Mystery increases over floating restaurant’s fate

Mystery over the fate of Hong Kong’s Jumbo Floating Restaurant deepened yesterday after its owner stirred confusion over whether the financially struggling tourist attraction had actually sunk while being towed away from the territory last week. On Monday, Aberdeen Restaurant Enterprises released a statement saying that the vessel had capsized on Sunday near the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島) in the South China Sea after it “encountered adverse conditions” and began to take on water. “The water depth at the scene is over 1,000 metres, making it extremely difficult to carry out salvage works,” it said. On Thursday night, the Hong Kong Marine Department put out a statement saying it had only learned of the incident from media reports, and had immediately requested a report from the company. The department said that the report was delivered on Thursday, saying the restaurant had capsized, but that “at present, both Jumbo and the tugboat are still in the waters off Xisha Islands.” Hours later, a journalist was contacted by a spokesman representing the restaurant who said the company had always used the word “capsized” not “sank.” Asked directly if the boat had sunk, he said again the statement had said “capsized,” and did not explain why it had referred to the depth of the water when mentioning salvage. The South China Morning Post reported a similar conversation with a spokeswoman for the company, in which she insisted that the vessel had “capsized,” not “sank,” but refused to clarify whether it was still afloat. The newspaper said it had been told by the Marine Department that the company might have breached local regulations if it had not notified the authorities of a sinking incident within 24 hours. Widespread reporting in local and international media at the beginning of the week that Jumbo had sunk was not contradicted by the company. The company previously

South Korea urged to reopen deportation case

South Korea’s ruling party members and rights advocates are calling on the government to reopen a 2019 case of the repatriation of two North Korean fishermen, accusing the previous government of trying to curry favour with Pyongyang. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office last month, has been revisiting several defection cases after criticizing what he called his predecessor Moon Jae-in’s “submissive” North Korea policy and vowing to boost support for defectors during the election campaign. Yoon’s ruling party lawmakers, rights advocates and supporters have called for a new investigation of the fishermen’s case, accusing Moon of contravening the men’s constitutional and human rights as he tried to improve ties with Pyongyang. The Moon government deported the fishermen, calling them “dangerous criminals” who killed 16 other colleagues aboard their vessel while crossing the sea border and said they would cause harm if they were accepted into South Korean society. Officials at the time said that there was an “unfortunate event” between the crewmen due to an abusive captain, without elaborating. However, Yoon’s party, and defector and human rights groups have decried the decision, saying it not only jeopardized the fishermen’s lives, but also contravened South Korea’s constitution, which stipulates that all North Koreans are South Korean citizens. The fate of the two men is not known, but defectors from the isolated state face harsh punishment if caught or repatriated, including public execution. “Defection is not a light crime in North Korea, but the South Korean government even said publicly that they are murderers and forcefully deported them even though they insisted on staying,” said Tae Young-ho, a former North Korean diplomat who now is a lawmaker with Yoon’s party. “The two young men were most likely executed, based on double charges of defection and murder.” An official at the South’s Ministry of Unification responsible for inter-Korean affairs

US vows more engagement with Pacific island nations

US National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell on Thursday said that he expects more high-level US officials to visit Pacific island countries as Washington steps up its engagement to counter China in the region. Campbell said the US needed more diplomatic facilities across the region, and more contact with Pacific island countries that at times “receive lesser attention.” “You will see more Cabinet-level, more senior officials, going to the Pacific ... recognizing that nothing replaces, really, diplomatic boots on the ground,” he told the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The administration of US President Joe Biden has vowed to commit more resources to the Indo-Pacific region as China seeks to boost economic, military and police links with Pacific island nations hungry for foreign investment. Beijing’s growing influence was highlighted by its security pact with the Solomon Islands this year, a move that fanned concerns in Australia, New Zealand and the US. “Sovereignty is central in terms of how we see the Pacific overall. Any initiative that compromises or calls into question that sovereignty, I think we would have concerns with,” Campbell said, without referring to China. Washington has said it would expedite the opening of an embassy in the Solomon Islands, announced earlier this year when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Fiji, the first trip there by the US’ top diplomat in four decades. Campbell said he envisioned Fiji would be one of the US’ “hubs” of engagement. “Our mantra will be nothing in the Pacific without the Pacific... We do not take these bonds for granted,” he said, acknowledging perceptions that Washington had not always sufficiently taken the needs of islanders into account. Fijian Ambassador to the UN Satyendra Prasad told the CSIS event that the islands needed “great predictability” and no “stop-start” in ties with Washington. “Pacific people and their governments would

