• Will China mediate the Israeli-Palestinian peace process?

    Kim Kyung-Hoon / Pool via EPA

    China's President Xi Jinping, right, shakes hands with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 9.

    By Ed Flanagan, Producer, NBC News

    BEIJING – An official visit to Beijing by Israeli and Palestinian leaders last week has prompted speculation that China may finally be ready to claim its place as a world power by trying to negotiate an end to one of world's most caustic conflicts.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Chinese President Xi Jinping within days of each other in Beijing – the two Middle Eastern leaders having arrived in the country within hours of each other.

    "China's hosting of the two emphasized its active involvement in Mideast affairs and highlighted its role as a responsible power," declared an editorial by China's state news agency, Xinhua.

    A more active role in Middle East diplomacy would be a dramatic break from China's long-held policy of non-intervention. With controversial business partners like Sudan, Libya and Iran, China has consistently ducked the political and regional strife of others to focus on natural resource extraction and trade.

    To a long line of American leaders who have invested a great deal of political capital in the quest for peace in the region, a Chinese diplomatic shift could be a welcome development.

    But some experts like Dan Blumenthal, director of Asian Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, wonder how much China is willing to risk entering this particular political game.

    Feng Li / Getty Images

    Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, gestures to invite Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to a welcoming ceremony held outside the Great Hall of the People on May 6 in Beijing.

    "Right now China has the benefit of free-riding on U.S. security [and its] presence, so there is no incentive for them whatsoever to actually pay costs and take risks," Blumenthal said. "China has been fairly extractive in those areas and again for China to become a global power that exercises responsibility, you can't just reap the economic benefits."

    Middle East experts in China have noted that the country has a fresh point of view unsullied by years of involvement in the region. It has a carefully crafted position of supporting the Palestinian cause -- dating back to 1965 when the Palestinian Liberation Organization setup an office in Beijing -- but also being a close friend of Israel, as its third-largest trading partner behind the U.S. and the European Union.

    "The United States' slant toward Israel has long been regarded as a bias stance by Arabic countries, so this bias towards Israel is not helpful for President Obama when it comes to pushing forward current or future initiatives," said He Wenping, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). "But China maintains good relations with both Israel and Palestine, so China's stance is viewed as more neutral than the United States."

    Just how much political capital Beijing is willing to spend hammering out a deal that has eluded others remains a critical question – one that could be fraught with risk to China's relationship with the Muslim world. Would Beijing be willing to put its neutral position and substantial business partnerships in the region in jeopardy?

    To be sure, Xi's meetings with Netanyahu and Abbas were modest at best in ambition. The two Middle Eastern leaders never met face-to-face. And Xi's "four-point plan" effectively parroted calls by the United States for an independent Palestinian state, supplemented with a firm call for the two countries' boundaries to be based on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem serving as the new Palestinian state's capital.

    "I don't think China has some magical power at hand that can make the Israeli-Palestinian process move more smoothly," said He of CASS. "It is significant that Israel and Palestine both recognized China's role because if they don't want China involved, [Netanyahu and Abbas] would have never come to China. This shows they wish for and they recognize China's role in the process."

    Whether their involvement is desired or not, past Chinese diplomatic history suggests that given the options, China in the short-term would likely continue a nominal role rather than put trade relations at risk.

    But a silver lining is the affirmation that while China and the U.S. continue to have major political differences on issues ranging from Iran to America's Asia "pivot," there is room for the two powers to cooperate and engage on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    Related:

  • A new openness as new bird flu virus spreads in China

    A 4-year-old boy living in a village near Beijing has been confirmed as one the carriers of a deadly strain of bird flu virus. Until the weekend, the outbreak had appeared to be confined to Shanghai and other eastern areas but now it's spread to central and northern China. NBC's Ian Williams reports from Beijing.

    Editor's note: This story includes a correction.
    By Ian Williams, correspondent, NBC News

    BEIJING – Dr. Jiang Rongmeng had no sooner walked out of the hospital door when he was mobbed by journalists. Camera crews jostled for position and microphones jousted in front of his face as he was bombarded with demands for information about the latest case of bird flu.

