Africa's biggest oil producer goes green

Jacques Lhuillery, Yahoo News 4 May 08;

In his office in Lagos, Alain Salleras, a Frenchman of about 50 for whom biofuels are something of a crusade, is working away at his pet project -- producing ethanol from sweet sorghum in Nigeria.

Salleras, executive director of Global Biofuels Ltd, which has partnered with India's Praj Industries and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) for its project, is at pains to pre-empt any questions on the growing controversy over the alleged impact of biofuels on agriculture.

"Contrary to manioc, sorghum, of which Nigeria is the world's leading producer, has no impact on food supply," Salleras emphasised.

Indeed, if he is to be believed, sweet sorghum has only advantages over sugar cane, another crop often grown for biofuels.

He says sorghum requires one quarter of the water that sugar cane needs, it produces two or three harvests a year, you get far more ethanol per hectare under cultivation -- nearly four times as much in fact -- and there is no wastage.

"To make the ethanol we only take the stalks, which are rich in sugar. The grains go for food and the rest for animal fodder," he says.

Even the fibrous residue from the crushed stalks, known as "bagasse," is recycled. This biomass is boiled to produce steam to make electricity.

Global Biofuels has taken on a Nigerian specialist Babatunde Obilana, who spent 20 years with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), working notably on Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Salleras, a former executive with French construction company Vinci, the former Société Générale d'Entreprises, and compatriot Jean Lamoliatte aim to be producing their first litre of sorghum-based Nigerian ethanol next summer.

In Ondo state to the west of Lagos the sorghum seeds have been sown at Arigidi Akoko and the processing plant will be built by Praj Industries, a biofuels technology company.

Initally Salleras is expecting daily production of 9,000 litres. That is estimated to rise to 240,000 litres a day when the full 10,000 hectares of sweet sorghum are ready for harvest.

By this summer 300 hectares will be ready for harvest and by April or May of next year between 3,000 and 6,000 will be ready.

This is still a far cry from the 30 million litres of fuel consumed every day in Nigeria, but the boss of Global Biofuels has big ambitions.

In three to five years' time he is aiming to produce five percent of Nigeria's total consumption, that is around 1.5 million litres a day.

Global Biofuels plans to establish seven ethanol refineries, each with an associated plant for livestock feed production, in various parts of Nigeria. Each refinery/feed plant will jointly employ 8,000 Nigerians and create an additional 40,000 indirect jobs, the company says.

"It's the first in a long series of projects, in line with the Kyoto Protocol engagements which stipulate that by 2020 10 percent of energy consumed must be of non-fossile origin," Salleras explained.

Construction work on the second of the seven plants will start in June in Ekiti, a state sharing a common border with Ondo.

The Ondo state project alone represents an investment of some 70 million dollars, 65 percent of which is from private investors. The rest will be financed by credits.

NNPC has undertaken to buy all Global Biofuels' production in Nigeria and plans to use it for automobile fuel and for powering breweries and pharmaceuticals plants.

Nigeria, which despite being Africa's biggest oil producer, suffers from a chronic fuel shortage, is counting on biofuels to help solve the problem.

NNPC in 2005 created a Renewable Energy Division (RED) tasked with developping biofuels from manioc or sugar cane, two crops that are abundant in Nigeria.

The unit aims to have a prosperous national biofuels industry up and running by the middle of 2012.

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Best of our wild blogs: 4 May 08

Young blogger shares about Dugong Ambassador event
an exciting walk and painting session on shanil's blog

Cyrene clips
clip of mating common sea stars and the New Star Pentaceraster mammillatus and unidentified sea anemone and stars on collision course on the sgbeachbum blog

Banded woodpecker antics
on the bird ecology blog

The Fallen Shall Thrive
lessons in resilience on the art in the wetlands blog

Secret Shores for the Biodiversity Talk Series
a wonderful audience at the talk on the wildfilms blog

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Is a cat killer on the loose in Pasir Ris?

Three cats die from suspected thinner dousing
Straits Times 4 May 08;

On Friday night, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) received a call about a mother cat and two kittens. They could have been doused with either thinner or acid. One of them had died.

By the time the SPCA staff reached Block 253 in Pasir Ris Street 21 half an hour later, another cat had died and the third one was struggling violently. Both the cats that died had blood in their mouths and nostrils. The third cat was rushed to a veterinarian and had to be put down.

