December 13, 2007

China Shuts Down Leukemia Drug Maker
China's food and drug safety agency has revoked the license of a company responsible for making tainted leukemia drugs blamed for causing leg pains and partial paralysis among dozens of patients. State-owned Shanghai Hualian Pharmaceutical Co., a unit of China's biggest drug maker Shanghai Pharmaceutical (Group) Co., will also be fined the highest amount allowed under law and profits from the sale of the contaminated drugs will be confiscated, the State Food and Drug Administration said in a statement on its Web site seen Thursday. Some Shanghai Hualian executives were detained by police on suspicion they deliberately withheld information about violations of production standards during the investigation, the SFDA's statement said.
Read Associated Press news story at google.com

December 11, 2007

Regular North-South Korean Train Route Opens
Regular cargo train service has resumed between the divided Koreas for the first time in more than half a century. South Korea plans to send tons of supplies into North Korea by rail on a daily basis.
Read article at chosun.com (South Korea)

December 5, 2007

Russian Navy resumes constant presence in world's oceans
Russia's Navy has resumed its continual presence in different regions of the world's oceans, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told the president at a meeting in the Kremlin on Wednesday. "There are plans to dispatch ships to the northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea from now to February 3, 2008. The expedition is aimed at ensuring a naval presence and establishing conditions for secure Russian navigation," Serdyukov told Vladimir Putin. The minister said an aircraft-carrying heavy cruiser, two anti-submarine ships and a tanker left for the Mediterranean on Wednesday, where they will be joined by a Black Sea Fleet missile cruiser and a tanker. Serdyukov said a total of four warships and seven other vessels of Russia's Northern, Black Sea and Baltic fleets, as well as 47 planes and 10 helicopters, have been dispatched for the mission.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

December 4, 2007

Russian strategic bombers conducted over 70 patrols since August
Russia's strategic bombers have carried out since August over 70 patrol flights over the Pacific, Atlantic, and Arctic oceans, as well as the Black Sea, a senior Air Force official said on Tuesday. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the resumption of strategic patrol flights on August 17, saying that although the country had halted long-distance strategic flights to remote regions in 1992, other nations had continued the practice, compromising Russian national security.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

November 26, 2007

Chinese drug association official stands trial for alleged bribe taking
A Chinese drug association official will stand trial in Beijing for allegedly taking bribes totaling 100,000 yuan (13,333 U.S. dollars), the Beijing Times reported on Monday. Last week, the public procurators office filed a document with the Xicheng District Court against Liu Yongjiu. It charged the former deputy secretary general of the China Pharmaceutical Association, a non-profit organization for pharmacists, had taken bribes from an advertising company and a pharmaceutical manufacturer, according to the newspaper.
Read article in the People's Daily (China)

November 18, 2007

Chavez warns US at Opec summit
Venezuela's president has warned that oil prices could more than double if the US attacks his country or Iran. In his opening address on Saturday at a rare Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries summit in Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital, he declared that the group should "assert itself as an active political agent". "If the United States was mad enough to attack Iran or aggress Venezuela again the price of a barrel of oil won't just reach $100 but even $200 dollars," he said.
Read article at aljazeera.net

November 15, 2007

Missiles May Be Deployed in Belarus
A general warned Wednesday that Russia could deploy short-range missiles to Belarus as part of efforts to counter planned U.S. missile defense sites in Europe, Itar-Tass reported. Colonel-General Vladimir Zaritsky, chief of artillery and rocket forces for the ground forces, said, "Any action meets a counteraction, and this is the case with elements of the U.S. missile defense in Poland and the Czech Republic."
Read article in the Moscow Times (Russia)

November 14, 2007

MEPs demand EU action on secret CIA prisons
STRASBOURG - MEPs investigating secret CIA prisons in Europe are demanding that member states take action on their evidence. The evidence from the parliament's temporary committee on CIA activities in Europe, presented on Wednesday in Strasbourg, concerns an interception by the Swiss satellite, Onyx, of a fax between the Egyptian foreign minister in Cairo and his ambassador in London. According to MEPs, the interception reveals that 23 Afghan and Iraqi citizens are subject to interrogation on a daily basis at military centres in the Ukraine Romania, Kosovo and Macedonia. "We have strong serious, specific evidence that a military base in the Ukraine was used to detain prisoners by the CIA," said Italian socialist deputy Claudio Fava, co-leader of the temporary committee, at a press conference on Wednesday.
Read article at theparliament.com

November 14, 2007

Prime ministers of two Koreas to meet for first time in 15 years
North Korean Prime Minister Kim Yong-il arrived at Seoul for a meeting with his South Korean counterpart to discuss follow-up measures to agreements reached at a recent summit of the two Koreas. Kim is the first North Korean prime minister to visit South Korea in 15 years. "We will try our utmost to make this week's meeting a constructive one that can give hope to both our citizens and the people of the North," Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung told reporters.
Read article in The Hankyoreh (South Korea)

November 13, 2007

'Hidden Costs' Double Price Of Two Wars, Democrats Say
The economic costs to the United States of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan so far total approximately $1.5 trillion, according to a new study by congressional Democrats that estimates the conflicts' "hidden costs"-- including higher oil prices, the expense of treating wounded veterans and interest payments on the money borrowed to pay for the wars. That amount is nearly double the $804 billion the White House has spent or requested to wage these wars through 2008, according to the Democratic staff of Congress's Joint Economic Committee. Its report, titled "The Hidden Costs of the Iraq War," estimates that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have thus far cost the average U.S. family of four more than $20,000. "The full economic costs of the war to the American taxpayers and the overall U.S. economy go well beyond even the immense federal budget costs already reported," said the 21-page draft report, obtained yesterday by The Washington Post.
Read article in the Washington Post (USA)

November 2, 2007

Navy to patrol Gulf in the spring
A Royal Navy aircraft carrier will be deployed in the Gulf next spring, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed. Illustrious will sail for the highly sensitive waters near Iran accompanied by Edinburgh, a Type 42 destroyer whose main role is providing air defence, and Westminster, a Type 23 frigate. Two minesweepers and three support vessels from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary will complete the deployment for Operation Orion 08. The ships will spend about six months in the Gulf, the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. Their presence may coincide with a crucial period in the West's confrontation with Iran. Observers believe that the spring is the last possible moment for President George W Bush to order military strikes against Iran's nuclear programme.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)
Comment: When questioned about this development, the British Ministry of Defence claimed that the deployment had been "planned for a while." Just like the attack on Iraq, in other words…

October 31, 2007

Internet is silent as police crack down on political writing
Alleged election law violations spur authorities to issue summonses to netizens
Ahead of the presidential election, the Internet in South Korea is silent, despite its usually robust flurry of activity. Summonses have been issued by the police against netizens who have posted articles and videos in relation to the election on the Internet. The excessive police crackdown on the views expressed through the Internet is being criticized by netizens and the academic community as a threat to freedom of expression on the net.
Read article in The Hankyoreh (South Korea)

October 29, 2007

Trash Talking World War III
America's allies and increasingly the American public are playing a ghoulish guessing game: Will President Bush manage to leave office without starting a war with Iran? Mr. Bush is eagerly feeding those anxieties. This month he raised the threat of "World War III" if Iran even figures out how to make a nuclear weapon. With a different White House, we might dismiss this as posturing - or bank on sanity to carry the day, or the warnings of exhausted generals or a defense secretary more rational than his predecessor. Not this crowd. Four years after his pointless invasion of Iraq, President Bush still confuses bullying with grand strategy. He refuses to do the hard work of diplomacy - or even acknowledge the disastrous costs of his actions.
Read editorial in the New York Times (USA)

October 28, 2007

UN nuclear watchdog chief expresses concern about anti-Iran rhetoric from US
The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Sunday he had no evidence Iran was working actively to build nuclear weapons and expressed concern that escalating rhetoric from the U.S. could bring disaster.
Read article in the International Herald Tribune

