Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Tuesday 23rd October

The UN’s expert on human rights has been granted permission to visit Burma by the military government after they had refused them permission for four years.

Paolo Sergio Pinheiro, who visits countries to check on their human rights performance, made repeated requests to visit during that time.

Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win wrote to the UN suggesting that Mr. Pinheiro could arrive before mid-November.

The UN’s special envoy to Burma is also hoping to be allowed to return soon.

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

Iran will not abandon its right to nuclear technology despite the threat of more sanctions; it told France in a letter published on Monday, a day before talks to try to defuse its row with the West.

Western nations accuse Iran of seeking to build atomic bombs under cover of a civilian programme, which Tehran denies.

The United States has not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to end the standoff.

But the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said in an interview that Iran would need three to eight years to make a nuclear bomb, allowing time for negotiations.

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

Turkey said on Monday it would exhaust diplomatic channels before launching any military strike into northern Iraq to root out Kurdish rebels, who killed at least a dozen Turkish soldiers in fighting over the weekend.

Turkey has built up its forces along the border with Iraq in preparation for an incursion against rebel bases. But Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has said he will hold off for a few days to let the United States try to curb the Kurdish separatists.

Washington, in turn, urged the Iraqi government on Monday to act swiftly to stop Kurdish guerrillas from mounting further attacks in Turkey.

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

Congolese government forces are preparing to expand their military campaign in the east of the country to include another front against a local militia in addition to an ongoing fight against a renegade Tutsi general.

Congo’s army has been fighting rebels loyal to Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda in North Kivu province since August, when his men abandoned a January peace deal and pulled out of mixed government brigades.

The clashes have displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

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

To help fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and to finance other national security needs, US President George W Bush has asked Congress for an extra US forty-six billion.

It brings the overall amount of war funds the president requested for the next budget year to nearly US two-hundred-billion. Mr. Bush’s formal request to Congress follows on from one made by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates in September.

At that time Mr. Gates said the money would help pay for armored vehicles to protect US troops from roadside bombs.

Mr. Bush officially requested the extra money in the White House, surrounded by war veterans and the family of a US marine who died in Afghanistan.

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

Famous Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt has returned to an Indian prison for buying weapons from bombers who attacked Mumbai in 1993.

Dutt, who was sentenced for six years in July by a court, was given temporary bail by the Supreme Court in August.

The court had ordered his release on the grounds that a copy of the judgment was yet to reach the actor.

Dutt is the most high-profile of 100 people convicted in connection with the blasts which killed 257 people.

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

State media has reported of an explosion at an unlicensed fireworks factory in south-west China which has killed at least sixteen people and injured fifteen more.

The blast happened early on Sunday morning at a workshop in Chongqing province’s Xiushan County, Xinhua news agency reported.

Three houses were destroyed and at least one person was reported missing. Rescuers were searching through the rubble and the number of casualties could rise.

An investigation into the cause of the blast is under way.