theSun | MONDAY MARCH 2 2009 9

news without borders

briefs EARTHREPORT
Week Ending Feb 27
emissions in the short term. these endangered environments
by hunting for food, cutting trees
lective suicide,” Justice Ministry
spokesman Francisco Vidal told
Humans vs nature for firewood and building camps, reporters. A navy boat removed
MOST wars during the last half of the report states. all 17 youths in the group over the
Shark injures Australian teen No warming delay the 20th century occurred in areas objections of some parents.
ANY hope that the recent global that are home to the most diverse Forced evacuations
SYDNEY: A shark badly injured a teenage boy economic downturn could temporarily and environmentally threatened FRESH explosions within a south- Polar warming
while he surfed with his father at a popular beach delay climate change were dashed by wildlife on earth, according to a ern Chilean volcano prompted RESULTS of studies conducted
here yesterday, police said, the third shark attack in a US report that says the rate at which new report published in the jour- authorities to force residents of during the UN-sponsored Interna-
Australia’s largest city in a month. carbon dioxide is entering the atmos- nal Conservation Biology. From a nearby city to evacuate for the tional Polar Year (IPY) have found
The 15-year-old and his father were in the water phere actually accelerated during the use of the defoliant Agent second time in less than a year. that the Arctic and Antarctic
off Avalon on Sydney’s popular northern beaches 2008. Some analysts had predicted the Orange during the Vietnam War About 150 people had returned to regions are warming faster than
around dawn when he was attacked. recession would bring a 2% reduction to the recent fighting near gorilla the area around Chaiten despite previously thought. Researchers
“The father heard a scream and turned to see in developed nations’ greenhouse gas and hippopotamus habitats in the it being virtually destroyed last announcing the initial results
his son thrashing about in the water. Fortunately the emissions. “For us to see (the impact) Democratic Republic of the Congo, May by the first eruption in 9,000 of their studies said it appears
shark swam away,” police said in a statement. in the atmosphere it would take a the researchers found that 81% of years of a nearby volcano of the drastic global climate change
The teenager was airlifted to hospital for treat- large drop in emissions, but it hasn’t major armed conflicts between same name. Chile’s emergency and rising sea levels are now
ment for leg injuries. Police said the bites “cut happened yet and that’s very clear 1950 and 2000 were conducted in service agency said any new more likely than ever. “Snow and
through to the bone”, but the boy did not appear to from this data,” said Thomas Conway, 34 regions referred to by Conserva- explosions of the smouldering ice are declining in both polar
have sustained any fractures. a NOAA climate scientist who helped tion International as “biodiversity mountain could send a huge regions, affecting human liveli-
Several beaches were closed after the attack. prepare the report. He said variations hot spots”. Such conflicts often cloud of super-heated debris and hoods, as well as local plant and
Water police and lifeguards were searching for the in natural processes, such as those occur in these areas because of gas cascading into the heart of animal life in the Arctic as well as
shark, while police hoped to identify its species by in forests and oceans that absorb the cover provided by their deep Chaiten. “The government’s not global atmospheric circulation and
the shape of the bite marks. Many shark species carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, forests and tall mountains. War going to allow people to burn sea level,” the IPY report states.
live in the waters off Sydney’s popular beaches, but can mask small changes in man-made refugees add to the stress on themselves up or commit col- – Universal Press Syndicate
attacks on humans are still relatively rare.
Fishermen say shark numbers are on the rise.
Marine experts say environmental protection has
created a cleaner environment which is attracting

