Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Tuesday 12th January

In this Bulletin…

- Nearly half a million provisional teachers forced out;
- China’s gender imbalance growing; and
- Australian freshwater crocodiles threatened.

But first we have our Shen Yun quote of the day

[audio]

For more information, please visit www.shenyunperformingarts.org.

Our SOH focus on China is next

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Half a million provisional teachers in China have lost their jobs without pensions or security due to reorganisation by the Ministry of Education.

Our SOH reporters have interviewed some of those teachers who say that even though they have dedicated their lives to education, the regime has taken their jobs away.

Fearful of ending up in detention centres, they dare not appeal to authorities.

For many decades China has utilized provisional teachers who teach without teaching certificates.

At various levels of training, they work at a range of capacities in education but earn only 10 percent of normal teacher pay.

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According to a staff member at The Department of Health in Guangxi Province, the H1N1 related death toll reported is just the “tip of the iceberg.”

They said the department reported 12 dead in all of the province’s 14 cities, as of January 3rd.

However, they said the tally may account for less than ten percent of the actual number, as the majority of feverish patients have not been tested for H1N1.

In an earlier SOH interview, a doctor in Yulin City, Guangxi Province said that the H1N1-related death toll in his clinic included four or five people per day.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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China Mobile, the world’s largest phone company in terms of subscribers, has dismissed its vice chairman for alleged serious financial irregularities, reports NTDTV.

The corruption scandal alleges the vice chairman covered up losses when he worked for another company in 2008.

According to Chinese business magazine Caijing, he was trying to obtain a merger with rival China Unicom at the time.

The magazine says Netcom reported losses of 1.6 billion US dollars in 2008, but auditors discovered the losses were closer to 2.9 billion dollars.

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According to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, more than 24 million Chinese men of marrying age may find themselves without spouses in 2020.

The academy says that gender imbalance among newborns is the most serious demographic problem China is facing.

It cites sex-specific abortions as a major factor, due to China’s traditional bias towards male children.

It says gender selection abortions are extremely common.

The newest figures show that for every 119 boys born in China, 100 girls are born. In some rural areas, it is 130 boys per 100 girls.

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

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North Korea in exchange for a peace treaty with the US, it may return to talks on its nuclear disarmament.

Only recently did a US envoy declare Pyongyang must improve its appalling human rights record if it wants better relations with the US.

Korean state-run news carried a statement by the foreign ministry saying it is essential to conclude a peace treaty for terminating the state of war between Pyongyang and the US.

The US envoy had stated during his visit to South Korea, that North Korea was one of the worst places in terms of lacking human rights.

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Researchers say that Australia’s freshwater crocodiles are being driven out of parts of the Northern Territory by their more aggressive saltwater cousins.

Research shows the number of freshwater crocodiles is dwindling in some Australian Northern Territory rivers since the late 1990s.

Eating toxic cane toads is thought to be contributing to their demise, and climate change may also be a factor.

Saltwater crocs are the world’s largest reptiles, growing to average length of four metres, arguably Australia’s most dangerous animal.

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