October 28, 2007

Thousands Protest In 11 US Cities Against Iraq War
Peace activists demonstrated in at least 11 cities across the United States Saturday to mark the fifth anniversary of the vote by the U.S. Senate approving the Iraq war. As Amy Bickers reports from the northwestern city of Seattle, the message was the same everywhere - end the war and bring the troops home.
Tens of thousands of anti-war activists protested across America Saturday calling for a swift finish to the war in Iraq and demanding a cut-off of U.S. congressional funding. The anti-war demonstrations took place in several major cities, including New York, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle.
Read article on the Voice of America website (USA)

October 26, 2007

Putin compares U.S. missile defense plans with 1962 Cuban crisis
Russian President Vladimir Putin compared on Friday U.S. missile defense system plans for Central Europe with the 1962 Cuban crisis. Speaking at a news conference following the Russia-EU summit in Portugal, the president said the plans, announced in January, to deploy missile interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic were reminiscent of the political crisis caused by the Soviet Union's missile bases in Cuba in 1962. "The situation is quite similar technologically for us. We have withdrawn the remains of bases from Vietnam and Cuba, but such threats are being created near our borders," Putin said.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

October 26, 2007

South, North Korea to hold prime ministerial meeting in mid November
South and North Korea Friday agreed to hold an inter-Korean prime ministerial meeting in mid November to discuss ways of easing tensions and boosting inter-Korean economic cooperation in a follow-up measure to a rare inter-Korean summit held in Pyongyang in early October. The meeting of North and South Korean prime ministers has been set for Nov. 14-16 in Seoul, officials at the Unification Ministry said, one of the two high-level talks President Roh Moo-hyun and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-il agreed to hold in November. The other meeting involves defense ministers.
Read article on the website of the Yonhap News Agency (South Korea)

October 25, 2007

US missile defense proposals unacceptable and do not suit Russia - Serdyukov
U.S. missile defense proposals are unacceptable and do not suit Russia. There remain disagreements over a number of issues between Russia and NATO counties, in the first place over missile defense and the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Thursday, after an informal Russia-NATO Council meeting at the level of defense ministers. Underlining that Russia's position on missile defense remained unchanged, the Russian minister said "at least everything we've been offered does not suit us; we stick to our position, although it seemed to me Americans have begun to understand our concerns better."
Read article on the ITAR-TASS News Agency website (Russia)

October 24, 2007

Hans Blix questions U.S. fears over Iran
Former United Nations' chief weapons inspector Hans Blix has challenged U.S. President George Bush's assertion that Iran poses a nuclear threat and the world should take pre-emptive action.
Read article at ctv.ca (Canada)

October 20, 2007

Bush World War III rant shows he's really lost it now
George W. Bush put his foot in his mouth again when he warned of the possibility of World War III breaking out.
The irresponsible remarks of the president of a country armed with nuclear weapons shocked the world. "So I've told people that, if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon," Bush told reporters at a White House press conference on Wednesday, exactly one day after Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Tehran and expressed support for Iran's peaceful nuclear program. What are we to make of the use of such language? Either Bush has gone totally mad and now makes statements without consulting his advisors, or the neoconservatives are dreaming of a new world order and no longer feel compelled to hide their goal. How can Bush talk this way when Iran's nuclear activities are open to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency? The IAEA, the UN's only nuclear supervisory body, has announced it has found no evidence suggesting that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapons program, and Iran and the agency have taken constructive steps to clear up the remaining ambiguities one by one.
Read article in the Tehran Times (Iran)

October 17, 2007

China's health minister calls for more respect to traditional Chinese medicine
China's Health Minister Chen Zhu has called for respect to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the scientific value of which is doubted by some people. "A prudent scientist should not judge TCM in haste if he did not understand its meaning, advantage and core theories," Chen, a Paris-trained hematology scientist, said in Beijing on Monday at a health forum.
Read article in the People's Daily (China)
Comment: About 3,000 hospitals in China provide TCM treatments to nearly 234 million patients each year.

October 15, 2007

Study prompts concern about side effects of antiretrovirals
Metabolic abnormalities caused by side effects from antiretroviral drugs are becoming increasingly prevalent among Thais living with HIV/Aids, recent studies have found. According to a pilot study by Ramathibodi Hospital's Faculty of Medicine, published in the Journal of the Medical Association Thailand, the long-term toxicity of antiretroviral treatment has become more recognised through a variety of metabolic abnormalities including lipodystrophy, which affects body fat, and dyslipidemia, which affects the blood. The latest study, conducted among 56 patients at the hospital, showed a high prevalence of lipodystrophy and dyslipidemia in Thai patients undergoing antiretroviral treatment.
More than 66% of the patients that took part in the study experienced health problems such as high levels of fat in their blood, high blood pressure, abnormal fat redistribution, cardiovascular and kidney disease, diabetes, and insulin resistance.
Read article in the Bangkok Post (Thailand)

October 14, 2007

Germany falters in bid to link Russia to Europe
As Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Vladimir Putin of Russia hold official talks Monday in this southern city, analysts say that Berlin's attempts to forge a new policy toward Russia to bind it to Europe is close to tatters.
Read article in the International Herald Tribune

October 13, 2007

Iraq War Is 'Nightmare' With No End, Sanchez Says
Retired Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, who led U.S. forces in Iraq during the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal, criticized American leaders for placing partisan gain at home above victory abroad and consigning America to a "nightmare with no end in sight." The White House, Congress and especially the State Department bear blame for a strategy that has shipped forces overseas without the political and economic backing crucial for victory, Sanchez said in a speech yesterday in Arlington, Virginia. "Who will demand accountability for the failure of our national political leaders involved in the management of this war?" Sanchez asked, according to a transcript of the speech to military reporters and editors. "In my profession, these types of leaders would immediately be relieved or court-martialed."
Read article at bloomberg.com

October 7, 2007

Gordon Brown 'will back air strikes on Iran'
Gordon Brown has agreed to support US air strikes against Iran if the Islamic republic orchestrates large-scale attacks by militants against British or American forces in Iraq, according to senior Pentagon officials.
Read article in the Sunday Telegraph (UK)

October 5, 2007

Drum beaters for Iran war should think again
In recent months there has been an audible increase in the drumming by those Americans most hell-bent on bombing Iran's nuclear weapons programme before the wee strange one can threaten Israel with annihilation. The Israeli airforce can destroy one site, as it did Iraq's Osirak reactor in 1982, but only the US can mount a sustained bombing campaign to suppress Iran's air defence systems before turning to as many as 2,000 targets. Vice-presidential adviser David Wurmser is now arguing for a two-for-the-price-of-one deal, whereby the US hits not just Iran but also Syria, in a "strategy" that is beginning to resemble the futile game of "whack a mole". Coordinated teams of spooky folk are currently circling western capitals, none too subtly removing non-belligerent options from the table. More stringent sanctions are quickly dismissed as too slow and porous.
Read Michael Burleigh's article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)

October 4, 2007

Two Koreas pledge to seek peace agreement
Roh, Kim sign joint declaration on peace mechanism, North's denuclearization
South and North Korea Thursday agreed to support international talks on North Korea's denuclearization and to arrange a meeting of concerned parties to establish a peace regime to replace the fragile armistice which ended the 1950-53 Korean War. In an eight-point joint declaration signed by South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-il at the end of a three-day summit here, the sides also agreed to end military hostility and significantly expand inter-Korean cooperation in politics, the economy, denuclearization and other pending issues. The agreement comes just one day after Pyongyang agreed Wednesday on detailed measures for the declaration of its nuclear programs and the disablement of its nuclear facilities by the end of the year under a denuclearization deal signed in February.
Read article in The Hankyoreh (South Korea)

October 1, 2007

Putin says could be PM in 2008, will head United Russia list
President Vladimir Putin said Monday he could become prime minister in 2008, if the United Russia party wins the December 2007 parliamentary elections, and that he will head the pro-presidential party's list. "Heading the government is realistic, but it is too early to consider it," Putin said at a party congress in reply to a proposal from United Russia to head the government. He added that this would be possible under two conditions. He said the first condition was United Russia's victory in the lower house, State Duma, elections in December 2007, and the second is the election of an efficient person to the post of Russian president.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

September 29, 2007

Iran says CIA is 'terrorist' agency
Iran's parliament has approved a nonbinding resolution to label the CIA and the US army as "terrorist organisations".
Read article at aljazeera.net

