International

Tajikistan said Friday that two of its citizens were killed and 10 injured during overnight clashes at its contested border with Kyrgyzstan, where a ceasefire is now in place. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan said they had reached a ceasefire early Friday following the latest lethal flare up at the pair's contested border. The violence that broke out Thursday evening was the bloodiest escalation between the countries since clashes that killed dozens last year. The Kyrgyz and Tajik frontier communities regularly clash over land and water supplies, with border guards often involved. As a result of the latest conflict, "10 people were injured on the Tajik side, of which six were servicemen and four were civilians," Tajikistan's national security committee said in a statement. Tajikistan added that the two dead were a man born in 1986 "killed by a mortar shell fired by Kyrgyz soldiers into his yard" and an ambulance driver born in 1964. Following the overnight clashes, Kyrgyzstan's national security committee said Friday that it had reached an agreement for "a complete ceasefire" with Tajikistan during a meeting at the border between provincial governors and border service representatives. The neighbours also agreed to withdraw forces, coordinate patrols of the frontier and ensure the flow of traffic along a strategic road that passes between both countries. Tajikistan, a closed authoritarian country, confirmed the agreement several hours later. "At present, the situation on the state border of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan is stable, the causes and factors of the border conflict are being studied by a joint commission of the relevant structures of both parties," a statement from the Tajik national security committee said. Asia Plus, a private Tajik news agency, reported that as many as 17 Tajiks had been injured. Kyrgyzstan's health ministry said Friday that at least eleven of its citizens were being treated for moderately serious injuries. Close to 1,500 Kyrgyz citizens were evacuated from villages near where the conflict took place at the intersection of Sughd province and Kyrgyzstan's southwestern Batken province, the emergencies ministry said. Last year's violence between the two militaries was unprecedented, leaving more than 50 people dead and raising fears of a wider conflict. Almost half of the pair's 970-kilometre-long border is disputed and progress on delimitation in recent years has been glacial.

Hong Kong may only reopen in early 2024 because of its stringent Covid-19 policies, which could trigger an exodus of foreign firms and staff and jeopardise its role as a financial hub, the city's European Chamber of Commerce said in a draft report. The limited effectiveness of locally developed vaccines is forcing mainland China to maintain tight restrictions on travel, the chamber said in the draft, which was reviewed by Reuters but has not been made public. The European Chamber of Commerce declined to comment on the report. The most likely scenario for Hong Kong would be that it would not reopen until China rolls out its mRNA vaccine across its 1.4 billion population, which could take until late 2023 or early 2024, it said. If that was the case, the chamber said there was a risk of a "cascade effect" of firms leaving the Asian financial hub. "We anticipate an exodus of foreigners, probably the largest than Hong Kong has ever seen, and one of the largest in absolute terms from any city in the region in recent history," it said. While Hong Kong has succeeded in keeping the virus under control for much of 2021, it has become one of the world’s most isolated places because of its travel restrictions and intermittent lockdowns that have accelerated a brain drain from the former British colony. Hong Kong saw a surge of infections in January, which authorities have struggled to control. Given the scenario, multinational firms would increasingly relocate China-focused teams to the mainland or shift their Asian regional teams to Singapore or Seoul, the chamber said. Hong Kong could lose its appeal as an international business hub as well as its potential to contribute to China's economy. The departure of international talent could also undermine the city's "potential to maintain world class universities", it said.   FASTER VACCINES, SHORTER QUARANTINE Unlike the mainland, Hong Kong is dependent on business travellers and imported goods. Its role as one of the world’s main transhipment and passenger hubs has been drastically curtailed by tough flight restrictions, which mean very few people are allowed to land and hardly anyone is allowed to transit. In contrast, the rival financial hub of Singapore has eased its coronavirus curbs including border controls. Only about 70% of people in Hong Kong have been double-vaccinated compared with 91% of Singapore's eligible population. Most of Hong Kong's elderly people have not been vaccinated. The chamber outlined other scenarios of "average likelihood" including the possibility of an uncontrolled outbreak in the mainland leading to Hong Kong sealing its boundary with China and reopening with the rest of the world. Another scenario was an uncontrolled outbreak in Hong Kong, which would made any additional restrictions meaningless. This could cause up to 20,000 deaths among the elderly. The chamber made recommendations to the government including accelerating vaccinations and shortening quarantine from 21 days to 7 to 14 days, which would please the international business community. Foreign businesses should assume that Hong Kong would very likely be "semi-closed for international travel in the coming 12-36 months". Talent, and holding on to it, would be "a precious commodity", it said.

•  Hun Sen pressed to hold generals to agreement •  Myanmar breakdown a setback for Asean image • Malaysia PM: Suu Kyi, political detainees must be freed Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen yesterday confirmed he had invited Myanmar’s junta chief to a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), on the condition he makes progress on a peace plan he agreed to last year. Hun Sen, the Asean chair, said he would talk to military chief Min Aung Hlaing by video link, noting that since their Jan 7 meeting in Myanmar, ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi had been sentenced to four years’ detention and military aircraft had been deployed in operations. Min Aung Hlaing led a coup in Myanmar last year and Asean made a surprise move in barring his junta from key meetings over its failure to honour a five-point Asean “consensus” that included ceasing hostilities and allowing dialogue. “He (Hun Sen) said that he had invited Min Aung Hlaing to attend the Asean summit if there was progress in the implementation of the five points agreed unanimously,” said a statement on Hun Sen’s Facebook page, summarising a call with Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob. “But if not, he must send a non-political representative to Asean meetings.” As new chair of Asesan, Cambodia has indicated it wants to engage not isolate the junta, but Hun Sen has been pressed by several Asean leaders, including those of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, not to give way on the agreement, which is backed by the United Nations and United States. The overthrow of Suu Kyi’s elected government in Myanmar has been a setback for Asean and its efforts to present itself as a credible and integrated bloc. Hun Sen’s Myanmar visit caused concern within the group that it could suggest Asean recognition of the generals, who have overseen a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy forces. Fissures have been exposed over the Myanmar issue and Hun Sen last week took a swipe at Malaysia’s foreign minister, calling him arrogant for voicing concern about him meeting the junta chief. The Asean consensus includes halting offensives and granting full access to a special Asean envoy to all parties in the conflict. Malaysian leader Ismail Sabri told Hun Sen there was an urgent need to de-escalate the Myanmar situation and release Suu Kyi and all political prisoners, according to a foreign ministry statement.

