1 China industrial profits reverse falling trend
(Straits Times) Chinese industrial sector profits rose 2.6 per cent in April,
in their first annual rise since last September, National Bureau of Statistics
data showed, in a sign that the central bank's easing measures may finally be
filtering into the real economy.
Profits were still down 1.3 per cent for the year to
date, reflecting the extreme weakness of growth in the first quarter. With
China's credit and money supply data in April missing expectations on the one
hand, and some signs of a bottom in the real estate sector on the other,
analysts have been watching closely for any signs of a turnaround in the
industrial sector.
2 Hopelessly adrift in Europe, Asia (Mahir Ali in
Dawn) There are differences as well as similarities between the refugee crises
that have lately been brewing simultaneously in the unforgiving waters off
southern Europe and Southeast Asia.
The most obvious parallel is that in both cases they
relate largely to segments of humanity desperate enough to risk their lives in
a quest for safe havens. Other parallels are to be found in the motivations and
behaviour of the parties that demand top dollar for arranging the passage, as
well as the fact that some of those embarking on these high-risk journeys are
seeking to escape economic despair rather than existential threats.
In the Asian case, the latter dichotomy divides
Rohingyas, faced in Myanmar with a situation increasingly seen as verging on
genocide, from Bangladeshis seeking a better life in Malaysia. The authorities
in Myanmar, meanwhile, refuse to countenance any usage of the term ‘Rohingya’,
classifying the Muslim residents of Rakhine state as Bengalis and denying them
citizenship or civil rights.
With thousands of Rohingya (and Bangladeshi)
refugees adrift in the Andaman Sea, Myanmarese officials agreed some days ago
to participate in emergency talks in Thailand. Indonesia and Malaysia have
agreed to accept some of the asylum-seekers on a temporary basis, while the
Philippines has responded to the crisis with greater generosity and even the US
has offered resettlement on a small scale. But the prime minister of the
richest country in the region, Australia, has gone to the other extreme by
decreeing that no Rohingya will set foot on his nation’s soil.
Tackling the root causes of the various forms of
despair that trigger the mass-migration impulse can only be a long-term
objective, with few indications in most cases of what can be done. What are the
practical pathways to restoring peace in Syria, for example? Or rooting out entrenched
racism in Myanmar?
It is also vital to realise that regional conflicts,
the consequences of climate change and, more broadly, glaring economic
disparities in an increasingly unequal global order can only exacerbate the
tendency for substantial segments of humanity to seek refuge in other lands. Ultimately,
the world’s ability to cope may depend on its willingness to change the course
of history.
3 In 5 years, poachers kill half of Mozambique
elephants (Johannesburg Times) Poachers have killed nearly half of Mozambique's
elephants for their ivory in the past five years, the US-based Wildlife
Conservation Society said yesterday.
A survey showed a dramatic 48% decline in elephant
numbers from just over 20,000 to an estimated 10,300, the conservation society
said. Northern Mozambique, which includes the Niassa National Reserve, was the
hardest hit, accounting for 95% of elephant deaths, reducing the population from
about 15,400 to an estimated 6,100.
The figures can be explained by the arrival of
poachers from Tanzania, according to Alastair Nelson, director of the Wildlife
Conservation Society in Mozambique. Elephant tusks are prized in Asia, where
they are carved into ivory statuettes and jewellery. Across Africa, up to 30,000
elephants are estimated to be killed illegally each year to fuel the ivory
trade.
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