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In Asia, pollution SINGAPORE, Dec 23: Every two years, Indonesia loses about four million hectares of forest, an area roughly the size of Switzerland, to rapacious .....more Israeli
raid kills 5 in GAZA, Dec 23: Israeli troops and tanks swept into a Gaza strip refugee camp today, killing five Palestinians in a big raid just hours.....more RBA
offensive PANERY (INDO-BHUTAN BORDER), Dec 23: The royal Bhutan Army continued with its ‘operation all clear’ for the ninth day today concentrating.....more New
warning about WELLINGTON, Dec 23: New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff warned New Zealanders travelling to Indonesia over.....more |
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Indonesian police cite bomb attacks as most likely threat JAKARTA, Dec 23: Jakarta City Police will step up patrols at more than 600 locations around the city as they attempt to....more China
calls off BEIJING, Dec 23: China is to call off motorcycle escorts for visiting foreign dignitaries in the new year to help keep the....more Crocodile
kills Australian SYDNEY, Dec 23: A large saltwater crocodile dragged a young Australian man to his death in an outback river and then......more 20 people
rescued MANILA, Dec 23: Twenty people have been rescued from a ferry that sank off the western Philippines, but 54 others....more |
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In Asia, pollution spreads as economies boom SINGAPORE, Dec 23: Every two years, Indonesia loses about four million hectares of forest, an area roughly the size of Switzerland, to rapacious logging. Skies in northern China glow orange in sandstorms that cross the Pacific and lay dust on the western United States. In Hong Kong, raw sewage bobs in its pearl-blue harbour. From inner Mongolia to the Indian subcontinent and tropical southeast Asia, says one senior United Nations Environmental Official, the region’s ecology and environment is deteriorating as its factories and economies boom. Although Governments are rolling out unprecedented initiatives to tackle Asian pollution — underscored by a meeting of southeast Asian Environment Ministers in mid-December in Myanmar — the policies are often badly enforced, the official adds. "Things could get worse before they get better," Ravi Sawhney, Director of the Environment and Sustainable Development division of the United Nations economic and social commission for the Asia-Pacific, or unescap, told in an interview. Sawhney is studying Asia’s environment for the UN "state of the environment report" released every five years. Although the next report is not due until 2005, Sawhney said indications point to a broad-based worsening in environmental conditions. "There are policy initiatives that have been taken and laws enacted and so on. But the problem is the actual implementation," he said. As if to highlight what he says, landslips and mudslides as recently as November and mid-December in corners of Indonesia and the Philippines plagued by illegal logging swept away or buried alive whole families. Six of the world’s 15 most polluted cities are in Asia, and the region generates a third of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. In Asia’s developing regions, around 785 million people lack regular access to safe water, UN statistics show. But there are pockets of improvement. The air quality in notoriously polluted Bangkok, Dhaka, New Delhi and several Chinese cities is healthier after most of Asia, except for Indonesia, phased out lead from gasoline, said Cornie Huizenga of the Asian development bank’s clean air initiative. Bangladesh, which is spending 30 million over two years to bring natural gas to 100 petrol stations, is replacing high-polluting two-stroke engines in its rickshaw taxis in the capital Dhaka with cleaner-burning natural gas power. "It’s an unequal picture. There are cities where the situation is getting better," said Huizenga, adding that a growing number of cities have put up air monitoring systems. Thailand’s "tuk tuk" taxis now run on liquefied petroleum gas, while buses and taxis in New Delhi and Bombay are phasing out diesel and running instead on compressed natural gas. "this is very much the story of the future," he added. Huizenga and other environmental experts helped the association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) draw up an anti-pollution plan as rising wealth brings demands for better urban conditions after decades of squalor in some countries. Southeast Asian Environment Ministers meeting in Myanmar approved a non-binding "framework" which calls on ASEAN to develop stronger urban anti-polluting strategies beginning with a series of workshops next year. "Due to rapid growth, you’re getting overlapping problems —water, air, land — on top of each other, making a very complex situation," said Peter Marcotullio, a researcher in the institute of advanced studies at the United Nations university in Tokyo. "So part of what is being done here is to tease out some of these problems so that city managers can deal with them one at a time, as opposed to what seems to be happening is that they are all coming at them at the same time." (AGENCIES) |
