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Nine years ago, Zimbabwe had more than 4,000 white-owned commercial farms. In a fresh wave of invasions, farmers keep their guns close at hand as ZANU-PF thugs lay siege to many of the 300 that remain . Many of the invaded farms are sitting idle or neglected despite a desperate need for food in Zimbabwe, where three-quarters of the population is dependent on food aid from foreign donors. Largely because of the invasions, Zimbabwe's farm output has dropped by 50 to 70 per cent in the past seven years, and most people subsist on one meal a day. Mr. Mugabe...

HARARE (AFP) – The death toll of Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic swelled past 2,000 people Tuesday, as a global doctors group called for President Robert Mugabe to be charged with crimes against humanity. Fresh data from the World Health Organization showed that the treatable water-borne disease has killed more than 2,000 people since August with the number of diagnosed cases reaching almost 40,000. The new figures came as US-based Physicians for Human Rights said Mugabe should be charged with crimes against humanity over rights abuses and the collapse of the nation's health system. The recommendation was made in a damning 45-page...

Excerpt - Loud jeers and howls accompanied President Robert Mugabe's address to Zimbabwe's newly convened parliament, leaving ruling party members fuming. Such uncouth behaviour from the opposition, one Zanu-PF insider said, was uncalled for. But after gaining control of parliament, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) clearly wanted to make its mark. The opening of parliament had started with the usual pomp and ceremony. ~ snip ~

HARARE - A pall of fear a campaign of post-election retributive violence that has claimed nine lives since Friday has descended over Zimbabwe. President Robert Mugabe is frantically trying to shrug off massive international condemnation over his fraudulent re-election to entrench himself for a further five years. In the aftermath of Friday’s widely-condemned one candidate runoff election, Mugabe’s supporters have intensified a witch-hunt of perceived opposition activists and supporters. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, told a news conference at his Strathaven residence Wednesday that groups of soldiers and Zanu-PF youth militia had been carrying out a...

Youth militia descended on the home of a village head in Ward 8 Shamva and attacked the traditional leader and his wife with axes. Our correspondent Simon Muchemwa said Sabhuku Elias Madzivanzira, who was over 70 years old, died on the spot. His wife suffered severe injuries but has been blocked from getting medical treatment. Muchemwa said she may die soon if nothing is done. He explained that Madzivanzira was targeted because his Ward produced a majority of opposition councillors in the March 29 election. The youths went on to burn down about 80 homes in the area, which is...

via translation - ALERT - Zimbabwe / legislation: the defeat of the party Mugabe confirmed HARARE - The defeat of the party history of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, in power since 1980, when the general elections on March 29, was confirmed Saturday by the figures provided by the Electoral Commission.

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's ruling party said Friday there will be a presidential runoff election between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. ZANU-PF party secretary and Minister of State Didymus Mutasa also charged that the opposition bribed electoral officials and said his party would contest results of 16 parliamentary seats — enough to win back its majority. Mutasa spoke at a news conference after a party politburo meeting, the first since elections results showed it has lost its control of parliament. The opposition claims to have won the presidency, but official returns in that race have not yet...

HARARE, Zimbabwe - Security agents and paramilitary police in riot gear are surrounding a Harare hotel housing foreign journalists. A man answering the phone at the hotel says they are taking away some reporters. The man refused to give his name but said about 30 police entered the hotel Thursday and were preparing to take away four or five journalists. Foreign journalists have been in Zimbabwe to cover elections in which President Robert Mugabe's party lost control of parliament. He is apparently facing a runoff for the presidency. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information....

HARARE - Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu (PF) party still manipulates food supplies for political gain, says a nongovernmental group. The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP), a coalition of civic groups, says the government uses traditional leaders to deny suspected members of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) access to grain. The ZPP says in a report, Partisan Distribution of Food and Other Forms of Aid, that people without Zanu (PF) cards are routinely denied food from the state-controlled Grain Marketing Board. "Traditional leaders, councillors and community food committees mostly recommended by Zanu (PF) leaders orchestrated the removal of nonruling party members...