A broken bottle labelled thinner was found nearby.

A Sunday Times check with residents yesterday revealed that this was the first time they had come across such an incident.

The SPCA is offering a $1,000 reward for information that will lead to the arrest and prosecution of anyone involved in the incident. Call 6287-5355, extention 9.

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41 hot spots in detected in southern Sumatra

BMG detects 41 spots in southern part of Sumatra
Antara 2 May 08;

Medan, North Sumatra (ANTARA News) - The southern part of Sumatra now has 41 hot spots with the potential of triggering forest fires, the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) station in Medan said.

"Therefore, we call on the public there to be alert to the possibility of forest fires breaking out," a BMG analyst, Agus Syafril, told ANTARA News here on Friday.

Through monitoring via the NOA 41 satellite, it had been established that the hot spots were located in the provinces of Jambi, Bengkulu and Lampung.

He said, the number of hot spots had increased because the southern part of Sumatra was entering the dry season which was estimated to last until October this year.

"At present, the southern part of Sumatra which lies just south of the equator has entered the dry season so that it is having very little rain. This has caused more hot spots to appear," he said.

In view of the increased risk of forest fires, the BMG called on companies and local people in the three provinces intending to burn bushes for whatever purpose to take extra measures to localize the resulting fires so that they would not spread to nearby forests.

In addition, relevant government agencies in the three provinces were expected to keep a tighter watch over local forests to minimize the possibilty of fires breaking out in them, he said. (*)

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Volvo Ocean Race's organisers hope to double global viewership

Channel NewsAsia 3 May 08;

While in Singapore, the boats will also have two In-port races, off the East Coast.

SINGAPORE : The Volvo Ocean race will be headed to Asia for the first time this season, and the yachts competing will stop in China, India and Singapore.

The organisers are planning to double the global viewership from two billion in the previous race, to four billion this year.

The Volvo Ocean Race is one of the toughest races in the open waters. And for the first time, organisers have decided to include Asia for the new season starting in October.

They are also planning a host of new initiatives. More programmes are also being included this season to raise awareness of how exciting the race is, which is on par with the Formula One race, in terms of size.

And with new media, the race and its latest adventures will be brought right into the homes of audiences all over the world. There will be a website and for the first time, a broadband TV site, which is accessible to all.

Reg Gratton, Communications Director, Volvo Ocean Race, said: "It's almost real time now and we can get video conference calls, blogging... the communication from the boats will be (on) high definition cameras. So I think the feeling that the race disappears after it leaves, say Singapore, to go to Qingdao, is just not the case any more."

MediaCorp will also be showing 39 weekly documentary programmes, which will give an update of the race as it progresses.

Organisers are also looking at getting educational institutions involved in the race when it comes to Singapore in December.

There are plans to recruit some 30 media studies students to help run the media centre. And hopefully these students will consider sports journalism as a future career.

Organisers said preparations for the Singapore stopover are on track. The boats will be here for more than three weeks, as they are due for repairs, after arriving from India and before heading to China.

While in Singapore, the boats will also have two In-port races, off the East Coast.

Rob Turnbull, Chief Operating Officer, One15 Singapore Ocean Race, said: "If we can get anywhere between 3,000 to 4,000 people... maybe not so much on water, they can be at viewing points near the water, I think will be... good."

The seven boats that are competing will leave Alicante in Spain in October and are due to arrive in Singapore a few days before Christmas. - CNA/ms

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New residential buildings in Singapore must now meet minimum standards for energy efficiency

Channel NewsAsia 3 May 08;

SINGAPORE: New residential properties must now include basic environment-friendly features before the building plans are approved.

This is a requirement introduced on 15 April by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA).

Under the new guidelines, BCA has set a limit on the amount of heat that can enter a residential building through its facade. This limit is called the Residential Envelope Transmittance Value. Such a criterion already exists for commercial properties.

A house with floor-to-ceiling glass designs and little concrete all around. Such a look has become increasingly popular among private residential properties in Singapore.

The full-height window design exudes an air of elegance and makes the rooms look larger. But such a design is not environmentally-friendly.

".....because during the day, a lot of heat will be trapped inside the unit and when you turn on the air-conditioning, it'll work harder than normal," said BCA's deputy director for technology development, Ang Kian Seng.

