DTN News: Booming China On Show To World At Shanghai Expo
Source: DTN News / By Karen Yeung and Rujun Shen Reuters
(NSI News Source Info) SHANGHAI, China - May 1, 2010: Shanghai opened its multi-billion dollar World Expo to the public on Saturday, showcasing China's booming economy and resurgent national pride, as well as the latest green technology from 189 countries.
Visitors reported long lines, and occasional angry exchanges about queue-jumping, to get into some exhibitions in the enormous Expo site, which is 20 times bigger than the last World Expo held in Spain's Zaragoza in 2008.
Separate tickets for the most popular pavilions, such as China's, were in short supply.
"This is a great event as it's a good forum to communicate with the world," said Shanghai resident Lao Chen. "But it's very disorganized. There are just too many people in China."
Another visitor, a retiree from Shanghai who gave his family name as Zhao, said he was upset not to be able to get into the hulking China pavilion, one of the few that will not be demolished when the six-month extravaganza ends on October 31.
"I will never be able to see it. I can only look at it from the outside, and what's the point of that?" he said, bitterly.
But others said they were enjoying themselves, adding they thought it was money well spent by the Chinese government.
"It's not a matter of money. It's our pride that China can host the Expo," said 30-year-old Ning Lifang, a bank clerk from the nearby city of Suzhou.
China says it has spent $4.2 billion -- double what it spent at the 2008 Beijing Olympics -- to host the world's largest exhibition. It is the most expensive Expo to date and local media have reported the true cost, including upgrades to the city's infrastructure, is closer to $58 billion.
GREEK DETERMINATION
Underscoring the political capital China is attaching to the Expo,
an event that has somewhat faded from the world's view in recent years, a host of foreign leaders attended its opening, most notably French President Nicolas Sarkozy and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
Even Greece, currently working on a bailout deal with the EU and International Monetary Fund to save it from default on its debts, sent a top official -- a testament to the importance of good ties with China, which Athens hopes can be an increasing source of tourism and shipping revenue as well as investment.
Greece had to cut the budget for its pavilion by 40 percent on account of its debt woes, skimping on everything from design to the brochures on offer, but it was determined to be there, said Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos.
"Greece participating in the Shanghai Expo was a promise to China and the people of Shanghai, which we have fulfilled today. We could not cancel on this international event," he said.
Cosmopolitan Shanghai expects 70 million visitors will attend the Expo -- an average of nearly 400,000 per day -- though just 5 percent will be foreigners.
Chinese President Hu Jintao, speaking to Barroso, thanked the world for supporting the event.
"Despite the onset of the global financial crisis as we were preparing for the Expo, we kept our promises and made vigorous efforts toward the goal of making Expo 2010 in Shanghai a successful, splendid and unforgettable event," Hu added.
TIGHT SECURITY
The Expo has been
accompanied by heavy security, with x-ray checks for bags at subway stations, a very obvious police presence, and bomb-recognition pamphlets distributed to offices in the Pudong financial district.
Many countries have gone to extravagant lengths, spending huge sums to boost their image in China. Attendees include not only large countries like France, Russia and the United States, but also Turkmenistan, Oman, Costa Rica and many others.
Saudi Arabia has spent $146 million on its spaceship-shaped pavilion, which features date palms, while India plans to fly a cast of Bollywood stars to the site to perform.
Still, despite the hoopla and spectacle the event promises, the run-up to the Expo has not been without controversy.
Rights groups have complained about forced evictions of residents to make way for the Expo, lack of compensation and violence visited on those who complained.
Some national pavilions are also still not ready.
Kuwait, Bhutan and poverty-stricken Burkina Faso dropped out of the Expo completely this week, local media reported.
(Additional reporting by Farah Master, Edmund Klamann and Royston Chan; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jason Subler and Jeremy Laurence)
Source: DTN News / By The Canadian Press
(NSI News Source Info) OTTAWA, Canada - Ma
y 1, 2010: Canada has issued a travel advisory, warning of an imminent terrorist attack in India's capital New Delhi.
"Credible and specific reporting indicates that a terrorist attack could be carried out in the following days or weeks," the alert, posted on the Foreign Affairs' website, said Saturday.
It urged Canadians to exercise a high degree of caution, monitor their surroundings and minimize their presence in market areas of the city.
The alert specifically urged travellers to avoid the popular Chandni Chowk area, frequented by westerners.
Similar advisories were issued by the U.S. Embassy and the Australian High Commission in New Delhi on Saturday.
New Delhi police said they were aware of the warnings of possible attacks.
“The Delhi Police is taking appropriate measures in this regard,” police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said, according to Press Trust of India news agency. He did not elaborate.
