welcome to "asia 7 days." a fire in shanghai and a building collapsed in new delhi left scores of people dead on november 15. in both cases there have been accusations of negligence. the shanghai fire broke out in a

central business district. the blaze gutted a 28-story apartment building that was being renovated. it was home to many elderly people. more than 80 fire engines were mobilized but the flames spread quickly. it took about six hours to put them out. the fierce heat prevented ladder trucks from getting close to the building, hampering efforts from people trapped inside. >> the fire killed 53 residents. 70 others were taken to hospital. >> the government was clearly

alarmed by the number of casualties. the public security minister and fire department officers were sent to the site. they launched an investigation the following morning. >> authorities suspect the inferno was started by sparks from a welding torch. the sparks spread to safety netting and throughout the building. investigators say unlicensed welders were working on the scaffolding when the fire broke out. eight construction workers have been detained.

>> on the same day, a four-story building collapsed in a residential area of india's capital city. more than 200 people lived in the new delhi building. local media say it was an old structure. heavy rains in the summer and river flooding could have weakened the foundations. at least 65 people died under the rubble and 80 others suffered injuries. >> one day after the incident police arrested the building

owner for allegedly failing to manage it properly. city authorities are having construction experts investigate. oppositions forces in myanmar appear ready to join hands with freed democracy leader ang san suu kyi. this was the scene one day after ang san suu kyi was freed from seven and a half years of house arrest. excited supporters at the headquarters of the national league for democracy. [ cheers and applause ] >> the message to the crowd was well received.

>> in a telephone interview with nhk, ang san suu kyi said she wanted to unite prodemocracy forces that parted ways before the elections earlier this month. >> they are just one of many parties. there are many parties in groups now and we will treat them all equally. >> the national democratic force broke away from the nld to take part in the election. it says it is now ready to cooperate with soo kyi's party which boycotted the vote. despite her years of detention, the nobel laureate continues to exert strong influence in myanmar. her release has unified prodemocracy forces. political parties affiliated with the military seem to have

won a landslide victory in the elections, the country's first in 20 years. western countries call the vote a sham. on tuesday, suu kyi went to the high court to ask them to repeal the government decision disbanning the nld. at the same time, she expressed her resolve to seek dialogue with the military government. >> it's a belief. it's a conviction that one has to find one's way forward through discussion, through trying to understand each other, through reconciliation. >> aung san suu kyi has emerged from confinement determined to pursue the democratic cause, but she also said she is not hostile toward those who kept her under house arrest. >> i think that is the case -- >> meanwhile a u.n. general

assembly committee on human rights issues adopted a resolution on myanmar. it calls on the military government to reduce all political prisoners and expresses concern about the restrictions placed on prodemocracy forces. the leaders of 28 nato countries agreed on a date for withdrawing combat troops from afghanistan. by the end of 2014, they say afghan forces will take control of security. a two-day nato summit was held this week in lisbon, joined by afghan president hamid har zie and bank e moon. isaf has 130,000 troops deployed in the country. the taliban is putting up strong

resistance. as of september the number of deaths among allied troops had already competed last year's figure, the worst on record. at the summit, nato leaders agreed that isaf will start transferring control in the first half of next year. combat missions are due to end by the end of 2014. >> thank you very much. as i stand before you today, we are moving in the direction of transition to afghan leadership and ownership. we are moving in the direction of conducting peace talks under afghan leadership, backed and understood and endorsed by the international community. >> the mounting death toll in the 9-year-old war is attracting criticism within nato countries. it is aimed at the growing

opposition, but with no sign of progress in the war, many are skeptical about the target for ending combat operations. despite the agreement to pull out front line troops it will continue to provide long-term assistance to afghanistan. >> but one thing must be very clear. nato is in this for the long term. we will not transition until our afghan partners are ready. we will stay after transition in a supporting role. iran says it has successfully tested anti-aircraft missiles. the announcement came during the annual war games. the iranian military said on saturday it has successfully intercepted hypothetical missiles. it said it used the sew yet anti-aircraft missile system.

