especially for Chinese who cannot afford to fly. But buying tickets is difficult, and food, drink and other services on trains are poor problems often attributed to corruption. "Corruption? Of course there is in the railway bureau,http://www.my3652.w206.yn114.com/thread-794295-1-1.html. There's that Boss Railway!" Chang Shangxi, a 32-year-old businessman, said as he waited for a high-speed train in Shanghai this past week. "I am sure corruption causes corners to be cut and work to be faked as the companies have to make the money back that they spent on corruption,http://www.xblybaijiale.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=281735." The ministry's ability to throw money around to get things done and preserve its power in the end helped bring it down,cheap toms shoes. Liu Zhijun, the bullet train network's top booster, was ousted as minister two years ago, amid accusations that he took massive bribes and steered contracts, some of them associated with the high-speed rail network. Among his rumored misdeeds: having 18 mistresses. An insider's guide to politics and policy, available on the iPad or as a PDF download.
By JEFF TODD, Associated Press NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) Offshore oil exploration will be allowed off the Bahamas, the environmental minister said Sunday, adding that a voter referendum on whether to go forward with full production will be held only after it is determined whether the island chain has commercially viable reserves. The exploratory drilling will not likely produce enough information to make a decision until late 2014 at the earliest and the referendum could be held the following year, Environmental Minister Kenred Dorsett said. Offshore drilling is sensitive in the Bahamas, where many fear a spill could devastate the fishing and tourism industries. The previous Bahamian government had delayed issuing exploration permits. Prime Minister Perry Christie, who was voted back into office in May, has said he supported exploration,http://www.510baby.com/home/space.php?uid=106186&do=blog&id=148905. Dorsett said the government would seek new regulations to protect the environment and cannot ignore the potential economic benefits of oil for a country that now imports fuel,cheapest toms shoes. "The discovery of oil in the Bahamas would almost certainly prove to be economically transformative for our nation for many generations to come," he said in a statement. The announcement came after a delegation of Bahamian officials, including Dorsett,cheap toms shoes, recently returned from neighboring Cuba, where he said they discussed that country's exploration efforts and the "need for enhanced environmental vigilance and protection," in an environmentally sensitive region just off the southeastern coast of the U.S. Geologic surveys say 5 billion to 9 billion barrels of oil may lie off Cuba's coast. Three exploratory wells proved nonviable in 2012, a blow to a government eager for an injection of petrodollars to boost its struggling economy. In December, a Norwegian-owned platform arrived in waters off Cuba's north-central coast for exploratory drilling by the Russian oil company Zarubezhneft for operations expected to take six months. Dorsett said the fact that Cuba is pursuing exploration so seriously suggests there are likely substantial r