Sunday, November 30, 2014
Myanmar's Jade Curse
China's jade obsession drives a multi-billion dollar black market that fuels a drug-infested jade mining industry.
Gold is valuable but jade is priceless, so goes a Chinese saying. For centuries, the Chinese consider jade an imperial stone with mystical properties. Today it is coveted all over China as a status symbol, a collectible and an investment.
Demand from increasingly wealthy Chinese drives the value of jade through the roof. At this year's Shanghai World Jewellery Expo, auctioneers put the opening bid for top grade jade items at more than $160 a gram, exceeding four times the price of gold.
Intricately designed pieces, made from top grade jade known as jadeite, are viewed as attractive investments despite the lack of scientific valuation methods. In recent years, jadeite has provided better returns than real estate.
But the imperial stone delivers a death sentence to treasure hunters in Myanmar, where China's jadeite comes from.
SIx In The Morning Sunday November 30
Bhopal 30 years on: The women of India are battling the poisonous legacy of the world's worst industrial accident
Red Bull-drinking jihadists, crucifixions and air strikes: inside Raqqa, the Islamic State’s capital
Activists tell of the Isis elite living in relative luxury as civilians face poverty, hunger, inflation and power shortages
The beleaguered inhabitants of Raqqa, self-proclaimed capital of the Islamic State (Isis), are suffering widespread hunger, crippling inflation, chronic power shortages and poverty so acute that emergency soup kitchens have been set up.
With no journalists, local or foreign, able to operate inside Syria’s sixth-largest city, courageous local activists have given the Observer a detailed account of life under the jihadists’ totalitarian regime, a rare glimpse of everyday life in the city.
Their testimony reveals the evolution of a community brutally divided into haves and have-nots, with Isis enjoying well-resourced services including “private” hospitals and a relatively high standard of living as many residents struggle to make ends meet.
The Jihad Cult: Why Young Germans Are Answering Call to Holy War
By SPIEGEL Staff
Hundreds of young German Islamists have traveled to Syria to fight with the terrorist group Islamic State. SPIEGEL explored the extremist scene in Germany and the fascination with jihad in order to find answers about what drives people to join the murderous cult.
Whenever Ismail Cetinkaya runs into one of those young men who want to leave Hamburg to fight in Syria, he asks: "Have you ever slept without heat in the winter? Do you know what it's like to live without electricity and running water? Do you think a Kalashnikov works like the controller for your PlayStation 4?"
He also asks whether the young man is leaving his mother behind. And then he quotes the words of the Prophet Mohammed, and says: "Paradise lies at the feet of your mother." The implication being that those who leave their weeping mothers behind won't enter paradise.
Cetinkaya, 33, has a full beard and has been praying to Allah five times a day ever since he found himself, as he says. He's the son of Turks from Mardin, a city on the Syrian border. He speaks fluent Arabic and doesn't need a German imam or YouTube videos to understand what God wants from him.
‘Putin’s Kleptocracy,’ by Karen Dawisha
By
Death and the goddess: The world's biggest ritual slaughter
November 29, 2014
Motilal Kushwaha had promised the Hindu goddess Gadhimai that he would offer her a male goat if one of his children found a job.
Last year his son was successful -- and on Saturday he was one of tens of thousands of people killing the animals at the temple of Gadhimai in southern Nepal as part of the biggest religious mass slaughter in the world.
"From my village everyone has made a vow [to offer animals]," says Kushwaha from Bariyarpur, a community in Bara district about 60 miles south of Kathmandu. Some, he explains, are glad they have got a son or a daughter, others that a different form of good fortune has befallen them.
The ritual sacrifice of goats, buffaloes and roosters in temples and at home is widespread in Nepal where 80 percent of the population are Hindu.
World Cup 2018 & 2022: More bidding process corruption claims
Last updated at 22:02 GMT
More allegations of corruption during the bidding process to stage the World Cups in 2018 and 2022 have been made.
The House of Commons Culture Media and Sport select committee has published previously unseen material submitted to it by the Sunday Times newspaper.
It draws on claims by senior sources that officials connected to England's bid for the 2018 World Cup ran an intelligence-gathering operation against rival nations.
Russia and Qatar won the bids.
This submission by the Sunday Times outlines how England 2018 executives compiled a database of rumours and intelligence - gathered by private companies and, significantly, British embassies.
