IV. International
(03-01-07)
.
A million more South
Asians will suffer from diseases such as malaria and
cholera, or go hungry because of global warming, but
governments are not fully aware of the dangers, the WTO
said.
. People
burned incense in temples thick with clouds of
eye-sticking smoke and gathered for feasts of chicken,
hot pots and dumplings as they celebrated the first day
of the Lunar New Year, ushering in the Year of
the Pig.
. VP Dick
Cheney did not meet with Japan’s defense minister during
his trip to the country, a decision Japanese media
characterized as a snub over the official calling the
US-led invasion of Iraq a “mistake.”
. The Chinese obtained
secret technology used on B-2 bomber engines from a
Hawaii-based spy ring in a compromise US officials say
will allow Beijing to copy or counter a key weapon in
the Pentagon’s new strategy against
China.
.
Defense of the classified technology were sold to the
Chinese by former defense contractor Noshir Gowadia,
an Indian-born citizen charged with spying in a federal
indictment released by prosecutors in Hawaii.
Investigators think he was paid as much as $2 million,
some of which remain in foreign banks.
.
Mr. Gowadia lives on an estate on the island of
Maui,
conspired with 2 men, Tommy Wong and Henry
Nyo, to sell the technology. Mr. Wong was
identified as an official of the Chinese Foreign
Exports Bureau who met the other men in
Chengdu,
China.
.
The “US-China
Economic and Security Review Commission” report to
Congress produced a list of issues that could harm the
competitiveness of the
US auto industry,
including “serious intellectual property violations by
Chinese companies” and auto parts “being counterfeited,
intentionally misrepresented, and sold as genuine.”
. Automobiles
fitted with counterfeit parts (or genuine but poorly
made parts) put unsuspecting drivers, pedestrians, and
other cars in danger as such parts could be prone to
failures, causing accidents. Chinese
counterfeiters produce batteries that explode
because of faulty manufacturing and engine timing belt
that break after only one-fifth the time of the
authentic product.”
.
The Chinese government
in recent months has joined
South Korea,
Thailand and Vietnam in taking measures to try to limit
the time teens spend online. It has passed regulations
banning youths from Internet cafés and has implemented
control programs that kick teens off networked games
after 5 hours.
.
Ma Ying-jeon, leader of
Taiwan’s
opposition Nationalist Party, was indicted on
corruption charges, seriously undermining his aspiration
to become the self-ruled island’s next president.
.
He was charged in connection with the diversion of the
equivalent of $333k from a discretionary fund in the
capital’s municipal government which he headed until the
end of December.
. This
incident presented the Taiwanese with a particularly
bleak political landscape: the island’s two main
political figures tainted by corruption allegations and
a presidential election coming up with no problem-free
leader to turn to.
.
Treatment overseas in
the advanced medical system in
Singapore
could become even easier
for GCC residents over the next year, according to
healthcare professionals gathering in Dubai for the Arab
Health exhibition.
.
In Jan 2007,
Dubai’s Dept of Health & Medical Services
(DOHMS) and Singapore’s Ministry of Health signed
a Memorandum of Understanding to promote clear
cooperation in healthcare, to increase the level of
collaboration and exchange.
.
For groups like Singapore Health Services Pte Ltd
(SingHealth)—Singapore’s largest group of healthcare
institutions—increasing access for visitors is a natural
extension of the group’s activities, which includes 42
clinical specialists, and a faculty of 1,200
internationally qualified medical specialists.
. North Korea
wants heavy fuel oil to produce electricity in return
for closing Yongbyon, in addition to a commitment
from 5 other negotiating nations to build civilian-use
nuclear power reactors in the future.
.
Quarantine officials in South Korea will kill
240k domestic birds within a 2-mile radius of the
outbreak site at a chicken farm in Anseong, about
50 miles south of Seoul. It will bring to more than 2
million since November the number of birds culled in 6
outbreaks.
. North Korea
agreed to shut down its main nuclear reactor within 60
days at talks with the US and 4 regional powers and
eventually dismantle its atomic weapon program in
exchange for 1 million tons of oil in aid.
.
