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Russian Ambassador to India Alexander M Kadakin said that recent developments (Chinese incursion in Ladakh) were "unfortunate", but China and India successfully sorted them out.

The CPI(M) on Friday accused the BJP of taking "regressive and jingoistic" stand on several foreign policy issues and for rousing "chauvinist" feelings to create confrontation with Pakistan and China.

The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. Central Propaganda Department: Firmly reign in the degree of coverage of the Shenzhen Binhai power plant. Prevent malicious sensationalization. (May 23, 2013) ??????????????????????????? The plan to build the coal-burning Binhai plant was approved by Liu Tienan [zh], a senior official in the National Development and Reform Commission currently being investigated for disciplinary violations. The Shenzhen city government stated on May 21 that only research on the project has been approved, not any actual construction plans [zh]. The Guangdong Province Propaganda Department issued a directive about media coverage of Binhai on May 18. CDT has collected the selections we translate here from a variety of sources and has checked them against official Chinese media reports to confirm their implementation. Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors, who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. The original publication date on CDT Chinese is noted after the directives; the date given may indicate when the directive was leaked, rather than when it was issued. CDT does its utmost to verify dates and wording, but also takes precautions to protect the source. © Anne.Henochowicz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us Post tags: censorship, Directives from the Ministry of Truth, Guangdong, Liu Tienan, media censorship, Ministry of Truth, power plants, propaganda, Shenzhen Download Tools to Circumvent the Great Firewall

Crude Landlocked as Canadians Join U.S. to Halt Pipelines British Columbia, the Canadian province whose official slogan to its own beauty is “Super, Natural,” is invoking another saying: “No more supertankers.” That’s potentially big trouble in a nation where oil exports amount to $73 billion annually and the industry employs more than 550,000 workers. It’s also a bad omen for nations, notably China, that have invested billions in Canadian oil projects with expectations that they will one day be able to buy vast quantities of heavy Canadian crude. House Passes Keystone Bill as White House Vows Veto The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline, the eighth time congressional Republicans have advanced a measure promoting the project. Democrats called yesterday’s vote in the Republican-controlled chamber a largely symbolic effort to score political points because the bill was unlikely to become law. The Senate, where Democrats have the majority, isn’t considering similar legislation, and President Barack Obama’s administration has threatened a veto should the bill emerge from Congress. Texas Farmers Lose Another Bid to Block Keystone Pipeline TransCanada Corp. won another of the remaining Texas state-court challenges by landowners trying to block construction of the Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline across their property. Cheap shale gas bubble 'will burst within 2-4 years': Expert The current shale gas boom which has bathed the US economy in cheap energy will soon go bust, a former gas industry geologist has told EurActiv. The future of shale gas in Europe was high on the agenda at an EU summit in Brussels yesterday (22 May), with leaders stressing the “crucial” role that such indigenous energy resources could play in reviving industry. But according to David Hughes, a geoscientist and former team leader on unconventional gas for the Canadian Potential Gas Committee, the US boom on which many base their expectations is founded on shifting sands. WTI Heads for Biggest Weekly Decline in a Month on Supply West Texas Intermediate headed for its biggest weekly drop in more than a month amid signs of rising U.S. oil inventories and a global economic slowdown. Futures slid as much as 0.8 percent in New York. Prices may decline next week amid speculation that U.S. fuel supplies will be sufficient to meet summer demand after factory output in China shrank for the first time in seven months, according to a Bloomberg News survey. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. recommended selling WTI and buying Brent contracts for December 2014 as supplies accumulate on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Oil Options Volatility Rises as Futures Decline Third Day Crude oil options volatility rose as the underlying futures fell for a third straight session. Implied volatility for at-the-money options expiring in July, a measure of expected price swings in futures and a gauge of options prices, was 22.5 percent at 1:35 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up from 22.06 percent yesterday. Gulf Crudes Strengthen as Volume Declines During Rollover Period Gulf Coast crude oils strengthened on the spot market during the three-day rollover period characterized by below-normal volume and erratic pricing. Russia to steeply cut Baltic oil loadings LONDON: Russia will steeply cut Urals crude oil exports from Baltic ports in June and load a total of 58 cargoes compared to 70 cargoes in May, trading sources said on Friday citing a loading schedule. OPEC to Keep Exports Stable Amid Supply Glut, Oil Movements Says The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will keep crude shipments little changed into early next month as abundant inventories cap demand, tanker tracker Oil Movements said. Gasoil Ship Rates Rising in Northwest Europe as BP Takes Tankers Rates to ship gasoil in northwest Europe are rising after BP Plc booked tankers to take refined fuel from the region to

Many stories are told about the T’ang dynasty artist Wu Daozi, sometimes named as one of the three great sages of China: that he ignored color and only painted in black ink, that he transgressively painted his own face on an image of the Buddha, that he painted a perfect halo in a single stroke without the aid of compasses, that he painted pictures of the dragons who cause rain so well that the paintings themselves exuded water, that the Emperor sent him to sketch a beautiful region and reprimanded him for coming back emptyhanded, after which he painted a 100-foot scroll that replicated all his travels in one continuous flow, that he made all his paintings boldly and without hesitation, painting like a whirlwind, so that people loved to watch the world emerge from under his brush. One story about him I read long ago I always remembered. While he was showing the Emperor the landscape he had painted on a wall of the Imperial Palace, he pointed out a grotto or cave, stepped into it, and vanished. Some say that the painting disappeared too. In the account I thought I remembered, he was a prisoner of the Emperor who escaped through his painting. When I was much younger I saw another version of this feat that impressed me equally. more from Rebecca Solnit at Guernica here.