This is why the BCA hopes that designers will incorporate 'green' features at the planning stage.

Today, more than 30 residential properties in Singapore have floor-to-ceiling glass designs. The BCA says such architecture is not suitable for a tropical country like Singapore.

In fact, if architects use less glass in their designs, they could actually save more money in overall construction costs. Consumers would then stand to benefit.

BCA's Mr Ang said: "Typically in a residential unit, 60 percent of the electricity bills will have to be used for air-conditioning. So with this (heat limit) requirement, typically you're looking at 10-20 percent kind of savings for the home owner....With our buildings properly designed....that can go a long way to delay the construction of a power plant, for example......instead of wasting energy and the load goes up, you may need a plant earlier than before."

So a 'greener' home now is a practical step towards a healthier environment in future. - CNA/ir

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New warnings sought in Taiwan for shark fin dishes

The China Post 3 May 08;

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Legislators urged the Department of Health (DOH) to require that restaurants serving dishes with shark fins provide warnings cautioning pregnant women not to eat the prized ingredient, which can contain dangerous levels of mercury.

Ruling Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin said at a news conference attended by lawmakers from across the political spectrum that shark finning is not only cruel, but also a main cause of the rapid decline of global shark populations.

According to Tien, it is common practice for many foreign fishing vessels to remove the fins from captured sharks and then throw the sharks back into the sea because their meat is worth little and the fishermen want to leave room on board for more of the valuable fins.

When returned to the ocean, the finless sharks, unable to move, either die gradually or are consumed by other sharks, Tien added.

The lawmaker warned that sharks are at the top of the ocean food chain and their consumption of tainted small fish and organisms has left a number of them contaminated by mercury.

As a result, Tien said, random surveys conducted by local environmental groups show that some shark fins sold on the market contain mercury, which could pose a health hazard to consumers.

She therefore called on local residents not to order shark fin dishes when hosting banquets to avoid endangering their own health and the health of their guests and prevent ecological destruction.

Meanwhile, Tien said the DOH should stipulate that shark fin restaurants add warnings reminding pregnant women, women trying to have a baby and breast-feeding women not to eat dishes with shark fins in them.

Tien said she was happy to receive confirmation that shark fin dishes will not be served at the Presidential Inauguration state banquet on May 20.

In response to the lawmakers' suggestion, DOH official Hsieh Tien-hung said once a consensus is reached at the agency, it will instruct restaurants throughout the country in writing to add warnings for dishes with shark fins.

He added, however, that details, such as what the warnings should say, are still being discussed.

DPP Legislator Twu Shiing-jer also suggested that the DOH print posters to inform people that eating shark fins could possibly have a negative influence on their intelligence.

They could also provide information on international regulations related to shark finning and data on levels of contamination in shark products, he said.

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Thailand's elephants: Someone Isn't Enjoying the Ride

Mike Snow, The Washington Post 4 May 08;

GOLDEN TRIANGLE, Thailand

At Anantara elephant camp, I met Boon Rot, all 10 feet and three or so tons of her, as she breakfasted on bamboo stalks. I'd come to the resort to take part in mahout, or elephant handler, training, and Boon Rot was my assigned animal. Until recently, she'd had the misfortune of roaming Bangkok's red-light districts, exploited for novelty value by her mahout, who sold tourists and other amused onlookers bananas to feed her.

Her rescue by Anantara's "director of elephants," John Roberts, meant that she'd be riding tourists around instead. Not the perfect solution, former elephant conservationist Roberts acknowledged, but a big improvement for this 17-year-old tusker, who would no longer have to face down cars, drunks and other dangers of the concrete jungle.

Long revered for their intelligence and sensitivity, elephants are Thailand's national animal. Elephant Day is celebrated on March 13. A white elephant appeared on the country's flag until 1917. The animals once paraded members of the royal family, served as super-weapons in Southeast Asian armies and worked in the forests, hauling logs for the Thai lumber trade.

But encroaching civilization and a 1989 ban on logging sent the pachyderm population into a tailspin. From about 100,000 at the turn of the 20th century, its numbers have steadily dwindled to a meager head count, as of last June, of 3,456 domesticated animals and another 1,000 or so in the wild. These latter face an increasingly bleak future, hunted both by vengeful farmers whose crops they sometimes ruin and by ivory hunters who covet their tusks.

