. >> that was ryogi musha president of musha research. now let's get you a recap of the latest market figures. okay, that's going to do it in business for this hour. back to catherine. >> thanks very much, ai. >>> time to check on some of the stories we've gathered from broadcasters around asia now. we begin with this item sent by cctv china. hundreds of ships are stranded in china's longest canal because of problems with the drought in a peak irrigation season. on wednesday the depth of water in the beijing hongxia grand canal was 1.2 meters lower than the minute navigable level. fleets of ships waiting to navigate the canal extend for 22 kilometers with some ships held up for about a week. maritime authorities are limiting the entry of heavily laden ships at points upstream in an effort to ease the problem. >>> the thai government urged exporters to improve the quality of their vegetables to reassure european importers. the appeal comes after the european union threatened to ban thai products if contaminated items were found five times