IV. International
(01-16-08)
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Poor women in
developing countries bear the brunt of climate
change in a wide range of ways. They have to walk to
fetch water or wood for fuel to carry it back to the
household. They have to work longer hours in the field
to till the soil, which has hardened from severe drought
and yet receive fewer benefits because of low wages and
low crop production, locusts, rainy and drought seasons,
lack of access to clean water and electricity.
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Despite their efforts, they have little decision-making
power because in these areas, women are considered
merely as housewives. For example, in India women have
very little bargaining power when marketing their crops.
When spouses or children fall in from diseases, it is
women who care for them. It is women who will do without
or with less when food is scarce.
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At the UN conference in
Bali,
over 10 delegates from 187 countries agreed on a road
map for 2009. Because of disproportionate effects of
climate change on women, priority should be put on
community-based programs, including gender sensitive
approaches that will empower women to make what changes
they can to offset their newly more difficult situation.
. Asian stock markets
had a strong, if volatile year with China, leading the
pack as investors bet on the region’s continued growth
prospects. Several exchanges notched gains of more than
20% and among Asia’s major markets, only Japan and
New Zealand ended the year with losses.
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An increasing demand for
exotic freshwater turtles & tortoises in
Southeast Asia
has fueled rampant illegal trade in
Indonesia,
according to a report last week. Turtles are among the
most popular species sold illegally in Asia—as pets in
places like Japan, or as cuisine in China and other
parts of Asia.
. The US
dollar is no longer accepted in India’s tourist sites.
No US dollars, just rupees, please!
. China
has announced tough new rules to crack down on the
explosion of audio-visual content on the Internet,
reiterating that sex and & politically sensitive
material will not be tolerated. It wasn’t clear how many
new rules will impact foreign-based Internet
video-sharing sites, such as You Tube, or Western
companies already in China, like Yahoo and Google.
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Three of four Chinese
women (more than 150 million) still live in the
countryside where rigid social, customs-breed loneliness
and abuse abound. Although urban women have made strides
toward equality, thanks to better education and
opportunities without a growing white-collar workforce,
rural women are often stuck in a harsh lifestyle
unchanged from an earlier era.
. The
Chinese Communist Party has reportedly signed off on
the long awaited restructuring of the telecom industry
that will include a series of mega mergers and a
reshuffle of senior executives.
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Twenty years ago,
Japan was like China is
like today. American MBA students studied Japanese to
get an edge in the job market. Tokyo, not London, was
New York’s greatest rival as a global financial center.
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Then the bubble burst. After reaching close to 40k, the
Nikkei plummeted more than 70% from its record close,
set on 12-29-89.
Since then,
Japan has all
but disappeared from the radar screens of US investors.
Japanese companies like Toyota and only have become so
much as much a part of the fabric of American life as
Coca-Cola and Microsoft.
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With the market locked in a trading range for two years
since then and Japanese stocks in 2007 suffering through
their worst year since 2002, the picture today looks
different. The Nikkei index fell 11.1% in 2007, the
first losing year in five years.
. South Korean
president-elect Lee Myung-bak reaffirmed his complete
hand-offs policy over college admission, thus giving
universities more autonomy in recruiting students in a
bid to shift the nation’s educational paradigm from
egalitarianism to one in which more competition is
allowed.
. The
Constitutional Court
gave the green light to a new fraud inquiry into
Pres-elect Lee Myung-bak. It dismissed a petition that
his relatives and former business associates filed last
month against the independent probe. It will focus on
his alleged role in a 2001 financial scam involving his
former business partner (Kim Kyung-joon)
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Staring next year, smaller automobiles that pump cheaper
liquefied petroleum gas will hit the streets.
Hybrid cars may also be built to pump LPG but for a
limited period of time, up to 2015, the government
transition committee said.
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Pres. GMA of the
Philippines (RP) boasts of 6.9% growth of the
economy in 2007, but export growth fell to half of the
projected 9%, while local manufacturing had contracted
6.1% in the first half continuing into the second. The
fall of the US dollar resulted in the most sluggish
Christmas season sales in years.
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Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Cambodia surged ahead of
RP in public infrastructure investment, standard of
living and in hunger
ratings. While the country grows poorer, the major
listed corporations in oil, water,
property and telecom
have unprecedented profit growth of 45% to 60% in 2006.
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Almost 4 million Filipinos go hungry everyday while
their political leaders use the people’s money to lavish
themselves every year with billions in pork barrel
funds, intelligence funds, social funds and all forms of
discretionary funds. This thievery comes in various
forms, e.g., P500k gift bags, P200k Christmas bonus,
make scrounging for food more painfully hard to bear.
