Torbjørn Færøvik's Blog, page 1353

Go west, young Han

Welcome to the new trans-Eurasia choo-choo train. At over 13,000 kilometers, it will regularly traverse the longest freight train route in the world, 40% farther than the legendary Trans-Siberian Railway. Its cargo will cross China from East to West, then Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, France, and finally Spain. Read more

Japan: Shinzo Abe’s New Mandate

Shinzo Abe is back. Last month, the day after Japan slid into a technical recession, the Prime Minister called snap elections to renew his claim to rule. His win signals a shift to a neo-nationalist agenda, writes Kristin Surak, senior lecturer in Japanese politics at SOAS, University of London. Read more

Special Report: Depleted oil field is window into China's corruption crackdown

In a muddy clearing in southern Sumatra, a portable diesel power plant hammers away alongside a wellhead, struggling to extract crude from a depleted reservoir that lies below farmland and rubber plantations. Read more

China agrees on deal to build 867 km of railways in Thailand

The project could be a boon for Thai trade and tourism and strengthen China's strategic foothold in a country that has seen its traditionally strong ties with the United States cool since a military coup in May. Read more

At Chinese brothel, a room for Communist Party cadre fantasies

When police recently raided a brothel in Yibin, in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, they found rooms that looked exactly like government officials' offices, with role-play services available, the Shanghai-based Paper reported Thursday. The brothel providing such rooms was shut down by the police, and 40 people were arrested. Read more

Chinese court rules ‘gay cure’ treatments illegal

A Beijing court has ruled in favour of a gay man in a case against a “gay-straight conversion” clinic, an unprecedented legal judgment in a country where most people consider homosexuality deeply taboo. Read more

China G.D.P. Is Revised 3.4% Higher For Last Year

China said on Friday that the size of its economy in 2013 was about 3.4 percent larger than previously reported and that gross domestic product reached $9.6 trillion, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Read more

Xi Jinping defends 'one-China' principle during Macau visit

"We must both adhere to the 'one China' principle and respect the difference of the two systems," Mr Xi said at the inauguration of Macau's Chief Executive Fernando Chui. Read more

A Diplomatic Triumph in Cuba Comes With a Challenge in North Korea

For more than five decades, the United States has found itself in periodic confrontation with two Communist nations that have survived on a diet of anti-Americanism. Read more

More Than 100 Vietnamese Brides Are Said to Have Disappeared From Hebei Villages

In a  cluster of villages in the Hebei Province city of Handan, about 300 miles southwest of Beijing, the police have set up a task force to investigate reports of marriage fraud, the official English-language newspaper China Daily reported. Read more