    In Hong Kong or Taiwan this wouldn't be an unusual sight, but in Beijing it's rarer to see such raw displays of journalistic pushiness.

    Rongmeng is Dr. Bird Flu -- he is the chief physician at the Center for Infectious Diseases at Beijing's Ditan Hospital. Since the weekend, when the capital announced its first case of the deadly new H7N9 virus -- the victim is a 7-year-old girl -- he's been a man in demand.

    On Monday a 4-year-old boy was found to be carrying the virus -- though without symptoms, a discovery that has further puzzled experts. In both cases the parents were live poultry traders.

    The girl was well enough Tuesday to leave intensive care; the boy remains in quarantine.

    When asked if he expected more cases, Ronmeng said: "It is possible. It's certainly possible."

    As the figures have ballooned -- 63 cases now with 14 deaths since March -- and spread from the eastern provinces, the authorities seem to have concluded after initial hesitation that openness is the best strategy.

    It appears they have learned from the deadly SARS pandemic that struck 10 years ago. It started in China before spreading worldwide, killing hundreds, and was made worse by a government cover-up.

    The World Health Organization has even praised the authorities for their new openness.

    To some extent, though, they are bowing to the inevitable: H7N9 is the first such outbreak in the era of social media. Information is tougher to control, and when it's restricted, rumor can run rife.

    One local newspaper reported that 13 people have been arrested for spreading rumors about the disease on social media.

    But not everybody is convinced. At the Ditan Hospital, Yang Shengli scoffed at the suggestion of government openness.

    "It's hard to say if the government really is telling the truth," she said, as she brought in her feverish 16-year-old daughter for tests. Thankfully it wasn't bird flu.

    In Beijing the response to the first case, the 7-year-old girl, seems to have been quick and efficient. Her parents had reportedly bought their chickens in the east, in Tianjin, and some of those chickens were sold to the neighbor of the 4-year-old boy hospitalized Tuesday.

    Health authorities quickly followed the chicken trail, and when NBC arrived in the boy's village on the outskirts of Beijing Monday, loudspeakers were calling on anybody to come forward if they had bought chickens from the neighbor or the boy's parents.

    Officials in white coats and masks were disinfecting the streets and roadblocks had been set up in and out of the village. Cars were searched, and even frozen poultry was confiscated.

    So far there is no evidence that the H7N9 virus spreads from human to human, although there is one ambiguous case of a husband and wife in Shanghai that is causing concern.

    One big challenge for the authorities is that chickens carrying the virus do not appear to show any signs of sickness. And the symptomless 4-year-old is also creating more uncertainty.

    But there are no signs of panic -- only worry, with sales of chicken pretty much drying up and neighboring countries on alert.

    "We absolutely should not be panicking," said Dr. Tristan Evely, medical director of the International SOS China, a Beijing clinic. "But high vigilance and monitoring of the situation is absolutely crucial at this point of time."

    Related links: 

    It started with a cough: Deadly China bird flu outbreak raises fears of pandemic

    Deaths from new bird flu underscore grim fears, reports show

    US rushes to make vaccine against new bird flu -- just in case

    New H7N9 bird flu has officials worried about skimpy resources

     

     

     

    This story was originally published on Tue Apr 16, 2013 11:05 AM EDT

  • This is a 'critical time', Kerry tells China president amid North Korea tensions

    Secretary of State John Kerry issued a stern warning Friday, telling Kim Jong Un North Korea will not be accepted as a nuclear power. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

    By Arshad Mohammed and Ben Blanchard, Reuters

    BEIJING -- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met China's top leaders on Saturday in a bid to persuade them to exert pressure on North Korea to scale back its belligerent rhetoric and, eventually, return to nuclear talks.

    Traveling to Beijing for the first time as secretary of state, Kerry made no secret of his desire to see China take a more activist stance toward North Korea, which in recent weeks has threatened nuclear war against the United States and South Korea.

    As the North's main trading partner, financial backer and the closest thing it has to a diplomatic ally, China has a unique ability to use its leverage against the impoverished, isolated state, Kerry said in the South Korean capital, Seoul, on Friday before leaving for Beijing.