Ukraine to retreat from battered city

HEAVY ATTACK: Remaining in Sievierodonetsk after months of shelling that has destroyed all critical infrastructure ‘doesn’t make sense,’ Luhansk’s governor said

Ukrainian forces are to retreat from Sievierodonetsk in the face of a brutal Russian offensive that is reducing the battleground eastern city to rubble, a senior Ukrainian official said yesterday. The news came shortly after the EU made a strong show of support for Ukraine, granting the former Soviet republic candidate status, although there is still a long path ahead to membership. Capturing Sievierodonetsk has become a key goal of the Russians, as they focus their offensive on eastern Ukraine after being repelled from Kyiv and other areas following their Feb. 24 invasion. The strategically important industrial hub has been the scene of weeks of street battles, as the outgunned Ukrainians put up a fierce defense, but Luhansk Oblast Governor Serhiy Haidai said the Ukrainian military would have to retreat. “They have received an order” to withdraw, he said on Telegram. “Remaining in positions that have been relentlessly shelled for months just doesn’t make sense.” The city has been “nearly turned to rubble” by continual bombardment, he added. “All critical infrastructure has been destroyed. Ninety percent of the city is damaged, 80 percent [of] houses will have to be demolished,” he said. Capturing Sievierodonetsk and its twin city of Lysychansk would give the Russians control of Luhansk, and allow them to push further into the wider Donbas. The situation for those that remain in the Lysychansk is bleak. Liliya Nesterenko said her house had no gas, water or electricity and she and her mother were cooking on a campfire. She was cycling along the street, and had come out to feed a friend’s pets, but the 39-year-old was upbeat about the city’s defenses: “I believe in our Ukrainian army, they should [be able to] cope.” “They’ve prepared already,” she added. In the southern Kherson region, a Moscow-appointed official was killed in an explosion, Russian news agencies reported, the latest in a

US Senate votes to pass landmark gun violence bill

BITTERSWEET: The bill faces Republican opposition in the House, a day after the US Supreme Court issued a ruling expanding Americans’ right to carry guns in public

The US Senate on Thursday easily approved a bipartisan gun violence bill that seemed unthinkable a month ago, putting the legislation on the verge of winning final congressional approval. The US House of Representatives was yesterday set to vote on the US$13 billion package, exactly one month after a gunman massacred 19 students and two teachers at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school. Just days before that, a white man motivated by racism allegedly killed 10 black people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. The two slaughters — days apart and victimizing helpless people for whom the public felt immediate empathy — prompted both parties to conclude that Congress had to act, especially in an election year. After weeks of closed-door talks, Senate bargainers from both parties produced a compromise taking mild, but impactful steps toward making such mayhem less likely. “Families in Uvalde and Buffalo, and too many tragic shootings before, have demanded action, and tonight, we acted,” US President Joe Biden said after the passage. The legislation would toughen background checks for gun buyers aged 18 to 20, keep firearms from more domestic violence offenders and help states put in place “red flag” laws that make it easier for authorities to take weapons from people adjudged dangerous. It would also fund local programs for school safety, mental health and violence prevention. The Senate approved the measure 65-33. Fifteen Republicans — a remarkably high number for a party that has derailed gun curbs for years — joined all 50 Democrats, including their two independent allies, in approving the bill. Still, that meant that fewer than one-third of Republican senators backed the measure — and with Republicans in the House expected to solidly oppose it, the fate of future congressional action on guns seems dubious, even as Republicans are expected to win House and possibly Senate control

Four police and up to eight suspects killed in shoot-out

Four police officers were shot to death after being drawn into an ambush in western Mexico, and as many as eight suspected attackers were killed in a gun battle with other police who rushed to the site, authorities said on Thursday. Luis Joaquin Mendez, head prosecutor of Jalisco state, said that four municipal policemen in El Salto responded to a call late on Wednesday about armed men at a house. Once they arrived, a woman answered the door and told them nothing was wrong, but shooters inside opened fire on the officers, some of whom were dragged into the home and killed, Mendez said. Jalisco Governor Enrique Alfaro Ramirez wrote that police reinforcements showed up and engaged in a shoot-out with the suspects, killing eight and wounding three. The prosecutor’s office said that nine bodies were found at the house — the four police officers and five suspected shooters. Three more bodies — two men and a woman — were found at a property nearby, they said. Prosecutors said the dead were likely members of a gang that apparently held kidnapped people at one of the properties. Investigators also found the hacked up remains of another man in plastic bags. El Salto Police Chief Ricardo Santillan called the ambush “a cowardly act.” The Mexican Episcopal Conference, the country’s official leadership body of the Catholic Church, on Thursday issued an open letter calling on the government to change course on security, three days after two Jesuits priests were allegedly killed by a drug gang leader inside a church. “It is time to revise the security policies that are failing,” the bishops wrote, calling for a “national dialogue” to find solutions. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has declared that his government is no longer focused on detaining drug cartel leaders, and in 2019 ordered the release of a captured leader of

