IV. International (10-01-07)
.
Khmer Rouge
ideologue Nuon Chea, top aide to the late Pol Pot of the
Killing Fields shame, was arrested and charged with
crimes against humanity for the loss of lives of as many
as 1.7 million people through starvation, overwork and
execution between 1975 to1979.
.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel held a historic meeting
with the Dalai Lama that raised tensions with
China and led Beijing to cancel at least one official
event. Berlin resisted pressure to withdraw Merkel’s
invitation.
.
Nepal’s
former Maoist rebels quit the interim government and
vow3ed to disrupt preparations for historic elections in
November unless the Himalayan nation’s monarchy was
abolished immediately.
.
China’s growing middle
class is rapidly turning from multiple trips to the
family corner stores to one-stop shopping at foreign
mega-marts, such as Wal-Mart and Tesco.
.
The former First
Secretary of the Chinese consulate in Sydney (Chen
Yonglin), until he defected, confirmed Germany’s
allegations that China channeled trojans into its
state-owned computers. Chen said the general staff of
PLA is the main instigator for spying on main military
information and high-technology in western countries.
.
Fighting broke out between ethnic Uighur and Han Chinese
students at
Xinjiang Judicial Officer School.
More than 10 people were injured and at least 3 to 6 may
have died in the clash, using wooden sticks & steel rods
and weapons to beat each other.
.
A key General Assembly
committee rejected
Taiwan’s
bid to join the UN, the 15th consecutive year
the island has been thwarted in its attempt to become a
member of the world body.
. A former
ASEAN secretary general (Rodolfo Severino) calls for
Taiwan’s expanded participation in international
organizations if Taipei reassures SE Asian neighbors
that it is willing to forego de jure independence
or any other action that might lead to war.
. A
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) advised the
public to avoid travel to Myanmar amidst a violent
crackdown on protests against the military in the SE
Asian region.
. Japan’s
new P.M. Yasuo Fukuda says he wants to negotiate with
the opposition to get the public’s business enacted, but
the Democratic Party of Japan will use its
domination of the Upper House of the Diet to
obstruct Fukuda’s program and forced a general election.
.
In the past years, it was not considered smart in Japan
to have a toilet in a conspicuous part of the house.
With the advent of smart toilets equipped to do
everything but blow-dry your hair, the Japanese are
taking the plunge with high-tech commodes.
.
Most likely unhappy at
being accused of supplying aid to purported Syrian
nuclear weapons program, North Korea has
postponed the six-nation talks that were due to begin
Wed (10/3). The US is already reverting to hard-line
positions on Pyongyang.
.
The unexplained death of a North defector in an
overcrowded Thai refugee camp and the suicide of a
36-year old North Korean woman in Seoul have raised
questions and debate about S. Korea’s seeming
indifference to the overall plight of defectors from the
North.
.
In an effort to compete better in US markets with
Japanese rivals Toyota and Honda,
South Korea’s
#1 auto maker Hyundai is ditching its economy-minded
slogans and embarking on a new ad campaign to “smash”
its existing image tarnished by the embezzlement trials
of its chairman Chung Moon-koo.
. Philippine
president GMA has played a deft balancing act while
exacting large favors from
Washington
(re-establish military presence in Asia) and
Beijing
(eyeing RP’s oil
resources) in the form of funds, arms and equipment to
upgrade its military machine.
.
Former Philippine
president Joseph Estrada’s sentence of life imprisonment
and forfeiture of $15.5 million after being convicted
for corruption charges is being hailed by many. But
there is speculation that his fate could foreshadow
GMA’s who faces her own share of graft-ridden scandals.
. Reports,
that a military coup plot against GMA, were recently
nipped in the bud and are widely seen as a smokescreen
to distract the public from government allegations
against her husband.
.
After prolonged
waffling, the Thai government is bringing the hammer
down on the Muslim separatist insurgency in
Thailand’s
4 southern provinces. Some wonder if it is a public
relations ploy to allay growing public frustration over
the authorities’ lackluster performance.
.
Wind shear, a rapid
change in wind speed that can affect takeoffs and
landings, was a possible cause of the crash of
One-Two-Go airline which is owned by Orient Thai
Airlines. The heavy rains contributed to the 24-year
old McDonnell Douglas MD-82 jetliner that skidded off
the runway in
Thailand.
