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Fresh shocks hits China’s earthquake zone

BEIJING, China (CNN) — A strong aftershock hit parts of China already devastated by an earthquake Friday, triggering landslides, blocking roads, knocking out phone lines and burying vehicles, state-run media reported.

The 5.5-magnitude earthquake rattled Sichuan province shortly after President Hu Jintao arrived in the quake zone on Friday to get a first-hand look at the devastated region.

It was just the latest of dozens of tremors that continue to fray nerves across the region.

As frantic search-and-rescue efforts entered a fifth day, the official death toll issued by authorities in Sichuan Province now stood at 22,069, with 14,000 still buried, 159,000 injured and 4.8 million homeless, according to China’s Xinhua state news agency. China’s state council said Thursday that the number of dead could eventually top 50,000.

Yet hope still emerged from amid the horror of the nation’s worst disaster in recent years, with survivors pulled from the rubble four days after being buried by the 7.9 magnitude earthquake that rocked southwestern China Monday afternoon.

Rescuers pulled a student from the debris of Beichuan Middle School, 80 hours after the quake collapsed the building, Xinhua reported. Watch student being pulled from the rubble after 80 hours.

Two more people were saved after being buried for 95 hours, the agency added.

Rescuers said they could hear a weak yell for help from under the building’s rubble and are expecting more miracles, according to state-run media.

Hu flew to Mianyang in the hard-hit Sichuan province, which has become a massive refugee camp for survivors, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

The challenge is still daunting, the task is still arduous and the time pressing, Hu said.

Thousands of people who were uprooted around the region have taken shelter at the city’s main sports gym and other facilities. Reports say 7,395 people have died and 18,645 are trapped in debris in the city.

Xinhua reported 135,000 Chinese troops and medics are involved in the rescue effort across 58 counties and cities.

The scope of the operation is such that Beijing has allocated until now nearly $5 billion for the rescue relief fund. Watch how Beijing’s response to earthquake disaster is unprecedented.

Search-and-rescue help is also coming from outside the country. A team from Japan entered Sichuan province early Friday, Xinhua reported. Rescuers from Russia, South Korea and Singapore were expected to arrive soon.

Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Vietnam and Poland were among the countries providing humanitarian assistance, according to Xinhua.

Attention is now also switching to preventing the possible spread of disease, with 60 funeral workers being sent to Sichuan province to cremate thousands of bodies, according to Xinhua. Watch how rescuers search devastated town for earthquake survivors.

Leading the country’s disaster response, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao praised the country for its efficiency and order in the midst of the disaster.

Saving lives is still our top priority, as long as hope of survival still exists, Wen said, according to Xinhua.

But hope is running out for many trapped under tons of debris. The scene was especially painful in Beichuan, where parents of middle-school students waited Thursday, hoping recovery teams would pull their children alive from the rubble of a middle school.

They found little hope as search teams pulled out one lifeless body after another.

There are teenagers wearing jeans and gym shoes and their bodies are twisted, CNN’s John Vause said, reporting from just outside the school. The expression on one girl’s face was just pain — she was dead.

Similar scenes unfolded out across a vast expanse of southwestern China.

A few roads to Wenchuan county — the epicenter of the quake — started to open Thursday, allowing military trucks to begin their haul to affected sites, while rescuers continued attempts to save those trapped beneath the rubble at schools, businesses and homes.

Late in the day, a quake-damaged road from Lixian county into Wenchuan opened after around-the-clock repairs were completed, according to Xinhua.

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Jolie twins

Candy Spelling: Warren Cowan’s Passing Marks the End of an Era

Hollywood has its share of characters, and we throw around words like “legendary” and “iconic” easily. Warren Cowan was a character the best writer couldn’t have invented and deserved the labels like legend and icon. He passed away Wednesday night, marking the end of an era in Hollywood.

Er finale

It’s not enough to say Warren was a publicist, a PR man or a press agent. He was all of the above, plus a combination of P.T. Barnum, Harry Houdini, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison and the super-salesman Willy Loman would never be. He represented Aaron Spelling Productions and many of my husband’s shows - “Dynasty,” “Fantasy Island,” “The Love Boat,” “7th Heaven,” “Vega$” and many others - for decades.

To Warren, everything was a “milestone,” an excuse for an “event” with photographers, press and camera crews. The 100th episode of a show was a celebration, and the 200th taping was a gala. A show’s anniversary was always unique or unprecedented for some reason in Warren’s mind (and soon the public’s consciousness), and guest stars on the shows made history or set some kind of record in Warren’s fertile mind, which then translated to publicity. We always had a “first” or a “most” or an “ist” which Aaron and Warren conceived for the shows. We often joked that he made it up as he went along, and I suspect that’s true. His short attention span was balanced perfectly by his creativity. On to the next “special celebration.”

