Pyongyang delegation's trip to China a 'big gesture'

Deutsche Welle, 24 May 2013

With the increase of North Korea's dependency on China, Pyongyang feels the growing need to exert its independence, Rüdiger Frank tells DW. Despite its malevolence, Pyongyang is very much interested in economic growth.

DW: Regarding the recent developments in North Korea, for example, the latest nuclear test and threats of war against the US and South Korea, China has agreed to sanctions against the country in the UN Security Council. But China was always seen as Pyongyang's protective partner. North Korea reacted with a further provocation – by kidnapping Chinese fishermen and then releasing them shortly before Beijing was due to receive a high ranking delegation from the country. How should we interpret North Korea's actions, being that they are so dependent on China?

Rüdiger Frank: That is exactly why North Korea is doing this - because its dependency on China is growing, it feels the need to gain more political autonomy. Because the same rules count for every country: there are no permanent friendships, there are only permanent interests. North Korea's interest is to maintain its independence and its autonomy.

Two weeks ago, I was told in North Korea that the North feels betrayed from China because China agreed to sanctions at the UN Security Council. So that has cast a shadow over their ties. They will try to mend it quickly, but at the moment North Korea wants to show its disapproval toward China.

What meaning does the North Korean delegation's trip to China have?

Choe Ryong Hae [head of the military politburo] is apparently very close to Kim Jong Un and he is also someone who is at the top of the ranks of the country's hierarchy. Him going to China is potentially big gesture.

I think they will meet to try and repair the damage in their relations. It will also be about convincing Beijing that Pyongyang does not intend on provoking a military conflict on the Korean Peninsula. It might also be about preparing Kim Jong Un's first state visit to China. Despite the fact that he assumed power a year and a half ago, Kim Jong Un has not yet left the country. So it is high time for him to do so and China would be the first destination for such a trip.

Last but not least, one should not forget that Kim Jong Un is very much interested in economic reform and sees China as a model for that. I can imagine Choe Ryong Hae will also talk economic cooperation in Beijing. I am certain the visit will be more about cooperation than confrontation.

How would you describe economic ties between North Korea and China?

It is clear that North Korea's economy is increasingly dominated by the Chinese - in all possible areas, from small ventures to mining. Chinese companies are very dynamic and also very aggressive. And because of that, they surely cross the line here and there.

North Korea's economy is a centrally planned one. That means that private enterprises are allowed, but, especially if it is on a large scale, they have to go through the central economy. In China, many business people are 100-percent profit oriented and so opinions vary on how business should work. I believe China is geared toward maximizing profits, while in North Korea it is about politics. So aside from economic cooperation and also profits, the North is interested in realizing political goals. And both of these models can clash at times.

Where does North Korea see its future economy? What kind of observations did you make on your last trip there?

The country's leadership and Kim Jong Un are mainly concerned with keeping the country stable - both domestically and also with regards to international ties. Kim Jong Un has said he wants to improve the living standard of his people. That means he wants more food and more products for consumption to be produced. He wants to expand trade.

But all of that is diametrically opposed to the country's current system. So it means that North Korea will sooner or later have to introduce political reform as well. I think they will look to China as a model. They are trying to introduce free market elements while at the same time holding on to the one party system.

There has been a real explosion in commercial activity in North Korea - not only in the capital, but in provincial cities and in the country side. I even saw people wearing jeans. I was able to speak to people more openly on this last trip than ever before. They did not run away, as they usually do when approached by a foreigner. Such things were unthinkable before. There are more and more mobile telephones and tablet computers nowadays.

The authorities are still continuing to keep the tightest security. But foreigners are now allowed to carry their mobile telephones with them and that means that in places close to the border, such as Kaesong, they have contact with the rest of the world through the South Korean networks. The government has accepted that.

There are a number of signs that North Korea is changing. I also have the impression that the amount of propaganda has decreased somewhat. And the propaganda looks different, too. The slogans are much less flamboyant than before. There are more restaurants and stores. Now there is a restaurant or store just about every 30 or 40 meters in Pyongyang. That implicates that the people have money to spend. And it looks like the infrastructure is being developed for that.

