ANONYMOUS - OUR VOICE

Tides, A Full Moon, Days Of Digging: How Ship Was Freed In Suez Canal

<div class="ins_instory_dv">
<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Tides, A Full Moon, Days Of Digging: How Ship Was Freed In Suez Canal" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-03/o8q2beeo_ever-given-bloomberg_625x300_30_March_21.jpg" title="Tides, A Full Moon, Days Of Digging: How Ship Was Freed In Suez Canal" /></div>
Tug boats pull the Ever Given ship along the Suez Canal after being freed from the canal bank in Suez.
</div>
A nearly week-long saga to dislodge a giant container ship stuck in the Suez Canal reached an end Monday as the vessel was freed and traffic resumed through the vital waterway. Authorities expected operations to return to normal within days.
Hundreds of vessels carrying everything from oil to livestock were forced to wait in line after the Ever Given became stuck in the canal. The accident was a stark reminder of the fragility of global trade infrastructure and threatened to further strain supply lines already stretched by the pandemic.
Horns sounded in celebration as the container ship -- which is longer than the Eiffel Tower and weighs 220,000 tons -- limped up the canal after a painstaking operation that saw teams of tugs and dredgers working day and night.
Salvage teams used the tides and a full moon to pull the ship from deep inside the sandy bank it had smashed into last week amid high winds and poor visibility. As part of their efforts, they shoveled 30,000 cubic meters (1 million cubic feet) of sand and even removed part of the canal wall.
Part of the problem was a five-day wait for two large tugboats, according to Peter Berdowski, chief executive officer of Boskalis Westminster, the parent company of the salvage team.
"We were enormously helped by the strong tide, the forces of nature that push hard, even harder than the two tugboats can pull," he told Dutch radio.
"The men were euphoric of course. But there was a tense moment when this giant was floating freely. You need to bring it under control quickly with the tugboats before it gets stuck on the other side, we would have gone from bad to worse. Those were a tense 10 minutes."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
And she has arrived at the bitter lakes. The moment she's entering the waters. Live! <a href="https://t.co/4BrphYU3rL">pic.twitter.com/4BrphYU3rL</a>
— Salma Elwardany (@S_Elwardany) <a href="https://twitter.com/S_Elwardany/status/1376565833619607558?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2021</a></blockquote>
Clearing the queue of vessels may take as long as two and a half days, with canal operations returning to normal within four days, Suez Canal Authority Chairman Osama Rabie said at a Monday evening press conference. The SCA is looking into incentives for vessels in line, he said, without giving details on options being considered.
Container ship YM Wish was the first to leave the Great Bitter Lake anchorage and enter the southern part of the canal, with more vessels following. There is also a line of as many as 12 vessels entering the northern end of the canal, led by the Biglift Barentsz, a heavy load carrier heading for Singapore.
Egyptian authorities were desperate to get traffic flowing again through the waterway that's a conduit for about 12% of world trade and about 1 million barrels of oil a day. This has been the canal's longest closure since it was shut for eight years following the 1967 Six-Day War. Responsibility for the incident will be determined after an investigation, Rabie said, adding that SCA isn't at fault and that the ship's captain -- and not the pilot -- was responsible for the vessel.
Firms including A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S and Hapag-Lloyd AG were forced to reroute their ships via the southern tip of Africa, which can add two weeks on to a journey between Europe and Asia. At least one ship appeared to do a double U-turn on Monday as news of the salvage operation emerged.
<div class="ins_instory_dv">
<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="7kd0qrrg" class="lozad" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-03/7kd0qrrg_ever-given-suez-canal-bloomberg_625x300_30_March_21.jpg" /></div>
Hundreds of vessels carrying everything from oil to livestock were forced to wait in line after the Ever Given became stuck in the canal.
</div>
Dominoes Have Toppled
The long-term impact of the canal's $10-billion-per-day closure will likely be small given that global merchandise trade amounts to $18 trillion a year. Yet so many ships being thrown off schedule will ensure cargo delays for weeks, if not months. The dozen or so container carriers that control most of the world's ocean freight are already charging record-high rates on some routes, and shortages of everything from chemicals and lumber to dockside labor already abound.
"The dominoes have been toppled," Lars Jensen, chief executive of SeaIntelligence Consulting in Copenhagen, wrote on social media over the weekend. "The delays and re-routing which have already happened will cause ripple effects" which will be felt for several months.
Companies from Ikea to Caterpillar Inc. flagged potential impacts and tens of thousands of live animals are stuck on ships in the area. Consumer goods, industrial inputs and commodities from oil to coffee are caught up in the jam, with Asian exporters and European importers affected most directly.
The blockage held up about $400 million an hour, based on rough calculations from Lloyd's List that suggested westbound traffic to Europe is worth around $5.1 billion a day and eastbound traffic is approximately $4.5 billion.
--With assistance from Brendan Murray, Alex Longley, Abdel Latif Wahba, Dan Murtaugh, Jack Wittels, Julian Lee, Prejula Prem and Alaric Nightingale.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/suez-canal-tides-a-full-moon-days-of-digging-how-ship-was-freed-in-suez-canal-2401959">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/suez-canal-tides-a-full-moon-days-of-digging-how-ship-was-freed-in-suez-canal-2401959</a>

