LEARNING ENGLISH THROUGH NEWS
WEEK 34 – 2011 (15 – 21 August 2011)
THE WORLD THIS WEEK
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and Nicolas Sarkozy, France's president, met in Paris in the latest attempt to assure the world that the EURO ZONE is not about to fall apart. Among their suggestions were balanced-budget rules in all 17 euro-zone countries, harmonised corporate-tax rates and a levy on financial transactions. But one idea was notably absent: jointly guaranteed "Eurobonds", which a number of politicians and analysts say are the only way to dig the euro out of its hole.
Hundreds of people involved in the rioting that swept through LONDON and other English cities were processed swiftly through the courts, though concerns were raised that some of the sentences were too harsh and would not have been handed down for similar offences committed outside the riots. Senior police officers continued to bristle at government criticism that they reacted poorly to the disorder.
INDIA'S government tumbled into a pit of acrimony by briefly arresting Anna Hazare, an elderly activist, at the start of a rally against corruption in Delhi on the ground that he was violating police orders. Mr Hazare's detention transformed the protest into one about freedom of expression, with thousands taking to the streets in Delhi and elsewhere. When the authorities backtracked and released Mr Hazare, he went on hunger strike.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of MYANMAR'S democracy movement, met a government minister and took a brief drive outside Yangon. The last time she left the city, in 2003, her motorcade was mauled by an armed mob. This time a government spokesman gave a press conference and said that Miss Suu Kyi's banned political party should somehow be brought into national politics. She held back from giving her own account of meetings with the government.
THAILAND'S new government, led by Yingluck Shinawatra, was drawn into controversy in only its second week when Japan granted a visa to Thaksin Shinawatra, a fugitive former prime minister who happens to be Yingluck's brother. Japan ordinarily denies visas to foreigners with outstanding jail sentences. Mr Thaksin's enemies in Thailand suspect that the new foreign ministry is pulling strings to try to rehabilitate him.
Jhalanath Khanal resigned as NEPAL'S prime minister after seven months in the job, unable to overcome the same divisions that thwarted his predecessor. Both were members of the same Marxist-Leninist party and both failed to secure a consensus between the Maoists, who hold a majority in parliament, and the other parties, who loathe them.
LIBYAN rebels made further advances, taking control of the main roads leading from Tunisia and Algeria to the capital, Tripoli, cutting off Muammar Qaddafi's supply lines.
The hopes of ARGENTINA'S president, Cristina Fernandez, of winning a second term in a presidential election in October were boosted after she won more than 50% of the votes cast in simultaneous primary elections, well ahead of her nearest rivals, Ricardo Alfonsin and Eduardo Duhalde, who each won 12%.
Rockhopper, a small British company, raised its estimate of the size of an oil deposit it says it has found off the FALKLAND ISLANDS, to up to 1.3 billion barrels. Argentina, which claims the islands that it calls the Malvinas, has barred shipping related to oil development in the archipelago from its ports and waters.
VENEZUELA'S president, Hugo Chavez, said his government will repatriate $11 billion in gold reserves. It will also diversify its cash reserves into the currencies of allies, such as China, Russia and Brazil, and nationalise the gold industry.
GOOGLE shook up the smartphone industry with a deal to buy MOTOROLA MOBILITY, the former mobile-handsets division of Motorola, which split in two in January. The $12.5 billion purchase is Google's biggest by far and will enable it to integrate its Android operating system better with Motorola's devices, making them more competitive with those of Apple and others. Google also benefits from Motorola's vast portfolio of patents, which Larry Page, Google's chief executive, said would help to "protect Android from anti-competitive threats".
A German court that recently sided with APPLE in a patent dispute with SAMSUNG, and issued a temporary injunction to stop Samsung selling its Galaxy tablet computer in most European countries, refined its decision and said it would apply only to Germany for the time being. Meanwhile, Taiwan's HTC filed another lawsuit against Apple in their separate patent dispute.
