WELLINGTON, New Zealand: A ferry that sank earlier this month while sailing between two islands in the remote Pacific nation of Kiribati had been ordered not to carry passengers because of earlier damage, the government said Wednesday.
About 80 people are missing, although the government has not confirmed the exact number. A New Zealand military plane using radar found a small wooden dinghy on Sunday that was carrying seven survivors who told rescuers the ferry sank.
Kiribati, which has about 108,000 people, declared a week of prayer as the search for more survivors continued. The US and Australia have joined New Zealand in the search, as have several fishing boats in the area.
Government spokesman Tearinibeia Enoo-Teabo said maritime authorities had ordered the MV Butiraoi, a 17.5-meter (57-foot) wooden catamaran, not to carry any passengers before it left because it had sustained serious damage to its navigational system, rudders and hull. It was unclear whether any repairs had been made.
He said investigators are going to the island to find out more about the passenger count and why the ferry left despite the orders.
Other questions remain, including why it took Kiribati authorities so long to tell New Zealand officials the ferry was missing.
The ferry left Nonouti Island bound for South Tarawa on Jan. 18, according to authorities, a journey, which was supposed to take two days. New Zealand rescuers said they were not told about the missing boat until Friday, eight days after the ferry had left.
Enoo-Teabo said they believe at least 80 passengers and five crewmembers were aboard.
New Zealand’s Rescue Coordination Center said they are continuing to search for a more substantial life raft that may have been launched from the sinking ferry and which was designed to carry 25 people.
The seven survivors told rescuers they had drifted for four days in the blazing sun and had no water. They were found more than 180 kilometers (112 miles) from the nearest major island.
The crew of the Orion plane dropped supplies to the survivors and then a fishing boat picked them up. They have since transferred to a Kiribati marine patrol with a doctor aboard. New Zealand authorities identified the survivors as three men, three women, and a 14-year-old girl. All are described as being in reasonable health.
Ferry that sank in Pacific was ordered not to carry people
Ferry that sank in Pacific was ordered not to carry people
Voting begins in the last round of India’s election, a referendum on Modi’s decade in power
- The seventh round of voting across seven states and one union territory will complete polling for all 543 seats in the powerful lower house of parliament
- If Modi wins, he’ll be only the second Indian leader to retain power for a third term after Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister
NEW DELHI: Indians began voting Saturday in the last round of a six-week-long national election that is a referendum on Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decade in power.
The election is considered one of the most consequential in India’s history. If Modi wins, he’ll be only the second Indian leader to retain power for a third term after Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister.
The seventh round of voting in 57 constituencies across seven states and one union territory will complete polling for all 543 seats in the powerful lower house of parliament. Nearly 970 million voters — more than 10 percent of the world’s population — were eligible to elect a new parliament for five years. More than 8,300 candidates ran for the office.
Most polls show Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party leading over the broad opposition alliance that’s challenging them, led by the Congress party. The votes will be counted Tuesday, with results expected by the end of the day.
Modi’s campaign, vying for a third-straight term, began on a platform of economic progress. He promised to uplift the poor and turn India into a developed nation by 2047. But it has turned increasingly shrill in recent weeks as he escalated polarizing rhetoric in back-to-back incendiary speeches that targeted the country’s Muslim minority, who make up 14 percent of India’s 1.4 billion people.
On Thursday, after finishing his election campaign, Modi went to meditate at a memorial site honoring a famous Hindu saint who is believed to have attained enlightenment there.
When the election kicked off in April, Modi and his BJP were widely expected to clinch another term.
Since first coming to power in 2014, Modi has enjoyed immense popularity. His supporters see him as a self-made, strong leader who has improved India’s standing in the world, and credit his pro-business policies with making the economy the world’s fifth-largest.
At the same time, his rule has seen brazen attacks and hate speech against minorities, particularly Muslims. India’s democracy, his critics say, is faltering and Modi has increasingly blurred the line between religion and state.
