DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “PM Hun Sen sends a condolence Letter to Prime Minister of Japan” plus 9 more

BEIJING, March 12 -- About 127,100 residents have been evacuated to safety after a 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit Yingjiang County in southwest China's Yunnan Province Thursday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Saturday.

As of 10 p.m. Friday, the earthquake has left 25 people dead and more than 250 others injured including 134 seriously, the ministry said in a report.

All the casualties were reported in Yingjiang County, with the surrounding counties including Longchuan, Lianghe, Ruili and Luxi reporting damages of thousands of houses or apartments, it said.

The earthquake has affected the production and life of about 344,600 residents in the five counties.

The earthquake destroyed 18,445 houses and apartments and left 55,345 others seriously damaged, the ministry's figures showed.(Xinhua)

SAN FRANCISCO, March 11 -- The tsunami waves set in by the devastating Japanese earthquake swept across the Pacific on Friday to the U.S. West Coast, washing at least seven people out to sea and leaving the waters littered with debris of capsized boats and battered docks.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, three people had gone to the Northern California coast near the Klamath River to take pictures of the arrival of tsunami waves around 10 a.m. local time when they were swept out to sea.

Two of them made safely back to shore, but the third remained missing who is still being searched by Coast Guard helicopters.

At the northwestern tip of California, the tsunami waves caused serious damages to Crescent City, much of which was destroyed in 1964 by a tsunami caused by a 9.2-magnitude quake in Alaska.

The U.S. Coast Guard said they found 20 to 30 vessels damaged at Crescent City Harbor. Local authorities told KTVU television station that some 35 vessels crashed into one another and were sinking, and the docks and the harbor were pretty much completely destroyed while the damage cost was estimated to be into the millions.

In Santa Cruz, about 115 kilometers south of San Francisco, the U.S, Coast Guard found six vessels had sunk or were overturned in Santa Cruz Harbor. Local media reports said at least 15 fishing and pleasure crafts were ripped from their moorings and heavily damaged during the surge.

In the state of Oregon, four people were rescued by local firefighters and one almost drowned near Pistol River south of Gold Beach, local emergency management coordinator said.

Chris Cantwell, operation supervisor of Port of Brookings- Harbor, told local newspaper The Oregonian that 70 percent of the port's commercial basin was destroyed.

Local authorities in Oregon said the third tsunami waves in the morning caused the most damage. Seven boats were swept out to sea while several others sunk or sustained severe damage. The body of a man was also found on one of the boats, but local police said it is unclear whether the death resulted from the tsunami.

According to latest report by Kyodo news agency, 184 people were killed and 708 others were missing following the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck northeastern and eastern Japan and triggered a massive tsunami on Friday. (Xinhua)

FUKUSHIMA, Japan, March 12 -- A radioactive substances leak was detected Saturday at Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co. as radiation amount went unusually high, said the nuclear safety agency, which believed the radiation level poses no imminent threat to residents living in the neighborhood.

The detection of the leak came after authorities successfully completed the expansion of a 3-km evacuation zone to 10-km for residents in the vicinity of the No. 1 plant earlier in the day, following the amount of radiation reaching 1,000 times the regular level in the operating room.

Earlier in the day, the government issued an evacuation order for residents in the vicinity of Fukushima No. 2 nuclear plant, following a magnitude 8.8 earthquake that hit northern Japan Friday causing the plant to malfunction.

The nuclear safety agency said that residents in the vicinity were not in immediate danger from radioactive leaks, but the plant 's operator is set release pressure in containers housing nuclear reactors that could result in the leak of radioactive substances.

The order to release the pressure was issued by the government in a never-before-seen move to try and stabilize the faltering plant.

The order to expand the evacuation zone came from Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who visited the facility on Saturday.

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency is monitoring the radiation levels closely due to the possibility of radioactive steam spreading around the plant.

At the entrance to the plant radiation was detected at eight times the normal level, the agency said. (Xinhua)

JAKARTA, March 12 -- Indonesian central bank forecasted that foreign direct investment (FDI) this year would surge by 42 percent to 14.5 billion U.S. dollars this year, but it expected capital market inflows to fall as advanced economies recover, according to local media Saturday.

"The confidence about our economy has built up and we are glad to see this trend," Budi Mulya, a deputy governor at the central bank, told the Jakarta Globe on the sidelines of a high-level conference on Asian inflows in Nusa Dua, Bali on Friday.

