BEIJING/SEOUL — China on Sunday warned against "troublemaking" on its doorstep, in an apparent rebuke to North Korea.

The North, led by 30-year-old Kim Jong-un, has been issuing vitriolic threats of war against the United States and U.S.-backed South Korea since the United Nations imposed sanctions in response to its third nuclear weapon test in February.

North Korean officials told diplomats late last week to consider leaving Pyongyang because of the tension, but embassies appeared to view the appeal as more rhetoric and staff have stayed put.

China, North Korea's sole financial and diplomatic backer, has shown growing irritation with Pyongyang's warnings of nuclear war.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, addressing a forum on the southern island of Hainan, did not name North Korea but said no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain".

Stability in Asia, he said, "faces new challenges, as hot spot issues keep emerging and both traditional and non-traditional security threats exist".

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed similar frustration in a statement late on Saturday, relating a telephone conversation with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

"We oppose provocative words and actions from any party in the region and do not allow trouble making on China's doorstep," Wang said, according to a ministry statement on its website.

On Sunday, the ministry expressed "grave concern" at rising tension and said China had asked North Korea to "ensure the safety of Chinese diplomats in North Korea, in accordance with the Vienna Convention and international laws and norms".

China's embassy, it said, was "understood" to be operating normally in Pyongyang.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, addressing the Hainan forum, said avoiding conflict on the peninsula was vital. "There, any aggression is a threat to the interests of every country in the region," she said.

British Foreign Minister William Hague said North Korea's nuclear ambitions had to be taken seriously.

Interviewed by Sky News, he said the international response "should also be very clear, very united and calm at all times because it's important not to feed that frenetic rhetoric that we've seen over the last few weeks".

Switzerland's Foreign Ministry offered to mediate, saying it was "always willing to help find a solution, if this is the wish of the parties, such as hosting meetings between them".

Kim, the third member of his dynasty to rule North Korea, is thought to have spent several years in Switzerland being educated under a pseudonym. He took over in December 2011 after the death of his father Kim Jong-il, who confronted South Korea and the United States throughout his 17-year rule.

Additional reporting by Koh Gui Qing in Hainan and Phil Stewart in Washington

Marmite NZ / Facebook

Many in New Zealand are fanatical about their beloved Marmite, a yeast-extract spread. This consumer opted to demonstrate devotion by getting a Marmite tattoo.

New Zealand's sticky black sandwich spread is finally back on breakfast tables after fans suffered through a year of what they dramatically described as “Marmageddon.”

Supermarkets began selling Marmite again Wednesday for the first time since March 2012, when supplies ran out. A series of earthquakes in the city of Christchurch forced manufacturer Sanitarium to close the only factory that made New Zealand's version of the yeast-extract product.

To the uninitiated, Marmite looks like axle grease and tastes little better. But plenty love it: New Zealanders were buying 640 metric tons every year before Marmaggedon hit.

Grocery chain Foodstuffs said people have been lining up at its stores since the end of Marmaggedon. Spokeswoman Antoinette Shallue said customers are "really excited" about Marmite's return.

England makes its own version of the spread which tastes significantly different from Sanitarium’s, which is popular in New Zealand and Australia.

“You’ve rationed, you’ve scraped, you’ve survived Marmaggedon — and now the wait is over!” Sanitarium said in a jubilant announcement on its website this week. 

“Thanks for not freaking out and for waiting patiently for the black gold’s return.”

Marmite NZ / Facebook

New Zealanders love their Marmite so much that they bought 640 metric tons each year before Marmageddon struck.

During the lean Marmite times, Sanitarium General Manager Pierre van Heerden encouraged consumers to innovate in order to make their existing Marmite supplies last longer.

“With toast it's a little bit warmer so it spreads easier and it goes a little bit further,” van Heerden exhorted on Radio New Zealand. “What we're asking consumers if maybe they could have their Marmite on toast, ration it a little bit, maybe only have it once a day or every second day.”

According to a variety of news reports, New Zealanders are elated over the return of Marmite.

“I’m very happy,” shopper Robyn Lonergan told the Agence France-Presse news agency. “I've tried the alternatives but they’re just not the same.”

Have you ever tried Marmite? What do you think of it? Do you understand what all the fuss is about? Let us know in the comments!

The Associated Press and TODAY.com writer Laura T. Coffey contributed to this report.

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Carlos Barria / Reuters

A general view of 'Unit 61398,' a secretive Chinese military unit on the outskirts of Shanghai on Feb. 19. The unit is believed to be behind a series of hacking attacks, a U.S. computer security company said, prompting a strong denial by China and accusations that it was in fact the victim of U.S. hacking.

BEIJING – A group of hackers linked to the Chinese military has stolen reams of sensitive data from more than 100 prominent American companies and organizations, according to an explosive new report.

“The details we have analyzed during hundreds of investigations convince us that the groups conducting these activities are based primarily in China and that the Chinese Government is aware of them,” U.S. computer-security firm Mandiant Corp. said in a 74-page report released on Tuesday.

The story was first reported by The New York Times.

One group originating from China that Mandiant had been tracking since 2006 and identified in the study as “APT1” allegedly swiped data from 141 companies in 20 industries ranging from aerospace to telecommunications, according to the report. More than 110 of those companies were American, according to Mandiant.

Mandiant said that the data suggests that the hacker group was either working for or sponsored by China’s People’s Liberation Army. Indeed, according to the organization’s information, APT1’s activity originated from a People’s Liberation Army cyberware division known as “Unit 61398.”

“Our research found that People’s Liberation Army (PLA’s) Unit 61398 is similar to APT1 in its mission, capabilities, and resources,” it said, according to the report.  “PLA Unit 61398 is also located in precisely the same area from which APT1 activity appears to originate.”

Mandiant said that the hacking originated from a drab 12-story office building on the outskirts of Shanghai. Hundreds, maybe even thousands, of operatives performed covert corporate espionage and extracted trade secrets, blueprints, pricing data and other corporate information from countless American servers from the innocuous tower, according to Mandiant.

The hackers used techniques like “spear-phishing” -- using spoof emails to trick users into granting access to internal servers --demonstrating a strong proficiency in the English language and advanced understanding of computer security and network operations, the organization said.

Media blackout
Though the story exploded on Twitter and in the foreign news media, it has hardly made any waves in China. Twitter has long been blocked in the country and foreign media companies that broadcast on the mainland like CNN were blacked out when the report was mentioned on air. 

Coverage of Mandiant’s report was also absent from Chinese news websites, but some discussion of the report could still be found on China’s Twitter-like service, Weibo.

“Chinese hackers are so capable! I always thought Americans are very powerful!” exclaimed one user.

“Reports by foreign media cannot be fully trusted,” warned another user, “but there must be something.”

Related: Wall Street Journal infiltrated by Chinese hackers

This was a sentiment partly shared by China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, who responded today to questions about the hacking report by calling them “groundless” and reiterating the government’s unwavering position on the matter.

“To make groundless accusations based on some rough material is neither responsible nor professional,” he said, before noting that China was also the victim of hacking attacks.

Hong also argued that the new evidence provided by Mandiant and the New York Times will not withstand closer scrutiny.

But China’s cyber activities have been under increasingly closer scrutiny in recent weeks, as a slew of news stories have come out about Beijing’s reported hacking ambitions. Last month, the New York Times reported that its own servers had been attacked by hackers originating in China, possibly in response to an embarrassing expose it published showing the hidden riches of out-going Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao.

While the White House has largely remained silent on the hacking issue -- President Barack Obama mentioned hacking in his State of the Union but did not specifically cite China -- the government has been noticeably increasing efforts to strengthen cyber security.

Last week Obama issued an Executive Order calling for the improving of critical infrastructure tied to cyber security. That the move came on the eve of the publication of two similar exposes -- last week Bloomberg printed another story demonstrating PLA hacking of American systems -- suggests the administration could be taking a long called for tougher stance on Chinese hacking by “naming and shaming” known mainland hacking groups.  

NBC News' Le Li contributed to this report.

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Internet Explorer zero-day exploit linked to China

BEIJING — The rise of new Chinese leader Xi Jinping last November has not been good for mainland officials caught with their pants down.

In recent months, a slew of low-level Communist officials as well as a few high ranking ones —most notably the vice party chief of the southwestern province of Sichuan, Li Chuncheng — have been exposed by local media and dismissed from their positions after their sexual peccadilloes came to light.

