The Chinese Railway Engineering Company is rebuilding 2,050 miles of roads in the Democratic Republic of Congo, abandoned in the jungle after the Belgian colonialists pulled out 48 years ago and further shattered by years of war. The vast project, which will triple Congo's current paved road network, is part of China's largest investment in Africa, a $9 billion infrastructure-for-minerals deal signed in January. Beijing has also pledged to repair 2,000 miles of railways, build 32 hospitals and 145 clinics, expand the electrical grid, construct two hydropower dams and two new airports. In return, China wins the rights to five copper and cobalt mines in Congo's southern mineral belt. (The Telegraph, July 14)

BBC's Panorama TV crew claims to have uncovered the first evidence that China is providing military aid to Sudan's Darfur counter-insurgency operations, in violation of an international embargo. The crew, traveling deep in Darfur's desert with a rebel faction, reportedly found a Chinese Dong Feng army trucks the insurgents had captured from government forces. Plates on one truck show it was imported after the embargo. Rebels also told the crew that China was training Sudanese fighter pilots who fly Chinese A5 Fantan fighter jets in Darfur. (BBC, July 13)

Is this satire? Please tell us this is satire. From AsiaOne News, July 12:

Japan's fishing industry, one of the world's largest, will stage a mass strike July 15 to protest soaring fuel costs. Some 200,000 fishing boats will cancel their trips for one day to demand government action. "Many fishermen cannot make ends meet. The industry as a whole is falling apart," said an official of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperative Associations. "We are asking for emergency measures from the government, just for one or two years, to help us pull through this difficult period." Fuel now accounts for up to half of the fishermen's operating costs, compared with just 10% a few years ago, he said. (Thomson Financial, July 14)

Some 13,000 Japanese rallied against the permanent basing of the nuclear-powered USS George Washington aircraft carrier at the port of Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo, saying a recent onboard fire made it unsafe. The George Washington—relieving the soon-to-be decommissioned USS Kitty Hawk—will be the first nuclear-powered vessel to station permanently in Japan. The ship's arrival was originally set for August, but was delayed because of a fire aboard the vessel in May. Some 250 residents have filed a lawsuit seeking to block the carrier from basing in Japan.

From the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN), July 14:

ETAN Renews Call for Meaningful Justice for Victims of Indonesian Occupation
International Tribunal Needed in Wake of Commission of Truth and Friendship Report
The new report of the bi-lateral Commission of Truth and Friendship (CTF) does little to advance accountability for the many crimes against humanity committed by Indonesia in Timor-Leste, the U.S.-based East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) said today. The report, Per Memoriam Ad Spem (From Memory to Hope), is scheduled to be handed to the presidents of Indonesia and Timor-Leste in Bali on Tuesday.

According to the online magazine Narco News, the company that taught torture methods to police agents in Leon in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato (see Update, July 6) is Risks Incorporated, a private security firm with offices in Miami and the United Kingdom. One of the two instructors involved in the training may be Risks Incorporated's Andrew "Orlando" Wilson, who served in the British military 1988-93, including 22 months in Northern Ireland. The other instructor appears to be Gerardo "Jerry" Arrechea, a Cuban-Mexican martial arts instructor; he seems to be the same "Jerry Arrechea" that the right-wing Miami-based Comandos F4 organization lists as its Mexican contact. In 2007 Risks Incorporated said its instructors used "psychological torture" in some courses "to show how easy it is to break a hostage and we're being nice!" (Narco News, July 7)

On June 23 Haitian president Rene Preval nominated economist Michele Duvivier Pierre-Louis to succeed acting prime minister Jacques Edouard Alexis, who was forced to resign on April 12 following violent protests over the rising cost of food. Preval made two other nominations before naming Pierre-Louis; Parliament rejected both. Pierre-Louis was an official at the National Airport Authority from 1979 to 1982, during the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier ("Baby Doc," 1971-1986), and held a cabinet post in the first administration of former president Jean Bertrand Aristide in 1991.