Vietnam dissident vows to carry on struggle after prison

Asian Defense News: HANOI (AFP) - – A Vietnamese lawyer and dissident vowed on Wednesday to carry on her struggle for democracy days after leaving jail, where she spent three years for challenging the Communist authorities.

Le Thi Cong Nhan, 30, told AFP she would not let up in her campaign for democracy despite already having been called in by police for breaking the terms of her house arrest since leaving prison on Saturday.

Vietnam dissident vows to carry on struggle after prison

Speaking by telephone, she said prison had strengthened her "faith in the struggle".

"I struggled for democracy and human rights, and I will continue to struggle for democracy and human rights," she said.

Officially stripped of her status as a lawyer, Nhan was arrested in March 2007 with a colleague, Nguyen Van Dai, who is still serving a four-year prison term.

Analysts say Vietnam's authorities have clamped down on dissent in the last three years after the country hosted a summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) and joined the World Trade Organisation in early 2007.

Both lawyers were convicted for writing documents criticising the authorities, denigrating the regime in the foreign media and using the law classes they taught to advocate human rights.

Nhan admitted at her trial being a member of a banned political party, the Vietnam Progression Party, and of a pro-democracy movement, Block 8406, which called for a boycott of sham parliamentary elections.

But she denied having violated the law. She insists that while the Communist Party's leading role in the country is enshrined in the constitution, "no provision in the law forbids the foundation of a party in Vietnam."

Nhan was unable to go ahead with a face-to-face interview with AFP scheduled around the time when she was called in by police on Tuesday.

She said police reprimanded her for going shopping too far from her home, but she thought the reprimand was actually linked to the planned interview.

Some observers see a link between heightened repression in Vietnam and next year's Communist Party Congress, at which high-ranking leadership posts will be apportioned.

At least 16 militants have been jailed since last October, including another lawyer, Le Cong Dinh, and a young French-trained Internet blogger, Nguyen Tien Trung.

Thai PM rejects protesters' demand

Asian Defense News: BANGKOK (AFP) - – Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Monday rejected an ultimatum by tens of thousands of protesters to dissolve parliament as they marched on a military barracks sheltering the government.

The demonstrators, loyal to ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, demanded Abhisit call new elections or face mounting protests, prompting military officials to boost troop numbers and put in place evacuation plans.

Thai PM rejects protesters' demand

"The protesters have demanded that I dissolve the house before midday (0500 GMT) today, but the coalition parties agree the demand cannot be met," Abhisit said on national television, from the barracks.

"Elections must be held under common rules and genuine calm. We have to listen to other people's voices, not just the protesters," he said.

Abhisit left the army base by helicopter immediately after his announcement, saying he wanted to inspect the city traffic, snarled up by the moving rally.

The first group of red-clad protesters had earlier arrived at the barracks where Abhisit had been staying along with key ministers and military top brass.

At least 86,000 so-called Red Shirts had been gathered since Saturday at a rally ground close to government offices in Bangkok's historic quarter, where soldiers and riot police have been deployed under a strict security law.

The Red Shirts travelled in convoy to the barracks on the capital's northern outskirts in trucks, buses, cars and pick-up trucks, promising non-violence and vowing to return to the main rally after their doorstep.

"We will come back here. We'll keep fighting," Nattawut told the cheering red-clad crowd before it departed.

Thai army spokesman Colonel Sunsern Kaewkumnerd said about 2,000 soldiers were manning the 11th infantry army barracks, with three helicopters on standby to whisk leaders away if needed.

"We will push out the protesters if they trespass into the base. The final step is that rubber bullets would be fired at them, but the army has no wish to disperse the demonstration," Sunsern insisted.

Facts: Key dates in saga of Thailand's Thaksin The Red Shirts had dubbed their rally a "million man march" but police estimated their numbers reached only 86,000. Protest leaders gave various figures all far higher than 100,000.

Authorities have deployed a 50,000-strong security force including soldiers and riot police across Bangkok and surrounding provinces for the rally, under a strict law that allows authorities to ban gatherings and impose curfews.

The Red Shirts are loyal to populist former prime minister Thaksin, who was ousted in a coup in 2006 and is living abroad, mostly in Dubai, to avoid a jail term for corruption.