The latest senior official to be toppled due to a sex scandal, Yi Junqing, was a vice minister in charge of China Central Committee’s Central Compilation and Translation Bureau.

His dismissal was announced Thursday in a one-sentence statement by Chinese state media, which simply noted he had been "removed from post for 'improper lifestyle.'" 

The terse release by the state-run Xinhua news service belied the expansive and often lurid claims that have flooded the Web about Yi’s sexual trysts. Yi was seemingly exposed by his alleged mistress, Chang Yan, who posted a 120,000 Chinese character essay online detailing the sex, money and gifts exchanged over many months.

Though many of the affair’s particulars read like the cliché-ridden narratives familiar to many Chinese who have followed the adventures of officials over the years, this case is unique in that it shows the lengths to which many in China go to secure coveted ministry jobs, and the economic and social security that comes with those jobs.

Chang, 35, a married native of China’s Shanxi province, was a visiting post-doctorate student at the Translation Bureau and had aspirations of landing a job there once her studies were completed.

Earning employment at the bureau’s Beijing office — and thus the proper permits needed to bring her husband from Shanxi to live and work in Beijing —would require the authorization of Yi, who ran the bureau.

According to Chang’s account, the price for that approval turned out to be steep, both morally and financially.

"I was trying to figure out what he wants, money or me," Chang wrote in one excerpt translated by the U.K.’s Telegraph newspaper. "There is no free lunch if I wanted to work for the bureau. I knew there was a price to pay to work for the bureau. I had already paid 10,000 yuan [USD$1,600]. He said he would take two months to get me the job and then he would invite me."

Besides giving in and becoming Yi’s mistress, Chang writes that she paid $10,000 in total to Yi to secure this government position. Yi’s failure to deliver on that job led Chang to post details of the sordid affair on her private blog, she said.

That someone would sleep with a potential boss or even pay for a position is of no surprise in China, but to have it written about so openly sparked an uproar online.

Despite censors erasing the story on Chinese websites, news of the essay soon spread on the Web.

On China’s Twitter-like service, Weibo, the affair became a hot topic Friday.

A post by Chang on her blog — where the original entry was quickly erased — seemed to suggest that the story had been written as a piece of fiction.

"In my spare time I put together a work of fiction," Chang wrote on her blog entry. "I suffered serious depression... and regularly sank into a state of delusion and even fantasy."

Weibo users overwhelmingly dismissed the confession as forced and condemned Yi for his corruption.

"Rumor has again proven to be truth," wrote one user.

"If we got rid of officials like Yi who had these types of affairs, we’d have to eliminate 99.9 percent of them!" declared another.

Regardless of whether her story is true or not, Yi’s dismissal Thursday shows the lengths to which China’s ruling Communist Party appears willing to go in order to maintain its legitimacy and supremacy.

More news from China from NBC News' Behind the Wall

NBC News' Le Li contributed to this report.

Ted Aljibe / AFP - Getty Images

Residents rest under an uprooted tree used as temporary shelter in New Bataan, Compostela province on December 12, 2012 nearly one week after the southern part of the Philippines was hit by Typhoon Bopha. The death toll from the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year has climbed above 900 with hundreds more missing, many of them tuna fishermen feared lost at sea, the government said on December 11. Read the full story.

Erik De Castro / Reuters

A man looks for his relatives from lists of missing persons more than one week after Typhoon Bopha hit New Bataan, southern Philippines December 12, 2012.

Erik De Castro / Reuters

A girl and other typhoon victims search for recyclable materials from among the debris at the ruins of a house in the coastal town of Cateel, that was devastated during last Tuesday's Typhoon Bopha in Davao Oriental, southern Philippines on Wednesday.

What makes a nation, other than its people? Is it the flag, the passport, the currency, the anthem? Or is it something more complex and harder to pin down?

In seeking to illustrate the latest in a series of Reuters special reports on the growing pains of South Sudan, photographer Adriane Ohanesian gathered a selection of objects. 

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

Photo illustrations, clockwise from top left: A South Sudanese passport; A South Sudanese five pound note; A motorcycle license plate from the new nation's Eastern Equatoria State; A copy of South Sudan's national anthem handwritten by Gabriel Arnest, one of its three composers.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

Photo illustrations, clockwise from top left: The South Sudan national soccer team's jersey; A bottle of White Bull beer, produced in Juba; A tote bag with the slogan 'I heart Juba'; A car air freshener showing the seal of South Sudan.

Reuters reports — Not all new countries are really new. Some are born almost fully formed; others have to start from nothing.

Adriane Ohanesian / Reuters

The flag of South Sudan.

That difference is crucial to a new nation's chances of success.

More than half the youngest nations in the world were born or reborn after the collapse of communism in Europe and had existed as independent states as far back as the Middle Ages. Most regained independence with established institutions — courts, banks, police forces, schools — and skilled people to run them.

Interactive: Key measures on the world's newest countries

South Sudan, which gained full independence last year, is at the other end of the spectrum. When it won a measure of autonomy from Sudan in 2005, its roster of organized, national institutions began and ended with its army.

"In the case of South Sudan, you don't reconstruct, you don't rebuild, you start from scratch," Hilde Johnson, the U.N. Secretary General's Special representative for South Sudan, told Reuters. Read the full story.

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Egyptian activists carry the coffin of Gaber Salah, an activist who died overnight after he was critically injured in clashes with police last week, during his funeral in Tahrir Square on Nov. 26.

Hussein Tallal / AP

Egyptians carry the body of Gaber Salah during his funeral procession in Cairo on Nov. 26.

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Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

A mourner wearing chains attends the funeral of youth activist Gaber Salah.

Khaled Elfiqi / EPA

Egyptian protesters react during the funeral of Gaber Salah.

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

A masked protester during clashes with police in Tahrir Square on Nov. 26.

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

Mourners attend the funeral of activist Gaber Salah in Cairo.

Ahmed Abdel Fattah / AP

The tents of activists in Tahrir Square on Nov. 26.

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The Syrian civil war has been raging for more than a year and a half, and Tuesday morning a fresh face stepped into the mix, as Angelina Jolie visited the Al Zaatri refugee camp near the country's border with Jordan. TODAY's Ann Curry was on hand to find out what the actress saw, and what it all meant.

"It's been a very heavy experience, because oftentimes you come to these camps and ... very rarely do you ... meet them as they cross the border and you get to know people the moment they become a refugee," said Jolie in a press conference. "The moment they've forever lost their home, their livelihood, their education, everything they have been is gone, and when I ask them, 'What did you bring?' they say 'This' (plucks at her shirt) 'The shirt on my back.'"

Jolie has long volunteered for humanitarian causes, and currently serves as a Special Envoy to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. When Curry asked her about the frustration she feels about being unable to reach people inside Syria, Jolie said she had been speaking for the last two days with Syrians about what they witnessed. 

Handout / Getty Images

UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie meets with refugees on the Jordanian border minutes after they crossed from Syria on Sept. 10.

"What they describe on the ground, hearing it from them, is so horrific," said Jolie. "It is a horrific situation and a very, very critical time. So for all the politicians out there -- and we are not them -- we hope and pray that they figure out something soon because people are dying, hundreds and hundreds of people are dying every day."

Curry said more than 200,000 people have fled over the border into Jordan alone. She will have more to report from Syria on Tuesday on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.

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Munir Uz Zaman / AFP - Getty Images

Bangladeshi Muslims offer prayers on the last Friday of Ramadan at the National Mosque of Bangladesh, Baitul Mukarram in Dhaka on Aug. 17, 2012 ahead of the Eid al-Fitr festival.

Andrew Biraj / Reuters

A Muslim worshipper cries as he prays in front of the national mosque on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan in Dhaka, Bangladesh Aug.17.

Aamir Qureshi / AFP - Getty Images

Pakistani Muslims offer Jummat-ul-Vida, last Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan at the grand Faisal Mosque in Islamabad on Aug. 17.

Abir Sultan / EPA

Israeli border police officers on duty stand by as female Palestinian worshippers cross from the Kalandia checkpoint outside Ramallah into Jerusalem to attend the last Friday prayer of Ramadan in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Aug. 17.