September 28, 2007

Protests at EU deadline for third-world trade pacts
Anti-poverty campaigners demonstrated in more than 40 countries yesterday to protest at the European Union's insistence on sealing new free trade pacts with the world's poorest countries this year. Peter Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, warned yesterday that 77 of the world's poorest countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific would face "less generous tariff rates" in trade with the EU unless they completed negotiations on new "economic partnership agreements" (EPAs) with Brussels by the year's end.
Read article in The Guardian (UK)

September 27, 2007

Russia promises retaliation if weapons deployed in space
Russia is ready to take appropriate measures if weapons are deployed in space, the commander of the Russian Space Forces said Thursday. "Should any country deploy weapons in space, then the laws of armed warfare are such that retaliatory weapons are certain to appear," Col. Gen. Vladimir Popovkin said. He said Russia and China have drafted an international declaration on the non-deployment of weapons in space and sent it to the UN.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

September 23, 2007

Generals opposing Iraq war break with military tradition
The generals acted independently, coming in their own ways to the agonizing decision to defy military tradition and publicly criticize the Bush administration over its conduct of the war in Iraq. What might be called The Revolt of the Generals has rarely happened in the nation's history. In op-ed pieces, interviews and TV ads, more than 20 retired U.S. generals have broken ranks with the culture of salute and keep it in the family. Instead, they are criticizing the commander in chief and other top civilian leaders who led the nation into what the generals believe is a misbegotten and tragic war.
Read article at signonsandiego.com (USA)

September 22, 2007

Iran 'not headed for war with US'
Iran's president has denied his country is heading for war with the United States over its nuclear programme and says Iran has no need for nuclear weapons. "It's wrong to think that Iran and the US are walking towards war. Who says so? Why should we go to war? There is no war in the offing," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told CBS television. "You have to appreciate we don't need a nuclear bomb .. What need do we have for a bomb?" he added.
Read article at aljazeera.net (Qatar)

September 19, 2007

France warning of war with Iran
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner says the world should prepare for war over Iran's nuclear programme. "We have to prepare for the worst, and the worst is war," Mr Kouchner said in an interview on French TV and radio.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

September 17, 2007

Calls grow for Bush war crimes trial
U.S. President George W. Bush will definitely be tried at an international tribunal, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said in a sermon at this week's Friday prayers in Tehran. The Mehr News Agency interviewed a number of political figures on Saturday and Sunday to learn their views on the issue. "World public opinion, even U.S. public opinion, is demanding that Bush be put on trial," Center for Contemporary Iranian History Chairman Abbas Salimi Namin said. "Of course, it seems somewhat difficult under the current circumstances, in which the Western states dominate international organizations, but it is most unlikely that the current state of affairs will last forever," he added. "The rising tide of protests against the White House and Bush and the opposition to the unilateral and warmongering approaches of the United States will change the situation over time," Salimi Namin noted.
Read article in the Tehran Times (Iran)

September 14, 2007

Viktor Zubkov becomes Russia's new prime minister
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Friday appointing Viktor Zubkov prime minister after the lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly to back his candidacy, the Kremlin press office said. Zubkov, 65, chief fiscal monitor for the last six years, was nominated for the job on Wednesday when Putin dismissed the government and prime minister, three months before parliamentary elections. Soon after his nomination, Zubkov announced his intention to run for the presidency in March 2008, when Putin's term is set to expire.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

September 14, 2007

No Exit, No Strategy
This was the week in which Americans hoped they would get straight talk and clear thinking on Iraq. What they got was two exhausting days of Congressional testimony by the American military commander, hours of news conferences and interviews, clouds of cut-to-order statistics and a speech from the Oval Office - and none of it either straight or clear. The White House insisted that President Bush had consulted intensively with his generals and adapted to changing circumstances. But no amount of smoke could obscure the truth: Mr. Bush has no strategy to end his disastrous war and no strategy for containing the chaos he unleashed.
Read editorial in the New York Times (USA)

September 11, 2007

Empty Calories
For months, President Bush has been promising an honest accounting of the situation in Iraq, a fresh look at the war strategy and a new plan for how to extricate the United States from the death spiral of the Iraqi civil war. The nation got none of that yesterday from the Congressional testimony by Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander in Iraq, and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. It got more excuses for delaying serious decisions for many more months, keeping the war going into 2008 and probably well beyond.
Read editorial in the New York Times (USA)

September 10, 2007

US surge has failed - Iraqi poll
About 70% of Iraqis believe security has deteriorated in the area covered by the US military "surge" of the past six months, an opinion poll suggests. The survey by the BBC, ABC News and NHK of more than 2,000 people across Iraq also suggests that nearly 60% see attacks on US-led forces as justified. This rises to 93% among Sunni Muslims compared to 50% for Shia.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

September 7, 2007

Poll backs bigger world role for EU
An overwhelming majority of Europeans want the European Union to take more responsibility for dealing with global threats, but few support combat operations in Afghanistan now or against Iran in the future, according to an opinion poll on Thursday.
Read article in the Financial Times (UK)

September 7, 2007

Most people 'want Iraq pull-out'
Most people across the world believe US-led forces should withdraw from Iraq within a year, a BBC poll suggests. Some 39% of people in 22 countries said troops should leave now, and 28% backed a gradual pull-out. Just 23% wanted them to stay until Iraq was safe. In the US, one-in-four supported an immediate withdrawal, while 32% wanted Iraq's security issues to be resolved before bringing the troops home. The BBC World Service commissioned the survey of 23,193 people.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

September 6, 2007

UK jets shadow Russian bombers
The UK's Royal Air Force has launched fighter jets to intercept eight Russian military planes flying in airspace patrolled by Nato, UK officials say. Four RAF F3 Tornado aircraft were scrambled in response to the Russian action, the UK's defence ministry said. The Russian planes - long-range bombers - had earlier been followed by Norwegian F16 jets. Russia recently revived a Cold War-era practice of flying bombers on long-range patrols.
Read article at BBC News (UK)
Comment: Alexander Drobyshevsky, an aide to the commander of Russia's Air Force, told RIA Novosti that NATO jets escort almost all Russian strategic bombers engaged in long-range patrols. "All the Russian strategic bombers' flights are performed in accordance with international rules. The aircraft fly over neutral waters, and do not get close to air borders of foreign states," he said.

September 5, 2007

Another Iraq Photo Op
Iraq is a long way to go for a photo op, but not for President Bush, who is pulling out all the stops to divert public attention from his failed Iraq policies and to keep Congress from demanding that he bring the troops home. As Americans and Iraqis continue to die – and Iraqi politicians refuse to reconcile – Mr. Bush stubbornly refuses to recognize that what both countries need is a responsible exit strategy for the United States, not more photo ops and disingenuous claims of success. With Congress launching a series of pivotal hearings this week, Mr. Bush's eight-hour stopover in Iraq on Sunday won him major play in the news media, including photos of smiling American military forces with their commander in chief. But the facts of the visit undermined his claims that his troop escalation is working and deserves more time and more lives to bear fruit.
Read editorial in the New York Times (USA)

September 5, 2007

Russian strategic bombers to begin patrols Sep. 6 - Air Force
MOSCOW, September 5 (RIA Novosti) - Russian long-range Tu-95MS Bear-H strategic bombers will begin patrolling the country's remote areas beginning September 6, Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky, an Air Force spokesman, said Wednesday. Moscow announced in mid-August that strategic patrol flights had been resumed and would continue on a permanent basis, with patrol areas including commercial shipping and economic production zones. President Vladimir Putin announced the resumption of patrol flights August 17, and said that although the country halted long-distance strategic patrol flights to remote regions in 1992, other nations continued the practice, creating certain problems for Russian national security.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

September 2, 2007

Fresh UK attack on US Iraq policy
A second key British general has criticised US post-war policy in Iraq. Maj Gen Tim Cross, who was the most senior UK officer involved in post-war planning, told the Sunday Mirror US policy was "fatally flawed".
Read article at BBC News (UK)
Comment: Major General Cross' remarks came came after Gen Sir Mike Jackson, head of the British Army during the invasion, told the Daily Telegraph US policy was "intellectually bankrupt".

