N.Z. Projects Narrower Surplus as Greek Risks Darken Outlook Iraq Plans to Spend $9.8 Billion on Roads, Housing by 2016 By Tamara Walid - 2012-05-21T10:18:07Z Iraq plans to spend $9.8 billion on roads, bridges and housing through 2016 as the war-torn country’s budget doubles on higher oil production, according to the construction and housing minister. The current annual budget is $112 billion, of which the energy industry consumes 40 percent, Mohammad Saheb al-Darraji said in an interview in Abu Dhabi today. The country is budgeting $5.8 billion on roads and bridges and $4 billion on housing, he said. Iraq is pumping oil, its biggest foreign-currency generator, at the highest rate since Saddam Hussein seized power in 1979 as it seeks to increase income for reconstruction. ... Continue reading →

North Korea Perceptions of North Korea’s influence in the world remain strongly negative in 2012. However, a slight improvement is apparent in the aftermath of Kim Jong ll’s death. In the 21 tracking countries surveyed both in 2011 and 2012, 50 per cent of respondents on average rate North Korea’s influence negatively, with just 19 per cent rating it positively. Compared to 2011, negative views have gone down 4 points globally, while positive views have increased by three points. Of the 22 countries polled in 2012, 13 lean negative while only three lean positive, and six are divided. As in 2011, the most unfavourable views are found in the neighbouring industrialized countries most closely affected by the nuclear threat from North Korea: Japan and South ... Continue reading →

I Have an Op-Ed in the Asia Wall Street Journal Today … about the AP’s North Korea coverage. See it before it vanishes behind the pay wall. Click the image to go there. The title is cute; I wish I could take credit for it. Continue reading →

North Korea Denies It Had Plans to Conduct Nuclear Weapons Test By Sangwon Yoon - 2012-05-22T11:39:11Z North Korea denied it had plans to test an atomic weapon and said a path to a peaceful resolution of the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula remains possible through dialogue and negotiations. Last month’s botched rocket launch was intended “for peaceful purposes and we never anticipated military measures like a nuclear test,” an unidentified Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. The U.S. must end its “hostile policy,” otherwise North Korea will “expand and bolster” its nuclear program, the spokesman said. New North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has shown no sign he will abandon his country’s nuclear ambitions five ... Continue reading →

21 May 2012 Last updated at 23:46 ET Viewpoint: Africa must do more to profit from China Chinese businesses are viewed with mixed feelings in the region Chinese investment in Africa has escalated rapidly over recent years, but what are the implications of China's foray in the continent, asks expert in China-African relations Solange Chatelard. China is an economic powerhouse with long-term ambitions in Africa. Like Brazil, Russia and India, it is here to stay. Asking whether China is good or bad for the continent is not only beside the point, it distracts us from more pressing and relevant questions, such as what do African states want to gain from these new partnerships, and what are they doing to achieve this? Continue reading the main ... Continue reading →