    "Mr. President, this is obviously a critical time with some very challenging issues -- issues on the Korean Peninsula, the challenge of Iran and nuclear weapons, Syria and the Middle East, and economies around the world that are in need of a boost," Kerry told Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People.

    Kerry said after the meeting that his talks with Xi were "constructive and forward-leaning", though he did not elaborate.

    China had a testy relationship with Kerry's predecessor, Hillary Clinton, believing her to be too abrasive in their disagreements over everything from human rights to territorial disputes like the South China Sea.

    Pentagon intelligence has assessed that North Korea likely does have the ability to launch nuclear missiles, which raises the stakes for John Kerry, who just landed in South Korea, to find a diplomatic way out of the crisis. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

    "Clinton added fuel to the mistrust during her four-year term. We hope Kerry can pull it in the other direction," China's widely read and influential Global Times tabloid said in an editorial.

    Kerry's visit to Asia, which will include a stop in Tokyo on Sunday, takes place after weeks of shrill North Korean threats of war since the imposition of new U.N. sanctions in response to its third nuclear test in February.

    North Korea has repeatedly said it will not abandon nuclear weapons which it said on Friday were its "treasured" guarantor of security.

    No sign of imminent missile launch
    North Korean television on Saturday made no mention of Kerry's visit and devoted most of its reports to preparations for Monday's celebrations marking the birth date of state founder Kim Il-Sung.

    These included a numerous floral tributes and grandiose flower show, foreign visitors seeing the sights of the capital ahead of the festivities and the unveiling of a monument in a provincial town.

    But Rodong Sinmun, the ruling Workers' Party's newspaper, issued a fresh denunciation of joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, saying: "The outbreak of nuclear war has now become a fait accompli, owing to the U.S. and the South Korean puppet forces.

    "If the enemies dare provoke (North Korea) while going reckless, it will immediately blow them up with an annihilating strike with the use of powerful nuclear means."

    However, South Korea's Yonhap news agency, quoting a government source, said North Korea had not moved any of its mobile missile launchers for the past two days after media reports that as many as five missiles had been moved into place on the country's east coast.

    Yonhap said there had been no signs of any movement by the mobile launchers since Thursday "or that missile launches are imminent".

    U.S. 'fanning the flames'?
    Beijing has been reluctant to apply pressure on Pyongyang, fearing the instability that could result if the North were to implode and send floods of refugees into China, and has looked askance at U.S. military drills in South Korea.

    North Korea is trending online and has been searched on Google more than ever before now that the country's outlandish threats have gotten the world's attention. Kim Jong-un is still expected to launch a missile, and some analysts predict they will then ask for money not to do it again. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    China's official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary that Washington had itself been "fanning the flames" on the Korean peninsula with its shows of force.

    "It keeps sending more fighters, bombers and missile-defense ships to the waters of East Asia and carrying out massive military drills with Asian allies in a dramatic display of preemptive power," it said.

    However, U.S. officials believe China's rhetoric on North Korea has begun to shift, pointing to a recent speech by China's Xi in which -- without referring explicitly to Pyongyang -- he said no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain".

    Kerry told reporters in Seoul that if North Korea's 30-year-old leader went ahead with the launch of a medium-range missile, he would be making "a huge mistake."

    At a news conference in Seoul on Friday and in a U.S.-South Korean joint statement issued on Saturday, Kerry signaled the U.S. preference for diplomacy to end the tension, but stressed North Korea must take "meaningful" steps on denuclearization.

    The United States and its allies believe the North violated the a 2005 aid-for-denuclearization deal by conducting a nuclear test in 2006 and pursuing a uranium enrichment program that would give it a second path to a nuclear weapon in addition to its plutonium-based program.

    Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

    David Guttenfelder / AP

    As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

    Launch slideshow

    Related:

    John Kerry in Seoul: North Korea missile launch would be 'huge mistake'

    Missile launch is North Korea's exit strategy, experts say

    Google+ Hangout featuring NBC News correspondents in Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo

    Full North Korea coverage from NBC News

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Pakistan test-fires nuclear-capable missile that could hit deep within India

    Pakistan said Wednesday that it had successfully fired a nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    By John Newland and Fakhar Rehman, NBC News

    ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan raised its nuclear ante Wednesday by saying it had conducted a successful test of an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead almost 600 miles, far enough to strike deep within India, its nuclear-armed neighbor.

    The Shaheen-1 missile struck its intended target at sea, according to a statement from the Pakistani military.

    The missile incorporates a series of technical improvements and has a longer range than its predecessors, the statement said.

    Pakistan has an arsenal of at least 90 nuclear warheads and has been quickly increasing the range of its missiles, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service. 

    The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists says Pakistan has the world's fastest-growing nuclear stockpile.

    Meanwhile, India has an estimated 100 nuclear weapons, according to the Arms Control Association, and tensions between the next-door neighbors, which have historically been high, have risen lately with a conflict over the disputed Kashmir territory.

    In August 2012, Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna hinted at Pakistan when he mentioned “rampant proliferation in our extended neighborhood” during a speech in New Delhi.

    Slideshow: Pakistan: A nation in turmoil

    Str / AFP - Getty Images

    Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.

    Launch slideshow

    “Nuclear weapons today are an integral part of our national security and will remain so,” Krishna said.

    Pakistan, whose foreign ministry has said the country "is mindful of the need to avoid an arms race with India,” said Wednesday that the Shaheen-1 can accurately hit a target up to 560 miles away, compared with 430 miles for the previous version.

    Senior military officers, along with scientists and engineers from the National Engineering and Scientific Commission, watched the launch, the government said.

    Among those on hand was retired Lt. Gen. Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, director general of the country’s Strategic Plans Division, who was quoted by the government as saying the new version of the missile had “consolidated and strengthened Pakistan’s deterrence abilities manifold.”

    Related:

    Giving voice to Pakistan's 'voiceless': Housewife becomes first female candidate in tribal region

    Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani teen shot by Taliban, back at school -- in UK

     

  • Pyongyang marchers: 'Rip the puppet traitors to death!'

    Jon Chol Jin / AP

    University students punch the air as they march through Kim Il Sung Square in downtown Pyongyang, North Korea, on March 29, 2013.

    Jon Chol Jin / AP

    Tens of thousands of North Koreans turned out for a mass rally at the main square in Pyongyang on Friday in support of their leader Kim Jong Un's call to arms.

    Placards read "Let's crush the puppet traitor group" and "Let's rip the puppet traitors to death!", The Associated Press reported.

    Earlier on Friday, the isolated communist state put its rocket units on standby to attack U.S. military bases in South Korea and the Pacific, Reuters reported, after two nuclear-capable stealth bombers flew from Missouri to drop inert munitions on a range in South Korea as part of a major military exercise.

    KCNA via EPA

    A picture released by the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows Kim Jong Un convening an urgent operation meeting at 0:30 am on March 29, 2013 at an undisclosed location, in which he ordered strategic rocket forces to be on standby to strike US and South Korean targets at any time.

    Related:

    Combat ready? Kim Jong Un inspects troops as North Korea issues new threats

    Kim Jong Un gets to grips with North Korean army's latest technology

    Military members and civilians rallied in Pyongyang on Friday as it was announced that the Korean People's Army is combat-ready to strike bases in the U.S. as well as targets in South Korea. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    Slideshow: Glimpses into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

    David Guttenfelder / AP

    As chief Asia photographer for the Associated Press, David Guttenfelder has had unprecedented access to communist North Korea. Here's a rare look at daily life in the secretive country.

    Launch slideshow

  • Google Street View takes former residents on virtual tour inside Japan nuclear zone

    Google via AP

    A screenshot made from the Google Maps website shows stranded ships left as a testament to the power of the tsunami which hit the area, near a road in Namie, Japan.

    Google via AP

    A crushed building in Namie, a nuclear no-go zone where former residents have been unable to live since they fled from radioactive contamination near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant two years ago.

