\'Warfighter\' Video Game Offers Links to Actual Guns

It has not yet been two weeks since Adam Lanza used two handguns and an assault rifle to kill 20 first-graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut.

A week later, Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association implicated violent video games - “a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells and stows violence against its own people” - for helping to incite Sandy Hook and other mass attacks.

The company Electronic Arts has created a Web site that promotes the manufacturers of the guns, knives and combat-style gear depicted in the latest version of its top-selling game, Medal of Honor Warfighter, as our colleagues Barry Meier and Andrew Martin reported in The New York Times.

“Among the video game giant's marketing partners on the Web site were the McM illan Group, the maker of a high-powered sniper's rifle, and Magpul, which sells high-capacity magazines and other accessories for assault-style weapons.”

On the site's home page, the logos of various gun and equipment manufacturers are displayed under the headline “Authentic Games. Authentic Brands.” The game is rated M, for mature, and carries warnings about “blood, intense violence and strong language.”

Two other brief excerpts from Barry and Andrew's article:

While studies have found no connection between video games and gun violence, the case of Medal of Honor Warfighter illustrates how the firearms and video game industries have quietly forged a mutually beneficial marketing relationship.”

Many of the same producers of firearms and related equipment are also financial backers of the N.R.A. McMillan, for example, is a corporate donor to the group, and Magpul rece ntly joined forces with it in a product giveaway featured on Facebook. The gun group also lists Glock, Browning and Remington as corporate sponsors.

As the Rendezvous editor Marcus Mabry recently reported, Mr. LaPierre of the N.R.A. found no fault with gun manufacturers but instead blamed other factors for violent behavior, notably video games “with names like Bulletstorm, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat and Splatterhouse.”

“And here's one: It's called Kindergarten Killers,” Mr. LaPierre told a crowded news conference. “It's been online for 10 years.”

He also condemned violent music videos and films as “the filthiest form of pornography,” and he assailed media conglomerates for “bring ing an even more toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty right into our homes, every minute, every day, every hour of every single year.”

What's your take? Do you think violent games and films incite actual violence, particularly gun attacks like Sandy Hook? Or do those dots not connect? What's your view on kids being allowed to play violent video games and watch bloody movies? Have you ever given these games or DVDs to children as holiday gifts? In light of Sandy Hook, are you perhaps re-thinking such presents? In short, do you agree with Mr. LaPierre and the N.R.A.?

What Kept China\'s Search Engines Busy in 2012

HONG KONG - With an estimated 600 million Chinese now having access to the Internet, it seems both instructive and important to find out about their end of the global online conversation. What have they been reading and searching for this year? What has them worried, or optimistic? What have they been blogging and blathering about?

Baidu, the leading search engine on the mainland, has compiled two Top 10 lists - the most-searched terms online this year, and the “fastest rising” words or phrases, those that raced suddenly from mild interest among netizens to a relatively large number of searches.

The most-searched topic in 2012 was the “Wang Lijun affair” (王立军事件 Wáng Lìjūn Shìjiàn). As the Baidu spokesman Kaiser Kuo explains:

The dramatic fall of Bo Xilai was triggered in February when Bo's hand-picked top cop in Chongqing was suddenly demoted, then fled in disguise from Chongqing to Chengdu, where he sought refuge in the U.S. Consulate. There, according to many sources, he presented information on the murder of Neil Heywood, a British citizen with close ties to the Bo family, at the hands of Bo's wife Gu Kailai. And so began the most dramatic real-life political thriller that China had seen in decades.

Mr. Wang was eventually convicted of various crimes and handed a 15-year prison sentence.

The No. 3 term on the list centered more directly on Mr. Bo's downfall (薄熙来被免职 Bó Xīlaí beì miǎnzhí).

Once a member of Communist Party royalty, Mr. Bo was removed from his posts and kicked out of the party. His wife was convicted of murder, and Mr. Bo is now reportedly enmeshed in a secretive judicial process that deals with wayward senior officials.

A number of the most popular searches in 2012 focused on pocketbook issues: No. 2 was the price of silver (白é"¶ä»·æ ¼ baíyín jiàgè), which has seesawed all year, and No. 4 was the price of gasoline (油价 yoújià), which caused huge popular outrage and led to a nationwide series of taxi strikes.

Chinese became fascinated this year with paper gold (纸黄é‡' zhǐhuángjÄ«n), or gold certificates, the fifth-most searched term. Baidu described the certificates as “basically a savings account for gold,” an investment vehicle favored by smaller investors perhaps wary of real estate or the stock market.

No. 6 on the search list was “individual income tax” (个人所得税 gèrénsuÇ'déshuì) - llo, President François Hollande, are you getting this? - followed by the lottery for auto licenses (æ'‡å· yaóhaò). Baidu's explanation of the lottery issue:

In an effort to curb private automobile ownership, which has turned Beijing's famed Ring Roads into barely-mobile parking lots during rush hour commute, the capital implemented a lottery system on January 1, 2011 for would-be car buyers. This year Guangzhou followed suit and began issuing license plates only for lucky lottery winners beginning in August.

As the chances for getting picked by the lottery machine get slimmer by the day, Beijingers became even more furious with a recent report that Song Jianguo, head of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, was being investigated for rigging the lottery for personal gain. The authorities claimed the accusations were groundless, but people's suspicions remained.

The terms on Baidu's fastest-rising list had a more sensationalist quality to them, led by Gu Kailai, who confessed to the poisoning of Mr. Heywood and received a suspended death sentence.

Rumors about more contaminated dairy products blew up the Chinese Internet in March, sending it to No. 2 on the fastest-rising list, ahead of online bloviating about a corporate logo change (“Old Dame' becomes a young girl: 大娘变å°'妇 Dàniáng biàn shaòfù).

Baidu's description: “When Danian Dumplings, a popular Shanghai-based chain whose name means something like ‘old dame,' decided to ditch the goofy old lady who'd been on their logo forever in favor of a curvaceous young lass, viewed from behind in silhouette as she carries a bucket, people all over China were curious, and anxious to spout off their opinions.”

“The girl who dreamed of time travel got conned” (å°'女梦想穿越被骗 shàonǘ mèngxiáng chuānyuè bèipiàn) was at No. 5. Baidu explains the fate of the girl and her missing $290:

A 19-year-old young woman named Dan became obsessed wit h the idea of going back in time after watching a hit TV series where the young female protagonist, a college student, goes back in time to hang with the emperor and cavort with handsome Manchu princes in the Qing Dynasty. She met someone online and was told that she could travel back in time after drinking a “miracle wine.” The unwitting Dan drank the wine and woke up to find her 1,800 kuai cash gone.

There were other fast-rising searches about the usual banal stuff: nude photos posted online of a film star's girlfriend, a famous comedian who inexplicably pulled out of a New Year's gala, a woman sleeping through a live televised concert, a scandal involving an allegedly corrupt narcotics policeman.

We'll close with No. 8 on the fastest-rising searches - a Time magazine cover photo of a California mother breastfeeding her 3-year-old son who's standing on a stool ( [时代] 喂奶照 shídài zázhì weìnaízhào). The cover can be seen here, along with a Time article about the genesis of the photo, which, as Baidu noted, “grabbed eyeballs in China, introducing the novel concept of ‘attachment parenting' to millions of Internet users.”

IHT Quick Read: Dec. 24

NEWS An Islamist-backed constitution was approved by voters in Egypt, propelling deeply split political factions into a new phase in the battle over the country's future. David Kirkpatrick and Mayy El Sheikh report from Cairo.

Angry protests escalated into violence in India's capital Sunday, after thousands of people gathered to demand justice for the victim of a recent gang rape in New Delhi. Heather Timmons and Gardiner Harris report.

The latest chapter in the Greek fiscal drama is a new reminder of how private investors have managed to outmaneuver Europe's officials at various stages of the debt crisis. And, some experts caution, each time it happens, future debt workouts in the euro zone will become even mo re costly. Landon Thomas Jr. reports from London.

