openUReyes - Alternative News Blog

A recent "Train-the-Trainer" session for the prevention of bioterrorism presented by INTERPOL was attended by law enforcement, customs and public health officials from Asia and the South Pacific.

The course, which carried a goal of enhancing the capacity of regional INTERPOL member countries to prevent and prepare for bioterror threats, was attended by 38 participants from 16 countries

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GLOBAL RESEARCH
Manpower Inc has won a $200 million, 27-month contract to run the recruiting program for the Australian military, expanding an earlier deal in what the global staffing services company calls the biggest recruitment outsourcing program in the world.

The program for the Australian Defence Force (ADF) will start in February and last 27 months. Manpower's services include recruitment functions from marketing and promotion to candidate screening and hiring.

Because such services generate higher profit margins, the ADF contract could add 10 cents to 14 cents a share to Manpower's earnings next year and in 2011, said William Blair analyst Timothy McHugh.

CHINA POST
TAIPEI -- By the time China's top Taiwan negotiator Chen Yunlin wraps up his five-day visit Friday, he would have sipped bubble tea, eaten strawberries and toured Taiwan's famous Sun Moon Lake.

He would also have sealed three accords - on food quarantine, industrial standards and fishing crews. But compared to the three previous rounds of talks between China and Taiwan, these accords were less groundbreaking than previous ones on direct transport links and tourism.

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
Asia-Pacific countries need a wider and more inclusive organisation to address economic, trade and security issues facing the region but not a structure like the European Union, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.

Foreign delegates and former leaders of 21 Asia-Pacific countries have gathered in Sydney for two days to attend the Asia-Pacific Community Conference.

The event is the culmination of 18 months of regional discussions about developing a new forum for Asia-Pacific countries including China, Japan, the US and Australia.

Mr Rudd was the first to propose the idea and on Friday detailed what challenges the region faces in the 21st century.

BLACKLISTED NEWS
Although some may have viewed President Barack Obama’s recent Asian trip as uneventful and perhaps unsuccessful, he appears to have recommitted to the principles of globalization as the answer to the world’s economic woes. Obama declared his intentions for the U.S. to be fully engaged in Asia economically, politically, and in areas of security. He announced that America would join negotiations for a Trans-Pacific deal. This could be used as an opportunity for the U.S. to reassert its leadership in regards to trade initiatives and might also serve as a stepping stone for a larger free trade agreement.

PRISONPLANET.COM
Billionaire globalist George Soros told the Financial Times during an interview that China will supplant the United States as the leader of the new world order and that America should not resist the country’s decline as the dollar weakens, living standards drop, and a new global currency is introduced.

Asked what Obama should discuss when he visits China next month, Soros stated, “This would be the time because I think you really need to bring China into the creation of a new world order, financial world order,” adding that China was a reluctant member of the IMF who didn’t make enough of a contribution.

Malaysia signed a free-trade agreement with New Zealand helping deepen ties with the southeast Asian nation that takes $1 billion of exports, making it the eighth-biggest market for Kiwi goods.

Trade Minister Groser signed the FTA with his Malaysia counterpart in Kuala Lumpur on Monday evening. Malay Prime Minister Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak said a drop in two-way trade this year is a “short-term setback” with an “upswing” expected for 2010, Bernama.com reported.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

BLOOMBERG
The People’s Republic of China celebrates its 60th anniversary today by staging a military parade through the heart of Beijing to demonstrate the country’s rising global influence. Hundreds of missiles and tanks and thousands of troops from the world’s largest standing army will parade past Tiananmen -- the Gate of Heavenly Peace -- where Mao Zedong on Oct. 1, 1949, declared the Communist Party’s victory in a civil war and took the reins of government.

New Zealand and Australia will form a joint Anzac rapid reaction force whose duties will include future disasters such as the Samoan tsunami, the two countries' defence ministers said yesterday. New joint contingency plans for regional emergencies will also be drawn up over the next six months.

And New Zealand Defence Ministry principal adviser Dr Jim Rolfe will in November become deputy director of the Asia Pacific Civil Military Centre of Excellence. The centre, near Canberra, supports the development of civilian and military capabilities to deal with foreign disasters and conflicts.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

Robotic "drone" spy planes flying by remote control could be used to patrol New Zealand's waters. The Defence Force is keeping a "watching brief" over the unmanned planes, some of which have the range to conduct surveillance in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica, and in the Pacific Islands.

Drones are best known for their use to fire missiles against militants in Iraq and Afghanistan. But their ability to spend up to 32 hours in the air and send back video images means they could take up the Air Force's role of monitoring New Zealand's exclusive economic zone and neighbouring waters for illegal fishing boats, and even search for lost vessels.

FULL ARTICLE HERE