US President Joe Biden was caught on a live microphone Monday calling a Fox News journalist a "stupid son of a b*t*h" on the sidelines of a White House photo op. As journalists were leaving the room after the event, a reporter from Fox News, the favourite channel of conservatives, asked whether inflation is a political liability. The Democratic leader, possibly unaware that his microphone was still on, began by deadpanning: "It's a great asset. More inflation."  And then muttered, "What a stupid son of a b*t*h," before glancing briefly down. A pool reporter who was in the room at the time admitted to not being able to hear what Biden actually said over the noise. But he added that he would "direct your attention to video of the event if you are curious how the president really feels about being asked about inflation from Fox's Peter Doocy." Doocy shrugged the insult off in a later interview on Fox. "Yeah nobody has fact-checked him yet and said it's not true," he said, nonchalantly. Doocy later said that Biden called him within the hour and said: "It's nothing personal, pal." When Biden has gaffed before the White House has rushed to explain or roll back his comments. But this time, the White House appeared to have no qualms about owning it, putting out a transcript of the event that included the comment -- thereby ensuring it passes into the official historical record. "Just adds a certain something," tweeted Katie Rogers, White House correspondent for the New York Times, with a screen grab of the transcript.

The following is a summary of some recent studies on Covid-19. They include research that warrants further study to corroborate the findings and that has yet to be certified by peer review.   Omicron survives longer on plastic and skin The Omicron variant can survive longer than earlier versions of the coronavirus on plastic surfaces and human skin, Japanese researchers found in laboratory tests. Its high "environmental stability" - its ability to remain infectious - might have helped Omicron replace Delta as the dominant variant and spread rapidly, they said. On plastic surfaces, average survival times of the original strain and the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta variants were 56 hours, 191.3 hours, 156.6 hours, 59.3 hours, and 114.0 hours, respectively. That compared to 193.5 hours for Omicron, the researchers reported on bioRxiv ahead of peer review. On skin samples from cadavers, average virus survival times were 8.6 hours for the original version, 19.6 hours for Alpha, 19.1 hours for Beta, 11.0 hours Gamma, 16.8 hours for Delta and 21.1 hours for Omicron. On skin, all of the variants were completely inactivated by 15 seconds of exposure to alcohol-based hand sanitizers. "Therefore," the researchers conclude, "it is highly recommended that current infection control (hand hygiene) practices use disinfectants... as proposed by the World Health Organization."   Nose swabbing best for rapid antigen tests Users of rapid antigen tests to detect Covid-19 should swab their nostrils as directed by the manufacturer and not swab the throat or cheek instead, new research shows. Earlier this month, with Omicron accounting for nearly all coronavirus infections in San Francisco, researchers there performed both PCR and Abbott Laboratories' (ABT.N) BinaxNOW rapid antigen test on 731 people requesting Covid-19 tests. Nasal swabbing "detected over 95% of persons with the highest levels of virus who are most likely contagious," said Dr. Diane Havlir of the University of California, San Francisco. In 115 volunteers with positive PCR tests, her team compared BinaxNOW results using swab samples from the nose and the throat obtained by trained professionals. Throat swabs detected nearly 40% fewer cases than nose swabs, they reported on medRxiv ahead of peer review. A separate study from Spain, also posted on medRxiv, found that swabbing the inside of the cheek also is far less reliable than nostril swabbing for detecting infectious virus. Recent studies had suggested that Omicron is detectable earlier in the throat than in the nose, leading some experts to advise users to swab the throat, although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration maintained the tests should be used as directed. "These data support using BinaxNOW from nasal swabs as directed on the package," Havlir said. "Repeat rapid testing is recommended for those with negative BinaxNOW rapid tests and symptoms or an exposure" to an infected person.   Long-term care facilities hit less hard by Omicron Even the highly vulnerable residents of long-term care facilities are generally experiencing less severe disease from Omicron than from earlier versions of the coronavirus, according to new data. Researchers in England compared hospitalization rates in residents of 333 facilities before and after the Omicron variant became dominant. Among 398 residents infected prior to the emergence of Omicron, 10.8% required hospitalization, compared with 4% of 1,241 infected with Omicron. The average age of infected residents was 85 years. After accounting for other risk factors, the odds of hospitalization were 50% lower for infected patients in the Omicron period, the researchers reported on Sunday on medRxiv ahead of peer review. While most facility residents had been vaccinated and about 10% had been previously infected, the reduction in relative risk of hospitalization between the pre-Omicron and Omicron periods was greatest among Omicron-infected patients who had received vaccine booster doses, at 77%. The researchers have also seen fewer deaths from Covid-19 in the Omicron period, although they said it was too soon to draw firm conclusions about the variant's effect of mortality. "Overall," they conclude, "the markedly decreased severity combined with high vaccination uptake and prior natural infection can be expected to significantly limit the impact of the current wave of Omicron infections on hospitalisations and deaths in residents of long-term care facilities."

The Tonga volcanic eruption unleashed explosive forces that dwarfed the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, NASA scientists have said, as survivors on Monday described how the devastating Pacific blast "messed up our brains". The NASA Earth Observatory said the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano spewed debris as high as 40 kilometres into the atmosphere during the January 15 eruption that triggered huge tsunami waves. "We think the amount of energy released by the eruption was equivalent to somewhere between five to 30 megatons (five to 30 million tonnes) of TNT," NASA scientist Jim Garvin said in a press release. NASA said the eruption was hundreds of times stronger than the US atomic bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in August 1945, which was estimated to be about 15 kilotons (15,000 tonnes) of TNT. The agency said the eruption "obliterated" the volcanic island about 65 kilometres north of the Tongan capital Nuku'alofa. It blanketed the island kingdom of about 100,000 in a layer of toxic ash, poisoning drinking water, destroying crops and completely wiping out at least two villages. It also claimed at least three lives in Tonga and resulted in the drowning deaths of two beachgoers in Peru after freak waves hit the South American country. Peruvian authorities have declared an environmental disaster after the waves hit an oil tanker offloading near Lima, creating a huge slick along the coast. In Tonga, the scale of destruction remains unclear after communications to remote islands were knocked out. Nuku'alofa-based journalist Mary Lyn Fonua said locals were still coming to terms with the scale of the disaster. "It's so beyond what anyone here has ever experienced," she told AFP. "The shockwave from the eruption just messed up our brains, we're just starting to return to normal now." Fonua said the coating of fine grey grime covering everything was proving difficult to live with and raising concerns about long-term health issues. "It gets everywhere," she said. "It irritates your eyes, you get sores in the corner of your mouth, everyone has blackened fingernails -- we look like a grubby lot. "We need a good tropical deluge to wash everything away." Japanese, New Zealand and Australian defence forces have started delivering urgent relief supplies, particularly water, while maintaining strict Covid-19 protocols to preserve Tonga's virus-free status.