Muslim devotees took part in the last Friday prayers ahead of the Eid al-Fitr festival marking the end of the month of Ramadan. The three-day festival, which begins after the sighting of a new crescent moon, marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, during which devout Muslims abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex from dawn to dusk. 

Millions make a crowded (sometimes dangerous) journey home for Eid al-Fitr

More photos from Ramadan on PhotoBlog

An investigation of the FBI's handling of the events leading up to the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009, concludes that agents made a series of mistakes, failing to follow up on important questions and to share information widely enough.

"We do not find, and we do not suggest, that these mistakes resulted from intentional misconduct or the disregard of duties," concluded William Webster, the FBI's former director who led the investigation. "Indeed, we find that each special agent, intelligence analyst, and task force officer who handled the information acted with good intent."

Click here to read the full report (pdf)

Most of the shortcomings have been previously disclosed, and some resulted from a lack of training and of understanding military nomenclature. For example, agents in San Diego, who were investigating al-Qaida propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki, noticed on December 17, 2008, that Nidal Hasan, who would become the Fort Hood shooter, sent al-Awlaki an e-mail asking about soldiers who kill fellow military personnel with the aim of "helping muslims fighting jihad."

Related: Judge delays Fort Hood shooting hearing over Hasan's beard

The San Diego agents decided against sending out a broadly disseminated message that would have alerted the system that a member of the US military was communicating with a known al-Qaida terrorist. The agents noticed that a summary of his military records said Hasan was a "Comm Officer," and they assumed it meant he was a communications officer and might have access to the system that would contain such an alert message. In fact, the abbreviation meant Hasan was a commissioned officer.

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The report also says agents in the FBI's Washington field office failed to follow through more aggressively to the leads developed in San Diego. Part of the problem, the report said, was that the FBI received only glowing accounts from the Department of Defense about Hasan's career. Agents were never told that he was actually considered a poor performer who was often on probation.

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AP file

The Khan Bani Saad Correctional Facility, about 12 miles northeast of Baghdad, is seen with unused building materials nearby. The site is a chronicle of U.S. government waste, misguided planning and construction shortcuts costing $40 million.

The official in charge of monitoring America’s $51 billion effort to reconstruct Iraq has estimated that $6 billion to $8 billion of that amount was lost to waste, fraud and abuse.

Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction (SIGIR) for the past eight years, gave that estimate in an interview with the Center for Public Integrity on Monday, shortly after releasing a new summary of his office’s many grim discoveries since it began work in in 2004.

In Friday’s report, Bowen said the exact funds lost to fraud and waste “can never be known,” largely because of poor record-keeping by the U.S. agencies involved in the effort. These include the Departments of State and Defense, along with the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Bowen said his efforts were hampered from the outset by the ineffectiveness of a clearinghouse created in Iraq for government departments to submit reconstruction bills and contracts for review and oversight. Known as the Iraq Reconstruction Management System, the system was often ignored, with the result that nearly a third of all the contracts could not be monitored adequately. 

"Agencies often inconsistently used it -- such as USAID. Sometimes projects were put in there, sometimes they weren’t,” said Bowen. Aides said his $6 billion to $8 billion figure is based on his review of audits and reconstruction costs, as well of estimates of waste in programs where key data is missing.

Bowen’s deputy inspector general, Glenn Furbish, said separately in the interview that the cost of many contracts was steadily increased due to frequent modifications. “Once U.S. agencies started down this road, they rarely stopped and said, ‘This is getting out of hand,’” Furbish said.

He also noted that many agencies sometimes skipped appropriate review of their bills in an effort to spend money within a deadline, so they did not have to return it to the Treasury.

Since its founding in 2004, SIGIR has investigated $635 million in spending, resulting in $176 million in “fines, forfeitures, and other monetary results.” In total, the agency estimates it has saved around $1.5 billion in taxpayer funds.

Friday’s report mostly detailed the persistent poor handling of government contracts. “In some instances, invoices were reviewed months after they were paid,” according to the report. “Poor and/or delayed invoice reviews add risk that the government may overpay, or pay unallowable and unreasonable costs.”

The report lays much of the blame on a lack of manpower dedicated to reviewing and overseeing government contracts. The State Department enlisted a single contracting officer to handle a $2.5 billion deal with DynCorp International to train Iraqi police forces, for example. Auditors called this decision “especially disturbing" because of problems in earlier DynCorp contracts. According to Furbish, after SIGIR singled out the contract, the State Department reviewed its original agreement with DynCorp and recovered more than $60 million from the company.

DynCorp spokeswoman Ashley Burke confirmed that her company returned funds to the government but said it had not engaged in misconduct.

SIGIR’s investigation also uncovered instances of bid-rigging and bribe-taking by State and Pentagon officials.

Fraudulent activities uncovered by the special inspector general resulted in 87 indictments, according to the report. Of those cases, 61 involved contract kickbacks, 11 involved contract fraud and nine were related to embezzlement. Both military officers and defense contractors were frequently implicated.

The report details one such case, involving U.S. Army Major Roderick Sanchez, who served from 2004 to 2007 as a contracting officer in Afghanistan, Iraq and Kuwait. Sanchez used his authority to solicit cash payments, Rolex watches and other expensive gifts in exchange for steering Pentagon contracts to foreign companies, reaping benefits worth more than $200,000, according to the report. He was sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of $15,000.

A Navy lieutenant commander named Frankie Hand, stationed at Camp Taji in Iraq as a contracting officer, entered into a secret agreement with two U.S. contractors — Michelle Adams and Peter Dunn — agreeing to rig government contracts to their benefit in exchange for a cut of the profits, the report said. The two contractors paid Hand $757,525 after obtaining two contracts improperly. An Air Force master sergeant received $50,000 in bribe money for “assistance” in the deal, the report said.

Hand received three years in prison and forfeited his share of contract profits, while Adams and Dunn received 15 and 14 months in prison, respectively.

Friday’s report, titled “Final Forensic Audit Report of Iraq Reconstruction Funds”, was wider in scope than most of SIGIR’s work, covering not just a specific project, but a broader picture of Iraq’s reconstruction. SIGIR spokesman Chris Griffith said, however, that Bowen' has one more major report to publish in January.

Many of the challenges described in the Iraq report mirror those depicted in similar reports by its cousin, the office of the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction. In a May report to Congress, for example, that office concluded that “corruption remains a major threat to the reconstruction effort” and said contractors were taking advantage of lax oversight in Afghanistan.

Olivier Hoslet / EPA, file

Support for Silvio Berlusconi's party, which has lost scores of voters from the beginning of the crisis, would triple if he ran, according to recent survey.

ROME, Italy -- It could be back to the future for Silvio Berlusconi -- and Italy as well.

Speculation was rife Thursday that the 75-year-old former Italian prime minister -- who resigned from office under intense pressure last November after it became clear he could not tackle the economic crisis that brought the country to the verge of defaulting  -- was mulling a comeback.

It would be quite an about-face for the billionaire media mogul -- known for his oversized ego, hunger for power and lavish lifestyle -- who said earlier this year that he would not run in the next national elections in 2013.

Still, Berlusconi is a survivor. He did not step down despite having been a defendant in dozens of trials for corruption and abuse of office. He was defiant in the face of international embarrassment after details of his private parties, complete with showgirls dancing on poles in skimpy clothes or dressed up as nuns, leaked out. He did not falter even when he was accused of having paid an under-aged girl for sex.

So could he finally give up his political ambitions for good because he was accused of having brought his country to the edge of economic disaster?

Apparently not.

Political pantomime
The biggest Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, says the former prime minister has decided to try to become prime minister for the fourth time in 20 years after polls revealed that his popularity was still strong among right-wing voters.

Italy stats office can't function after spending cuts

According to a survey, published by Euromedia Research, votes for his party would triple if he ran as its candidate. The poll showed that the party would claim only 8 to 12 percent of the overall vote if Berlusconi stayed out of politics, but the proportion would shoot to 28 percent if he returned as a leader.

But just a few months ago, it seemed that the vast majority of Italian voters had grown tired of the former prime minister’s political pantomime made-up of jokes, girls and promises.  Indeed, on the Nov. 12, the day Berlusconi went to the president’s palace to offer his resignation, he was greeted by an angry crowd shouting insults and chanting "Hallelujah!"

