Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Monday 7th December

The number of children abducted in China has risen sharply in recent years. (By Desmond Kavanagh/Flickr)

In this Bulletin …

- Chinese woman self-immolates to protest loss of home;
- Child trafficking escalates in China; and
- Three thousand clan rebels targeted by Philippine forces.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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A Chinese woman self-immolated herself in protest as the government was to demolish her home to make way for a new road, without her consent.

Tang Fuzhen, a well known entrepreneur from Chengdu City, poured gasoline all over her body. She yelled at the 300 people in the demolition team not to come near her or she would die in front of them. They did not stop and Tang then set herself alight.

Local residents claim that since 2007 dozens of their homes have been destroyed and families forcibly evicted. They say no legal permits where ever seen for the road construction.

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The Health Bureau of Gansu Province in North China reported that 114 people showed abnormal reactions after receiving the first batch of H1N1 vaccine injections.

A staff member from the Immune Programming Division of Lanzhou City said that a second batch of the H1N1 vaccines is safe and effective, but refused to comment on why the first batch was unsafe.

The latest reported death toll from the Health Bureau of Gansu Province of the H1N1 infection was only 10 people, but the report did not include any detailed information. Staff at the Health Bureau say that they do not have the authority to release the true death toll, but say that most deaths are from middle-aged people.

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The trafficking of children from China has been escalating sharply.  Every year thousands of children are abducted and sold. Most of these children are those of poor farmers and migrant workers.

The Supreme People’s Court recently revealed that two men, who where abducting and selling children, were executed. The parents of abducted children say that the executions only serve to calm down public sentiment.

Parents of the kidnapped children have argued to the regime that punishing traffickers will not be enough to stop them. They say they must also punish the buyers as well.

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The cause of death of the Deputy Mayor in Wugang, a city in Hunan Province in China, has come under questioning.

Local regime authorities from the Province claim it was suicide. The report they issued claimed that Mayor Yang Kuansheng first cut one of his arteries, then attempted to electrocute himself, and finally jumped out of his dormitory window. The report did not include any reason for the suicide.

However the official autopsy report said there were two bruises near Yang’s wrist, a hand print of his back, four knife marks on his neck, and a severed artery in his left wrist.

The Mayor’s cousin, Luo Xi, was detained by police after releasing details of Yang’s death and claimed that it could not have been a suicide.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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A suicide bomb attack outside a court in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar has killed at least five people.

Police stopped the bomber at the gate of the court building. He then let off the bomb.

Dozens of people were injured and three of those killed were policemen.

Since Pakistan sent its troops to fight the Taliban in South Waziristan, Peshawar, which is near the Afghan border, it has been targeted repeatedly.

Since the operation began in the autumn, hundreds of people have been killed in attacks across the country.

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Three thousand armed men loyal to the Amputuan clan, who reside in the southern province of Maguindanao, are being pursued by Philippine armed forces.

The clan is being accused by Manila of ordering the massacre of 57 people last week and of encouraging rebellion.

Gunmen have fired on troops in the first violence since martial law was announced in the province.

The province has been barricaded off by troops. They have also confiscated weapons stores and arrested many alleged gunmen.

The imposition of martial law will be challenged by rights groups in the Supreme Court.

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

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