More than 600 firefighters are battling at least 26 serious wildfire outbreaks fanned by gusting winds in three separate areas of Portugal, officials said yesterday.
The civil protection authority said fires with several active fronts have flared up and are being fought near south-western Sintra, close to the northern border with Spain and in the central Serra da Estrela natural park.
Around 250 firefighters are focusing on the park, employing 76 fire engines and two helicopters, while just north of the beauty spot 180 are fighting more blazes, backed up by six water-spraying aircraft, the authority said in a statement.
Wildfires are common in Portugal during summer and almost 10,000 firefighters and 56 aircraft are on standby this year. Two firefighters died earlier this month. (PA)
Famine disaster warning in Niger
Niger is facing the worst hunger crisis in its history, with almost half the country’s population in desperate need of food and up to one in six children suffering from acute malnutrition, aid officials said yesterday.
Malek Triki, West Africa spokesman for the UN’s World Food Programme, said villagers in Niger are describing the situation as worse than in 2005, when aid organisations treated tens of thousands of children for malnutrition, and worse even than 1973, when thousands died. (PA)
Landslide kills five
Five children in Uganda died during a landslide that hit their home as they slept, an aid official said.
Regional Red Cross co-ordinator Kevin Nabutuwa said the landslide swept through the home early yesterday, burying the children – aged between three and 13 – as they slept in their beds.
Their parents were sleeping in another room and survived. The Bududa district, about 175 miles east of the capital Kampala, has already suffered deadly landslides this year. In March, 300 people died in another village after heavy rains. (PA)
Death warning over endangered animals
All of the animals at Indonesia’s largest zoo – many of them critically endangered – could be dead within five years unless strong action is taken to change the culture of neglect and corruption that permeates the facility, a zoo official said yesterday.
An endangered Sumatran tiger was found dead today in its cage at the Surabaya Zoo, spokesman Agus Supangkat said.
The remaining 13 Sumatran tigers are being kept in dirty, cramped cages and are also at great risk, said Tonny Sumampouw, the chairman of the country’s zoo association who has been tasked with overseeing the facility after the government took it over earlier this year. (PA)
Spy release questioned
The United Arab Emirates said it is seeking clarification from Germany on why it freed an alleged Israeli spy wanted in connection with the slaying of a Hamas operative in Dubai.
The suspect, known by the name Uri Brodsky, was released on bail by a German court yesterday. Brodsky is free to travel wherever he wants while judicial proceedings against him in Germany continue.
He is accused of illegally helping to procure a German passport used in connection with the January 19 killing of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, allegedly by a Mossad hit squad. (PA)
More milk tests
China will test a wider range of dairy products and even breast milk as authorities investigate claims that a brand of infant formula caused apparent breast growth in a small number of babies, an official newspaper reported.
It was the latest food safety scandal to shake China, which drew worldwide attention two years ago when more than 300,000 children were sickened and six died after drinking infant formula tainted by the industrial chemical melamine.
The Health Ministry is conducting quality tests on dairy products in the major cities of Beijing and Shanghai, the People’s Daily reported. (PA)
Aftershocks hit Pacific
A flurry of earthquakes as powerful as magnitude 6.3 struck in the Pacific Ocean off Guam yesterday, hours after a large quake hit the region.
The aftershocks were centred 370 km south of Guam, the same area as the powerful 7.2-magnitude quake that hit earlier in the day, according to the US Geological Survey.
In addition to the 6.3 quake, aftershocks hit with magnitudes of 4.6, 4.7, 5.0 and 5.2. None posed a tsunami threat, officials said. (PA)
Ex-army chief discharged
Sri Lanka’s president approved the dishonourable discharge of his former army chief and political rival today, a day after a military court convicted the general of involvement in politics while in service.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa confirmed that General Sarath Fonseka – who led Sri Lanka’s army in its victory last year against ethnic Tamil rebels, ending a quarter-century civil war that killed 80,000 to 100,000 people – would be stripped of his rank, medals and other military honours.
One-time allies, the pair were both considered heroes by the Sinhalese majority for crushing the Tamil rebels, but their relationship deteriorated after the hostilities ended and Mr Fonseka challenged Mr Rajapaksa in a presidential election. (PA)