Latest news clips 2012.11.01

                    

1.      Storm Barrels Through Region, Leaving Destructive Path

The New York Times     October 29, 2012

Hurricane Sandy battered the mid-Atlantic region on Monday, its powerful gusts and storm surges causing once-in-a-generation flooding in coastal communities, knocking down trees and power lines and leaving more than five million people — including a large swath of Manhattan — in the rain-soaked dark. At least seven deaths in the New York region were tied to the storm.

The mammoth and merciless storm made landfall near Atlantic City around 8 p.m., with maximum sustained winds of about 80 miles per hour, the National Hurricane Center said. That was shortly after the center had reclassified the storm as a post-tropical cyclone, a scientific renaming that had no bearing on the powerful winds, driving rains and life-threatening storm surge expected to accompany its push onto land.

The storm had unexpectedly picked up speed as it roared over the Atlantic Ocean on a slate-gray day and went on to paralyze life for millions of people in more than a half-dozen states, with extensive evacuations that turned shorefront neighborhoods into ghost towns. Even the superintendent of the Statue of Liberty left to ride out the storm at his mother’s house in New Jersey; he said the statue itself was “high and dry,” but his house in the shadow of the torch was not.

The wind-driven rain lashed sea walls and protective barriers in places like Atlantic City, where the Boardwalk was damaged as water forced its way inland. Foam was spitting, and the sand gave in to the waves along the beach at Sandy Hook, N.J., at the entrance to New York Harbor. Water was thigh-high on the streets in Sea Bright, N.J., a three-mile sand-sliver of a town where the ocean joined the Shrewsbury River.

“It’s the worst I’ve seen,” said David Arnold, watching the storm from his longtime home in Long Branch, N.J. “The ocean is in the road, there are trees down everywhere. I’ve never seen it this bad.”

2.  Billions in Hidden Riches for Family of Chinese Leader

The New York Times   By DAVID BARBOZA   October 25, 2012

 BEIJING — The mother of China’s prime minister was a schoolteacher in northern China. His father was ordered to tend pigs in one of Mao’s political campaigns. And during childhood, “my family was extremely poor,” the prime minister, Wen Jiabao, said in a speech last year.

But now 90, the prime minister’s mother, Yang Zhiyun, not only left poverty behind — she became outright rich, at least on paper, according to corporate and regulatory records. Just one investment in her name, in a large Chinese financial services company, had a value of $120 million five years ago, the records show.

The details of how Ms. Yang, a widow, accumulated such wealth are not known, or even if she was aware of the holdings in her name. But it happened after her son was elevated to China’s ruling elite, first in 1998 as vice prime minister and then five years later as prime minister.

Many relatives of Wen Jiabao, including his son, daughter, younger brother and brother-in-law, have become extraordinarily wealthy during his leadership, an investigation by The New York Times shows. A review of corporate and regulatory records indicates that the prime minister’s relatives, some of whom have a knack for aggressive deal-making, including his wife, have controlled assets worth at least $2.7 billion.

In many cases, the names of the relatives have been hidden behind layers of partnerships and investment vehicles involving friends, work colleagues and business partners. Untangling their financial holdings provides an unusually detailed look at how politically connected people have profited from being at the intersection of government and business as state influence and private wealth converge in China’s fast-growing economy.

Unlike most new businesses in China, the family’s ventures sometimes received financial backing from state-owned companies, including China Mobile, one of the country’s biggest phone operators, the documents show. At other times, the ventures won support from some of Asia’s richest tycoons. The Times found that Mr. Wen’s relatives accumulated shares in banks, jewelers, tourist resorts, telecommunications companies and infrastructure projects, sometimes by using offshore entities.

The holdings include a villa development project in Beijing; a tire factory in northern China; a company that helped build some of Beijing’s Olympic stadiums, including the well-known “Bird’s Nest”; and Ping An Insurance, one of the world’s biggest financial services companies.

As prime minister in an economy that remains heavily state-driven, Mr. Wen, who is best known for his simple ways and common touch, more importantly has broad authority over the major industries where his relatives have made their fortunes. Chinese companies cannot list their shares on a stock exchange without approval from agencies overseen by Mr. Wen, for example. He also has the power to influence investments in strategic sectors like energy and telecommunications.

3.  Psy: One-hit wonder or K-pop breakthrough? - CNN.com

CNN    October 25, 2012

Hong Kong (CNN) -- If you are one of the few who haven't seen South Korean rapper Psy's performance of "Gangnam Style" on YouTube (which, until I wrote these words, included me), you're missing not only a piece of power pop, but -- some hope -- a harbinger of things to come for Asian music artists.

 Rapper Psy brings 'Gangnam Style' to U.S.

"Is this an anomaly or an inevitability? The feeling has been that sooner or later, (a music artist) from Asia was going to break into the global sphere," said Ruuben van den Heuvel, executive director of music and technology consultancy, GateWay Entertainment.

Psy became the first South Korean artist to hit number one on the UK music charts, and at the time of this writing was sitting number two for the third week on the U.S. charts. Anticipation is so high, Billboard Magazine launched a "Psy Watch" online on whether the artist will crack the number one spot.

"I didn't expect this kind of thing," Psy told CNN recently. "I made this song, I made this music video and dance moves just for Korea, not worldwide. I didn't expect anything like this: I'm talking to CNN on the VMA (MTV Video Music Awards) -- crazy!"

'Gangnam Style' a hit in world of sports

As CNN's Madison Park writes, Psy's song -- about the wannabe style of the affluent neighborhood of Gangnam in Seoul -- has been sliced and diced with theories about what it means about wealth and class in Korea, and questions about whether Psy embodies the stereotypes about Asian masculinity. The video -- featuring his now famous horsey dance -- has spawned hundreds of parodies and so far has been watched 472 million times and achieved 4.1 million likes -- a record for a YouTube video.