February 2009 Entries
Earlier today the president announced his nomination of former Washington governor Gary Locke to be the next commerce secretary. Generally speaking, the commerce secretary isn't the highest-level cabinet position, but it's definitely been the most difficult for Obama to fill this time around.
President Obama's search for a commerce secretary has proven significantly more difficult than he initially hoped. Both Bill Richardson and Judd Gregg withdrew their names, but hopefully the third time's a charm. According to White House officials, the president is expected to announce former Washington governor Gary Locke as his commerce secretary pick.
Sec. Hillary Clinton wrapped up her Asian tour with a visit to Beijing's Haidian Church yesterday. While security was tight outside the church, inside many religious faithful gathered to worship.
Most of us will only see pandas in zoos, but about thirty local farmers in China's Sichuan Province got a much closer view of one, when they had to rescue a wild panda that had been trapped in some rocks.
Just when you thought it was safe to eat poultry, bird flu strikes again! Earlier this week, local officials in China's Xinjiang Province ordered the killings of 13,000 fowl who were suspected to be carrying the dreaded H5N1 virus, also known as avian influenza or bird flu. Despite the 519 birds who died of the virus, only four human deaths have been reported in China this year from the disease. I remember hearing an FDA official talk about b
The city of Beijing was literally smoking earlier this week, but new smoking restrictions are set to clear the air in Shanghai. Local public health authorities have banned smoking in all indoor work places in order to clean up the city's air by 2011.
It's been about 24 hours since a New Year's fire gone wrong set one of Beijing's most famous landmarks ablaze. Even though the aftermath of the fire has cast a heavy fog over the sky, there's more clarity regarding the scope and cause of this devastating fire.
Fireworks and celebration are customary on the last day of the Chinese New Year's festivities, but this year, the pyrotechnics were a bit more than organizers had anticipated. Part of the CCTV complex that housed the soon-to-be-open Mandarin Oriental and a Chinese cultural center caught on fire, with blazes reported from the ground to top floor.
When it comes to cracking down on Internet pornography, it seems that anything even remotely questionable is safe, not even works by Michelangelo or Titian. After shutting down 1,635 websites and 217 blogs in the first month of its Internet crackdown, Chinese censors have expanded their anti-vulgarity campaign to include great works of art.
In the current economy, it seems like pretty much every country is becoming a bit more protectionist in terms of their trade policies, but many Chinese feel that India's recent ban on Chinese toy imports goes a little too far.
The Golden Arches remain one of the most widely known international symbols, and 175 more of them are set to open this year throughout China. McDonald's expects these stores to create over 10,000 new jobs this year alone, adding to the 1,050 Chinese stores that employ 60,000.
I'm starting to wonder if there's some secretive world leader boot camp where they learn how to deal with angry protesters, and how to dodge shoes. George W. Bush made the U.S. proud by his nimble moves, as he narrowly avoided getting knocked out by the shoes of a disgruntled Iraqi journalist, and now China's Premier Wen Jiabao has shown similar aptitude at avoiding these dangers. Wen was giving a lecture at Cambridge University when an angry spectator hurled a shoe at the premier, but mi
While it's no surprise that China's pollution problems have taken a toll on the health of all citizens, pollution may even harm the health of China's children while they're still in the womb. According to Li Bin of the National Population and Family Planning Commission, a baby is born with physical defects in China every thirty seconds.