news world Tides, A Full Moon, Days Of Digging: How Ship Was Freed In Suez Canal

Tug boats pull the Ever Given ship along the Suez Canal after being freed from the canal bank in Suez. A nearly week-long saga to dislod...

Observations On The Current “Satan Shoes” Controversy

<a href="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/03292021d.png"><img alt="" class="alignnone wp-image-143118 jetpack-lazy-image" data-lazy-sizes="(max-width: 445px) 100vw, 445px" data-lazy-srcset="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/03292021d-300x157.png 300w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/03292021d-768x402.png 768w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/03292021d-1024x536.png 1024w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/03292021d.png 1200w" height="233" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/03292021d-300x157.png?is-pending-load=1" srcset="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" width="445" /></a>
<img alt="" class="alignnone wp-image-143118" height="233" sizes="(max-width: 445px) 100vw, 445px" src="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/03292021d-300x157.png" srcset="http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/03292021d-300x157.png 300w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/03292021d-768x402.png 768w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/03292021d-1024x536.png 1024w, http://shoebat.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/03292021d.png 1200w" width="445" />
Right now, the Christian world is very upset about rapper Lil Nas X’s “satan shoes”, which a few days ago here at Shoebat.com I wrote about. Apparently, reports say that the shoes sold out in a minute of their offering from the website.
With this happening, now American ‘Christian leaders” are speaking about it. However, I have another question- should we really be surprised that such a product could be sold today, and is it really worth the attention being given to them?
I want to be clear that I am not saying to submit to the occult, or to be ignorant of its rise. However, I am saying that this has been going on for a while. It’s like living in a house where a man keeps adopting cats- random cats, stray cats, cats people don’t want, and so on -and then one day he realizes the cats have been defecating on his rug and he is mad about it. Seriously, is the problem the cats, or the failure to realize and be able to sufficiently react to the fact that the cats have been piling up to unreasonable levels and this is just the consequence of it?
<a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/dangerous-and-evil-christian-leaders-react-to-satan-shoes.html">The Christian Post wrote about five self-professed Christian public figures</a>, and their reactions to the Satan shoes. One can read the whole article here, and it is an interesting read, not for the obvious, but because perhaps the outrage is at the wrong thing, for instead of being mad at the shoes, one may want to be mad at the conditions created to allow the existence of such shoes to come into being.
For example, Franklin Graham writes
<blockquote readability="9">
This is a dangerous marketing endeavor if you ask me. Rapper Lil Nas X is producing 666 pairs of Nike shoes they’re calling “Satan Shoes.” They even go so far as to put a drop of human blood in the soles. The shoes are part of promoting a new music video in which this rapper descends down a stripper pole and gives Satan a lap dance. The morals in this country have fallen so fast, and many times the entertainment industry is leading the way.
</blockquote>
It is good he is concerned about this. However, where was Graham for the last four years while Trump was embarrassing the Evangelical world by them accepting his life of sin with no condemnation? This is the man who prior to becoming president was praised for his love and expressions of pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth, (the seven deadly sins), and yet because he was a candidate with the “right side” in politics, he got the blessing of the Evangelical lobby while they ignored his flaws completely, even allowing it to be suggested that Trump was a sort of new King Cyrus.
It is not good what Lil Nas X is doing, but trolling or being honestly and evil person, it is clear what message he is sending. The same cannot be said about the leaders of ‘evangelical America’ (and many other groups too who sided with Trump but did not give a balanced view on him, which includes many in the Church as well as people of other religions).
Another Protestant Christian leader, Bob Reccord, said
<blockquote readability="16">
In a statement sent to The Christian Post, Bob Reccord, founder and chairman of Total Life Impact Ministries, Inc. and former head of the Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board, said that “most all of our Founding Fathers are turning over in their graves about now.”
“And I convinced that thousands upon thousands who have fought to protect the liberties of this nation never had an inkling of an idea that those freedoms could/would lead to this,” Reccord added.
</blockquote>
He makes good points. But what about how the very concept of “liberty” and the Constitution may in fact be the basis of many of the problems today? I do not wish to say that the US has done nothing good, but the philosophical basis on which the US was founded was doomed to fail because it was based on a false conception of the relationship between religion and government, and it was only inevitable that religion would be replaced by the elevation of the state in time unless converted away? It is never heard at all, and if one questions the Constitution, one might as well question the Bible for many of these people, yet its philosophy always inclined to anti-Christian ends.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem had harsh words about them.
<blockquote readability="19">
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem tweeted on Sunday that children today “are being told that this kind of product is, not only okay, it’s ‘exclusive.'”
“But do you know what’s more exclusive? Their God-given eternal soul,” Noem wrote. “We are in a fight for the soul of our nation. We need to fight hard. And we need to fight smart. We have to win.”
