Thesun 2009-03-02 Page09 Munity Could Trigger Revenge Instability

theSun

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| MONDAY MARCH 2 2009

news without borders EARTHREPORT Week Ending Feb 27

briefs

No warming delay

Shark injures Australian teen

ANY hope that the recent global economic downturn could temporarily delay climate change were dashed by a US report that says the rate at which carbon dioxide is entering the atmosphere actually accelerated during 2008. Some analysts had predicted the recession would bring a 2% reduction in developed nations’ greenhouse gas emissions. “For us to see (the impact) in the atmosphere it would take a large drop in emissions, but it hasn’t happened yet and that’s very clear from this data,” said Thomas Conway, a NOAA climate scientist who helped prepare the report. He said variations in natural processes, such as those in forests and oceans that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, can mask small changes in man-made

SYDNEY: A shark badly injured a teenage boy while he surfed with his father at a popular beach here yesterday, police said, the third shark attack in Australia’s largest city in a month. The 15-year-old and his father were in the water off Avalon on Sydney’s popular northern beaches around dawn when he was attacked. “The father heard a scream and turned to see his son thrashing about in the water. Fortunately the shark swam away,” police said in a statement. The teenager was airlifted to hospital for treatment for leg injuries. Police said the bites “cut through to the bone”, but the boy did not appear to have sustained any fractures. Several beaches were closed after the attack. Water police and lifeguards were searching for the shark, while police hoped to identify its species by the shape of the bite marks. Many shark species live in the waters off Sydney’s popular beaches, but 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 sharks closer to shore as they chase fish. – Reuters

Relatives of missing officers try to identify dead bodies as Bangladesh rescue officials recovered 10 bodies from shallow graves inside the BDK headquarters compound in Dhaka on Saturday.

English councils urge action to prevent ‘ghost towns’ LONDON: Local authorities in England want powers from the government to use shops for community facilities in the face of an increasing 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 antisocial behaviour. – Reuters

emissions in the short term.

Humans vs nature MOST wars during the last half of the 20th century occurred in areas that are home to the most diverse and environmentally threatened wildlife on earth, according to a new report published in the journal Conservation Biology. From the use of the defoliant Agent Orange during the Vietnam War to the recent fighting near gorilla and hippopotamus habitats in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the researchers found that 81% of major armed conflicts between 1950 and 2000 were conducted in 34 regions referred to by Conservation International as “biodiversity hot spots”. Such conflicts often occur in these areas because of the cover provided by their deep forests and tall mountains. War refugees add to the stress on

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 government, the China Times said yesterday. The number of ministries and cabinet-level agencies 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 downsizing and business closures amid the recession, the government said. – AFP

Forced evacuations FRESH explosions within a southern Chilean volcano prompted authorities to force residents of a nearby city to evacuate for the second time in less than a year. About 150 people had returned to the area around Chaiten despite it being virtually destroyed last May by the first eruption in 9,000 years of a nearby volcano of the same name. Chile’s emergency service agency said any new explosions of the smouldering mountain could send a huge cloud of super-heated debris and gas cascading into the heart of Chaiten. “The government’s not going to allow people to burn themselves up or commit col-

lective suicide,” Justice Ministry spokesman Francisco Vidal told reporters. A navy boat removed all 17 youths in the group over the objections of some parents.

Polar warming RESULTS of studies conducted during the UN-sponsored International Polar Year (IPY) have found that the Arctic and Antarctic regions are warming faster than previously thought. Researchers announcing the initial results of their studies said it appears drastic global climate change and rising sea levels are now more likely than ever. “Snow and ice are declining in both polar regions, affecting human livelihoods, as well as local plant and animal life in the Arctic as well as global atmospheric circulation and sea level,” the IPY report states. – Universal Press Syndicate

‘Mutiny could trigger revenge, instability’ DHAKA: Seething anger in Bangladesh’s army over a deadly mutiny by border guards could boil over into bloody revenge, threatening further instability

EPAPIX

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 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 observatory, 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

these endangered environments by hunting for food, cutting trees for firewood and building camps, the report states.

in a country only recently returned to democracy, analysts warn. At least 77 corpses of mainly senior army officers have been recovered so far in shallow mass graves and stuffed into drains and sewers at the headquarters of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in the capital Dhaka. Many of the dead had been shot and mutilated, according to rescue workers, 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 impoverished 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 monitors for their high standard of transparency 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 leadership, 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 think-tank International Institute for

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 government and the army, which is said to be furious after Hasina promised an amnesty for mutineers who surrendered. She later pledged severe punishment against those responsible for the killings. 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 preparing 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 heightened 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 holidays. The rebels only agreed to put down their arms after Hasina appeared on national television and threatened to tackle them by force. – Agencies

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 violence 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

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 Melbourne 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

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