News of the Day (May 18)

From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: The Korea Liberator has the latest news on Stalinist North Korea and the South Korean doves.

U.S. prepares "parallel" peace talks with Stalinists: The BBC, citing the New York Times, reports that President Bush "will soon accept a proposal, inspired by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, under which talks about a peace treaty would proceed in parallel with efforts to get the North to give up its nuclear weapons programme." Now that the spirit of September is returning to Washington, the question returns: will they never learn?

More on the Communists' Korean colony: Daily NK examines corruption at the SNK-Communist China border; United Press Int'l (via Washington Times) reports on the military talks between SNK and South Korea.

Taiwan national pleads guilty to role in Communist weapons smuggling: Ko-Suen Moo admitted to "being a covert agent of the People's Republic of China" (Washington Times) and to "charges of conspiracy to broker and to export defense articles to the People's Republic of China, including one F-16 aircraft engine, Blackhawk helicopter engines, cruise missiles and air-to-air missiles; and bribery of a public official."

U.S. treatment of Chen Shui-bian dubbed "Snub of the Week" by David Lau of Time Asia (see also eighth and fourth items).

First shipment of Australian liquefied natural gas headed to Communist China: The shipment "is headed for Guangdong, where it is expected to be received at a new terminal later this month" (AAP via Epoch Times). The LNG deal is one of the many reasons anti-Communists are growing increasingly worried about Australia (lead, last, tenth, fifth, and ninth items).

Another surgeon calls for an end to Communist organ harvesting: Joining Professor Stephen Wigmore, chair of the ethics committee of the British Transplantation Society (seventh item), was Professor Jan Lerut, former president of the European Society for Organ Transplantation, who "said that the practice of killing people for their body parts was 'awful' and 'should not exist'" (Epoch Times).

Pastors arrested in Shandong and Jiangsu: Eleven Christian church leaders were arrested in Suqian City, Jiangsu, while Pastor Liu Yuhua was seized in Linchu County, Shandong (China Aid Association via Epoch Times).

On the dangers of spreading the truth in Communist China: The Committee to Protect Journalists (via Boxun) reports on the Communist crackdown against reporting of rural unrest; Xu Hsiang (Asia Times via Epoch Times) examines the fate of those who expose the spread of bird flu.

On the Cultural Revolution: Joseph Mack (Epoch Times) looks back at the violent era, and the cadres' refusal to admit to the atrocities.

Bad loans in Communist banking system approaching $1 trillion: You read that right; according to Ernst & Young, "China could have as much as $911 billion of loans in default" (Epoch Times).

As the Three Gorges Dam nears completion, Edward Cody (Washington Post via MSNBC) examines the plight of those whose homes were submerged by the dam - and who have been unable to rebuild their lives due to corrupt cadres pocketing the relocation compensation money.