Noem’s response drew a response of Lil Nas X, expressing concern that a state governor is tweeting about shoes.
“[Do] ur job!” he wrote in a retweet of Noem’s tweet.
</blockquote>
Meanwhile, <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/south-dakota-house-rejects-governor-174915459.html">Noem has been criticized for attacking sodom but balking on a bill that would address the intrusion of genital-mutilating men</a> into women’s sports.
She will talk about sodom and Christianity and ‘my faith’ but refuse to put her words to action? Lil Nas X is right about her in his tweet. At least Lil Nas X is honest about his evils, while in typical political right fashion, there is a lot of talk against it but when it comes time to act, it turns into supporting but in a less intense way what the left supports, aka ‘Democrat lite’.
Candace Owens had the best response, in my personal opinion.
<blockquote readability="13">
We’ve turned George Floyd, a criminal drug addict, into an icon.
We are promoting Satan shoes to wear on our feet.
We’ve got Cardi B named as woman of the year.
But we’re convinced it’s white supremacy that’s keeping black America behind.
How stupid can we be?
</blockquote>
Call it incendiary, but it’s also true what she points out, regardless of what one thinks about her politics or who pays her to say what she does.
Another ‘Christian apologist’ gave a not surprisingly weak statement
<blockquote readability="15">
In a statement to The Christian Post, conservative author and evangelist Alex McFarland said that using Satan as a marketing tool is “disconcerting.”
“Believers and non-believers alike have questions about Satan and the demonic,” he said.
“Some youth seem especially prone to curiosity about the dark side. There is no shortage of references to Satan in pop culture to satisfy public fascination, but it is important that our opinions on such be Biblically informed.”
</blockquote>
People have been using the image of satan as a tool too incite Christians for decades. Again, this is not to say it is good or to support it, but there is, most likely owing to the Calvinistic basis of American society, a silliness about the nature of evil- a very serious thing -that leads people into unnecessary panic about the wrong things. This was famously captured by Dana Carvey’s ‘church lady’ character on SN.
[embedded content]
I’m not saying evil is not serious. It is, and it needs to be treated with the serious nature it is. But just as with the arguable ‘cartoonization’ of Jesus, from God Almighty and the Savior of men who suffered horrendously and died for them to a person who is like a friend in high school or rich uncle that throws money at you, a similar phenomenon has happened with the devil, where the epitome of rebellion and the pursuit of absolute power to try and overthrow its Creator and seeks the misery of all created things has become a cartoon-like figure running around with silly horns and a red tail looking to say naughty things to people is almost equally bad, as it removes the serious nature of what evil is and makes it into a comedy sketch that people laugh at forget what it is.
Perhaps the problem is not with the devil, but notably to do with reducing Christ to an icon of national pride and abusing His Holy Image to fit cultural or political fights so much that men have unintentionally erected themselves in His place and put Him to the side.
Then there was, of course, a “pastor” who gave his views
<blockquote readability="14">
On Twitter, Pastor Mark Burns, one of former President Donald Trump’s informal faith advisers and pastor of Harvest Praise & Worship Center in South Carolina, tweeted his displeasure.
“These #SatanShoes by #Nike & #LilNasX with 666 and a drop of human blood in the sole is a reason why we Christians must be prayed up ready to battle in the spirit with the Voice of the Holy Spirit,” he contended. “This is evil & heresy and I pray that Christians rise up against this.”
</blockquote>
The Trump part is enough said in itself. But add to it more talk about ‘spiritual battle’, and these same people who are willing to go to war over a pair of sneakers are more than willing to overlook the Evangelical embrace of policies that favor genocide against fellow Christians (ask the Iraqi Christians, or those who are left about it), support of national socialism (the US military support of groups such as Azov and others), and ethnoracism in h form of tribal warfare leading to a new occultism (in the form of Kabbalism).
The US does not need more “Pastors”, but probably a lot fewer, and the same for “churches”. It needs conversion, repentance, and seeking God in the way that God has called, not based on some emotional feelings because of a cheap Christian pop song that somebody played on a $50 organ that the music guy picked up at a yard sale because the budget wouldn’t allow it in the ‘church’ since the ‘pastor’ was probably buying a new car to *ahem* ‘drive around’ the new ‘church’ secretary when his wife was out of town (just ask ‘Pastor’ Derrick Jaxn).
The point to be made here is that it is good people are upset at these shoes, but Christians as usual in the US are making themselves look like fools for the media, barking up the wrong tree while ignoring or supporting and being unable to see how their actions are advancing real evils like nationalism, national socialism, eugenics, and kabbalistic occultism, and it being done in the name of nation and religion.
That is what is so sad about it.
What would be interesting to see is if Lil Nas X at some point has his life spiral out of control, then he ‘finds the Lord’ and ‘becomes a Christian’ and ‘stops his homosexuality’. and then ‘starts his own church’ where he makes himself ‘pastor’, and perhaps makes more money than even as a rapper. After all, what could be more American?
<h3 class="p1"><a>Donate now to help support the work of this site. When you donate, you are not donating to just any commentary group, but one that is endlessly observing the news, reading between the lines and separating hysteria and perception from reality. In shoebat.com, we are working every day, tirelessly investigating global trends and providing data and analysis to tell you what lies for the future.</a></h3>
 
