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British immigration policy suffers from “fundamental uncertainty” because nobody knows for sure how many are people are coming and going.
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The adverts aim to improve the public perception of Islam An advertising campaign to tackle Islamophobia has been unveiled on buses across the UK.
Vehicles in several cities will carry the message “Muslims for loyalty, peace and freedom” in an attempt to challenge negative stereotypes of the faith.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, the group behind the campaign, said it hoped it would educate people about Islam and remove misconceptions.
But some Muslim groups have criticised the campaign as “unrealistic”.
The campaign, which began on 26 March, will see almost 100 buses in London and 60 in Glasgow display the poster for four to eight weeks.
It will then be rolled out to other cities including Leicester, Birmingham, Leeds, Yorkshire and Bradford over the next six months.
Volunteers will also distribute leaflets door-to-door throughout the UK explaining the peaceful and positive principles of the faith.
”Through this campaign we are trying to clarify the true teachings of Islam, to speak out against injustices, suicide bombings and terrorism,” said Rafiq Hayat, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association’s national president.
Islamophobia has been seen by some to be an increasing problem in the UK.
“Through this campaign we are trying to clarify the true teachings of Islam, to speak out against injustices, suicide bombings and terrorism”
Rafiq Hayat Ahmadiyya Muslim Association
Last year, an online YouGov poll of 2,152 adults commissioned by the the Exploring Islam Foundation, found that 58% of those questioned linked Islam with extremism, while 69% believed it encouraged the repression of women.
In a recent speech, Baroness Warsi, co-chairman of the Conservative party, said anti-Muslim prejudice had passed the “dinner table test” to become uncontroversial and socially acceptable by Britons.
Rafiq Hayat said Islam was a religion of peace and should not be hijacked by a minority of extremists.
“As Muslims it pains us when our religion is tarnished by the actions of a minority of people who promote violence and hatred,” he said.
”Terror offences committed by a small number of Muslims should not be used to condemn all who follow Islam.
”Islam means peace and we want to convey the real message of the religion to the people of this country,” he said.
The adverts will be visible on buses across the UK But there was scepticism within the Muslim community of the campaign’s effectiveness.
Massoud Shadjareh, chair of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, which monitors Islamophobia, said it had a great deal of evidence showing it was increasing.
He said he was doubtful whether the campaign would change negative perceptions.
”There is nothing wrong with doing something like this, but the reality is that you can’t just make people think differently,” he said.
”No-one on the street is going to look at the message on the buses and say ‘oh is that right, from now on I’m not going to stereotype Muslims’. This is very unrealistic.”
But the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association remained confident it would be a small but positive step forwards.
“Shouting slogans is never going to be enough in itself,” said Naseer Dean, president of the association’s London branch.
”But what it will do is start a debate, a conversation, that perhaps is not being had at the moment, and it is right for the Muslim community to instigate this, because they are the ones primarily being affected.”
You can listen to Asian Network Reports on BBC Asian Network, Tuesday 4th April 2011, at 1230 and 1800 BST, and afterwards on BBC iPlayer.
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The UK has exported arms to countries which have seen mass protests, such as Egypt and Libya Ministers past and present have been criticised over the UK’s export of weapons to regimes in Africa and the Middle East.
The cross-party committee on arms exports controls accused ministers of “misjudging” the risk that the weapons might be used for internal repression.
Countries recently sold UK arms include Libya, Egypt and Bahrain.
The government, which recently revoked arms licences to many of the countries mentioned, welcomed the findings.
As recently as last year, Britain approved arms exports to regimes that have used force to confront popular uprisings.
Ammunition and tear gas were sold to Libya, with sniper rifles, sub-machine guns and CS grenades exported to Bahrain. Parts for armoured vehicles and weapons also went to Egypt.
The cross-party group of MPs noted that since January the government has “been vigorously backpedalling”, revoking a total of 160 arms export licences.
In February, dozens of licences for the export of arms to Bahrain were revoked after a Foreign Office review amid fears over the suppression of protests there.
Some 24 individual licences and 20 open licences for Bahrain were revoked and eight individual licences for Libya.
Following the move, the Foreign Office said there was no evidence UK equipment had been used in the military crackdown on protesters.