Alongside Christmas markets peddling sweets, candles, holiday decorations and crafts another kind of market has sprung up in response to Spain's hard times: “mercadillos,” or little markets, where the entrepreneurial-minded have found a niche by gathering and selling the unsold stock of retailers whose sales have plummeted, or unwanted clothing and other items from people in need of cash. Raphael Minder reports from Madrid.

Owners of dozens of buildings across Hong Kong drape the exteriors with enormous displays for Christmas, New Year and the Lunar New Year - an expense that appears to be downturn-proof. Bettina Wassener reports.

EDUCATION Elite Western boarding schools, including Marlborough College, the Harrow School and Branksome Hall, are establishing campuses in Asia. The schools are tapping into the demands of Asian parents who want their children to get a high-quality foreign-style education while staying close to home. There is also the desire to escape local school systems, which focus more on exams and rote learning. Kristiano Ang and Yenni Kwok report.

Malaysia is trying to upgrade a hodgepodge of gritty industrial towns and rural villages with Iskandar Malaysia, a planned eco-city and trading zone with districts for tourism, health care and education. EduCity, a 240-hectare, or 600-acre, plot of land is bei ng developed in Nusajaya, with the hope that the city's lush green fields, neatly paved roads and two theme parks will eventually become a second home to more than 16,000 students. Kristiano Ang reports from Nusajaya, Malaysia.

ARTS The austerity measures that have hurt the arts across Europe have been particularly unsettling in France, where cultural spending had been sacrosanct. Now the directors of grand cultural institutions here are resorting to public appeals to pay for the things they want, cobbling together the money not by courting millionaires but just the average Jules. Doreen Carvajal reports from Paris.

Many of the year's design coups belonged to small entrepreneurs. Alice Rawsthorn writes from London.

SPORTS The Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar announced that he is retiring from one-day cricket events, implying that he intends to continue in five-day tests, taking a career that began when he was 16 up to and beyond his 40th birthday next March. Huw Richards reports.

With the goalkeeper and club captain Iker Casillas sitting on the bench for the first time since May 2002, Real Madrid suffered its first loss to Málaga since 1983. Rob Hughes on soccer.

An Education City Takes Shape

HONG KONG - Malaysia is working on turning an area of gritty industrial towns and villages into EduCity, a massive new education complex that will include the branches of 10 foreign schools, including several universities, business and sports institutes, and two private prep schools.

Kristiano Ang visited the dusty construction sites that are expected to become immaculately planned campuses housing 16,000 students. Currently, only a few EduCity schools are operational; but if all goes according to plan, the full project will be open by 2017.

Western institutions have been weighing the pros and cons of expanding East: Costs are relatively low, local governments are supportive, and the potential for growth is huge. But there can be cultural or political differences to overcome . There is also no way to predict if Asian campuses will give students the same quality of education, and the same freedoms, as in these schools' home campuses.

Some EduCity educators, accustomed to working with relative independence in the West, now have to check with the government on everything from staffing to fees and admissions.

While at EduCity, Kristiano toured the new Marlborough College Malaysia, an extension of an elite British boarding school, complete with wooden desks, checkered uniforms and the master's house overlooking the cricket ground.

He and Yenni Kwok in Hong Kong look at the rise of elite prep schools opening branches in the region. Harrow, the British institution founded in the 16th century, added to its Beijing and Bangkok branches with a new school in Hong Kong in September. Also this autumn, Branksome Hall, a century-old private girls' school in Toronto, opened a campus on Jeju, a resort island in South Korea.

All three got support from local governments, either in terms of land use, interest-free loans or preferential tax treatment.

There are several reasons Asian states are opening their doors to foreign institutions: They want to minimize brain drain as more students head to the West. They are also catering to the wishes of a rising upper class, who are enamored with Western brand names, whether they are attached to designer purses or high schools.

Should Asian governments help foreign private institutions when poor local schools in the region lack basic resources? Can you replicate a Western education in Asia?

What Will You Do With All That Gift Wrap?

Paris - With the season of exuberant gift giving, joyful excess and artificial Christmas trees at hand, activists, academics and filmmakers are warning of growing landfills and environmental pollution fed by our unsustainable consumption cycle.