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Star Wars: Episode VII-The Force Awakens: Lego Trailer
“This took forever…. hence the upload at 4:00 AM im excited for the movie ha ha
I had nothing to do yesterday so I started once the trailer came out so i built the Falcon, The X-Wing, The speeder bike thingy, a mini tie fighter, tried to build all the sets, and get all my minifigures put together… then just filming took forever especially the the special effects… i tried stop motion in front of the green screen and that was hard and by this time it was 3am so like more than 12 hours (i took a 3 hour break somewhere) and then finally gave up and used sewing string for the X-Wing and just kind of moved my camera around the falcon, i wasn’t as happy with the falcon shot but i cant work on it at all today so i had to finish it like 4 hours ago, but i just woke up to go to my grandparents house, and now you know everything about how it was made!! :P”
Six In The Morning Saturday November 29
29 November 2014 Last updated at 09:22
Kami Chavis Simmons, law professor and director of the Criminal Justice Program at Wake Forest University: Unfortunately, I was not surprised about the verdict. And there are a number of reasons for that. First, these officer-involved shootings are notoriously difficult to prosecute. And the way the grand jury process unfolded in this case led me to believe early on that there was going to be a lot of information, a lot of conflicting evidence that would give the jurors reason to believe that there was no probable cause for an indictment which is the standard here. This is unusual because typically in the grand jury process the prosecutor - if he believes that they have probable cause - will present the best-case scenario.
Court in Egypt clears Hosni Mubarak over 2011 killings
A court in Cairo has cleared former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak of conspiring to kill protesters during the 2011 uprising against his rule.
The courtroom erupted in cheers when the judge concluded Mubarak's retrial by dismissing the charges which relate to the deaths of hundreds of people.
He was also cleared of a corruption charge involving gas exports to Israel.
Mubarak, 86, is serving a separate three-year sentence for embezzlement of public funds.
Chinese rights activist denies public disorder charges in chaotic all-night trial
Yang Maodong forced into lengthy hearing without food as Beijing government broadens its crackdown on dissent
A leading Chinese rights activist who organised rallies for media freedom pleaded not guilty to charges of disturbing public order in an all-night trial in which the judge rejected his requests for food, a lawyer said.
The case against Yang Maodong, 48, comes amid a broadening crackdown on dissent. In January, a Beijing court sentenced legal activist Xu Zhiyong to four years in prison for leading a loosely organized civil movement. Several of his followers also were imprisoned.
New York-based Human Rights Watch called on authorities to drop the charges against Yang, better known by his penname Guo Feixiong, and fellow defendant Sun Desheng, who was arrested for urging the Chinese government to grant more rights to its people and to disclose officials’ assets.
Pope’s Turkish visit blighted by Erdogan’s comments
Those from outside Muslim world ‘like seeing us, our children, die’, says president
Paddy Agnew
If Pope Francis had any illusions about the difficulties of Muslim-Christian, East-West dialogue, they would have been dispelled by a remarkable statement this week from Turkish president Recep Erdogan. On the eve of the pope’s current three-day trip to Turkey, the president said:
“I speak clearly. Those who come from outside [the Muslim world] only like the oil, gold, diamonds, cheap workforce, conflicts and disputes of the lands of Islam. Believe me, they do not like us . . . They like seeing us, our children die. How long we will continue to tolerate this?”
He made these comments, widely reported in yesterday’s English language, Turkish media, in an address to the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Co-operation of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation.
Ferguson symbol of bias in US criminal justice system
The judicial process in Ferguson was not illegal, but the prosecutor's conduct deviated from the norm and thus created a perception of unfairness, two legal scholars tell DW.
DW: As a law professor specializing in racial issues were you surprised by the decision of the grand jury in Ferguson not to indict Darren Wilson for the shooting of Michael Brown?Kami Chavis Simmons, law professor and director of the Criminal Justice Program at Wake Forest University: Unfortunately, I was not surprised about the verdict. And there are a number of reasons for that. First, these officer-involved shootings are notoriously difficult to prosecute. And the way the grand jury process unfolded in this case led me to believe early on that there was going to be a lot of information, a lot of conflicting evidence that would give the jurors reason to believe that there was no probable cause for an indictment which is the standard here. This is unusual because typically in the grand jury process the prosecutor - if he believes that they have probable cause - will present the best-case scenario.