The MPs said the current government and the previous Labour administration misjudged the risk that these exports might be used for internal repression.
Shadow business secretary John Denham responded to the criticism by insisting that export controls were “significantly tightened” under the last Labour government, creating “one of the most rigorous control systems in the world”.
He said: “In government we merged the UK criteria list with that of the EU to strengthen oversight, restricted the sale of defence goods to a third party after incorporation with the buyer’s own technology and required government to produce a quarterly report on export licence approvals and refusals for that period.”
The group of cross-party MPs also called for stricter controls and urged the government to set out how it can reconcile the potential conflict of interest between promoting arms exports while upholding human rights.
Their criticism was not confined to the sale of arms to authoritarian regimes.
The MPs said they were deeply disturbed that, until recently, a British company had been allowed to export chemicals to the US which were used to execute prisoners on death row.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Muammar Gaddafi has been in power since 1969 The Libyan government has said it is open to “any” political reform but Muammar Gaddafi must stay in power to avoid a new Iraq or Somalia.
A spokesman told Reuters that Colonel Gaddafi was a “unifying figure”, and insisted his forces only targeted armed rebels, not civilians.
The Libyan leader has reportedly appeared in public in Tripoli.
Meanwhile, evacuees from the besieged city of Misrata accused pro-Gaddafi forces of atrocities against civilians.
Fighting has continued in the east of the country where the rebels have been trying to regain ground lost in recent days, and coalition aircraft attacked military vehicles believed to belong to Col Gaddafi’s forces.
The oil-rich country’s vital coastal belt is effectively split between rebel forces in the east and government loyalists in Tripoli and the west, nearly two months after the revolt against Col Gaddafi’s rule erupted.
A Libyan government envoy, Deputy Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi, is currently on a tour of European capitals aimed at resolving the conflict.
Speaking in Tripoli, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said Col Gaddafi was “a safety valve for the country to remain together”.
Moussa Ibrahim: “We are so keen to save Libya from destruction… we are listening”
“The leader provides Libyan tribes and Libyan population of a unifying figure, as a unifying figure,” he said.
“Many Libyans, many Libyans want him to lead the process forward because they are scared if he is not there for any reason we will have what happened in Iraq, we will have what happened in Somalia, we will have what happened in Afghanistan.”
Libya, the government spokesman said, was open to political reform – “elections, referenda, anything” – but “the leader has to lead this forward”.
Mr Ibrahim said it was not for the West to tell Libya “you have to lose your leader or your system or your regime”.
Denying government attacks on civilians, he challenged the outside world to investigate any alleged crimes.
“We are fighting armed militias,” he said. “You are not a civilian if you take up arms.”
Libyan state TV showed what appeared to be live footage of Col Gaddafi saluting supporters from a jeep outside his fortified compound at Bab al-Aziziya in Tripoli late on Monday.
On Sunday, a Turkish humanitarian ship carrying more than 250 injured people from Misrata, the only major city in western Libya still under rebel control, arrived in the rebel capital Benghazi.
Speaking from Tunisia, other evacuees told Reuters that Gaddafi forces there had been “massacring” civilians.
“You have to visit Misrata to see the massacre by Gaddafi,” said Omar Boubaker, a 40-year-old engineer with a bullet wound to the leg, brought to the Tunisian port of Sfax by a French aid group.
“Corpses are in the street. Hospitals are overflowing.”
In the east, rebels were trying again on Monday to advance towards the oil town of Brega.
The BBC’s Wyre Davies, on the road close to Brega, said the rebels appeared to be more buoyant and organised than recently.
US jets attacked Libyan military vehicles near the cities of Sirte and Brega on Monday, US officials said.
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Michel Martelly will have to govern a country still struggling after the earthquake in January 2010 Preliminary results in Haiti’s presidential election suggest musician Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly won the runoff vote on 20 March.
He defeated ex-senator and former first lady Mirlande Manigat, officials quoted by news agencies say.
Turnout in the second round was high and voting was largely peaceful, although still marred by fraud.
Haiti is struggling to rebuild after the January 2010 earthquake and to cope with a cholera epidemic.
Final results are not expected until 16 April at the earliest.
Mr Martelly benefited from the support of five candidates eliminated in the first round, including his fellow musician Wyclef Jean.
