A delegation of the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s parliament, left here Sunday for an official goodwill visit to South Africa, Mauritius and Kenya.
The delegation was led by Wang Zhaoguo, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee.
The delegation was invited by the parliaments of the three countries.
So much of Andre Agassi’s life has been spent in the public eye — the various highs and lows, on and off the court, during his transformation from tennis brat to elder statesman — that it was possible to wonder how much more there was to be said about it all.
Plenty, it turns out. Excerpts of Agassi’s upcoming autobiography published Wednesday by Sports Illustrated and the Times of London contain graphic depictions of his use of crystal meth, an account of how he wriggled his way out of a suspension by lying to the ATP tour after failing a 1997 drug test, and the jarring contention that he always hated tennis “with a dark and secret passion” because of his overbearing father.
If image is indeed everything, as Agassi used to say to sell a sponsor’s cameras, he has provided new, indelible, behind-the-scenes images — along with raising questions about why he chose to reveal his crystal meth habit.
“Is it cathartic? I don’t know. I think it’s strictly from the heart. That’s the way he has operated in my view, going back to the latter portion of his playing career,” said Arlen Kantarian, who ran the U.S. Open from 2000-08. “I’m sure he feels good about getting it out on the table.”
Agassi, who won eight Grand Slam singles titles before retiring in 2006, is not explaining himself at the moment. His representative referred interview requests to his publishing company, which has set up a “60 Minutes” appearance on Nov. 8, the day before the book’s scheduled release.
After an exhibition match Sunday in Macau against longtime rival Pete Sampras, Agassi was asked if the book contains major revelations.
“I think I had to learn a lot about myself through the process,” Agassi said. “There was a lot that even surprised me. So to think that one won’t be surprised by it, it would be an understatement.
“Whatever revelations exist, you’ll get to see in full glory,” he added. “But the truth is, my hope is that somebody doesn’t just learn more about me, what it is I’ve been through, but somehow through those lessons, they can learn a lot about themselves. And I think it’s fair to say that they will.”
SI and the Times of London are among four publications that paid for the rights to print parts of “Open: An Autobiography.” Among the material excerpted:
• Agassi calls his father “violent by nature,” and recalls being in the car when his father pointed a handgun at another driver.
• He writes about making money by hustling people on tennis courts and remembers when, at 9 years old, he beat former NFL great Jim Brown in a match to win a $500 bet for his father.
• He poignantly recalls a telephone conversation with his father after winning Grand Slam title No. 1 at Wimbledon in 1992. Dad’s initial reaction? “You had no business losing that fourth set,” Agassi writes.
• He writes about using crystal meth “a lot” and in sometimes-positive terms, including reference to “a tidal wave of euphoria that sweeps away every negative thought in my head. I’ve never felt so alive, so hopeful — and I’ve never felt such energy.”
“Apart from the buzz of getting high,” he says, “I get an undeniable satisfaction from harming myself and shortening my career,” he writes. But the physical aftermath is hideous. After two days of being high, of not sleeping, I’m an alien. I have the audacity to wonder why I feel so rotten. I’m an athlete, my body should be able to handle this.”
• Agassi says he wrote to the ATP tour to explain the 1997 positive test and that “the central lie of the letter” was that he claimed he accidentally drank from a soda spiked with meth by his assistant “Slim.”
U.S. Fed Cup captain Mary Joe Fernandez, a former player who was a contemporary of Agassi’s, described the drug revelations as disappointing and “a bit of a shock.”
“It takes a lot of guts and courage to come out and say something that nobody would have really known about,” Fernandez said. “I’ve always admired Andre. He was a huge part of inspiring my generation, and he did a lot of great things and continues to do a lot of great things. He’s opening up now, and that’s his choice. Maybe people can learn from it and not make the same mistakes.”
Agassi turned pro in 1986, reached his first major final at the French Open in 1990, quickly drew plenty of attention and kept drawing it — for his service returns, considered by many to be the best in the game; for his quick-as-could-be reflexes at the baseline; for his denim shorts, Day-Glo shirts, flowing hair and dangling earrings; for his two-year marriage to Brooke Shields and friendship with Barbra Streisand that provided fodder for the tabloids.
He won Wimbledon in 1992, was ranked No. 1 in 1995, won an Olympic gold medal in 1996 — and then it all unraveled. He dropped to 141st in the rankings and resorted to playing in tennis’ minor leagues in 1997, the year he says he first tried crystal meth.
After he escaped punishment for the drug test, he writes, his thought was: “New life.”
In addition to returning to No. 1 in the world, and completing a career Grand Slam, Agassi became an influential voice on the tennis tour. He also raised tens of millions of dollars for at-risk youths in his hometown of Las Vegas and opened a preparatory academy there.
He also got remarried, to tennis great Steffi Graf — he calls her “Stefanie” in the book — and they have two children.
