Court: Nurse in prank call found hanging by co-workers

An undated family photograph of Jacintha Saldanha, the Indian-origin nurse who died after being hoaxed by an Australian radio show trying to reach Prince William's wife in London, is shown to journalists in Shirva town, some 400 kilometres (250 miles) from the southern Indian city of Bangalore, on December 8, 2012.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• The nurse's body was formally identified by her husband, the inquest hears


• Australia's media watchdog opens an investigation into the prank call by 2Day FM


• Court: Jacintha Saldanha was found by co-workers hanging from a scarf


• The nurse left three notes, two of them at the scene, a police officer says

London (CNN) -- A nurse who took a prank call from an Australian radio station apparently hanged herself using a scarf, but her reasons for pursuing that tragic course remain unclear.

Jacintha Saldanha was found last Friday by work colleagues hanging from a wardrobe door at her hospital living quarters, a coroner's court in London heard Thursday.

The nurse, who was married with two teenaged children, left three notes, two at the scene and a third with her belongings, Westminster Coroner's Court heard.

The content of the notes was not disclosed.

Read more: Who was Jacintha Saldanha?

There were also "some injuries to her wrist," Detective Chief Inspector James Harman said.

The nurse put through the prank call December 4 to a nurse on the ward where Prince William's wife, Catherine, was being treated for acute morning sickness.

Some details of her condition were given to the radio DJs, who impersonated Prince Charles and Queen Elizabeth II.

The details around the circumstances of Saldanha's death emerged as an inquest -- a proceeding usually held in Britain when a death is sudden, unexplained or violent -- was opened.

The coroner's court was told that Saldanha's body was formally identified Tuesday by her husband, Benedict Barboza.

Police are looking at e-mails and telephone records, Harman said, and will speak to Saldanha's friends and co-workers about what could have led to her death.

At this time there are no suspicious circumstances, he said.

Police will also be in touch with Australian police to find out what would be the best way of gathering evidence, Harman said. This could involve either going to Australia or collecting evidence remotely.

Saldanha, whose tragic death triggered wide public anger against the radio station involved, Sydney-based 2Day FM, was represented at the coroner's court by co-workers from the hospital.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority, the country's media watchdog, on Thursday opened a formal investigation into 2Day FM's broadcast of the prank call.

"The ACMA will be examining whether the licensee has complied with its broadcasting obligations," said chairman Chris Chapman.

The station's owner, media network Southern Cross Austereo, pledged Tuesday to donate at least 500,000 Australian dollars (US$524,000) to a fund for the nurse's family.

It lifted a moratorium on advertising Thursday, with all profits to the end of the year to go to the fund.

The 46-year-old nurse, who moved to the UK from India a decade ago, had worked at King Edward VII's Hospital, where Catherine was being treated, for the past four years

The coroner adjourned the inquest until a provisional date of March 26.

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In cautionary move, Europe centralizes bank oversight

BRUSSELSEuropean Union finance ministers reached an agreement early Thursday to create a single supervisor for their banks - one of the most significant transfers of authority from national governments to regional authorities since the creation of the euro currency.

Under the deal, banks with more than $39 billion in assets supervised or those that represent a significant proportion of their national economies will be placed under the oversight of the European Central Bank.

The deal gives the ECB broad powers, including the ability to grant and withdraw banking licenses, investigate institutions, and financially sanction banks that don't follow the rules.

But perhaps most important is that it paves the way for Europe's rescue fund to directly rescue the continent's troubled banks.

"It's real progress that opens up interesting possibilities," said French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici, without giving a specific date for when the first banks could seek direct aid.

That step is crucial because weak banks remain at the core of Europe's financial problems. Many are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy after the investments they made up in boom times plummeted in value. Some governments have stepped in to save their banks, only to worsen their own finances in the process.

European leaders want to shield troubled governments from the burden of supporting their banks. That would be a huge relief to countries like Spain, which are facing the prospect of taking on enormous debts - and worrying markets - in order to bail out their banks.

The magnitude of the deal was reflected in the in size of the fight: Concerns ranged from which banks would be covered to how the ECB would manage to insulate its monetary responsibilities from the new powers to how the deal would affect EU countries that chose not to submit their banks to the ECB's oversight.

This last point was a major contention: Countries that don't use the euro worried their voices in the body that creates banking regulation - the European Banking Authority - would be drowned out by the new euro-machine, particularly since countries with other currencies can opt into the supervision.

