IV. International
(04-02-07)
. Asian
stocks plunged on 3/13 and European shares opened
sharply lower after Wall Street chalked its
second-biggest point drop in 4 years and rattled already
nervous markets worldwide.
. It is
estimated that more than 2 million workers are flocking
to the prosperous and relatively liberal
Gulf states
where they work in the services, construction & domestic
sectors. Over 200k OFW (overseas Filipino worker)
are based in the
United Arab Emirates,
particularly
Dubai.
.
Organizers lit up an 8.1 mile string of explosives in
S. Taiwan,
hoping to create the world’s longest firecracker in an
attempt to set a world record.
.
A bigger issue is the US
(and UN) are still technically at war with N. Korea (and
China). A final
Korean War peace pact was never reached, and the
conflict languishes under a 1953 armistice. Once the
peace treaty is inked, the US would lift the economic
sanctions slapped on N. Korea
by the Eisenhower administration, opening the way for
trade and investment.
. China’s
legislature is expected to end the tax honeymoon for
foreign investors after it opened its annual session.
The new law would equalize tax rates among rising
foreign companies’ bills and cutting those for many
Chinese entities. For 2 decades, China has rewarded new
investors with hefty tax breaks, helping to lure nearly
$700 billion in investment.
.
Beijing is budgeting
more than $3 billion in 2007 to promote Chinese
propaganda themes and diplomatic activities, according
to state-run media. The money will fund government
activities sponsored by the Foreign Ministry, the
intelligence services and United Front Work
Department (used by China to conduct “perception
management” operations).
. The
under-high-rise skyboxes and growing prosperity of
China’s major cities mask a dark side: Much of the
economic boom depends on the labor of a growing
underclass of 150 million to 200 million migrant workers
who routinely face employer abuse and government
neglect.
.
An electrical glitch has
knocked out a satellite in a spy network.
Japan
had hoped to use to gather intelligence on North Korea
and other trouble spots around the world, a cabinet
official said.
.
Former P.M. Yasuhiro
Nakasone denied that he had set up a military brothel
staffed by sex slaves during WW II, despite writing a
memoir that critics say shows he did so. Historians say
that as many as 200k women, mostly from Korea and China,
worked in frontline brothels. Victims say they were
forced into the brothels by the Japanese military.
. South
Korea would welcome closer SK-NK ties. Japan wants the
return of tens, maybe hundreds, of its citizens who were
kidnapped to train Pyongyang’s spies over the years.
Others will want to know NK’s deplorable human rights
record into the mix. NK’s own wish list includes lifting
of economic sanctions, unfreezing of assets, access to
trade/investments, diplomatic recognition by Tokyo &
Washington, and a security guarantee against future
attack.
.
North Korea has
admitted for the first time to severe food shortages,
the World Food Program said, adding that in the
absence of better support, millions are vulnerable.
.
At the recent 6-party talk in Beijing, Pyongyang agreed
to shut down its Yongbyong nuclear facility, the fissile
material source of its blast, in exchange for $300
million in fuel aid and direct talks with
Washington.
.
The US Treasury
Department said that it has ended its investigation
of a Macau bank that it accused of facilitating money
laundering and counterfeiting by
North Korea,
removing a possible roadblock to a 6-natin agreement to
shut down the nation’s nuclear reactor.
.
The Philippine
Department of Labor & Employment (DOLE) warned
Filipino workers to be careful in dealing with job
offers from the UK that are sent through the Internet,
citing a surge in fraudulent recruitment schemes
circulating in the Web.
.
As of 12/06 the combined
real estate exposure of universal and commercial banks,
covering both bank proper and trust department, rose
again by 3.9%, reaching P223.3 billion from P214.8
billion last quarter.
.
The well-practiced policy of agreeing with the obvious
and denying the rest is standard when it comes to
anything negative said about the government. In the
world of Pres. GMA, everyone is at fault except her.
That the political killings are indeed occurring, and
that the government is accountable for them, are
something the administration has railed against, roared
against, campaigned against, and sent diplomatic teams
all over the world (on taxpayers’ money) to argue
against.
. Thailand’s
government issued compulsory licenses on several
important AIDS and heart drugs, reducing the price of
three medicines by close to 70%. This step will allow
the Thai government to provide healthcare to a much
larger share of its population.
