China welcomes IMF backing to make yuan world reserve currency

Yahoo – AFP, 14 Nov 2015

The yuan has rapidly grown in importance in recent years as China -- the world's

 top trading nation -- has used it to settle more of its commerce, and made it 

directly convertable with more currencies (AFP Photo)

China on Saturday welcomed backing from IMF experts that the yuan should be included in its reserve currencies, saying the move would strengthen the world's financial system.

Now the world's second-largest economy, China asked last year for the yuan to be added to the elite basket of SDR currencies, but until recently it was considered too tightly controlled to qualify.

It now looks likely the yuan will be formally admitted to the IMF's "special drawing rights" currency basket at the end of the month, which would mark a milestone in China's efforts to become a global economic power.

IMF chief Christine Lagarde said the fund now deemed the yuan "meets the requirements to be a 'freely usable' currency" -- a key hurdle to joining the yen, dollar, pound and euro as a leading unit in international trade.

The yuan hit headlines in August when China's central bank devalued the currency and said it would use a more market-oriented system to calculate the point around which the currency can trade each day.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde says the fund now deems

 the yuan "meets the requirements to be a 'freely usable' currency" -- a key hurdle 

to joining the yen, dollar, pound and euro as a leading unit in international trade 

(AFP Photo/Yasser al-Zayyat)

The move sent markets into a tailspin as investors took it as a sign of slowing growth in China, a key driver of the world economy, but the central bank on Saturday said such reforms had taken it closer to joining the SDR basket.

"China thinks that the inclusion of the RMB (yuan) into the SDR basket will strengthen the representativeness and the attraction of the SDR (and) that it will improve the existing international monetary system," the People's Bank of China (PBoC) added.

"It will have win-win benefits both for China and the world."

Yuan's rapid rise

The yuan has rapidly grown in importance in recent years as China -- the world's top trading nation -- has used it to settle more of its commerce, and made it directly convertable with more currencies.

Including the Chinese currency in the SDR would likely boost demand for yuan-denominated assets among central banks, and give it a sheen of respectability at a time when many investors are questioning Beijing's ability to manage the slowing economy.

Lagarde said IMF experts ruled Beijing had addressed "all remaining operational issues" required for SDR inclusion, which will be decided by the executive board at a November 30 meeting.

Now the world's second-largest economy, China asked last year for the yuan to 

be added to the elite basket of SDR currencies, but until recently it was considered 

too tightly controlled to qualify (AFP Photo/Wang Zhao)

"I support the staff's findings," she said, adding to expectations that the board will also back the yuan.

That would mark an about turn from the beginning of August -- before the yuan devaluation -- when the Fund said the currency was not freely usable enough to be included in the basket.

Despite the recent misgivings, there has been strong pressure for the IMF to act now as the SDR basket is only reviewed every five years.

If a decision to include the yuan is made this month, the actual inclusion could take place as late as September 30, 2016, giving Beijing more time to prepare.

The recommendation Friday was broadly backed by the United States, China's main rival for world economic supremacy.

"We intend to support the renminbi's inclusion in the Special Drawing Rights basket provided the currency meets the International Monetary Fund's existing criteria," the Treasury Department said, using another name for the yuan.

"We will review the IMF's paper in that light."

Suu Kyi's party wins historic Myanmar polls

Yaho – AFP, Aidan Jones, Hla-Hla Htay, 13 Nov 2015

Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is barred from the presidency 

by a the constitution but has vowed to govern from "above the president" 

(AFP Photo/Ye Aung Thu)

Aung San Suu Kyi's party secured a landslide election victory in Myanmar on Friday, propelling the pro-democracy movement to power after a 25-year struggle against authoritarian rule.

It promises a new dawn for a country asphyxiated by half a century of army rule that battered the economy and repressed its people.

In a reflection of rapid changes that have swept the country, confirmation of the win came five years to the day since Suu Kyi was released from house arrest by the military.

A giant graffiti depiction of Myanmar's 

opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi outside

 the headquarters of the National League

 for Democracy party (NLD) in Yangon

(AFP Photo/Ye Aung Thu)

She has now led her National League for Democracy party to a massive popular mandate with more than 80 percent of seats going to the movement.

The NLD on Friday sailed through the two-thirds majority it needs to rule, claiming 364 parliamentary seats with a number of results yet to be declared.

The election has won praise from observers for its smooth, peaceful passing, in a country where violence and repression has normally met democratic milestones.

