China has found what it termed 50 ”hazardous sources of radiation” due to last week’s earthquake, a senior official said on Friday, though he insisted the situation was under control. But Wu Xiaoqing, deputy environment minister, said there had been no accidental releases of radiation.
Soccer World Cup chief organiser Danny Jordaan condemned anti-immigrant violence in South Africa on Friday but said it would pass before the tournament takes place. ”Our standpoint is that this World Cup must be a celebration of Africa’s humanity,” he told the International Football Arena conference.
Record high oil prices at a barrel deepened worries about inflation on Thursday and weighed on some Asian stocks although Japanese shares ended slightly higher, as dealers trimmed their bets on further weakness. The dollar trudged higher against the euro after earlier hitting a one-month low after the Federal Reserve slashed its United States 2008 growth forecast
China stepped up the fight on Thursday to stave off disease among over five million earthquake homeless as it tried to boost morale with plans to bring the Olympic flame through the disaster zone. Ten days after the quake, China was faced with the challenge of how to reconstruct shattered communities after more than 74 000 people were confirmed dead or missing.
China vowed on Wednesday to deal severely with anyone found responsible for shoddy state building work, as parents demanded to know why last week’s quake destroyed so many schools, killing thousands of children. Nine days after the massive tremor hit the mountainous Sichuan province in south-western China, rescuers were still finding survivors.
China on Wednesday denied that a Chinese ship carrying arms to Zimbabwe had managed to get its cargo to the landlocked African nation, saying the ship and the weapons were on their way back to China. Zimbabwe would not comment at the weekend on reports that his government had finally taken delivery of a consignment of arms.
A woman was rescued on Wednesday after spending nine days in the tunnel of a power plant after China’s devastating earthquake, the state-run Xinhua news agency said. Zeng Changhui had been stuck in the water tunnel of the Shifang area hydropower plant since the 7,9-magnitude earthquake struck on May 12, Xinhua said.
China scrambled on Wednesday to deliver tents and other essential materials to the five million people made homeless by last week’s earthquake, as international aid began to flow in. With hope virtually extinguished of finding more survivors, soldiers and relief workers focused on the desperate plight of those displaced.
Thousands of terrified survivors of China’s earthquake huddled in the open with their meagre belongings on Tuesday as an aftershock struck and the government warned of more powerful ones to come. The panic, which reportedly gripped a vast area, came as China entered its second day of official mourning over the quake.
From tent cities in stricken Sichuan province to Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, sirens wailed and millions of Chinese stood for three minutes on Monday to mourn tens of thousands who died in last week’s earthquake. The moment was observed across the vast country of 1,3-billion people at 2.28pm local time, exactly a week after the quake struck.
Police tried to stop anguished relatives from streaming into one of the worst-affected areas of China’s massive earthquake on Sunday, as another strong aftershock hit the area and the death toll rose to nearly 32Â 500. Hundreds of aftershocks have rattled Sichuan province following last week’s devastating 7,9-magnitude quake.
A Chinese lake damaged by an earthquake may be about to burst its banks, state media said on Saturday, as President Hu Jintao headed for the epicentre with the death toll expected to rise to 50 000. Meanwhile, survivors were found on Saturday, five days after the disaster, including a German tourist who was pulled from the rubble.
China struggled to bury its dead and help tens of thousands of injured and homeless on Friday when a powerful aftershock brought new havoc four days after an earthquake thought to have killed more than 50 000 people. Anger has focused on the state of school buildings, many of which crumpled in Monday’s 7,9-magnitude quake.
The death toll from China’s massive earthquake rose to at least 20 000 on Thursday as rescuers struggled to help survivors and hopes faded for a further 25 000 buried under rubble for more than three days. Three days after the quake, hopes of pulling survivors from the ruins dimmed.
China ramped up its massive military rescue effort in the quake-hit south-west on Thursday, where more than 40 000 people lay dead or buried under rubble and rescue teams fought to save the living. Premier Wen Jiabao ordered another 30 000 troops and 90 helicopters to the disaster zone to reinforce the rescue operation.
The toll from China’s deadliest earthquake in decades climbed to nearly 15Â 000 on Wednesday as thousands of troops, firefighters and common civilians battled to save thousands of people buried under rubble and mud. The government sent 50Â 000 troops to south-western Sichuan province to dig for victims.