The run-off vote was supposed to take place in January but was delayed.
Observers said the second round was much better organised than the first in November, when turnout was only 23%.
Jude Celestin, who had the backing of outgoing President Rene Preval, took the largest share of the votes in the first round but withdrew from the race after international monitors found there had been widespread fraud in his favour.
Two people were shot dead during second-round voting in clashes between rival political factions in different rural areas.
The electoral commission extended voting by an hour because some polling stations were missing voting materials.
But the head of the commission said at the time that reports of irregularities would have “no impact on the electoral process as a whole”.
Mr Preval’s mandate formally ended on 7 February but he has parliamentary approval to stay in office until 14 May.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The NHS is under going a major revamp MPs have heaped more pressure on the government for its overhaul of the NHS in England by suggesting GPs should not be allowed to take control of the budget all by themselves.
The House of Commons’ health committee said they should be joined by a range of staff including nurses and hospital doctors to decide how funds are spent.
The move would improve accountability and decision-making, the MPs said.
It came as ministers plan a new push to convince people of the need for change.
Criticism has been mounting in recent weeks that the reforms could lead to the privatisation of the NHS.
While the government has rejected these claims, there has been an acceptance in recent days that the government has not being doing well enough at communicating the need for change.
On Monday, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said he wanted to use the coming weeks to engage with people. Details of a so-called “listening exercise” will be sent out later this week, but it is expected to involve both David Cameron and Nick Clegg.
Under the reforms, the government wants GPs working together in consortia to take control of much of the NHS budget so they can plan and buy local health services.
But the MPs said the sole focus on family doctors was wrong.
“If you are going to design cancer services is it not a good idea to include cancer specialists?”
Stephen Dorrell Health committee chairman
Instead, they said the GP consortia should be re-named NHS commissioning authorities and be overseen by a board with representatives from other specialities.
The MPs accepted GPs should still be in a majority but added by involving public health chiefs, hospital staff, nurses, councillors and social care officials it would become more accountable and effective.
Committee chairman Stephen Dorrell, a Tory MP and former health secretary, said such a move was not just a “minor tweak” as it would lead to the groups taking on even more responsibility for services such as dentistry that under the current plans would be organised by a national board.
He said the expertise of other professionals was essential to ensure the best decisions were taken and to avoid conflicts of interest.
“If you are going to design cancer services is it not a good idea to include cancer specialists?”
But he added the move would also help build consensus over the tough actions that would be needed to help the NHS save money in the coming years.
“An old rule of human nature is if you feel you are being involved you are more likely to accept consequences of a decision.”
The committee also said the plan to encourage greater competition – a key plank of the reform programme – risked undermining the decision-making process.
The MPs said there may be instances where commissioners may want to just use one provider – perhaps a local NHS hospital to keep an A&E unit viable – but that may not be possible if competition law was strictly applied.
Rosie Cooper, a Labour member of the committee, said it was time for the government to “take a deep breath” and have a re-think over its plans.
Nigel Edwards, acting head of the NHS Confederation, which represents managers, said the proposals had merit, but he warned against getting councillors involved in the commissioning groups.
“There are very few questions to which the answer is ‘more politicians’. We’re all for more scrutiny of GP consortia decisions but there is a point where political involvement becomes unhelpful to the running of an organisation.”
The Department of Health said it would consider the recommendations in due time.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The shopping centre where the shooting happened burned to the ground Three people have been killed in a shoot-out between the security forces and gunmen in the Mexican resort town of Acapulco.
Officials say police and soldiers surprised a gang as they were setting fire to a shopping centre.
In the two-hour gun battle which followed, a soldier and two of the alleged gunmen were killed.
Acapulco, a popular holiday destination, has seen a marked increase in violence this year.
A cinema, a supermarket and a number of shops burned to the ground.
Police said four people were injured in the attack and seven alleged gang members arrested.
Acapulco is in an area of Mexico where the drug trade is controlled by La Familia Michoacana, one of the country’s most violent cartels.
Last month, 10 people were killed in the city when gunmen stormed into a nightclub and opened fire on those inside.
In the same week, two young boys were shot dead as attackers chased a man through their house.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The Super Glue man and other sad losses
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The Scottish Crop Research Institute at Invergowrie forms part of the new James Hutton Institute A new research “super institute” is being launched in Scotland to tackle key global issues such as food, energy and environmental security.
