Asia Cast

Asia Cast for Saturday 15th May

A miner from Gansu Province's #460 goldmine debilitated by pneumoconiosis, also known as 'black lung disease'.

In this Bulletin…

- Chinese miners left dying in debt;
- Australia goes to source in tacking asylum seekers; and
- Japanese mathematician’s clever gravity defying trick .

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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Close to a hundred miners in Gansu Province have contracted black lung disease due to poor working conditions and a lack of proper protective equipment.

The miners all work in the same gold mine on Mazhong Mountain. Families of victims told SOH there was no proper protection against dust inhalation in the mine. Many of the miners are migrant workers and are unable to defend their rights.

Those with the disease become unable to work; many are terminally ill. Paying for medical treatment has put many families into severe debt.

You can hear interviews with victims and family members in our Inside China Today podcast with Daniel Teng.

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The Chinese regime says it has restored internet services in the Xinjiang Autonomous. Region. For the past 10 months internet access in Xinjiang has been blocked or severely limited.

Restrictions were imposed after ethnic violence between Uyghur Muslims and Han Chinese left 197 people dead last year. The authorities claim the riots were organised via the internet, text messages and long distance phone calls

A Hong Kong based rights groups told Voice of America, internet activists are being increasingly harassed in China because they are becoming too vocal and influential in Chinese society.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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Saturday sees Taipei play host to the first cell phone film festival to be held in Taiwan. The semi-official Institute for Information Industry said nearly 200 short films were being presented at the festival.

The Phone Movie Festival is a collaboration between the institute and seven local colleges. It features 70 teams consisting of young screenwriters and film makers, who help produce films on topics such as product marketing, social issues, education and culture.

The organisers said the new generation of 3G handsets was making it cooler for people to watch movies on their phones.

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Violent clashes in Kyrgyzstan left more than twenty people in hospital Friday. Factions loyal to the interim government fought with supporters of Kyrgyzstan’s former president.

The government was trying to regain control of key regional infrastructure seized by supporters of the ousted president.

Kyrgyzstan’s president was ousted last month in protests that left at least 86 people dead. The interim government which took power has so far struggled to impose its authority on the country.

In a bid not to inflame tensions, the government has so far avoided using security forces against supporters of the former president.

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

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Australia is planning to spend millions of dollars making sure Afghan asylum seekers sent back by the Federal Government stay in Afghanistan. The programme involves sending special immigration agents to work on the ground in Afghanistan.

The officers would rotate through Kabul, helping the Department of Immigration verify refugee claims and providing first-hand intelligence.

The bulk of the cost for the two-year scheme would be spent on security for the immigration officers.

The Immigration Minister said as the situation in Afghanistan improves they expect more asylum seekers would be denied entry to Australia and returned to their homeland.

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A Japanese mathematician has won the 2010 ‘Best Illusion of the Year’ contest. Unusually, Kokichi Sugihara’s entry was a video of three dimensional model he built and not a two dimensional picture like the other prize winning entries.

Dr Sugihara’s illusion seems to defy gravity as a series of balls are seen to roll uphill to the top of his model. But when the camera moves round it becomes clear he hasn’t defied the laws of physics; it’s the clever use of perspective that makes his illusion work.

You can see all the finalists from this year’s contest on the Illusion of the Year website

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

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