Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Friday 20th February 2009

In this bulletin;

- Shanghai police shut down house church;
- Aero India Show impresses Bangalore spectators; and,
- 2009 Oscars lack lustre in the lead up to the awards.
But first here’s our SOH focus on China
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Thousands of cattle from the Dongxihu region of Hubei province have been slaughtered due to an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the area. The disease began spreading more than two months ago.

To date news of the epidemic has been concealed by authorities. Reporter’s enquiries are being constantly referred to other departments as no one wishes to comment.

Thousands of cattle have been buried in pits 6 to 7 meters wide in the infected area. They military are using shot guns to kill the beasts before burning the carcasses with fuel. The slaughter process lasted many days ending on January 28, 2009.
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The Chinese Transitional Government is outraged over the news of human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng being tortured by Communist authorities for 50 days.

They called for attention for Lawyer Gao’s safety and well-being from the international community, and sent a strong warning to the Chinese Communist government.

According to Gao the persecutors had planned to torture him to death, and destroy his remains.

A statement from the Chinese Transitional Government read: “Lawyer Gao has been known as the “courage of Chinese descendants”, and in his endeavours for ending the dictatorship of the Chinese Communist regime, he has made much sacrifice. We here by express our highest respect to Lawyer Gao Zhisheng from the Chinese Transitional Government.”

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast.
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Shanghai police have recently forced some local Christians to shut down a house church. Observers have pointed out that the Chinese regime wanted more control over religious activities.

According to a recent report on boxun.com, an overseas Chinese news Web site, Shanghai police pressured the landlord of Wanbang Church to terminate the rental agreement after failing to stop church members from holding an internal conference.

An estimate of approximately 50 million Protestant Christians are in China, among which only a small group admitted to belonging with the government-run Three-Self Patriotic Churches.

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Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday he expected a reduction in tensions with the United States, a day after President Barack Obama announced plans to send fresh troops.

Karzai said U.S. and NATO forces had agreed to improve the coordination of their operations with Afghan authorities to avoid civilian casualties.

More than 2,100 civilians were killed in Afghanistan last year, 40 percent more than in 2007, the United Nations said, of whom a quarter died as a result of air strikes.

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The Aero India Show 2009, a biannual event touted to be the largest in Asia, thrilled spectators in Bangalore once again.

The Indian Air Force, which is the fourth largest in the world, took the opportunity to showcase its latest in flight technology.

The show was held from February 10 to 15, with pilots also giving lessons to some 200 school students on aircraft and flying.

Six hundred companies from over 25 countries took part in the event this year, including the US, UK, European and South American countries.

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The 81st Annual Academy Awards, considered the Super Bowl of awards shows takes place this Sunday, February 22, in Los Angeles.

The Oscars have lost some of their lustre this year, at least when it comes to advertising.

US television network ABC has dropped prices for 30-second advertisements and scrambled to replace two of the key sponsors for its Sunday broadcast of the Academy Awards, when Hollywood pays tribute to the best actors, directors, producers, and movies of the year.

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And now for our Divine Performing Arts quote of the day.
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Attending the February 15th performance in Washington DC was Jena.

Jena’s response was that she loved the whole show, the costumes the music, she loved it all. Though, the act that captured her heart was the performance depicting the persecution of Falun Gong.

She felt that the way the message of this very real situation was portrayed was impeccably and discerningly done. Jena also went on to say she was glad that ‘the message’ is getting out there; as not everybody knows about it.

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