What’s the plan if North Korea collapses?
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea appears to be making an orderly transition after the death of leader Kim Jong-il last week, but the risk of collapse is higher than before and regional powers need to start discussing that contingency with China, diplomats and analysts say.
The problem is China refuses to contemplate any unravelling of North Korea which has nuclear ambitions and is its long-term ally. Beijing has rebuffed such overtures from the United States, Japan and South Korea.
Analysis: What’s the plan if North Korea collapses?
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea appears to be making an orderly transition after the death of leader Kim Jong-il last week, but the risk of collapse is higher than before and regional powers need to start discussing that contingency with China, diplomats and analysts say.
The problem is China refuses to contemplate any unraveling of North Korea which has nuclear ambitions and is its long-term ally. Beijing has rebuffed such overtures from the United States, Japan and South Korea.
Tragedy or stagecraft: N. Korea’s food crisis
Tim Large, editor of Thomson Reuters Foundation’s AlertNet humanitarian news service, gives the back story to his special report Crisis grips North Korean rice bowl <http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/07/us-korea-north-food-idUSTRE7956DU20111007> . Any opinions expressed are his own.
Malnourished children presented at a clinic in North Korea during a guided tour of a disaster-hit province. (Reuters/Tim Large)
Special Report: Can Malaysia reform and discriminate?
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (Reuters) – Dr. Mahathir Mohamad sits at a vast desk cluttered with work, hands clasped before him and looking at his visitors with a slight smile.
Dr. M, as he is popularly known, was prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003, the first commoner to ever hold the post in a land with nine sultans. His demeanor suggests the country physician he once was, ready with a frank diagnosis — and in his first interview with the foreign media in five years, he doles out prescriptions for what ails his nation.
Malaysia’s Mahathir: racial divide deepening
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (Reuters) – Malaysian Chinese have stopped supporting the government because they no longer feel they are getting their share of projects, former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said.
The former prime minister looked back on his two decades in power in a May interview at his office in Putrajaya, the showcase administrative capital he built in the 1990s and one of the “mega-projects” that helped define his regime.
Racial divide deepening: Mahathir Mohamad
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (Reuters) – Malaysian Chinese have stopped supporting the government because they no longer feel they are getting their share of projects, former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said.
The former prime minister looked back on his two decades in power in a May interview at his office in Putrajaya, the showcase administrative capital he built in the 1990s and one of the “mega-projects” that helped define his regime.
Malaysia’s dilemma: Can it reform and discriminate?
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, July 7 (Reuters) – Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
sits at a vast desk cluttered with work, hands clasped before
him and looking at his visitors with a slight smile.
Dr. M, as he is popularly known, was prime minister of
Malaysia from 1981 to 2003, the first commoner to ever hold the
post in a land with nine sultans. His demeanor suggests the
country physician he once was, ready with a frank diagnosis –
and in his first interview with the foreign media in five years,
he doles out prescriptions for what ails his nation.
No room at the Inn … but maybe a job in the Outback
By Rebekah Kebede
You wouldn’t think you’d have to make hotel reservations months ahead of time in Karratha, a small, dusty town on the edge of the Outback a 16-hour drive from Perth, the nearest city. But with Australia’s commodities boom, Karratha is bursting at the seams and nowhere is it more apparent than when trying to find a place to stay.
(Above photo: A kangaroo stands atop iron ore rocks outside the remote outback town of Karattha in Western Australia. Reuters/Daniel Munoz)
For a fascinating read about Vietnam today called “Vietnam’s Capitalist Roaders” see http://r.reuters.com/myg26r
Vietnam’s Capitalist Roaders
A woman dressed in the traditional Vietnamese “ao dai”costume serves tea to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (front R) during the opening ceremony of the 11th Party Congress in Hanoi January 12, 2011
Vietnam’s ruling communists opened an eight-day party congress on Wednesday with a candid admission the fast-growing economy had become unstable, as delegates began the process of reshuffling leaders and charting new policies.
As leaders sang the national anthem to begin the five-yearly event, streets in the chilly capital Hanoi were festooned with red and yellow banners, some bearing the iconic hammer and sickle. Propaganda posters bore the smiling likeness of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh or of proud, uniformed workers.
The economic backdrop is less festive. Inflation surged to a 22-month high in December, the government is struggling to bring down a hefty fiscal deficit, the currency has been depreciating for three years and the trade deficit remains stubbornly high.
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