The Good Samaritan’s dilemma
October 28, 2011 Filed under Debate
A 2-year-old girl's death offered a lesson in humanity. CFP Photo
By Zhao Hongyi
Wang Yue, the 2-year-old girl run over by two vehicles and ignored by 18 passersby in Foshan, Guangdong Province, succumbed to her internal injuries on October 21 and died after nine days in a local hospital.
Her death sparked discussion over whether there is moral responsibility for people to help those in danger.
Wang – known as “Little Yue” – lived with her parents, who run a hardware store, in suburban Foshan. On the afternoon of October 13, she was left unattended as her mother went upstairs to hang clothes on the second-floor balcony.
Minutes later, the girl wandered onto the street and was struck not once, but twice by cars, both of which sped away.
In the five minutes afterwards, street-side cameras caught footage of 18 different people who saw the girl on the street but did nothing to help.
Finally, Chen Xianmei, an old woman in her 60s, picked up the injured girl and ran for help. The girl was sent to a military hospital in Foshan for emergency rescue.
The incident provoked angry responses from local media and netizens who condemned the two drivers and also all the passersby who left the girl to die.
This was not an isolated case.
Earlier this year, a young man who helped an elder who had fallen on the street in Nanjing was later accused of knocking the elder down. He was forced to pay compensation.
Incidents like this have made people very hesitant about helping strangers.
Many countries around the world have laws and regulations protecting those who help others – so-called Good Samaritan laws. Lots of countries also punish those who are in a position to help someone but choose not to.
After the Little Yue incident, Wang Yang, party secretary of Guangdong Province, said he was appalled by what happened and by the country’s state of moral decay.
Bin Laden’s Death Won’t End Toll on Taxpayers
(Beijing Today website’s blog section does not represent any view of Beijing Today or its reporter. Anyone interested about the story can find the original text from the link above the article. The Blogger column aims to introducing foreign media’s interesting stories and expat blogs in China to more Chinese readers, as 50 percent of Beijing Today readership remain young Chinese who have experience of living abroad, white colors or school students. Authors who does not want his or her story linked at Beijing Today’s website, please email to info@beijingtoday.com.cn to take down the stories.)
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-12/bin-laden-s-death-won-t-end-toll-on-taxpayers.html
An undated photograph of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, in Afghanistan. Source: AP
Even in death, Osama bin Laden will be taking revenge on American taxpayers for years to come.
The U.S. government spent $2 trillion combating bin Laden over the past decade, more than 20 percent of the nation’s $9.68 trillion public debt. That money paid for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as additional military, intelligence and homeland security spending above pre-Sept. 11 trends, according to a Bloomberg analysis.
This year alone, taxpayers are spending more than $45 billion in interest on the money borrowed to battle al-Qaeda, the analysis shows.
The financial bleeding won’t stop with bin Laden’s demise. One of every four dollars in red ink the U.S. expects to incur in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 will result from $285 billion in annual spending triggered by the terrorist scion of a wealthy Saudi family.
Without bin Laden, “we would have accumulated less debt, be spending less on interest and we would be on a lower spending path going forward,” said Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a research organization in Washington.
Along with the dollars-and-cents toll, bin Laden has left behind a less quantifiable imprint on American life. Thousands of families have suffered grievous loss from the Sept. 11 attacks and the two wars. U.S. government buildings in Washington and around the world have grown to resemble fortified bunkers. And the line between government power and individual liberty was redrawn as agencies gained new powers to combat a novel threat.
For U.S., Pakistan, bin Laden death presents crisis and opportunity
(Beijing Today website’s blog section does not represent any view of Beijing Today or its reporter. Anyone interested about the story can find the original text from the link above the article. The Blogger column aims to introducing foreign media’s interesting stories and expat blogs in China to more Chinese readers, as 50 percent of Beijing Today readership remain young Chinese who have experience of living abroad, white colors or school students. Authors who does not want his or her story linked at Beijing Today’s website, please email to info@beijingtoday.com.cn to take down the stories.)
http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/02/pakistan.bin.laden/
Washington (CNN) — Although the Obama administration says Pakistan was not involved or given advance warning about the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, top U.S. officials said the al-Qaeda leader never would have been found and killed without the counter-terrorism cooperation between the two countries over the past few years.
“Pakistan has contributed greatly to our efforts to dismantle al Qaeda. And in fact, cooperation with Pakistan helped lead U.S. to bin Laden and the compound in which he was hiding,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. “We’re committed to this partnership. We think it is in the best interest of the security and safety of the United States.”
Officials maintain that the relationship with Islamabad is complicated, fraught with difficulties and mistrust, but the very fact that Pakistan has allowed the U.S. counterterrorism operative to operate on its soil, albeit with only a tacit endorsement, is critical to the type of operations that led to finding bin Laden.