Berlusconi soon disappeared in the political background, mostly agreeing with anything Mario Monti, the technocratic prime minister who replaced him, did to fix the country’s ailing economy.

Woman dressed as Obama for Berlusconi, court told

Retains party support
Another thing that Berlusconi has working in his favor is the support of his closest ally, Angelino Alfano, the new party secretary. Alfano, who was presented at a party conference as Berlusconi's political heir, received news of a possible comeback enthusiastically even though such a development would mean he would lose the chance to run as prime minister.

"Many are asking him to run," Alfano told the daily La Repubblica. "If he does, I will stand by his side and will support him all the way."

But to the opposition, Berlusconi's "I'll be back" sounds scarier than Arnold Schwarzenegger threatening to come return for more mayhem in "Terminator."

Many analysts blame Berlusconi for precipitating the economic crisis by delaying much needed but unpopular reforms in the job and pensions sectors, and fear that his return will send investor’s confidence in Italy's economy back to rock bottom.

Whether Italian voters think the same, only the outcome of the 2013 election will say.

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A traffic jam on Mount Everest turned deadly last weekend, with fatalities being blamed on the bottleneck of climbers trying to ascend or descend the summit, reports from the mountain say.

At least four climbers died near the summit over the weekend and three others were said to be missing and feared dead, climbers told NBC News' Miguel Almaguer. But Alan Arnette, a climber who is blogging the 2012 Everest expedition season, reported that seven had died over the weekend.

The bottleneck developed after weeks of bad weather prevented climbers from summit attempts until Saturday. When the weather cleared, an estimated 150 people rushed to reach the peak, according to Almaguer.

"When there’s a bottleneck on Everest, you have a long line of climbers that really can’t pass one another," Arnette told Almaguer on TODAY Wednesday morning. "They’re stuck, they're using up their oxygen. And as a result they get cold and potentially make bad decisions."

This deadly combination of factors has caused fatalities in the past. In 1996, a bottleneck and bad weather led to the deaths of eight climbers in one day, an infamous event that was recounted in the book "Into Thin Air."

Jonathan Kedrowski, a climber on the peak who said he passed some of the victims while descending, recounted the tragic aftermath of this season’s bottleneck to Almaguer.

One man wasn't wearing a hat or gloves. "He was kind of looking at me kind of zombie-like," Kedrowski said. "Anybody that would pass him he would reach out and try to grab you. The gentleman’s hand was frozen solid."

It is believed some of the victims died from hypothermia and brain swelling, triggered by the high altitude and a lack of oxygen.

Among the confirmed deaths are Eberhard Schaaf, 61, from Aachen, Germany, Shriya Shah, a 32-year-old Nepal-born woman living in Canada, and a Korean, Song Won-Bin. Discovery News reported that a Nepalese official said 55-year-old Chinese climber Ha Wenyi had also been found dead.

"Schaaf died at the South Summit of Sagarmatha due to altitude sickness," said Ang Tshering Sherpa, chief of the Asian Trekking company that organized the expedition, referring to the Nepali name of the mountain. He said the body was lying on the mountain. 

At least two Sherpas died last month  -- one after falling into a crevasse and the other reportedly from altitude sickness, according to National Geographic magazine. More than 200 people have  died climbing Everest since 1950.

Related: 73-year-old smashes own record as oldest woman to climb Mount Everest

Eric Simonson, Himalayan program director of International Mountain Guides, told msnbc.com that his team of 11 climbers and 11 Sherpas reached the summit on Saturday. The group, he said, were toward the front of the line as they began their attempts at 8 p.m. and started reaching the summit at 4:50 a.m. The team returned safely to their camps.

He said choppers were flying to Camp 2 on Tuesday to pick up injured climbers who successfully descended. "The full story of who was hurt and who wasn’t, who dropped out and who didn’t, won’t be known for weeks," Simonson said.

Often, he said, survival comes down to whether or not climbers are realistic about their oxygen stores. "It’s like watching the needle on your gas tank. And if you know you still have to drive 200 miles and you see the gas tank is getting down to one-quarter, you’ve got to be able to do the mental math and know you’re going to stop and fill up." For Everest climbers, this might mean abandoning a summit attempt altogether if one's oxygen is too low.

The deaths mark a controversial season on Everest. On May 5, Himalayan Experience announced that it was canceling its expedition because of safety concerns. Minimal snowpack and warm temperatures, among other factors, had led to dangerous conditions, including rock fall and avalanches, the company said.

Michael Fagin, who provides forecasting services for Everest teams and runs everestweather.com from Redmond, Wash., said the spring had been very dry and windy. In the past week, winds had reached up to 80 mph; climbers on Everest prefer them under 30 mph.

Related: Climber's sky-high dreams dashed far below Everest summit

Last week, the National Geographic-North Face expedition, led by accomplished mountaineer Conrad Anker, canceled its plans to summit via the West Ridge because of icy conditions, but will still attempt to reach the peak via a different route.

Another window to summit is forecast for May 26, and Simonson expects another bottleneck as a second wave of climbers try to reach the peak.

"The bottom line is this is how it is on Mount Everest and how it has been for many years," Simonson said. "When the weather gets good, people want to summit."

Reuters contributed to this report.

Rebecca Ruiz is a reporter at msnbc.com. Follow her on Twitter here.

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The plan to remove the massive wreck of Costa Concordia, which lies half submerged off the Italian island of Giglio after capsizing in January, was revealed Friday in Rome. At least 30 people died after the ship ran aground.

Reuters

Click to enlarge the image.

In an unprecedented effort, American-owned Titan Salvage is working with Italian firm Micoperi, and will use pulling machines connected to a custom-built subsea platform to hoist the hull upright in one piece. The firms won the right to perform the work during a months-long bidding process.

The first step is stabilizing the ship to prevent further slippage down the sloped sea bed on which it rests. That is expected to take about a year, Costa said in a statement. This will be achieved by attaching "tieback chains" from the submerged part of the ship -- starboard side, closest to shore -- to a structure built nearby.

After Concordia is stabilized, the subsea platform will be built along the port side -- the non-submerged side -- and huge caissons, in essence steel boxes, will be welded to the exposed side of the ship. The caissons will be filled with water. "This gives the ship extra buoyancy," explained Mark Hoddinott, general manager of the International Salvage Union. "Caissons have the effect of making the ship wider, and the water will add mass, which improves the 'turning moment' to bring it upright."

Pulling machines will then be connected to the subsea platform, and two cranes fixed to the platform will pull Concordia upright -- facilitated by the water-filled caissons. The ship will still be flooded, so it won't float; instead it will rest on the platform. When the ship is upright, caissons will be welded to the starboard side of the hull. The caissons on both sides will then be de-ballasted -- after treating and purifying the water to protect the marine environment -- and filled with air.

"This strategy has been used on a smaller scale by both the US and Royal Navy," added Hoddinott. "But no one has removed a ship of this size." Concordia is 950 feet long and weighs 44,612 metric tons (or nearly 100 million pounds), according to Titan-Micoperi.

Once upright, the wreck will be towed to an Italian port and dealt with in accordance with the requirements of Italian authorities. Gianni Onorato, Costa Crociere S.p.A. president, told Cruise Critic in early May that the ship will ultimately be scrapped.

No details on the cost of the project have been officially released, but a Costa spokesman told CNN that the figure could exceed $300 million.

According to today's statement from Costa, the "one piece" approach -- rather than slicing the ship up and barging it off bit by bit -- will "minimize environmental impact, protect Giglio's economy and tourism industry, and maximize safety." After the ship is removed, the sea bottom will be cleaned and marine flora replanted.

While the project is ongoing, the operation base will be located on the mainland near Piombino, where equipment and materials will be stored. This will mitigate impact on the island's port activities and leave Giglio's hotels open for tourists during the peak summer season.

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CHONGQING, China – Everywhere you go in Chongqing, you can see traces of the complicated legacy of Bo Xilai, the former Communist party chief who ran this municipality of 30 million people until scandal derailed him. 

At one time destined for a top post in China’s highest echelon of power, the standing committee of the politburo of the Communist Party, Bo aggressively poured money into this municipality in pursuit of his populist agenda.

