Denda dikenakan kepada Chevron

Pemeliharaan alam sekitar perlu diperhebat supaya alam kita diami sekarang ini dapat dinikmati oleh generasi akan datang. Islam sendiri menganjurkan pemeliharaan kepada makhluk-makhluk Allah yang lain. Namun, ahli politik dunia nampaknya memandang enteng isu ini. Brazil telah mengenakan denda kepada syarikat minyak Chevron (US) atas pertumpahan minyak yang berlaku di perairan Brazil. Teruskan membaca..

Brazil has announced it is fining US oil company Chevron $28m (£17.9m) for causing an oil spill off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.

Chevron has accepted responsibility, saying it had underestimated the pressure of underwater oil deposits while drilling.

Brazilian Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said Chevron could face further fines if an investigation into the spill revealed more infractions.

Chevron says the leak has been plugged.

The head of Chevron's Brazil operation, George Buck, said the company had underestimated the pressure of underwater oil deposits while drilling, causing oil to rush up the bore hole and seep into the surrounding seabed.

Mr Buck said the leak had been plugged, but that there continued to be a residual oil flow from undersea rock near the well in the Frade oil project, 370km (230 miles) off the Brazilian coast.

'Serious accident'

According to Brazil's National Petroleum Agency (ANP), the leak released between 200 and 330 barrels a day at the height of the spill.

The head of the ANP, Haroldo, Lima said the accident was "serious, but not major".

He said there was "no comparison" between this spill and last year's disaster at BP's Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, where 11 people died and some 3,000 barrels a day were leaked.

Police environment experts have been trying to assess the scale of the latest spill.

They have also questioned the methods Chevron was using to clean up the spill.

Head of the Federal Police Environmental Division Fabio Scliar said the company was pushing the oil to the bottom of the sea, rather than gathering it, putting corals in the area at risk of pollution.

In recent years Brazil has discovered billions of barrels of oil in deep water that could make it one of the world's top five producers.

So far there has been little public debate about the environmental dangers of offshore drilling.

Political discussion has instead focused on how future oil revenues should be divided between different states.

Sumber: BBC News

Disediakan oleh : MUHAMMAD YUSRI BIN ABDUL AZIZ

Kempen UNHATE di Itali

ITALIAN clothes company Benetton has been forced to pull a controversial photo montage showing the Pope kissing a leading imam from its new global ad campaign after a Vatican backlash.

The company, which is no stranger to controversy over its advertising campaigns, said it was "sorry that the use of the image had so hurt the sensibilities of the faithful''.

The statement, issued yesterday, came shortly after the Vatican expressed "the firmest protest for this absolutely unacceptable use of the image of the Holy Father''.

Benetton's poster showed Pope Benedict XVI kissing on the lips Egypt's Ahmed el Tayyeb, imam of the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo and a leading voice in Sunni Islam.

It launched a new global advertising campaign called UNHATE that contained a series of photo montages of political and religious leaders kissing.

The company defended the campaign, saying its purpose "was solely to battle the culture of hate in all its forms''.

There were other shock pictures showing US President Barack Obama kissing Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in one picture and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez in another.

Benetton posters

French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel also formed part of the advertising campaign called unhate. Picture: AFP

Source: AFP

One picture showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu smooching Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas.

In another, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is depicted kissing German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

A picture of Silvio Berlusconi kissing Merkel was pulled at the last minute after the jovial billionaire submitted his resignation last week.

The Vatican strongly criticised the Benedict ad.

"We must express the firmest protest for this absolutely unacceptable use of the image of the Holy Father, manipulated and exploited in a publicity campaign with commercial ends,'' Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in a statement.

"This shows a grave lack of respect for the pope, an offence to the feelings of believers, a clear demonstration of how publicity can violate the basic rules of respect for people by attracting attention with provocation,'' he said.

The Vatican was examining what steps to take "to guarantee a fair defence of respect for the image of the Holy Father'', he added.

The posters appeared in Benetton clothing stores across the globe as well as in newspapers, magazines and on Internet websites.

The passionate embrace between the pope and the imam was briefly shown on a banner held up near Rome's landmark Castel Sant'Angelo castle not far from the Vatican.

Benetton deputy chief Alessandro Benetton said earlier in a statement that the ads were "constructive provocation'' intended "to give widespread visibility to an ideal notion of tolerance''.

Benetton "chooses social issues and actively promotes humanitarian causes that could not otherwise have been communicated on a global scale'', he said.

But Luca Borgomeo, head of the Association of Italian Catholic Television Viewers, called for the ad to be removed.

"Is it possible Benetton could not come up with anything better?'' he said.

The company, which became famous in the 1990s with a series of shocking ads, said it was also setting up a foundation to promote international tolerance.

