AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Tuesday 29th January

In this Bulletin
- Brutal ethnic fighting continues in Kenya
- China on rare red alert
- Illegal exploitation of rare minerals have resulted in severe pollution

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Once again ethnic fighting has taken place in Kenya on Sunday as witnesses and Red Cross officials reported brutal attacks by members of President Mwai Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe on other ethnic groups.

The violence spread to the Rift Valley town of Naivasha on Sunday, where the Red Cross said there were reports of people being burned alive in their homes.

Kenya’s main opposition party and the Red Cross said as many as 30 people were killed.

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A former mayor has been shot dead during a hearing in a courtroom in the Philippine capital, Manila.

The assailant shot Reynaldo Yap, a former town mayor from the southern island of Mindanao, who was serving a life sentence for murder.

At least two other people were wounded in the attack and hundreds of people were evacuated from City Hall, which houses the courtroom.

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In Indonesia the Death toll from hu has risen to 100 – almost half of the total worldwide fatalities.
Two Indonesians from the outskirts of Jakarta succumbed to the H5N1 strain of the disease over the weekend, said Joko Suyono of the National Bird Flu Centre.

Indonesia is the nation worst affected by bird flu and has struggled to contain the virus

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network
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Harsh, winter weather that has battered China’s central, eastern and southern sections prompt the China Meteorological Administration to issue a rare red alert Monday.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the weather threatens lives and has strained supplies of fresh food and energy ahead of the Lunar New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, which falls on Feb. 7.

The cold spell has brought heavy snow and sleet, paralyzing roads, railways and airports, stranding hundreds of thousands of travelers ahead of the holiday, authorities said.

Almost 150,000 passengers were stuck in the Guangzhou railway station Saturday after heavy snowfall knocked out power and stopped operation of more than 130 trains in Hunan province, along a line serving Beijing and Guangzhou, Chinese media reported.

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China admits six workers have been killed on Olympic Games construction projects since 2003.

Until now, Beijing had denied there had been any fatalities on the building sites being readied for this August’s Games.
Officials said the families of the dead workers had been compensated.

Games organisers last week dismissed a report in a British newspaper that at least 10 workers had died building the main Olympic venue.

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And now for our original SOH news direct from China
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Dongyuan town in Guangdong province has the largest resources of rare minerals in the whole province, while the illegal private exploitation occurs again and again in spite of being prohibited many times.

Some farmers stated that the illegal mining has radioactive waste flowing into Dongjiang River.

Farmers from dozens of households appealed to the town council and were only compensated 700 RMB per 0.1644 acre , but the illegal mining still continues.

A staff from Heyuan City Land and Resources Bureau revealed that a lot of things are out of control when it comes to the real law enforcement.

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Recently, the vitriol oil leakage happened in Banqiao town, in Hunan province, which has polluted the underground water and caused arsenic contents in the water far beyond the normal standard, according to Hunan resources.

Farmers in Lower River have been drinking the poisonous water, which has caused 3 people to die and has affected up to 3000 people.

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