Always evolving.
“It fits in with the story arc of his redemption,” said Gene Grabowski, who guides high-profile figures — Roger Clemens is a client — through public relations crises.
“It’s going to make Andre Agassi even richer. This is going to help him sell his book, which is why he wrote it,” Grabowski said.
Agassi reportedly received at least $5 million for the book; the first printing is a half-million copies, a relatively high number in publishing.
“His book will probably sell. It seems very interesting, to say the least,” seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Venus Williams said Wednesday after playing at the WTA Championships in Doha, Qatar. “But what am I supposed to say about Andre’s life? I can’t really say anything.”
Calling Agassi “an icon of his sport,” IOC president Jacques Rogge said, “If his admission would go together with the message to young athletes that it should not be repeated, then that would be useful.”
The International Tennis Federation said the reference to the 1997 drug test was surprising but noted that it did not oversee anti-doping efforts on the men’s tour back then. The ATP, which did, issued a statement Wednesday about its rules, in general, noting an independent panel makes the final decision on a doping violation.
John Fahey, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, called on the ATP to “shed light on this allegation.”
The tour declined repeated requests from The Associated Press to address the specifics of Agassi’s account.
A top Iranian lawmaker said Monday that the team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have finished their inspection of Iran’s newly-disclosed uranium enrichment plant, local ISNA news agency reported.
“The inspectors of the agency have finished their job at Fordo (uranium enrichment plant),” Alaeddin Boroujerdi who heads Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy commission was quoted as saying.
“Their work were limited in the inspection of Fordo,” he said, adding that it is normal that they leave Tehran after completing their job.
Four IAEA inspectors arrived in Tehran early Sunday to inspect Iran’s newly-disclosed uranium enrichment plant near the central city of Qom.
Last month, Iran confirmed that it is building a new nuclear fuel enrichment plant near Qom. In reaction, the IAEA asked Tehran to provide detailed information and access to the new nuclear facility as soon as possible.
Leaders of the United States, France and Britain have condemned Iran’s alleged deception to the international community involving covert activities in the new underground nuclear site.
On Oct. 1, at a meeting between Iran and top envoys from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany in Geneva, Switzerland, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili promised that Tehran would soon open the facility near Qom to UN inspectors.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd called here on Saturday for an early signing of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two Asia-Pacific major economies.
“The mutual-respect, mutual-trust and cooperation between China and Australia, both as big countries in the Asia-Pacific region, will not only yield tangible benefits for the two nations, but also have a positive impact on a larger scale,” Wen said in talks with Rudd on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summits.
The key to maintaining a sound and steady development of bilateral ties lies in their respect for and care about each other’s core interests and major concerns, Wen said, pledging to work together with Australia to boost their ties.
The Chinese premier also highlighted the importance of an FTA between the two countries, asking the two sides to reach a quality, comprehensive and acceptable FTA deal in a spirit of positive cooperation, pragmatism, balance and mutual-benefit.
While hailing the cooperation between Australia and China in various fields, Rudd said his country is willing to maintain high-level exchanges and deepen mutual understanding with China under the principle of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.
He pledged adherence to the one China policy and respect for China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Australia hopes to reach consensus as early as possible on the FTA and will bolster cooperation with China in such fields as trade, economy, investment, energy, agriculture and service, Rudd said during their meeting at a hotel in the central Thailand beach resort.
The two leaders also exchanged their views on East Asian cooperation and climate change.
If the global financial and economic turmoil can be regarded as one phase drastically transforming into another, then the crisis has ended now, the first deputy chairman of the Russian Central Bank said on Thursday.
In an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravada newspaper, Alexei Ulyukayev said the Russian economy has undergone a rapid change between September 2008 and this May, during which the Russian and the global markets have completely transformed into another economic formation.
Even though the current economic formation is definitely not a good one, he said, the economy apparently will not go further downward, now that the economic situation has become less uncertain, and that the risks facing the financial system have greatly lowered.
Ulyukayev also noted there would not be a so-called second wave of the financial crisis, since the saying was no more than grandstanding rhetoric. To use one inherent economic term to interpret various economic phenomena is simply wrong, he said.
The financial crisis has passed, he added.
The major problem for the banking system amid the crisis is one of solvency, or liquidity shortage, said Ulyukayev. Since the Russian banking system currently has ample liquidity, things would not suddenly change in the future, and sufficient funding has been prepared to prevent possible losses, he said.
But Ulyukayev admitted it would take a long time for Russia to recover from the crisis. The Russian and the global economies may never see another rapid growth similar to that of the past 10 years and they might swing up and down with fluctuations.
Since last autumn, the Russian economy has been severely hit by the financial crisis, with an expected gross domestic product (GDP) fall of 8.5 percent this year.
