TIGARAS, Indonesia: Indonesian police on Thursday questioned the captain of a ferry that sank without trace in a volcanic lake in Sumatra this week, warning that a criminal investigation could be launched over a disaster that has left at least 192 people missing.
Desperate relatives awaiting news of loved ones prayed and sang hymns at the port on Lake Toba after one of Indonesia’s worst ferry disasters in years left four confirmed dead and 18 survivors, including the captain.
“We see there’s a possibility to begin a criminal investigation because of negligence that resulted in people losing their lives,” national police chief Tito Karnavian said during a visit to the base of rescue operations at the lake, one of the world’s deepest.
“The captain may be named a suspect,” Karnavian said, adding that regional transport officials would also be questioned about supervision.
Authorities were trying to get clearer information from the captain and survivors on where the vessel went down.
“(The captain’s) health remains unstable. We asked him some questions, but he has yet to remember clearly,” police official Agus Darojat told Metro TV.
Teams of divers resumed a search for the wooden ferry, which may have had aboard nearly five times the number of passengers it was supposed to carry when it went down in bad weather on Monday.
“We’ve expanded (the search area) from 6 km to 10 km,” Budiawan, an official of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, told reporters. That is equivalent to a range of 3.7 miles to 6.21 miles.
Authorities were waiting for more sophisticated navy equipment that can plumb depths of as much as 450 meters (1,500 feet) in some places, he added.
The picturesque lake fills the caldera of a giant ancient volcano that erupted about 75,000 years ago in one of history’s biggest eruptions.
On the quay, hundreds of people sang hymns, some in the regional Batak language, in an area of predominantly Muslim Indonesia that is home to a large Christian community.
Waiting at the quayside for news of the family of her 20-year-old daughter who took the ill-fated ferry, one distraught mother criticized the disorganized nature of the initial rescue effort.
“Just looking at the videos of them throwing lifesavers, it looked haphazard,” the woman, Turia, said on Wednesday, describing attempts by nearby ships to help survivors.
The mobile telephone of Turia’s daughter, who was accompanied on board by her husband and the couple’s 2-1/2-year-old daughter, has not been active since Tuesday, Turia added.
The Southeast Asian nation frequently suffers boat sinkings, with basic safety rules often flouted and vessels overloaded.
Last week, 13 died after a boat carrying about 43 people sank off Makassar on Sulawesi island, while a speedboat carrying 30 passengers sank off South Sumatra, killing at least two.
In Lake Toba, there has also been a string of previous accidents, including a 1997 sinking that killed about 80 people.
President Joko Widodo said the government would push to prevent future boat accidents.
“I ask that this kind of case will not happen again and I have asked the transport minister to evaluate all safety standards for ferry transport,” he said in a statement late on Wednesday.
Indonesia questions captain of sunken ferry, widens search for victims
Indonesia questions captain of sunken ferry, widens search for victims
- The Southeast Asian nation frequently suffers boat sinkings, with basic safety rules often flouted and vessels overloaded
- Authorities were waiting for more sophisticated navy equipment that can plumb depths of as much as 450 meters
SpaceX’s Starship mega rocket blasts off on its most complex test flight yet
- For the second time, SpaceX used giant mechanical arms to catch its Starship rocket back at the pad minutes after liftoff
- “Every Starship launch is one more step closer toward Mars,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said via X ahead of liftoff
SpaceX’s colossal Starship rocket blasted off Thursday on its most complex test flight yet, with Elon Musk looking to repeat a booster capture with giant mechanical arms and adding a new twist.
The 400-foot (123-meter) rocket soared from the southern tip of Texas, heading out over the Gulf of Mexico in late afternoon.
Founder and CEO Musk aimed to score another booster grab at the launch pad several minutes into the flight, replicating last October’s feat. SpaceX beefed up the catch tower after a retry the following month ended up damaging sensors on the chopstick-like arms, forcing the team to forgo a capture attempt. The booster was steered into the gulf instead.
SpaceX insisted everything had to be perfect in order for the booster to return to the launch site at Boca Chica Beach near the Mexican border. This booster was the first to use a recycled engine — one from October’s successful catch.
The company also upgraded the spacecraft for the latest demo, packing it with 10 dummy satellites for release in space. They’re the same size as SpaceX’s Starlink Internet satellites and will follow the same flight path as the spacecraft, ending up destroyed upon entry. The spacecraft will ditch into the Indian Ocean to close out the hourlong mission.
Musk plans to launch actual Starlinks on Starships before moving on to other satellites and, eventually, crews.
It was the seventh test flight for the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket. NASA has reserved a pair of Starships to land astronauts on the moon later this decade. Musk’s goal is Mars.
