A stumbling block to peace. And who controls the mekong river we look at how rampant is threatening to leave downstream communities. Welcome to news asia its good to have you with us schools in japan have shut down to contain the spread of the corona virus its a precautionary measure announced by Prime Minister shinzo last week the decision affects some 12800000 students across nearly 35000 schools around the country the schools are meant to remain shut until spring holidays that begin in late march japan has so far reported a little more than 200 cases of 19 the disease caused by the new strain of virus. Schools out for millions of japanese children but while the youngsters get an extended holiday many parents are faced with a logistical nightmare they need to make alternative childcare arrangements while the schools are shut the out of the question i think Companies Need to be flexible in dealing with the situation. Were not even at the hospital more now but i really didnt think that the virus would in fact so many people get that. Its going to close the schools. But a lot of parents work today i think they have to take some time off the not done for sorry for them i think they feel their Prime Minister shinzo said that drastic measure was necessary after a meeting with the countrys perona virus taskforce on thursday you know there are many efforts being made to stop the spread of infection among children in various regions and the next one or 2 weeks are crucial. The announcement took local government and Health Officials by surprise theyve been scrambling to come up with guidelines to implement the closures and some politicians have warned that the risks posed by shutting schools also need to be considered the mayor of chiba tashi he took a mag i said it was about parents and occupations that support society how will they manage society could collapse. But with opinion polls showing public dissatisfaction with handling of the corona Virus Outbreak is appears the Prime Minister is betting on School Closures as an effective strategy to bring new infections under control. For more joining me from journalist michael pan michael thanks for being with us the 1st day of the school. Hours have been. Its been a little chaotic. Lots of companies and lots of their children are are scrambling to to try to deal with a situation that was unforeseen until just a couple of days ago obviously you know for the kids you know they may or may not be happy to be out of school but the parents who are many of them who depended on their kids being at school so that they could go to work many of them are in considerable trouble because they have to take time off from work or to figure out how to do teleworking and this is not just you know one or 2 people in the office its essentially everybody who has kids so and all at the same time so its been a major adjustment and you know theyre still going to need time to figure out how its going to work has it basically just been left to the parents and the other relatives off the children divine see get out the shutdown is the government assisting in any way. Essentially Prime Minister abbay just requested that all of the schools close down and not every school not every prefecture actually obeyed his request there is for example she manet prefecture in western japan which completely ignored the Prime Ministers requests but there are other schools as well but yes essentially its been left to all the various School Boards and all the various local governments and all the various companies and all the various individual parents to figure out how to adapt to this to this issue that the government did not do any particular preparation and the decision was made even without the input of the Education Ministry so yeah everybody was kept flat footed and theyre just trying to figure out figure out as they go along and that has been a fair bit of criticism has in the michael about the governments decision especially considering that this is a government and a Prime Minister that is facing 5 this isnt over the response to the current of out as an outbreak was this a political move. In fact the Prime Minister himself has pretty much admitted that in parliamentary debate today he was cornered by opposition parties who said who are trying to find out how he made this decision and the Prime Minister was forced to admit that in fact that he made the decision without consulting any experts and so it was basically Prime Minister aves own political decision to do this personal without even many of his own Staff Members on board with it and so you know the government was being criticised for being too lax in its handling of for example the the diamond princess issue and other parts of the infection and now they kind of swung from going from what might have been too lax to to possibly too harsh and the government is in particular crisis right now kind of political crisis which the abio distraction has not seen in its 7 years in power michael ben joining us from joe thank you very much for that. Thank you. Overdraw agreement signed over the weekend between the United States and the taliban pave the way for u. S. Troop withdrawal from the country the phased drawdown would mark the beginning of the end of nearly 20 years of American Military involvement in afghanistan but the deal also aimed to be the beginning of an interim Afghan Dialogue to restore peace to the country however with afghan president of granny or objecting to a proposed taliban prisoner swap and the taliban digging its heels in the stability of the deal is already being put to the test. Taliban fighters no more such weapon handovers are nothing new in afghanistan but theres a buzz in the air this week that afghans may finally see the day when the talk is no longer guns and bombs but of peace. After the peace deal with the u. S. Afghans should make peace too but that possibility has already hit its 1st snag prisoners the u. S. Taliban deal calls on the Afghan Government to exchange 5000. 