“Waste is very much an unseen problem. Though the waste itself is very visible, people don't regard waste as a pollution problem,” said Andy Cundy, a professor who researches applied geology and environmental management at the University of Brighton in Britain.

As economies slowly rebound and we rejoice in being able to buy our loved ones (or ourselves) gifts, our garbage dumps continue to grow. And whether our household waste ultimately ends up in landfills or is incinerated (in some cases allowing for energy recapture), it puts a stress on the environment. When trash is exported to developing countries - where rules governing disposal tend to be lax or nonexistent -  the environmental impact is especially troubling, as two new documentary films show.

“Trashed” follows host Jeremy Irons on a discovery of the global problem of household waste. Our colleagues at the Green Blog asked Mr. Irons a couple of questions about the film earlier this month. Mr. Irons told Joanna Foster:

“I didn't realize that all this non-degradable rubbish and consumerism is in large part thanks to World War II and the massive war production apparatus that needed to be developed for peaceful purposes after the days of making weapons had ended. I was born in 1948, so it's really only in my lifetime that this throwaway societ y has emerged.”

The trailer for “Trashed”:

The film “Landfill Harmonic” follows a youth orchestra in a Paraguayan slum that plays on instruments built from other people's trash (to see some photos of the recycled orchestra's instruments, check out this NBC report).

“Our film shows how trash and recycled materials can be transformed into beautiful-sounding musical instruments; but more importantly, it brings witness to the transformation of human beings,” the filmmakers write on their website.

The teaser for “Landfill Harmonic” has become a minor Internet sensation, with nearly 1.5 million views since its launch in November:

Here, in the European Union, more than 3 billion tons of waste is thrown out yearly, which comes out to 6 tons per citizen, according to Eurostat. And while there are some signs of progress in waste reduction, recycling and treatment, the Union's 27 countries are still a long way from meeting their 2020 targets under the waste reduction plan.

The so-called Waste Framework Directive calls for at least half of all paper, metal, plastic and glass waste from households to be recycled by 2020. In the United Kingdom, which is among the Union's more ambitious recyclers, the total household rate for recycling did not even reach 40 percent in 2010, according to a government-commissioned study.

The most meaningful way of reducing the stre am of waste is by reducing consumption, explained Dr. Cundy, who also served as an expert in the film “Trashed.”

Mr. Irons suggests unwrapping products and leaving the packaging in the store. As he put it in his interview with the Green Blog:

“I consider myself quite capable of getting my tomatoes home safely without sitting on them, so why must they come packaged in plastic armor? And I think I can even get a pair of scissors home without chopping off my hand so I really don't need that damned impenetrable plastic shell.”

Dr. Cundy says composting at home can do much to cut the amount of general waste households produce.

Municipal governments can help the process by reducing services for general garbage (smaller bins, fewer weekly pick-ups) and by enhancing services for recycling and composting.

“It forces people to cha nge their habits about their own lifestyle choices,” Dr. Cundy said in a recent interview. “It's very simple: reuse, recycle rather than throw it away.”

Do you try to limit the amount of trash you throw out? How? What do you wish you did more religiously, or what do you wish was easier or different when it comes to reusing and recycling?

China Assails U.S. Over Alliance With Japan and Possible F-16 Sales to Taiwan

HONG KONG - The nomination of Senator John Kerry as the new U.S. secretary of state has been warmly received by China, but the state-run news media on the mainland has sharply attacked the passage of a new military spending bill that is awaiting President Obama's signature.

Two amendments to the $633 billion bill have drawn particular scorn from Beijing, which has unleashed a series of scathing articles and editorials in the state-run news media.

One provision in the bill says “the United States takes no position on the ultimate sovereignty of the Senkaku islands,” but endorses Japan's administration of the fiercely disputed islands.

A commentary by Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, called the amendment “a gross violation of China's sovereign rig hts.”

The uninhabited islets, located in the East China Sea, are known in China as the Diaoyu islands. They are claimed by China, Japan and Taiwan, all of whom have conducted provocative naval patrols around the islands.

