Chinese Creating New Auto Niche Within Detroit
By BILL VLASIC
Dozens of companies from China are putting down roots in Detroit, part of the country’s steady push into the American auto industry.
Chinese-owned companies are investing in American businesses and new vehicle technology, selling everything from seat belts to shock absorbers in retail stores, and hiring experienced engineers and designers in an effort to soak up the talent and expertise of domestic automakers and their suppliers.
While starting with batteries and auto parts, the spread of Chinese business is expected to result eventually in the sale of Chinese cars in the United States.
“The Chinese are well behind the Japanese when they hit our shores 30 years ago,” said David E. Cole, a founder of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. “They lack the know-how, and they’re coming here to get it.”
CORRUPTION
Fake ballots cast shadow over Bulgarian election
The parliamentary election in Bulgaria on May 12 has been marred by allegations of fraud and political manipulation - which could have an impact on the final outcome.
In a scandal emerging in the run-up to the Bulgarian election, officials have seized 350,000 unregistered ballots at a printing house in the town of Kostinbrod. Because official ballot papers had already been distributed to polling stations on May 8, the newly found collection appeared suspicious.
The printing plant's owner happens to be a local politician from the center-right GERB party, which ruled Bulgaria under Prime Minister Boiko Borisov until mass protests in February and March of this year forced the government from office.
Intervention Debate: Experts Warn Against Syrian Adventure
By Ulrike Putz in Beirut
What contours might a military intervention in Syria take on? Strategists are discussing the creation of a humanitarian buffer and no-fly zone. But experts warn that 40,000 to 75,000 ground troops would be required in Syria for that to happen.
If you believe US President Barack Obama's antagonists, putting an end to the civil war in Syria is simple. All it would take is the establishment of a buffer zone for civilians, the provision of adequate protections for that zone and the distribution of arms to the right people in Syria and the problem will be gone -- at least so goes the tale as spun by Republican John McCain on Fox News. The best thing about his plan? That it could work without sending any American troops into the country. He argues an American invasion wouldn't be necessary to stop the civil war.
Taiwan, Philippines row escalates
May 13, 2013 - 5:21AM
Tim Culpan
Taipei: Taiwan President Ma Ying-Jeou threatened to recall his representative to the Philippines and freeze work applications should its neighbour fail to respond within 72 hours to requests for an apology following the fatal shooting of a fisherman last week.
Mr Ma's "four solemn requests" include compensation, investigation and punishment of perpetrators, and the commencement of talks over fishing rights, the presidential office said in a statement on its website May 11. Taiwanese fishing vessel Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28 was hit by at least 32 bullets after a Philippine patrol boat on May 9 opened fire 304 kilometres southeast of Taiwan's southern tip, in waters north of the Philippines.
Three voting campaigners arrested in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe's state radio says police arrested three polling campaigners for illegally promoting voter awareness ahead of crucial elections.
The station said on Sunday the activists were not authorised to carry out voter education by the official elections commission. It said they were giving out information on polling procedures in an upmarket Harare suburb on Saturday.
Another 19 democracy activists were arrested last month for allegedly impersonating state election officials in a drive to get potential electors to register their names on voters' lists. They are still waiting to appear in court.
President Robert Mugabe (89) said on Friday he would proclaim a date for the elections next week, after the Parliament passes a new constitution.
After Qaddafi's 'socialism,' Libya tries to untangle who owns what
'No one has the right to build a house, in addition to his own and that of his heirs,' Qaddafi once proclaimed. Now, those who had land confiscated are pressing their claims.
Brandishing a yellowing piece of paper dating back to the period when Libya was an Italian colony, Haitham Mokhtar Horria nervously proclaims his family’s claim to 2.7 acres of the capital’s best real estate – across the street from the office of Libya’s prime minister.
But Mr. Horria has never lived here. One day, nearly 30 years ago, men from the late dictator Muammar Qaddafi's clan turned up to claim it from his father – commandeering the property because of its prime location.
“In 1987, men with guns came to threaten my father,” Horria says. “They told him that from [then] on, the land belonged to them. Several friends of Qaddafi built their villas there [after that].”
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