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Israeli raid kills 5 in Gaza surge of violence GAZA, Dec 23: Israeli troops and tanks swept into a Gaza strip refugee camp today, killing five Palestinians in a big raid just hours after a militant ambush cost Israel its first two dead soldiers in a month of relative calm. The most violent upsurge for weeks emphasised the obstacles facing renewed efforts to revive negotiations a day after an Egyptian Minister trying to promote talks was accosted by Palestinian radicals at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque. Palestinians said about 20 Israeli tanks rumbled into a refugee camp in Rafah overnight, drawing fire from militants. Israeli soldiers killed a 50-year-old man and two gunmen in the camp, Palestinian medics said. An Islamic Jihad militant died of Shrapnel wounds. A Palestinian policeman was shot and killed inside the border terminal, which the army then sealed off. The army said today’s raid was not in response to the ambush in central Gaza late yesterday in which two officers were killed — the first Israelis killed in a month. At least 25 Palestinians have died in violence over the same period. An army spokesman said soldiers entered Rafah "as part of a continuous fight" to destroy tunnels for smuggling arms from Egypt. The last such operation in October lasted more than a week. Two militant factions claimed responsibility for killing the Israeli officers — the Al-Aqsa martyrs brigades linked to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction and Islamic Jihad, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction. Mourning two dead in the rafa raid, al-aqsa vowed to intensify resistance and strike back inside Israel itself. The Jewish state has demanded a Palestinian crackdown on militant groups as a commitment to the so-called "road map" for a Palestinian state by 2005. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Jonathan peled said the ambush in Gaza showed Palestinians were determined "to try and derail any kind of chance to move forward with the road map". Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has said that if the US-backed plan failed, Israel would take unilateral separation measures that would cost the Palestinians some of the land they want for a state in the occupied West Bank and Gaza. Palestinians say Israel must meet its own pledges by removing Jewish outposts and freezing settlement-building on occupied land, as well as halting work on a barrier through the West Bank that Israel says it needs to keep out suicide bombers. Egypt has been trying to bring Israelis and Palestinians together for talks and also broker a ceasefire by militant factions that could give the peace plan fresh impetus. Sharon signalled to Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher yesterday that Israel would welcome any truce by militants and "respond with quiet", going a step further to meet demands by the Palestinian factions for Israeli assurances. But Maher’s landmark visit, the first since the start of the Palestinian uprising in 2000 by such a senior Egyptian official, was marred by a crowd which jeered, jostled and threw shoes at him at Islam’s third-holiest shrine, where he had gone to pray. Hitting someone with a shoe is a big Arab insult. Maher, 68, was taken to hospital for checks after the incident, which left him short of breath. He later returned to Egypt. Israeli police arrested seven Palestinians in connection with the attack. Some Palestinians resent Egypt’s ties with Israel since a 1979 peace deal and Maher’s meeting with Sharon. Islamic group Hamas, at the forefront of a suicide-bombing campaign, dismissed Sharon’s signals that Israel could go along with a ceasefire and said the Rafah raid was proof. "Sharon knows only the language of massacres and blood," said Hamas leader Saeed Seyam. (AGENCIES) |
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RBA offensive enters ninth day PANERY (INDO-BHUTAN BORDER), Dec 23: The royal Bhutan Army continued with its ‘operation all clear’ for the ninth day today concentrating in combing the dense jungles of the eastern part of Bhutan for Indian militants, even as the rebels continued to surrender before the Indian authorities. The area, where the ULFA, NDFB and KLO are sheltering after the demolition of all the 30 camps, are being cordoned off before the ultras are hounded. Official sources told a visting PTI correspondent here that rather than indulging in firing the RBA was today engaged in cordoning off specific areas to track out the rebels who were trying to hide in the difficult terrain of the hilly kingdom. Sources in Bhutan said special care was being taken to evacuate the non-combatant women and children of the dislodged militant camps by providing shelter and food till they were identified for sending them to India. Meanwhile, a group of five rebels gave themselves up before the Army and the police near here and surrendered their arms. They were NDFB ‘sergeant major’ Sarbin Chandra BORO, ULFA ‘corporal’ Paban Hazarika, ‘sergeant’ Paban Das, ‘Lance Corporals’ Kalparam Das and Bidyaran Nath. They surrendered three AK-47 rifles, a universal machine gun and a wireless set before the Darrang police super and 5th mountain division G-o-C Maj Gen M S Rathore. The rebels holed up in Bhutan are unable to sneak into India as the Indo-Bhutan border has been sealed off by the Indian Army who are conducting intense patrolling along the frontiers to prevent any move by the ultras to escape the RBA operations. The RBA was reported to have seized a huge cache of arms, including 500 AK-47 rifles and ammunition and 700 weapons, including anti-aircraft guns from the ULFA, NDFB and KLO cadres. Though the exact number of casualties were neither given by the Bhutan authorities nor by the Indian Army, it was estimated that more than 160 militants have been killed so far in the Himalayan kingdom since December 15 last. "The operation is on and will continue till the last man (militant) leaves our territory," Bhutan’s Deputy Head of Mission in India Thinley Penjor told PTI today over phone from New Delhi. "The militants are a threat to our sovereignty. We had no choice but to flush them out by resorting to Army operations. Our intention is never to inconvenience anybody. We are only interested that all militants leave our country", Penjor said. (PTI) |