To drive through the windy roads that snake around this hilly metropolis is to see a city in constant transformation. Towers of low-income housing complexes dot the skyline. These social housing projects were meant to address a major national issue: the lack of affordable housing, and provided homes that cost just a few hundred dollars a year to rent. And Bo had gingko trees, said to be one of his favorites, planted across the city.

But these city improvements came at a cost: His heavy investment in capital construction projects forced the city to borrow so much money to pay for it that Chongqing owes $20 billion to the China Development Bank, according to a news report on Wednesday. The tree planting saddled the city with a $1.5 billion bill just for 2010 alone.  

The improvements weren’t the only controversial aspect of Bo’s reign over this important gateway city to the western half of China, and since his demise his critics have stepped out of the shadows to talk about the darker side of life in what had become the former leader’s personal fiefdom.

Told a Bo joke, got a year in a labor camp

In Chongqing, NBC News spoke with Fang Hong, a 51-year-old former forestry officer who made news earlier this week when he filed an appeal with a local court seeking compensation for what he alleged was an unfair sentence he served at a labor camp.

According to Fang, he was imprisoned for posting a two-line joke about Bo on his microblog that quickly went viral. Soon after, Fang said he was dragged in by police for questioning and later brought before a police tribunal where he was sentenced for “fabricating facts and disturbing public order.” 

Fang served his sentence at a labor camp where he said he was forced to assemble thousands of Christmas ornaments for export for one year.

Released earlier this year, Fang was emboldened by the criticism that has shrouded Bo following his high-profile falling out with his vice-mayor and former police chief, Wang Lijun, who famously sought refuge at the American embassy in Chengdu. That move by Wang sparked an international political scandal that now includes a murder mystery. Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, is a murder suspect in the death of British businessman Neil Heywood; Bo has been officially disowned by the ruling Communist Party and has disappeared from public view.

Ed Flanagan / NBC News

A crowd gathers around Fang Hong in Chongqing to hear his story on Tuesday.

Boisterous debate on Bo
Fang agreed to do an interview with NBC News on an outside promenade with commanding views of Chongqing’s skyline and the mighty Yangtze River below. Fang spoke confidently, eager to tell his story about the deprivations he faced while interned at the labor camp.

Between the presence of a foreign camera crew and his loud denouncements of Bo Xilai, Fang quickly drew a crowd of onlookers.

The first indication that things were going to get contentious with the crowd was when one short, middle-aged man standing next to the camera started muttering under his breath as he listened to Fang. 

Taking jagged drags from his cigarette and nervously flicking ash between puffs, the man’s voice rose incrementally to voice his protestations of Fang’s opinion about Bo. Those near to the man shushed him as they strained to hear what Fang was saying, but after one particular statement, the man clearly had enough.

“That’s bull---! Bo Xilai has done so much for Chongqing!” bellowed the man as he waved his cigarette at Fang.

The crowd erupted into a loud, boisterous debate on Bo, prompting NBC News correspondent Ian Williams to wrap up the interview so that Fang could quickly leave with his lawyers.

But before he left, Fang feistily told the man what he thought of his opinion, triggering a shouting match. One of Fang’s lawyers and some of the crowd had to separate the pair.

David Lom / NBC News

Angry pro-Bo Xilai supporter voices his opinion to the crowd in Chongqing.

‘Since Bo Xilai took power I feel more secure'
Not everyone had negative feelings about the disgraced former party chief.

 One older woman in the crowd said:, “Before, I was worried to wear earrings because I was worried I’d get robbed, but since Bo Xilai I feel more secure seeing more police on the streets.”

Finally, a line of security guards rolled up and broke up the crowd. The guards were not forceful and they exchanged a few knowing nods with the throng of people who were loudly voicing their support for Bo.

Bo’s fall has clearly given his critics the opportunity they’ve long desired to voice their criticisms of him.

However, despite the accusations that paint Bo’s Chongqing was something akin to a modern-day Tammany Hall, the populism and perhaps most importantly, the pride he instilled in this mega-city suggest his popular legacy may last far longer than Communist Party officials would like.

As one driver told us, “Yeah, Bo might have been corrupt, but at least he did something for us – which is more than those corrupt officials who do nothing at all.”   

NBC News’ Bo Gu contributed to this report.

Andreas Solaro / AFP - Getty Images

Italians hold candles as they demonstrate against government policy in front of the Pantheon, in downtown Rome, on April 18, 2012. Trade union's anger is growing in Italy over the government's reform measures and public outrage over a series of suicides linked to the economic crisis.

ASOLO, Italy – On Tuesday, Generoso Armenante, a 49-year-old former security guard at a convenience store in the southern town of Salerno, left home after having lunch with his wife – and quietly found a secluded spot where he hanged himself. 

Armenante had been fired more than a year ago, and had been struggling to find another job ever since. Next to his body he left a letter: “I decided to end it because I am a failure. I can’t live without work.” 

Unfortunately, he is not alone. Tens of other Italians have also chosen to take their own lives in response to the strain of the economic crisis and the consequent austerity measures. 

On Tuesday, two other people committed suicide, apparently due to financial hardship. A 60-year-old businessman in Milan hanged himself from a tree after failing to repay his debts.

And a 64-year-old bricklayer in Salerno, who lost his job around Christmas, shot himself in the chest. He left a similar message: “I can’t live without a job.”

The three men are casualties of the debt crisis that has pushed Italy’s economy to the brink over the past year and put considerable strain on most Italians, especially those who own or work for small businesses. At least 34 people have killed themselves citing economic reasons since the start of the year, according to the Italian Association of Small Businesses. 

‘If my business fails, I fail with it’
A dramatic hike in taxes, combined with large cuts in public spending, a clampdown on tax evasion and a credit crunch from banks have pushed many Italian businesses to the brink of bankruptcy. 

Some have stuck to the old Italian script, griping about the government measures at the local cafe over a cappuccino and hoping for better times. But others have seen no way out, and have opted for death.  

The most affected region is the relatively prosperous Veneto in the northeast of Italy, home of Venice and an abundance of businessmen. 

Gianfilippo Oggioni / AP

Tiziana Marrone, right, widow of Giuseppe Campaniello, whose his picture is carried on a banner in background, and Elisabetta Bianchi take part in a demonstration to protest against Italian Premier Mario Monti's austerity measures, in Bologna, Italy, on Friday, May 4, 2012. Marrone and Bianchi claimed that their husbands committed suicide because of economic crisis.

In a part of the country that has had a reputation for skilled merchants since Venice was a maritime republic, as many as one in 10 own their own business. Some of the most recognized Italian brands, such as Benetton and Diesel, originate from the area. 

“My business is like my family,” Massimo Zappia, who owns a window frame business in Asolo, a town about 20 miles north of Venice, told NBC News. “I feel responsible for each of my employees. If my business fails, I fail with it.” 

Zappia, 42, blames the credit crisis for some of his woes as a small business owner.  “These days it takes six months for banks to make their mind up for small loans of just a few thousand dollars. And as a businessman, I feel left alone.” 

Struggling to ‘soldier on’
This feeling of failure and loneliness is at the very heart of acts of desperation among the business community in Italy. The message left by Armenante, the security guard who hanged himself on Tuesday is the same mantra repeated by workers and businessmen who either tried to kill themselves and lived to tell the tale or by those who thought about trying, but found other reasons to live. 

Giovanni, who is in his mid-40s and also lives in Asolo, admits that he thought about ending his life after failing to repay a debt of $25,000. The self-employed plumber, who asked that his last name not be used, told NBC News that he only stopped himself because he didn’t want his family to pay for his mistakes, adding that he has a disabled son and a wife with a history of psychological problems.

“It was a dark moment, and I thought there was no way out,” he said. “They strangled me economically; I just can’t keep up with repayments. I got to the point where I couldn’t go back home and look at my wife and children in the eyes, and tell them I didn’t know how to carry on,” he said. 

“There are moments when you think that there is an easy way out. It only takes a moment to die. But then you think of your family and you realize you can’t. You just need to soldier on.”

To help ease the problem, a workers’ association near Asolo started a helpline for people in distress. They received at least 60 calls in their first two months of activity, but say that it’s worried families who tend to call rather than the businessmen themselves. 

“It’s their wives that call the most, because businessmen around here are very proud,” said Stefano Zanatta, president of Confartigianato Veneto, a local business association. “They wouldn’t admit to having a problem until it becomes so big they can’t tackle it anymore.”