Militants linked to Pakistan-based Islamic groups have been blamed for previous deadly attacks in the city.
With files from The Associated Press.
"I just hope the folks are able to get this cleaned up before it does too much damage."
Ten days after an oil rig under lease to British Petroleum exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, the prospects of averting a major environmental calamity dimmed Friday as high winds pushed a vast oil slick to the edge of Louisiana's sensitive coastal marshlands.
The bad weather forced BP to halt efforts to skim oil from the water's surface, adding to the frustration of federal and state government officials who blamed company officials for a sluggish response to a spill that is pumping 210,000 gallons of light crude into the Gulf each day.
"We need to work more speedily to protect wetlands, to protect marshes, to protect our ecosystem here," said U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. She said the Obama administration "will continue to push BP to engage in the strongest possible response."
Official with BP said they welcomed any ideas and assistance — both from Washington and competing oil firms. But the company also said there was little they could do to stop the spill's spread until the weather improves. The National Weather Service currently predicts the high winds could last until Monday.
"When winds come up and the seas come up, unfortunately we can't do much on the surface of the sea," said Doug Suttles, a BP spokesman. "Because of wave heights we are not able to skim."
BP said it is spending between $6 million and $7 million a day to try and contain the spill.
"Clearly as the oil reaches the shoreline, those costs will increase as we mount cleanup activities," Suttles said.
"Like everyone we understand and completely agree that we need to bring this event to closure as quickly as possible."
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, speaking at a news conference in Robert, La., said booms deployed to control the spread of the oil slick are being overwhelmed by rough water. He said the next several days would be "critical" and called up 6,000 National Guard troops to aid in potential cleanup efforts.
"I do have concerns that BP's current resources are not adequate to meet the three challenges we face," Jindal said.
In Washington, President Barack Obama announced he was ordering a halt to new offshore drilling leases as the federal government investigates the cause of the explosion that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon rig. The blast ruptured an oil well located about 80 kilometres offshore and 1,500 metres underwater. Eleven rig workers were killed.
"I continue to believe that domestic oil production is an important part of our overall strategy for energy security," Obama said at the White House. "But I've always said it must be done responsibly, for the safety of our workers and our environment."
The president has dispatched inspectors to the Gulf to examine all deepwater rigs and platforms for ensure they meet safety requirements.
The Obama administration pledged to provide every available resource to help BP fix the oil leak and contain the spill.
More than 66,000 metres of protective boom have been laid in the Gulf to help block the oil from shorelines. More than 300 Coast Guard and Naval vessels have been deployed alongside 1,900 federal personnel.
While winds wreaked havoc with the response on the water, the U.S. air force continued to dump dispersant chemicals over the oil slick using two C-130 planes. To date, more than 530,000 litres of dispersant have been sprayed into the Gulf.
Some residents of Plaquemines Parish, which includes most of the Mississippi River wetlands, reported seeing the first fingers of oil wash up onshore at Pass-a-Loutre Wildlife Reserve — although the U.S. Coast Guard had not confirmed a widespread landfall.
Still, the anxiety is growing among Louisiana residents who fear one of the richest fisheries in North America will be badly damaged — or destroyed — if BP is unable to quickly find a way to close down the offshore well.
The fishing community of Venice, one of the last slips of land reachable by car, has become a hub of activity as the response to the oil spill intensifies.
The Cypress Cove Marina, where shrimp and oyster boats line the dock, was crowded with TV satellite vehicles and oil spill recovery trucks. Coast Guard boats shared the narrow channels with the few remaining fishing charters still plying the delta's waters.
Environmentalists say it's only a matter of time before the crude begins to slip into the hundreds of estuaries and coves that are home to some of the continent's biggest bird, fish and wildlife populations.
"This is the nursery of North America — and we have spilled oil right across its surface," said Mark Floegel, a senior investigator with Greenpeace USA. "Anything that swims, flies or crawls in the Gulf, this is where they feed. They feed on the surface."
While the oil spill is — so far — much smaller than the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska's Prince William Sound, the potential for environmental ruin may be higher, environmentalists say.
That's because the oil spilling from the BP well is a light crude that stays on the surface. While Alaska's rocky coastline aided removal of the oil, the Mississippi Delta is full of marshes and reeds that could make cleanup far more difficult.
"Here we've got barrier islands. We've got swamps and bayous . . . It's not like scrubbing rock. It's devilishly hard to get this oil out of there," Floegel said. "And the coastline is exponentially much larger because of all the little inlets."
Worries about the oil spill extend well beyond the Louisiana coast to Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, where Gov. Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency in six counties on Friday.