A federal judge in Virginia ruled that a patent held by Pfizer for the active drug in VIAGRA is valid until 2019, dealing a blow to Teva, an Israeli generic-drugs company that wanted to produce its own version. Sales of Viagra are worth $1 billion a year to Pfizer in the United States alone.
ECONOMIC GROWTH both in the euro area and the whole European Union slowed to just 0.2% in the second quarter, according to a first estimate. GDP rose by only 0.1% in Germany and did not grow at all in France, raising more questions about the ability of those countries to back any further potential euro-area bail-outs.
JAPAN'S economy shrank by 0.3% in the second quarter, but this was better than had been expected, largely because personal spending fell by only 0.1%. The government has poured money into reconstruction projects since the earthquake and tsunami in March.
Fitch held AMERICA'S SOVEREIGN DEBT rating at AAA and said the outlook was "stable". Standard & Poor's now stands alone among the big ratings agencies in having downgraded American sovereign debt to AA+. Its decision has not led to an increase in the yields on Treasury bonds.
WARREN BUFFETT raised a few eyebrows by asserting that "a billionaire- friendly Congress" had "coddled" the wealthy for too long and should raise taxes on the rich. The investor, believed to be the world's third-richest man, said his income-tax rate amounted to 17.4% last year, whereas the average burden on others in his offices was 36%.
CCTV, China's main state broadcaster, started a campaign attacking BAIDU, China's biggest search engine, alleging that it is easy to commit fraud through its website. It described Baidu, which has around 75% of the market for internet searches in China, as a "monopolist"
that abuses its power. Observers noted that CCTV has just launched its own search engine.
FACEBOOK'S implied value was estimated at $66.5 billion, after Interpublic, an advertising group, sold half its stake (previously thought to be around 0.4%) in the privately held social-networking website for $133m. It bought its holding in 2006 for $5m. In January Facebook was thought to be worth $50 billion after Goldman Sachs made a big investment in the firm.
It emerged that MANCHESTER UNITED is planning to raise around $1 billion from an initial public offering in Singapore by the end of the year. The English football club has a huge number of fans in Asia.
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Vietnam: downgraded again
Financial Times 18 august 2011
While Europe’s capitalist leaders have taken to bashing the ratings agencies when their sovereign debt gets downgraded, Vietnam’s Communist rulers do not usually deign to debate such issues. Downgrades from the three main credit rating agencies – Fitch, Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s – last year did not elicit a significant response from the government, which was too busy inflating the economy in the run up to the Communist party’s five-yearly leadership transition. Standard & Poor’s on Friday downgraded Vietnam’s local currency debt rating again and although it said this was mostly for technical reasons, the accompanying note will not make for reassuring reading for the government nor for investors.
S&P lowered Vietnam’s local currency long-term sovereign credit rating to ‘BB-‘ from ‘BB’ as part of a global shift to equalise local and foreign currency ratings. The rating agency explained in a press release: The local currency rating on Vietnam is now equal to the foreign currency rating because the Vietnamese dong’s pegged exchange rate limits its monetary policy independence and its domestic financial and capital markets are at early stages of development. While stressing that Vietnam’s underlying creditworthiness has not changed since it downgraded the country’s dollar debt in December, the rating agency warned that Vietnam’s fragile banking system was still vulnerable to shocks in light of ongoing macro-economic instability and capital flight.
Ho Chi Minh City Securities, one of Vietnam’s biggest stockbrokers, suggested that recent indications by government officials that they may lower interest rates was unsettling the rating agencies given that annual inflation is forecast to rise again in August from July’s 22 percent.
Kim Eng Tan, credit analyst at S&P, said that with domestic credit forecast to expand to 118 per cent of GDP by the year end and interest rates high, the banking system could be hit by spiralling bad debts. Key state-owned banks, which have driven the rapid expansion of credit in recent years, “may eventually require government recapitalization,” he added.
