AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Friday 25th July

In this Bulletin…

- Foreign media restrictions enforced ahead of Beijing Games;
- Jumbo-jet forced to make emergency landing by large hole in fuselage; and
- Arson suspected as blaze kills seven people in South Korea.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China

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On July 21 in Beijing, authorities rounded up petitioners who were trying to make appeals at any major Office of Letters and Complaints, says the Epoch Times. The 1,800 detainees, which included children and the elderly, were confined to Jiu-Jing Village, a rural suburb of Beijing.

Reports indicate that several hundred of them were taken away by local officials, and some released, but there are still about a thousand people are being held in the “concentration camp”.

According to eyewitnesses, some petitioners were beaten to death at Beijing South Railway Station. Epoch Times reporters received a text message for help from the petitioners in detention, saying, “We want human rights! We want freedom!”.

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Repeated promises of press freedom and media access have been made in the run up to the Beijing Games, but it now looks as if fears of foreign journalists reporting anything negative have resulted in a change of heart.

The State Council Information Office had announced the “nine provisions” to overseas media reporters, but recently the public security’s control of foreign journalists has resulted in stringent measures not only barring foreign reporters from interviews, but also banning them from shooting images of stations and airports.

This has made those foreign journalists holding permits for interviews during the Olympics deeply disappointed.

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Further earthquakes hit the border between the provinces of Sichuan and Shanxi yesterday, killing one and injuring 17, according to the Epoch Times. Approximately 1,200 houses collapsed.

According to state media, China Earthquake Networks Center measured three 4.9- to-6.0 magnitude aftershocks throughout the day, and more aftershocks under magnitude 4.0.

Several cities in Sichuan province felt the tremors, with Guangyuan city hit the hardest.

Towns and cities within a 200 miles radius felt the effects of the quake. The earthquake also caused disruption of traffic on Yaoqing Highway and caused landslides, according to Bo Li, the Vice Commissioner of Qingchuan Municipal Bureau of Radio & Television.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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A Boeing 747 flying from London to Melbourne was forced to make an emergency landing in the Philippines when a large hole appeared in its fuselage.

The Qantas Airways plane carrying 346 passengers and 19 crew, diverted to Manila shortly after leaving Hong Kong and landed safely.

The cause of the hole, which was 2.5m to 3m across and led to cabin pressure problems, is being investigated by engineers.

Passengers described hearing a large bang and feeling a rush of wind through the cabin about an hour into the flight from Hong Kong and the aircraft rapidly lost altitude.

Qantas chief executive Geoff Dixon said Qantas had provided all passengers with accommodation and a replacement aircraft had been arranged.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network
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A blaze which swept through a boarding house in South Korea has killed seven people and left three in critical condition.

The blaze broke out in the 10-story building in Yongin city south of the capital Seoul at about 1:20am.
A firefighter and police official said arson was suspected, as the fire seemed to have started in two separate places. An investigation is underway.

Most of the victims were unable to escape from the building’s maze of tiny rooms and narrow corridors.
Small, cheap, rent-by-the-room guest houses are common in Seoul’s satellite towns – popular with students and those on low incomes.

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Despite reporting an unexpected rise in three-month profits Honda Motors is still predicting falling profits for the whole of the year. Net profit between April and June was $1.68bn, up 8.1 percent from the same period last year.

The result came despite a 2.2 percent fall in revenue as a result of the strengthening Japanese currency.

Honda managed to increase three-month profits by raising prices and cutting costs, and has also seen strong demand for its fuel-efficient cars as oil prices have risen.

Honda has also benefited from the flexibility of its factories, which have been able to switch production away from sport utility vehicles and into smaller vehicles as demand has shifted.

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