Twitter has suspended hundreds of accounts reportedly linked to supporters of Philippine presidential frontrunner Ferdinand Marcos Jr, which the social media giant said had violated its rules on manipulation and spam. The son and namesake of the country’s former dictator is drawing support from a massive social media campaign seeking to get him elected in May, which critics say is attempting to rewrite the family’s history. Twitter said it had reviewed the accounts and hashtags identified in a recent article by Philippine news site Rappler. More than 300 accounts had been removed “for violating our platform manipulation and spam policy,” Twitter said in a statement sent to AFP Saturday. Most of them had been taken down before the Rappler article was published on Tuesday and an investigation was ongoing, it said.  Filipinos are among the world’s heaviest users of social media and the country has become a key battleground for fake news. “With the Philippine elections taking place this May, we remain vigilant about identifying and eliminating suspected information campaigns targeting election conversations,” Twitter said. Marcos Jr’s spokesman Vic Rodriguez said there was “no certainty” that all the suspended accounts belonged to supporters of the presidential hopeful. Election victory for Marcos Jr would mark the ultimate political comeback for the family, which was chased into exile in the United States after its patriarch’s humiliating downfall in 1986. Marcos Sr and his wife Imelda were accused of massive corruption while in power. Recent voter surveys show Marcos Jr holding a huge lead over his nearest rival and nemesis Leni Robredo, who is the incumbent vice president. Rappler said Marcos Jr supporters were “looking to dominate Twitter” and that many of the accounts it investigated were created around the time he announced his bid for the presidency in October. The accounts pushed the narrative that the Marcoses were “victims” of the 1986 revolt and their return to Malacanang presidential palace is “long overdue”, it added. Twitter said sharing political content on an account or rallying people do so via hashtags was allowed, “unless the accounts are inauthentic, compensated or automated, which we see no clear evidence of in this case.” Last Monday, the social media giant said it was expanding a test feature that will allow users in Brazil, Spain and the Philippines to report misleading content.

Tongans said they were determined to rebuild their battered homeland in the wake of last week’s devastating eruption and tsunami as a massive clean up continued yesterday in the Pacific kingdom. The powerful eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano last Saturday triggered a tsunami that crashed across the Tongan archipelago, affecting more than 80% of the population, according to the United Nations. Toxic ash polluted drinking water supplies, crops were destroyed and at least two villages have been completely wiped out. Delivering humanitarian supplies remains a challenge after the undersea cables connecting Tonga to the rest of the world were severed. But Tongan journalist Marian Kupu said most locals are adamant on remaining as the huge recovery efforts began. “We want to stay here in our country because this is what identifies us as Tongans. We want to rebuild our country and unite and move on,” Kupu told AFP. An estimated one cubic kilometre of material blasted from the volcano, and experts expect Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai to remain active “for weeks to months”. “Tonga’s people are going to need sustained support responding to a disaster of this scale,” Sione Hufanga, the United Nations Co-ordination Specialist in Tonga said. “The people of Tonga are still overwhelmed with the magnitude of the disaster.” Tonga ranks third on the World Risk Report, which measures countries on their susceptibility to experiencing natural disasters. Despite the risk, Kupu said most Tongans wanted to stay. “It’s this feeling of pride that we have here, that we don’t want to leave the country we were born and raised in,” she said. One survivor from the island of Atata, which was flattened by the tsunami, told her he would return to the island even after the devastation, she added. “He explained he wished to go back because his parents are buried there, he was born there and his life is there. “He wished the government or anybody would help rebuild his little island so he could go back.” Japanese, New Zealand and Australian defence forces have started delivering urgent relief supplies, particularly water, to Tonga but an Australian minister said fears of unleashing a “Covid crisis” were complicating aid efforts. Tonga is Covid-free and has strict border control policies, requiring contactless delivery of aid, and a three week quarantine period for any humanitarian personnel who wish to enter the country. “It’s a very, very difficult time for the people of Tonga,” Australia’s international development minister Zed Seselja said, but added: “We respect absolutely the desire of the Tongan government not to add a Covid crisis to a humanitarian crisis caused by a tsunami.” Yesterday, a Japanese plane brought potable water to the kingdom, Kyodo News reported, with three other aircraft and a transport vessel carrying high-pressure cleaners expected soon. Meanwhile, a third New Zealand navy vessel carrying helicopters, water, tarpaulins, milk powder and engineering equipment is on its way to Tonga and is expected early next week. Defence Minister Peeni Henare said all deliveries will be contactless in accordance with Tonga’s Covid-19 protocols. The Tongan government has called the dual eruption-tsunami “an unprecedented disaster” and declared a nearly one-month national emergency. The eruption broke a vital undersea communications cable, and it is expected to be at least a month before all communication services are fully restored. In the meantime, partial communications has been established, although mobile network provider Digicel said the high number of calls to the island was producing delays. Relief supplies are unloaded from Japan Self-Defence Forces’ C-130 Hercules after the airplane arrived at Fua’amotu International Airport in Tonga yesterday.