Twice-elected Thaksin is loathed by Bangkok's establishment, which accuses him of corruption and disloyalty to the revered royal family.

Last month Thailand's top court confiscated 1.4 billion dollars of the telecoms tycoon's wealth and he addressed the crowd by video link late Sunday, urging his supporters to press on.

"I ask all Red Shirts not to give up. Don't worry about me. This is not a one-person issue, we all fight for justice. I am the victim of bullies among the elites," Thaksin said from an unspecified location in Europe.

Since the coup in 2006, Thailand has been wracked by a string of protests by the Red Shirts and their rival Yellow Shirts, whose campaign in 2008 led to a crippling nine-day blockade of the country's airports.

The current rally is the largest in Bangkok since the Reds rioted in April last year, leaving two dead and scores injured.

The Pinnacle a Talking Point

Asian Defense News: SINGAPORE : It is now a highly—prized HDB development.

But the Pinnacle at Tanjong Pagar might not have been built if National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan had not won over his colleagues in the Cabinet.

With the prime land slated for residential development, "the question facing us was whether we should have built private property — that means tender out the land for private property — or built HDB", Mr Mah revealed on Sunday night on Talking Point, a news analysis programme on Channel NewsAsia.

The Pinnacle a Talking Point

Mr Mah "convinced" his fellow ministers of the need to rejuvenate the area — "that we continue to have younger people moving into that area and that HDB owners are still able to live in a relatively expensive area in downtown".

While one viewer had found it "unbelievable" that Pinnacle flats were being sold between S$500,000 and S$600,000, Mr Mah said it was a question of location and of the Housing and Development Board (HDB) catering not just to the low income.

"Our housing (income) ceiling goes all the way up to S$8,000, which is, by any standards, upper—middle income, and that’s why we have to build many different varieties of flats, and the Pinnacle is one of them," said Mr Mah.

HDB will also build more executive condominiums — now about 10 per cent of flats built — if demand goes up.

But the majority of flats will still be three—, four— and five—roomers in non—mature estates. And "we make sure we don’t overbuild because once you overbuild, you’ll make flat prices in future go down, and that’s not what we want", he said.

Public housing prices was one of the key issues in the special 45—minute show, hosted by Channel NewsAsia’s chief editor Debra Soon, which also featured Member of Parliament Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang GRC) and Ngee Ann Polytechnic real estate lecturer Nicholas Mak.

High cash over valuation (COV), in particular, has been a bane to some home buyers, especially those with ample Central Provident Fund (CPF) money but not cash, said Dr Lim, who wondered if the valuations given by private valuers to HDB need to catch up with the market.

But COV could also act to "retard" price growth, Mr Mak told MediaCorp, "since most buyers have limited cash to pay for the COV".

"If the valuation of the flat is growing at a slower rate, the rate of growth of resale prices can decelerate," he explained after the show.

As to whether valuations are moving too slowly, Mr Mah said the time gap has been "shortened considerably" to a "matter of weeks".

A more fundamental question is whether Singaporeans want the government to control resale flat prices, said Mr Mah.

"When people talk about controlling COV ... they’re talking about dampening prices, they’re saying let’s ban COVs," Mr Mah told Dr Lim, who asked for "a little bit more" in grants to those who buy resale. "If we control resale flat prices, we’re actually moving away from the free market, which fundamentally would not be in the interest of homeowners."

On the recent measures to curb speculative demand in the resale market — increasing the Minimum Occupation Period from one to three years — Mr Mah said that it was not a "blunt instrument" as Mr Mak felt, but "very calibrated, very measured".

While some people might want the Government to do more so that prices fall faster, Mr Mah stressed that only a specific group of people who are not buying for home ownership and the long term were being targeted.

"You can call it speculation — some people can say they just want to buy short term, some people want to buy for rental yield," he said.

While the numbers in this group are small, they are starting to grow, so HDB raised the hurdle for them.

As to why HDB owners are allowed to buy private property, Mr Mah said, "This is an upgrading opportunity I think all Singaporeans would like to have. They would like to see their lifestyles improve."

According to Dr Lim, there is "grumbling on the ground" about people buying HDB flats and not living in them.

To which Mr Mah said the HDB would "take drastic action" against those who exploit the rules.

"When you hear of those cases, you let us know," he said, two days after the HDB announced it had repossessed one flat for unauthorised subletting, following a tip—off.