HARARE, 30 July 2007 (IRIN) - A recent central committee meeting of Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party called for President Robert Mugabe to be installed as president for life, and the creation of ideological schools targeting preschool children. The minutes of the party's central committee and politburo meeting on 30 March - the two most powerful ZANU-PF organs, both chaired by Mugabe in his capacity as president and first secretary of the ruling party - were adopted on 4 May and subsequently leaked to an IRIN correspondent. Amid an economic meltdown characterised by an inflation rate of more than 4,000...

A KEY ally of Zimbabwe's Vice President Joice Mujuru has said he expects President Robert Mugabe to retire before the end of the year, seen as proof of growing disillusionment within his Zanu PF party over his plans to run for office in general elections next year. Mugabe, 83, has been power since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980. But an unprecedented economic crisis and growing international pressure has encouraged rivals within his own party to pressure him to quit. Dr Ibbo Mandaza, an influential Zanu PF supporter and adviser to Mujuru, said he expects Mugabe to announce...

Prime Minister John Howard has been labelled the "butcher of Baghdad" by a Zimbabwe government minister angry over the Australian leader's role in his nation's suspension from the Commonwealth. Zimbabwe declared it would pull out of the Commonwealth after Howard helped convince Commonwealth leaders to extend the African nation's suspension from the body. Howard's role has angered Zimbabwe's government MPs seeking parliamentary approval for President Robert Mugabe's withdrawal decision. Foreign Minister Stan Mudenga referred to him as the "butcher of Baghdad" - a reference to Australia's participation in the war in Iraq. Mudenga said Howard had declared that Zimbabwe would...

Zimbabwe is to proceed with plans to nationalise all farmland, a ruling party official has said. Zanu-PF spokesman Nathan Shamuvarira said the party would amend the constitution so as to abolish rights to private ownership of land. He said the move would end "ceaseless litigation" by white farmers whose property has been expropriated by decree over the past five years. Under the proposed new system, land would be leased for 99-year terms. The statement appeared in state media. "Through the amendments we are going to push for when parliament resumes sitting in June, all land will become state land,...

Mugabe's party sweeps to victory President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has swept to victory in Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections. So far the party has taken 40 seats, official results show - enough to guarantee Mr Mugabe's party will control the legislature. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said "disgusting, massive fraud" had been committed in Thursday's polls. President Mugabe, who has been in power for 25 years, has dismissed the complaints as nonsense. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has won 32 seats so far, mostly in urban areas, where it is strongest. A total of 120 seats are being contested, with...

While United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan was patently ignoring a President Robert Mugabe oppressed Zimbabwe, his son, Kojo was making money building the Zimbabwean capitol’s airport. Mugabe runs the ZANU-PF, a regime that Condoleeza Rice labels an outpost of tyranny. Why Kojo Annan’s business activities in Zimbabwe have not surfaced in the ongoing probe of the Oil-For-Food Program should surely raise concern about both the integrity and sincerity of the investigation. It’s a global village as far as Kojo’s business agenda is concerned. First came West Africa where Annan’s youngest son was working for the Swiss-based Cotecna with ties...

A South African spy captured by Zimbabwean counter intelligence is alleged to have been severely tortured before agreeing to co-operate with local officials, the Institute for Security Studies said in Pretoria today. The spy recently was nabbed by Zimbabwean Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives at Victoria Falls and under questioning, revealed the names of his collaborators within the governing Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (Zanu(PF)). Chris Maroleng, an analyst, said the spy would not have naturally agreed to work with the Zimbabweans as they had alleged and therefore must have reached his "pain threshold". "The Zimbabwean CIO are renowned...

