Asia Cast

Asia Cast Friday 26th June

The world's oldest twin sisters reunited at age 104. (Courtesy of The Epoch Times)

In this Bulletin…

- China to build new refineries for Myanmar pipeline oil;
- Toyota Motors starting from bottom up; and
- Peace process stalls in Nepal.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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Oil refineries capable of processing 20 million tons a year or 402,000 barrels a day will be built in Chongqing City, of Sichuan Province and Yunan Province, in southwest China.

China National Petroleum Corp. signed a memorandum with Myanmar on the cross-border Sino-Myanmar oil pipeline last week and construction is to start in September.

Output of oil products from these refineries is expected to reach nearly 13 million tons a year, and a related project will produce 1 million tons of ethylene per year.

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In the tradition of visiting relatives after the spring wheat harvest, the world’s oldest living twins sisters were reunited at age 104.

The older twin, Cao Daqiao, visited her sister, Cao Xiaoqiao, in Fanjialing Village of Weifang City, Shandong Province. Although both sisters live in Weifang City, they live in different villages and rarely get to see each other.

Born in 1905, the sisters are recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s oldest twins.

The twin centenarians are both in good health. Daoqiao’s 73-year-old son Liu Bao said, “My mother never gets angry. I’ve never seen her losing her temper. A cool temperament might be one of their secrets of longevity.”

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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Toyota Motors will be starting again from the bottom up, new president Akio Toyoda said Thursday at a news conference in Tokyo.

Toyoda, grandson of Toyota’s founder said the company will be focusing on tailoring its product lines to customer demand.

He said the company was not wrong to expand its business earlier this decade but he admitted that it might have overextended itself and that they now will be focusing on products rather than profits.

Akio will be cutting his own salary by 30 per cent as an act of accountability for the company’s 4.4 billion US dollar net loss this last fiscal year.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network
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The new Prime Minister of Nepal, Madhav Kumar Nepal says the peace process that ended a deadly civil war has stalled after Maoists quit the government in May, keeping the process from moving forward, said NTDTV.

Nepal replaced Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda after the former rebel leader quit last month.

The Maoists have since regularly obstructed parliament sittings, organized general strikes and burned the new leader’s effigy in protests to press for the removal of a controversial army chief.

The Prime Minister has vowed to prepare a post-republic constitution by May 2010 as envisioned in the peace deal.

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Kyrgyzstan’s parliament approved a deal with the United States allowing it to keep using an airbase used to support U.S. and NATO operations in Afghanistan.

The country reversed a decision ordering the U.S. to leave, after the U.S. agreed to more than triple its annual rent to 60 million US dollars.

The only American base in Central Asia, the Manas base closure would have come as a major blow to American operations in Aghanistan.

Manas has been used to ferry troops to Afghanistan and refuel military planes, but Kyrgyz authorities say it now can only be used to transport non-combat supplies.

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The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society officially announced Operation Waltzing Matilda – the 6th campaign to defend whales of the Southern Ocean from Japanese poachers.

It has upgraded its fleet by adding the futuristic-looking speedboat Earthrace, which can do 40 knots, dive under waves completely and be used to intercept and block harpoons.

Japan has asked Australia to prevent the Sea Shepherd ship Steve Irwin from leaving port and harass its Japanese whalers but the anti-whaling activists have something different planned altogether.

The Earthrace’s New Zealand owner Pete Bethune, said he decided to become involved and make a stand because it upset him heavily that this is happening in his own backyard.

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