The James Hutton Institute, which will employ more than 600 scientists, researchers and support staff, will be the first body of its type in Europe.
The two-site organisation will specialise in agricultural and environmental science.
It is being launched at the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
The institute has been formed by bringing together the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute in Aberdeen and the Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI), based at Invergowrie near Dundee.
The SCRI specialises in potato and soft fruit breeding, pest and disease control, food quality and genetics, while the Macaulay institute focuses its expertise on land use and sustainable development.
Those behind the new organisation said it had the potential to become a world leader in agricultural and environmental science.
It is named after the Edinburgh-born founder of modern geology, James Hutton, who was one of the leading figures of the 18th Century Scottish Enlightenment.
“The James Hutton Institute has the capacity to provide world-class research into how we can make the best use of our natural resources”
Prof Anne Glover Scotland’s chief scientific adviser
The UK’s chief scientist, Sir John Beddington, hailed the arrival of the new institute as “an exciting development”.
He added: “I can’t over emphasise the fact that we desperately need more people to work in institutes like this – we need more people to address the important applied problems of how we address our food, water and energy security needs.”
Scotland’s chief scientific adviser, Prof Anne Glover, said: “By building on the excellent track records of its predecessors, the James Hutton Institute has the capacity to provide world-class research into how we can make the best use of our natural resources.
“Scientists at the new institute are well placed to make a global impact in issues such as food security, changes in land use and impacts of climate change.
“They will also have a strengthened role in supporting Scotland’s rural economy and food and drink sectors.
“The James Hutton Institute will help maintain Scotland’s world-leading science base in these key areas.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Some Italian women say their PM is undermining their dignity – and hope to see him jailed My hairdresser, Flavia, calls herself a “Berlusconiana”.
She voted for Italy’s Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, when he first came to power in 1994, and has supported him ever since.
Flavia – who does not want to give her last name – runs a salon on a back street in a suburb of Rome, serving a broad cross-section of Roman voters.
She’s ideally placed to sum up the range of Italian women’s attitudes to Il Cavaliere (the knight), as he is widely known, in the run-up to his trial on allegations of paying for sex with an under-age prostitute.
There are old ladies having a blow-dry and set, young women having their dark roots retouched and career women straightening their hair.
According to Flavia, her clients are divided equally between those who love and those who loathe the premier.
But recent events have not made her alter her own stance.
“Everything they’re saying about Berlusconi has been invented,” she says.
“The reports that he’s going with under-age girls are all gossip. We still have to see if it’s true.”
“They do everything to try to put him in a bad light. But in the end, they never succeed.”
Flavia is not alone in her beliefs.
“Television is owned by Berlusconi, so the information you receive is what he wants us to know”
Lorella Zanardo TV director
Political scientist James Walston, from the American University of Rome, says Mr Berlusconi’s most faithful supporters are less educated and older women, who watch a lot of television.
“What seems to be the case is that many of those are still with him.”
He says television is the reason.
Mr Berlusconi’s family controls Mediaset, which operates the country’s top three private channels.
As head of government, he also has indirect authority over the state-owned broadcaster, Radiotelevisione Italiana (Rai).
Lorella Zanardo, who co-directed a documentary called Women’s Bodies, critiquing depictions of women on Italian television, agrees.
“For 80% of people who watch television in Italy, television is their only source of information. And the television is owned by Berlusconi,” she says.
“So the information you receive is what he wants us to know.”
Television has also influenced how women are regarded in Italy.
In the hair salon, Flavia’s clients are watching a game show.
The male host speaks volubly, while the four pretty hostesses, gyrating and high-kicking in dresses with plunging necklines, between them utter barely a word.
Older women have previously been among Berlusconi’s staunchest supporters No-one in the salon bats an eyelid.
Nevertheless, allegations about the prime minister’s escapades have inspired some change in attitude.
Florence city councillor Bianca Maria Giocoli says they triggered her decision, last year, to leave Mr Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party (PdL). She joined the new Future and Freedom party (FLI), formed by one-time Berlusconi ally, Speaker Gianfranco Fini.
“I was a convinced Berlusconiana and I am disappointed,” says Ms Giocoli, a 54-year-old lawyer.
“It’s like when you’re in love and you discover that the person you’ve been with for a long time is completely different.”
“We look like a light opera – not an opera but an operetta,” she says.
“Italy has traditions. We have so many poets and artists, quite apart from the workers who work so hard every day. Why throw this all away? Truly it’s a sin.”
“There was a certain fascination… for Berlusconi. That’s finished”
Annamaria Tagliavini Feminist activist
Hundreds of thousands of women were of similar mind, rallying in Rome and other cities in February this year, saying the most recent sex scandal, involving the aspiring model Kahrima El Mahroug (nicknamed Ruby, and then 17 years old), had disgraced Italy.
James Walston says the protests were significant because women of many different classes, levels of education and age took part.
“You had older women, girls, professionals and workers who were saying: ‘This is enough! This is not what women’s liberation meant 30 years ago and it’s not what it means now’.”
Annamaria Tagliavini, a director at a major feminist organisation, the Centro di Documentazione delle Donne in Bologna, believes the protests were a watershed.
“We’ve finished an era, in which there was a certain relationship of fascination – among women of a certain social group – for Berlusconi,” Ms Tagliavini says. “This sort of feeling has finished.”
“With the situation getting worse from day to day – with more revelations about the premier’s private life – I believe that this women’s movement will become stronger and stronger. It’s difficult to go back from this.”
But while some of his female supporters have been swayed, others are sticking to their views.
“Sure Berlusconi has parties, inviting girls to his place,” hairdresser Flavia says. “It’s true a public person has to take more care – but it’s still his private life.”
“When the people went out to vote, he won. The will of the people must be respected. The important thing is that he’s working for the country. Now he has to govern and that’s all.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The bodies were all found on an isolated stretch of beach on a barrier island Investigators have found three more sets of human remains on a beach near New York City, bringing to eight the number of corpses found there.
Police in Suffolk County, New York suspect a serial killer.
Four dead prostitutes were found nearby in December; a fifth corpse found last week has not been identified.
The latest bodies were found in a patch of dense brush on Gilgo Beach, a barrier island south of Long Island, about 45 miles (70km) east of New York.
Police scouring the beach on foot, from helicopters and at the end of fire engine ladders discovered the three newest bodies on Monday, about a mile east of where the first group of bodies were discovered.
Officials cautioned they had yet to link the newest discoveries conclusively with the five bodies previously found.
The remains were separated by about 500m. The search was expected to continue on Tuesday.
It took investigators a month to identify the first group of remains using DNA and dental records as prostitutes who had arranged to meet clients through Craigslist and other websites, police have said.
Investigators continue to search for the remains of Shannan Gilbert, a New Jersey woman who was last seen in May at nearby Oak Beach, where she had arranged to meet a client she had met through Craigslist.
A resident of the beach told authorities a woman believed to Ms Gilbert came to his door at 0445 pleading for help, then fled.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
The Soyuz blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan
A new crew for the International Space Station has blasted off from Russia’s Baikonur space port in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz rocket.
The two Russians and one US astronaut are to join three others – a Russian, an American and an Italian – aboard the station.
Their spacecraft is emblazoned with the name and portrait of the USSR’s Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space.
Gagarin’s historic journey took place 50 years ago this month.
The Russian Soyuz TMA-1 spacecraft was launched on a Soyuz-FG rocket at 0418 local time (2218 GMT Monday), and is due to dock with the space station at 0518 on Thursday.
From bottom: Alexander Samokytyaev, Ron Garan and Andrei Borisenko Russian crewmen Andrei Borisenko, 46, and Alexander Samokutyayev, 40, are making their first journey to the space station while America’s Ron Garan, 49, spent 13 days in space on a shuttle mission in 2008.
“We’ve got Ron who’s got this experience and he promised to help us with some issues and the feelings that we might encounter and that cannot be modelled on earth,” Samokutyayev told reporters.
In time-honoured tradition, the three men earlier visited the cabin where Gagarin spent his last night before his flight.
Garan said he had got “a little bit of chills” when he visited the cabin, where all the furniture and even the space pioneer’s personal belongings are kept intact.
“Fifty years ago, one nation launched one man, basically as a competition,” he remarked.
“Today, the three of us represent the many nations of the international partnership that makes up the International Space Station.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Business vision: Greenfield Capital’s plan for a retirement village in China It is not just Western societies that are going grey. Developing countries are ageing even faster than developed societies, says a United Nations study. Taking care of the elderly is becoming a global problem, says Danwei Zhang.
Liu Ye, 60, is a single mother living in Shenyang, a city in northern China.
Her only daughter lives far away, working for a consultancy in Shanghai.
The distance is a worry for Ms Liu (who does not want her real name to be used). As she gets older and nears retirement, taking care of herself will get more difficult, she says. Moving to Shanghai is not an option; the city is far too expensive.
Ms Liu has only one daughter, because her child was born in the 1980s under China’s one-child policy.
Many in her daughter’s generation have moved to cities such as Beijing or Shanghai, seeking a better life, but that is often far away from their parents who are now getting old and need care.
“For the senior care industry, China is a huge potential market”
Zheng Xiaojun Chief executive, Greenfield Capital Group
In China, more than 166 million people are aged 60 or older. That is 12.5% of the country’s population.
By 2030, this will have more than doubled to 360 million people, according to the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs.
As care needs soar, people such as Ms Liu are pondering whether a retirement village might be the best place to find support in their old age.
Surveys suggest that almost 12 million Chinese over 60 would consider that option, according to a report by China’s National Committee on Ageing.
“For the senior care industry, China is a huge potential market,” says Zheng Xiaojun, chief executive of property investment firm Greenfield Capital Group.
“Especially in modern cities such as Shanghai, the one-child generation will face a big problem: How to balance looking after their parents with developing their career,” he says.
Lonely and feeling guilty? Mr Zheng is about to make big investments in the senior care industry. He already has the backing of local governments to build retirement villages near Shanghai, Tianjin, Dalian and Chengdu.
These villages, he believes, are the best option for ageing parents such as Ms Liu and the many people like her.
“The senior care market is not expanding because people get older,” says Professor Renyuan, deputy director of the Institute of Population Research at Fudan University. “The rise in living standards is boosting the industry.”
However, not all is straightforward in this industry.
In 2006, a Shanghai real estate company announced plans to build a luxury retirement village in the so-called Shanghai International Medical Zone (SIMZ); due for completion in 2010, it was aimed at wealthy old Chinese pensioners.
The firm even boasted an investment partnership with Augustinum Group, a leading provider of retirement homes in Germany. In reality, work on the project stopped years ago.
The zone’s marketing director blames complications over government policy and land leasing. Contact with the Shanghai real estate firm was lost in 2007, while Augustinum Group says it never made any investments in China.
Many Chinese senior citizens live far away from their children The SIMZ is still looking for partners and says it is talking to potential investors in the United States and Germany.
Retirement villages are also property projects, says Professor Ren. Real estate investors use care homes to promote their business and get local governments to back them. The biggest attraction, though, is that local governments often provide land at a lower price if it will be used for care homes.
“We should encourage business people to invest in this industry,” says Professor Ren. “Government supervision and standardisation is very important for this market’s development.”
The care home project near Shanghai may have failed, but it proves that both local government and Chinese companies are eager to find Western partners, and that Western investors are eyeing the sector.
“China should learn from the West’s advanced experience in the care industry”, says Professor Ren. “They should look especially at the US and the UK.”
The UK, for example, already has more than 30 years’ experience with retirement villages, and needs to grow its care sector as the population goes grey.
By 2034, 23% of the UK population will be 65 years old or over, while just 18% will be 16 or younger, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Mr Zheng at Greenfield Capital hopes for Western investment and co-operation: “We need advanced management and service systems, their experience, as well as advanced equipment”.
However, he yet has to identify potential partners or find out whether they would be interested in cooperation at all.
Some elderly people play musical instruments in their leisure time Partners could be UK companies such as Audley, which has been building and managing luxury retirement villages for more than a decade.
Nick Sanderson, its chief executive, says his firm has “not really investigated the Chinese market in sufficient detail [but] would consider lending expertise to new entrants in the market”.
For now, expanding in the UK absorbs most of Audley’s capital. And Mr Sanderson worries about the challenges of going into the Chinese market – culturally, regulatory and financially.
Mr Zheng understands Western worries, but warns investors to take note of Chinese government policies and start to seek opportunities now.
“In China, timing is very important,” he says.
Says Professor Ren: “It’s never too early to be a successful investor.
“Early investors usually win more opportunities to succeed.”
Who will take care of the lonely elderly? But for the Chinese, it may take time to accept retirement villages.
While the daughter of Ms Liu is concerned for her mother, she worries that “my mother may feel lonely and guilty for her age, living there.
“And people may judge me being irresponsible about my parent.
“It doesn’t matter about the money or the service in the retirement village; it is totally about whether I act responsibly.
“I hope mum can live her retired life happy and comfortable, but for most old people in China, the happiest thing is to live with their children.”
However, these attitudes will change further as cities develop and people move around, believes Professor Ren.
Placing their parents in retirement villages will be the choice young people have to make, he says – sooner or later.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
WATCH: Tech start-ups explain the technology they use to trim the fat from their budgets, and keep running costs lean
While traditional businesses around the world struggle with their bottom line, hi-tech start-ups are making use of all the latest money-saving tools at their disposal.
Special Report: The Technology of Business The new internet architects Big brands set for rural India’s shelves Tablets take over the workplace Getting your business cloud-ready Filesharing with Cory Doctorow Talking cars could hit the road Inside the mind of the consumer
At the recent GeeknRolla event in London, in which start-ups and investors from around the world met to wheel-and-deal, there was an almost evangelical desire to spread the word about how new technology can boost efficiency at any type of company.
“Just five years ago, small businesses wouldn’t have had access to half the tools that are available now on the internet”, says Michael Jackson, an investor from Mangrove Capital.
“Companies that are cottoning on quickly to these tools are doing very well, and they are taking business away from those who are too slow to adapt.”
In particular, Mr Jackson emphasises the importance of cloud computing, which allows a business to outsource the storage and processing of its data – such as email, financial accounts, and customer databases.
Top tip
Entrepreneur Wendy Tan White believes in ‘software as a service’ In fact, when asked to provide a top tip for traditional businesses, cloud computing was the most common answer among GeeknRolla attendees.
“Now you can pretty much get a piece of software online, that you only pay for when you need it,” says Wendy Tan White, founder of startup Moonfruit.com, which builds ready-made websites for small businesses.
“For example, people pay for our service on a monthly basis, which lowers start-up costs, but also makes it easier to shop around and find the best product because you are never tied to one piece of software.”
In addition to being “pay-as-you-go”, cloud computing has the advantage of reducing the number of computers, servers and network connections that a small business needs.
“It’s never been cheaper to start a business,” says Bindi Karia from Microsoft.
“A decade ago you would have had to spend a lot of money on hardware – all those boxes that go in your office. Now you pay someone else to look after those boxes.”
On the move
Of course, no business can thrive without computing power, but that power might as well be generated by a smartphone or tablet rather than a desktop, so workers can be untethered from their desks.
Josh Williams relies on apps to run his business efficiently Mobile devices run their own software, in the form of apps, many of which make use of cloud computing and are well tailored to the needs of small businesses.
“We wouldn’t be able to survive without apps”, says Josh Williams, founder of start-up Gowalla.
“We use a service called JotNot, which lets you take a photo with your camera phone, of receipts or other documents that you need to email. So I don’t have to go to the office to scan something, or waste my assistant’s time.”
“We also use another app called Square, which lets you take credit card payments on your smartphone. It’s really low-cost – around 2.75% per charge – and you don’t have to have a merchant account.”
Lean startup
Startup founder Damian Kimmelman follows the Lean Startup methodology Many GeeknRolla attendees follow a methodology known as Lean Startup, which espouses a very specific model of a small business – one that updates its key product frequently and in response to constant feedback from customers.
Although not a technology per se, the Lean Startup methodology has spread and developed largely through the internet.
The term was coined by blogger Eric Reis and popularised by other influential bloggers, such as venture capitalist Dave McClure.
“It’s about how to cut corners,” says Damian Kimmelman, from start-up Duedil.
“If you start living and breathing that methodology, you find your own ways of working and you get rid of the [unnecessary features] in your product.
