The Pentagon Friday sparked the latest challenge to China-US relations under President Barack Obama when it approved the 6.4-billion-dollar sale of Patriot missiles, Black Hawk helicopters, mine-hunting ships and other weaponry. China responded furiously with a raft of reprisals, saying it would suspend military and security contacts with Washington and impose sanctions on US firms involved in the deal. Beijing warned of “severe harm” to Sino-US relations, what do you think?

They should have stood at the front of the line to expose the coverup of coalmine accidents, but they turned out to be among the culprits who have contributed to the conspiracy.

They are the reporters who have been bribed into silence. They received bribes instead of reporting the coalmine accidents. They are the bad apples and more than a dozen have already been sentenced to various years of imprisonment, but some are still at large 18 months after the fatal accident in a coalmine in North China’s Hebei province.

The fact the local Weixian county government has spent more than 2.6 million yuan ($382,000) in keeping a number of reporters quiet about the accident in June constitutes an affront to the professionalism of journalism and to the conscience of these reporters.

Fortunately, it is also journalists whose investigation unveiled the dirty business between these bad apples and local government officials.

What has taken us aback is the remark from a local official that a number of coalmine accidents have been successfully covered up because of an invested group, whose interests were tied to any exposure of the accidents.

Coalmine owners as well as some local government leaders are the last who want an accident to be disclosed to the higher authorities. They are either afraid of being severely punished, or afraid of losing their positions and opportunities at promotions. And possibly some of them have interests in these mines. Coalmine owners fear that their mines will be closed if the accident is exposed to the higher authorities through the media.

Yet, their efforts alone can hardly keep the information of an accident from being leaked. They need journalists to keep their mouths shut as well by offering bribes. When journalists have sacrificed their professional ethics for bribes and become accomplices, it becomes easier to cover up an accident, however serious and bloody it is.

What is even worse is the fact that fatal industrial accidents, those in coalmines in particular, have turned out to be an opportunity for some reporters to blackmail local government or those culprits of accidents for financial gains.

They have their tipsters, who would let them know about an accident immediately after it takes place, and then they rush to the very site and ask for money to keep quiet.

Rather than serving as a watchdog, they become parasites on industrial accidents to sponge up dirty money. They have neither the sense of social responsibility, nor shame.

They have ruined the reputation of journalists. Because of them, journalists are notoriously labeled as one of the most unwelcome people in some places. They guard against journalists as they would against burglars or thieves.

Thorough investigations are needed to find out those who have gotten away with such criminal dealings. And those who are found to have received bribes should be kicked out of the profession for life and receive due penalties. And news organizations must tighten control over correspondents they have dispatched to cover local news.

Never let the bad apples spoil the bunch.

With the dairy products company Sanlu bankrupt and the chief culprits sentenced to death in the wake of the 2008 melamine scandals, many naively thought that domestic dairy producers would learn and behave, and that melamine would be thing of the past.

That is why, despite the initial boycott that almost ruined local dairies, consumers have returned and the Ministry of Agriculture has reported a “better-than-expected” recovery.

But that was prior to the re-emergence of melamine-contaminated dairy products on store shelves. Five companies were found to have used melamine-tainted materials that should have been destroyed in 2008.

Stunning as it is, the discovery might not dampen the overall picture of recovery. After all, authorities have been quick to respond, and an intensive 10-day marketwide probe is underway. They have vowed to thoroughly investigate and destroy tainted milk powders produced in 2008.

Considering the special prowess of Chinese-style chain of command, campaigns like this may be very effective when it comes to immediate results. In spite of the appeal for long-term solutions, the current emphasis is on immediate gains.

We have little doubt about the authorities’ abilities to ferret out a number of bad examples. But the same old tactic of killing one to deter a hundred is obsolete as the remnants of melamine have clearly shown.

The Shanghai-based Panda Dairy Co Ltd, for instance, had been on the official blacklist of melamine users in the 2008 scandals. The fact that it has survived and even committed new offenses is a serious and loud alarm. And for melamine to be redistributed into the marketplace is embarrassing proof that our food safety monitoring system is not working. Though authorities have retooled the monitoring system by re-enforcing measures, personnel and heightened vigilance, it’s still not enough.

Melamine and dairy products made in 2008 are potential threats to food safety. But threats can derive from multiple sources. Melamine is only one of the many harmful additives our creative countrymen have employed to reap illicit profits. Short-lived campaigns that come and go like blasts of wind are no solutions to such problems. We can only hope that Panda is the sole repeat offender in the new melamine scandals.

