10 
news without borders
EARTHREPORT
Week Ending Oct 9
Climate aggression
WILDLIFE in East Africa have been observed becoming more
violent and aggressive due to the effects of climate change,
according to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS). “Wildlife such as
elephants have become bolder, frequently raiding human settle-
ments in search of food and water, and baboons have been seen
killing lambs,” KWS scientist Judith Nyunja told Kenya’s Business
Daily. She added that hippopotami have been observed invading
farms, where they feed on fruit. Nyunja says competition for
diminishing resources is causing more human wildlife conflicts,
often resulting in the deaths of the animals. Climate change has
resulted in East Africa being parched by drought about every
two or three years compared to the previous long-term average
of around once per decade.
Cyclone disaster
THE UNITED NATIONS made an urgent appeal for US$75 million
(RM262 million) to help the Philippines recover from two dev-
astating tropical cyclones within as many weeks. Tropical Storm
Ketsana dumped a month’s worth of rainfall within just nine
hours, submerging parts of Manila and other cities. Nearly 300
people died in that inundation. Typhoon Parma then stalled over
northern parts of the country for several days.
• Former Category 5 Typhoon Melor killed two people and
injured dozens of others as it became the first such storm to
make a direct hit on Japan in more than two years.
• Tropical Storm Olaf drenched Mexico’s Baja peninsula.
• Subtropical Storm Grace formed in the North Atlantic.
• Tropical storm Henri spun up briefly north of the Windward
Island.
Indian flood disaster
SOME of southern India’s worst flooding in decades has left at
least 2.5 million people homeless across the states of Karnataka
and Andhra Pradesh. More than 300 others are reported to have
died in the flood disaster. Millions of acres of farmland, including
the region’s key sugarcane crop, have been submerged. Na-
tional and international relief agencies and organisations were
mobilised to combat the spread of disease, and to provide food,
clean water and medicine to the vast affected area. The flooding
is blamed on a disturbance that moved ashore from the Bay of
Bengal.
Caribbean plumes
MONTSERRAT’S Soufriere Hills volcano shot a plume of ash
more than 2 miles above the eastern Caribbean sky twice during
the mountain’s fist sign of activity in 10 months. The ash cloud
drifted out to sea over uninhabited parts of the island, including
the abandoned capital of Plymouth, which was destroyed in a
1996 eruption.
Earthquakes
A SERIES of three strong quakes within minutes around Van-
uatu sparked a brief tsunami alert across the Pacific. Only a
small rise in sea level was detected, and there were no reports
of damage or injuries.
• Earth movements were also felt in Mexico’s Pacific resort
of Puerto Vallarta, south-central Alaska, Taiwan, the southern
Philippines, the Samoa-Tonga aftershock zone and California’s
remote Owens Valley.
Hopping invasion
A HUGE invasion of rabbits around one southeastern Austral-
ian city threatens to destroy key infrastructure and wreck
the livelihood of area farmers. Residents of Aberdeen say the
furry marauders are burrowing beneath the foundations of their
homes, as well as damaging highways and rail lines. Crops and
flowerbeds are also not safe. “You don’t even bother trying to
grow anything anymore because the mongrels will just go for
it,” farmhand Ken Smith told the Daily Telegraph. – United Press
Syndicate
Commandos rescue
39 hostages, three killed
RAWALPINDI: Pakistani commandos
stormed an office building yesterday
and rescued 39 people taken hostage by
suspected Taliban militants after a brazen
attack on the army’s headquarters.
Saturday’s attack on the tightly
guarded army headquarters in the city
of Rawalpindi, next door to the capital,
Islamabad, came as the military prepared
an offensive against the militants in their
stronghold of South Waziristan on the
Afghan border.
The strike at the heart of the powerful
military called into question government
assertions the militants were virtually
crippled by recent setbacks. But a top
official said it only underlined the need
to finish them off.
The United States condemned the
attack and expressed confidence in the
security of its ally’s nuclear arsenal.
Three hostages, two commandos and
four of the gunmen were killed in the
pre-dawn rescue operation, said army
spokesman Maj-Gen Athar Abbas. One
wounded gunman was captured and Ab-
bas said he was the ringleader.
UK police arrest 48 as far right, opponents clash
MANCHESTER: Police arrested 48
men during skirmishes between a far-
right group and opponents in the city of
Manchester on Saturday. Supporters of
the English Defence League, a new group
which stages street protests against what
it terms “radical Islam”, clashed with
“Now there is no terrorist left there.
The operation is over,” Abbas told Reu-
ters.
Pakistani Taliban militants linked to Al
Qaeda have launched numerous attacks
over the past couple of years, most aimed
at the government and security forces,
including bomb attacks in Rawalpindi.
On Saturday, gunmen wearing army
uniforms attacked the army headquarters,
killing six soldiers including a brigadier
and a lieutenant colonel in a gunbattle at
a main gate.
Five gunmen were killed there and
two of their wounded colleagues cap-
tured. But others fled and took hostages
in a building housing security offices
near the headquarters.
Commandos launched their assault
under cover of darkness with a blast and
gunfire erupting at 6am (8am in Malay-
sia).
“They were in a room with a terrorist
who was wearing a suicide jacket but the
commandos acted promptly and gunned
him down before he could pull the trigger,”
Abbas said of one large group of hostages.
An English Defence League
supporter shouts during the
protest in Manchester on
Saturday
AFPPIX
anti-racism campaigners from Unite
Against Fascism.
Around 2,000 rival protesters con-
gregated in the Piccadilly Gardens area
of the city centre. The two groups were
mainly kept apart by a line of police in
riot helmets and anyone trying to break
theSun | MONDAY OCTOBER 12 2009
“Three of the hostages were killed due
to militant firing,” he said. More hostages
were later found alive.
The raid bore the hallmarks of several
similarly ruthless “swarm” attacks this
year.
In March, gunmen attacked Sri Lan-
ka’s cricket team as it drove to a match
in the city of Lahore and weeks later
militants raided a police cadet college in
the same city.
Those attacks were blamed on the Pa-
kistani Taliban, widely believed to have
been helped by militants from Punjab
province.
Abbas identified the militant captured
on Sunday as Aqeel, alias Dr Usman.
A security official in Punjab said Us-
man was believed to be a member of the
notorious Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group.
“Militants we arrested in Lahore had
told us during interrogation that he mas-
terminded the attack on the Sri Lankan
team and provided weapons,” he said.
Some hostage takers’ phone calls were
intercepted and they were speaking Pun-
jabi, another official said. – Reuters
through the cordon was led away.
Most of those arrested were held on
suspicion of public order offences, police
said. One person suffered minor injuries
but did not require hospital treatment.
Police eventually herded the English
Defence League supporters out of the area
and put them on double-decker buses to
take them out of the city centre. Their
rivals were forced away in the opposite
direction. “The presence of so many
protesters in the city has proved a chal-
lenge and while many have turned out to
protest peacefully the police reaction has
been necessary in order to prevent the
few hell-bent on violent confrontation,”
Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan
said in a statement.
Police described many of those ar-
rested as “agitators and trouble-makers”.
The English Defence League sprang
up this year after a small group from a
local Muslim community staged a protest
in the southern town of Luton against
soldiers returning from Iraq. The far right
has made political progress this year,
with the British National Party winning
two seats in the European parliament.
Experts on community relations fear a
rise in tensions between working class
whites and immigrant communities
could lead to further violence in the run-
up to an election due in June next year.
– Reuters