World News 07-01-2005 The Sorrow and The Pity who: UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan what: Calls on world nations to make good on their pledges to tsunami relief effort where: Jakarta when: Yesterday snippet: "World leaders have pledged to set up an Indian Ocean early warning system which could save lives in the event of a repeat of Asia`s devastating tsunami," reports the BBC. "A declaration at the end of the aid conference in Indonesia also urges the UN to mobilise the international community for the relief effort." While remarking mournfully that the past 11 days had been "the darkest in our lifetime," United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan told delegates at a summit in Jakarta that the worldwide efforts to aid the stricken nations had created a "new kind of light" and effectively challenged governments - who have pledged about $5.5 billion so far - to put their money where their mouth is. Mr Annan is not the only one who sees a glimmer of hope in amongst the gloom. As relief supplies began to arrive in Sumatra, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and elsewhere, US secretary of state Colin Powell went to Phuket in Thailand with Jeb Bush, the governor of Florida, and said he hoped Muslim cynics would observe "American generosity, American values in action". And amid the horror there are of course a handful of heartwarming "miracle" stories. The Times reported the story of 20 year-old Rizal Shahputra, who was swept 100 miles out to sea clinging to a tree but survived for eight days until he was eventually rescued by a passing cargo ship. Similarly, the BBC reports that Malawati, a pregnant Indonesian woman in her early 20s, clung to a sago palm and survived for five days eating its fruit and bark. But most of the news is not so happy. In Sri Lanka, aid work has been hampered by the worst monsoon rains in 35 years. In Banda Aceh, Indonesia, where survivors were desperate for aid, the only airport had to be shut down for 17 hours when a planeload of relief supplies collided into a herd of cows. The papers are full of individual stories of loss, including a few celebrities - TV gardener Charlie Dimmock made the front page of The Sun on Wednesday after news broke that her mum was thought to be among the dead. Back home, The Mirror gave its front page to the story of sickening hoaxer Christopher Pierson, who appeared before Horseferry Road magistrates court in London and pleaded guilty to charges of public nuisance and malicious communication. Posing as a British Foreign Office official in Thailand, the 40 year-old father of three had sent 35 emails "telling anxious relatives their missing loved ones had been killed". As ever, the true death toll continues to climb so fast the newspapers cannot keep up. On Tuesday it was 140,000; by Friday morning, Sky News reported 159,445. And on Thursday the World Health Organisation warned that injury, infection and disease could ultimately cause that figure to double. On Tuesday, 40 Britons had been confirmed dead and another 159 were believed "highly likely" to have perished. Three days later, Britain`s foreign secretary Jack Straw, visiting Phuket, announced that 49 British citizens had been confirmed dead, about three-quarters of them in Thailand, with another 391 "very likely" to join their ranks. [... more]

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