Asia Cast

Asia Cast for Wednesday 25th November

In this Bulletin…

- Two are executed for China’s melamine-tainted milk powder scandal;
- Iran may swap uranium for refined fuel; and
- The World Bank starts agriculture fund.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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China executed two people on Tuesday for their role in supplying melamine-tainted milk powder to the public which resulted in more than 300,000 infants getting ill and six children dying.

Zhang Yujun and Geng Jinping were sentenced in January for the milk with melamine, an industrial chemical used to make plastics and fertiliser.

Melamine was used to register higher protein content, but it caused kidney stones and kidney failure in infants, primary consumers of the tainted milk powder.

The regime’s mouthpiece media Xinhua has said the executions are a message to people the regime is serious about food safety standards.

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Huge differences in the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rates between the first and last 30 years of the Communist Party’s rule over China are signs of movement away from socialism and the end of communist ideology, says China economy analyst Tianlun Jian.

He says that since the economic reform in 1979, China’s economic development has experienced an accelerated growth much like other Western economies.

From 1949 to 1978, more than 95 percent of the economy was owned and controlled by the state.

Now, enterprises solely owned by private capital account for more than two-thirds of the economy resulting in a huge rise in GDP and a semi-market economy.

The Epoch Times has more on this.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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Makers of web browser Opera have joined the Great Firewall of China recently, by closing a loophole which allowed Chinese users to access sites banned by the Chinese Communist Party.

Up to last week, web traffic ran over Opera servers bypassing China’s firewall, making the browser popular with Chinese users.

Last weekend, mobile users were told to upgrade to a Chinese version of Opera’s mini Browser, which no longer allows access to some social networking sites among other content.

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Malaysian citizens are about to get a democratic booster from the Malaysian Bar Council through a program which aims to raise awareness about the country’s constitution, reports The Epoch Times.

Their recent campaign aspires to educate Malaysians about the federal constitution in simple language.

The Federal Constitution of Malaysia is the legal foundation of the country, setting up its democratic system and rights of citizens, experts said while launching the campaign.

They aim to produce at least 54 million copies of the nine Citizen Guides in the next two years, reaching out to 6 million households nationwide.

The Epoch Times has more on this.

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

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Iran may consider sending its low-enriched uranium abroad, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said, signalling a possible softening of its opposition to a plan aimed at easing Western concern over its nuclear ambitions.

Last week Iran rejected a UN proposal that would see Iran ship low-enriched uranium abroad for reprocessing.

But this week they said they were not opposed to sending their low-enriched uranium abroad as long as they had 100 percent guarantees of receiving refined fuel in return, for use in a medical research reactor.

A fuel swap could be a non-starter for Western powers who seek to delay Tehran’s potential to make a nuclear bomb.

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On Tuesday, Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank warned of the risk of another food price crisis and said they will start a trust fund to boost agriculture in poor countries with an initial $1.5 billion U.S. dollars.

He said crop shortages in India and the Philippines combined with increased speculation in commodity markets have increased the risk that food prices may possibly spike.

The World Bank has been promised $20 billion U.S. dollars from the world’s richest nations for the agriculture trust fund, which was started to help small farmers in developing countries grow more food and reduce hunger.

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