SOH News

Asia Cast for Tuesday 21st October

External Podcast: Visit Asia-Cast.com to listen

In this Bulletin…

- Signs of global Market confidence returning;
- Suicide bomber targets Chinese officials; and
- Corrupt Chinese officials steal land and beat farmers.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China.
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Beijing sources report that the legal rights advocate Dr. Xu Zhiyong and other legal defenders were interviewed in Tao Ranting area, and were assaulted by unidentified people.

The lecturer of Beijing Political Science and Law University, Teng Biao said he has been repeatedly beaten, however this cannot solve the issue, he remarked ‘It is very hard to resolve because it’s an issue with the Communist system’.

The Beijing’s rights lawyer Li Heping said the President of the Supreme Court, Wang Shengjun proposed three Supremes: the cause of the party comes first; People’s interest comes first; the law of the Constitution comes first. Such incoherence is a major throwback for Chinese lawmakers who are attempting to reform the system.

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Beijing news, after the Olympic Games, Beijing authorities will implement a more stringent rule to control the public internet cafe’s. By taking photos of all the customers, as well as scanning their ID cards, security services hope to prevent people posting opinions or information on the internet anonymously.

Although officials present this as an aide to help police prevent under age children surfing the internet, most disagree. According to a recent survey, only 26% of the respondents support the restriction of children, and the other 70% thought that this measure violated their rights, and that they are unable to trust the authorities with their personal data, which may be stolen.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast.
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Epoch Times. A suicide bomber attacked a local government building in Le’anchang Town, Sichuan Province on Oct. 21, causing four deaths and one other casualty.

The four dead are reported to be government workers who were in the building at the time.

The bomb was not said to be a sophisticated device. The explosive was a home-made gun powder, which suggests the person did not belong to a terrorist group.

It is quite likely that the person had been badly treated and sought revenge. The background of the person and the reasons behind the attack are as yet unclear.

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Epoch Times.Mr. Lu from Mabu village said, “In the past two days, many policemen have been guarding the village day and night. We want to leave the village for some business, but are unable to. Construction goes on at the site around the clock”.

Mr Lu said; “the police searched the village leaders house, threatening to beat him to death.The police picked targets at random, beating anyone, even women and elderly women.

An unknown spray was being used on us, making it hard for us to open our eyes. When the police caught someone, they would spray the liquid directly into their face. My mother returned home unable to see anything with her eyes,”.

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Secretary General Ban Ki-moon voiced frustration on Monday that Burma’s military government had failed to take up proposals by the world body to bring democracy to the southeast Asian nation.

Ban has been asked by the U.N. Security Council to do his utmost to pursue reforms in Burma, which drew international condemnation last year for a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters led by monks.

Ban’s special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, last visited Burma in August, but failed to wring concessions from the junta or to meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for most of the past five years.

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In Washington credit markets showed signs of thawing and U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke backed more government spending on Monday, prompting renewed hope that the worst of the financial crisis may be over.

A critical measure of lending between banks, the three-month Libor rate, fell the most in a single day since January in a sign that banks were regaining some confidence in dealing with each other.

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