Earlier this month, Fitch announced that it was maintaining its B+ rating on Vietnam’s debt with a “stable” outlook. But S&P suggested that the outlook for Vietnam’s credit rating was “negative” because of the risk of near-term instability caused by rising balance-of-payments pressures or contingent liabilities from the financial sector. It predicted that Vietnam’s GDP would grow at 5 per cent this year, below the above 7 per cent average of the last decade and the government’s downgraded target of 6 per cent.
Although foreign investors often complain about the travails of doing business in a corruption and red-tape addled country, S&P argued that Vietnam’s openness to foreign direct investment was a mitigating factor. Echoing the views of many doing business in Vietnam, the rating agency added that to improve confidence, the government must maintain currency stablity and work hard to reduce leverage in the public and private sectors. With the recent gold spike sparking a renewed move out of the dong and business associations increasing the pressure on the government to cut interest rates, this will be no mean feat.
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Hanoi warns anti-China protesters to stop
AFP 18 August 2011
Authorities in Vietnam on Thursday threatened to crack down on anti-China protests in Hanoi after a series of unprecedented demonstrations in the capital. "For those who deliberately disobey, trying to illegally gather causing public disorder... authorities can apply necessary measures," said the notice published in Hanoi Moi, a mouthpiece for the ruling Communist Party. The demonstrations over a territorial dispute in the tense South China Sea have occurred almost every Sunday since early June and attracted up to 300 peaceful marchers -- including prominent intellectuals. Two protests in July were forcibly dispersed by police after talks between Hanoi and Beijing, but subsequent rallies have been allowed to go ahead. Overtly political demonstrations are rare in authoritarian Vietnam but analysts said the gatherings initially served Hanoi's purpose in expressing displeasure with Beijing.
The unsigned notice from the Hanoi authorities said more recent gatherings had been abused by "anti-state forces". It added: "Their conspiracy and intention has been to disrupt the great national unity, instigating national hatred, separating relations between Vietnam and China," and disrupting political stability.
Vietnam and China have a longstanding dispute over sovereignty of the potentially oil-rich Paracel and Spratly island groups, which straddle vital commercial shipping lanes in the South China Sea. Protests began after tensions flared in May when Vietnam said Chinese marine surveillance vessels cut the exploration cables of an oil survey ship inside the country's exclusive economic zone. Vietnamese bitterly recall 1,000 years of Chinese occupation and, more recently, a 1979 border war. More than 70 Vietnamese sailors were killed in 1988 when the two sides battled off the Spratlys. Some activists speculated the government may fear political protests inspired by this year's uprisings against authoritarianism in North Africa and the Middle East.
The government also has to balance its relationship with China by not overly-offending its giant communist neighbour while avoiding the appearance of weakness before its own people, analysts say. Nguyen Xuan Dien, whose blog has become a rallying point for the protesters, told AFP the call to end demonstrations has no legal validity. "It prevents people's rights to demonstration written in the constitution," he said, declining to say what the protesters will do next.
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Vietnam Security Forces Detain Anti-China Protesters
VOA 21 August 2011
Police in Hanoi rounded up dozens of people at an anti-China rally in the center of Hanoi on Sunday as they gathered for the 11th week of protests. When 50 people gathered on the edge of Hoan Kiem lake in the capital, it was for an event that has become a regular occurrence in the capital over the past few months. Marching past large groups of plain-clothed and uniformed police, the group waved banners and shouted slogans saying the Paracel and Spratly islands belong to Vietnam.
Demonstrators have turned out in Hanoi every Sunday for about 10 weeks to protest Chinese actions in the South China Sea. The government says Chinese vessels have deliberately interfered with oil exploration activities in disputed waters off its shores. At previous protests, there has been a festival spirit among the crowds, with participants singing songs and chatting to friends. But this time there was a more menacing atmosphere. After a few minutes an empty bus pulled up alongside them. A group of men in plain clothes caught hold of some of the protesters and dragged them into the bus. Soon it was full of people, many still chanting.