"We have been ready to form a new government for many years," party spokesman Nyan Win told AFP, greeting the result.

Suu Kyi, 70, has not spoken to the party faithful since Monday.

In Yangon there were no immediate signs of celebration after the party figurehead urged restraint from supporters, aware of the threat of a backlash in a country where the army's writ remains large.

Under Myanmar's complex political system, the NLD will also have to wait until March next year for the transfer of power.

That gap has left some party loyalists nervous at the potential for political chicanery by an army establishment that wields substantial power, despite its chastening at the polls.

But the comfortable majority gives Suu Kyi's party control of the lower and upper houses, allowing it to elect the president and form the government.

Long wait

Suu Kyi, 70, is barred from the presidency by a junta-scripted constitution, which also guarantees the army a 25-percent bloc of seats.

She has already vowed to govern from "above the president" saying she will circumnavigate the charter ban by backing a proxy to run for the top office.

Myanmar's President Thein Sein (R) leaves after casting his vote in Naypyidaw

on November 8, 2015 (AFP Photo/Str)

The win represents a huge stride in Suu Kyi's decades-long journey from political prisoner, held under house arrest for 15 years by the former junta, to the heart of power.

Many NLD supporters have waited 25 years for their vote to count.

"I'm so happy... Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will do more for us than the current government," said 66-year-old street vendor Moe Thu.

Buoyed by her party's sweep of the polls, Suu Kyi has called for "national reconciliation talks" with President Thein Sein and army chief Min Aung Hlaing.

Both men have congratulated the NLD on its election performance and have vowed to abide by the result as well as help a peaceful transition of power.

The lower house speaker Shwe Mann has also been invited to talks but his political stock appears low after losing his seat and falling out with many senior figures from the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party.

The USDP, which is made up of former military cadres, has been mauled at the election.

Yet the president, a former general who swapped his uniform for civilian clothes to lead the government in 2011, has won praise for steering the reforms that culminated in Sunday's peaceful poll.

Vendors sell t-shirts depicting Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to 

party supporters outside the headquarters of the National League for Democracy

party (NLD) in Yangon on November 13, 2015 (AFP Photo/Ye Aung Thu)

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon congratulated Suu Kyi for her election win, but also hailed the "courage and vision" of Thein Sein for "leadership in the reform process".

Those reforms have seen many political prisoners released, the restoration of basic freedoms and the economy resuscitated after years of madcap junta planning.

The international community has welcomed the election, with US President Barack Obama calling both Suu Kyi and the president to offer his congratulations.

Obama has spent great efforts on helping Myanmar's transition from authoritarian rule to an emergent democracy, visiting the country twice in the last four years.

Yet the country's military is not about to disappear. It retains major influence with its parliamentary bloc, which effectively assures a veto over constitutional change.

It also has key ministerial posts reserved under the charter.

Many NLD supporters remain deeply suspicious of the army and its political allies, who are notorious for dirty tricks and crackdowns that have left hundreds dead and thousands jailed.

Dates in the life of #AungSanSuuKyi pic.twitter.com/IgaMtQfzNw

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) November 13, 2015

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Burma's Thein Sein 'would accept Suu Kyi as president'  (Sep 29, 2012)

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Obama opens door to new U.S. ties with Myanmar (Nov 18, 2011)

President Barack Obama announces that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

will travel to Myanmar, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Nusa Dua, 

Bali, November 18, 2011. (Credit: Reuters/Jason Reed)

As Lawyer Todung Leads Prosecution, Kalla Says Netherlands Not the Place for '1965' Tribunal

Jakarta Globe, November 10, 2015

Todung Mulya Lubis, a prominent Indonesian lawyer and activist, is the chief
prosecutor at the unofficial International People's Tribunal 1965 in The Hague.
(Reuters Photo/Darren Whiteside)

Jakarta. It is not appropriate for an activists' tribunal on the 1965-66 anti-communist violence in Indonesia to be organized in the Netherlands, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Tuesday, after other senior government officials had already dismissed the proceedings as irrelevant.

Asked how he felt about the International People's Tribunal 1965, Kalla admitted that he didn't know in detail what was going on in The Hague, but he stressed that Indonesia itself had also in the past been affected by human rights abuses committed by the Dutch.

The Netherlands ruled Indonesia for centuries and fought a bloody war to retain the colony after it declared independence in 1945, but the Dutch government has in recent years tried to make amends, for instance by apologizing for war crimes committed by its troops and paying damages to relatives of victims.