I have created a public register of "bump lists" here on Free Republic. I define a bump list as a name listed in the "To" field used to index articles. Free Republic Bump List Register

The consequences of China's growth. THAT CHINA'S NATIONAL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS convened last week is not news, though it provided the occasion for prime minister Wen Jiabao's first address to the rubber-stamping body, a 90-minute affair which, quite predictably, was well received. That China released two dissidents, Wang Youcai and Phuntsog Nyidron, may be news, if it portends a greater sensitivity to pressure from international human rights advocates and even a slight loosening of the regime's grip on the political system. That Wen announced China will address the economic imbalances that threaten to turn its phenomenal growth into an equally phenomenal...

A patriotic education campaign for students has been launched to fight the "infiltration" of foreign ideologies through new media such as the internet. Education Minister Zhou Ji said the measures would be incorporated in every stage of the curriculum as part of a plan to "reinvigorate" the school system for the next five years. The move will affect 367 million students. The programme includes plans to "promote and cultivate the spirit of patriotism" and to promote Chinese language among ethnic minorities. It will also reinforce the position of the Communist Party. "Strengthening the leadership of the Communist Party is a...

China Arrests Dozens of Prominent Christians At least 50 detained in fresh crackdown on house churches, reportedly promoted by new video and book releases. By Timothy C. Morgan with David Neff in Washington, D.C. | posted 02/18/2004 China's Public Security Bureau has launched a new crackdown on unregistered church leaders, arresting 50 or more people following the release of a new video and book, documenting huge growth among Christians outside the officially permitted church. ...[snip]The crackdown may last for 30 days and began during China's annual National Religious Working Conference. This meeting brings together top leaders of the state Religious...

A Chinese Internet dissident has been formally arrested and charged with subversion. Authoritarian China will tolerate little opposition to the continuing domination of the Communist Party. Internet writers are no exception. State media report 39-year-old prolific Internet author Du Daobin has been charged with inciting subversion of China's state power and attempting the overthrow of China's socialist system. He has already been in custody for four months. Police say his crimes stem from 28 articles he had written and posted on the Internet since 2001. Police also say Mr Du has confessed to the major facts, which include co-operating with...

ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 2126, Garden Grove, CA 92842-2126 USA E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com, Web Site: www.assistnews.net Tuesday, December 30, 2003 CHINA ARRESTS HOUSE CHURCH LEADERS AND WRITER Voice of the Martyrs urges prayers amid concern about crack-down By: Stefan J. BosSpecial Correspondent, ASSIST News Service BEIJING, CHINA  (ANS) -- The Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) urged prayers for a jailed Christian Internet writer Zhang Shengqi and other Christian contacts who were arrested amid a crackdown against house churches across China, ASSIST News Service (ANS) monitored Tuesday, Dec. 30 VOM, a leading Christian human rights watchdog, said "10...

  Wal-Mart Asia President: I hope to retire in China "I have told the US headquarters that I hoped to stay in China till my retirement," said Joe Hatfield, president of Wal-Mart Asia, who usually arrives at his office before 5 o'clock in the morning. Hatfield was appointed the president and chief executive officer of Wal-Mart Asia: Wal-Mart Stores. Inc. in 1994, and spentnine years in South China's Shenzhen. Wal-Mart entered China in 1996 and opened its first Supercenterand Sam's Club in Shenzhen, China. It has since then opened thirty-one stores in fifteen cities in China, including Wal-Mart Supercenter, Sam's...

China developing `paralysis warfare'By Brian HsuSTAFF REPORTER Wednesday, Oct 08, 2003,Page 1 China's military is changing its strategy from deterrence to pre-emption, planning to use "paralysis warfare" against Taiwan in the future, the Ministry of National Defense said in a report delivered to the legislature's defense committee yesterday. "Paralysis warfare features Web-based information warfare, saturation ballistic missile attacks, joint precision strikes and seizure of the enemy's capital city by special operations units," the report says. "Such tactics will become a major option for the Chinese military in its choice of modes of attack against Taiwan in the future," it says....