Many cold-blooded animals do not age: study

Scientists have discovered the secret to eternal youth: Be born a turtle. A study published on Thursday in the journal Science revealed scant evidence of aging among certain cold-blooded species, challenging a theory of evolution, which holds that senescence, or gradual physical deterioration over time, is an inescapable fate. Although there have been eye-catching individual reports — such as that of Jonathan the Seychelles tortoise who turns 190 this year — these were considered anecdotal, and the issue had not been studied systematically, said Pennsylvania State University wildlife ecologist David Miller, a senior author of one of the papers. Researchers have “done a lot more comparative, really comprehensive work with birds and animals in the wild,” he said, “but a lot of what we knew about amphibians and reptiles were from a species here, a species there.” For their paper, Miller and colleagues collected data from long-term field studies comprising 107 populations of 77 species in the wild, including turtles, amphibians, snakes, crocodilians and tortoises. These all used a technique called “mark-recapture,” in which a certain number of individuals are caught and tagged, then researchers follow them over the years to see if they find them again, deriving mortality estimates based on probabilities. They also collected data on how many years the animals lived after achieving sexual maturity, and used statistical methods to produce aging rates, as well as longevity — the age at which 95 percent of the population is dead. “We found examples of negligible aging,” said biologist and lead investigator Beth Reinke of Northeastern Illinois University. Although they had expected this to be true of turtles, it was also found in one species of each of the cold-blooded groups, including in frogs and toads and crocodilians. “Negligible aging or senescence does not mean that they’re immortal,” she said, adding that it means there is a chance

COVID-19: Canadians seeking passports camp out for days in Montreal

Canadians eager to travel following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions are facing long waits to get a passport, with hundreds camped out for days in Montreal, where police were called to tame the angry crowd. Similar scenes have played out across the country, while delays at airport security checkpoints for flights have compounded public outrage. “It’s just a disaster, you can’t call it anything else,” said Cheikh Diop, 34, who waited almost 24 hours in the Montreal line to get his daughter’s passport. “We waste time, we have no life. People need to travel,” he said, adding that the surge in demand should have been anticipated by the government. Mylene Lemmel, 41, said she had “slept here, in the rain” to pick up her passport for a flight the next day. She applied for the travel document in early April, and described the scene outside the Montreal office as “chaotic.” “It’s anxiety-provoking, it’s not easy,” she added. Some people said they were being paid by the hour to wait on behalf of others. Police were called in to control the line that spilled onto a busy downtown street. The minister responsible for passport offices, Karina Gould, has faced a barrage of criticism about the delays. The long lines, she told parliament on Thursday, are “not acceptable.” She said that 1,200 new staff, as well as temporary transfers from other government departments would help reduce the backlog. “People are excited to travel again, and so I understand where this is coming from, and we’re trying to do everything we can to solve the situation,” Gould said. She said that urgent requests for passports have risen from about 5 percent of applications prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to almost 50 percent now.

World News Quick Take

NORTH KOREA Defense to be boosted Kim Jong-un ordered a strengthening of the country’s defense capabilities as the leader wrapped up a meeting with top military officials, state media said yesterday, raising concerns about its possible addition of tactical nuclear weapons. Kim presided over the three-day Enlarged Meeting of the 8th Central Military Commission, at which top officials “approved an important issue of providing a military guarantee for further strengthening the country’s war deterrent,” the Korean Central News Agency reported. During the meeting, the nation mentioned revising its war plans and said it had decided to bolster the operational duties of its frontline units with “an important military action plan,” it reported, without elaborating. AUSTRALIA Albanese to visit France Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is to visit France next week as his new Labor government looks to repair relations strained last year when Canberra scrapped a French submarine deal. The previous government canceled the multibillion-dollar order with France’s Naval Group and chose an alternative deal with the US and Britain to buy nuclear submarines. “We do need to reset, we’ve already had very constructive discussions,” Albanese told ABC television in an interview late on Thursday, confirming that he had accepted an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to visit Paris. Albanese, in power for just over a month, has already reached a 555 million euro (US$584 million) settlement over the submarine deal — valued at US$40 billion in 2016 and reckoned to cost much more now — in his efforts to repair the rift. Albanese is to depart for Europe tomorrow for a NATO summit in Madrid. SINGAPORE Migrant worker rules eased Migrant workers from yesterday no longer need special permission to leave their dormitories after two years of COVID-19 curbs, but campaigners criticized the decision to maintain some “discriminatory” restrictions. About 300,000 migrant workers, many of

