World Information 7

Bush to attend China Olympics
opening ceremonies
Reuters/bdnews24.com . Washington

The US president George, W Bush, will attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in China next month, the White House said on Thursday.
Human rights activists have been calling for world leaders to boycott the opening ceremonies to protest China’s record on civil rights. China’s crackdown on Tibet after deadly riots in March sparked worldwide protests over Beijing’s policies, including demonstrations that disrupted the procession of the Olympic torch.
‘The president and Mrs Bush will attend the Opening Ceremo-nies of the Summer Olympic Games on August 8,’ White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement announcing Bush’s trip to South Korea, Thailand and China next month.
The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, has said he will decide next week whether to attend the opening of the Games, depending on the outcome of talks between Beijing and envoys of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s Buddhist leader.
UN chief urges North Korea to
improve human rights
Agence France-Presse . Seoul

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, urged North Korea Friday to improve its human rights record.
‘I think that North Korea... should take necessary measures to improve its human rights situation,’ Ban told a press conference after meeting South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-Soo.
‘There are still many areas where human rights are not properly protected... and even abused. This is an unacceptable situation,’ he said.
The UN chief, a former South Korean foreign minister, reaffirmed his willingness to visit Pyongyang but said he has no firm plan as yet. He said he would take ‘appropriate diplomatic measures,’ if needed, for peace in Northeast Asia, including the North’s nuclear disarmament.
Mongolia FM calls for
electoral reform
Agence France-Presse . Ulan Bator

Mongolia’s foreign minister on Friday called for reform of the nation’s electoral system to avoid a repeat of the deadly riots that shook the country’s capital this week.
The violence that erupted in Ulan Bator on Tuesday and killed five people was triggered by allegations that Sunday’s parliamentary election had been rigged.
‘The first thing they (parliament and government) should look into is the election procedures, the accountancy and transparency of the system, to avoid anything like this happening again,’ Sanjaasuren Oyun told the news agency.
The formerly communist Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party won a majority of seats in the 76-seat parliament, handing defeat to its main rival the Democratic Party, which said the vote was ‘stolen’.
Oyun, a member of the smaller Civil Will Party, said there were irregularities and fraud in the election that should be investigated. ‘If things with each election have been getting worse, one should think they have to make the election process more transparent,’ she said.
She said proportional representation, in which seats are allocated proportionally according to each political party’s share of the popular vote, would improve the chances of success for smaller parties like hers.
A draft proposal was introduced towards the end of last year to change to proportional representation, but the proposal was rejected. The police on Tuesday fired tear gas and rubber bullets to contain the roughly 8,000 protesters.
The headquarters of the MPRP were gutted in a fire, a police station was attacked and part of the Cultural Palace burnt.
A four-day state of emergency was called in the wake of the violence.