theSun | MONDAY JULY 6 2009 9

news without borders

Aussie navy investigating

sex bet allegations
MELBOURNE: The Australian navy is investigat-
ing allegations that male sailors ran a betting
ring offering rewards for having sex with female
colleagues, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard
said yesterday.
Gillard confirmed reports that a navy inquiry
was underway into the alleged betting set-up
aboard the HMAS Success and expressed
concern it could deter women from joining the
military.
The sailors on the Success allegedly kept a
book called “The Ledger” in which dollar values
were placed on each woman’s head, Channel
Seven television reported.
Female officers and lesbians attracted higher
values and premiums were paid if sailors could
engage in sex in unusual locations such as the
top of a pool table, the report said.
It said the alleged betting ring was discovered
while HMAS Success was visiting Singapore in
May and the sailors involved were ordered back
to Australia and interviewed.
“We don’t want to see anything that pre-
cludes women from having a good career in
our armed forces if that’s what they choose
to do with their lives,” Gillard told Channel 10
television.
“Clearly these allegations need to be fully
investigated.”
The matter concerning sailors who were
returned to Australia from HMAS Success in May
2009 remains under investigation, so the verac-
ity of any allegations has yet to be confirmed,”
the defence department said in a statement to
Channel Seven.
“The individuals were removed from the ship
after an equity and diversity health check, which
led to an inquiry being initiated,” it said. – AFP

Spy chief unveiled

on Facebook
LONDON: The wife of the new head
of Britain’s spy agency has posted
pictures of her husband, family and
friends on internet networking site
Facebook, details which could com-
promise security, a newspaper said
yesterday.
Sir John Sawers (pix) is due to take
over as head of the Secret Intelligence
Service (SIS) in November. The SIS,
popularly known as MI6, is Britain’s
global intelligence-gathering organisa-
tion.
In what the Mail on Sunday called
an “extraordinary lapse”, the new
spy chief’s wife, Lady Shelley Sawers,
posted family pictures and exposed de-
tails of where the couple live and take
their holidays and who their friends
and relatives are.
The details could be viewed by any
of the many millions of Facebook us-
ers around the world, but were swiftly
removed once authorities were alerted
by the newspaper’s enquiries.
“There were fears that the hugely
embarrassing blunder could have
compromised the safety of Sir
John’s family and friends,”
the newspaper said.
Publishing the story
on its front page and
the pictures on a dou-
ble-page spread, the
Mail on Sunday said
the information “could
potentially be useful to
hostile foreign powers or
terrorists”.
It was the latest in a string of
security blunders, lapses and leaks by
British officials that have embarrassed
the government of embattled Prime
Minister Gordon Brown. – Reuters

EARTHREPORT
Week Ending July 3
Volcanic sunsets
SKYWATCHERS across the United States and
Northern Europe have been treated to unusually
vivid and colourful sunsets thanks to the eruption
of Sarychev Peak volcano on June 12 in Russia’s
Kuril Islands. The blast sent massive plumes of
sulfur dioxide and other debris soaring high into
the stratosphere. According to Spaceweather.
com, the combination has created white ripples
in the evening skies, along with hints of lavender.
Some meteorologists believe the airborne volcanic
debris is also having a marginal cooling influence
on the atmosphere of the Northern Hemisphere
this summer.
Monsoon relief
RECENT fears that a delayed southwest monsoon
across much of India would bring drought and
rising food prices were alleviated by drenching
rains that finally reached New Delhi and other
northern cities. The rainfall and cloud cover also
ended the annual pre-monsoon season of “heat
and dust,” with daytime temperatures dropping
from near 45.6°C to the more comfortable 70s.
The rainy season across India usually lasts from
June to September.
Tropical cyclone
TROPICAL Storm Nangka weakened to a tropical
depression prior to making landfall in China’s
Guangdong province, just east of Hongkong.
The disturbance landed near Huizhou City with
diminished winds of only 35 mph.
North Atlantic melt
DANISH researchers say that the extent of sea
ice between Greenland and Norway’s Svalbard
Arctic islands is the lowest in at least 800 years.
By examining tree ring and ice core samples, as
well as ship logs and harbour records, a team from
the Niels Bohr Institute pieced together a picture
of how much of the ice has existed since the year
1200. Writing in the journal Climate Dynamics,
lead author Aslak Grinsted says that the ice extent
is lower now than even during the 13th century,
which was an unusually warm period.
Earthquakes
SOUTHWEST China’s quake weary Sichuan
province was jolted by a string of moderate earth-
quakes, with the strongest damaging thousands
of buildings. Eight people were also injured when
the 5.6 magnitude quake struck near the city of
Mianzhu.
» About 50 Maori tribe members evacuated their
homes on New Zealand’s North Island due to the
danger of mudslides being unleashed by an ongo-
ing swarm of tremors near their village of Waihi.
» Earth movements were also felt in Taiwan,
Hawaii, central Chile, Iceland, southern Greece,
Crete, northwest Oklahoma and Cleburne, Texas.
Stoned wallabies
A GROUP of kangaroo-like marsupials has been
getting high in Australian poppy fields grown for
medicine, and then hopped around in an opium-
induced daze, according to a government official.
“We have a problem with wallabies entering
poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going
around in circles. Then they crash,” said Tasma-
nian Attorney-General Lara Giddings. – Universal
Press Syndicate