• New Zealand ship brings 250,000 litres of water • Australian, New Zealand ships due in coming days • UN says Tonga has asked for urgent assistance • Astronaut saw volcanic ash from space Life-saving water supplies from a New Zealand navy ship were distributed across Tonga’s main island yesterday, as other countries battled the logistics of delivering aid to one of the world’s remotest communities. Six days after the South Pacific archipelago was devastated by a volcanic eruption and tsunami that deposited a blanket of ash and polluted its water sources, the HMNZS Aotearoa docked in the capital, Nuku’alofa. The ship carried 250,000 litres of water and desalination equipment able to produce 70,000 litres more per day, New Zealand’s High Commission said. “Trucks ... have begun collecting and delivering water supplies from Aotearoa,” the Commission said on its Facebook page. The first flights from Australia and New Zealand landed on Thursday with some water as well as shelter, communication equipment and generators. On Thursday, an Australian flight was forced to return to base because of a positive Covid-19 case onboard, while yesterday technical problems delayed one of two Japanese C-130 transporters carrying 5,000 litres of drinking water, Japan’s Self-Defence Forces said. Underlining the complexity of mounting a contactless international aid operation to one of the few countries free of Covid-19, the Australian plane was turned around mid-flight after PCR tests showed a positive result, an Australian defence spokeswoman told Reuters. All crew had earlier returned negative rapid antigen tests, she said. The supplies were moved to another flight that took off on Friday. The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano eruption last Saturday triggered a tsunami that destroyed villages and resorts and knocked out communications for the nation of about 105,000 people. Three people have been reported killed, authorities said. The salt water from the tsunami spoiled most sources of water and Tongans have been struggling to find clean water as they clear away the ash. “We are cleaning the ash and have been since Monday,” said Branko Sugar, 61, who runs a bottle shop and fishing charter business from Nuku’alofa. “Everything is so dusty, and we are running out of water,” he said over a patchy telephone line. “We only have the tap water, and it’s been contaminated. We... can hardly breathe for all the dust.” Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center has said the force of the eruption was estimated to be equivalent to 5-10 megatons of TNT, or more than 500 times that of the nuclear bomb the United States dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima at the end of World War II. Astronaut Kayla Barron said she could see the volcanic ash in the atmosphere from the International Space Station.  “I opened the window shutter to see if we could see any effects of the eruption, and saw this dramatic, high-altitude plume blocking out the sun,” Barron said on Facebook. Nasa released photographs showing a huge grey smudge over the blue Pacific. United Nations spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told a briefing Tonga had asked for urgent assistance. “We remain seriously concerned about access to safe water for 50,000 people ... Water quality testing continues, and most people are relying on bottled water,” he said, speaking before the Aotearoa arrived. Dujarric said there were reports of fuel shortages, while some 60,000 Tongans have been affected by damage to crops, livestock and fisheries due to ashfall, saltwater intrusion and the potential for acid rain. Many have turned to social media to post images of the destruction by the tsunami and give accounts of their shock after the massive explosion, while tales of incredible escapes from the disaster have also emerged. Sea-borne assistance was also en route for the archipelago. Australia’s HMAS Adelaide was due in Tonga next week after leaving Brisbane. Reliance, a repair ship due to reconnect the undersea cable that links Tonga to international telecoms networks, left its Port Moresby mooring and was expected in Tonga on Jan. 30, according to Refinitiv data on shipping movements. The Reliance’s operator, SubCom, did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for confirmation. Telephone links between Tonga and the outside world were reconnected late on Wednesday, although restoring full Internet services is expected to take a month or more. Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk asked in a post on Twitter if Tongans would like help from his Starlink project, which provides Internet connection through satellites.

Israeli police evicted a Palestinian family from their home in a flashpoint East Jerusalem neighbourhood yesterday before a digger tore down the property, prompting criticism from rights activists and diplomats. Resident Mahmoud Salhiyeh took to the roof of the house in Sheikh Jarrah on Monday, threatening to blow it up with gas canisters if he and his family — who he said have lived there for decades — were forced out. Family members and activists maintained a vigil inside and on top of the building until armed police cleared the site before dawn yesterday. A mechanical digger then demolished the property, leaving behind a mound of rubble and personal effects that was removed some hours later. Police said several people were arrested “on suspicion of violating a court order, violent fortification and disturbing public order.” Jerusalem municipal authorities had expropriated the plot on which the house stood, which lies in a tree-lined area of East Jerusalem north of the Old City walls that Israel captured and occupied in a war in 1967 and later annexed. Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital, but Palestinians claim the east of the city as the capital of a future state. Mohamed Salhiyeh, a relative, said he had been unable to contact Mahmoud or anyone else who lived in the house. “Their phones are all off, we can’t reach them,” he told Reuters. He said the evicted family had made no plans to relocate. Police and the Jerusalem municipality said the family had been given “countless opportunities” to hand over the land since an evacuation order was served in 2017. It said authorities were enforcing a court-approved eviction order of “illegal buildings built on grounds designated for a school”. Sheikh Jarrah has seen clashes between Jewish settlers and Palestinian families facing eviction, turning it into an emblem of what Palestinians regard as an Israeli campaign to force them out of East Jerusalem. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called yesterday’s demolition a “war crime” and urged Washington the United States to “compel the government of the Israeli occupation to stop the policy of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people, according to a statement published by the official WAFA news agency. One international activist who watched the early morning demolition said: “I am devastated. You see livelihoods being destroyed in front of your eyes.” The site is across from the British Consulate in East Jerusalem, which said on Monday that evictions in occupied territory, in all but the most exceptional circumstances, were against international humanitarian law. It urged the Israeli government to “cease such practices which only serve to increase tensions on the ground.”

