Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
April 3, 2017
Clean water plant brings hope to village in north India
NAI BASTI VILLAGE, India (AP) — Schoolchildren cheered and village
women clapped as a gush of clean water flowed through a set of gleaming steel
taps connected to a newly installed water filtration plant in a dusty north Indian
village. India has the world’s highest number of people without access to clean
water. UNICEF says nearly 78 million Indians — about five percent of the
country’s 1.3 billion population — must make do with contaminated water
sources or buy water at high rates. The lack of clean water contributes to
increases in stomach ailments, diarrheal diseases, and deaths from waterborne
diseases. Around 140,000 children die of diarrheal disease in India each year, a
third of the 315,000 such deaths of children worldwide. Nai Basti is about 35
miles east of New Delhi.
11 endangered wild elephants rescued from mud
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Eleven endangered wild elephants were
rescued in Cambodia four days after getting stuck in a three-meter-deep mud
hole, officials said. The animals were rescued in northeastern Mondulkiri
province, home to about 250 wild elephants, said Wildlife Alliance official
Botumroat Lebun. The chief of Mondulkiri’s environment department, Keo
Sopheak, who headed the rescue team, said the elephants apparently got stuck
in the mud when they went to drink water at a 10-foot-deep hole that was left
over from U.S. bombing during the Vietnam War. After being rescued, the
elephants were sent back to the jungle where they normally live, Keo Sopheak
said. He said if local villagers had not reported the incident, the elephants would
have died from thirst and starvation.
China lifts ban on Brazilian beef
BEIJING (AP) — China has lifted an import ban on beef from Brazil after
Brazilian authorities promised to block shipments by producers at the center of
a product-quality scandal, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said. Brazil also
promised to take stricter measures to ensure the quality of meat shipped to
China, said the spokeswoman, Hua Chunying. Brazil’s meat exports collapsed
after investigators accused inspectors of taking bribes to ignore outdated meat
and chemicals. China, the European Union, Japan, and Mexico banned or
limited imports. “The Brazilian side has formally informed China that it decided
to suspend the export of the involved companies to China and promised it will
take stricter measures to ensure the safety and reliability of meat products
exported to China,” Hua said. “Therefore, China has removed the preventive
and temporary protective measures and restored normal examination and
quarantine work.”
Police arrest militants setting up jihadi camp
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s counterterrorism squad says it has
arrested four suspected Islamic militants who were trying to establish a jihadist
training camp in eastern Indonesia and who likely had links with Abu Sayyaf
militants in the southern Philippines. National police spokesman Boy Rafli
Amar said the men were arrested in several locations on the island of Java and
were connected to four militants ambushed by police on the same day near
Jakarta. Amar said all eight were members of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, a
network of Indonesian extremist groups that formed in 2015 and pledges
allegiance to Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. One of the
suspects told police his role was to purchase rifles from militants in the
Philippines and he had travelled there several times.
Cambodia bans export of breast milk by U.S. company
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia has permanently banned the
export of human breast milk by a company headed by a former Mormon mission-
ary that pioneered the business two years ago. A letter issued by the cabinet to
the Health Ministry said Prime Minister Hun Sen has ordered a halt to U.S.-
based Ambrosia Labs Ltd. buying and exporting the milk. The product is
marketed as food for babies and a nutritional supplement and sells for as much
as $4 an ounce. The letter gave no reason for the ban, but said Cambodia was not
so afflicted by poverty that its mothers needed to sell their milk. The milk’s
export was recently suspended while the Health Ministry investigated its
effects on babies and whether the business violated a law on trafficking in
human organs.
