North Korea test-fired short-range missiles, Seoul says

SEOUL (AFP) -
North Korea' on Thursday test-fired two short-range missiles, less than two weeks after its previous launch, the South Korean military said.
The communist state fired two missiles into the Yellow Sea, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff told AFP.
They are believed to be ground-to-ship or ship-to-ship missiles with a range of some 100 kilometres (62.5 miles), he said. All landed in North Korean waters.
The spokesman said the launches were among the routine missile tests North Korea carries out every year. "We consider today's launch as part of routine military training, as was the May 25 launch."
Japan said the latest tests were unlikely to pose an immediate threat and it had no plans to heighten its alert against North Korea, Jiji Press quoted a defence ministry official as saying.
But the tests come at a sensitive time as US and other negotiators are struggling to settle a banking row which is blocking a start to the North's promised nuclear disarmament.
US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe criticised the launches, in a comment from a G-8 summit.
"The United States and our allies believe that North Korea should refrain from testing missiles," said Johndroe.
"North Korea should focus on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and fulfil its obligations under the February 13 agreement. This kind of activity is not constructive."
Under the six-nation February pact, the North agreed to disable its nuclear programmes in return for massive aid and diplomatic benefits.
But it refuses to make a start until it receives 25 million dollars which had been frozen in a Macau bank since 2005 at US instigation.
The US says the funds have been freed but the North has been unable to find a foreign bank willing to make the transfer.
The May 25 launch came on the same day South Korea launched its first Aegis destroyer, which is equipped with advanced defences against air and sea attack.
Analysts said at the time the launch may have been timed to coincide with that event, or might be an expression of frustration at the delay in solving the banking row.
The North's missile launches have heightened tensions in the region in the past decade. In 1998 it sparked alarm in Japan by test-firing a missile over that country.
In July last year it test-fired seven missiles, including its Taepodong-2 that in theory could reach the US west coast. Those launches brought UN condemnation and missile-related sanctions.
In October last year the North heightened alarm worldwide by carrying out its first nuclear test. Analysts say it is not yet thought to have the expertise to miniaturise a nuclear warhead to fit on a missile.

Korean generals hold rare talks

May 8, 2007 - Senior army generals from North and South Korea have met for rare talks that could see the first border rail crossings in more than 50 years. More here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6623095.stm

Thousands of S.Korean POWs 'Disappeared in Russia'

April 13, 2007 - North Korea sent thousands of South Korean prisoners of war to the former Soviet Union during the Korean War, the U.S. edition of the Hankook Ilbo reported citing a newly declassified U.S. document on Wednesday. The South Korean POWs have never been repatriated.
Entitled “The Transfer of U.S. Korean War POWs to the Soviet Union,” the report was written in August 1993 based on testimony obtained by the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission Support Branch of the Research and Analysis Division under the Defense POW/MIA Office (DPMO) after the Cold War ended.
South Korean prisoners of war step out of an ambulance in Munsan, South Korea after they were released following an April 26, 1953 agreement to exchange war prisoner during the Korean War.
According to the report, the former North Korean officer Kan San Kho stated in November 1992 that he assisted in the transfer of thousands of South Korean POWs into 300 to 400 camps in the Soviet Union, most in the taiga but some in Central Asia as well. Already in May 1953, Zygmunt Nagorski, a reporter with the magazine Esquire, covered the transfer of South Korean POWs and their life in the Soviet Union in an in-depth report based on testimony from two agents of the Russian Interior Ministry and an employee of the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
The witnesses testified the transit point was through the North Korean-Soviet border at Pos'yet between November 1951 and April 1952 when ice closed the Pacific coast and the Tatar Straits. “These POWs were taken from Pos'yet through Chita by rail to Molotov” now Perm. According to the 1993 report, “The exploitation of POWs as Soviet state policy was blatantly contained in the minutes of a Sept. 19, 1952 meeting between Stalin and Chinese Foreign Minister Chou en-lai in which he recommended that the Communists keep back 20 percent of United Nations POWs as hostages.” The POWs sent to the Chukotsk Peninsula, apparently at least 12,000 of them, “were used to build roads, electric power plants, and airfields. There was a high mortality rate among all these prisoners.”

Koreas Debate Mineral Exploration Rights

North and South Korea opened working-level talks Thursday to work out a deal swapping raw materials for mineral exploration rights, the South's Unification Ministry said. The two-day meeting at the North's border city of Kaesong comes a month after Seoul agreed to give Pyongyang $80 million worth of raw materials for making clothes, shoes and soap in exchange for rights to develop mineral resources in the North. More here http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070607/ap_on_bi_ge/koreas_economic_talks_2;_ylt=AvglQ3W3yzBFXE7AHTxNU3Tjr4cA

What is Globalisation?

In economic terms, globalisation refers to the growing economic integration of the world, as trade, investment and money increasingly cross international borders (which may or may not have political or cultural implications).

Globalisation is not new, but is a product of the industrial revolution. Britain grew rich in the 19th century as the first global economic superpower, because of its superior manufacturing technology and improved global communications such as steamships and railroads.
But the pace, scope and scale of globalisation have accelerated dramatically since World War II, and especially in the last 25 years.
The rapid spread of information technology (IT) and the internet is changing the way companies organise production, and increasingly allowing services as well as manufacturing to be globalised.
Who leads in global IT outsourcing
Globalisation is also being driven by the decision by India and China to open their economies to the world, thus doubling the global labour force overnight.
The role of trade
Trade has been the engine of globalisation, with world trade in manufactured goods increasing more than 100 times (from $95bn to $12 trillion) in the 50 years since 1955, much faster than the overall growth of the world economy.
Since 1960, increased trade has been made easier by international agreements to lower tariff and non-tariff barriers on the export of manufactured goods, especially to rich countries.

Globalisation Good or Bad?

Globalisation is a word that is on everyone's lips these days, from politicians to businessmen. BBC News is launching a major examination of the subject.
Few places in the world have seen the dramatic effects of globalisation more than Bangalore, the Silicon Valley of India, which is experiencing an unprecedented IT boom that is transforming the prospects of the Indian economy.
For Santosh, a tour guide in Bangalore, life is good. As a result of the IT boom, he has launched his own web-based travel firm, getoffurass.com, and is doing a booming business selling weekend getaway holidays to stressed-out IT workers.

Globalisation: Key facts
Globalisation: Have Your Say
For Dean Braid, a skilled car engineer in Flint, Michigan, life is not so good. He - and 28,000 other workers - were laid off from Buick City when GM closed the complex in 1999, and hasn't worked since.
Globalisation is blamed for many of the ills of the modern world, but it is also praised for bringing unprecedented prosperity.
But what is globalisation, and what are the forces that are shaping it?
Globalisation - good or bad?
The accelerating pace of globalisation is having a profound effect on life in rich and poor countries alike, transforming regions such as Detroit or Bangalore from boom to bust - or vice versa - in a generation.