the news came as the country conducted five days of nationwide military exercises. the drill involved an elite revolutionary guard. the subject was an enemy strike. russia cancelled sales of an advanced air defense system in line with the u.s. sanctions against iran's nuclear program. iran's latest missile test was meant to dmob strait its the ability defend nuclear facilities. israel hasn't ruled out attacking iran's nuclear facilities. hiv/aids, new drugs helped people with hiv lead normal lives. but the deadly disease continues to devastate millions of people around the globe, young and old. often discrimination adds to the suffering. today, we look at what's being done in this region to support those who carry the aids virus.

the latest u.n. report says 33 million people were living with hiv in the world as of 2008. 4.7 million of them in asia. aids used to be feared as an incurable, fatal disease. that threat has been substantially reduced thanks to national campaigns to prevent infections and the wider availability of hiv drugs. the number of new hiv infections is now running at 2.7 million a year, down about 30% from the peak level. but 10 million carriers around the world are still unable to receive necessary treatment. the united nation had set a target of providing hiv treatment to all patients by the end of this year, but there is no pros tepect of that happenin

>> for the majority of the countries severely affected by the aids epidemic, domestic investment alone will not be enough to meet all the needs. >> another problem has emerged. drugs used to treat hiv are reported to have had severe side effects in some patients. outbreaks of hives and liver problems are seen in more than 20% of people in thailand taking anti-hiv drugs. the battle against aids is far from over. there is an urgent need for advanced therapies and improvements to the medical care system. now here in our studio we have miho natori who helps with children infected by hiv in thailand. thailand has a worse infection rate in asia. can you tell us what can be done

to help hiv-infected children in that country? >> yes. we are running an orphan age in thailand in a small village near chang mai and we are taking care of 30 children who got the virus through mother-infant transmission and already lost their parents. >> are children getting enough treatment? >> yes. fortunately now our children have the proper medication, but in the first two years, we started in 1999. we couldn't give them the medicine yet, so we lost ten children by aids, but since 2002, since they can take the hiv medication, they can live normally, healthy, just the same as any other child can. >> that's wonderful.

but not all children are there fortunate, are they? >> there are some children in our village who some of them are taking the medication, but some of them are still afraid of discrimination or losing their friends. they don't even go to the tests so they cannot get proper medication. also, thailand takes care of the basic medication, but if the medication has to get stronger, the cost of medication is very high so some of them still cannot afford the medicine. >> you saw in the video there was a problem with side effects. how are children affected by the hiv drugs? >> once you started the medication, they have to take the medicine every 12 hours and

until their whole life through. so it is a huge amount of medicine to have to take. if they can't to take the medicine, the virus starts to develop resistance so it can happen that it gets stronger than your immune system. then we have to change the medicine to a stronger medicine and it happens every two years when you continue to drink it. and also forgetting to take the medicine is very, very bad. that happens so you have to take stronger medication. so we can't say in general it is like that, but some of them are showing very gradual, slow development physically. they have not such strong muscles like any other child. so they can't hold up playing

soccer for example. they get exhausted quickly or it happens sometimes that they cannot concentrate long enough, so have difficulties at school learning and sometimes they themselves get frustrated because they cannot really do what they want and sometimes get aggressive. so we have to have understanding for that. but that is a problem for the children. >> that's really, really painful. as you know, medical issues aren't the only difficult facing hiv carriers. discrimination is another major problem. thailand has more than 500,000 people infected by hiv. this public school is located in central thailand. it is one of the very few that accept children carrying the aids virus. of the roughly 1,000 pupils, 20% are hiv positive.

6-year-old anan is one such student. he arrived a week ago from a town 200 kilometers away. anan, whose parents both have aids was infected by hiv at birth. but he only became aware of it one month ago when he was tested for the first time. worried that he would transmit the virus to other children, his preschool asked him to leave. anan moved with his grandfather. his parents must stay where they are to receive aids treatment. >> thailand has around 20,000 hiv positives under the age of 14. most of them hide their

condition in fear of discrimination and being kicked out of school. the school began accepting children with hiv ten years ago as part of government policy, but the decision initially drew strong opposition. to counter the fear and prejudice, the school arranged training on hiv and aids issues for all teachers. it explains to students and their parents that hiv cannot be transmitted in ordinary classroom and play activities. these efforts have paid off.