Over the last three months our firm analyst that specializes in the Chinese economy has performed extensive due diligence into Vipshop's business model and earnings numbers. In our opinion, the company may be misleading in its customer counts and we find a large discrepancy in the media metrics verses the company's reported results. We believe that now the timing is appropriate to share our internal research due to Vipshop's plans to market (A deal road show?) in San Francisco with Stifel Nicholas next week. If this is a deal road show, we would like our questions to be addressed. This would be the second offering this year where both insiders and the company have sold stock. We wonder why they are so anxious to sell.Vipshop Holdings Limited (VIPS) operates as an online discount retailer for apparel and other consumer goods in China. This recent IPO had little street credibility.

You know when I was telling you about how I came across my invitations? I mentioned that I was trying to find Doctor Who themed envelopes to go with my stamps. Well, I never actually got round to telling you about the envelopes, did I? I don’t know why I needed to Google “Doctor Who envelopes” really, because it should have been obvious. It should have been really obvious, because as soon as I saw them I had one of those hitting-myself-in-the-head moments. Screenshot from The Impossible Astronaut/Doctor Who/BBC The letters that were sent inviting River, the Ponds, and Canton Everett Delaware III to The Doctor’s death by Lake Silenco in Utah. They’re Tardis Blue. And they have lots and lots of stamps on them. Screenshot from The Impossible Astronaut/Doctor Who/BBC I liked this. I could use this. Screenshot from The Impossible Astronaut/Doctor Who/BBC And I did. I’m not the first to have re-created these envelopes, but it proved rather useful to have a bit of advice! Particularly from this blog, where it is suggested that to get the “stamp effect” without all the faff of cutting perfect stamp edges, simply colour in the background in blue and it will disappear against the colour of the envelopes! I decided to go for “world” stamps for an “around the world” kind of feel and Googled stamps from other countries. I went for Indonesia, China, India, USA, South Africa, and France. Each were a different colour because I thought it was a nice touch. I used the label template on Word (the bigger labels the better, I found—more room for error!) and printed them off onto sticky labels. I arranged them to see which placement I liked best… And stuck them down! (I used silver pen for the addresses, but I wasn’t clever enough to do a fake one for you all to see—it wasn’t that fancy, just my own handwriting, so you didn’t miss out on anything!) Do you see what I mean about the blue-edge tip? They totally look like stamp edges! We spent all Saturday morning doing this. We had a mini production line going. Jack cut up the “stamps,” and I stuck them down. Probably best as I have nails—some of them were pretty tough, I’m not gonna lie!! Jack just giggled at me as we did this. “You’re such a fangirl!” And your point is…? But after a couple of hours we were done! We only had 50 or so invitations, so it wasn’t too hard. Probably wouldn’t recommend doing this to anyone with 200-plus guests! The final detail was the number on the back. The number we put on was the number of people the invitation was for. This wasn’t “information” as such—more of just an easy way to decide who got which number! We just used trusty craft stickers. Et voila! By this time it was 12:00 PM and the post box was due to be collected at 12:30 PM, so I popped outside to post them. Not a far walk—literally at the bottom of my road, which is helpful! Excitedly, I dropped them in… And then realised that the box is collected at 11:30 AM on a Saturday, not 12:30 PM. Boo!! But it did still say “Sat” at the top, which led me to believe that the postman was late! Huzzah! On Monday, I heard the good news. I love Facebook—don’t you just love Facebook? OMG YES! Woohoo!! I like Beth. Beth is the best. I also really appreciate her posting this picture, because it allowed me to see the condition in which they arrived. No problems with multiple fake stamps. (I had cleared this with the Royal Mail beforehand, but it’s nice to be certain!) We’ve had so many people letting us know they received and loved the invitations. They were “so us,” as many people put it. I’m happy with that. That’s what we were going for. Did you put lots of detail into something that reflected your personalities? Anyone else wanna join me with Doctor Who envelopes? They go over a real treat! Honest!

I’m the oldest 34 year old in the world T… Some people may be surprised to learn that Tracy McGrady is currently a member of the Spurs team which is close to reaching the NBA finals.  The 7-time NBA All-Star turns 34 years old today. Happy Birthday TMAC! To See More of Today’s birthdays click here.-TO Tracy McGrady in a Chinese Beer Commercial Stephon Marbury Happy to Be a Statue

Most recently, Sevyn wrote several songs on Chris Brown’s upcoming album, including his first single “Fine China.” In addition, she also contributed to Nickelodeon actress and singer Ariana Grande’s new single “The Way” featuring Mac Miller.  Released on March 25th, “The Way” soared to #1 on iTunes in less than 8 hours. Sevyn Streeter “It Won’t Stop”: http://youtu.be/aEz1GNUGfwY Sevyn is currently in the studio working on her highly anticipated solo debut album. “I Like It,” her first single from the upcoming album, became a mainstay on the Urban Mainstream Charts and has over 2 million views on youtube. www.sevynstreeter.com

Hong Kong waterfall A waterfall encountered while hiking along  Wilson Trail Stage 7 this afternoon Parts of Wilson Trail Stage 7 itself looked like  it was turning into a stream, if not quite waterfall! This has been an unusual week for Hong Kong weather wise.  For while it's accepted that May is generally a month that's generally rainy as well as humid and hot, it's still not