China arrests 89 for armed trafficking of drugs

 Police have busted an armed trafficking ring in the northeastern Chinese province of Jilin, arresting 89 suspects as part of a campaign to clamp down on illegal drugs.Police nabbed the ring's leader, whose pseudonym is Liang Si, and his subordinates after they traced the ring's activities across the country from northern Heilongjiang Province to Sichuan Province in southwestern China.Nearly 2 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, commonly known as "ice," were seized during the police raid, said officials with the provincial public security department. Two handguns, eight vehicles and 400,000 yuan (about 61,538 U.S. dollars) were also confiscated.Officials declined to disclose the details of the case, saying the investigation is still underway.Jilin started a three-month campaign to crack...

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Australian scientists find new species of frog in Cape York Peninsula

Australian scientists on Friday said they have discovered a new species of frog in Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland.The researchers also located a colony of rare rock wallabies in the region that until now had never been photographed.The expedition, which has took scientists two years time to complete, aimed to survey 200,000 hectares of extensive intact ecosystems in Cape York Peninsula not yet studied by scientists.Pew Environment Group spokesman Barry Traill, who is part of the team, said it is the first time researchers have documented the wide range of species in the region, with 263 native species recorded.Forty-six of the species are mammals, 140 species are birds, 25 types are amphibians and 52 are reptiles.Some of the species are considered threatened, while the researchers...

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4 killed in U.S. drone strike in NW Pakistan

 At least four people were killed as U.S. drones fired two missiles at a vehicle in the Miranshah area of North Waziristan in northwest Pakistan Friday evening, reported local Urdu TV channel Duniya.Earlier reports by Duniya said the target was a house, but it was later confirmed that the target was a vehicle suspected of carrying militants. The missiles fired by U.S. drones also completely destroyed a nearby house, said the report.Friday's U.S. drone strike is the 31st of its kind in Pakistan since 2011. Since this year, at least 225 people have reportedly been killed in such strikes, most of which were launched in North Waziristan, a place believed to be a stronghold of militants along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border ar...

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Russia calls on UN, AU to use peacekeeping potential to resolve Libya crisis

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday that it is important to activate political and diplomatic efforts to resolve the Libya crisis by using the peacekeeping potential of the U.N. and African Union (AU).Moscow's concern was growing over coalition forces' actions in Libya that go beyond the mandate of the U.N. Security Council's Resolution 1973, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told a press briefing here.Therefore, Russia thinks that "it is important to intensify political and diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the crisis with the help of the peacekeeping potential of the U.N. and AU as much as possible," he said.Meanwhile, Lukashevich said Russia has urged not to substitute the U.N. Security Council's mandate on Libya by the other alliances' actions, be it NATO or the...

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Russia calls on UN, AU to use peacekeeping potential to resolve Libya crisis

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Friday that it is important to activate political and diplomatic efforts to resolve the Libya crisis by using the peacekeeping potential of the U.N. and African Union (AU).Moscow's concern was growing over coalition forces' actions in Libya that go beyond the mandate of the U.N. Security Council's Resolution 1973, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told a press briefing here.Therefore, Russia thinks that "it is important to intensify political and diplomatic efforts aimed at resolving the crisis with the help of the peacekeeping potential of the U.N. and AU as much as possible," he said.Meanwhile, Lukashevich said Russia has urged not to substitute the U.N. Security Council's mandate on Libya by the other alliances' actions, be it NATO or the...

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NATO planes attack eight Libyan warships

A boat is seen on fire at the port of Tripoli after NATO air strikes targeted the port of the Libyan capital on May 20, 2011.  BRUSSELS, May 20 (Xinhua) -- NATO fighter jets attacked eight warships of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces, NATO said on Friday.NATO continued its airstrikes against the Libyan government troops with a coordinated strike against Gaddafi's forces in the ports of Tripoli, Al Khums and Sirte, NATO said in a statement."Overnight, NATO aircraft hit pro-Gaddafi warships, striking eight vessels," said Rear Admiral Russell Harding, deputy commander of NATO's Libya operations.NATO said Gaddafi's forces have been laying mines at ports and trying to disrupt humanitarian aid.Meanwhile, the building of Libya's intelligence...

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There is no eurozone debt crisis: OECD chief

The secretary-general of the Orgnization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Friday voiced confidence in the euro's bright future, saying the current debt problem should not be called a "eurozone debt crisis.""There is no eurozone debt crisis except in the larger sense of being an OECD debt -- not crisis -- but debt problem, debt challenge," Angel Gurria said at OECD headquarters in Paris."The OECD has 100 percent debt to GDP ratio today and that's obviously unsustainable," he said, "Problem, it's still growing!"However, European countries have respective problems not linking to the others, Gurria said.To explain the current situation, the OECD chief laid out five main challenges for Spain: deficit, the flexibility of labor market, pensions and retirements, financial system, and the...

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Russia has no information on Iran-DPRK military cooperation

Russia has no information on military cooperation, including the development of missile technology, between Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the Foreign Ministry said Friday.Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said there is no verifiable information that Iran and DPRK cooperate or exchange missile technologies in violation of U.N. sanctions."Such suggestions have been made by various experts judging from visual characteristics of the missiles these countries possess," the diplomat said. "This is not a convincing evidence."The diplomat called it "absolutely intolerable" that classified reports prepared by U.N. experts have been made public. He said the reports were deliberately made confidential to not allow any incorrect interpretation of the sensitive...

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Gaza group rejects U.S. terror classification decision

A Gaza-based extremist group on Friday rejected a recent U.S. decision that labeled it a foreign terrorist group."We completely reject this decision and consider it unfair," said a spokesman for the Army of Islam, calling himself Abu Al- Abbas. "This American decision only aims at harming Islam," he said.The U.S. State Department said the group was responsible for kidnapping Americans, Britons, New Zealanders over the past few years in the Gaza Strip. It noted the group, comprising former members of various Palestinian groups, threatened the security of Israel and Egypt.The al-Qaida-inspired group appeared in 2006, when it joined the Islamic Hamas movement in capturing an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid near Gaza. A year later, Hamas took over the Gaza Strip by force. The State Department...

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Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau -- wild animal paradise

  File photo taken on May 27, 2010 shows patrol members are on duty to protect wild animals in Nyima County of Ngari Prefecture, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. As the place closest to heaven, the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, also known as the roof of the world, is a paradise to such wild animals as Tibetan antelopes, wild yaks and wild Tibetan donkeys. In 1988, the Tibet Autonomous Region government drew up a series of implementation methods to protect its wild animals, following the suit of the central government's issuing of Wild Animal Protection Law. Ever since, governments at all levels in Tibet have worked hard to protect wildlife, by means of making laws and regulations, establishing nature reserves, prohibiting hunting...

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Israeli fire wound two Palestinians in Gaza

Israeli fire wounded two Palestinians in the Gaza Strip Friday as hundreds of people rallied trying to reach Israel's borders, witnesses said.The demonstration was an attempt to revive Sunday's incidents, during which Palestinians headed to Israel's borders from the Palestinian territories, Syria and Lebanon to mark the 63rd anniversary of Israel's creation. The Palestinians describe the birth of the Jewish state and their consequent evictions as Nakba (catastrophe).A major rally was planned to take place at the Erez crossing point in northern Gaza Strip, but forces from Hamas, which controls Gaza, prevented the demonstrators from reaching Erez.But in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis, dozens of people could march towards the borders, but the rally was soon scattered following Israeli...

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AU condemns shelling of civilians in Mogadishu's main market

The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) on Friday condemned Wednesday's indiscriminate shelling of civilians in Somali capital Mogadishu's Bakara market which killed about 14 people and wounded several others.In a statement issued in Nairobi, the AU peacekeepers said the deaths in Bakara were purely the responsibility of the extremists."AMISOM has designated Bakara market a 'no fire zone' and does not fire artillery or mortars into the market. We know that the extremists, who extort money from the businesses, have established a stronghold in the market and deliberately shield their reign of terror behind the civilians and business community who make their living there," AMISOM Force Spokesman, Major Paddy Ankunda said.Ankunda said the AU peacekeeping mission will conduct operations in...

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Eight officials punished for E China lead poisoning that sickens 300

Eight government officials in east China's Zhejiang Province have been punished over a lead poisoning case in which 332 people, including 99 children, were found to have excessive lead levels in their blood, local authorities said on Friday.Zhejiang Haijiu Battery Co. improperly disposed of metal in the county of Deqing, which sickened local residents, a spokesman with the county government said on Monday.Chen Zuoping, deputy head of the county government, received a demerit. Wang Fadi, deputy chief of the county's health bureau, was given an administrative warning, according to officials from the the supervision bureau of Huzhou city, which administrates Deqing.Six other officials from the local government, the environmental protection bureau and the health bureau also received administrative...

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Grottoes of Donggar and Piyang in Zanda County of Ali in China's Tibet

The grottoes of Piyang are seen in Ali, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, May 7, 2011. The grottoes of Donggar and Piyang locate in Zanda County of Ali in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region. The grottoes of Piyang consists of temples, fortresses, pagodas and so on. There are some 1000 grottoes on the hill of Piyang, covering an area of 10000 square meters. One of the temples in Piyang was built in 10th century and it had been the cultural center of the ancient Guge Kingdom.  ...