August 31, 2007

UnLucky Me
Last week during my latest 5-day stay in Puerto, I noticed that Lucky Me has a new design for the billboards they have put up in the schools of the city.  This and the previous one had the same message:  Lucky Me instant noodles are good for children. Lucky Me deserves a prize, or at least a nomination, for creativity and good advertising and PR.  One is reminded of how generations of Filipinos actually believe that Star Margarine can make one grow tall.  Studies now tell us that margarine is actually so bereft of nutrients that cockroaches do not even bother to touch them.
Read Vic Milan's article in the Palawan Sun Newsweekly (Philippines)

August 29, 2007

Miliband: We will decide when UK troops leave Iraq
The Bush administration will not have a veto over the Government's plans to pull Britain's troops out of Iraq, ministers have made clear. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said decisions about troop withdrawals would be taken independently in the "British national interest" and stressed the situation facing British forces in Basra was "very different" to the one facing their American counterparts in Baghdad. Downing Street backed his stance as Gordon Brown came under fire from critics of the war for refusing to set a timetable for Britain's exit from Iraq. The Prime Minister will make a detailed statement in October on the future of the 5,500 troops deployed in Iraq.
Read article in The Independent (UK)

August 28, 2007

Chinese astronauts test traditional Chinese medicines in space
China's astronauts have been testing new varieties of traditional Chinese medicine that could help treat osteoporosis, insomnia and improve immunity. Doctors with the China Astronaut Research and Training Center say the new remedies will be prepared for sale after further tests during the country's third manned space program in 2008. The medicines have been packaged in pill and capsule forms for the first time so astronauts will be able to take them in space.
Read article in the People's Daily (China)

August 17, 2007

Russia restores Soviet-era strategic bomber patrols – Putin
President Vladimir Putin said Russia permanently resumed Friday long-distance patrol flights of strategic bombers, which were suspended in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. "I made a decision to restore flights of Russian strategic bombers on a permanent basis, and at 00:00 today, August 17, 14 strategic bombers, support aircraft and aerial tankers were deployed. Combat duty has begun, involving 20 aircraft."
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

August 17, 2007

Computer program reveals FBI, CIA edited Wikipedia entries
A new scanning program has revealed that the FBI and CIA have been editing Wikipedia entries on topics ranging from the Iraq war to Guantanamo. WikiScanner, developed by CalTech graduate student Virgil Griffith, has traced editorial changes made to the online encyclopedia to FBI and CIA computers, including the removal of satellite imagery of the Guantanamo prison camp on the island of Cuba, where the United States has detained suspected terrorists since 2002, and redactions of articles on the invasion of Iraq in 2003. The program revealed that the CIA edited entries about its former director, William Colby, altering details of his career, and that a graphic on casualties in Iraq was manipulated to downplay the figures.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

August 10, 2007

UN accepts UK's request to expand role in Iraq
The United Nations today approved a British and American resolution to play a greater role in bringing peace to wartorn Iraq than at any time since 2003.
Read article in The Times (UK)
Comment: With its decision made on June 8, 2004 to authorize a US-led military occupation, the UN Security Council retrospectively approved the illegal Iraq War. In doing so, it destroyed its own code of international law, the UN Charter and thereby, the very basis for the UN's existence. As such, the approval of this resolution only further cements the final erosion of its credibility, thus heralding the ultimate demise of its role as servant to the people of the world.

August 10, 2007

Air Force Flexes Its Muscles with Exercise Over Pacific
Russian bombers have flown to the Pacific island of Guam for the first time since the Cold War during an Air Force exercise intended to show the nation's resurgent military power, a top general said Thursday. Air Force Major General Pavel Androsov said two Tu-95 bombers reached Guam, home to a large U.S. military base, as part of an exercise this week. Their crews smiled at pilots of U.S. fighters scrambled to intercept them, he said at a news conference.
"Whenever we saw U.S. planes during our flights over the ocean, we greeted them," Androsov said. "On Wednesday, we renewed the tradition when our young pilots flew by Guam in two planes. We exchanged smiles with our counterparts, who flew up from a U.S. carrier and returned home."
Read article in the Moscow Times (Russia)

August 8, 2007

Two Koreas agree to hold summit on Aug. 29
President Roh Moo-hyun will visit Pyongyang Aug. 28-30 to hold a summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, presidential office Cheong Wa Dae (Blue House) announced in a statement Wednesday.
Read article in The Hankyoreh (South Korea)

August 8, 2007

US uneasy as Britain plans for early Iraq withdrawal
Americans would prefer UK troops to remain in position as long as they do
The Bush administration is becoming increasingly concerned about the impact of an imminent British withdrawal from southern Iraq and would prefer UK troops to remain for another year or two.
Read article in the Guardian (UK)

August 6, 2007

Weapons Given to Iraq Are Missing
GAO Estimates 30% of Arms Are Unaccounted For
The Pentagon has lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, according to a new government report, raising fears that some of those weapons have fallen into the hands of insurgents fighting U.S. forces in Iraq. The author of the report from the Government Accountability Office says U.S. military officials do not know what happened to 30 percent of the weapons the United States distributed to Iraqi forces from 2004 through early this year as part of an effort to train and equip the troops.
Read article in the Washington Post (USA)

August 3, 2007

Iraq violence: Monitoring the surge
An extra 30,000 US troops have been deployed in Iraq, mainly in and around the capital Baghdad, since the launch of the security drive, or "surge", in February. The BBC World Service is monitoring its effects, week by week, by looking at casualty figures, the pressure on hospitals and quality of life for ordinary civilians.
Read article at BBC News (UK)
Comment: During the seven-day period from 26 July to 1 August there were 482 violent deaths across Iraq - a rise of nearly 70 people on last week's total. Looking back over the whole of July, Iraqi officials say more than 1,600 civilians were killed - this figure is higher than the number of deaths for February this year, when the US surge began.

August 1, 2007

UN resolution on bigger Iraq role
The US and the UK have circulated a new draft resolution to United Nations Security Council members proposing a bigger role for the UN in Iraq.
Read article at BBC News (UK)
Comment: With its decision made on June 8, 2004 to authorize a US-led military occupation, the UN Security Council retrospectively approved the illegal Iraq War. In doing so, it destroyed its own code of international law, the UN Charter and thereby, the very basis for the UN's existence. As such, the passing of this resolution would only further cement the final erosion of its credibility, thus heralding the ultimate demise of its role as servant to the people of the world.

July 31, 2007

UN cries wolf about AIDS
The UN agency coordinating global action against AIDS is wiping egg off its face after reluctantly admitting it had overestimated India's AIDS problem by more than half – following numerous similar exaggerations world-wide. In 2005 the joint UN Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) claimed there were 5.7 million infected with HIV in India, giving India the highest number in the world, but the Indian National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) figures for 2006 released recently lowered the number to 2.5 million – and UNAIDS has had to admit the new estimate is more accurate.
Read article in the Economic Times (India)
Comment: Since 2001, UNAIDS has been forced to acknowledge drastically-reduced HIV prevalence estimates in over a dozen African, Caribbean and Asian countries.

July 31, 2007

Vladimir Putin may become Russian president again in 2012
Russia's Just Russia Party will nominate Vladimir Putin for president in 2012, the speaker of the Federation Council (upper house of parliament), Sergei Mironov told an audience of editors-in-chief of the leading mass media in Bashkortostan's capital Ufa on Monday. "Since the president has made up his mind not to contest a third presidential term, our party will be prepared to nominate Vladimir Putin for president in 2012," Mironov said. The Federation Council speaker is certain that Russia's political system will undergo fundamental change over several years to come, Itar-Tass reports. "I have no doubt that in 2008-2009 we shall amend the Constitution and extend the presidential term of office from the current four years to five, or even seven," Mironov said. Russia's 1993 constitution limits presidents to two consecutive terms, and Mr Putin has repeatedly said he will not change that. But it has no bar on former presidents returning after a gap.
Read article at PRAVDA On-Line (Russia)

July 30, 2007

Bush and Brown vow co-operation
US President George W Bush and UK PM Gordon Brown have held their first formal talks, renewing pledges to fight terrorism and seek progress in Iraq. Mr Brown said both nations had duties and responsibilities in Iraq, and that he would seek military advice before announcing any changes in policy. The pair met at Camp David, near Washington, amid widespread interest about whether they could work together. The talks also focused on Afghanistan, Darfur, world trade and climate change.
Read article at BBC News (UK)
Comment: Significantly, perhaps, in referring to their meetings, Mr Brown described them as full and frank, which is normal diplomatic code for an argument.

