Welcome to the newest episode of Chinese Soundbites, a podcast series brought to you by ChinesePod and Shanghaiist. Every week we'll be bringing you topics and words pulled straight from the headlines, in Mandarin Chinese. This week Jenny and Amber jump into a topic that's on (almost) everyone's lips -- the US presidential election. If you're in China this Fall (and especially if you're an American), you'll need to be able to answer the inevitable......

By 2 dogs: The new CCTV building in Beijing The winter chaos continues CNN: Chinese travelers gradually get back on track AP: Train Woes Ease in Snow-Wary China Bloomberg: China to Restore Power Cut by Snow Before New Year Forbes: Chinese PM urges people to be brave amid winter chaos Al-Jazeera: Stranded worker dies in China crush Reuters: China steeled for worse weather as holidays loom Yet another dumpling crisis AP: Insecticide Found on......

By JFK Miller The KMT, the party of Chiang Kai-shek, is back in power in Taiwan after a thumping victory over the DPP in last week’s national legislative elections. The elections were the first round of two major national polls, and the KMT also looks set to win the second round in March when the island votes to elect its president. So what does all this mean for cross-straits relations? Most pundits agree there’ll be......

• Londonist pondered who might be the next sponsors of the London Eye and whether or not readers would be willing to donate £1,000 each for a Londonist Eye.
• Shanghaiist was shocked to find a cameltoe in the city's only English-language paper.
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Continue Reading "Week Around the -Ists"

By JFK Miller So it’s Huckabee and Obama in Iowa. Clearly it’s early days, and neither candidate is a certainty for their respective parties’ nomination for the November presidential election. But it’s worth looking at what both candidates have had to say on the record about China. First Huck. Huck is a Baptist minister turned Republican politician who wrote a best-selling book about his fat-shedding experience entitled Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and......

Singapore - Singapore will host a round of the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship, making it the home of Asia's first street circuit (the only other street circuits are in Monaco and Valencia). More exciting is the fact that this will be the first night-time event in Formula One history! Dili, Timor Leste - Asia-Pacific's newest and poorest nation turns five, and the success of the country's recent presidential election, won resoundingly by Nobel......

Former American President Bill Clinton -- no stranger to downloading porn, we're sure -- will visit Hangzhou on September 10 to address the 2005 China Internet Summit. The theme of the get-together organized by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba will be "Connecting China To The World" ... well, just the parts of the world the Chinese government deems suitable for the Chinese people. Also expected to speak are CEOs from industry lightweights like Google, Amazon, Yahoo......