Catch the Talking Point Special on Monday, March 15, at 8.30pm on Channel NewsAsia.

Singaporeans eyeing New Zealand

Asian Defense News: SINGAPORE: It is often said Singaporeans are in demand by other countries. And if figures from a pilot project by Immigration New Zealand (INZ) are anything to go by, Singaporeans are just as interested.

INZ’s pilot project, launched on January 15, seeks to attract specifically working Singaporean holidaymakers and students. Nearly 80 per cent of the 5,687 registrants by last week are Singaporeans.

Singaporeans eyeing New Zealand

According to a spokesperson, INZ does not have information on Singaporeans going to New Zealand "as a direct result of this pilot", but the numbers will be evaluated over the next few months.

She said Singapore was chosen because of "long—standing and friendly" relations between the two countries, as well as "close political and economic ties".

Research found Singaporeans a "good demographic match" for the campaign, say, in terms of language and education levels, she added. Singaporeans also have a "strong tradition of studying overseas".

Sociologist Tan Ern Ser said INZ "may be attempting to attract Singaporeans to try living and working in New Zealand first, before considering a more long—term arrangement".

He noted that targeting holidaymakers allows for "more flexibility" and contributes to the economy. "Local New Zealanders may see skilled migrants as a threat to their jobs," he added.

Two weeks ago, Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng told Parliament that New Zealand and Australia are targeting Singaporeans "because we are honest and hardworking".

Professor Tan feels that countries could be attracted to the "Singaporean brand" because Singaporeans are thought of as "diligent", "efficient", "well—trained" and have a good command of English.

However, while skill shortages continue to exist within segments of the Australian labour market, Australia’s Department of Immigration and Citizenship in Canberra said it is "not looking to Singapore in particular for recruits".

"Australia is open to skilled migrants but is now operating a more tightly targeted programme," it said. Recent changes to the skilled migration programme include giving processing priority to employer and state sponsored migrants.

Between 2008 and 2009, 2,703 of Australia’s 171,318 immigrants were Singaporeans.

According to the British High Commission Singapore, the United Kingdom also has no programmes aimed at attracting specifically Singaporeans.

The High Commission, however, noted a "relatively small but significant" Singaporean community in the UK.

This includes fashion designer Ashley Isham and pianist Melvyn Tan.

Last year, 3,525 Singaporean students set off to study Higher Education courses in the UK. The "vast majority" return to Singapore, said the High Commission.

Management trainee Geline Lim, 21, is one who intends to pursue her postgraduate studies in New Zealand.

She said it is "less stressful" there, and there is "more freedom and time" to pursue things outside of study. Her parents have already migrated there because of the "more laid—back lifestyle, better air, scenery and government welfare schemes", she added.

US embassy staffer flees S.Korea amid fraud probe

Asian Defense News: SEOUL (AFP) - – A US embassy staffer in South Korea has fled the country amid an investigation into claims that he swindled a local widow out of 220 million won (194,000 dollars), police said Monday.

The man, who was stationed in the southeastern port city of Busan, left for the Philippines on March 3 just two days before he was to be stripped of diplomatic immunity, said a police official at the city's Haeundae station.

US embassy staffer flees S.Korea amid fraud probe

The unidentified diplomat is suspected of defrauding the 50-year-old woman between September 2007 and June last year by asking her to invest in setting up a computer school in the Philippines, the official said.

The money was left by her American husband who died in a traffic accident, the official told AFP on condition of anonymity, describing the case as "outrageous."

Police who questioned the US citizen of Filipino descent last November found he had no business plan and took the money for his personal use, the official said.

The US government had also looked into the allegations and decided to strip him of his diplomatic immunity, he said.

"We have worked closely with Korean authorities on the case and will continue to do so till we have resolved the situation," said US embassy spokesman Aaron Tarver.

"The Department of Homeland Security employee departed the country without informing the embassy and is currently absent without leave."

Tarver declined comment on whether the man's diplomatic status has been officially revoked or to elaborate further on the case.

Police said the man was involved in a security initiative to check containers in Busan. They said they would seek Interpol's help in locating him.

British FM in China, Iran likely on agenda

Asian Defense News: BEIJING (AFP) - – British Foreign Secretary David Miliband was in China Monday, making a quick stop in Shanghai before heading to Beijing for talks likely to focus on Iran's nuclear programme.

