Thesun 2009-07-06 Page09 Spy Chief Unveiled On Facebook

theSun

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| MONDAY JULY 6 2009

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Aussie navy investigating sex bet allegations MELBOURNE: The Australian navy is investigating allegations that male sailors ran a betting ring offering rewards for having sex with female colleagues, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said yesterday. Gillard confirmed reports that a navy inquiry was underway into the alleged betting set-up aboard the HMAS Success and expressed concern it could deter women from joining the military. The sailors on the Success allegedly kept a book called “The Ledger” in which dollar values were placed on each woman’s head, Channel Seven television reported. Female officers and lesbians attracted higher values and premiums were paid if sailors could engage in sex in unusual locations such as the top of a pool table, the report said. It said the alleged betting ring was discovered

while HMAS Success was visiting Singapore in May and the sailors involved were ordered back to Australia and interviewed. “We don’t want to see anything that precludes women from having a good career in our armed forces if that’s what they choose to do with their lives,” Gillard told Channel 10 television. “Clearly these allegations need to be fully investigated.” The matter concerning sailors who were returned to Australia from HMAS Success in May 2009 remains under investigation, so the veracity of any allegations has yet to be confirmed,” the defence department said in a statement to Channel Seven. “The individuals were removed from the ship after an equity and diversity health check, which led to an inquiry being initiated,” it said. – AFP

Spy chief unveiled on Facebook LONDON: The wife of the new head of Britain’s spy agency has posted pictures of her husband, family and friends on internet networking site Facebook, details which could compromise security, a newspaper said yesterday. Sir John Sawers (pix) is due to take over as head of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) in November. The SIS, popularly known as MI6, is Britain’s global intelligence-gathering organisation. In what the Mail on Sunday called an “extraordinary lapse”, the new spy chief’s wife, Lady Shelley Sawers, posted family pictures and exposed details of where the couple live and take their holidays and who their friends and relatives are. The details could be viewed by any of the many millions of Facebook us-

ers around the world, but were swiftly removed once authorities were alerted by the newspaper’s enquiries. “There were fears that the hugely embarrassing blunder could have compromised the safety of Sir John’s family and friends,” the newspaper said. Publishing the story on its front page and the pictures on a double-page spread, the Mail on Sunday said the information “could potentially be useful to hostile foreign powers or terrorists”. It was the latest in a string of security blunders, lapses and leaks by British officials that have embarrassed the government of embattled Prime Minister Gordon Brown. – Reuters

EARTHREPORT Week Ending July 3 Volcanic sunsets SKYWATCHERS across the United States and Northern Europe have been treated to unusually vivid and colourful sunsets thanks to the eruption of Sarychev Peak volcano on June 12 in Russia’s Kuril Islands. The blast sent massive plumes of sulfur dioxide and other debris soaring high into the stratosphere. According to Spaceweather. com, the combination has created white ripples in the evening skies, along with hints of lavender. Some meteorologists believe the airborne volcanic debris is also having a marginal cooling influence on the atmosphere of the Northern Hemisphere this summer.

Monsoon relief RECENT fears that a delayed southwest monsoon across much of India would bring drought and rising food prices were alleviated by drenching rains that finally reached New Delhi and other northern cities. The rainfall and cloud cover also ended the annual pre-monsoon season of “heat and dust,” with daytime temperatures dropping from near 45.6°C to the more comfortable 70s. The rainy season across India usually lasts from June to September.

Tropical cyclone TROPICAL Storm Nangka weakened to a tropical depression prior to making landfall in China’s Guangdong province, just east of Hongkong. The disturbance landed near Huizhou City with diminished winds of only 35 mph.

North Atlantic melt DANISH researchers say that the extent of sea ice between Greenland and Norway’s Svalbard Arctic islands is the lowest in at least 800 years. By examining tree ring and ice core samples, as well as ship logs and harbour records, a team from the Niels Bohr Institute pieced together a picture of how much of the ice has existed since the year 1200. Writing in the journal Climate Dynamics, lead author Aslak Grinsted says that the ice extent is lower now than even during the 13th century, which was an unusually warm period.

Earthquakes SOUTHWEST China’s quake weary Sichuan province was jolted by a string of moderate earthquakes, with the strongest damaging thousands of buildings. Eight people were also injured when the 5.6 magnitude quake struck near the city of Mianzhu. About 50 Maori tribe members evacuated their homes on New Zealand’s North Island due to the danger of mudslides being unleashed by an ongoing swarm of tremors near their village of Waihi. Earth movements were also felt in Taiwan, Hawaii, central Chile, Iceland, southern Greece, Crete, northwest Oklahoma and Cleburne, Texas.

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Stoned wallabies A GROUP of kangaroo-like marsupials has been getting high in Australian poppy fields grown for medicine, and then hopped around in an opiuminduced daze, according to a government official. “We have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles. Then they crash,” said Tasmanian Attorney-General Lara Giddings. – Universal Press Syndicate