Seven Nepalis missing in Japan quake wake

KATHMANDU, -
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) and Nepali community  in Japan have said that there are no reports of any Nepali casualities so far,  but unconfirmed reports suggest at least seven Nepali nationals are out of contact and that a resturant owned by Nepalis was swept away by the tsunami.

“They may have failed to establish contact because of disruption of phone and mobile services due to the quake and tsunami,” said a member of NRN, Japan, Kamal Adhikari over the phone.

One Nepali restaurant, Sino, was swept away by the tsunami in Fukushima. A joint rescue panel formed under the leadership of Deputy Chief of Mission, Durga Bahadur Thapa of Nepali mission in Tokyo also confirmed that seven Nepali nationals were missing and that they are trying to establish contact with them.

According to the Nepali mission in Tokyo, as of 2009, the population of Nepalis had crossed 15,255 and since then more Nepalis have settled in Japan. “ It was estimated that close to 200 Nepali nationals had been staying in Miyagi-ken and most of them were students, restaurant owners and workers,” said a statement issued by the Nepali mission in Tokyo.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that seven Nepalis working in Mie Ken, Sendai and Miyagi-ken are missing and they have been asked to establish contact immediately with the Nepali mission in Tokyo, said the office of Nepali Sampark Samiti, Japan chapter, and Nepal-Japan web portal.

“The Nepali mission in Tokyo and NRN chapter of Japan have set up a committee to assist Nepalis affected by the quake and tsunami. As yet, there is no report of Nepali casualities,” said Foreign Secretary Madan Kumar Bhattrai.

Japan earthquake, tsunami kill hundreds

TOKYO - A ferocious tsunami spawned by one of the largest earthquakes ever recorded slammed Japan's eastern coast Friday, killing hundreds as it swept away boats, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control. Tsunami warnings blanketed the entire Pacific, as far away as South America, Canada, Alaska and the entire U.S. West Coast.

The magnitude 8.9 offshore quake unleashed a 23-foot tsunami and was followed by more than 50 aftershocks for hours, many of them of more than magnitude 6.0.

Japanese police say 200 to 300 bodies were found in Sendai, the closest major city to the epicenter. Earlier, police confirmed at least 60 people had been killed and 56 were missing. The death toll was likely to continue climbing given the scale of Friday's disaster; extensive search and rescue efforts were still just getting underway.

Special section: Earthquake in Japan

A Japanese coast guard official said a search is under way for a ship carrying 80 dock workers that was swept away by the tsunami. The vessel was washed away from a shipbuilding site in Miyagi prefecture, close to the earthquake's epicenter.

Dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile stretch of coastline were shaken by violent tremors that reached as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles from the epicenter.

Hawaii, entire Pacific, under tsunami warning

"The earthquake has caused major damage in broad areas in northern Japan," Prime Minister Naoto Kan said at a news conference.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said Japan had closed four nuclear power plants as a precaution. A state of emergency was declared at one of the plants after its cooling system had a mechanical failure. Thousands of residents around the plant were ordered to evacuate. Trouble was reported at two other nuclear plants as well, but there was no radiation leak at any.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the emergency measure at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima was a precaution and that the facility was not in immediate danger.

Even for a country used to earthquakes, this one was of horrific proportions because of the tsunami that crashed ashore, swallowing everything in its path as it surged several miles inland before retreating. The apocalyptic images of surging water broadcast by Japanese TV networks resembled scenes from a Hollywood disaster movie.

Large fishing boats and other sea vessels rode high waves into the cities, slamming against overpasses or scraping under them and snapping power lines along the way. Upturned and partially submerged vehicles were seen bobbing in the water. Ships anchored in ports crashed against each other.

The highways to the worst-hit coastal areas were severely damaged and communications, including telephone lines, were snapped. Train services in northeastern Japan and in Tokyo, which normally serve 10 million people a day, were also suspended, leaving untold numbers stranded in stations or roaming the streets. Tokyo's Narita airport was closed indefinitely.