Dr. Rüdiger Frank is the chair of the East Asian Economy and Society at Vienna University and also gives lectures at universities in Seoul. His last trip to North Korea was two weeks ago.

Interview was conducted by Jun Yan

Liu Yunshan (right), a senior Communist party official, poses for

 the cameras with North Korean envoy Choe Ryong-hae on Thursday.

Photograph: China Daily/Reuters

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Archangel Michael on the World’s Movement into the Golden Age, March 24, 2013 – Part 2/2

“… GW: So, the game, then, that seems to be taking place between North and South Korea, and all of these alleged threats, the public seems to be getting this message, while other sources are secretly talking about a unification of these two countries.

Of course, many of our regular listeners will know that there is absolutely no threat whatsoever of global conflict. But are there talks taking place about the reunification of these two countries?

AAM: Very, very, very behind the scenes. Now, when we speak of Korea, North and South and in between, this is one of the most challenging, problematic hot spots on the planet. Volatile, erratic, irrational, and perhaps, shall we say, not as tired as some of this idea of conflict.

We say the idea of conflict, not the actuality of conflict, because there is so much posturing that goes on, on both sides. So it is not that we say that one side is right and the other is wrong. That is polarity and duality, and we do not go in that direction.

But this is a very difficult situation because of some of the personalities involved. And it is not just a matter of a singular containment; it is extensive. But there are many discussions going on on what we would call the practical implementation level that can and very likely will result in either a reunification or a very peaceful coexistence.

The people of Korea do not determine themselves as North or South in their hearts. They have a very rich tradition, an ancient tradition, that has been manipulated, and, yes, controlled. And this is one of the biggest shifts you are seeing, as this change, monetary, socially, politically, takes place.

You have individuals, what you have thought of as diplomats, government officials, government bureaucrats, mid-level managers, all beginning to talk and take responsibility for shift.

Previously — and we’re not saying that that is not still the paradigm, but it is shifting — it has been leadership, top down. Where there is leadership that is not talking about shift or peace or equality and freedom, there is a groundswell from the middle up. That is what you are seeing. And your brothers and sisters of the stars, your galactic friends, will not permit any kind of proliferation 

GW: Great. Well, we certainly always love to hear that message. ..."

Obama praises Myanmar reform but warns on Muslims

Google – AFP, Shaun Tandon and Stephen Collinson (AFP), 20 May 2013 

US President Barack Obama shakes hands with President Thein Sein of

 Myanmar (L) in Washington on May 20, 2013 (AFP, Saul Loeb)

WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama on Monday saluted Myanmar President Thein Sein for his leadership in pushing through startling political reforms, but warned ethnic violence against Muslims must stop.

As his guest became the first leader of his country in almost 50 years to visit the White House, Obama praised Myanmar's journey away from brutal junta rule and promised Washington would offer more political and economic support.

Seated with Thein Sein in the Oval Office, Obama said previously tortured US-Myanmar relations had eased because of "the leadership that President Sein has shown in moving Myanmar down a path of both political and economic reform."

Obama repeatedly used the word "Myanmar", rather than Burma. The former is the name introduced during military rule, and which is slowly being used more frequently by US officials as a courtesy to the reforming government.

The US president said that Thein Sein had made "genuine efforts" to solve the intricate ethnic wars that have long torn at Myanmar's unity, but spoke out on the plight of Rohingya Muslim minority.

He expressed "deep concern about communal violence that has been directed against Muslim communities inside Myanmar.

"The displacement of people, the violence directed towards them needs to stop," Obama said.

Thein Sein told reporters through a translator that his country had "many challenges," and was grateful for Obama's policy of engagement towards Myanmar which he said had helped the reform process.

"For democracy to flourish in our country, we will have to move forward, and we will have to undertake political reforms and economic reforms," he said.

The visit went ahead even though critics say Obama's invitation was premature and takes pressure off Myanmar to address abuses such as recent anti-Muslim violence to which security forces allegedly turned a blind eye.

Thein Sein, who took office as a nominal civilian in 2011, surprised even cynics by freeing hundreds of political prisoners, easing censorship and letting long-detained opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi enter parliament.

