Hong Kong Police Break Up Bomb Plot
CURNOW: Well, welcome back to the International Desk. I'm Robyn Curnow. Well, it's a national day of mourning in Georgia after heavy rains and flooding killed at least 12 people over the weekend. Now, several others are still missing. Buildings the in the capitol have been damaged, and there's been extensive damage to roadways as well, but the biggest threat now may be from the hundreds of zoo animals that escaped when the floods destroyed their cages. Well, Matthew Chance joins us now from Moscow with that part of the story. Hi there. I mean, these images have been extraordinary, a hippo in Tbilisi. But what's being done about it? I mean, clearly trying to round up these animals is pretty hard.</s>MATTHEW CHANCE: Yeah. It's really difficult. And to give you an idea of the size of the problem that the Georgian authorities are having to deal with. There were 600 animals in the Tbilisi Zoo. Half of them have gone missing. They're either dead or they've escaped into the high ground or the outskirts of the city or they're hiding in buildings. You may remember that photograph of the bear that was perched on a window ledge halfway up a block of flats, a block of apartments, in Tbilisi. It just gives you an indication of the kind animals, very dangerous animals. There are lions, and tigers, and wolves. One man reported finding a hyena on his balcony, and so these extraordinary -- seeing the incredible images that came out today of a crocodile, giant thing, being dragged out of the mud and recaptured by zoo keepers in Tbilisi, so some extremely dangerous animals out there that obviously still pose an enormous threat to the citizens of Georgia and to the residents of Tbilisi, and so it's a very dangerous situation, the devastation caused by the flood was bad enough, but you add into that mix these, you know, very, you know, dangerous, vicious animals, and it makes it all the worse, of course.</s>CURNOW: The question is, clearly, the zoo has been destroyed, so even if you catch them, what do you do with them?</s>CHANCE: Yeah. Well, the zoo has been flooded. There are some areas, obviously, I expect that are still usable. In fact, the hippopotamus, I understand, has been put back into the zoo compound, and so it's a relatively territory, and there is areas that have been inundated, and areas that are still usable. One of the problems at the moment, of course, is that people are going out there with hunting rifles, and killing the animals that could otherwise be recaptured. That's something that the authorities have commented on. There's even been a suggestion by one Georgian official, that some of the animals may have been killed in an unauthorized way. For instance, there was a very rare white tiger -- white lion, sorry, inside Tbilisi Zoo. It was like the centerpiece, their main attraction inside the zoo, and it is been found dead with a bullet in its head, but, actually, inside the zoo compound. It hadn't even apparently escaped, and so that's something the authorities are now going to be looking into.</s>CURNOW: Matthew Chance, thank you for updating us on that story, appreciate it. Well, police in Hong Kong have arrested nine people on charges of conspiracy to manufacturer explosives. Now, officers found a range of materials, as well as maps, to the location of the territory's main government offices. Here's Ivan Watson with this story.</s>IVAN WATSON: Hong Kong Police have just completed another round of investigations here. You can see the bomb disposal unit moving out, and they're leaving what was a television studio that has been abandoned for years and years. Did you find real evidence of potential explosives here?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we did. We did find some chemicals which could be used as explosives.</s>WATSON: Right. Police say that found a small amount of chemicals for a highly explosive material known as TATP, as well as maps of a neighborhood where the headquarters of the Hong Kong Government is located, and they also made arrests of suspects, one of whom, they say, admitted to being a member of a local radical organization.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the 14 of June, last night, the operation turned (inaudible) resulting in the arrest of nine Hong Kong Citizens. That's include [sic] five male [sic] and four female [sic] ranging from the age of 21 to 34.</s>WATSON: The police raids come at a highly sensitive time, and they appear to be sending a message. Hong Kong's legislative council is expected to vote this week on a controversial proposal for organizing future elections. Over the last year, this city has seen huge street protests, where critics accuse the Central Chinese Government of imposing an election system that would allow Beijing to pre-screen candidates for the highest political post in this former British Colony. A police commander used the announcement of the raid on this abandon TV studio to send a sharp warning during what's expected to be a politically tense week. He said violent protests will not be tolerated. Ivan Watson, CNN, Hong Kong.</s>CURNOW: Thanks, Ivan for that report. Now, the son of a political dynasty in the US is said to jump into the race for the American Presidency. We'll look at his chances of winning the Republican nomination. Also, Sudan's president is believed to be heading home despite an order to stay in South Africa and face arrest stemming from war crimes charges. We'll find out how he might have slipped out.