Well recently a  South Korean man has been fined one million won ($865) for making discriminatory remarks against an Indian professor.  The conviction is the country’s first involving racist remarks towards a foreigner, Incheon District Court officials told local media.

The man yelled racist comments and said “Arab! Arab!” at the Indian man while on a bus in July, the judge said.  The professor felt publically insulted by the comments, he added.  The 31-year-old South Korean had objected to Bonogit Hussain talking loudly on a bus.  Mr Hussain had been in South Korea since 2007 and had studied for a master’s degree from Seoul’s SungKongHoe University, later working as a research professor there.  Park could have faced up to one year in prison and 2 million won in fines for public insult, Associated Press reported.

The BBC reported that there are dozens of treatment centres offering to wean youths, mostly boys, from spending hours on the web.  Many of them are military-style boot camps that rely on tough programes of physical exercise and counseling.  Two boys were beaten at separate camps earlier this year, one died and the other was severely injured.  “When intervening to prevent improper use of the internet we should… strictly prohibit restriction of personal freedom and physical punishments,” the ministry said in a draft guideline quoted by Reuters news agency.

In July, the ministry of health formally banned the use of electroshock therapy as a treatment option.  There was a public outcry after 15-year-old Deng Senshan died in August less than 24 hours after arrival at the Qihang Salvation Training Camp in Guangxi province.Days later, 14-year-old Pu Liang was put in a Sichuan hospital in a series condition after allegedly being beaten by his boot camp’s principal and other students.  Some estimates suggest up to 10% of the country’s 100 million web users under the age of 20 could be addicted, and a growing number of rehabilitation services have sprung up to deal with the problem.

Some define an internet addict as anyone who is online for at least six hours a day and has little interest in school.  The goal of intervention is… to urge the target people to use the internet in a healthy way,” the ministry of health statement said.  “It’s not to stop them from using the internet.”

October 28, 2009 “BBC” — The US military in Afghanistan is to be allowed to pay Taliban fighters who renounce violence against the government in Kabul.   The move is included in a defense bill which President Obama is set to sign.  Such payments have already been widely used by US commanders in Iraq, but it is the first time the system is being formally adopted in Afghanistan.  Early on Wednesday, Afghan troops were engaged in a shootout with suspected militants at a house in Kabul.

A day earlier eight US soldiers were killed in bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan.  The deaths make October the deadliest month for American forces in the eight-year war in Afghanistan.  President Obama is yet to decide whether to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan.  Mr Obama has said he will not risk their lives “unless it is absolutely necessary”.
The latest attacks come amid heightened tension in Afghanistan in the run-up to the second round of a presidential election marred by widespread fraud in favour of incumbent President Hamid Karzai.

The Commander’s Emergency Response Programme, or Cerp, was set up to give the US military the means to clear roads, dig wells and provide other urgent humanitarian assistance to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, the BBC’s Richard Lister in Washington says.  But in Iraq, the money can also be given to insurgents provided they switch sides. Backers of the Cerp scheme say it enabled some 90,000 formerly hostile Iraqis to form local militias and protect their towns from militants, our correspondent says.  He adds that now the same authority is being given to US commanders in Afghanistan.  A clause in the annual defense appropriations bill says they can use the money to support the “re-integration into Afghan society” of those who have renounced violence against the Afghan government.

Although $1.3bn (£691m) has been authorized for the fund as a whole, no specific sum has been allocated to the re-integration programmes, our correspondent says.  The Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, Senator Carl Levin, has said he envisages the money being used to pay former Taliban fighters to protect their communities.

Doubts had been raised about whether the finding was significant.

But new data published at a conference in Paris indicates that, while small scale, the findings are robust and statistically significant.

However, the scientists say they do not understand what is causing the effect, and it seems to offer less protection to those most at risk.

Despite these drawbacks, Colonel Nelson Michael from the US military HIV research program it is still a small step in the right direction.

He said: “It’s important that people understand that this is a scientific advance, a scientific breakthrough.

“It is not a public health breakthrough; there is not a vaccine that is around the corner.

“We now, after 26 years of trying, believe that we can go down that road with confidence that we will be able to develop a vaccine that is globally effective.”

Doubts raised

Despite their initial joy when the first results from the Thai trial were announced, many scientists were concerned that the protective effect was very small.

Among the 8,000 of so who got the vaccine, 51 became infected with the virus.

Among those who received a placebo, 74 got the infection.

However, the trials sponsors, the US military and the Thai government said the 31.2% protective effect was statistically significant and real.

As more data slowly emerged some scientists began to have doubts about how robust this effect really was.

When those who had not taken all their vaccines were excluded from the trial the numbers lost their statistical power.