July 27, 2007

Gorbachev says British leadership panders to the United States
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev accused the United Kingdom's government of creating problems for itself by trying to please only the United States at the expense of other partners.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

July 26, 2007

Russia offers NATO strategic missile defense partnership –official
Russia is offering to engage NATO in a strategic partnership to counter possible missile threats, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Thursday. As an alternative to U.S. plans to deploy elements of a missile defense system in the Czech Republic and Poland, Russia has proposed the joint use of a radar station that Russia leases from Azerbaijan. Later, Russia also offered the joint use of a missile early warning system it is building in the south of the country. "We are offering strategic partnership – an international system to neutralize missile threats, said Anatoly Antonov, director of the Foreign Ministry Security and Disarmament Department.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

July 26, 2007

Enrichment is like breathing for Iran: Larijani
Iran has issued its strongest signal to date that it will defy UN demands for a suspension of uranium enrichment threatening to respond to any further sanctions and accusing the Americans of "running away" from negotiations to end the crisis over the Iranian nuclear program. Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani told The Independent and The Guardian that uranium enrichment was "like breathing" for his country, and that Iran would not halt the spinning centrifuges at its main enrichment plant in Natanz, even if the Bush administration offered security guarantees.
Read article in the Tehran Times (Iran)
Comment: Larijani insisted that Iran had no intention of building a nuclear bomb, even though it had now installed enough uranium-enriching centrifuges to make one. He added that if Iran produced a single bomb "what is it good for? If we attack Israeli with one bomb, America would attack us with thousands of bombs. It's suicide."

July 22, 2007

Globalisation backlash in rich nations
A popular backlash against globalisation and the leaders of the world's largest companies is sweeping all rich countries, an FT/Harris poll shows. Large majorities of people in the US and in Europe want higher taxation for the rich and even pay caps for corporate executives to counter what they believe are unjustified rewards and the negative effects of globalisation. Viewing globalisation as an overwhelmingly negative force, citizens of rich countries are looking to governments to cushion the blows they perceive have come from the liberalisation of their economies to trade with emerging countries.
Read article in the Financial Times (UK)

July 20, 2007

White House preparing to stage new September 11 – Reagan official
A former Reagan official has issued a public warning that the Bush administration is preparing to orchestrate a staged terrorist attack in the United States, transform the country into a dictatorship and launch a war with Iran within a year.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

July 19, 2007

Russia expels four UK diplomats
Russia is to expel four UK diplomats in the continuing row over Moscow's refusal to extradite the man suspected of Alexander Litvinenko's murder. The four diplomats must leave Russia within 10 days, and Moscow is to review visa applications for UK officials. UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was "disappointed" by what he called a "completely unjustified" move.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

July 17, 2007

Britain Expels 4 Diplomats Over Lugovoi
A diplomatic crisis erupted Monday after the British government said it would expel four Russian diplomats over Moscow's refusal to extradite Andrei Lugovoi to face trial for the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. "The Russian government has failed to register either how seriously we treat this case or the seriousness of the issues involved, despite lobbying at the highest level and clear explanations of our need for a satisfactory response," British Foreign Minister David Miliband said in a speech to Parliament. Russia, which is expected to respond in kind, criticized the announcement Monday evening, saying it would have the "most serious consequences" for relations with Britain.
Read article in the Moscow Times (Russia)

July 16, 2007

Polish leader defends antimissile plan
In the face of fierce Russian opposition to the planned U.S. antimissile facilities, the visiting Polish president insisted Monday that the program was "really a defense instrument" that would in no way threaten Russia. "It is aimed at defense of our democracies against the countries who might have or already do have nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction," said President Lech Kaczynski, as he and President George W. Bush responded to questions from reporters following a meeting. Bush said that the program, which calls for installation of 10 interceptors in Poland and radar facilities in the Czech Republic, would protect not just the United States but much of Europe from threats that "may emanate from parts of the world where leaders don't particularly care for our way of life and are in the process of trying to develop serious weapons of mass destruction," presumably meaning Iran.
Read article in the International Herald Tribune

July 14, 2007

Russia suspends participation in CFE treaty
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree suspending Russia's participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, the Kremlin press service said. The move is taken "due to the extraordinary circumstances affecting Russia's security and requiring immediate measures". On April 26, 2007, Putin in his address to the Federal Assembly proposed to declare a moratorium on Russia's observance of the treaty. According to Russia, among the extraordinary circumstances are the serious problems with NATO countries' observance of the treaty in connection with the NATO enlargement and their delay to ratify the Adapted Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty signed in 1999.
Read article on the ITAR-TASS News Agency website (Russia)

July 13, 2007

A Chinese Reformer Betrays His Cause, and Pays
Zheng Xiaoyu once ranked as one of the most powerful regulators in China. He rose from modest beginnings to help create and lead Beijing's version of the Food and Drug Administration in the United States. But last March, locked up in the Qincheng Prison here, he wrote a short confession. "Why are the friends who gave me money all the bosses of pharmaceutical companies?" he wrote in his letter, entitled How I Look on My Mistakes. "Obviously because I was in charge of drug administration." In his confession, Mr. Zheng acknowledged that during his eight-year tenure, he had accepted gifts and bribes from eight drug companies that sought special favors: a car, a villa, furniture, cash. And corporate stock. All told, he and his family accepted gifts valued at more than $850,000 – in a country where the average worker earns less than $2,000 a year. For his crimes, the 62-year-old was executed on Tuesday, making him one of the highest-ranking Chinese officials ever to be put to death.
Read article in the New York Times (USA)

July 10, 2007

Former head of China's drug watchdog executed in Beijing
Zheng Xiaoyu, former director of China's State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA), was executed on Tuesday morning with the approval of the Supreme People's Court. Zheng, 63, was sentenced to death on May 29 by the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People's Court after being found guilty of taking 6.49 million yuan (about 850,000 U.S. dollars) in bribes and dereliction of duty. Zheng appealed for leniency in a second hearing of his case on June 12, pleading that the penalty was "too severe" and asking the court to reconsider the sentence. He also gave evidence that implicated other officials in the case. The Higher People's Court of Beijing rejected Zheng's appeal on June 22 and upheld the death sentence.
Read article in the People's Daily (China)

July 8, 2007

The Road Home
It is time for the United States to leave Iraq , without any more delay than the Pentagon needs to organize an orderly exit.
Read editorial in the New York Times (USA)

July 5, 2007

NATO expansion relapse into Cold War - FM Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that NATO's further expansion eastward was reminiscent of the Cold War standoff between the Soviet Union and the West. "We do not think NATO's expansion is necessary, and believe the policy is a relapse into the Cold War," Lavrov told a news conference following talks with his Finnish counterpart.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

July 4, 2007

Russia to Respond to US Missile Shield in Europe – Deputy PM
Russia has an adequate response to the deployment of U.S. anti-missile defense facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic , First Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Ivanov told reporters on Wednesday. Moscow will take steps to ensure its security if Washington turns down its offer of cooperation on missile defense, Sergey Ivanov told the press on Wednesday. “We are already taking these measures. An asymmetrical and effective response has been found,” the deputy prime minister said without specifying what that response involves.
Read article at kommersant.com (Russia)

