Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Saturday 9th January

In this Bulletin …

- China hiding real death toll of H1N1 victims;
- Corruption in China worsens; and
- UN accused of war crimes crusade by Sri Lanka.

But first, here’s our Shen Yun quote of the day

[audio]

for more information please visit www.shenyunperformingarts.com

Our SOH focus on China is next

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The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is hiding the real death toll of victims of the H1N1 virus.

Beijing has admitted that a large number of patients with the virus are in almost every part of China. However no exact statistics are available for overseas experts to make a possible estimation.

Data provided by the Chinese regime says only 648 people have died, but it is believed that the real death toll could be in the thousands.

The public could again be deceived by the regime, just like they did during the SARS outbreak in 2003.

The Epoch Times has more on this story.

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Any multimedia Web sites, like YouTube, operating in China without a permit will be shut down from March 2010.

Two years ago State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued an order to regulate Internet video and audio service providers in China.

One of the conditions for obtaining a permit was that the Internet service is either fully or partially owned by the Chinese Communist Party.

It is believed that the quick growth of these multimedia Web sites could undermine the CCP’s national Internet censorship system. This has cost the regime billions of dollars to build over the past decade.

Read The Epoch Times for more on this story.

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China’s anti-corruption watchdog has found that corruption in China has increased by 2.5 per cent from the year before.

In 2009, 106,000 officials were found guilty of corruption.

Chinese constantly rate corruption as the number one concern, ahead of pirated goods and pollution.

There is widespread anger from the public as some Communist Party officials, police chiefs and bosses of state-owned companies enjoy flamboyant lifestyles.

Corruption has bloomed over recent years as there is no independent overseeing of the ruling communists.

The government says more officials have been found out due to more supervision of the problem.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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The former chief executive officer of Jetstar Pacific Airlines has been arrested and two airline executives have been prevented from leaving the country.

Luong Hoai Nam, the former Chief executive will face prosecution for lack of responsibility causing serious consequences.

The airline’s chief operating officer, Daniela Marsilli, and its financial officer, Tristan Freeman, are under investigation by Vietnamese authorities, Jetstar Pacific said.

The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said the airline suffered heavy financial losses and investigators are trying to determine the responsibility of members of the airline’s executive board and managing board.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network

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The United Nations is being accused by Sri Lanka of a crusade to drag it before a war crimes tribunal after it came under new pressure over a video that allegedly shows its troops executing prisoners.

Philip Alston, the UN human rights envoy said that video footage supposedly showing Sri Lankan troops executing unarmed Tamil Tiger rebels last year was authentic and urged Colombo to accept a fair investigation.

The group that distributed the footage said it was shot during the final stages of the Sri Lankan army’s battle against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

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A blast at a house in the Pakistani city of Karachi has killed at least 8 people, police say.

The explosion occurred in Balida Town, a poor neighbourhood in the south of Pakistan.

Explosives stored at the house may have gone off and the dead were believed to be militants, police said.

Eight bodies were pulled out from the ruins of the house, police say.

They also found hand grenades, Kalashnikov rifles and suicide vests at the scene.

In December, a blast killed 43 people and injured dozens more at a Shia Muslim march in Karachi, claimed by the Taliban.

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