<p>China's military is quietly building up troops on borders from North Korea to India by replacing tens of thousands of border police with regular army forces, a U.S. official said.</p> <p>About 150,000 Chinese military troops recently replaced People's Armed Police troops on China's border with North Korea, according to Hong Kong's Sing Tao newspaper.</p>

It’s 4:46am September 6. Its a little more than 100 hours from the Second Anniversary of Start the World Trade Center Attack and the subsequent Strike on the Pentagon and the Crash in Pennsylvania. 100 hours seems to be a long time; however, it is barely enough to reflect and remember all those who perished on the ground and in the air. Each one of the victims has a story, a life, that if retold would take more than 100 hours to appreciate the richness of their stay on this earth before it was snatched away. Since 911, there...

China has launched a systematic information warfare campaign against Taiwan, spreading Trojan-horse programs into private companies' computers as a means to break into government databases, the Cabinet said yesterday. "National intelligence has indicated that an army of hackers based in China's Hubei and Fujian provinces has successfully spread 23 different Trojan horse programs to the networks 10 private high-tech companies here to use them as a springboard to break into at least 30 different government agencies and 50 private companies," Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (ªL¨ÎÀs) said yesterday. The government agencies invaded by the Trojan-horse programs include the National Police Administration,...

Informed diplomatic sources said China’s authority is feeling increasingly “uneasy” towards the North Korean nuclear deadlock, as tension mounts. Beijing had secretly made military arrangement according to the N Korean crisis. 150,000 PLA Armies were sent to the Sino-Korean border to substitute the local Military Police (WuJing Budui) stationing there, in preparation for any possible American attack on N Korea. This military maneuver on the Sino-Korean border was quietly made when the six-party talk was still taking place in Beijing. A total of three Field Army Groups (total 150,000 men) are now being deployed. According to PLA organization, one Field...

For most of the six years since its return to Chinese control in 1997 under the rubric of “One Country, Two Systems,” Hong Kong has served as perhaps the single most important piece of evidence for three fundamental assumptions underlying our policy toward the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The first of these is that the government in Beijing is not so much ideological as pragmatic and flexible: hence its willingness to grant at least a semblance of self-government to Hong Kong, now a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic. The second is that the liberality displayed toward...

Hours after North Korea reportedly threatened to test a nuclear bomb, the Japanese Defense Ministry asked Parliament to spend $1 billion a year through 2007 to build an American-designed missile shield to defend the main cities of the Japanese archipelago. Under the plan, elaborated and accelerated in recent weeks, Japan would spend $1.2 billion next year, nearly 10 times the amount spent on missile defense over the last five years. "Given recent behavior, we cannot discount the possibility that North Korea's nuclear weapons program is already quite advanced," the Defense Ministry wrote in a White Paper prepared before reports Thursday...

THE EVOLVING NORTH KOREAN THREAT Amid multilateral talks in Asia to determine its nuclear future, analysts are warning about North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile advances. CIA estimates from earlier this year gauge that the Kim Jong-Il regime already has one or two nuclear weapons, and analysts tell the Agence France Presse (August 24) that the DPRK is now working hard to marry its newfound nuclear capabilities with its advanced ballistic missile program. If successful, such efforts would have sinister results. According to Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby, the Director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, Pyongyang can already target parts...

Men outnumber women, giving rise to rural population woes BEIJING - More boys than girls are born in China, making the gender ratio imbalance one of the most serious problems facing the rural population, a senior Chinese official said yesterday. For every 100 girls born in China, there were about 16 more boys brought into the world, according to national census statistics in 2000. In other countries, only five to seven more boys than girls are born. There are 70 million men in China who are unable to find wives. Men outnumber women as a result of the country's one-child...

ZAMBOANGA CITY — A Chinese-Filipino businesswoman kidnapped by suspected Abu Sayyaf members escaped after almost four months in captivity, the military said yesterday. Marine products trader Gertrudes Tan, 50, eluded her captors in a coastal village in Maimbung, Sulu last Monday night, said Lt. Gen. Roy Kyamko, chief of the Armed Forces’ Southern Command. Kyamko said Tan drifted into the sea using a small plastic jug as float until fishermen found her at about 2:30 a.m. the following day. The fishermen brought her to the Maimbung town proper where she took a passenger jeepney that brought her to the capital...