But Kalla said that when it comes to human rights abuses, the Dutch are not in a position to speak about Indonesia, proven by the fact that the government of the former colonial power even paid for acts of cruelty committed here.

"So, don't judge Indonesia," the vice president said at his office.

Netherlands-Indonesia ties

Separately, Hikmahanto Juwana, an international law professor from the University of Indonesia (UI) who is not afraid of controversy, said the Netherlands should be careful not to damage its good relationship with Indonesia.

"Even though the results of this trial mean nothing in legal terms and the [Indonesian] government can ignore them, they will spark controversy among the Indonesian public," Hikmahanto said. "This will have an impact on the ties between Indonesia and the Netherlands, which are currently good."

"The Dutch government shouldn't use double standards," the professor added. "When we're talking about atrocities committed by the Indonesian government it is willing to allow an event [like IPT 1965] to take place, but it's not ready [to do the same thing] when the [Dutch] state and its soldiers commit acts of cruelty."

However, other than the location of the event and the nationality of one among the panel of seven judges, Dutch involvement seems to be limited.

The government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte would likely have little to gain from such involvement, especially as it has in recent years tried hard to strengthen its relationship with Indonesia, including by boosting business ties.

No official court

The tribunal is being held from Wednesday till Friday in a former church in The Hague that is currently in use as a concert hall and is not an initiative by the Dutch government. In fact, no state has recognized the tribunal and its findings cannot be enforced anywhere.

The proceedings do follow those of a formal court -- with prosecutors and judges -- but it is a civil society initiative that, according to the IPT 1965's website, "operates outside the mechanisms of government and formal institutions like the United Nations."

The prominent Indonesia lawyer and activist Todung Mulya Lubis acts as the chief prosecutor. Other Indonesian activists and lawyers involved in the prosecution are Agustinus Agung Wijaya, Sri Suparyati, Antarini Arna, Uli Parulian Sihombing and Bahrain Makmun.

A statement on the tribunal's website says it is an initiative of the International People’s Tribunal 1965 Foundation, "which was set up in 2013 by a group of victims in exile and in Indonesia, as well as by human rights activists, intellectuals, artists, journalists and academics, and many other groups."

Valentina Sagala, a commissioner at the Indonesian NGO Women’s Institute and a member of the group behind the tribunal, stressed that it was not an attempt to indict anyone on criminal charges.

She said the tribunal’s outcome, expected to be presented next year at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, would not be legally binding, but would instead serve as a “moral verdict” so that the Indonesian government could formulate its own policies on addressing the massacres of half a century ago.

A difficult discussion

Indonesia's attorney general, H.M. Prasetyo also bristled at the fact that the tribunal was taking place outside the country.

“These are our own problems and we well solve them ourselves," Prasetyo was quoted as saying by Kompas on Tuesday. "There’s no need for involvement from other parties.”

Prasetyo has however repeatedly refused to launch an inquiry into findings of gross violations of human rights -- as detailed by the government's own National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) -- after a failed coup attempt that was pinned on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

Key military leaders where killed in the alleged coup attempt, sparking a wave of violence against suspected communists across the country, which was supported by Western powers like the United States and heralded the start of Suharto's New Order regime.

Until today, however, it remains difficult to discuss the events of 1965-66 in Indonesia from the perspective of the victims and their relatives, or to question the official version of what happened.

At least 500,000, but possibly and more than a million people were killed, and many others were tortured, raped or sent to prison camps. The purges have always been presented as necessary to prevent a communist takeover.

Indonesian authorities recently threatened to close down a writers' festival in Bali if the organizers allowed discussions on 1965 and its aftermath.

Reporting by Novianti Setuningsih & Leonard A.L. Cahyoputra

Leila S. Chudori speaking with historian Martijn Eickhoff, left, and Aboeprijadi

Santoso of the International People’s Tribunal 1965, in The Hague. (Photo

courtesy of Tong Tong Foundation)

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Saudi execution toll highest in two decades, according to Amnesty International report

Saudi Arabia has executed at least 151 people so far this year, the highest number since 1995. Rights group Amnesty International says it ranks after China and Iran for the number of executions carried out.

Deutsche Welle, 10 Nov 2015

According to an Amnesty International report released on Monday Saudi Arabia is one of the top five countries for executing people. It ranked third in the world in 2014, after China and Iran and ahead of Iraq and the United States, according to Amnesty International figures.