 
source <a href="http://shoebat.com/2021/03/29/observations-on-the-current-satan-shoes-controversy/">http://shoebat.com/2021/03/29/observations-on-the-current-satan-shoes-controversy/</a>

armageddon Observations On The Current “Satan Shoes” Controversy

Right now, the Christian world is very upset about rapper Lil Nas X’s “satan shoes”, which a few days ago here at Shoebat.com I wrote abou...

Covid Probably Came To Humans From Animals: WHO Experts

<div class="ins_instory_dv">
<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Covid Probably Came To Humans From Animals: WHO Experts" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2020-04/ungqqj7o_coronavirus-testing-pti_650x400_20_April_20.jpg" title="Covid Probably Came To Humans From Animals: WHO Experts" /></div>
Experts believe the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the Covid-19 disease originally came from bats.
</div>
Geneva, Switzerland:
A team of international experts will present details Tuesday of their findings from a mission to China, which concluded Covid-19 probably passed to humans from a bat via an intermediary animal, all but ruling out a laboratory leak.
But the report, drafted by World Health Organization-appointed international experts and their Chinese counterparts, offers no definitive answers on how the new coronavirus jumped to humans.
AFP obtained a copy of the final report ahead of its official publication on Tuesday.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the international experts would hold a press conference Tuesday at 1400 GMT to discuss their findings, adding that all hypotheses on the pandemic's origins remained open and needed further study.
Covid-19 has killed more than 2.7 million people worldwide in the 15 months since it emerged, forcing governments around the world to introduce restrictions that have battered the global economy.
Ahead of a meeting with world leaders, UN chief Antonio Guterres called Monday for more debt relief for the poorest countries struggling with economic fallout from the pandemic.
In the United States, there was good news about progress of its vaccine roll-out, but President Joe Biden warned Americans the battle was far from over.
Mexico, meanwhile, released new figures on excess deaths that suggest its official coronavirus death toll -- already the third-highest in the world -- is a massive underestimate.
'New Debt mechanism'
The expert report on the origins of Covid-19 has had a troubled birth, with publication delays adding to the hold-ups and diplomatic wrangling that plagued the WHO's attempts to get experts into Wuhan -- the city at the center of the initial outbreak.
They finally arrived on January 14, more than a year after the first cases surfaced.
Experts believe the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the Covid-19 disease originally came from bats.
The report authors judged that the most likely scenario was that it had made a direct leap to humans, while not ruling out other theories.
Beijing's theory that the virus did not originate in China at all but was imported in frozen food was judged "possible" but very unlikely.
Claims promoted by former US president Donald Trump's administration that the virus escaped from a research lab were judged "extremely unlikely."
Meanwhile, UN chief Guterres called for a "new debt mechanism" allowing such options as debt swaps, buy-backs and cancellations to help worse-off countries.
Addressing an online forum that included dozens of world leaders, he said the pandemic has pushed the world to "the verge of a debt crisis" and required "urgent action."
"We need to change the rules," he argued.
The pandemic had also "shattered the lives" of millions of women and girls and reversed progress towards gender equality, he said.
'War far from won'
In the US, the White House said that 90 percent of adults would be eligible for Covid-19 shots within three weeks.
But in a television address, Biden warned the country -- which has the world's highest death toll -- that "our work is far from over. The war against Covid-19 is far from won."
He condemned the reckless behavior of some people flouting social distancing measures.
New government data from Mexico showed that it had registered 294,287 Covid-19 deaths -- substantially more than previously recorded, and the third-highest in the world behind Brazil and the United States.
In Britain on Monday, people rushed to pools and parks to enjoy new-found freedoms, as the government allowed small groups to gather and sports activities to resume.
"We haven't swum since January 5, so we were beyond excited to come back and get back into the water," said swimmer Jessica Walker a London pool.
The country is also lining up an FA Cup semi-final football match in April as a test run for reopening large events.
J&J deals
Johnson & Johnson announced a deal with the African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) to bring relief to that continent.
AVAT has an initial deal for 220 million doses of the single-shot vaccine with J&J subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceutica for delivery from the third quarter of this year.
With EU approval already in its pocket, the US drugmaker also plans to begin European deliveries on April 19.
The bloc has lagged far behind Britain in its vaccine rollout.
Rising case numbers in Germany led Chancellor Angela Merkel to lambast the heads of the country's regional states, including her own party colleagues, for failing to reintroduce restrictions.
In neighboring France, President Emmanuel Macron may announce new measures this week after partial regional shutdowns failed to keep the number of people in intensive care below its second-wave peak.
Meanwhile, leaders from 23 countries including Merkel and Macron, the EU and WHO backed a push for a new global treaty to better prepare the world to tackle future pandemics.
And the makers of the Russian-developed Sputnik V vaccine struck a deal with a Chinese firm to make more than 60 million doses, citing "rising demand" for the drug.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/covid-probably-came-to-humans-from-animals-who-experts-2401912">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/covid-probably-came-to-humans-from-animals-who-experts-2401912</a>

