IV. International
(05-01-07)
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Warming temperatures
could result in food shortages for 130 million people by
2050 and threaten to cause drought and higher seas in
Australia & New Zealand by 2030, according to a recent
UN report.
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What Pakistan
& Bangladesh
are witnessing today is a politics of no return – not
only from former prime ministers of their countries, but
more importantly, from people to self-rule. (J. Sri
Rahman)
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Gopal Krishna Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas Gandhi,
has turned down a request to head Gujarat
University in West Bengal
state, saying he does not always wear simple cotton
clothing as required by the school dress code.
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In France, the Asian hornets have spread quickly
and turned once-tranquil hives into battle fields, since
there are no natural predators in the region. Bigger &
bulkier than their European cousins, the hornets have no
trouble overcoming honeybees. They ambush beehives and
dismember the bees and reduce them to a paste to feed
the hornet queen and her larvae.
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The South Pacific
is becoming one of the areas of the world whose Chinese
migrants are rapidly changing the region’s ethnic and
political complexion. The migration has geopolitical
implications too.
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A new team is trying to bring the National Palace
Museum in
Taipei into
the modern world by displaying more artifacts,
overhauling a gift shop, and kicking out politics.
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When former president George H.W. Bush gives a keynote
address in honor of the 25th anniversary of
the right-wing Washington Times newspaper, it
will be the latest chapter of a sordid tale involving
the Bush family’s cozy relationship with a filthy rich
religious cult that allegedly aims to “destroy democracy
and take over the world.”
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The decision by the Singaporean government to
reward its ministers with a 60% pay increase while
lower- and middle-class taxpayers, are seeing their
living standards decline, has raised serious questions
about the island state’s fiscal policies.
. China
announced far-reaching new rules for disclosure of
official information that would require local
governments to reveal their accounts and inform farmers
about the finances of often controversial land seizures.
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The amount of spam pumping out of China dropped
precipitously in the first 3 months of 2007. A year ago,
computers in China were sending out 21.1% of all spam
messages, but the number has steadily dropped over the
past year at just 7.5% in the most recent quarter,
security vendor Sophos PLC reported.
. The Bush
administration fired another salvo in its campaign
against Chinese trade practices, announcing suits to
force Beijing to crack down on rampant counterfeiting
and drop restrictions on the distribution of American
music, movies and books.
. At the
heart of China’s environmental crisis sits coal,
from which the country derives 69% of its primary energy
and 52% of its electricity. China uses over 2.2 billion
metric tons of the stuff per year, more than the US,
India and Russia combined.
. Japan
recently approved a campaign to certify “real” Japanese
food overseas, worried that a global sushi craze
will bastardize its national cuisine. Some US restaurant
owners mock the creation of a “sushi police.”
. The mayor
of Nagasaki
(Iccho Ito) was shot to death in a brazen attack at
point blank outside a train station by an organized
crime chief (Tetsuya Shiroo) apparently enraged that the
city refused to compensate him after his car was damaged
at a public works construction site, the Kyodo News
agency and national broadcaster NKH said
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The late Emperor Hirohito was discontent with the
Yasukuni Shrine’s enshrining of class-A war
criminals and concerned about history disputes with
other parts f Asia, excerpts from the diary of a close
aide show.
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The South Korean
city of Inchon
beat New Delhi to become the host of the 2014 Asian
Games. It is now the third Korean city to host the Asian
Games following
Seoul
(1986) and
Pusan (2002)
. The US
Military agreed t transfer 9 additional bases to the
Korean government this year, said the Defense
Ministry. They are the second batch of a total of 59
bases to be returned by 2011. There are now more than 70
US bases in Korea. Among the 9 bases are
Camp Page
in Chuncheon, Camp Edward in Daju and Camp
Falling Water
in Uijeongbu.
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North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Yong Il
arrived in Burma last week to restore diplomatic ties
severed in 1983, when more than 20 people, including 4
visiting South Korean ministers were killed by North
Korean agents who blew up a landmark in the Burmese
capital.
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The growing opposition
to Thailand’s
post-coup draft constitution, including monks who want
Buddhism to be the state religion, could derail the
Army’s plan for elections by the end of the year,
according to analysts.
. Escaping
the terror of poverty in
Thailand,
thousands of Thai Muslims have poured into Malaysia.
