AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Thursday 23rd October

In this Bulletin…

- Continued support for Yang Jia reveals Chinese people’s resentment for the authorities;
- Chinese hackers said to have cracked Microsoft’s “Black Screen of Death” security patch hours after release; and
- Japanese restaurant chain finds melamine in ingredients from China.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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Over forty well known scholars and lawyers have called for leniency in the case of Yang Jia, who faces the death sentence after a second trial upheld the original guilty verdict.

It is perhaps not unusual that he faces being executed considering he killed six police officers. What is surprising though, is that he has become a kind of people’s champion because he stood up to police harassment. The police are universally unpopular in China, being seen as little more than gangsters.

One solicitor who is supporting Mr Jia, Li Xiongbing, commented that was not a simple criminal case and that it reflected current social phenomena and social conflicts.

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Over 20 parents whose children died in the Sichuan earthquake were removed from Dongqi middle school, Mianzhu City, by a large number of public security personnel following a recent incident at the school.

A 4-story building of Dongqi middle school collapsed during May’s earthquake, around 270 teachers and students were killed.

The parents had gone to the school to talk to the principal about the use of special funds set-up after the disaster, but the principal would not see them. Angered by the refusal the parents broke the school gate down.

Appeals were made to the municipal government for the release of those parents being detained, five of whom face administrative detention by the police.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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Microsoft China recently announced the release of an anti-piracy patch in China called the “Black Screen of Death” to combat pirated versions of Windows XP Professional and Microsoft Office.

Hours after the release, Chinese Internet users claimed that Chinese hackers had already broken the anti-piracy patch. It is unclear whether all of the anti-piracy features have been bypassed.

According to a poll carried out by Tencent Computer System Company, over 60 percent of users said they would continue to use pirated software after it had been identified as such. Less than 6 percent said they would heed the security warnings and purchase authorized copies.

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A famous chain of restaurants in Japan has discovered small amounts of melamine in food made with powdered milk imported from China, reports the Epoch Times

Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced October 20 that the Saizeriya restaurant chain had found small amounts of melamine (about 4.3 parts per million) in their pizza ingredients, but no report of people falling sick.

According to Japanese media, the Saizeriya chain imported 5.7 tons of melamine-tainted milk powder from Guangdong Province’s Foshan Jincheng Quick-Frozen Food Company.
The pizzas made with this milk powder were served to customers on October 1 and 2, but the levels of melamine in them did not present a health risk.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network
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The Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi has had a speech at a Malaysian university canceled following pressure from Malaysia’s foreign ministry.

Ms Ebadi, an outspoken human rights lawyer, had been due to speak at the University of Malaya early in November.

Officials admitted that they had advised the university to withdraw Ms Ebadi’s invitation.

Ms Ebadi, who won the peace prize in 2003, has often found herself at odds with the Iranian government over her human rights work.

An unnamed official said that the foreign ministry had sent a letter “strongly advising” the organisers not to go ahead with the speech, adding that Iranian diplomats were “pushing for Malaysia to call it off”.

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The Asian stock market has taken a heavy fall after information from the U.S. renewed fears that the world’s largest economy is heading for a recession.

Japan’s Nikkei index closed down 6.8 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 5.2 percent and South Korea’s main share index fell 5.1 percent to close at a three-year low.

The Bombay Stock Exchange fell by 4.8 percent to close more than 500 points down at 10,169 points. The Indian rupee also fell sharply against the dollar.

Earlier, the U.S. Dow Jones index sank 2.5 percent after several US firms reported weak earnings figures and were wary about their future prospects.

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This is (narrators name) for the SOH Radio Network.