Chinese judges tried in corruption crackdown

BEIJING, Oct 27: Several former judges in east China were tried this week for taking bribes, state media reported today, in the midst of a nationwide crackdown on corruption that is highlighting the scale of official abuses.

The judges were accused of taking bribes while serving in fuyang, a city in eastern china’s anhui province that has given the country some of its most lurid corruption scandals.

A Hong Kong newspaper reported today that a similar judicial scandal was unfolding in southern China.

Zhang Zimin, former president of the Fuyang intermediate court, took 1.3 million yuan ($162,000) in return for securing jobs for cronies and rigging court judgements, Xinhua news agency reported late yesterday.(AGENCIES)

World’s largest hydropower dam stores
water at 156-mt mark

BEIJING, Oct 27: The water level in the reservoir of the world’s largest hydropower project, the three gorges in central China’s Hubei province reached the 156-meter mark today, realising the second phase of the water storage plan, the state media reported.

The water level in the reservoir of the three gorges dam on the Yangtze river, China’s longest, rose 20 meters since September 20, when this stage of water storage plan was kicked off.

"The three gorges project has realised the second phase water storage plan," general manager of the China three gorges project corporation, Li Yong’an said. (AGENCIES)

China asks mobile phone TV makers
to use domestic technology

BEIJING, Oct 27: China’s broadcasting industry regulator has asked all mobile cellular phone service providers to use an indigenously-developed technology standard for broadcasting television signals to mobile phones.

The State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (SARFT) announced the new standard, Stimi, earlier this week in advance of an international forum on standards for mobile phone television. STIMI, short for satellite terrestrial interactive multi-service infrastructure, was developed by the sarft-affiliated academy of broadcast science and will be applied across the country beginning next month, Xinhua news agency reported.(AGENCIES)

Multinationals blacklisted in China for water pollution

BEIJING, Oct 27: Chinese joint ventures with multinationals such as panasonic, pepsi-cola and nestle are among the 33 companies that have been blacklisted for causing water pollution, according to a report by an ngo.

The institute of public & environmental affairs has compiled a list of over 2,700 "serious polluters". It, however, said that pollution caused by the country’s domestic companies is even more severe.

Director of the institute, ma jun said he collated information released by environmental watchdogs during the past three years, but this is the first time such a list has been compiled.

"I was very surprised to see well-known names in global business listed as water polluters in china," ma was quoted as saying by `China daily.’

Panasonic battery (Shanghai) Co Ltd was named by the local environmental protection bureau in June this year and also last year for releasing insufficiently treated waste water. Pepsi-cola International (Changchun) Co Ltd was criticised for a similar reason in 2005.(AGENCIES)

HK scientists identify cancer-blocking protein

HONG KONG, Oct 27: Scientists in Hong Kong have identified a protein that can help suppress the growth of prostate cancer cells, the third most common cancer in men worldwide.

With half a million new cases a year, prostate cancer afflicts one in every six men in the united states and one in 50 males in Hong Kong.

But current therapies for advanced prostate cancer, such as chemotherapy, are far from satisfactory and carry side effects.

In a study first published online in the July issue of endocrinology, researchers at the university of Hong Kong found that human prostate cancer cells produce a protein called spdzd2.

The researchers found that when the protein was blocked in laboratory mice, prostate cancer cells in the rodents grew more quickly, and vice versa. (AGENCIES)

UK pubs to try red version of the "black stuff"

DUBLIN, Oct 27: Guinness, the Dark Irish drink known as the "black stuff", could soon be turning red.

Manufacturer diageo plans to produce a version at its Irish Brewery using lightly roasted Barley, which will have a reddish colour, and give it a trial run across the Irish sea in Britain.

"If you held up a pint of guinness to the light, the red would come through. It’s a very deep red," a Diageo spokeswoman said.

Diageo plans to test guinness red on drinkers in British pubs in the coming months but has no plans to launch it more widely, either at home in ireland or in about 150 other countries where guinness is sold.(AGENCIES)

Former Pak President Ishaq Khan dies

ISLAMABAD, Oct 27: Former Pakistan President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, whose tenure was marked by controversy due to his decision to dismiss the Governments headed by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, died in the city of Peshawar today.

Khan, 91, had been suffering from Pneumonia for the past three months, his son-in-law Irfanullah Khan Marwat said.

A bureaucrat-turned-politician, Khan came to prominence in 1985 when he was made chairman of the senate by former military ruler Zia-ul-Haq.

He took over as acting President in 1988 after Zia’s death in a plane crash and was later formally elected to the post.

Khan’s Presidency was marked by controversy as he dismissed the Governments headed by Bhutto and Sharif on the charges of corruption, mismanagement and nepotism.

The dismissal of Sharif Government exacerbated institutional and political opposition to Khan, leading to his resignation in 1993, and later to a constitutional amendment that reduced the Presidency to a figurehead.

He also reportedly vetoed the appointment of former ISI chief Hamid Gul as Army Chief, appointing the moderately reformist General Asia Nawaz Khan Janjua instead. His Presidency also saw the resignation of Gen Rahimmudin Khan from the post of Governor of Sindh due to differences between the two.

Khan retired from public life after his resignation and kept away from the media. (PTI)

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