Many experts were concerned that the data had not been subject to a rigorous examination by other scientists.

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Many questions

Now that review has taken place. And it indicates that the original findings still stand – but there are more questions than answers.

These results are an incredible opportunity for scientists to discover new clues about HIV and learn how a HIV vaccine could work in practice Deborah Jack National Aids Trust

The scientists based their conclusions on an analysis of the entire population in the study, excluding just seven people who were found to be infected on the first day of the trial.

The researchers say this is the most robust way of looking at the study.

They also published details of two other analyses of the trial, which excluded people who had not taken all their medication.

Both of these showed effects that were not statistically significant.

Among the scientists at this meeting there was a real sense of excitement about the findings.

Dr Nicola Frahm, associate laboratory director for the HIV Vaccines trials network in Seatlle, Washington, said: “Oh my God, it’s amazing.

“There is hope, there is a vaccine that prevented acquisition, the signal is very weak but this is the first time to show any effect on acquisition at all, so for the HIV community it’s an amazing day.

“The real question is to how biologically significant is this?

“The significance that has been established in this trial is that there is a 5% chance that this is a fluke.

“So we are 95% certain that what we are seeing is real and not down to pure chance. And that’s great.”

No use in Africa

The researchers point out that this vaccine would not work in Africa where the rates of HIV infection are the highest.

They say that a commercial product is still many years away and caution that prevention and education are the best protection against the infection in the medium term.

Colonel Jerome Kim is HIV vaccines product manager for the US Army.

He said: “We had something that protected a third of the people exposed to the virus in Thailand.

“It is not a globally effective vaccine; it can not be used outside of Thailand.

“Until we answer those other scientific questions the idea of using this vaccine in other parts of the world or testing it, is science rather than public health.”

Deborah Jack, chief executive of NAT (National Aids Trust), said: “The Thai trial is a milestone in the search for a vaccine against HIV.

“These results are an incredible opportunity for scientists to discover new clues about HIV and learn how a HIV vaccine could work in practice.”

China vs America

As in much of Africa, China is heavily engaged in post-war Liberia, rebuilding roads with funding from the World Bank, managing hotels and restaurants, trading in medicines and other businesses.

CHINA IN AFRICA China is Africa’s second-biggest trading partner, behind US Between 2002 and 2003 two-way trade doubles to $18.5bn By 2008 trade tops $100bn – China exports $51bn, imports $56bn Almost all imports come from oil-rich nations: Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, the Republic of Congo, and Sudan Sources: China Daily, Reuters, Council on Foreign Relations

Chinese mineral firm China Union became the largest investor in Liberia when it signed a $2.6bn deal to go into iron-ore mining earlier this year.

There is even a Chinese-language radio station broadcasting across the country for the increasing number of migrant workers and expatriates.

The growing trade ties explain why the Chinese embassy and the Ministry of Youth and Sports have decided to put on free two-hour classes in the afternoon, five days a week.

Although attendances for the first few classes were sparse because of torrential rain in Monrovia, the students who did turn up were serious about the task.

John Cooper, 57, from Monrovia, says the lessons reflect Liberia’s changing political allegiances.

“Traditionally Liberians are closer to the Americans than we are to the Chinese, but the irony is that the Chinese are more open to us than the Americans are,” he says.

“If the Chinese stay here with us for about 25 years, it will be good for us.”

A middle-aged woman attending the lessons agrees that the classes are important for the country.

“In Liberia we speak only English and instead of learning French, we play with French – it is just too bad for a nation,” she says.

For others, like 40-year-old Tubman Nyennety, the motivation for doing the class is driven by personal ambition.

“We need to learn Chinese because you never tell when you will have the opportunity to travel to China,” he says.

Another student, Musu Woodfor, recalls the difficulties she faced when she fled the civil war to Liberia’s French-speaking neighbours.

“We learn French, so why not Chinese? The language barrier was a problem when we travelled as a result of the war.”

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Accords unread

Although Chinese officials will be heartened by the positive views expressed by the students, they are also hopeful that members of Liberia’s government will take up the classes.

Liberia prepared a rapturous welcome for Chinese President Hu Jintao in 2007

Chinese ambassador Zhou Yuxiao, who helped to set up the classes, says the lack of Chinese language skills among government officials can be a problem.

“Even in the Foreign Ministry in Liberia, nobody can speak Chinese ,” he says.

“When [officials] visit China, they have to have an interpreter from the Chinese side only; there is discrepancy.”

He says he is unhappy that Liberian officials cannot understand Chinese versions of the numerous bilateral agreements they sign.

