AsiaCast

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.