8 theSun | MONDAY MAY 18 2009

news without borders

EARTHREPORT
Week Ending May 15

First climate refugees?

THE first people forced to relocate in modern
times due to what many claim is a changing cli-
mate are now building homes away from Papua
New Guinea’s Carteret Islands. The small chain of
atolls were home to humans for a thousand years
before Europeans arrived. The potential evacua-
tion of all 2,600 inhabitants due to encroaching
waves and sinking shores was suggested years
ago. But the first people to actually leave were a
group of five men and their sons who boarded
a banana boat at the end of April. They have
moved onto a 100-acre plot on the larger island
of Bougainville that was donated by the Catholic
Church. The Post Courier reports the group will
develop homes and plant crops to allow their
entire families to eventually join them.
Solar respite
THE sun’s sluggish progress into a new 11-
year cycle of sunspot activity indicates that
the new cycle is likely to be the weakest since
1928, according to a panel of international
experts. The delayed onset of Solar Cycle
24 over the past year stymied the group of
solar physicists as sunspots from the previ-
ous cycle recently appeared long after some
associated with the new cycle had emerged.
The panel now expects solar activity to peak
about a year late in May 2013, when Earth’s
star will sport an average of about 90 sun-
spots each day. Even with a relatively mild
period of solar activity, large solar flares and
accompanying geomagnetic storms could
still occur with enough force to knock out
power grids and Earth-orbiting satellites, the
scientists cautioned.
Blue migration
THE return of blue whales to the waters off
Canada and Alaska may mean the marine mam-
mals have managed to re-establish a migration
pattern not seen since long before commercial
whaling ended in 1965. Blue whales are the
largest creatures to have ever existed, and
their numbers were decimated during the peak
period of commercial whaling between 1908
and 1965. Since the species’ population did not
show signs of recovery after whaling ended, it
was feared that the animals had lost the cultural
knowledge to reclaim their habitats. But analysis
of photographs taken of 15 blue whales off British
Columbia and Alaska since 1997 by Canadian and
US researchers showed that four were also seen
off California. – UNiversal Press Syndicate
Citizen
Congress revels in
Nades:
Don’t be
taken in
by the
magic of
Indian electoral triumph
100 NEW DELHI: India’s Congress Party Confounding expectations of a close
pg 10 basked yesterday in its best electoral result and a fractured parliament, the
showing for decades, after steering its Congress-led alliance fell just short of
ruling alliance to a resounding win over the 272 seats required to command an
its Hindu nationalist rivals and a second absolute majority – a mandate that no-
term in office. body had predicted when voting began
“King Cong!” ran the front page head- more than one month ago.
line in the Asian Age newspaper, which With some results still being counted,
joined the rest of the media in admitting the alliance was expected to win around
it was caught out by the unexpected size 255 seats, with the centre-left Congress
of the party’s election victory. party alone taking 200 – its best perform-
ance since 1991.
In the process, it trounced its main ri-
val, the opposition bloc led by the Hindu
nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
which was projected to win just 160
seats. It also saw off its erstwhile com-
munist partners who had abandoned the
ruling coalition last year in protest over a
nuclear deal with the United States.
“The people have rejected both
extremes – the left and the right,” said
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta, a political
analyst and author of a book on Indian
coalition politics.
The victory means a second term
for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,
76, whose calm, pragmatic persona
obviously appealed to voters looking for
political stability.
“Singh Still King,” was the headline in
the Hindustan Times above a picture of
a beaming prime minister who called on
Saturday for all “secular” parties to join
hands in a “stable, strong, purposeful
government.”
The media voiced a sense of public
relief yesterday that the election verdict
had been so clear cut.
India has become used to unwieldy
coalition governments which expend an
Sri Lankan rebels say
they have put down arms
COLOMBO: Sri Civilians walk across a lagoon
Lanka’s Tamil Ti-
ger rebels yesterday
said they would put
from inside the “No Fire Zone”
where government troops have
the Tamil Tigers surrounded.
down their weapons
after a 37-year battle
for an independent
ethnic homeland,
with their last remain-
ing fighters encircled
in the jungle.
In what could mark
the end of Asia’s long-
est running civil war
– one that left more
than 70,000 dead in
inordinate amount of energy on simply
staying together and not enough, critics
say, on the job of policy implementa-
tion.
With such a commanding victory, the
Congress-led alliance need be beholden
to no one, and will have no difficulty
picking up the spare seats it needs to
ensure a stable majority.
It can also pursue its reform agenda
without the tempering influence of its
former partners on the Left.
“Finally, a Free Hand,” was the
headline of the Economic Times, which
hailed what it saw as a landmark result.
“The people have spoken and spoken
decisively: voting out confusion, voting
in clarity, voting out schism, voting in
development,” the newspaper said.
“2009 may just be the beginning of
India’s century – a year when India
dumps its old baggage and looks to the
future with humility, unity and hope,”
it added. Singh’s new government faces
numerous challenges both at home and
abroad.
After five successive years of near-
double digit growth that lent the country
the international clout it has long sought,
the Indian economy has been hit by the
global downturn.
And there are major security con-
cerns over growing instability in South
Asia, particularly in arch-rival Pakistan,
with whom relations plunged to a new
low following last year’s bloody militant
attack on Mumbai. US President Barack
Obama congratulated India on its “his-
toric” national elections, saying they
had strengthened the country’s “vibrant
democracy.” – AFP
Myanmar
frees doctor
of Suu Kyi
YANGON: Myanmar’s junta has released
the doctor of Aung San Suu Kyi, his fam-
ily said yesterday, almost two weeks
after he was detained in relation to an
incident in which a US man swam to the
democracy icon’s house.
Tin Myo Win was arrested on May 7
as he tried to give medical care to Aung
San Suu Kyi following the bizarre visit
by the American, which has since led
to the opposition leader being charged
with breaching her house arrest.
REUTERSPIZ

