theSun | MONDAY MAY 11 2009 9

news without borders

EARTHREPORT
Somali Week Ending May 8

Climate change realtor

AN Indonesian minister has proposed that the country “rent”
out some of the archipelago’s numerous uninhabited islands

pirates free
to people who are losing their own island and coastal
homes due to rising sea levels. The Jakarta Post re-
ports Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy
Numberi raised the idea prior to an international
forum on how climate change is affecting the
world’s oceans. The report said he had not yet
discussed the proposal in depth with Presi-

cargo ship
dent Susilo. Some small island nations have
begun to shop around for new “homeland”
in other countries for citizens that may be
rendered homeless when the rising tides
submerge areas where they now live. This is
an especially urgent issue for the Maldives,
where most of the land is only about 5 feet
above the surface of the Indian Ocean.
NAIROBI: Somali pirates on Saturday released an Ital-
ian-operated, British-owned cargo ship that was seized in
April, two maritime watchdog organisations said. British rat plague
“The MV Malspina Castle was freed by her captors at AN exploding rat population in British cities
around 5:30pm local time (10.30pm in Malaysia) ... after a is being blamed on the rodents’ growing
ransom had been delivered,” said Ecoterra International, resistance to existing poisons. The
an environmentalist group that monitors piracy and other resistance may lead to the use of
illegal marine activities in the region. chemicals currently banned due
Andrew Mwangura, who runs the East African Seafar- to environmental reasons. “We are
ers Assistance Programme, also confirmed to AFP the very concerned about this from
vessel had been freed. a public health point of view,”
The 30,000-tonne bulk carrier, ferrying iron ore with said Oliver Madge, chief
a crew of 24, was seized in the Gulf of Aden on April 6, officer of the British Pest
the same day a Taiwanese vessel was taken near the Control Association.
Seychelles. The trade group says
The pirates first held it near Garaad and later moved it has identified two
it to Eyl in Somalia’s northern breakaway region of Punt- unnamed towns in
land. Berkshire, where
“The crew is said to be all right,” said Ecoterra. It it claims the
included 16 sailors from Bulgaria, four Filipinos, two rats are very
Ukrainians, a Russian and an Indian. nearly im-
At least 19 ships are still being held by Somali pirates mune
along with several hundred mariners. t o
In the first quarter of 2009, 102 piracy incidents were c u r-
reported to the International Maritime Bureau, nearly
double the number during the same period in 2008. rent-
Foreign naval ships, including from Nato and the Eu- ly
ropean Union, have thwarted several hijacking attempts
and made dozens of arrests.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Saturday
that the problem of piracy would be one of the themes of
the G8 summit that he will host in July.
“We will discuss piracy, a phenomenom which has
recently appeared on an unprecedented scale,” he said.
– AFP allowed poisons. It
also points to years of mild winters and
wet summers that have created favora-
ble conditions for the rats to breed. The
association is petitioning the govern-
ment to allow the outdoor use of two
briefs powerful rodenticides, brodifacoum
and flocoumafen, which some fear
Indonesian president’s party wins could endanger birds and pets.
legislative polls Bat cave ban
JAKARTA: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s
bid for re-election in July was boosted at the weekend when THOUSANDS of bat caves
official results showed his party won the most votes in April and former mines are be-
parliamentary elections. ing closed for up to a year
The final results, released late Saturday, showed Susilo’s across 33 states in an
Democratic Party had won 20.85% of ballots cast on April 9, nearly effort to control a fungus
tripling its total from the 7.5% it earned in 2004 legislative polls. that has killed a half-mil-
Golkar, which was former president Suharto’s political lion bats in two years.
vehicle for three decades, was second in the April polls with US Forest Service
14.45% of the vote. Ex-president Megawati Sukarnoputri’s biologist Becky Ewing said
Democratic Party of Struggle won 14.03%. – AFP an emergency order was
issued for caves in 20 states
from Minnesota to Maine,
Give me your money, and and another 13 states in the
your ears: Mexican thief southern region should join in
AGUASCALIENTES (Mexico): Clearly unfazed by the swine later this month.
flu outbreak, a machete-wielding Mexican thief dressed Caving groups have said they
like a crooning cowboy stole his victims’ belongings, and do not object to the closings,
forced them listen to him sing, authorities said. considering the urgent threat
Police arrested Vicente Fernandez decked out in a posed to much of the country’s
charro (singing cowboy) outfit, with a 40-cm machete he bat population.
used to frighten passersby into handing over their loot,
local police spokesman Alfredo Barro said. Earthquakes
But his crime did not stop there: at least one victim RESIDENTS in the Venezuelan
was forced to listen to the thief (who shares the name of capital of Caracas and nearby ar-
a real singer) belt out his own bit of warbling. – AFP eas were awakened before dawn
by a sharp quake centered just
Tigers say Sri Lanka shelling kills south of the capital. While there
over 2,000 civilians were no reports of significant
damage or injures due to the
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers yesterday accused the gov- quake, torrential rains and
ernment of killing more than 2,000 civilians in 24 hours of artillery high winds damaged
attacks, but the military vehemently denied the allegations. several transmission
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said in a state- towers, knocking out
ment posted on the pro-rebel Tamilnet website that the army power to some sec-
had unleashed a devastating offensive on the small coastal tions of Caracas not
patch of land that the rebels still control. long after the shaking ended.
The website said rescue workers had counted more than • Earth movements were also felt in Guatemala, southern
1,200 bodies. Many of the dead were “found in bunkers and Germany and Bulgaria. – Universal Press Syndicate
inside the tarpaulin tents”, it said. – AFP