<p>Americans seem to be fixating these days on the idea of China stealing away American jobs. The timing is puzzling because fear of China among its developing-country neighbors, who had much more plausible reasons to worry about the impact of this rising competitor in the same economic niches, has peaked and started to fade. Instead, Asians seem to have realized that not only is the China threat overrated, but the country is an engine of growth that benefits them.</p>

About three years ago I wrote of the tragedy that has turned Stalinist North Korea into a genuine hell-hole, place where the notion of a living death has taken on real meaning. I argued that Beijing could redeem itself in the eyes of the world by committing the humanitarian action of opening up its border to starving Koreans. She could, as I suggested earlier, declare the border region an emergency zone and then call on the West for emergency aid. There is no way the West could refuse the request given the depth and extent of the famine. It...

The SARS scare has dampened expectations about the performance of the Chinese economy. And yet, it seems a short-term hiatus in China?s amazing economic success. Globalist contributor Kenichi Ohmae, in this excerpt from Strategy & Business, ponders the impact of Chinese development on its neighbors in the region ? and on the world?s biggest economies. It took the Asian tigers ? Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Korea ? more than 15 years to build their economies into symbols of new development. It is taking China only a few years to supplant them. China always wins Thus far, whenever...

US vs Pyongyang: Watch RumsfeldBy Phar Kim Beng HONG KONG - As talks finally get under way between the United States and North Korea, the latter, which has made obstinacy and diplomatic misbehavior an art form, would do well to keep in mind the growing influence and staying power in Washington of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. With the US victory in Iraq all but declared, barely a year after a previous triumph in Afghanistan, Rumsfeld's influence has increased by several notches. Together with other neo-conservatives who urged the Iraq war, "Rummy", as he is affectionately known in Washington, is...

In its ongoing war against Iraq, the Bush administration's firm determination, quick action, tough language and rude diplomacy are rarely seen in international relations. The arbitrary action by the great and powerful nation claimed to be responsible for international faith was not taken on impulse but was out of careful consideration, it is pursuing a super-strategic goal with major influence on the United States and the whole world. In its ongoing war against Iraq, the Bush administration's firm determination, quick action, tough language and rude diplomacy are rarely seen in international relations. The arbitrary action by the great and powerful...

<p>The Iraqi war has convinced the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership that some form of confrontation with the U.S. could come earlier than expected.</p> <p>Beijing has also begun to fine-tune its domestic and security policies to counter the perceived threat of U.S. "neo-imperialism."</p>

Why China isn't helping disarm North Korea (Washington, D.C.): According to today's Washington Post, Secretary of State Colin Powell yesterday said that the People's Republic of China's is "eager to play a positive role in helping to resolve the crisis" arising from North Korea's now-unmasked nuclear ambitions. Unfortunately, Beijing's idea of a positive role seems to be basically one of supporting Pyongyang in its insistence that it will only participate in direct, bilateral negotiations with the United States, aimed at advancing the North's extortionist agenda. As Haesook Chae points out in the Los Angeles Times today, the PRC is not...

China goes down with UN defeat By Francesco Sisci BEIJING - The accountancy of foreign policy is always extremely difficult. Choices that might seem wrong in the short run may prove right in the long run, and vice versa. In his first news conference on Tuesday, China's new Premier Wen Jiabao insisted on a political solution for the crisis in Iraq, and the same afternoon Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan underscored that China was working and hoping for a solution within the framework of the United Nations. In fact China's position since the beginning has been consistent: it wanted...

China's quiet revolutionBy Yu Bin Pacific Forum CSIS China's National People's Congress began its annual deliberations last week. The meeting marks the debut of the fourth generation of leaders led by Hu Jintao - appointed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary general last year - who are posed to steer China toward a different mode of politics. From 'rule of man' to 'rule of law'Contrary to conventional wisdom in the West that Hu remains a "who" in the shadow of Jiang Zemin, the new party secretary has clearly emerged with both new style and new policies. In a highly publicized first...

