AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Wednesday 29th of August

Taleban militants say they have agreed to free a group of South Koreans held hostage for more than a month in Afghanistan.Seoul said the agreement was reached on condition its troops were withdrawn as scheduled by the year’s end.

South Korea also agreed to end all missionary work in Afghanistan and stop its citizens from travelling there.

The rebels kidnapped 23 Christian charity workers from Ghazni province on 19 July. They subsequently killed two male hostages, and freed two women.

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

In southern Thailand, an insurgency is turning into a brutal armed conflict where the majority of victims are civilians, a leading rights group said.

Separatists intent on establishing an Islamic state are attacking civilians and schools, Human Rights Watch said.

The militants believe up to five more years of violence are needed before they are strong enough to negotiate with the government, the group said.

Violence in the region has killed almost 2,500 people since 2004.

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

In Papua New Guinea people with HIV/Aids are being buried alive by their relatives, a health worker says.

Margaret Marabe said families were taking the extreme action because they could no longer look after sufferers or feared catching the disease themselves.

Ms Marabe said she saw the “live burials” with her own eyes during a five-month trip to PNG’s remote Southern Highlands.

PNG is in the grip of an HIV/Aids epidemic – the worst in the region.

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

Rapid economic growth has had a damaging impact on China’s environment.

The agricultural land is threatened by the water pollution, posing a severe threat to the nation¡¯s food production.

Wall Street Journal pointed that industry is the biggest source of water pollution in China.

According to Voice of America, an investigation result published by Chinese government showed that in Nanning City, Guangxi Province, grain contained 20 times more heavy metals than normal level as the land and water was contaminated by the industrial wastewater.

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

Internet giant Yahoo has asked a US court to dismiss a lawsuit accusing it of complicity in rights abuses and acts of torture in China.

The firm filed a motion for dismissal saying its Chinese subsidiary had no choice but to comply with local laws.

Yahoo is being sued by the World Organization for Human Rights for sharing information about its users with the Chinese government.

The information has led to the arrests of writers and dissidents.

Yahoo said that while it did not condone the suppression of people’s liberties, the firm had been compelled by local laws to hand over the information that was requested.

But Morton Sklar of the World Organization for Human Rights said the company had failed to meet its ethical responsibilities.

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

In response to recent criticism from the world about the quality of products made in China, the Chinese Communist Party has begun airing a series of special documentaries in China called “Believe in Made in China.”

Recently the United States and some European countries have found recurring and serious safety problems with products made in China.

Faced with criticism from the international society, the CCP claimed the criticism to be “demonizing” the products made in mainland China, and “loud demands made by politicians.”

The CCP has accused American products of having similar safety problems, and its official mouthpiece, the China Central Television has recently broadcasted a special series “Believe in Made in China.”

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

In Germany Five Vietnamese men have gone on trial over the killing of seven people in a Chinese restaurant.

The victims were the restaurant owners, both British citizens from Hong Kong, as well as five employees from Vietnam, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand.

Prosecutors say the murders were the result of a bungled armed robbery.

Three of the defendants face murder charges, while the other two are accused of aggravated armed robbery and incitement to murder.

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

On the morning of August 25 the Human Rights Torch Relay that was lit in Athens and then passed through Berlin, arrived in Munich’s Olympic Park.

Mr. Volker,of the German branch of the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong received the torch from seven-year-old Chen Fadu.

A crowd of people from all over Germany watched the Human Rights Torch Relay as it passed through the city of Munich.