元旦迎新Only a short walk from the National Mall, it looks like a good place to live, work and hang out

北京One option is to hold a snap election on Oct 22, when three by-elections are scheduled, the sources said平穀跑TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering calling a snap election for as early as next month to take advantage of his improved approval ratings and disarray in the main opposition party, government and ruling party sources said on Sunday

千人Other possibilities are later in October or after an expected visit by US President Donald Trump in early November年長"Until now, it appeared the election would be next autumn, but元旦迎新Abe's ratings have recovered to 50 percent in some polls北京we must always be ready for battle," domestic media quoted Komeito party chief Natsuo Yamaguchi as telling reporters on Saturday during a visit to Russia平穀跑Abe told executives of his Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, the Komeito party, that he might dissolve parliament's lower house for a snap poll after the legislature convenes for an extra session from Sept 28, the sources said

千人Abe will probably make a decision after returning from a Sept 18-22 trip to the United States, the sources said年長Top LDP and Komeito officials will meet on Monday to discuss preparations, they added元旦迎新"What the concerned parties should do now is to strictly and comprehensively implement UN Security Council resolutions and make positive efforts to resolve the issue through dialogue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said at a news briefing on Friday

北京The official Korean Central News Agency claimed it was a hydrogen bomb平穀跑DPRK conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date on Sept 3千人Saturday's earthquake is likely to be a "delayed collapse earthquake", the joint report said, without elaborating on the cause of the quake年長The earthquake took place around 4:30 pm near the area of Kilju in the northeastern DPRK, just around 6 kilometers from the Punggye-ri facility where the country held its latest test

The Republic of Korea's weather agency also assessed the quake as natural, The Associated Press reported on SundayKim was the first among the surviving "comfort women", a euphemism for the hundreds of thousands of girls and women in 13 Asia-Pacific countries or regions who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army from 1930 to 1954, to go public in front of television cameras about her story in August 1991

"Julie Tang and Lillian Sing, both judges of the Superior Court of San Francisco County who retired two years ago and co-chair the CWJC, vowed to erect more memorials around the United StatesHowever, those who deny history in Japan denigrate them as "paid prostitutes" or "willing volunteersShe had spoken before in front of local and national legislative bodies as well as national and international human rights committees, and to reporters, about presumably the largest-scale crime specifically targeting women in human historyThe memorial is a gift from the "Comfort Women" Justice Coalition, or CWJC, a local grassroots advocacy group consisting of more than 30 multi-ethnic community organizations

"It is my soul, it is your soul, and it should be the soul of everybody," she saidIt was not the first time for Lee, aged 89, to make such a statementIt was not the first time for Lee, now an activist, to travel around the world to tell people what it means for her to seek justice, especially for those who did not survive to hear a formal apology from the Japanese governmentMary Square in San Francisco, the United States, on Sept 22, 2017

The face of the sculpture depicted Kim Haksoon, a Korean woman forcefully taken at the age of 17 by Japanese soldiers and confined to a "comfort station"Historians believe that as many as 200,000 women, mostly from the Korean Peninsula as well as from China and Southeast Asian nations, were forced into sex enslavement for Japanese soldiers during the devastating war

Lee followed in June 1992, telling about her sufferings which started at the age of 16Mary's Square Annex in the city on the US West Coast, Lee witnessed the unveiling of a memorial called the "Comfort Women" Column of Strength on Friday

