8 theSun | WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 24 2008

news without borders

REUTERSPIX

China ready to use briefs

Russian cosmonaut, US
astronaut begin space walk

force on pirates MOSCOW: A Russian cosmonaut and a US

BEIJING: China warned Somali
pirates yesterday it was prepared
to use force when its navy ships
arrive in the Gulf of Aden to combat
a wave of piracy that has disrupted
international shipping.
It is the first time in recent history
that China is deploying ships outside
the Pacific, sending two destroyers
and a supply ship which set sail on
Friday, and the navy’s deputy chief
of staff said they would use force if
needed.
“When our naval vessels are
ambushed by pirate ships, we will
resolutely fight back to protect our
own safety,” Rear Admiral Xiao
Xinnian said in a briefing to reporters.
“If the act of piracy is already
under way and the pirates are already
robbing other civilian vessels, we
will suppress their acts, provided we
have the capability and conditions to
do so.”
Xiao said the Chinese ships would
mainly be charged with protecting
the nation’s commercial vessels as
well as the ships of international
organisations such as the United
Nations World Food Programme.
About 100 ships have been
attacked by Somali pirates since the
beginning of the year, and at least one
Chinese vessel is believed to be still in
the hands of the attackers.
The admiral said Chinese war
ships would investigate any suspect
pirate vessels and approach them and
demand that they show their relevant
documents and certificates.
The UN Security Council last week
gave nations a one-year mandate to
act inside lawless Somalia to stop the
rampant piracy in the Gulf of Aden,
part of the Suez Canal route from
Europe to Asia without going round
Africa.
But some companies are now
sailing their vessels around Africa,
a longer and thus more expensive
route, to avoid the increasingly brazen
piracy attacks – including the seizure
of a Saudi supertanker with two
million barrels of oil. – AFP
Panda-ering for peace ...
A pair of giant pandas took off from China’s fog-
shrouded mountains of Sichuan province for Taiwan
amid Tibetan song and dance yesterday, in the latest
sign of improving ties between the political rivals.
Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, whose names said together
mean “unite”, were carried aboard a jumbo jet in the
provincial capital, Chengdu, in two separate crates, with
accompanying baggage of steamed corn buns and fresh
bamboo shoots.
astronaut from the International Space Sta-
tion began a space walk yesterday to install a
gadget aimed at measuring electromagnetic
fields around the ISS, Russian news agency RIA-
Novosti reported.
It was the first space walk for Yuri Lonchakov
and Michael Fincke, who arrived on the station
in October aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket.
During the six-hour and 10-minute walk the
pair were due to install a special gadget on the
docking door of the ISS to measure electromag-
netic fields around it.
Experts said the influence of such fields
could have been a reason for rough landings by
previous crews who had returned to Earth on
Soyuz craft in April 2008 and October 2007, the
agency said. – AFP
Thai soldier shot dead in
troubled south: Police
NARATHIWAT: Separatist insurgents shot
dead a soldier and seven people were
wounded in a bomb blast in Thailand’s
troubled Muslim-majority south yesterday,
police said.
The 55-year-old Muslim sub-lieutenant
was killed in a drive-by shooting in restive
Pattani province as he travelled to work on a
motorbike in the early morning, they said.
In nearby Narathiwat province six rangers
carrying out a foot patrol were hospitalised
when insurgents detonated a remote-con-
trolled roadside bomb, police added.

Bangladesh prepares for return of democracy A civilian was hurt in the same attack.
More than 3,500 people have been killed
since separatist unrest erupted almost five
years ago in southern Thailand. – AFP
EPAPIX

DHAKA: Bangladesh will BRAC University’s Institute

end two years of army-
backed rule with long
anticipated elections next
week that officials promise
will be the fairest polls in
the impoverished nation’s
history.
The Dec 29 ballot will
end a caretaker government
and restore democracy to
the country, beset by coups
and counter-coups since
winning independence from
Pakistan in 1971, by the end
of 2008.
Political commentators
the 14-party alliance led by
ex-premier Sheikh Hasina’s
Awami League party is the
favourite to win, but predict
a close race.
“The general view is that
the Awami League will win
but there are a huge number
of undecided voters,” said
Manzoor Hasan, director of
of Governance Studies in
Dhaka.
Hasan said undecided
votes could go to Sheikh
Hasina’s rival, Bangladesh
Nationalist Party (BNP)
leader and former prime
minister Khaleda Zia.
In 1990, the two women
joined forces to help oust
Hussain Muhammad
Ershad and restore
democracy in Bangladesh.
The Awami League and
the BNP, however, have
since often been accused of
anti-democratic tactics, with
both regularly boycotting
parliament and staging
national strikes. – AFP
A ‘Silent Night’ celebrates its
Bangladeshi 190th anniversary
ricksha puller
carries on OBERNDORF (Austria): Born on a cold night
top of his in the chapel of a small Austrian village, Silent
vehicle a Night, the world’s most famous Christmas carol,
boat, the is celebrating its 190th anniversary.
election The song, known as Stille Nacht in the original
symbol of German, was first performed on Dec 24, 1818, in
the leading the tiny hamlet of Oberndorf, as a local assistant
political priest, Joseph Mohr, sought to comfort his flock,
party Awami racked by poverty and misery in the aftermath
League as of the Napoleonic Wars.
part of the “He asked his friend Franz Xaver Gruber, a
campaign at teacher, to compose the music for six verses he
old Dhaka, had written two years prior, and they performed
on Monday. the song together at mass with the help of a
simple guitar,” says Renate Ebeling-Winkler, a
historian and expert on the topic. – AFP