• First Sino-Vietnam highway expected to open in 2013

    KUNMING, June 10 (Xinhua) — The first highway linking southwest China’s Yunnan Province and Vietnam will open to traffic next year, local authorities confirmed Sunday. The 600-km journey from Kunming, provincial capital of Yunnan, to Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, will be reduced to six to seven hours from 12-plus hours,…

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  • Society

    Missing Koreans presumed dead in chopper crash: officials

    Eight Koreans who went missing after their helicopter crashed into a mountain in Peru last week are presumed to have been killed, officials said Saturday. The Peruvian military and police conducted an aerial search and discovered the wreckage of the helicopter at about 4,950 meters above sea level near Coline…

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  • Japan claims statue in front of Seoul embassy violates int’l convention

    The Japanese government has officially claimed that the “peace statue” in front of its embassy in Seoul violates international convention on diplomatic relations, a report submitted to the Diet showed Saturday. According to the daily Sankei Shimbun, the report compiled in response to questions raised by lawmakers said the bronze…

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  • Mini golf course to be introduced in S.China kindergarten

    ZHUHAI, June 9 (Xinhua) — A golf course is expected to be introduced to a kindergarten in south China’s booming coastal city of Zhuhai in Guangdong Province from Sepmtember, local authorities said Saturday. The mini golf court is a round green carpet with a diameter of two meters. Children can…

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  • China Focus: Lackluster data point to further stimulus

    BEIJING, June 9 (Xinhua) — A string of economic data released on Saturday showed China’s economy has not yet bottomed out from domestic and external jitters, fuelling calls for more stimulus measures to secure sound growth. China’s industrial output grew at a slower-than-expected 9.6 percent year-on-year in May, rebounding 0.3…

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  • Eurozone Agrees to Bail Out Spanish Banks

    Euro zone finance ministers have agreed to lend Spain up to 100 billion euros ($125 billion) to bail out its troubled banks as Madrid officially stated its intention to ask the Eurogroup for help. “The loan amount must cover estimated capital requirements with an additional safety margin, estimated as summing…

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  • UNESCO expert “Better ways needed to achieve oceanic sustainable development”

    PARIS, June 8 (Xinhua) — The public and policymakers should pay more attention to ocean and coastal areas, so as to find ways to improve the sustainable management and protection of the marine environment, a senior UN marine expert has said. Raising the public and decisionmakers’ awareness of oceanic sustainable…

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  • Nepali gov’t starts designing 400 bridges

    KATHMANDU, June 8 (Xinhua) — Nepali government has started the designing of 400 bridges to be built in the next fiscal year in around five dozen districts. According to the Department of Roads (DoR), 70 percent of bridges are for local roads and rest for the Strategic Road Network (SRN).…

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  • Society

    Professional managers to run Buddhist temples

    Ven. Jaseung, president of the Jogye Order, clasps his hands after announcing a series of reform measures for the largest Buddhist sect, in Gyeonji-dong, Seoul, Thursday. The reform initiatives follow a recent scandal over monks gambling. The Jogye Order will hand over the business of running temples to independent companies…

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  • Society

    Gov’t holds key to sustaining green growth

    Green growth is a new growth paradigm that requires the government’s initiative to sustain, former Prime Minister Han Seung-soo said Tuesday. During an interview at his office in downtown Seoul, the chairman of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) which is headquartered there, Han said, “The government has to be…

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