The most critical test of reform will come in 2015, when Myanmar is scheduled to hold elections -- testing whether the military and its allies would be willing to cede power, potentially to Suu Kyi.

In an interview with the Washington Post published Monday, Thein Sein would not take a position on whether the Nobel laureate would be allowed to stand -- saying the future direction of reform was up to parliament.

But he is also not budging on the constitution's allocation of 25 percent of seats in parliament to the armed forces, saying that the military had preserved Myanmar's independence.

Thein Sein told the Post that the armed forces would "always have a special place" in government and life in Myanmar.

The army seized control of the country then known as Burma in 1962, ushering in decades of isolation. Military ruler Ne Win in 1966 was the last leader to visit the White House, where he met president Lyndon Johnson.

Obama has made Myanmar a key priority and visited in November. To some, Myanmar represents the biggest success from his pledge in his 2009 inaugural address to reach out to US foes if they "unclench" their fists.

In recent weeks, the United States ended sweeping restrictions on visas, and top trade official Demetrios Marantis visited Myanmar to start discussions on economic measures such as offering duty-free access for certain products.

But in a signal ahead of Thein Sein's visit, Representative Joe Crowley, who has long been active on Myanmar, introduced legislation to extend for one year a ban on trade in the country's gems -- a key money-maker for the military.

Crowley, a member of Obama's Democratic Party from New York, said he was "very concerned" about human rights violations in Myanmar, including "brutal attacks" in recent months against the Muslim minority.

A recent Human Rights Watch report accused Myanmar of a "campaign of ethnic cleansing" against the Rohingya, who are not even considered citizens of the predominantly Buddhist nation.

The US Campaign for Burma, an advocacy group that plans protests against Thein Sein, said the United States should have retracted or at least frozen gestures toward Myanmar as a condition to stop abuse of the Rohingya.

"President Obama is sending the message that crimes against humanity by state forces against ethnic and religious minorities in Burma will be ignored by his administration," said Jennifer Quigley, the group's executive director.

Netanyahu flies into turbulence over $127,000 bed on plane

Outcry in austerity-hit Israel over news that 'rest chamber' was installed on plane ferrying PM and wife to London for Thatcher funeral

guardian.co.uk, Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem, Sunday 12 May 2013

Binyamin and Sara Netanyahu in China this week. It was pointed out that
 the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, who will be 90 next month, spent
 an 11-hour flight to South Korea seated. Photograph: Avi Ohayon/
 AFP/Getty Images

The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has encountered severe turbulence after it emerged that he ordered a double bed to be installed on a plane that carried him and his deeply unpopular wife, Sara, to Baroness Thatcher's funeral in London last month – at a cost of $127,000 (£83,000).

The revelation comes amid growing resentment over an austerity budget proposed by the finance minister Yair Lapid, a former TV personality who won popular support in January's election by promising to champion Israel's financially squeezed middle class. Up to 15,000 people demonstrated in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities on Saturday night in an echo of the massive social justice protests that swept the country two years ago.

Following an outcry over the cost of installing a "rest chamber" on the chartered El Al flight, Netanyahu's office said that henceforth no sleeping cabins would be provided on short-haul flights to Europe.

Initially, officials defended the move – disclosed by Israel's Channel 10 on Friday evening – in a statement that was immediately mocked by commentators for its detailed account of Netanyahu's schedule.

The statement said: "The prime minister took off for London on the night after Independence Day, in the course of which he attended a reception for outstanding soldiers at the presidential residence, the World Bible Quiz, a reception for diplomatic personnel in Israel and the Israel prize ceremony. The flight was booked for midnight after a day full of events, and afterwards the prime minister was to represent the state of Israel at a number of official international events, including meetings with the prime ministers of Canada and Britain. It is acceptable for the prime minister of Israel to be able to rest at night between two packed days as those."

El Al, Israel's national airline, was paid $427,000 for the charter flight, including the cost of the chamber. A smaller plane, without sleeping quarters, would have cost $300,000, according to Israeli media reports.