Many economists believe globalisation may be the explanation for key trends in the world economy such as:
Lower wages for workers, and higher profits, in Western economies
The flood of migrants to cities in poor countries
Low inflation and low interest rates despite strong growth
And globalisation has played a key role in the unprecedented increase in prosperity in the last 50 years, which is now spreading from the United States and Europe to include many formerly poor countries in Asia, including China and India.

China Starts A New Bankruptcy Law

China has introduced a new bankruptcy law that gives creditors precedence over workers when it comes to claiming the assets of failed companies.
The law also means that, for the first time, private Chinese firms that have failed will be allowed to collapse.
Previously they existed in a legal limbo - their assets could not be released and their debts could not be struck from their creditors' books.
The change is seen as another step in China's move to a capitalist economy.
The new law further means that failed state enterprises can also now be officially liquidated for the first time.
Until now, studies estimate that there are about 30 million Chinese people listed on the employment rolls of public companies that are no longer operational.

UK Girl To Receive Stem Cell Treatment in China

Late on Saturday night, there are crowds at the arrival hall at Beijing airport.
The Tahiliani family walks past customs. Priti pushes her daughter Shonia in a small wheelchair.
Shonia's father Kishor has the luggage. They look around for a sign with their name on it. They have flown 5,000 miles from Bournemouth to be here.
"We're not nervous," says Kishor. "We're just trying something totally new. We actually hope something better will happen."
"Just keeping our fingers crossed," adds Priti. "We don't know what the future will hold, but we are just giving our best try as parents."
Their daughter Shonia has cerebral palsy. She is eight years old - but she cannot walk or talk. Her parents have raised £18,000 to bring her to China for stem cell treatment. It is something they cannot get back in the UK.
'The right thing'
A hospital minibus collects the family from the airport and takes them into Beijing. Shonia spends the journey quietly sitting on her mother's lap.
On Monday afternoon, the Tahilianis settle into their room on the ground floor of the Tiantan Puhua Neurological Hospital. Kishor leans over his daughter and gives her lunch.
In one corner, the family has set up a webcam. On the windowsill, they burn some incense. For the next three months this will be their home.
Soon, doctors will begin to remove stem cells from Shonia's bone marrow. And then they will inject the cells into her spine. The hospital hopes to give Shonia better mobility - but it doesn't promise a total cure. Her parents believe they have done the right thing by coming here.
"We are not hoping for drastic results like she will be totally normal," says Priti.
"I know what the reality is. No one has promised us anything. She's my only daughter and I wouldn't send her for a trial like a guinea pig... I wouldn't do that."
Doctors' concerns
Further along the corridor, in the hospital's exercise room, a physiotherapist throws a ball towards a patient.
Right now the hospital is giving stem cell treatment to seven foreigners.
One man has come from Hungary to try to recover from a stroke. One woman has come from London to get over a brain injury. She says her doctor back home doesn't know she is here.
But this hospital says that these patients - including Shonia - have every right to stem cell treatment.
"We give them a little hope," says Sherwood Young, the hospital's vice president.
"False hope?" I ask.
"No. We provide good hope."
"How do you know?"
"From the results."
"Documentation?"
"Yes, yes."
"Publications in medical journals?"
"Not really journals."
"Why not?"
"We haven't collected enough data and documentation yet."
This lack of publication concerns doctors in the UK. Many we have spoken to say they are worried that China is not following international procedure by skipping on proper peer review.
"As far as I know these treatments offered through this clinic in China have not been subject to those procedures," says Professor Colin Blakemore, the chief executive of the Medical Research Council.
"Nothing would be accepted for treatment in the NHS - or indeed any other developed country in the world - without proper evidence they do work and are not dangerous. And I don't know evidence for these kind of treatments in China."
Doctors in the UK suggest that there will be huge advances in stem cell therapies in Britain in the next 10 to 12 years. But the Tahilianis say they cannot wait that long.
In the hospital lobby, another family stops to say hello to Shonia. A little boy goes up to her wheelchair and shows her his toy dinosaurs. But Shonia can't grab the toys, and she can't even say hello. Her parents hope that, one day, this will change.

China unveiled plans to help prepare for climate change

China has unveiled its first national plan for climate change, saying it is intent on tackling the problem but not at the expense of economic development.
The 62-page report reiterated China's aim to reduce energy use by a fifth before 2010 and increase the amount of renewable energy it produces.
But it also repeated Beijing's view that responsibility for climate change rests with rich westernised countries.
The report comes ahead of a G8 meeting that will focus on global warming.
Germany, which is hosting the meeting of industrialised nations, is calling for a new UN protocol on climate change to replace the Kyoto pact when it expires in 2012.
China's role in the debate is crucial, as many analysts believe it could overtake the US this year as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
'Trailblazer'
China's new national plan on climate change offered few new targets on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but outlined how it intended to meet the goals it has already set, analysts say.
This includes the use of more wind, nuclear and hydro power as well as making coal-fired plants more efficient, the document outlined.


But it also stressed that the country's first priority remained "sustainable development and poverty eradication".
"China is a developing country. Although we do not have the obligation to cut emissions, it does not mean we do not want to shoulder our share of responsibilities," Ma Kai, chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission, said.
"We must reconcile the need for development with the need for environmental protection," he said, adding that China wanted to "blaze a new path to industrialisation".
He said rich countries were responsible for most of the greenhouse gases produced over the past century, and had an "unshirkable responsibility" to do more to tackle the problem.
"The international community should respect the developing countries' right to develop," he added.
The plan is a strong declaration of intentions, but so far China has missed almost every environmental target it has set itself, the BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Shanghai says.

April 2005-China Protested Against Japanese Text Book

Anti-Japanese protests have erupted in China for the second day running, spreading from Beijing to the southern province of Guangdong.

The rallies follow a 10,000-strong march in the Chinese capital - the city's biggest protest since 1999.
Protesters are angry at a new Japanese history textbook which they believe plays down Japan's wartime atrocities.
Japan has protested to China after stone-throwing protesters attacked Japan's embassy in Beijing on Saturday.
Japan's foreign minister is to visit China next week to discuss "a number of bilateral and international issues", a spokesman for Japan's Foreign Ministry said.
Security measures
At least 3,000 people demonstrated at the Japanese consulate in the southern city of Guangzhou on Sunday, shouting for a boycott of Japanese goods and burning Japanese flags.
A Japanese diplomat said some windows in the consulate were broken.
Hong Kong cable television showed protesters with Chinese flags and banners reading "down with Japanese militarism".