China's maritime strategy relies heavily on submarines to patrol the littorals, blockade the Taiwan Strait, and stalk aircraft carriers. The U.S. Navy should not underestimate China's ability. China's maritime strategy relies heavily on submarines to patrol the littorals, blockade the Taiwan Strait, and stalk aircraft carriers. The U.S. Navy should not underestimate China's ability to build a capable submarine force to challenge a superior maritime foe.   Diesels for the Littoral Blue-Water Ambitions Personnel, Training, and R&D Taiwan and the Blockade Scenario Evolving Submarine Doctrine Conclusion While the U.S. military remains focused on the Middle East and Central Asia, China...

Huge dust cloud threatens Asia By Geoffrey Lean in Washington 26 January 2003  Gigantic dust clouds swirling over China are threatening the world's most populous country with the first-ever "ecological meltdown", experts here warn.The clouds – which stretch for thousands of miles over Asia and have even reached across the Pacific to North America – are rising from a rapidly growing dust bowl in northern China that far outstrips the notorious one in the United States in the 1930s.It threatens to drive up the price of food and greatly increase starvation worldwide, and could lead to tens of millions of...

<p>HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- U.S. authorities are investigating whether Chinese state-owned companies or the Chinese government backed attempts at commercial espionage on U.S. soil, according to a report.</p> <p>The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that federal agents are investigating ties between alleged corporate thieves and Chinese companies that are backed or owned by the state.</p>

<p>SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Federal agents are investigating whether Chinese companies were involved in alleged attempts to steal vital commercial technologies from two Silicon Valley companies.</p> <p>Authorities see the two cases as part of an emerging pattern of trade-secrets theft aimed at helping Chinese enterprises. In both instances, the alleged thieves were arrested at San Francisco airport as they tried to board flights to China. The technologies at issue include computer-chip designs and software used to find oil and gas, executives of the allegedly targeted U.S. companies and federal officials say.</p>

CHONGQING, China — The engineers who run China have decided that this congested southwestern city, cupped by the Zhongliang Mountains and divided by flood-prone rivers, needs a complete makeover. Construction crews have carved a small canyon in the center of town, where they are burrowing through mountains to create 600 miles of superhighways, four new railway lines, an urban light rail system and a new airport. Chinese officials are also promising parks, drinkable tap water and riverside promenades for the city's 30 million residents.The cost of remaking Chongqing into the heartland's metropolis, most of it shouldered by the government and...

China is set to launch its boldest programme of political reform since the 1949 Communist revolution with an experiment in the southern boom town of Shenzhen that envisages imposing strict limitations on the powers of the ruling Communist party while implementing a system of checks and balances borrowed from western democracies. "The central government of China has paid a lot of attention to this plan and has approved Shenzhen as the experimental base for all the large cities in China," Yu Youjun, the city's mayor, told the Financial Times. "The plan is basically mature. We will implement it in Shenzhen...

A recent article found here made the wheels turn in my head. I have not spent the time to research this specific theory, hence I am writing off the cuff. What are China’s long term strategic goals? What do they fear? What is the nature of Chinese leadership? Who runs China and how? Why do they do what they do in regards to North Korea? Historically China has been run by a faction of one sort of another. Those factions had/have their fundamental ways of thinking that brought them to power. In China’s case, it was the lure of Communism,...

What will be the defining event in Asia for the year 2003? Although North Korea's nuclear weapons program has recently been the focus of widespread attention, perhaps even more deserving of concern are imminent changes in the PRC's economic conditions. Since China began instituting reform and opening up of its economy in 1978, it has been able to maintain a relatively high rate of economic growth and, consequently, relative political stability. Twenty years of fast-paced economic growth has propagated among observers the practice of linear thinking and tunnel vision, causing them to matter-of-factly presume that China will continue to experience...