Besides our best wishes for the 10-day campaign, we hope that there will be a break from the “killing the chicken to scare the monkey” tradition. A real long-term solution must be able to hold all offenders, not just those adding melamine to our daily milk, accountable at all times.

So 10 days later, we need to see more repairs to fix how this nation monitors its food safety.

LOS ANGELES – The “Hope for Haiti Now” telethon, led by George Clooney and Haiti-born rapper Wyclef Jean, has raised more than $57 million for relief to the earthquake-ravaged country, organizers said on Saturday.

They called the $57 million a record for public donations in a disaster relief telethon, and said the figures were still “preliminary” as they exclude donations by corporations and large private donors and sales figures on website iTunes.

Organizers said the “Hope for Haiti Now” album was the biggest one-day album pre-order in iTunes history and was currently No. 1 on iTunes’ album chart in 18 countries.

The two-hour telethon featured more than 100 celebrities singing songs, telling tales of loss and survival in Haiti and taking donations by phone. It was broadcast on television networks around the world, online and on mobile carriers.

Singer Alicia Keys kicked off the benefit singing “Prelude to a Kiss.” U.S. rapper Jay-Z debuted a song with U2’s Bono and The Edge, and R&B artist Beyonce sang her “Halo” with Coldplay’s Chris Martin on piano.

Actors including Leonardo DiCaprio, Denzel Washington and Nicole Kidman told stories of Haitians who had survived and heroic tales of rescue efforts.

Proceeds will be split among relief organizations including the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, the U.N. World Food Program, Oxfam America, the Red Cross, UNICEF and Yele Haiti Foundation.

The January 12, magnitude-7 quake killed up to 200,000 people, Haitian authorities said, and left up to 3 million people hurt or homeless and clamoring for medical assistance, food and water in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country.

LOS ANGELES – James Mitchell, who for nearly three decades played patriarch Palmer Cortland on the ABC soap opera “All My Children,” has died. He was 89.

Mitchell’s longtime partner Albert Wolsky said Sunday night that the actor died Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Wolsky says Mitchell suffered for years from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and had recently gotten pneumonia.

Mitchell appeared in more than 300 episodes of the popular soap from 1979 until a 40th anniversary episode this month. He was a regular on the show until 2008.

Wolsky says Mitchell loved playing the gruff, wealthy Palmer, who wielded power over the show’s fictional town of Pine Valley. He says Palmer “loved playing mean.”

Earlier in his career Mitchell had leading parts in the Broadway musicals “Brigadoon” and “Paint Your Wagon.”

NEW YORK – Conan O’Brien ended his brief stint as host of the “The Tonight Show” on Friday, taking shots at NBC but ultimately taking the high road and thanking his former employer for a chance at “the best job in the world.”

“This company has been my home for most of my adult life,” O’Brien told the Burbank, California, audience and home viewers during his final moments on the show, which began with a sustained standing ovation from the fans who chanted “Conan, Conan.”

“Thank you, that’s going to have to last me awhile,” he cracked once they settled down.”

Late in the show the host struck a more serious note, saying “Tonight I’m allowed to say anything I want.”

“I am enormously proud of the work we have done together, and I want to thank NBC for making it all possible,” he said.

Still, in his opening monologue O’Brien offered a list of possible uses for the soon-to-be vacated studio built expressly for his widely publicized assumption of “Tonight Show” hosting duties last year.

Among the suggestions were a “storage facility for apology notes to NBC stockholders,” and “leave the studio cold and empty and rename it “The World’s Largest Metaphor For NBC Programming.”

Joining O’Brien for his last show were actor Tom Hanks, comedian Will Ferrell who appeared on O’Brien’s first “Tonight” show, and singer Neil Young, who performed “Long May You Run.”

Thursday night’s show featured a surprise appearance by Ben Stiller, as well as an X-rated performance by Robin Williams that targeted NBC and was bleeped out several times.

In one of his trademark self-deprecating jabs, O’Brien joked that when the inevitable HBO film is made of the debacle, “I’d like to be played by Academy-Award winning actress Tilda Swinton,” who, like O’Brien, is a fair-skinned redhead.

Steve Carell of the NBC satirical comedy “The Office” conducted O’Brien’s “exit interview” in a surprise appearance.

“Did anything trigger your decision to leave,” he inquired, deadpan, before presenting O’Brien with a termination packet which included information on continuing education. Finally Carell asked the star for his company ID badge, which he fed into a shredder.