Tonga's small outer islands suffered extensive damage from a massive volcanic eruption and tsunami, with an entire village destroyed and many buildings missing, a Tongan diplomat said on Tuesday, raising fears of more deaths and injuries. "People panic, people run and get injuries. Possibly there will be more deaths and we just pray that is not the case," Tonga’s deputy head of mission in Australia, Curtis Tu’ihalangingie, told Reuters. Tu’ihalangingie said images taken by New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) reconnaissance flights showed "alarming" scenes of a village destroyed on Mango island and buildings missing on nearby Atata island. Tonga police told the New Zealand High Commission that the confirmed death toll stood at two but with communications in the South Pacific island nation cut, the true extent of casualties was not clear. Australia's Minister for the Pacific Zed Seselja said Tongan officials were hoping to evacuate people from the isolated, low-lying Ha'apai islands group and other outer islands where conditions were "very tough, we understand, with many houses being destroyed in the tsunami". The United Nations had earlier reported a distress signal was detected in Ha'apai, where Mango is located. The Tongan navy reported the area was hit by waves estimated to be 5-10 metres (15-30 feet) high, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Atata and Mango are between about 50 and 70 km from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano, which sent tsunami waves across the Pacific Ocean and was heard some 2,300 km (1,430 miles) away in New Zealand when it erupted on Saturday. Atata has a population of about 100 people and Mango around 50 people. "It is very alarming to see the wave possibly went through Atata from one end to the other," said Tu’ihalangingie. The NZDF images, which were posted unofficially on a Facebook site and confirmed by Tu’ihalangingie, also showed tarpaulins being used as shelter on Mango island. British national Angela Glover, 50, was killed in the tsunami as she tried to rescue the dogs she looked after at a rescue shelter, her brother said, the first known death in the disaster.   CLEARING THE RUNWAY A thick layer of ash blankets the islands, the aerial images provided to Tonga by New Zealand and Australia showed. The archipelago's main airport, Fua’amotu International Airport, was not damaged in Saturday's eruption and tsunami but heavy ashfall is preventing full operations, hampering international relief efforts. The U.N. humanitarian office said Tongan officials had said that clearing the runway would take days, as it was being done manually, with the earliest opening Wednesday. People on the west coast of the main island of Tongatapu had been evacuated because of "significant damage", OCHA added in an update, while government ministers had broadcast warnings on radio against price gouging amid worries of supply shortages. The New Zealand's foreign ministry said two ships, HMNZS Wellington and HMNZS Aotearoa, had departed New Zealand carrying bulk water supplies, survey teams and a helicopter. Tonga is expected to set out its formal requests for aid today, said Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne. C-130 flights from Australia could deliver humanitarian assistance including water purification supplies, she said, while the HMAS Adelaide, which would take five days to arrive by sea, was ready to carry engineering and medical personnel and helicopter support for distribution. "The impact not just of the inundation, but of the extraordinary volume of ash which is covering everything, plus the communications issues, of course, makes this very difficult," she said. International mobile phone network provider Digicel has set up an interim system on the main island using the University of South Pacific’s satellite dish, New Zealand said. ANZ said the bank's Nuku’alofa branch is open for limited services, although clean water supply and communication were a major challenge for the bank.   CUT CABLE The archipelago has remained largely cut off from the world since the eruption which cut its main undersea communications cable. Subcom, a U.S. based private company contracted to repair various subsea cables in the Asia-Pacific, said it was working with Tonga Cable Ltd to repair the cable that runs from Tonga to Fiji. Samiuela Fonua, the chair of Tonga Cable, said there were two cuts in the undersea cable that would not be fixed until volcanic activity ceased, allowing repair crews access. "The condition of the site is still pretty messy at the moment," Fonua told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. The island of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai, which sits on the seismically active Pacific Ring of Fire, all but disappeared following the blast, according to satellite images taken about 12 hours later, making it difficult for volcanologists to monitor activity. Tonga is a kingdom of 176 islands, of which 36 are inhabited, with a population of 104,494 people.

* Australia, NZ send reconnaissance flights to Tonga * Red Cross says scale of devastation could be immense * One British woman missing * Ash clouds from eruption moving towards NZ, Australia Australia and New Zealand sent surveillance flights on Monday to assess damage in Tonga, isolated from the rest of the world after the eruption of a volcano that triggered a tsunami and blanketed the Pacific island with ash. Australia's Minister for the Pacific Zed Seselja said initial reports suggested no mass casualties from Saturday's eruption and tsunami but Australian police had visited beaches and reported significant damage with "houses thrown around". "We know there is some significant damage, and know there is significant damage to resorts," he said in an interview with an Australian radio station, adding that Tonga's airport appeared to be in relatively good condition. One British woman was reported missing, he said. Tonga's deputy head of mission in Australia, Curtis Tu'ihalangingie, said the surveillance flights were expected to return on Monday evening. He asked for patience as Tonga's government decides its priorities for aid. Tonga is concerned about the risk of aid deliveries spreading Covid-19 to the island, which is Covid-free. "We don't want to bring in another wave - a tsunami of Covid-19," he told Reuters by telephone. "When people see such a huge explosion they want to help," he said, but added Tonga diplomats were also concerned by some private fundraising efforts and urged the public to wait until a disaster relief fund was announced. Any aid delivered to Tonga would need to be quarantined, and it was likely no foreign personnel would be allowed to disembark aircraft, he said. The eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano triggered a tsunami on the shores of Tonga and cut off phone and internet lines for the entire island. International communication has been severely hampered by damage to an undersea cable, which could take more than a week to restore, he said. Tonga's cabinet was meeting to decide what help was most urgently needed. Telephone networks in Tonga have been restored but ash was posing a major health concern, contaminating drinking water. "Most people are not aware the ash is toxic and bad for them to breath and they have to wear a mask," Tu'ihalangingie said. The Ha’atafu Beach Resort, on the Hihifo peninsula, 21 km west of the capital Nuku’alofa, was "completely wiped out”, the owners said on Facebook. The family that manages the resort had run for their lives through the bush to escape the tsunami, it said. "The whole western coastline has been completely destroyed along with Kanukupolu village,” the resort said. British woman Angela Glover was missing after she was washed away by a wave when she and her husband, James, who own the Happy Sailor Tattoo in Nuku'alofa, had gone to get their dogs. The husband managed to hold onto a tree but his wife, who runs a dog rescue shelter, and their dogs were swept away, New Zealand state broadcaster TVNZ reported. The Red Cross said it was mobilising its regional network to respond to what it called the worst volcanic eruption the Pacific has experienced in decades. Katie Greenwood, the Pacific Head of Delegation for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies told Reuters up to 80,000 people could have been affected by the tsunami. Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai has erupted regularly over the past few decades but the impact of Saturday's eruption was felt as far away as Fiji, New Zealand, the United States and Japan. Two people drowned off a beach in Northern Peru due to high waves caused by the tsunami. More than a day after the eruption, countries thousands of kilometres to the west have volcanic ash clouds over them, New Zealand forecaster WeatherWatch said. Early data suggests the eruption was the biggest blast since Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines 30 years ago, New Zealand-based volcanologist Shane Cronin told Radio New Zealand. "This is an eruption best witnessed from space," Cronin said.