Israel's draconian home demolitions revive questions over deterrence
Ruth Pollard
Middle East Correspondent
Jabal al-Mukabbir, East Jerusalem: Mohamed Abu Jamal has barely slept in the last 10 days.
Every time he closes his eyes he is overwhelmed – by the struggle to understand the violent actions of his son and to survive the Israeli government's decision to punish his family for those actions.
On November 18, his son Ghassan, with his cousin Uday, took meat cleavers and a gun to a synagogue in the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighbourhood of Har Nof and killed five people.
The vicious, frenzied attack in a place of worship shocked people on both sides of the divided city and had many speculating whether the tit-for-tat attacks had escalated past the point of no return.Facing unabated anger over students, Mexico leader vows police overhaul
The abduction and apparent murder of 43 college students has forced President Peña Nieto's hand. On Thursday, he promised sweeping security reforms. But many doubt if he can break a culture of impunity.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto vowed Thursday to overhaul local policing and more firmly establish the rule of law across the country, his strongest response yet to the apparent massacre of 43 students.
The president’s announcement comes two months after a drug gang working with local police allegedly abducted and killed the students in the southwestern city of Iguala. His new anti-crime plan highlights the growing pressure from protesters to end impunity and brutality by law enforcement officials.
Mr. Peña Nieto suggested his plan was influenced by the Iguala tragedy in a wide-ranging televised address, noting its "cruelty and barbarity have shocked Mexico,” The Associated Press reports.
Friday, November 28, 2014
Random Japan
Chinese sand artist tickles the heartstrings of manga fans with stunning sand manga drawings
Joan Coello
Many of us can’t even draw a decent manga portrait on paper, but there are talented individuals who manage to replicate character illustrations on food, and some using just their bare hands and sand.
Chinese sand artist Zhao Ying Li creates portraits of manga characters from titles such as Slam Dunk and Detective Conan that are so detailed it’s hard to believe they were drawn with sand. See the creation process after the break!
Sand drawing is appreciated as a form of performance art, unlike conventional drawings or paintings. Every single dot, line and gradient is drawn with nothing but sand by the nimble, artistic hands and fingers of the artist, and in the case of a live performance, drawn precisely within a timed session in sync with background music and illumination arrangements.
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ONWARD & UPWARD
- Officials at the Japan Tourism Agency are urging hotels to prepare for emergency situations by stockpiling “necessities” for foreigners, including halal food and Bibles.
- The organizers of the Eiken English proficiency test have an eye on the international market—they’ve signed a study-abroad agreement with education authorities in Australia.
- About 1,000 demonstrators attended a rally last month in Shibuya to protest the state secrets protection law.
Or, That Bus Right In Front Of You?
Is That Prince William?
Or, Just Some Wax Guy?
How to say 'I love you' in Japanese
47 different ways
Yomiuri apologizes for using term 'sex slaves' in English edition
Japan’s biggest newspaper apologized in print Friday for using the term “sex slaves” in its English-language edition to describe Asian women forced into Japanese military-run brothels during World War II.
The conservative Yomiuri said in articles in English and Japanese that it was inappropriate to have used the phrase and others implying the women were coerced to provide sex. The newspaper identified 97 articles, including 85 of its own, with “sex slaves” or similar expressions between 1992 and 2013.
It said non-Japanese people have difficulty understanding the term “comfort women,” used in Japan to describe the women, so its English-language edition added explanations improperly suggesting that “coercion by the Japanese government or the army was an objective fact.”
Six In The Morning Friday November 28
28 November 2014 Last updated at 09:12
Greater China
BEIJING - Understanding what Japan is thinking or what it intends to do is difficult, if not near impossible, at the best of times, let alone now. Yet, if I were Japanese and worried about Beijing's rise, I would enact a simple policy of encirclement to recover Japan's primacy in Asia.
To draw the Koreans to my side, I would build a monument in the center of Tokyo to Korean patriots of the anti-Japanese resistance - to assuage any ill-feeling about the past and concentrate the countries' attention on the potentials of the future together.
To attract Russia, I would give up any claim on the Kurili Islands,
which are held by Moscow anyway. I would give the Senkaku-Diaoyu islands up to Taiwan - this would draw Taiwan closer to Tokyo and make it more distant from Beijing. Better political ties with Taiwan because of a Senkaku deal could bring about greater maritime cooperation.
