Lack of Details on China Hacking Claim Puzzles Analysts

Lack of Details on China Hacking Claim Puzzles Analysts A netizen in Leping, Jiangxi province uses a smartphone to browse the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) website, July 17, 2013.  ImagineChina A recent cyberattack on China's country-level .cn domain may not be all that it seems, computer experts said this week.Beijing's China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), which maintains the registry for the top-level domain, announced this week that it was crippled by two distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on websites using the .cn suffix in the early hours of Sunday morning.The first started...

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Crowd Protests Planned Incinerator in China's Guangdong Province

Crowd Protests Planned Incinerator in China's Guangdong Province Protesters were injured in clashes with police during a demonstration over the planned waste incinerator plant in Huadu, Guangdong on July 19, 2013. Photo courtesy of a protester Hundreds of people demonstrated outside government buildings in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong on Thursday over plans to build a waste-incineration plant on their doorstep, residents said.The protesters hung banners outside government headquarters in Guangdong's Puzhai township, which read "Boycott the garbage incinerator power plant!" "Say no to cancer!" and "Protect the health...

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Vietnam ‘Threatened’ by Chinese, Thai Investments in Laos

Vietnam ‘Threatened’ by Chinese, Thai Investments in Laos A vehicle drives past an advertisement in Vientiane for a Vietnamese company with a rubber concession in Laos, March 16, 2011.  AFP Vietnam “feels threatened” by increasing Chinese and Thai investment in neighboring Laos and is concerned that the two countries will dethrone it as the top investor there, according to a senior Lao official.The concern was expressed in a letter from the secretariat of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party to its Lao counterpart, the official told RFA’s Lao Service, speaking on condition of anonymity.The letter reaffirmed Vietnam’s aim to...

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In Old Tibetans Province Omado- Kham booted by PLA

In Old Tibetans Province Omado- Kham booted by PLA Chinese police move against Tibetan protesters in Dzatoe, Aug. 16, 2013.  Photo courtesy of an RFA listener. Authorities in China’s Qinghai province have warned Tibetans of “serious consequences” if they restart protests against Chinese mining operations after massive demonstrations were violently suppressed, leaving dozens injured, according to sources. Local Tibetan leaders in Qinghai’s Dzatoe county where the mining activity faced opposition have also been forced to undergo “political education” classes, the sources said, adding that protesters are considering sending...

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SAARC pledges to strengthen regional economic integration

SAARC pledges to strengthen regional economic integration The 6th SAARC Finance Ministerial Meeting concluded in Colombo on Friday, passing a resolution to strengthen economic integration in the region. Participating finance ministers at the meeting expressed commitment to make collective efforts for protecting the region from adverse effects of financial crisis that other major economic in the world are facing. They also expressed worries over weakening local currencies against US dollar, energy crisis and rising price of petroleum products.The meeting has decided to speed up implementation of South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) - a...

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India preparing road map for SAARC electricity grid

India preparing road map for SAARC electricity grid State-run Power Grid is preparing a road map for setting up an electricity grid to connect SAARC nations including Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The feasibility study for an under sea line with Sri Lanka is being finalised, according to transmission utility Power Grid Corp.In its annual report for 2012-13, the company said it continues to play an active role in "preparing a road map for developing South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) market for electricity to develop a cross country power grid".The proposed cross country grid is being envisaged for harnessing each SAARC...

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India's foreign policy is shrinking now

India's foreign policy is shrinking now Pakistan, Russia vow cooperation in energy, power generation Pakistan and Russia wrapped up their first strategic dialogue with a commitment to remaining engaged and maintaining the momentum in the relationship. “Both sides noted with satisfaction the growing understanding between the two countries and discussed in detail the state of bilateral relations. They reaffirmed their commitment to further deepening and diversifying the bilateral relationship to their mutual benefit,” a statement issued by the Foreign Office on the conclusion of the strategic dialogue said on Friday.At the talks held...

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Rising Muslim-Buddhist tensions in Sri Lanka

Rising Muslim-Buddhist tensions in Sri Lanka Photo: Contributor/IRIN Muslims make up 9 percent of the population COLOMBO, 12 June 2013 (IRIN) - An increasing number of Muslim Sri Lankans, who make up around 9 percent of the population, are feeling uneasy amid fears of growing sectarian tensions, say local people and observers. “We just don’t feel we belong here any more,” Fadhil Ahamed, who works in a food store in Colombo, told IRIN. “I had a shop where I sold halal food, but several Buddhist monks who were aligned with a government politician told me not to sell halal food as this was a Sinhalese Buddhist country.” There...

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Bangladesh apparel export to India rises on tariff concession

Bangladesh apparel export to India rises on tariff concession Bangladesh’s export of apparel products to India rose by about 37% to US$75m in the fiscal year 2012-13 thanks to duty-free and quota-free access of some textile products into Indian market. The earnings increased from $55m in the fiscal 2011-12, after India offered the tariff concession to 46 textile products of greatest sensitivity from September 2011.In the last fiscal year, Bangladesh exported knitwear worth over $14m, an increase of about 12% compared to the previous fiscal year’s value of about $13m.“Bangladesh has bright export potential in India as the country is densely...

