Dalian, Shantou, Xiamen and other cities reported glowing streaks on the horizon, and internet sites are posting blurred photographic evidence.Villagers from the poverty-stricken mountains around Peking also witnessed the bright lights that passed over the northern suburbs of the city on the late afternoon of 11 December. In northern Changchun, three suns appeared in the sky, while in south-western Chengdu it was a V-shaped flying saucer. The skies of China have been filled with more than their fair share of unidentified flying objects during the past weeks – from deepest Sichuan to bustling Shanghai, from the deserts of the north to the paddy fields of the south.
Even staid Peking has been caught up in the buzz of the paranormal, as po-faced newspapers and state television lavish attention and credible expertise on the phenomenon.”This is the most significant number of sightings reported in China since UFOs became a permitted area of study back in 1978,” said Zhou Xiaoqiang, secretary general of the Peking UFO Research Organisation, and an aviation engineer.”I’m sure more than 95 percent of the sightings have been caused by aircraft and weather patterns, but there is a certain feeling in the air, connected with the end of the millennium and the dawn of a new century, that is turning UFOs intoa hot topic,” he said from his tiny study, which is crammed with files on 20 years of sightings and research.Since 2 December, when people in Shanghai spotted a shining cylinder with a flaming orange tail scooting above the skyscrapers, almost every city in China has had a sighting or two. The mainland and the island of Taiwan have been ruled separately since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.

Beijing demands that they be reunited eventually and has long threatened to use military force if Taiwan declares independence.. The skies of China have been filled with more than their fair share of unidentified flying objects during the past weeks – from deepest Sichuan to bustling Shanghai, from the deserts of the north to the paddy fields of the south. “Taiwan independence absolutely will not mean peace but war,” he said.Qian spoke Friday at a forum marking the fifth anniversary of President Jiang Zemin’s announcement of Beijing’s plan to reunify with Taiwan under the “one country, two systems” model it used for Hong Kong and Macau.”China will never compromise on safeguarding its territorial integrity,” Qian said.Qian, a member of the powerful Politburo, reiterated the government’s offer of giving Taiwan more autonomy under more flexible policies than the Hong Kong and Macau arrangements.The statement, coming weeks before Taiwanese select a new president on March 18, conveys a strong message that China wants to discuss reunification with the island’s new leader.In Taipei, none of the main presidential candidates reacted immediately to Qian’s comments.Lin Chong-pin, vice chairman of the Taiwanese government’s Mainland Affairs Council, said Qian may have offered “a larger cage” than China did before, but Taiwanese would still reject it.”Taiwanese are enjoying full democracy and freedom and why would anyone want to be confined in a cage?” asked Lin.Lin said Taiwan is pursuing equal status with Beijing in negotiations and not formal independence.”I hope we can discuss the political status of each side, and not just our status” as Qian offered, Lin told reporters.Qian also repeated China’s opposition to “any foreign force” – meaning the United States – selling advanced weapons to Taiwan or transferring technologies for a missile-defense system.Qian warned other countries “not to do anything that would cause tensions in the situation between the two sides or that would impede or be detrimental to China’s peaceful reunification,” the People’s Daily report said.China conducted war games and missile tests off Taiwan in 1996 just before Taiwan’s first direct presidential election.In negotiations on reunification, the two sides could discuss many issues, including “international space for economic, cultural and social activities for Taiwan that suits it, and the political status of the Taiwan authorities,” Qian said.Qian repeated the mainland’s offer that anything could be discussed as long as Taiwan agreed to the “one-China principle.” He also reiterated the government’s condemnation of Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui for saying last summer that the two sides should be treated as equals in talks.China regards Taiwan as one of its provinces. Independence for Taiwan would mean war with China, Vice Premier Qian Qichen warned as China stressed anew its own plan for reunification. Independence for Taiwan would mean war with China, Vice Premier Qian Qichen warned as China stressed anew its own plan for reunification.
Qian warned that those who want independence for Taiwan should not “play with fire,” according to a text of his speech in the Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily on Saturday. Most of the explosions have occurred in the eastern province of Punjab.

Most of the dead and wounded in Karachi were worshippers at a mosque, which was heavily damaged by one of the bombs.Azim Daoudpota, the governor of southern Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital, blamed India for that explosion.In recent months, Pakistan has been battered by a wave of bombings throughout the country. A powerful bomb exploded in eastern Pakistan on Saturday, killing two people and wounding three others, a government official said, a day after two other bomb blasts in a southern city. A powerful bomb exploded in eastern Pakistan on Saturday, killing two people and wounding three others, a government official said, a day after two other bomb blasts in a southern city.
The bomb ripped through a bicycle repair shop Saturday in Dahalo Wali in Punjab province, one kilometer (mile) from Pakistan’s border with India, said Shahid Mahmood, a deputy commissioner. A Pakistani soldier was among those wounded, he said.Mahmood blamed neighboring India, although no one took responsibility and there was no indication of evidence to implicate India.There was no immediate comment from Indian officials.Pakistan and India, rival nations that have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947, routinely accuse each other of planting bombs and sponsoring terrorism.On Friday, two bombs shook the southern city of Karachi, killing four people and wounding 32 others. Yazbek witnessed his young wife’s killing and says the gunmen shot his mother-in-law The major died of bullet wounds, not shellfire. And in post-war Lebanon, carrying weapons is among the most serious crimes.

Certainly, the battle of the northern mountains was a message from the Lebanese army – probably a message to the Islamists of Tripoli – that they will be dealt with as harshly as the Syrians once crushed Hama.. The officer and the two women were killed by army fire – why would they hold the major for three days before killing him? All these men wanted to do was to be alone Their only crime was to have weapons.”But the man is wrong. In all, the army lost thirteen dead, including the captured major.Outside the room of mourners at Aassoun, in a dank, chill corridor, I am taken aside by a bearded young man, his face cowled in a scarf, his voice low “Those people in there are too afraid to talk,” he says “There are intelligence agents around. Another man was killed and his wife and retarded son wounded by an artillery round. A bullet took the life of a Syrian woman living near the Yazbeks.