"So far in 2015, on average, one person has been executed every other day," the Amnesty report stated. The recent annual figure rarely exceeded 90 executions.

The latest execution to take place in the Gulf state was on Monday. It involved a Saudi national convicted of killing a policeman who had tried to arrest him for smuggling drugs, according to the interior ministry.

Out of the 151 people executed so far this year in Saudi Arabia, 71 were foreign nationals, Amnesty said. It added that foreigners, who are mostly guest workers from poor countries, are particularly vulnerable as they typically do not understand the Arabic language and are denied adequate translation in court.

"The use of the death penalty is abhorrent in any circumstance but it is especially alarming that the Saudi Arabian authorities continue to use it in violation of international human rights law and standards, on such a wide scale, and after trials which are grossly unfair and sometimes politically motivated," Amnesty's Middle East and Northern Africa region program deputy director, James Lynch said.

'Appalling abuse of power'

Saudi executions are usually carried out by beheading with a sword. "The use of the threat of executions as a tool to punish and intimidate political dissidents by the Saudi Arabian authorities is an appalling abuse of power," Lynch added.

Last month Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence for the popular Shiite leader Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr on "sedition" charges. His nephew, Ali al-Nimr, was also sentenced to death along with two other activists who were minors when they were arrested over anti-government protests that erupted in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Social media users around the world were calling on Saudi King Salman not to execute the young Shiite Muslim Nimr al-Nimr, stressing that he was a teenager when he was arrested.

Saudi Arabia says it provides fair trials for all defendants. Supporters of the Saudi death penalty say that the beheadings are at least as humane as lethal injections used in the United States.

dr/jm (AFP, Reuters)

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Myanmar's opposition party heads for landslide victory

Results from Myanmar's historic election are not final, but opposition leaders are convinced of success. The NLD wants to oust representatives from the former ruling junta party.

Deutsche Welle, 9 Nov 2015

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) has said that the opposition party was on track to win more than 70 percent of seats around the country, and up to 80 percent of the vote.

In the first official results, the election commission (UEC) said the NLD won all 12 of the seats in the area around former capital and Myanmar's main city of Yangon, a stronghold of the opposition party.

The commission also announced that the party had won all 20 seats in Yangon's regional parliament, and confirmed that 25 seats had gone to the NLD in the lower house - 18 in Yangon and five in the country's second city Mandalay, both areas where the party is expected to sweep the vote.

The NLD has also won all 38 seats in Ayeyarwaddy state, all but one of the 40 in Bago, and 11 out of 19 lower house seats and all 10 upper house seats in Mon state. The trend was expected to continue in the remaining 10 states, although official results from there have not yet been announced.

As the NLD declared a decisive victory, hundreds of people gathered outside the opposition party's headquarters in Yangon, where images of Suu Kyi were being shown on large screens.

"She's the people's leader who the whole world knows," the crowds sang in support of Suu Kyi outside of the party's headquarters. "Write your own history in your hearts for our future so the dictatorship will end. Go, go, go away dictatorship," the crowd continued. A sign held by one of the demonstrators read "We're tired of the military, mother Suu will bring change... It starts tonight." Many supporters were cheering and singing even before any formal results were published, hoping that Myanmar would finally be freed from the hold of its military, which ruled the country for a half-century until 2011 and has continued to be highly influential ever since.

Meanwhile, the ruling Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP), made up former junta members, appeared increasingly beleaguered, taking just two lower house seats so far.

At the same time, the NLD also won 87 of the 90 seats in the Yangon state legislature, as elections for regional parliaments were held simultaneously.

Suu Kyi waves to the crowd after delivering a speech from the balcony of the
NLD headquarters in Yangon

Openly contested elections

More than 90 different parties participated in the elections, but it has been the battle between the NLD and the USDP that has drawn the most attention. The latter is made up of members of the former ruling junta, which stepped down in 2011 to make way for a civilian-run government.

"This election has given the people an opportunity to voice their will, and the groundswell of people's support provides some sense of solace for the people who have suffered and made sacrifices for the past 30 years," said Ko Ko Gyi, a former student leader and one of thousands of people imprisoned during the military's rule.

The United States called Myanmar's general elections "a victory for the Burmese people."

In the country's first openly competed elections after 25 years, three-quarters of the seats are being contested, with the remaining quarter reserved for the military. Regardless, the race was a momentous occasion for the 30 million people eligible to vote, many of whom were participating in an election for the first time.