SINGAPORE (AP) -- Asia is bracing for a dramatic surge in cancer rates over the next decade as people in the developing world live longer and adopt bad Western habits that greatly increase the risk of the disease.
Smoking, drinking and eating unhealthy foods -- all linked to various cancers -- will combine with larger populations and fewer deaths from infectious diseases to drive Asian cancer rates up 60 percent by 2020, some experts predict.
But unlike in wealthy countries where the world's top medical care is found, there will likely be no prevention or treatment for many living in poor countries.
"What happened in the Western world in the '60s or '70s will happen here in the next 10 to 20 years as life expectancy gets longer and we get better control on more common causes of deaths," said Dr. Jatin P. Shah, a professor of surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, who attended a cancer conference last month in Singapore.
"The habit of alcohol consumption, smoking and dietary changes will increase the risk of Western world cancers to the Eastern world," Shah said.
An estimated 40 percent of cancers worldwide can be prevented by exercise, eating healthy foods and not using tobacco, according to the World Health Organization.
But more people in Asia are moving into cities and becoming overweight and obese from inactivity. They are replacing fruits and vegetables with fatty meals full of meat and salt, which is leading to increases in stomach and colon cancers. Meanwhile, traditional diseases like malaria are killing fewer people -- building an aging population that's a prime target for cancer.
The effect is already startling, with the Asia-Pacific making up about half of the world's cancer deaths and logging 4.9 million new cases, or 45 percent, of the global toll in 2002.
That number is projected to leap to 7.8 million by 2020 if nothing changes, according to Dr. Donald Max Parkin, a research fellow at the University of Oxford who is a leading authority on global cancer patterns and trends.
China alone, with its booming economy and 1.3 billion people, is home to about one-fifth of the world's new cases, compared to about 13 percent in the U.S. and 26 percent in Europe, Parkin said. Heart disease remains the top killer in China, but cancer is a close second.
Cancer deaths are slowly dropping in the United States, with slight declines recorded in 2003 and 2004. A decrease in smoking, coupled with early detection and better treatment of tumors is credited with the positive results -- the first U.S. decline in cancer deaths since 1930.
Smoking on the rise
Smoking is on the rise in Asia, where it's common to see people lighting up in airports, restaurants and even hospitals. Lung cancer makes up the bulk of all cases regionwide, followed by stomach and liver cancers. It also remains the biggest cancer killer worldwide.
"Lung cancer is the big one because of cigarette smoking. There are many tobacco advertisements -- everywhere," said Dr. You-Lin Qiao from the Cancer Institute and Hospital in Beijing, who added that the odds are stacked against those diagnosed in China. "No matter if you're rich or poor, if you get lung cancer you die. There's no treatment at all."
While Americans and Europeans have been abandoning smoking, an estimated 300 million men are puffing away in China -- equal to the entire U.S. population. If nothing changes, a third of Chinese men under age 30 are predicted to die from tobacco, with lung cancer already the biggest cancer killer there.
Smokeless tobacco is also a big problem in Asia's other giant, India, where many men and women chew some form of tobacco. Mouth cancer makes up half of all new cases in parts of the country.
A lack of vaccines that prevent cancer-causing viruses is another obstacle for Asia, which is home to about three-quarters of the world's liver cancers, caused largely by Hepatitis B infections.
A vaccine guarding against the virus has been available since the early 1980s and is routinely given to children in Western countries, but it is still not reaching large swaths of the Asia-Pacific.
Some experts worry it could take years before the new vaccine for the sexually-transmitted human papillomavirus, or HPV, is available to women in developing countries. The three shots currently cost about $350 in the U.S. and are 70 percent effective against preventing HPV, the main cause of cervical cancer. It is already the No. 2 cause of cancer among women in Asia, after breast cancer.
"The problem is so huge that it's very difficult for us to know where to start," said Dr. Franco Cavalli, president of the nonprofit International Union Against Cancer. "All the new cancer treatments are so expensive, that already in the affluent countries we are not able to pay for them ... So imagine what that means for low-income countries where you have $20 a year per person for health expenditures."
Regular screening, such as pap smears and mammograms, is too costly for many poor countries. Treatment with radiation or chemotherapy is unfathomable for most. And in Asia, many patients seek help from hospitals in the late stages of disease after traditional medicine has failed to cure them.
Monika Bardhan of Malaysia's NCI Cancer Hospital has seen a dramatic increase in cancer patients over the past four years. "It's staggering. Every day I see a patient with breast cancer -- I just hold my own and say a prayer."

Source: CNN.Com International

Pakistan Blocked Geo News Channel

LAHORE, Pakistan (CNN) -- The Pakistani government has blocked the transmission of the Geo News TV channel, a company official said Sunday.
GEO News Managing Director Nasir Baig Chugtai told CNN that viewers called the Geo office asking why the transmission of "Meray Mutabik," a popular prime-time show, was halted.
During the last few programs, the show's anchor, Shahid Masood, criticized the government for recent bans and threats to journalists.
None of several government officials contacted by CNN would discuss the issue.
Information Ministry sources said cable operators were told Sunday night to block GEO TV's transmission, based on high-level orders.
On Sunday morning in Lahore, cable operators had warned national and international broadcasters that their channels would be blocked if they aired anything critical of the the Pakistani government.
Political parties, civil societies and journalist organizations condemned the bans and demanded the government allow the country's news media to operate without restrictions.
The Pakistan Broadcasters Association reviewed the restrictions during a meeting Sunday, after which they called the curbs an attack on the fundamental, constitutional right of expression.
The meeting participants passed a resolution requesting the government to show respect for the freedom of expression as guaranteed in the Constitution.
On Sunday, government officials told CNN that journalist Noor Hakkem and four other people were killed Saturday in a roadside bomb blast in Bajaur agency, the Pakistani tribal area near the border with Pakistan.
Hakeem was a correspondent for Daily Pakistan and vice president of the Tribal Union of Journalists.

