SNAKES INVADE CAMPS OF NEPAL'S FORMER MAOISTS [Reuters, Kathmandu, May 3, 2007] Hundreds of snakes have invaded camps housing Nepal's former Maoist fighters, infuriating their top leader, the state-run RSS news agency said Wednesday. Maoist chief Prachanda accused the government of ignoring the maintenance of the camps, set up under a peace deal in November that ended a decade-old civil war in which thousands of people died. "More than 700 snakes have been killed in a cantonment," RSS quoted Prachanda as saying. There are 28 camps housing 31,000 ex-guerrillas under United Nations monitoring. Prachanda did not say if any of the former guerrillas had been bitten by snakes. Nepal is a Hindu-majority country and Hindus consider snakes holy. Lord Shiva, one of the trinity of Hindu gods, is shown in pictures with a snake as his garland.

200,000 FLEE HOMES AFTER FLASH FLOODS in MALAYSIA and INDONESIA [Agence France-Presse, December 25, 2006] NEARLY 70 people have been killed and 200,000 forced to flee their homes in flash floods that have swept through parts of Malaysia and Indonesia, including Aceh province -- the same area devastated in the 2004 tsunami. In Indonesia, the death toll has risen to at least 61 and hundreds more remain missing after torrential rains battered the island of Sumatra. More than 110,000 people have been displaced in Aceh, devastated by the 2004 tsunami. Officials in Malaysia said seven people had been killed and nearly 90,000 others were forced to evacuate their homes in the worst floods to hit the country in decades. Villages in Aceh province have been swallowed by flood waters up to eight metres deep following a week of torrential rains as meteorologists said the rainy season was reaching its peak across Sumatra. "We have not been able to evacuate more victims' bodies since this morning. The number so far has been 60 bodies from Aceh Tamiyang district," Ghufran Zainal Abidin, the local chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party, said from the worst-affected area. "The Aceh Tamiyang area is surrounded by water and the only way we can get around is by boat," said Abidin, who is helping to co-ordinate the flood relief effort. Entire villages have been washed away in Aceh Tamiyang, where the flimsy houses were built from bamboo and wood. "I have received reports that Limo Mukur village has been washed away by the current and we have not found residents of that village," provincial spokesman Nurdin Joes said. Officials said hundreds of people had been reported missing in the district. The local capital Kuala Simpang was still cut off from rescue teams, Abidin said. The floods have also forced tens of thousands to flee their homes and take refuge in state-run camps. North Aceh deputy district head Nasruddin said: "One person was killed, four reported missing and more than 110,000 people fled their homes in North Aceh." The army and Indonesian Red Cross were rushing in aid supplies. Authorities feared the death toll could climb further, as rescue crews had not yet been able to reach some affected areas. In other parts of northern Sumatra, water levels continued to rise as heavy rains showed no sign of abating and a dam had burst. The main roads connecting provinces of West Sumatra and Riau are cut off, Kompas daily reported. In neighbouring Malaysia, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi lashed out at looters who had taken advantage of the chaos sparked by the devastating floods, urging the public to make citizen's arrests if they witnessed any wrongdoing. "Make a citizen's arrest. There is nothing wrong with that. You cannot just leave it to the police if you see something (wrong)," he was quoted as saying by the Sunday Star newspaper during a visit to flood-hit Johor state. "Do not allow this to go on. Do not wait for the public to act, but all those (helping in the relief) should take action against the looters." Reports of looting have surfaced in Johor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang states in north and central Malaysia. Police have so far arrested five people in Kota Tinggi, one of the worst-affected areas of Johor state, where at least 2,400 homes are still under water. Tens of thousands of Malaysians are still living in government emergency shelters that were starting to run out of essential supplies.

HIV TEST TO BE REQUIRED BEFORE MARRIAGE IN ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA [BBC, December 19,2006] The government of India's Andhra Pradesh state says a new law will soon make it compulsory for couples to take an HIV test before marriage. "Those who want their marriage to be registered should get the HIV/Aids test done," said health minister K Rosaiah. He was speaking as state assembly members underwent public HIV tests to encourage awareness of the virus. India has the world's highest number of HIV infections, the UN says. Andhra Pradesh is one of its worst-hit states. The Andhra Pradesh government says all staff and security personnel at the state assembly will have to take an Aids test. The results will not be publicised. It is not clear what the state government intends to do with the information it gathers. Chief Minister Rajasekhara Reddy was first to be tested before the cameras on Monday [See picture]. "All MLAs [members of the legislative assembly] should get tested and become inspirations for other people in the state," he told reporters. Activists say one of the major problems in India's battle against HIV/Aids is lack of awareness about the disease and stigma associated with it. Officials in Andhra Pradesh hope the publicity campaign featuring politicians will help overcome this. The proposed mandatory HIV test for couples planning to marry is part of measures aimed at stemming the rise in infections in Andhra Pradesh. Health Minister Rosaiah said: "We are in the process of passing legislation which makes it compulsory for boys and girls to get an HIV test done before marriage." Earlier in December he said most opposition parties in the state backed the proposal. Details of the legislation and how it would be enforced are not clear. There are also concerns that compulsory testing might lead to people buying fake test certificates which would hide the true extent of the spread of the virus. It is estimated that between 500,000 and a million people are infected with HIV in the 78-million-strong population of Andhra Pradesh. That puts the state second, behind Maharashtra which has the highest number of HIV-positive people in India. Health officials expect that as more people come forward for testing they will gain a clearer picture of how many people are infected in Andhra Pradesh.

FOUR NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS FOR CHINA [BBC, December 18, 2006] Westinghouse, the nuclear-plant builder sold by British Nuclear Fuels earlier this year, has won a billion-dollar contract to build reactors in China. The deal, worth about $8bn (£4.1bn), is for four nuclear plants -- two at Sanmen in Zhejiang province, with another two at Yangjiang in Guangdong. An expected decline in fossil fuels and increasing energy demands have prompted many nations to focus on nuclear power. Analysts said that the deal may also help soothe trade tensions with the US. US-based Westinghouse defeated a number of other international companies to win the tender, including France's Areva and Russia's Atomstroiexport. The fact that Westinghouse is now owned by Japan's Toshiba may also have helped secure the deal, especially after Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe signalled an intention to restore friendlier ties with China. "This is all relationship driven," said David Hurd, an analyst at Deutsche Bank. "The US is putting pressure on China at the moment, so China's response is 'let's throw them a bone,'" he explained. The US, which is running a record trade deficit with China, estimated that the deal would create more than 5,000 American jobs. At the heart of the deal was the promise of a transfer of technology from the US firm to China, analysts said. Westinghouse will build AP1000 reactors that should be up and running by 2013, while the transfer of technology means that China would be able to build itself similar reactors. China is having to look at ways of safeguarding its energy independence as world oil supplies are squeezed, and its growing population and booming economy increase its thirst for energy. At the same time, many experts have claimed that nuclear power is one of the most efficient and environmentally friendly ways of meeting a population's energy needs. This view is proving controversial and has been contested by environmental groups, which claim that the risks of an accident and cost of dealing with radioactive waste far outweigh any benefits. Even so, demand for nuclear power plants is on the increase, and the International Energy Agency estimates that more than $200bn will be spent by 2030 on harnessing the atom for energy output.