NK nuclear deployment expected

FEELING THREATENED: The first military commission under Kim Jong-un’s leadership to last longer than a day is a sign of a growing escalatory doctrine, an analyst said

North Korea discussed assigning additional duties to its frontline army units at a key military meeting, state media said yesterday, suggesting that the country might deploy battlefield nuclear weapons targeting South Korea along the rivals’ tense border. The discussion comes as South Korean officials said North Korea has finished preparations for its first nuclear test in five years, as part of possible efforts to build a warhead to be mounted on short-range weapons capable of hitting targets in South Korea. During an ongoing meeting of the Central Military Commission of the ruling Workers’ Party on Wednesday, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and other top military officers discussed “the work of additionally confirming the operation duties of the frontline units of the Korean People’s Army and modifying the operation plans,” the official Korean Central News Agency said. Kim also ordered steps to be taken to “enhance the operational capabilities of the frontline units,” the agency said, showing a photo of what appeared to be a map of the Korean Peninsula’s eastern coast, including border sites, near the conference table. “I can assess the issue of forward-deploying tactical nuclear weapons [was] discussed at the meeting in an in-depth manner,” said Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at South Korea’s private Sejong Institute. When North Korea in April test-fired a new type of tactical guided weapon, South Korea said the weapon has “great significance in drastically improving the firepower of the front line, long-range artillery units, enhancing the efficiency in the operation of [North Korea’s] tactical nukes and diversification of their firepower missions.” Its use of the words “tactical nukes” suggested that the weapon is likely short-range and armed with a nuclear warhead. Some experts said that North Korea intends to deploy such weapons to threaten key facilitates in South Korea, including US military bases. Later in April, Kim said North

Okinawa wants US presence reduced amid tensions

Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki yesterday marked the 77th anniversary of the end of one of the harshest World War II battles fought on Japan’s southern islands by calling for a further reduction of the US military’s presence in the prefecture amid growing fears of being embroiled in regional tensions. The southern island group was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II, known as the Battle of Okinawa, which killed about 200,000 people, nearly half of them Okinawan residents. It was the only World War II ground battle fought on Japanese territory, and the country’s sacrifice of Okinawans is remembered as Japan’s attempt to delay a possible US landing on the mainland. At a ceremony marking the end of the battle in 1945, about 300 attendants — including Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other officials — offered a moment of silence at noon and offered chrysanthemum flowers for the war dead. The number of attendants was scaled down due to COVID-19 concerns. In his peace declaration at yesterday’s ceremony in Itoman city on Okinawa’s main island, Tamaki compared the battle to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying the destruction of towns, buildings and culture, as well as Ukrainians living in fear, “remind us of our memory of the ground battle on Okinawa that embroiled citizens 77 years ago.” “We are struck by unspeakable shock,” he added. Tamaki also vowed to continue efforts toward abolishing nuclear weapons and renouncing war “in order to never let Okinawa become a battlefield.” In May, Okinawa marked the 50th anniversary of its reversion to Japan in 1972, two decades after the US occupation ended in most of the country. Today, a majority of the 50,000 US troops in Japan under a bilateral security pact are stationed in Okinawa, which accounts for less than 1 percent of Japanese land. Because

