IV. International
(08-01-07)
.
Of the 164 elite army
commandos who laid siege to the mosque in Pakistan,
10 died; 33 were wounded; 73 bodies were recovered from
among the Uzbek, Chechen, Tajik and Afghan fighters ,
some of whom were believed to be wanted terrorists.
.
Australian police charged an Indian doctor with
providing support to a terrorist organization, allegedly
linking him to last month’s failed British bomb plots.
The charge was later dropped.
.
E. Timor’s
president appealed for calm. International troops
patrolled the streets of Dili a day after troops fired
tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse rampaging youth.
.
Cambodia
has banned evangelism. Christians in Cambodia are now
officially banned from evangelizing because they
“disrupt society,” according to government officials.
.
GWB seems convinced that a new type of democracy, or a
new version of military dictatorship, is the need of the
hour for a swathe of South Asia Bush and his band are
engaged in a brave new experiment for not only
Bangladesh and Pakistan, but also Nepal.
. Bhutan’s
PM and six members of his cabinet have resigned to make
way for next year’s first Parliamentary elections in the
Buddhist kingdom and its transition to democracy, the
official news media said.
.
A system to monitor food
safety will go into effect during test events for the
2008 Beijing Olympics in
China
this month, a Chinese government watchdog announced,
even as a TV station aired an undercover investigation
how shredded cardboard was used as a filling in steamed
buns.
. The Chinese
government shut down an influential publication that had
helped promote the country’s growing nonprofit sector,
the newsletter’s founder said.
.
China’s concern about the safety of US meat, e.g.,
salmonella, anti-parasite treatment residue,
ractopamine to keep animals lean, have long been a
source of tension between the countries. China and
several other countries have banned imports of US beef
in2003 because of fears of mad cow disease.
.
China’s economy grew
at an extraordinary rate of 11.9% in Q2, the fastest
clip in more than 12 years and a pace that puts the
nation on track to overtake Germany this year as the
world’s third-largest economy. Twelve years ago,
China’s
economy ranked 8th behind
Brazil’s and was less
than 1/3 the size of Germany’s.
.
China’s $1.2 trillion
in foreign reserves, the most ever amassed by any
country and moving trade surpluses may seem like signs
of strength, but they’re actually evidence of an
over-reliance on exports, weak domestic consumption, and
a primitive financial system
.
Faced with mounting
international concern over safety of some of its
exports, China has put together a team of lobbyists,
e.g., Ogilvy & Edelman, Patton Boggs who have
been practically living on Capitol Hill for the past few
weeks.
.
The UN rejected
Taiwan’s
application to become a member of the world body, citing
a 1971 resolution that recognizes China as the lawful
representative to the world body.
.
Asian stocks tumbled last week, with Taiwanese shares
the worst hit, as investors sold their equity holdings
amid rising concerns over a potential global credit
crunch.
.
Leading global contract chip maker Taiwan
Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC) said quarterly
profit fell 25% on sluggish chip demand, but it forecast
a stronger Q3 as a nascent recovery gains steam.
.
Perry Capital LLC has
offered to increase its stake in Japan’s NEC
Electronics Corp, the chip-making subsidiary of NEC
Corp, from its current stake of 4.5% to 5%, according to
a report in Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily.
.
In a little over half a decade, Japan’s military has
carried out changes considered unthinkable a few years
back. In the
Indian Ocean,
Japanese destroyers and refueling ships are helping
America and other militaries fight in Afghanistan. In
Iraq, Japanese planes transport cargo and American
troops to Baghdad from Kuwait.
.
A small amount of water used to cool radioactive spent
fuel rods at a Japanese nuclear reactor leaked into the
Sea of Japan as a result of massive earthquake that
struck the country. Officials of Tokyo Electric Power
insisted it posed no danger. At least seven people were
killed and hundred injured.
.
Samsung Electronics
Company’s
surged 6.4% to 687k won ($749) in S. Korea amid
investor expectations for stronger business performance
later in the year as well as on a news report that US
investor Carl Icahn may be considering a bid for the
company.
. North
Korea’s military propose holding direct talks with US
faces an unusual plea amid recent progress on the
nuclear stand-off between the two countries.
