Communist Tax Lawyer

A mobile phone service has been launched in North Korea, one of the world’s most secretive and tightly controlled states, the official news agency has reported. The Egyptian telecom giant Orascom announced in January that it would invest US$400 million in North Korea.

The Guardian:

North Korea first experimented with mobile phones in 2002, but recalled the handsets 18 months later after a mysterious train explosion that killed an estimated 160 people. Some experts argue that officials feared the incident was an attempt to assassinate the regime’s “dear leader”, Kim Jong-il, and that mobile phones were involved.

According to the Phnom Penh Post, the Cambodian government over the weekend called on villagers in Kandal Province to take precautions following a new outbreak of bird flu that infected a 19-year-old man in Cheung Koeub commune last week.

As winter sets in throughout Asia, expect to see more cases of the deadly H5N1 strain of the disease crop up.

Cuba and Venezuela continue to chart a path outside the U.S. sphere of influence, yesterday signing agreements to expand the capacity of two refineries in Cuba and to construct a third one.

To Cuba. A Russian Naval vessel pays a visit to Cuba for the first time since the end of the Cold War.

Yet another example of Russia’s renewed sense of self…

Southeast Asian foreign ministers met Monday to implement a charter setting up a bloc of half a billion people, but hopes of building a European Union-style community may be blown off course by the global economic crisis.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is “trying to test the process,” U.S. President George W. Bush told Reuters on Monday following the breakdown of six-party disarmament talks last week.North Korea threatened on Saturday to slow disablement of its main nuclear plant after Washington said energy aid to the state had been suspended due to failed talks on verifying the North’s nuclear operations.

Turkmenistan held parliamentary elections yesterday. The government said the elections were free and fair, an exercise in democracy. Critics dismissed them as a sham.

While all 125 seats were contested, only one political party is legally registered in Turkmenistan.

Hangzhou plans to lop floors off exclusive hotels, a television tower and other lakeside buildings in an attempt to win coveted Unesco world heritage status reports the guardian .

Unesco requires historic sites to be kept intact, and the 40m yuan (£4m) resizing plan is the latest element in Hangzhou’s attempts to beautify the site.

Wang Shuifa, who will head the redevelopment project, told the official China News Service news agency: “We have hired foreign firms to draft detailed plans of how to reduce the height of the Shangri-La, whose owners will be compensated.”

A spokeswoman for the 382-room hotel told Associated Press: “We haven’t received any order or notice about it. We’re also very concerned and will pay close attention to this.”

A doctor has confirmed that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il did indeed suffer a stroke earlier this year.

According to François-Xavier Roux, “Kim Jong-il suffered a stroke but did not undergo an operation. He is now better.”

Yet another reason to stay in bed:

The Vietnam Home Shopping Network is launching the first integrated television shopping network in the country.