Channel 10 pointed out that the Israeli president, Shimon Peres, who will be 90 next month, spent an 11-hour flight to South Korea seated in business class.

Writing in Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's biggest-selling newspaper, Sima Kadmon said: "We thought that nothing could surprise us anymore when it came to the Netanyahus' personal behaviour. Well, we thought wrong. It turns out that King Bibi and Queen Sara are entitled to do everything … The double bed that was installed on the plane cost the Israeli public, which is buckling under the weight of the austerity measures, half a million shekels. Is there no shame?"

The disclosure of Netanyahu's in-flight sleeping arrangements follows the revelation earlier this year of a prime ministerial budget of $2,800 forice-cream. A contract with a Jerusalem ice-cream parlour was swiftly cancelled.

Meanwhile, the Israeli public is facing a 1.5% rise in income tax, a 1% increase in VAT and a reduction in child allowances as part of an austerity package, which critics says disproportionately penalises the middle class.

Anger at demonstrations on Saturday focused on Lapid, whose party Yesh Atid (There is a Future) came second in January's election and is now a key partner in Netanyahu's coalition government. Lapid had pitched his campaign at middle-class voters who were the mainstay of 2011's social justice movement.

Daphni Leef, one of the protest leaders, called on Lapid to "take from the tycoons, not the people … from those who have and not from those who don't".

Lior Tzur, 31, told the Jerusalem Post: "Lapid sold us all an illusion that he'll change things and help the middle class, when really he's just going to continue the same policies of money and power that existed before."

A poll published in the pro-government Israel Hayom tabloid last week found that more than 50% of respondents said their confidence in Lapid had fallen since the election.

Revelations of Binyamin Netanyahu’s profligacy come days after

 anti-austerity protests in cities across Israel. Photograph: Uriel 

Sinai/Getty Images

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Matthew’s Message - May 12, 2013 - (Matthew Channelled by Suzanne Ward) - New

“… Israel's persistent belligerence is the work of the Zionists—another of the Illuminati's disparate groups—who serve only their own interests of conquest. Contrary to what they want you to believe, the Zionist movement does not represent the will of the Israelis or Jews anywhere else in the world. In time, this movement, which is losing favor even with its former staunch allies, will completely lose its credibility and influence. …”

Archangel Michael on the World’s Movement into the Golden Age – Mar 24, 2013 (Archangel Michael channeled by Linda Dillon) - New

GW: I’m reading between the lines here, and what you’re saying, Michael, is that the young people and even many of the elders within Israel are searching for peace.

The fact that Netanyahu has even maintained a position of power or leadership within the country might suggest that something that was not particularly life-honoring had taken place in the leadership.

Is Netanyahu in containment at the moment?

AAM: He is in some form of mild containment. He is not in full containment, let us put it that way. Now, we also say that he has a following in the middle range of those who wish to maintain the status quo. And part of that maintenance of the status quo is not just the belief in lack and limitation. It is also the desire to maintain power, and to maintain wealth, and to maintain positions of freedom.

And that is not the fundamental basis upon which Israel, or any other nation, for that matter, has been founded. So his position and his power you will see diminishing.

(Religions – Zionism - March 1, 2012 - Matthew Channelled by Suzanne Ward)

9. It can be no other way—simply, this is the physics that governs life in this universe. As Earth continues apace into successively higher planes, nothing with low vibrations in any form—physical bodies, subversive plans, theft, dishonesty, unjust laws and imprisonment, bigotry, cruel customs and deeds—can survive.

10. Moving on, no, it will not be quite like religions being “totally discarded and replaced by universal laws in the Golden Age.” When the truths come forth that science and spirit are one and the same and that religious dogmas were originated by early leaders of church and state to control the masses, people whose consciousness has risen beyond the constraints of third density will adhere to the spiritual aspects of their respective religions and the devised, controlling aspects will fall by the wayside.

11. One of the truths to come forth is that Zionism, which by dark intent has been made synonymous with Judaism, actually is a bellicose political movement within the Illuminati, and its aim for more than six decades has been to create conflict and instability in the entire Middle East. Zionists, who have wielded powerful influence within and behind major governments and their military forces, do NOT represent the Jewish peoples in Israel or anywhere else. And, like all other Illuminati factions, they have been committed to that cabal’s goal of global domination.