“The relationship is complicated and their cooperation is mixed at best and going forward it’s going to be bumpy but there is no way to do this sort of thing without this partnership,” one senior official said. “The idea that this would have happened if they wouldn’t have let our guys in the country is not possible.”
Officials say they do believe that while a few members of the Pakistani intelligence service ISI might have known about bin Laden’s location, they don’t think it was broadly known that he was there. But they acknowledge that Pakistan does have some explaining to do about how bin Laden was hiding in plain sight just miles from the country’s main military academy for close to a year. The U.S. never told Pakistan about its own suspicions that bin Laden was hiding out at the compound, officials said.
Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani insisted his government had no knowledge of bin Laden’s whereabouts at any point over the last several years. He didn’t rule out the possibility that some in Pakistan who were sympathetic to bin Laden’s views provided him sanctuary.
“Pakistan is a nation of 180 million. There are people in Pakistan, unfortunately, who have sympathies with Osama bin Laden and obviously some of them had protected for him while he was there,” he said. “If we had really known where bin Laden was, we would have got him.”
Despite being left in the dark, the Pakistani ambassador spoke positively about the bin Laden mission.
“They had superior intelligence, they had superior technology, and we are grateful to them and to God for having given us this opportunity to bring this chapter to an end,” he told CNN.
In addition to President Barack Obama’s phone call with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, administration officials will continue to engage the government “as we learn more about the compound and whatever type of support system bin Laden had,” White House counterterrorism advisor John Brennan told reporters on Monday.
The hope, say officials, is that the attack will inspire the Pakistani government to cooperate more fully with the United States. Several officials predict Pakistan will go through a period of soul searching about the fact bin Laden was hiding in their country in plain sight, as well as the fact the U.S. killed him on their soil.
“The top four al Qaeda leaders were killed or captured in Pakistan, its ridiculous to say this is not their problem,” a second U.S. official said. “And any claims that we violated their sovereignty won’t resonate because the target on the other end was Osama bin Laden.”
Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said Pakistan’s initial reaction to the news suggested reason for cautious optimist about the relationship going forward.
“They didn’t attack us for entering Pakistan. They didn’t condemn us for being in Pakistan. Those are positive signs,” he said.
But, he added, “they don’t tell us. however, what’s happening in the Pakistani military or ISI or the people who in the past have supported the Taliban or tolerated al Qaeda.”
Officials say the U.S. is going to be treating Pakistan gingerly over the next few days, as they weigh how the attack will affect the relationship. Special Representative for Afghanistan/Pakistan Marc Grossman, is in Islamabad Monday for talks with Pakistani officials.
“We still need Pakistan’s cooperation and we need to see how we can move forward,” the second official said. “We need to give them some credit for what they have done, which did lead to this day. We can’t focus excessively on the negative.”
Brennan pointed out that despite the “differences of view” between the U.S. and Pakistan on counterterrorism cooperation, Pakistan has been responsible for killing and capturing more terrorists on its soil than any other country “by a wide margin.”
“There have been many, many brave Pakistani soldiers, security officials, as well as citizens, who have given their lives because of the terrorism scourge in that country,” Brennan said, calling the partnership with Pakistan “critically important to breaking the back of al Qaeda and eventually prevailing over al Qaeda as well as associated terrorist groups.”
But Seth Jones of the RAND Corporation warns that bin Laden’s death does not resolve the big-ticket issues between Washington and Islamabad, namely Pakistan’s support for the Taliban and other insurgent groups battling U.S. forces in Afghanistan, like the Haqqani network.
“As long as many of those issues continue to exist, and they have very different interests, and they have very different strategic goals in the area, then some level of conflict will likely persist,” Jones said.
Officials say they hope that the U.S. can get Pakistan on board to support a political process in Afghanistan with reconciliation between the Taliban and the Afghan government — and they believe bin Laden’s death presents an opportunity for progress.
Officials do believe that al Qaeda in Pakistan has suffered a huge disruption, having lost a charasmatic leader like bin Laden. But they are also bracing for members of al Qaeda to avenge his death and believe the U.S. will see a period of increased threat, where attacks will likely be planned against U.S. interests.
Executions down in 2010, rights groups says
(Beijing Today website’s blog section does not represent any view of Beijing Today or its reporter. Anyone interested about the story can find the original text from the link above the article. The Blogger column aims to introducing foreign media’s interesting stories and expat blogs in China to more Chinese readers, as 50 percent of Beijing Today readership remain young Chinese who have experience of living abroad, white colors or school students. Authors who does not want his or her story linked at Beijing Today’s website, please email to info@beijingtoday.com.cn to take down the stories.)
down in 2010, rights groups says
(Reuters) – At least 527 people were executed around the world last year, down from 714 in 2009, although China is believed to have put to death thousands more, human rights group Amnesty International said on Monday.