‘Mutiny could trigger revenge,

sharks closer to shore as they chase fish. – Reuters Relatives
of missing
officers try to
English councils urge action to identify dead
prevent ‘ghost towns’ bodies as
LONDON: Local authorities in England want Bangladesh

powers from the government to use shops for
community facilities in the face of an increas-
ing number of retail premises being left vacant
because of the recession.
The Local Government Association has called
for town halls to be able to take over premises
that have been empty for three months. It has
also called for VAT on the cost of refurbishment
to be cut to 5% from 15% to encourage reuse.
“Decisive action must be taken to stop our
high streets turning from clone towns into ghost
towns,” LGA chairman Margaret Eaton said.
“The aim would be to get businesses back, but
at the very least councils would be able to make
sure buildings aren’t allowed to fall into disrepair
that ends up blighting a whole town centre.”
A survey by the association, which represents
councils in England, found more than four out of
five areas had seen an increase in closures, with
two thirds reporting a significant or moderate
impact on high streets. Council leaders worry
empty shops risk becoming a hotspot for anti-
social behaviour. – Reuters
Warmest February in 125 years
HONGKONG: Last month was the hottest February
in Hongkong since records began in 1884 and the
latest sign of the city’s long-term warming trend,
meteorologists said yesterday.
The monthly mean temperature was 20.5° C, the
highest yet for the particular month, the Hong Kong
Observatory said in a statement.
The average was 4.2° higher than was normal for
the years between 1971 and 2000. It also recorded
February’s highest maximum daily temperature,
when the thermometer hit 28.3° on Feb 25.
The observatory said the warmer weather,
which saw residents abandon their winter coats
and sweaters, was caused by a weak northeast
monsoon, which meant the cold north air seldom
reached southern China.
The high temperature reflected the long-term
warming trend in Hongkong, which has seen monthly
EPAPIX
instability’
rescue
officials in a country only recently returned to
democracy, analysts warn.
recovered
10 bodies At least 77 corpses of mainly senior
army officers have been recovered so
from shallow
graves inside far in shallow mass graves and stuffed
into drains and sewers at the headquar-
the BDK
headquarters DHAKA: Seething anger in Bangladesh’s ters of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in
army over a deadly mutiny by border the capital Dhaka.
compound
in Dhaka on guards could boil over into bloody Many of the dead had been shot and
revenge, threatening further instability mutilated, according to rescue workers,
Saturday.
and as many as 72 officers were still
missing in the wake of the 33-hour
revolt which ended late Thursday.
Bangladeshi police on Sunday filed
murder cases against more than 1,000
border guards, while government and
military officials said they will be tried
by special tribunals.
Ataur Rahman, a professor of politics
at Dhaka University, said the impover-
ished South Asian nation had a tradition
of revenge attacks and more violence
could ensue.
That would pose a serious challenge
for Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who
won a landslide victory on Dec 29 in
elections hailed by international moni-
tors for their high standard of transpar-
ency and fairness, after two years of
army-backed rule.
“There’s a legacy of bloodshed in this
country. If you spill the blood of others
they might seek revenge,” Rahman
said.
The revolt has also highlighted the
fragility of the country’s political leader-
ship, which was taken completely by
surprise when the violence broke out
in the heart of Dhaka on Wednesday.
“The government was caught totally
unaware (by the mutiny) and that’s a
bit worrying,” Rahul Roy-Chaudhury,
South Asian expert for the British-based
Strategic Studies (IISS), said.
“There was no intelligence coming
in, no warning signals,” he said. “I don’t
think the government is as yet fully in
control of the military.
Analysts also said the incident has
exposed deep tensions between the gov-
ernment and the army, which is said to
be furious after Hasina promised an am-
nesty for mutineers who surrendered.
She later pledged severe punishment
against those responsible for the kill-
ings.
The army’s second-in-command,
Lieutenant General M.A. Mubin, pledged
full support to Hasina’s government on
Saturday but only after rumours swept
the capital that the military was prepar-
ing a coup and reprisals against the
BDR.
“When a disciplined armed force
becomes undisciplined, it’s a source of
great instability,” he said.
“It’s up to the prime minister and the
government to restore discipline to the
BDR quickly and take stern action against
those responsible,” Manzoor Hasan,
director of BRAC University’s Institute of
Governance Studies in Dhaka said.
Chronic instability has been height-
ened by economic problems with
Bangladesh, already one of the world’s
poorest countries, badly hit by inflation
and rising food prices over the past two
years.
Tensions in the BDR had simmered
for months before reportedly bubbling
over when officers rejected appeals for
more pay, subsidised food and holi-
days.
The rebels only agreed to put down
their arms after Hasina appeared on
national television and threatened to

