BAGHDAD Brian Elliott Jersey , July 22 (Xinhua) -- More than 100 candidates are vying for the Iraqi presidency as lawmakers prepare to choose the nation 's new leadership, and build an inclusive government while the country is severely divided by sectarian rifts and grappling with an ongoing Islamist insurgency.
"Over 100 people nominated themselves for the presidency in a legitimate competition and all the candidates have submitted their resumes," newly-elected Speaker Salim al-Jubouri told a news conference in Baghdad on Tuesday.
Iraq's power-sharing consensus stipulates that the president should be a member of the Kurdish minority, while the speakership is reserved for a Sunni Arab and the prime minister for a Shiite.
The agreement has been supported by the leading Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish political parties, though it has not been incorporated in the country's constitution.
It now seems that most of legislators, who belong to the leading political blocs, are likely to respect the power-sharing agreement by choosing a Kurdish candidate as the new Iraqi president.
Though Kurdish leaders have not revealed their final decisions, they are expected to name their candidate in the coming days. Media reports indicate Fuad Masoum, head of the Kurdish Alliance in Iraq's parliament, and Barham Salih, deputy secretary general of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, were among the candidates nominated.
The announcement came days after parliament's election of Speaker Salim al-Jubouri. The country's constitution requires a new president to be chosen 30 days after the speaker is elected.
Around two weeks after the new head of state is elected, the bloc with the most lawmakers will nominate a prime minister that will be responsible for forming a new government.
Early in July, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki refused to withdraw his candidacy despite wide-ranging criticism for his domestic policy and the mishandling of the Sunni onslaught, and, because of his stubbornness, a political deadlock is well expected.
With the country's ever deepening security crisis, forming a new and inclusive unity government is more vital for Iraq than ever as Iraq's leaders struggle to counter the Sunni Islamist insurgency that has snatched large swathes of the country from the central government's control.
Iraq has been witnessing its worst violence in years. Well over a month ago armed Sunni insurgents, spearheaded by the Islamic State, an al-Qaida breakaway group, launched a surprise offensive that stunned the world as the militants captured large part of the country's northern and western territories after Iraqi security forces fled their posts, abandoning their military equipment and leaving behind thousands of civilians.
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SHENZHEN, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- While many Chinese parents arepushing their children hard in the harsh exam-oriented environmentof China's urban school system, Yun Xiang has left the city for thecountryside, determined to raise her child in the arms ofnature.
Yun Xiang and her husband quit their jobs in Beijing two yearsago, and settled down at the foot of the Wutong mountains, in thesuburbs of the southern city of Shenzhen, with their five-year-oldson.
""We wanted to let our child get close to nature, and we heardthat there were some good schools here,"" she says.
Her son Dou Dou entered a private school based on the GermanWaldorf education theory, which emphasizes nature and the arts.
In kindergarten, Dou Dou spends a lot of time outdoors. He haslearned how to make pencils with beeswax, and how to make steamedbread with red bean paste filling.
Dou Dou has now entered the school's primary education section.He has no text books, and is encouraged to create his own textbooks by writing down what he learned in class.
Besides the school built on the basis of a western philosophy ofeducation, the Wutong mountains have also seen the emergence ofSishus, or private schools, which are usually run by families andmainly teaching traditional Chinese classics.
Zhang Zhonghe, a former painter, now runs a Sishu in themountains. Besides Confucian classics, his students also learn artssuch as calligraphy, Chinese traditional painting and Chineseshadow boxing.
""Confucius said 'A cultured man is not a tool.' Children shouldnot be brought up in a uniform way, and they should be allowed torealize their different potential,"" Zhang says.
There are a dozen Sishus in the mountains, mostly on a verysmall scale, with a dozen students or less.
Qiu Ying rents out her house in downtown Shenzhen and sends herfive-year-old daughter to a Sishu in the Wutong mountains. Qiuworks in a foreign trade company in the city and spends around twohours commuting every day.
""Getting in close touch with nature is a valuable experience forthe child,"" she says.
More and more like-minded parents are gathering in the Wutongmountains, where an education community of 160 households has beenformed. The parents keep close contact with each other and areactively involved in school activities.
Yun Xiang says that recently in order to help the children'smountain climbing activities every Wednesday, some of the parentsbuilt an 8-meter-long wooden bridge over a cove.
""The best education for children is to inspire them to followtheir own way and teach them what they want to learn,"" shesays.
Sun Yunxiao, an expert with China Youth and Children ResearchCenter, says these schools are a good trial for parents toexperiment with different forms of education, but also points outthe importance of government supervision to ensure qualityeducation.
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Wang Zhiwei of Shanxi celebrates after the 50m pistol shooting men's final at 13th Chinese National Games in north China's Tianjin Municipality, Aug 28,2017. Wang Zhiwei won the gold medal with a score of 227.9 rings. (XinhuaJu Huanzon. Cheap Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys USA Cheap Jerseys China Wholesale Cheap College Basketball Jerseys Cheap NCAA Jerseys Cheap Soccer Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NBA Basketball Jerseys