It said Beijing was thought to have executed far more people than the rest of the world combined. Amnesty’s tally does not include figures for China, which describes them as state secrets, the rights group said.
At least 23 countries carried out judicial executions in 2010, four more than the previous year, Amnesty said in its annual report on the death penalty, which it wants abolished.
China has scrapped the death penalty for 13 non-violent crimes including smuggling historic relics and tax fraud-related offenses, but capital punishment will still apply to 55 offences, Chinese news reports said last month.
“A number of countries continue to pass death sentences for drug-related offences, economic crimes, sexual relations between consenting adults and blasphemy, violating international human rights law forbidding the use of the death penalty except for the most serious crimes,” Amnesty International Secretary General Salil Shetty said in a statement.
Of the 527 executions recorded in 2010, at least 252 were carried out in Iran, at least 60 in North Korea, at least 53 in Yemen, 46 in the United States, at least 27 in Saudi Arabia, at least 18 in Libya and at least 17 in Syria, Amnesty said, noting that only a few countries published official figures.
Fans mourn Knut’s death at Berlin zoo
March 22, 2011 Filed under Ahen
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FILE - In this Dec. 5, 2010 file photo, polar bear Knut stands behind his 'birthday cake' to celebrate his 4th birthday in the Zoo of Berlin, Germany. A Berlin zoo official says world-famous polar bear Knut has died. Bear keeper Heiner Kloes said that four-year-old Knut died Saturday afternoon March 19, 2011 while alone in his compound. He says the cause is not yet clear. AP Photo
BERLIN (AP) — Hundreds of fans of Knut the polar bear flocked to his zoo enclosure Sunday to mourn the sudden death of the celebrity who burst into the limelight as a cuddly, fluffy cub hand-fed by his keeper.
The beloved four-year-old died Saturday afternoon in front of hundreds of visitors, taking keepers, animal experts and fans by surprise. The life expectancy of polar bear in the wild is between 15 and 20 years, but animals in captivity normally live even longer because they are not exposed to hunger, thirst or infections.
“I can’t comprehend what happened there. He was happy before, there were no signs of anything — it’s so shocking,” said fan Eveline Litowski, who said she had come to the zoo to find out more about Knut’s early death.
Litowski was among those who crowded around Knut’s empty compound Sunday, laying down red roses and white stuffed polar bears, lighting candles or putting up pictures of Knut with personal messages for him. Many children had drawn pictures of Knut or written farewell poems for their beloved bear.
Knut was rejected by his mother at birth, along with his twin brother, who only survived a couple of days. He attracted attention when his main caregiver, Thomas Doerflein, camped out at the zoo to give the button-eyed cub his bottle every two hours, and went on to appear on magazine covers, in a film and on mountains of merchandise.
Dozens of women known as die-hard Knut fans — some of whom reportedly even trued to hide in the zoo’s spacious park to spent a whole night with him — had assembled in front of the bear’s empty enclosure Sunday afternoon. Many sobbed and shared their memories.
“I’ve been crying nonstop since I heard about his death,” said Ingrid Rommel, a 65-year-old widow from Berlin, who said had been visiting Knut weekly since his birth on December 6, 2006. She credited him with helping her get over the death of her husband.
Heidemarie Vogel, a 58-year-old woman from Potsdam near Berlin, remembered that Knut had sometimes raised his paw when she called over to him.
Arrests and deaths as Egypt protest spreads across Middle East
(Beijing Today website’s blog section does not represent any view of Beijing Today or its reporter. Anyone interested about the story can find the original text from the link above the article. The site’s blog section aims to introducing expat blogs in China to more Chinese readers as 50 percent of Beijing Today readership remain young Chinese who have experience of living abroad, white colors or school students. Blogger who does not want his or her story linked at Beijing Today’s website, please email to info@beijingtoday.com.cn to take down the stories. )
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/14/middle-east-iran-bahrain-yemen
Anti-government protesters in Yemen shout slogans at a demonstration in the capital, Sana?a. Photograph: Yahya Arhab/EPA
(Guardian)- Egypt’s uprising has sent powerful shockwaves across the Middle East , with two deaths reported in street clashes in Iran and Bahrain and violent demonstrations in Yemen, as further protests and strikes erupted across Egypt.
Thousands of Iranians defied a government ban and volleys of teargas to join a rally in Azadi Square in the centre of Tehran. The protests were the biggest since those that erupted after the disputed 2009 presidential elections.