news world Covid Probably Came To Humans From Animals: WHO Experts

Experts believe the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the Covid-19 disease originally came from bats. Geneva, Switzerland: A team of interna...

How Did A Vessel Get Wedged Into Suez Canal? Focus Turns To Investigation

<div class="ins_instory_dv">
<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="How Did A Vessel Get Wedged Into Suez Canal? Focus Turns To Investigation" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-03/fkcn5ca_suez-canal-ship-freed_625x300_30_March_21.jpg" title="How Did A Vessel Get Wedged Into Suez Canal? Focus Turns To Investigation" /></div>
Suez Canal: Among some seafarers, the role of the pilots can be somewhat mysterious.
</div>
With the Ever Given freed and on the move, the spotlight is now likely to turn to the investigation of how the vessel got wedged into the Suez Canal, leading to billions of dollars in losses globally.
While strong winds during a dust storm are widely seen as a major factor, Lt. Gen. Osama Rabie of the Suez Canal Authority told reporters that the investigation will not focus just on the weather and that human and technical errors cannot be ruled out.
Investigators are likely to examine the performance of the two Egyptian canal pilots aboard the Ever Given and their relationship with the ship's captain.
Were there any communications problems? How experienced were the pilots and the captain in navigating the canal? And what challenges did they face in moving a ship of such massive size - as big as the Empire State Building and near the maximum size allowed in the canal - along a single-lane artery of the waterway?
A high-ranking canal pilot working for the Suez Canal Authority said the two pilots aboard the Ever Given were both senior chief pilots with 30-plus years of experience. "They had the experience and qualifications to guide this ship," he said.
The senior pilot said the job of navigating ships through canals had become more taxing in recent years. The vessels today are much larger and carry more cargo than those traversing the canal in the 1990s. Back then, he recalled, an oil tanker had blocked the canal and a single tugboat towed the vessel and cleared the waterway.
"The ships today are bigger than they used to be," the pilot said. "This is something new. We haven't seen this before."
Strong winds, he said, could have easily propelled the Ever Given toward the bank, leaving the canal blocked. "This is something that happens to massive ships of this kind," said the senior pilot, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment to the media. "They can run aground when winds exceed 30 or 40 knots."
He noted that canal pilots have guided the Ever Given through the canal before. "The ship has crossed the Suez Canal previous times but never under such weather conditions," he said.
Contrary to their titles, the pilots do not actually steer the vessel in the Suez Canal. The pilot serves more as a consultant, using his experience and practical knowledge of the canal to give advice, for instance on how to maneuver the vessel or what course to steer.
The captain has to be present at all times on the bridge and give the orders to the helm, to the engines and tugs, taking into account the pilot's directions, according to international maritime law. The captain has to keep the pilot informed of any problems with the handling of the vessel "so that the pilot might be in a position to give better advice to control the navigation and movement of the vessel," the law reads. Ultimately, "the responsibility falls completely" on the captain, it adds.
"The captain has the sole responsibility for directing the ship," the senior pilot said. "The pilots can offer their guidance and opinions, but the captain can choose to refuse it."
Among some seafarers, the role of the pilots can be somewhat mysterious.
Rose George, author of "Deep Sea and Foreign Going," a book that recounts a five-week journey aboard a container ship from Britain to Singapore, said that when she traveled through the canal in 2010, it was unclear what the Suez crew's purpose was.
"We had a Suez crew on board, which is obligatory," she said on "BBC News Hour" on Sunday. "You pay a fortune to go through the Suez Canal, about a $100,000 to $300,000, but you have to take on a Suez pilot."
"The canal authority says you have to take this crew on board," George said. "You have to take a special electrician who has to operate what they call a Suez Canal projector, which is a massive headlamp that you stick on the forecastle at the front of the ship on the bow, and that's in case anything happens. And then there's also a few other crew who apparently have special rope skills."
She said the captain on the medium-size container ship she was on had been at sea for 42 years, having crossed the canal more times than he could remember. He said he had "never seen this crew do anything except sit in their special crew cabin," George recounted.
Gregory Tylawsky, a captain with the California-based Maritime Expert Group, said that it was too early to say what caused the Ever Given's grounding, but he offered, "There is no evidence at this time to indicate responsibility attached to any individuals, including the Suez Canal pilots on board the Ever Given at the time of the incident."
Even if the pilot error is found to have contributed to the accident, Egyptian law makes clear that pilots are not liable for any damage during their watch of the ship.
In an explanatory video posted Monday, Mark Phillip Laurilla, the chief engineer of a container ship who blogs about his experiences under the name Chief MAKOi, acknowledged that may seem unfair but said that it is the same all over the world. "Whatever the case, all liabilities point towards the vessel, which means the ship owners along with their insurers are in for quite a ride," Laurilla said.
Tylawsky said he was confident the industry would quickly learn from the incident. He noted that ships were required to have doubled hulls after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Just on Saturday, he said, a ship in Istanbul suffered a 230-foot gash in a docking incident.
"In ships of older design, the location of this rupture would be in alignment with the ships' fuel tanks, thus creating an oil spill," Tylawsky said. "This is just one of many examples in our industry."
 