China's Stock Took a Tumble

SHANGHAI, China (Reuters) -- China stocks tumbled 8.3 percent on Monday in their second biggest drop this decade, erasing $340 billion in market value and extending big losses from last week after the government hiked the share-trading tax to cool a feverish bull run.
In an apparent attempt by authorities to restore confidence, front-page editorials in official newspapers tried to reassure investors the market's medium- and long-term outlook was still positive, and that the tax hike was merely aimed at speculators.
But that failed to stop selling by many of the anxious and often inexperienced individual investors who had jumped into the market in recent months for what seemed like easy money.
"This is obviously panic selling, and the sentiment is quickly spreading across the market," said Wang Jing, deputy general manager at Everbright Securities.
"But the fall is normal today, given the fact that the market has gone up so much. It won't be surprising if the index falls to about 3,000 points -- which would mean a 30 percent correction from the top."
However, many analysts and fund managers said they did not believe the government, which has made a strong stock market central to its economic reforms, would permit an extended slide which could fuel social unrest or threaten China's rapid economic expansion.
The key index has now lost 15.3 percent from last Tuesday's record intra-day high. A fall of 10 percent is an internationally accepted definition of a bear market in stocks.
Global stock markets, which were roiled by a heavy Chinese market sell-off in late February, appeared to be taking the latest slump in stride, though many Asian markets came off the day's highs as the rout in Shanghai worsened.
"I knew the market would go down, but I did not expect it would be this fast. After a small plunge, it should go up, but it is not going up," said Madame Wang, a pensioner in her 50s, who put some of her savings into stocks during the bull run.
"Next time I will remember -- once the market falls, I will sell all my stocks."
Many fund managers and analysts in Asia said the index, which had risen 62 percent this year to last Tuesday's close after surging 130 percent in 2006, had room to fall much further in coming days as the excesses of the bull run were corrected.
But many also said they did not believe the market as a whole was going into freefall.
Most worrying to analysts were deep falls in some of the blue chips favored by institutional investors, since those stocks had stayed firm last week even as speculative shares tumbled.
Oil refiner Sinopec, which had risen 16 percent over the final three days of the week, sank its 10 percent daily limit to 13.65 yuan.
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the country's biggest bank, dropped 8.1 percent to 4.99 yuan.
The Shanghai Composite Index ended the day at 3,670.401 points, its lowest level since April 25. Losing stocks overwhelmed gainers by 846 to 17, with about 466 shares plunging their 10 percent daily limits.
Turnover in Shanghai A shares was active at 143.0 billion yuan ($18.7 billion), but down sharply from Friday's 224.7 billion yuan, suggesting many investors were pulling out of the market.
"Most new retail investors are too speculative to envision the mid- to long-term positive market trend. Their exit will cause a market landing, be it hard or soft," Morgan Stanley said in a report.
Traders see strong technical support for the index around 3,600, where it briefly peaked in mid-April. That level would still leave the market up 35 percent from the start of this year.
"Since the index has even fallen below 3,700 now, I believe the correction is about over," said Zheng Weigang at Shanghai Securities.
Another disillusioned investor at an Everbright Securities branch in Shanghai's financial district, a woman in her 30s surnamed Xu, said:
"I used to have confidence in the stock market. But how can I have confidence now that it has fallen so much. I have no more confidence. Even if the government wants to regulate the stock market, it should not be done like this."
Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Follow Up China's Drug Administration Head Official

Disgraced official's name cannot be used to sell rat poison
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China's trademark administrator has rejected an application to register "Zheng Xiaoyu", the name of former head of drug watchdog, as a trademark for rat poisons.
"It is against China's trademark laws to use a name that has adverse effects on society as a trademark," said sources with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce.
Zheng Xiaoyu, former director of the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), was sacked for taking bribes and helping secure illegal profits for some drug companies.
On Feb. 28, Shenyang Feilong Pharmaceutical Company applied to use Zheng's name as a brand of rat poisons and pesticides.
Jiang Wei, the company chairman, admits he had a dispute with Zheng, when the SFDA labeled "Weigekaitai" produced by Jiang's company an inferior drug in 1999.
Although Zheng Xiaoyu remains under investigation, he still enjoys the right to protect the use of his name according to trademark laws, industry experts added.
Source: Xinhua

China Is Cracking Down On Corrupt Officials

Zheng Xiaoyu, former director of China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), was sentenced to death by a Beijing court Tuesday morning.
Zheng, 63, was convicted of taking bribes and dereliction of duty, according to the first instance hearing of the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People's Court.
He received the death penalty on the graft charge and 7 years in imprisonment for the charge of dereliction of duty. All Zheng's personal property was confiscated and he was deprived of his political rights for life.
The death sentence was appropriate, according to the court, given the "huge bribes involved and the great damage inflicted on the country and the public by Zheng's dereliction of duty".
The bribes taken by Zheng, including cash and gifts, were worth more than 6.49 million yuan (about 850,000 U.S. dollars), according to the court. The bribes were given either directly or through his wife and son.
The court said Zheng "sought benefits" for eight pharmaceutical companies by approving their drugs and medical devices during his tenure as China's chief drug and food official from June 1997 to December 2006.
"(Zheng's acts) greatly undermined the uprightness of an official post and the efficiency of China's drug monitoring and supervision, endangered public life and health and had a very negative social impact," the court said.
Zheng violated reporting rules and decision-making processes when approving medicines from 2001 to 2003. He failed to make careful arrangements for the supervision of medicine production, which is of critical importance to people's lives, said the court.
The consequences of Zheng's dereliction of duty have proved extremely serious. Six types of medicine approved by the administration during that period were fake medicines. Some pharmaceutical companies used false documents to apply for approvals, the court said.
It is not yet known whether Zheng will appeal.
A report in China Business News earlier this month said Zheng's wife, Liu Naixue, and his son, Zheng Hairong, had been arrested for involvement in the case, citing a "well-informed source".
Zheng, born in December 1944, joined the Communist Party of China in November 1979. He majored in biology at Fudan University in Shanghai.
He was the head of the State Pharmaceutical Administration from 1994 to 1998, and head of the State Drug Administration from 1998 to 2003. He was appointed director of the SFDA in May 2003 after it was formed.
Zheng retired in 2005. He first came under investigation by the Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in December 2006 and was expelled from the Party in March 2007.
Earlier reports said that Zheng's subordinates had provided evidence against their former boss.
Hao Heping, former director of SFDA's Department of Medical Devices and one of Zheng's former secretaries, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for bribery in November last year.
Cao Wenzhuang, former director of SFDA's Department of Drug Registration and also another former secretary of Zheng, has been under investigation since January of last year.
An official from the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said: "Zheng's case highlights weaknesses and loopholes in the legal system, the abuse of administrative power, a lack of supervision, and weak anti-corruption attitudes among officials."
Leaders of key departments should rotate positions at fixed intervals to avoid corruption, the official added.
Shao Daosheng, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said China's pharmaceutical industry has become a focus of public dissatisfaction for producing fake and substandard medicines and widely using bribery to sell their drugs to hospitals.
"Commercial bribery is widespread in the pharmaceutical industry, as indecent manufacturers buy licenses from corrupt regulators," Shao said.
Source: Xinhua

Tens of thousands gather for Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil

HONG KONG : Tens of thousands gathered on Monday for Hong Kong's annual candlelight vigil to mark the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, the only such commemoration on Chinese soil. "We will seek justice for you. A democratic China must come true," Szeto Wah, one of the organisers, said in a speech to the crowd who raised their candles in a dark and packed Victoria Park to remember those who died. The Chinese government sent troops into Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989 to quell six weeks of peaceful democracy protests, leading to the deaths of many students and civilians. The annual vigil in Hong Kong has taken on special resonance this year after a local pro-Beijing politician took exception to calling the Tiananmen crackdown, which saw hundreds if not thousands killed, a massacre. The remarks by Ma Lik, chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB), immediately drew fire from the families of victims, as well as activists and politicians here. Chants of "Down with Ma Lik" were heard occasionally among the crowd, which organisers estimated at 55,000, more than last year's 44,000. Police later said they estimated the crowd at 27,000. Dozens of flowers and wreaths were laid, and songs were sung to commemorate those who died. One of the student leaders of the 1989 protests, Wang Dan, sent a video taped message to the crowd. "It has been 18 years since we held memorials for the June 4 victims, we have to continue with this until the day we see justice," he said as the crowd chanted "Support June 4th. Support human rights." Lau Sze-chun, a 19-year-old student, said he was attending the vigil for the first time to learn more about the event which occurred when he was just one as school textbooks offered few details. "I now have enough knowledge about this and realised the students were only staging a peaceful demonstration. Why did the government use violence? It was not a very humane way to handle this," said Lau. For 83-year-old Pong Yuk-ying, the massacre was more than just books. She watched television and read newspaper reports about an unknown lone protester who faced down a Chinese tank, the iconic image which came to represent the event. She also heard witness accounts from a friend whose sons were studying in Beijing at the time and saw Chinese troops arrive in Tiananmen Square and open fire on students and civilians. "So many unarmed students were only holding a quiet sit-down protest but they were killed. They shouldn't have died like this," she said. "The Chinese government should admit their mistakes." China has never apologised for the incident and has said the military action was necessary to prevent a counter-revolutionary uprising. The bloody crackdown continues to be a taboo subject in the country. Hong Kong, which enjoys special status after Britain handed the territory back to China in 1997, is the only part of Chinese territory where the events of Tiananmen will be commemorated. Chen Huoyen, who recently moved to Hong Kong from southeast China to be with his family, said he felt lucky to have the freedom to attend such events which are banned on the mainland. "I was so moved by the vigil last time that I had to come back this year," said Chen, 58. "I sympathise with those students who were killed for no reason. The government should have had a dialogue with them but shouldn't have shot them." - AFP/so/de

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Food Safey for China

China Faces Challenges in Providing Safer Food
Implementing a 21st-century food safety system in China poses a challenge. It is difficult to standardize and monitor production practices in a sector composed of 200 million farm households who typically have 1-2 acres of land divided into 4-6 noncontiguous plots. Farmers have only usage rights to their land, so they lack ownership incentives to make costly investments.
Many of China’s food safety problems can be traced back to the farm level. Farmers rely on heavy use of chemicals to coax production out of intensively cultivated soils and deal with pest pressures, a practice that contributes to food safety problems. China has one of the world’s highest rates of chemical fertilizer use per hectare, and Chinese farmers use many highly toxic pesticides, including some that are banned in the United States. Farm chemicals are sometimes mislabeled. The Chinese government is tackling this problem by encouraging farmers to buy agricultural chemicals only from approved outlets. Some farmers have little understanding of correct chemical use; for example, they may fail to wait the prescribed number of days between the last application of a pesticide and harvest, resulting in excessive residues in the harvested product. Antibiotics are widely used to control disease in livestock, poultry, and aquaculture products. Industrialization and lax environmental controls have also led to concern about the potential for heavy metal contamination of food products. Untreated human and animal waste in fields and water raises the risk of microbial contamination.

Corrupted Politics

The former Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, has been banned from politics for five years. His committe of the Thai Rak Thai party, consisting of 111 members, is also banned from politics. This is on several accounts of bribery so that he may win last years elections. Thaksin banned from Thai politics. His opponents, the Democratic party was also accused but the judge found them innocent. Thai Court Clears Democrat Party. Thaksin encourages followers to accept the ban. Before the ruling Thaksin told supporters to "respect the rules of the game" and "the rule of the law". Apparently he didn't. Thaksin 'accepts Thai politics ban'.

15 Killed in Thailand

Soilders were negotiating with Muslim protestors. A truck of 12 soilders was leaving the negotiation and heading towards the base. A roadside blast killed 8 soilder instantly and 2 others died on the way to the hospital.
Also nearby gunmen opened fire on a group of villagers after evening prayers at a mosque.

Ten soldiers killed in Thai blast

U.S. seeks to break deadlock in North Korea talks

Arms control negotiators from the United States and China met today in an effort to revive a stalled agreement under which North Korea would begin to dismantle its nuclear weapons program.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/30/world/asia/30cnd-korea.html

North Korea fires missiles to show off military might

North Korea's first missile tests in nearly a year were aimed at showing off its military might and increasing pressure on the South over rice aid, observers said Saturday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070526/wl_asia_afp/nkoreamilitarymissile_070526053134

Bhutanese Protest at India-Nepal Border

10,000 Bhutanese refugees demonstrated at the India-Nepal border today. Yesterday Indian troops had fired upon the refugees killing one in an attempt to prevent the Bhutanese from crossing Indian territory to get back to Bhutan. More here.

South Korea pressing North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea -
South Korea' name pressed communist
North Korea' to redouble its reconciliation efforts Tuesday, as the estranged neighbors opened high-level talks amid rifts over the North's nuclear program and the South's delayed rice shipments. More here http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070529/ap_on_re_as/koreas_talks

South Korean Rumors Say Kim Jong-il's Health Deteriorating

South Korean intelligence officials are investigating information that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's health has deteriorated recently, a source said.
More here http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200705/200705280017.html

Small Indian Town Bombed, 6 Wounded

In a town just north of New Delhi, 3 lunch boxes packed with explosives went off today wounding 6 people. The town was the site of a Muslim/Hindu clash earlier this year. More here.

Indian Slum Population Doubles

Over the last two decades the number of people living in squalor in India has doubled. In 1981 there were 27.9 million people living in the slums. 20 years later that number has grown to 61.8 million. More here.

Earthquake!

A 6.1 earthquake struck Laos near thailand's border on Wednesday May 16 at about 4 p.m. The quake was felt hundreds of miles away in Thailand's capital, Bangkok, where the buildings were shaking. No injuries have been reported so far.

North Korea unveiled new ballistic missile

This new missile was shown during a military parade in the North. It is said to have about 3,000 miles in range.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2007/May/theworld_May365.xml&section=theworld

Bush promises help to Japan over North Korea abductions

Here's the link to the article.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/276188/1/.html

Value of the Rupee is "Madness"

The Indian Rupee is up almost 10% versus the U.S. Dollar. According to some experts, this sharp increase in value is "madness" and will not last. Others are hopeful that the increased appraisal will help India's economy grow stronger. More here.

