Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Saturday 20th October

Thousands of protesters stormed Bolivia’s busiest airport on Friday as rightist opposition groups fought the government of President Evo Morales for control of the country’s main air hub.

At least seven-thousand protesters shouting “This is ours” occupied airport hallways and waved flags on the runway. The government withdrew troops that had occupied the airport since Thursday, after airlines complained of corrupt practices.

The airport in the country’s wealthy eastern region was shut down for part of Friday due to the protests but restarted operations in the afternoon.

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President Bush announced further U.S. sanctions against Burma’s military rulers on Friday, saying they had continued to defy international demands to “stop their vicious persecution.”

Imposing the second package of U.S. measures in less than a month, Bush said he was adding more of Burma’s (officially known as Myanmar) leaders to a list of those already facing financial and travel sanctions and that he had instructed the U.S. Commerce Department to tighten export controls on Burma.

Calling for stepped-up international pressure, Bush also urged China, India and other countries in the region to “review their own laws and policies” with regard to Burma.

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China has been called on to allow its currency to rise in value more quickly by the finance ministers from the G7 group of leading industrial countries.

This would make Chinese goods less competitive and could help curb China’s international trade surplus. The G7 said it could also help reduce inflationary pressures in China because it would make imports cheaper.

The deputy governor of China’s central bank said it was committed to gradual revaluation alongside economic reform. But, added Wu Xiaoling, “moving the exchange rates in the absence of economic restructuring policies will hurt China”.

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In connection for the killings of twenty-four Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005, two US marines, including a battalion commander will soon be facing a court martial.

Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey Chessani is charged with dereliction of duty and failing to report and investigate the deaths. Lance Corporal Stephen Tatum is accused of involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and aggravated assault.

The two men are the first to be sent to court martial in the biggest criminal case involving civilian deaths in Iraq. Prosecutors allege that the marines shot unarmed people in retaliation for a roadside bomb attack that killed one of their comrades.

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Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has promised she will never surrender to militants following twin bomb attacks on her convoy which killed one-hundred and thirty people.

Ms Bhutto said there could be more attacks to come, but said she and her party were determined to contest the parliamentary elections in January.

The carnage has raised questions about the safety of campaigning for the poll.

Earlier, she said ex-army officials had been behind the attacks, but stressed she was not blaming the government.

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After Hua-Yuan Mine declared itself bankrupt, about seven-hundred retired staff and the families of the one-hundred and seventy-two victims who died from a disaster at Hua-Yuan Mine due to water infiltration this August, protested against the layoff settlement.

The protesting lasted three consecutive days from the fourteenth of October.

The victims’ families revealed that many are still awaiting the minimal compensation promised. The authority barred them from reporting to its superior, rendering them nowhere to appeal.

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Over a thousand farmers at Shun-De County, Fuoshan City of Guangdong Province planned to parade at a large scale international trade affair in attempt to get public attention over land seizure.

Until midnight, the entire village had been under siege. Free Asia Radio reported that in mid September, local farmers at Nan-Sha Village launched various forms of collective protests with over a hundred residents appealing peacefully at the village’s Party Committee Office everyday or parading within the village to request to view the records of sales of the land.

In less than a month, over ten human rights defenders had been arrested.

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