News in Brief(2023-10-07)

Bomb threat sparks security alert

at 42 Philippine airports

MANILA, Oct 06: Security patrols and sniffer dogs were deployed at dozens of Philippine airports Friday, after the aviation regulator received a bomb threat against commercial planes. The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said it was investigating the threat received via email on Wednesday warning that aircraft at Manila airport and four others would "explode". The regulator said in a statement Friday that 42 commercial airports "are on heightened alert" and that "immediate enhanced security measures are being implemented across all airports". — AFP

Pak minister defends decision

to expel Afghans

BEIJING, Oct 06: Pakistan's foreign minister defended on Thursday an order that all illegal immigrants, including 1.73 million Afghans, must leave, saying no other country allows illegal immigrants and the decision is in line with international practice. The order, announced on Tuesday and with a Nov. 1 deadline for people to go, has frayed relations with Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, who said the threat to force out Afghan migrants was "unacceptable". "No country allows illegal people to live in their country? whether it is Europe?whether it is countries in Asia, in our neighbourhood," the minister in a caretaker Pakistani government, Jalil Abbas Jilani, told Hong Kong's Phoenix TV in an interview on the sidelines of a forum in Tibet. — Reuters

Animals fear human voices more

than lions: Study

LONDON, Oct 06: Human voices cause considerably more fear in wild mammals than the sound of lions, a study in South Africa has found. Scientists played recordings of people talking normally through speakers hidden at water holes in the Kruger National Park. About 95 per cent of animals were extremely frightened and quickly ran away. In contrast, recordings of snarling and growling lions elicited significantly less alarm. — BBC