Seoul
South Korea will indict the chairman of the Hyundai Motor Group today over a cash-for-favor scandal, a spokesman for the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office said yesterday. Analysts are concerned that the probe could create a leadership vacuum at the country’s top car-maker, and derail its ambitions to become the fifth biggest company in the world’s auto industry by 2010, since Chung Mong-koo, the chairman, is said to take a strong role in the day-to-day management of the group. The chairman was arrested on April 28th over allegations of misusing company funds linked to a bribery scandal, involving suspected slush funds used to offer cash for political favors via a lobbyist.

Jakarta
Indonesia raises alert status to the highest level, thousands living nearby moved to shelters in safe areas. Grey ash covered crop fields and hundreds of roof tops in the area of Ketap, ten kilometers from the base of the mountain, and many houses appear deserted after residents evacuated. Not everyone was gone. Some people cleaned ash off their houses, and others opened shops. Commercial mini-buses continue to run. The mountain has exploded already, the head of the volcano research center in the region cautioned, however, that Merapi’s eruption process could be gradual, rather than a sudden burst, and that the massive eruption had yet to come. He was reluctant to forecast whether the situation would get worse. The hot clouds stretched for 4 kilometers, while as a comparison during the eruption in 1994, they reached 6 kilometers before a deadly rain of materials started falling. 

London
Britain is considering introducing compulsory lessons on core British values for children in response to last July’s suicide bomb attacks on London, the government says yesterday. Education Minister Bill Rammell said a six-month-review would examine whether all 11 to 16 year olds should be taught about issues such as freedom of speech, civic responsibility, and democracy, and how historically they have developed in Britain. The proposal comes in response to the attacks on London on July 7th, when four Britains blew up themselves and 52 commuters on a capital’s transport system.

Moscow
Russia’s top prosecutor urged law enforcement authority to do a better job fighting organized crime, saying it is becoming a national security threat. Vladimir Ustinov remarks yesterday followed a series of high-level dismissals that President Vladimir Putin said were part of an effort to curb corruption. Today we’re forced to acknowledge that the spread and scale of organized crime in Russia is taking on a character of national threat, Ustinov told representatives of law enforcement agencies in televised comments. Organized crime groups are active in all large cities without exception, and have penetrated into most towns, he said, reading from a report. 

[1] [2] [3] 下一頁