Though about 300 elephants still live on the streets of Thai cities, Boon Rot and the more fortunate of her peers have found a way station at trekking camps such as Anantara. These camps are highly popular with tourists, but many are notorious among animal rights groups, which say that they are maltreating the creatures. This was something I didn't learn until after my camp experience, but it left me with a decidedly mixed feeling about the whole thing.

Boon Rot seemed impossibly huge, and the thought of mounting her gave me the heebie-jeebies. But after hoisting myself up and coiling my legs around her massive neck, I realized that she was something of a pussycat. Riding her turned out to be easier than it looked. As we plodded along the trail, I gradually lost my fear of falling off. Class ended on a high note when we students removed our tennis shoes and waded into a river on our elephants for a refreshing swim. After climbing back onto the riverbank, the animals returned our shoes, one at a time, with their trunks. We rewarded them with bananas and then posed for a final round of picture-taking. Marj, a British tourist who suffered from multiple sclerosis, called the experience "one of the best things I ever did."

The riding was certainly exhilarating. But is it the best thing for the elephants? A look into the crinkly, soulful eyes of Boon Rot and her peers leaves little doubt that serving tourists at Anantara, a kind of halfway house for elephants attached to a five-star resort, beats sleeping beneath garbage-strewn highway underpasses. But the elephant camps aren't all equal.

Anantara, run by the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, appears to offer one of the better elephant programs, promoting wildlife conservation and the preservation of rural life, and offering mahouts and their families a chance to earn a living wage. It also caters to high-end tourists and is therefore well funded. But elephants eat 10 percent of their body weight daily, so many camps that operate on the margin feel pressured to work their pachyderms hard to cover the cost of their upkeep.

Most complaints of elephant abuse focus on the way the animals are tamed. Anantara employs a humane but time-consuming "tickling" method, but many camps still use phaajaan (the Thai word for "crush"), a method of domesticating baby elephants that has been practiced in Thailand for thousands of years. This ceremony involves separating youngsters from their mothers, tying them up in a confined space, jabbing them with knives, heated irons, burning cigarettes and bamboo sticks embedded with nails, pummeling them with stones and other projectiles and depriving them of food, water and sleep. It lasts for up to six days, until a shaman senses that the elephant's spirit is broken. Afterward, the animal is never again permitted to see its mother.

Animal rights groups condemn not only the phaajaans but also "imprisoning" the animals and training them to perform tricks. "Elephants don't have to dance, paint pictures or roll logs," says Ashley Furno, senior campaign coordinator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). "We're interested in protecting them so that they can remain in the wild, free to spend their days foraging for food, bathing and interacting with their families and other elephants." In 2003, PETA mounted an ongoing Asia-wide ad campaign protesting elephant abuse that has garnered attention in Germany, Sweden, Singapore, the United Kingdom and other countries that have traditionally contributed to Thai tourism.

But because the elephant camps are privately run, Thai officials find it difficult to address abuses. Moreover, repeated turnover in governments -- there have been three in 20 months -- means that any high-level directives don't stick for long, and interest in the issue waxes and wanes. Officials have focused for the most part on providing limited veterinary care. A project sponsored by the queen to send elephants back into the wild has had measured success, but Soraida Salwala, founder of the private group Friends of the Asian Elephant, charges that government support for the sale of other elephants to Australian zoos for a scientific breeding program helps promote the wildlife trade.

The best hope for Thailand's elephants would be government backing for sanctuaries such as Elephant Nature Park and Elephant Haven, two private, nonprofit sanctuaries near the Burmese border that were established by animal rights activist Sangduen "Lek" Chailert to allow elephants to live in a protected natural setting. Their exemplary work has riled those unhappy at the prospect of replacing phaajaans with more time-consuming breaking methods and has earned Chailert death threats, but also recognition by Time magazine as a "hero of Asia." Similar sanctuaries have long operated in Africa.

A system of national parks could provide Thailand and its tourist industry another valuable revenue stream. But the biggest payoff would be helping replenish the once robust population of Asian elephants, now only about one-tenth the size of Africa's (which numbers between 470,000 and 690,000, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources).

Without sufficient funding and official support, though, this seems unlikely to happen anytime soon. So most of the burden of easing the pachyderm population's decline falls on elephant camps, which need better oversight and improvements to make sure that they operate humanely.

