AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Sunday 29th June

In this Bulletin….

- Report claims Beijing will run out of water in ten years;
- Rioters torch police building in south-west China; and
- A highly toxic pesticide found on sunken ferry in the Philippines.

But first, here is our original SOH news direct from China
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According to a report by Canadian non-government organization Probe International, serious water shortages in Beijing may result in an economic collapse, and the government will need to evacuate parts of the population.

ABC Radio, quoting Probe International, claimed that water may run out in Beijing in ten years, forcing the closure of certain industries.

Over 200 rivers in Beijing have already started to dry up, and the dam levels have also reached critical levels.

According to Grainne Ryder, the policy director of Probe International, Beijing officials have started to consider relocating residents in the capital to other cities.

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According to Sichuan sources, angry parents and victims in Pingwu province have protested against local officials for hiding the true extent of the earthquake disaster and underreporting the death toll of students.

According to Radio Free Asia, nearly 100,000 people perished during the May 12 quake, and victims are still experiencing extreme hardship.

Sources say, over 700 students died during the quake, but official figures only stated that 140 students died which has angered local residents.

In recent days, parents of deceased students and disaster victims are continuing to protest on the main roads of Jiuzaigou demanding that justice be served.

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According to Hebei sources, Ms Chao Fen, a worker in the Second Division of Xingtai city, Qiaoxi Area Factory who is also a Falun Gong practitioner, recently had her home broken into by Qiaodong Bureau of Public Security team.

Her personal belongings including valuables and cash were taken and her mother and two daughters were arrested as well as other Falun gong practitioners.

Ms Fen is now forced onto the streets and she is calling for emergency assistance from international human rights associations and for the international community to pay attention to the plight of Falun Gong practitioners in China subjected to persecution by the Chinese communist regime.

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‘And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast’
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According to Chinese accounts on the Internet, a police building and vehicles in south-west China were torched by rioters.

The reports of the clash in Weng’an County, Guizhou province, could not be immediately verified and the Government and police did not answer phone calls this morning.

But the accounts spreading on the Internet, despite China’s state censorship, depicted a violent outburst involving thousands of people and lasting several hours.

Residents were enraged by allegations that police had ignored a family’s claim that their 15-year-old daughter, whose body was found in a river a week ago, appeared to have been raped and possibly murdered, the accounts said.

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Police in South Korea have used water cannon to disperse thousands of people in the capital Seoul protesting against the resumption of US beef imports.

The protests took place as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insisted in Seoul that US beef was safe to eat.

South Korea suspended US beef imports in 2003 after a case of mad cow disease, or BSE, was identified there.

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A highly toxic pesticide has been found aboard the sunken Philippines ferry, suspending the operation to recover hundreds of bodies inside.

Ten tonnes of endosulfan were illegally in the cargo, destined for a Del Monte pineapple plantation, officials said.

Only 56 of more than 850 passengers are known to have survived the disaster.

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“Asia Cast… keeping you across the top headlines from Asia and the World.”