. Changing
times are pushing out the street vendors and budget inns
in favor of upscale establishments that
are attracting (besides
low-priced backpackers that crisscross SE Asia),
more of Bangkok’s
notorious sex trade.
.
Opposite parties in
Malaysia
routinely
garner 40% or more of the votes but win fewer than 10%
of seats in Parliament.
.
Just when the country
thought its tarnished judiciary couldn’t sink any lower,
an 8-minute clip of three Malaysian movers & shakers,
including the current chief justice, purportedly
discussing the promotion of senior judges has emerged.
. The $418
million acquisition from Australia’s Woodside Energy,
to be concluded in November, gives Petronas
significant interest in eight upstream acreages in
Mauritania.
.
Rescue workers found 8
more bodies in the rubble of a bridge which collapsed
killing up to 60 people and injuring 180 in
Vietnam’s
worst such accident. The rains may have softened the
foundation, causing the scaffolding to collapse and
bringing down a 300-ft section that was being worked on.
.
Vietnam’s Petro
Vietnam is building an international reputation with
templates from China’s oil giants and Malaysia’s
Petronas and by using Haoi’s relationship with old
Communist ideological kin, such as Cuba and more recent
anti-US foes such as Venezuela.
. PM Nguyen
Tan Dung explained the country’s efforts to receive a
non-permanent seat in the 2008-2009 UN
Security Council as a way to build further its
global commitment to development, peace and security.
. Indonesia
is losing the thirst for privatization. The decade
following privatization of
Jakarta’s
water supply by two foreign-owned operators has brought
only higher prices and dwindling access to running water
for the city’s residents.
. Indonesian
paper and plantation magnate Sukanto Tanato has lost his
lengthy battle over his 40% ownership to the country’s
second-largest coal-mining company.
.
A US Congressional bill
that would ban candy- and clove-flavored cigarettes has
Indonesia’s big tobacco producers fuming as the overall
industry provides jobs to more than 10 million
Indonesians.
.
Hundreds of defiant
monks marched through Rangoon, walking through streets
lined with cheering crowds, after being barred from
Burma’s
most revered temple (Shwedagon pagoda) along the
way.
.
The marches were the latest in a series of
anti-government protests which began 8/19 after
authorities raised prices of gas by as much as 500%,
further squeezing Burma’s already impoverished citizens.
The protesters continued despite detention of more than
100 demonstrators and rough treatment of others.
.
Monks threatened to cut off contact with members of the
military and their families, and refuse alms from them,
a humiliating gesture that could embarrass the military
junta. They are at the forefront of political protests.
Because they are so revered by the public, repressing
them is politically risky.
.
The military junta cracked down on demonstrators whose
numbers shrank after the former clamped down and
soldiers raided monasteries in the middle of the night,
rounding up hundreds of the monks who had been leading
the protests.
.
The seemingly positive
news of oil and gas discoveries in
Cambodia
must be tempered in light of complex issues surrounding
revenue generation and its impact on the country.
.
Cambodian business
conglomerate Sokomex has announced plans to
renovate the neglected Bokor Mountain Resort as a
tourist destination.
. Senior
Cambodian government officials are threatening t to
expel the UN-backed tribunal looking into Khmer Rouge
war cries should former monarch Norodom Sihanouk
be forced to testify.
. India’s
long-standing ties with Iran appear to be threatening
the beleaguered nuclear energy deal between Washington
and New Delhi, and more broadly, their growing strategic
alliance.
.
India will not give new
Japanese P.M. Yasuo Fukuda much time to settle in as New
Delhi is desperate for Tokyo’s support in the
international arena of its nuclear deal with the
US.
. Powered by
the treatment meted out to its retail venture by Uttar
Pradesh and Orissa governments, Reliance Industries is
shelving its estimated RS 13,000 crore rollout plans in
the 2 states, jeopardizing at least 100k jobs.
.
In the waters separating
India
and Sri Lanka
lies a long chain of sand-capped rocky foundations.
Devout Hindus believe the god Ram built them. Now they
are threatened by the construction of a massive canal.
.
India’s growing middle
class with an increasing spending power could emerge as
the main market for Sri Lanka’s gem and jewelry
products.
.
Wireless development
scorecard (with seven million mobile users) should be
featured on fiscal policy planning, said the CEO of
Telekom Ltd, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya.
