Suspected N.Korean ship changes course
US media say that a North Korean ship suspected of carrying banned weapons has changed course after heading toward Myanmar.
CBS and other news reports quoted several US officials as saying that the Kang Nam had turned around on Monday and is now heading back where it came from.
CBS television says the ship is now off the coast of Vietnam.
The US military has been tracking the Kang Nam in the South China Sea. It suspects the vessel may be carrying missile parts and nuclear material in violation of a recent UN Security Council resolution. The ship left a North Korean port on June 17th.
The US military plans to continue monitoring the ship until it enters a port, and will ask the country where the ship docks to inspect its cargo in line with the UN resolution.
Chinese dissident denies inciting subversion
A leading Chinese dissident writer, Liu Xiaobo, has reportedly denied inciting the subversion of state power.
Sources say Liu was allowed to meet a lawyer on Friday for the first time since police detained him more than 6 months ago.
They say the lawyer met Li in a jail in Beijing and the dissident told the lawyer there were no problems with his health and he denied the charge of sedition.
Liu was officially arrested on Tuesday last week, charged with inciting the subversion of state power and the overthrow of the socialist system.
Liu was one of the chief architects of a petition, "Charter 08", which called for an end to the one-party rule of the Communist Party and the creation of a multi-party democracy. More than 300 people, including scholars, writers and rights activists, signed the petition that was put online last December.
After the police investigation of Liu, prosecutors are expected to take several months before deciding whether to indict him.
Liu's arrest has drawn criticism from international human rights organizations. Dozens of prominent Chinese writers and scholars and the US embassy in Beijing have called for his release.
GM car sales in China hit a record
General Motors says its sales in China in the first half of this year were up 38 percent year-on-year.
GM China Group, which operates 8 joint ventures with Chinese firms, said on Wednesday that in the January-to-June period it sold 814,000 vehicles -- a record for a half-year period.
It said demand for minivans was particularly strong, with sales up 50 percent.
For 5 months in a row this year, China has surpassed the United States as the world's largest buyer of cars, thanks to China's introduction of tax breaks for car buyers to stimulate its economy.
GM China Group President Kevin Wale said the strong sales figures show that the Chinese market is embracing GM products. He added that he's optimistic about the second half of the year.
Strong growth in China is crucial for the survival of GM as it struggles to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States.
WFP scaling back N.Korea food aid program
The UN's food agency says it has been forced to scale back its aid program in North Korea because of a shortage of food supplies from donor countries.
The World Food Program launched a program last September to provide food to 6.2 million North Koreans.
But aid offers began drying up at the beginning of this year, and then stopped completely after North Korea carried out an underground nuclear test in late May.
Last month, the WFP had to downsize its program in the country to cover just 2.27 million people.
The agency's representative for North Korea, Torben Due, told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday that an increasing number of children are being brought to hospitals suffering from serious malnutrition.
Due revealed that last month North Korea ordered Korean-speaking WFP staff to leave the country.
The North also told the WFP to give a week's notice before inspecting warehouses. The authorities previously wanted to be informed 24 hours before the inspections, which check to make sure the food aid is not being diverted.
Hatoyama says Aso is waffling
Opposition Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama has criticized Prime Minister Aso for being indecisive and waffling about everything, including personnel appointments.
Hatoyama said it seems as if Aso is changing his position day by day. He said the public must think this is one more reason that the Aso administration is nearing the end of its usefulness.
最終更新：2009年07月02日 07:20
