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.