July 3, 2007

Putin surprises on missile shield
Meeting with Bush in Maine, he signaled cooperation, though a core dispute remained.
Russian President Vladimir V. Putin offered an expanded counterproposal to U.S. missile-defense plans yesterday, challenging President Bush to build a regional European missile shield that could include a sophisticated new radar facility on Russian soil. Putin's proposal went far beyond the cooperation he first suggested in Germany last month and surprised Bush as the two leaders wrapped up two days of informal meetings at the president's family compound. Bush welcomed the plan, and his advisers said Putin's suggestions convinced them that he was serious about working together, not just posturing, as they initially suspected. But the two sides remained at odds over the core issue - whether Bush would deploy antimissile facilities in Poland and the Czech Republic over the objections of Putin, who sees them as a threat to Russian security.
Read article in the Philadelphia Inquirer (USA)

Putin offers Bush to play "one and the same game"
Russian President Vladimir Putin's two-day stay at the Bush family home in Kennebunkport , Maine , was more fruitful than the press and political analysts expected. They thought the two presidents would mainly discuss ways to maintain good relations between the United States and Russia after they step down. They thought Putin and President Bush would at best prevent them from going sour and restart a constructive dialogue. But the two presidents have done something more important. They peered into the common future of their countries.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

June 29, 2007

UN closes Iraq WMD inspectorate
The UN Security Council has voted to close down the weapons inspections programme set up to monitor former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's arsenal. The UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (Unmovic) was set up in 1999 to check Iraq no longer had any weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). Its inspectors permanently quit Iraq just before the US invasion in 2003. The US cited the presence of WMDs in Iraq as justification for its invasion though no such weapons were ever found.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

Koreas to discuss heavy fuel oil aid to North Korea
Officials from South and North Korea are to meet Friday to discuss providing 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil to the North in return for Pyongyang 's shutdown of a nuclear reactor that produces weapons-grade plutonium, officials said. "We will prepare to sign a contract to provide heavy fuel oil based on the outcome of working-level talks. It is too early to say when, but it will take at least three weeks to start the shipments," a Unification Ministry official said, asking to remain anonymous. The agenda at the two-day talks in the North Korean border city of Kaesong will be how to deliver heavy fuel oil as well as how much to ship to each North Korean candidate port, the official said.
Read article on the website of the Yonhap News Agency (South Korea)

June 28, 2007

EU firm to solve Iran issue through dialogue: Solana spokesman
Cristina Gallach, the spokesperson of Javier Solana, EU high representative for the foreign and security common policy, said in a short interview with the Mehr News Agency on Wednesday that EU is “determined to solve Iran 's nuclear issue through negotiation.”
Read article in the Tehran Times (Iran)

June 27, 2007

Blair appointed Middle East envoy
Tony Blair is to become a Middle East envoy working on behalf of the US , Russia , the UN and the EU. The announcement came just hours after he stood down as UK prime minister and shortly before it was announced he was to quit as a member of parliament. Mr Blair said a solution to Mid-East problems was possible but it required "huge intensity and work". He faces an uphill task to address Palestinian misgivings over his ties to Israel and the US, say observers.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

June 26, 2007

S. Korea to resume rice aid to N. Korea this week
South Korea will resume shipping rice aid to North Korea on Saturday after more than a one-year hiatus as the North takes steps toward nuclear dismantlement, South Korea 's unification minister said Tuesday.
Read article in The Hankyoreh (South Korea)

June 25, 2007

BIS warns of Great Depression dangers from credit spree
The Bank for International Settlements, the world's most prestigious financial body, has warned that years of loose monetary policy has fuelled a dangerous credit bubble, leaving the global economy more vulnerable to another 1930s-style slump than generally understood. "Virtually nobody foresaw the Great Depression of the 1930s, or the crises which affected Japan and southeast Asia in the early and late 1990s. In fact, each downturn was preceded by a period of non-inflationary growth exuberant enough to lead many commentators to suggest that a 'new era' had arrived", said the bank. The BIS, the ultimate bank of central bankers, pointed to a confluence a worrying signs, citing mass issuance of new-fangled credit instruments, soaring levels of household debt, extreme appetite for risk shown by investors, and entrenched imbalances in the world currency system.
Read article in the Daily Telegraph (UK)

June 18, 2007

Japan struggling with Tamiflu dilemma
Japanese officials have confirmed hundreds of citizens have displayed abnormal reactions after ingesting the prescription flu medication, Tamiflu.
Read article at physorg.com

Lords to look at legality of Iraq war
· Bereaved mothers win right to have appeal heard
· Petition drafted by two leading human rights QCs
Britain 's highest court is to hear a case which could force the government to hold an independent inquiry into the way the attorney general reached his conclusion that the war in Iraq would be lawful. The law lords have agreed to hear an appeal by the mothers of two soldiers killed in Iraq, who argue that the government violated their sons' right to life by rushing into war on inadequate legal grounds. "The legality of the war on Iraq - the most important question of law of our generation - remains unresolved by any court or other independent and authoritative body in the United Kingdom ," begins the petition which persuaded the judges to let the appeal go ahead
Read article in the Guardian (UK)

June 15, 2007

Russia's FSB probes MI6 activities based on Lugovoi claims
Russia 's Federal Security Service (FSB) has launched an investigation into British intelligence activities in Russia after statements made by businessman Andrei Lugovoi against a former FSB officer and tycoon, the service said Friday.
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

Hamas 'in full control of Gaza '
An uneasy calm has returned to the Gaza Strip where Hamas is in full control following a series of attacks on key strongholds of its rival, Fatah. Hamas militants seized the presidential compound in Gaza City overnight after a week of factional fighting, which has left more than 100 people dead. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas sacked the Hamas-led government on Thursday and declared an emergency. Mr Abbas says there will be a caretaker administration and early elections. But Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, of Hamas, says his government will press on and he will impose decisive law and order.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

June 14, 2007

Violence Rising in Much of Iraq, Pentagon Says
Violence increased throughout much of Iraq in recent months, despite a security crackdown in Baghdad that at least temporarily reduced sectarian killings there, according to a quarterly assessment of security conditions issued Wednesday by the Pentagon.
Read article in the New York Times (USA)

June 11, 2007

In Iraq, U.S. envisions fewer troops, longer stay
Major reduction could begin by late 2008
U.S. military officials here are increasingly envisioning a "post-occupation" troop presence in Iraq that neither maintains current levels nor leads to a complete pullout, but aims for a smaller, longer-term force that would remain in the country for years. This goal, according to recent interviews with more than 20 U.S. military officers and other officials here including senior commanders, strategists and analysts, remains in the early planning stages. It is based on officials' assessment that a sharp drawdown of troops is likely to begin by the middle of next year, with roughly two-thirds of the current force of 150,000 moving out by late 2008 or early 2009.
Read article at tennessean.com (USA)

June 10, 2007

Putin blames WTO members for protectionism
Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that the World Trade Organization could not cope with protectionism originating from industrialized countries and urges the reform of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. “The existing organizations cannot properly control the global market. Some structures that were designed for a small number of active players look archaic, non-democratic and slow and cannot take into account modern world balance,” he told the 11th St. Petersburg international economic forum on Sunday. “Therefore old methods of decision-making simply do not work. It can be well seen in the World Trade Organization and the Doha round negotiations that are in fact stalled,” he said. “Today protectionism emanates from developed economies that established the organization (WTO),” he said.
Read article on the ITAR-TASS News Agency website (Russia)

June 9, 2007

Russia urges U.S. to shelve missile plans, look for alternatives
Russia 's foreign minister said Saturday the U.S. should put on hold moves to deploy a missile shield in Europe pending talks on Moscow 's recent offer to jointly use a radar in Azerbaijan . President Putin reiterated Friday at a news conference following the G8 summit in Germany that the U.S. missile defense plans are directed against a nonexistent threat, and would jeopardize Russia's national security. "The sharing of data from this [Azerbaijan] facility will enable the United States to abandon plans to deploy missile defense elements in Europe, as well as plans to deploy space based components," Sergei Lavrov said. He said the U.S. plans would undermine UN efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem. "Nobody has proved that the Iranian nuclear program has a military component," Sergei Lavrov said. "Missile shield deployment in Europe may hamper [the UN] efforts and cast doubt over Iran's desire to cooperate."
Read article at RIA Novosti (Russia)