“No Liberians can read the documents they sign, they don’t understand the Chinese copy, they just sign it as it is,” he says.

“It’s not fair, [you should] check the document that you are signing.”

Liberia’s Ministry of Youth and Sports agree that the language barrier is a problem.

“Chinese are here in construction work, etcetera,” says ministry spokesman Macaulay Paykue.

“If we have to deal with these people and they have to deal with us, it is only prudent that we understand each other.”

North Korea sent several of Kim Jong-il’s senior aides to Seo

Mr Kim devoted his presidency to improving relations between the two Koreas, still technically at war.

After nuclear and missile tests in May, the North has made a series of what some see as conciliatory gestures.

The six officials from North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, wearing black suits and ties, placed a wreath of flowers on the steps of South Korea’s National Assembly, where Kim Dae-jung is lying in state.

The flowers were marked as a gift from North Korea’s ruler, Kim Jong-il.

Fears of snub

The delegation’s visit is, first and foremost, a sign of the esteem in which the former South Korean president was held on both sides of the border, says the BBC’s John Sudworth in Seoul.

Mr Kim died on Tuesday at the age of 85, after a bout of pneumonia. He was president from 1998 to 2003 and won the Nobel Peace Prize for his historic summit with Kim Jong-il in 2000.

It is the first time representatives from the North have come to Seoul since the conservative government of President Lee Myung-bak took office early last year.

Relations have soured since President Lee cut the flow of aid to the North, tying its resumption to nuclear disarmament.

The delegation’s visit is being seen by some as a rare chance for inter-Korean dialogue after a recent series of positive gestures from the North.

A South Korean worker detained in the North since March was released, and the North has said it will ease restrictions on cross-border traffic to the joint industrial zone in the Northern town of Kaesong.

Pyongyang has also offered to re-introduce tourism visits to the North, and reunions of families split by the 1950-53 war.

But there are fears that the delegation’s two-day visit could be used by Pyongyang to give Seoul the cold shoulder, says our correspondent.

Beyond paying tribute to Kim Dae-jung, no itinerary has been agreed. The visit was arranged through Mr Kim’s family, not South Korean government officials, and they will leave on Saturday – before the funeral on Sunday.

It is not clear if the North Korean envoys will meet any South Korean officials.

Anger greets Suu Kyi conviction

Supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi reacted angrily to her conviction

World leaders have reacted with anger and disappointment at the conviction of Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi for violating security laws.

The UN called for her immediate release after she was sentenced to a further 18 months of house arrest – where she has spent 14 of the past 20 years.

The US, the European Union, Britain and France were among those who condemned the verdict.

However, trading partners China and India have made no public comment.

Ms Suu Kyi was on trial for allowing a US national, John Yettaw, into her lakeside home after he swam there uninvited. Mr Yettaw was jailed for seven years, including four years of hard labour.

Keeping Aung San Suu Kyi under arrest… does not serve the proclaimed national interest Ton van Lierop EU spokesman Burmese reaction International reaction Profile: John Yettaw Putting pressure on Burma

Critics of Burma’s military regime say the verdict is designed to prevent Ms Suu Kyi from taking part in elections scheduled for 2010.

‘Sham trial’

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has said he “strongly deplores” the verdict and called for Ms Suu Kyi to be freed.

“Unless she and all other political prisoners in Myanmar [Burma] are released and allowed to participate in free and fair elections, the credibility of the political process will remain in doubt,” he said.

The UN Security Council is meeting to discuss the verdict.

The UN special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, said Ms Suu Kyi was “absolutely indispensable to the resumption of a political process that can lead to national reconciliation”.

US President Barack Obama called for her “immediate unconditional release”, describing the extension of house arrest as unjust.

A spokesman for the European Union, Ton van Lierop, said the further detention of the 64-year-old was unacceptable.

“Keeping Aung San Suu Kyi under arrest under fabricated reasons violates her fundamental freedoms, and does not serve the proclaimed national interest either,” he told the BBC.

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was “saddened and angry” by the verdict in what he called a “sham” trial.

In a strongly-worded statement, he condemned the “purely political sentence”.

A statement from the office of Nicolas Sarkozy said the French president was calling on the European Union to impose new sanctions on Burma.

Asian response

Mrs Suu Kyi’s previous period of house arrest expired on 27 May. This new term will mean she is still in detention during the polls, which are expected to take place in about May 2010.

Her party, the National League for Democracy, won the last elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.

In Asia, the governments of Indonesia and the Philippines have been outspoken in condemning the sentence.

But, says the BBC’s Jill McGivering, it is notable that two of Burma’s biggest trading partners and allies – India and China – have avoided public comment on the trial.