Tsunami-hit Tonga remained largely uncontactable on Sunday with telephone and internet links severed, leaving relatives in faraway New Zealand praying for their families on the Pacific islands as casualty reports had yet to come through. An underwater volcano off Tonga erupted on Saturday, triggering warnings of 1.2-metre tsunami waves and evacuation orders on the shores of Tonga as well as several South Pacific islands, where footage on social media showed waves crashing into coastal homes. Internet and phone lines went down at about 6.40 p.m. local time on Saturday, leaving the 105,000 residents on the islands virtually uncontactable. There are no official reports of injuries or deaths in Tonga as yet although communications are limited and contact has not been established with coastal areas beyond the capital Nuku'alofa, Jacinda Ardern the Prime Minister of New Zealand told a news conference on Sunday. Tonga, an island nation with around 105,000 residents, lies 2,383 kilometres northeast of New Zealand. "Nuku'alofa is covered in thick plumes of volcanic dust but otherwise conditions are calm and stable," Ardern said. "We have not yet received news from other coastal areas," she said. Satellite images captured the volcanic eruption on Saturday as the explosion sent plumes of smoke into the air and about 12 miles above the sea level. The sky over Tonga was darkened by the ash. Concerns were growing among the Tongan community in New Zealand, desperate to make contact with their families back home. Some churches organised community prayers in Auckland and other cities. "We pray God will help our country at this sad moment. We hope everybody is safe," Maikeli Atiola, the Secretary of the Wesleyan Church of Tonga in Auckland said, Radio New Zealand reported. Ardern said the main undersea communications cable has been impacted, likely due to loss of power. Power was being restored in some areas on the islands and local mobile phones were slowly starting to work, she addedd. Official damage assessments were not yet available, she said. But Ardern said the New Zealand high commission in Nuku'alofa had said the tsunami has damaged boats, shops and other infrastructure. An Australian government spokesperson said initial assessments are still underway but Australia is ready to provide support to Tonga if requested. The Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha'apai volcano has erupted regularly over the past few decades but Saturday's eruption was so loud that residents parts of faraway Fiji and New Zealand said they heard it. "My entire house was shaking," said Sanya Ruggiero, a Consulting Communications Advisor based in Suva, the capital of Fiji, some 750 kms from Tonga. "My doors, windows were all rattling like hell. And mine was not even as bad as others. Hundreds of people ran out of their homes," said Ruggiero, who consults for several agencies including the United Nations. Rumblings and eruptions from the volcano continued to be heard through the night, Ruggiero said. Hundreds of people were moved to evacuation centres in Suva. Fiji Airways had to cancel all its flights due to the ash clouds. "This is the worst disaster Tonga has had in living memory and the recovery from this is going to take years," Ruggiero said. Experts said the ash fallout could contaminate drinking water and cause respiratory issues. "Help will be needed to restore drinking water supplies. People of Tonga must also remain vigilant for further eruptions and especially tsunami with short notice and should avoid low lying areas," said Shane Cronin, professor at the School of Environment, University of Auckland. The eruptions triggered tsunami warnings across the Pacific, with the United States urging people on its Pacific coastline to stay away from the shores and Australia's New South Wales region closing beaches. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese citizens were advised to evacuate as waves of more than a metre hit coastal areas.

Frightened Tongans fled to higher ground yesterday after a massive volcanic eruption – heard in neighbouring countries – triggered tsunami warnings across the South Pacific. “A 1.2m tsunami wave has been observed at Nuku’alofa,” Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology tweeted. The latest eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano came just a few hours after a separate Friday tsunami warning was lifted due to the eruption. Mere Taufa said she was in her house getting ready for dinner when the volcano erupted. “It was massive, the ground shook, our house was shaking. It came in waves. My younger brother thought bombs were exploding nearby,” Taufa told the Stuff news website. She said water filled their home minutes later and she saw the wall of a neighbouring house collapse. “We just knew straight away it was a tsunami. Just water gushing into our home. “You could just hear screams everywhere, people screaming for safety, for everyone to get to higher ground.” Tonga’s King Tupou VI was reported to have been evacuated from the Royal Palace in Nuku’alofa and taken by a police convoy to a villa well away from the coastline. The initial eruption lasted at least eight minutes and sent plumes of gas, ash and smoke several kilometres into the air.  Residents in coastal areas were urged to head for higher ground. The eruption was so intense it was heard as “loud thunder sounds” in Fiji more than 800km away, officials in Suva said. Fijian officials warned residents to cover water collection tanks in case of acidic rain fall. Victorina Kioa of the Tonga Public Service Commission said Friday that people should “keep away from areas of warning which are low-lying coastal areas, reefs and beaches”. The head of Tonga Geological Services Taaniela Kula urged people to stay indoors, wear a mask if they were outside and cover rainwater reservoirs and rainwater harvesting systems. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a “tsunami advisory” for American Samoa, saying there was a threat of “sea level fluctuations and strong ocean currents that could be a hazard along beaches”. Similar warnings were issued by authorities in New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu and Australia – where authorities said a swathe of coastline including Sydney could be hit by tsunami waves.

Frightened Tongans fled to higher ground Saturday after a massive volcanic eruption sent tsunami waves crashing onto the South Pacific island and triggered warnings as far as the US West Coast. Dramatic images from space showed the moment the latest eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai sent a mushroom of smoke and ash into the air and a shockwave across the surrounding waters. A tsunami wave measuring four feet was observed in Tonga's capital Nuku'alofa, according to Australia's Bureau of Meteorology. Local resident Mere Taufa said she was in her house getting ready for dinner when the undersea volcano erupted -- sending water surging into her home. "It was massive, the ground shook, our house was shaking. It came in waves. My younger brother thought bombs were exploding nearby," Taufa told the Stuff news website. She said water filled their home minutes later and she saw the wall of a neighbouring house collapse. "We just knew straight away it was a tsunami. Just water gushing into our home. "You could just hear screams everywhere, people screaming for safety, for everyone to get to higher ground." Tonga's King Tupou VI was reported to have been evacuated from the Royal Palace in Nuku'alofa and taken by police convoy to a villa well away from the coastline. The volcano's eruption lasted at least eight minutes and sent plumes of gas, ash and smoke several kilometres into the air. Residents in coastal areas were urged to head for higher ground following the eruption -- which came just a few hours after a previous tsunami warning was lifted on the island. The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano sits on an uninhabited island about 65 kilometres north of the Tongan capital Nuku'alofa. Its latest eruption was so intense it was heard as "loud thunder sounds" in Fiji more than 800 kilometres away, according to officials in Suva City -- where images shared on social media showed large waves hitting the coast. Tsunami warnings were issued for American Samoa, New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu, Chile and Australia -- where authorities said a swathe of coastline, including Sydney, could be hit by tsunami waves. People in surrounding New South Wales state were "advised to get out of the water and move away from the immediate water's edge". A tsunami warning was issued for the entire US West Coast -- from the bottom of California to the tip of Alaska's Aleutian islands -- while tsunami waves triggered "minor flooding" in Hawaii according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. "Move off the beach and out of harbors and marinas in these areas," advised the US National Weather Service, which predicted waves of up to two feet, strong rip currents and coastal flooding. Fijian officials warned residents to cover water collection tanks in case of acidic rain fall. Victorina Kioa of the Tonga Public Service Commission said Friday that people should "keep away from areas of warning which are low-lying coastal areas, reefs and beaches". The head of Tonga Geological Services, Taaniela Kula, urged people to stay indoors, wear a mask if they were outside and cover rainwater reservoirs and rainwater harvesting systems.

