Bad to the Bone: Dealer Pleads Guilty in Fossil Smuggling Scheme
Ishihara backs sacked military chief for Tokyo governor
China-baiting former Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara on Tuesday threw his weight behind the political ambitions of an ex-military chief who was sacked after insisting Japan was not a World War II aggressor. The acerbic Ishihara, 81, who was governor of Tokyo for 13 years to 2012, said he believed the next leader of the metropolis should be fellow hardline nationalist Toshio Tamogami, the onetime chief of staff of Japan’s Air Self-Defence. Tamogami was fired from the role in 2008 after he said Japan was an Asian bulwark against Western imperialism in World War II, rather than the nation responsible for continent-wide suffering. Ishihara’s bid to buy the disputed Senkaku Islands during his tenure as Tokyo governor sparked a nosedive in relations with China, which claims them as the Diaoyus.
EU official says China’s financial sector largely closed
China’s financial sector is not open enough to foreign participation and key obstacles remain to investment, a top European Union official said Tuesday. “Chinese banks are some of the biggest and most powerful banks in the world,” Michel Barnier, European commissioner for internal market and services, told reporters. Barnier spoke at the end of a visit to China for talks with officials, including Finance Minister Lou Jiwei. The 28-nation EU and China announced in late November the launch of negotiations for a landmark investment agreement, even as they clashed bitterly last year over commercial disputes ranging from Chinese solar panels to European wine.
So Now China IS Lifting Videogame Console Ban
China reportedly will temporarily lift a sales ban on foreign videogame consoles, reversing a 14-year prohibition. Companies like Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo — which long have salivated over the heretofore obstructed gold mine of Chinese videogamedom — will be allowed to make game consoles in Shanghai’s free trade zone and then sell them in China.
Read More →China lifts ban on foreign consoles, but will consumers bite?
Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony can now manufacture consoles for the Chinese market, but will consumers care when the PC scene currently runs on games that are available for free or next to nothing? The China State Council has lifted a 14-year-old ban on the sale of foreign game consoles, allowing government-approved, foreign-invested enterprises to manufacture within the 29km2 FTZ and then sell domestically, according to a report from Reuters. Nintendo had already got around the ban with the Chinese iQue brand, cramming a 1996 Nintendo 64 home console into a single control pad for the 2003 iQue Player, and rebranding 2012’s Nintendo 3DS XL as the iQue 3DS XL later that year. But Sony and Microsoft are used to selling their consoles at a loss and recouping the difference on games, a dangerous tactic when punters are put off by the high price of official software.
Adiyiah to decide club future soon – Agent
The 2009 Fifa youth star is set for a move to Russian, China or Turkey in the next few days
Read More →Ethiopian Aviation Academy graduates 124 aviation professionals
The aviation academy of Ethiopian Airlines Group has graduated 52 Aviation Maintenance Technicians, 47 Marketing and 25 Finance trainees on December 26, 2103 at the airline’s headquarters. “Ethiopian is continuing to invest heavily in the training of skilled aviation professionals that are critically essential for the successful implementation of its fast, profitable and sustainable growth […]
Read More →South Sudan Peace Talks Start as Both Sides Say Deal Possible By William Davison and Mading Ngor
Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) — South Sudan’s government and rebels said they were optimistic they could negotiate an end to a three-week-old conflict that the United Nations says has killed thousands of people and forced 200,000 to flee their homes. Talks resume today in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to end the violence that has shaken […]
Read More →Chinese crystal meth makers ‘used GSK cold medicine’
Some crystal methamphetamine seized in a huge drug bust in China used the popular cold medicine Contac, manufactured by beleaguered British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), state media reported Tuesday. The raid in the southern province of Guangdong, announced by state media last week, netted three tonnes of “crystal meth” in Lufeng city, said to account for one-third of China’s production of the drug.
NoSQL, Part 1: Coming of Age
Amadeus, which handles bookings for 95 percent of flights worldwide, uses a variety of NoSQL databases to deal with the massive amounts of data that it handles. Amadeus enables 3.7 million bookings on more than 700 airlines, 110,000 hotel properties, and 30 rental car agencies each day. "NoSQL databases are part of our technology stack to deal with Big Data," said VP Dietmar Fauser.
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