Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Sunday 21st October

- China’s water contamination is gruesome

- China’s vice president steps down from office

- Burmese Authorities Lift Curfew in Rangoon

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Pakistani police have released a photograph of a suspected suicide bomber involved in the killing of at least 139 people during the homecoming procession of the former Pakistani Prime Minister on Thursday.

Pakistani media outlets showed pictures of the severed head of an unidentified man police say may be responsible for the deadly bomb attacks targeting Ms. Bhutto’s motorcade in Karachi. Authorities say they are investigating a list of other possible suspects as well.

Angry Bhutto supporters burned tires and threw rocks at passing cars in several Karachi neighbourhoods on Saturday to protest the attacks.

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The Asian Development Bank reported, water contamination in various regions of China has reached a shocking state.

Asia-pacific research centre director, Dr Yi Ming said: “Less than 50% of the underground water systems of Chinese cities have received treatment.

The water systems expel contaminated water directly into rivers.
Around 75% of rivers that flow through Chinese cities and different regions are not suitable as sources for drinking water.

The phenomenon of river contamination caused by industrial wastewater is becoming more serious.

China’s has now become the biggest source of contamination for the Pacific Ocean.

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The Epoch Times reported, on the 18th of October, Amnesty International has expressed through an open letter, that the Chinese Communist regime is using, so called “re-education through labor camps” to detain people without trial, in order to “clean up” Beijing before the Olympics next year.

This has violated its promise to improve human rights.

Human Rights Watch, the Foreign Reporters Club in China, and Reporters Without Borders reported in early August, that the Chinese Communist regime has not kept the promise they made when competing for the Olympics, on media, human rights and freedom.

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China’s Vice-President Zeng Qinghong and two other Senior leaders, have stepped down from office, the official Chinese news agency has said.

Zeng and two other politicians, Luo Gan and Wu Guanzheng, were dropped from the Communist Party’s central committee at its five-yearly congress, Xinhua said.

The announcement is seen as the first stage in a widely expected reshuffle in favour of a new generation of leaders.

The three men cannot now be elected to the standing committee on Monday.

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While the 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party is on, the wife and children of Beijing human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng, have been in a state of panic since his arrest on September 22.

Beijing insider Hu Jia, told Radio Free Asia on Wednesday that since Gao was kidnapped again, his family has been extremely worried.

In addition, Gao’s 14-year-old daughter Ge Ge has also been monitored by the police and even isolated at school. Other students are afraid to be friends with her. Her teachers are kept in close relationship with the police.

Human rights activist Huang Yan was also arrested because she keeps close relations with Gao and his family.

Huang’s present situation is also making people worried.

According to Hu Jia, she attempted suicide two days ago because she couldn’t stand further insults by the police.

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Military explosives were used in a massive bomb blast at a Manila shopping mall that left 11 dead and 113 injured, Philippine police say.

Evidence collected from the Glorietta mall blast site indicates that the bomb “contained RDX, the main chemical component of C4,” the police say in a report to President Gloria Arroyo.

In the Philippines the C4 explosive is only used by the military.

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Burmese authorities on Saturday lifted a curfew and ban on gatherings of more than five people in the country’s largest city of Rangoon.

The announcement was made from loudspeaker trucks driving through the city’s streets.

The military government initially imposed a 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. curfew last month as part of a government crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations across the country. It had since been reduced to just four hours a night.

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