. Provincial
governors have refused to declare their provinces
disaster zones again for fear this will affect
the Sungkun festival
tourism. But the Department of National Parks,
Wildlife and Plant Conservation gave northern
farmers an ultimatum to stop “mobile farming”
(slash-and-burn) or face legal action.
. Seventeen
hundred new rangers were sent in to battle the
insurgents. The new troops will get extra combat pay,
and bring the strength of paramilitary forces in the
deep South to around 10k. Terrorist experts say
Jemaah Islamiyah is trying to hone in.
.
Banks in
Indonesia
and Asia in general must remain prudent with their
lending and continue to strengthen their capital so as
to shield themselves against potential shock, an
industry analyst warns.
.
The World Health
Organization might guarantee that poor nations get
access to bird flu vaccine in the event of a pandemic,
the agency’s top flu official said, in hopes of ending a
dispute triggered by Indonesia’s decision to stop
sharing virus samples.
.
Bali
is one of those destinations that smells as good as it
looks. The subtle smell of incense and rice seems to
hang like the thinnest gauzy veil. You’re a long way
from home here, and it feels like it.
.
Vast cultural
differences divide the former republics of North
and South
Vietnam. Hanoi is as far as Ho Chi Minh, the
former Saigon, as NYC is far from Atlanta. The two
cities have different cuisines, different dialects and
different styles of doing business.
.
Northerners think of themselves as more cultural, and
view Hanoi
as Vietnam’s capital of art, literature and scholarship.
Some see Ho Chi Minh as a place of glitz and fun, but a
bit shallow.
.
Southerners consider
themselves more dynamic and tend to see Hanoi as a
quiet, sleepy town. They have been more exposed to
western ways, while the north is more influenced by
neighboring China and by communist central planning.
.
Vietnam imposed a sentence of 14 years in prison to
former vice trade minister Mai Van Dau, found guilty for
receiving thousands of dollars in bribes involving
garment & textile exports to the US.
. Burma
celebrated Armed Forces Day, commemorating the
day when Burma Independence Army revolted against
Japanese Occupation forces during WW II for the 2nd year
in the country’s new capital, Napyidaw.
.
The 74-year old Gen. Than Shwe was suffering from
an undisclosed illness but he was the only speaker in
the tropical heat to about 500 invited dignitaries,
diplomats and journalists, then reviewed the troops as
they marched past.
.
He warned that the nation still faces danger from
“powerful countries” that are trying to undermine its
unity and weaken the military.
.
A court has banned
smoking while driving in
New Delhi,
India
in what is believed
to be the first ban of its kind in any major city
worldwide, police said.
.
UK has announced double “strength” immigration controls,
with a bold new focus on rules governing
entry-by-marriage, in a move that will mean an estimated
3k, mainly Indian women, will be banned from coming to
the country. The British Home Office is raising
the minimum age at which foreign nationals can receive
marriage visas from 18 to 21.
.
Hundreds of Indians studying in the UK say they are
badly hit by UK’s stringent new immigration rules that
allegedly disenfranchise non-European nationals who hold
Highly Skilled Migrant (HSM) visas.
.
Along the Afghan border,
not far from
Peshawar,
Pakistan,
Islamic militants have used a firm foothold over the
past year to train and dispatch suicide bombers against
American and NATO forces in Afghanistan. One of the most
lethal weapons killed 15 people in Peshawar, most of
them police officers, including the popular police
chief.
.
The US has
indicated for the first time that it might be willing to
back plans by elite echelons of the military in
Islamabad to oust Pres.
Pervez Musharraf from power as he was beset by major new
difficulties over his attempts to sack the country’s
chief justice.
.
Fierce fighting between foreign militants and local
tribesmen in North Pakistan in the past few days (3/21)
have left 58 people dead, government and security
officials said. Among the dead were 42 militants from
Uzbekistan.
The foreign militants had enjoyed the support of the
ethnic Pashtun tribes in the remote villages where the
authority of the Pakistani government is almost
non-existent.
. . There is
ample evidence that al Quaeda and Taliban are becoming
more organized inside Pakistan and are boldly planning
more attacks on US interests. Sources say spy satellites
and predator drones have confirmed the presence of
training camps in S. Waziristan, an area in the tribal
badlands along the Afghan border.
.
Police killed two suspected militant recruiters in a gun
battle at a boys’ school about 60 miles from the Afghan
border, after hearing they were trying to sign students
for suicide bombings and holy war