Mir Hossein Mousavi, leader of the Iranian Green movement, was placed under house arrest, as was Mehdi Karroubi, another prominent opposition figure. Protest rallies were also held in Isfahan and Shiraz.
Iran’s Islamic regime has hailed the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, though neither involved organised activity by Islamist opposition movements. Both protests were led by young people seeking political freedoms and an end to autocracy – just like many Iranian demonstrators.
Large numbers of police and security forces, wearing riot gear and many mounted on motorbikes, were stationed around Tehran’s main squares. Mobile phone connections were down in the area of the protests.
Singer’s death in surgery reveals market troubles
December 7, 2010 Filed under News
Young people seek comestic surgery to get an edge in work and romance. CFP Photo
By Han Manman
The death of pop singer Wang Bei during plastic surgery caused concern about safety and regulation of the booming industry.
Wang, 24, a former contestant on “Super Girl,” died on November 15 during a “facial bone-grinding” procedure in Wuhan, Hubei Province.
During the surgery, the woman began bleeding from her jaw. The blood flowed into her trachea, effectively drowning and suffocating her with her own blood, according to the statement by the Hubei health department.
Two days before Wang’s death, another 48-year-old woman died of suffocation after undergoing a cosmetic procedure at Rongjun Hospital in Beijing.
The deaths have fuelled concerns about the dangers of plastic surgery. As many as 3 million young people have cosmetic surgery each year, seeking an edge in work and romance.
Plastic surgery is the fourth largest consumption market after housing, vehicles and tourism. The Ministry of Health said China’s plastic surgery industry generates 15 billion yuan. The figure is expected to rise 20 percent annually. In 2009, more than 200,000 people were working in the plastic surgery industry at some 50,000 hospitals, clinics and beauty salons.
Statistics from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery show that China is third to the US and Brazil and the largest plastic surgery market in Asia, performing 13 percent of the total operations.
China AIDS death toll up nearly 20,000 in a year
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20101129/tap-health-china-aids-toll-8d4ea94.html
China AIDS death toll up nearly 20,000 in a year
(AFP) – – The total number of reported AIDS deaths in China has jumped by nearly 20,000 since an official estimate last year, state media said Monday as Beijing vowed to step up efforts to curb its spread.
Deaths linked to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) since its emergence in China in the 1980s reached 68,315 by the end of October, state television said, citing figures from the health ministry.
That compares with a tally of 49,845 reported deaths released by the ministry at the end of October 2009.
The number of reported HIV/AIDS sufferers stood at 370,393, the brief report by China Central Television said, compared with a ministry figure last year of 319,877.
World AIDS Day is on December 1.
HIV/AIDS was mostly sexually transmitted, with rates of infection among homosexual men increasing sharply, the report said.
Haiti toll rises above 250, new cases taper off
Sick victims and families wait at St. Nicolas Hospital in St. Marc, north of Port-au-Prince.
(AFP) – Haiti cholera deaths rose above 250 but the number of new infections and fatalities began to taper off, offering hope the epidemic might have been contained.
The new toll of 253 dead and 3,115 infections, provided by the director general of Haiti’s health department Gabriel Thimote, represented an increase of only 33 fatalities over a 24-hour period.
The disease “is limited to a well-defined perimeter” in the northern region of Artibonite and part of the central plateau, Foreign Minister Marie-Michele Rey told reporters.
Speaking in Switzerland where she was attending a summit of French-speaking nations, Rey said that for the time being “those who are on the spot appear to be able to contain the situation.”
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani denies torture claims on Iranian TV
An image of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani held during a support rally in front of the Iranian Embassy in Rome. Photograph: Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images
(Guardian)-The Iranian woman facing death by stoning after being convicted for adultery appeared on the Islamic republic’s state TV channel last night to say she has not been whipped or tortured.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, whose stoning sentence was suspended in July, was allegedly given 99 lashes on 2 September after the Times ran a picture of an unveiled woman mistakenly identified as her, her lawyer said at the time.
“I have not been tortured, at all. All these words are my own words. Nobody has forced me to appear before camera and whatever I say is my own words,” said a blurry image of a woman identified as Ashtiani in brief video footage.
Speaking in her native Azeri language she said reports that she had been lashed for the photograph were “false and rumours.” Her words were subtitled in Farsi.
After appearing on TV last month where she “confessed” to involvement in the murder of her husband, Mohammadi Ashtiani’s government-appointed lawyer Houtan Kian told the Guardian that she had been tortured for two days before accepting to give the interview.
She has been denied visits by her family and her lawyer since then and has not been given permission to call anyone.
In her second interview, Mohammadi Ashtiani also denied that she had been lashed 99 times.