JAY LENO TO RETURN FROM MARCH

O’Brien’s swan song in one of U.S. television’s most coveted and high-profile jobs capped two weeks of acrimonious sniping, much of it on-air, that ended with a $45 million exit deal which will allow the show’s previous host, Jay Leno, to return to the flagship late-night talk show.

After more than a week of negotiations, General Electric Co’s NBC said it had agreed to release O’Brien from his contract after seven months, and that he would be free to take a new job elsewhere after September 1.

The struggling network, already bottom of the four big U.S. TV networks and now the butt of jokes by its own and rival comics, said Leno will return as host of “The Tonight Show” on March 1.

Leno hosted the program for 17 years, making it the top-rated late-night talk show on U.S. television. He handed over to O’Brien in June, only to see audiences slump, while Leno’s own prime-time talk show floundered as well.

Leno’s name went unmentioned during O’Brien’s final show.

At the conclusion, the outgoing host somberly told his audience:

“Walking away from ‘The Tonight Show’ is the hardest thing I have ever had to do.

“This is the best job in the world, I absolutely love doing it … I did it my way, with people I love and I do not regret a second. I’ve had more good fortune than anyone I know.”

He ended the show by joining Ferrell in a rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird.”

Fourteen foreign beauties competing for the title of Miss Laowai China 2010 called Saturday for more awareness on breast cancer in China.

“Breast cancer is a huge threat to women’s health. The breast cancer issue has been promoted around the world but we feel the issue has not drawn enough attention from the public in China yet,” Msafiri Sinkala, operations director of the pageant, told METRO on Saturday.

He said the campaign would cooperate with TV programs in China. They will also deliver brochures with contestants’ images to hospitals in Beijing, as a way to provide the public with more information about breast cancer.

The final of the Miss Laowai China Pageant will be held in August in Beijing.

The Pageant’s 14 contestants took part in a photo shoot on Saturday, chosen from over 60 candidates.

And applications are still open to hit the campaign’s target of 100 contestants from up to 40 countries. The second photo shoot is scheduled to take place in April.

Participants are judged on Chinese talents such as singing, dancing and playing musical instruments. Six participants will win prizes, and three will be given the title of Miss Laowai China.

Msafiri and his wife Prudence have lived in China for almost 10 years. Prudence has performed on the Chinese stage as a singer since 2003 and participated in numerous TV programs.

“The campaign aims to show the public what these foreign girls have learned from China, as well as what they contributed,” Msafiri added.

The contestants are thrilled to get a chance to take part in the competition, he said.

French auto maker PSA Peugeot Citroen would recall 14 of its 308 SW model sold to the Chinese mainland due to faulty bolt, China’s product quality watchdog said Tuesday.

The wagons, manufactured between July 17 and August 28 last year, were imported from France, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said in a statement, citing a decision of the Peugeot Citroen (China) Automotive Trade Co..

A problem with bolts for right transmission shaft may lead to vibration and noise of the shaft, and may affect driving, the statement said.

Authorized service centers will contact owners by letter to arrange for the repair after the recall was launched on Tuesday, the statement said.

China’s government Tuesday designated another 20 industrial bases as export-oriented innovation bases to boost exports of technology products and improve global competitiveness.

Jointly authorized by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), the innovation bases will receive help from the ministries in research and development funding, personnel training and business information, an official with the MOC told Xinhua.

The new bases bring to 58 the number designated since 2006 as part of an effort to boost foreign trade through technology and innovation.

The bases, mostly hi-tech development zones and industrial parks, have covered emerging industries like information technology, biopharmaceuticals, equipment manufacturing, new materials, new energy resources and optical-mechatronics engineering.

Customs statistics show exports of mechanical and electrical products last month soared 26.9 percent year on year to 78.05 billion U.S. dollars.

Exports of those products last year amounted to 713.1 billion U.S. dollars, accounting for 59.3 percent of the nation’s total foreign trade volume.

China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) released a notification January 11, claiming that China’s milk powder import volume hiked recently, and relevant enterprises should pay close attention to market trends and improve their awareness of risk prevention so as to avoid losses caused by intensive milk powder imports.

MOC statistics show that relevant enterprises recently reported a hike in milk powder import volume. In December 2009, 31,000 tons of milk powder arrived in China, of which, formula milk powder for infants reached 5,000 tons. It is predicted that a total of 40,000 tons of milk powder including 3,000 tons of formula milk powder for infants will arrive at ports in northern China, eastern China and central and southern China in January 2010.