Page 7 - Newspaper RZ Times

27 August 2025 | Wed THE RZ TIMES Issue 007

NATIONAL
These natural for glow worms and
space for war between the brief conflict. phenomena fireflies, he explains.
India and Pakistan,” “We have not hit are notoriously Glow worms aren’t
Chaudhry said. Kirana Hills,” Indian unpredictable and worms – in Australia
In a speech this Air Marshal A.K. fickle to find, dictated and New Zealand, they
week, Indian Prime Bharti told reporters, by seasons, weather and are the larvae of fungus
Minister Narendra referring to a vast light patterns. They are gnat. Elsewhere in the
Modi said: “India rocky mountain range also extremely fragile, world, the glow often
will not tolerate any where, according as mounting evidence comes from beetles.
nuclear blackmail.” to Indian media shows bioluminescent They hide in wet, dark
India had earlier reports, Pakistan creatures are waning places, such as dank
denied targeting stores its nuclear with climate- caves, abandoned
Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal leaders had change and human tunnels or thick
After ceasefire, India demands installations during urged arch-enemies. disturbance. rainforest.
But for a growing
Glow worms are
IAEA surveillance of Pakistan’s DESTINATION number of glow endemic to Australia
nuclear weapons Source : StraitsTimes From sea sparkles to fireflies: seekers, who, like and New Zealand, and
while many travellers
Finlay, visit with care,
SRINAGAR: Pakistan’s Islamabad for backing Chasing Australia’s ‘big four’ the challenge is part of visit iconic spots like
nuclear arsenal the militants it claimed the adventure. When Tamborine Mountain
should be under the were behind the attack In Australia’s region on New South I meet Finlay at a in Queensland, there
surveillance of the UN’s – the deadliest on Illawarra region, a Wales’ south coast is clearing near Cascade are lesser-known
nuclear watchdog, civilians in Kashmir ghostbusting-style a magnet for glowing Falls in Macquarie Pass colonies that can be
Indian Defence in decades. Pakistan night tour reveals ghost phenomena. With National Park, it’s only discovered if you know
Minister Rajnath denies the charge. fungi, sea sparkles and low light pollution, an hour past sunset, where to look.
Singh said Thursday, Four days of intense tiny creatures lighting ample rainfall and high yet we’re cloaked in As my eyes adjust,
following a four- tit-for-tat drone, missile up the dark. humidity, it’s an ideal darkness. It’s Friday I begin to notice
day conflict between and artillery exchanges On a slate-black microclimate for these night, and while most more – the gnarled
Islamabad and New ensued, leaving nearly night, I stare at a creatures to thrive and people are under roots of a tree and a
Delhi last week. 70 people, including horizon freckled with trap prey. artificial lights, toasting feathery mushroom
Pakistan did not dozens of civilians, stars. Only this isn’t Many are clustered to the end of the week, cap. Finlay’s vision is
immediately respond dead on both sides. the sky, illuminated along the Illawarra we’re here to find far better trained; he
to Singh’s comments, Both India and by hundreds of Escarpment, a sweep of natural shimmers in the can easily spot silver
which came as the Pakistan are nuclear constellations; it’s the sandstone cliffs, fringed night. spiders eyes blinking at
nuclear-armed rivals powers and members muddy bank of a river, with forests that roll We trek through a us like cat’s eyes on a
ended their worst of the IAEA, which charged by a colony of into the Pacific Ocean. path that cuts through motorway. He sweeps
military conflict in regulates the use of glow worms. “Our escarpment the towering eucalypt a UV torch across the
nearly three decades nuclear weapons. “This is my TV,” habitat is special. trees, our head torches floor, illuminating
with a ceasefire India has developed says David Finlay. “It’s It’s a well-preserved glowing red to cause the undergrowth.
announcement on nuclear weapons since magical, like something subtropical rainforest minimal disturbance A caterpillar glows
Saturday. the 1990s in the form out of Avatar.” By environment, which to wildlife. The full fluorescent white, some
“I wanted to raise of intermediate-range day, Finlay works as helps protect fragile Moon pilots from lichen neon green, a
this question for the ground-to-ground a transport manager, bioluminescent life above and the flow of leaf an aggressive shade
world: are nuclear missiles. Long-range but by night, he scours forms,” says Finlay. the river whooshes us of electric blue. “Ah,
weapons safe in the missiles are currently Australia’s bushland From his home in forward, guiding our that’s just possum wee,”
hands of a rogue and being tested, according and beaches chasing Kiama, Finlay can spot footsteps towards the he clarifies.
irresponsible nation?” to experts. Pakistan has living light. “If you’re the “big four” within waterfall. “If something Finlay runs ad
Singh told troops at developed short- and tucked up at home, an hour’s drive. There’s flies straight past your hoc glow tours (when
a base in Srinagar in intermediate-range you miss these things. sea sparkle, plankton face, it’s probably just available, he posts
Indian-administered ground-to-ground and Everybody cocoons that paints the ocean a micro bat,” warns them on his Facebook
Kashmir. air-to-ground nuclear themselves at night, an electric blue; ghost Finlay. “They’re very page) in the Illawarra,
“I believe that missiles that can carry whereas I think, what fungi, mushrooms that gentle, they’re just showing locals and
Pakistan’s atomic warheads. fun can I have?” he radiate an eerie green; looking for insects to visitors the spectacle
weapons should be Pakistani ministers says. Bioluminescent and glow worms and eat.” that most of us
brought under the have repeatedly said the creatures lurk in many fireflies, which pierce Cascade Falls has overlook at night.
surveillance of the nuclear option was not corners of the world, the night-sky like tiny an ideal microclimate Source : BBC NEWS
IAEA (International on the table. They also but Australia’s Illawarra lanterns.
Atomic Energy stressed on Saturday
Agency),” Singh added. that its nuclear
The latest conflict governmental body
between India and was not summoned at
Pakistan had sparked any point in the recent
global concerns that it conflict.
could spiral into a full- Pakistani military
blown war. spokesman Ahmed
Fighting began Sharif Chaudhry
when India launched told reporters on
strikes on May 7 Sunday that escalating
against what it said conflict between “rival
were “terrorist camps” nuclear powers” was
in Pakistan following “inconceivable and
an April attack in sheer stupidity.”
Indian-administered “That conflict can
Kashmir in which 26 lead to the peril of
people were killed. 1.6 billion people, so
New Delhi blamed in reality there is no

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