News and reports from the far east and australasia.
Chinese internet aficionados saw the popularity of their personal websites rocket after paying tribute to the country’s hottest taboo and now it seems everybody wants a go at blogging… With the results of the fifth annual ‘Bloggie Awards’ fast approaching, millions of people all over the world are creating their own blogs – most in […]
Continue ReadingThe earthquake and waves that have claimed up to 77,000 people in Asia have left survivors with a near-impossible job in southern Thailand… As we turned into Patong Hospital’s car park we found ourselves stuck behind four trucks laden with empty coffins – about 40 per truck. Some were little more than grey crates, others […]
Continue ReadingA reporter journeys to the cradle of Chinese civilisation – the hometown of the celebrated thinker, philosopher and educator, Confucius – to sample how his legacy lives on. Like many Chinese cities, in Qufu the sky is blackened with the stain of pollution. World-weary ponies haul gaudy carriages, vying for road space with squadrons of […]
Continue ReadingNations 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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