12. Although Semites are of diverse national origins and religions, the Zionists have been successful in convincing many that “anti-Semitic” is exclusively prejudice against the Jewish peoples and opposition to Israel’s right to defend itself from its “enemies.” By means of that blatant distortion, they obtained not only world sympathy, but also massive defense funding from Israel’s allies, most especially the United States, all of which served to increase the Illuminati’s vast profits from their industrial-military machine.

13. In addition to controlling the masses through dogmatic teachings, religions have served the dark purpose of divisiveness to such an extent that it resulted in centuries of trauma and bloodshed. Witness the Crusades, wars between Catholics and Protestants, pogroms against Jews, executions of “blasphemous” individuals who refused to “recant.”  (Read More …)

Saudi woman makes history by reaching Everest summit

BBC News, 18 May 2013

It took a lot of persuading before Raha Moharrak's Saudi family agreed

to let her climb

A Saudi woman has made history by reaching the summit of the world's highest mountain.

Raha Moharrak, 25, not only became the first Saudi woman to attempt the climb but also the youngest Arab to make it to the top of Everest.

She is part of a four-person expedition that also includes the first Qatari man and the first Palestinian man attempting to reach the summit.

They are trying to raise $1m (£660,000) for education projects in Nepal.

Originally from Jeddah, Ms Moharrak is a university graduate currently based in Dubai.

Coming from Saudi Arabia - a conservative Muslim country where women's rights are very restricted - she had to break a lot of barriers to achieve her goal, her climb team said.

A biography on the expedition website said convincing Ms Moharrak's family to agree to her climb "was as great a challenge as the mountain itself", though they fully support her now.

"I really don't care about being the first," she is quoted as saying. "So long as it inspires someone else to be second."

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Israel rabbi speaks out on being gay and Orthodox

The Raw Story – AFP, May 17, 2013

In openly displaying his homosexuality while serving as an Orthodox rabbi, Ron Yosef has broken a major taboo in the closed religious world that he inhabits.

Although May 17 is to be marked International Day Against Homophobia, the biblical stance on homosexuality remains clearly laid out in Leviticus, one of the five books of the Torah, which says that the sexual act between two men is an “abomination.”

But 38-year-old Yosef, who holds an Orthodox rabbinical diploma, believes it is possible to be “both gay and observant.”

He first became aware of his sexual orientation in his early 20s, with the realisation forcing him away from the faith and into the welcoming arms of secular Tel Aviv, the gay capital of the Middle East.

But it didn’t last long.

He soon realised his faith meant too much to him, and he returned to the fold, taking the road less travelled by many of his peers in the same situation.

“By the age of 30, I was finally at peace with myself after deciding I could be both Orthodox and gay even though many observant people in the same situation had left the religious world,” he told AFP.

In 2008, he set up a website to help others in his situation which soon turned into an organisation known as HOD, the Hebrew acronym for “Orthodox Jewish homosexuals.”

“We wanted to educate the religious community about this phenomenon and offer a solution to people who are both gay and religious, by letting them reconcile their double identity,” he explains.

A year later, Yosef became the first — and still is — the only Orthodox rabbi to come out, in an interview with Uvda, one of Israel’s leading investigative journalism programmes.

Three years later, he could finally say he had “broken the wall of silence in the religious world.”

More than 6,000 people have turned to HOD since it was set up with the goal of initiating “a public dialogue in the religious community, among its leaders, its rabbis… that would lead to an improvement of the social situation of the religious homosexual man, within the religious society.”

“We are pioneers who are walking an unpaved path, who are part of the religious community, and who wish to remain part of it. We do not give up on our religious identity, nor do we wish to abandon our homosexual identity,” the association’s website says.

Although his group has won the support of more than 150 Orthodox rabbis, Yosef is not always welcomed within religious circles.

“Since I came out in 2009, I have been threatened but overall, I was surprised by the welcome I received in religious circles,” he said.