    By Arata Yamamoto, Producer, NBC News

    Google via AP

    Google's camera-equipped vehicle moves through Namie in a photo released on March 27, 2013 and taken earlier in the month.

    Crumpled homes, abandoned shops, empty streets. The town of Namie has lain virtually untouched since its residents were evacuated two years ago, following the accident at the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant.

    On Wednesday they were able to see their town again thanks to Google, which began offering glimpses of Namie on its Street View service. The town's mayor, Tamotsu Baba, invited Google to document the current state of Namie after receiving numerous requests from constituents who wanted a reminder of their home town.

    Although some restrictions on entering the town have been lifted, Namie's 21,000 former residents have not yet been allowed to return to live there due to the still-high levels of radiation.

    In a message posted on the Google website, the mayor said he hoped that sharing the images with the rest of the world would serve as a reminder of the consequences of a nuclear accident.

    Related:

    Nuclear refugees visit their home near stricken Fukushima plant

    Fukushima: Before, during and after

    Inside the Fukushima exclusion zone

     

    Google via AP

    Google via AP

  • Kim Jong Un gets to grips with North Korean army's latest technology

    KCNA via Reuters

    Kim Jong Un looks at the latest combat and technical equipment made by unit 1501 of the Korean People's Army, during his visit to the unit on March 24, 2013.

    KCNA via Reuters

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un got some hands-on experience of his military's latest high-tech equipment during a visit to a Korean People's Army unit on Sunday.

    Kim, the third of his line to rule North Korea, also praised musical instruments made by the North's 1.2 million-strong army, state news agency KCNA reported.

    Meanwhile, South Korean security experts say the North has been training a team of computer-savvy "cyber warriors" as cyberspace becomes a fertile battleground in the nations' rivalry. 

    -- Reuters, The Associated Press

    Slideshow: Glimpse into the hermit kingdom of North Korea

    Slideshow: North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un

    KCNA via Reuters

    Kim Jong Un holds a gun as he inspects the second battalion under the Korean People's Army Unit 1973, honored with the title of "O Jung Hup-led 7th Regiment", on March 23, 2013.

  • State of emergency declared as death toll rises to 20 in Myanmar religious riots

    Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters

    Firemen attempt to extinguish fires during riots in Meikhtila, Myanmar, on March 22, 2013. Unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in central Myanmar has reduced neighborhoods to ashes and stoked fears that last year's sectarian bloodshed is spreading into the country's heartland in a test of Asia's newest democracy.

    Nyein Chan Naing / EPA

    A riot policeman stands guard next to a burning building in Meikhtila on March 22, 2013. A curfew was imposed for the second night as riots between Buddhists and Muslims continued.

    By The Associated Press

    MEIKHTILA, Myanmar — Myanmar President Thein Sein has declared a state of emergency in a central town where at least 20 people have been killed in violence between Buddhists and Muslims.

    Burning fires from two days of Buddhist-Muslim violence smoldered across Meikhtila on Friday as residents cowered indoors amid growing fears the country's latest bout of sectarian bloodshed could spread.

    The government's struggle to contain the unrest is proving another major challenge to Thein Sein's reformist administration as it attempts to chart a path to democracy after nearly half a century of military rule that once crushed all dissent. Read the full story.

    Nyein Chan Naing / EPA

    People carry their belongings as they arrive at a temporary rescue center in Meikhtila on March 22, 2013.

    Soe Than Win / AFP - Getty Images

    Residents sit on a railway track watching buildings burn around a mosque in riot-hit Meikhtila on March 21, 2013.

    Soe Zeya Tun / Reuters

    Burnt houses are seen in Meikhtila on March 21, 2013.

     

  • North Korean soldiers issue battle cry as war rhetoric is ramped up

    KCNA via EPA

    A picture released by the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on March 20, 2013 along with a statement saying that the North Korean army is completely ready to fight against South Korea and the United States.

    By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Kim Jong Un said on Wednesday that North Korea would attack U.S. military bases in the Pacific in addition to South Korea if its "enemies … make even the slightest movement," according to the North’s official KCNA news agency.

