BEIJING: The number of people killed or missing in devastating floods across China this year has risen to more than 2,100, according to the government, as weather authorities warn of yet more rain. The nation’’s civil affairs ministry said late Friday 1,454 people had died in floods this year, another 669 were still missing and more than 12 million had been evacuated from their homes. Large swathes of China have been hit by summer deluges that have triggered the worst floods in a decade, caused countless deadly landslides and swollen many large rivers to dangerous levels. According to the ministry, 1.4 million homes have been destroyed by the floods that have also caused 275 billion yuan (41 billion dollars) in direct economic losses. These official figures cover the entire year so far, and it is therefore unclear how many people have died or gone missing in the more recent, summer floods. China’’s northeast is currently the worst-hit area, with entire towns flooded and rivers bordering North Korea swollen to critical levels, prompting fears of inundations in both countries. China’’s national meteorological centre said Saturday that large swathes of the nation would see rain in the next 24 hours, although it added the rainfall would be light in most areas. But it warned that the northeast would once again be hit by torrential downpours from Sunday.
Written on August 7, 2010 | Posted in
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WASHINGTON: US and South Korean warships staged anti-submarine drills Monday as part of a major naval exercise intended to send a warning to North Korea despite its threats of nuclear retaliation. The two allies, who accuse the North of sending a submarine to torpedo a South Korean warship, have assembled about 20 ships including the 97,000-ton carrier USS George Washington, 200 aircraft and 8,000 personnel. Four F-22 Raptor stealth fighters are flying in and around Korea for the first time to show Washington’’s strong commitment to deter and defeat any provocative acts, Lieutenant General Jeffrey Remington, commander of the US 7th Air Force, told reporters at Osan air base. Seoul and Washington say the four-day exercise which began Sunday their biggest for years and the first in a series — is designed to stress that future attacks will meet a decisive response.
Written on July 26, 2010 | Posted in
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HANOI: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday accused North Korea of a “campaign” of provocation as an Asia-Pacific security forum descended into recriminations over tensions on the Korean peninsula. A North Korean spokesman reacted by warning of a “physical response” to new US sanctions and condemned massive US-South Korean naval exercises due to begin Sunday in the Sea of Japan as “gunboat diplomacy”. “Here in Asia, an isolated and belligerent North Korea has embarked on a campaign of provocative, dangerous behavior,” Clinton said in prepared remarks to foreign ministers gathered at the region’’s biggest security dialogue. “Peaceful resolution of the issues on the Korean peninsula will be possible only if North Korea fundamentally changes its behaviour.” Clinton is expected to ask China to do more to rein in its communist ally during talks later Friday with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.
Written on July 23, 2010 | Posted in
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HANOI: The United States shared concerns with Vietnam on Thursday over exports of military equipment from North Korea to junta-ruled Myanmar, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. After meeting Vietnam’’s Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem in Hanoi, Clinton told reporters she shared with him “our concerns about the exporting by North Korea of military material and equipment to Burma”. “We know that a ship from North Korea recently delivered military equipment to Burma and we continue to be concerned by the reports that Burma may be seeking assistance from North Korea with regard to a nuclear programme. “That is a matter that is of concern to ASEAN, and of concern to the United States,” she added in the Vietnamese capital, ahead of Friday’’s ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Regional Forum.
Written on July 22, 2010 | Posted in
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SEOUL: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left South Korea Thursday, a US embassy spokesman said, after a one-day visit designed to show solidarity following the sinking of one of Seoul’’s warships. Clinton was headed for the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, where she will attend a meeting Friday of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) on security. While visiting Seoul along with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, she announced new US sanctions against North Korea in response to the warship sinking which killed 46 people. The United States and South Korea, citing findings of a multinational investigation, accuse the North of torpedoing the ship near the disputed Yellow Sea border in March — a charge it denies. The US and South Korea also announced plans for a series of joint naval exercises starting Sunday as a deterrent to the North, sparking complaints by China that the drills could aggravate regional tensions. Clinton plans to meet China’’s Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Thursday in Vietnam.
Written on July 22, 2010 | Posted in
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SEOUL: The United States and South Korea will stage about 10 naval exercises in coming months including one starting Sunday as a deterrent to North Korea, Seoul’’s defence ministry said Wednesday. On Tuesday the US and South Korean defence chiefs announced a major exercise from July 25-28 off the east coast of the peninsula, following the sinking of a South Korean warship that they blame on a North Korean torpedo. The two sides said the drill was the first in a series but gave no details. “Both sides will continue to conduct joint military exercises — approximately 10 times — in waters surrounding the peninsula for the next several months,” a defence ministry spokesman told media.
Written on July 21, 2010 | Posted in
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SEOUL: The United States may implement additional sanctions on North Korea in response to the sinking of a South Korean warship, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan said on Tuesday. “Considering the threat to the stability of the Korean peninsula from the Cheonan incident, the U.S. is considering additional sanctions against the North,” Yu said on local TV. The Security Council adopted resolution 1874, which cut offPyongyang’’s arms trade, last year, after the North’’s second nuclear test.
