Pubdate: Sun, 01 Sep 2002
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2002 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Authors: Larry Habegger, James O'Reilly, Special to The Chronicle

38 TOURISTS KIDNAPPED IN COLOMBIA

- -- Colombia: Two large groups of tourists have been kidnapped recently near 
Utria National Park, known for its dramatic coastline and touted as an 
ecotourism destination. Twenty-six tourists on a fishing trip were abducted 
a few days after a group of 12, mostly teenagers, was taken hostage at La 
Fortuna, 60 miles north of the park. In an attempt to reduce incursions of 
guerrillas and drug traffickers, Ecuador is closing the Rumichaca border 
crossing between Tulcan, Ecuador, and Ipiales, Colombia, at night beginning 
today.

- -- Indonesia: Smog season has returned to the islands of Borneo and Sumatra,

and haze from illegal fires set by large timber companies to clear logged 
land and by farmers has spread to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Rains 
during the weekend helped douse some of the fires and clear the air in 
Pontianac and Polankaraya, the cities in Borneo most affected, but the 
rainy season doesn't start for two more months, and more fires are likely. 
Flights to Pekanbaru, Sumatra, were delayed by the smog. Air quality 
throughout the region could worsen during the next two months.

- -- Nepal: Maoists have called for a bandh, a general strike, Sept. 16. Such 
strikes usually shut down all transportation, including taxis and private 
vehicles, and are often enforced violently. If the locals are observing the 
strike, it is wise to do so as well. Nepal has been hit by an especially 
severe monsoon season, with about 500 deaths and many landslides. A plane 
carrying 15 tourists from Jomsom to Pokhara crashed in bad weather Aug. 22, 
but the cause has not been confirmed. The monsoon season usually ends in 
September.

- -- Pakistan: The U.S. Consulate in Karachi, closed Aug. 5 because of 
security concerns, is operating again but only by phone from a secret location.

The phone numbers for the old consulate offices remain in service.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom