China's government celebrated the return of running water to this major city with a television variety show featuring women dancing with water bottles and praise for communist officials, but residents were still waiting yesterday to be told that supplies were clean enough to drink.
Water began running on Sunday evening for the 3.8 million people of Harbin in the frigid northeast, ending a five-day shutdown caused by a chemical plant explosion that embarrassed Communist leaders.
"We won," said a headline in the newspaper Life News below a photo of the provincial governor drinking a glass of boiled tap water on Sunday in a Harbin family's apartment.
But officials warned that the water wasn't immediately safe to drink after lying in underground pipes for five days. They said radio and television bulletins would announce when the supply was clean enough first to bathe in and later to drink. The government didn't say when that was expected to happen.
"It's back, but I don't know what I can use it for yet," said Guan Hongya, a manager for a textile company.
"We can use it to flush the toilet, but otherwise it might be no good to use," Guan said.
The Nov. 13 chemical plant explosion in Jilin, a city upstream, was a political disaster for President Hu Jintao's (
Hu's government issued embarrassing apologies to the Chinese public and to Russia, where a border city downstream is bracing for the arrival of the 80km long benzene slick.
State media have accused officials of lying about and trying to conceal the spill following the chemical plant blast, which killed five people and forced 10,000 more to flee their homes.
But yesterday, coverage was effusively upbeat, with newspaper photos showing smiling children in Harbin running their taps and water surging through treatment plants.
State television in Heilongjiang Province broadcast a variety show celebrating the return of water. Young women in jade-green costumes danced with empty 40-liter water bottles on their shoulders. A comedian played with a giant squirt gun.
Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) has promised to investigate the disaster and punish officials responsible. But state media also have been portraying efforts to keep this major industrial city supplied with drinking water as a triumph of the communist system.
Yesterday, some residents were still lining up in sunny but sub-freezing weather to get drinking water from fire trucks and tankers sent by the state.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
RSS