Frightened Tongans fled to higher ground Saturday after a massive volcanic eruption -- heard in neighbouring countries -- triggered tsunami warnings across the South Pacific. "A 1.2 metre tsunami wave has been observed at Nuku'alofa," Australia's Bureau of Meteorology tweeted.  The latest eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano came just a few hours after a separate Friday tsunami warning was lifted due to the eruption. Mere Taufa said she was in her house getting ready for dinner when the volcano erupted. "It was massive, the ground shook, our house was shaking. It came in waves. My younger brother thought bombs were exploding nearby," Taufa told the Stuff news website. She said water filled their home minutes later and she saw the wall of a neighbouring house collapse. "We just knew straight away it was a tsunami. Just water gushing into our home. "You could just hear screams everywhere, people screaming for safety, for everyone to get to higher ground." Tonga's King Tupou VI was reported to have been evacuated from the Royal Palace in Nuku'alofa and taken by a police convoy to a villa well away from the coastline. The initial eruption lasted at least eight minutes and sent plumes of gas, ash and smoke several kilometres into the air.  Residents in coastal areas were urged to head for higher ground.  The eruption was so intense it was heard as "loud thunder sounds" in Fiji more than 800 kilometres (500 miles) away, officials in Suva said. Fijian officials warned residents to cover water collection tanks in case of acidic rain fall. Victorina Kioa of the Tonga Public Service Commission said Friday that people should "keep away from areas of warning which are low-lying coastal areas, reefs and beaches". The head of Tonga Geological Services Taaniela Kula urged people to stay indoors, wear a mask if they were outside and cover rainwater reservoirs and rainwater harvesting systems. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a "tsunami advisory" for American Samoa, saying there was a threat of "sea level fluctuations and strong ocean currents that could be a hazard along beaches". Similar warnings were issued by authorities in New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu and Australia -- where authorities said a swathe of coastline including Sydney could be hit by tsunami waves. People in surrounding New South Wales state were "advised to get out of the water and move away from the immediate water's edge". The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai volcano sits on an uninhabited island about 65 kilometres (40 miles) north of the Tongan capital Nuku'alofa.

More than 150 people have died and almost 6,000 have been arrested in Kazakhstan following violent riots in Central Asia's largest country this week, media reported Sunday citing the health ministry. The energy-rich nation of 19 million people has been rocked by a week of upheaval, with a number of foreigners detained over the unrest. At least 164 people were killed in the riots, including 103 in the largest city Almaty, which saw some of the fiercest clashes between protesters and security forces. The new figures -- which have not been independently verified -- mark a drastic increase in the death toll. Officials previously said 26 "armed criminals" had been killed and that 16 security officers had died. In total, 5,800 people have been detained for questioning, the presidency said in a statement on Sunday. The figures included "a substantial number of foreign nationals", it said without elaborating. "The situation has stabilised in all regions of the country," even if security forces were continuing "clean-up" operations, the statement added after President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev held a crisis meeting. Fuel price rises sparked the unrest that broke out a week ago in the country's west but quickly spread to large cities, including the economic hub Almaty, where riots erupted and police opened fire using live rounds. The interior ministry, quoted Sunday by local media, put property damage at around 175 million euros ($199 million). More than 100 businesses and banks were attacked and looted and more than 400 vehicles destroyed, the ministry reportedly said. A relative calm appeared to have returned to Almaty, with police sometimes firing shots into the air to stop people approaching the city's central square, an AFP correspondent said. Supermarkets were reopening on Sunday, media reported, amid fears of food shortages. Kazakhstan said Saturday its former security chief had been arrested for suspected treason. News of the detention of Karim Masimov, a former prime minister and longtime ally of Kazakhstan's ex-leader Nursultan Nazarbayev, came amid speculation of a power struggle in the ex-Soviet nation. The domestic intelligence agency, the National Security Committee (KNB), announced Masimov had been detained on Thursday on suspicion of high treason. The arrest came after protests turned into widespread violence, with government buildings in Almaty stormed and set ablaze. Masimov, 56, was fired at the height of the unrest on Wednesday, when Tokayev also took over from Nazarbayev as head of the powerful security council. Nazarbayev's spokesman Aidos Ukibay on Sunday again denied rumours the ex-president had left the country and said he supported the president. Ukibay added that Nazarbayev voluntarily ceded control of the security council. In a hardline address to the nation on Friday, Tokayev said 20,000 "armed bandits" had attacked Almaty and authorised his forces to shoot to kill without warning. Much of the public anger appeared directed at Nazarbayev, who is 81 and had ruled Kazakhstan since 1989 before handing over power. Many protesters shouted "old man out!" in reference to Nazarbayev, and a statue of him was torn down in the southern city of Taldykorgan. Critics accuse him and his family of staying in control behind the scenes and accumulating vast wealth at the expense of ordinary citizens. The full picture of the chaos has often been unclear, with widespread disruptions to communications including days-long internet shutdowns. Flights into the country have been repeatedly cancelled and Almaty's airport will remain closed "until the situation is stabilised", authorities said Sunday. Pope Francis spoke of his "sorrow" and called for dialogue to achieve peace in his Angelus prayer on Sunday. Tokayev has thanked the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) for sending troops to help deal with the unrest. The CSTO has been dispatching several thousand troops to Kazakhstan, including Russian paratroopers, who have secured strategic sites. Tokayev says the deployment will be temporary, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Friday that Kazakhstan may have trouble getting them out. "I think one lesson in recent history is that once Russians are in your house, it's sometimes very difficult to get them to leave," Blinken told reporters. Tensions between Moscow and the West are at post-Cold War highs over fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine, with talks between Russia and the US to take place in Geneva on Monday, after a working dinner on Sunday evening. Russia has ruled out any concessions at the talks. "We will not agree to any concession. That is completely excluded," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Sunday.

