Asia Cast

Asia Cast for Monday 9th November

In this Bulletin …

- Smelter pollution in Chongqing affecting resident’s health;
-South Korea urged to learn lessons from Berlin Wall collapse; and
-Rebel shutdown in Indian state.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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According to local residents, toxic waste, rich in sulfur, containing gas compounds in both liquid and solid forms is being released from the Red Butterfly Strontium Chemical Corporation in central China. This toxic waste is said to be polluting both air and water and harming people’s health.  Though to date, despite public outcry, authorities have not changed the company’s practices.

Mr. Chen, a local resident interviewed by Sound of Hope radio, stated that their water has a very bad smell, and has polluted all the crops nearby, enraging the peasants downstream.

When asked whether the local crops are suitable for human consumption, Mr. Chen replied that the peasants did stopped selling their crops for some time, though  a few months on, these crops are now being sold again. No one knows whether the crops are up to the health standard or not.

Those people interviewed have shortened their names or remained anonymous so as to ensure their safety from Chinese authorities.

For more on this story visit The Epoch Times.

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A spokesman for the Dalai Lama has reported that on Sunday, His Holiness visited a region of India close to Tibet which China claims as its own.

Thousands of people turned up at Tawang in India’s mountainous state of Arunachal Pradesh to receive the Tibetan spiritual leader.

It is the second time this year the Dalai Lama has visited a region over which China claims sovereignty, after a trip to Taiwan this summer.

China, which controls Tibet  sees the Dalai Lama as a separatist and has pressed countries around the world not to extend official recognition to him.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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On the twentieth anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, South Korean newspapers are urging the government to prepare, in case the world’s last Cold War frontier with communist North Korea collapses suddenly.

The Dong-A Ilbo newspaper said the anniversary is an occasion for people of both Koreas to reflect on the stark reality of their national division.

In an editorial, it forecast that as was the case with East and West Germany in 1989, the Korean peninsula could see an unexpected reunification.

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

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A blast in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar has killed at least three people and injured five others. Police say a bomb went off near a police post, in what they believe was a suicide attack. It comes a day after at least 12 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack near the city.

Islamist militants have unleashed a campaign of attacks in Pakistan in recent weeks in retaliation for an army offensive in South Waziristan.

Police said Monday’s blast happened on the city’s ring-road.

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A dawn-to-dusk strike across the state of Assam has been enforced by a separatist group in India’s troubled north-east.

The 12-hour strike was called by the United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) to protest against the arrest of two of their top leaders in Bangladesh.

Shops and markets closed down, public transport was affected, school and college attendance was reduced, but government offices worked normally.

Police and paramilitary troops were deployed across Assam on Monday.

The two rebel leaders, Chitrabon Hazarika and Sasadhar Chaoudhary, were arrested by police in Bangladesh last week and handed to India’s Border Security Force.

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