without any kind of discrimination. on this day parents are participating in a rice-planting session. anan seems to be enjoying his first outdoor class with other children. his grandfather has high hopes for the future. he wants anan to graduate from school and become as independent as the rest of his classmates. >> that dream for anan's future is now looking more achievable, thanks to the support of his school. it's really nice to see children

being accepted by classmates. but that's not always the case. have you ever come across or witnessed any kind of discrimination yourself when taking care of hiv-infected children? >> yes. it was founded in 1999, so our children started to go to school in the year 2000. first, they went to the school in our village but at that time they were rejected soon after visiting the school. not by the school, but by the parents of their classmates not wanting our children going together to school with their children. so we had to look for another school. so that was a sad experience for them. but later we found a school who accepted us. the teachers all know about the situation and so they could go to school there.

>> why do you think prejudice is so deep rooted against these patients? >> maybe because at the very beginning of hiv/aids there were many anti-aids campaigns like really scary visuals which were effective because people started to protect themselves consciously. but maybe it left a very negative image in the minds of the people so that they are simply just afraid of the disease. >> how do you deal with this issue in your committee that you work in? >> for example, a few years ago a swiss company donated a small library in a corner of our property with lots of books and computers and a small gathering room. so the children of the village

were attracted by other books because books are still very expensive in thailand. so they came to visit and with them together maybe their parents were just curious what we are and what they are doing there. so they came with the children. so they started to play together to know each other, so they noticed they are not dangerous. it's okay to play with them. so that incident made us much closer to the people in the village. so now we are having sports days together, even with the school children. we were rejected at first. so, yes, it takes time, but gradually improving a little bit. >> you're right. it is a long haul. but some day these children will have to live on their own when they grow up.

how do you prepare them for that? >> yes. for example, two of our children are staying at a host family. the family knows about the situation and accepts them. the children, they seem to have big fun there. and another -- a boy who wants to be a mechanic, he's attending the technical school and he's helping out at a small motor bike repairing shop. they are trying to support them in what they want to do in the future. it's not always easy to find support everywhere, but we are hoping for the best. >> what do you think must be done to eliminate prejudice and discrimination? >> i think it is very important to share the right knowledge about hiv/aids, especially for people working in the field of

education, training and future working places that they understand the problem and that they accept our children in the future to really integrate them into society, to integrate them in our own lives. >> thank you so much for sharing with us. good luck with your work. >> thank you very much. >> in the capital bangkok, anti-government protesters took to the streets again. this time to commemorate those in a crackdown by the military six months ago. that story tops this week's flash news. thousands of demonstrators reassembled in the business district. it is the same area the so-called red shirts occupied during the spring calling for the resignation of the prime minister. the purpose this time was to mourn for the victims.

>> clashes between demonstrators and security forces started in march. by the time they ended in may, 91 people were dead and nearly 2,000 wounded. the capital has been under a state of emergency ever since. about 1,000 security personnel took order but no trouble was reported. north korea is reportedly building a light water reactor. satellite images were released on thursday showing the new development at the site. the photos show at least two cranes indicating new construction work. the cranes were not seen in late september. the united states has expressed

concern that north korea is defying the agreement to halt its nuclear development. >> north korea is not pursuing civilian nuclear program. it is a prolive ray tor. it has a military program that poses a danger to the region. >> currently, china's conventional missile capabilities alone may be sufficient to temporarily knock out five of the six u.s. air bases in asia. >> a panel expressed concern over china's growing military expansion. its annual report released on wednesday says china has substantially upgraded its missile capability. it says rockets can now reach key u.s. air force bases in japan and south korea. the report urges the u.s. military to reinforce its capacity to with stand a chinese air and missile assault. it says this will require

deploying a missile defense system in cooperation with the two allies. a land mine left over from cambodia's civil war exploded on tuesday killing 14 people including a small baby. the device was set off by a tractor driving near a village. it was the largest number killed by a single mine in ten years. as many as 6 million mines are still said to be buried around the country. the prime minister says it will take several more years to rid the country of all the explosives. that's all we have time for this week. we sign off on a seasonal note. something to help break the ice for christmas. santa claus has arrived in south korea and he is not alone. rudolph the waddling reindeer? the show was put on by an amusement park.

a prechristmas treat for local children. shorter than the traditional santa, it's true, but they probably have no trouble sliding down a chimney. thank you for watching. i'll see you next week.