Kazakhstan's president on Friday rejected calls for talks with protesters after days of unprecedented unrest, vowing to destroy "armed bandits" and authorising his forces to shoot to kill without warning. In a hardline address to the nation, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev also gave "special thanks" to Russian President Vladimir Putin after a Moscow-led military alliance sent troops to Kazakhstan to help quell the violence.  Security forces had blocked off strategic areas of Almaty -- the country's largest city and epicentre of the recent violence -- and were firing into the air if anyone approached, an AFP correspondent said. Elsewhere the city was like a ghost town, with banks, supermarkets and restaurants closed. The few small shops still open were fast running out of food. Late Friday, the United States authorised its non-emergency consulate personnel, and the family members of all staff, to leave the country. Tokayev, in his third televised address this week, said order had mostly been restored. "Terrorists continue to damage property... and use weapons against civilians. I have given the order to law enforcement to shoot to kill without warning," he said. He ridiculed calls from abroad for negotiations as "nonsense". "We are dealing with armed and trained bandits, both local and foreign. With bandits and terrorists. So they must be destroyed. This will be done shortly." Western countries have called for restraint on all sides and respect for people's right to protest peacefully. China's President Xi Jinping however praised Tokayev for taking "strong measures". - Unclear picture -   Long seen as one of the most stable of the ex-Soviet republics of Central Asia, energy-rich Kazakhstan is facing its biggest crisis in decades. The initial cause of the protests was a spike in prices for compressed gas in the country's western energy heartland but a government move to lower the prices failed to stop demonstrations continuing. The violence erupted late Tuesday, when police fired tear gas and stun grenades at a thousands-strong protest in Almaty. The next day protesters stormed government buildings including the city administration headquarters and presidential residence, setting them ablaze, and a nationwide state of emergency was declared.  The interior ministry said 26 "armed criminals" had been killed in the unrest.  It said 18 security officers had been killed and more than 740 wounded, and more than 3,800 people detained. The numbers could not be independently verified and there was no official information about casualties among civilian bystanders. The full picture of the chaos has often been unclear, with widespread disruptions to communications including mobile phone signals and hours-long internet shutdowns. - Russian paratroopers land -   Most flights into the country have been cancelled, and Russian news agencies quoted Almaty airport officials saying it would be closed to all but military flights until Sunday. On Wednesday Tokayev appealed for help from the Russia-dominated Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO). Russia's defence ministry said Friday nine planes carrying paratroopers and hardware had landed in Almaty and Russian forces had helped to secure the airport. It is not clear how many troops are being sent in the force -- which includes units from ex-Soviet states Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan -- but media in Moscow have said the Russian contingent is expected to number less than 5,000.  Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies the Russian leader and Tokayev had spoken several times in recent days to discuss "the situation in Kazakhstan and joint actions within the framework of the CSTO". - 'Democracy is not permissiveness' -   Tokayev said Almaty had been under assault from "20,000 bandits" with a "clear plan of attack, coordination of actions and high combat readiness". He blamed "so-called free media" and unnamed foreign figures for instigating the violence, adding: "Democracy is not permissiveness." Tokayev has announced several moves to head off the unrest, including the resignation of the cabinet and six-month fuel price limits. The protests are the biggest threat so far to the regime established by Kazakhstan's founding president Nursultan Nazarbayev, who stepped down in 2019 and hand-picked Tokayev as his successor.  Much of the anger appeared directed at Nazarbayev, who is 81 and had ruled Kazakhstan since 1989 before handing over power. Many protesters shouted "Old Man Out!" in reference to Nazarbayev, and a statue of him was torn down in the southern city of Taldykorgan. Critics have accused him and his family of staying in control behind the scenes and accumulating vast wealth at the expense of ordinary citizens. The ex-president has not made an appearance since the start of the crisis and there were unconfirmed reports of him and members of his family fleeing the country. However, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko held a phone call with Nazarbayev to "discuss" events in Kazakhstan, Belarusian news agency Belta reported on Friday evening citing Lukashenko's press service.

The former head of Kazakhstan's domestic intelligence agency has been detained on suspicion of high treason, the agency said Saturday, after he was fired amid violent protests. The National Security Committee, or KNB, said in a statement that its former chief Karim Masimov had been detained on Thursday after it launched an investigation into charges of high treason. "On January 6 of this year the National Security Committee launched a pre-trial investigation into high treason," the statement said. "On the same day, on suspicion of committing this crime, former chairman of the KNB K.K. Masimov was detained and placed in a temporary detention centre, along with others." Masimov, a close ally of Kazakhstan's founding president Nursultan Nazarbayev, was sacked from his post as head of the KNB this week after protesters in Kazakhstan's largest city Almaty stormed government buildings. 

About 24,000 people have been evacuated and two children killed in floods on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, officials said yesterday, with environmental campaigners blaming deforestation for worsening the disaster.  Torrential rains have hammered the island for days, causing rivers to burst their banks and sending water levels surging in residential areas, the national disaster agency said.  “We experience flooding at least five to eight times a year - but (this) is one of the most severe,” said Muzakkir, from Pirak Timur in hard-hit Aceh province, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. Syarifuddin, from the village of Lhok Sukon in Aceh, said the “floodwaters just kept rising -- at my house, they are up to my chest”.  The province is where the evacuations and deaths have occurred, as well as some buildings been destroyed by fast-moving floodwaters and agricultural land damaged. Jambi province on Sumatra was also hard hit, with many homes flooded. Environmental NGO Walhi said the flooding was worsened by deforestation to make way for Sumatra’s expansive palm oil plantations.  Trees act as natural defences against floods, slowing the rate at which water runs down hills and into rivers. Logging on higher ground was having a particularly damaging impact in Aceh, said Ahmad Shalihin from Walhi. Neighbouring Malaysia has also been hard hit by flooding since last month, and thousands more people have been forced to flee their homes in recent days amid new downpours.  The number of people evacuated to government shelters stood at around 13,000 on Tuesday, with the states of Johor, Malacca and Sabah the worst affected.  But the numbers have fallen considerably from a peak of around 70,000 in mid-December, when Malaysia saw its worst floods for years. About 50 people have been killed so far in the floods nationwide, according to police.  Flooding and landslides are common in both Southeast Asian countries during the months-long rainy season.