The quake was the strongest ever recorded in the highly seismically active archipelago, Japan's meteorological agency said. The 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake in Tokyo and its vicinity, which killed more than 140,000 people, registered 7.9.

The most serious earthquake of the past several decades struck near Kobe in January 1995, killing more than 6,000 people and measured only a 6.8.

Japan has strict urban building codes requiring buildings to withstand even the most massive quakes and has prepared extensively for major earthquakes like Friday's. But the toll of any quake -- in damage and in lives -- is unpredictable, depending on timing, location and the presence of older buildings that don't meet modern earthquake standards, among other factors.

Matt Alt, an American living in Tokyo, told "The Early Show" on Friday morning that the quake lasted less than a minute, "but it felt a lot longer than that."

Alt and his wife rushed out of their home as the temblor struck. "The undulation of the Earth was so powerful we had to hang onto the outside of our house," he told CBS News. "This was nothing like I've ever experienced."

Adam Ezard, a British expatriate, said he and his colleagues rushed out of their office building with each powerful aftershock. Ezard and other witnesses said telephone lines were down or overloaded and attempts to reach loved ones were unsuccessful.

Jesse Johnson, a native of the U.S. state of Nevada, who lives in Chiba, north of Tokyo, was eating at a sushi restaurant with his wife when the quake hit.

"At first it didn't feel unusual, but then it went on and on. So I got myself and my wife under the table," he told The Associated Press. "I've lived in Japan for 10 years and I've never felt anything like this before. The aftershocks keep coming. It's gotten to the point where I don't know whether it's me shaking or an earthquake."

Japan disasters: Deaths may exceed 10,000 in Miyagi

Taskforce formed to draft minimum programme

Kathmandu- The ruling parties Sunday formed an eight-member high level task force to draft common minimum programme and code of conduct for the coalition government within three days.

The taskforce comprises four each from CPN-UML and UCPN Maoist.

Bharat Mohan Adhikari, Bhim Rawal, Surendra Pandey and Bhim Acharya from the UML and Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Post Bahadur Bogati, Dinanath Sharma and Dev Gurung from the Maoist are the task force.

Maoist vice-chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha said that the task force would formulate the code of conduct for the ministers.

"The high level task force will also formulate common plan and policy of the government," he said.

He said that the task force would suggest on creating the high level mechanism to run the government smoothly and draft the code of conduct for the ministers within three days.

Vice-chairman Shrestha said that the task force would suggest about the procedure to implement the seven-point pact agreed between Maoist chairman Puspa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and UML chairman Jhala Nath Khanal.

He said, "The task force will give the minimum guideline to the government to implement the pact the earlier agreements signed between the government and Maoists."

Youths from Mid, Far-West being recruited in British army, Singapore police

KATHMANDU: The youths of Mid and Far-Western Development Regions are also going to get an opportunity to serve in the British Army and the Singapore Police.

Earlier, the youths of the two regions were deprived of the opportunity.

Central Chairperson of a Task Force, Minraj Gurung said that the task force would assist the youths to get job opportunities in the British Army and Singapore Police.

According to the task force, the youths of the region had no access to the British Army and Singapore Police in the lack of access to timely information.

Every year, the British Army recruits 176 Nepalese youths and the Singapore Police 40 youths. Of them, 50 per cent are selected from the Eastern Development Region and remaining 50 per cent from Western, Mid, Mid-west and Far-Western development Regions.

Because of this imbalanced quota system, the youths of the Mid and Far-Western Development Regions were deprived of the access to the British Army and Singapore Police, said Gurung.

He further informed that from now onward the task force would facilitate the interested youths with the training which is required for the recruitment process in the British Army and Singapore Police.

China tells US: Stop preaching on human rights

China has told the US to stop preaching on human rights, after the state department's annual report on the issue criticised China.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the US should concentrate on its own rights issues and stop interfering.