The run-up to the election did draw some criticism, most notably for the decision to allow half a million members of the country's Muslim minority to take part in the voting. An EU team led by European Parliament Vice President Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, which has been monitoring the elections, is expected to determine the fairness of the voting system.

dr/kms (AP, AFP, Reuters)

Related Articles:

Burma's Thein Sein 'would accept Suu Kyi as president'  (Sep 29, 2012)

Burma leader Thein Sein pays tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi (Sep  27, 2012)

Obama opens door to new U.S. ties with Myanmar (Nov 18, 2011)

President Barack Obama announces that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

will travel to Myanmar, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Nusa Dua,

Bali, November 18, 2011. (Credit: Reuters/Jason Reed)

Iran appoints first woman ambassador since revolution

Yahoo – AFP, 8 Nov 2015

Marzieh Afkham has been appointed as Iran's first woman ambassador since the 

1979 Islamic revolution, heading its embassy in Malaysia (AFP Photo/Behrouz Mehri)

Tehran (AFP) - Iran has appointed its first woman ambassador since the 1979 Islamic revolution, naming foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham to head its embassy in Malaysia, the foreign minister announced on Sunday.

"Choosing Afkham as ambassador took a few minutes but choosing her successor took four months," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said at a ceremony in Tehran for the 50-year-old career diplomat who will be replaced at the ministry by a man, Jaber Ansari.

Iranian media first said back in April that Afkham was lined up for promotion to the rank of ambassador, but the reports were unconfirmed.

Zarif paid tribute to Afkham, who was also the first woman in the Islamic republic to serve as foreign ministry spokeswoman, saying she had carried out her duties for two years with "dignity, bravery and particular insight".

In turn, the new ambassador to Kuala Lumpur, quoted by state news agency IRNA, praised Zarif for "the courage to take such a decision" and for his "trust in women".

After his 2013 election, Iran's moderate President Hassan Rouhani called on ministers to appoint women to high posts and said his government would stand up against discrimination, naming three women to the country's 11 vice presidential positions.

Although deemed more liberal than those of many Arab countries, Iran's laws since the revolution have been criticised as unfair to women in cases of marriage, divorce and inheritance.

While women may hold key posts, including in parliament and the cabinet, they can not serve as judges and have not been allowed to run for president.

Related Article:

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China, Taiwan leaders join hands at historic summit

Yahoo – AFP, Tom Hancock, 7 Nov 2015

Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) and his counterpart from Taiwan, President Ma

 Ying-jeou shake hands during their meeting at Shangrila hotel in Singapore on

November 7, 2015 (AFP Photo/Roslan Rahman)

The presidents of China and Taiwan reached across decades of Cold War-era estrangement and rivalry Saturday to exchange a historic handshake and warm words in the first summit since the two sides' traumatic 1949 split.

China's Xi Jinping and Taiwan's Ma Ying-jeou shook hands for more than a minute and smiled for a mass of reporters before their talks in Singapore in scenes considered unthinkable until recently.

They later sat down across a table from each other, with Xi praising the event as opening a "historic chapter in our relations" and repeating China's oft-expressed desire for eventual reunification.

Pro-independent activists from the Taiwan

 Solidarity Union hold a portrait of Taiwan

 President Ma Ying-jeou's before tearing it

 apart, at the Taoyuan airport on 

November 8, 2015 (AFP Photo/Sam Yeh)

"We are brothers connected by flesh even if our bones are broken. We are a family whose blood is thicker than water," Xi said.

He added that "no matter what kind of winds and rains are experienced by compatriots on the two sides, no matter how long divisions last, there is no power that can separate us."

Despite the apparent warmth, the hour-long meeting's lasting significance remains to be seen.

No agreements were announced between two sides that still refuse to formally recognise each other's legitimacy and Ma's moves face significant opposition at home.

But the encounter is undeniably historic: the previous occasion was in 1945, when Communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong met with China's nationalist president Chiang Kai-shek in a failed reconciliation attempt.

The eventual Communist takeover forced Chiang's armies and about two million followers to flee to Taiwan, then a backwater island province, leaving a national rupture that has preoccupied both sides ever since.

'Mutual respect'

"Behind us there is more than six decades of cross-strait separation. Now before our eyes are the common fruits of the policy of replacing opposition with dialogue," Ma told Xi, in the unexpectedly cordial encounter.

Ma later told reporters he proposed the establishment of a hotline between to the two sides and that Xi responded positively.

