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Monday, August 4, 2008

Sixteen policemen were killed by unidentified assailants in Kashgar, in the predominantly Muslim Xinjiang region of China. Another sixteen officers were wounded in the attack, in which two attackers drove a lorry into the station. The government of the People’s Republic of China has repeatedly warned of unrest leading up to the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Xinhua News Agency reports that the attackers drove a dump truck into the police officers during the officers’ morning exercise at about 8:00 am local time (0:00 GMT), then threw grenades into the police barracks and attacked with knives. The BBC reports that fourteen of the police deaths occurred at the scene, with two more dying en route to hospital. They also report one of the alleged attackers received a leg injury. The attackers were arrested, according to police.

After they were arrested by the police, the assailants were described as being 28 and 33, and of the Uyghur minority, a Turkish speaking people who reside primarily in the Xinjiang region. The police found an additional 10 explosives in the truck as well as what was described as a “home-made gun.”

The autonomous Xinjiang region of China is a large, sparsely-populated territory in the north-west of the country. The population includes many groups, but the largest is the Turkic peoples including the largely Muslim Uyghurs. Kashgar is an oasis city at an important junction of trade routes, near China’s western borders, and was a part of the historic “Silk Road.”

Thursday, February 4, 2021

The East Gippsland Shire Council, a local government body in Australia which governs towns such as Bairnsdale, Lakes Entrance and Mallacoota, on Tuesday passed a motion supporting the prohibition of nuclear weapons. The motion originated from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, a global campaign supporting implementation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The motion called upon the council to write to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in indication of their support for the treaty.

The motion was moved at Tuesday’s council meeting by Councillor Tony Crook, and seconded by Councillor Jane Greacen. While Crook acknowledged “clearly this forum has very little influence over the use or production of nuclear weapons”, he acknowledged Australia’s role in the nuclear fuel cycle, stating nuclear weapons “have bought untold misery to communities around the world”. Councillor Arthur Allan opposed the motion, saying while he agreed with what Crook and Greacen had stated, the issue of nuclear weapons was a “federal issue” and the motion amounted to “virtue signalling”.

Deputy Mayor Mark Reeves supported the motion, contending it was an issue of “moral standing” and representing the views of the community, quipping “nobody’s said to me — ‘You know what we need? A really good intercontinental ballistic missile in the shire.'” Councillor Trevor Stowe called the motion “feel-good stuff” and “an absolute waste of time”.

The vote ultimately resulted in a tie, with Crook, Greacen, Reeves, and Mayor Mendy Urie voting in support, and Councillors John White and Kirsten Van Diggele, as well as Allen and Stowe, voting against. Councillor Sonia Buckley abstained. Mayor Urie broke the tie in favour of the motion.

The Australian government has previously boycotted prohibition treaty talks, with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade stating “a ban treaty risks undermining the [non-proliferation treaty] which Australia rightly regards as the cornerstone of the global non-proliferation and disarmament architecture”. The opposition Labor Party has pledged to sign and ratify the treaty if elected to government.

Friday, July 6, 2007

Australian police have questioned four more people in connection with the failed bombing attempts in London and Glasgow, seizing computers and other evidence in several raids.

The four being questioned are all doctors, working in hospitals in Perth and Kalgoorlie. They are reported to be of Indian origin, and have all been linked to the UK’s National Health Service. Two of the men arrested in the UK have similarly been linked to Western Australian hospitals, to which they had applied for jobs, receiving multiple rejections.

Police have been granted an extra 96 hours to question Mohammed Haneef, who was arrested at Brisbane International Airport on July 3. They will be examining several thousand files stored on Haneef’s laptop and a mobile telephone SIM card which had been left with a suspect.

Raids have also taken place in Cambridge, UK, at which four of the arrested suspects are believed to have lived and met in 2005.

The four men being questioned in Australia have not currently been placed under arrest, but are described as having links to the UK by the Federal Police Commissioner, Mick Keelty.

Monday, May 21, 2007

The Cutty Sark, one of the most famous historic sailing ships in the world, was seriously damaged by fire in the early hours of Monday morning, May 21, 2007. The 19th century ship, which is in dry dock in Greenwich, London, England, set a speed record during its working days, and has been a popular tourist attraction for many years.

The fire brigade was first called to the blaze on the tea clipper at 4:45 a.m. BST and reported that the flames had been extinguished by 7:00 a.m., but firefighters were still on the scene damping down at 8.30 a.m. The blaze was so intense that eight fire engines and 40 firefighters were sent to put out the fire. No injuries have been reported.

Cutty Sark Trust chief executive Richard Doughty said he was told the blaze was being treated as suspicious. “We’re losing history,” he lamented. “It’s unbelievable.” He went on: “When you lose the original fabric, you lose the touch of the craftsmen; you lose history itself. What is special about Cutty Sark is the timber, the iron frames, that went to the South China Sea. To think that is threatened in any way is unbelievable. It is an unimaginable shock.”

However, Doughty also confirmed that half of the ship’s planking, and all of the masts and rigging had been removed for renovations prior to the fire. The iron framework of the hull has been twisted and buckled.

The Chairman of Cutty Sark Enterprises, Chris Levitt, speaking later at the scene, said: “We had removed 50% of the planking, so 50% of the planking wasn’t on site and that’s safe and secure, and from where I stand there is not a huge amount of damage to the planking that was left on. There are pockets of charred planking and some have gone, but it doesn’t look as bad as first envisaged.”

Cutty Sark Trust curatorial consultant, Dr Eric Kentley was optimistic that the Ship is not completely devastated and can be saved. Speaking about the Cutty Sark, he said: “We will put her back together – but it’s going to take much much longer and a lot more money than we originally thought.”

The historic ship, one of London’s best known tourist attractions, has been in dry-dock in Greenwich since 1954. It is currently undergoing a £25 million renovation scheduled to last until 2009. It was feared that gas canisters used in the reconstruction work might explode in the blaze but the London Fire Brigade later confirmed that none were present, although concerns about the risk of explosion had caused some delay in tackling the fire. It is a Grade I listed monument and is on the Buildings At Risk Register in the UK.

Police believe the fire on board the ship may have begun in suspicious circumstances. They are studying CCTV footage which showed some movement around the ship in the early hours of the morning. They are appealing for witnesses who might have seen anyone near the ship or a silver car that was reported driving away from the scene.

The Cutty Sark was built in 1869 by Scott & Linton, Dumbarton in Scotland and completed by Dennys. It is the world’s last surviving tea clipper. Because the clippers were build of wood, but with a framework made of iron, they marked the transition from wood to iron. The windjammers that emerged some 30 years later were build completely of iron or steel.

The clippers were used in long-distance races between China and England, with large profits for the first ship back with the first tea of the year. The Cutty Sark sailed in the China trade between 1870 and 1877/78. She sailed in the Australian wool trade between 1883 and 1895, during which period she achieved the record breaking voyage under wind power between Australia and England via Cape Horn of 72 days in 1885.

The ship takes its name from a character in Burns‘ poem ‘Tam o’ Shanter.