Miliband, who arrived late Sunday, was to deliver a speech on the global economy at the Shanghai Institute of International Studies and visit the site of World Expo 2010, which will open on May 1.

British FM in China, Iran likely on agenda

He was due to head later Monday to Beijing where he will tour a training facility for China's UN peacekeepers outside the capital, before meetings with the country's top leadership.

Miliband was due to leave China on Wednesday.

He is scheduled to meet with his counterpart Yang Jiechi and Premier Wen Jiabao.

Last week, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Miliband and his hosts would "exchange ideas on China-UK relations and other major international and regional issues of common interest".

China, one of five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council and a close ally of Iran, has so far refused to agree to tougher sanctions against the Islamic republic despite increasing pressure from the West.

Among the other four permanent members, Britain, France and the United States are all pressing for new sanctions.

The fifth, Russia, signalled a shift in its stance early this month, saying it was ready to consider punitive measures against Tehran.

The West suspects Iran is enriching uranium to make nuclear weapons -- a charge denied by Tehran, which says its atomic programme is solely for civilian energy purposes.

China zoo where tigers died to get emergency funds

Asian Defense News: BEIJING (AFP) - – A Chinese zoo where three dozen animals, including 13 endangered Siberian tigers, died from malnutrition is to receive a cash boost of one million dollars, state media said Monday.

The China Daily said officials in the northeastern city of Shenyang also have launched a probe into the deaths, which spotlighted poor conditions in the country's often underfunded zoos in the lunar Year of the Tiger.

China zoo where tigers died to get emergency funds

The deaths have occurred at the Shenyang Forest Wildlife Zoo since November and have been blamed on a combination of inadequate funding, an unusually cold winter and poor general conditions at the facility, the report said.

Zoo workers fed the tigers cheap chicken bones in recent months as funding dried up. The tigers became so desperate for food that two of them severely mauled a zoo staffer in November.

The man survived, but the tigers were shot during the rescue.

Besides the tigers, 22 other animals have died including rare species that are protected in China including a red-crowned crane, four stump-tailed macaques, and one brown bear, the Xinhua news agency said.

The Shenyang municipal government has a 15 percent share in the zoo, which is mainly privately owned.

China says it has nearly 6,000 tigers in captivity, but just 50 to 60 are left in the wild, including about 20 wild Siberian tigers.

In the 1980s, China set up tiger farms to try to preserve the big cats, intending to release some into the wild. But conservation groups say the farms are used to harvest the tigers for ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine.

Australia debates pardon for Boer War's Morant

Asian Defense News: SYDNEY (AFP) - – Australian lawmakers on Monday debated asking Britain for an official pardon for two soldiers, executed during the Boer War, whose story has become a cause celebre.

A parliamentary committee heard from experts including military historian James Unkles, who has already petitioned Britain separately over the case of Harry "Breaker" Morant and Peter Handcock, who were executed by firing squad in 1902.

Australia debates pardon for Boer War's Morant

Critics say the two Australians, who were court-martialled over the murder of 12 prisoners of war, did not receive a fair trial. Their co-accused, George Witton, had his death sentence commuted.

"If the British military at the time was confident they had a hard and fast case... why did they go to all the trouble to keep the proceedings secret?" Unkles said. "The overall inference is that they had something to hide."

Ashley Ekins, a historian who heads the Australian War Memorial, a government body, said the soldiers were found guilty of "cold-blooded murder" in a process consistent with military justice of the time.

"There is an understandable anguish among family members... however, to rewrite the historical record by retrospective pardons changes nothing," he said. "In a way it falsifies the historical record."

The case of Morant, a horse-breaker and sometime poet with a reputation for womanising, is well known in Australia and in 1980 was made into the movie "Breaker Morant" starring the late Edward Woodward.

The English-born Morant volunteered to fight for the British against the Boers during the 1899-1902 war, after which the defeated Boer republics and Britain's colonies were united into what became South Africa.

Unkles's earlier petition argues the accused were denied the right to communicate with the Australian government or relatives after their arrest and during their trials and were refused an opportunity to prepare their cases.

It also cites allegations that British military commander Lord Kitchener, the mustachioed face of the famous "Your Country Needs You" World War I recruitment poster, issued secret orders to shoot Boer prisoners.