Chinese authorities have launched a major crackdown on dissent recently.

Unveiling the report, US officials expressed particular concern over the recent arrest of the artist Ai Weiwei, an outspoken critic of the government.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also highlighted reports of other intellectuals and activists being "arbitrarily detained" in recent weeks.

Mr Hong said China was happy to talk about rights "on the basis of equality and mutual respect", but added that Beijing "resolutely opposes" meddling in other country's affairs.

"We advise the US side to reflect on its own human rights issues and not to position itself as a preacher of human rights," he said.

"[The US should] stop using the issue of human rights reports to interfere in other countries' internal affairs."

The state department's annual report criticising China, followed swiftly by a tough riposte from Beijing, is now a well-established diplomatic ritual.

But analysts say this year's tit-for-tat exchange has been sharpened by Beijing's crackdown on dissent.

The US report accused Beijing of stepping up restrictions on lawyers, activists, bloggers and journalists.

The Communist rulers were also accused of tightening controls on civil society and stepping up efforts to control the press and internet access.

The Beijing authorities also increased the use of forced disappearances, house arrest, and detention in illicit "black jails" to punish activists, petitioners and their families, the US report says.

Other countries accused of perpetrating serious rights violations in the report included Iran, Iraq, Burma, North Korea, the Ivory Coast, Zimbabwe, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.

Why did LOL infiltrate the language?

The internet slang term "LOL" (laughing out loud) has been added to the Oxford English Dictionary, to the mild dismay of language purists. But where did the term originate? And is it really a threat to our lexicon?

"OMG! LOL's in the OED. LMAO!"

If you find the above string of letters utterly unintelligible, you are clearly an internet "noob". Let me start again.

Golly gosh! The popular initialism LOL (laughing out loud) has been inducted into the canon of the English language, the Oxford English Dictionary. Blimey! What is going on?

The OED defines LOL as an interjection "used chiefly in electronic communications... to draw attention to a joke or humorous statement, or to express amusement".

It is both "LOL" where all the letters are pronounced separately, but also commonly "lol" where it is pronounced as a word.

The phrase was ushered in alongside OMG (Oh My God), with dictionary guardians pointing to their growing occurrence "in e-mails, texts, social networking... and even in spoken use".

As well as school playgrounds, words like "lolz" and "lolling" can be heard in pubs and offices - though often sarcastically, or in parody.

Love it or loathe it, "lol" is now a legitimate word in our lexicon, says Graeme Diamond, the OED's principal editor for new words.

Ben Huh says LOL is 'a part of everyday life'

"The word is common, widespread, and people understand it," he explains.

The word serves a real purpose - it conveys tone in text, something that even the most cynical critics accept.

"I don't 'LOL'. I'm basically someone who kind of hates it," says Rob Manuel of the internet humour site b3ta.

"But the truth is, we do need emotional signifiers in tweets and emails, just as conversation has laughter. 'LOL' might make me look like a twit, but at least you know when I'm being arch."

Death of the dictionary

But for young internet entrepreneurs like Ben Huh, of the Cheezburger Network of comedy sites, "LOL" is much more than a necessary evil. It's both a tool and a toy.

"'LOL' is a part of everyday life. I use it all the time in e-mail exchanges. It's a polite way of acknowledging someone," he says.

"And yes, I do say 'LOL' out loud. In almost an ironic sense, like a slow handclap after a bad joke. 'Lol' means 'yes, I understand that was funny, but I'm not really laughing'."

But no matter how much irony we cake it in, the L-word grinds the ears of many people over the age of 25.

"The death of the dictionary" is how one blogger greeted its induction to the bastion of English.

While on Facebook, there are at least half a dozen "anti-LOL" groups, where lol-ophobes dream of loll-ageddon:

"If something is funny, 'ha', 'hehehehe', or 'hee hee' is perfectly fine depending on the joke, and more descriptive than 'lol'," writes one hater.

