Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Sunday 9th May

In this Bulletin…

- Legal changes target China’s bloggers;
- Another deadly storm lashes India; and
- Indonesian architects design ‘purification skyscraper’.

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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A recent amendment to China’s law on state secrets means telecommunications companies and internet service providers are legally required to cooperate with investigations into state secret leaks.

A recent international media conference in Hong Kong highlighted the swift spread of information through the internet as one reason it’s harder for the authorities to completely cover something up these days.

Reporters Without Borders has criticized the Chinese regime for adopting the new state secret legislation. The media freedom group is also concerned over news the authorities want internet users to register with their real names in order to post comments on the internet.

The Epoch Times has looked at some of the issues with China’s state secret laws.

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The number of people infected with hand, foot and mouth disease across China has more than doubled since last month. Earlier this week there was over 427,000 reported cases.

The disease usually infects young children. It is quite contagious and causes noticeable rashes on the hands, feet and mouth area.

Usually symptoms are mild. But according to NTDTV, a mutated strain that is spreading is proving to be more deadly. Doctors say it is also harder to treat. During the 2009 outbreak 150 deaths were reported. So far this year there have been 260. And officials are warning there could be many more.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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Thailand’s government and the red-shirted protesters opposing it both committed themselves Saturday to moving forward with the peace process. This is despite two separate fatal attacks targeting police officers.

Both sides have said the killings were carried out by groups trying to sabotage the Thai prime minister’s reconciliation roadmap. The aim of the roadmap is to end a two-month confrontation with anti-government protesters by holding elections in November.

The Red Shirts have agreed to the peace process, but still want a date for the dissolution of parliament before they will leave their fortified protest site in Bangkok.

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Indian authorities said at least 54 people were killed by a powerful storm that struck northern and eastern states.

Officials said strong winds tore through parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh states Friday. And that lightning strikes and falling trees caused many of the deaths

A disaster-management official from Bihar state said the storm was like a cyclone.

Indian authorities have still to estimate just how much damage was done to housing and infrastructure in the affected areas. Hundreds of thousands of homes in Bihar and West Bengal were damaged by a cyclone last month.

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

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There have been calls in Australia for a ban on wearing the burka after one was used as a disguise during an armed robbery.

One opposition senator said the full-face Islamic veil was ‘un-Australian’. But the leader of the opposition joined the Australian prime minister in saying they would not support a ban.

The row follows similar debates in Europe on whether the burka should be allowed in public.

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A group of Indonesian architects have conceived a novel idea for cleaning up a heavily polluted river running through the capital Jakarta.

The architects said they came up with the idea of building a purification skyscraper to clean the river after considering the concept of an environmental machine.

Their idea would not only help the environment, but provide jobs and housing for people from the surrounding slums.

And it’s not just them who think the concept has promise; they won second prize in a recent international skyscraper design competition. Currently though, their green building is a long way from being built.

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