(English) Asia News

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By Dan Russell

JAPAN:
Government sources in Japan have reported that the Defense Ministry is considering placing a Patriot 3 missile system on Okinawa and Ishigaki Islands to possibly shoot down the North Korean rocket that will be launched next month to deploy a satellite. Furthermore, they are also considering placing an Aegis destroyer ship in the Sea of Japan to protect Tokyo in the event the North Korean rocket should veer off course.
Pyonghyang says it will launch the rocket between
April 12th and 16th and that its course will take it over the Sakishima Islands in Okinawa Prefecture. Japan deployed the PAC 3 system in 2009 in Iwate and Akita prefectures in preparation for an anticipated ballistic missile launch by North Korea.
INDIA:
In India’s Uttar Pradesh state a train wreck on Tuesday killed 15 people and injured 3 others.
The train struck a van trying to cross the unguarded
track. Everyone who was killed was in the van. India’s rail system has a very poor safety record. Official records show that in the 2010 and 2011 time period there were 93 train wrecks and over 40% of them occurred on unguarded railroad crossings.
CHINA:
Last week, China’s Ministry of Public Security conducted a huge bust of human trafficking network arresting 310 individuals from 4 gangs. They freed 77 children in this operation that is working to stop cross-province trafficking in women and children. The government reports that over 24,000 abducted women and children were freed last year. Most of the children who have been sold into the trade come from poverty stricken families.
Global Times, a state run newspaper reports that boys who are most in demand in the Chinese culture can sell for as much as 50,000 yuan while the price for girls can go to about 30,000 yuan.
It is deemed to be very likely that Nike is planning
to launch a Jeremy Lin brand of shoes. They have been his sponsor since 2010 and are naturally excited about his enormous rise to super star in the NBA. According to Charlie Denson who is a brand president for Nike, “We’re developing plans as we speak.”
Nike’s total sales in China were over $2.3 billion over the past year. It is estimated that over 400 million
people in China play basketball recreationally.
VIETNAM:
Last Friday morning a container ship was struck by a Luxury cruise ship the Silver Shadow in Ha Long Bay off the coast of Vietnam. The Silversea Cruise Company that operates the liner portrayed the incident as minor and said that passenger safety was not compromised. However at least one passenger, Andrew Lock, said that “It was a major collision.” Another passenger said that damage to the container ship was substantial.
THAILAND:
Eighty-nine year old Chaleo Yoovidhya whose company, T. C. Pharmaceuticals, formulated the popular energy drink Red Bull in the 1970s has died. When first formulated Red Bull was called Krathing Daeng, which is Thai for Red Bull. He formed a partnership
with an Austrian and together they turned it into a global success.
He died a multi-billionaire and Forbes magazine ranked him as one of the richest men in the world.