Some of the stolen property recovered by police in Vaud and Valais
CANTON VALAIS, SWITZERLAND – A gang of 16 that had stolen some CHF650,000 in goods from homes in Valais, with similar levels of theft in cantons Vaud and Fribourg, has been dismantled, Valais police say.
Three members of the band were caught in March near Ollon, canton Vaud, and police in the three cantons worked closely together to uncover the rest of the group.
Those arrested, ages 20 to 38, are from Spain, Ecuador and Chile.
They worked by breaking into homes and stealing mainly cash, jewelry and electronic equipment, valued at CHF650,000.
In addition to the amount of the thefts, several thousand francs in damage were reported to police.
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Perth, in western Australia, became the latest victim of a cloud of ash from a volcano in Chile Wednesday, with the airport stopping flights as a precautionary measure, starting at 13:00 and lasting at least a day, with disruptions to international as well as national flights. Qantas, Virgin Australia and other airlines have been cancelling flights in and out of Australia and New Zealdn due to the ash from the volcano 9,000km away.
The disruptions to air travel throughout the country has many Australians puzzled, local media report: Puyehue volcano in southern Chile’s Andes mountains began erupting 4 June and shows no signs of a let-up, affecting air travel in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and southern Brazil, but also Australia.
The ash cloud takes about six days to reach Australia, but there are concerns that airlines will be hit just as families prepare for school holidays that start 1 July. The Meteorology Bureau in Australia notes that “Volcanic ash particles come in a range of sizes and while the biggest will fall to the ground quickly, very small particles take a long time to settle out of the atmosphere. This eruption ejected these small particles very high in the atmosphere, to a region of stronger winds known as the jet stream. The jet stream has then carried the ash particles great distances to the east.”
It is not unprecedented for volcanic ash to remain suspended for long time periods.
Perth’s situation is different from that on the east coast. “The base of the plume is at a lower level than the ash cloud that has disrupted air travel on Australia’s east coast, making it harder for pilots to fly around or below the danger,” reports the Sydney Morning Herald. “Airservices Australia spokesman Matt Wardell told AAP the plume approaching Perth covered a band between 15,000 and 35,000 feet (4.5km to 10.5km) and was approaching Perth from the southwest.
Links to other sites: Australian national weather service, The Age, Sydney Morning Herald
Government officials in Chile said Friday 15 April that Salvador Allende’s body will be exhumed in May as part of investigations into 726 cases of possible rights abuses after Allende fell from power in 1973. The former president committed suicide, according to the official record, shooting himself in the presidential palace, using a gun provided by his friend, Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
The cause of Allende’s death, as forces loyal to Augusto Pinochet took over the country, has been disputed by his followers and now his daughter, writer and Chilean senator, Isabel Allende, has requested that the body be exhumed to put to rest the question.
Pinochet ruled the country until 1990, leaving a legacy of autocratic rule and thousands of “disappeared” people. He was supported by the US, which opposed Marxist Allende’s rule.
Links to other sites: BBC, Calgary Herald, France 24, Santiago Times
A 7.1-magnitude earthquake has struck central Chile, frightening residents but causing no damage, according to initial reports. The quake’s epicentre was near the town of Tirua, about 600km south of Santiago, the capital, and struck in the afternoon 2 January. Residents immediately headed for higher ground fearing a repeat of last February’s tsunami that swept away several villages along the coast causing widespread destruction and loss of life.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawai did not issue a tsunami warning because, it said, the epicentre was on land and not at sea. Chilean geologists said the shock was an aftershock of last year’s tremblor and not a new earthquake.
Links to other sites: Bloomberg, LA Times, Ultimas Noticias (Spa)
(video, CNN) The 33 miners trapped some 700 metres underground for 69 days in Chile have all been brought safely to the surface in an extraordinary, lengthy rescue operation that is a rare post-disaster success in the mining world. Thousands of miners a year die in accidents, world-wide, mainly in developing countries. In the US, the number has fallen from about 3,000 a year in the 1920s to 30 on average in recent years.
The Chilean government has vowed to make mining safety a top priority and the company that owns the mine, accused of multiple safety violations in the past, has said it will cooperate fully with the government. The resuce operation cost an estimated $10-20 million, and “every peso was well spent,” Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera told the crowd at the scene.
Four of the 33 miners trapped since 5 August reached the surface by early Wednesday 13 October their time, pulled up in a capsule to a cheering crowd. The other 30 will now be rescued in small teams. Live streaming coverage is provided in English by the BBC and CNN. Their recovery period may be long, but the state of health of the first miners out appears to be relatively very good: they are walking, and talking and look fit. The miner were trapped when a section of the San Jose mines in the Atacama desert collapsed. All but one are Chilean, and the other is Bolivian.
