From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

China, the earthquake and freedom of speech.

Hello again, I'm Arminolny, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

Three days of morning are over, and the Olympic torch relay has resumed, but the earthquake aftermath will trouble China for years to come. More than 50,000 have died and 29,000 are missing. Five million are homeless, and hundreds of dams are in danger of bursting. The UN has praised China for unprecedented openness during the crisis, but a return to restrictions on news coverage seems to be underway.

On to the point, we'll update the damage and the risks to come.

Can the authoritarian government survive the free flow of information?

I'm a reporter's notebook later on John McCain and the Religious Right.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John

D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Hello again, Warren. I'll be back with To The Point. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Hello again.

Warren. I'll be back with To the Point. After the massive earthquake struck central China,

the demand for information overwhelmed government censorship. Is the open window about to be closed?

On to the point, the death toll, the damage, and the continuing risk to five million homeless

refugees has open criticism shaken an authoritarian

regime already coping with Tibet while it's promoting the Summer Olympics.

On reporter's notebook, Christian pastors recruited by John McCain, denounced the Catholic Church

and Islam, and call Hitler the biblical hunter, sent by God to create Israel.

First, this news update, the U.S. commander in Iraq has been reluctant to predict what his

assessment of troop levels will be come this fall when he's due to report to Congress.

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