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Asia Beat: Feb 7 2008
TOKYO, Japan
At least 368 people in Tokyo fell ill and nine were hospitalised after eating frozen dumplings, or gyoza, made in China. Officials in Chiba and Hyogo prefectures said J.T. Foods, an affiliate of Japan Tobacco, imported the gyozas. Police said the tainted dumplings contained methamidophos, an organic phosphorus agricultural chemical. The Japanese government is investigating the source and use of the feritilizer.
PORBANDAR, India
A British man set out last week to walk to India, without using any money and instead relying on the goodwill of people along the way. Former dotcom businessman Mark Boyle, from Bristol, aims to end up at Mahatma Gandhi's birthplace of Porbandar after the 14,500-kilometre trek, which he reckons will take him about two and a half years. “I've got some sunscreen, a good knife, a spoon, a bandage . . . no Visa card, no travellers' cheques, no bank accounts, zero,” said the 28-year-old.
JAKARTA, Indonesia
A crucial part of a tsunami detection system placed in Indonesia’s busy Sunda Strait has gone missing amid indications that it was deliberately removed for scrap. The device is one of just four installed off Indonesia so far as part of a regional alert system designed to help predict the kind of killer waves that swept the Indian Ocean in December 2004, which killed an estimated 168,000 people in Indonesia’s Aceh province. The buoy and snapped along its tether cable to the ocean floor.
TAIPEI, Taiwan
Taiwan will hold a referendum next month on joining the UN under the name ‘Taiwan’ in a move certain to infuriate China. China regards Taiwan, or The Republic of China, as part of its territory and is awaiting reunification, by force if necessary. The controversial referendum, proposed by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, will be held alongside the island's presidential elections on March 22.
SIDOARDJO, Indonesia
Thousands of Indonesians left homeless by an uncontrollable mudflow considered Indonesia’s worst environmental disaster want compensation. More than 4,000 people from seven villages marched to the district office in Sidoardjo, about 650km east of Jakarta, urging an Indonesian company responsible for the drilling accident to pay the remaining 80 per cent of compensation to the victims. More than 15,000 people have been displaced since late May 2006, when PT Lapindo Brantas apparently hit an underground mud volcano while drilling a gas well at a depth of 3,000 meter.
Thousands of Indonesians left homeless by an uncontrollable mudflow considered Indonesia’s worst environmental disaster want compensation. More than 4,000 people from seven villages marched to the district office in Sidoardjo, about 650km east of Jakarta, urging an Indonesian company responsible for the drilling accident to pay the remaining 80 per cent of compensation to the victims. More than 15,000 people have been displaced since late May 2006, when PT Lapindo Brantas apparently hit an underground mud volcano while drilling a gas well at a depth of 3,000 meter.
TOKYO, Japan
Japan has hanged three convicted murderers in the country's first executions this year, with the justice minister saying that public opinion demanded capital punishment. Human rights groups condemned the executions but Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama said the country should hang inmates as a matter of course. Japan is the only major developed country other than the United States to apply the death penalty.
Japan has hanged three convicted murderers in the country's first executions this year, with the justice minister saying that public opinion demanded capital punishment. Human rights groups condemned the executions but Justice Minister Kunio Hatoyama said the country should hang inmates as a matter of course. Japan is the only major developed country other than the United States to apply the death penalty.
NEW DELHI, India
Internet services were disrupted in large parts of India and the Middle East last week following damage to two undersea cables in the Mediterranean. India suffered up to 60 per cent disruption, with airlines and call centres been shutdown in the outage. Industry experts said it could take up to one week to repair the damaged cables and resume full service. A ship’s anchor is believed responstible for the cable calamity.
Internet services were disrupted in large parts of India and the Middle East last week following damage to two undersea cables in the Mediterranean. India suffered up to 60 per cent disruption, with airlines and call centres been shutdown in the outage. Industry experts said it could take up to one week to repair the damaged cables and resume full service. A ship’s anchor is believed responstible for the cable calamity.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
Thousands of Pakistani lawyers burned effigies of President Pervez Musharraf during nationwide protests last week to press for the release of the country's deposed chief justice. A group of retired Pakistani military officers meanwhile urged Musharraf to step down and hand over power to Iftikhar Mohamed Chaudhry, who has been under house arrest since Musharraf sacked him on November 3.
PYONGYANG, N. Korea
North Korean leader Kim Jong II assured a visiting Chinese delegation that his regime was still committed to holding up its end of the stalled six-nation nuclear deal, China's official Xinhua News Agency said. Kim met Wang Jiarui, head of the liaison office of China's ruling Communist Party, and told him “the present difficulties are temporary and can be conquered.” Under an agreement reached by the United States, the two Koreas, Japan, Russia and China, North Korea promised to deliver a complete declaration of its nuclear programs. But has yet to do so.
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