly by Syrian rebels, prompts army raids, and protests in Beirut suburbs.

As more and more auto makers are gearing their products towards China, Nissan is also expanding their luxury car market to China, and they are aiming for 10% of the market despite being one of the late-comers into China’s auto industry. Reuters reports:

Nissan Motor Co Ltd said it aims to triple global sales of its premium Infiniti brand by 2016 and take 10 percent of China’s luxury vehicle market, challenging leaders like Audi AG and Mercedes Benz maker Daimler AG.

The target appears “challenging,” Yale Zhang, head of Shanghai-based consulting firm Automotive Foresight, said.

In order for Nissan to achieve it, the Yokohama-based automaker would have to “aggressively push localization over the coming two to three years and aggressively price locally produced cars,” Zhang said.

In China, Infiniti sold just 19,000 cars in the last fiscal year ended March, a fraction of the more than 300,000 sold in 2011 by Audi, Volkswagen AG’s premium brand.

While Nissan expands into emerging markets with the revival of their Datsun brand, they plan to enter China through Hong Kong with the luxury brand, Infiniti.ABC News adds:

Nissan’s upscale Infiniti brand unveiled its new global headquarters in Hong Kong on Tuesday, as the Japanese automaker uses the southern Chinese financial center to grab a bigger piece of the world’s top car market.

Infiniti is the first car maker to base itself in Hong Kong, a semiautonomous region of China better known for its banking prowess and stock market.

Ghosn said the company chose to move the high-end division to Hong Kong so staff could better observe the city’s luxury goods market. Many foreign brands have flocked to the city in recent years in pursuit of wealthy Chinese shoppers.

“During the next five years, Hong Kong and mainland China will together be our most important growth market,” Ghosn said.

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© Melissa M. Chan for China Digital Times (CDT), 2012. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: auto industry, auto market, luxury cars, Nissan Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

The Oklahoma City Thunder's victory over the Los Angeles Lakers was followed by street fighting and a shooting.

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Psychic Pig, 2, grunts loudly as it enjoys beer and French fries while watching soccer with the Ukrainian farmer who owns it.

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Analysts said the report was positive, though it did not signal the end of the country's economic woes.

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Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia and Chris Coons of Delaware, both Democrats, joined their Republican colleagues, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Jerry Moran of Kansas, to introduce the legislation which would be a break from both parties.

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LOS ANGELES — "The Master," Paul Thomas Anderson's upcoming film about the origins of a religion that bears a striking resemblance to Scientology, released its official trailer on Monday, according to the Hollywood Reporter. 

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A black South African farmhand has been found guilty of murdering Eugene Terre'Blanche, a white supremacist leader bludgeoned to death at his farmhouse outside the small north-western town of Ventersdorp.

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Waiver would allow Tehran to continue supplying crude to Asian customers in exchange for guarantees it is not building an atomic bomb

Waiver would allow Tehran to continue supplying crude to Asian customers in exchange for guarantees it is not building an atomic bomb

Exposure to environmental toxins affects the health of generations, a new study shows.

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More than 150 students in Paris, Occupy Wall Street in New York City planning to stage sympathy marches.

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A GlobalPost correspondent now traveling inside Syria witnessed the Free Syrian Army rebels in the country's northern Idlib province making bombs both big and small at a makeshift factory over the weekend. The reporter snapped this photo, which shows some of the finished products. Free Syrian Army soldiers are in the background mixing explosive chemicals.

The increased use of roadside bombs has some comparing Syria to Iraq. An influx of foreign jihadist fighters invokes the same comparisons.

From GlobalPost's reporter inside Syria:

"...in a warehouse nearby, rebel fighters feverishly prepared bombs. As fertilizer and sugar boiled together in a large pot, a large metal tube was filled with explosives. In the corner, bombs made from old teakettles, barrels and 23mm bullet casings were set with wicks. Others made remote detonators from automatic garage door openers. The homemade explosives ranged in size from handheld devices to something resembling a 44-gallon drum, and another thinner metal casing around 1.5 meters in length.

“The army killed my brother with one of these,” said Humza, a 25-year-old rebel fighter as he held several bullet casings in his hand. “They tried to kill us with these bullets. Now we are turning them into grenades to throw back at them.”

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When nominating the Crocker for the Kabul post, Obama called him "one of our nation's most respected diplomats" who "is no stranger to tough assignments," the AP reported.

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Abduction of several men in Aleppo, allegedly by Syrian rebels, prompts army raids, and protests in Beirut suburbs.