'Field trip' to China a valuable experience for William: Xinhua

Want China Times, Xinhua and Staff Reporter 2015-03-01

Prince William on a visit to Kuala Lumpur, Sept. 14, 2012. (File photo/Xinhua)

The upcoming China visit will be a rare and important "field trip" for Britain's Prince William to experience in person the great Asian civilization and promote bilateral exchanges.

For nearly three decades, no senior member of the British royal family has set foot in China after Queen Elizabeth II's tour in 1986. The Duke of Cambridge's arrival in Beijing on Sunday is expected to make history.

William, second in line to the British throne, will have the opportunity to engage directly with Chinese officials, students, ethnic minorities and people from different social communities to learn about the real conditions of China and how Chinese people feel about his country.

These first-hand experiences will become valuable assets for the prince, who is keen to help promote commercial and cultural exchanges with Beijing, and may also serve other royal family members with fresh knowledge about China.

Against the backdrop of some Western reports that Prince William will go "behind enemy lines" and take issue with Beijing on ivory ban and African elephant protection, the royalty will learn about China's commitment and efforts on protecting wildlife by visiting an elephant sanctuary in southwest China's Yunnan province.

He will be able to conduct direct and in-depth exchange of views with local staff, residents and officials on wildlife protection. Moreover, the Chinese side would like to draw on the royalty's experience and influence on the issue to advance domestic and international efforts on wildlife protection.

Beijing's recent one-year ban on imports of African ivory carvings is a fresh measure on the issue and will provide quantified evaluation of how effective China's policies can help with elephant protection.

Meanwhile, the engagement of Prince William in promoting Britain's industries of culture, creativity and education in China, will also help boost cultural and people-to-people exchanges and friendship between the countries.

Prince William, left, meets Chinese president Xi Jinping at the Great 

Hall of the People in Beijing on Monday 2 March. Photograph: Feng Li/AP

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Pakistan prepares for Saudi royal to hunt 'protected' birds

Yahoo – AFP, 2 Feb 2015

A falcon (R) tries to catch a Houbara bustard during a falconry competition,

 part of the 2014 International Festival of Falconry, in Hameem, 150km west of

 Abu Dhabi, on December 9, 2014 (AFP Photo/Karim Sahib)

Quetta (Pakistan) (AFP) - Pakistani authorities are finalising arrangements for a Saudi prince to visit its southwestern desert region to hunt the Houbara bustard, a bird supposedly protected by law, officials said Monday.

An advance party has already been reached the Yak Much desert in the province of Baluchistan along with falcons which will be used to catch the bustard, officials said.

Saudi Prince Fahd bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz is expected to join the group in coming days. He led a hunting party to Baluchistan last year that officials said killed more than 2,000 bustards.

The birds are listed as "vulnerable" and declining in numbers by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's "Red List" of threatened species. Hunting them is banned in Pakistan.

But authorities issue special permits to wealthy visitors from Arab countries. Permit holders are in theory restricted to hunting a maximum of 100 of the protected birds over 10 days, but only in certain areas.

A Houbara bustard flies during a falconry competition -- part of the 2014

 International Festival of Falconry -- in Hameem, 150km west of Abu Dhabi,

on December 9, 2014 (AFP Photo/Karim Sahib)

Saifullah Zehri, district forest officer for wildlife in Chagai district of which Yak Much is a part, told AFP the advance party arrived on Sunday in a C-130 transport plane.

"They were fully equipped and had all the material which is required for bird hunting," Zehri said.

Arab sheikhs are known as enthusiastic hunters, travelling to Pakistan each year to hunt the bird using the traditional Arabian method. They arrive by private jets from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

According to conservative estimates, between 500,000 and a million birds of all species migrate through Pakistan each year -- flying south from Siberia to pass the winter in Central and South Asia.

Hunt: Fahd bin Sultan is said to have killed

1,977 houbara bustards in just 21 days while

on holiday

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Spain's King Juan Carlos poses in front of a dead elephant

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Li Keqiang's Africa visit set to promote new ties

Want China Times, Xinhua 2014-05-04

Chinese premier Li Keqiang chairs a forum in Chongqing, April 28. (File photo/CNS)

China and Africa will sign cooperation agreements in fields of road, railway, aviation and electric power during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's visit to Africa, according to a press release on Sunday.

