Breffni O'Rourke

Also by Breffni O'Rourke

• October 13, 2006

  Are Falun Gong Members Being Killed For Their Organs?

  The West is beginning to pay serious attention to reports that China is killing jailed members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement in order to sell their organs for transplants.

• October 12, 2006

  Uyghur Activist In Nobel Spotlight

  Rebiya Kadeer may not have won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, but her position as a leading contender does draw attention to a frequently overlooked minority.

• October 04, 2006

  Bribery Index Slams Russia, China, Turkey

  Transparency International's report compares how companies in 30 top exporting countries use bribes to do business overseas.

• September 21, 2006

  China: Amnesty International Blasts Rights Observance Ahead Of Olympics

  Cleaning up the streets of Beijing (file photo) (epa) PRAGUE, September 21, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Human rights group Amnesty International says Beijing is not living up to its promise to improve human rights practices, made when China was awarded the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. In a report handed to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Amnesty warns that the situation is deteriorating, instead of getting better.

• September 18, 2006

  Archive | German project tries to reverse Aral's decline

  Germany's Center for Development Research is engaged in a project to improve the lives of thousands of people in the Uzbek district of Khoresm, next to the Aral Sea. The German team says the lessons being learned in Khoresm will be applicable to other regions that have suffered environmental degradation. RFE/RL spoke to project coordinator Christopher Martius.

• September 18, 2006

  China: IMF Seeks To Recognize And Restrain Beijing's Growing Power

  (official website) China's growing economic influence in the world is evident at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Singapore, where IMF members have granted China and several other growing economies more votes. This will give Beijing more influence in IMF affairs, but many Western countries hope it will also impose a sense of responsibility on China for world economic conditions. At the moment, China is under fire for making loans to bad-risk countries that have recently had their debts forgiven, and also for not allowing its currency to rise to its true value, thus giving itself a trading advantage.

• September 13, 2006

  World Religious Leaders Meet

  A world religion forum to discuss tolerance and religious freedom gathers laymen, churchmen, and clerics from 45 national delegations.

• August 27, 2006

  Japanese PM Visits Energy-Rich Region

  Junichiro Koizumi's visit is the culmination of more than a decade of effort by Japan to forge stronger links in the region.

• August 25, 2006

  Drug Lords Look To Cash In On Economic Boom

  At the crossroads of the Golden Crescent and the Golden Triangle, China is caught in a web of drugs trafficking.

• August 11, 2006

  China: Controversial Tibet Railroad Showing Signs Of Strain

  A train crosses a bridge outside of Lhasa on the new railway (epa) PRAGUE, August 11, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- China's new railway to the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, is a remarkable engineering achievement.

• August 09, 2006

  China: Tibetan Water Plans Raise Concerns

  Giant water projects are nothing new in China, as shown by the Three Gorges project on the Yangtze River (official site) PRAGUE, August 9, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- The 10 major watersheds formed by the mountains above the high Tibetan plateau spread water throughout Asia, serving nearly 47 percent of the world's population. Although this vast volume of water is created mostly in Tibet, only 1 percent of it is used by Tibetans.

• July 27, 2006

  U.S. Wary Of Shanghai Grouping

  Some U.S. officials are worried that China and Russia are trying to isolate the United States from Central Asia.

• July 19, 2006

  CNPC Denied Intended Stake In Rosneft

  China's state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation has confirmed it has bought $500 million worth of shares in the Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft as a part of a multibillion-dollar IPO this week.

• June 30, 2006

  Tashkent Extradites Uyghur Imam To China

  The family of a Canadian Muslim religious leader extradited from Uzbekistan to China is demanding his release, and fears the Uyghur activist may face the death penalty.

• June 28, 2006

  Rice Seeks To Boost Morale As Security Worsens

  U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's Kabul visit could provide a boost in the face of increased Taliban violence and strains in Afghan-Pakistani relations.

• June 27, 2006

  EU Invests In New Pipeline

  The EU moves to diversify gas supplies by agreeing to build a pipeline to transport Caspian gas to Austria. But the new project could become politically sensitive, as Iran is one of the pipeline's potential suppliers.

• June 22, 2006

  Tehran's Stake In North Korean Missile Test

  Experts claim Iran has had a hand in developing North Korea's multistage, intercontinental Taepodong-2 missile, which is said to have a range sufficient to reach U.S. territory.

• June 16, 2006

  China: Beijing Hopes To Tackle Crowded World Car Market

  A Chery S16 family car on display in Shanghai in 2005 (epa) China is preparing to tackle the world automobile market in earnest with vehicles expected to sell for less than the equivalent models built elsewhere. The Chinese push to sell cars abroad will be just the latest in a series of Asian assaults that have transformed the auto industry over the last 40 years, starting with Japan and later South Korea. But can the Chinese hope for similar success?

• June 14, 2006

  Uyghur Separatists Caught Up In Antiterror Campaign

  The summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization on June 15 seems likely to tighten the net around the efforts of China's Muslim Uyghur community to achieve independence from Beijing.

• June 13, 2006

  Report Suggests Democracy In Decline

  The U.S. pro-democracy NGO Freedom House has issued a report saying that energy-rich countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus, as well as Russia, are declining in their democratic performance, even as their resources become strategically more important.

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