IV. International
(04-16-07)
.
“Making
India
and
China
friends rather threats will depend on what we do about
energy and the environment.”
(US Army General who
wants to remain anonymous)
. VP Annette
Lu said that if she becomes
Taiwan’s
next president, she will use feminism to ease decades of
tensions with nearby China, the island’s main security
threat.
. In January,
a Cambodian woman who emerged from the wild was
said to have been a girl that went missing a child 13
years ago. Her relatives claim that the “jungle woman”
(Roshom Pingring) is unable to speak any words villagers
understand. She gobbles down her food. The father said
she recognized her as his daughter by a scar on her arm.
.
The Royal Advisory Council of
Bhutan
is in the process of questioning officials suspected of
collaborating & assisting the deflection of superior
kerosene oil (SKO) into the black market that it is
currently investigating.
.
The World Bank
Nepal
Office refuted a recent news report putting Kathmandu
on the top of 17 Asian cities with the dirtiest air
saying that the World Bank did not come up with any
report like that, and that the fact was misrepresented
by the press.
.
When East Timor picked a new president, voters
hoped to end a year of violence and instability that
threatened to plunge one of the world’s youngest and
poorest nations into civil war.
.
Sixteen months before
the 2008 Games, the Chinese are ahead of schedule with
everything except improving their air quality.
. Authorities
tore down a stubborn couple’s house after a 3-year
standoff in southwestern
China
that hindered a construction project and captivated the
nation.
.
Chinese industry & trade groups accused the Bush
administration of a misguided and hypocritical approach
to trade for its decision to slap steep tariffs on
certain Chinese-made papers, e.g., glossy paper, that it
contends is subsidized by the Chinese state.
.
“The Chinese economy is replete with subsidies. It gives
Chinese exporters an unfair advantage in the US market,
and we’re determined to do what we can to unwind that
advantage.” (Franklin Lewis, Undersecretary of the US
Department of Commerce)
. Japan
began deploying its first advanced Patriot Missile
Systems near Tokyo, part of an effort to accelerate
missile defense capabilities following North Korea’s
missile and nuclear tests last year. The Patriots would
be used as a last resort of interceptors fired from US
or Japanese ships to knock out incoming missiles.
. A strain of
flu has shown hints of resistance to two flu drugs among
patients in a small study in
Japan,
a country known for prescribing the drugs more
frequently than elsewhere else in the world.
.
Hitachi Ltd admits it helped two power companies
cover up problems with their nuclear reactors in the
1980s and 1990s, including a critical one in
Ishikawa Prefecture.
.
North
Korea
recently
agreed to shut down its nuclear reactor, but only after
the US
ended an investigation into a Macau bank linked to
money-laundering and counterfeiting operations.
.
Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico
who has taken diplomatic missions to countries at odd
with the US, went
on a 4-day trip to NK to recover the remains of American
servicemen killed in the Korean War.
.
Thornton International Business Report ranks the
Philippines
#8 among 32 countries with promising growth due to its
growing political & economic security which is
attracting investors and pushing up investments.
.
RP will receive $600 million in annual assistance for
the next two years as a sign of confidence, said
World Bank VP James W. Adams, complimenting
the country for reforms that cut back on borrowing and
rein in inflations.
. The
Department of Finance (DoF) is being asked to issue
the necessary guidelines that will govern the payment of
franchise taxes by power distributor utilities,
including electric cooperatives.
. Thailand’s
military-appointed government prevented the launch of a
new television station by former members of ousted P.M.
Thaksin Shinawatra’s party, saying it was about to break
the law because it had not been granted a license to
broadcast.
.
The Thai Chamber of Commerce has called on the
government for prompt action to stop investment flight
from the south following coordinated large-scale attacks
and the need to restore law and order in the
violence-plagued region.
.
Thailand’s
economic growth is forecast to slow down in 2007 due to
political instability, the Amended Foreign Business
Act and the baht appreciation, according to
Kasikorn
Research Center.
.
Stock Exchange operator
Bursa
Malaysia
Bhd may pay shareholders higher dividend this year.
There is also the likelihood of it making some capital
repayment. Bursa Malaysia has benefited from the higher
trading volume in recent months.
