IV. International
(07-01-08)
.
Worldwide protests over
the rising price of fuel escalated with RP
presidential palace besieged by trucks and minibuses
which blocked roads in
Manila leading to the
president’s residence They were demanding the government
to lift the 12% sales tax on fuel, which has risen 24%
this year. Traffic ground to a halt.
.
Opposition groups in
Malaysia
vowed to push on with mass protests against a 41% hike
in gas prices, despite pledge from P.M. to fixed prices
for the rest of the year. Malaysia is
Asia’s largest net oil
exporter.
Protesters demanded to know why rising profits for oil
exports were not being used as subsidies for the poor.
A million people are expected for another demonstration
this month.
.
Malaysia followed
India, Indonesia, Taiwan
and Sri Lanka
by raising pump prices last month. Truck drivers voted
to strike like the rest of Asia, ignoring a $1-billion
government aid package designed to cushion the impact of
fuel price increases.
Nepal
was the last Asian
nation to raise fuel prices to stem the loses of a state
firm.
.
What is the future of
the Spratly
Islands,
suspected of containing large deposits of oil and gas,
but also claimed by
Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia
and the Philippines?
Presently, China and Vietnam have come to
an agreement on where to draw the demarcation
line—splitting the area under their sphere of influence
and backing it up militarily if it has to go that route.
. The
ranks of the wealthy are growing the fastest in the
developing economies of
India, China & Brazil.
The number of millionaires in
India
grew by about 23%. The millionaire club has grown to
more than 10 million and the rich are getting richer.
One in every 3 million millionaires lives in America.
Combined, Africa, the Middle East and
Latin America
account for just 1 in every 10!
.
Among
China’s dozens of
minorities,
few get along as badly as Tibetans and Muslims.
Animosities have played a major, and largely unreported,
role in the clashes that have taken place since
mid-March
.
During the March 14
riots in Lhasa, the Tibetan region’s capital, many of
the restaurants and shops attacked were Muslim-owned. A
mob tried to storm the city’s main mosque and succeeded
in setting fire to the front gate. Shops and restaurants
in the Muslim quarter were destroyed.
.
Over the last 5 years,
there have been dozens of clashes between Tibetans and
Muslims in
Sichuan,
Gansu and
Quighai
provinces as well as in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Most of the incidents go unreported. The
state-controlled media are not eager to publicize
anything that belies CCP claims that the minorities
“live together in a harmonious society.”
. China
arrested a retired
school teacher (Zeng Hongling) who criticized the
construction of schools that collapsed in the
earthquake, on charges of inciting state subversion,”
said the Information Center for Human Rights and
Democracy.
. China and
Taiwan agreed to give each party the right to open
airline and travel offices on each other’s territory.
Taiwan’s president (Ma Ying-jeon) and China’s president
Hu Jintao agreed to drop the dispute over Taiwan’s
status and work instead to improve ties.
.
Hong Kong
authorities announced
plans to kill poultry in retail markets because of fears
of a dangerous bird flu outbreak. The order does not
affect sales of pre-slaughtered poultry sold packaged in
supermarkets, as is common in much of the world.
.
Top Bush adm. officials
are delaying a long promised $11 billion arms package
for Taiwan,
raising the possibility that the issue will be left for
the next US president, according to sources inside &
outside the WH.
.
As part of the process
of approving military sales to foreign countries, the
adm. must send a formal notification to Congress which
has 30 days to raise questions. Taiwan requested to hold
off on notification as it completes negotiation with
China
on launching charter flights and expanding tourism
between 2 countries
.
Top US
officials were irritated by
Taiwan’s protracted
domestic wrangling over the sales, and appear wary of
irritating China
during negotiations on North Korea’s nuclear weapons.
.
A powerful earthquake of
7.0 magnitude rocked a rural area of
N. Japan
triggering landslides and reportedly knocking down a
bridge, killing 2 people and injuring dozens.
.
The number of elderly
Japanese killing themselves surged 9% to a record high
in 2007 (33,093), an increase of 8.9% in 2006, fueled by
mounting health and economic worries among seniors in a
rapidly aging society, the government said.
. North Korea
dynamited the dirty gray cooling tower at its
deactivated Yongbyon nuclear facility to show the US and
the world that it is serious about abandoning its
nuclear weapons program.
. North
Korea has promised to reinvestigate its abduction of
Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s, a surprise
concession that prompted Japan to respond with a pledge
to lift some of its economic sanctions against the
closed Communist country.
.
Where is the
Philippines
heading with a few retired generals appointed as cabinet
secretaries in the administration of Pres GMA which is
in trouble with the Congress and people? The appointees
include Jun Esperon, presidential advisor on the peace
process; Eduardo Ermita, executive secretary; Angelo
Reyes, secretary of energy; Leandro Mendoza, secretary
of transportation & communications; and Homogenes
Ebdane, secretary of public highways.
. In a
country where diplomas are shown off as a symbol of
success of the 2,000 colleges & universities, only 4
made it in global rankings: University of the
Philippines (state) and 3 private-Catholic
universities—Ateneo de Manila, La Salle University and
University of Santo Tomas.
. Thai
and US security officials are probing Bangkok-linked
international gangs after police in recent months seized
thousands of US & foreign passports. The raid uncovered
hundreds of real
US passports, legally issued to Americans by the State
Department, hidden among boxes of fake passports.
.
In Bangkok, tens of thousands of trucks threatened to
cause havoc while farmers demonstrated and fishermen
burned their boats in nationwide protests against
soaring price of fuel and other essentials. The
Finance Minister waived plans to help reduce
transportation costs. Thai Airways International
raised its fuel surcharge by 100% due to rising costs of
fuel.
.
All-India
Congress committee member Brij Mohan Bhama has organized
a 1-day religious ceremony at Karol Bagh to invoke the
blessings of Lord Hanuman for Barack Obama’s success in
the US elections.
.
There is s subtle resurgence of introducing the study of
Sanskrit, the language of the gods. Critics warn
not to promote the supremacy of Hindu thought in a
country that is also home to a large Muslim population
and other religious minorities.
.
The Gujjar community and
2 other tribal groups (Banjaras & Rewadis) were reserved
5% spots in government jobs & educational institutions,
announced the Chief Minister in the state of
Rajastan.
.
An Indian woman, accused
of witchcraft, was beaten, gagged and burnt to death in
a remote eastern village. She was dragged out of her
home, her hands and legs tied, and taken to a
crematorium where she was set on fire in front of the
village which ignored her screams.
. Pakistan’s
main ruling party said it would reinstate judges ousted
by Pres Musharraf only after it has overcome legal
obstacles, following a massive rally calling for their
reinstatement.
.
Pres Karzai of
Afghanistan has threatened to send Afghan soldiers
across the border into Pakistan to fight militant groups
operating n the border areas of Afghanistan.
.
A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons
program, is a criminal fink who “genuinely shocked” his
own countrymen that he may have transferred his
country’s most secret and dangerous information to
foreign smugglers so they could sell it for a profit.
.
Islamabad
International Airport
has been renamed Benazir Bhutto International by
Pakistan’s new government, as Pakistanis commemorated
the birthday of the slain former prime minister.