Four wounded in NZ stabbings

A man wounded four people in a stabbing rampage that was stopped by bystanders who brought the attacker to the ground in a New Zealand city neighborhood yesterday, police said. Police district commander Naila Hassan said the attack in Auckland was random and the suspect was in custody, adding that there was no indication the attack was a hate crime, as the victims were of different genders, ethnicities and ages. “This was an extremely fast-moving incident, where our police staff responded quickly, apprehended the offender and prevented further harm to our communities,” Hassan said, adding that all the victims suffered moderate injuries. People in the neighborhood began following and surrounding the man after he began his attack, and one brought him down using a walking crutch, Hassan said. “Members of the public acted with extreme bravery,” she added. The attack began in the suburb of Murrays Bay and lasted less than 10 minutes, Hassan said. The man had been carrying a large knife and suffered moderate injuries when he was apprehended, and was hospitalized as a result, she said. Two violent stabbing rampages at supermarkets occurred in New Zealand last year. One was considered a terror attack, while a judge found no motive for the other. Last September, a Muslim extremist inspired by the Islamic State group stabbed five people in an Auckland supermarket before police shot and killed him. Three of those he stabbed were critically injured, and two other people were also injured in the melee. All survived. In May last year, shoppers and staff at a Dunedin supermarket managed to stop a frenzied man from hurting others after he stabbed four people in a random attack, severely wounding three. The 43-year-old Dunedin attacker was convicted on four counts of attempted murder and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Record floods hit southern China, displace thousands

Record floods hit parts of southern China yesterday as heavy rains pushed water levels in the Pearl River Delta to their highest in almost a century. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from the worst-hit parts of the region, which includes Guangdong Province, a manufacturing and logistics hub that is home to China’s tech capital, Shenzhen. The Chinese Ministry of Water Resources on Wednesday placed its highest flood alert on the Pearl River basin, saying that water levels at one location “surpassed historical records” and that the provincial capital, Guangzhou, would be severely affected. Images from Shaoguan, north of Guangzhou, showed residents on Wednesday making their way through flooded main roads, as water in some areas reached the tops of cars. The muddy floodwater inundated shops and buildings, and people were seen clearing away debris. The low-lying Pearl River Delta region is home to the economic powerhouses of Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as several smaller but densely populated cities with major manufacturing industries. Emergency management authorities earlier this week said that direct economic losses were estimated at about US$253 million. Under the highest alert level, at-risk areas in Guangdong have been ordered to take all necessary measures, including suspending work at factories and closing schools to minimize damage. Other regions in southern China, including coastal Fujian Province and Guangxi, have also been affected by record rains this month, forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate. Summer floods are common in parts of China, but these have been getting more extreme in recent years as the climate changes. Chinese authorities have not directly linked this year’s extreme floods to climate change. Some local media have dubbed it a “once-in-a-century flood,” reporting water levels that have surpassed the highest recorded, in 1931, and approaching the area’s worst floods, which were in 1915.

Saudi women spurn tradition with cropped locks

SHOW OF STRENGTH: Reforms in Saudi Arabia are giving women freedom to push cultural boundaries as increasing numbers shun headscarves in the workplace

When Saudi Arabian doctor Safi took a new job at a hospital in the capital, Riyadh, she decided to offset her standard white lab coat with a look she once would have considered dramatic. Walking into a Riyadh salon, she ordered the hairdresser to chop her long, wavy locks all the way up to her neck, a style increasingly in vogue among working women in the conservative kingdom. The haircut — known locally by the English word “boy” — has become strikingly visible on the streets of the capital, and not just because women are no longer required to wear hijab headscarves under social reforms pushed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler. As more women join the workforce, many describe the “boy” cut as a practical, professional alternative to the longer styles they might have preferred before finding a job. For Safi, who asked to be identified by a pseudonym to preserve her anonymity, the look is also a form of protection from unwanted male attention, allowing her to focus on her patients. “People like to see femininity in a woman’s appearance,” she said. “This style is like a shield that protects me from people and gives me strength.” At one salon in central Riyadh, demand for the “boy” cut has spiked, with seven or eight customers out of 30 requesting it on any given day, hairdresser Lamis said. “This look has become very popular now,” she said. “The demand for it has increased, especially after women entered the labor market. “The fact that many women do not wear the hijab has highlighted its spread” while spurring even more customers to try it out, especially women in their late teens and 20s, she said. The lifting of the headscarf requirement is just one of many changes that have reordered daily life for Saudi Arabian

