Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Sunday 5th July

In this Bulletin …

- China welfare home seizes babies to put up for adoption;
- UK soldiers die in Helmand; and
- Aussie with swine flu leaves hospital.

But first here’s our SOH focus on China
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The Zhen Yuan County Welfare Home of Guizhou Province in China has been forcefully taking away babies from local residents who cannot afford to pay fines accrued by not following China’s one-child policy.

The welfare home labels these babies as “abandoned babies” and provides them to overseas families for adoption so as to capitalize financially on the situation.

According to the local policies in this region, once a baby is born, there is a window anywhere from 20 days to 3 months, where the baby may be seized.

It seems that they don’t want kids who are a few years old as they are afraid of kids running away and going back home to their families.

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More than 300,000 people have been forced to flee their homes after days of torrential rains in southern and central China.

At least 16 people in Hunan, Fujian and Guangxi Provinces have been killed from floods, landslides and houses toppled by the rain. A number of people are still missing.

In Guangxi, the army and residents were struggling to shore up a breached dyke at the base of a water reservoir.

At least 15 people died in neighbouring Vietnam, officials say.

There are fears the death toll in the two countries will rise further.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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A bomb blast outside a Roman Catholic cathedral in the southern Philippines has killed five people and injured at least 26 others, officials say.

The military immediately blamed the attack in the town of Cotabato, Mindanao, on a militant group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

The group has been fighting to establish a separate Islamic state.

One of its leaders denied any involvement in the attack, saying there was no religious conflict in the south.

The bomb went off outside the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception as people were leaving Mass, the army said.

Police told AFP news agency that two of the dead were soldiers guarding the cathedral.

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The Ministry of Defence has announced the deaths of two British soldiers killed in separate attacks in Afghanistan.

A soldier from 2nd Battalion, The Mercian Regiment, was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade.

A soldier from The Light Dragoons was killed in an explosion. Both families have been informed about the attacks, which happened on Saturday.

The deaths in Helmand province bring the total number of UK personnel killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 173.

The most senior Army officer to die in action since 1982 was killed in Helmand on Wednesday.

Col Rupert Thorneloe, commanding officer of the Welsh Guards, died alongside Trooper Joshua Hammond when their Viking armoured vehicle hit an improvised explosive device.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH radio network
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UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown says new sanctions may be imposed on Burma’s regime after it snubbed visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Mr Ban expressed deep disappointment after Burma’s top general rejected his request to meet with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

In London, Mr Brown attacked the obstinacy of the regime and raised the possibility of further sanctions.

He reacted after Mr Ban’s two-day visit to Burma ended with little progress.

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An Australian citizen infected with swine flu has been released from a hospital in Croatia.

Dr Nikola Bradaric from the KBC Hospital in the Adriatic port of Split says the 60-year-old woman from Sydney was released on Saturday on her own wish to recover at home.

The woman of Croatian origin entered the hospital in Split on July 1 after her flight from Sydney.

The Croatian Health Ministry says the woman is the first swine flu case registered in the country. Her husband who travelled with her was not infected.

Her name has not been released to protect her privacy.

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