Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Thursday 13th March

In this Bulletin

- Bird Flu Showing Signs of Mutation Says China Expert
- Ancient bones stirs ‘hobbit’ debate
- Chinese dissidents protest the Chinese Communist Party preventing their return to China

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China’s foreign minister has strongly criticised “anti-China forces” accusing them of politicizing this year’s Beijing Olympics.
Yang, Jiechi said individuals and groups were trying to tarnish China’s image.

In recent weeks human rights groups and a number of Hollywood personalities, including Steven Spielberg, have stepped up criticism of China’s record.

And a report by Human Rights Watch on Wednesday said migrant workers were being exploited to build a new Beijing.

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Hong Kong Government made a decision to close all kindergartens and primary schools for two weeks in an effort to control a severe flu outbreak.

Twenty-three schools have reported an increase in infections and a seven-year-old boy died this week after being admitted to hospital with flu-like symptoms.

The Health Secretary says the move is a precautionary step and scientists will continue to investigate the outbreak.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network
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One of China’s top doctors has said that the H5N1 bird flu virus has shown signs of mutation and can kill human victims more easily if treatment is not given early enough, newspapers reported on Tuesday.

Zhong Nanshan, an expert on respiratory diseases, told reporters in Beijing that vigilance should be kept up, especially when H5N1 human cases are surfacing at a time when seasonal human influenza is at a peak.

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The discovery of ancient bones of tiny humans on South Pacific islands has raised new anthropological questions.

Radiocarbon dating suggests the little people lived on the islands of Palau a few thousand years ago.

Scientists believe they were true humans who shrank, perhaps because of a genetic disorder or lack of food.

But others think the Hobbit’s strange features, such as its particularly small brain, cannot be reconciled with our present knowledge of the origins of modern humans. They believe the remains are of true humans who were diseased in some way.

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And now for our original SOH news direct from China
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Spokesperson of Falun Gong Human Rights Groups, are urgently calling upon governments and human rights groups around the world to stop abuse of human rights.

According to sources, there have been continuous reports of local authorities capturing Falun Gong practitioners from cities and provinces.

In addition, there have been 10 proven deaths during February of Falun Gong practitioners as a result of the Chinese Communist Party’s persecution.

Minghui website have recently published a list of Beijing Falun Gong practitioners captured by CCP officials in the past 3 months.

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According to Beijing news, overseas Chinese dissidents sent an open letter to the Chinese Foreign Ministry a few days ago to protest overseas posts preventing their free entrance into China by cancelling their passport or refusing to extend their passport.

According to BBC reports, signatories of the open letter include the student leader of the Tiananmen incident Wan Dang and Wuer Kaixi.

Dissidents are accusing the Chinese Communist regime of violating the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, depriving their legal rights and failing to carry out its international responsibilities.

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

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