AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Sunday 24th August

The death toll has continued to rise in southern India, after two explosions on Saturday night killed at least 41 people in Hyderabad in what authorities are calling terrorists attacks.More than 60 people were wounded, several critically, police said.

Authorities also found explosives at 16 other locations in and near Hyderabad, said Y.S.R. Reddy, chief minister of Andhra Pradesh state.

Security was beefed up at the airport and railroads after police said the almost simultaneous blasts were coordinated attacks.

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Greece¡¯s government has declared a nationwide state of emergency after raging forest fires killed at least 46 people and trapped many more in villages surrounded by flames.

The worst fires in Greece in decades broke out on Friday on the southern Peloponnese peninsula and have spread to new fronts, fanned by strong winds and soaring temperatures which have hampered rescue efforts.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis hinted that the fires might be the work of arsonists, saying the rash of forest fires “can’t be a coincidence¡± while vowing to the find and punish the culprits.

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The Chinese government says it is drafting new laws to tackle the growing gender imbalance caused by the countries one child policy and the subsequent widespread abortion of female foetuses.

China’s Family Planning Association has revealed that in some cities there are as many as eight young boys for every five girls.

Experts fear the phenomenon could have unpredictable social consequences such as risks of increasing anti-social and violent behaviour.

The practice of abortion is already banned, but new rules are expected to set out specific punishments for parents and doctors.

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A pig epidemic is spreading across China and other Asian countries, including Vietnam and Burma.

Chinese authorities are calling the disease ¡°blue-black ear¡± illness and it occurs when bacteria found on pigs’ ears causes severe lung disease, red rashes and a black and blue line to appear on the ear.

Market analysts say that 26 provinces in China alone are affected, and that more than a quarter million pigs have died so far.

The International Animal Husbandry Association says that the CCP tried to cover-up the pig disease, causing it to spread more rapidly.

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Japan’s Defence Minister, Yuriko Koike, met her Indian counterpart A.K. Antony in New Delhi on Friday where she asked Pakistan to join the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty.

Koike’s visit comes at the end of Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to India. Koike is Japan’s first female defence minister to visit India, after her predecessor quit the post over remarks that appeared to accept the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of two Japanese cities.

Koike laid a wreath at Delhi’s Amar Jawan Jyoti, a war memorial and was given a guard of honour ceremony outside the Indian defence ministry

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Malaysia¡¯s Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has stepped in to shut down a newspaper for a month after it published a picture of Jesus holding a cigarette and what appears to be a can of beer.

Although the papers publishers had apologised for what they say was an error, and even though Christian groups had accepted the papers apology, the government moved quickly to make an example of the paper.

The country’s publishing laws allow politicians to close any publication without judicial approval.

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After suffering from years of crime, floods and landslides, the villagers of Zitiste in Serbia, have built themselves a new village hero to look up to when times get rough: Sylvester Stallone’s fictional boxer Rocky Balboa.

The village commissioned artist Boris Staparac, a self-taught artist and writer, to create the nearly 10-foot statue of the film icon in February after a local resident came up with the idea.

While some have questioned why the statue isn’t of a hero or saint from Serbia’s past it seems that the hero of the Rocky movies, which have been on Serbian TV for years, has become something of a modern day icon, especially amongst the younger generation of villagers.

Zitiste officials hope the statue will help them turn around the image of their community and highlight its years of struggles.