 
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/suez-canal-blockade-how-a-vessel-got-wedged-into-suez-canal-focus-turns-to-investigation-2401907">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/suez-canal-blockade-how-a-vessel-got-wedged-into-suez-canal-focus-turns-to-investigation-2401907</a>

news world How Did A Vessel Get Wedged Into Suez Canal? Focus Turns To Investigation

Suez Canal: Among some seafarers, the role of the pilots can be somewhat mysterious. With the Ever Given freed and on the move, the spot...

One Of Europe's Richest Men Among 5 Killed In Alaska Helicopter Crash

<div class="ins_instory_dv">
<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="One Of Europe's Richest Men Among 5 Killed In Alaska Helicopter Crash" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-03/blk933lo_petr-kellner_625x300_30_March_21.jpg" title="One Of Europe's Richest Men Among 5 Killed In Alaska Helicopter Crash" /></div>
Petr Kellner, 56, was the Czech Republic's richest person.
</div>
A helicopter crash in the Alaskan wilderness killed five people, including one of Europe's richest residents, after the chopper went down on Saturday during a backcountry heli-skiing trip.
Among the victims was Petr Kellner, 56, who was the Czech Republic's richest person and one of the 70 richest people in the world last year, according to Forbes.
The Alaska Department of Public Safety said rescuers over the weekend recovered the bodies of Kellner and four others: Benjamin Larochaix, 50, a resident of the Czech Republic; heli-skiing guides Greg Harms, 52, and Sean McManamy, 38; and Zachary Russell, 33, who was piloting the helicopter.
A sixth person, who has not been named as of late Sunday night local time, was in serious but stable condition and being treated at a hospital in the Anchorage area. A rescue team found no other survivors.
It is not immediately clear what caused the Airbus AS350 B3 helicopter to crash. It was due back at around 6:30 p.m., local time, and was reported overdue by 8:30 p.m., National Transportation Board member Tom Chapman said in a virtual news conference Monday afternoon. A search-effort operator found wreckage about an hour after that, near Palmer, Alaska, which lies 45 miles north of Anchorage, Chapman said.
The commercial aircraft rolled downhill 800 to 900 feet from an elevation of about 5,500 feet, Chapman said.
Victim recovery was expedited as a snowstorm threatened to obscure the area that Chapman described as having rugged terrain and weather conditions, but he said a full recovery of the site, including wreckage, was a priority. Chapman said the exact weather conditions at the time of the crash were still unknown, and details from the flight recorder had not yet been recovered.
The chopper had been chartered for a backcountry heli-skiing trip by the Tordrillo Mountain Lodge, a representative for the lodge, Mary Ann Pruitt told The Washington Post. With packages starting at $15,000 per person, the lodge bills itself as a multisport luxury facility in the remote Tordrillo mountain range.
Kellner and Larochaix, the two Czech victims, were "loyal and frequent guests" at the Tordrillo lodge, Pruitt said. Kellner, whose net worth was estimated at $17.5 billion, made his fortune selling office supplies and then buying a stake in the Czech Republic's largest insurance company, Forbes reported.
The billionaire was the founder and majority shareholder of the Netherlands-based PPF Group, an investment fund with business spanning telecoms, finance, biotechnology, mining and real estate. The company has assets exceeding $50 billion, according to its website.
"His professional life was known for his incredible work ethic and creativity, but his private life belonged to his family," the company said in a statement, adding the funeral would be for close family members only.
Born in North Bohemia in what was then Czechoslovakia, Kellner started his career selling photocopiers after the fall of communism in 1989, Czech media reported. He built his business empire by acquiring stakes in formerly state-owned enterprises as the country made its transition to capitalism. Most notable was a holding in what had been the state-run insurer.