More Test Firings in India

India has test fired another nuclear-capable missle. The medium range armament can travel up to 95 miles and has already been inducted into India's arsenal. More here.

Amnesty

The Organization of the Islamic Conference is meeting in Bangkok to propose to the Parliament that amnesty be given to the people involved with the violence in south Thailand. This is in hopes to end the ongoing violence. The violence has gotten worse over the last six months. Would granting amnesty stop the violence? I'm very skeptical. Amnesty Story.

Thailand Underwater

Smith Dharmasaroja, head of Thailand's National Disaster Warning Centre is predicting that Thailand's capital, Bangkok, will be 1/2 to 1 meter underwater by 2025. They mocked him before for predicting a tsunami. In 2004 over 5000 people in Thailand where killed by the tsunami. Bangkok is only about 3 to 5 feet above sea level, so this is not a totally absurd prediction. What is causing this problem? Two things. One is that the land is sinking. The pumping of underground water is causing the land to sink about 10cm a year. The other reason is global warming is causing the sea to rise. Flood Story.

This week there is a UN conference in Bangkok where they are discussing many ways to end global warming. Nuclear energy and biofuels seems to be the two big ideas to cut down on carbon emissions. But is it too late to save Thailand? Mass migration plans are being discussed as well. UN Meeting Story.

North Korea-Moving funds from Macau Bank

North Korea has moved to withdraw its previously frozen funds from a Macau bank, which would allow progress in nuclear disarmament by the communist state, a report said on Sunday.
“On April 27, North Korea asked for help from the Macau financial authorities with regards to the money transfer. The financial authorities have ordered BDA to prepare for the money transfer,” the official said.
“It is highly likely that the transfer will be made very soon.”
Yonhap said the funds were held under 52 accounts in eight currencies -- including US and Hong Kong dollars, Japanese yen, euros and Swiss francs.
The delayed transfer has hampered progress in six party talks -- involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States -- aimed at ending North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
Under a landmark February 13 agreement, North Korea should have shut down its Yongbyon nuclear reactor in the presence of UN inspectors as the first step in scrapping its nuclear programmes by April 14.
But the deadline slipped by due to an unresolved dispute over the funds frozen at a Macau bank since 2005 at US instigation over allegations of money laundering and counterfeiting.
Pyongyang has refused to act until it gets the money back.
South Korea’s spy agency, citing activity in building new accommodation facilities in Yongbyon, said Thursday North Korea may be preparing to invite UN atomic inspectors back, as a prelude to shutting it down.

Source: www.khaleejtimes.com

Richard Gere A Wanted Man In India

There is a warrant for Richard Gere's arrest in India after kissing Bollywood Actress Shilpa Shetty. Apparently the embrace was "highly sexually erotic" and "transgressed all limits of vulgarity". Richard Gere was in India for an HIV/AIDS awareness event in New Delhi. More here.

Pyeongchang still hopeful of hosting 2014 Winter Games

The South Korean city of Pyeongchang remains hopeful that it will win the right to host the 2014 Winter Olympics despite the award of other high-profile sports events to South Korea. 'I don't understand why this (holding of other events) has been made an issue,' Kim Jin Sun, the executive president of PyeongChang's bid committee, said. Some analysts have suggested that Pyeonchang's chances may have been harmed by South Korea winning the right to host the 2011 World Athletics Championships in Daegu and the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon. But Kim said the competitions were only two of many international and regional sports events. 'It's not as if South Korea gets all the events,' said Kim, who is also governor of South Korea's Gangwon province. 'Asia has had less opportunity to host Winter Olympics than other regions of the world,' he said.The Winter Games have been staged in Asia twice, on both occasions in Japan. Sapporo hosted then in 1972 and Nagano in 1998.Pyeongchang was largely unknown around the world when it launched its bid for the 2010 Games but is now much better known, Kim said. After narrowly losing out to Vancouver in the vote for 2010, Pyeongchang's rivals for the 2014 edition are the Austrian city of Salzburg and the Russian city of Sochi.Kim also dismissed the idea that South Korean funding of international sports bodies and competitions had helped it win the right to host more events and may benefit its bid for the 2014 games. 'It is absurd to say that money can buy the Olympics,' he said.Kim is leading Pyeongchang's presentation at this week's SportAccord event in Beijing, where the International Olympic Committee is also holding an executive board meeting. The Beijing meetings are the last chance to impress the IOC top officials before final presentations at the IOC Congress, which will elect the host city July 4 in Guatemala City. The city says it is developing a 'highly compact concept' with a travel time of no more than 30 minutes between all venues and facilities, Kim said.'With our athlete-focussed and competition-centred bid concept, we intend to host a highly compact games,' Kim had said earlier.

North Korea may allow inspectors

Looks like North Korea is getting ready for the U.N. to inspect. South Korean's intelligence agency reported that the road leading to the nuclear plant is being fixed. Some say this indicates preparations for discussion to shut down the bomb making complex.

Here's the link to the article

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070426/ap_on_re_as/koreas_nuclear;_ylt=AtgozEGpTPX8P_siTtwWOttw24cA

National Religion

Thousands of Buddhist gather outside as Parliament rewrites Thailand's Constitution. They want Buddhism to remain the country's national religion. Police and Security are there to make sure the public is safe. So far the protest is nonviolent. There are even 300 monks and nine elephants that are marching to the Parliament. I personally don't think they have anything to worry about since about 95% of the country's population is Buddhist anyway. Article.

Mass Abortion in China

I cannot begin to imagine what these people have felt during this government "visit".. I am greatful for the "little "things we take for granted like freedom in this country..


Officials in China's Guangxi Region Carry Out Mass Forced Abortions
Radio Free Asia reports:
Authorities in China's southwestern Guangxi region have forced dozens of pregnant women to a hospital in Baise city to undergo abortions, the women and their relatives said.
In interviews with RFAs Cantonese service, several women and their husbands said they were visited last week by officials from the municipal family planning bureau, which is in charge of upholding strict population controls under Chinas one-child policy.
They all reported the same scenario: that the women were bundled aboard a vehicle and taken to a hospital in Baise, where many other pregnant women were crammed into wards and corridors. Their babies were then aborted against their will, they said.
The RH Reality Check blog has a post about Mao Hengfeng, a woman who has been arrested and tortured in the course of her nearly 20-year battle against China's one-child policy. Since 2002, the Bush Administration has cynically used the tragic issue of forced abortions in China to withhold millions of dollars in funding from the United Nations Population Fund, or UNFPA, based on unfounded claims that UNFPA supports the practice.

India to Rebuild Road to China

India is going to rebuild the historic Stilwel Road from Northeast India to China. The road was built during World War 2 and acted as a supply line to China to help fight Japanese forces. More here.