Today he lives in a religious neighbourhood in the northern coastal resort town of Netanya, where he gives courses in Judaism and looks after his flock of around 50 families that attend the synagogue where he serves.

“I was ready to resign my post when I first came out about my homosexuality, but they decided to keep me on,” he smiles.

But rabbis who try to “cure” observant Jews of their homosexuality make him angry.

One such group, Atzat Nefesh, was set up in 2001 by Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, a leading figure within the religious Zionist movement.

The group bills itself as a hotline for people looking to change their sexual behaviour or orientation and offers help to those struggling with “contradictory homosexual tendencies in order to bring them back to the right path,” its website says.

“I’m not asking the rabbis to authorise what is forbidden but to find answers for those who want to stay religious,” says Yosef, who believes Atzat Nefesh is a “dangerous” organisation.

Unlike other religious gay groups, members of HOD don’t participate in pride parades.

“We want to integrate ourselves into (religious) society without pushing our sexual differences in people’s faces, but while being accepted by all,” Yosef explains.

Although he lives with his partner, who is also Orthodox, they do not go out in public together as a couple, and Yosef says the life of some homosexuals who live in communities ironically “resembles the ultra-Orthodox Jews who live in ghettos” because of the resultant reclusiveness.

“I’m not ashamed of my sexual identity, but there’s a difference between that and systematically bringing it up,” he says.

• HOD website: http://www.hod.org.il/?en=1 (English and Hebrew)
• Atzat Nefesh: http://www.atzat-nefesh.org/index.php (Hebrew)

Ultra-Orthodox Jews protest over Israeli army enlistment

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About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack) - “You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.”

"The Akashic System" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“ … Spirituality (Religions)

Number one: Spirituality. The systems of spiritual design on your planet are starting to change. This is not telling you that certain ones are going to go away. They're simply going to change. Some of the largest spiritual systems, which you would call organized religion on the planet, are shifting. They're going to shift away from that which is authority on the outside to authority on the inside. It will eventually be a different way of worship, slowly changing the rules while keeping the basic doctrine the same.

The doctrine of the Christ has always been to find the God inside. The teachings were clear. The examples of the miracles were given as an example of what humans could do, not to set a man up for worship as a God. So when that has been absorbed, the teaching of the Christ can remain the teaching of the Christ. It simply changes the interpretation. …”

Cambodia sneaker workshop ceiling collapse kills 2

Deutsche Welle, 16 May 2013

The ceiling of a garment factory workshop in Cambodia collapsed killing two and injuring 10. The accident highlights the ongoing dangers for workers in the global garment industry.

About 50 workers were inside the workroom when the ceiling caved in early Thursday, according to police. The factory, south of Phnom Penh, the capital, had heavy iron equipment stored in a mezzanine above the workspace, which appears to have caused the collapse. Two bodies were pulled from the wreckage and 10 people were injured.

Rescuers picked through rubble for several hours and cleared the site. They said no one else was trapped inside.

Speaking from a clinic where she was being treated for her injuries, 25-year-old worker Kong Thary said, "We were working normally and suddenly several pieces of brick and iron started falling on us."

Governor Ou Sam Oun of Kampong Speu province, where the factory is located, said initial investigations indicated that the ceiling was poorly built and lacked the proper materials to support heavy weight.

Trade unionist Chea Muny said the factory was a Taiwanese-owned operation called Wing Star that produced sneakers for Japanese sportswear label Asics. He said shoes made at the factory were exported to the United States and Europe. Chea Muny added that the site of the accident was mainly used as storage for equipment but had a small area for workers.

Police officer Khem Pannara said the complex had been opened about a year ago and the total site employed about 7,000 people in several buildings.

An Asics spokeswoman in Tokyo confirmed the factory was in contract to make Asics running shoes. She said Asics was trying to find out what happened.

"We understand that some people have died, so first we offer our condolences," Masayo Hasegawa said from Tokyo. "We want the highest priority to be placed on saving lives."

The accident comes just three weeks after the building housing five garment factories in Bangladesh collapsed killing 1,127 people.