Last year, PPF acquired CME, a media and entertainment company that broadcasts more than 30 television channels in Europe, from AT&T. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., was among those who raised concerns about the sale, alleging that Kellner and his company worked as a "proxies" for China.
The company has dismissed such allegations against it as "unfounded" and said that it is committed to freedom, democracy, entrepreneurship, professionalism, and a plurality of opinions. Kellner was also a former co-owner of the Czech soccer team Slavia Prague, which said it had received the news with "great sadness."
"Slavia would like to offer its deepest and most sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Kellner," the club tweeted.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis also wrote his condolences on Twitter, calling Kellner's death "an incredible tragedy."
Kellner's hobbies included snowboarding and kitesurfing. Larochaix, who also died in the crash, was a freestyle snowboarding coach, according to media reports.
Heli-skiing, in which a helicopter shuttles athletes to untouched patches of powdery snow, has developed a reputation as a pricey, sought-after goal for many skiers. It is banned for environmental reasons in some European countries, according to the BBC.
McManamy had worked as a heli-ski guide for over a decade, including the past five years at Tordrillo, Pruitt said. He was also an avalanche instructor and an experienced mountain guide at Denali, the tallest peak in North America.
Relatives said McManamy developed an early love for skiing and the outdoors while growing up in New England, a passion that eventually took him to wilderness training school in Colorado. He split his time between Girdwood, Alaska, and California, where he and his wife, Caitlin, had recently purchased an apartment.
"He was a great person. He was adventurous and dedicated but devoted to family as well," his uncle, Rob McManamy, told The Washington Post. "We all admired him because he was doing things most of us can only dream about."
Harms, who had worked at Tordrillo for 15 years, was "one of the most experienced guides in the business" and a pioneer in Alaskan heli-skiing, Pruitt said. Through his own company, Third Edge Heli, he led excursions to mountain ranges in Chile.
In Alaska, meanwhile, the Coloradan had recently set a world record for making 101 runs over a 24-hour period, according to the lodge's website.
Russell, of Anchorage, was employed by Soloy Helicopters, the company confirmed to The Post. The Wasilla-based outfit owns and operates a fleet of 17 helicopters for a range of industries, including firefighting and diamond and seismic drill exploration, its website said.
Rescuers found wreckage from the helicopter about 21 miles from the town of Palmer, the National Transportation Safety Board's local office told the Anchorage Daily News. Crews were working to recover the debris before a forecast snowstorm moved in.
"It's in an area of very steep terrain, snow-covered terrain, right around 5,000 to 6,000 feet . . . on the north side of Knik River," Clint Johnson, Alaska chief of the NTSB, told the Daily News.
In a statement, the Tordrillo Mountain Lodge said it was the first time it has faced "an event of this measure" in its 17 years in business.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/alaska-crash-petr-kellner-one-of-europes-richest-men-among-5-killed-in-alaska-helicopter-crash-2401904">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/alaska-crash-petr-kellner-one-of-europes-richest-men-among-5-killed-in-alaska-helicopter-crash-2401904</a>

news world One Of Europe's Richest Men Among 5 Killed In Alaska Helicopter Crash

Petr Kellner, 56, was the Czech Republic's richest person. A helicopter crash in the Alaskan wilderness killed five people, includin...