On my final night at Anantara camp, as we sent giant candle-powered paper lanterns known as kum loys floating upward toward a star-filled sky, I sent up with them my wishes that the once stately elephant's run of bad luck might finally come to an end.

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The Freaky Fish of the Congo

Melanie Stiassny, American Museum of Natural History
LiveScience.com Yahoo News 3 May 08;

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.

In his classic novella "Heart of Darkness," Joseph Conrad's protagonist, Marlow, describes the Congo River as an immense snake "... uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land." A description that, while wonderfully evocative, is also a bit menacing. I am happy to report that my own experiences conducting research in the Congo have been nothing so menacing nor so dark.

On the contrary. For the past three years I have - with support from the National Science Foundation and a team of U.S. and Congolese students and colleagues - been exploring and documenting the fish biodiversity of the lower Congo River, which is the head and neck of Conrad's imaginary snake.

What we have found there is an extraordinarily beautiful place that is redolent in history, new discoveries, and amazingly rich in aquatic biodiversity.

The Congo River is a place of superlatives; it is the world's second largest river basin, draining an area the size of Europe; so immense that its source waters in the highlands of east Africa take more than six months to exit into the Atlantic Ocean, some 2,900 miles (4,670 km) to the west. The river and its tributaries represent over 9,000 miles (14,500 km) of navigable passage across central Africa, and provide food and livelihoods for the 30 million people who live in this vast region.

Big barrier

This massive river also forms one of the largest biogeographical barriers in Africa.

For example, our closest relatives, the chimps (Pan troglodytes) and the bonobos (Pan paniscus) are separated by the Congo River; chimps are found only to the north and bonobos only to the south.

Many other animals show a similar pattern of distribution; the Congo River has clearly played an important role in sorting African biogeography. Nevertheless, we know surprisingly little about its history.

But we do know that the river has not always looked the way it does today. Geologists estimate that perhaps as recently as half a million years ago, the Congo was a large lake or series of lakes with no outflow to the Atlantic Ocean. At some point the Congo breached a high plateau in the region of present day Malebo Pool - a peculiar place where the river expands into an enormous 14-mile-wide (22.5 km-wide) pool. In Conrad's day this strange place was known as Stanley Pool, after the explorer and emissary of the now infamous Belgian King Leopold II.

Most of the great inland lake was drained and a "new" river cascaded down through the gorges of the Crystal Mountain region, dropping about 920 feet (280 m) over 220 miles (350 km) to reach the Atlantic. Today, some of the most spectacular rapids on Earth and a rich endemic fish fauna are found in the river as it flows between Pool Malebo and the Atlantic. These fishes are termed lower Congo "endemics" because they occur only in this short stretch of the river. It is this region, called the lower Congo River rapids, with its spectacular array of rapids, pools and runs, that is our study area.

Isolated stretch

The extraordinary hydrology of the lower Congo appears to have isolated it from the remainder of the river basin and this short stretch represents a model system for exploring patterns of species richness and local endemism, while perhaps also holding the key to understanding the origin and age of the entire Congo River itself. The fishes found only in the lower Congo rapids can only have evolved after the formation of the rapids themselves, and those rapids formed when the proto-lake Congo drained to the Atlantic.

By studying those fishes we hope to get a handle on when the Congo took its present-day form.

But studying those fishes is no easy task; the area is remote and rugged, roads are few and far between and when present are often impassible. What's more, few reliable maps are available to aid our search for access to the river. But unlike Stanley and other earlier travelers in the region, we have the luxury of remotely sensed satellite imagery to help us locate possible access points by road and by foot that can take us to river collecting sites and places to set up camp - large sand banks and bars that are scattered between huge rocky outcrops along the river, make idyllic camp sites from where we can cautiously venture out in local piroges (huge canoes carved out of tree trunks).

Analysis of remotely sensed data also gives us an invaluable birds-eye view of the numerous macrohabitats and channel features that characterize this hydrologically complex stretch of river. Using the latest remote sensing technologies, and with much on-the-ground sampling and analysis, we are beginning to get a much clearer picture of just how the hydrology of the river has played a major role in isolating fish populations. We have mapped rapids and can begin to measure their power, we have found evidence of extremely deep underwater canyons, we have found blind fishes and fishes with bizarre anatomical features and adaptations to life in fast waters, and we have discovered numerous species new to science.

