Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Tuesday 1st June

In this Bulletin…

- Chinese asylums can detain the mentally healthy;
- Jakarta celebrates 483rd annivesary; and
- UN pressures Israel to lift Gaza blockade.

But first we have our Shen Yun quote of the day

[Audio]

For more information please visit www.ShenYunPerformingArts.org.

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Our SOH focus on China is next

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Ankang mental asylums in China have inadvertently admitted they can detain perfectly sane people as long as it is approved by the police. The special psychiatric hospitals are even administered by police.

At a recent conference it was stressed that Ankang asylums should work closely with public security bureaus and police stations. They said they should not admit anyone who is not mentally ill without the approval of public security bureaus first.

And, there are many cases of mentally healthy people being locked up and suffering psychiatric abuse. Recently, two people were detained in an asylum because they photographed a protest.

Read more on this story at The Epoch Times.

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Over 200,000 Ford Focus model cars are being recalled in China because of faulty ignition operations. The problem is mainly in 2008, 2009 and 2010 models.

The company decided to recall the vehicle after about 2 percent of driers experienced stalling, usually during low speed driving. They will install new engine calibration software in the cars to fix the problem.

The latest recall is the second one this year for Ford. In February, faulty breaking systems were discovered in its hybrid sedan model. The Dearborn, Michigan-based company was forced to recall some 17,600 vehicles then.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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Jakarta, the city of victory, is celebrating its 483rd anniversary, with over 71 events planned this month, says NTDTV. The vice governor of Jakarta, India opened the events at a historical museum on Sunday.

The theme, “With Diversities We Build Jakarta as the Green Service City,” will include topics such as green living, community, sports, business, entertainment and art.

In terms of green-living, the government of Jakarta will be holding a competition to transform a park into a clean and creative, green space, with places of worship, biking for fun, and newly planted trees.

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Japan’s unmanned asteroid probe Hayabusa has completed its mission and is on a journey back to Earth. The probe visited the asteroid Itokawa in 2005.

The probe’s mission has been riddled with technical glitches affecting communications with scientists.

Although it was designed to make close approaches designed to capture asteroid soil samples, scientists will have to wait and see whether any material was actually caught.

The spacecraft is scheduled to return to Earth on June 13 and is due to land at the Woomera Test Facility in South Australia.

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

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South Korea is planning to use the internet website Twitter along with public education to stem public doubts that North Korea sank one of its warships.

It seems a vocal body of South Koreans think an international investigation—which concluded North Korea sank South Korea’s warship—is part of a conspiracy by Washington and South Korea’s president.

In efforts to dispel conspiracy theories, the country plans to take 70 college reporters, bloggers and leading tweeters around the shattered hull of the sunken warship.

Police say four people were facing charges of spreading false information and 11 others are under investigation.

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The United Nations is condemning Israel’s attack on civilian aid ships in international waters. It is pressuring a lift of the Gaza blockade.

Security Council members held an emergency session to prepare a draft document calling on Israel to lift its blockade and immediately release the ships and hundreds of international activists arrested on board them.

The UN’s security general said he was shocked by the killings and demanded answers now.

And Palestinian UN observer, Riyad Mansour called the attack a war crime, saying the attack wouldn’t stop more ships from attempting to deliver aid to suffering Palestinians.

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