The EBA sets all of the rules that govern EU banking, and Britain, in particular - a non-euro country with Europe's largest banking sector - was nervous that the new supervision would mean all the banks under the ECB would vote together at the EBA, effectively steamrolling everyone else.

Ministers reached a compromise that ensures that measures can't pass in the EBA without at least some support from countries outside of the ECB's supervision.

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N. Korean Missile Hits Target of Alarming the World

North Korea's successful launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile hit its target: it bolstered the standing of its young tyrant Kim Jong Un and raised the specter of being able to eventually strike the U.S. with a nuclear weapon.

The pride in the success of the launch -- after several failures -- is a huge boost for Kim Jong Un, 29, who took power one year ago. He has been trying to cement his authority and win the hearts of the people with soft social and economic reforms, like allowing women to wear pants or more small businesses to operate based on profit.

But the rocket launch was on a different scale. A North Korean female announcer in a pink and dark grey national costume excitedly read an announcement of the missile's success and national TV aired interviews with people jumping and cheering on the news.

There had been reservations within and outside of North Korea when Kim Jong Un took power after his father's death on Dec. 17 last year as to whether the young Kim could lead a nuclear state. Looking determined at his first official appearance earlier this year, he had pledged to fulfill the legacy of his father Kim Jong Il to become a "self-sufficient strong nation" with space rocket technology.

The missile is believed to have a range of 6,212 miles, enough distance to reach the west coast of the United States. Its existence, along with a small North Korean nuclear arsenal, is an alarming possibility for many.

PHOTOS: An Inside Look At North Korea

North Korea, however, says it was simply putting a satellite in orbit.

"Picking on our launch (and not others) accusing that ours is a long-range missile and a provocative act causing instability comes from seeing us from a hostile point of view," said North Korea's foreign ministry in an official statement. "We do not want this to be overblown into something that none of us intended to be and hope all related nations act with reason and calmness."

But North Korean denials carry little credibility.

This evidence that North Korea has mastered the long-range missile technology does not mean there will be an imminent nuclear threat.

"They haven't figured out how to weaponize a nuclear (bomb) that will fit in a missile, nor do they have accurate guidance at long ranges," said Stephen Ganyard, ABC News consultant and former deputy assistant secretary of state.

Another crucial technology North Korea is yet to achieve is a proper heat shielding required to protect the warhead while re-entering the earth's atmosphere.

"This is a big leap for Pyongyang. They have been a threat with potential capability. But now a new era begins as a threat with possible capability," said Hwee-Rhak Park, professor of political leadership at Kookmin University in Seoul.

There was obvious alarm, however, as the international community condemned the launch, as North Korea is banned from developing nuclear and missile-related technology under U.N. resolutions.

South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak convened an emergency national security meeting. Japan's envoy to the United Nations called for consultations on the launch within the U.N. Security Council. Russian Foreign Ministry said it "has caused us deep regret," and even China "expressed regret," a significant notch up in condemnation from previous statements on North Korea, its traditional ally.

That international attention, analysts in Seoul say, is exactly what North Korea wanted.

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Artificial muscle for soft robots can bend in sunlight

Douglas Heaven, reporter

Robots aren't known for being light on their feet, but a new artificial muscle that can be powered by a sunbeam could change that. Researchers have developed a photoresponsive actuator - a gel-like material that bends when it is exposed to light.

Akira Harada at Osaka University in Japan and colleagues have developed a prototype that works in water. When hit with UV light at a wavelength of 365 nanometres it expands, bending and increasing in mass by taking on water. Visible light at a wavelength of 430 nm restores the muscle to its previous form. "The gel absorbs water like an expanding and contracting sponge," says Harada.

The muscles work via the interaction of two chemical compounds in the gel - azobendrine and cyclodextrin - which react differently under different light. The direction in which the gel bends can then be controlled by shining UV and visible light from various angles.

Light-activated muscles are likely to be most applicable in soft robots, which are built from materials such as gel or rubber and lack a skeletal frame. Existing examples tend to move pneumatically, but the need for an umbilical air hose keeps them tethered. Soft robots are also currently limited by their inability to carry heavy loads such as a battery.

By using light as an external power source, soft robots could be given a much greater range. Even sunlight could be used, says Harada.