Australia mining industry rife with sexual abuse: probe

A landmark inquiry into Australia’s mining sector has uncovered dozens of shocking cases of sexual harassment and abuse of female workers at companies including BHP Group and Rio Tinto Group. The government of Western Australia described “horrific” incidents at the workplaces in a report yesterday, saying that the the incidents were a failure of the industry and government oversight. Among the recommendations were the payment of compensation to the many workers who were victims of bosses and colleagues on remote projects. “I was shocked and appalled well beyond expectation by the size and depth of the problem,” inquiry chair Libby Mettam said in the report. “To hear the lived reality of the taunts, attacks and targeted violence, the devastation and despair the victims experienced, the threats to or loss of their livelihood that resulted was shattering and completely inexcusable,” she said. The probe delved into the dark corners of an industry that is under mounting pressure from investors, governments and society to address its impacts on local communities and the wider environment. BHP and Rio Tinto issued their own inquiries after allegations from women emerged in Western Australia’s lucrative resources industry, where so-called “Fly In-Fly Out” (FIFO) workers are transported to remote sites for several weeks at a time. Allegations of abuse included a woman involved in a safety issue who was told by a supervisor she could “make the issue go away” if she had sex with him. Another was knocked unconscious in her room and woke up undressed with her jeans around her ankles. Another described how a man forced his hands down her top several times in front of other workers and “no one did anything.” After complaining about colleagues making sexual jokes about her, a woman said her supervisor’s response was to “force himself on her.” Other allegations included sex dolls and toys placed in women’s

Junta moves Suu Kyi to solitary

HEAVY GUARD: Aung San Suu Kyi’s transfer from house arrest to prison shows that the junta is trying ‘to intimidate her and her supporters,’ a Human Rights Watch official said

Ousted Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi was on Wednesday moved from house arrest to solitary confinement in a prison compound in the military-built capital Naypyidaw, a junta spokesman said yesterday. Since her ouster in a coup last year, Aung San Suu Kyi had been under house arrest at an undisclosed location in Naypyidaw, accompanied by several domestic staff and her dog, sources with knowledge of the matter said. The 77-year-old Nobel laureate left those premises only to attend hearings for her numerous trials in a junta court that could see her handed a prison sentence of more than 150 years. She was transferred from house arrest to “solitary confinement in prison,” Burmese Deputy Minister of Information Major General Zaw Min Tun said in a statement. Her trial hearings are to take place inside a newly built courtroom within the prison compound, he added. A source with knowledge of the case said that Aung San Suu Kyi’s domestic staff and her dog had not accompanied her when she was moved on Wednesday, and that security around the prison compound was “tighter than before.” “Aung San Suu Kyi is in good health as far as we know,” the source added, speaking on condition of anonymity. Since seizing power, Myanmar’s military government has detained thousands of pro-democracy protesters, with many facing secret trials that rights groups have decried as politically motivated. Aung San Suu Kyi’s lawyers have been banned from speaking to the media, with journalists barred from her trial and the junta rebuffing requests by foreign diplomats to meet her. “For the sake of the country and people, she [Aung San Suu Kyi] has sacrificed everything, but the wicked people are ungrateful and cruel,” one social media user posted on Facebook following yesterday’s announcement. “What we are seeing is the Myanmar junta moving towards a much more punitive phase, towards Aung

Mediterranean cities prepare for tsunamis

A tsunami could soon hit major cities on or near the Mediterranean Sea including Marseille, Alexandria and Istanbul, with a nearly 100 percent chance of a wave reaching more than a meter high in the next 30 years, UNESCO said. The risk of a tsunami in Mediterranean coastal communities is predicted to soar as sea levels rise. While communities in the Pacific and Indian Ocean, where most tsunamis occur, were often aware of the dangers, it was underestimated in other coastal regions, including the Mediterranean, UNESCO said. The UN organization said that five at-risk communities in the Mediterranean would join 40 other “tsunami-ready” towns and cities in 21 countries by next year. As well as Marseille, Alexandria and Istanbul, they include Cannes and Chipiona, a town on Spain’s Atlantic coast near Cadiz. The “tsunami-ready” program is part of UNESCO’S broader effort, launched ahead of the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon next week, to ensure that all at-risk communities know what to do in the event of a tsunami by 2030. “The tsunamis of 2004 and 2011 were a wake-up call,” UNESCO lead tsunami expert Bernardo Aliaga said. “We have come a long way since 2004. We are safer today, but there are gaps in preparedness and we need to improve; we need to make sure warnings are understood by visitors and communities.” The Indian Ocean tsunami on Boxing Day in 2004, the deadliest in history, killed an estimated 230,000 people in 14 countries, while the magnitude 9.1 earthquake and tsunami in 2011, which reached nearly 40m in height, killed 18,000 people in Japan. Since the 2004 tsunami, UNESCO’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, hosted by the US, has responded to 125 tsunami events, averaging seven a year. “The upstream part is in good shape” Aliaga said. “Work has been done to establish 12 tsunami-warning centers covering most of the