"The central theme is the kiss, the most universal symbol of love, between world political and religious leaders,'' the company said.

One of the iconic Benetton ads - photographed by Oliviero Toscani - was of a young nun in white kissing a priest dressed in a black cassock, and others addressed important social issues such as AIDS and homosexuality.

Relations between the pope and the Al-Azhar imam, one of the leading voices in Sunni Islam, have been very tense particularly after Benedict expressed his solidarity with the victims of an attack on a Coptic church in Alexandria.

The statement was interpreted by Tayyeb as interference and he did not send a delegation to an inter-religious meeting hosted by Benedict last month.

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Semakin Surut

BANGKOK: Ibu negara Thailand, Bangkok kelihatan sudah mulai surut daripada banjir yang melanda beberapa wilayah dan sekitarnya di utara, tetapi arahan berpindah masih dikeluarkan setiap hari di daerah luar manakala penduduk masih lagi berhadapan dengan minggu-minggu yang sukar. 

Jabatan Saliran dan Pencegahan Bencana semalam berkata, seramai 562 penduduk maut dalam banjir yang melanda sejak Julai lalu dan sejumlah 22 daripada 77 wilayah di Thailand masih lagi terjejas.

Banjir mulai surut di beberapa bahagian di Bangkok, tetapi disifatkan masih lagi tinggi di tebing barat sungai Chao Phraya, yang mengalami air pasang besar di Teluk Thailand serta di timur ibu negara itu di mana pihak berkuasa mengalihkan aliran banjir dari utara untuk melindungi kawasan tengah Bangkok daripada tenggelam.

SOMALIA ONCALL

Somalia Oncall

Somalia,kenapa kita harus peduli?

     Sekurang-kurangnya 10 juta penduduk terjejas teruk akibat kemarau yang melanda kawasan tanduk Afrika dan setiap hari hampir 1,000 penduduk datang untuk mendapatkan bantuan di Kem pelarian Dadaab,timur Kenya.

     Seramai 1,300 anak-anak Somalia mati kebuluran setiap hari.Bayi yang berusia setahun pula hanya mempunyai fizikal seperti bayi yang baru dilahirkan.Bagi sesetengah ibu,mereka terpaksa membiarkan anak yang kekurangan gizi menunggu ajal demi menyelamatkan anak-anak mereka yang lain.Apa dipamerkan melalui gambar-gambar dan video di internet mahupun televisyen tidak sekali-kali dapat menggambarkan cerita sebenar penderitaan mereka.

     Sungguhpun bantuan kecemasan seperti ini adalah amat kritikal, kita seharusnya berfikir lebih jauh agar mereka tidak selama-lamanya bergantung hidup kepada bantuan luar. UNHCR berada di Dadaab sejak 21 tahun lalu, namun tempoh selama itu tidak merubah paradigma hidup pelarian Somalia. Maka lahirlah generasi pelarian yang hidup dengan hanya mengharapkan bantuan, sehinggakan kaum lelaki malas bekerja dan mengharapkan wanita menjalankan hampir seluruh urusan keluarga.

     Bagi UNHCR, mungkin senario ini bukan suatu masalah kerana urusan pelarian adalah tugas dan “perniagaan” asas mereka. Tetapi bagi kita masyarakat prihatin, terutama sekali kaum Muslimin, kita berhajat supaya pelarian Somalia ini mampu berdikari dan maju ke hadapan.Justeru,dana yang lebih besar diperlukan untuk melaksanakan misi ini.

Hulurkan bantuan,ringankan beban

“Perumpamaan orang yang menginfakkan hartanya di jalan Allah seperti sebutir biji yang menumbuhkan tujuh tangkai,pada setiap tangkai ada seratus biji.Allah melipatgandakan bagi siapa yang Dia kehendaki dan Allah Maha luas,Maha mengetahui”

Al-Baqarah ayat 261

Sabda Rasulullah.s.a.w:

"Sifat seorang mukmin dengan mukmin yang lain adalah seperti satu badan.Apabila satu anggota sakit,maka seluruh badan akan berjaga malam dan merasai demam"

     Penduduk Dadaab dan selatan Somalia adalah saudara seakidah kita. Jangan biarkan misi bantuan Talian Hayat Untuk Somalia ini terhenti di sini. Buktikan komitmen kita kepada ummah. Bantulah mereka, sekarang!dengan apa juga cara yang kita ‘mampu’.

::SOMALIA ONCALL::

BANJIR DI THAILAND MAKIN PULIH

Secara keseluruhan, situasi di Thailand semakin pulih dengan air mulai surut di kawasan utara dan tengah negara itu selepas berdepan banjir paling teruk dalam tempoh 5 dekad disebabkan monsun. 