    The North also hit out over deployment of a U.S. B-52 bomber to South Korea, warning of "all-out action" — the latest of a series of threats issued by Pyongyang.

    KCNA news agency said, in its usual flowery rhetoric, that the presence of the bomber showed the U.S. was preparing for "a pre-emptive nuclear strike," echoing its own earlier threat to do that. Read the full story.

    KCNA via EPA

    The North Korean army's command accused the United States of preparing for a nuclear war in its ongoing exercises with the South Korean military.

    Slideshow: North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un

    The youngest son of Kim Jong Il succeeded his late father in 2011, becoming the third member of his family to rule the unpredictable and reclusive communist state.

    Launch slideshow

     

  • 'Nuclear refugees' visit their home near stricken Fukushima plant

    Franck Robichon / EPA

    Wearing white protective masks and suits, Yuzo Mihara, left, and his wife Yuko pose for photographs on a deserted street in the town of Namie, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, on Feb. 22, 2013.

    Franck Robichon / EPA

    A single house remains standing in an area wiped out by the tsunami near Ukedo port in the town of Namie.

    Until two years ago, Yuzo Mihara and his wife Yuko lived quietly in the Japanese town of Namie. Yuzo ran a store and Yuko a beauty salon. But their lives were upended on March 11, 2011, when an earthquake and tsunami crippled the nearby Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. 

    Yuzo and Yuko are now among over 100,000 Japanese 'nuclear refugees', having had to abandon their home when the town was evacuated due to the nuclear alert.

    European PressPhoto Agency photographer Franck Robichon followed the couple as they made a brief visit to their old home last month. They were able to collect a few belongings and clean the house, which had been invaded by mice.

    Franck Robichon / EPA

    Yuko Mihara enters her house, where the floor is littered with books and furniture.

    Franck Robichon / EPA

    Yuko Mihara offers prayers to her ancestors in front of a family Buddhist altar inside her house.

    Franck Robichon / EPA

    Yuko Mihara cleans her kitchen, which is covered with debris and putrefied food.

    Franck Robichon / EPA

    Yuzo Mihara cleans the couple's house, which has been invaded by mice.

    Located within the 20-kilometer exclusion zone, Namie saw its coastal area wiped out by the tsunami and its inland zone contaminated by radiation. Most of the town's 21,000 former residents still hope to make a permanent move back in the future, but for now they are only allowed to return for a few hours to minimize their exposure to radiation.

    Wearing white protective masks and suits, former Namie residents have to drive through Okuma and Futaba, towns where the radiation levels are so high that a future return is inconceivable. 

    Most of the former residents of the exclusion zone are still waiting for proper compensation to be negotiated with the government and TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima plant. Two years have passed since the disaster and frustration is gaining ground in the community. Cloistered in cramped temporary accommodation, the evacuees face an uncertain future. The stigma of being seen as 'assisted persons' by the wider community only adds to their despair.

    Franck Robichon / EPA

    Yuzo Mihara carries garbage out of his house.

    Franck Robichon / EPA

    Yuzo Mihara looks at a collapsed house in his neighborhood.

    Franck Robichon / EPA

    A destroyed house in the abandoned town of Namie.

    Related:

    Fukushima: Before, during and after

    Inside the Fukushima exclusion zone

    Slideshow: Triple tragedy for Japan

  • 11 killed as blasts rock shopping area in Hyderabad, India

    Two bombs explode in a shopping are of Hyderabad, India, killing at least 11 people and wounding dozens more in what officials are calling the worst bombing in India in more than a year. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

    By Omer Farooq, The Associated Press

    HYDERABAD, India -- A pair of bombs exploded Thursday evening in a crowded shopping area in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, killing at least 11 people and wounding 50 more in the worst bombing in the country in more than a year, officials said.

    The blasts occurred about two minutes apart outside a movie theater and a bus station, police said. Storefronts were shattered and television footage showed the wounded being rushed to hospitals.

    "This is a dastardly attack, the guilty will not go unpunished," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. He appealed to the public to remain calm.

    The bombs were attached to two bicycles about 150 meters (500 feet) apart in the district of Dilsukh Nagar, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said. The district is a usually crowded shopping area near a residential neighborhood.