pitched battles, suicide “He was released from detention last

attacks, bomb strikes
and assassinations – the
rebels appeared to finally
admit defeat.
But the military refused
to let up in their offensive,
saying troops were push-
ing on to recapture “every inch
of land” held by the rebels.
Selvarasa Pathmanathan,
the Tigers’ chief of international
relations, said in a statement
on the Tamilnet website that
the fighting had reached “its
bitter end”.
“We remain with one last
choice – to remove the last
weak excuse of the enemy for
killing our people,” he said.
“We have decided to silence
our guns. Our only regrets are
for the lives lost and that we
could not hold out for longer.”
Velupillai Prabhakaran, the
Tigers’ founder and leader,
had been reported to be with
his fight-
ers as they made their
last stand, though the defence
ministry said it had no news of
his whereabouts – or whether
he was still alive.
Only two years ago, the Lib-
eration Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) controlled nearly a
third of the island nation and
operated an effectively autono-
mous Tamil state with courts,
schools and a civil service.
But the government of
President Mahinda Rajapakse
launched a military assault
which drove the Tigers out of
the east and then the north,
before trapping the remaining
guerrillas on the island’s coast.
“They were actually de-
feated some time
ago, but they have formally
accepted defeat only now,”
military spokesman Brigadier
Udaya Nanayakkara told AFP.
“They have caused massive
death and destruction over the
years. Finally they themselves
have realised that it is all over.”
He said the government
soldiers were moving in on
the 24ha patch of jungle still
held by Tigers and would soon
“take back every inch of land
they have occupied.”
There was considerable
doubt whether the defeat would
bring peace to the island, how-
ever, as the Tigers were thought
likely to return to the guerilla
tactics they used to devastating
effect in the past. – AFP
night at about 7:00 pm. According to him
his health situation is good,” one of Tin
Myo Win’s family members said.
His release comes days after the US
government demanded that Myanmar’s
military rulers should grant Tin Myo Win
“immediate” access to see the 63-year-
old Aung San Suu Kyi, amid fears for her
health.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate
was placed on an intravenous drip at
her house on Friday by Tin Myo Win’s
medical assistant because she could not
eat, had low blood pressure and was
dehydrated. Aung San Suu Kyi’s National
League for Democracy (NLD) party said it
was also aware of the development.
“I also heard about his release but I
haven’t had any contact with him yet,”
said NLD spokesman Nyan. It was not
clear if Tin Myo Win would be allowed
to visit Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been
moved from her home to the notorious
Insein prison near Yangon ahead of her
trial on today. – AFP