The garment industry is Cambodia's biggest export earner, employing about 500,000 people in more than 500 garment and shoe factories. In 2012, the Southeast Asian country shipped more than $4 billion (3.1 billion euros) worth of products to the United States and Europe.

jm/mkg (AP, AFP)

Earlier story:

• Cambodian factory deaths shine spotlight on conditions

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Saudi princes lose battle to keep court documents secret

Allegations against former defence minister and his son emerge in papers obtained by Guardian

The Guardian, Owen Bowcott and Ian Black, Thursday 16 May 2013

Appeal court judges agreed to the release of documents in the dispute between
 the Saudi princes and a Jordanian former business partner. Photograph: Graham
Turner for the Guardian

Two prominent Saudi princes are involved in a London-registered company that supposedly facilitated "money laundering" for Hezbollah in Lebanon and helped smuggle precious stones out of Congo, according to contested allegations in court documents obtained by the Guardian.

The claims emerge from court papers that lawyers for the Saudis have spent a year trying to suppress, including resorting to threats that relations with Britain would be damaged if they were revealed.

Lawyers for the two princes – Prince Mishal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a former defence minister, brother of King Abdullah and chairman of the country's influential allegiance council, and his son Prince Abdulaziz bin Mishal bin Al Saud – dismiss the claims as fabrications, "extortion" and "blackmail".

They contend that their former partner, a Jordanian, Faisal Almhairat, "misappropriated" money from accounts, denied them access to company books, shut down the shared business and "interfered with the negotiations" on telecommunications deals. Almhairat, in turn, disputes their claims.

In the context of Middle East politics, the suggestion that two prominent Sunni Muslims from the Saudi royal family have been surreptitiously dealing for profit with Hezbollah, a Shia force supported by Iran, is extremely damaging. Hezbollah is designated by the United States as a terrorist organisation.

The Guardian and Financial Times originally requested to see the court documents – filed as part of a commercial dispute between Almhairat and the Saudis – in spring 2012. On Thursday, the court of appeal finally agreed to the immediate release of the statements of case.

Among other allegations is the claim that at the "instigation" of Prince Abdulaziz, Saudi police issued an arrest warrant for Almhairat and asked Interpol to issue a Red Notice sanctioning the extradition of the Saudis' former business partner to Saudi Arabia.

The case revolves around a catastrophic breakdown in relations between Almhairat and the Saudis. They were business partners in a London registered telecommunications company, FI Call Ltd, whose capital value was £300m.

Fi Call was developing a software application for smartphones that would allow users to make free phone calls. The Saudis' shares were mainly held through Global Torch Ltd, a British Virgin Islands company that the princes are said by Almhairat to control. Almhairat's shares are held by his Seychelles-based firm Apex Global Management.

The dispute, which erupted over allegedly misappropriated money and the sale of $6.7m (£4.3m) worth of shares, has "thrown up a nuclear mushroom cloud" of litigation, according to Mr Justice Morgan, who gave judgment at an early stage in the litigation.

The case raises questions about whether the transparency of British justice can be upheld at a time when the Ministry of Justice is eagerly inviting wealthy, international claimants to resolve their disputes in London's commercial courts.

The legal dispute was initiated by Global Torch but a counter-petition by Almhairat forced the two Saudi princes to become involved in the case. The princes then tried unsuccessfully to extract themselves from the proceedings by claiming "sovereign immunity". Prince Mishal is aged 86 and said to be in frail health.

A further, preliminary hearing is due to take place next week at the Rolls Building in central London where commercial disputes are tried. That argument will focus on an application by the princes that the UK courts do not have jurisdiction to involve them in the counter-claim launched by Apex and Almhairat.

The full trial, if it goes ahead, is due to be heard in January next year. On Thursday three judges in the court of appeal, Lord Justice Kay, Lord Justice Richards and Lord Justice Briggs, lifted a stay on reporting court submissions. They are due to give their reasoning at a later date.

None of the factual issues have yet been resolved by the court. The allegations are fiercely contested on both sides. At one point in a court document, lawyers for Almhairat remark: "Each side maintains that the other is lying about almost everything."