00 captives for 1000. 00 held by the taliban its seen as a precondition for enter afghan talks meant to begin an ass though next week but the afghan president has a different view. Now where there is no commitment to release 5000. 00 prisoners easy it could be included in the agenda of the intra afghan talks but cannot be a prerequisite for to office. A sign of the bumpy road ahead despite what many see as a breakthrough in doha. Gunnies administration was not party to these negotiations. U. S. Hopes to end its longest war still hinge on the taliban and the Afghan Government agreeing to sit down for talks. But distrust dies hard couple harbors deep suspicions of the taliban and regional players like pakistan it sees as backers of the militant group. Political settlement we will be. Facilitators who would want to encourage the process to move forward. Many afghans welcome the possibility of peace but remain skeptical it will happen any time soon people still think and even i still think the. Same people who ruled this country in 1990 s. But i think that might have changed and if that has changed it will be a big relief. The relative quiet during the past week ceasefire could be a sign of whats to come. Or just another brief break from the. Nation still fractured. Head over to our website. For more background on the dimensions of the u. S. Prospects for peace in the country. Its one of the Worlds LargestRiver Systems and supports the livelihoods of some 60000000 people but in recent years the mighty mekong river has been facing do all threats from extreme climate and. The river for also 6 countries in Southeast Asia but dams and upstream countries particularly china and laws are talking the flow of water and nutrients downstream for countries like thailand which is already facing one of its worst droughts on record that is cause for concern. Catching fish in the mekong river isnt it used to be these waters were once plentiful with large fish but Falling Water levels here have caused the fish to reducing both size and number. This year is the worst the water is too low and i have to fish and fish again to catch anything. Thailand is currently in the midst of a severe drought which is not helping water levels here but the fishermen blame Something Else chinese dams like the one in xing hong restrict the water flow that can cause levels to drop by as much as 3 metres sometimes without warning. About it. For china the mekong river presents a valuable Economic Opportunity it wants to dredge the river bed in thailand and blast away rocks to make room for larger ships conservation groups are leading the campaign against the blasting. A bunch of people who want to blast the rapids might call them filthy rocks but we the villages see them as an important ecosystems that makes the river abundant. To more. Lives and livelihoods depend on this river but faced by an economic superpower local traditions and practices are under threat. To the fretboard like Climate Change of architects of designed one of asias largest farms after University Near the capital. With. More. Happiness years for every human penis is a very different from primate you know we have a totally ridiculous sized view nature. And this is Climate Change sex how to improve books you get smarter for free brooks. And jam and live. At any time any place using names. You have i dont like a bit of pop songs to sing along to you see has to come from super. For. Interactive exercises. Everything is online and interactive and german 5050 w. If youre an investor and held your brakes all weekend then it was for nothing european shares tumbling some asian stage a comeback with the financial shock of the coronavirus is far from over the o. E. C. D. Downgrades go into growth. From a suitable firms report drug shortages due to the spread of the virus some of the key ingredients are produced in china. And labor unions in africa warn over brain drain to europe as germany annexing new law to attract more skilled workers from abroad. I mean for one lets do business its no wonder that equities continue to fall today the organization for Economic Cooperation and development warns the coronavirus could be rail the Global Economy the group of industrialized countries wants growth could fall to just one and a half percent thats about huff the growth predicted before the outbreak this will hit all economies but the o. E. C. D. Warns japan and the euro zone a most at risk of sliding into recession Central Banks are scrambling the bank of england says its working to ensure all the necessary steps are taken to protect financial and monetary stability asian Central Banks say theyre also taking measures to stabilize their economies well lets bring in last