Day: March 27, 2022

Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate from their homes near a Philippine volcano Saturday after an eruption sent ash and steam hundreds of meters into the sky.

Taal volcano, which sits in a lake south of Manila, exploded with a “short-lived” burst at 7:22 a.m. (2322 GMT), the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in a statement.

It warned further eruptions were possible, which it said could trigger dangerous, fast-moving volcanic flows of gas, ash and debris, as well as a tsunami.

The seismological agency “strongly” recommended residents living in vulnerable communities around the lake be evacuated, as it raised the alert level from two to three.

The initial eruption was followed by “nearly continuous phreatomagmatic activity” that sent plumes stretching 1,500 meters into the air.

A phreatomagmatic eruption happens when molten rock comes into contact with underground or surface water, said Princess Cosalan, a scientist at the agency, likening it to pouring “water on a hot pan.”

Cosalan told AFP that ash and steam emissions had quietened in the hours after the initial burst but said the institute’s on-site sensors continued to detect volcanic earthquakes and another eruption was “possible.”

“There is magmatic intrusion at the Main Crater that may further drive succeeding eruptions,” the agency warned.

Residents of five villages were ordered to leave their homes, regional civil defense spokesperson Kelvin John Reyes told AFP.

More than 12,000 people live in the settlements, according to the latest available official data.

Police have been deployed to stop people entering the high-risk areas.

Taal is one of the most active volcanoes in a nation hit periodically by eruptions and earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” — a zone of intense seismic activity.

Access to the volcano island, which was once home to a community of thousands, has been prohibited since January 2020.

That was when an eruption shot ash 15 kilometers high and spewed red-hot lava, crushing scores of homes, killing livestock and sending tens of thousands into shelters.

Last July, the seismological agency raised the alert level to three after Taal burst to life again.

It belched sulfur dioxide for several days, creating a thick haze over the capital and surrounding provinces.

The alert level was lowered back to two before Saturday’s eruption.

Source: Voice of America

The Solomon Islands has confirmed it is negotiating a security deal with China, which has caused alarm in neighboring Australia and New Zealand.

The Solomon Islands is located in the southwestern Pacific, about 2,000 miles northeast of Australia.

A draft official document emerged on social media Thursday. It details plans that could allow Beijing to send armed police and soldiers to the Pacific archipelago to “protect the safety of Chinese personnel and major projects in Solomon Islands.”

In Australia, there are fears that the agreement could lead to Beijing establishing a permanent military presence or bases in the Pacific Island country.

Australia and New Zealand have been the Solomon Islands’ traditional defense partners and aid donors.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne said she respected the Pacific island’s right to make sovereign decisions but was concerned “by any actions that undermine the stability and security of our region.”

New Zealand said the plan threatened to “destabilize” regional security.

Kevin Rudd, the former Australian prime minister and president of the Asia Society, an international nonprofit organization, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. that the possibility of a Chinese base in the Solomon Islands was worrying.

“In the history of Australia’s engagement with the Pacific Island states I think this is one of the most significant security developments that we have seen in decades. It is one which is adverse to Australia’s national security interests. When you have got a country as close to Australia’s own territorial shores as the Solomon Islands, this is a big change in Australia’s immediate strategic environment,” Rudd said.

The Solomon Islands government said it was “expanding” its security agreements with more countries and “diversifying … [its] … security partnership including with China.”

In 2019, authorities in Honiara, the Solomon Islands’ capital, set up formal diplomatic ties with Beijing after severing official links with Taiwan.

Australia has become increasingly wary of China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region and has increased its aid spending in recent years.

In February, the United States said it planned to reopen its embassy in the Solomon Islands because of concerns about China’s plans in the region.

Source: Voice of America

Recovery crews on Sunday found the second black box — the flight data recorder — from the wreckage of a China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 jet that crashed into a mountainside in southern China, state media reported.

Flight MU5735, with 132 people onboard, was en route from the southwestern city of Kunming to Guangzhou on the coast on Monday when it plummeted from cruising altitude at about the time when it should have started its landing descent.

There had been little hope of finding any survivors. In a late-night news conference on Saturday, officials announced that all of the people onboard, including nine crew members, have been confirmed dead.

The crash was the deadliest air disaster in mainland China since 1994, when a China Northwest Airlines flight from Xian to Guangzhou crashed, killing all 160 people on board.

The cause of the China Eastern crash remains unknown.

The other black box — the cockpit voice recorder — was found on Wednesday and has been sent to Beijing for examination by experts.

Source: Voice of America

Myanmar’s junta will “annihilate” coup opponents, army chief Min Aung Hlaing said Sunday as the military staged a show of force on the anniversary of its bloodiest crackdown so far on democracy protests.

The Southeast Asian country has been in chaos since a putsch in February 2021, with more than 1,700 people killed in crackdowns on dissent, according to a local monitoring group.

Across the country “People’s Defense Force” fighters — often armed with homemade or rudimentary weapons — clash regularly with junta troops, with some analysts suggesting the military has struggled to respond effectively to their hit-and-run tactics.

Fighting has also flared with more established ethnic rebel groups along the Thai and Chinese border.

Presiding over the annual parade that showcased tanks, truck-mounted missiles, artillery and troops on horseback, Min Aung Hlaing told some 8,000 assembled security personnel that the army would not let up.

The military will “no longer negotiate… and annihilate until the end” groups fighting to overturn its rule, he said ahead of the Armed Forces Day procession in the army-built capital Naypyidaw.

Jets flew overhead trailing the yellow, red and green of the national flag, while state media showed women lining the streets leading to the parade ground to give flowers and place garlands on the marching soldiers.

In commercial hub Yangon around a dozen anti-junta flashmob protesters set off flares and shouted slogans, according to footage posted on social media.

Others called on social media for residents to switch off their lights at home in a national “power strike” on Sunday evening.

Bloodiest day

Armed Forces Day commemorates the start of local resistance to the Japanese occupation during World War II, and usually features a military parade attended by foreign officers and diplomats.

Last year, as new junta chief Min Aung Hlaing inspected the parade, troops brutalized those protesting the coup that had ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government.

The violence was the bloodiest day so far in the military’s crackdown on democracy rallies and left around 160 protesters dead, according to a local monitoring group, as well as sparking widespread international condemnation.

The junta has become increasingly isolated, with Cambodian strongman Hun Sen the only foreign leader to visit since the putsch.

On Sunday, Min Aung Hlaing accused unnamed “foreign aggressors” of working against the military and called for the armed forces to remain united against “internal and external mischiefs.”

Russia’s vice defense minister — a major arms supplier and ally — had been due to attend this year’s parade but was unable to because of his “country’s affairs,” junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun added.

In February a U.N. expert on Myanmar said Russia — along with other major ally China — was continuing to supply the military with weapons, including fighter jets and armored vehicles.

In a joint statement on Armed Forces Day the European Union and the foreign ministers of 20 nations, including Australia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States, urged all countries to support the people of Myanmar by immediately stopping the sale or transfer of arms, military equipment, materiel, dual-use equipment, and technical assistance to Myanmar, in line with U.N. General Assembly Resolution A/RES/75/287.

The statement also called attention to those killed and displaced by the violence in Myanmar during the past year and reiterated a call on the military to cease its violence and restore Myanmar’s path to democracy.

The United States and Britain on Friday announced new sanctions against Myanmar’s army.

The new measures came days after Washington said it has concluded that the country’s military committed genocide against the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.

Source: Voice of America