The victims appeared to be in their 20s. Authorities said the bodies had high-caliber bullet wounds, and were found in an area that is known for gang violence and plantations of opium poppies.
Immigration: David Cameron to outline benefit restrictions
The prime minister will set out plans to curb welfare benefits for migrants from the EU in a speech shortly.
David Cameron will say EU migrants should have to wait at least four years before receiving benefits such as tax credits or council houses.
He will insist the changes, which he will seek if he is elected in May, are an "absolute requirement" in future talks over whether to stay in the EU.
It follows news that net migration to the UK has risen above 2010 levels.
In a long-awaited speech in the West Midlands, Mr Cameron will say he is confident that he can change the basis of EU migration into the UK and therefore campaign for the UK to stay in the EU in a future referendum planned for 2017.
But he will warn that if the UK's demands fall on "deaf ears" he will "rule nothing out" - the strongest hint to date he could countenance the UK leaving the EU.
23,000-year-old statue of woman with large breasts and buttocks found in France
Pope Francis arrives in Turkey for potentially testing visit
Pontiff to celebrate feast of St Andrew, patron of the Orthodox church, in Istanbul
Paddy Agnew
Pope Francis, who originally indicated he might not travel as much as some of his immediate predecessors, is back on the road again this weekend as he makes an intriguing, potentially difficult visit to Turkey.
At the end of a year which has seen him travel to both Israel and South Korea, Francis this morning flies into Ankara where he will be greeted by president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of this 76 million strong, 99 per cent Islamic country.
Given the possible polemics engendered by this visit, one might expect to find half of Turkey gearing itself for a momentous occasion. In reality, Istanbul, which the pope visits tomorrow and on Sunday, was yesterday totally “pope free”. No posters, no flags and almost no media comment on the visit. To find a poster announcing for the event, you had to go to the press centre in the basement of Istanbul’s Hilton Bosphorus Hotel.
Bhopal: Thirty years on, misery and questions linger in the air
South Asia correspondent at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald
Bhopal: On Wednesday survivors of the world's worst industrial disaster will commemorate 30 years since a cloud of deadly gas leaked from a Union Carbide pesticide plant and engulfed the central Indian city of Bhopal, killing thousands of people and injuring tens of thousands more.
"We will never properly recover from that night," says Irfan Ali, 60, whose pregnant wife died, and who has suffered respiratory problems ever since.
"The panic, the confusion, the burning feeling of the gas on my eyes and inside my lungs, the people lying dead. We live with it every day," Mr Ali told Fairfax Media on the eve of the anniversary.
Greater China
 |
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BEIJING - Understanding what Japan is thinking or what it intends to do is difficult, if not near impossible, at the best of times, let alone now. Yet, if I were Japanese and worried about Beijing's rise, I would enact a simple policy of encirclement to recover Japan's primacy in Asia.
To draw the Koreans to my side, I would build a monument in the center of Tokyo to Korean patriots of the anti-Japanese resistance - to assuage any ill-feeling about the past and concentrate the countries' attention on the potentials of the future together.
To attract Russia, I would give up any claim on the Kurili Islands,
which are held by Moscow anyway. I would give the Senkaku-Diaoyu islands up to Taiwan - this would draw Taiwan closer to Tokyo and make it more distant from Beijing. Better political ties with Taiwan because of a Senkaku deal could bring about greater maritime cooperation.
Burned bodies found in southern Mexico |
Charred remains of 11 suspected Los Ardillos drug cartel members found near city of Chilapa, Mexican authorities say. |
At least 11 burned bodies have been discovered dumped on the side of a road in the southern state of Guerrero, Mexican authorities said.
Several of the scorched bodies of the men found near the city of Chilapa on Thursday appeared to have been decapitated.
Sources told Al Jazeera that the victims appear to be cartel members killed by another cartel group. The victims' bodies were reportedly found covered with a large banner taunting one of the cartels.
According to a separate report by AFP news agency, the note was addressed to the crime group "Los Ardillos" (The Squirrels), with the words "here's your trash".
The victims appeared to be in their 20s. Authorities said the bodies had high-caliber bullet wounds, and were found in an area that is known for gang violence and plantations of opium poppies.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
SIx In The Morning Thursday November 27
Left to the mercy of the Taliban
Interpreters who worked with US forces in Afghanistan are being hunted down by the Taliban. Thousands have emigrated to the US but others have been blacklisted, refused a visa, and left in grave danger.
