Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Saturday 14th July

A Chinese student group at Columbia University posted a statement on its Web site on Wednesday that calls for the “execution” of “anyone who offends China.” The statement makes clear that “anyone” refers to those who practice Falun Gong.The publishing of this statement is the latest and most extreme instance of attacks by the Columbia University Chinese Student and Scholars Association on Falun Gong, dating back to a panel discussion sponsored by the Columbia University Falun Dafa Club on April twentieth.

These attacks have occurred in spite of formal complaints having been lodged against previous CUCSSA actions and the addition of two University administrators to the CUCSSA advisory board.

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North Korea will hold direct military talks with the United States on what it has termed “security and peace in the Korean peninsula”.

The North Korean military says American hostility towards North Korea could jeopardise a deal to disarm its nuclear program.

The state news agency says North Korea’s military wants to hold talks with the US military, supervised by the United Nations.

The comments come after reports from the US that it could pursue a peace treaty with North Korea on the condition its nuclear programs are dismantled.

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The worlds tallest man has finally found his bride after decades of searching. On Thursday the Chinese herdsman married a woman who barely stands up to his elbow.

Bao Xishun, who stands 2.36 metres tall, wed sales clerk Xia Shujun in a traditional ceremony in the grasslands of northern China’s Inner Mongolia, where both are from.

Mr Bao, fifty-six, dressed in a sky-blue silk robe, was beaming as he sat next to his twenty eight-year-old bride just before the nuptials were pronounced.

Ms Bau is just 1.68 metres tall, but said when her courtship with Mr Bao began early this year that their height difference was not a problem.

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In the war-ravaged western region of Darfur the bombing of civilian targets by the Sudanese government has resumed.

Khartoum signed a ceasefire agreement with the two main rebel groups in Darfur, the Justice and Equality Movement and the Sudan Liberation Movement, in 2004, but violence has continued.

A May 2006 Darfur peace deal was signed by only one rebel faction and since then rebels have split into a dozen or more groups.

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Chinese rights activist Chen Guangcheng has been sentenced to four years and three months¡¯ imprisonment for ¡°destruction of property¡± and ¡°assembling a crowd to disrupt traffic¡± since last August, for protesting against the forced abortion he investigated in Linyi County, Shandong Province.

His wife Yuan Weijing was stopped and detained by the police in Shandong.

Yuan Weijing escaped interrogation and went to Beijing rights advocator Hu Jia to seek help to release her husband.

But the Shandong authorities and Beijing police have closely monitored Hu Jia¡¯s house after they discovered Yuan, and announced they would force Yuan back to Shandong at anytime.

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A deluge of floodwater from the Yangtze River has caused a swift rise in the water level in Dongting Lake¡ªChina’s second largest freshwater lake.

The flood has driven millions of rats from the lake islands into surrounding human habitats.

According to The Epoch Times, Datonghu District in Yiyang City, an area with a very serious rat infestation, reported killing approximately one hundred tons of farm rats in just over eight days.

Experts warn that this is a sign of China’s deteriorating environment and could cause a serious outbreak of disease in a matter of days.

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A U.S. jury found on Friday former media mogul Conrad Black guilty of criminal fraud and obstruction of justice but innocent of racketeering.

Black, along with three co-defendants, had been accused by U.S. prosecutors of pilfering sixty million dollars in payments that should have benefited his former newspaper company, Hollinger International Incorporated and its shareholders.

The verdict came after nearly fifteen weeks of testimony in federal court. Black, a member of Britain’s House of Lords, could face decades in prison and millions in fines.