Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Wednesday 5th May

In this Bulletin…

- China’s multiple school killings covered up;
- Hong Kong’s May Day marches; and
- Two held in Karachi over botched New York bomb attack.

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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Tens of thousands of protestors took to the streets in Taixing, Jaingsu Province in China, enraged over a cover up of school killings. A protest—initially started by parents and family members of victims—drew interest from local residents who also joined.

They demanded that authorities release the truth about an assault which targeted kindergarten schoolchildren.

Speculation about authorities trying to cover up the truth ran wild on the Internet after the kindergarten killings. Official reports denied any deaths. Yet, a doctor was quoted by The Beijing News saying that three children have been declared dead.

The Epoch Times has the entire story.

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China’s media is showing trends of becoming more open. Analysts say the trend is unstoppable, in spite of the Chinese Communist Party’s tight control.

The Epoch Times said this was the main conclusion among Chinese media elites who met last week in Hong Kong for an Asian and Pacific media conference.

One Chinese newspaper founder held internet media as the driving force behind China’s media becoming more open; despite tight controls, internet news spreads swiftly.

Some media members point out that the regime has realized it cannot conceal news events, however it does not mean there is full disclosure either.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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Over a thousand people marched for freedom in Hong Kong on Sunday. Public discontent continues to develop over Chinese mainland restrictions on democratic governance.

Demands for democracy have become an annual event since 2003. In July of that year over half a million people flooded the streets, urging a lift of the communist regime’s governmental interference.

Beijing responded to Sunday’s rally by issuing a newly-proposed reform package. Selection committees for the region’s leaders would jump from 800 to 1,200 people and add 10 legislative members.

Democracy activists say that is not enough.

Read more on this at The Epoch Times.

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Japan’s prime minister has halted plans to move an entire US military base from Okinawa.

The Marine Corps Air Station Futenma is an unpopular base with many Okinawans. Removing the base was a key pledge of the prime minister during the last elections.

But, recently on a visit to the island, he said realistically speaking it was impossible to fully relocate the base.

Much to the chagrin of its residents, he said maintaining the base in some form was needed for national security.

The island is home to over half the 47,000 American troops based in Japan.

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

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A new computerized vote-counting system in the Philippines is malfunctioning and software recalls follow. Elections are less than a week away. Candidates and analysts fear the system could make it easier for fraud or miscounting to occur.

Yet officials remain optimistic and expect problems to be solved before the vote.

Some of the 82,300 machines tested failed to read the names of candidates.

Computerized vote-counting will be used for the first time in the Philippines during the May 10 elections.

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Pakistan officials detained two people Tuesday with links to an American arrested in New York over the failed Times Square car bomb.

The two were connected with the Pakistani-American suspect through telephone records according to an anonymous security official.

US officials have said Shahzad, a US citizen born in Pakistan, was arrested for allegedly driving a car bomb into New York’s Times Square that smoked but failed to explode on Saturday night.

He was arrested on Monday on board an aircraft at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport that was about to leave for Dubai.

Investigations are still underway.

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