Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Monday 11th May

In this bulletin …

- Severe weather conditions impact China’s economy;
- Swine flu found in Mainland China; and
- Japan’s opposition leader resigns.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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While China’s urban areas are fighting a worsening economy, its rural areas are battling for a third year, affected by severe weather conditions, affecting the entire economy and possibly food prices, as it did in 2007-2008.

According to data released at the end of April, in Guangdong Province alone, flood damage caused direct financial losses of 24 million Yuan (approximately US$3.51 million.)  Over 1,560 hectares (about 3,855 acres) of farmland was flooded, leaving it non productive for the foreseeable future.

In Jiangxi province, located on the south side of the Yangtze River, 19,900 hectares (ie. about 49,174 acres) of farmland has been flooded, causing economic losses exceeding 65 million Yuan (approximately US$9.5 million.)

The drought in northern China is the most severe in the past 60 years. Currently, it has affected 15 provinces and their cities, which accounts for 96 percent of the nation’s winter wheat producing region.

Thirty-three percent of Shanxi province is affected by the drought, which represents  56.6 percent of this region’s wheat production.

In northwest China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region, sand storms struck during the pollination season, hitting this large cotton-producing region extremely hard.   Fruit trees suffered damage, and the sand covered the grazing ranges, causing the loss of cattle and other grazing animals.

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China has confirmed the first case of swine flu on the Chinese mainland, and is searching for people who could have been in contact with the infected man.

The 30-year-old student, who has been named only as Mr. Bao, had recently flown into the country from the US.

The authorities say he travelled from St Louis to Tokyo, then to Beijing and finally landed in Chengdu on Saturday.

Earlier this month, China diagnosed a case of the H1N1 virus in a Mexican traveller in Hong Kong.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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The opposition leader of Japan, Ichiro Ozawa, has announced his resignation.

Pressure to resign had been put on Mr. Ozawa after a close aide was charged in a fund-raising scandal in March.

Before the scandal broke, Mr. Ozawa was thought likely to unseat the flailing prime minister, Taro Aso, in elections later this year.

Opinion polls have suggested that his popularity has waned as a result of the scandal, and in recent weeks he has faced increasing calls to quit.

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You are listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network.
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United Nations’ Colombo spokesman Gordon Weiss has announced that a large number of Tamil civilians were killed in a weekend “bloodbath” in Sri Lanka, with more than 100 children among them.

However, it is not clear who was responsible for the children’s deaths.

He said the UN had been warning of a bloodbath as tens of thousands of civilians have been trapped in a narrow patch of coastline where the Tamil Tigers are fighting to hold back a massive military assault.

Sri Lanka’s government has been in conflict with Tamil rebels in the northeast of the country for 37 years.

The military has so far denied responsibility for the deaths, saying the rebels themselves carried out attacks that killed civilians.

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Australian Air Chief Marshal, Angus Houston, is being called on by the Greens to launch an inquiry into whether Special Forces were involved in the death and maiming of Afghan civilians.

It is said, military personnel have covered up an investigation into the alleged involvement of Special Forces soldiers in such an incident.

Air Chief Marshal Houston told a parliamentary hearing in early 2007 that a “quick assessment” investigation had found “absolutely no substance to the allegations” that Australian Special Forces were involved in an incident that left an Afghan man dead, a woman blind and her daughter badly injured near Tarin Kowt in southern Afghanistan in July 2006.

Australians have been implicated in the shooting after information gathered by Defence officials in Afghanistan was uncovered.

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Pope Benedict XVI has arrived in Israel for the second time, with it being the most sensitive leg of his Middle East tour.

He was greeted by Israeli leaders at the airport near Tel Aviv and then flew to Jerusalem by helicopter.

The Pope angered many in Israel by readmitting to the Church a bishop who had denied the extent of the Holocaust.

The Pope supports the beatification of Pope Pius XII – who was pontiff during the war, and is criticised by many in Israel who believe he did not do enough to help persecuted Jews.

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