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Former president 86-year
old Suharto of
Indonesia
suffered a multi-organ failure and was placed on a
ventilator as family members rushed to his bedside.
Physicians called his deteriorating health “alarming.”
He initially responded well to blood transfusion &
kidney dialysis. His condition has fluctuated almost
daily.
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Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yughoyono called for
Indonesians to be better protected from abusive
employers in Malaysia as the two countries signed a pact
to boost bilateral trade. Almost 60% of the more than 2
million foreign workers in Malaysia are from Indonesia,
including more than 270k maids.
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The commander of Pekanbaru Air Base, Col. Gandara
Olivenca, will be dismissed for allowing foreign
nationals without security clearance to travel in a
military helicopter that crashed at Riau oil palm
plantation.
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The Indonesian and
Malaysian governments have agreed to form an
Eminent Persons Group (EPG) consisting of, among
others, experts from the youth, Islamic scholars,
intellectuals and prominent women, to foster mutual
understanding between the two nations.
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Malaysian elections may
be held during the holidays in school buildings in early
March (7 to 16) a couple of weeks after the Chinese New
Year which falls on Feb. 7. Political parties and
leaders seem to have stepped up a year in their
preparations.
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Malaysia has frozen the recruitment of Indian workers,
including temple priests, sculptors and musicians in a
move apparently linked to an unrest by
Malaysia’s
ethnic Indians, an official said.
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Pres. Nguyen Minh Triet
of Vietnam
called on the
northern mountainous province of
Ha Giang
to boost efforts in exploiting its own potentials and
human resources for the province’s development.
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After two and a half years of construction, the
Thu
Thiem
Bridge, which links HCM
City’s center and
the new urban area of Thu Thiem District 2, officially
opened to traffic last week.
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The State Bank of Vietnam must provide economic
growth of 9% for 2008 while ensuring inflation stayed
below that figure, PM Nguyen Tan Dung said.
. Despite an
improved economy, many Japanese are feeling a sense of
insecurity about the nation’s schools which once turned
out students who consistently rank at the top of
international tests. That is no longer true, which is
why many people here are looking for lessons from
India,
which the Japanese see as the world’s ascendant
superpower. Japan is suffering from a crisis of
confidence these days about its ability to compete with
its emerging Asian rivals—China and India. But even in
this fad-obsessed nation one result was never expected:
a growing craze for Indian education.
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The world’s cheapest car was revealed by India’s Tata
Motors with a US$2,500 price tag that brings car
ownership into the reach of millions of people, despite
fears of environmentalists. But it is not the kind of
car (too small) that will attract American buyers.
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Almost the whole of the county will become a no-smoking
zone by May 31 if the health ministry has its way. Homes
and designated smoking areas at airports & restaurants
will be the only places where one can have a smoke once
the government introduces the “Smoke-Free Workplace
Rules.” Once that happens, India will join the list of
countries most intolerant toward smoking.
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The day she was
assassinated, Benazir Bhutto had planned to reveal new
evidence alleging the involvement of
Pakistan’s
intelligence agencies in rigging the country’s upcoming
elections in favor of Pervez Musharraf.
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Did our CIA have anything to do with Bhutto’s
assassination? Musharraf signed the Iran-Pakistan-India
natural gas pipeline deal the US vehemently opposed;
then GWB called for “return democracy to Pakistan;”
then Bhutto was killed! When do we learn to respect
other countries’ sovereignty and not put our nose where
it doesn’t belong? And we wonder why the world doesn’t
like us!
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Bhutto may have been GWB’s candidate as Musharraf’s
successor or subordinate in a system with a more
semblance of democracy. But those in Pakistan and
elsewhere who stay loyal to her memory and do not miss
the primary lesson from her martyrdom, must resist and
rebuff Washington’s efforts to save the country’s
military and militants further.
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The Sri Lankan
government announced it was formally withdrawing from
the Norwegian-arranged ceasefire agreement with Tamil
Tiger rebels, said the presidential spokesman to the
AFP.
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The Tamil United Liberation Front leader welcome
the decision to abrogate the Ceasefire Agreement,
saying it only helped the LTTE to expand its terrorist
activities and to blindfold the international community.
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The Minister of Commerce, Marketing Development
Cooperative & Consumer Service promised to keep the
prices of essential food items under control before the
Sinhala New Year.
