Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Wednesday 25th March

In this Bulletin…

- YouTube blocked in China over video of soldiers attacking Tibetan monks;
- Peace conference postponed after Dalai Lama is refused Visa; and
- Residents return to Australian town destroyed in bushfires.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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The video-sharing website YouTube is reported to have been blocked in China because it has been carrying video showing soldiers beating monks and other Tibetans.

The site has been carrying a graphic video released by Tibetan exiles, which shows hundreds of uniformed Chinese troops swarming through a Tibetan monastery.

In one scene a group of men, including a monk, are beaten, kicked and choked, while they lie on the ground. Some have their hands tied, others appear to be unconscious.

The Chinese authorities have taken extreme measures to try and censor what can be accessed on the Internet from China. The blocking of many foreign media websites caused outrage among reporters during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The regime has not confirmed whether YouTube is currently blocked or not.

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Reports are coming out of Chongqing City, Sichuan Province, that two more soldiers have been shot dead.

The incident happened at the Yuzhou Hotel on the evening of March 20. The killers have apparently released a message saying that soldiers are their only targets.

On March 19, a similar shooting that left one soldier dead happened in another part of the city.

All postings and messages on the Internet regarding the incident have been removed.

Local residents say that the police are now everywhere and are complaining that a security crackdown means they now have to go through an approval process in order to go shopping, or else they will be beaten.

The two incidents have left the local authorities uneasy.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network
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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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The organisers of a peace conference for Nobel laureates in South Africa say they have had to postpone the event indefinitely after Pretoria refused to issue the Dalai Lama with a visa.

A storm of controversy erupted over the ban, with the government being accused of bowing to pressure from the Chinese regime.

The conference, scheduled for Friday, was intended to discuss football’s role in fighting racism and xenophobia ahead of Johannesburg hosting the 2010 Football World Cup

Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former South African President FW de Klerk pulled out of the meeting in protest.

Chinese officials in Pretoria said Beijing had warned against allowing the Dalai Lama into the country, saying it would harm bilateral relations.

The incident has become a huge embarrassment for the South African government.

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Residents of a rural Australian town destroyed in February’s deadly bushfires have recently been allowed to return to what remains of their community, reports The Epoch Times.

Kinglake in Victoria was one of the towns worst hit by the fires with at least 38 people dead and over 500 homes destroyed.

The area has been closed to the public since February 7, allowing police to search for and locate human remains. On Tuesday, March 17, the roadblocks finally came down.

The inferno, dubbed “Black Saturday” by the media, killed 210 people; Australia’s highest ever loss of life from a bushfire.

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And now for our Shen Yun Performing Arts quote of the day
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Svetlana Zakharova, principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet, in Moscow, Russia, and also at the La Scala in Milan, Italy was in the audience of the Bushnell Theater in Hartford, Conneticut, to enjoy the Shen Yun Performing Arts show

Ms Zakharova was full of praise for the show, saying, “The professionalism of the dancers themselves is fantastic. The choreography I think is fascinating and I think for the western world … just the way they present things it is really beautiful and a great variety of things, it is unbelievable.”

She added, “It is spiritual as well. The performance is of a high grade, a very high grade, and I wish I could see more performances like this in the future; great job.”

Be sure not to miss your opportunity to see the Shen Yun Performing Arts world tour, visit www.shenyunperformingarts.org today.

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