AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Wednesday February 18th

Migrant workers pour out of the Longtousi (Dragon Head Temple) train station, Chongqing City, in October 2008 as mass factory closures leave millions without work. (Courtesy of The Epoch Times)

In this bulletin …

-China’s GDP reports suspicious;
-Unexploded Israeli bombs gone missing; and
-Hundreds more cars join Beijing already congested roads.

But first here’s our SOH focus on China
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The skies over Beijing were filled with flyers depicting the corruption and bullying of CCP officials on Tuesday.

The flyers were scattered from a rooftop next to Changan Avenue and were carried over a kilometer by strong winds. The incident happened at noon time.

Passers-by read the flyers and passed them around. The fliers contained descriptions of how Party officials abused their power and committed injustices to petitioners.

The flyers were distributed by petitioners who came from other provinces and left the scene without incident. Police arrived on the scene ten minutes later with a street sweeping truck to clean up the scene.
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AIDS has steadily increased to become the number one source of death in China, according to a health official.

The Ministry of Public Health has revealed over 40,000 people have died from AIDS in China since the first ever reported case, with 7,000 deaths reported in the first 9 months of 2008 alone.

Exports say it is largely due attributed to unprotected sexual activities.

The World Health Organisation has stated a rapid increase in the number of homosexuals in China and other Asian countries has also led to a rapid increase in AIDS cases in that area of the world.

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Beijing has added nearly 1,500 new cars to its notoriously congested roads each day so far this year, reports the Epoch Times.

“The city is facing serious traffic pressure and safety risks due to the growing number of automobiles,” Song Jianguo, head of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying.

Beijing registered 65,970 new vehicles in the first 45 days of the year, or a daily increase of 1,466.

China has introduced incentives to try to boost domestic demand but official data shows car sales in January fell 7.76 percent from a year earlier as traditionally roaring economic growth slowed.

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According to the Associated Press the recent economic numbers released by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regime are suspicious, reports the Epoch Times.

Although published Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers for the fourth quarter of last year were still growing at a rate of 0 to 1.5 percent, they hide the real economic situation in China.

The National Bureau of Statistics of China yesterday released comparable GDP analyses. They compared the GDP from the fourth quarter 2007 to that of the fourth quarter 2008 that resulted in 6.8 percent growth.

While in Europe Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao spoke about the extent of China’s economic problems. He used the increase of 6.8 percent to give Western countries “confidence, courage, and hope.”

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The AFP reported that several large, unexploded Israeli bombs left over from last month’s war in the Gaza Strip have gone missing in the Hamas-ruled territory, UN officials said Wednesday

The missing munitions include three 2,000-pound (900 kilogram) bombs and eight 500-pound (230 kilogram) bombs dropped by Israeli warplanes during the 22-day offensive that killed over 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis.

The UN said it did not know who had taken the bombs and did not accuse the Islamist Hamas movement ruling Gaza of being involved in the incident.

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And now for our Divine Performing Arts quote of the day
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Chelsea Hedquist, a professional freelance writer, attended the show with her grandmother.

She said “It was such a wonderful blend of dancing and music. It was sort of like getting a history lesson and a lesson in Chinese culture all rolled up into a few hours. So I really enjoyed it. It was beautiful and the talent was so impressive … amazing! I really enjoyed it.”
Find out when the Divine Performing Arts show will be coming to your local city.

Visit www.divineperformingarts.com and don’t miss out on this fantastic show which only happens once a year.

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“Asia Cast … Keeping you across the top headlines from Asia and the world.”