Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Sunday 29th November

In this Bulletin …

- Chinese activist jailed for investigating Sichuan earthquake buildings collapse;
- Bangladesh ferry capsizes killing 51; and
- Indonesian Minister blames immorality on disasters.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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A renowned Chinese activist who played a lead role in investigating the collapse of poorly constructed school buildings during the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake was jailed this week for three years.

Following the Sichuan Earthquake, Huang led volunteers in delivering aid to those in need. He was convicted under the vague charge of illegally possessing state secrets.

His lawyer has questioned the evidence against Huang as well as the conduct of the judge during the trial.

Beijing human rights activist Liu Anjun said that all Huang had done was to reveal the truth about the earthquake. Liu said Huang’s sentence showed the regime’s evilness.

The Epoch Times has more on this.

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A Chinese dissident and novelist has told a press conference in Taipei that Beijing has made elaborate plans to deal with Taiwan.

Yuan Hongbing explained that Taiwan’s democracy has become a major threat to communist China. He was speaking a week after the launch of his new book called, Taiwan Disaster.

According to Yuan the Chinese regime is preparing to unite Taiwan with China by infiltrating Taiwan’s politics, economy, culture, and social activities in order to eliminate Taiwan’s democratic system.

In this book Yuan provides insider information on a series of sensitive issues including the jailing of former Taiwan president Chen Shuibian for money laundering and embezzlement.

Read The Epoch Times for more.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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An overloaded ferry capsized in Bangladesh claiming at least 51 lives. Rescue workers are currently searching for more bodies after righting the capsized ferry.

The local police Chief said that 18 victims were retrieved from the lower deck and cabins that were locked when the crowded MV Coco-4 ferry overturned late on Friday.

Distraught relatives of missing passengers gathered on the banks of the river Tentulia in the remote southern village of Nazirpur as the partially sunk boat was righted.

Officials said they were uncertain about how many people were on board as there was no passenger list.

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A leak of radioactive substance into the drinking water at an atomic power plant in the south of the country is being investigated by Indian authorities.

Fifty-five workers at the Kaiga plant needed medical treatment for excessive exposure to radiation after tritium contaminated a water cooler.

Officials said the leak might have been deliberate.

The 55 workers had returned to their duties at the plant.

The highly protected Kaiga plant is on the west coast of India, 450km (280 miles) from Bangalore.

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

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Indonesia’s recent string of natural disasters may be due to people’s immorality, a government minister claims.

Communication and Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring said that there were many television programmes that destroyed morals.

Therefore, the minister said, natural disasters would continue to occur.

His comments came as he addressed a prayer meeting on Friday in Padang, Sumatra, which was hit by a powerful earthquake in late September.

He also hit out at rising decadence – proven, he said, by the availability of Indonesia-made pornographic DVDs in local markets – and called for tougher laws.

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Three Burmese teenagers have been jailed for murdering a yachtsman from East Sussex off the coast of Thailand.

Malcolm Robertson, 64, of Hastings, was bludgeoned and thrown overboard off the Andaman coast after the pirates boarded his vessel, the Mr. Bean, in March.

His wife Linda was left fearing for her life as they kept her tied up for about 10 hours before they fled the yacht.

The Foreign Office said the killers were sentenced by a Thai court on Thursday.

They were named in reports by Thailand as Eksian Warapon, 19, an 18-year-old known as Aow, and a 17-year-old boy, known as Ko.

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