Journal reference: Nature Communications, doi.org/jzr

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Asia shares gain, unmoved by North Korea rocket launch

HONG KONG: Asian markets rose on Wednesday as dealers welcomed signs of progress in US fiscal cliff talks and upbeat data from Germany and Spain, while shrugging off news of North Korea's rocket launch.

With investors becoming more confident the safe-haven yen came back under pressure ahead of a general election in Japan on Sunday and expectations of more monetary easing by the country's central bank.

Tokyo rose 0.59 percent, adding 56.14 points to 9,581.46, Seoul was up 0.55 percent, gaining 10.82 points to 1,975,44, and Sydney climbed 0.17 percent to a 17-month high, adding 7.8 points to 4,583.8.

Hong Kong ended up 0.80 percent, adding 179.41 points to close at 22,503.35, while Shanghai was 0.39 percent, or 8.03 points, higher at 2,082.73

US President Barack Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner have swapped new offers to avoid the fiscal cliff of huge tax hikes and spending cuts due to come into effect on January 1, according to sources on both sides.

It fuelled hopes that the two, who have been at loggerheads over plans to increase taxes on the rich and slashing aid to Medicare, could come to an agreement.

If a deal is not reached by the New Year, the package currently in place is widely expected to send the economy into recession.

Markets are also eyeing a meeting of the Federal Reserve policy committee, which is to decide on what action to take as the end approaches of its "Operation Twist" -- selling short-term debt to buy longer-term debt.

There are expectations that policymakers will replace it with more outright bond purchases, or "quantitative easing", aimed at lowering interest rates to encourage businesses to invest and hire.

Buying support was also provided by positive numbers from Germany, where investor sentiment in Europe's key economic machine hit a seven-month high on hopes it will dodge recession.

The confidence index from the ZEW economic institute surged to 6.9 points in December from minus 15.7 in November. Forecasts had been for a reading of minus 11.3.

It was the highest reading since May and the first time since then that the index has been in positive territory.

Spain also enjoyed a successful Treasury bond auction, easing fears over its ability to raise cash to pay its bills.

Traders on Wall Street ended on a positive note. The Dow rose 0.60 percent, a fifth straight day of gains, while the S&P 500 added 0.65 percent and the Nasdaq climbed 1.18 percent.

Confidence in "riskier" assets hit the yen, usually the go-to unit in times of uncertainty, in US trade on Tuesday and it remained under pressure in Asia Wednesday.

The dollar rose to 82.77 yen, compared with 82.51 yen in New York, while the euro was at 107.70 yen from 107.28 yen. That compares with 82.36 yen and 106.68 yen in Asia Tuesday.

The euro bought $1.3010 Wednesday, from $1.3003 in New York.

The yen has come under pressure in recent weeks ahead of Sunday's polls widely expected to see Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Democratic Party of Japan beaten by the Liberal Democratic Party, which is headed by Shinzo Abe.

Abe, a former prime minister, has promised to push a more aggressive monetary easing policy to jumpstart the economy.

Investors shrugged off news that North Korea had fired its rocket, which critics insist was being used as a disguised ballistic missile test.

Previous launches and nuclear tests have led to an initial asset sell-off owing to geopolitical fears, but regional markets remained up in early trade.

"Frankly, it was almost a non-event," Norihiro Fujito, senior investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

On oil markets New York's main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in January, edged up 23 cents to $86.02, and Brent North Sea crude for January added 44 cents at $108.45.

Gold was at $1,713.23 at 0805 GMT compared with $1,709.35 late on Tuesday.

In other markets:

-- Taipei rose 1.0 percent, or 76.5 points, to 7,690.19.

HTC rose 4.05 percent to Tw$282.5 while TSMC was 0.1 percent higher at Tw$98.4.

-- Manila closed 0.20 percent lower, dipping 11.71 points to 5,819.79.

Ayala Corp. fell 3.22 percent to 510 pesos while Philippine Long Distance Telephone slipped 1.29 percent to 2,596 pesos.

-- Wellington ended 0.77 percent, or 30.92 points, lower at 3,995.26.

Telecom fell 2.0 percent to NZ$2.19, Fletcher Building also lost 2.0 percent to NZ$8.28 and Contact Energy was down 2.1 percent at NZ$5.10.

