Asia

WHO vows to intensify fight against malaria in Asia-Pacific

World Health Organization (WHO)Manila- The World Health Organization (WHO) vowed on Friday to intensify the fight against malaria in Asia and the Pacific amid growing signs of the disease developing greater resistance to commonly used drugs.

The Manila-based WHO Western Pacific Office expressed concern over the situation in the Thai-Cambodian border where a strain of malaria that is increasingly resistant to artemisinin, the most effective drug available to fight the disease, has proliferated.

Oxfam: Climate crises to affect 375 million by 2015

global warmingBangkok - Natural disasters caused by climate change are expected to affect 375 million people by the year 2015, threatening to overwhelm the current humanitarian aid system, a confederation of internatonal aid groups warned Tuesday.

Oxfam International Tuesday launched its report entitled The Right to Survive, studying the potential impact of climate change on the current humanitarian aid system.

60 companies in polluted Hong Kong sign up for carbon reduction

low-carbon lifestylesHong Kong - Sixty companies in energy-hungry Hong Kong have signed up for a programme to promote low-carbon lifestyles, a environmental conference heard Monday.

The government-backed campaign run by environment activists the Climate Group aims to find ways to lower high-rise Hong Kong's carbon footprint, which is reckoned to be one of the world's biggest.

Speaking at the launch of the one-year campaign Monday, environment secretary Edward Yau appealed to businesses and individuals to help make it a success.

Big fish "tortured" in Asian seafood restaurants

Asian seafood Hong Kong - The waiter serves up a generous helping of hyperbole with his sales patter as he points to a giant garoupa gawping out of the glass of a neon-lit fish tank on the pavement outside a seafront restaurant in Hong Kong.

"This is a very special fish - it is more than 100 years old," he says, gesturing to the fish struggling to turn its metre-long body in the confines of the tank.

"If you want to eat it, it will cost you around HK$500,000 (64,500 US dollars). You will need a very big party."

China announces 10-billion-dollar regional investment fund

ChinaBeijing- China announced a 10-billion-dollar investment fund Saturday for supporting infrastructure development in the 10-nation South-East Asia region.

Addressing the opening of the Bo'ao Forum for Asia, a regional economic meeting on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, Premier Wen Jiabao said the world economic crisis requires Asian nations to build confidence and strengthen cooperation.

"We should accelerate the development of regional and subregional transport, power and communication infrastructure to gradually achieve interconnectivity and form a network," Wen said.

Asian stocks jump on Japan stimulus, machinery orders

Topix index Tokyo  - Asian stocks bounced up Thursday as investors were cheered by news from Japan, where the government prepared to unveil a 154-billion-dollar economic stimulus package and its machinery orders unexpectedly rose.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average surged 3.74 per cent to 8,916.06, a day after falling 2.69 per cent on concerns over upcoming corporate earnings reports. Thursday's gains erased the Nikkei's losses for the year.

Japan's broader Topix index of all first-section issues also rose 3.26 per cent to 841.81.

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