2005.01.12

PRC-DPRK Refugees (Yonhap) UPDATED Chinese police halt a news conference in Beijing by South Korean legislators about North Korean asylum seekers, forcing out Western and Japanese reporters and locking the foreign lawmakers inside the hotel conference room. 2005.01.12

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USA Congressmen Meet DPRK Officials (AP). A group of American congressmen met with North Korea's foreign minister in Pyongyang today in an effort to persuade the North to rejoin talks on its nuclear weapons ambitions. 2005.01.12

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Pacific-USN Sub Accident (NY Times) Accident involving USS San Francisco was worse than U.S. Navy publicly acknowledged. 2005.01.12

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Japan-NHK (Kyodo) LDP's #2 admits he pressured NHK to alter program about mock trial concerning WWII sex slaves. Meanwhile the resignation of the head of the scandal-plauged quasi-official broadcaster is nearing. 2005.01.12

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CNMI-Corruption (Saipan Tribune) Vice cops on Saipan arrested for pushing illegal drugs they had seized. 2005.01.12

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Andaman Isles Flooded; Indonesia Warns Workers (Reuters). Unusually high tides again swamped parts of India's tsunami-devastated Andaman islands overnight and Indonesia tells aid workers it can't guarantee their safety in many parts of Aceh province. 2005.01.12

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Dozens of DPRK Diplomats Caught Smuggling Drugs. [Radio Free Asia] A senior U.S. official says at least 50 North Korean diplomats, with immunity from prosecution, have been caught smuggling drugs over the last 20 years. 2005.01.12

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Rescued Tsunami Victim Thanks Allah (AP). Lying prone on the bobbing wooden plank, Ari Afrizal looked left and saw the fiery red sun dipping into the watery horizon. Weakly, he turned his face the other way and saw a pearly white full moon rising in the east. 2005.01.12

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UN Says Tsunami Donors Moving with Record Speed (Reuters). International donors have moved with record speed to meet a near $1.0 billion appeal for immediate aid to victims of Asia's tsunami, with over 70 percent already raised. 2005.01.12

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A vacation in tsunami's wake?. [Christian Science Monitor] Tourists struggle with the wisdom and ethics of vacationing in disaster-hit regions. 2005.01.12

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Arriving in Tamil Nadu. [Radio Free Asia] Indian government officials say the country's biggest relief effort in history has been launched in devastated Tamil Nadu. Reporter Pema Ngodup is in the region, providing this blog with his impressions. 2005.01.12

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