Asia A Week in Pictures 3 October, 2010 | Journalist

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At the beginning of the week I had my doubts that we would actually see pictures from two major
events taking place in Asia; North Korea's ruling Workers' Party conference, the biggest held for 30
years intended to push ahead the succession process for Kim Jong-il's son Kim Jong-Un and the
opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. As it turned out, the pictures from
both fronted publications around the world.
Kim Jong-un (8th L, seated), the youngest son of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il (C), poses with the
newly elected members of the central leadership body of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and the
participants in the WPK Conference, at the plaza of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang in
this picture released by the North's KCNA news agency September 30, 2010. North Korean state
media released a photograph on Thursday of the reclusive state's leader-in-waiting Kim Jong-un.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il anointed his youngest son as successor this week, promoting him to
senior political and military positions. REUTERS/KCNA
The pictures we received from KCNA, the official North Korean news agency, are truly historic in
the visual tradition of announcements by the communist state - a very wide group picture
including everything . It is the cropping of these images that reveal their true value. Sometimes I am
asked what pixel quality do we need for news pictures - the answer is simple - if the picture is
important enough it doesn't matter what the quality is, it will get used. The two pictures below
are cropped from the group portrait.
Kim Jong-un (L), the youngest son of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il (R), poses with newly elected
members of the central leadership body of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and the participants in
the WPK Conference, at the plaza of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang in this picture
released by the North's KCNA news agency September 30, 2010. North Korean state media released
a photograph on Thursday of the reclusive state's leader-in-waiting Kim Jong-un. North Korean
leader Kim Jong-il anointed his youngest son as successor this week, promoting him to senior
political and military positions. REUTERS/KCNA
Kim Jong-un, the youngest son of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il, poses with the newly elected
members of the central leadership body of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) and the participants in
the WPK Conference, at the plaza of the Kumsusan Memorial Palace in Pyongyang in this picture
released by the North's KCNA news agency September 30, 2010. North Korean state media released
a photograph on Thursday of the reclusive state's leader-in-waiting Kim Jong-un. North Korean
leader Kim Jong-il anointed his youngest son as successor this week, promoting him to senior
political and military positions. REUTERS/KCNA
In the future I hope to be able to see pictures that may have been taken moments after this
formal group picture was taken. I would like to think the photographer continued to shoot as the
group broke up, father and son hugged while everyone around them broke into spontaneous
applause - maybe only in my dreams.
From India, a simple picture of an explosion of light which comes as a relief after all the pre-
games tension. Security worked, albeit appearing more than a little strange at times and the
opening ceremony went ahead. Reuters has a live blog running from the CWG with pictures and
comment so if you interested in keeping up with all the action and want to take part in the
exchanges follow this link.
Fireworks illuminate the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium during the opening ceremony for the
Commonwealth Games in New Delhi October 3, 2010. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne

An Indian artist goes through a security check before his performance at the Commonwealth Games
athletes village in New Delhi September 27, 2010. The Games were supposed to enhance India's
image as a rising power, but shoddy construction, dirty accommodation and security fears raised
governance and accountability issues in Asia's third largest economy. REUTERS/Krishnendu Halder
An interesting echo of imagery caught my eye from China this week. In the first picture, women
beautifully turned out, bearing succulent fruit in the splendour of the Great Hall as part of the
celebrations of National Day and in the second picture, on the same day, two workers carrying
wardrobes in a slum area in downtown Guangzhou as land is cleared in preparation for the Asian
Games.
Attendants carry trays of peaches as they prepare for a reception marking the 61th anniversary of
China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing September 30, 2010. China celebrates its National
Day on October 1. REUTERS/Jason Lee
Workers carry wardrobes from their building located in Xian village, a slum area in downtown
Guangzhou September 30, 2010. The demolition of a market adjacent to Xian village, or the "urban
village", as part of a cleanup for the upcoming Asian Games in November, has sparked
confrontations between close to 2,000 policemen and hundreds of slum residents last week,
according to the South China Morning Post. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu
The financial markets licked their lips in anticipation of the meeting of Warren Buffet and Bill
Gates in Beijing, their every comment listened to and analysed in the hope they would reveal
something that would move markets and make speculators money. Jason Lee produced this great
image that matched the moment, the two billionaire philanthropists dwarfed by an enormous
questioning hand.