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New warning about terrorism in Jakarta WELLINGTON, Dec 23: New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff warned New Zealanders travelling to Indonesia over the Christmas and new year holiday season of a heightened risk of terrorist activity in Jakarta. He said recent information indicated that the risk would be "especially high" and the Indonesian Government had stepped up security. Goff said New Zealanders in Jakarta should be particularly cautious in shopping centres, places or worship, hotels and other places where westerners were likely to gather. New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has advised against all non-essential travel to Indonesia for some time. (DPA) |
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Indonesian police cite bomb attacks as most likely threat JAKARTA, Dec 23: Jakarta City Police will step up patrols at more than 600 locations around the city as they attempt to thwart possible terrorist strikes during the Christmas and new year holidays, a senior police official said today. Inspector General Makbul Padmanegara, Chief of the Jakarta city police, said authorities were especially focusing on bombing threats during Christmas eve and new year celebrations, the detik.Com online news service reported. Padmanegara said there are still terrorist suspects on the loose, including those involved in the J W Marriott bombing August 5 in Jakarta that killed 13 people, as well as other terror suspects connected with aceh separatist groups. Indonesian police have accused two Malaysian bomb specialists, Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohammad top, of masterminding the Marriott hotel blast. Both Azahari and Noordin were believed to be senior members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), Al-Qaeda-linked regional terror group, blamed to have also been behind last year’s bombings of two nightspots in bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign visitors. Jakarta police plan to deploy 12,000 personnel to guard the capital during this year’s holiday season. In general, police would be patrolling and manning posts outside churches, shopping centres and other strategic locations. (DPA) |
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China calls off motorcycle escorts for foreign VIPs BEIJING, Dec 23: China is to call off motorcycle escorts for visiting foreign dignitaries in the new year to help keep the capital’s roads clear, the official China daily newspaper said today. "China has nearly 40 state guests every year and the arrangement of motorcycle escorts disrupted the lives of ordinary people," the newspaper quoted a foreign ministry official as saying. The escorts were not a "security necessity", but a matter of protocol already abandoned by most other countries, he said. The newspaper also pointed out that Beijing, in the middle of an auto boom fuelled by its newly rich, has more than two million cars on the road. "And the number is increasing while traffic conditions deteriorate," it said. (AGENCIES) |
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Crocodile kills Australian man, stalks his friends SYDNEY, Dec 23: A large saltwater crocodile dragged a young Australian man to his death in an outback river and then stalked his two companions as they clung to a tree in the middle of the river for 22 hours, police said today. Brett Mann, 22, and his two friends had ridden their quad bikes 80 Km southwest of Darwin in the northern territory on Sunday when they stopped on the banks of the flooded finniss river to wash mud off their bodies and bikes. Mann was swept into the river by a strong current and as his two 19-year-old friends Swam after him, a four metre (13 feet) crocodile grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him underwater. "They had gone to the river to cool off," police sergeant garry casey told reporters in Darwin. "The river was in flood and a large tide was coming in and they probably did not take account of the tidal influence in that part of the river," Casey said. "They were trying to make it to safe ground when they saw the crocodile in the reeds." Casey said the crocodile returned a short time after attacking mann and began stalking the other two men who had climbed a tree in the middle of the swollen river. The pair was eventually plucked from the tree on Monday, 22 hours later, by a helicopter that had been searching for the trio after they were reported missing. Northern territory police told the Finniss river area where the attack took place was a notorious breeding ground for large saltwater crocodiles. Police began searching the river on Tuesday for Mann’s body and the killer crocodile. (AGENCIES) |
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20 people rescued from