During the appeal court hearing, Guy Vassall-Adams, counsel for the Guardian and Financial Times, said: "Global Torch has chosen to bring proceedings in this jurisdiction. This is an open justice jurisdiction.

"They [the Saudis] have to accept that these damaging allegations will be heard in open court in the usual way. The protection they are entitled to is a judgment delivered in public which will refute unfounded allegations. That's how a legal system works in a democracy under the rule of law."

The case continues.

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Malaysian Couple Jailed for Starving Maid to Death

Jakarta Globe, Agence France-Presse, May 16, 2013

 

A migrant worker is made up as a skull during a Labor Day march in
Hong Kong, China, on May 1, 2013. (Bloomberg/Jerome Favre)

A Malaysian court on Thursday sentenced a couple to 24 years in jail for starving their Cambodian maid to death, one of many such abuse cases straining ties between the country and its neighbors.

Hardware store owners Soh Chew Tong, 44, and his wife Chin Chui Ling, 42, were found guilty of culpable homicide at a high court in the northern state of Penang, said prosecutor Tan Guat Cheng.

The 24-year jail term is to run from the day of their arrest in April last year, shortly after their maid Mey Sichan was found dead by paramedics.

She weighed just 26 kilograms (57 pounds) and had bruises on her body.

Police said she died from acute gastritis and ulcers likely caused by lack of food over a long period. The 23-year-old had been working for the family for eight months.

The couple initially were charged with murder, which carries the death penalty in Malaysia. But the charge was reduced to culpable homicide, which carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in jail, Tan said.

Cases of abuse of domestic workers, who come from poorer regional countries such as Indonesia and Cambodia, have frequently surfaced in Malaysia. It is heavily dependent on foreigners as domestic helpers such locals shun the work.

In response, Cambodia no longer sends its citizens as domestic workers to Malaysia, while Indonesia for years suspended sending maids.

Malaysia has promised to improve their welfare and protection, including giving them a day off. But activists say the hundreds of thousands of women remain vulnerable to sexual abuse, overwork and exploitation.

Agence France-Presse

Singapore Boosts Measures Against Global Tax Cheats

Jakarta Globe, Agence France-Presse, May 14, 2013

The central business district of Singapore seen on Tuesday, May 14, 2013.
(Bloomberg Photo/Munshi Ahmed)

Singapore. Singapore said Tuesday it will implement new measures that will make it easier to share information with other countries on cross-border tax evaders trying to hide assets in the city-state.

The move comes as the United States and developed countries in Europe intensify efforts to ferret out citizens who avoid paying taxes by parking their money in offshore financial centers like Singapore.

Officials said Singapore plans to reach an agreement with the United States that will enable financial institutions to comply with a US law requiring them to share information on Americans’ overseas accounts.

It also aims to amend its laws so that the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) will no longer need a court order to get information from banks on accounts of suspected tax dodgers at the request of a foreign government.

From July 1 it will be a criminal offence in Singapore to handle proceeds from tax evasion.

“There no conflict between high standards of financial integrity and keeping our strengths as a financial center for managing wealth,” Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said in a statement.

“Singapore will continue to be a vibrant wealth management center, with laws and rules that safeguard legitimate funds and reject tainted money.”

The joint statement by the finance ministry, central bank and IRAS said Singapore had already been able to respond promptly to most requests for information from foreign governments.

But removing the requirement of a court order will “further streamline” the exchange of information, it said.

Singapore will also sign an international convention on mutual assistance in tax matters and increase the number of countries with which it is able to exchange information for tax purposes from 41 to 83, including the United States.

The statement said the necessary legal changes would be made this year.

French authorities recently said they would seek Singapore’s help with an international probe into suspected tax fraud by a former budget minister.

Jerome Cahuzac stepped down in March after prosecutors announced there would be a full criminal inquiry into allegations that he had an undeclared bank account in Switzerland.

The 60-year-old is also suspected of moving assets to Singapore to hide them from the tax authorities.

Assets managed by fund managers in Singapore stood at Sg$1.34 trillion ($1.05 trillion) as of 2011, with over 70 percent coming from overseas, according to central bank data.

Agence France-Presse

Offshore Secrets

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