Li will pay official visits to Ethiopia, Nigeria, Angola and Kenya from May 4 to 11. This is the first time for Li to visit Africa since taking office last year.

The relations between the two sides have entered a "golden period", said Li in an interview with African media before the trip. He said China is the largest developing country and Africa is the continent with the largest number of developing countries. Both China and Africa face the urgent task of developing economy and realizing modernization.

Since entering the new century, China and Africa have seized the historic opportunities presented by the deepening of globalization, worked together and helped each other achieve win-win outcome, he said, adding that both China and Africa have benefited a lot from cooperation.

China is at the critical stage of comprehensively deepening reform and speeding up the transformation of the economic development model. Africa, on its part, has also started its new path of seeking strength through unity and promoting development for renewal, said the premier.

China-Africa cooperation is thus faced with new opportunities of making great strides forward, he said.

"During my visit, I will work with leaders of the African states and the AU, and Chinese and African business representatives in an earnest, practical and enterprising spirit to review the past experience, identify room for improvement and discuss new areas, channels and formalities of China-Africa comprehensive cooperation so as to upgrade our cooperation," he said.

According to Li, China and Africa will expand exchanges and cooperation in poverty reduction for common development. Over 100 million people in China still live below the poverty line.

Africa is also faced with many difficulties and challenges on the road toward the Millennium Development Goals, the premier said, adding that all sides are committed to developing economy and improving people's livelihood, which makes poverty reduction one of the highlights of China-Africa cooperation.

China is ready to share with Africa its experience on poverty reduction and agricultural development, enhance agricultural cooperation with Africa and help Africa train technical and managerial personnel on agriculture, he said. "We hope poverty reduction will help Africa achieve sustainable development and bring the African people a more dignified life."

Li said China and Africa will strengthen industrial and commercial cooperation and promote Africa's industrialization and manufacturing sector.

Africa has entered the fast track of growth and its modernization process is gaining momentum, he said, noting that China is ready to bring into full play its advantages and take an active part in Africa's infrastructure development so as to promote connectivity on the African continent.

"Through infrastructure building, we will promote industrial cooperation and help Africa to focus on developing labor-intensive manufacturing, which will create jobs and boost consumption," he said.

China will also create new ways of investment and financing cooperation to help Africa address the funding shortfalls, and the two countries will enhance cooperation in human resources and eco-environment so as to sustain the momentum of Africa's long-term development, Li said.

Africa has the biggest potential in human resources. China is ready to train more professionals of multiple types for African countries, and provide more vocational education tailored for African young people, so as to help Africa fully and durably unleash the population dividends.

As one saying goes, the key to people-to-people exchanges lies in heart-to-heart communication, Li said, noting that China will roll out a series of projects on people-to-people exchanges and cooperation to enrich exchanges between the two peoples and promote mutual understanding and friendship.

Green has always been the true color of Africa. China will have closer cooperation with Africa in this field and provide funding to promote Africa's efforts to protect its wild animal resources and address the challenges of climate change, so that a beautiful China and a beautiful Africa will go hand in hand as we assist each other in development, said the premier.

Cheng Hong, who is accompanying her
husband Li Keqiang during his Africa tour,
arrives in Ethiopia on May 4. (Photo/Xinhua)

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"The Timing of the Great Shift" – Mar 21, 2009 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013. They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader. Remember where you heard it... in a strange, esoteric meeting with a guy in a chair pretending to channel. [Kryon being factious... Kryon humor] Then when you hear it, you'll know better, won't you? "Maybe there was something really there," you'll say. "Maybe it was real," you'll say. Perhaps you can skip all the drama of the years to come and consider that now? [Kryon humor again]

These leaders are going to fall over. You'll have a slow developing leadership coming to you all over the earth where there is a new energy of caring about the public. "That's just too much to ask for in politics, Kryon." Watch for it. That's just the beginning of this last phase. So many things are coming. The next one is related to this, for a country in survival with sickness cannot sustain a leadership of high consciousness. There is just too much opportunity for power and greed. But when a continent is healed, everything changes.