mean temperatures in February rise by about 0.4° a
decade over the last 50 years, the statement said.
KW Li, chief experimental officer at the observa-
tory, said the trend was partly the result of global
warming. He also said the city’s urbanisation over
the past few decades was a factor. – AFP
Leaner Taiwan govt could cost
6,000 jobs
TAIPEI: Up to 6,000 Taiwan civil servants may lose
their jobs as President Ma Ying-jeou’s administration
plans to build a leaner but more efficient govern-
ment, the China Times said yesterday.
The number of ministries and cabinet-level agen-
cies will be reduced from 37 to 28 and up to 6,000
government staff may lose their jobs in an early
retirement scheme due to be completed in 2010.
Ma became president last May on a platform of
building an efficient government but doubts have
emerged over whether he can implement the plan
when the economy is deteriorating. The Kuomintang
government first raised the idea 22 years ago but
previous attempts to implement it have failed.
Taiwan’s unemployment rate rose to a six-year
high of 5.31% in January, largely due to downsiz-
ing and business closures amid the recession, the
government said. – AFP
Australian gang film pulled after brawls
SYDNEY: A film about Lebanese Australian
gangs set amid race riots that rocked Sydney
four years ago has been pulled from cinemas in
the city after brawls broke out at screenings, its
distributor said yesterday.
One of Australia’s biggest cinema chains,
Greater Union, withdrew The Combination from
theatres in Australia’s largest city because vio-
lence flared among patrons at two cinemas, the
Australian Film Syndicate said.
AFS managing director Allanah Zitserman said
Greater Union’s move was unprecedented and
“devastating for everyone involved, especially for
the audiences that are now going to miss out”.
“Although we do not support Greater Union’s
decision to pull the film from its NSW sites we
respect and understand their position,” she said
in a statement.
The critically-acclaimed film, which began
screening at Greater Union cinemas last Thursday,
examines tensions between gangs of Lebanese
think-tank International Institute for
Australian and white youths in Sydney’s western
suburbs. It is set in late 2005, when ugly race riots
between white and Lebanese Australians flared
at the city’s Cronulla Beach, sparking a series of
retaliatory attacks in which churches, shops and
cars were trashed.
The movie uses actual news footage from
the riots as it follows the fortunes of a Lebanese
Australian man, recently released from prison,
who is trying to steer his younger brother away
from ethnic gang violence.
Zitserman compared the film to Romper
Stomper, a 1992 movie about warring gangs
of skinheads and Vietnamese migrants in Mel-
bourne that first brought Oscar winner Russell
Crowe to the attention of critics.
The film can still be seen at other cinema chains
in New South Wales state, as well as theatres in
Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and Canberra.
The ban is the second controversy to hit the
film after it was revealed in January that one of
tackle them by force. – Agencies
the lead actors, Ali Haider, 19, was facing assault
charges over a street brawl and had been in
custody since November.
Writer and actor George Basha has said he
based the film on his experiences growing up in
Sydney’s western suburbs, when he and other
Lebanese Australians felt rejected by society and
responded with violence.
He said he was also inspired to write the
script because the only roles he was being
offered were either muggers or rapists.
Melbourne Age newspaper said in a review on
Saturday before the latest controversy erupted
that movies such as The Combination needed
to be supported, not shunned, by the Australian
film industry.
“The film works dramatically, delivering a
series of well-aimed emotional gut punches and
a pungent message about how ethnic gangs
insult the values of the communities they claim
to represent,” it said. – AFP