Thousands homeless after tsunami

The Red Cross says up to 7,000 people are homeless one week after a tsunami triggered by an earthquake swept through the western Solomon Islands.
A Red Cross spokeswoman in the badly damaged town of Gizo said food and medical aid was arriving but many people were still camping in the hills.
Many people have been afraid to return to their homes because of fears of another tsunami, the spokeswoman said.
At least 39 people were killed when a wave several metres high hit the area.
Many homes in the fishing and diving centre of Gizo were destroyed or badly damaged by both the earthquake and the resulting wall of water.
The town's airport has now been repaired and supplies of food, water and medicine are arriving in a steady flow.
Shops opened on Monday for the first time since the disaster, and fishermen are selling their catch in the town's market.
But Red Cross spokeswoman Susie Chippendale, in Gizo, said tools were needed so that people could rebuild their homes and clear gardens to grow food again.
She told the BBC that more tents and mosquito nets were also needed.
"People are sleeping out in the open so they're very vulnerable to malaria," she said.
"There are about 2,000 [homeless people] on Gizo island and most of those have lost their homes totally."

Others are too afraid to return to their homes because of fears of another tsunami.
Regular aftershocks have added to people's fears.
"You can see people coming back down from the hills during the daytime and washing their clothes perhaps or peeking through their belongings and trying to retrieve some things," she said.
"But they won't stay there, they won't sleep there and they won't come back to their homes and some of them will tell you that they never want to."
Medical clinics have been set up and health experts from Unicef have arrived to take measures to try to prevent outbreaks of diseases such as malaria and dysentery.
Gizo was only 45km (28 miles) from the epicentre of the 8.1 magnitude quake that caused the giant waves.
Many villages on outlying islands were badly damaged or entirely swept away by the tsunami.
A helicopter and Red Cross boats have been delivering aid supplies to remote communities.
Aid officials say the relief operation is going to plan and now they are looking forward to feeding and housing people in the coming months as people rebuild their lives.

by BBC News
Last Updated: Monday, 9 April 2007, 11:21 GMT 12:21 UK

Asia Way News

Thailand blocks YouTube for clip mocking king

Thailand's military-appointed government blocked access to video-sharing Web site YouTube on Wednesday after its owner, Google, declined to withdraw a video clip mocking the country's monarch.

Communications Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom told Reuters he ordered a block of the entire site from Thailand after the ministry's attempts to block the offending page last week failed.
"Since Google has rejected our repeated requests to withdraw the clip, we can't help blocking the entire site in Thailand," said Sitthichai, a telecommunications professor who said he had spent most of his academic life researching eavesdropping devices.
"When they decide to withdraw the clip, we will withdraw the ban," he said.
YouTube, which has dominated the user-generated online video market since it was founded in February last year, carried a 44-second clip ridiculing King Bhumibol Adulyadej, among the world's longest-reigning monarchs.
The clip, seen more than 16,000 times, was posted by someone using the screen name "paddidda," who has been rudely attacked by most of the 93 people posting comments about the video, according to the Web site.
Sitthichai said YouTube had told Thai officials it did not find the clip offensive and declined their request to remove it.

Officials at YouTube or Google, which paid $1.65 billion last year for the video-sharing site, were not immediately available for comment on the clip, a series of altered images of the king.
The most offensive was the juxtaposition of a pair of women's feet, the lowest part of the body to Thai Buddhists, above the king's head, the highest part of the body.
Criticizing or offending the royal family is a crime in Thailand, where anyone found guilty of lese-majeste--an insult against the ruler of a sovereign power--can be jailed for between 3 and 15 years.
Last week, a Swiss man was sentenced to 10 years in jail for defacing images of Thai royalty, a rare prison term for a foreigner.
Oliver Rudolf Jufer, 57, received 20 years for five acts of lese-majeste, but the judge reduced the term to take into account Jufer's guilty plea. He had faced a maximum of 75 years in jail.

By Reuters
Published: April 4, 2007, 4:56 AM PDT

What's New (AISA)

Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA) was given the First Position among the south Asian countries and 17th position in the world due to facilitating and encouraging investment in 2006.
The foreign direct investment and domestic investment recorded one billion USD investments in Afghanistan during last year. 25% of the total investment was the contribution of foreign enterprises and total private investment is expected to reach 1.5 billion in 2007
Currently obtaining investment license at AISA requires four working days, a procedure that used to take months.
The World Bank approved a US million grant to AISA on Feb 22, 2007 to improve the country’s investment climate and infrastructure facilities.
The Project aims to provide land services and facilities including electricity, water and telecommunications; and capacity building in AISA, and Ministry of Commerce and Industries.
The project will fund the construction of an industrial park in Hissar-e-Shahi near Jalalabad which will help stimulate the local economy, generate employment, and raise much needed tax revenues.