“Every Starship launch is one more step closer toward Mars,” Musk said via X ahead of liftoff.
Hours hours earlier in Florida, another billionaire’s rocket company — Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin — launched the newest supersized rocket, New Glenn. The rocket reached orbit on its first flight, successfully placing an experimental satellite thousands of miles above Earth. But the first-stage booster was destroyed, missing its targeted landing on a floating platform in the Atlantic.
Charities urge UK authorities to ‘hold Israel accountable’ after Gaza ceasefire
- 18 organizations accuse British government of failing to act when UN accused Israel of war crimes
- Letter calls for permanent end to hostilities and says truce must be a ‘starting point for justice and accountability’
LONDON: UK charities and other organizations have called on the British government to ensure the ceasefire in Gaza marks the start of a process that ends Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and ensures “justice and accountability.”
An alliance of 18 groups, including the Council for Arab-British Understanding, Oxfam and Amnesty International, on Thursday signed a letter welcoming the Gaza ceasefire agreement, upon which the Israeli parliament was due to vote on Thursday evening.
But the groups said the temporary truce, expected to take effect on Sunday, must become permanent and represent a “starting point for justice and accountability.”
The letter stated: “This deal alone will not end Palestinian suffering in Gaza, and therefore must be the beginning, and not the end, of a process that will rapidly bring a comprehensive ceasefire, with a lifting of the 17-year long blockade, and end of Israel’s occupation of Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem.”
The agreement to end 15 months of devastating war in Gaza, during which at least 46,000 Palestinians were killed, was reached on Wednesday. It calls for a six-week ceasefire, the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the freeing of hostages taken by Hamas during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel during which 1,200 people were killed. Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel will also be released and a mammoth humanitarian aid operation launched in Gaza.
The letter calls for a halt to deliveries of arms to Israel, “including components for F-35 fighter jets sent indirectly,” as part of a series of actions that would “ensure accountability and justice for Palestinians.”
It outlines the terrible suffering endured by Palestinians during the war, including the forced displacement of more than 1.9 million people, representing nearly 90 percent of Gaza’s population.
It also accuses the UK government of failing to act in any meaningful way in response, despite a UN Commission of Inquiry accusing Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the conflict.
The UK, the letter says, “has neither secured a permanent ceasefire nor shown willingness to hold Israel accountable.”
Israeli authorities were repeatedly accused during the conflict of restricting deliveries of humanitarian aid to Gaza that could have alleviated the suffering of the civilian population. The organizations that signed the letter called for full humanitarian access now to be granted “to avert the risk of famine.”
They continued: “This is a moment of truth for the UK. To continue shielding Israel from accountability is to abandon the principles of justice and human rights that it claims to uphold.”
The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, welcomed the ceasefire agreement and said the focus should turn now to humanitarian aid and efforts to secure a better, long-term future for the region.
"After months of devastating bloodshed and countless lives lost, this is the long-overdue news that the Israeli and Palestinian people have desperately been waiting for,” he said.
The UK, the US and other European allies of Israel faced criticism throughout the conflict for failing to put pressure on Israel to end its military operations.
Morocco’s ambassador to UK meets his 400-year-old predecessor
- Envoy views famous portrait of Moroccan emissary sent to Britain to meet Queen Elizabeth I in 1600
- Painting, displayed at Birmingham University gallery, considered a powerful symbol of historic ties
LONDON: Morocco’s ambassador to the UK has come face to face with his predecessor — from 400 years ago.
During a visit to the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham this week, Hakim Hajoui took time to reflect on how the job he does has changed over the centuries when he viewed a historic portrait of the Moroccan ambassador Abd El-Ouahed ben Messaoud ben Mohammed Anoun. The masterpiece is thought to be the earliest known surviving British painting of a Muslim.
The ambassador led a diplomatic mission to London in 1600, to the court of Queen Elizabeth I, with the aim of enhancing trade and diplomatic ties between Britain and Morocco. He also hoped to forge an alliance against Spain, which had launched a failed attempt to invade Britain with the Spanish Armada in 1588.
The subject of the painting is believed by some historians to have been the inspiration for Shakespeare’s “Othello,” which the playwright began working on within a year of the ambassador’s arrival in Britain.
“This portrait is a powerful symbol of the deep historical ties between Morocco and the United Kingdom, dating back over eight centuries,” Hajoui said.
“Seeing it here at the Barber Institute at the University of Birmingham underscores the vital role academic and cultural institutions play in preserving and celebrating our shared history.”
The portrait was painted by an unknown artist during the ambassador’s stay in London, which lasted almost a year. He was sent by the ruler of Morocco, Ahmad Al-Mansur, who was also keen to garner support for an invasion of Algerian territories held by the Ottoman Empire.
