Ashden award for Bhogle

As international concern continues to mount over the conservation and renewal of energy sources, an Indian entrepreneur has won a prestigious international award for promoting the use of sustainable energy in local communities. Svati Bhogle was named 2008 Energy Champion by the London-based Ashden Awards, which also gave her a 40,000 pounds prize for the work done by her company, TIDE (Technology Informatics Design Endeavour), in developing energy efficient woodstoves for use in southern India.

'Many of South India's small businesses rely on wood as their main source of fuel which causes pollution and deforestation not to mention uncomfortable and dangerous working conditions when boilers and stoves are badly designed,' commented an Ashden spokesperson.

'Building on the excellent track record of stove design at the renowned Indian Institute of Science, TIDE commercialises their designs to provide efficient tailor-made woodstoves and kilns which saves at least 30 per cent of fuel. To date 110,000 workers enjoy better conditions thanks to the 10,000 products they have supplied, saving around 43,000 tonnes of wood each year. TIDE is developing a range of stoves for largescale cooking, and working with larger production centres in order to bring the stoves to more customers.'

In accepting her prize from 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate Dr Wangari Maathai, Bhogle said, 'There is a serious energy crisis in rural India, but access to energy and its efficient use, accompanied by well-conceived and well-implemented enabling mechanisms, has the potential to transform rural areas.'

Bangladesh's Grameen Shakti rural development bank was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award for spreading solar energy by installing 160,000 solar home systems and more to come in the future.

Six other award winners who were each awarded 20,000 pounds for what are described as the 'green energy Oscars' include a rural cooperative from Brazil, the Co-opertiva Regional de Electrificacao Rural do Alto Uruguai Ltda (CRERAL), which invested in two small hydro-electric plants to supply the needs of local customers, instead of purchasing electricity from large hydro and fossil fuelled plants from elsewhere.

China's Renewable Energy Development Project (REDP) has brought affordable, high quality solar lighting to rural China, including to yak and other herding communities in western China that previously relied on kerosene, butter lamps and candles for light.

The Gaia Association of Ethiopia, which works with refugees from neighbouring Somalia, has provided ethanol-fuelled stoves to 1,780 refugee families, enabling clean, comfortable cooking and preventing wood use.
The Aryavart Gramin Bank in India's state of Uttar Pradesh is supporting a bulk supply and installation agreement with local companies to set up solar home systems, as well as loans for customers with good credit records to purchase the systems.

In Tanzania the Kisangani Smith group run by volunteers has developed two types of stoves to replace the use of charcoal in towns. One stove burns sawdust or agricultural residue, the other is a wood burner targeted at rural areas.

In Uganda the local Fruits of the Nile company is helping small farmers harness the power of the sun to dry and export fruit that is surplus to local demand. Simple solar driers help to prepare and dry some 120 tonnes per year of high quality banana and pineapple from a factory in Njeru.

Sources in Rangoon say the change was made to allow him to concentrate on relief and resettlement efforts in the wake of cyclone Nargis, which hit Myanmar in May. Maung Maung Swe has been responsible for coordinating with UN officials and diplomats in cyclone relief work.

Saw Lwin will take over as Minister of Immigration and Population, leaving his previous post as minister for industry. Soe Thein, the navy's commander in chief, has been named the new Minister for Industry.

Following the last major reshuffle in Myanmar in 2003, the United States called on Myanmar's political leadership to take serious steps to ease an 'intolerable' political showdown with Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's democratic opposition.

'We have noted the changes in the ruling junta,' said the then State Department deputy spokesman Philip Reeker. 'The international community has made quite clear that we want to see a change in direction in Rangoon, including the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all other political prisoners.'
The U.S. call was simply ignored. Then as now Senior General Than Shwe remains the most powerful figure in Myanmar as Chairman of the junta and military Commander-in-Chief. All attempts at serious political reform continue to be resisted.

support of Thailand's King.

Thaksin's prosecution on criminal charges and the seizure of his assets were part and parcel of the political canvas that evolved after the September 2006 military coup that led to his removal from power and subsequent escape into exile.

Military rule ended earlier this year when Thaksin and his allies were swept into power with a more than comfortable parliamentary majority. The subsequent unrest playing out on the streets of Bangkok has been generated by concerns about how the government intends to amend the constitution and, if the opposition is to be believed, lift sanctions previously imposed on Thaksin and his political allies.

It does not help Prime Minister Samak's case that his government is seen as weak and more motivated by the desire to stay in power rather than by the hope of implementing some grand political design backed up by a vision of the future.

But the immediate cause for political discontent is the opposition's allegation that a leading government politician has shown disrespect for the country's revered monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej. It was just such charges that led to the September 2006 coup and the ouster of then prime minister Shinawatra.

Whether the military might once again intervene is being widely discussed in Bangkok, although the consensus in the Thai capital is that such a drastic move is unlikely for the time being. For one thing the opposition does not enjoy the same support it had back in 2006, including the backing of high ranking members of the military and aristocracy.

For another, the king himself seems to have extended a lifeline to his 73-year-old prime minister by telling him in a televised audition, 'I expect you will do what you have promised and when you can do that, you will be satisfied.' The king went on to say, 'With that satisfaction, the country will survive. I ask you to do good in everything, both in government work and other work, so that our country can carry on and people will be pleased.'

The Second Sino-Japanese War between 1937 and 1945 has been described as the largest Asian war of the 20th century and was launched by Japan in a bid to consolidate and exploit China's vast mineral reserves and other resources.

Chinese bitterness over what the Japanese forces did, including widespread rape, looting, torture and enslavement of Chinese civilians, strained relations long after the war ended in Japan's defeat.

For years afterwards the notion of a Japanese warship entering Chinese waters would have been unthinkable, but more relaxed bilateral ties have been evident since 2006. Last November China's naval missile destroyer Shenzhen visited Tokyo and the subsequent trip to China by the Japanese navy destroyer Sazanami is the return half of the same package.

More military exchanges are anticipated in the future, although when an earthquake hit the Chinese province of Sichuan in May, Beijing turned down a proposal from Tokyo to use Japanese air force aircraft to fly in humanitarian supplies.

Although bilateral ties are now better than they have been in living memory, Beijing and Tokyo still have major differences over such key issues as political and economic jurisdiction over the East China Sea. Both countries have overlapping excusive economic zones (EEZs) in the area with China investing heavily in tapping the natural gas that lies beneath the surface.

As tensions escalated earlier this year, the two governments agreed to turn the East China Sea into a zone of peace and friendship. How the agreement will be implemented and whether it can be used to maintain bilateral ties on an even keel remains to be seen

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