Chinese Way of Doing Business: In Cash We Trust
By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: April 30, 2013
SHANGHAI — Lin Lu remembers the day last December when a Chinese businessman showed up at the car dealership he works for in north China and paid for a new BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo — entirely in cash.
“He drove here with two friends in a beat-up Honda,” Mr. Lin recalled. “One of his friends carried about $60,000 in a big white bag, and the buyer had the rest in a heavy black backpack.”
Lugging nearly $130,000 in cash into a dealership might sound bizarre, but it’s not exactly uncommon in China, where hotel bills, jewelry purchases and even the lecture fees for visiting scholars are routinely settled with thick wads of renminbi, China’s currency.
Kosovo trial sheds light on international organ smuggling
Poor east Europeans selling organs to rich westerners, mainly Israelis
They came to Kosovo from east and west, people poor enough to sell their organs for quick cash, and others rich enough to pay large sums to jump the queue for a new kidney.
Over several months in 2008, doctors at the Medicus clinic in Pristina, Kosovo’s capital, performed at least 23 illegal kidney transplants, removing them from desperate donors, mostly eastern Europeans, and giving them to ailing but wealthy westerners, predominantly Israelis.
Five Kosovar men were this week convicted for their involvement with Medicus, but it is thought to be just one link in an international network of illegal transplant clinics that is still in operation, working hand-in-glove with ruthless organised crime and people-smuggling gangs.
Prosecutors raid South Korean spy agency
May 1, 2013 - 12:33PM
Choe Sang-hun
SEOUL: Prosecutors have raided the headquarters of the National Intelligence Service of South Korea to investigate accusations that the spy agency used its agents and hired internet bloggers to influence the presidential election in December.
The raid, which started on Tuesday morning and continued into the evening, was highly unusual, dealing a blow to the controversial reputation of the spy agency.
Such a raid would have been unthinkable decades ago when the agency, known as the KCIA, served as the main tool of political control for South Korea's military dictators.
Gunmen surround Libyan justice ministry
Armed groups in pick-up trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns and rocket-launchers surrounded Libya's justice ministry Tuesday to press demands for former aides to deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi to be barred from senior government posts.
Tensions between the government and armed militias has been rising since authorities began a campaign to dislodge the gunmen from strongholds in the capital Tripoli to tackle lawlessness menacing Libya's democratic transition since Gaddafi's demise.
Gunmen first ringed the foreign ministry on Sunday and have targeted other state buildings, aiming to paralyse government until legislation banning those who once served under Gaddafi, who was overthrown and killed in a 2011 uprising, is adopted.
Today, we ride: Women join Mexico City's cycling revolution
The car still reigns in this megacity of 22 million people. But new bike lanes are driving more people to two-wheeled transportation – and women in particular are finding it liberating.
Scores of bikers pedal by the Parque España in Mexico City each weekday morning, sporting suits, wearing backpacks, and in some cases balancing a mug of coffee in one hand.
Commuting by bike has become increasingly popular in the traffic-choked capital of 22 million since the creation of dedicated bike lanes starting in 2006 and a bike share program in 2010. Pay attention, however, and you'll see that the bikers are mostly men. Are women missing out?
A little more than 80 percent of Mexico City’s cyclists are male, according to a 2012 study by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP). But the number of women pedalers has started to slowly rise, increasing by 2 percent between 2010 and 2011. And peer-taught classes may have something to do with it.
Motorway of the future plans include glowing heat gauges
While carmakers have raced to add the latest technologies to their vehicles, the roads they drive on have arguably failed to evolve at the same pace.
Now, an odd couple based in the Netherlands hope to change that with visions of self-illuminating weather warning signs painted onto the tarmac, and a dedicated lane capable of recharging electric cars on the go.
The pair are Daan Roosegaarde, an artist famous for wacky interactive projects, and Hans Goris, a manager at the Dutch civil engineering firm Heijmans.
Mr Roosegaarde's past efforts have included a dance floor with built-in disco lights powered by dancers' foot movements, and a dress that becomes see-through when the wearer is aroused.
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