China stages its biggest maritime rescue exercise

October 12th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan Navy Monday started its six-week-long Seaspark 2009 maritime exercise in the North Arabian Sea, officials said. Pakistan Marines, Special Services Group, ships, submarines and aircraft will participate in the exercise, the Inter Services Public Relations said in a statement.

September 24th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India Thursday said it will hold the third joint military exercise with China next year and clarified that no such drill was planned for this year. "It was mutually decided during the last exercise that the next joint military exercise would be held in 2010, external affairs ministry spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said.

September 18th, 2009 SINGAPORE - Singapore and Australia are conducting a joint naval exercise in the South China Sea Sep 18-25, officials said. Navies of the two countries will conduct a range of exercise such as surveillance, air defence and anti-submarine warfare, Singapore's defence ministry said.

September 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian Army has mobilised its troops to forwards posts in Jammu and Kashmir and along the northeastern border with China in an exercise named Operation Alert, a defence official said Wednesday. About 50 percent troops on the Line of Actual Control have been mobilised to forward posts.

August 28th, 2009 BEIJING - After a series of territorial disputes between China and US earlier this year, China has urged US to reduce, and eventually end the military surveillance, which it does by both aircraft and ships near its shores. The Chinese Ministry of National Defense made the request during a session about maritime safety involving the countries on Thursday, which came after both the countries agreed to resume military relations during the two-day Strategic and Economic Dialogue (SAED) held in Washington in July.

August 21st, 2009 Landslide on Portuguese beach kills 5, injures 4LISBON, Portugal — A landslide at a Portuguese seaside resort killed five people and injured at least four Friday, officials said. Part of a cliff collapsed and buried bathers at Maria Luisa beach in Albufeira on the Algarve coast, said Marques Pereira, the head of maritime facilities in Faro.

August 21st, 2009 Landslide on Portuguese beach kills 1, injures 8LISBON, Portugal — A landslide at a Portuguese seaside resort killed one person and injured at least eight others Friday, officials said. Two people were missing.

August 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Fire fighters in China were a little amused when they rushed in to rescue a woman's hand, which was jammed in the sewer of a toilet in a hospital. The woman, surnamed Zhang, was in the hospital visiting her sick husband, reports the China Daily.

July 23rd, 2009 Rain hinders efforts to rescue 23 miners in ChinaBEIJING — Heavy rains hindered efforts to rescue 23 miners who became trapped early Thursday in flooding at a mine in northeastern China, a local authority said. After a week of torrential storms, the Xinyongfeng Coal Mine in Heilongjiang province flooded around 2 a.m.

July 12th, 2009 CHONGQING - Seven people were drowned in a flash flood triggered by rainstorms in southwest China, officials said Sunday. The incident took place at around 4 p.m.

June 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian and French navies, which have been conducting the "Varuna" joint exercise for the past seven years, will engage outside Indian waters for the first time when the war game is conducted off the coast of Brittany June 27-July 4. For the last seven years, India and France have continually strengthened their bilateral naval relation as a part of which we have conducted an annual bilateral exercise, called Varuna.

June 10th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Post the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the Indian Navy is taking tips from the French, the Australians and the Israelis to ramp up coastal security in the country without infringing the rights of people, a top official said. With the attacks bringing to the fore the lacunae in the security of India's 7,516-km shoreline and the overlap of multiple enforcement agencies for coastal security, the navy is all set to take a leaf out of the 200-year-old French coastal security system.

May 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Chinese and US navies have been searching for ways to "alleviate disagreements" over international law on maritime rights, a senior military source has said. The source admitted the two militaries still disagree on how to interpret the international law concerning maritime waters.

May 7th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has increased its maritime area to over 50,000 kilometres, the Daily Times reports. Pakistan Science and Technology Minister Azam Khan Swati said following the UN Commission on the Limit of Continental Shelf's (UNCLCS) green signal, the country's maritime area has increased substantially, and this would help in providing a reliable database for future marine research.

May 5th, 2009 GM's China sales surge 50 pct to monthly recordSHANGHAI — General Motors said Tuesday that sales in China soared 50 percent in April to a monthly record of 151,084 vehicles, thanks to strong demand for Buick brand cars and Wuling minivehicles. Sales of the Buick Excelle sedan, a staple in GM's Shanghai-produced portfolio, more than doubled from a year ago to 22,078, the company said in a statement.