Romanian PM introduces world’s first AI government adviser
Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca (left) converses with Ion (right).

 / Nicolae Ciuca via Facebook

By bne IntelliNews March 2, 2023

Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca introduced his new "honorary adviser”, an AI assistant called Ion, on March 1.

Ciuca said in a video presentation that Ion is the first assistant of its kind. Ion’s primary function is to scan social media platforms to provide the government with real-time information on what the population want.

"Hi, you gave me life and my role is now to represent you, like a mirror,” Ion said as he was presented, a video from the presentation showed.

“What should I know about Romania?” the AI assistant added.

According to the prime minister, Ion will "use technology and artificial intelligence to capture the opinions and desires” of the Romanian population by gathering data publicly available on social media platforms.

“At today's government meeting I scored a world first: the Romanian government is the first in the world to have an honorary advisor based on artificial intelligence,” Ciuca wrote on Facebook.

"It is called ION and it will collect, from the public space, the opinions of Romanians on different topics of general interest. This way, the government will be able to consult the public opinion at any time on matters that are discussed at the executive level. The project is 100% Romanian, from the design, to the software conception and the construction of the hardware support.”

More information is available via the project website, which claims it will the information in an “automated, natural, balanced and unbiased way”. It says Ion represents "the missing link in real-time communication between citizens and governments”. Publicly available data will be collected anonymously, the site said.

Romanians will also be able to use the site to engage with Ion.

Romania has a strong tech and IT sector and has also produced a growing number of successful tech startups.

China’s largest freshwater lake shrinks to its 'smallest size'

Poyang Lake in eastern Jiangxi province sees water levels fall to lowest in decade

Riyaz ul Khaliq |02.03.2023


ISTANBUL

China’s largest freshwater lake has squeezed to its smallest size in nearly a decade as the water level has gone down in the country’s eastern Jiangxi province, said officials.

The local authorities had to issue a blue alert for water supply after Poyang Lake recorded its lowest level in nearly a decade.

Jiangxi Provincial Hydrology Monitoring Center recorded the water level once again falling below eight meters in the lake, since September 2022.

According to National Satellite Meteorological Center, China’s FY-3D meteorological satellite showed that on Feb. 27, the water area of Poyang Lake was 1,044 square kilometers (403 square miles), down more than 21.8% from the average level for the same period and the lowest recorded level in nearly a decade.

“Although the precipitation in February increased significantly compared with that in January, the precipitation is still limited compared with the flood season,” Shi Yan, a weather analyst at China Weather Net, told the Chinese daily Global Times.

Shi added: “Precipitation is not a decisive factor affecting the water level of Poyang Lake, as it's also affected by upstream factors.”

The water level of Poyang Lake is expected to “continue to fall,” the hydrological center said as the meteorological authorities predicted that “temperatures in most areas of Jiangxi will remain high, and precipitation will be under that of the same period of the year.”

Russia Shocked at Impunity Over Nord Stream Sabotage, Lavrov Says at G20

SPUTNIK.RU
10 hours ago (Updated: 9 hours ago)

© Russian Foreign Ministry's Press Service /


Russia's top diplomat arrived in New Delhi earlier this week to take part in the G20 Foreign Ministers' summit and hold a number of bilateral and multilateral meetings on the sidelines of the event.
Russia is shocked at impunity over the Nord Stream sabotage in the area of NATO and EU's responsibility, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday, addressing the G20 ministerial meeting in New Delhi.

"We are witnessing the degradation of international economic relations provoked by the West, their transformation into a weapon, including in the energy sector. [...] We insist on a fair and swift investigation into the terror attack with involvement of Russia and others concerned," he said.

The foreign minister stressed that Russia advocates for energy security and highlights the importance of granting all countries in need access to affordable energy resources.
Previously, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzia said that Russia's Western partners on the UN Security Council were not showing any desire to cooperate in an independent investigation to verify a report that presented significant details that the United States was behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.

WorldUN Must 'Give Framework' for Nord Stream Blasts Probe, Hungarian FM Says
27 February, 04:42 GMT

The investigative report was published by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh, who revealed that US Navy divers had planted explosives to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines during NATO Baltops exercises in the summer of 2022. Norway activated the bombs three months later at the order of US President Joe Biden, the journalist wrote, citing insiders.
In September 2022, underwater blasts occurred at three of the four strings of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 underwater pipelines built to carry a combined 110 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Europe annually. Germany, Denmark, and Sweden launched separate investigations into the incident, while Russia wasn't given access to their probes.