The crackdown comes days after Hanoi People's Committee called a halt to the protests, warning that the government would apply "necessary measures" against those who failed to comply. The announcement charged that in recent days, opposing forces within and outside the country have been inciting and guiding the demonstrations. It demanded that the participants stop all activities and gatherings in the city. Phil Robertson from Human Rights Watch contests the statement. "In many cases it’s ordinary Vietnamese who, out of their own patriotic feeling are unhappy with what China has been doing and they are taking part," said Robertson. "To smear them with a brush that they are revolutionary elements - there is no evidence to support this."
On Friday, a group of 25 prominent intellectuals, including a retired war hero, sent a petition to the committee contesting the order. The document denied the protests were connected to outside forces, saying they presented a good image of people’s patriotism. Robertson said the government themselves may be divided over what to do with the protesters. "It’s very interesting that the official order had an official stamp on it but no one had signed it. One wonders whether there is some degree of division within the Vietnam government, trying to incarcerate people who are raising concerns about China’s foreign policy towards Vietnam," said Robertson.
The arrests on Sunday echo a similar crackdown on July 17, when 40 protesters were bundled into buses and driven to the police station where they were detained for several hours. The incident followed initial negotiations between China and Vietnam over the territory dispute where both sides agreed to “steer public opinion in the correct direction.” However, the protests were allowed to continue after footage posted on the internet showing a policeman beating one of the protesters attracted widespread public condemnation.
Professor Carl Thayer from the University of New South Wales in Australia says suppression of similar protests in Ho Chi Minh City after just two weeks also generated negative press. "The heavy-handiness of the crackdown in Ho Chi Minh City really rebounded against the government, there was real anger at that," said Thayer. But the crackdown in the South succeeded in putting people off forming more protests. As relatives and friends of those detained in Hanoi wait for news of their loved ones, it is unclear whether or not the latest crackdown marks an end to last ten weeks of rare public demonstrations in the communist country.
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Virus outbreak kills 81 children in Vietnam
Reuters 19 August 2011
Hand, foot and mouth disease, a dangerous intestinal virus, has killed 81 children in Vietnam this year, prompting the prime minister to order ministries and agencies to redouble efforts to stop its spread. The country recorded 32,588 cases of the disease this year, and the deaths happened in 17 provinces and municipalities, mostly in the southern region, a statement on the government's website said late Thursday.
Hand, foot and mouth disease is relatively common among children, characterized by a fever, sores in the mouth and blistery rashes. There is no vaccine or cure, but patients usually recover in a week without treatment. In severe cases, brain swelling can lead to paralysis or death.
The disease was a "large danger to the health and lives of young children," Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said in a statement. Yet attempts to prevent it were ineffective, he said. Dung ordered the Health Ministry to coordinate efforts to stop its spread and stronger efforts to boost sanitary conditions in areas with children. The Vietnam News quoted the health ministry as saying the number of casualties this year was "considerably high."
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Vietnam May Release Rice Reserve to Cool Record Local Price
Bloomberg 19 august 2011
Vietnam, the world's second-largest rice exporter, may release grain held in government stockpiles to cool the local market after a surge in export demand helped to drive domestic prices to a record. "We are ready and will immediately sell the national rice stockpile, which is more than 1 million tons, to cool domestic rice prices if there is any sign of food-price fever," Diep Kinh Tan, deputy minister of agriculture and rural development, said by phone yesterday. The ministry hadn't seen signs that such a move is necessary yet, he said.
Thailand, the biggest shipper, is bringing back a policy of buying rice from farmers at above-market prices to boost rural incomes, pushing export rates to the highest since February 2010. Costlier rice, staple for half the world, boosts food costs and fans inflation even amid signs global economic growth is slowing. Vietnam's consumer prices are rising at the fastest pace in Asia.