Yet working in this region is difficult. Catching fish in such turbulent water flowing at extreme velocities over treacherous rocks is a bit like trying to "catch" a needle in a haystack - we rely heavily on the experience and ingenious skill of the local people who have been fishing these difficult waters for millennia.

But despite how much we are learning and documenting, our project has only begun to scratch the surface of this extraordinary place - we are certainly leaving a great deal for our Congolese colleagues and students to continue to explore.
101 Amazing Earth Facts More Info: Stiassny's Website The 7 Ancient Wonders of the World

Editor's Note: This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the federal agency charged with funding basic research and education across all fields of science and engineering. See the Behind the Scenes Archive.

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Government figures show decline of UK bees

Paul Eccleston, The Telegraph 2 May 08;

More than one in four honeybee colonies didn't survive the winter, new Government figures have revealed.

Beekeepers expect to lose a proportion of their bees every year but far bigger losses than expected have been reported across the country.

Inspectors from the National Bee Unit found 25.9 per cent of colonies dead compared to 18.2 per cent at the same point last year.

In 2007 27,303 colonies were inspected and 3,191 (11.7 per cent) were found dead. In 2006, 24,979 colonies were inspected and 2,764 (11.1 per cent) were dead.

The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) which has 11,000 members, has been warning the Government that bee numbers have been falling dramatically and that a potential economic and ecological disaster was unfolding.

The latest figures will renew fears that the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) which has decimated bee colonies in America may now be affecting British bees.

Bees play a vital role in pollinating crops, particularly soft fruit and the BBKA estimates they are worth £165m a year to the agricultural economy.

The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has rejected appeals for the £200,000 per year set aside for research into bee diseases, particularly the Varoa mite, to be increased.

In the United States the government is spending $80m (£40m) on research into CCD.

But Defra have admitted there were now early signs of "significant colony losses across the country" and that an investigation into the possible causes was being stepped up.

"While it is not unusual to see some losses over winter, there are early signs of significant colony losses across the country, which are being investigated. A more complete understanding will emerge in the coming weeks as the NBU's Bee Inspectors complete their initial inspections," Defra said.

Samples taken from stricken hives, where losses could not be put down to varroa or poor care, would be given top priority for testing and investigation. Defra urged beekeepers experiencing significant losses should contact their local Bee Inspector to arrange a visit.

High losses last year were put down to either inadequate management of varroa or the high level of another parasite, Nosema spp, coupled with chronic bee paralysis virus.

The wet summer of 2007 had confined bees to their hives for long periods leaving them insufficient time to forage for enough nectar to see them through the winter. This had been compounded by this year's wet Spring adding to the stress in hives and providing ideal conditions for the spread of disease.

The BBKA is conducting its own nationwide survey to find out how hard colonies have been hit and the results should be known later this month.

President Tim Lovett said: "There can be no doubt that we are losing colonies at a faster rate than we are used to seeing and it is right that Defra is taking a far greater interest in what is going on.

"No doubt the poor weather has had a lot to do with it but it is about time Defra woke up the fact that we have a major problem on our hands."

Many beekeepers believe that CCD is not one particular disorder but caused a combination of factors - diseases, stress, pesticides and even climate change - which result in bees dying or deserting their hives.

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Boy dies in China as govt tries curb diseases before Olympics

Channel NewsAsia 4 May 08;

BEIJING : The death of a child in south China has raised fears that a virus that has already killed 22 is spreading, as authorities called Saturday for better controls of infectious diseases before the Olympics.

The 18-month-old boy died Friday in Foshan city bordering Hong Kong, from what was probably hand, foot and mouth disease, triggered by the intestinal virus enterovirus 71, or EV71, the health department there said.

"The test results are not out yet, but that's what we suspect," said an official at the department, identifying himself by his surname Yu.

He told AFP another death in the same area in late April was less likely to have been caused by EV71.

Alerted by the new risk, the Ministry of Health on Saturday urged local health bureaus to step up the prevention and control of infectious diseases ahead of the Olympics, the state-controlled Xinhua news agency said.

Epidemics have broken out repeatedly in some regions, especially after unusual weather and population movements, the circular said.

