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China Airlifting Aid to Remote Villages
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Chinese farmers grieve in front of their destroyed home, May 14.
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China began airlifting aid to the areas worst hit by a massive earthquake on Wednesday, while state media reported several thousand deaths near the epicenter that accounted for 80 percent of a town’s population. The new figures appeared certain to push the death toll well beyond the reported 12,000.
The official Xinhua News Agency said 7,700 people died in Yingxiu town, near the epicenter of Monday’s 7.9 magnitude earthquake.
It was unclear if the new figure was in addition to the previously reported death toll of more than 12,000.
If the deaths from Yingxiu have not already been folded in, the toll could be as high as 20,000. It could continue to rise even higher as rescuers have still not reached other towns in Wenchuan.
Government officials told Xinhua rescuers who hiked into the Wenchuan county town on Wednesday found it “much worse than expected.“ Of the only 2,300 had survived, and 1,000 of them were badly hurt. Xinhua said the survivors in Yingxiu “desperately needed medical help, food and water.“
The highway linking Wenchuan county to Dujiangyan city was still cut off Wednesday, nearly 48 hours after the quake.
But as the weather cleared after a day of rain, a fleet of military helicopters was seen flying north over Dujiangyan. Xinhua reported that two army helicopters airdropped food, drinking water and medicine to Yingxiu, with three more en route.
Elsewhere in the area north of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu, relatives cried over bodies of loved one.
As people mourned, rescue workers in blue uniforms continued to bring out bodies they have had been keeping in the Dongqi sports arena. It was unclear whether the corpses were from Hanwang or elsewhere.
Premier Wen Jiabao stopped Wednesday at a school in Beichuan county where two classroom buildings collapsed in the earthquake. The school with 2,000 students sustained “heavy casualties,“ broadcaster China Central Television reported.
The government’s high-gear response aimed to reassure Chinese while showing the world it was capable of handling the disaster and was ready for the Aug. 8-24 Olympics in Beijing. Although the government said it welcomed outside aid, officials said it would accept only money and supplies, not foreign personnel.
Bowing to public calls, Beijing Olympics organizers scaled down the boisterous ongoing torch relay, with Wednesday’s leg in the southeastern city of Ruijin beginning with a minute of silence. The torch is scheduled to arrive in quake-hit areas next month.
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Einstein: Jews Not Chosen People
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Albert Einstein
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Albert Einstein described Bible as a collection of “childish legends“ and said Jews were not the chosen people, in a letter to be sold in London this week, an auctioneer said.
According to AFP, the father of relativity, whose previously known views on religion have been more ambivalent and fuelled much discussion, made the comments in response to a philosopher in 1954.
As a Jew himself, Einstein said he had a great affinity with Jewish people but said they “have no different quality for me than all other people“.
“The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish.
“No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this,“ he wrote in the letter written on January 3, 1954 to the philosopher Eric Gutkind, cited by The Guardian newspaper.
The German-language letter is being sold Thursday by Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair after being in a private collection for more than 50 years, said the auction house’s managing director Rupert Powell.
In it, the renowned scientist, who declined an invitation to become Israel’s second president, rejected the idea that the Jews are God’s chosen people.
“For me the Jewish religion like all others is an incarnation of the most childish superstitions,“ he said.
“And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong and with whose mentality I have a deep affinity have no different quality for me than all other people.“
And he added: “As far as my experience goes, they are no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything ’chosen’ about them.“
Previously the great scientist’s comments on religion--such as “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind“--have been the subject of much debate, used notably to back up arguments in favor of faith.
Powell said the letter being sold this week gave a clear reflection of Einstein’s real thoughts on the subject. “He’s fairly unequivocal as to what he’s saying. There’s no beating about the bush,“ he said.
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UFO Sightings
Secret files on UFO sightings have been made available for the first time by the UK Ministry of Defense. The documents, which can be downloaded from the National Archives website, cover 1978 to 1987.
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2b Trees Planted Worldwide
Over two billion trees were planted around the world as part of the UN’s campaign to combat climate change, the world body’s environment program (UNEP) said in a statement.
The Nairobi-based agency said the tree planting campaign, inspired by Kenyan Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai, will help mitigate the effects of pollution and environmental deterioration, reported AFP.
The campaign launched in 2006 saw two billion trees planted, double the original target, with Ethiopia leading the count at 700 million, Turkey at 400 million, Mexico at 250 million and Kenya at 100 million trees.
The campaign set a new target of seven billion by late 2009, when governments gather in Copenhagen for a crucial climate change conference.
“The goal of planting seven billion trees--equivalent to just over a tree per person alive on the planet--must therefore also be do-able given the campaign’s extraordinary track record and the self-evident worldwide support,“ UNEP chief Achim Steiner said in a statement.
Experts say that trees are the most cost-effective way of containing carbon that accumulates the heat-trapping gases blamed for climate change.
Mobile Phones More Important Than Wallets
More than one-third of workers would choose their mobile phone over their wallet, keys, laptop or digital music player if they had to leave the house for 24 hours and could take only one item, a new survey has found.
A Canadian survey, conducted by market research firm IDC and sponsored by Nortel Networks Corp, found that while more than 38 percent of the 2,367 people polled chose their mobile phones, less than 30 percent chose their wallets first, Reuters reported.
Through the survey, Nortel--North America’s biggest maker of telephone gear--was looking to find out how many workers around the world can be defined as “hyperconnected,“ or as those who have fully embraced multiple devices like cellphones and laptops, as well as applications like e-mail or social networking sites.
The answer: 16 percent, and growing.
The survey classified the hyperconnected worker as someone who uses at least seven devices for work and personal access, in addition to at least nine applications like instant messaging, text messaging or web conferencing.
The country with the highest percentage of hyperconnected respondents in the study was China. Canada and the United Arab Emirates had the fewest number among the 17 countries covered in the survey.
French Divers Find Caesar Bust
Divers trained in archeology discovered a marble bust of an aging Caesar in the Rhone River that France’s Culture Ministry said could be the oldest known.
The life-sized bust showing the Roman ruler with wrinkles and hollows in his face is tentatively dated to 46 B.C. Divers uncovered the Caesar bust and a collection of other finds in the Rhone near the town of Arles--founded by Caesar, AP reported.
Among other items in the treasure trove of ancient objects is a 5.9 foot marble statue of Neptune, dated to the first decade of the third century after Christ.
Two smaller statues, both in bronze and measuring 27.5 inches each also were found.
“Some (of the discoveries) are unique in Europe,“ Culture Minister Christine Albanel said. The bust of Caesar is in a class by itself.
Over 2m US Youth Depressed
More than 2 million US teenagers have suffered a serious bout of depression in the past year, including nearly 13 percent of girls, according to a federal government survey.
On average, 8.5 percent of adolescents aged 12 to 17 described having had a major depressive episode in the previous year, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported, Reuters reported.
But there were “striking differences“ by sex, with 12.7 percent of girls and 4.6 percent of boys affected.
Depression is the leading cause of suicide, which in turn is the third-leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds in the United States.
“Combined 2004 to 2006 data show that rates of past year major depressive episode among youths aged 12 to 17 generally increased with increasing age,“ the researchers wrote.
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