But as the campaign ground on, his party has faced stiff resistance from the opposition alliance and its main face, Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party. They have attacked Modi over his Hindu nationalist politics and are hoping to benefit from growing economic discontent.
Pre-poll surveys showed that voters were increasingly worried about unemployment, the rise in food prices and an overall sentiment that only a small portion of Indians have benefitted despite brisk economic growth under Modi, making the contest appear closer than initially anticipated.
In this election, Modi’s BJP — which controls much of India’s Hindi-speaking northern and central parts — sought to expand their influence by making inroads into the country’s eastern and southern states, where regional parties hold greater sway.
The BJP also banked on consolidating votes among the Hindu majority, who make up 80 percent of the population, after Modi opened a long-demanded Hindu temple on the site of a razed mosque in January. Many saw it as the unofficial start of his campaign, but analysts said the excitement over the temple may not be enough to yield votes.
Instead, Modi ramped up anti-Muslim rhetoric after voter turnout dipped slightly below 2019 figures in the first few rounds of the 2024 polls.
This was seen as a tactic to energize his core Hindu voter base. But analysts say it also reflected the lack of any big-ticket national issue to help Modi propel his BJP to electoral victory, as he has done previously.
In 2014, Modi’s status as a political outsider cracking down on deep-rooted corruption won over voters disillusioned with decades of dynastic politics. And in 2019, he swept the polls on a wave of nationalism after his government launched airstrikes into rival Pakistan in response to a suicide bombing in Kashmir that killed 40 Indian soldiers.
But things are different this time, analysts say, giving Modi’s political challengers a potential boost.
“The opposition somehow managed to derail his plan by setting the narrative to local issues, like unemployment and the economy. This election, people are voting keeping various issues in mind,” said Rasheed Kidwai, a political analyst.
Austin says US ‘can be secure only if Asia is’
SINGAPORE: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday the Indo-Pacific region remained a “priority” for Washington, saying the United States was secure “only if Asia is.”
Lloyd made the remarks at a major security forum in Singapore, a day after he met with his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun.
“The United States can be secure only if Asia is and that’s why the United States has long maintained its presence in this region,” Austin told the Shangri-La Dialogue, which in recent years has become a barometer for US-China relations.
Despite the conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, the Indo-Pacific “remained our priority theater of operations” for the United States, Austin said.
The United States is seeking to strengthen alliances and partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly with the Philippines, as it seeks to counter China’s growing military might and influence.
As it deepens defense ties, it has also ramped up joint military exercises and regularly deploys warships and fighter jets in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea — infuriating China’s leaders.
This year’s Shangri-La Dialogue comes a week after China held military drills around self-ruled Taiwan and warned of war over the US-backed island following the inauguration of President Lai Ching-te, who Beijing has described as a “dangerous separatist.”
China is also furious over the United States’ strengthening defense ties in the region.
Marian Robinson, mother of Michelle Obama, dies at 86
WASHINGTON: Marian Robinson, mother of former US first lady Michelle Obama, who provided support and stability, especially during the eight years of Barack Obama’s presidency, died on Friday, the Obama and Robinson families said. She was 86.
Fondly called the “first grandma,” Robinson played a pivotal role in helping care for her granddaughters, Malia and Sasha Obama, during their early years at the White House.
“With a healthy nudge, she agreed to move to the White House with Michelle and Barack. We needed her. The girls needed her. And she ended up being our rock through it all,” the family statement read, adding she died “peacefully” on Friday morning.
Born in 1937 on Chicago’s South Side, Robinson was one of seven children. Her parents separated during her teenage years and she witnessed the extreme highs and lows of race relations in the United States.
Her father was not allowed to join a union or work for larger construction firms due to the color of his skin and hence “grew mistrustful of a world that seemed to have little place for him,” the family said its statement. Yet, her daughter and son-in-law made it to the White House when Barack Obama became the first Black US president.
The glamor of the White House was never a great fit for Robinson, according to the family.