A devastating earthquake is the latest in a series of disasters and controversies that have turned what China had hoped would be an Olympic year of celebration into one of turmoil and tragedy. With tens of thousands of people either dead or missing, Monday’s quake in the south-west of the country has plunged China into mourning less than 90 days before the Games.
China poured more troops into the earthquake-ravaged province of Sichuan on Wednesday to quicken a search for survivors as time ran out for thousands of people buried under rubble and mud. Across the region, weary rescuers pulled at tangled chunks of buildings and peered into crevices for survivors after Monday’s 7,9 magnitude quake crumpled homes, schools and hospitals.
China’s biggest earthquake for a generation left tens of thousands dead, missing or buried under the rubble of crushed communities on Tuesday, plunging the nation into an all-out aid effort. Rescue teams struggled by air, land and water to reach the areas of south-western China stricken by the huge quake that demolished schools, homes and factories.
Heavy rainfall and wrecked roads hampered rescuers’ efforts to reach the areas hardest-hit by China’s worst earthquake in three decades on Tuesday as the death toll rose to nearly 10 000. State media reports indicated that the number of dead was likely to soar, with Xinhua saying 10 000 people remained buried in the Mianzhu area of Sichuan province.
A massive earthquake stunned south-west China on Monday, killing more than 8 000 people and flattening schools, factories and homes in a powerful tremor that was felt across a swathe of South-East Asia. The quake, with a magnitude of 7,8, struck close to densely populated areas of Sichuan province in what Premier Wen Jiabao called a ”major disaster”.
A powerful earthquake in south-west China killed at least 107 people on Monday and buried 900 teenagers in a collapsed school as the tremor caused buildings to fall and left whole areas cut off. The death toll was expected to rise sharply as authorities and rescue teams make contact with the worst-hit areas of Sichuan province.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7,5 struck China’s Sichuan province on Monday, less than 100km from the provincial capital of Chengdu, the United States Geological Survey said on its website. The quake was felt across much of China and as far west as Bangkok, Thailand’s capital, about 3Â 300km away.
Five children were killed and more than 100 injured in a 7,8 magnitude earthquake that struck China’s Sichuan province on Monday, causing buildings to sway and residents rushing out into the streets. China’s official Xinhua news agency said the deaths occurred when two primary schools toppled in Liangping county of Chongqing, a municipality of 30-million that neighbours Sichuan.
Speeding drivers in south China are getting clear away thanks to machines which switch the numbers on their licence plates in seconds, state media said on Tuesday. ”More than 50% of cars caught on camera for speeding and other offences either cover up their plates or use a fake licence plate,” said a policeman.
The Olympic flame reached the top of Mount Everest on Thursday, an emotional moment for China and the crowning of the Beijing Olympics torch relay that was dogged by anti-Chinese protests on its world tour. Anti-Chinese protesters caused serious disruption to some legs of the main torch relay on its journey around the world.
China opened the world’s longest cross-sea bridge last week aiming to cut travel time between two major ports, but hundreds of drivers have been fined already for, unexpectedly, driving too slow to enjoy the view. The 36km structure spans Hangzhou Bay in Zhejiang and is designed to slash travel time between its port city of Ningbo and the financial hub Shanghai.
Chinese climbers carrying the Olympic torch were camped just over a kilometre from the summit of Mount Everest on Wednesday and weather conditions look good for the final assault, officials said. Bad weather has denied mountaineers the chance to take the flame to the top of Everest for nearly a fortnight.
Speeding drivers in south China are getting clear away thanks to machines that switch the numbers on their licence plates in seconds, state media said on Tuesday. ”More than 50% of cars caught on camera for speeding and other offences either cover up their plates or use a fake licence plate,” a traffic policeman in the Guangdong city of Yangjiang said.
Fear of a virus that has infected thousands of children gripped parents in China’s capital and financial hub on Tuesday, as the number of cases of hand, foot and mouth disease mounted across the country. More than 11 900 cases of the virus have been reported in China this year, the official Xinhua news agency said.
China’s Olympic ticketing system appeared to suffer another meltdown as the final phase of sales for the Beijing Games got under way on Monday, fans and official media said. Long internet delays and system crashes were reported as the 1,38-million tickets went on sale, echoing last year’s fiasco in which the computer booking network completely crashed.
China’s state press on Monday accused the Dalai Lama of ”monstrous crimes,” a day after Chinese officials reportedly agreed with envoys of the exiled Tibetan Buddhist to keep the door open on dialogue. The Chinese officials and the envoys met in southern China on Sunday for their first talks in over a year.