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news without borders
EARTHREPORT
Week Ending May 1
Kamchatka eruption
FAR East Russia’s Shiveluch volcano spewed ash high above
the Kamchatka peninsula in the latest of a series of ongoing
eruptions. Shiveluch is one of the region’s largest and most
active volcanoes.
Indonesian cyclone
FAR eastern Indonesia’s Aru Islands were drenched by bands of
heavy rainfall spinning around the centre of tiny Cyclone Kirrily.
Such storms are rare in that part of the region, but often affect
Australian waters to the south. Kirrily spun out not far from
where it had formed.
Dirty warming
A NEW study by a team of scientists from four countries has
found evidence that previously unconsidered kinds of pollution
are causing a large portion of Arctic warming. A report by the
Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme cautions that
factors like soot, ozone and methane may now be contributing to
the warming of the Arctic and other parts of the world as much as
carbon dioxide. The amount of black carbon in the atmosphere,
due to burning, forest fires and inefficient diesel engines, is creat-
ing a haze that absorbs sunlight, warms and falls on snow. The
darkening of the frozen surface then causes more sunlight to be
absorbed.
Dust season
A MASSIVE cloud of choking yellow sand and dust cast a pall
across parts of north and northwest China, reducing visibility
to less than 330 feet and snarling traffic. Residents in the areas
blanketed by the dust were told to stay indoors as much as
possible and to use face masks when venturing outside. Gansu,
Ningxia, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia provinces were the worst
affected, according to the China Meteorological Administration.
Such sandstorms often blow eastward from China’s arid region
at this time of year, eventually swirling over Japan, South Korea
and occasionally as far away as North America.
Earthquakes
A 5.8 magnitude quake centred near Acapulco sent panicked
residents rushing into the streets as far away as Mexico City.
The strong shaking struck as the country was also becoming
alarmed by the mounting number of deaths associated with a
spreading influenza epidemic.
• Earth movements were also felt in El Salvador, southern Ohio,
Newfoundland, western England, Romania, the eastern Afghan-
Pakistan border region and Hokkaido Island. – Universal Press
Syndicate
Thai activist blames soldiers for attempt on his life
BANGKOK: The founder of a royalist move- personal aide were also wounded.
ment that helped topple former Thailand Bullet casings with Royal Thai Army
premier Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday engravings were found at the scene.
he believed soldiers were to blame for an Sondhi, who founded the “Yellow Shirts”
assassination attempt on his life last month. anti-Thaksin People’s Alliance for Democ-
Speaking for the first time in public since racy (PAD), said he viewed the attack as a
the April 17 attack, Sondhi Limthongkul, political threat, but refused to reveal those
who led a blockade of the kingdom’s main he believed had organised the hit.
airports last year, said “a few bad apples” He is hated by Thaksin’s rival “Red
in the army were responsible. Shirts” and has enemies among Thailand’s
“They are not professional gunmen, business community but pointed the finger
they are a sniper team,” Sondhi told a of blame elsewhere.
press conference, giving his explanation “It was done by powerful figures, who-
of how gunmen wielding AK-47 and M-16 ever the factions are,” Sondhi said.
automatic weapons had shot 100 rounds “It was purely politically motivated,
at his car but he had survived. not related to business,” he added before
“It was done by a few soldiers, not a announcing he would soon take a long
whole army,” he said. vacation abroad.
The media tycoon received 43 stitches In previous interviews, Sondhi said a
to a head wound caused by bullet shrapnel “certain lady close to the palace was one
in the dawn attack, while his driver and party among many who ‘chipped in’ to have
Pakistan retakes key road
in anti-Taliban offensive
PESHAWAR: Pakistani security
forces on Saturday seized control
of a key road in northwestern
Buner district as troops and heli-
copter gunships shelled militant
hideouts, the military said.
The military launched a major
ground and air assault in Buner
five days ago under US pressure
after Taliban militants from
restive Swat valley infiltrated
adjoining areas and advanced
to within 100km of the capital
Islamabad. The military offen-
sive has displaced thousands of
people, officials said.