June 7, 2007

U.S. Death Toll In Iraq Tops 3,500
23 Deaths In First Six Days Of June, Almost Double That Of June 2006
Another U.S. soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq , the military said Thursday, pushing the four-year death toll for American forces to 3,501, according to an Associated Press tally. The count includes 23 deaths in the first six days of June, an average of about four per day.
Read article at CBS News (USA)

June 5, 2007

Bush to Putin: 'Vladimir, you shouldn't fear a missile defense system'
Russia is not an enemy of the United States and shouldn't fear a proposed missile defense system designed to thwart a possible nuclear attack from Iran , U.S. President George W. Bush said Tuesday. "Russia is not the enemy," Bush said after meeting with Czech leaders in a visit en route to the G-8 summit in Germany. He said he would take a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that "we can work together on common threats." The Kremlin is bitterly opposed to the missile shield, and Putin has warned that Russia could take "retaliatory steps" if Washington insists on building it.
Read article at PRAVDA On-Line (Russia)

June 1, 2007

Putin: US imperialists start new round of arms race
Russia 's recent tests of new ballistic missiles can be interpreted as a direct response to the deployment of the US missile system in Europe , and the development of new military bases on the continent, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday. At a news conference after meeting with the Greek president in Kremlin, Putin spoke about the cooperation between the two countries and condemned US missile defense systems in Europe. "We are not the initiators of this new round of the arms race," Putin told a joint Kremlin news conference. "There is no need to fear Russia's actions, they are not aggressive... They are aimed at maintaining balance in the world order, and are extremely important for maintaining peace and security globally," Putin said. The president suggested recently that Moscow might suspend its obligations under the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty if talks with NATO countries on its implementation show no visible progress.
Read article at PRAVDA On-Line (Russia)

May 29, 2007

Corrupt drug chief sentenced to death
CHINA'S former top drug regulator was sentenced to death in a Beijing court this morning on charges of bribe taking and negligence. Zheng Xiaoyu, once the director of State Food and Drug Administration, was given a death penalty at the Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court on the charges of pocketing 6.49 million yuan (US$840,000) in bribes and dereliction of duty, Xinhua news agency reported. Zheng may appeal to a higher court within 10 days, according to China's criminal procedure law. Otherwise he will be executed in seven days after the sentence takes effect.
Read article in the Shanghai Daily (China)

May 28, 2007

U.S. and Iranian Officials Meet in Baghdad, but Talks Yield No Breakthroughs
The United States and Iran held rare face-to-face talks in Baghdad on Monday, adhering to an agenda that focused strictly on the war in Iraq and on ways the two bitter adversaries could help improve conditions here. The meeting between Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker of the United States and Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qumi of Iran — held in the offices of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki — produced no agreements nor a promise of a follow-up meeting between the nations, participants said. But Mr. Crocker said at a news conference afterward that the meeting “proceeded positively” and was “businesslike.” Both sides, he said, articulated a common desire to help stabilize Iraq.
Read article in the New York Times (USA)

May 27, 2007

Iran protests US meddling
The Iranian foreign ministry has summoned the Swiss envoy to protest against Washington 's interventions in the country's internal affairs. Swiss envoy to Iran, Philippe Welti, who represents US interests in Iran, was summoned on Sunday by the Foreign Ministry Director for Americas Department, to be handed Tehran's strong protest at the illegal activities of some US-backed intelligence networks inside Iran. Islamic Republic of Iran has recently disbanded several spy rings, run by the United States, in western, southwestern and central Iran. The Iranian official said the US is bent on organizing acts of hostility and espionage against Iran's national interests.
Read article at PRESS TV (Iran)

May 24, 2007

Congress Passes War Funds Bill, Ending Impasse
Congress voted Thursday to meet President Bush’s demand for almost $100 billion to pay for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through September, providing a momentary truce in a bitter struggle over war policy. Even before the House and the Senate acted, Mr. Bush welcomed the legislation, which does not set the timetable sought by Democrats for withdrawing troops but requires the Iraqi government to meet a series of benchmarks as a condition of receiving further American reconstruction aid. The measure also calls for reports from Mr. Bush in July and September about how his strategy is unfolding in Iraq and requires independent assessments of the performance of the Iraqi government by Sept. 1 and the abilities of Iraqi military forces within 120 days.
Read article in the New York Times (USA)

Poll Shows View of Iraq War Is Most Negative Since Start
Americans now view the war in Iraq more negatively than at any time since the invasion more than four years ago, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. Sixty-one percent of Americans say the United States should have stayed out of Iraq and 76 percent say things are going badly there, including 47 percent who say things are going very badly, the poll found.
Read article in the New York Times (USA)

May 23, 2007

U.S. Working To Sabotage Iran Nuke Program
CBS: Iranian Efforts To Enrich Uranium Are Progressing Despite Covert Efforts To Disrupt Program
CBS News has learned that Iran is continuing to make progress on its expanded efforts to enrich uranium — in spite of covert efforts by U.S. and other allied intelligence agencies to actively sabotage the country's nuclear program. "Industrial sabotage is a way to stop the program, without military action, without fingerprints on the operation, and really, it is ideal, if it works," says Mark Fitzpatrick, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Non-Proliferation and now Senior Fellow in Non-Proliferation at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Sources in several countries involved told CBS News that the intelligence operatives involved include former Russian nuclear scientists and Iranians living abroad. Operatives have sold Iran components with flaws that are difficult to detect, making them unstable or unusable.
Read article at CBS News (USA)

May 22, 2007

Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran
The CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert “black” operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com. The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a “nonlethal presidential finding” that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformation and manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions.
Read article at ABC News (USA)

May 21, 2007

Former drug official accused of taking bribes
A HIGH-RANKING official of the State Food and Drug Administration has been charged with pocketing bribes and malfeasance three days after the administration's former chief stood trial on the same charges, Beijing Times reported today. Cao Wenzhuang, the former director of the Drug Registration Department, was charged with taking two million yuan (US$260,417) in bribes from pharmaceutical companies for drug registrations, the report said. The accusations against Cao, a former secretary of ex-chief Zheng Xiaoyu, were heard after Zheng's trial for taking bribes of more than five million yuan began at Beijing's No. 1 Intermediate People's Court last Thursday. Zheng, who has already been expelled from the Communist Party of China, is now under a further investigation that has involved 31 people, including several senior officials of the administration, according to previous reports.
Read article in the Shanghai Daily (China)

May 18, 2007

EU-Russian talks end in acrimony
The leaders of the European Union and Russia have traded sharp criticism over human rights, at a summit that exposed the divisions between the two sides. German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed alarm at the detention of activists intending to protest against the Russian government. Vladimir Putin retorted that Estonia's ethnic Russians were being persecuted.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

Unification chief optimistic about regular inter-Korean rail services
South Korea's unification minister said Friday the two Koreas have agreed in principle on the phased introduction of regular rail services, dismissing concern about the transience of Thursday's one-time test run of cross-border railways. "The North has shared the view that the test runs are based on the opening of the rail services between the two sides. South and North Korea agreed to do so step by step," Lee Jae-joung, South Korea's point man on North Korea, said on a local radio program. Lee did not provide details about when and how the two sides made the agreement, but he said they will discuss the formal opening of the connected railways during the inter-Korean ministerial talks slated for May 29-31.
Read article on the Yonhap News Agency website (South Korea)

May 17, 2007

Trains cross inter-Korean border for first time in over 50 years
A North Korean train on Thursday returned to its point of departure on a reconnected track along the east coast, crossing across the heavily armed border after its brief stay here. At the same time, a South Korean train returned to the South in the west of the Korean Peninsula. Earlier in the day, the two trains, one carrying 100 South Koreans and the other 50 North Koreans, crossed the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) dividing the two countries for the first time in more than half a century. Crowds cheered when the trains showed up at the stations. "It took more than half a century to cross this short, approximately 20-kilometer distance. We have to prevent anyone from blocking the railways. They were so hard to reconnect," Kim Yong-sam, North Korea's railway minister, said in a luncheon speech after arriving here. In response, South Korean Construction Minister Lee Yong-sup hailed the test run of the cross-border railways, suggesting South and North Korea cooperate in promoting the mutual interest and prosperity of the Korean people.
Read article in The Hankyoreh (South Korea)