India and China, with Thailand, have been accused by critics of propping up the military government, especially in recent years as growing economic sanctions have strangled its trade relationship with the West.

Before his death, Sun Danyong told friends he had been beaten up by security staff from his firm, Foxconn, one of Apple’s largest manufacturers.               

Foxconn, a large Taiwanese company which employed Sun in its huge Shenzhen factory, has launched an investigation.

Apple says it is saddened by the death and is waiting for the results of the investigation.

“We require our suppliers to treat all workers with dignity and respect,” Jill Tan, an Apple spokeswoman in Hong Kong, told reporters.

‘Humiliating’

Sun Danyong was 25 when he threw himself off a 12-storey building last week.

As part of his job, he was responsible for shipping iPhone prototypes to Apple.

Such prototypes are a closely guarded secret, as Apple likes to keep its new products and upgrades under wraps until their launch date, to heighten customer anticipation.

On 13 July, Sun reported that he was missing one of the 16 units in his possession.

The company immediately launched an investigation into the disappearance; three days later he had jumped to his death.

Sun’s former classmates have told Chinese newspapers that during the firm’s investigation he was beaten, his house was searched and he was locked up alone in a room.

A local newspaper showed CCTV footage of Sun the day before he died

They say he described what happened in an online chat with them as one of the most humiliating experiences of his life.

Foxconn and the local public security bureau are investigating the allegations, and the firm has expressed its condolences to Sun’s family and set up extra counselling services for employees.

It has also has suspended its chief of security, Gu Qinming.

Mr Gu denies hitting Sun, and a CCTV image of the worker on the day before he died – which was featured on the front page of the local Nanfang Metropolitan Daily on Wednesday – appears to back up Mr Gu’s version of events.

According to a BBC correspondent in Beijing, Chris Hogg, Foxconn has faced allegations in the past that it treats its employees poorly.

It has always denied such claims, and was cleared by Apple of any serious abuses, our correspondent says.

Who are the Uighurs?

The Uighurs are Muslims. Their language is related to Turkish and they regard themselves as culturally and ethnically close to other Central Asian nations.

China maintains a high military presence in the Xinjiang region

The region’s economy has for centuries revolved around agriculture and trade, with towns such as Kashgar thriving as hubs along the Silk Road.

In the early part of the 20th Century, the Uighurs briefly declared independence. The region was brought under the complete control of communist China in 1949.

Officially, Xinjiang is now described by China as an autonomous region, like Tibet to its south.

What are China’s concerns about the Uighurs?

Beijing says Uighur militants have been waging a violent campaign for an independent state by plotting bombings, sabotage and civic unrest.

Since the 9/11 attacks in the US, China has increasingly portrayed its Uighur separatists as auxiliaries of al-Qaeda.

It has accused them of receiving training and indoctrination from Islamist militants in neighbouring Afghanistan.

However, little public evidence has been produced in support of these claims.

More than 20 Uighurs were captured by the US military after its invasion of Afghanistan. Though imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for six years, they were not charged with any offence. Albania accepted five in 2006, four were allowed to resettle in Bermuda in June, 2009, while the Pacific island nation of Palau has agreed to take the others.

What complaints have been made against the Chinese in Xinjiang?

Activists say the Uighurs’ religious, commercial and cultural activities have been gradually curtailed by the Chinese state.

China is accused of intensifying its crackdown on the Uighurs after street protests in the 1990s – and again, in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics.

Over the past decade, many prominent Uighurs have been imprisoned or have sought asylum abroad after being accused of terrorism.

China is said to have exaggerated the threat from Uighur separatists in order to justify repression in the region.

Beijing has also been accused of seeking to dilute Uighur influence by arranging the mass immigration of Han Chinese, the country’s majority ethnic group, to Xinjiang.

Han Chinese currently account for roughly 40% of Xinjiang’s population, while about 45% are Uighurs.

What is the current situation in Xinjiang?

Over the past decade, major development projects have brought prosperity to Xinjiang’s big cities.

The activities of local and foreign journalists in the region are closely monitored by the Chinese state and there are few independent sources of news from the region.

China has been keen to highlight improvements made to the region’s economy while Uighurs interviewed by the press have avoided criticising Beijing.

However, occasional attacks on Chinese targets suggest Uighur separatism remains a potent – and potentially violent – force.

A protest in July in Urumqi, the region’s capital, turned violent, with about 140 people killed and hundreds injured.

Authorities blamed Xinjiang separatists based outside China for the unrest, while Uighur exiles said police had fired indiscriminately on a peaceful protest calling for an investigation into the deaths of two Uighurs in clashes with Han Chinese at a factory in southern China