"The fact that he (Morant) was dudded (cheated) by the Poms isn't just a grand old legend, it's actually going to become fact," Nick Bleszynski, an author who helped write the petition, told AFP last month.

The committee said it would look into the matter further before considering any action.

Australia '0.7 degrees warmer over past 50 years'

Asian Defense News: SYDNEY (AFP) - – Australia's top science body said on Monday temperatures had risen about 0.7 degrees Celsius (0.44 Fahrenheit) in the last 50 years, describing the finding as "significant evidence" of climate change.

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) head Megan Clark said warming had occurred across the country and during all seasons, with the last decade the hottest on record.

Australia '0.7 degrees warmer over past 50 years'

"We are seeing significant evidence of a changing climate," she told ABC public radio.

"If we just take our temperature, all of Australia has experienced warming over the last 50 years. We are warming in every part of the country during every season and as each decade goes by, the records are being broken.

"We are also seeing fewer cold days so we are seeing some very significant long-term trends in Australia's climate."

The joint CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology report follows renewed debate over climate change after flaws were found in evidence from a key UN panel before and after December's world environmental summit in Copenhagen.

"There is a thirst for good quality climate science and our two organisations are proud to publish this," said Greg Ayers, the Bureau of Meteorology's director.

The bureau has been observing Australia's weather for 100 years, and CSIRO has been conducting atmospheric and marine research for more than 60 years.

Their "State of The Climate" report shows sea levels rising seven-10 millimetres (0.3 to 0.4 inches) a year around Australia's north and west, while rainfall is sharply higher in some regions and lower in others.

"We know two things. We know that our CO2 has never risen so quickly. We are now starting to see CO2 and methane in the atmosphere at levels that we just haven't seen for the past 800,000 years, possibly even 20 million years," Clark said.

"We also know that that rapid increase that we've been measuring was at the same time that we saw the industrial revolution so it is very likely that these two are connected."

Climate change is likely to be a major issue in elections due this year in Australia, the world's top per capita carbon polluter, after the government's flagship emissions trading laws were defeated twice by the Senate last year.

Scientists crack opium poppy's genetic code

Asian Defense News: PARIS (AFP) - – Researchers have discovered the genes that allow the opium poppy to make codeine and morphine, according to a new study.

The findings could lead to engineered plants and microorganisms that efficiently make codeine, one of the most widely prescribed painkillers in the world, the researchers said.

Score marks are seen on the sides of dried out poppy bulbs in Afghanistan's Helmand province. Researchers have discovered the genes that allow the opium poppy to make codeine and morphine, according to a new study.

Unlike morphine, codeine cannot be easily converted to heroin.

"The enzymes encoded by these two genes have eluded plant biochemists for a half-century," said Peter Facchini, a professor at the University of Calgary in Canada and co-author of the paper.

"In finding not only the enzymes but also the genes, we've make a major step forward," he said in a press release.

Opium poppy remains the world's dominant source of codeine, morphine and another opiate called oxycodone, according to the study, published Sunday in Nature Chemical Biology.

In clinical medicine, morphine is often regarded as the drug-of-first-choice to relieve severe pain and suffering.

Codeine can be extracted directly from the opium plant, but mostly it is synthesised from the much more abundant morphine found in the opium poppy.

Most morphine produced for pharmaceutical use around the world is converted into codeine.

Once ingested, codeine is converted by an enzyme in the liver to morphine, which is the active painkiller and a naturally occurring compound in humans.

"With this discovery, we can potentially create plants that will stop production at codeine," said Facchini.

"Our discovery now makes it possible to use microorganisms to produce opiate drugs and other important pharmaceuticals."

Co-author Jillian Hagel, a post-doctoral scientist in Facchini's laboratory, used cutting-edge sequencing techniques to sift through some 23,000 different genes to find the one -- codeine O-dementhylase (CODM) -- that produces the plant enzyme which converts codeine into morphine.

"We have found the missing pieces that were needed to understand how the opium poppy makes morphine," she said.

The opium poppy has been grown and exploited for thousands of years for both its medicinal and mind-altering properties.

Morphine was isolated in the early 19th century, while codeine was first identified in 1832 by French chemist Pierre Robiquet.