In spring this year, two men rang Nader's doorbell so hard they pushed it half way through the wall of his mud-brick house. He came to the door, they coaxed him outside and then dragged him to the village graveyard.
"When I realised they were taking me somewhere to be executed I started yelling and fighting," he says.
"My brother came out to find me, but by the time he'd come they'd shot me, I just lay down and they left."
If Nader had not struggled he would have been shot in the head. Instead, as the militants hurried to get away, they only managed to shoot him in the leg.
Nader's village, about an hour's drive north of Kabul, is hostile territory for the Taliban. It was home to some of the bloodiest fighting during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s, and the local mujahideen force that protected the area then has remained firmly in control ever since.Younger sister of Kim Jong Un takes senior North Korea post
State media says Kim Yo Jong now vice director of department within Workers’ Party
The younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has assumed a senior position in the ruling Workers’ Party, state media reported on Thursday, consolidating a third generation of Kim family rule in the secretive state.
Kim Yo Jong, who is believed to be 27, had previously only been named as a party official, but was rumoured to have a managerial role in her brother’s government.
She has now been identified as a vice director of a department within the powerful Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party in a report carried by state news agency KCNA.
The link between cash, obesity and cancer
A global study by the International Agency for Research on Cancer suggests obesity leads to cancer - to the tune of half a million cases per year. DW speaks to IARC's Dr Melina Arnold.
DW: This is the first global study of the links between obesity and cancer, and you've found that the number of cancer cases is higher in developed countries than in less developed countries. How big is the difference?
Dr Melina Arnold: We know, for example, that in males in very highly developed countries, there's about 3-3.2 percent of all cancer cases that are related to obesity and being overweight. And in low-developed countries we see it's close to zero - it's about 0.3 percent - that was our estimate for the low human development index (HDI).
Where do you see the biggest problems? But also, where are the biggest problems developing - where do we have to watch out?
Swing Sets and Death in Syria: A Visit to an Aleppo Playground
Every day, children from the Salaheddin district of Aleppo meet at the local playground. They play war as the real one rages just a few meters away. But the graves are slowly encroaching.
Majid, what are you doing? "I'm watering mommy." Majid drags a large, blue bucket -- so full that he can hardly carry it -- across the withered grass. But why are you watering your mother?
The 13-year-old looks puzzled, as though it were the kind of idiotic question that only outsiders might ask. "Because she's right here," he says and pours the water onto a mound surrounded by a few stones meant to mark the site as a grave. An old pine tree offers a bit of shade, but so far, nothing seems to have taken root at the place where Majid's mother is buried. "I have to water it. Then something will grow for sure," he says with a steady voice as he heads back to refill his bucket.
Majid's mother died in the summer, but nobody in the family had enough money for a proper gravestone or even a border for the site. She died "because of her heart," Majid says "in her mid-30s." He can't be more precise than that; nobody in Aleppo really asks anymore why someone is dead. Majid drags a third bucket-full to the grave, as though seeking to atone for something he played no part in, as if he could score a tiny victory against all the dying.
Lights out by 10pm: Life in a terror training camp
Tom Whitehead
London: A rare insight into life in a terrorist training camp – including a strict edict to be in bed with lights out by 10pm – has been made public after two brothers became the first Britons to be jailed for offences related to the war in Syria.
Mohommod Nawaz, 30, and Hamza Nawaz, 23, both from Stratford, East London, were identified as jihadists after they returned from a Syrian training camp because they were so desperate to brag about where they had been, a court was told.
The Old Bailey heard how one of the brothers had gone to Syria only to try to "force" his then girlfriend to marry him.
Taiwan election: Wild, wooly, and partly a referendum on China (+video)
The Taipei mayor's race is the most watched, but there are 10,000 offices to fill on Nov. 29. The races are marked by mud-slinging and new debates over Chinese nationalism and Taiwanese identity.
TAIPEI, TAIWAN — Taiwan’s young democracy puts down deeper roots with every election cycle, and the island holds an important vote this weekend with 20,000 candidates for more than 10,000 offices.
The most watched election is for mayor of Taipei, where candidate Ko Wen-je is causing panic in Taiwan's ruling party and making Chinese leaders in Beijing nervous.