No sign of North Korea reactor shut down

This is just an update on the negotiation talks with North Korea.
Here's the link for the article.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070417/ts_nm/korea_north_usa_dc

China-Southeast Asia Relations:

I have always wondered the relations between all Asian countries. I have read in an article once, that there are still deep hatred amongst Asian countries and the japanese. This stemmed from an old wound when the Japanese occuppied most of asia and mistreated a lot of the asians like Chinese and Filipinos during World War II. Here is the latest report that I found about the relations amongs the Asian countries. Click_Here_For_The_Report

Thailand halts rail service

A train travelling in Yala to the border of Thailand and Malaysia was shot at injuring 3 people. This is not the first time it has happened. Over the last 3 years over 2000 people have been killed in this area. Mostly the attacks are Muslims against Buddhists. Many Buddhists have been shot and even burned alive. Also a Muslim village chief was shot dead in front of his house. Now Thailand will no longer run trains to the border. People now will have to get off the train at a nearby city and take a bus to Malaysia. See the story here.

Map of Thailand. Yala shown in red on the border to Malaysia.

India's Rupee Is "Still Very Competitive"

India's currency, the Rupee, has reached an 8- year high. It's currently the fourth best performer in the region following the New Zealand Dollar, the Thai Baht, and the Austrailian Dollar. More on this news here.

South Korea welcomes Iraqi prime minister

Iraq's prime minister began a visit to South Korea on Wednesday saying he wants to learn from the Asian nation's fast rise as an economic power.
South Korea built the world's 10th largest economy after the 1950-53 conflict with North Korea devastated the nation.
"South Korea will be a good model for us," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki told South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo during a dinner. "Iraq should learn from South Korea's experience."
Al-Maliki is scheduled to hold a summit with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Thursday.
Their meeting is expected to center on expanding cooperation in various sectors, including natural resources, electricity and construction, Roh's office said.
The two sides will also discuss South Korea's support for Iraq, it added. South Korea has about 2,300 troops in Iraq on a reconstruction mission.
Al-Maliki will also hold talks with business leaders and tour industrial facilities during his three-day visit

NKorea unlikely to meet reactor deadline

North Korea appeared increasingly unlikely to meet a weekend deadline to shut down its nuclear reactor, staying silent Thursday about whether it was satisfied with a U.S. solution to a financial dispute that has stalled the disarmament process.
The U.S., South Korea and China said the North has not withdrawn some $25 million that was unfrozen this week in a bank in the Chinese territory of Macau. Washington had blacklisted the Banco Delta Asia in September 2005 for allegedly helping the North launder money and pass counterfeit $100 bills.
North Korea cited the dispute in refusing to abandon its nuclear program.
"We have truly fulfilled our role in this and now it's up to" North Korea, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said in Seoul.
U.S. officials have said a reactor shutdown would probably take several days and require monitoring by U.N. nuclear inspectors — making it likely that Saturday's deadline would mark the latest failure in a nuclear standoff that has lasted more than four years.
The problem in reaching the first of many milestones along the road to the North's possible disarmament raises questions about how smoothly the process will go forward. It was unlikely that the U.S. or other countries would take any punitive action, however, as Washington also failed to resolve the bank issue within 30 days as promised.
The International Atomic Energy Agency was still awaiting an invitation from North Korea for a preliminary visit, a diplomat familiar with the issue said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
After a visit by two senior IAEA officials, the agency's board would convene to approve the first return of inspectors since December 2002, when North Korea kicked them out and quit the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Weeks could elapse between an invitation from the North and the board meeting, the diplomat said.
New negotiations over the North's nuclear program began in 2003, but the six-nation disarmament talks failed to yield any tangible progress in getting the communist government to abandon weapons development.
The North produced enough plutonium to make as much as a dozen bombs and conducted its first nuclear test in October. But after international pressure and a U.S. pledge to resolve the financial issue, the North agreed in February that it would shut down its sole operating nuclear reactor by Saturday in exchange for an initial shipment of energy. It is to receive a total of 1 million tons of heavy fuel oil for dismantling its nuclear weapons programs.
Even China, the North's main benefactor and the host of the six-nation talks, acknowledged the difficulties in the process, which also include Japan, Russia and South Korea.
"The six-party talks have never been smooth sailing but as long as we have a common willingness and resolve we can overcome all difficulties and push forward this process," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.
Although time was running short before the Saturday deadline, Hill maintained it was "possible to get going on this process in the next two days."
"This is about (North Korea's) willingness with respect to denuclearization," he said.
South Korean nuclear envoy Chun Young-woo called for patience and said other countries should wait "another few days" until North Korea responds, noting it typically does not act quickly.
The agreement doesn't specify how far North Korea has to go to meet the demand for a shutdown, or define the procedure.
Meanwhile, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson met South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun to discuss his four-day mission to North Korea to recover six sets of remains believed to be of American soldiers from the Korean War.
Richardson, a U.S. presidential candidate, said Wednesday in Seoul that North Korea agreed to welcome U.N. nuclear inspectors within a day of receiving its frozen funds, but wanted to extend the deadline for shutting down its reactor by 30 days — which the U.S. delegation rejected.
A newspaper aligned with Pyongyang wrote Thursday that the handover of the U.S. soldiers' remains was proof that the North was maintaining a policy to "end hostile relations with the U.S."
The Japan-based Choson Sinbo noted the release of the frozen funds but said the delay in disarmament was caused by an "evasive" U.S. attitude.
"It was because the U.S. did not prepare conditions for the (North) to take a step toward denuclearization that the (North) held off on implementing" its February shutdown pledge, the newspaper wrote.
Hill said he would fly to Beijing on Friday to meet Chinese officials and would also be willing to see chief North Korean nuclear envoy Kim Kye Gwan there.
___
Associated Press writer George Jahn in Vienna, Austria contributed

India Losing Islands

I found this news to be somewhat interesting. Not only is India losing land cover due to tectonic plate shifting, but also to erosion coupled with global warming. The river delta islands between India and Bangladesh are slowly being eroded away and because of that people are being displaced from their homes. More about it here.

Here is an article I found on the negotiation process taking place in North Korea. The U.S. and other countries are working toward dimantling North Korea's nuclear program. The deadline was set for Saturday the 14th. The U.S. is hopeful they will come to an agreement.

