Continental view – Asia
Tuesday, 15 Jul 2008 00:00
Storm damage from Cyclone Nargis, as seen from space
A selection of the top news stories making the headlines in Asia in the last two months.
Slow and unsteady progress
Negotiations to secure the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula took their biggest step forward of the year on June 27th.
The hugely symbolic demolition of the cooling tower at its Yongbyon plant followed the handing over of full details of its nuclear programme to other participants of six-party talks earlier that week.
The US responded positively, promising to take North Korea off its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
But tensions remained, with the latest sticking point being delays to fuel aid being sent to North Korea because of Japanese frustrations with Pyongyang. Tokyo is seeking the return of 17 Japanese fishermen it says were abducted in the 1970s and 1980s.
Click here for a summary of the situation in North Korea.
Deteriorating security
Attention has been especially focused on the human cost of Britain's military involvement in
Afghanistan in the last few months.
The death toll since November 2001 hit 100 on June 9th. The first female British servicewoman to die there, Sarah Bryant, was killed just over a week afterwards, prompting a swathe of headlines about the tough challenge UK forces face there.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai did well to win around $20 billion (£10.2 billion) in aid at a donors' conference in Paris, but it was the only bright spot as the security situation appeared to deteriorate.
Hundreds of Taliban were reported killed in operations against militants on the outskirts of the southern city of Kandahar in mid-June.
But it hit back with a series of attacks in the following month. A Kabul bomber left 40 dead on July 7th while 21 died in a market blast in the Deh Rawud district of Uruzgan province on July 13th.
Four coalition soldiers on June 21st and nine US troops died on July 13th, strengthening concerns about the benefits the Taliban reaps from its cross-border hideouts in mountainous tribal Pakistan.
Click here for an update of recent developments in Afghanistan
Burma
Dismay greeted delays in granting access from foreign aid organisations to the victims of Cyclone Nargis in
Burma.
It was partly alleviated in late May, nearly a month after the deadly storm struck, but it was only on June 1st that the Burmese junta announced the no-strings-attached entry of all aid workers.
News that the detention of opposition figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi had been extended by another six months on May 27th did not help matters.
But the prediction that the country is at the beginning of a "very nasty end game" may provide some solace to those anxious to see the end of General Than Shwe's regime.
Click here for full story
Control reasserted in Tibet
The
Tibet issue did not go away as spring turned to summer, with the Dalai Lama appealing for people not to forget his homeland on a visit to Britain in May.
Much of the media attention focused on the recovery efforts from the Sichuan earthquake, where there was much anxiety over the buildup of a lake. Engineers succeeded in breaching the temporary dam, allowing it to drain into an abandoned town, on June 10th.
Human rights group Amnesty International raised questions about the status of 1,000 people believed to have been jailed following protests in March, days before the Olympic flame passed peacefully through Lhasa's handpicked crowds.
Talks between Beijing and representatives of the Dalai Lama resumed days afterwards but Amnesty remained concerned about China's human rights record, which it said was worsening as the Olympics near.
July 8th: Human rights 'deteriorating'
Other major developments
May 26th: Tamil Tiger train bombing. At least seven people were killed in an explosion attributed to rebels on the Colombo-Panadura train in Sri Lanka. Over 60 others were injured.
Click here for full story
May 28th: A new republic. Nepal's constituent assembly members voted overwhelmingly to abolish the monarchy, ending 240 years of royal rule.
Click here for full story
July 3rd: Trouble in Mongolia. The country's electoral commission upheld election results, days after thousands of protestors took to the streets of the capital Ulan Bator.
Click here for full story