Asia Cast

Asia Cast for Friday 10th July

In this Bulletin…

- More on the conflict in Urumqi;
- U.S. Marines building presence in Helmand; and
- Australian unemployment increases.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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Tianjin City resident and former railroad engineer Zhou Xiangyang has been on a hunger strike for 300 days to protest his illegal arrest and detention for believing and practising Falun Gong, the meditation practice, reports NTDTV.

Hunger striking is usually a protest of last resort. Under the pressure of a state-operated campaign of detention, torture and brainwashing, Falun Gong practitioners have few avenues to appeal. 32-year-old Mr. Zhou has been jailed since 2003, and has suffered repeated torture and beatings.

Mr. Zhou was arrested in mid-2003 for distributing information materials about Falun Gong and detained at a Tianjin Hexi Police Station for 14 months, later to be sentenced to nine years and jailed in Gangbei Prison since 2004.

When family members visited Mr. Zhou in June this year, he was carried out by four prisoners, emaciated and deathly white, after a hunger strike for 300 days.

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Martial law was declared in the city of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang Province, on Wednesday in the wake of what state media reported as a clash between Han Chinese and Uighurs, reported The Epoch Times.

In Urumqi, a Muslim ethnic community making up almost half of the population of Xinjiang, Chinese official reports put the death toll on June 5 at 156 deaths, while unofficial reports put the number between 400 to 800 deaths.

Currently in the city of Urumqi all telephones, mobile phones and Internet are still under full blockade and monitoring. According to a CNN reporter, without Internet, many of the Chinese, especially the young, have bottled-up rage stoked by the images of violence they’ve been fed by state-run media.

At present, the only available news regarding Xinjiang is from the regime’s mouthpiece, Xinhua.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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U.S Marines who’ve launched operations in Helmand in southern Afghanistan have managed to seize control of the Helmand River valley from the Taliban, and are seeking to build a lasting presence in area villages.

Locals are not happy with occupying U.S. Marines and are concerned that Marines working with the Afghan border police will spark a fight with the Taliban and would bring chaos and deadly danger to their village.

However, the Afghan people across Helmand are starting to get the idea that the Marines won’t be leaving for a while, and Marine forces expect to stay until the transition for security is made to the provincial government.

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Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has called on the over 2 million people displaced by fighting against the Taliban in the northwest region to go home.

He said the first phase of a four-part program to return them begins on July 13th. The electricity and gas utilities even gas stations and banks have been restored and the army would remain in the valley to ensure the Taliban did not return

Our correspondent says that the overwhelming majorities of displaced people either live in government buildings or schools, or are being looked after by what are called “host families” in Swabi and Mardan.

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Australia’s unemployment rate has hit a six-year high of 5.8 percent in June, slightly lower than analysts had predicted.

The government’s $33 billion US dollar stimulus package, aimed to support 90,000 jobs over the next two years, has so far enabled Australia to avoid slipping into a deep recession.

The stimulus package includes cash rebates for most Australians, tax breaks for small firms, and building thousands of new houses and schools.

Despite the government’s efforts, it has already warned that the unemployment rate could hit 8.5% by mid-2011.

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And now for our Shen Yun Performing Arts quote of the day

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Joyful laughter and applause filled the Auditorio Belgrano in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Sunday as the audience responded to another spectacular Shen Yun Performing Arts show.

Mr. Paul, a famous chef from France, said he would recommend this show to the world.

“To the whole world, to the whole world … so the world can capture the message of this show, a message of love. I think that’s what it is; the message is love for life.”

Mr. Paul explained:

“It really brought me tranquillity. Today was personally, a quite complicated day; really, just a complicated day, and this show calmed my soul. I am very happy to be here.”

Shen Yun will perform three shows in Santiago, Chile next week and then return to Argentina on the 16th in Cordoba, performing three shows until July 18th.

SOH is a proud sponsor of the Shen Yun Performing Arts 2009 World Tour; listen to our special coverage at sohnetwork.com.

For more information on the shows please visit www.shenyunperformingarts.org

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