Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Tuesday 2nd February

In this Bulletin…

- The scope of Chinese web censorship investigated;
- Rights group uncovers gross abuses in Cambodia’s ‘treatment’ centres; and
- Australians may pay for big environmental polluters.

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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Internet searchers comparing Google China, Google Taiwan and English Google.com results, reveal the extent of China’s web censorship.

The Epoch Times conducted searchers on topics considered forbidden in China, such as the Tiananmen Square Massacre which took place on June 4th. 1989. That search gave 4 million results in English Google, and less than 75 thousand in China Google. Most were irrelevant.

Searching for the term ‘Falun Gong’ on Google.com gave more than 1 million hits. On the Chinese version, Google.cn, there were 33 thousand hits. Of those, the first 20 pages were entirely composed of sites which carried official party propaganda slandering the meditation practice.

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In an ironic turn of affairs, a Chinese company that sells tablet PCs may sue American company Apple for allegedly creating a knock off of their product.

The Chinese company said they started selling their P88 tablet last year, which they claim the Apple iPad is modelled after. The company is based in a southern Chinese city known for producing knock-off phones, which are called “shanzhai,” or “bandit” phones.

Both devices use touch screens that have a black border and a similar size, at 10.2 inches for the P88 and 9.7 inches for the iPad.

Apple had no comment.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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Just shortly after having uncovered the mistreatment of drug addicts in China, Human Rights Watch has revealed the abuses inflicted on addicts in Cambodia’s drug treatment centres.

The group says drug treatment centres in Cambodia illegally detain, beat, torture and rape detainees.

The centres fail to give any support to drug addicts, and many are detained illegally, with relatives forced to pay for supposed drug treatment.

Instead of receiving therapy to wean them off drugs, they are subjected to gross abuses by the Cambodian police and military, which run the centres.

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Thirteen Asian countries have pledged to double their number of wild tigers by the year 2022, the next Chinese year of the tiger.

The pledge was made in Thailand at the first Asia ministerial conference on tiger conservation and was welcomed by conservation groups.

Representatives from the 13 Asian nations aim to double the wild tiger numbers and better protect the tigers and their habitats.

Tigers are found wild in China, Russia and most of South and Southeast Asia. Only 3,500 tigers are believed to live in only seven percent of their original territory.

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

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Near the outskirts of Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, a suicide bomber killed at least 41 Shi’ite pilgrims Monday. It is the latest attack of many, in a violent run-up to next month’s election.

An interior ministry source and a police official said 41 people were killed and 106 wounded in the attack.

The attack had taken place in a tent where pilgrims were provided with food and drink for their arduous religious trek.

Shi’ite gatherings remain a frequent target for terrorists such as al Qaeda.

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Australian taxpayers may pay the bill for big environmental polluters under an opposition plan. The plan relies primarily on a federal government emissions trading scheme.

Sources told the Sydney Morning Herald that it relies heavily on reducing carbon by sequestering it in soil and also includes planting trees.

The plan proposes government spend nearly $1 billion US dollars a year purchasing carbon offsets to keep pollution levels down and meet the aim of reducing emissions.

But because there is no cap on pollution, or no tax on polluters, there is no actual incentive to reduce pollution.

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