Many work in Thai restaurants, known as “tom yam kung”
restaurants. Thailand’s PM claims they are a significant
source of funding and recruitment for separatists.
. More than
100 North Korean refugees are on a hunger strike at a
Bangkok immigration detention center to protest their
delayed departure to South Korea, the UN refugee agency
said.
. Indonesia
appealed to world consumers to stop buying products made
from illegally logged wood, and said rich countries
should pay the poor to preserve forests in the battle
against global warming. Environmentalists say illegal
logging in Indonesia strips 2.1 million hectares (5.2
million acres) of forest every year I a trade worth $4
billion.
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The governors of Nanggroe, Aceh Darrussalam, Papua
and West Papua committed to significantly
reducing deforestration in their areas at a climate
change conference in
Bali
last week.
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Indonesia hopes that an extradition treaty it signed
with Singapore
will help recover millions of dollars of government
funds allegedly embezzled to the city-state during the
1997-1998 Asian financial crisis by around 200
Indonesians.
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What cognac is to
France,
so fish sauce is to
Vietnam,
a national treasure that that shouldn’t be produced
anywhere else. Everyone agrees that the best fish sauce
(nuc mam) comes from the island of
Phu Quoc,
where they use only top-grade black anchovies, natural
imports and traditional storage methods.
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Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh
led thousands in a ceremony near Hanoi to heal the
wounds from the Vietnam War which ended 32 years ago. He
advised the crowd to pray equally those who fought and
died on both sides.
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A deal signed between Thailand & Myanmar would
lear the way for the first large-scale hydropower plant
on the Salwan River in northeastern
Myanmar.
The project could displace and negatively impact upon
tens of thousands of poor and marginalized people from
ethnic minorities in that country, warns WWF.
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Standing in the way of
Mumbai’s (India)
rapid progress is Asia’s largest slum. Dharavi sits in a
prime location but plans to transform it are being met
with fierce opposition. The
Maharashtra
state government plans to turn the eyesore into a clean
green corner.
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After the slaughter of
six rare one-horned rhinoceroses at the
Kaziranga National Park,
authorities in India’s northeastern
Assam state
cracked down on poachers, rushing in paramilitary
soldiers to a sprawling game reserve, officials say.
. India is
concerned that a challenge by Swiss drug giant
Novartis to local patent law could restrict the
global supply of cheap anti-AIDS drugs, its health
minister said.
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US officials, frustrated by the slow pace of negotiating
final agreements with India on Pres. Bush’s deal to give
it access to civilian nuclear technology, have informed
the Indian government that they want a major push this
May to complete negotiations before the deal unravels
from bureaucratic inertia and increased Congressional
anxiety of India’s dealings with Iran.
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Squads of “vice and
virtue” students are patrolling the heart of
Islamabad Taliban-style
to seek the closure of music and video shops and other
immoral establishments. The mosque with which they are
affiliated has challenged the government by calling for
declaration of Islamic Sharia. Waiting in the
wings are broader forces, such as al Quaeda which see
the beginning of a Pakistani caliphate.
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In Karachi, an estimated 100k people took to the streets
to protest plans by an influential mosque to run a
“Taliban style” anti-vice campaign in the capital city
of Islamabad. A day earlier, some 500k staged a rally in
Ankara urging PM Erdogan, a former Islamist and head of
the moderate Muslim ruling party, not to run for
president, traditionally a secular and nonpartisan post.
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Muttahida Qarum Movement’s chief Altaf Hussain demanded
of Pres. Musharraf the demolition of Lal Masjil
vacated from the mullahs, who were trying to enforce
Sharia, and warned their adherents of grave
consequences, if the mosque and the seminary, built on
illegally occupied land, were not vacated.
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There are more than 4k
unauthorized level crossings with no checkrails, gate
barriers and warning signboards across the country,
according to newspaper reports quoting
Bangladesh
Railway
officials.
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Bank clients are feeling discomfort in making
transactions as the National Board of Revenue (NBR)
asks commercial banks in providing information on
dubious accounts as part of the ongoing anti-corruption
drive.
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Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BPL), the leading
pharmaceutical manufacturer & exporter of the country,
signed an agreement with Gulf Generica, a widely
renowned & highly accredited pharmaceutical distributor
of the Gulf Region.
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The country’s Readymade Garment (RMG) industry
may face further setback as many disputes between
factory owners, foreign buyers & middlemen remain
unresolved for many years.