    Eight people died in one explosion and three in the other, Shinde told reporters in the Indian capital of New Delhi.

    Mahesh Kumar, a 21-year-old student, was heading home from a tutoring class when a bomb went off.

    "I heard a huge sound and something hit me, I fell down, and somebody brought me to the hospital," said Kumar, who suffered shrapnel wounds.

    Hyderabad, a city of 10 million, is a hub of India's information technology industry and has a mixed population of Muslims and Hindus.

    An injured person is attended to at a hospital after a bomb blast in Hyderabad, India, on Feb. 21. A pair of bombs exploded Thursday evening in a crowded shopping area in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, killing several people and wounding many in the worst bombing in the country in more than a year, officials said.

    The explosions Thursday were the first major bomb attack to hit India since a September 2011 blast outside the High Court in New Delhi killed 13 people. The government has been heavily criticized for its failure to arrest the masterminds behind previous bombings.

    Home Secretary R.K. Singh said officials from the National Investigation Agency and commandos of the National Security Guards were leaving New Delhi for Hyderabad.

    India has been in a state of alert since Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri, was hanged in a New Delhi jail nearly two weeks ago. Guru had been convicted of involvement in a 2001 attack on India's Parliament that killed 14 people, including five gunmen.

    Many in Indian-ruled Kashmir believe Guru did not receive a fair trial, and the secrecy with which the execution was carried out fueled anger in a region where anti-India sentiment runs deep.

    © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  • Living in a cage — and paying rent too? The dark side of Hong Kong's property boom

    Vincent Yu / AP

    62-year-old Cheng Man Wai lies in the 16 square foot cage that he calls home, in Hong Kong on Jan. 25, 2013.

    By Kelvin Chan, The Associated Press

    Vincent Yu / AP

    A car passes luxury houses on Victoria Peak, Hong Kong's most exclusive neighborhood, on Feb. 7, 2013.

    Published at 10:27 a.m. ET: For many of the richest people in Hong Kong, one of Asia's wealthiest cities, home is a mansion with an expansive view from the heights of Victoria Peak. For some of the poorest, like Leung Cho-yin, home is a metal cage.

    The 67-year-old former butcher pays 1,300 Hong Kong dollars ($167) a month for one of about a dozen wire mesh cages resembling rabbit hutches crammed into a dilapidated apartment in a gritty, working-class West Kowloon neighborhood.

    Vincent Yu / AP

    77-year-old Yeung Ying Biu sits inside his cage home on Jan. 25, 2013.

    Some 100,000 people in the former British colony live in what's known as inadequate housing, according to the Society for Community Organization, a social welfare group. The category also includes apartments subdivided into tiny cubicles or filled with coffin-sized wood and metal sleeping compartments as well as rooftop shacks. 

    Forced by skyrocketing housing prices to live in cramped, dirty and unsafe conditions, their plight also highlights one of the biggest headaches facing Hong Kong's unpopular Beijing-backed leader: growing public rage over the city's housing crisis. Read the full story.

     

    Vincent Yu / AP

    63-year-old Lee Tat-fong walks in a corridor while her two grandchildren -- Amy, 9, and Steven, 13 -- sit in their 50-square-foot room in Hong Kong on Jan. 25, 2013. Lee, like many poor residents, has applied for public housing but faces years of waiting. Nearly three-quarters of 500 low-income families questioned by Oxfam Hong Kong in a recent survey had been on the list for more than 4 years without being offered a flat.

    Vincent Yu / AP

    77-year-old Yeung Ying Biu eats next to his cage on Jan. 25, 2013. The cage homes date from the 1950s, when they catered mostly to single men coming in from mainland China

    Related:

    'Coffin' apartments offer wooden box homes for the living

    Manila's hidden spaces: Life on the margins in a crowded megacity

    Woman leaps to her death as housing disputes surge in China

    Some poor residents in Hong Kong have been forced to live in small cages. Around 100,000 people in the city live in inadequate housing, according to the Society for Community Organization. NBCNews.com's Alex Witt reports.

     

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