"In the last two weeks, we've seen a 10 percent increase in prices in Vietnam, compared to say 2 percent or 3 percent elsewhere," said Darren Cooper, London-based senior economist at the International Grains Council. Given the developments in Thailand, as well an export ban on some Indian rice grades, "everybody's been looking at Vietnam as the obvious supplier." Worldwide food costs reached an all-time high in February and remained within 2 percent of that peak in June, according to a 55-item gauge from the Food & Agriculture Organization. Global food prices remain close to their peak and low stockpiles may contribute to higher prices, the World Bank said on Aug. 15. Vietnamese domestic unmilled rice was 7,100 dong (34 cents) to 7,200 dong per kilogram this week, a record, according to Cao Thi Ngoc Hoa, deputy head of Vietnam Southern Food Corp., one of the country's two biggest state-owned food companies. Prices were about 6,500 dong in the week to July 28, according to data on the website of the Vietnam Food Association's, or VFA.
"Some companies signed more forward contracts this year on anticipation that domestic prices would fall, which usually happens when the harvest begins," Hoa said by phone on Aug. 17. "Prices didn't drop, they rose instead, so those companies had to buy in a hurry and that pushed up prices even more.” Demand for Vietnamese rice has increased in traditional and new markets this year, the VFA said on July 15. China has started buying from Vietnam after bad weather hurt its crop, Deputy Agriculture Minister Tan said the same day. Vietnam, which exported a record 6.75 million tons last year, according to the VFA, is targeting 7.4 million tons of exports this year, Tan told Bloomberg last month. Exports in the first seven months of 2011 were estimated at 4.7 million tons, 9 percent higher than a year earlier. The country has so far signed contracts to export about 6.3 million tons in 2011, Huynh Minh Hue, the VFA's general- secretary, said Aug. 17. About 1.5 million tons of that total have yet to be shipped, which may sustain high prices, he said.
Prices have risen even as the country expects production to be higher this year than 2010. Output of unmilled rice may increase 4 percent to 41.6 million tons, according to an Aug. 16 statement on the Vietnamese government website. "Prices are so high because export demand exceeded available supply," the VFA's Hue said in an e-mailed response to Bloomberg questions. Prices may remain "firm" until the first quarter of 2012, depending on Thai rates and whether India resumes exports, he said.
Vietnamese exporters delayed shipments after prices climbed, according to Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, prompting African, Indonesian and Philippine buyers to switch purchases to Thailand. Thai exporters may receive orders for as much as 100,000 tons as a result, Chookiat said from Bangkok yesterday. As of Aug. 15, Vietnamese 5-percent broken rice for export was $568 a ton, compared to $549 a ton for Thai 5-percent broken rice, according to International Grains Council data. At the start of the month, the Vietnamese grade was priced at a $22 discount. Thai grades typically trade at a $20 to $40 premium to their Vietnamese equivalents. Vietnam's consumer prices rose 22.16 percent in July from a year earlier, the fastest pace in Asia. The central bank raised interest rates every month this year through May, part of measures to reduce inflation to 17 percent by yearend.
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Vietnam to impose 'green' tax
UPI 18 August 2011
Vietnam will impose an environment protection tax next year on products classified as hazardous to the environment. The measure is aimed at promoting the manufacture of more "green" products. The law covers eight groups of products, including oil and gasoline, coal, plastic bags and chemical substances of restricted use such as herbicides, pesticides, disinfectants and preservatives. "The imposition of the EPT will help raise awareness for environment protection of the whole society toward environmentally friendly products," said Deputy Minister of Finance Do Hoang Anh Tuan, Viet Nam News reported Thursday.
Oil and gasoline will be taxed at a rate ranging from 0.048 cents to 2 cents per liter under the law, effective Jan. 1, with the ministry estimating that revenues from the fuel tax would reach $572 million in 2012, Viet Nam News reports. The tax replaces the current environment protection fee applied to oil and gasoline. The estimated total revenue from the EPT on all products would be $2.7 billion per year.
