World's worst traffic jam

A massive traffic jam in north China that stretches for dozens of miles and hit its 10-day mark on Tuesday stems from road construction in Beijing that won't be finished until the middle of next month, an official said. 

Bumper-to-bumper gridlock spanning for 60 miles (100 kilometers) with vehicles moving little more than a half-mile (one kilometer) a day at one point has improved since this weekend, said Zhang Minghai, director of Zhangjiakou city's Traffic Management Bureau general office.

Some drivers have been stuck in the jam for five days, China Central Television reported Tuesday. But Zhang said he wasn't sure when the situation along the Beijing-Zhangjiakou highway would return to normal.

The traffic jam started Aug. 14 on a stretch of the highway that is frequently congested, especially after large coalfields were discovered in Inner Mongolia, Zhang said. Traffic volume has increased 40 percent every year.

NEW YORK WINS "RACE TO THE TOP" FUNDS

New York state won hundreds of millions of dollars in the Federal "Race to the Top" competition. The Education Department is expected to name the other second-round winners Tuesday afternoon.

he U.S. Department of Education confirmed Tuesday morning that New York won part of the $3.4 billion that the federal government had set aside to award states who could document that they would use the money to implement certain overhauls. Those changes include greater teacher accountability, the use of data systems and support for the growth of charter schools.

"That will just make a huge difference in the long term," said Merryl Tisch, chancellor of the New York Board of Regents. New York stands to win as much as $700 million in the contest. Ms. Tisch said New York won "pretty close" to what it had requested.

The Education Department is expected to name the other winners of the second round of its Race to the Top competition Tuesday afternoon.

Eighteen states and the District of Columbia were named finalists in July. Tennessee and Delaware were awarded $600 million in the first round of the competition in March.

Ms. Tisch said the prize money will allow the state to build a robust data system to help track student progress, transform the lowest performing schools and create a teacher evaluation and certification system that will help identify and reward top teachers, but also move weaker teachers out of the system. She said the money will also help New York come up with a statewide curriculum based on the common core standards.

New York recently acknowledged that it had for years grossly inflated the number of children proficient in math and English and adjusted its standards to better reflect true proficiency. Those new numbers show the state has a long way to go to overhaul its education system.

New York's win comes three months after a hard-fought battle in Albany to pass legislation that increased the number of charter schools in the state, and also set parameters for a teacher evaluation system that takes student test scores into account.

This news was published

By BARBARA MARTINEZ And STEPHANIE BANCHERO for  The New York Wall Street Journal

Hong Kong slams Manila hijack handling

                                Police conduct a forensic examination of the tourist bus hijacked in Manila August 23.

Hong Kong has expressed disappointment with the mismanagement of the Philippines 

government over the death of eight of its nationals in a hostage drama in Manila.

                  Hong Kong is demanding explanations from the Philippines authorities about their indecisive 


and slow handling of the shootout, BBC reported on Tuesday. 
               
                  On Monday a dismissed policeman Rolando Mendoza armed with an automatic rifle seized a 


bus carrying 25 tourists in the Philippines capital Manila in an effort to be reinstated. Following initial 


successful negotiations and the release of nine of the hostages, the disgruntled former police officer 


opened fire on his hostages. The police stormed the bus about 20 minutes later. There is speculation as 


to why the police failed to enter the bus before the eight tourists were shot dead. Hong Kong officials 


have issued a travel warning urging all flights to the Philippines to be cancelled. The warning also calls 


on Hong Kong nationals to leave the Philippines as soon as possible. Flags are flying at half-mast in 


Hong Kong to commemorate the victims as the stock exchange observed a minute's silence for the hijack 


victims. The survivors of the incident were chartered to Hong Kong via two planes accompanied by 


doctors and counselors. The Philippines President Benigno Aquino has admitted that there were 


deficiencies in the operation, promising a "thorough investigation" into the incident.