World 14 Ashburton Guardian
www.guardianonline.co.nz
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
■ AUSTRALIA
In brief
Bushfire ‘preventable’ Better liaison between NSW’s Rural Fire Service and the Department of Defence could have prevented an aggressive blaze from spreading after a botched military explosives exercise, an inquiry has heard. A commission of inquiry in Sydney is investigating the circumstances of a fire started by the exercise at Marrangaroo Training Area in Lithgow on October 16. The fire grew into the destructive State Mine blaze, which tore through more than 50,000 hectares and destroyed five houses, a Rural Fire Service (RFS) investigation found. RFS Deputy Commissioner Rob Rogers told the inquiry yesterday he didn’t know why a memorandum of understanding about how best to prevent fires in the area hadn’t been signed - but wasn’t sure it would have made much difference. He said the attendance of Defence representatives at meetings of the local bushfire management committee would have been more useful. Of 16 meetings, Defence personnel had only turned up to two, he said. Mr Rogers said given that the range had been listed as an “almost certain” fire risk in a local register, hazard reduction should have been a priority. “To be quite frank, if this was a state instrument we would probably serve notices on them,” he said. But Mr Rogers insisted it was the primary responsibility of the landowner - the Department of Defence - to prevent any blazes breaking out of their property, with the RFS on stand-by to assist if needed. Regulations also banned ac-
Sixteen people have been killed in a clash in China’s restive far western region of Xinjiang, home to the mostly Muslim Uighur ethnic minority, state media reports. Police attempting to detain criminal suspects in Shufu county near Kashgar were attacked by several “thugs” armed with explosive devices and knives, reported the Tianshannet news portal, which is run by the Xinjiang government. Two police officers were killed and 14 of the “thugs” shot dead on Sunday, it said. Two criminal suspects were detained, it added. The incident comes six weeks after a fiery attack in Tiananmen Square, when according to Chinese police three Xinjiang Uighurs set their vehicle ablaze after ploughing into crowds of tourists, killing two people and injuring 40. - AFP
Scissors killer jailed
This year saw some massively destructive fires sweep through New South Wales.
tivities like training exercises after October 1, unless a permit was granted, he said. But such regulations do not extend to Commonwealth land. “Commonwealth land in general is problematic,” he told the inquiry. The deputy commissioner added he “felt sorry” for the first respondents to the fire, who travelled in a ute with a 500-litre water tank, agreeing with RFS Lithgow Superintendent Greg Wardle that a 2000-litre truck would have been more suitable. Mr Rogers said a blanket ban on RFS volunteers enter-
ing the training area to fight fires because of the danger of unexploded ordnance could be reviewed, with parts of the site deemed to be safe marked out. Better communication between the RFS, Defence and the Bureau of Meteorology to measure and predict the fire danger at Marrangaroo would also be beneficial in the future, he added. Superintendent Wardle told the inquiry there had been an overemphasis on planning, rather than enacting, prevention measures “from Defence’s point of view”. He agreed with counsel as-
sisting the inquiry, Lieutenant Colonel David Jordan, that a “thick and weighty” bushfire plan had been prepared by consultants. But he said this remained an unapproved draft because the RFS opposed the suggestion it be the primary respondent should a fire break out. The inquiry has heard that hazard reduction had not taken place at the site for almost two decades - despite an RFS recommendation two years earlier to have it done. The hearing continues before former Sydney judge John O’Meally. - AAP
■ KOREA
Flurry of appearances for Kim Jong-Un North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un spent a whirlwind weekend making public appearances across the country which analysts say were intended to demonstrate his firm grip on power following the shock execution of his uncle. In an unusual flurry of visits, since Saturday the official Korean Central News Agency has reported on Kim’s “field guidance” trips to a military design centre, a luxury ski resort and a military fish warehouse, as well as attending the wake for a late senior party official. Photos of his latest trip to the
China clash kills 16
fish warehouse reported yesterday showed Kim smiling while walking with top military officials who accompanied him. He “couldn’t hold back joy or stop smiling” after being told fish production had grown dramatically this year, KCNA said, adding he had sent a handwritten thank-you letter to the manager of the facility. “(Kim) smiled radiantly looking at the warehouse packed with stacks of fish, saying it looked like an ammunition depot full of artillery,” it said. Kim was reported on Sunday to have visited the Masik Pass
Ski Resort under construction in the northeast to check progress on his famed pet project. The trips came just days after the shock execution on Thursday of Kim’s powerful uncle and political mentor, Jang Songthaek. Jang, who married a powerful sister of late leader Kim Jong-Il, was accused of plotting a coup and embezzling state funds, among other charges. The purge marked the biggest political upheaval since Kim Jong-Un, aged abuot 30, took power after the death of his father two years ago. - AFP
North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un
A NSW man who stabbed his second cousin in the neck with a pair of scissors has been jailed for at least three-and-a-half years for manslaughter. Sentencing Randall Scott Bugmy, 27, to a maximum seven years jail in the Supreme Court at Broken Hill yesterday, Acting Justice Graham Barr found Bugmy’s victim may not have died if he had co-operated with hospital staff after he was wounded. Bugmy stabbed his second cousin, Roy Johnson, three times during a fight at a home in Broken Hill on February 25 last year. The court heard the pair usually got on well, but Mr Johnson attacked Bugmy during a drinking session after their mothers started brawling. - AAP
New Chilean president Socialist Michelle Bachelet has swept into office as Chile’s next president, on a platform of narrowing the gap between rich and poor. “Chile, now, finally, the time has come to carry out the changes,” Bachelet told cheering supporters in Santiago shortly after her landslide win, joined by her children and mother Angela Jeria. Bachelet, 62, takes office on March 11 to succeed conservative billionaire President Sebastian Pinera for a term running until 2018. This is an “historic” moment for Chile, Bachelet said, because “it has decided that this is the time to carry out far-reaching reforms” such as free post-secondary education, raising taxes and adopting a new, more modern constitution. - AFP
22 dead in bus crash Twenty-two people were killed when a commuter bus plunged from an elevated highway onto a van in Philippine capital Manila, police have said, warning that the death toll could rise. Twenty of those who died in the accident in the sprawling city were on board the bus, with the other two fatalities from the van, traffic investigator Jose Abuyog said. “It (the death toll) could go even higher,” as some of the injured are in serious condition, he told AFP, adding that the cause of the accident was still being determined. In 2011, three people were killed and four injured when a bus fell from the same elevated highway. - AFP