Historians say that despite his efforts and the attention his party attracted in London, the ambassador failed to secure the British support his country sought. Both the Moroccan and British rulers died just a few years later, in 1603.
Still, the portrait presents a powerful image of the ambassador, with his stern gaze, flowing robes, turban and ornamental sword, from a time when relations between Britain and Muslim regions were growing.
“Abd El-Ouahed’s visit to the court of Queen Elizabeth I represented a major event in the history of diplomatic and cultural exchanges between Europe and the Islamic world,” said Clare Mullett, Birmingham University’s head of research and cultural collections.
“His arrival highlighted a shift in foreign policy and demonstrated England’s willingness to engage with nations outside Europe.”
She described the paining as one of the most vivid souvenirs of British history at the turn of the 17th Century.
Hajoui viewed the painting on Tuesday during a visit to the university to learn about its connections with Morocco and the wider Middle East and North Africa region. It opened a campus in Dubai in 2018.
Patients dying in corridors as UK hospital standards ‘collapse’
LONDON: UK patients are “coming to harm” with hospitals so overwhelmed people are dying in corridors awaiting treatment amid a “collapse in care standards,” a report said Thursday.
In the latest indictment of Britain’s beleaguered state-funded National Health Service, nine in 10 NHS nurses surveyed by the country’s nurses union said “patient safety is being compromised.”
Nearly seven in 10 (66.8 percent) said they were delivering care in “overcrowded or unsuitable places” on a “daily basis,” including in corridors, converted cupboards, car parks and even bereavement rooms.
“The experiences of over 5,000 nursing staff across the UK highlight a devastating collapse in care standards, with patients routinely coming to harm,” said the Royal College of Nursing.
The report condemned the “normalization” of so-called “corridor care,” with nurses unable to access lifesaving equipment in cramped spaces.
One nurse in east England said corridor care in their hospital trust was “not an exception, it’s the rule.”
FASTFACT
The report condemned the ‘normalization’ of so-called ‘corridor care,’ with nurses unable to access lifesaving equipment in cramped spaces.
Last month, some 54,000 patients in emergency departments in England had to wait over 12 hours until a hospital bed was available, up 23 percent from December 2023.
The report is a result of a Royal College of Nursing request at the end of December, asking members to fill out a short survey.
The report includes “the raw, unedited and often heart-breaking comments” of the thousands of nursing staff working across the UK who responded, the RCN said.
There are some 7.5 million people on the NHS waiting list, with more than 3 million having faced delays longer than 18 weeks for treatment.
Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was elected in July on a ticket which included fixing the NHS, rolled out a plan at the start of the year which included expanding community health centers to reduce pressure on hospitals.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting on Wednesday said corridor care was “unsafe” and “undignified” but it would “take time to undo the damage” to the NHS.
German Christmas market attack suspect held ‘anti-Islam, far-right’ views
- Suspect was “massively Islamophobic and close to right-wing extremist ideologies,” German interior minister said
- Lack of oversight was among factors that kept authorities from intervening early to stop the attack, she said
BERLIN: The suspect in a deadly car ramming attack on a German Christmas market was mentally unwell, “massively Islamophobic and close to right-wing extremist ideologies,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said Thursday.
His erratic behavior over the years had come to the attention of law enforcement on at least 105 occasions without triggering a response, Faeser added.
The figure, compiled after the December 20 attack, showed the need for “better data management by the federal and state security authorities,” Faeser said.
“Police data must be centrally and securely bundled” to identify threats, she told journalists at an event to commemorate the victims in the eastern city of Magdeburg.
The suspect, 50-year-old Saudi psychiatrist Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen, who lived in Germany, was arrested at the scene of the ramming, which left six people dead and over 200 wounded.
Investigators had pieced together the profile of a perpetrator who suffered “psychological issues” and was “influenced by incoherent conspiracy theories,” Faeser said.
The suspect was “massively Islamophobic and close to right-wing extremist ideologies,” she added, and “His hatred is directed against both the German state and against individuals.”
A large amount of information on the suspect had been available before the attack, including a slew of social media posts, Faeser said.
However, “no one had all of the facts,” she said.
The lack of oversight was among the factors that kept authorities from intervening early to stop the attack, she said.
As well as centralising data from different federal and regional authorities, “large amounts of data must also be able to be analyzed using AI” in future, she said.
“We also need new, more precise criteria and action plans to assess the danger posed by people who do not fit the existing mold.”
The attack in Magdeburg came almost eight years to the day after another at a Christmas market in 2016, when a lorry plowed into a crowd in Berlin.
The previous attack, which left 13 people dead, was carried out by an extremist Tunisian and claimed by Daesh.
