Lankan President orders probe into church attack

COLOMBO, Feb 20: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has ordered an inquiry into the attack on a church in north central province even as the authorities beefed up security at the protestant church and arrested three persons allegedly involved in the incident.

A machet-wielding mob attacked the church on Sunday in Nuwaratte, about 200 km north of here, when worshippers were attending a service. Several worshippers were injured in the attack that also caused damage to the building and furniture.

Kumaratunga has asked police to submit a full report on the attack and find out if any organised movement was behind the incident, state-owned ‘Daily News’ reported today.

Secretary to the President, Kususiri Balapatabendi, said three people have been arrested in this connection. "The President in particular and the Government in general are very perturbed by this attack," he said.

The head of the Christian Centre at Nuwarawatte, Pastor Allan Fraser, was quoted by the ‘Daily News’ as saying that individuals backed by ultra-nationalist Sihala Urumaya could be behind the attack.

The attack on the minority Christians came in the wake of threats received by the centre against preaching the gospel and was apparently related to resentment among the Buddhist community against campaigns for conversion in the area.

Fraser alleged that the police had initially refused to accept his complaint about a threat from the same group a day before the attack, but had intervened after death threats were reported to them. (PTI)

Chor Bizarre adjudged best north Indian restaurant in UK

LONDON, Feb 20: Chor Bizarre, situated at posh Mayfair area in London, has been chosen this year’s "best north Indian restaurant" from among the 8,500 British curry restaurants.

Pat Chapman, author of "2001 Good Curry Guide" and founder of "Curry Club", presented the certificate of the award to Mahendra Kaul, Chairman of Chor Bizarre, at a function held here yesterday.

Chapman said the 85-seat restaurant is unique, both for its decor as well as authentic Kashmiri food. "The food is expertly and accurately cooked, and extremely good, each dish with its own distinct masala."

Kaul said the credit for making the restaurant unique and a success goes to entrepreneur Rohit Khattar who manages it.

The restaurant offers many Kashmiri dishes including Gilauti Kabab (Lamb Kebab flavoured with saffron served with tomato and white radish salad and mint Yoghurt Chutney) and Marz Wangun Korma (lamb cooked with Kashmir chillies and cardamom with aniseed).

Of the 8,500 curry restaurants in Britain 3,000 are in south of England and 1,600 are in London, he said.

Karan Billimoria, Founder and Managing Director of Cobra Beer, described Chor Bizzare as one of the finest restaurants in the UK. (PTI)

Iraqi sanctions will stay says British Govt

LONDON, Feb 20: Sanctions against Iraq should remain in place despite widespread condemnation of US-British bombing raids on sites near Baghdad, a spokeswoman for Britain’s Foreign Ministry said today.

Leaders in the Arab world, Russia, France and Turkey have lined up to criticise the strikes against six air defence sites on Friday.

The attacks have prompted several MPs of Britain’s ruling Labour Party to express their misgivings at the effects of the trade blockade on the Iraqi people since it was put in place at the end of the Gulf war in 1991.

The Guardian newspaper reported today that Britain and the US were rethinking their sanctions policy towards Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s regime amid mounting hostility from the Arab world.

Meanwhile, the independent newspaper reported that British ministers had been bounced by the US into backing the strikes despite having signalled an easing of sanctions shortly beforehand.

The foreign office confirmed that Britain and the United States were reviewing the way sanctions operated.

But a spokeswoman insisted this was about increasing the impact on the Baghdad regime.

"We still believe that sanctions on iraq are the right way to go," she said. (AFP)

Intl panel of scientists declare climate
change already happening

WASHINGTON, Feb 20: Global warming is already seriously impacting ecosystems worldwide and will further widen the gap between industrialised nations and poor developing countries which are particularly vulnerable to extreme weather events, according to a new analysis released by an international panel of hundreds of scientists.

The nearly 700 scientists who contributed to the report, released yesterday in Geneva Switzerland and on the internet, said observational evidence indicates that regional changes in climate, particularly increases in temperature, are causing glaciers to shrink, permafrost to thaw, and wildlife behaviour to change.

Many species of mammals, invertebrates, reptiles, birds, amphibians and insects are already being affected, said the panel, known as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

"Taken together, the observed changes in these (physical and biological) systems are consistent in direction and coherent across diverse localities and/or regions," said a summary of the report released to Governments worldwide and the press.

"Thus, from the collective evidence, there is high confidence that recent regional changes in temperature have had discernible impacts on many physical and biological systems."

