Asia Cast

Asia Cast for Tuesday 2nd September

 In this Bulletin…

- Thai PM declares state of emergency;
- New clashes in Uyghur territory; and
- New hope in the fight to control global warming.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China.

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The recent earthquake in Panzhihua, Sichuan; measured a massive 6.1 on the Richter scale.

According to China Seismic Network there have been a further 439 aftershocks. Unreliable reports from state controlled media put the total dead at 36 with 506 people injured.

The report from Panzhihua has indicated that more than 15000 houses have been damaged, 200 have collapsed and nine reservoirs have also been damaged.

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Guangdong news: police from Jieyang City in Guangdong recently cracked a specialized group that kill people and sell their bodies, a total of nine suspects were arrested.

According to Apple Daily, they reported that there were many people who were killed since last year. So far it is said that there were more than 400 victims, most of whom are mentally retarded, mentally ill and the elderly.

The bodies were mainly sold to the Chaoshan area, to replace the deceased of some families for cremation.

Mainland cities have prohibited burial, but many people still have the notion to be buried after death. However the local government had set the rule for cremation, and incidents of buying another dead body for symbolic replacement are not uncommon.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast.

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Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej declared a state of emergency in Bangkok on Tuesday. He gave the army control of public order after a man died in overnight clashes between pro, and anti, government protesters.

Under emergency powers announced on television and radio, all public gatherings in the capital will be banned and restrictions imposed on media reports that “undermined public security”.

“There are not enough jails to put us all into,” said one of the leaders of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) that is leading the anti-government protests speaking to thousands of supporters inside their compound.

The Peoples Alliance for Democracy called for more people to join in the protest against Samak. His rallying cry will have gone out across the country via the PAD’s radio and satellite television channels.

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According to an RFA report, two ethnic Uyghur police officers have been killed and at least two critically injured in a new clash near the Silk Road city of Kashgar.

The two dead and wounded officers all belong to the Muslim Uyghur ethnic group, according to police and the chief nurse at Peyzawat county hospital.

“Two of them died at the hospital and two of them have been sent to the Kashgar Prefecture Hospital because they were in critical condition.”“Six or seven people came out and attacked them with knives,” an officer who witnessed the attack said.

Incidents in the Xinjiang region of China have been escalating since the persecution of Muslims began.The persecution was started by the Communist regime under the excuse of support for the Olympics.

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

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Japananese Prime Minister Fukuda of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has resigned. The surprise announcement has come at a time of very low popularity for the Prime Minister and his party.

Mr Fukuda’s government have had a series of high profile issues to deal with and have presided over the bungling of lost pension records. To compound the issue he has found little room for manouevre with the opposition party controlling the upper house of parliament.

In the running to suceed Mr Fukuda, is Mr Aso, a former Olympian coming from a long line of conservatives.

Mr Aso is in favour of a tough stance toward North Korea. He also rejects changing the law to allow women to ascend the throne.

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Dr Jeffery Parr, from Southern Cross University whilst investigating the age of ancient soils structures came across a significant discovery.

The source for carbon dating the soil were plant stones or phytoliths which are stones of carbon surrounded by silica that the plant makes in its life cycle.

Dr Parr, realised the significance of the find in relation to global warming. After doing some initial calculations he realised that certain crops such as bamboo and sugar cane can capture carbon at a rate of 1 tonne per hectare per year.

If this is scaled up using the optimal crops, it can be used to capture carbon and lock it away for period of up to 5000 years. The silica coating keeping the carbon locked away.

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