When we realized that Aaron had probably produced more hours of television than anyone, Warren assigned his staff to count the shows and hours. Knowing Warren, he personally counted them when they were done, just to make sure they were right. The result: The “Guinness Book of World Records” honored Aaron as the “most-prolific television producer” because of his astounding 3,842 hours of television - which could have filled three-and-a-half years of prime time, seven nights a week, without any reruns. Warren kept the Guinness people on track, and recently determined that Aaron’s total was more than 4,500 hours. Warren never liked that three-and-a-half years. He would say “close to four years” of programming. He always thought bigger than most people, and exaggeration was part of his DNA.He enjoyed his work so much. He always giggled when he called Aaron to say he arranged a column item or a story, while trying to sound casual. He worked tirelessly, and would call, and later email, with an idea any time of day or night. They weren’t all the greatest ideas, but he never stopped creating. I think Warren and Aaron were a team for so many years because of that little boy excitement, enthusiasm, love of show business and work ethic they shared.

Warren trained many of Hollywood’s most creative publicists and successful executives, which will continue his legacy for at least another generation. He will always hold a special place in entertainment history and in my heart.

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Olympic ideal not burning bright in Italy

Editor’s note: CNN’s global network of affiliates will be providing dispatches from their countries on the Olympics. In this report, Mediaset report from Italy.

(CNN) — The debate about the Olympics in China hasn’t had much impact in Italy.

Hot themes such as boycotting the Games never really made it to the front pages here, and there were no protests or episodes of violence that were seen on the streets of Paris and London when the Olympic torch came through those cities.

It is true that this time the Olympic torch didn’t touch Italian soil as it did before Athens 2004 but still the main feeling here is of a general disinterest.

This may be because Italians are interested in football more than in any other sport, and the other big event of the summer, Euro 2008, is much more relevant from a media’s point of view than the Olympic Games.

Mediaset will be there in Beijing of course with four journalists in the field, but at the moment we’re not particularly pushing them with battage or any other preliminary coverage.

In Italy, China is still perceived as a very far away place and there is a quite blurred idea of what the Olympics may mean to the Chinese people.

It is hard to predict the effect the Games will have over the commercial relations and geo-political equilibrium between western countries and the Celestial Empire.

found here.

Olympic ideal not burning bright in Italy

Editor’s note: CNN’s global network of affiliates will be providing dispatches from their countries on the Olympics. In this report, Mediaset report from Italy.

(CNN) — The debate about the Olympics in China hasn’t had much impact in Italy.

Hot themes such as boycotting the Games never really made it to the front pages here, and there were no protests or episodes of violence that were seen on the streets of Paris and London when the Olympic torch came through those cities.

It is true that this time the Olympic torch didn’t touch Italian soil as it did before Athens 2004 but still the main feeling here is of a general disinterest.

This may be because Italians are interested in football more than in any other sport, and the other big event of the summer, Euro 2008, is much more relevant from a media’s point of view than the Olympic Games.

Mediaset will be there in Beijing of course with four journalists in the field, but at the moment we’re not particularly pushing them with battage or any other preliminary coverage.

In Italy, China is still perceived as a very far away place and there is a quite blurred idea of what the Olympics may mean to the Chinese people.

It is hard to predict the effect the Games will have over the commercial relations and geo-political equilibrium between western countries and the Celestial Empire.

found here.

Activist slams China, India over cyclone aid

LONDON, England (CNN) — The founder of the Free Burma Coalition accused Myanmar neighbors China and India on Thursday of failing to do their share of heavy lifting in aiding victims of the Myanmar cyclone.

Maung Zarni, a visiting research fellow at Oxford University, said both nations could do more in trying to persuade the Myanmar junta to allow international aid workers and equipment into the country.

China and India are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Zarni called a total disaster for the same reason.

The latest episode involving the junta’s handling of the cyclone victims in Burma really calls into question the meaning and the usefulness, the value of ASEAN, he added.

The organization of 10 nations promotes economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region.

China isn’t doing its share of heavy lifting, and the same can be said about India as well, Zarni said.

China is a country on the rise, and it can really repair its tarnished reputation around Tibet if it puts pressure on the regime and says, ‘This is unacceptable, even to Chinese standards.’

Zarni was referring to critics of last fall’s Chinese crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, led by Tibetan monks.

He directed most of his criticism toward Myanmar’s military rulers, who he said are solely concerned with their own security and political ambitions, while neglecting the cyclone victims.

The government has been bitterly criticized for being too slow in responding to the May 2 disaster, then blocking large-scale, international emergency aid. The government has relented somewhat in the past few days.

The official death toll from Cyclone Nargis rose Thursday, with Myanmar state television reporting more than 40,000 fatalities. Many believe the toll will be much higher. Watch scenes of widespread destruction

Referring to Myanmar’s 75-year-old top leader, Than Shwe, Zarni complained, His major number one concern is his own personal and family security, and also other officers who are caught in a system where fear and rewards are manipulated to whip them in line.

The government’s response to the cyclone is complex, and has psychological, institutional and personal dimensions, which have produced an institutionalized madness, Zarni said.

The Irrawaddy newspaper, which covers Myanmar and Southeast Asia, said a team of ASEAN experts would arrive in Yangon on Thursday to assess the scale of the disaster and requirements for aid.

found here.