- AFP/lp

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Sudan: Israeli 'spy vulture' nabbed

By Nick Thompson and Nima Elbagir, CNN

updated 2:13 PM EST, Tue December 11, 2012

Sudan: Israel using 'spy vultures'

Sudan: Israel using 'spy vultures'

Sudan: Israel using 'spy vultures'

Sudan: Israel using 'spy vultures'

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Sudan: Israeli vulture with GPS-equipped camera caught by officials in western Sudan


• Israeli scientists say a number of vultures tagged with GPS to study migration routes


• Expert: GPS tracking of this sort used in hundreds of studies around the world


• Griffon vultures are an endangered species in the Middle East, Hatzofe says

(CNN) -- A vulture captured by Sudanese authorities is actually an Israeli spy on a secret reconnaissance mission, a pro-government newspaper in the east African nation has claimed.

Government sources say the vulture, found in western Sudan, was tagged with a GPS-equipped camera to take and send pictures back to Israel, according to a December 8 story in the Alintibaha newspaper.

The bird also wore an ankle label reading "Hebrew University Jerusalem," "Israel Nature Service" and the contact details of an Israeli avian ecologist.

The ecologist, Ohad Hatzofe of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, has rejected the Sudanese government claims -- saying the vulture, which can fly up to 600 kilometers in a single day, was tagged with GPS equipment to study its migration pattern.

"The Sudanese accusations are untrue," Hatzofe told CNN. "The GPS gear on these vultures can only tell us where the birds are, nothing else."

He said: "This is ordinary equipment that is used around the world to detect movement of wildlife. There are hundreds of studies using this technology on everything from butterflies and sea turtles to sharks and whales."

Hatzofe also cast doubt on the practicality of using vultures as secret agents: "I'm not an intelligence expert, but what would be learned from putting a camera onto a vulture? You cannot control it. It's not a drone that you can send where you want. What would be the benefit of watching a vulture eat the insides of a dead camel?"

The Griffon vulture is an endangered species in the Middle East, according to Hebrew University Jerusalem professor Ran Nathan. His students, Roi Harel and Orr Spiegel, tagged more than 100 vultures -- 25 of them with GPS trackers -- as part of a project to observe the behavior and movement of younger vultures.

Hatzofe says the data from the tagged GPS vultures isn't transmitted solely back to Israel, but to the animal-tracking website Movebank, where other scientists can analyze the data.

The Israeli scientists first knew something was amiss in early December, when the GPS system (pictured above) indicated the vulture was on the ground and was moving along a road in western Sudan.

The Griffon vulture is not a migratory bird, but it isn't uncommon for them to make their way into northern Africa, according to Hatzofe, who says the vulture's wing tag included a message asking anyone who found the bird to contact him or the university.

"My email address is on the vulture," he told CNN, "but I never got a message."

The Israeli government declined to comment on this story, and repeated calls to Sudanese officials went unanswered.

Hatzofe says that the real danger of claiming that GPS-tagged birds are spies is that it could prompt government officials to kill animals they capture.

"There is nothing new about birds tagged for studies, and if governments will not reject these types of rumors, then others will grab their weapons and hunt down wildlife -- the exact opposite of what conservationists want."

CNN's Dominique van Heerden contributed to this report.

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For many people, Christmas is the most exciting time of the year. We want to see your best, most spectacular images of Christmas where you live.

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Motive unclear in Oregon mall shooting that left three dead

PORTLAND, Ore. A masked gunman wearing camouflage opened fire Tuesday in a busy Portland mall, leaving the gunman and two others dead and one person injured, and forcing the mall's Santa Claus and hundreds of Christmas shoppers and employees to flee or hide among store displays.

Austin Patty, 20, who works at Macy's, said he saw a man in a white mask carrying a rifle and wearing a bulletproof vest. He heard the gunman say, "I am the shooter," as if announcing himself. A series of rapid-fire shots in short succession followed as Christmas music played. Patty said he ducked to the ground and then ran.

His Macy's co-worker, Pam Moore, told The Associated Press the gunman was short, with dark hair. Witnesses said he started firing just outside Macy's in the food court of Clackamas Town Center.

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Cell phone video: Ore. mall evacuated after shooting

Brance Wilson, the mall Santa, said he heard gunshots and dove for the floor. By the time he looked up, seconds later, everyone around him had cleared out. Merchandise was scattered in some stores as he made his way to the door.

"Santa will be back," Wilson said. "It's not going to keep Santa away from the mall."

