"Apart from the devastating earthquake last week, there were six earthquakes greater than 5-magnitude in 2007 in PRC. In 2006, there were 14 such big-scale quakes. China also suffered the worst snowstorm in half a century, and Typhoon Neoguri in April. China's disaster industry sector is still under-developed, including earthquake insurance.

In most cases, home property insurance and auto insurance exclude earthquake as exemptions. The reluctance to buy earthquake insurance products trims the effectiveness of the insurance industry in fighting against earthquake losses. Domestic insurers should make better use of the international re-insurance mechanisms and shift part of the risk to the global capital market."

"Advances in communications technologies have spurred the growth of call centers in Asia, boosting incomes and helping to reduce poverty. These centers, often located in countries like India or Pakistan, where wages are relatively low, serve both domestic and international markets and have contributed to economic growth by providing well-paid jobs and new skills to workers who otherwise might not have had such opportunities.

But it is the cell phone that has transformed lives and business more than anything else. Eighty percent of the earth's population now lives within range of a cell phone network, a development that opens up enormous opportunities. The spread of cell phones, computers, and other technological innovations has generated economic growth, while also improving health care and agricultural production in developing nations."

"It is estimated that to produce one gallon of ethanol, it takes one human's yearly maize production. There is also an argument that even if all food grains are converted to bio fuel, it will meet only 6 percent of the diesel requirements and 12 percent of the petrol requirements by 2020 in developed countries.

The production of biofuels must be met through other methods. Necessary research and development must be carried out, so that food products are not converted. It appears that some countries are paying a high price for getting a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. There is a need for striking a balance between the two, as feeding hungry people should take priority over environmental issues."

"Does the Philippines need another international airport in addition to the nine existing ones? The country already has more international airports than Thailand and Malaysia, and certainly many more than warranted by pertinent indicators. The Philippines has the least number of tourists among its ASEAN neighbors, a GDP per capita just slightly above Indonesia's which is the lowest, and the highest poverty incidence.

One has to wonder how the country's leaders can authorize the proliferation of international airports that are mostly underutilized, while more basic infrastructure and social services remain inadequate and one of three Filipinos exists in deep and grinding poverty. An additional international airport will be a misallocation of resources and a sheer waste of scarce investible funds."

"The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Viet Nam issued a directive late last month asking provincial authorities not to allow the expansion of coffee farms until 2010 to ensure higher quality and bigger yields. But farmers in the Central Highlands, where 80 percent of Viet Nam's coffee output is produced, may be expanding their coffee farms by as much as 30,000 hectares for the upcoming rainy season.

Farmers bought 10 tons of coffee seeds and seedlings from the Central Highlands Agriculture and Forestry Science and Technology Institution in the first quarter of this year. The purchases were enough to expand the current coffee crop area by some 10,000 hectares. Other private coffee seed suppliers could have supplied farmers some 20 tons of additional seeds."

"Already struggling with shortages of water and electricity and the impact of global food price rises, Central Asia has been hit by yet another curse -- a plague of locusts that adds to other threats to the region's ability to feed itself. Even though the winter was exceptionally cold across the region, the weather subsequently became so hot that vegetation rapidly dried out, forcing the swarms to migrate more rapidly than normally to satisfy their constant hunger.

The latest data indicates that the locust infestation has already damaged 200,000 hectares of land in the South Kazakhstan region. Tajikistan needs urgent help to combat the infestation, which is spread over four times the area occupied last year. The UN is allocating 13 million dollars for pesticide treatment, but says the country needs a total of 25 million if it is to save its crops."

"The spiraling cost of fertilizer is affecting up to half of Cambodia's two million farmers. About 40 kilometers west of Phnom Penh, farmers are spreading cow dung they have collected throughout the year over their rice fields in the hope it will nurture a better harvest. These subsistence farmers say they have been forced to reduce their reliance on chemical fertilizer because of the sky-rocketing cost.

But while the cow dung is useful, they worry that the harvest will be far smaller than in previous years when they were able to afford chemical fertilizer. The government had no funds to provide fertilizer or seed rice to impoverished farmers except when their rice fields had been affected by natural disasters, such as drought and flooding."

"A 14-point action plan to eradicate poverty from India's eight northeastern states promises to improve the condition of the estimated 7.9 million poor people in the region. Some 7.9 million of the estimated 40 million people in the northeast are living below the poverty line. Poverty in the northeast has been classified into four categories -- economic poverty, nutritional poverty, human poverty and basic amenities poverty.

The problem of youth unemployment is perhaps the most serious and disturbing of the social and economic problems of the region. A five-fold program of development perspectives for the eradication of poverty in the northeast region has been highlighted. These are economic development, institutional, participatory, human resource and infrastructure development."

"Some 35,000 high school pupils in Pakistan are estimated to drop out of the education system each year due to corporal punishment. Such beatings at schools are also responsible for one of the highest dropout rates in the world, which stands at 50 percent during the first five years of education. This 'culturally accepted form of child abuse' also contributed to the high dropout rate among children and the fact that 70,000 street children were present in the country.

Yet, despite growing awareness regarding the issue, many schoolteachers remain convinced that some degree of corporal punishment is necessary to instruct children. The government of the North West Frontier Province banned corporal punishment in primary schools in 1999. But the fact is that, despite a campaign at government level and awareness-raising efforts by NGOs, the directives remain poorly implemented."

"Today, one U.S. dollar can be exchanged for more than Rp 9,100. This means the Indonesian rupiah has a quadruple-digit exchange rate to the U.S. dollar. The exchange rate represents the strength and weakness of the currency and it is also closely connected to the status of a nation in the international community.

Rp 100,000 notes do not match major high-priced notes such as the $100 bill, which is equivalent to about Rp 910,000. It is believed that the need for bigger rupiah denominations in Indonesia is still growing. Should BI then issue bigger notes, such as Rp 500,000 or Rp 1,000,000? Or is it about time to consider redenomination of the rupiah?"

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