AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Wednesday 28th January

In this bulletin …

- Thailand changes its tack on refugees;
- Hong Kong residents gloomy about Year of the Ox; and,
- Israeli Defense Force accused of using human shields.

But first here’s our SOH focus on China
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A Beijing petitioner, whose residence cracked, making it unstable after local government carried out a transformation of low pressure, said the issue has not been resolved in six years.

Recent heavy rain has caused a main water pipe to break, leaving Ms Li Suling without drinking water for days.

She has reported the situation to local government departments, who have retaliated against her for doing so.

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An annual winter-time crackdown has been launched in Lhasa, Tibet.

The Director of the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, Jian Baimulang, who lives in exile in India, said most people being questioned are Tibetans.

Free Asia Radio reported the crackdown has been questioned by legal experts, who think the purpose is to put undue emphasis on combat, while not paying attention to human rights protection.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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Chinese Premiere Wen Jiabao visits Europe this week to speak at the World Economic Forum, detailing the steps China has taken to address the economic downturn.

He visits Switzerland, and later Germany, the European Union headquarters in Brussels, Spain and Britain.

Wen is scheduled to deliver a keynote speech on the opening day of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos at 10:45 a.m. EST.

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Thailand has changed its tack on refugees, with the latest boatload of Burmese being handed over to police rather than the military. The move has come after outcry over their treatment.

Thai military have picked up 78 Rohingya boat people, who are Burmese Muslims, and handed them to the police. It follows claims from other Rohingya boat people who washed up in Indonesia and elsewhere, that the Thai military had beaten them and sent them back to sea. It is thought almost 1,000 have been set adrift, with hundreds feared dead.

Rights groups have expressed outage at their treatment. The Rohingya are fleeing persecution in their home country, where they are denied citizenship by the government.

Senior military officers have denied such mistreatment is even possible, and have accused the foreign media of trying to tarnish Thailand’s international image.

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Hong Kong residents are gloomy about the year ahead after New Year festivities were overshadowed by, bad omens. Headlines on Wednesday were grabbed by two seemingly foreboding events.

On Tuesday a senior politician picked a fortune stick in an annual Taoist ceremony predicting how prosperous the year ahead will be, his number – 27, the worst possible number. Hours later a barge carrying fireworks across Victoria Harbour caught fire.

Feng shui masters in the former British colony said the fortune stick meant Hong Kong faced a turbulent and unsettled year with possible conflicts between the government and people. The last time the number 27 was drawn was 1992, shortly before the arrival of last British governor Chris Patten set off a series of political clashes in the territory.

In a sign of the pessimistic mood enveloping Hong Kong, only around 250,000 people lined the harbour for the fireworks display – half the number who attended in 2008.

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Israeli Defense Forces have been accused of using farmers as human shields in their assault on the Gaza Strip. According to Palestinian farmers from the neighbourhood of al-Atatra, about 10 kilometres north of the centre of Gaza City, Israeli ground troops have been in the area since January 7.

Samir Abu Dayer, 59, a farmer, said soldiers occupied several hectares of farmland behind his house. The fields are now a large stretch of pale yellow sand and broken irrigation pipes. A sandpit was constructed, roughly the size of an Olympic pool. Other residents said the men were made to strip to their underwear and kneel in the pit while the Israeli soldiers engaged Palestinian resistance fighters.

The deputy director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, Jaber Jishah, said it appeared a textbook example of human shields and they would be investigating it thoroughly.

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And now for our Divine Performing Arts quote of the day
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Our Divine Performing Arts quote of the day comes from Mr. Jacques Lieberman in New York city from the show on the 24th of January at Radio City Music Hall.

Mr. Lieberman works as a fine artist and this is what he thought of the show:

“Very lively, extremely lively and very uplifting. Also educational about Chinese culture.”

Come and experience the magnificence of true traditional Chinese culture at its best.

Visit www.divineperformingarts.org to find out more.

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This has been …. for the SOH Radio Network.

“Asia Cast … Keeping you across the top headlines from Asia and the world.”