MONITORING MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS. Trekkers hike to Everest Base camp on March 11, 2017 near Lobuche,
Nepal. The 2017 spring climbing season is expected to be busy on Everest. Hundreds of climbers were able to scale the
peak last year following two years of disasters on the mountain. The 2015 season was scrapped after 19 climbers were
killed and 61 injured by an avalanche at base camp triggered by a massive earthquake. In 2014, an avalanche at the
Khumbu Icefall killed 16 Sherpa guides. (AP Photo/Tashi Sherpa)
Nepal to strap some Everest
climbers with GPS devices
By Binaj Gurubacharya
The Associated Press
K
ATHMANDU, Nepal — Some
climbers attempting to scale Mount
Everest during the upcoming spring
climbing season will be strapped with a GPS
device to locate them in case they are in trouble
and to prevent false claims of reaching the
summit, according to officials.
Hundreds of climbers are expected to
attempt to climb the world’s highest peak in
April and May, but only a few will be fitted
with the devices as an experiment.
The chief of Nepal’s tourism department,
Durga Dutta Dhakal, said the devices, costing
about $300 apiece, would help locate climbers
who are in trouble on the mountain so rescuers
can be sent.
The devices will also track the movement of
the climbers while they are on Everest. The
data will be checked after they get back from
the mountain to determine whether they
reached the summit and should be issued a
climber’s certificate.
Contrast in style as Duterte meets Myanmar’s Suu Kyi
NAYPYITAW, Myanmar (AP) — Regional
politics makes for strange bedfellows, and at
first glance, it is hard to imagine more of an
odd couple than tempestuous Philippine
President Rodrigo Duterte and his cerebral de
facto Myanmar counterpart, State Counsellor
Aung San Suu Kyi, who met recently in
Naypyitaw, the capital of Myanmar (formerly
known as Burma).
The main purpose of Duterte’s visit to
Myanmar, which took place in late March, was
to complete visits to nine fellow members of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or
ASEAN.
While their meeting was said to have
covered the usual pro forma talk about trade
and investment, it had a tangible result when
Duterte promised $300,000 in humanitarian
aid for Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where
communal conflict has displaced more than
100,000 people, mostly Muslims, from their
homes.
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Iranian club fined for laser-flashing fan misconduct
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Iranian football club Esteghlal FC has
been ordered to pay fines totalling $51,000 over the misconduct of its spectators
who flashed laser beams at opposing players and the referee during two recent
matches. The Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) disciplinary committee also
said if there are further similar breaches over the next two years, Esteghlal FC
will be forced to play a home game in an empty stadium. AFC said home fans at
Azadi Stadium in Tehran on February 7, in addition to flashing the lasers, also
threw projectiles on the field that caused explosions during a 0-0 draw with Al
Sadd of Qatar, a qualifying match for the Asian Champions League. It said
Esteghlal FC fans also flashed lasers during the club’s 2-0 win in an ACL match
in Tehran on March 13 against Lokomotiv of Uzbekistan. Esteghlal leads the
group with two wins from two matches. In other sanctions, AFC said it banned
four players and three officials from the Lebanon beach soccer team from
football-related activity over varying periods after they were found guilty of
bringing the game into disrepute following their semifinal match against United
Arab Emirates in March.
Last year, an Indian couple claimed they
scaled the peak and received a certificate from
mountaineering authorities, but it was later
determined they altered their photo of the
summit. It was a huge embarrassment for
Nepalese mountaineering authorities.
Climbers only need a photo showing them on
the 29,035-foot-high summit and a report from
a government-assigned liaison official. The
officials, however, rarely stay on the mountain
to monitor the climbers.
Climbers are also covered with heavy
clothing, climbing gear, and oxygen masks,
making it difficult for them to be clearly
recognized in photographs.
The 2017 spring climbing season is expected
to be busy on Everest. Hundreds of climbers
were able to scale the peak last year following
two years of disasters on the mountain.
The 2015 season was scrapped after 19
climbers were killed and 61 injured by an
avalanche at base camp triggered by a massive
earthquake. In 2014, an avalanche at the
Khumbu Icefall killed 16 Sherpa guides.
Interpretation services available
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80.19
3998.0
6.8872
2.0865
7.7709
64.85
13322
32472
111.39
8199.0
4.4255
103.9
104.83
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50.2
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152.13
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22580