A joint study on possible impacts of the EPT by the Viet Nam National Economics University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison concludes that industries directly targeted by the tax would be affected because of a 1.7 percent drop in coal production output and an 8.6 percent drop for gasoline, rising transportation costs by 1 percent. The study also predicts a 0.8 percent drop in gross domestic product in Vietnam in the short run and a rise in inflation between 0.4 percent and 0.7 percent. The tax comes as Vietnam faces the highest rate of inflation in Asia, with consumer prices rising more than 22 percent last month, marking the 11th consecutive month of increases.
Separately, Denmark said this week it has launched a development aid program focusing on green growth and clean technology in Vietnam, the Danish Embassy in Hanoi announced Tuesday. "Vietnam needs to work toward focusing more on sustainability and green growth as part of its development model," John Nielsen, the Danish ambassador to Vietnam, said in a statement. "This is crucial as renewable energy and in general a green growth focus has the potential to deliver millions of new jobs, introduce transfer high value-adding technology to Vietnam, and diversify economic development." The U.S. Energy Information Administration says half of Vietnam's domestic energy consumption comes from oil. Hydropower supplies about 20 percent of Vietnam's power, coal supplies about 18 percent and natural gas accounts for the remainder.
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Vietnam's rice bowl threatened by rising seas
By Kit Gillet, guardian.co.uk 21 August 2011
Sitting amid buckets of rice in the market, Nguyen Thi Lim Lien issues a warning she desperately hopes the world will hear: climate change is turning the rivers of the Mekong Delta salty. "The government tells us that there are three grams of salt per litre of fresh water in the rivers now," she says. "Gradually more and more people are affected. Those nearest the sea are the most affected now, but soon the whole province will be hit." The vast, humid expanse of the delta is home to more than 17 million people, who have relied for generations on its thousands of river arteries. But rising sea water caused by global warming is now increasing the salt content of the river water and threatening the livelihoods of millions of poor farmers and fishermen.
Vietnam is listed by the World Bank among the countries most threatened by rising waters brought about by higher global temperatures, with only the Bahamas more vulnerable to a one-metre rise in sea levels. Such a rise could leave a third of the Mekong Delta underwater and lead to mass internal migration and devastation in a region that produces nearly half of Vietnam's rice. "If there was a one-metre rise, we estimate 40% of the delta will be submerged," says Tran Thuc, director general of the Vietnam Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment. "There is also the threat of cyclones and storms linked to climate change. The people in this area are not prepared for any of this."
Already affected by regular flooding, those who live in the low-lying delta are focusing on the rising salt content of water in land that has for thousands of years been used for rice paddies, coconut groves and other crops which locals rely on for their livelihood. According to the Ben Tre department of agriculture and rural development, salt water at four parts per thousand has, as of April, reached as far as 35 miles inland, causing significant damage to crops and livestock, with rice production particularly affected. "Salination will become higher and higher and the salt season will last longer and be worse," predicts Thuc. The city of Ben Tre, one of the gateways to the Mekong, is inland, on one of the many tributaries of the Mekong river where the waters are still only partially affected by the increased salination. But further downriver, the effects are more pronounced.
"I have to travel five hours upstream by boat to fetch water for drinking, washing and cooking," says Vo Thi Than, 60, who cannot afford the prices charged by those who travel down the river selling fresh water from upstream. Than lives beside a dock and runs a little restaurant on the small delta island of Cu Lao Oc, home to approximately 6,000 farmers and coconut growers. "A long time ago, there was no salty season at all. Now, five months a year the water is salty," she says. "We grow oranges, mandarins, lemons and coconuts, but these trees cannot survive if it is salt water only. During salty seasons, the trees bear less fruit and smaller fruits, and if there was only the salt season, nothing would grow."
Government officials and international observers are predicting significant lifestyle changes for the delta's population, which will be forced to adapt to survive. Dao Xuan Lai, head of sustainable development at the United Nations Development Programme in Vietnam, said: "Rising sea waters will cause inundations to the Mekong and will require drastic changes in lifestyles for the people. They will be forced to switch crops and innovate. People close to river banks and river mouths have already had to find different ways to make a living in fresh water."