Workers and shoppers rushed out of the mall and into stores'backrooms for safety as teams of police officers came inside to find the shooter. Authorities went store-to-store to confirm that there was only one shooter and to escort hiding shoppers outside.

Police said they have tentatively identified the gunman but would not release his name or give any information on a possible motive. They said he apparently killed himself, adding that they did not fire any shots.

Officials said a female teenager was also shot and was in serious condition at a Portland hospital.

"We have a young lady in the hospital fighting for her life right now," Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts at a news conference late Tuesday.

Earlier, Roberts told reporters, "There was about 10,000 people at the mall, so there were a huge amount of people running in different directions, and it was chaos for a lot of citizens."

Witnesses reported hearing multiple gunshots, anywhere from 15 to 20, or even more.

"At first no one really knew what was going down," Mario, a kiosk worker inside the mall, told CBS affiliate KOIN in Portland. "We heard six shots at first, and then people scattered like crazy, everybody left."

Clackamas County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Adam Phillips said the victims were shot in an "open area" of the mall.

Clackamas Town Center is one of the Portland area's biggest and busiest malls, with 185 stores and a 20-screen movie theater. It would remain closed at least through Wednesday, Roberts said.

Shaun Wik, 20, from Fairview, said he was Christmas shopping with his girlfriend and opened a fortune cookie at the food court. Inside was written: "Live for today. Remember yesterday. Think of tomorrow."

As he read it, he heard three shots. He heard a man he believes was the gunman shout, "Get down!" but Wik and his girlfriend ran. He heard seven or eight more shots. He didn't turn around.

"If I had looked back, I might not be standing here," Wik said. "I might have been one of the ones who got hit."

Holli Bautista, 28, said she was shopping at Macy's for a Christmas dress for her daughter when she heard pops that sounded like firecrackers.

"I heard people running and screaming and saying `Get out, there's somebody shooting,"' she told the AP.

She said hundreds of shoppers and mall employees started running, and she and dozens of other people were trying to escape through a department store exit.

Tiffany Turgetto and her husband were leaving Macy's through the first floor when they heard gunshots coming from the second floor of the mall. They were able to quickly leave through a Barnes & Noble bookstore before the police arrived and locked down the mall.

"I had left my phone at home. I was telling people to call 911. Surprisingly, people are around me, no one was calling 911. I think people were in shock."

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Gunman 'Tentatively' Identified in Oregon Shooting

A masked gunman who opened fire in the crowded Clackamas Town Center mall in suburban Portland, Ore., killing two individuals before killing himself, has been "tentatively" identified by police, though they have not yet released his name.

The shooter, wearing a white hockey mask, black clothing, and a bullet proof vest, tore through the mall around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, entering through a Macy's store and proceeding to the food court and public areas spraying bullets, according to witness reports.

Police have not released the names of the deceased. Clackamas County Sheriff's Department Lt. James Rhodes said authorities are in the process of notifying victims' families.

The injured victim has been transported to a local hospital, according to Clackamas County Sheriff Craig Roberts.

PHOTOS: Oregon Mall Shooting

Nadia Telguz, who said she was a friend of the injured victim, told ABC News affiliate KATU-TV in Portland that the woman was expected to recover.

"My friend's sister got shot," Teleguz told KATU. "She's on her way to (Oregon Health and Science University hospital). They're saying she got shot in her side and so it's not life-threatening, so she'll be OK."

Witnesses from the shooting rampage said that a young man who appeared to be a teenager ran through the upper level of Macy's to the mall food court, firing multiple shots, one right after the other, with what is believed to be a black, semi-automatic rifle.

Christopher Onstott/Pamplen Media Group/Portland Tribune

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More than 10,000 shoppers were at the mall during the day, police said. Roberts said that officers responded to the scene of the shooting within minutes, and four SWAT teams swept the 1.4 million-square-foot building searching for the shooter. He was eventually found dead, an apparent suicide.

"I can confirm the shooter is dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound," Rhodes said. "By all accounts there were no rounds fired by law enforcement today in the mall."

Roberts said more than 100 law enforcement officers responded to the shooting, and at least four local agencies were working on the investigation, including the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which is working to trace the shooter's weapon.

READ: Guns in America: A Statistical Look

"For all of us, the mall is supposed to be a place where we can take our families, especially during the holiday season," Roberts said. "Things like this are not supposed to happen."

