AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Wednesday 16th April

In this Bulletin…

- Britain makes pitch for China’s investment;
- Plane crash kills 33 in Congo; and
- UN Secretary General calls for justice on anniversary of Pol Pot’s death.

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Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, yesterday made a pitch for China’s $200 billion state investment fund to invest in the UK during his visit Beijing.

Darling said ahead of his trip that he would express British concern about China’s crackdown in Tibet and appeal for restraint. But he made no mention of the issue as he and Vice Premier Wang Qishan, appeared briefly before reporters following their meeting.

Darling is the highest-ranked British official to visit China since Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s office said last week he would skip the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics in August.

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A plane has crashed into a market district in the eastern Congolese city of Goma yesterday, killing at least 33 people and injuring 80.

The Hewa Bora Airways McDonnell Douglas DC-9 ploughed into a crowded neighbourhood of Goma, capital of Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern North Kivu Province, after bad weather forced the pilot to abort take-off.

Government spokesman Esdras Kambale said in a broadcast on national television that 33 people were killed and 80 injured in the crash, but gave no further details.

The crash was the latest aviation disaster to hit Congo, a vast central African state the size of Western Europe which is recovering from a war and has one of the world’s worst air safety records.

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On the tenth anniversary of Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot’s death, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon yesterday appealed for the senior leaders of the regime to be brought to justice.

The secretary-general said he hoped that the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia “will soon deliver long-overdue justice for the people of Cambodia.”

Five former Khmer Rouge leaders have been detained and will face the ECCC, most of them on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The ECCC, which was established by both the United Nations and Cambodia, became operational in 2006, but the first formal hearings took place in fall of last year.

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A study was by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom has urged China to stop repatriating North Korean refugees because of concerns over how the returnees are treated.

The report said those suspected of converting to Christianity or of meeting South Korean Christians face severe persecution.

According to the commission, there is a pressing need for action to address the repression of religious freedom and other human rights in North Korea.
It described the forced repatriation of refugees from China as “an issue of special concern”.

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The Olympic torch has touched down in Islamabad in Pakistan today amid tight military security.

The flame arrived in the capital by plane from Oman on the latest stage of its journey towards the Beijing Games.

Security fears mean the torch will be paraded along a much shorter route than originally intended when it is taken to the city’s main sports stadium later.

Protests against China’s policies on Tibet and Darfur have forced previous relay legs to be shortened or diverted.

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Police detained at least two dozen Tibetan protestors in front of the Chinese embassy in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu yesterday.

These were the first anti-China protests since the Himalayan nation’s watershed election last week.

Tibetan exiles had suspended their protests until the completion of the election, Nepal’s first in nine years.

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And now for our daily update on the NTDTV Divine Performing Arts “New Year Spectacular” show.
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Yesterday the Divine Performing Arts Spectacular gave its last Australian show in Adelaide. It will open in Auckland, New Zealand tomorrow. Another troupe is giving its last day of shows in Milan before moving on to Munich on Friday.

Australian entrepreneurs, John and Rose Williams, felt the Spectacular was brilliant after seeing it at the matinee session in Adelaide, April 15.

The whole experience was enjoyable John said, but he particularly liked the singing.

Rose Williams said she was interested in the deeper meanings in the show. She said “I think a little about what we are seeing it is not just pure entertainment. There is an underlying message there which we are actually digesting at the moment.”

For more information about the Divine Performing Arts world tour, please visit: www.divineperformingarts.org

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