Fire-hit tanker enters Malaysia terminal area after being detained by coast guard

Fire-hit tanker enters Malaysia terminal area after being detained by coast guard
Above, a rigid-hulled inflatable boat in the vicinity of the burning vessels who were involved in a collision about 55km northeast of the Singaporean island of Pedra Branca on July 19, 2024. (Singapore Navy via Reuters)
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Updated 22 July 2024
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Fire-hit tanker enters Malaysia terminal area after being detained by coast guard

Fire-hit tanker enters Malaysia terminal area after being detained by coast guard
  • The supertanker Ceres I left the scene of a fiery collision with another tanker
  • Singapore is Asia’s biggest oil-trading hub and the world’s largest bunkering port

SINGAPORE: A tanker that was involved in a collision near Singapore last week entered the area of Malaysia’s Bertam floating oil terminal on Monday morning after it was intercepted by local authorities on Sunday, shipping data from LSEG and Kpler showed.
The Sao Tome and Principe-flagged supertanker Ceres I left the scene of a fiery collision with another tanker, the Singapore-flagged Hafnia Nile, on Friday.
The Ceres I was found in Malaysian waters with two tugboats towing it, the coast guard said in a statement on Sunday.
The Ceres I and the two tugboats have been detained by the coast guard for further investigation, it said.
The Bertam floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) terminal is located in the South China Sea off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia.
The Ceres I is a very large crude carrier (VLCC) supertanker capable of carrying around 2 million barrels of oil. AIS data on LSEG showed that Ceres I is empty.
Ceres I has loaded crude and fuel oil from Iran and Venezuela through ship-to-ship transfers between 2019 and March 2024, Kpler data showed.
Shanghai Prosperity Ship Management is the manager of the Ceres I, according to LSEG data. The company could not be immediately reached for comment.
Separately, Hafnia, the manager of Hafnia Nile, said over the weekend it was in discussions with Malaysian authorities to safely move the vessel.
The Hafnia Nile, a 74,000-deadweight-tons capacity Panamax tanker, was carrying about 300,000 barrels naphtha for Japan, according to ship-tracking data from Kpler and LSEG. Naphtha is a raw material for making petrochemicals.
Singapore is Asia’s biggest oil-trading hub and the world’s largest bunkering port. Its surrounding waters are among the busiest global sea lanes.
Malaysia’s coast guard said on Sunday that aerial surveys conducted by the coast guard found minor traces of an oil spill at the location of the collision between the Ceres I and the Hafnia Nile, which occurred in the waters about 55 km (35 miles) northeast of the Singaporean island of Pedra Branca.
“The environment department has been informed and will conduct further monitoring,” it said.


Panama president decries US ‘lies’ about canal fees

Panama president decries US ‘lies’ about canal fees
Updated 5 sec ago
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Panama president decries US ‘lies’ about canal fees

Panama president decries US ‘lies’ about canal fees
PANAMA CITY: Panama President Jose Raul Mulino on Thursday said the United States was spreading “lies and falsehoods” after the State Department claimed US government vessels would be able to pass the Panama Canal without paying a fee.
The fiery allegations are the latest point of tension between the two countries which have clashed over the canal since US President Donald Trump claimed the vital waterway had effectively been taken over by China and vowed “we’re taking it back.”
Speaking to journalists, Mulino expressed his “absolute rejection” of managing US-Panama ties “based on lies and falsehoods.”
The Panama Canal Authority issued a statement late on Wednesday denying the claim from the US State Department earlier in the day that Panama’s government had agreed to no longer charge crossing fees for US government vessels, in a move that would save the US millions of dollars a year.
Trump has accused the Central American country of charging excessive rates to use its trade passage, one of the busiest in the world.
“Why are they making an important institutional statement from the entity that governs the foreign policy of the United States, under the President of the United States, based on a falsehood?” Mulino asked on Thursday, calling the State Department’s claim “simply and plainly intolerable.”
Mulino said he had asked his ambassador in Washington to take “firm steps” to deny the Trump administration’s claim.