When a Chinese military surveillance plane overflew the islands two weeks ago, Japan scrambled fighter jets in response. The next day, an editorial in Global Times, a mainland newspaper tied to the Chinese Communist Party, said the overflight “marks the beginning of China's air surveillance” of the islands.

“The situation could easily veer into a serious military clash,” the paper said, warning that “if Tokyo keeps on intercepting Chinese patrol planes, such a confrontation is bound to happen sooner or later.”

Shinzo Abe, expected to be sworn in this week as the new Japanese prime minister, has suggested he might send government workers or Coast Guard personnel to occupy the islands, a move that would complete a worrisome air-land-sea trifecta.

The new military spending bill, known as the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act, was passed in both houses of Congress by wide margins.

Its amendment on the islands reaffirms Washington's commitment to a bilateral security alliance with Tokyo, and says in part, “The unilateral actions of a third party will not affect the United States acknowledgement” of Tokyo's de facto control of the islands.

“In an apparent move to bolster Japan's unwarranted claims, the document goes even further to say that the U.S.-Japan security treaty applies to the dis pute, should the islands come under attack,” said an editorial in Monday's editions of the state-run newspaper China Daily. “This is a blatant violation of China's sovereign rights.

“The U.S. meddling in the dispute over the Diaoyu islands is detrimental to regional peace and stability,” the paper said, “as it will only embolden the increasingly rightist Japan.”

The other provision of the bill that has angered China expresses congressional support for the sale of dozens of new F-16 C/D fighter jets to Taiwan. The amendment, offered by Rep. Kay Granger, a Texas Republican, refers to Taiwan as “our key strategic ally in the Pacific.”

“Our support for a democratic Taiwan is consistent with our national security priorities in the region,” Ms. Granger sa id in a statement on her official Web site. “It also demonstrates that we stand by our friends and allies no matter where the threats are from.”

China opposes all arms sales to Taiwan, which it considers to be a breakaway province.

“The U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, an inalienable part of China, are the most sensitive issue standing in the way of bilateral ties,” China Daily said. “Any mishandling of the issue could derail what is widely seen as the most important bilateral relationship in the world.”

The Obama administration declined last year to sell 66 new F-16s to Taiwan but did approve $5.3 billion in upgrades to the island's 20-year-old fleet of American-made combat aircraft.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas assailed that refusal, saying at the time that the “capitulation to Communist China by the Obama administration marks a sad day in American foreign policy, and it represents a slap in the face to a strong ally and longtime friend.”

For China, the upgrades were insult enough, and Beijing summoned the American ambassador and military attaché to register a “strong protest” over what Xinhua called a “despicable breach of faith in international relations.”

Another similar response - official outrage, an ambassadorial summons and the like - is certainly possible again if Mr. Obama signs the 2013 bill, which could be this week.

“This is a kind of ritual, and all the players know their roles,” Yawei Liu, director of the China Program at the Carter Center in Atlanta, told my colleague Andrew Jacobs. “There is a script they fol low and then hope things cool down so they can return to business as usual.”

Xinhua said in a signed commentary by Zhi Linfei that the two new amendments, which are not binding on Mr. Obama, are “set to cause harm to China-U.S. relations at a sensitive time of political transition in both countries.”

The Xinhua commentary concluded this way:

The history of the past four decades has clearly demonstrated that China and the U.S. can break the curse of zero-sum game between a sitting power and an emerging power, through building a cooperative partnership based on mutual respect and benefit.

So, it's advisable for the Obama administration to reject the two amendments and continue to honor its commitment to building a new type of inter-power relationship with China, by respecting China's vital interests, enhancing strategic mutual trust and handling differe nces properly.

Meanwhile, the reception for Senator Kerry's nomination has been far less contentious across Greater China.

Greg Torode, the veteran foreign affairs columnist for The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, wrote that Mr. Kerry has “forged a reputation as an intelligent pro-engagement pragmatist.”

“He backed the congressional push behind China's landmark entry into the World Trade Organization and was a key early driver in Washington's normalization of ties with its old enemy, Vietnam.

“And how he juggles Obama's priorities of boosting ties with both Beijing and a wary region at the same time will be a key early test of his skills.”