Billionaire financier and Berkshire Hathaway Chief Executive Warren Buffett (L) and Microsoft
founder Bill Gates wait questions at a joint news conference in Beijing September 30, 2010.
REUTERS/Jason Lee
I am drawn to Grace's picture of this rock fan like a moth is drawn to an open flame, you know you
shouldn't do it but you just can't help yourself. The colours appear unreal as Grace successfully
breaks all the rules of colour balance when using flash to create this striking picture which make you
want to look and look again.
Chinese rock fans attend the Modern Sky Music Festival at Haidian park in Beijing October 2, 2010.
Organized by Modern Sky records, the first independent record label in China, the music festival is
held from October 2-4 to coincide with the Chinese national day holiday, China Daily reported.
REUTERS/Grace Liang
Finally a round up of images that I feel need a second look. The Spiderman like figure climbing the
sacks of rice in the Philippines, men shrouded in dust and water from Afghanistan, the desperate
search for survivors in Indonesia and the beating of a woman in the same country. The moment of
the bone crunching crash of Spain' MotoGP rider Pedrosa captured to the grey echoed shapes
and tones of the man in Tokyo's financial district and finally the beauty of the evening light on a
destroyed gateway that used to be a home.
A worker climbs on a pile of rice stock inside a warehouse of the government National Food
Authority (NFA) in Bicutan, south of Manila September 28, 2010. The Philippine central bank
expects annual inflation in September to be between 3.6 percent and 4.5 percent, governor Amando
Tetangco said on Tuesday. Tetangco said in a text message to reporters, ' the decline in utility rates
plus abundant supply in the market of selected food items could have offset the increases in
domestic petroleum prices and marginal increases in rice prices '. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco
Members of the U.S. Navy carry a comrade wounded by an explosion to a medevac helicopter in
Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan October 2, 2010. REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly
A disabled Afghan drug addict takes a cold shower as part of his treatment at the Nejat
rehabilitation centre for drug addicts in Kabul July 26, 2010. Disease cut the amount of opium
produced in Afghanistan in 2010 by almost half from a year earlier, but there was no fall in the
number of poppy fields under cultivation, the United Nations said on September 30, 2010. Picture
taken July 26, 2010. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood
Police and residents search for victims after two trains collided in Pemalang of the Indonesia's
central Java province October 2, 2010. At least 33 people have been killed and several injured in a
train crash in Indonesia's central Java, local news service Antara reported on Saturday.
REUTERS/Awan Negus Takari
Murni Amris, an Acehnese woman, is caned as part of her sentence in the courtyard of a mosque in
Aceh Besar district, Indonesia's Aceh province October 1, 2010. Murni received three strokes of the
cane for opening food stalls during the fasting month of Ramadan. Aceh is the only province in
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, where Islamic law is implemented.
REUTERS/Tarmizy Harva
Honda MotoGP rider Dani Pedrosa of Spain crashes during a practice session for the Japanese
Grand Prix in Motegi October 1, 2010. Pedrosa broke his collarbone after crashing his Honda in
Friday's practice for the weekend's Japanese Grand Prix. REUTERS/Stringer
A man walks past an advertisement signboard at a shopping district in Tokyo October 1, 2010.
Japan's core consumer prices marked their 18th straight month of annual declines in August, as
deflation grips an economy struggling with a rising yen, slowing exports and a surprise decline in
production. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Flood victims on a boat pass by a doorway made of bricks left standing after floods destroyed houses
at Chandan Mori Johi village in Dadu district, some 338 km (210 miles) from Karachi, in Pakistan's
Sindh province September 30, 2010. REUTERS/Athar Hussain