Four killed as US military-contracted plane crashes in Philippines

Updated 42 sec ago
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Four killed as US military-contracted plane crashes in Philippines

Four killed as US military-contracted plane crashes in Philippines
The Philippine military said in a statement it could not release information about the crash on Mindanao Island
None of the four known victims had so far been identified

MANILA: A small plane that crashed in the southern Philippines on Thursday, killing at least four people on board, was contracted by the American military, the US embassy confirmed without further detail.
The Philippine military said in a statement it could not release information about the crash on Mindanao Island as the matter was classified and an investigation was ongoing.
Small numbers of American troops are put on short-term rotational deployments in the Philippines, where the US military has helped provide intelligence to troops battling militants linked to the Daesh group that remain active on Mindanao.
The US Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii did not immediately respond to inquiries.
Regional police spokesman Jopy Ventura told AFP that officers had not yet determined the cause of the fixed-wing aircraft’s crash on a farm near the municipality of Ampatuan.
None of the four known victims had so far been identified, he said, adding that police and soldiers had been deployed to the site to prevent potential tampering with evidence.
The plane’s tail number, identified by police as N349CA, was registered to defense firm Metrea, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware, which identified it as a Beechcraft Super King Air B300.
The Metra website describes the company as a “leading provider of effects-as-a-service to national security partners across multiple domains and over a dozen mission areas.”
Municipal rescuer Rhea Martin told AFP her team had found four dead bodies at the crash site.
“The bodies were found near the plane,” she told AFP, adding: “The plane was cut in half.”

Police probe school link in Sweden’s worst mass shooting

Police probe school link in Sweden’s worst mass shooting
Updated 14 min 19 sec ago
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Police probe school link in Sweden’s worst mass shooting

Police probe school link in Sweden’s worst mass shooting
  • Swedish police found three rifles near the body of the gunman, who they believe took his own life
  • Syrian Arab Republic’s embassy in Stockholm wrote on Facebook that Syrian citizens were among the dead

OREBRO, Sweden: A gunman who killed 11 people, including himself, at an adult education center in central Sweden may have been a student at the school, police said on Thursday, as they described chaotic scenes after the country’s deadliest mass shooting as being like an “inferno.”
Police believe the suspected killer — identified by a Reuters source and Swedish media as Rickard Andersson, a 35-year-old unemployed recluse — acted alone in Tuesday’s attack on an educational campus in Orebro, about 200 km (125 miles) west of Stockholm.
Swedish police found three rifles near the body of the gunman, who they believe took his own life.
“The police who arrived at the scene have spoken about what could be described as an inferno ... dead people and injured people, screams and smoke,” Orebro police chief Lars Wiren said.
Police found 10 empty bullet magazines and a “large amount” of unused ammunition. Wiren said police arrived on the scene five minutes after the alarm was raised and believed the attacker then began directing his fire toward them.
“After approximately one hour, the acute operation was over when the suspected perpetrator was found dead with several weapons near him,” Wiren said, adding that police had not opened fire during the incident.
Police said the smoke was not caused by fire but by “some sort of pyrotechnics.” Several police had to seek medical attention for inhaling smoke.