This report is the second in a serious of three documents by the IPCC that provide the first thorough assessment of climate data in five years.

The first report, issued last month, concluded that carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases (emitted when oil, gas and coal are burned) is causing the gradual rise of the earth’s air surface temperature.

The scientists predicted that the average surface air temperature of the planet will rise 1.4 to 5.8 degrees celsius by the year 2100 relative to 1990.

Average sea level, worldwide, is projected by models to rise 0.09 to 0.88 metres by 2100.

Yesterday’s report said that many natural ecosystems are vulnerable to these changes and some will be irreversibly damaged. Natural systems at risk include glaciers, coral reefs and atolls, mangroves, boreal and tropical forests, polar and alpine ecosystems, prairie wetlands and remnant native grasslands, it said.

Coral reefs in most regions could be wiped out within 30-50 years by warming oceans as temperatures reach levels which cause a deadly coral disease, known as coral bleaching, to thrive.

Three-quarters of the world’s largest mangrove forest, known as the Sundarbans, in India and Bangladesh, could be inundated by rises in sea-level.

Environmental groups have argued if this occurs it could drive the Bengal tiger, which lives in the region, into extinction.

"While some species may increase in abundance or range, climate change will increase existing risks of extinction of some more vulnerable species and loss of biodiversity," said the report summary.

Poor people in developing countries, particularly in the least developed countries such as Haiti, Bangladesh and Sierra Leone, are the most vulnerable to the likely increases in intensity of tropical cyclones, wind damages, heavy rain, and floods.

"The impacts of future changes in climate extremes are expected to fall disproportionately on the poor," it said.

The report predicted decreased water availability for populations in many water scarce regions, such as Southeast Asia.

An increase in the number of people exposed to vector-borne diseases, like malaria, and water-borne diseases, like cholera, especially in Africa, Asia and Latin America, was also predicted. Such diseases may expand their ranges in North America, said the summary.

The panel predicted that increased heavy precipitation due to climate change will cause a widespread increase in the risk of flooding for many human settlements, affecting tens of millions of people.

Coastal settlements in small island countries, Southeast Asia, and in the Gulf of Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, Egypt and along the east and southern African coasts will be hurt by flooding and coastal erosion, it said.

The scientific report also predicted that climate change will result in a reduction in crop yields in most tropical and sub-tropical regions. Grain yields in Africa will decrease, said the report, diminishing food security.

The scientists believe, said the report, that yields of important staple crops in many parts of Latin America could also decrease and that subsistence farming in some regions could be threatened.

"Even though increased carbon dioxide concentration can stimulate crop growth and yield, that benefit may not always overcome the adverse effects of excessive heat and drought," said the summary.

In North America some crops, especially in areas of Canada north of current food production locations, would benefit from modest warming accompanied by increasing carbon dioxide.

But the IPCC report warned that benefits for crops from additional carbon dioxide could decline at an increasing rate and "possibly become a net loss with further warming".

The IPCC predicted climate change in polar regions to be among the largest and most rapid of any region on earth, causing major physical, sociological, and economic impacts, especially in the Arctic, Antarctic Peninsula, and Southern Ocean.

"Some indigenous communities, in which traditional lifestyles are followed, have little capacity and few options for adaptation," said the report.

In Europe, half of alpine glaciers and large permafrost areas could disappear by the end of the 21st century, it added.

Environmental groups said both IPCC reports should finally put to rest the debate over whether global warming is real.

"Last month’s IPCC report on climate science identified the smoking gun," said Jennifer Morgan, Director of the World Wildlife Fund’s climate change campaign. "This week we’re seeing what’s in the firing line."

Environmental advocates are using the report to call on Governments, especially the United States which emits the most greenhouse gases per capita, to get serious about reducing their carbon dioxide emissions.

International negotiations to hammer out the final details of a global treaty that requires industrialised nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions collapsed in November.

Jan Pronk, Environment Minister of the Netherlands who chairs the talks, announced last week that the negotiations will resume for two weeks in June or July.

Originally scheduled for may, the talks were postponed at the request of the new administration of US President George W Bush. A Government spokesman said last month that the new administration needed more time to review the complexities of the treaty.

It is still uncertain how the Bush administration, with its close ties to the oil industry, will approach the international treaty, named the Kyoto Protocol

For the Japanese city where its outlines were drawn up in 1997. While more than 100 countries have signed the agreement, not one industrialised nation has ratified the treaty, which requires them to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 2012 to five percent below 1990 levels. (IPS)

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