AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Saturday 12th July

In this Bulletin…

- Russia and China veto UN Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe;
- International Criminal Court seeks arrest of Sudanese President over war crimes; and
- Chinese Regime kills two alleged Uighur terrorists

But first, here is our original SOH news direct from China

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According to Chinese state media, Sichuan dissidents Huang Qi and Zhen Hongling who exposed shoddy constructions have been handed over to Chengdu and Miangyan city prosecutors on Friday.

Hong Kong Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy revealed that 45 year old Huan Qi was arrested for suspicion of collecting evidence of sub-standard construction and Zheng Hongling was arrested for publishing three articles criticizing the shoddy construction projects and local official corruption.

The pair are due to stand trial in August.

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Police in Shandong province have resorted to violent measures after the mass petitioning by over 1000 de-mobilized cadres in Yentai city on June 27.

The mass petitioning which heavily impacted the area have attracted heavy-handed tactics by police to ensure there are no repeats of such group-incidents which may affect the Olympic Games. According to sources, de-mobilized cadre petitioners were beaten and injured by Yentai city police, and many have been tricked into being summoned by officials who are searching for the organizers behind the mass petition.

With many ex-military officials now being detained, one former cadre Qi Sitao says that a new wave a crackdown has begun.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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According to local sources in Yengi Sheher county, of Xinjiang, two alleged Uighur terrorists have been executed and a further 15 jailed. Radio Free Asia reports, Mukhtar Setiwaldi and Abduweli Imin were sentenced and executed on July 9 following a public trial on the same day. Others were given sentences ranging from 10 years in jail to death suspended for 2 years.

The accused are alleged by the Chinese regime to belong to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a separatist movement working for an independent Islamic state of East Turkestan. Allegations that the group has links to terrorism including al-Qaeda have been denied.

This comes after the Chinese regime’s recent statements that it had foiled planned attacks on the Olympic Games by five “terrorism groups” and that police had shot and killed 5 people seeking “holy war”.

Uighur groups claim that the Chinese regime has instigated a pre-Games security crackdown, targeting any group seeking greater freedom for the region.

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China and Russia have vetoed a UN Security Council resolution to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe for its recent sham election, where the opposition presidential candidate withdrew to stem ruling party violence against his supporters.

The resolution proposed on Friday sought the appointment of a UN special envoy to Zimbabwe, the imposition of an arms embargo, and restrictions on financial transactions and travel by President Robert Mugabe and 13 other officials.

Proponents have attacked the veto, particularly of Russia, after it joined a chorus for sanctions against Zimbabwe at last week’s G8 summit in Japan. Opposing countries cited concerns with the language of the US drafted resolution and that the election was an internal matter for Zimbabwe meaning it was outside the Security Council charter.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network

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The Sudanese government has threatened the peace process in Darfur after an announcement by the International Criminal Court (ICC) that prosecutors will seek a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar el-Beshir for war crimes in the Darfur region. This will mark the first time that the ICC will seek to charge a sitting head of state with war crimes and Mr el-Bashir will be only the third head of state to be charged by an international court.

The Sudanese government provided a stinging response to the announcement, with Foreign Affairs Minister Al-Samani al-Wasila stating that any decision against the president “may destroy the peace process.”

Sudan has previously refused to surrender two war crimes suspects, rejecting the ICC’s jurisdiction.

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On Friday, US banking regulators have seized indymac Bancorp Inc after the third largest banking failure in US history and the biggest in the wake of the recent credit crunch. The weight of withdrawals from a US$1.3 billion run on the bank over the last fortnight led to the indymac’s downfall.

indymac primarily handled assets in the mortgage sector with a high proportion of subprime mortgages, which have been harshly affected by the credit crunch. indymac is the fifth US banking failure this year with more expected with the falling US housing market and the credit crunch biting hard.

indymac is now the subject of a Federal takeover and will reopen on Monday under the supervision of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) as indymac Federal Bank. The FDIC estimates the cost of the bank’s failure at between US$4 billion and US$8 billion, eating into its already dwindling US$53billion insurance fund.

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This has been Karen Chang for the SOH Radio Network.

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