. A South
Korean tanker carrying about 170k barrels of fuel oil
arrived at the port
of Sonbong.
The delivery is 12% of the oil the North has been
promised.
.
A Human Rights Summit,
held on July 16-17 at the Manila Hotel in the
Philippines
(RP), brought together about 250 participants in search
of solutions to the epidemic of summary executions and
enforced disappearance that has hounded the nation since
2001.
.
The Congressional Planning & Budget Department
(CPBD) has strongly advocated for the
Philippines
to adopt an open skies policy for the international
airports at Subic and Clark.
.
Developing countries, including RP, have opposed a WTO
compromise text that failed to put the agriculture
interest of poor countries and that has sought greater
sacrifices from them.
.
Guest worker program
isn’t the labor & immigration panacea it’s cracked up to
be about experiences of Thai “guest workers” who
are among 200 Thai workers filing a federal class action
suit against a CA-based labor contracting company called
Global Horizons.
. Several
thousand people marched outside the Bangkok house of PM
Prem Tinsulanond, accusing him of instigating a coup
last year that ousted the elected government of PM
Thaksin Shinawatra.
. Codenamed
(Strike-2009,” the Thai-China war games marked the first
joint military training China had held with another
country.
.
Palm oil companies are
burning forests to clear land for plantations in
Indonesia’s
Rian province, despite government pledges to end forest
fires, environmental group Greenpeace said.
.
It was business as usual at 6500-employee PT Naga
Parama Shoe Industry (NASA) and 7500-employee PT
Handaya Aneka Shoes Industry (HASI), manufacturers
for Nike, despite fears of massive layoffs.
. Indonesia
and Australia will decide in 2008 whether they will
conclude a free trade agreement (FTA) after conducting a
joint feasibility study in August 2007.
.
Manulife Insurance
in Malaysia, which already owns the land, has
offered to buy up the 51% stake in the building owned by
RB Land, says a source.
.
The owner of
KAF-Seagroatt & Campbell may continue the
stock-broking firm with KAF Investment Bank
and get a foreign partner, a source said.
.
Proton Holdings Bhd is not waiting for a savior,
contrary to a perception that the national car maker
would collapse without a strategic partner. It has been
working on a fresh model lineup, and new ventures in
China and Indonesia will put it in the black this year.
.
Despite talks about
women empowerment and equal rights to girls in every
field, including education and employment,
India
in 2007 brings no joy to poor girl children who are
being killed even before birth. Female feticide is
rampant.
.
Pratibha Patil was formally announced the winner
in the presidential race, the first woman to hold the
post in a symbolic victory for the hundreds of millions
of Indians who contend with widespread discrimination.
. Power
equipment maker BHEL has secured a Rs 431 core
contract for setting up a co-generation power plant at
Gujarat refining
complex of India Oil Corporation (IOC).
.
The showdown at the Red
Mosque in Pakistan which lasted 9 days and cost
more than 100 lives before Army commandos declared
victory over extremist fighters, demonstrate tat the
so-called mullah-military alliance may be fast
unraveling.
.
Over the past several weeks, the Army has been sending
troops, vehicles and supplies into areas near
Waziristan
as part of a campaign by Pres. Musharraf to stamp out
extremism. Waziristan has become a suspected base for al
Quaeda operations in the region.
. President
Musharraf and former PM Benazir Bhutto have held
talks in Abu Dhabi in an effort to strike a
power-sharing pact, said Cabinet Minister Sher Afgan
Khan Niazi.
.
A string of abductions,
extrajudicial killings, disappearances and detentions
have proliferated in Sri Lanka during the past
year as the rule of law breaks down amid escalating
civil war. It is unclear whether kidnappers are
impostors of police officers, but it could go either
way.
.
Violence has increased despite a 2002 ceasefire
agreement, which exists mainly on paper. International
observers say both sides are committing atrocities in a
conflict that has raged off and on since 1983.
.
Some countries have decided to withdraw or suspend aid
to Sri Lanka until they see the situation in the country
improving, including its eligibility for aid the US
Millennium Challenge Corp.