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First-ever Pakistan-Russia Strategic Dialogue in Moscow today

First-ever Pakistan-Russia Strategic Dialogue in Moscow today Pakistan and Russia are all set for the first ever Strategic Dialogue that is aimed at upgrading political, diplomatic, economic and defence relations. The inaugural session of the Dialogue begins in Moscow today (Wednesday) with Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani leading the Pakistan side.The decision to have this dialogue at foreign secretary-level was taken by the two countries last year. The dialogue could subsequently be upgraded to the level of foreign ministers, just like the Pakistan-US strategic dialogue.Diplomatic sources told The Nation that the two sides will...

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Mosques declared terrorism organisations by NYPD: Report

Mosques declared terrorism organisations by NYPD: Report This means that anyone attending the prayer service can potentially be investigated and go under surveillance. PHOTO: AFP NEW YORK: The New York Police Department (NYPD) has secretly label entire mosques as terrorism organisations, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday. The label has allowed the department to spy on imams and record sermons without having specific evidence of criminal activities. This means that anyone attending the prayer service is part of organisation and can potentially be investigated and go under surveillance. As per confidential...

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Militant wings of political parties involved in Karachi violence: DG Rangers

Militant wings of political parties involved in Karachi violence: DG Rangers PHOTO: EXPRESS KARACHI: Claiming that the situation in Karachi improved after Supreme Court’s verdict in the law and order suo motu case, DG Rangers Major General Rizwan Akhtar said that militant wings of political parties are responsible for the ongoing violence in the city, Express News reported on Wednesday. The DG Rangers appeared before the apex court’s Karachi registry today for proceedings regarding implementation of orders passed in the suo motu case. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry headed the five-member bench, which also...

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‘Entire country suffering from violence in Karachi’

‘Entire country suffering from violence in Karachi’ “After the May11 elections, we hoped the law and order situation would improve but the scenario has become worse,” Sirajul Haq. PHOTO: INP/ FILE KARACHI:  Prime Minsiter Nawaz Sharif should take immediate steps to nab those involved in heinous crimes as the entire country is suffering from the deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi. This was said by a senior minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Jamaat-i -Islami leader, Sirajul Haq, while speaking at a programme at the Karachi Press Club, on Monday. “After the May11 elections, we hoped the law and order situation would...

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Bo Xilai: Trial or Theater?

Bo Xilai: Trial or Theater? Chinese police surround a protester (C) outside the Intermediate People's Court where Bo Xilai will go on trial in Jinan, Shandong Province, Aug. 21, 2013.  AFP August 22 will be an important day: Maybe. The eyes of the world are on the Bo Xilai case, but it would be better to focus on the process of this "trial," rather than on any "judgment" which results from it.Because this trial is taking place in the People's Republic of China, where the judicial system has a bad reputation. Under our state system, with its Chinese characteristics, fair-minded lawyers and upstanding judges are marginalized.Even...

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Veiled Muslim Uyghur Woman Evicted from Rented Home

Veiled Muslim Uyghur Woman Evicted from Rented Home A notice in Chinese from the Ceramic Factory Neighborhood Committee indicates that Arzugul Memet's residence was sealed on Aug. 16, 2013.  Photo courtesy of an RFA listener Authorities in China’s Xinjiang region have evicted a Muslim Uyghur woman from her rental property for wearing a veil covering her face, despite having no legal basis to do so, claiming that the action was taken for “security reasons.”Arzugul Memet was informed on Aug. 4 in writing by her neighborhood residence committee that her apartment in the Xinjiang capital Urumqi would be sealed because she “did...

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Tibetans Clash with Chinese Poachers in a Protected Zone

Tibetans Clash with Chinese Poachers in a Protected Zone Tibetan herders drive their herd of yaks in Qinghai's Guoluo Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, March 30, 2012. AFP Tibetan villagers assigned to guard protected forests in a Tibetan prefecture in northwestern China’s Qinghai province have clashed for a second time with Chinese poachers who appear to be shielded by the authorities, according to a local source.The July 22-23 confrontation in the Golog (in Chinese, Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture’s Pema (Banma) county followed the killing of wildlife in the officially protected area, a resident of the area told RFA’s Tibetan...

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Imam Stabbed to Death After Supporting Crackdown Against Uyghurs

Imam Stabbed to Death After Supporting Crackdown Against Uyghurs Local residents mill about the street in front of Abdurehim Damaolla's house in Turpan city on Aug. 16, 2013 on the morning after he was stabbed to death.  Photo courtesy of an RFA listener A Uyghur Muslim religious leader in China’s restive western Xinjiang region has been stabbed to death after calling members of his ethnic minority community involved in June violence "terrorists" and backing a government crackdown against them, residents and officials said.Authorities have deployed extra police and security forces following Wednesday night’s attack on the...

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