Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Wednesday 26th December

DEAR SOH LISTENERS:
To give our wonderful SOH volunteer staff a well-deserved break, only the written script for Asia Cast will be provided on the 24th, 25th, and 26th of December.

In this Bulletin…

Afghan’s government to expel UN workers,
Taiwan ramps up defence budget, and
South Korean authorities arrest those responsible for the Country’s worst oil spill.

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Afghanistan’s government has given two high-ranking officials from the European Union and the United Nations 48 hours to leave the country.

The two men – one British, the other Irish – based in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, had been holding meetings with different tribes and groups, including possibly the Taleban.

The UN has said that it will comply with the request but also hopes to resolve what it believes is a misunderstanding.

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In the lead up to elections in Taiwan, the Country’s parliament has passed its most extensive arms budget in years, as lawmakers strive to appear firm on national defence issues.

The 2008 defence budget, passed by the legislature last Thursday, includes funds for the controversial Hsiung Feng IIE cruise missile, a missile that can strike China.

Analysts say legislative elections in January and a presidential poll in March are shaping up as a contest over a Taiwan identity separate from rival China, which has claimed sovereignty over the island since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, and which has said that any attempts by Taiwan to become independent could result in war.

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South Korean authorities have arrested tugboat captain and barge commander involved in the country’s worst oil spill, which occurred when a crane mounted on a Samsung Heavy Industries Company barge collided with a Hong Kong-registered tanker on earlier this month.

The accident, spilling more than 10,500 tonnes of crude oil that washed up on west coast beaches, including a nature reserve.

Officials said the Taean Coast Guard arrested the two late on Monday, and plans to indict them on negligence and pollution charges early next year.

The tugboat captain and barge commander are suspected of taking the crane out in rough waters despite warnings not to do so, local media reported.

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Coast guard officials have confirmed fourteen sailors are still missing after a South Korean freighter sank in rough seas off the Country’s southern port, Yeosu.

The Eastern Bright, carrying nitric acid, sent a distress signal 1920 GMT Monday, on a voyage from South Korea to Taiwan.

One sailor from Burma has been found but twelve South Korean and two Burmese crew members are still missing.

The acid poses no pollution risk as it dilutes easily, officials said.

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At least fifteen people died and over a hundred are missing after a bridge collapsed in Nepal plunging into an ice cold river in Chunchu village, 500km west of Kathmandu.

The suspension bridge over the Bheri River is reported to have snapped under the weight of 400 people crossing to get to a Hindu festival fair.

Officials said it was hard to say exactly how many people were missing, as the scene was chaotic and nearby villages had not yet sent in missing person reports.

Hundreds of soldiers and police were rushed from nearby Nepalganj and Surkhet to help with the search, which stopped overnight but resumed at daybreak on Wednesday.

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Hundreds of Buddhist monks, nuns, and Muslim and Christian leaders have been marching in Cambodia to show their support of upcoming trials of the former leaders of the Khmer Rouge.

It is estimated that almost two million Cambodians are thought to have died during four years of Khmer Rouge rule in the late 1970s.

The organisation targeted religious institutions, destroying churches, mosques and temples.

The organisers said the trials would be crucial in helping Cambodia to forget its troubled past and look to the future.

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We at SOH would like to take this opportunity to wish those of you celebrating Christmas best wishes, and happy holidays to those who are enjoying some time off, and to all of our listeners we say thank you for tuning in this year and we look forward to sharing 2008 with you all.