But this year, the FDI growth will likely outpace capital market inflows as the U.S. economy is returning to growth, meaning the money will fly back to safe-haven assets from riskier bets in emerging markets, he said, adding that but the Indonesian government much prefers direct investment to inflows to capital markets, which are far more liquid and easier to withdraw.

The capital inflow into Indonesia have increased sharply over the past two years. They plunged to minus 1.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2008 during the global financial crisis, but skyrocketed to 26. 2 billion U.S. dollars last year as investors were drawn to high- yielding assets.

Indonesia forecasted 15.2 billion U.S. dollars in stock and bond inflows in 2010, while direct investment was 9.8 billion U.S. dollars. (Xinhua)

By Xinhua writers Pan Lijun, Wang Aihua, Zhou Zhou

BEIJING, March 12-- Outspoken but under-educated villagers gathered courage to speak out over who could be elected as village leaders and how village budgets should be allocated.

The rights to make such bold moves, attempted in various Chinese villages, were ensured by the People's Republic of China Constitution as well as "a complete set of types of laws."

Wu Bangguo, China's top legislator, said during the annual legislative session of the National People's Congress (NPC) that the world's most populated country had enacted 236 laws, over 690 administrative regulations and more than 8,600 local statutes by the end of 2010.

Nearly 3,000 lawmakers discussed how to effectively broaden democracy during the ongoing Fourth Session of the 11th NPC.

DIRECT ELECTIONS

Xin Chunying, a law professor-turned lawmaker, told the press during the NPC session that by enacting the Mediation Law, for example, democracy could be strengthened at grassroots levels.

Her remarks have already been verified in both Sichuan and Zhejiang provinces where villagers chose local leaders by voting and debated how the government could spend public money.

Since December 1998, villagers of Buyun Township, in southwest China's  largely rural Sichuan Province, have elected magistrates to manage township affairs and assign resources.

The 1998 township election in Sichuan was a landmark in Chinese direct elections, although at a grassroots level.

"Villagers were very enthusiastic about the election, though it was unheard of by us," Cai Jingquan, an organizer for the first election in Tandongzi Village, told Xinhua. "Over 1,000 people braved heavy rain that day and arrived at a ballot site to cast their votes."

Candidates had to announce their running policies to all voters at each election site, where zealous villagers bombarded sharp questions at them.

Those questions touched on nearly every aspect of daily rural life, from farming tools, road building and unlawful land seizure, to possible fraud and suspected corrupt officials.

Sichuan's success has spread township-level direct elections to many areas administered to by the provincial government.

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN BUDGET PLANNING

Zhejiang, an eastern coastal province that experienced China's most rapid economic growth in recent decades, is largely baffled by conflicts of interest among its various communities, which are not always on equal political and economic footing.

Many villagers appeal to higher authorities for justice, even to the state government in Beijing; however, venting these appeals is often done in vain.

Yu Pei, an NPC deputy specializing in world history, told Xinhua, "To step closer to democracy, people need to have their voice heard for decision making and such a mechanism should be established."

Democratic consultation, law experts say, may provide a way for people to weigh in on government decision making.

In 1999, Wenling of Zhejiang tested a new form of democratic consultation featuring public involvement and civic participation.

In 2005, fiscal budget allocations and reviews were added to the consultation, which was later merged into the regular discussions of the township people's congress.

Chen Yimin, a chief designer of the consultation mechanism, said, "Governmental officials must speak candidly about their performance and budgetary problems."

"The officials must be responsible for every promise or answer they've ever made," Chen added. "All the procedure is recorded, so no one can play tricks."

In the Wenling case, fiscal budget amendments can be proposed by at least five township people's congress deputies. They could make various requests, including moves to revise budget plans.

"The township people's congress deputies are performing their duties to propose amendments," Chen said. "This is good for villagers."

DIVERSIFIED VIEWS ON TRYOUTS

Ma Deyong, a political scientist at the Tianjin-based Nankai University, said, "An institutional democracy requires not only environmental but also intrinsic conditions."

"Any tryouts in pushing democracy should be adaptable to diversified situations," Ma said.