“You only focus on the things that are most essential and differentiate you from the competition – instead of trying to do things that companies with bigger budgets can do better than you.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
Mr Gbagbo’s forces say they “will put up a fight” The UN has threatened air attacks on forces loyal to besieged Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo after 11 peacekeepers were shot in recent days.
The UN chief’s representative accused pro-Gbagbo forces of “mindless” attacks on the UN base in Abidjan.
The threat came as French forces were poised to evacuate foreigners ahead of an expected offensive by forces loyal to president-elect Alassane Ouattara.
The UN recognised Mr Ouattara as the winner of a run-off election.
The BBC’s John James, in Abidjan, says explosions have been heard near the Agban military base in the city.
Choi Young-jin, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Ivory Coast, told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme: “We are fast approaching a tipping point.
“We are planning action, we can no longer condone their [Mr Gbagbo’s forces] reckless and mindless attack on civilians and the United Nations blue helmets with heavy weapons.”
There are about 50 [pro-Ouattara] soldiers resting in the shade, including some wounded who have just come back from the battle for Abidjan.
One soldier described the fighting as “chaud” (hot).
A lot of troops have just left for what senior military commanders here are telling me is the final push for the city.
A general emerged from a meeting at a makeshift headquarters at a half-built toll station and told me confidently that the city would be in his control in “a matter of hours”.
Mr Ouattara’s forces have, of course, been saying this for some days but there is no doubt that this is a new and substantial offensive.
“We are now in a way under siege, so we cannot go out freely, [they’re] targeting us with snipers, it’s a deliberate shoot at United Nations.
“For the last few days we have 11 [peacekeepers] wounded by their gunshots. They are targeting the headquarters, they cut off the water… and we are now in the bunker.”
The special representative said the 9,000 troops who are part of the UN mission in Ivory Coast (Unoci) did not have a mandate to dislodge Mr Gbagbo, but they did have the powers to respond to heavy weapons attacks against the UN or civilians.
“We will be using our air assets,” he said. “We will be taking action soon,” he added.
The UN in Ivory Coast has a Ukrainian aviation unit with three Mi-24 attack helicopters, as well as lightly armed Mi-8 and Mi-17 utility helicopters.
It says 20 of its peacekeepers have been injured in total since the recent crisis began in the West African country.
The BBC’s Andrew Harding says pro-Ouattara troops have been massing just outside Abidjan.
Mr Ouattara’s forces captured most of the country after mounting a major offensive a week ago.
But the battle for Abidjan has been much harder in a city where Mr Gbagbo draws much of his support.
There has been a lull in fighting since Sunday while Mr Ouattara’s camp prepare for what could be a major offensive to capture the main city.
The country’s former colonial ruler, France, has taken control of Abidjan airport from the UN mission and is adding 150 soldiers to bring its force to 1,650.
France – which has about 12,000 citizens in Ivory Coast – has had peacekeepers in the country since its civil war almost a decade ago.
France said on Monday it had begun gathering its citizens at three points in Abidjan for possible evacuation.
One of the assembly points is at a French military camp where more than 1,650 foreigners, around half of them French, have been since Sunday morning, reports AFP news agency.
Our correspondent says many residents in the city of five million people are trapped indoors without food, water and electricity.
They occasionally venture out to brave bullets and looters in search of supplies, he adds.
Mr Gbagbo’s spokesman, Abdon George Bayeto, told the BBC’s World Today programme on Monday there was an international plot against the incumbent president.
“When it comes to a fight, we are going to put up a fight,” he said. “The president is not going to step down.”
The BBC’s Andrew Harding reports from the western town of Duekoue
Guillaume Soro, Mr Ouattara’s prime minister, said there would be a “rapid offensive” on Abidjan.
Meanwhile, the UN has sent an envoy to investigate the massacre of hundreds of civilians in the western town of Duekoue.
The violence happened last week, when Mr Outtara’s fighters moved south, ousting Mr Gbagbo’s troops from large swathes of the country. Both sides have said the other was responsible.
The UN said on Saturday that more than 330 people had been killed, mostly by Mr Ouattara’s forces. However, more than 100 people were killed by Mr Gbagbo’s troops, it added.
However, the Caritas aid agency estimated that 1,000 may have been killed.
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This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.