Philippine ferry MANILA, Dec 23: Twenty people have been rescued from a ferry that sank off the western Philippines, but 54 others remained missing, the navy said today. The survivors were found by a passing vessel between Balabac island off Palawan province, 600 kilometres southwest of Manila, and Bangui island in Malaysia, the navy said. There were no immediate information on the condition or identity of the 20 survivors or additional details on their rescue. The 20 were among 74 people who were aboard the M/l Piary, which went missing Sunday after making a distress call to a coast guard detachment in brookes point in Palawan. The M/l Piary told the coast guard that its hull cracked after being battered by strong waves and it was taking in water. The vessel was carrying 68 passengers, including six children, and six crew members as well as 140 sacks of Copra, or dried coconut meat. It was on its way to brookes point from the southern island of Cagayan De Tawi-Tawi. (DPA) |
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UN raises alert for security personnel in New York NEW YORK, Dec 23: UN security personnel were placed on high alert Monday, a day after the United States raised its terrorism alert level from "elevated" to "high", its second-highest level. At the same time, the 5,000 employees at UN headquarters in New York were told yesterday vigilant. Deputy Secretary General Andrew Toh said in an e-mail sent to employees and ambassadors of the 191 UN member states that they should cooperate with UN security. New York is considered a top terrorist target and was hit in the September 11, 2001, attacks. The United Nations skyscraper there is located on the east river. (DPA) Roy horn out of hospital, Bacl at home after tiger mauling LAS VEGAS, Dec 23: Magician and animal trainer Roy horn, who was mauled and severely injured by a tiger while on stage nearly three months ago, was released from hospital and will spend Christmas at home in Las Vegas, his spokesman said. Dave Kirvin said yesterday that horn, 59, was released from the university of California Medical Center in Los Angeles and had returned to the glittery gambling and entertainment Mecca in the Nevada desert. Horn, half the show duo Siegfried and Roy, was bit in the neck October 3 by a white Bengal tiger and stage veteran named montecore during a show at the mirage hotel and Casino. The German-born entertainer planned to continue his rehabilitation at home under the direction of doctors in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, Kirvin said. The spokesman added that horn continued to make strides in his recovery, but at the request of his family, no further details about his condition were being released. A day after the Mauling, Kirvin had said doctors believed horn would make a full recovery. Horn underwent emergency surgery and initial treatment at a Las Vegas hospital before being transferred to the Los Angeles Medical Centre. The 30-year-old siegfried and roy show was cancelled immediately after the accident and continued to remain dark until further notice. Horn and his partner, Siegfried Fischbacher, are veteran performers famous for using tigers and other big cats in their stage act, one of the most successful in Las Vegas. Despite ticket prices of more than 100 dollars, they drew more than 700,000 fans annually. (DPA) Israel raids south Gaza, 2 Palestinians killed Gaza, Dec 23: Israeli soldiers backed by tanks launched a raid into the southern Gaza strip today and two Palestinians were killed in a fierce gun battle, Medics said. The raid occurred hours after two Israeli army officers were killed in an ambush in central Gaza, the first Israeli deaths in fighting in the occupied territories in a month. Palestinian witnesses said at least 40 tanks were at the entrance to a refugee camp in the Rafah area before dawn today and that several had entered the camp, drawing gunfire from militants. In the fighting, soldiers shot dead a 50-year-old man in the camp and critically wounded two gunmen, one of whom died later from his injuries, Palestinian medics said. An Israeli military source said the soldiers entered Rafah "as part of a continuous fight" to find and destroy a series of smuggling tunnels through which explosives were brought in from neighouring Egypt. The source said the soldiers were engaging gunmen in exchanges of fire, but had no comment on casualties. (AGENCIES) UN looking into peacekeeping mission for Burundi UNITED NATIONS, Dec 23: The Security Council gave Secretary-General Kofi Annan a green light to begin planning for an eventual UN peacekeeping mission in Burundi. A statement yesterday approved unanimously by the 15-nation council called on annan to "undertake, as soon as he deems it convenient, the appropriate preparatory work and assessment on how the United Nations might give the most efficient support to the full implementation" of a peace deal reached this year in the tiny central African nation. Annan has said he wants to study the situation in Burundi, a tea and coffee exporter with a population of 6 million people, before preparing recommendations for the council. After a decade of civil war that has killed 300,000 people, an African peacekeeping force of 2,656 troops was set up in Burundi in March to oversee a cease-fire, help reintegrate the former combatants into civilian life and lay the groundwork for social and economic reconstruction. While the army is still battling the Forces for the National Liberation (FNL) rebel group, which has refused to join the peace process, the country’s other rebel groups have recently joined the Government as part of a three-year transition to democracy brokered in 2000. (AGENCIES) |
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