.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd (Bank Islam), which had
just returned to the black after 2 years of losses, is
arranging two sukuk issues valued at RM1 billion
by the end of this year.
.
The Companies Commission Malaysia wants to start
using a ministerial decree to investigate companies this
year in cases where issues of public interest are at
stake.
.
A Garuda Airlines
passenger jet was flying at 255 miles per hour, almost
double the normal landing speed, when it crash-landed at
Yogyakarta Airport in
Indonesia,
overshooting the runway and skidding into a ricefield
last month killing 21 people, reported the Sydney
Morning Herald.
. The third
largest automaker in Japan, Nissan Motor Co Ltd,
introduced the latest version of its Grand Livina
Multipurpose Vehicle (MPV) in Jakarta, further
adding to the already tight competition in the MPV
market.
.
The central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at
9%, making a pause in its series of monthly reductions
since July, on fears of a possible rise in inflation
ahead.
. Vietnam’s
Communist rulers have again jailed a longtime dissident
priest (Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly) for
anti-government activity as he shouted in protest
against a court that took just a few hours to convict
him and sentence him to 8 years in prison.
. Ha Noi
Party Secretary Pham Quang Nghi said the city
should focus on socio-economic programs and development
as well as raising the living standards of residents of
Ha Noi.
.
If the Vietnamese government and businesses take
advantage of the opportunities afforded by WTO
membership and overcome the challenges this status
presents, the country will likely have an export
turnover of $100 billion in the next 4 or 5 years, said
a trade official at the Forum on Export Promotion of
Vietnam.
.
India’s growing
middle-class and increasing disposable income is fueling
a retail boom in the country. State Bank of
India
(SBI) has hiked interest rates for corporate lending by
half-percent and said that it would take a cull on home
and other retail loans.
.
Estimates suggest that the Indian microfinance sector
needs $55 billion but less than 10% demand has been met.
.
Hundreds of new guards and closed-circuit TV cameras
will be used to protect some Asiatic lions threatened in
their only natural habitat by poachers and villagers,
Indian officials said.
.
Fighting between local
and foreign militants killed 52 people bringing to more
than 200 the number of dead in recent days in a conflict
between Pakistanis and extremists suspected of
having links to al Quaeda, a senior official said.
.
A Pakistani tribal militant responsible for a series of
deadly guerrilla raids inside Iran has been secretly
encouraged and advised by American officials since 2005,
say US & Pakistani intelligence sources.
. As al
Quaeda rebuild Pakistani tribal areas, a new generation
of leaders has emerged under OBL to cement control over
the network’s operations, according to American
intelligence & counterterrorism officials
. Sri Lankan
government, which is
accused by human rights groups of massive human rights
violations, is seeking $590 million in economic aid from
Millennium Challenge Corp. Under the rules of the
US government or organization, recipient countries
must meet certain standards regarding rule of law,
human rights and the environment.
.
The Tamil Tigers,
who have tried to come out an autonomous state in the
northeast, have lost about 230 square miles in the face
of military offensive recently. The Tiger rebels,
classified by the US State Department as a
terrorist organization, have also a dismal record
concerning respect for human life, e.g., random bus
bombings and recruitment of child soldiers, rights
groups say.
.
According to Human Rights Watch, the
International Commission of the Red Cross and
Catholic Relief groups operating in Sri
Lanka, the number of displaced people has risen to 150k
in the northeast in recent weeks, bringing the nation’s
total to 350k.
.
Tsunami waves churned by
an undersea earthquake crashed ashore in the
Solomon Islands,
wiping away entire villages and triggering alerts
from
Australia to Hawaii,
officials said. Twenty people were killed, and the prime
minister warned that the toll would likely grow.
.
Within 5 minutes, waves 10-16 ft. tall roared ashore and
went up to half a mile inlands, inundating buildings and
sending thousands fleeing for higher ground, witnesses
said.
.
The Solomon Islands is an impoverished archipelago
of more than 200 islands NE of Australia,
with a population of 552k people that lies on the
Pacific Basin’s so-called “Ring of Fire,” an arc of
volcanoes and fault lines where quakes frequently
happen.