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Libya's defected oil minister seeks interim refuge in Algeria: report

Libyan Oil Minister Shukri Ghanem, who has defected his country and crossed the border with Tunisia, is seeking an interim refuge in neighboring Algeria, Algerian An- Nahar newspaper reported on Friday, citing well-informed sources.The Arabic-language paper said Ghanem, also head of the National Oil Company, will head from Algeria to Qatar, the first Arab state to recognize the Libyan rebels as the official Libyan government and to join NATO-led air strikes.Media reports have said Ghanem crossed the border by car last Saturday and since he has stayed in a hotel in the Tunisian island of Djerba, near the border with Libya.But the Libyan government denied he had defected, saying he was on "a mission in Tunisia".Ghanem has been in charge of the oil ministry since 2006 and was previously prime...

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5 Syrians killed in protests across the country

 Five protesters were killed on Friday in the restive cities of Homs and Daraa by security forces, pan-Arab al-Jazeera TV reported.According to al-Jazeera, security forces used live bullets to disperse peaceful demonstrations that took to the streets after Friday prayers in various cities across the country.Thousands of anti-government protesters rallied in cities of Damascus, Homs, Daraa, Banias, al-Boukamal in what activists had dubbed as "Friday of freedom", witnessed said.Syrian rights groups say that security forces have killed at least 900 Syrians, while over 9,000 people have been jailed or gone missing since the pro-democracy protests erupted across the country two months a...

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Turkey plans second Gaza-bound flotilla despite Israeli warning

Turkish non-governmental organization IHH said here on Friday that it plans the second Gaza- bound flotilla at the end of June despite Israeli warning.Bulent Yildirim, chairman of the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedom and Humanitarian Relief (IHH), said at a press conference that the new attempt was an international organization by 22 activist groups from around the world.The organization again attempts to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, the chairman added.The flotilla is composed of 15 ships and about 1,500 activists from more than 100 countries.IHH's first aid flotilla was raided by Israeli commandoes on May 31, 2010. Eight Turks and a Turkish-American were killed in the Israeli raid.The chairman said: "We would like to remind Israel to come to its senses. You must...

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Researchers find "lonely planets"

Scientists have discovered a Jupiter-sized exoplanet that is completely unbound from a host star, according the scientific journal "Nature" published Thursday.The research was conducted by astrophysicists from Osaka University in Japan.Using the technique called "gravitational microlensing", scientists turned their telescopes towards the centre of the Milky Way and detected this "lonely planet" moving in a extremely large orbit, which suggested it does not connect to any solar system.Then they estimated the total number of such wondering planets could be as many as 400 billion, based on the detection efficiency. This number far outnumbers the main-sequence stars such as our Sun."This is an amazing result, and if it is right, the implications for planet formation are profound,"...

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Yemeni president calls for holding early presidential elections

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh on Friday called for holding early presidential elections to end domestic political crisis.Saleh made the proposal in a speech to tens of thousands of his supporters gathered near presidential palace in Sanaa."We call for holding an early presidential election in a democratic way and for peaceful power transition to avoid bloodshed," Saleh sa...

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Egypt provides supplies to retreated Gaza-bound aid ship: Malaysian Activists

 The Egyptian gave fresh rations and water on Friday to crew and activists on board of a Malaysian ship carrying aid to Gaza.Aid ship, 'Spirit of Rachel Corrie Mission' was stranded off the El Arish port in Egypt, waiting for permission from the Egyptian government to berth after the vessel was shot at by Israeli forces on Monday and barred from approaching the war-torn territory.The activist group, Perdana Global Peace Foundation from Malaysia had on Monday claimed that Israeli forces fired shots at their vessel when it was approaching the Gazan shores, forcing it to withdraw into Egyptian waters.Spokesperson of the group, Shamsul Azhar told local daily The Star the supplies provided by Egypt were sufficient, and the Malaysian Embassy in Cairo was in talks with the Egyptian authorities...

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YODEX opens in China's Taipei

A visitor takes a photo of a sounder in a unique shape in the 30th Young Designers' Exhibition, or YODEX 2011, in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan, May 20, 2011. The four-day exhibition, displaying more than 1,000 design works of students, opened here on Friday  A staff shows the design work of dried fruit packings in the 30th Young Designers' Exhibition, or YODEX 2011, in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan, May 20, 2011. The four-day exhibition, displaying more than 1,000 design works of students, opened here on Friday.  A university student shows her design work of a calligraphy desk in the 30th Young Designers' Exhibition, or YODEX 2011, in Taipei, southeast China's Taiwan, May 20, 2011. The four-day exhibition, displaying...

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