Mozambique Town Deserted As Islamic State Group Claims Control

<div class="ins_instory_dv">
<div class="ins_instory_dv_cont"><img alt="Mozambique Town Deserted As ISIS Claims Control" src="https://c.ndtvimg.com/2021-03/cak05o38_mozambique-afp-650_625x300_30_March_21.jpg" title="Mozambique Town Deserted As ISIS Claims Control" /></div>
A child plays in one of the alleys of the port of Paquitequete near Pemba on March 29, 2021.
</div>
Pemba, Mozambique:
The key northern Mozambique town of Palma was all but deserted Monday, its residents fleeing by road, boat or on foot as the ISIS claimed control after a prolonged onslaught.
ISIS-linked militants attacked the town on Wednesday, escalating an insurgency that has spread bloodily across northern Mozambique since 2017.
Dozens of people, according to the ISIS and the authorities, were killed in what witnesses describe as a coordinated attack, and an unknown number were still missing.
It is the closest raid yet to a multi-billion-dollar gas project being built on a peninsula just 10 kilometres (six miles) away, by France's Total and other energy giants.
"The caliphate's soldiers seized the strategic town of Palma," ISIS said in a statement posted on its Telegram channels.
It claimed its offensive aimed at military and government targets, killing dozens of troops and "members of Crusader states," its term for Western nationals.
The town of 75,000 people in Cabo Delgado province was all but emptied of its population, said civil society activist Adriano Nuvunga.
"The violence has ceased, but it is believed some of the insurgents have pulled back and some are still around in hiding," he told AFP.
Witnesses said scores of fighters had sneaked into the town ahead of the attack.
"The attackers arrived a few days earlier and hid in the homes of locals whom they paid," said one Palma resident, speaking from Mueda, where he had taken refuge.
"The attacks started along the main roads to Palma," he said.
As police rushed out to try repel the invaders, the fighters inside the town mounted their own attack, according to witnesses.
The United Nations condemned the assault on Palma and said it was coordinating closely with local authorities to provide assistance to those affected by the violence.
"We are deeply concerned by the still evolving situation in Palma where armed attacks began on March 24, reportedly killing dozens of people," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Struggle to survive
Many survivors said they had walked for days through forest to seek refuge in Mueda, 180 kilometres (112 miles) to the south, where they arrived limping on swollen feet.
"Many people fell from fatigue and were unable to continue walking, especially the elderly and children," said one escapee in Mueda who did not wish to be named.
Some survivors fled to the gas project site, from where they are being sent to the regional capital Pemba via boat.
The government said dozens were killed in the militants' attack, including seven people caught in an ambush during an operation to evacuate them from a hotel where they had sought refuge.
A South African is among those killed, his family said.
"Attacks started shortly after a large ship with food had just arrived," one escapee told AFP via an online message, referring to food aid deliveries to the farthest northern coastal town.
"They attacked the city and brought trucks to carry the food."
Witnesses told AFP they first targeted banks and the police station before spreading across town.
Boatloads
Thousands of escapees were arriving on boats on Monday in Pemba, the provincial capital around 250 kms to the south, according to sources there.
International aid agency sources said between 6,000 and 10,000 people were waiting to be evacuated.
The attack forced expatriate workers and locals to seek refuge temporarily at a heavily guarded gas plant located on the nearby Afungi peninsula.
"A significant number of civilians rescued from Palma are also being transported to Afungi site, where they receive humanitarian and logistical support," side Total in a statement.
Sea Star, a large passenger vessel, arrived in Pemba on Sunday with around 1,400 people, mostly workers including Total employees.
Pemba is already packed with hundreds of thousands of other people displaced by the Islamist insurgency, which has uprooted nearly 700,000 from their homes across the vast province.
The latest attack "will unleash a new onslaught of displaced people," said Chance Briggs of the British-based charity Save the Children.
The defence ministry said late Sunday the security forces had "reinforced their operational strategy" to contain the attacks and restore normality in Palma.
In Portugal, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said his government was monitoring the situation with "great concern," adding that he had been in touch with President Filipe Nyusi.
Ruthless campaign
The violent, calculated raid broke a three-month hiatus in Islamist attacks widely attributed to counter-insurgency tactics and the January-March rainy season.
Although the extremists launched their campaign in 2017, experts say they began mobilising a decade earlier as disgruntled youths started to practise a stricter form of Islam, upset over locals drinking alcohol and entering mosques dressed in shorts and shoes.
Their bloody campaign has claimed at least 2,600 lives, half of them civilians.
The insurgents are known locally as al-Shabaaab, although they are not believed to have links with the Somali jihadist organisation by that name.
The US State Department this month said the group reportedly pledged allegiance to IS in April 2018. It named its leader as Abu Yasir Hassan, and declared him a global terrorist.
 
 
source <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/mozambique-town-deserted-as-islamic-state-group-claims-control-2401900">https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/mozambique-town-deserted-as-islamic-state-group-claims-control-2401900</a>

news world Mozambique Town Deserted As Islamic State Group Claims Control

A child plays in one of the alleys of the port of Paquitequete near Pemba on March 29, 2021. Pemba, Mozambique: The key northern Mozamb...