News and reports from the far east and australasia.
Nations hit hardest by ‘bird flu’ have pledged to develop vaccines to prevent a human-to-human epidemic, but as one reporter discovers, combating the virus is an uphill task. When chickens from a farm in the Thai district of Nong Bua suddenly began dying back in November 2003, farmers were told that it was chicken cholera. […]
Continue ReadingA hospice in Thailand offers morbid sightseers access to its Aids patients – dead and alive – for a fee… You’d expect to find the dead bodies at the back of the hospital, not in the reception. With some enthusiasm, my guide for the morning pointed out the mummified corpses of a few recent outpatients. […]
Continue ReadingAfter the Asia Pacific Model United Nations Conference, Alison Rawle reviews the current position of the UN. There are 500 of us sitting in the Great Hall at the University of Sydney. It looks like a chapel with its stained glass windows and lofted ceiling. The sandstone walls echo the expectant shufflings and whisperings of […]
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