China’s One-Child Policy: 400 Million Fewer People
BEIJING — It’s the 30th year since the launch of one-child policy in China. The policy prevented the births of 400 million people, which saved 111 billion kilograms of food and slowed the rate of environmental deterioration by 20%, according to the World Journal. Weiqing Zhang, director of China’s Population Control Committee, said that China made two miracles: rapid economic development and effective population control. The average number of
children per Chinese family decreased to 1.8 now from 5.8 in 1970. The one-child policy delayed the 6-billion-population day of the world for four years. The average life expectancy of Chinese people is more than 72 years old now.
— World Journal
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U.S. Teen Brings New School To Rural Cambodia
BANTEAY SREY, Cambodia — Hundreds of Cambodian villagers welcomed the arrival of a new school, a gift from an American teenager who raised $52,000 after reading about the hardships of growing up in Cambodia.
Rachel Rosenfeld, 17, made her first visit to the Southeast Asian country for the opening of the R.S. Rosenfeld School, which brings five computers and Internet access to 300 primary school students in a small village of Siem Reap Province, a poverty-stricken area that is home to the country’s famed Angkor Wat temple complex.
Rosenfeld, of Harrison, N.Y., said she learned about the village of Srah Khvav after reading a newspaper article last year that discussed the plight of poor Cambodian children, who often have no access to education.
To raise money, Rosenfeld sent out hundreds of fund-raising letters, sold T-shirts and offered naming rights for several structures in the school, a statement said. The $52,000 she raised was supplemented by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, which contributed $10,000 and $13,000.
— MSNBC
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Philippines: Just Say No To Firecrackers
Firecrackers known as “Goodbye Philippines” and “bin Laden’s Bomb,” said to be as powerful as five grenades, were among those seized in Bocaue, known for its pyrotechnics industry, as Filipinos come up with more explosive ways to greet the new year. Despite a crackdown, the Health Department said holiday firecrackers had already injured 87 people four days before New Year’s. More than 900 people were injured by firecrackers and celebratory gunfire during last year’s celebrations from Christmas to New Year’s. Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III urged the public to use other ways to celebrate, including blowing trumpets or banging pots and cans.
— Associated Press
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Japan Textbooks To Restore Reference To War Suicides
TOKYO — Japan’s Education Ministry announced that it would include textbook references to the military’s role in the mass suicides in Okinawa at the end of World War II.
Under pressure from Okinawa, the ministry said that high school textbooks will now acknowledge the military’s “involvement” in the mass suicides. The ministry opted for a vague reference to the military’s “involvement,” instead of including references to the military’s “coercing” or “forcing” Okinawans into committing mass suicides, saying that no supporting documents were found.
Japanese soldiers had brainwashed Okinawans into believing they would be slaughtered by invading Americans and that mass suicides were preferable. Thousands committed mass suicides only in villages occupied by Japanese soldiers.
Japan’s textbooks have been a source of tension with China and South Korea, which have accused Tokyo of whitewashing its militarist past.
— New York Times
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Ousted Philippine Leader Considers Career Options
MANILA, Philippines — Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada is looking for a job in the movies or politics. Estrada won the Philippines’ best actor “Oscar” five times and made 166 films before becoming president in 1998.
He said he might consider running for president in 2010. Philippine law forbids former presidents from serving again, but Estrada’s aides argue that his six-year term was cut short when current President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo overthrew him in a nonviolent coup in 2001.
Shortly afterwards, Estrada was convicted of illegally pocketing millions. He was sentenced to life in prison, but Arroyo pardoned him.
Arroyo’s camp says her pardon came with an implied condition that Estrada would not seek public office again.
The 70-year-old Estrada said he has begun talks with a local film company to act in a comedy later this year.
“I was detained for six years and six months, and did not earn any income,” Estrada said. “I need to earn a living.”