Mike Honda, a former member of the US House of Representatives, who as the chief sponsor of a July 2007 House resolution urged Japan to acknowledge and accept responsibility for the sexual exploitation of "comfort women," joined elected officials at the event to greet Lee and denounce those who deny historyAt the unveiling ceremony, Eric Mar, a former board member who initiated the process, choked back tears when he said that he has a 17-year-old daughter and that Lee's courage to stand up against sexual violence and historical crimes is an inspiration for people fighting for justice[Photo/Xinhua]SAN FRANCISCO - "I hate the crime, not the people," an emotional Yong-Soo Lee, a Korean woman who survived the sexual slavery by the Imperial Army of Japan during World War II, told a packed audience at a corner of a public squareIn a statement released on the occasion, the CWJC said that "through our memorial, we remember all our grandmothers who are alive, and all those who have passed on but are still with us in both spirit and memory"The unveiling of the "comfort women" memorial, the first in a major city in the United States, which also includes a sculpture of three girls -- Korean, Chinese and Filipino -- took place on the second anniversary of a resolution passed by San Francisco city and the county's legislative Board of SupervisorsBesides calling for putting up the memorial, the resolution aimed at raising public awareness against sex trafficking and all forms of sexual violence

Comfort Women Justice Coalition, a local grassroots advocacy group devoted to bring justice for the victims of Japanese military sexual slavery during the World War II, unveiled a monument dedicated to the "comfort women" in San Francisco on Friday" However, in the instance of "comfort women," the criminals "went away and got free, there was no justice for the comfort women

Tang told Xinhua that during 26 years as a judge, she had to "make sure in each case that if somebody committed a crime, the person would be held accountable"Asked what the memorial means for her, Sing pointed at herself and at reporters at a press briefing, saying that it reflects the soul of everybody with a conscience

"A sound wave, which is usually generated in the event of an artificial earthquake, was not detectedThe China Earthquake Administration, of which the CENC is a part, and related departments conducted studies on the infrasonic records of the earthquake and previous quakes including those provoked by nuclear tests on the Korean Peninsula

Earlier, South Korea's weather agency said the quake is presumed to have been a natural one, the country's Yonhap news agency reportedThey concluded that Saturday's quake is a natural one, the seismic service said4 on the Richter scale that occurred Saturday in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is not the result of a nuclear test, the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC) said"The quake is presumed to have occurred naturally," the report quoted an agency official as saying

The epicenter was roughly the same with a similar shallow earthquake on Sept 3, which turned out to be caused by a nuclear test by the DPRK4 on the Richter scale in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea(DPRK)

BEIJING - China's seismic service CENC detected a zero-depth earthquake measuring 3Rabbani said the donation will help improve the working conditions of the Pakistani parliament, highlighting the friendship and exchanges between the two countries and two peoples

The handover ceremony was held at the premises of the parliament in the capital IslamabadThe Chinese ambassador said enhancing bilateral exchanges is of great importance to deepen the mutually beneficial cooperation, especially to promote the bilateral policy coordination and people-to-people exchanges

ISLAMABAD - China on Thursday handed over 330 pieces of office equipment including laptops, computers, scanners, printers and projectors to Pakistan's parliamentPakistani Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani expressed gratitude for China's donation at the ceremony attended also by senators, parliamentarians and other high officialsChinese Ambassador Sun Weidong and Pakistani Senate Secretary Amjed Pervez Malik signed a handover document on behalf of their respective sidesSun Xinwei, deputy general manager of China State Construction Engineering Corp Central and Western African Region, advised that Chinese companies engaging in any large infrastructure projects in Congo should be aware of expenses for the period after the project is completed and before the official operation, as the Congolese government is suffering from an economic downturn due to oil price drop from 2014, which results in delayed payment

Lyu Xinhua delivers a speech at the conference on investment and trade between China and Congo (Brazzaville), Sept 25, 2017The delegation consists of entrepreneurs in the sectors of finance, machine-building, energy, agriculture, textile, security, culture and education

"In Cameroon and Cote d'Ivoire, I have reached consensus with the entrepreneurs who have the intent to cooperate with me in textile production and products," he said"We hope the Congolese enterprises and Chinese enterprises will form a sound cooperation partnership," she said

China is the top trade partner and the largest engineering project contractor of CongoZhou Fuming, director general of Suzhou Mike Textile, who has set up a textile and dyeing company in Ethiopia, said that he learned more about Western Africa, the population, the resource and demand so that he would be able to bring Chinese resources to Africa and the Africans' to China