Direct elections in Buyun Township have become a topic of controversy as some accuse it of going against existing laws and regulations, as only the township people's congress is entitled to vote for township leaders. Others argue that the election pattern is a demonstration of villagers' direct participation.

In December 2001, the township adjusted the way of electing its chiefs to fall strictly in line with the Constitution and the Organic Law of the Local People's Congresses and Governments at Various Levels.

All voters in the township directly elect the sole candidate for township chief before handing over the result to the township people's congress for a one-candidate election.

In Wenling, people also have different views on the way of grassroots-level democracy.

Those who favor the idea believe it helps common people get more involved in decision making and economic construction and it ensures their rights in a transparent manner. Other people argue that it might risk undermining government authority.

Yu said, "Since grassroots level democracy is still an experiment in process, it might well continue."

"Nevertheless," he said, "it should proceed on the basis of the rule of law, with officials performing their duties according to the law."

The Sichuan and Zhejiang democracy attempts have demonstrated the country's resolve in heading for democracy. It still takes time and practice to know about its value, observers said. (Xinhua)

JAKARTA, March 12 -- International timber buyers welcomed the Indonesian government's plan to impose its own timber certification scheme as long as it complied with regulations in their countries, local media reported Saturday.

The scheme is expected to help combat illegal logging in Indonesia.

At present, there are 60 firms in forest-based industries have been verified under the system, the Forestry Ministry said.

Paul van den Heuvel, a representative of the European Timber Trade Federation quoted by the Jakarta post as saying that European buyers could accept the system once Indonesia signed a voluntary partnership agreement (VPA) of forest law enforcement, governance and trade with the European Commission, which showed its compliance with EU timber regulations.

Under the agreement, Indonesia will be subject to due diligence conducted by buyer countries to be effective in 2013 to validate the legality of its timber and wood products.

Indonesia and the commission have been negotiating on the VPA since January 2007, with both parties due to sign it in May.

If implemented as part of a voluntary partnership agreement, it will fully comply with EU timber regulations, van den Heuvel said at a dialogue between Indonesia, the EU, the U.S. and Japan on the legality.

Last year, the government introduced its new timber legality verification system (SVLK) to ensure the legality of wood products from industrial, production and community plantation forests.

The system is needed to combat illegal logging activities, which, according to official statistics, destroyed more than one million hectares of Indonesian forests each year, as well as fulfill international market requirements. (Xinhua)

CANBERRA, March 12 -- Some 80 asylum seekers have broken out from the Christmas Island Detention Center, Australian Immigration department confirmed on Saturday.

According to Australia Associated Press (AAP), the immigration department spokesman said there had been an "incident" that involved several hundred detainees, and 50 to 80 had broken out from the center early Saturday morning.

The spokesman refused to describe what the "incident" was.

He said that the mood inside the center is tense but there have been no reports of injuries to staff or detainees, and the detention services provider along with Department of Immigration and Citizenship staff and police are continuing their efforts to restore calm to the center.

The spokesman added that some of the people who broke out had now returned to the center and the federal police was monitoring detainees.

"Not that many are outside now, most of them are in process of returning to the center,"he said.

A member of the Tamil community familiar with the situation told Herald Sun that the detainees, all men, were carrying sticks and rods and had jumped over the fences along the compound they were being kept in at about 01:00 a.m. local time.

The Tamil community member, who asked not to be named, said the current tensions were linked to an earlier fight a few weeks ago at the center between member of different communities.

He said since that fight, the detainees at the center have been kept within their compounds and not allowed to interact.

Meanwhile, Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said tension and frustration had been building over delays with processing asylum claims and restrictions placed on movements between compounds on Friday.

"The delays in processing are unforgivable," Rintoul told AAP on Saturday.

"There are refugees waiting for over 18 months for security clearances after they have been found to be refugees.

"The breakout is reminiscent of the breakouts from Woomera and Port Hedland in the early 2000s as detention conditions became unbearable."

Currently, there are 2,539 asylum seekers and 18 crew members who arrived in Australia by boat being held at detention centers in Christmas Island. (Xinhua)

BEIJING, March 12 -- An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale jolted off the east coast of Japan's main Honshu island at 9:47 a.m. Beijing Time Saturday, according to the China Earthquake Network Center.

The epicenter, with a depth of 20 km, was monitored at 37.6 degrees north latitude and 142.6 degrees east longitude, the center said in a statement. (Xinhua)