Continua l’interminabile caso dei due marò italiani sotto inchiesta in India. Sono accusati di aver ucciso due pescatori scambiati per pirati, mentre scortavano una nave.

(E.Barry, A.E.Kramer – The New York Times, 15/02/13) – Bright objects, tentatively identified as fragments of a meteorite, streaked through the sky in western Siberia early on Friday, accompanied by a boom that damaged buildings across a vast swath of territory. Around 500 people were reported to have been injured, most from breaking glass. Emergency officials had reported no deaths by Friday afternoon but said that 14 people had been hospitalized. Yelena Smirnykh, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Emergency

(C.Maupas – Courrier international, 30/01/13) – Le sol s’est brutalement ouvert à Canton, engloutissant cinq boutiques et un bâtiment dans un trou de 9 mètres de profondeur. Cet effondrement spectaculaire n’a pas fait de victime. La cavité se trouve non loin du chantier de construction d’une ligne de métro, rapporte le Shanghaiist. La Chine est un vrai gruyère, à en croire Caixin Online. En 2009, on dénombrait 129 trous apparus soudainement. En 2012, entre le 21 juillet et le 12

(O.Bowcott, J.Vidal – The Guardian, 28/01/13) –  Ruling by permanent court of arbitration in The Hague may challenge UK’s unilateral declaration of marine protected area. Britain’s colonial-era decision to sever an Indian Ocean archipelago from Mauritius and turn it into a US military base will have to be justified before an international tribunal – a process that could lead to the return of the islands’ exiled inhabitants. The unexpected ruling this month by the permanent court of arbitration in The

(S.Chaama – The Hindu, 11/01/13) – Swami Vivekananda had immense faith in the power of youth. In a short and sweet life of 39 years, five months and 22 days he blew energy into an India which was steeped in slavery and self-loath. Vivekananda urged the youth in particular to connect to the eternal power of their soul. In order to achieve this, the young, the strong, the healthy and the ones with sharp intellect should focus their thoughts and

(AFP, 10/01/13) – Le Premier ministre de droite japonais, Shinzo Abe, a annoncé vendredi un plan de relance économique d’une ampleur de 20 000 milliards de yens (près de 228 milliards de dollars), pour sortir le pays de la crise chronique dans laquelle il se débat depuis des années. «Il est extrêmement important de mettre un terme à la déflation prolongée et à la cherté du yen», a insisté le chef du gouvernement entré en fonction le 26 décembre après

(IRIN, 21/11/12) – Despite efforts by the Pakistani government and international organizations, inflation, declining income, natural disasters and stagnating domestic productivity are hampering attempts to achieve food security for the country’s 180 million citizens. More than half of households are food insecure, according to the last major national nutrition survey. The prices of staple grains like wheat and rice have been stable but are “significantly higher” than 2011, according to the World Food Programme’s (WFP) October 2012 Global Food Security

(S. Prabhu – The Hindu, 21/11/12) -  Kothandaramar temple in Patteeswaram, whose legend dates back to the Ramayana, is receiving a face lift. The temple, in its current form, is believed to date back to the 16 Century A.D. The mix of granite and brick construction seems to indicate that this temple may have seen renovation during different periods in history and different rulers may have played a role in the construction of the temple though there are no specific

(Xinhua, 12/11/12) – Anyone trying to keep track of the development of China’s political system must have got an unequivocal answer at the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Hu Jintao solemnly declared in his report at the opening of the congress that “we will never copy a Western political system.” “We should place high importance on systemic building, give full play to the strength of the socialist political system and draw on the political achievements

(IRIN, 09/11/12) -  Genzia Mary, 10, is fascinated by the buses arriving in northern Sri Lanka, their jovial travellers singing in a language that, until two years ago, was completely foreign to her. Mary lives in Kilinochchi District, part of the country’s northern former war zone popularly known as “the Vanni”. Thousands of southerners, mostly from the majority Sinhala ethnic group, come to visit war attractions as well as a well-known Buddhist temple north of the Vanni. “There are lots

(N.O’Malley, J.Garnaut – The Sydney Morning Herald, 03/11/12) -  As China and America face leadership transitions in coming weeks, the changes highlight how the Middle Kingdom is set to topple the US as the world’s lone superpower. Late one afternoon in mid-February China’s president-in-waiting, Xi Jinping, stood on the verandah of Sarah Lande’s home on a bluff that rises over the town of Muscatine in Iowa and looked out over the slow flow of the Mississippi River into Indiana. Over

(IRIN, 25/12/12) – The UN is calling for urgent action in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine State as levels of communal violence worsen. “The needs of the displaced people in Rakhine are urgent,” UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Ashok Nigam told IRIN from Yangon. “Significantly more resources are needed to sustain the humanitarian efforts. I would urge all partners to help us meet these challenges in Rakhine State immediately.” The call comes amid a fresh wave of communal violence between Rohingya Muslims

(P.J. Nath – The Hindu, 27/09/12) – The annual dance festival saw superb performances by artists from all over the South. From the calm flowing river, she transformed into an aggressive threatening flood that could drown the world. However, when Lord Siva held her back in his hair, she was tamed and Peace was restored to the world. That was the theme of ‘Mahadeva Siva Shambo,’ one of the presentations at Natyanjali 2012, the annual festival of dance held at

(S.J Rao – The Hindu, 17/09/12) – A Kaadar boy living in the Anamalais sits in a corner with some bamboo and gets to work. He smoothens the reed, creates sharp teeth and polishes it to a shine. Then, he carves out elaborate designs — a comb. It is for his beloved. If she accepts the comb, she becomes his. When the Malayaalis go looking for a prospective bride, they swirl a stick in the air to let people know

(L.Pizzati – Euronews, 11/09/12) – Pékin a envoyé en ce début de semaine deux patrouilleurs à proximité d’un archipel d‘îles dont il conteste au Japon la souveraineté. Les îles Senkaku, comme les nomment les Japonais, ou Diaoyu, selon les Chinois, sont l’objet d’une dispute diplomatique de plus en plus grave entre les deux puissances. Et c’est sans compter sur Taïwan, qui revendique lui aussi la possession de l’archipel. Le ministre chinois des Affaires Etrangères a déclaré que son pays ne

(Xinhua, 11/09/12) – China’s reform and opening-up has made important contribution to economic development in the world and the country is still in an important development period, Premier Wen Jiabao said here on Tuesday. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Davos Forum, Wen recalled the Chinese government’s achievements in the past decade, underlining confidence for the future of China’s economy. With the theme of “Creating the Future Economy,” the three-day forum took place in northern Chinese port

(R.Baker – WhoWhatWhy, 10/09/12) – When the United States decided to invade Afghanistan to grab Osama bin Laden—and failed, but stayed on like an unwanted guest—could it have known that the Afghans were sitting on some of the world’s greatest reserves of mineral wealth? We’ve raised this topic before (see here [3])—where we noted the dubious 2010 claim, published by the New York Times, that “the vast scale of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth was [recently] discovered by a small team of

(People’s Daily, 24/08/12) – Reviewing China’s history of past 10 years, we could see two distinctive characters. First, China has achieved a great development. Its GDP had increased by about six times from 1.12 trillion U.S. dollars in 2001 to 7.2 trillion U.S. dollars in 2011. Such a growth rate has surprised the world. The great development of China is definitely not an isolated phenomenon. The second character is that as China is rising, it is encountering increasing troubles internationally.