In the area around the town of Ba Tri, near one mouth of the delta, the salination of the water has reached a point where many locals have been forced to abandon centuries of rice cultivation and risk their livelihoods on other ventures, mostly farming shrimp, which thrives in saltier water. Pham Van Bo is still able to plant rice on half his land thanks to an embankment built by the government four years ago, but he is risking his family's savings on the new venture. "We had to sell our fishing boat to pay to dig the cultivation pool and also had to pay someone to teach me how to do it. It was expensive, and I had to get the shrimp food and medicine on credit," he said. "It takes about four months from when they are small to selling them. It should be more profitable than rice planting, but I am worried since this is our first try." Bo needs only to walk two hundred metres along the riverbank to see a cautionary tale.
Nguyen Thi Van and her family started raising shrimp six years ago, but now all but one of their pools are empty. "Last October, the sea washed out all of our shrimp, we lost them all," she said. "We saw the water rising up and getting closer and closer, but we couldn't do anything about it. This season, we have been forced to just dump the shrimp in and let them grow with no fans, medicine or special food." The family received a loan from the local government to survive, but it takes a lot of money to farm shrimp, on which they now rely almost exclusively for their livelihood.
Olivia Dun is a PhD student at the University of Sydney's Mekong Resource Centre. She is studying environmental changes, flooding, saline intrusion and migration in the Mekong Delta. "Some households have benefited from the switch to shrimp and have been able to raise their level of income," she said. "Other households have continuously struggled to raise shrimp, which are sensitive to the conditions in their pond environment and easily susceptible to disease. These households face mounting debt, and of these households, some choose to migrate elsewhere temporarily in search of an income."
Tough decisions like this are going to become more common for Mekong residents in the years ahead as the environment changes around them. "Even if we stop all emissions worldwide now, the water will still rise 20 to 30 centimetres in the next few decades," said the UN's Lai. "At the moment the prediction is a rise of 75 centimetres by 2050. People in this region are still very poor and will need help from the international community to survive this."
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US must focus more on Asia: top diplomat
AFP 19 August 2011
American foreign policy needs to transition from the Middle East to Asia, a top US diplomat said Monday while rejecting any notion that recent economic woes signalled the United States was in decline. Kurt Campbell, the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, added in an interview with The Australian newspaper that there was more to US-Asia diplomacy than Washington's relationship with Beijing. "One of the most important challenges for US foreign policy is to effect a transition from the immediate and vexing challenges of the Middle East to the long-term and deeply consequential issues in Asia," Campbell said. He made clear this did not mean Washington would neglect its responsibilities in the Middle East, but was rather a desire to deepen relations with the Asian region.
And while efforts were being made to enhance Washington's dialogue with China, it was more than just relations with Beijing that were important. "I think what you see is an across-the-board effort (by the US) to articulate India as playing a greater role in Asia," said Campbell, a key aide to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "Also, revitalising relations with ASEAN -- both ASEAN as an institution, and with its key members such as Indonesia, Vietnam and Singapore, and revitalising what used to be a very important relationship with the Philippines."
Campbell said America's economic troubles, that came to a head this month when Standard & Poor's downgraded the country's credit rating, meant he was having to project a more basic message to Asia -- that the United States is in the region to stay.
He rejected any notion that the United States was in decline. "At the end of the Vietnam War there was enormous dialogue about US power and whether we could continue to be effective," Campbell told the newspaper. "At the end of the Cold War there was rhetoric that the Cold War was over and that Japan had won. "It has been frequent to hear of American turmoil and internal decline. But we have repeatedly proved critics wrong. "The underlying fundamentals -- economic performance and political stability -- make me confident that we can do so again." Campbell is in Australia as part of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue in Perth. Eviction coerce
Subject: LEARNING ENGLISH THROUGH NEWS 
Wed Aug 24, 2011 3:54 pm