Another complains that lol "doesn't sound anything like laughter. In fact you physically CAN'T say it while smiling. I'm all for bastardisation of the language, but with lol, that thing you thought was rubbish really is rubbish".

Wags point out that "LOL" is almost always disingenuous. "How many people are actually laughing out loud when they say LOL?" asks David Crystal, author of Language and the Internet.

But those laughing least of all are the language purists, who lament "LOL" as a hallmark of creeping illiteracy.

"There is a worrying trend of adults mimicking teen-speak," says Marie Clair of the Plain English Campaign, in the Daily Mail.

"They [adults] are using slang words and ignoring grammar. Their language is deteriorating."

But is "LOL" really a lazy, childish concoction?

When the OED traced the origins of the acronym, they discovered 1980s computer fanatics were responsible.

The oldest written records of "LOL" (used to mean laughing out loud) are in the archives of Usenet, an early internet discussion forum.

And the original use was typed by Wayne Pearson, in Calgary, who says he wrote the first ever LOL in reply to a gag by someone called "Sprout".

"LOL" was "geek-speak that filtered through to the mainstream", says Manuel.

"I first saw it in the 1990s - at the end of emails. Then it got picked up by the young kids. Then it went naff. But it came back ironically - with people saying things like 'megalolz'."

Lolcats brought the phrase to a whole new audience

Grandparents, for example, often adopt "LOL" as one of their first "internet words", says Huh. "'LOL' and 'OMG' are like momma and dada."

But many mistake "LOL" for "lots of love", leading to some unintended "LOLs", such as the infamous tale of the mother who wrote: "Your grandmother has just passed away. LOL."

Lolcats brought the phrase to a whole new audience

It has also lent its name to some wildly popular internet crazes, like Lolcats, whose appeal spread far beyond the realms of cyber-geeks.

More than funny

So why has "LOL", above all other web phrases, become such a phenomenon?

Because it's simple and multipurpose, says Tim Hwang, founder of ROFLCon, a whole festival dedicated to "internet awesome".

"The magic of LOL is that it's both exclusive and inclusive," he says. "On one level, it's simple to understand.

"But it also conveys something subtle - depending on the situation. It means more than just 'funny'. For example, if I had my bike stolen, my friend might reply 'LOL'. It helps overcome an awkward moment."

For school kids, acronyms like "LOL" and "KMT" (kiss my teeth) are a kind of secret code, a badge of belonging, says Tony Thorne, author of the Dictionary of Contemporary Slang.

"I go into schools and record slang words - all the new terms kids are saying - words like 'lolcano'. And if you talk to kids they will say this is our language - this is what identifies us."

But aren't these slang words also harmful to children's vocabulary? Not at all, says Thorne.

"Government educationalists get all worked up about words like LOL - they see them as substandard and unorthodox.

"But the small amount of research on this issue shows that kids who use slang abbreviations are the more articulate ones. It's called code switching."

If we have a literacy crisis, it's among adults as well as children, says Thorne. And slang is not the culprit. In fact, it is enriching the language.

Diamond agrees: "There will always be a minority who want the English language to remain as a frozen beast, that doesn't admit changes," he says.

"But language is a vibrant, evolving animal."

China launches satellite for indigenous global navigation

BEIJING: China early on Sunday morning launched its eighth orbiter which will form part of its indigenous satellite-navigation and positioning network.
A Long March-3A carrier rocket carrying the "Beidou" or Compass, navigation satellite took off at 4.47 a.m. Sunday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, Xinhua reported.
It will join seven other satellites already in the orbit to form a network which will eventually consist of over 30 satellites.
The launching of the satellite marks the establishment of a basic system for the navigation and positioning network, said an unidentified spokesperson for the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre.
China will launch more satellites within the coming two years to finish a regional network to provide navigation services with high precision and credibility for industries and sectors such as mapping, fishery, transportation, meteorology and telecommunication, in the Asia-Pacific regions, the spokesperson said.
The network is scheduled to be able to provide global services by 2020.