The ministry ordered health officials to keep to watch out for not only on hand, foot and mouth disease, but also cholera, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, diarrhoea, pneumonia, malaria and meningitis.

The earlier 22 deaths among children from EV71 were in Anhui province in eastern China, where another 3,300 have also been infected.

EV71, which can cause hand, foot and mouth disease, is highly contagious and spreads through direct contact with the mucus, saliva or faeces of an infected person. Young children are most susceptible because of lower immune systems.

The disease -- which begins with fever, blisters, mouth ulcers and rashes -- has spread in Anhui since early March, amid accusations by the Chinese media of a government-led cover-up of the epidemic.

Five other cases of EV71 have been confirmed in the city of Hangzhou in eastern Zhejiang province, while 16 children were earlier reported to have fallen ill in Henan province, which borders Anhui.

In central Hubei province, 340 children were confirmed to have hand, foot and mouth disease, and local officials were testing them for EV71, state media said earlier.- AFP

Fears of virus spread as boy dies in south China
Channel NewsAsia 3 May 08;

BEIJING - A young boy has died in southern China from what was "probably" hand, foot and mouth disease, state media said Saturday, raising fears the virus had spread from its epicentre further north.

The 18-month-old boy died Friday morning in Foshan city, Guangdong province just north of Hong Kong, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing local health officials.

The case was probably caused by the intestinal virus known as enterovirus 71, or EV71, Xinhua said, citing preliminary examinations from the provincial disease prevention control center.

A further 22 children have already died of the virus in Anhui province in eastern China, and another 3,300 there have been infected. - AFP/vm

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Asean countries to 'work together on rice crisis'

Straits Times 4 May 08;

No concrete measures agreed on but proposal for cartel is shot down
Nusa Dua (Bali) - Asean nations agreed yesterday to cooperate over the rice market, but stopped short of concrete measures to deal with rocketing prices of the region's staple.

A proposal for a South-east Asian rice cartel also came in for criticism by Philippine officials and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), as countries continued to seek ways to keep rice prices stable and supplies secure.

Trade ministers from the 10 Asean countries had met on the Indonesian resort island over the weekend to discuss topics such as freeing up trade in Asean, but the issue of food security hijacked discussions.

'The ministers affirmed that access to adequate and reliable supply of rice and stable prices are fundamental to the region's economic and social well-being,' they said in a statement.

They added that they recognised the need to improve productivity through technology transfers, research and development as well as making more land available for agriculture and lifting spending.

Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu told a news conference that while Asean stopped short of 'concrete actions', the group 'did agree very strongly to communicate and cooperate among ourselves'.

Asean already has an emergency reserve with about 87,000 tonnes of rice committed, she added.

The agreement to cooperate over the looming rice crisis came as Thailand, the world's largest importer, yesterday said it planned to stick to its policy of not curbing rice exports.

Countries including India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Brazil have restricted food exports in a bid to secure domestic supplies and limit inflation, but Thai Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan stressed yesterday that Thailand would not follow suit.

'For Thailand, as the No. 1 leader in rice exports, we still keep the policy of free exports,' he said. 'I will try my best not to do an export ban.'

Thailand had earlier mooted forming an Opec-style rice cartel with other South-east Asian producers, but this drew flak from senior Philippine officials as well as the ADB.

Setting up an Organisation of Rice Exporting Countries would only cause greater problems as it is 'anti-poor and will only exacerbate hunger and poverty rather than ease it', Philippine Senate majority leader Francis Pangilinan said yesterday.

ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda also opposed such a cartel, saying: 'Agricultural markets should be market- oriented. It would not be good for exporters and it certainly would not be good for importers.'

The threat of a food crisis could hit more than 100 million people on every continent, and has prompted a response from global aid providers.

Yesterday, the ADB announced emergency funding in the form of soft loans for the governments of countries hardest hit by the global food crisis, such as Bangladesh.

Mr Kuroda declined to give a figure, saying it would depend on requests made by governments. He said the amount would be 'sizeable, but not enormous'.

'We believe targeted interventions to protect food entitlements of the most vulnerable and poor are more effective to mitigate the immediate impact of rising food prices,' he said.

Earlier last week, US President George W. Bush proposed US$770 million (S$1 billion) in new US food aid to stave off a global food crisis. He pledged that Washington would take the lead in combating global hunger.

Reuters, AFP, AP

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