A newcomer to politics, Mr. Ko has become a lighting rod for debates over national identity and traditional values in Taiwan. The independent candidate is receiving prominent media coverage, which he has been using to step outside mainstream politics and challenge the establishment.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
SIx In The Morning Wednesday November 26
26 November 2014 Last updated at 09:25
Ferguson shooting: Protests spread across US
A dozen US cities have seen new protests over the decision not to charge a white policeman who shot a black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri.
Demonstrations from New York to Seattle were mostly peaceful but rioting broke out in Oakland, California.
There was some unrest in Ferguson itself, with police making 44 arrests, but the town did not see rioting on the scale of Monday night.
The officer who killed Michael Brown there says he has a "clean conscience".
Darren Wilson, who shot the 18-year-old on 9 August, told ABC News that in the struggle which preceded the shooting, he had felt "like a five-year-old holding on to [US wrestler] Hulk Hogan".
Hong Kong student leaders arrested as police try to clear protest zone
Joshua Wong and Lester Shum among activists arrested as police try to clear Mong Kok neighbourhood following a court order
Hong Kong police arrested two high-profile student leaders on Wednesday morning, pro-democracy demonstrators said as scuffles broke out during police attempts to clear one of the zones held by protesters.
Joshua Wong and Lester Shum, whose detention was reported by the Hong Kong Students Federation and the South China Morning Post, came after a night of clashes with police in the Mong Kok neighborhood.
A total of 116 people were being held for offences including unlawful assembly and assaulting or obstructing police. Officers used pepper spray as they tried to disperse crowds, although many protesters remained in the area despite the clearance attempt.
'Make thicker walls': Terrorism fears high as drones survey French nuclear reactors
More than 30 civilian drones have been seen over French nuclear reactors over the past two months. Greenpeace suspects terrorist activity and wants the reactors shut down.
This story goes back to October 5, when French energy company Electricite de France began seeing things in the sky above three of its nuclear reactors in the southwest of the country.
They saw drones flying over the facilities - over several areas at the same time. But the company had no idea who was operating the drones or why.
Since then, more than 30 drones have been spotted.
Oda Becker is a physicist and nuclear consultant, who has written a report on the drones.
Opposing Japan's whaling program is 'eco-imperialism'
Elaine Lies
Opposition to Japan's whaling programme is a kind of "eco-imperialism" that imposes one value system on another and is based on emotion, not science - much the way killing elephants is now opposed, Japan's top whaling official said on Wednesday.
Tokyo last week unveiled plans to resume whale hunting in the Southern Ocean in 2015-2015 despite an international court ruling that previous hunts were illegal, although it also slashed the quota for the so-called scientific whaling programme.
Joji Morishita, Japan's commissioner to the International Whaling Commission, said the new proposal, which calls for taking 333 minke whales instead of 900, is Tokyo's latest attempt to pursue sustainable whaling according to scientific principles.
Russia says it will 'wait patiently' as France suspends Mistral warship sale (+video)
France was under heavy pressure from NATO allies not to go through with the sale of the helicopter carrier amid rising tensions over Ukraine.
France suspended the planned delivery of a warship to Russia on Tuesday, yielding to months of growing pressure from allies who called for an end to the deal because of the conflict in Ukraine.
French President François Hollande announced the suspension "until further notice," for now ending months of speculation about the deal amid mounting tensions between Russia and the West. Mr. Hollande has said delivery of the Vladivostok helicopter carrier can't begin until a Sept. 5 cease-fire agreement is implemented between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
But Tuesday's statement, like a previous suspension of the delivery, stopped short of canceling the deal entirely. The French government appears reluctant to give up a contract worth 1.2 billion euros ($1.5 billion) and thousands of jobs at a time of slow economic growth, The Associated Press reports.
China ships pay first post-Japan summit visit to disputed isles
Chinese ships returned to territorial waters around islands at the centre of a dispute with Japan on Tuesday, the coastguard said, the first incursion since a Sino-Japanese summit aimed at reducing tensions.
Three Chinese coastguard vessels sailed into the 12-nautical-mile zone around the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands, which China claims and calls the Diaoyus, shortly after 10:00 am (0100 GMT), the Japanese coastguard said. They left two hours later.
China's State Oceanic Administration said in a statement on its website that Chinese coastguard vessels "patrolled Chinese territorial waters near the Diaoyu islands today".
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