AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Wednesday 30th July

In this Bulletin…

- Teacher jailed for posting images of schools destroyed by Sichuan earthquake on internet;
- North Korea facing dire food shortage; and
- Tensions rise between India and Pakistan in Kashmir.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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Several legs of the Olympic torch relay in Henan Province have been shortened or canceled.
The event planned for Shangqiu City was canceled, and the route of torch relay was substantially cut down in Luoyang and Anyang Cities.

Provincial authorities said that this was inline with the principle of the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee to simplify the ceremony.

However, the Epoch Times reported on Tuesday that the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in China stated the torch relay was originally scheduled to be held in Shangqiu on Sunday, but fears of demonstrations by 50,000 victims of an “illegal fund-raising” scam, as well as 2,000 unemployed workers, forced the cancelation.

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With the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics approaching, the weather is increasingly becoming a hot topic for Chinese people. As the iconic National, or Bird’s Nest, Stadium has no roof, rain could be a serious problem for what is bound to be an ambitious spectacle.

Analysis of meteorological data going back 30 years has shown that in Beijing on August 8 there will be a 47 percent probability of rain, dropping to 41 percent at the stadium itself.

Yu Xinwen, spokesman for the China Meteorological Administration, said that, “weather modification is in the experimental and research stage, and can only cause some affect on small-scale events, such as drizzle-like weather. It can not affect heavy downpours.”

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Liu Shaokun, a teacher who posted pictures of schools that collapsed in the Sichuan earthquake on the internet, has been detained for “disseminating rumours and destroying social order” and ordered to serve a year of “re-education through labour”, said Human Rights in China.

Many of the 70,000 who died in the quake were children whose schools collapsed. Parents have accused local officials of colluding with builders to allow them to get away with cheap and unsafe practices.

“Instead of investigating and pursuing accountability for shoddy and dangerous school buildings, the authorities are resorting to re-education through labour to silence and lock up concerned citizens like teacher Liu Shaokun and others,” said Human Rights in China Executive Director Sharon Hom.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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A UN agency has warned that North Korea is facing its worst food shortages since the famine of the late 1990s.

As many as six million people in the country are in urgent need of food aid, according to the World Food Programme.

Most households have cut their food intake and more people are scavenging for wild foods such as grasses and berries, WFP assessors found.

North Korea has relied on foreign food aid for years, but recent flooding and poor harvests have made things worse. Rising fuel prices and a drop in aid from South Korea have also contributed to the shortages.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network
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An unexpectedly large two percent drop in Japan’s industrial output during June has added to fears that the country could be heading into recession.

The government confirmed that output was softening, having previously said that it was generally flat.

“We do see the economy growing to a virtual standstill in the second quarter of the year and rather weak growth in the second half of the year before beginning to recover next year,” said Daniel Citrin from the IMF.

But the IMF said the Bank of Japan could afford to hold interest rates steady to see how the economy develops.

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India has accused Pakistani forces of breaching the cease-fire in the disputed Kashmir region again.

“Pakistani troops fired six 82-mm mortar rounds in a span of one hour… at our positions,” Indian defence spokesman Lt. Col. A. K. Mathur said Wednesday.

But the report was denied by Pakistan’s army spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, who said there had been no “exchange of fire from our side … of the LoC [Line of Control],” that divides the Kashmir region between India and Pakistan.

Kashmir has been at the root of two wars between India and Pakistan, both of which tested nuclear weapons in 1998. Recent clashes have been seen as a major setback to peace talks in the region.

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