Since 2001, Pres. GMA
took office with the backing of the powerful military,
hundreds of left-wing
activists, unionists,
farmers, human rights workers and clergy have been
slain, sparking accusations of a
systematic, nationwide
campaign to silence those who challenge the status quo.
.
More than 6k Philippine
couples in a Manila parking lot at midnight in what
organizers of what was called the LOVAPALOOZA event
setting a new world record. The previous record in
Budapest was held by 5,875 couples kissing on 06-25-05.
.
Stores will no longer honor most credit cards as
businessmen are considering banding together in order to
fight high surcharges imposed by credit card companies,
Philippine Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PCCI)
president, Samie Lim said.
.
The latest 28-bomb
attacks in S.
Thailand
targeted hotels, karaoke bars, power grids and
commercial sites, which are predominantly Buddhist wit
Muslim majorities. Two public schools were torched.
. The US and
China are among the first countries to congratulate P.M.
Suragud Chulanont, but both have greatly differed in
their follow-up activities. While Washington loudly
condemned the coup, China was mute under the pretext of
the principle of non-interference.
.
The
US government will give
Vietnam $400k toward cleaning up a former military base
contaminated by agent Orange, its biggest step yet in
helping resolve one of the most contentious legacies of
the Vietnam war, US ambassador Michael Marine said.
. Malaysia’s
stock market has been underweighted by international
portfolio managers for a long time, and coming from such
a low base, the strong urge of portfolio money will not
end quickly, said Citigroup.
.
Codenamed “Project
Firefly,” MAS plans to use Penang Airport as its
hug to service domestic and regional holiday
destinations, sources say.
.
UEM Land
will directly handle five of the seven projects, which
should cost about RM 60 billion and be home to 500k
people over the next 20 years.
.
The Indonesian
government is studying and exploring possible government
to government memoranda of understanding (MOU) on rice
imports from Pakistan and China to meet the
target of importing 500k tons of rice in the second
phase, a minister has said.
.
Navy warships and
fishermen have pulled 22 bodies from the Java
Sea, more than
doubling the death toll from an Indonesian ferry fire to
42, a navy spokesman said.
.
P.M. Jose Ramos-Horta of
East Timor told a cheering crowd in his hometown
(Laga, East Timor) he would stand in April’s
presidential elections, vowing to help restore peace and
stability to the troubled nation.
. Vietnam’s
phones are fast multiplying, having reached coverage of
35 phones per hundred people and smashing through a
target set for the sector e years earlier than planned,
said the minister of Post of Telematics.
.
Developing biotechnology and increasing its application
would be the focus for processing and manufacturing
industries, according to a new decision approved by
P.M. Nguyen Tan Dung.
.
National Assembly Chair Nguyen Phu Trong told
visiting president of the Australian Senate Paul Calvert
that his presence would augment understanding and
cooperation between Vietnam and Australia, and between
the two countries’ national assemblies.
.
When
India’s
mandarins and their media are not boasting about the
country’s missile programs, they are bragging about its
burgeoning medical tourism. When their strategic
partners in Washington
are not singing praise of the nuclear deal with
New Delhi,
they stress the advantage of outsourcing to
India.
.
India revised upwards it
2005/06 GDP growth estimate to 9.0% from an
earlier 8.4%, a government statement said.
Manufacturing growth output was to 9.1% for the year
to 03/06, from 9.0% earlier. Growth in farm output
was pegged at 6.0% for 2005/06 compared to an earlier
estimate of 3.7%.
.
The Indian government
plans orphanages to raise unwanted infant girls in a bid
to halt the widespread practice of aborting female
fetuses, according to a senior government official.
.
A suicide bomber
attacked a courthouse in
SW Pakistan,
killing 15 people. It came a day after police near
Islamabad and the
southern city of
Karachi said they had arrested 5 people who were
allegedly planning suicide attacks on foreigners and
majority Shiite Muslims.
.
Pakistan needs more help from the US
and Afghanistan
if it is to stop the flow of Taliban fighters across its
borders, said its foreign minister at an annual security
conference.
.
The foreign ministers of 7 key foreign nations (Egypt,
Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia &
Turkey)
called for a diplomatic solution to the dangerous
standoff over Iran’s nuclear program and other tensions
in the Middle East.