Written on July 20, 2010 | Posted in
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WASHINGTON: Pakistan believes that nuclear weapons are its “crown jewels” and a deterrent against India, a top US military official has said, even as he expressed deep concern over the safety of the nukes in the country. He said that Pakistan’s nuclear programme is different from those of Iran and North Korea because it makes ‘extraordinary efforts’ to protect its nuclear weapons while there’s no reason to trust those two countries. US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen’s statement at a public forum in Aspen, Colorado, follows a meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group in New Zealand last week where the United States, contrary to media speculations, did not raise a Chinese plan to build two nuclear reactors in Pakistan. “These are the most important weapons in the Pakistani arsenal. That is understood by the leadership, and they go to extraordinary efforts to protect and secure them. These are their crown jewels,” the admiral said. Resuming US-Pakistan relations that had ended in the 1990s also was important in light of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal, he said. Admiral Mullen not only defended Pakistan’s efforts to protect its nuclear arsenal but also pointed out that the Pakistani programme aimed at deterring a perceived threat from India, unlike those of Iran and North Korea that Washington says would have destabilising affects around the world. “I have raised this issue with the Pakistani military since Day 1,” he said. “As much as we are focused on this (terrorism) threat — and the Pakistanis are more than they used to be – they see a threat in India and (having nuclear weapons) is their deterrent. They see this as a huge part of their national security.” As for efforts by Iran and North Korea to obtain nuclear weapons, Admiral Mullen described a different situation. “There isn’t any reason to trust (Iran),” he said. “There is an uncertainty associated with Iran that is very consistent with Iran for a long time.” North Korea’s desire for nuclear weapons and its increasing aggressiveness were cause for concern, the US military chief said, adding that he’d put North Korea “at the top of the list” of nuclear proliferation concerns. The Chinese plan for building two additional nuclear plants in Pakistan, however, was raised informally during the five-day NSG meeting but was not placed on the agenda, apparently because Beijing ignored all efforts to hold a public debate on this issue.
Written on July 1, 2010 | Posted in
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HUNTSVILLE: Europe and the United States tried Friday to bridge differences over how to sustain fragile global economic recovery and sought common ground on dealing with ballooning deficits. As the G8 summit of the world’’s major developed economies got underway in Canada, all eyes were on a potential clash between European leaders bent on slashing spending and a Washington fearful of stifling growth. Germany’’s Chancellor Angela Merkel showed her hand early, insisting members must move fast to cut soaring public deficits and ensure financial stability. But both she and US officials stressed this did not represent a split with the United States, and said both European and other G8 powers were looking for a balance between debt reduction and support for growth. “I have made it clear that we need sustainable growth and that growth and intelligent austerity measures don”t have to be contradictions,” Merkel said. “The discussion was not controversial, there was a lot of mutual understanding,” she told journalists after the first exchanges of the summit in an exclusive lakeside resort north of the Canadian city of Toronto. A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the meeting had gone well and that Merkel and US President Barack Obama had not fallen out over Germany’’s call for immediate fiscal tightening. “The president sees deficit reduction as part of a medium and long-term growth strategy. Coming to the G8 and G20 his main focus is these things are not exclusive,” the administration official told reporters. “Taking the steps necessary to sustain demand and the economic recovery that has begun is absolutely necessary. But also any kind of medium and long-term growth strategy has to incorporate fiscal consolidation,” he said. On Saturday, the talks are due to move onto international security problems. “The session tomorrow is going to focus on peace and security, Iran and North Korea will be discussed,” said another senior US official. “Tomorrow is also the day the president has bilateral meetings with South Korea in particular, so we expect it to be a topic of discussion with them, as well as with China and Japan the next day.” The leaders — from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States — held closed door talks at an exclusive lakeside resort among themselves and with a group of African leaders. Europe has been spooked by a sovereign debt crisis that has pushed some eurozone members such as Greece to the brink of default — threatening the stability of the euro and of some European financial institutions. Merkel has led the way in pushing for governments to rein in their record deficits, and has vowed to slash Germany’’s own spending by 80 billion euros (98 billion dollars) over the next four years. Britain’’s new government this week announced the biggest cuts in decades in an emergency budget aiming to cut its record deficit of 154.7 billion pounds (188 billion euros, 230 billion dollars) in the 2009-10 financial year. But some other capitals, including Washington, fear a dramatic attack on spending could undermine jobs, consumer demand and even the strength of the global recovery — threatening a “double dip” recession. In the city of Toronto around 2,000 protesters — a loose coalition of leftist activists and anarchists — faced off against riot police, but there was no serious violence and no more than a handful of arrests. Larger protests were planned for Saturday when delegates return to the city from the Huntsville resort to meet more world leaders under the auspices of the larger G20 group of developed and emerging economies. Canada has spent a billion dollars to secure the summit behind a ring of steel and police reinforcements, hoping to avoid a repeat of the large-scale street violence that has marred previous global meetings. Aside from moving closer to agreement on the economic challenge, the leaders announced a five-billion-dollar package of aid to help protect mothers in the developing world from illness. But activists derided the deal, accusing summit host Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada of trying to divert attention from a 20-billion-dollar shortfall in the delivery of aid promised at previous summits.
Written on June 26, 2010 | Posted in
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SEOUL: North Korea’’s ruling communist party will convene a meeting of party representatives in September to elect new leaders, Pyongyang’’s official media reported Saturday. The session would be “for electing its the party’’s highest leading body,” said an announcement carried by the North’’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). It will be only the third such meeting of the ruling Workers” Party of Korea (WPK) since the communist state was founded in 1948 and would likely designate leader Kim Jong-Il’’s son as his political heir, analysts said. “The Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee decides to convene early in September, a conference of the WPK for electing its highest leading body,” agency said. “We are now faced with the sacred revolutionary tasks to develop the WPK into an eternal glorious party of North Korea’’s deceased founding father Kim Il-Sung and further increase its militant function and role to glorify the country as a great prosperous and powerful socialist nation,” it said.
Written on June 26, 2010 | Posted in
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