Some, however, do call. “Once we got a call from a businessman who couldn’t even afford to send his daughter to school,” Zanatta said. “We offer them psychological support and financial advice before it’s too late.” 

Zanatta says that he expected a dramatic hike in the number of calls during the month of June. That’s the deadline for filing tax returns in Italy, and the time when many businessmen may realize they just can’t survive the economic crisis.  

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A paragliding Greenpeace activist who dropped a smoke bomb over a French nuclear reactor on Wednesday added a new element to the presidential race there -- and raised the question of whether the same, or worse, could happen at a U.S. nuclear reactor.

"At no moment was the safety of the installations at risk," said the plant's operator, French utility giant EDF, adding that the pilot was arrested by security staff at the Bugey nuclear plant in southeast France.

EDF acknowledged that a second activist was arrested at another nuclear site in southwest France after entering via a truck gate and hiding for an hour in brush within the "surveillance zone," Reuters reported.

Greenpeace said it was raising awareness of nuclear power issues ahead of France's presidential elections on Sunday.

It "illustrates the vulnerability of French nuclear to the threat of air attack," Greenpeace France spokeswoman Sophia Majnoni d'Intignano said in a statement. "While Germany took into account the aircraft crash in its safety testing, France still refuses to analyze this risk for our plants."

France, which gets 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, pledged special safety tests at its 58 reactors after Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011.

Those tests include standing up to floods, earthquakes, power outages and cooling system failures -- but not terrorist attacks or even a plane crash.

So could a paraglider attack happen in the U.S. -- or would it be shot down before even getting to a nuclear site?

"Completely speculative," Steve Kerekes, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, told msnbc.com. "Our facilities are extremely well-defended. Let's leave it at that."

Over at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a group that says it's neither for nor against nuclear power, two nuclear experts said that while a reactor's containment dome would be hard to penetrate other targets are available.

The intake structure, where water is brought in to cool the reactor fuel, "is an easier target," Dave Lochbaum told msnbc.com. Without coolant, that fuel could cause a meltdown.

The aerial threat exists, added Edwin Lyman, because the Nuclear Regulatory Commission "decided in 2007 to exclude any kind of aerial attack from the 'design basis threat' -- that is, the set of attacks that reactor operators must provide protection to defend against.

"So the NRC doesn't require that nuclear plants have means to detect or defend against intrusions from the air," he added. "And the federal government also does not require 'no fly zones' around nuclear plants that could be enforced by the military."

Kerekes countered by noting that an independent study in 2002 found that U.S. nuclear containment structures can withstand even a crash from a commercial airliner.

As for paragliders, Lochbaum said a more likely scenario is where one or more are used at night in an attempt to get into a nuclear plant.

"While nuclear plant security perimeter fences are well lit, the lighting is to allow security officers to catch anyone trying to climb over, cut through, or tunnel under the fences," he said. "The lights and the camera angles might not readily show someone flying in. That someone could be carrying sufficient weapons to cause problems."

At that point, Lochbaum said, "it becomes a race -- can the intruder access area(s) needed to sabotage the plant before the security officers intervene?"

Nuclear plants already test such scenarios, and Lochbaum said "the good guys sometimes lose the race" in testing -- even with the six weeks notice given by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

"Typically, the force-on-force tests are conducted once every three years at each U.S. nuclear plant," he said. "A test may consist of four exercises -- different entry points and different targets. It would be useful to periodically throw in a glider or parachute entry to make sure the security officers practice handling such threats, too."

Nuclear power debate in France includes Libya project

Back in France, the stunt certainly got attention -- but not all of it flattering for Greenpeace.

"The main consequence of this stupid action will be to prevent any air recreation within more areas of France," posted one person on Greenpeace's main blog on the stunt.

An anonymous post on another Greenpeace blog criticized the stunt, saying a paraglider couldn't carry enough explosives to damage nuclear containment areas. 

"You've also missed the point," the writer added, "that someone could cause far graver damage by carrying out a similar attack on the Olympic Stadium in London later in the year."

Reuters contributed to this report.

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China Aid

Taking a page from the "million hoodies" campaign in honor of shooting victim Trayvon Martin, China Aid created this show of support for Chen Guangcheng, who is blind, with hundreds of people donning sunglasses.

Updated at 9:13 a.m. ET: After the dramatic nighttime escape of Chen Guangcheng from house arrest in his Chinese village, one of the first people to know that the blind lawyer was safe in Beijing was thousands of miles away — in Midland, Texas.

Pastor Bob Fu, 44, says he knew of Chen’s escape three days before the security guards surrounding the house discovered it. He says he was among the first to receive and post a 15-minute video of Chen, made in hiding, appealing to Chinese President Wen Jiabao to bring to justice the local officials who illegally imprisoned him and his family for months. Fu says he also had a hand in preparing U.S. officials for Chen’s escape and arrival at the U.S. Embassy, while also helping lay the groundwork for alternatives, the details of which he says he cannot divulge.

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Fu knows China’s security apparatus from personal experience. He made his own escape from China, arriving in the United States as a refugee with his wife and newborn son 16 years ago.

Now, through his Midland-based nonprofit China Aid, Fu is one of the leading voices on behalf of religious freedom in China, connected with activists in his home country and respected on Capitol Hill.

"Bob Fu is one of the most credible people you’ll ever find about what is going on in China," said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., who chairs the Human Rights Subcommittee within the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. "He’s very well connected and knows people inside of China who are the agents of reform — people like Chen who (take action) because they want a better China."

According to tax documents, China Aid has raised several million dollars to fund legal counsel for "house church Christians," financial support for the families of jailed dissidents and publicity for human rights cases in China. In extreme cases, China Aid has helped fund "logistics" for an underground railway, Fu says.

In China, worship is allowed only in state-sanctioned churches, mosques and synagogues. Evangelizing outside those sites and worshipping in independent churches, often called "house churches," is prohibited.

China censors 'Shawshank' as Clinton heads to Beijing amid dissident drama

Fu’s activism goes back to the Tiananmen protests of 1989, when he led a group of fellow students from Liaocheng University in Shandong province to join the massive rallies in the capital. After the crackdown on demonstrators he was one of many student activists required to attend special political study sessions and write self-criticism day after day. He worried that he would be forced to leave his hard-won position at the university.

During this time, Fu said, he read a book given to him by American missionaries who were teaching English in China. It was the story of a famous Chinese intellectual who was addicted to opium in the early 1900s, but was able to shake the drug after he converted to Christianity.

"I was really, really struck by the story," Fu said, in an interview with msnbc.com. "I came to the realization if you want to change China, the first thing you need to do is change people’s hearts. And if you want to change other people’s hearts, you first you have to change yourself."

Jerry Huang / AP

Bob Fu of the Texas-based rights group China Aid in Midland, Texas on Monday.

Fu and his wife, Heidi Cai, began holding underground worship services and Bible studies, he said. At the same time, he was teaching English at the Communist Party School in Beijing.

"I was God’s double-agent," he said, chuckling.

In 1996, they were arrested and held in jail for two months, and then placed under house arrest, Fu said. Then they received word that they soon would be jailed again, he said, in the “sweep” that preceded China’s Oct. 10 National Day.

By this time, Fu’s wife was pregnant with their first child, he said, but without the necessary permission from the government, which controls when a woman is allowed to have her one child. If she had been found out, she would be forced to have an abortion, Fu said.

So in the dark of night, Fu escaped through a second-story bathroom window and Cai left in disguise, he said. They fled to the countryside, Fu said, where they were protected by "house church brothers and sisters."

Fu said that with the shelter of this network, the help of a Christian policeman and travel documents obtained by a highly placed businessman, they were able to join a tour that went to Thailand and then Hong Kong, which was still under British control. Just three days before the territory was transferred to Chinese sovereignty, Fu and his wife were give refugee status, and flew to the United States.

NBC sources: Blind activist is under US protection

Fu and Cai lived in a suburb of Philadelphia, where he started China Aid in his garage while attending Westminster Theological Seminary. They later moved to Midland, Texas, where they are raising their three children.

What prompted Fu to set up China Aid was a 2002 crackdown on a group of Christians in a house church in Hubei province that led to many arrests, among them five people who were sentenced to death, he said.