War-torn Iraq 'facing collapse'
Iraq faces the distinct possibility of collapse and fragmentation, UK foreign policy think tank Chatham House says. Its report says the Iraqi government is now largely powerless and irrelevant in many parts of the country. It warns there is not one war but many local civil wars, and urges a major change in US and British strategy, such as consulting Iraq's neighbours more.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

May 15, 2007

US to go ahead with missile plans
The US will not allow Russia to stop it from deploying anti-missile defences in Europe, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said. "I don't think anyone expects the United States to permit a veto on American security interests," she said after meeting President Vladimir Putin. Her comments come after she and the Russian president agreed to tone down their rhetoric in public exchanges. Russia's foreign minister said they had resolved to focus on concrete issues.
Read article at BBC News (UK)

May 11, 2007

Iraq leader says troops must stay
US and British troops will need to stay another one or two years in Iraq , the Iraqi president has said. Jalal Talabani was addressing students during a visit to Cambridge University . Asked when the UK and US should leave, he said: "I think in one or two years we will be able to recruit our own army forces and say goodbye to our friends."
Read article at BBC News (UK)

Two Koreas agree on rail test, tension-reducing measures
South and North Korea agreed Friday to provide military security guarantees for the upcoming railway test runs across their sealed border, and to take long-term measures to ease tension on the peninsula. The deal, struck at the unusually lengthy military talks between the two, marked a significant breakthrough of Seoul's seven-year-old policy of engagement with Pyongyang. Despite growing economic cooperation and other exchanges between the two Koreas , their armed forces remained locked in a tense stand-off. "The two sides have shared the view that preventing military conflict and creating a joint fishing zone in the West Sea is an issue to be urgently resolved in the course of easing military tension and establishing peace," read a joint press release issued after an unscheduled fourth-day session of the talks held in the truce village of Panmunjom.
Read article on the Yonhap News Agency website (South Korea)

May 10, 2007

Sarkozy's proposal for Mediterranean bloc makes waves
A proposal by Nicolas Sarkozy to gather the European, Middle Eastern, and North African countries of the strategic Mediterranean rim into an economic community along the lines of the early European Union has begun making waves even before the president-elect takes office. The initiative, outlined by Sarkozy in a campaign speech in February, went largely unnoticed until he repeated it in his electoral victory address Sunday evening. Plans are still being drawn up, Sarkozy's aides said Thursday, but even at this early stage the proposal has cascading implications for the region. Such a union, even if primarily economic, would necessarily involve the member countries in discussions of controversial issues like Turkish membership in the European Union and illegal immigration via North Africa. It would bring Israel and its Arab neighbors into a new assembly that Sarkozy apparently hopes could tackle the intractable problem of Middle East peace. Initial reactions have ranged from enthusiasm in Spain to cautious approval in Israel to outrage in Turkey, which sees the proposal as a ploy to keep it out of the European Union.
Read article in the International Herald Tribune

Pyongyang, Tehran vow to "stand up to arrogant global powers"
Iran will assist North Korea economically and help it otherwise to "stand up to arrogant global powers," an Iranian top official said Thursday. "Tehran does not see any obstacles in developing ties with Pyongyang and is ready to offer its economic, infrastructural, and technological achievements for North Korea's progress and prosperity," first vice president of Iran Parviz Davoodi said in Tehran during a meeting with deputy North Korean foreign minister Kim Hyong-jun. He said the two countries were very close on many international issues, including "standing up to arrogant global powers." "The era of arrogance and oppressing powers is history. The victory belongs to freedom-loving and independent nations," he said.
Read article on the Russian News & Information Agency website

Putin's pointed US-Nazi allusion
President Putin lashed out at US unilateralism saying the US is driving the world in the same direction that Germany 's Third Reich did. Putin made the remarks on Wednesday while attending a special ceremony to mark the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany with soldiers bearing hammer-and-sickle banners through the Red Square, AFP reported.
Read article at presstv.ir (Iran)

Livingstone: Iraq Will Ruin Blair’s Legacy
TONY Blair will be remembered as a failure because of the disastrous war in Iraq , London mayor Ken Livingstone said today. Mr Livingstone claimed the war had created "a whole new generation of terrorists” and the Government had failed in the last 10 years because it failed to bring peace.
Read article in the Daily Express (UK)

May 7, 2007

West says it is open to more flexibility with Iran
The world's big powers have signalled they are willing to adopt a more flexible approach in the dispute over Iran 's nuclear programme as soon as Tehran has sat down at the negotiating table. The gesture comes ahead of an expected meeting this week between Ali Larijani, Iran's top security official, and Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, in an attempt to restart the diplomaticprocess. Speaking to the Financial Times, officials from the UK, the US and the EU insisted that Iran had to suspend uranium enrichment, which can produce nuclear fuel and weapons grade material, before formal talks could begin. They added that once Iran had taken such a step, they were willing to consider more options.
Read article in the Financial Times (UK)

May 3, 2007

US claims unity with EU despite doubts
The US insisted yesterday that the world's big powers remained united on Iran's nuclear programme, in spite of signs of a potential US-European rift over whether to make new concessions to Tehran. Nicholas Burns, US undersecretary of state, said the permanent five members of the United Nations Security Council, plus Germany, were agreed Iran should not carry out any uranium enrichment, which can produce both nuclear fuel and weapons-grade material. But diplomats said Germ-any and Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, were more willing than Washington to compromise, specifically over permitting Iran, which was using more than 1,000 centrifuges to enrich uranium, a limited form of enrichment.
Read article in the Financial Times (UK)

April 26, 2007

UN: Iraq withholding figures on civilian deaths
The UN is unable to determine how many Iraqi civilians have been killed so far this year because the Iraqi government won't share the information, a UN agency said in a Wednesday report. An Iraqi government official denied that the information was withheld to cover up the number of civilian deaths in the war-ravaged nation, and the prime minister's office said the UN report "lacks accuracy." Even without the numbers, the report delivers a grim message: Iraq is facing "immense security challenges in the face of growing violence and armed opposition to its authority and the rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis."
Read article in the Tehran Times (Iran)

April 24, 2007

The best way to give the poor a real voice is through a world parliament
Global governance as it stands is tyranny speaking the language of democracy. We need a directly elected assembly
It was first proposed, as far as I can discover, in 1842, by Alfred Tennyson. Since then the idea has broken the surface and sunk again at least a dozen times. But this time it could start to swim. The demand for a world parliament is at last acquiring some serious political muscle. The campaign for a UN parliamentary assembly is being launched this week on five continents.
Read article in the Guardian (UK)
Click here to go to the Campaign for a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly website

April 11, 2007

Iraq situation 'ever worsening'
The situation for civilians in Iraq is "ever worsening", the International Committee of the Red Cross says. Although it is difficult to determine the numbers of people killed in shootings, bombings and military operations, it is clear that the overall situation in the country has been steadily deteriorating, an official said on Wednesday. Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the operations director at the International Committee of the Red Cross, (ICRC) said: "Numbers of refugees are swelling, medical staff fleeing and other problems are growing.
Read article at aljazeera.net

April 10, 2007

China remains committed to denuclearization goal on Korean Peninsula: Premier
Visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao reaffirmed China's commitment to the goal of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula during talks with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun on Tuesday. China sticks to its position on a peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue, said Premier Wen, who arrived here on Tuesday morning for an official visit. Continued progress will be achieved in promoting the process of the six-party talks so long as all relevant parties bear in mind the overall interest of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and the region as a whole and make unremitting efforts, Wen said.
Read article in the People's Daily (China)

March 1, 2007

Food for thought: Russia joins the battle over GM products
On July 1, the city of Moscow will introduce a voluntary system of food labels indicating that a product does not contain genetically modified (GM) ingredients.
Read article on the Russian News & Information Agency website
Comment: Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, believes that GM products are hazardous. "With our entry into the WTO, certain issues have to be addressed," he said in January. "American and Canadian products, which are, as a rule, genetically modified, are competing on the world agricultural market." He added that "...we can use Europe's experience" and "...we must inform people about the hazards of GM products." Putin proposed to set up a council to regulate GM food.