A moderate 5.9-point magnitude earthquake has struck southern Peru, in the province of Puno, about 125km northwest of the city of Juliaca on the border with Cusco province. Damage and injuries have not been reported.
The earthquake was registered at 02:15 local time (+ 6h) early 13 September, and the US Geological Service (USGS) says the epicentre was 180km below the surface.
The region has been rocked by seismic activity in recent months, the latest a 6.1 magnitude earthquake in central Chile 9 September.
Links to other sites: El Comercio (Spa), Romandie News, USGS site
(video) The 33 miners trapped 2,300 feet underground since a cave-in 5 August in Chile have now received a second probe to deliver food, water, flashlights and other essentials. The country’s president, Sebastian Pinera, told reporters late Monday that he had seen the miners on a small camera sent down via a probe; the group sent up a note saying they were all alive and well.
Links to other sites: CNN, El Pais (Spa), Miami Herald
Chile’s President, Michelle Bachelet, has called for calm in the aftermath of the massive earthquake which struck Chile and warned armed looters that the full force of the law will be applied against them. Curfews were imposed in four cities 2 March, including the hardest-hit second city, Concepción, which is under an 18-hour curfew.
The government sent 7,000 additional troops to maintain order, in addition to the 10,000 already in place who are helping to restore order and with rescue efforts. About half a million people are homeless in Concepción and are more terrified of crime than of aftershocks.
Officials admitted the government had underestimated the dangers from tsunamis following the earthquake and is only now gauging the extent of the damage to coastal areas, the site of massive destruction and most of the almost 800 reported deaths. The stretch of coast 500 km north and south of the 8.8-maginitude earthquake’s epicentre was particularly affected.
The death toll from the 27 February earthquake in Chile has doubled to over 700, according to the country’s president, Michelle Bachelet, and the number is expected to keep rising. The airport in the capital, Santiago, has reopened, but the country is struggling to cope with disrupted transport, food shortages in hardest hit areas and looting.
Links to other sites: BBC, CS Monitor
Chile has been shaken by a midnight (06:34 GMT) earthquake that measured 8.8 on the Richter scale, say geologists in the US and China, who have upgraded their measurements of it. The earthquake was 1,000 times more powerful than the one that struck Haiti in January, experts said on CNN. The quake hit central Chile, 100km north of the city of Concepcion, and 350 from Santiago, the capital. The Chinese Earthquake Administration says it occurred at and “the epicenter was 35.8 degrees south latitude and 72.7 degrees west longitude, with a depth of 33 kilometers.” Sixty-four people are reported dead but numbers are expected to rise.
The airport in Santiago, which was was shaken for 90 minutes, is closed until further notice and according to the BBC, “Tsunami warnings have been issued for Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific island nations. Alerts were also earlier issued for Antarctica and Central America.”
Reuters updates and background
Links to other sites: BBC, New York Times, Sydney Morning Herald, Xinhua
Sebastian Pinera, a right-wing politician and billionaire, whose investments include the largest stake in Lan Airlines, has won a tight race for president in Chile. Former President Eduardo Frei, who ruled from 1994-2000, has conceded defeat. Pinera had more than 51 percent of the vote, with 60 percent of polling stations closed. The country’s current president, Michelle Bachelet,is barred from running for another term.
Thousands joined the cortege to rebury singer and filmmaker Victor Jara in Santiago, Chile Saturday 5 December, 36 years after his wife had to hastily bury him and flee the country. He was tortured and shot one week after Augusto Pinochet came to power in a coup against Salvatore Allende, in 1973. His murderers have never been named.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Nineteen countries have now secured their places in the Fifa World Cup finals to be held in South Africa in 2010 after the penultimate games in the qualification series. In the African group Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are through and six places are up for grabs. Australia, Japan and the two Koreas take the Asian places with one more team entering a playoff with New Zealand. Seven of the 13 European places are decided:
Flushing Meadows, New York (GenevaLunch) – Third seed Rafael Nadal showed he was in good form yesterday in the fourth round of the US open by beating Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 6-1 6-3, despite a reported intestinal problem, and after coming back from serious knee injuries earlier this year.
In the other matches 8 September at Flushing Meadows, Long Island, Croatia’s Marin Cilic beat Briton Andy Murray 7-5 6-2 6-2 to qualify for the quarter-finals; Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga from France 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3) 6-4, and Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro trounced Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3 6-3 6-3. BBC Sports, US Open site
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – After an emergency meeting early this afternoon the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the the A/H1N1 (swine) flu pandemic had entered its highest phase 6, denoting “sustained community-level outbreaks in at least two WHO regions.” In its latest update 10 June, WHO reported almost 28,000 confirmed cases of swine flu in 74 countries worldwide, with 141 deaths. Sudden spikes in confirmed cases in the past few days have been reported from widely-separated countries like Australia and Chile, prompting WHO concern.
