AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Friday 28th December

In this bulletin ….
-China AIDS activist detained
-Pakistan accuses Al-Qaeda of killing Bhutto and
-Hong Kong to elect leader by 2017

Hu Jia, a prominent AIDS and human rights campaigner has been detained by Chinese police accusing him of subversion, in an apparent bid to stifle dissent ahead of the 2008 Olympics.

Attorney Teng Biao said that Mr. Jia was taken into police custody on Thursday, adding that Hu’s wife, AIDS activist Zeng Jinyan, has been prevented by police from leaving the couple’s Beijing home.

Zeng Jinyan said in an e-mail that Hu had been arrested on charges of “inciting to subvert the government”.

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Pakistan has accused Al-Qaeda of killing opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, whose assassination has plunged the nuclear-armed country into crisis and triggered bloody protests.

But Bhutto’s party dismissed the official explanation and said President Pervez Musharraf’s embattled administration was trying to cover up its failure to protect her.

Officials said at least 31 people had died in violence since a suicide attacker killed the 54-year-old former prime minister on Thursday, stoking fears a January eighth election which is meant to restore civilian rule in the U.S. ally, could be put off.

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By 2017 Beijing will allow the special region’s people of Hong Kong to directly elect their leader and their legislators by 2020, as promised by Hong Kong’s chief executive.

Donald Tsang said the decision was a “most important step” in the political future of the former British colony, which became part of China in 1997.

The move comes after Mr. Tsang submitted a report requesting elections by 2012.

Hong Kong’s leader is chosen currently by an 800-member committee.

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The Holiday Wonders Show is now performing for the first time in Saint Petersburg, Florida.

The show has been a hit in New York City for the past seven years, and it will have two shows in Saint Petersburg at the Mahaffey Theater.

Critics and audiences have enjoyed the show’s energy and dazzling colours, unlike the Chinese government who is apparently not in the holiday spirit.

According to the Divine Performing Arts Web site, the Chinese embassy in Washington made calls to Ovens Auditorium in Charlotte, N.C., trying to discourage the venue from presenting the show, but t he venue refused to cancel.

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David Hicks, an Australian, who was convicted by the United States of supporting terrorism, has been freed from a prison in Adelaide.

Hicks, 32, was captured with Taleban forces in Afghanistan in 2001, and spent five years at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

In March he became the first person to be convicted at a US war crimes trial since the end of the World War II.

Under a plea deal, he was jailed for seven years, with all but nine months suspended, and returned to Australia.

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And now for our original SOH news direct from China
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The authorities in Shenzhen, Guangdong province in China have forcibly evicted and dismantled the resident’s private properties.

This has triggered massive clashes with the police, who have been using water cannons and tear gas to disperse the residents who are refusing to leave.

Some of the protestors have been arrested and nearly a hundred residents broke into the police station to release those who have been arrested.

Hong Kong “Sun Press” reported on the 28th of December that the authorities dismantled the properties at Liu Yue Village and Heng Gang Road in Long Gang Area.

According to sources, the compensation for the eviction is yet to be settled in court of law, whilst residents’ properties are already being dismantled.