U.S. Negotiator Optimistic on N. Korea
By FOSTER KLUG, Associated Press Writer
document.write(getElapsed("20070410T112906Z"));
Tue Apr 10, 7:29 AM

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan attends ...
PYONGYANG, North Korea - A U.S. nuclear negotiator expressed hope Tuesday that North Korea could still meet a weekend deadline for taking initial steps toward dismantling its nuclear program as a Bush administration official warned that time was running out.
The optimism from U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill comes after the U.S. Treasury Department said authorities in the Chinese-administered region of Macau are prepared to unblock the frozen funds that North Korea says are the reason it has refused to move forward on a disarmament agreement.
The Macau government said it was aware of the Treasury statement and that it would work with all parties involved. "Simultaneously, it expects all parties concerned to come up with appropriate and responsible arrangements respectively," it said on its Web site.
A call to a spokesman of Banco Delta Asia, the bank where the funds are being held, was not immediately returned Tuesday. The lender had been blacklisted by Washington for allegedly helping the North launder money and its North Korean accounts were frozen. The bank has denied any wrongdoing.
"It's obviously a big step that I think should clear the way for the (North) to step up the process of dealing with its obligations within the 60-day period," Hill said in Seoul, referring to a Saturday deadline under a February agreement where Pyongyang pledged to shut down its main atomic reactor in exchange for energy aid and political concessions.
If North Korea follows through with its promises, they would be the first moves the communist state has made to scale back its nuclear development since it kicked out international inspectors and in 2003 restarted its sole operating nuclear reactor.
But the hard-won agreement, reached four months after Pyongyang rattled the world by testing a nuclear device, has been held up by a dispute over North Korean funds frozen in a Macau bank.
Victor Cha, President Bush's top adviser on North Korea, met Tuesday with Pyongyang's top nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye Gwan, according to a U.S. official with knowledge of the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.
The official said Cha told Kim that North Korea was running out of time to act on the agreement.
For his part, Kim gave Cha no indication of whether the North would offer any concessions in the face of U.S. pressure or if it would be able to access its money before Saturday, the official said.
Cha is part of a U.S. delegation, including Democratic presidential candidate Bill Richardson and Anthony Principi, Bush's former veteran affairs secretary, on a four-day trip to Pyongyang to recover remains of American servicemen killed in the 1950-53 Korean War.
The funds were frozen after Washington blacklisted the small Banco Delta Asia bank for allegedly helping Pyongyang launder money and pass counterfeit $100 bills. BDA has denied any wrongdoing.
The North agreed to shut its main reactor only after the U.S. promised to resolve the financial issue within 30 days _ which Washington failed to do because the fund transfer has been mired in technical complications.
"The United States understands that the Macau authorities are prepared to unblock all North Korean-related accounts currently frozen in Banco Delta Asia," the U.S. Treasury Department statement said, adding that the U.S. would support such action.
The International Atomic Energy Agency is slated to monitor and verify the shutdown in what would be its first visit since late 2002.
Kim told Principi on Monday that his government would allow U.N. nuclear inspectors into the country as soon as the $25 million in North Korean funds are released.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack declined to comment on what might happen if North Korea misses the deadline, but said the United States continued to believe that all parties to the agreement are "working in good faith to meet it."
But he told reporters the money issue "was more complicated than anyone could have imagined," and suggested Washington might not object to an extension in the deadline.
Kim, who is also vice foreign minister, told the U.S. delegation on Monday that it would be difficult to shut down the nuclear reactor by the Saturday deadline.
The only immediate cost the impoverished North would suffer for not shutting down the reactor by the deadline would be an initial 50,000 ton shipment of heavy fuel oil promised as a reward. That shipment was part of 1 million tons of oil it would get for dismantling its nuclear programs.
On Tuesday, Japan's Cabinet approved a six-month extension on trade sanctions against North Korea, which were imposed in the wake of the communist state's nuclear test last year, Cabinet Office spokeswoman Miwako Fujishige said. The measures include closing ports to North Korean ships and banning the import of North Korean goods.
Richardson said his delegation pushed Kim for a show of good faith that North Korea was ready to meet its obligations under the February deal, asking for a meeting of the six nations involved in the nuclear disarmament talks before the deadline.
He said he was hoping to travel to the reactor site in Yongbyon, 55 miles north of Pyongyang, but there were a lot of "political issues involved." He did not elaborate.
___
Associated Press Writer Dikky Sinn in Hong Kong contributed to this report.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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document.title = 'U.S. Negotiator Optimistic on N. Korea' + ' - ' + document.title;

China

This is something I found in Autobeat about China. It is not necessarily about the automotive industry but I think it shows a lot about the current issues and relationship between the two government and the corporations.

Autobeat Asia: Monday April 2, 2007

U.S. SETS SANCTIONS ON CHINESE PAPER
Last week the Bush Administration imposed tariffs on
Chinese makers of high-gloss paper, claiming that China is
illegally subsidizing them.
The action may trigger similar complaints by American
producers about unfair competition from China concerning
steel, plastics, machinery, textiles and other products.
Under the new rule issued by the U.S. Commerce
Dept., Chinese companies—and some in Indonesia and
South Korea—must immediately begin paying cash
deposits that range from 11% to more than 20% on
targeted high-gloss paper used in magazines, brochures,
catalogs, annual reports and movie posters.
The case was triggered by a complaint filed in October
by Ohio-based NewPage Corp., the largest producer of
high-quality paper in the U.S. The company claims Chinese
competitors benefit from government-backed tax breaks,
debt forgiveness and low-cost loans.
Friday’s ruling was hailed in the U.S. by a range of
manufacturing groups, labor unions and environmentalists.
China sharply criticized the move, calling it unacceptable
and setting a bad precedent that could damage China-U.S.
relations. China is expected to contest the decision in U.S.
federal court and through the World Trade Organization.
Importers must begin paying cash deposits on imported
Chinese paper now. But the Commerce Department has
not made a final determination on the duties. The case also
must be reviewed by the International Trade Commission. A
final ruling is likely to take months.
Still, the department’s action appears to reverse a 20-
year-old U.S. policy that barred anti-subsidy duties on
goods exported from communist and other “nonmarket”
economies. The logic was that it was too difficult to calculate
what constituted a subsidy in a state-controlled economy.
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez argues that
China's rapidly expanding economy justifies the new policy.

What does the -stan in countries like Afghanistan stand for?

Someone in class asked this question. What does the -stan in countries like Afghanistan stand for; here is the answer. "The suffix stan is formed from the old Iranian root *sta-, "to stand, stay," and means "place where one stays," i.e. homeland or country." http://www.libraryspot.com

World'd largest bilateral free trade agreement

South Korea and the United States have reached a trade deal that would eliminate tariffs on more than 90 percent of the products traded between the countries. South Korea lifted trade barriers for key products like cars and beef. The United States agreed to allow Seoul to continue to subsidize South Korean rice. http://www.newyorktimes.com This will not only affect the economic status of South Korea and the United States; but for the entire globe.

Thailand Bans YouTube

I thought this was interesting. Thailand's Government blocked internet access to YouTube on April 4th because it had a video on it that "insulted" their king. The story is featured in the New York Times. From what I could find the video was deleted. I found a video that makes fun of their king, but I don't think it is the one the article was talking about. You can find that video here.