Asia-Cast

Asia Cast Sunday 22nd July

Under mounting global criticism of their prisoner treatment record, US President George Bush has issued an executive order banning the humiliation and cruel treatment of terrorism suspects by CIA operatives.However, some experts and human rights groups are arguing that the wording of the ban is vague and does not specifically say what practices would be allowed – these specifics have been kept confidential.

The Bush administration has portrayed the interrogation operation as one of its most successful tools in the war on terror, while opponents have said the agency’s techniques have left a black mark on the US¡¯s reputation around the world.

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Afghan Taliban rebels have threatened to start killing a busload of South Korean hostages, captured Thursday, if South Korea does not withdraw its troops from Afghanistan, according to Reuters news agency.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun called on the Taliban to free the 23 South Koreans, who he said were in Afghanistan performing volunteer medical work.

Roh said the 200 South Korean troops in Afghanistan are in the last phase of their noncombat mission to provide medical help and rebuild the country.

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Israeli Falun Gong practitioners and human rights activists have held a series of events commemorating the eighth anniversary of the start of the Chinese Communist Party’s brutal persecution of Falun Gong in China.

A rally was held in front of the Chinese embassy in Tel-Aviv and peaceful demonstrations by Falun Gong practitioners were also held in front of the Prime Minister’s offices, the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Israel parliament.

“We should not close our eyes,” said Gilad Slonim, spokesman for the Israeli Epoch Times. “Just as we don’t understand how the world was silent during the 40′s and all the Holocaust period, we should not be silent today. This is the responsibility of each and every one of us”, he said.

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In related news, a mass rally was held at the Washington Monument in Washington DC to celebrate the 24 million Chinese who have renounced their ties to the CCP or its affiliated organizations over the last 2 and a half years since the ¡°Quit the CCP¡± movement began.

Speakers at the rally spoke of how the Chinese Communist Party is in a state of near collapse under the weight of its moral deterioration, crimes against humanity and the mounting withdrawals from its ranks.

The quit the CCP movement has its origins in The Epoch Times’ editorial series, Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party , which revealed for the first time to the Chinese population the full extent of the atrocities committed by the CCP throughout its history. Many of the rally’s line-up of statesmen, academics, democracy advocates and former communists talked about these crimes.

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Amidst a number of food and drug related scandals, China has closed down three companies and arrested several people involved in the preparation and sale of contaminated products.

Several scandals involving sub-standard Chinese products have emerged in recent weeks, tarnishing the country’s international reputation.
Minister Li Changjiang, in charge of food and drug safety, promised China would improve its standards.

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Despite a bitter campaign marked by scandal, India has elected its first female president, in what supporters are calling a boost for the rights of millions of downtrodden women.

Pratibha Patil, the ruling coalition’s 72-year-old nominee, beat opposition-backed challenger and vice president, in a vote by the national parliament and state politicians.

Supporters hope Patil’s would help bring issues that plague women in India, like dowry-related violence, into the public spotlight. A woman is murdered, raped or abused every three minutes on average in India.

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Experts say they may have found a huge reservoir of water underneath one of the driest and most troubled places in the world. The so-called “mega-lake” was found beneath Darfur, in western Sudan.

In recent years, more than 200,000 people have died in conflicts in Dafur. Many speculate that these conflicts are at least partly due to disputes over water and other natural resources.

After looking at satellite photos of the Darfur mega-lake, the president of Sudan endorsed what’s basically a call for global aid that would help pay for exploratory wells. Egypt has agreed to drill 20 of these wells. The United Nations will drill several more.

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