’NO CLEAR MOTIVE’
Swedish authorities have said there was no evidence so far that the shooter, who was not previously known to police, had “ideological motives.”
“We don’t see a clear motive, but we’re looking for it,” police investigations leader Anna Bergqvist said. “It’s a very difficult question, but it’s really important for all of us to be able to present a motive as soon as possible.”
Police said in a statement that there was information indicating that he had been a student at the school. “That is something we will have to look closer at,” Bergqvist told the press conference.
Police have not confirmed the name of the suspect and are awaiting genetic, dental and fingerprint data before making a conclusive identification.
The Risbergska adult education center, where the attack took place, offers adult courses and Swedish language classes for immigrants.
While police have yet to disclose the identities of the victims, Syrian Arab Republic’s embassy in Stockholm wrote on Facebook that Syrian citizens were among the dead, without specifying how many. Bosnia’s foreign ministry said separately its embassy had been informed by relatives that one Bosnian citizen had been killed and another wounded in the attack.
Sweden has a high level of gun ownership by European standards, mainly linked to hunting, though it is much lower than in the United States. A wave of gang crime in recent years has also highlighted the high incidence of illegal weapons.
BARRICADED IN CLASSROOMS
While Sweden has suffered a wave of gun violence in recent years related to gang crime, the nation has been shocked by the brutality of Tuesday’s crime.
Survivors barricaded themselves in classrooms and hid under beds to escape the killer. When they were released by police, they spoke of seeing pools of blood where victims had been shot. Police are still working to formally identify the dead.
Six people were admitted to a local hospital in the wake of the attack, five of whom required surgery for gunshot wounds. All were now in stable condition though two remained in intensive care, regional authorities said in a statement.
Many students in Sweden’s adult school system are immigrants seeking qualifications to help them find jobs in the Nordic country, while also learning Swedish.
The Campus Risbergska school has around 2,700 pupils, around 800 of whom were enrolled in Swedish for Immigrants courses, according to information provided by the local authority.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who called the attack a “dark day” for Sweden, was holding a regular gathering of the government on Thursday and has invited all the opposition parties to attend in a show of political unity.
Unlike in many countries, access to schools in Sweden is generally not tightly controlled. Speaking to Swedish Radio, School Minister Lotta Edholm, said that should change.


Zelensky hails arrival of French jets as ‘strengthening Ukraine’s security’

Zelensky hails arrival of French jets as ‘strengthening Ukraine’s security’
Updated 06 February 2025
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Zelensky hails arrival of French jets as ‘strengthening Ukraine’s security’

Zelensky hails arrival of French jets as ‘strengthening Ukraine’s security’
  • Zelensky said: “This is another step in strengthening Ukraine’s security“

KYIV: Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday hailed the delivery of the first Mirage 2000 fighter jets from France, to help Kyiv defend its airspace against Russia.


“The first Mirage 2000 jets from France have arrived, adding to our air defense capabilities,” Zelensky said, adding that “France’s president (Emmanuel Macron) keeps his word, and we appreciate it. This is another step in strengthening Ukraine’s security.”


Taliban hands management of Afghan hotel to German firm

Taliban hands management of Afghan hotel to German firm
Updated 06 February 2025
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Taliban hands management of Afghan hotel to German firm

Taliban hands management of Afghan hotel to German firm
  • The Cinderella International Group has been managing the renamed Kabul Grand Hotel since February 1
  • The Afghan-German national did not disclose the value, but said the deal was signed after the expiration of the previous contract with the Serena hotel chain

KABUL: A luxury Afghanistan hotel that saw several bloody attacks during the 20-year insurgency is now being managed by a German company a week after the Taliban government took control of it, the firm’s CEO told AFP.
In the deadliest attack on the Serena — popular with business travelers and foreign guests — four gunmen in 2014 made it through multiple levels of security and killed nine people, including an AFP journalist and members of his family.
In 2008, a suicide bombing left six dead, in an attack blamed on the current Taliban interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani.
The Cinderella International Group has been managing the renamed Kabul Grand Hotel since February 1, according to a 10-year contract won after a tender from the Taliban government, chief executive Aaron Azim said Wednesday.
The Afghan-German national did not disclose the value, but said the deal was signed after the expiration of the previous contract with the Serena hotel chain.
The line of hotels, owned by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development, had managed the Kabul location for 20 years.
On Friday, the Serena chain said the establishment’s operations had been handed over to the Hotel State Owned Corporation (HSOC), an arm of the Taliban government, without providing further details.
The Taliban authorities, who took power in 2021, said they had entrusted the management of the hotel to an international company with “enough experience in the field of hotel management,” without identifying the firm.
Azim said his company has been present in Afghanistan for 20 years, working on road construction and in the mining sector.