Fu and a group of contacts in the Christian, dissident and exile communities started publicizing the case and raising money, he said. Ultimately, Fu said, they used the funds to pay for 58 lawyers to defend the accused. They contacted the media, making the front page of The New York Times and The Washington Post.

"That year, all the five death sentences were overturned," Fu said. "It was a major legal victory, and even the 'evil cult' charge was removed."

A group of activists who came of age as he did during the Tiananmen movement, are now human rights lawyers, many of them Christian, he said. Fu said he taps into this network, and links them to Washington by picking up the phone.

'Little ants'
Fu compares himself and fellow human rights activists to "little ants" forcing "one case after another into courts, moving around and mobilizing and going through all the technical procedures" in place under China’s laws, but often not observed or even taken seriously by officials. 

"We want to move the pile of dirt with 1 million ants," he said.

"I had never envisioned or wanted to establish (a nonprofit) like this," he said, but now that China Aid is nearly 10 years old, Fu is gratified by some success. "We can help the persecuted, and we did advance rule of law," he said.

China Aid is doggedly following and publicizing many human rights cases around China, Fu said.

"You can write to imprisoned Christians to encourage them and to let them know that you are praying for them," through China Aid, the website says.

Video reveals blind Chinese activist's plight

Fu’s group also prints and distributes Bibles in China.

For Fu, the escape of Chen was a major triumph, but it also has generated new concerns — for the wife and daughter of Chen, and for those who helped get Chen to safety.

In an opinion piece published in the Washington Post on Monday, Fu calls out the bravery of one such supporter, He "Pearl" Peirong, who drove Chen the 300 miles to Beijing after he escaped over a compound wall in Shandong.

"I am awed by the courage of those who helped Chen escape. Pearl told me she is willing to die with Chen because he is such a 'pure-hearted courageous person'," Fu wrote. "I was talking to her last week when she said 'guobao laile,'— that state security had arrived."

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Reuters, file

Bo Guagua, left, with his father Bo Xilai in 2007.

By Bo Gu
NBC News

BEIJING – Bo Guagua, son of the now disgraced former Chinese Communist leader Bo Xilai, has come into the spotlight again in the wake of the political scandal rocking his family.

On Tuesday he issued a statement to the website of Harvard’s newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, denying allegations that his expensive tuitions at exclusive schools were provided by Xu Ming, one of the wealthiest businessman in China who has since disappeared.

"My tuition and living expenses at Harrow School, University of Oxford and Harvard University were funded exclusively by two sources – scholarships earned independently, and my mother’s generosity from the savings she earned from her years as a successful lawyer and writer," Bo said in the statement.

It’s not a rare thing in China for children of high ranking officials (called “princelings” here) to benefit from their powerful fathers by acquiring internal business information and monopolies in certain important sectors. Most of them have degrees from schools in Western countries and engage in highly profitable industries. But very few of them are as high profile as Bo Guagua, something he might be regretting in the past few weeks, when worldwide press tried everything possible to approach anyone who knows what’s happening to him and his family amongst China’s biggest political scandal in decades.

In the statement, Bo Guagua also disputed allegations that he had lived a luxury life while failing academically from Oxford to Harvard.

"My examination records have been solid throughout my schooling years. In the British public examination of GCSEs, which I completed at the age of 16, I achieved 11 ‘A Stars,’ …I also earned straight A’s for both AS level and A-level Examinations at the ages of 17 and 18, respectively," he said.  

A son with star power

Bo Guagua has always been a favorite son of the Chinese media and many young people in China, even long before the fall of his family.

People loved calling his first name, Guagua (which means "melon-melon" in Chinese) in a half-joking and half-despising way. People talked about him as if he was a Hollywood star, but also with anger and jealousy.

His father, Bo Xilai, was the handsome boss of China’s biggest municipal city, hero of cracking down gangs and a hot contender to be part of the next Politburo standing committee, the country’s top power echelon.

His mother, Gu Kailai, daughter of one of the country’s founding generals, a charming and successful lawyer, published a book about her winning a case representing a Chinese company in the U.S., which was later made into a TV series called "Winning a lawsuit in the U.S.” It featured some of the most renowned actors in China.

Born in 1987, Bo Guagua is polite, good looking, and somewhat mysterious. He attended schools most Chinese boys at his age would only dream of: Harrow, one of Britain’s most prestigious all-boys boarding schools, Oxford, and Harvard. He was interviewed by Lu Yu from Phoenix TV, in one of the most popular talk show programs in China. He gave a speech at Peking University, the country’s most prestigious university. He won a "Big Ben Award" by British Chinese Youth Federation at the age of 22. He dated Chen Xiaodan, the glamorous granddaughter of China’s former vice premier.

Stories of him driving a red Ferrari to pick up former U.S. ambassador Jon Huntsman’s daughter for a date spread like wildfire online. His pictures of partying at Oxford and Harvard were re-posted tens of thousands of times, one shows a red-faced smiling Guagua with his arms around two girls.

In response to the party pictures that were criticized as evidence of his lavish lifestyle abroad, he said in his statement: "During my time at Oxford, it is true that I participated in ‘Bops,’ a type of common Oxford social event, many of which are themed. These events are a regular feature of social life at Oxford and most students take part in these college-wide activities."

He said the idea that he was cruising around in a red Ferrari was absurd and a false accusation; his father also said the story was false in his last public appearance. "I have never driven a Ferrari. I have also not been to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing since 1998 (when I obtained a previous U.S. Visa), nor have I ever been to the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in China."

But missing in the statement was any mention of Neil Heywood, the British businessman who was murdered last November in Chongqing. Heywood was said to have been a close family friend who helped him get into Harrow. Bo’s mother is currently being investigated as a prime suspect in his murder.

LONDON - James Murdoch defended his record at the head of his father's scandal-tarred British newspaper unit before a U.K. inquiry Tuesday, saying that subordinates prevented him from making a clean sweep at the now-defunct News of the World tabloid. 

Speaking under oath at Lord Justice Brian Leveson's inquiry into media ethics, Murdoch repeated allegations that the tabloid's then-editor Colin Myler and the company's former in-house lawyer Tom Crone misled him about the scale of illegal behavior at the newspaper. 

Leveson asked Murdoch: "Can you think of a reason why Mr. Myler or Mr. Crone should keep this information from you? Was your relationship with them such that they may think: 'Well we needn't bother him with that' or 'We better keep it from it because he'll ask to cut out the cancer'?" 

"That must be it," Murdoch said. "I would say: 'Cut out the cancer,' and there was some desire to not do that." 

The 39-year-old Murdoch said that at the time he had no reason to doubt his subordinates when he took over at News International, which published the News of the World, saying he had repeatedly been told that nothing was amiss. 

"I was given assurances by them, which proved to be wrong," he said. 

Revelations that reporters at the News of the World had hacked into the phones of hundreds of high-profile people, including a teenage murder victim, pushed Murdoch's father Rupert to close the 168-year-old newspaper, triggered three U.K. police investigations, led to more than 100 lawsuits, and launched Leveson's inquiry into media practices. 

James Murdoch has found himself sucked into the center of scandal, with critics saying that he should have found out about the wrongdoing once he took over at News International in December 2007. 

Ben Stansall / AFP - Getty Images

A protestor wearing a mask depicting James Murdoch demonstrates outside London's High Court during his testimony.

The uproar over illegal behavior at the News of the World has already scuttled Murdoch's multi-billion dollar bid for full control of satellite broadcaster British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC. He resigned from his post as chairman earlier this month "to avoid being a lightning rod," he said. 

Murdoch's relationship with politicians also came under scrutiny. 

The American-born News Corp. executive revealed that he'd told Conservative leader David Cameron that The Sun newspaper would endorse the Tories' election bid at a meeting at the George club in London on Sept. 10, 2009. 

The top-selling paper's endorsement was a blow to Britain's Labour Party — and critics claim that it helped secure Tory approval for the potentially lucrative BSkyB bid after they won the election in 2010. 

Murdoch denied the charge Tuesday. 

"I would never have made that kind of a crass calculation," Murdoch said. "It just wouldn't occur to me." 

Murdoch acknowledged talking to Cameron about it at a Christmas dinner in 2010 — after the Tory leader had been elected prime minister — but said it was "a tiny side conversation ahead of a dinner." 

Judge slams Murdoch's Sky News for illegal email hacking

"It wasn't really a discussion, if you will," Murdoch said. 