Pusat Operasi Bantuan Banjir (FROC) menganggarkan kira-kira 5.5  juta meter padu limpahan air dari kedua- dua kawasan banjir bakal dialihkan ke Tasik Siam dalam tempoh 10 hari.

Pengarah FROC, Plodprasop Suraswadi berkata fokus ketika ini mangalihkan limpahan air sebelum air pasang yang tinggi akan berlaku pada 10 November dan 13 November ini.

Beliau berkata situasi banjir di Bangkok bertambah baik selepas berdepan limpahan air dan musim air pasang yang tinggi selama tiga hari yang berakhir semalam.

Bagaimanapun, Timbalan Gabenor Bangkok Thirachon Manomaipiboon memberi amaran bahawa seluruh Bangkok masih diletakkan dalam kedaan berjaga- jaga kerana masih terdapat bahaya ekoran limpahan air banjir yang melalui ibu negara tersebut sebelum masuk ke laut. 

Tinjauan mendapati kebanyakan kedai di ibu negara yang terletak di kawasan bertanah ,masih mengekalkan guni pasir dan tembok banjir sementara setinggi kira- kira 0.6 meter, yang dibina bagi melindungi  harta mereka daripada banjir.

Dilaporkan, kira- kira satu pertiga daripada Thailand masih digenangi air dengan lebih dua juta penduduk dan lebih daripada 10,000 kampung di 26 wilayah terjejas akibat banjir yang melanda negara itu secara berperingkat sejak 25 Julai lalu.Tanaman padi di sepanjang Sungai Chao Phraya habis tenggelam, musnah akibat banjir. Banjir ini telah menenggelamkan hampir 6 juta ekar tanah, di mana 1 juta ekar daripadanya merupakan tanah pertanian. Tanah runtuh juga berlaku terutama di wilayah Rayong di mana 2/3 kilang ditempatkan.

GEMPA BUMI DI TURKI

ANKARA – Gempa bumi berukuran 7.3 pada skala Richter menggegarkan timur Turki, pada 23 Oktober 13.41 waktu tempatan.

Dianggarkan antara 500 hingga 1,000 orang terbunuh selepas Stesen televisyen NTV melaporkan 10 bangunan runtuh dan banyak rumah ranap di wilayah Van di timur Turki akibat gempa itu diikuti dengan gegaran susulan berukuran 5.6 skala Richter selepas itu.

Datuk Bandar Van, Bekir Kaya berkata, gempa itu mencetuskan panik dan menyebabkan perkhidmatan telekomunikasi terputus. 

Kebanyakan bangunan runtuh di sepanjang jalan utama bandar dan kediaman. Kira-kira 200 banduan melarikan diri selepas dinding Penjara Van runtuh. Tetapi televisyen TRT melaporkan jumlah banduan yang lari adalah kecil dan yakin mereka akan kembali ke penjara.Lapangan terbang Van Ferit Melen turut terjejas.Menurut NTV, kapal terbang telah dialihkan ke negara jiran. Akhbar Anatolia melaporkan gempa bumi tidak mengganggu lalu lintas udara.

 _______________________________________________________________________

Di Erics, iaitu bandar berhampiran Van, yang paling teruk terjejas disebabkan gempa bumi. Menteri Dalam Negeri, Idris Naim Sahin berkata, seramai 120 orang maut di bandar ini dan 100 orang lagi terbunuh di bandar Van. Jumlah kematian tersebut dijangka terus meningkat.

Idris yang kini menyelia usaha mencari dan menyelamat di Erics berkata, 1,090 orang cedera manakala beratus-ratus lagi masih hilang.

Usaha menyelamat terganggu apabila bekalan elektrik terputus, ekoran kabel elektrik ke bandar dan kampung di kawasan padang rumput Anatolia berdekatan sempadan Iran rosak dalam kejadian itu.

Sementara itu, agensi bencana di pejabat Perdana Menteri Turki dalam satu kenyataan berkata, gempa tersebut menyebabkan banyak nyawa yang terkorban dan kemusnahan harta benda. Perdana Menteri, Recep Tayyip Erdogan berkata, jumlah orang yang terperangkap dalam runtuhan bangunan di bandar-bandar yang dilanda gempa bumi itu masih belum diketahui.

Beliau melahirkan kebimbangan bahawa keadaan lebih buruk akan berlaku ke atas penduduk yang tinggal di kawasan luar bandar.

''Bangunan di sana diperbuat daripada bata jemur, ia lebih mudah runtuh ekoran gempa bumi. Kemungkinan semua bangunan di sana runtuh dan musnah,'' ujarnya di Van semalam.