However, official statistics showed the GDP has seen growth of 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent in June and July respectively.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said recently that the anti-crisis measures of the Russian government would enable the country to take the lead in moving out of the crisis.
China must pay attention to soil erosion problems associated with large-scale construction of infrastructure as it could threaten the security of food supply and ecological environment, an official has warned.
Zhang Xuejian with the Soil and Water Conservation Department under the Ministry of Water Resources said China could face a grave challenge if its rapid modernization continued to take a toll of land resource.
Besides natural causes, human activities — mainly the construction of roads, railways, hydropower projects, mining and urban areas — also led to soil erosion and the loss of water resource, Zhang was quoted as saying by People’s Daily on Tuesday.
It is estimated that construction projects completed or to be finished in the 2006-2010 period would result in soil erosion in land areas totaling 15.27 million hectares.
“As things are going, large-scale human activities could cost more than the environment could sustain,” Zhang said.
China lost 3.3 million hactares of farmland in the past 50 years, making the scarcity of arable land in the world’s most populous country an acute challenge, according to the report.
A satellite survey of soil erosion in 2002 showed that 37 percent of the country’s land areas suffered from the loss of soil due to natural and human factors.
In 2000, the soil erosion caused 400 billion yuan (58.8 billion U.S. dollars) in economic losses, or 4.48 percent of the annual GDP of that year, the newspaper said, citing the Asian Development Bank figures.
Worse, 74 percent of impoverished people in China lived in areas suffering severe soil erosion.
Floods and the shortage of water supply as a result of soil erosion are also among serious consequences, Zhang said.
Although the central government’s annual investment in tackling soil erosion has increased from 300 million yuan ten years ago to two to three billion yuan now, it is far from enough to guarantee projects for the prevention and treatment of the problem, Zhang said.
As many as 5.5 million cars will be on Beijing’s roads by 2015, although the growth rate will stabilize in the next five years, a senior local transport official said.
Beijing’s car community will hit 4 million by the beginning of next year and will then grow by an average of 300,000 cars a year, compared to the present rate of 400,000, to reach 5.5 million in 2015, Liu Xiaoming, director of the Beijing municipal committee of communications, said.
Liu said the municipal government would not restrict the number of cars on the road at the moment, but would not rule out doing so in the future.
“But efforts would be made to reduce public needs for cars and restrict their use and parking through overall traffic planning and related policies,” he said.
By next year, Beijing’s car community will have grown by 1 million in only two-and-a-half years. It took cities like Tokyo 12 years to reach that rate of growth.
Authorities have tried to ease persistent traffic jams and reduce emissions with an on-going car ban in the city, which stops motorists from driving one day every week based on their license plate number.
They have also attempted to enlarge and enhance the city’s public transport system. Official estimates show public transport would make up to 50 percent of the total passenger trips in the central urban areas by 2015, while 20 percent of journeys will be made on bicycles.
Liu said that less reliance on private cars would ensure that vehicle emissions do not exceed that of 2008, despite increasing vehicles.
But Jia Yuanhua, a transportation professor at Beijing Jiaotong University who is a proponent for car controls, said the government should control the number of vehicles since the road resources are limited.
“The government would not restrict the purchase of cars because they need to support the growth of the industry and increase GDP during the financial crisis,” he said.
“But that is not sustainable and we have to take into consideration the traffic capacity.”
Lu Huapu, director of the institute of transportation engineering, Tsinghua University, also expressed concern over the city’s infrastructure capacity.
“The Chinese people like to use their cars frequently once they have one and I really doubt whether we can support such an enormous need,” Lu said.
Sixty college students in east China will soon begin collecting oral evidence from victims of germ warfare launched by Japanese troops during World War II (WWII), which may be used in future lawsuits against the Japanese government.
The students, from Hangzhou University of Electronic Science and Technology, will visit 208 households in Yiwu City in Zhejiang Province where more than 1,200 people died of the plague which was deliberately spread by Japanese troops between 1931 and 1945.
The surviving victims’ stories need to be written down before it is too late, says Wang Xuan, a lawyer representing people who suffered in the atrocity.
“Many of the victims have died or become aged, but few of them or their families have recorded the brutal facts from that period in any form,” said Wang.
The students will spend their upcoming winter vacation interviewing the elderly victims. The victims’ stories will be compiled and form part of the collection of a local museum.
Historians say at least 270,000 Chinese in Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Hunan provinces were victims of Japanese warfare which was mainly conducted by the notorious Unit 731 based in Harbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province.
In the city of Quzhou in western Zhejiang, more than 50,000 people were killed by Japanese troops using germ warfare, according to Chinese scholars.
In August 1997, a team of 108 Chinese germ warfare victims launched the first lawsuit in a Tokyo District Court demanding an apology and compensation from the Japanese government. They lost the case and their appeal was rejected.