Cameron, who won power two years ago, has been forced to play down his contacts with the Murdochs and with Rebecca Brooks, a neighbor and frequent guest at his home in the countryside.

Rupert Murdoch, who is still chairman and chief executive of News International's parent company News Corp., is scheduled to appear before the inquiry on Wednesday. 

U.S.-based News Corp, owner of Fox Television and the Wall Street Journal, was thwarted in its ambition last year to buy the 61 percent of BSkyB, a major British pay-TV provider, that it did not already own. Amid the fire storm of scandal at the News of the World, it withdrew the bid.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Runner who died in London Marathon inspires $500,000 donations
• France's election battle moves from hearts to heads
• UK cops close to arrest over British spy found dead in a bag?
• Judge slams Murdoch's Sky News for illegal email hacking
• Obama unveils sanctions on Syria, Iran for tech assault on activists

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A soldier in South Sudan's SPLA army looks up at warplanes as he lies on the ground to take cover beside a road during an air strike by the Sudanese air force in Rubkona, near Bentiu, South Sudan, on April 23, 2012.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A woman runs along a road during an air strike by the Sudanese air force in Rubkona on April 23, 2012.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Smoke rises after the Sudanese air force fired a missile during an air strike in Rubkona on April 23, 2012.

Reuters reports — Sudanese warplanes carried out air strikes on South Sudan on Monday, killing three people near a southern oil town, residents and military officials said, three days after South Sudan pulled out of a disputed oil field.

A Reuters reporter at the scene, outside the oil town of Bentiu, said he saw a fighter aircraft drop two bombs near a river bridge between Bentiu and the neighboring town of Rubkona. 

Sudan leader says he will teach independent South a 'final lesson by force'

Weeks of border fighting between the two neighbors have brought the former civil war foes closer to a full-blown war than at any time since the South seceded in July. Read more.

Video: George Clooney calls crisis in Sudan 'real disaster'

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A soldier in South Sudan's SPLA army walks in a market destroyed in an air strike by the Sudanese air force in Rubkona on April 23, 2012.

Michael Onyiego / AP

A South Sudanese soldier has a bullet removed from his leg in the Rubkona Military Hospital on April 22, 2012.

Bo Gu / NBC News

"Hand Shredded Ass Meat" is an unusual translation of an item at a Beijing noodle restaurant NBC's Bo Gu saw recently.

BEIJING – Overseas tourists often find the menus here befuddling, for good reason.

After all, what Westerner has experience with foods like these? “Cowboy leg,” “Hand-shredded ass meat,” “Red-burned lion head,” “Strange flavor noodles,” “Blow-up flatfish with no result,” or “Tofu made by woman with freckles.”

As proud as the Chinese people are of their thousands of years of gastronomic culture, even a Chinese native can feel disoriented when going to another province, given all the different styles of cooking. Many of the food names, often unique to different provinces, get lost in translation, especially in booming cities starting to embrace overseas tourists.

With few English speakers, restaurants usually translate their menus word by word directly from an English-Chinese dictionary. Or they just Google the Chinese characters. A photo that made the rounds online a few years ago got a chuckle from a lot of people: a restaurant with a large “page not found” sign above its door as its English name.

But the Beijing Municipal government hopes to end such unintended jokes with its new guidebook intended for the public and restaurants alike, “Enjoy Culinary Delights: The English Translation of Chinese Menus.”

The effort began in 2006 with a “Beijing speaks English” campaign. By the 2008 Summer Olympics, officials had created a draft guide with translations for major restaurants to meet the demand for arriving athletes and tourists.

“After 2008, we felt like the book was in a good demand, so we kept working on it and collected more menus. Finally we translated over 2,000 Chinese dish names,” said Xiang Ping, deputy chief of the “Beijing speaks English” committee, in an interview with NBC News.

The cover of the new guidebook, "Enjoy culinary delights: the English translation of Chinese menus," that hopes to make it easier for foreigners to make sense of restaurant menus in Beijing.

Some of the dishes kept their original names, which people familiar with Chinese food may understand: jiaozi, baozi, mantou, tofu or wonton.

Some more complicated dishes come with both Chinese pronunciations and explanations: “fotiaoqiang” (steamed abalone with shark’s fin and fish maw in broth); “youtiao” (deep-fried dough sticks); “lvdagunr” (glutinous rice rolls stuffed with red bean paste),
and “aiwowo” (steamed rice cakes with sweet stuffing).

Chen Lin, a 90-year-old retired English professor from Beijing Foreign Language University, was the chief consultant for the book.
He told NBC News that about 20 other experts – like English teachers and professors, translators, expats who have lived in China for a long time, culinary experts and people from the media – helped develop the final version.  

So next time you're in Beijing and you are confronted with a menu item like "hand shredded ass meat," hopefully you can crack open the book to get some guidance. It means "hand shredded donkey meat."

Giuseppe Cacace / AFP - Getty Images

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at a recent soccer match between Parma and AC Milan at Ennio Tardini Stadium in Parma on March 17, 2012.

ROME – Among the many derogatory nicknames Silvio Berlusconi’s detractors came up, one was "Burlesconi," a way to emphasize his propensity for gaffes and tendency to adopt sexist and inappropriate humor.

But as usually happens with the flamboyant former Italian prime minister, truth is stranger than fiction.

On Friday Berlusconi, 75, made a rare appearance at the trial in which he stands accused of having sex with an under-aged prostitute known as “Ruby the Heart-Stealer” during one of his now infamous “Bunga Bunga” parties, sex-fueled revelries that allegedly took place at his private residence in Milan.

And suddenly, burlesque had a lot more to do with him than his detractors could have ever dreamed of. 

While the trial officially started at the end of last year, it has already offered a fly-on-the-wall peek into Berlusconi’s scandalous private life, with lurid details revealing an impressive partying lifestyle that would be trying for a man a third his age.

On Monday Imane Fadil, one of the models who was invited to Berlusconi’s “elegant dinners,” as he called them, testified in court. She said that she personally saw women dressed as nuns don their habits and crucifixes before they jumped on a pole where they performed some very unholy dance moves.

Another model, Fadil said, wore a mask of Ronaldinho, a famous soccer player from AC Milan, the Italian team owned by Berlusconi, before she kicked off her skirt down to her G-string.

Witness: Italian ex-PM Berlusconi hosted strippers dressed as nuns

Gifts from Gadhafi
On Friday, the former prime minister, and currently still the leader of the biggest political coalition in the Italian lower house of parliament, clarified once and for all some of what happened.

Speaking to journalists in Milan's High Court after the hearing, Berlusconi described what he saw in detail. "I remember seeing a woman dressed as a policeman, one as a nurse and another one as Father Christmas ... those were dresses that I received as presents from Gadhafi," Berlusconi said. (See a video published on the website of Italy's Corriere della Sera newspaper. He's speaking in Italian).

"[Gadhafi] gave them to me when I went to Tripoli for an expo on Libya's fashion. I saw those dresses and told him I liked them, so he sent them to me," he said.

A little later, he again spoke with journalists, this time outside the courtroom in Milan. “They were dressed up, some as policemen, but it was only a burlesque contest.” 

He insisted that the girls were guests of innocent dinners dominated by an atmosphere of joy, serenity and conviviality.

“Sometimes,” he specified, “the girls would follow me to the house theater room,” a room formerly used by his sons as a private discotheque.

“Women are exhibitionists by nature,” Berlusconi said. “And if they work in show business, they are even more exhibitionists. They like putting up shows and they decided to compete in a burlesque show.”

When asked if he was a judge of the show, he replied: “No, but I watched with interest. I had a lot of fun, and will continue to have fun.”

(See video of Berlusconi’s comments to journalists outside the courtroom. He’s speaking in Italian).

And there is the irony of it all.

While the admission by any current or former prime minister of a European country that they held a burlesque contest with half-naked women dressed as nuns and policemen would be enough to end their political career shamefully, Berlusconi seems somehow different. His list of alleged felonies, including sex scandals, tax frauds and abuse of office, has now become so long that confessing to organizing a strippers competition, at the end of the day, seems not so bad.

The trial continues, and with more revelations expected from witnesses, the former prime minister’s private life will soon be stripped naked. Nothing more appropriate, for a man dubbed Burlesconi.