He also raised issues sensitive to Taiwan's people, including the arsenal of Chinese missiles aimed at Taiwan, and China's policy of marginalising the island diplomatically.

"We hope these things do not continue," said Ma, calling for "mutual respect."

Xi did not address reporters, leaving that to a lower-ranking official.

Supporters of Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou display banners that read, "Support 

Ma Ying-jeou to open the chapter!", near the Sungshan Air force Base in Taipei, on 

November 7, 2015 (AFP Photo/Sam Yeh)

Ma has expressed hope the meeting could be a step toward normalising cross-strait relations, but no further plans for closer contact emerged.

Washington welcomed the meeting and called for "further progress by both sides toward building ties, reducing tensions, and promoting stability on the basis of dignity and respect," State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

Analysts said there is no guarantee any glow will last, especially with Ma out of office soon, and his ruling party expected to lose in January polls to an opposition that distrusts China.

"This meeting will remain a historic moment but everything will depend on the result of the elections in Taiwan," said Jean-Pierre Cabestan of Hong Kong Baptist University.

"Xi's very pro-reunification language... risks alarming more than one person on the island."

Though politically divided for decades, business and investment ties have flowered.

Since taking office in 2008, Ma's Beijing-friendly policies have borne new fruit, including a boom in Chinese visitors to the island, more than 20 trade agreements -- and Saturday's summit.

But many in Taiwan, a rambunctious democracy, are deeply uneasy at drawing too close to the Communist-ruled mainland orbit, and reunification remains a distant prospect.

"After watching the Ma-Xi meeting this afternoon on TV, I believe most Taiwanese people, like me, feel very disappointed," the presidential candidate of the opposition Democratic People's Party, Tsai Ing-wen, said in a statement.

"We really regret that the only result from the Ma-Xi meeting is an attempt to put people's choices on cross-strait relations in a box, using a political framework on an international stage."

Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong (L) toasts Chinese Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek

 in Chongqing in 1945 (top); Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwan President Ma 

Ying-jeou meet in Singapore on November 7, 2015 (AFP Photo/-, File / Mohd Rasfan)

Hundreds of opponents of the summit massed outside Ma's office in Taipei Saturday, condemning the meeting and Xi's "family" comments.

Mister, Mister

Lingering tensions were in plain view at the summit, where the leaders addressed each other as "mister" rather than "president" -- which would have legitimised their governments.

Beijing sees Taiwan as a wayward province and this disdain surfaced in China's coverage of the event.

After Xi finished addressing Ma at the meeting's opening, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV cut away to a studio discussion as video of Ma speaking rolled, but with no sound.

Opponents at home accuse Ma, who leaves office soon, of using the summit to boost his ruling Kuomintang's (KMT) flagging chances at the polls.

Some analysts feel China also finally granted the meeting, long sought by Ma, to help boost the KMT, which Beijing favours over the more independence-minded opposition.

But they warn the strategy could backfire with anxious Taiwanese voters if China is seen meddling in the election.

Out on a limb: countries that have direct diplomatic relations with #Taiwan pic.twitter.com/m2VfULRCTR

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) November 6, 2015

North Korea lifts entry bans on two South Korean officials

North Korea has lifted entry bans on two South Korean officials involved in managing a jointly run factory park in the North. Pyongyang offered no clear explanation on why it banned the officials in the first place.

Deutsche Welle, 6 Nov 2015

North Korea allowed two South Koreans involved in running the Kaesong industrial park back into North Korea on Friday. It gave no clear reason on why it decided to allow them to travel back to the industrial park, said Jeong Joon-Hee, a spokesman from Seoul's Unification Ministry.

One of the men allowed back to North Korea, Choi Sang-chul, was the vice chairman of Seoul's management committee that was overseeing the park. He had been involved in negotiations with the North over wages, taxes and fees. Jeong said Choi plans to visit the factory park on Monday.

There are about 120 South Korean companies located in the Kaesong park that employ more than 53,000 North Koreans. For the cash-strapped North, it has been a critical source of income since its establishment in 2004.

After negotiating for several months over wage levels for North Korean workers employed by South Korean companies at Kaesong, they agreed on a 5 percent increase in minimum wage in August.

The two sides are currently negotiating land usage fees that South Korean companies at Kaesong must pay to North Korea for 2015. Under a previous agreement, South Korean companies at Kaesong were exempted from land usage fees for 10 years through 2014.

The Koreas are still technically at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

av/sms (AP, AFP)