China’s top political advisor Jia Qinglin on Monday vowed to boost ties with its neighbor Nepal as Nepal’s opposition party chief visits Beijing.
“Your visit to China will have positive and far-reaching impact on relations between the two countries as well as relations between the two parties,” said Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Jia made the remarks while meeting with Prachanda, chairman of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) (UCPN-M). Jia is also member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau.
The relationship between China and Nepal has developed healthily with joint efforts of both sides since they established diplomatic ties, said Jia, adding that the two countries set an example for treating each other on an equal foot, friendly co-existence and mutually-beneficiary cooperation.
Jia appreciated Nepal’s firm support on issues concerning China’s core interests, saying China hopes relevant parties in Nepal could advance peace process.
China is willing to work with Nepal in deepening substantial cooperation, enhancing party-to-party communication and pushing forward China-Nepal neighborly partnership, Jia said.
Prachanda spoke highly of China’s foreign policy of independence and peace, saying his party would support the efforts China has made to safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The UCPN-M will learn from the CPC’s experience in governance through inter-party exchanges to make joint contribution to our traditional friendship, he said.
A senior Palestinian official on Friday warned that the U.S. attempts to resume the stalled peace negotiations with Israel before the latter halts settlement activities in the Palestinian territories, including the natural growth, would leave the Palestinians in despair.
Jibril Rajoub, member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah party’s central committee said in a press statement sent to reporters, accused the Administration of U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday that “it began to deviate from the terms of reference of the International peace.”
“Israel and everyone should know that peace negotiations with Israel would never be resumed before approving all these references. Halting settlement, in the West Bank, including Jerusalem, and recognizing the vision of the two-state solution, are our conditions,” said Rajoub.
Abbas and George Mitchell, the U.S. peace envoy to the Middle East held on Friday talks in Ramallah and discussed the stalled peace process. but Mitchell did not say whether he managed to convince Israel to halt settlement, while only focusing on the resumption of the peace talks.
“We discussed our common vision of a viable and independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton are deeply committed to that,” Mitchell told reporters in a joint news conference in Ramallah with chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
Erekat told reporters that President Abbas reiterated to Mitchell on the Palestinian stance that Israel should be committed to the Roadmap plan for peace in the Middle East.
“If Israel wants to resume the peace talks, it should first express clear commitment to implementing the roadmap plan, which include stopping settlement and be committed to the two-sate solution,” said Erekat.
Mitchell held earlier talks on Friday with hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. Netanyahu office said in a statement after the meeting that it was constructive and would help the peace process.
Mitchell’s meeting with Abbas in Ramallah is the first of its kind after the three-way summit held in September in New York. Mitchell is trying to bridge the gaps between Israel and the Palestinians by finding a compromise of halting Israeli settlement in the Palestinian territories.
“They (Obama and Clinton) have made our policy clear, the only realistic solution to this conflict is for the aspiration of both sides to be met through two states living side by side in peace and security,” said Mitchell.
He added U.S looks forward to see “Palestinians and Israelis live with stability and prosperity alike.” He didn’t say if he has achieved any deal with Netanyahu on freezing settlement in the West Bank.
“Earlier today, in his public comments, President Obama specifically reaffirmed his commitment to that objective — we do not underestimate the difficulties, for us or for the parties,” said Mitchell.
He said that “this will be good for the Palestinians, good for Israelis, and good for all of the people of this region,” said Mitchell, adding “it’s in the interest of the United States as well.”
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) insisted that it wouldonly resume the peace negotiations if Israel halts settlement, including the natural growth and recognize the two-state solution.
“We all have an obligation to do all we can to help achieve the goal of the comprehensive peace in the Middle East,” said Mitchell.
Meanwhile, Erekat said that “this region doesn’t need more wars, and the one who seeks for peace should compel Israel to end the occupation of the Palestinian territories, which began in 1967.”
“This is the key for peace and security in the region. There is no danger on the region except the continuation of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories,” said Erekat.
Erekat also said that President Abbas briefed Mitchell on the recent Israeli security measures against al-Aqsa Mosque in the old city of Jerusalem, mainly preventing Moslem prayers from reaching the mosque.”
Mitchell arrived in Israel on Wednesday night, where he held talks with Israeli defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday and with Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu and President Abbas on Friday.
Meanwhile, official Palestinian sources, who spoke in condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that President Abbas rejected the U.S. demand to immediately resume the peace negotiations with Israel without any preconditions.
Khalil Shahin, a West Bank-based political analyst told Xinhua that the U.S. attempts to resume the peace talks without reaching an agreement on halting settlement “would not lead to any success of the peace process,” adding “this will be considered a dramatic change in the current U.S. stances.”
“This change in the political stances would reflect a not serious American position in the content of exerting pressure on Israel to abide by its commitments towards the peace process and the success of the peace negotiations,” said Shahin. “if this is true, it will be so depressing.”