Asia Cast

Asia Cast for Friday 17th April

In this bulletin…

- Dangerous pesticide cocktails used on China produce;
- yellow-shirt leader shot and wounded; and
- Maoist rebels attack India polling places.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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A survey recently conducted by Greenpeace China tested vegetables sold in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou and found many pesticide-ridden vegetables, some of them with what Greenpeace calls highly poisonous pesticide cocktails, reports The Epoch Times. 

In the report titled, “Pesticide Cocktails: Have You Drunk Some Today?” Greenpeace said that in the cities tested, some people are drinking almost a cup of pesticide cocktail from their fruits and vegetables every day.

Of the pesticides found, five of them are known to cause cancer and of the samples tested, 20 per cent contained illegal and highly poisonous pesticides and 89 per cent contained pesticide residues.

A commodity inspection official in Guangdong Province cites the increase of pesticide abuse is due to farmers focusing on economic returns and the appearance of the fruits and vegetables, however they do not eat what they grow but instead eat produce that requires very little pesticides.

The official also said that China has very detailed regulations on produce pesticide residue limits but in reality they are not enforced.

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Google has launched a website where users in China can download over a million songs by popular artists for free, stated NTDTV.

The site only allows access to users who have IP addresses that are from inside China and includes free music from labels such as Warner Music, Sony, and Universal Music.

However, not all popular songs are available to the Chinese internet users, because of the agreement music industry executives have made to censor their music content on the new site.

Specifically, the president of Warner Music Asia told AP about the censored music, “We wouldn’t give files to people in China where a song has been banned.”

Some artists who have been banned in China in the past few years include Guns ‘N’ Roses, Oasis, and Björk.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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The leader of the yellow-shirt Thai protest movement has been shot and wounded in Bangkok by attackers who followed his car and sprayed it with about 100 rounds from AK-47 and M-16 assault rifles.

Sondhi Limthongkul who is leader of the yellow-shirt People’s Alliance of Democracy had shots fired at his car and suffered minor injuries to his shoulder; however his driver is seriously wounded.

Violent clashes between police and anti-government protestors has led to two deaths and over 100 injured in Bangkok has put the city under heavy security measures.

Limthongkul a Thai media mogul led Anti-Thaksin demonstrations in 2006 which played a large part in the Thai political crisis that ended in a military coup toppling the Thaksin government.

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Maoist rebels are believed to be responsible for at least 17 deaths in 14 attacks on polling places and vehicles throughout eastern and central India where elections have already started.

Five election officials were killed when their vehicle hit a rebel land mine and a dozen paramilitary officers died in attacks in four states.

As India goes through the process of electing its new officials, it has deployed hundreds of thousands of police and paramilitary forces to guard polling stations, particularly down thickly forested areas that are called India’s “red corridor” because of the Maoist occupation.

Maoist groups have boycotted the elections and threatened to chop off the hands of those who vote. They are keeping their vows to disrupt the voting and have used land mines and rocket launchers in their attacks.

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

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This week, Nepal, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bangladesh and parts of India are celebrating the New Year.

According to the solar Bengali Calendar, a calendar used in West Bengal and Bangladesh, it is now the year 1416, in Myanmar it is the year 1371, while in Laos and Thailand it is the year 2552.

In Kathmandu, people celebrate by throwing vermillion powder at each other, while in Cambodia they throw white powder and in Thailand and Myanmar, throwing water at each other is enough to wash away the old and wish each other well.

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In Tokyo, at the Pakistan Donors Conference, Japan and the United States have pledged one billion US dollars each to Pakistan to help the nation’s flagging economy and to help fight the war on terror.

Saudi Arabia pledged $700 million and the EU another $640 million.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said in a speech Friday, stability is key and he wanted to stress the international community supports the strategies by the two nations.

Aso also said Japan supports the upcoming elections in neighboring Afghanistan and will give assistance, including paying the salaries of 80,000 Afghan police for half a year.

The United States pledge of one billion was seen as a down payment of its recent pledge of 1.5 billion US dollars to Pakistan in aid each year which it plans to do for five years.

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And now for our Shen Yun Performing Arts quote of the day

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The Shen Yun International Performing Arts Company opened their New Zealand show at the ASB Theatre in Auckland on April 15.

The Minister of Parliament for Maori Affairs and Education, Dr. Pita Sharples was at the show with his mokopuna’s or grandchildren, and this is what he had to say about the show:

“Oh it is excellent, just extraordinary. The costumes are amazing; they use them to good effect, and I am pleased to hear they are part of tradition. And the choreography is good, the dancing is good, the comperes [masters of ceremony] are so professional,” said Dr. Sharples.

Experience true Chinese culture like never before as Shen Yun Performing Arts presents classical Chinese dance and music in gloriously colourful and exhilarating shows.

SOH is a proud sponsor of the Shen Yun Performing Arts 2009 World Tour. For more information please visit www.shenyunperformingarts.org.

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