The next one: You're going to heal a continent. Watch for it. It begins. Watch for major shift in Africa. We have said this before, even within the meetings I spoke in what you call the United Nations. Africa has never even been a potential player in the economic field, because it has been sick. What happens when you heal a continent? I'm going to tell you. Suddenly, the people on that continent also want what you have - government that works, peace, their own homes, schools, hospitals, and even banks where they can borrow from. They don't have any of those now, not really. Everything with substance is from somewhere else. That means you're going to have a continent that's going to arise that will become a major player on the stage of Earth's finances and political influence - an entire continent with all the resources on it, with even the potential for unification of common purpose, much like what you have now in your EU. I'm giving you information, and when it happens, again, I say you'll remember where you heard it.

Many years ago, the prevailing thought was that nobody should consider China as a viable player on the economic stage. They were backward, filled with a system that would never be westernized, and had no wish to become joined with the rest of the world's economic systems. Look what has happened in only 30 years. Now, look at Africa differently.. ...”

US posts $1 mln reward targeting Laos poaching ring

Google – AFP, 14 November 2013

Ivory tusks are displayed by the Hong Kong Customs in Hong Kong on October 3,

2013 (AFP/File, Philippe Lopez)

Washington — US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday offered a $1 million reward to help smash a Laos-based poaching network slaughtering endangered elephants and rhinos for their precious horns and tusks.

The reward, the first of its kind by the State Department, targeted the Xaysavang network which operates from Laos as far afield as South Africa, Mozambique, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and China.

"The involvement of sophisticated transnational criminal organizations in wildlife trafficking perpetuates corruption, threatens the rule of law and border security in fragile regions," Kerry said in a statement.

He estimated that annual profits from wildlife trafficking reached as much as $8 billion to $10 billion, and were then pumped into other "illicit activities such as narcotics, arms, and human trafficking."

Another effect of poaching was that it "destabilizes communities that depend on wildlife for biodiversity and eco-tourism," he said.

Offering the department's first reward under the transnational organized crime rewards program, Kerry said the Xaysavang network "facilitates the killing of endangered elephants, rhinos, and other species for products such as ivory."

He revealed that several major seizures of illegal wildlife products had been traced back to the network.

The lucrative Asian black market for rhino horn, used in traditional medicine, and ivory has driven a boom in poaching across Africa.

Police in the semi-autonomous Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar on Wednesday said they had seized a 40-foot (12-meter) container hiding an estimated several tonnes' worth of ivory.

The seizure comes as authorities in Tanzania crack down on poaching amid a surge of killings of elephant and rhino in the east African nation.

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Protecting Asean Wildlife

VOANews.com, 29 March 2009

Worldwide illegal trafficking in wildlife is growing and may be as high as $20 billion annually, according to a 2009 report by the United States Congress. One of the regions threatened by this illicit trade is Southeast Asia, home to many species of plants and animals.

Endangered species such as the pangolin, an ant-eating mammal native to Southeast Asia and Africa, continue to be trafficked across international borders despite their protected status.

The United States is working with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' Wildlife Enforcement Network, or ASEAN-WEN, to stop the organized poaching of the region's flora and fauna. ASEAN-WEN is part of the larger ASEAN-US Enhanced Partnership promoting cooperation between the United States and Southeast Asia.

As part of that effort, the United States provided support for a workshop on protecting ASEAN wildlife, held March 3-4 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The workshop was conducted by the ASEAN's Wildlife Enforcement Network and the Federal Courts of Malaysia. Among the participants was Robert S. Anderson, Senior Trial Attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice and an expert on environmental crimes.

"The workshop represents one of many cooperative programs that the U.S. and Malaysia are undertaking in our joint regional effort to combat illegal trade," said U.S. Charge d'affaires Robert Rapson.

Charge d'affaires Rapson noted that the United States is one of the top 3 destinations in the world for illegally trafficked wildlife products. Recently, the U.S. has moved to strengthen its legal framework to prevent illegal wildlife trade. Recent amendments to the Lacey Act make it unlawful to import, export, transport, sell, or purchase any plant taken or traded in violation of the laws of a U.S. state, as well as most foreign laws. The amended act will be phased in beginning April 1, 2009.

"The U.S.," said Mr. Rapson, "recognizes that combating wildlife trafficking is not the purview of any one country, but requires collective effort by all countries." The U.S. commends the government of Malaysia and ASEAN for their efforts and is committed to working with its international partners to preserve Southeast Asia's biodiversity.