Sunken Philippine oil tanker found – officials

Sunken Philippine oil tanker found – officials
The Princess Empress was carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil when it sank on February 28 off the central island of Mindoro. (Facebook: Oriental Mindoro governor Humerlito Dolor)
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Updated 21 March 2023

Sunken Philippine oil tanker found – officials

Sunken Philippine oil tanker found – officials
  • Princess Empress was carrying 800,000 liters of industrial fuel oil when it sank on February 28
  • The tanker was found by a Japanese remotely operated underwater vehicle

POLA, Philippines: A leaking oil tanker that sank in the Philippines three weeks ago has been found, officials said Tuesday, as the slick reached waters known for their rich marine life.
The Princess Empress was carrying 800,000 liters (210,000 gallons) of industrial fuel oil when it sank on February 28 off the central island of Mindoro, south of the capital Manila.
Diesel fuel and thick oil from the vessel have since contaminated the waters and beaches of Oriental Mindoro province and other islands.
The tanker was found by a Japanese remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV), Oriental Mindoro Governor Humerlito Dolor told reporters.
It is nearly 400 meters (1,300 feet) below the waves.
Dolor said he received the first photos showing the exact location of the vessel on Tuesday morning.
The national disaster agency said the ROV would assess the hull’s condition before a decision was made about how to “control the spill from its source.”
The Philippines has sought assistance from several countries, including Japan, the United States and France, to help contain and clean up the slick.
Thousands of hectares of coral reefs, mangroves and seaweed could be affected, officials have said.
Oil spill booms made out of hay, human hair and other materials have been deployed to try to protect coastal waters that people in the fishing and tourism industries rely on for their livelihoods.
Oil has been spotted as far away as Casian Island, off the north coast of the western island of Palawan, about 350 kilometers (220 miles) southwest of where the tanker sank.
As feared, oil has also drifted north to the Verde Island Passage — a busy sea lane between Mindoro and the Philippines’ main island of Luzon.
Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Loyzaga said previously that the area was “globally recognized” for its marine biodiversity.
The Philippine Coast Guard said clean-up operations on Monday removed oil from the shores of three villages on Verde Island, which is popular with divers.
Oil also has been spotted further along the passage at Tingloy municipality on Maricaban Island, part of Batangas province.
Residents and coast guard personnel have been removing oil-coated seaweed and other debris from affected areas.
Tens of thousands of people have been affected by the spill, with scores falling ill. The government is distributing food packs and other assistance.
Among the hardest hit are fishermen, who have been ordered to stay on shore until they can fish safely.

 

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Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi calls on US audience to stand up for ‘modern India’

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi calls on US audience to stand up for ‘modern India’
Updated 05 June 2023

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi calls on US audience to stand up for ‘modern India’

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi calls on US audience to stand up for ‘modern India’
  • The Congress Party defeated the BJP in recent state elections in the Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka states, wins that came after a series of state elections defeats after Modi became India’s prime minister in 2014

NEW YORK: Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi pressed his criticism of the country’s leadership in a speech Sunday, calling for Indians in the US and back home to stand up for democracy and the Indian constitution.
Gandhi, a sharp critic of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was expelled from Parliament, accused Modi and his Bharativa Janata Party (BJP) of dividing the country and failing to focus on important issues such as unemployment and education.
“To be nasty to people, to be arrogant, to be violent, these are not Indian values,” Gandhi, 52, told a crowd of about 700 at the Indian Overseas Congress USA event at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan. He spoke just after a minute of silence recognizing a massive train derailment in eastern India that killed 275 people and injured hundreds more.
Gandhi has been on a three-city tour of the United States, including speaking engagements at Stanford University in California and the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Meanwhile, US congressional leaders have invited Modi to address a joint meeting of Congress later this month. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other leaders announced the address as an “opportunity to share your vision for India’s future and speak to the global challenges our countries both face.”
Grandson of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi is a member of the Indian National Congress party. He is considered to be Modi’s main challenger in the upcoming 2024 elections.
“Modern India cannot exist without our constitution and our democracy,” he said Sunday. He also urged a stronger partnership between India and the US to offset China’s influence.
“One of the things we have to think about is the bridge between India and the United States,” he said. “How do we compete with the challenge the Chinese have placed on the table,” he asked, specifically citing issues of mobility and the world’s energy supply.
The Congress Party defeated the BJP in recent state elections in the Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka states, wins that came after a series of state elections defeats after Modi became India’s prime minister in 2014. Gandhi now holds no official position in his party. He gave up the post of party president after his severe defeats by Modi’s Hindu nationalist party in 2019 national elections, though his supporters hope the more recent results will impact the country’s 2024 national elections, which are likely to be held before May.
Gandhi suffered a serious setback in March when a court convicted him in a criminal defamation case for mocking Modi’s surname, a decision that led to him being expelled from parliament. He could lose his eligibility to run for a parliamentary seat for the next eight years if an appeals court doesn’t overturn his conviction. The conviction came in connection with a speech he gave in 2019.
Gandhi, who is not related to Mahatma Gandhi, also invoked the assassinated Indian leader’s name several times during his speech, praising his model of non-violence.

