10
news without borders
EARTHREPORT
Week Ending Jan 23
Reflective cooling
GROWING more reflective crops
would help combat the predicted rise
in temperatures due to greenhouse
gasses this century, according to a
new study by British researchers.
Andy Ridgewell and colleagues at the
University of Bristol say that growing
crops already cools the planet be-
cause many cultivated plants reflect
more sunlight into space than natural
vegetation. Using a global climate
model, they found that by being more
selective in which crops to grow, and
genetically altering some to reflect
more light, summertime temperatures
could be kept down by 18°C across
much of the American Heartland and
the middle latitudes of Eurasia.
Thai chill
THE coldest wintertime conditions to
strike normally temperate Thailand in
10 years have killed some of the coun-
try’s wildlife and human population
unaccustomed to such a chill. Officials
say that at least two people have died
of exposure in the north of the tropical
country, where the mercury in some
neighbourhoods dipped to only 6.8°C.
The Bangkok Post reports that Lam-
pang’s Elephant Hospital was caring
for eight ailing pachyderms that fell ill
due to the cold temperatures. In the
southern province of Phattalung, wild
macaques migrated from the moun-
Geithner wins OK for US
Treasury, vows quick action
WASHINGTON: Timothy Geithner
won confirmation as US Treasury
secretary on Monday and vowed to
act quickly to protect the US economy
from the worst financial crisis since
the Great Depression. “We are at
a moment of maximum challenge
for our economy and our country,”
Geithner said as he was sworn into of-
fice shortly after the Senate approved
him on a 60-34 vote.
Faced with a full-blown crisis,
senators largely set aside misgivings
about Geithner’s failure to pay some
taxes earlier this decade in light of his
experience in battling the financial
storm as head of the New York Fed-
eral Reserve Bank.
Geithner will immediately start
work on a massive overhaul of the
US$700 billion (RM2.5 trillion) US
financial rescue programme and is
expected to propose new efforts to un-
clogged frozen credit markets within
the next two weeks.
“At this moment of challenge and
crisis, Tim’s work and the work of the
entire Treasury Department must be-
gin at once,” President Barack Obama
said as Geithner was sworn in. “We
cannot lose a single day because every
day the economic picture is darken-
ing, here and across the globe.”
Job cuts mount, Dubai port freezes growth
DUBAI/AMSTERDAM: Major European
employers including Philips and ING
announced thousands of job cuts on
Monday and Dubai container port opera-
tor DP World halted all development as
the downturn bit.
News that a giant US$68 billion
(RM244 billion) takeover of US based
Wyeth by world No. 1 drugmaker Pfizer
was close offered evidence that big
corporate deals can still be done.
And shares in British bank Barclays,
theSun
tains to around the geothermal pools
and geysers at Kao Chia Son to escape
the cold snap. Snake farmers in some
areas of Thailand say the reptiles have
begun to die from exposure.
Bats ravage crops
SWARMS of Australian fruit bats,
known as flying foxes, have caused
more than US$4 million (RM14.4
million) in damage to the country’s
Granite Belt crops so far this year,
according to agricultural officials.
Some growers say they haven’t seen
such large numbers of the flying foxes
for about 20 years. The Queensland
Farmers Federation says up to half of
the plums, peaches and nectarines
were destroyed by the pests, and the
region’s US$20 million (RM72 mil-
lion) apple crop was in jeopardy. The
group blasted the government for not
allowing farmers to shoot the bats, as
well as not compensating them for
damages. A ban on shooting the flying
mammals was imposed last Septem-
ber after an Animal Welfare Advisory
Committee declared the practice was
inhumane, since wounded bats were
often left to die a slow and painful
death.
Crawling invasion
THE West African nation of Liberia de-
clared a state of emergency as hordes
of army worms attacked crops in a
leading agricultural area. The infestation
has become so acute that some resi-
dents report the worm-like caterpillars
were consuming all vegetation in their
Geithner’s
wife Carole
watches as
he is sworn
in as US
treasury
secretary at
the Treasury
Department
in
Washington
on Monday.
The new administration, which is
already pushing Congress to approve
an US$825 billion (RM2.9 trillion) eco-
nomic stimulus package, may need
to go back to lawmakers to ask for
more funds to clean up the banking
system, possibly through the creation
of a government-run “bad bank” to
soak up distressed assets.
“I don’t want to prejudge what the
parameters might be or the decisions
that might ultimately be made,” White
House spokesman Robert Gibbs told
reporters. Some lawmakers were
hammered over the last two weeks,
leapt after it said its projected 2008
pretax profit of more than £5.3 billion
(RM26.3 billion) would include the im-
pact of £8 billion (RM 40 billion) in gross
writedowns.
But an International Monetary Fund
official warned at the weekend that
global growth was set to slow further.
DP World, one of the world’s largest
container ports and a key indicator of
growth in the Gulf, said on Monday it
| WEDNESDAY JANUARY 28 2009
path, even invading homes in search of
food. Agriculture Minister Christopher
Toe told reporters that the army worms
were also polluting fresh water sources
with their excrement in Bong County’s
Zota district, as well as just across the
border in neighbouring Guinea.
Tropical cyclones
MADAGASCAR was drenched on
two fronts as tropical cyclones Eric and
Fanele swirled into the island’s eastern
and western coasts respectively. Eric
struck first, with locally heavy rain and
storm-force winds that killed one person
and left 2,600 others homeless in the
Fenerive-Est region. Category 3 Cyclone
Fanele caused widespread flooding and
significant damage from its 208kmh
winds to parts of Toliara province, on
the island’s western coast.
Earthquakes
EARTH movements were felt in
Australia’s Northern Territory, New
Zealand’s Hawke’s Bay and around
Alaska’s Denali National Park.
Gastronomic extinction
SOME species of frogs could be on
their last legs because of a growing
demand for the amphibians by gour-
mets around the world, researchers
warn. “Frog legs are on the menu at
school cafeterias in Europe, market
stalls and dinner tables across Asia
and high-end restaurants throughout
the world,” said University of Adelaide
ecologist Corey Bradshaw. – Universal
Press Syndicate
REUTERSPIX
disturbed enough by Geithner’s late
payment of US$34,000 (RM120,000) in
self-employment taxes to vote against
the nominee even though they felt he
was well suited for the job otherwise.
Only 10 Republicans voted in support,
while three Democrats opposed him.
“I would rather have a battle hard-
ened veteran at the helm who knows
the shoals and whirlpools than a
neophyte who has to wade into these
churning waters for the first time,”
Republican Sen Orrin Hatch of Utah
said . – Reuters
was reviewing all expansion projects,
cutting costs and freezing recruitment
as growth slows in 2009.
“The management has initiated
broad measures to cut normal costs
like travel ... There is a general freeze
on recruitment and a close review of
replacements as far as headcounts are
concerned,” said Chief Financial Officer
Yuvraj Narayan. DP World 48 marine ter-
minals and 13 new port developments in
31 countries worldwide. – Reuters