Roberts also said that shoppers, including two emergency room nurses and one physician who happened to be at the mall, provided medical assistance to victims who had been shot. Other shoppers helped escort individuals out of the mall and out of harm's way, he said.

"There were a huge amount of people running in different directions, and it was chaos for a lot of citizens, but true heroes were stepping up in this time of high stress," Roberts said. "E.R. nurses on the scene were providing medical care to those injured, a physician on the scene was helping provide care to the wounded."

Mall shopper Daniel Martinez told KATU that he had just sat down at a Jamba Juice inside the mall when he heard rapid gunfire. He turned and saw the masked gunman, dressed in all black, about 10 feet away from him.

"I just saw him (the gunman) and thought, 'I need to go somewhere,'" Martinez said. "It was so fast, and at that time, everyone was moving around."

Martinez said he ran to the nearest clothing store. As he ran, he motioned for another woman to follow; several others ran to the store as well, hiding in a fitting room. They stayed there for an hour and a half until SWAT teams told them it was safe to leave the mall.

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AC/DC's Highway to Hell sent via a drone's laser beam

Paul Marks, senior technology correspondent

(Image: David Thorpe/Rex Features)

What is it about technology and Aussie rock band AC/DC? In July a computer hack led to the band's track Thunderstruck belting out at top volume in an Iranian nuclear power plant. Now AC/DC's signature hit Highway to Hell is riding on a laser beam that's being bounced off a drone in mid-flight. When the beam is reflected to a ground sensor the full glory of the music is reconstructed without a cymbal crash out of place.

Don't worry, it's not a new sonic weapon. To make drones lighter and and operate longer reconnaissance missions without refuelling, Yoann Thueux and colleagues at EADS Innovation Works in Newport, UK, eschew the heavy radio equipment and antennas used to beam acquired video back to base. Instead, they are developing a laser reflector called Dazzle that can simply add the drone's acquired video data to a laser beam bounced off the craft's belly by a tracking system up to 2 kilometres away.

After the laser beam enters the reflector, it passes through a transparent switch, called a light modulator, that adds the digital zeroes and ones of the video data to the beam. The light then hits a mirror and is reflected back to the spot it came from - carrying the video data. The tech will allow a speed boost to 1 gigabit per second - easily allowing faster delivery of HD video, which struggles to top 20 megabits per second with radio frequencies.

The reflector and its ground UAV tracking system began tests on a disused runway at a former Royal Air Force base in Pershore, UK, last week. The first test aimed to see if the system could simply reflect an encoded laser beam from a moving eight-rotor helicopter drone, the Okto from Mikrocopter of Germany.

Thueux thought Highway to Hell a great choice of data to stream on the laser. "It was on my iPod and I thought it would be a good song to go first because I know it completely by heart. I'd be the first to tell if the technology was not working properly on playback."

So what tunes might will fly are next? "I happen to be in a band, so maybe one of our tracks," says Thueux. "But a colleague is also suggesting Fly Me To The Moon."

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Malaysian customs seize record 24 tonnes of ivory

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian customs have seized 24 tonnes of unprocessed elephant tusks worth almost US$20 million, the largest haul in the country to date, officials said Tuesday.

Some 1,500 tusks hidden in two containers were discovered by customs officials at the country's main port of Klang, in the western state of Selangor.

The tusks had been hidden within pieces of timber inside the containers, which had originated from the west African nation of Togo.

State customs director Azis Yaacub said in a statement that the cargo had been transferred from one ship to another in Spain and was believed to be headed to China.

"The two containers were found to be filled with sawn timber. Inside the wood there were secret compartments that were filled with elephant tusks," he said.

The haul is worth 60 million ringgit, which amounts to US$19.6 million. Officials said that the seizure on December 7 was the fourth in the past year and was larger than the other three combined.

Wildlife trade-monitoring network TRAFFIC has described Malaysia as a major hub for illicit wildlife products.

International trade in elephant ivory was banned in 1990 with rare exceptions, such as auctions of tusks from elephants that have died naturally, or that have been seized from poachers in Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.

However, the ivory trade has grown globally since 2004, largely due to demand in China, where it is used in traditional medicine.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, African elephant populations may have been as high as five million in the first part of the 20th century, but their numbers could now be as low as 470,000.

- AFP/ir

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