 

 


Russia says shoots down Ukraine-launched drones over Crimea, Kursk

Russia says shoots down Ukraine-launched drones over Crimea, Kursk
Updated 05 June 2023

Russia says shoots down Ukraine-launched drones over Crimea, Kursk

Russia says shoots down Ukraine-launched drones over Crimea, Kursk
  • The strikes came after multiple attacks on the Russian border region of Belgorod and oil infrastructure inside the country, as well as a drone strike on wealthy districts of Moscow earlier in the week

MOSCOW: Russia said on Sunday it intercepted nine drones over the Crimean Peninsula and one over the small town of Sudzha in the southern region of Kursk, in what have been nearly daily attacks inside the country or on Moscow-held territories.
Five drones were shot down and four were jammed and did not hit their targets in Dzhankoi in Crimea, said a Russian-installed official in the peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
A Ukrainian-launched drone was downed over Sudzha later in the day, the governor of the Kursk region that borders with Ukraine said on the Telegram messaging app.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
The strikes came after multiple attacks on the Russian border region of Belgorod and oil infrastructure inside the country, as well as a drone strike on wealthy districts of Moscow earlier in the week.
Kyiv denied attacking Moscow and Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks elsewhere inside Russia and on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.
There were no casualties in the Sunday drone attacks, officials said. In Dzhankoi, windows were broken in several houses, Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-backed head of Crimea’s administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.
He added that one unexploded drone was found on the territory of a residential house, forcing the temporary evacuation of about 50 people in the area.
Russia has a military air base near Dzhankoi. Ukrainian officials have long said the city and surrounding areas have been turned into Moscow’s largest military base in Crimea.

 


Russian police arrest more than 100 Navalny supporters -group

Police officers detain a demonstrator in Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, June 4, 2023. (AP)
Police officers detain a demonstrator in Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, June 4, 2023. (AP)
Updated 05 June 2023

Russian police arrest more than 100 Navalny supporters -group

Police officers detain a demonstrator in Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, June 4, 2023. (AP)
  • Navalny, who rose to prominence by lampooning President Vladimir Putin’s elite and alleging vast corruption, said in April that an “absurd” terrorism case had been opened against him that could see him sentenced to a further 30 years in jail

MOSCOW: Russian police on Sunday arrested more than 100 people who had taken to the streets to mark the 47th birthday of Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, a protest monitoring group said.
OVD-Info said in a statement that 109 people had been detained in 23 cities as of 10:42 p.m. Moscow time (1942 GMT). Authorities have clamped down heavily on signs of dissent since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and in most cities, only a handful of people were held.
Navalny is serving combined sentences of 11-1/2 years for fraud and contempt of court on charges that he said were trumped up to silence him.
Footage from Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia’s two largest cities, showed police arresting individual demonstrators. One man could be seen briefly holding up a sign before Moscow police ushered him away, bent over, as he groaned in pain.
Another man, who held up a sign in English that read “Free Navalny,” was also arrested in Moscow.
In St. Petersburg, a woman accompanied by a child told reporters that “I’m against the war, that’s why they detained me with my underage kid.”
Navalny, who rose to prominence by lampooning President Vladimir Putin’s elite and alleging vast corruption, said in April that an “absurd” terrorism case had been opened against him that could see him sentenced to a further 30 years in jail.

