Today's Links: U.S. and China hold secret meetings against climate change, Nanjing students protest, and popstar busted for heroin
- Secret Meeting Between U.S. and China Broke New Ground on Climate Change [NYT] "Loy said the group was able to delve into the positions of both countries and gain better understandings about the political realities both countries face. Yet as to reaching a global deal in Copenhagen, Loy said, little progress was made."There were things that we learned, but it wasn't a totally radical or surprising conversation. We knew a great deal about China's views before," he said. The discussions were "more informal and occasionally more substantive and frank, but Mr. Xie is a cautious person"."
- Students protest in lead-up to June 4 Tiananmen anniversary [The Australian] "Thousands of students are reported to have protested in the streets of Nanjing, in central eastern China - one of the centres of protests in 1989 - following an incident on Monday night in which government security guards enforcing restrictions on peddlers allegedly attacked classmates who had set up footpath stalls."
- China's top legislator meets with Italian premier [Xinhua] "The Italian leaders expressed the willingness to expand cooperation with China in various fields, saying China's economic growth will hopefully provide new energy for the recovery and rally of world economy. Both sides agreed that the two countries should coordinate their stance on reform of the international financial system and work for an early recovery of global economy from the financial crisis."
- Pop singer, wife detained for using drugs [China Daily] "Pop star Man Wenjun has been locked in a police cell after he was allegedly busted with heroin during a raid on his wife's birthday party. In news that has shocked the entertainment industry, the 40-year-old singer, his wife Li Li and more than ten other people were detained by police early on Tuesday."
- HK tycoon names blue diamond "Star of Josephine" [Reuters] "Joseph Lau Luen-Hung made the winning bid last week by telephone for the diamond, which fetched the highest price per carat for any gemstone at the auction and a world record price for a fancy vivid blue diamond at auction."Mr. Lau has already exercised his right to name the diamond, which is now known as 'Star of Josephine'," it said."
- Chinese Web Insights:Taobao Is Toxic [CN Reviews] "Theoretically, Taobao can provide infinite shops and businesses on the internet, which will make it an infinitely huge marketplace beyond all business entities and could be even larger than Walmart. The fact of the matter is that the social consuming abilities of Taobao are limited, that is, if you double the quantities of goods in Wal-mart, the sales won’t be doubled. If 9 out of 10 billion people are sellers, what good is that?"
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