“Security forces conducted a
successful operation on Ambela-Dagar axis
and were able to establish link with troops in
Dagar town,” a military statement said.
“They are now removing improvised
explosive devices” and the road will be soon
open for public, it said. Dagar is Buner’s main
town which the military said was secured on
Wednesday.
“Security forces are conducting a mopping
up operation and the area will be clear of
militants very soon,” it said.
The fresh fighting came as the White
House said US President Barack Obama
would host a summit with his Afghan and
Pakistani counterparts on Wednesday amid
growing US concern over the deteriorating
situation in the region.
A senior military official earlier said
helicopters and artillery continued to pound
Taliban hideouts in the towns of Ambela, Pir
Baba and Sultanwas which were considered
militant strongholds.
“We have besieged a Taliban compound
in Ambela where militants had been holding
a meeting,” said the official, who requested
Sri Lanka rebels ask British, French for help
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s cornered Tamil Tiger
fighters appealed to Britain and France yes-
terday to broker a truce to halt a government
military offensive that threatens to wipe out
the rebels.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
said in a letter to the British and French foreign
ministers, who visited Sri Lanka last week, that
they wanted a ceasefire to end decades of
conflict.
“We are ready to engage in the process to
bring about a ceasefire and enter into negotia-
tions for an enduring resolution to the conflict,”
the Tigers said in the letter, which was e-mailed
to news organisations.
The rebels offered a truce last Sunday, but
theSun | MONDAY MAY 4 2009
him killed”, the Bangkok Post reported.
But on Saturday Thanpuying Viriya Cha-
vakul, a lady-in-wating to Queen Sirikit, told
INN television that she had no knowledge of
a plot to kill Sondhi on April 17.
“The thought of having Mr Sondhi killed
never crossed my mind,” said Viriya, who
admitted to having ties to the military top
brass through her charity work.
The PAD led protests that preceded
Thaksin’s ouster in a coup in 2006.
They returned last year to push out
Thaksin’s allies from power and seized
Bangkok’s two airports for nine days late
November before a controversial court rul-
ing forced the pro-Thaksin administration
from power.
The Red Shirts responded with their own
protest campaign demanding that current
premier, Abhisit Vejjajiva, resign and call
fresh elections. – Agencies
Pakistani
army tanks
patrol Buner
district where
troops recently
launched an
offensive against
militants.
REUTERSPIX
anonymity. “Our information is that militants
are now fleeing Buner,” the official said.
Army spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas
on Friday said some 400 “well-equipped and
organised” Taliban had been putting up “stiff
resistance” in Buner.
The operation in Buner followed a similar
action launched a week ago in nearby Lower
Dir district after militants in the Taliban-held
Swat valley pushed further south towards
Islamabad, which is central to Washington’s
strategy for stopping the insurgency in neigh-
bouring Afghanistan.
Pakistan ceded control of Swat valley in
February, signing a deal to allow religious
hardliners to enforce Islamic law in the region
in order to end a bloody two-year rebellion
led by a radical cleric.
But instead of disarming as required
under the deal, the Taliban pushed further
south towards Islamabad, prompting the
army offensive. The military says around 200
militants have been killed in the Lower Dir
and Buner assaults. It put its own toll at about
a dozen soldiers dead. – AFP
the Sri Lankan government promptly rejected it
and vowed to fight on until the separatist gueril-
las were completely defeated.
Britain’s Foreign Minister David Miliband and
his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner left Sri
Lanka on Thursday after urging the government
to stop the fighting and allow humanitarian ac-
cess to the conflict zone.
A special envoy sent by Japan, which is Sri
Lanka’s main foreign aid donor, wrapped up a
three-day visit on Saturday by calling for civilians
caught up in the violence to be protected.
Yasushi Akashi asked the remaining Tigers,
who are holed up on the island’s northeast
coast, to allow tens of thousands of trapped
civilians out of the conflict area. – AFP