Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Wednesday 27th January

In this Bulletin…

- Chinese H1N1 web site survey reveals higher death rate;
- South and North Korea exchange artillery fire; and
- More Indian student attacks spark anti-racist protest in Australia.

But first we have our Shen Yun quote of the day

[audio]

For more information, please visit www.shenyunperformingarts.org.

Our SOH focus on China is next

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An H1N1 survey done last month in China reveals the regime is greatly understating the number of H1N1 deaths.

Experts openly accused China of under-reporting the pandemic. China had stopped reporting any cases after December 13 last year.

A random survey from last December indicated that about 26 per cent had been diagnosed with the flu in the past month.

The Department of Health of Guangdong Province had predicted 15 to 20 per cent could be infected during peak flu season. However, death rates were greatly understated.

The survey concluded the actual deaths may be at least 10 times higher than announced.

For more on this, visit The Epoch Times website.

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Cigarette producer Tobacco China is sponsoring 69 elementary schools in China, reports NTDTV. There are signs in schools posted saying that genius comes from hard work; Tobacco helps you to be successful.

This is nothing new, however. There are schools with names like, Qinghai Tobacco Hope, or Liaoning Tobacco Trade Hope Elementary.

The Chinese people wish to restrict such kinds of messages from reaching their children. But, the Chinese regime’s laws do not put restrictions on such kinds of sponsorship and advertisements.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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Protests are taking place outside Chinese embassies and consulates around the world. The protests come after the Hong Kong government forced Shen Yun Performing Arts to cancel upcoming shows there.

Shen Yun, a Chinese dance and music company, has performed in dozens of cities around the world.

But last week, the Hong Kong Immigration Department denied entry visas to several of the company’s key production staff.

The last-minute denial came less than a week before the sold-out shows were set to begin. And that left little time for legal appeal.

Watch more on this story at NTDTV.

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North and South Korea have exchanged artillery fire along their western sea border, according to South Korean news.

They reported the North fired several rounds of land-based artillery off its west coast early Wednesday. Just two days after it designated so-called ‘no-sail’ zones along the sea border.

The news agency said that South Korea’s military returned fire. There was no immediate confirmation from officials in Seoul.

South Korea said the designated ‘no-sail’ zones are near a contested sea border where a naval clash took place between the two in November.

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

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Two Indian students have been assaulted in Melbourne, Australia. It is the latest in a series of attacks targeting people from India.

A group of attackers reportedly made racist comments and kicked and punched the two students on Monday. One victim was taken to the hospital and underwent surgery.

In protest of the attacks, the nephew of Australia’s Prime Minister dressed in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. He and others carried anti-racism signs outside the Australian Open tennis championship.

Five men were charged for the attacks. The anti-racism protesters were fined for offensive behaviour.

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The chairman of the United Nations climate science body said he will not resign because of a mistake on glaciers in a key report.

Critics say the mistake has damaged the scientific credibility of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The panel admitted it had made a mistake in asserting that Himalayan glaciers could disappear by 2035.

The chairman of the panel however, asserts he is now in charge of producing the fifth assessment report, and will do so to the best of his abilities.

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