 

 


Prigozhin says Kremlin factions are destroying the Russian state

Prigozhin says Kremlin factions are destroying the Russian state
Updated 05 June 2023

Prigozhin says Kremlin factions are destroying the Russian state

Prigozhin says Kremlin factions are destroying the Russian state
  • Prigozhin said a dispute between him and Chechen forces who are also fighting alongside the Russian army in Ukraine had been resolved

MOSCOW: Russian mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Saturday that Kremlin factions were destroying the state by trying to sow discord between him and Chechen fighters.
That row had now been settled but infighting in the Kremlin had opened a Pandora’s Box of rifts, he said.
Prigozhin, a 62-year-old former restauranteur who founded the Wagner mercenary group and is a member of President Vladimir Putin’s wider circle, has gained widespread notoriety during the 15-month war in Ukraine.
His troops have spearheaded battles in the city of Bakhmut and elsewhere, but he has also rowed with the Russian military over tactics, logistical support and other issues.
Prigozhin said a dispute between him and Chechen forces who are also fighting alongside the Russian army in Ukraine had been resolved. But he laid the blame for the discord on unidentified Kremlin factions — which he calls “Kremlin towers.”
Their scheming had got so out of hand that Putin had been forced to scold them at a Security Council meeting, he said.
“Pandora’s Box is already open — we are not the ones who opened it,” Prigozhin said in a message posted by his press service. “Some Kremlin tower decided to play dangerous games.”
“Dangerous games have become commonplace in the Kremlin towers...they are simply destroying the Russian state.”
He did not identify the Kremlin faction but said that it continued its attempts to sow discord, it would have “hell to pay.” The Kremlin did not comment on his remarks.
Putin held a Security Council meeting of Friday about what he said were “interethnic” relations inside the country.
Prigozhin said Chechen remarks made about him sounded like something out of the early 1990s when conflicts gripped Russian cities after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
“Clearly the statements made were rather provocative, aimed at hurting me and freaking me out,” Prigozhin said.
Prigozhin also said any battle between Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s Akhmat special forces and Wagner would result in serious bloodshed but there was no doubt who would win.
He also again vented his anger about the current state of the war and the culpability of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov.
“The ministry of defense is not in a state to do anything at all as it de-facto doesn’t exist — it is in chaos,” Prigozhin said.
The defense ministry did not respond to a request for comment. Niether Shoigu nor Gerasimov have commented in public about Prigozhin’s comments.

 


Nepal urged to tighten climbing rules to cut Everest deaths

Nepal urged to tighten climbing rules to cut Everest deaths
Updated 04 June 2023

Nepal urged to tighten climbing rules to cut Everest deaths

Nepal urged to tighten climbing rules to cut Everest deaths
  • At least 12 climbers died and five are missing during this year’s main climbing season

KATHMANDU: Weak climbers being led up Mount Everest by expedition operators with insufficient experience are causing problems, a veteran mountain guide said on Sunday, after one of the deadliest climbing seasons in years on the world’s highest mountain.

At least 12 climbers died and five are missing and feared dead on the 8,849 meter Mount Everest during this year’s main climbing season that has just ended, the deadliest since an earthquake triggered an avalanche that killed 18 people in 2015.

“Weakest clients with less experienced operators is part of the problem,” Guy Cotter, 69, a noted guide from the New Zealand who has climbed Everest five times, said in the Nepali capital, Kathmandu.

“Clients should have minimum climbing standards with proven prior ascents before coming to Everest,” he said.

Three sherpa climbers were killed when ice came crashing down on them on the lower reaches of the mountain in April and the rest of those who died succumbed to illness or exhaustion, government and hiking officials said.

Nepal does regulate the climbing of Everest and its other Himalayan peak, insisting that everyone gets a permit, for example, but Cotter said the operators who guide clients up the mountain should meet minimum standards of equipment and staff.

“There are many operators who take clients to Everest but do not understand how to avoid incidents occurring and when things do go wrong they do not have processes in place to address the problems,” Cotter said.

Bigyan Koirala, an official with the Department of Tourism that oversees climbing, said the government was considering more regulations but did not give details.

Nepal issued a record of 478 permits for Everest this year and hundreds of people made it to the summit.