Rather than hobnobbing with Oscar winners or Nobel laureates, she preferred spending her time upstairs with a TV tray, in the room outside her bedroom with big windows that looked out at the Washington Monument, the family statement said. It added that she made great friends “with the ushers and butlers, the folks who make the White House a home.”
Robinson got married in 1960 and had two children, including the former first lady. She also worked as a teacher and a secretary, the family said.
During her eight years at the White House, the family said she would often sneak outside the gates to buy greeting cards at nearby stores and sometimes other customers would recognize her saying she resembled the first lady’s mother.
“Oh, I get that a lot,” she would smile and reply.
Canadian police looking for suspect in Vancouver synagogue arson attack
- Attack happened less than a week after two Jewish schools — in Toronto and Montreal — were targeted by gunfire
- The incidents come as the bloody Israel-Hamas war in Gaza grinds into its eighth month
MONTREAL: Vancouver police searched Friday for an arsonist who set fire to the entrance of a synagogue, while stepping up security at other Jewish facilities following two other anti-Semitic attacks in the country in the span of a few days.
The incidents come as the bloody Israel-Hamas war in Gaza grinds into its eighth month.
The perpetrator poured fuel on the front doors of the Schara Tzedeck synagogue and set them on fire Thursday night, causing minor damage, the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver said.
No one was hurt and the blaze was quickly put out by members of the synagogue.
“This fire was intentionally set at a place of worship for the Jewish community,” police Constable Tania Visintin said in a statement.
“While we collect evidence to identify the person responsible, we’re also working closely with faith leaders and community members to ensure everyone’s safety.”
The statement said additional officers were dispatched to Jewish community centers, schools and religious institutions.
“A synagogue in Vancouver was attacked last night in another disgusting act of anti-Semitism,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on X.
“We cannot let this hate or these acts of violence stand. This is not the Canada we want to be.”
The arson came less than a week after two Jewish schools — in Toronto and Montreal — were targeted by gunfire.
In November, a Jewish school in Montreal was hit by gunfire twice in one week.
No one was injured in any of those incidents.
The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,284 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Pro-Palestinian protesters occupy parts of Brooklyn Museum
- Some arrests were made after protesters skirmished with police inside and outside the building
- One of those arrested was a man who reportedly spray-painted an outdoor sculpture
NEW YORK: Pro-Palestinian protesters took over parts of the Brooklyn Museum on Friday, hanging a banner above the main entrance, occupying much of the lobby and scuffling with police, witnesses said.
Some arrests were made but a New York Police Department spokesperson said it would be hours before officials had an accurate count. The art museum in the New York City borough of Brooklyn said it closed an hour early due to the disruption.
One of the arrests was of a man who spray-painted an outdoor sculpture, Reuters witnessed. Skirmishes between police and protesters took place inside and outside the building.
“There was damage to existing and newly installed artwork on our plaza,” a museum spokesperson said in an email. “Protesters entered the building, and our public safety staff were physically and verbally harassed.
“Out of a concern for the building, our collections, and our staff, the decision was made to close the building an hour early,” and the public was asked to vacate peacefully, the statement said.
Hundreds of demonstrators were marching through Brooklyn when some of them rushed the entrance, according to the Reuters witness. Security guards prevented many from entering but some managed to get inside.
A banner was hung from atop the neoclassical facade proclaiming, “Free Palestine, Divest From Genocide.”
A pro-Palestinian organization named Within Our Lifetime urged demonstrators to “flood Brooklyn Museum for Gaza.” It said activists occupied the museum to compel it to disclose any Israel-related investments and to divest any such funding.
Demonstrations against Israel’s prosecution of the war in Gaza have continued in the United States, largely on university campuses.
The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 253 others, of whom nearly 130 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Palestinian health authorities estimate more than 36,280 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel responded, and the United Nations says over a million people face “catastrophic” levels of hunger as famine takes hold in parts of the enclave.
