AsiaCast

Asia Cast Thursday 19th July

-Transformer explosion rocks Manhattan
-Plane crash in Brazil
-A flying dragon shot by security cameras in China

A transformer exploded in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, creating a roar and a huge plume of smoke, sending pedestrians fleeing from the area in scenes reminiscent of the September 11th attacks.

Police at the scene said 15 to 20 people had been taken to the hospital. CNN said three of the injured had been admitted to the New York Presbyterian Hospital emergency room.

In Washington, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security official said there was no apparent link to terrorism.

Officials said a ruptured steam pipe appeared to have caused the transformer to blow.

***************************************************

Brazil must review its reliance on overcrowded, undersized airports inside city centres, aviation experts said Wednesday after the country’s deadliest air disaster killed up to 200 people.

The Congonhas airport in the heart of Sao Paulo, where the disaster occurred Tuesday, operated at full capacity and its runways were too short for landing large commercial aircraft in rain, said Gustavo Mello, a risk management consultant.

Congonhas is Brazil’s busiest airport, handles the most domestic flights for the country’s financial capital of 16 million people.

The Santos Dumont airport in the center of Rio de Janeiro faces similar problems and presents similar risks, analysts said.

****************************************************

Twenty-two people were killed when rainstorms hit Jinan, capital of eastern Shandong province, on Wednesday night, Xinhua News Agency said. Six people were missing and 142 were injured.

The city and surrounding area received a record 7 inches of rainfall over three hours, the report said. The storm disrupted traffic and cut off electricity and the water supply, according to the city government.

Torrential rains, mudflows and lightning strikes have killed at least 59 people in China this week.

*************************************************************

In Vietnam, a mass protest over the government’s land policies is gathering force, ahead of the opening session of the newly elected National Assembly.

Witnesses say hundreds of peasants from the Mekong River Delta are surrounding the offices of the National Assembly in Ho Chi Minh City.

A smaller protest is also reportedly being held in the capital, Hanoi.
The protesters are demanding the return of their land, and for any wrongdoing by local officials to be punished.

Both protests have been going on relatively peacefully for several weeks, and received little coverage in the local media.

Land protests are not unseen in Vietnam, but correspondents say a demonstration of this scale and intensity is rare.

******************************************************

A roadside bomb has exploded near a convoy of Chinese nationals being escorted by security forces in southwest Pakistan, killing at least 10 Pakistanis. Police say.

The blast occurred in Hub town in the gas-rich Baluchistan province, which has been wracked by an almost three-year insurgency by separatist tribal rebels seeking greater autonomy.

Provincial police chief says a police and paramilitary convoy was taking a group of five Chinese to Karachi when there was a blast caused by an improvised explosive device that had been planted on the road.

The blast came two weeks after China demanded better protection for its citizens following the shooting dead by suspected Islamic militants of three Chinese men in the north-western city of Peshawar.

**********************************************************

Yoshiaki Murakami a Japanese fund manager has been given a two-year jail sentence after a Tokyo court found him guilty of inside trading.

He had broken securities laws by trading shares during the Internet firm Livedoor’s bid for Nippon Broadcasting System in January 2005.

Murakami, 47, who had pleaded not guilty, sighed at the verdict.

Two executives from scandal-hit Livedoor have already received jail terms, and others suspended sentences.

*******************************************************

A flying dragon has apparently been seen through an infrared security camera of a residential building in western China.

On July 10, Chengdu Television in China’s Sichuan province broadcast footage showing a dragon-like creature swiftly entering the screen and then flying away.

A resident in Chengdu who does not want to be identified said she recorded the footage of the flying dragon from Chengdu Television’s Good Morning Chengdu and made copies of it in order to spread the news.

According this resident, the original footage has been destroyed as ordered by Chinese authorities.