'Buried' Grain Deal & West's Selfish Policy

During his speech, Russia's top diplomat took a moment "to apologize to the Indian presidency and colleagues from the countries of the global South for the indecent behavior of a number of Western delegations, who turned the work on the G20 agenda into a farce in an attempt to shift responsibility for failures in economic policy on others, primarily on Russia."
The minister continued by saying that the West has "shamelessly buried" the grain deal initiated by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, as he highlighted the obvious obstacles to the export of Russian agricultural products around the world, no matter how the EU tries to convince everyone otherwise.


"Today, the lion's share of grain supplies from Ukraine goes at dumping prices for fodder to the European Union, not to the poorest nations. [...] Consignments of free cargo of Russian fertilizers, in particular for Africa, are still blocked at European ports," he explained.

The minister also called for putting an end to illegitimate sanctions, any form of violation of the freedom of international trade, market manipulation, arbitrary introduction of price ceilings and other attempts to appropriate foreign natural resources.

WorldRussian Fertilizers Can't Reach Syria Due to US Sanctions as Terrorists Stall Humanitarian Aid
Yesterday

Nonetheless, Lavrov expressed hope that the G20 summit, which will be held in the Indian capital in September 2023, will partially alleviate the risks posed to economic stability by the West's "selfish policy."

"We will continue to make a significant contribution to ensuring economic stability. We are open to an equal dialogue in the G20. We hope that the Delhi summit in September this year will at least partially mitigate the risks posed by the selfish policy of the West," Lavrov said at the meeting.

On July 22, the deal brokered by Turkiye and the United Nations was signed by Russia and Ukraine in order to unblock shipments of grain, food and fertilizer in the Black Sea despite hostilities. The agreement was initially set to expire on November 19, with a possibility of extension if signatories consent. It was extended for 120 days on November 17.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that most vessels carrying Ukrainian grain do not reach the world's poorest countries and have ended up in Europe instead. Putin has also voiced concerns that Russian grain and fertilizer products are not entering the global markets as stipulated by the agreement.

Earthquake, war and economic decline – an update on Syria

As the humanitarian crisis following the earthquake in Turkey and Syria unfolds, the situation is further complicated by the ongoing conflict in Syria, frosty relations between Damascus and Ankara and geopolitical positioning by Russia, Iran and the West.


In Syria, the humanitarian crisis caused by the recent earthquake follows years of war, economic decline and hardships. Although large-scale battles have been avoided and frontlines have remained mostly frozen since 2020, the humanitarian situation within the country has continued to deteriorate, with a growing number of people in need of humanitarian aid.

“The latest UN estimate is that 15.3 million people, or about two thirds of Syria’s current population, will require some level of support in 2023”, says Aron Lund, analyst. And that was before the earthquake.

While the situation is most dire in the northern areas controlled by rebel groups supported by Turkey, the earthquake also affected many government-controlled areas, complicating the relief efforts.

“It is likely that the regime of Bashar al-Assad will try to leverage the crisis and use its position to force an easing of the sanctions. At the same time most of the aid to rebel-held areas was previously shipped via Turkey, under a complicated system mandated by the UN Security Council.”

The long-term effect the February earthquake will have on the conflict remains to be seen, but for millions of Syrians the situation was bleak even before the disaster.

Economic turmoil

The Syrian lira is in a continuous downward spiral and the economy is in tatters, mostly as a result of war, sanctions, and a bank crisis in neighbouring Lebanon, which has spelt economic disaster for the import-dependent nation. The war in Ukraine has triggered an international spike in food and fuel prices and led aid money away from the country.

Before the disaster, the balance of power after the Ukraine invasion seemed to favour Turkey and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. A preoccupied Russia, though still supporting the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, maintains a good relationship with Turkey, and Western powers led by the US are reluctant to anger Erdoğan.

Russia, with support from Iran, has used its position to push for resumed dialogue between Ankara and Damascus to find a solution, with some success according to Lund.

“Given that there is a lot of propaganda from all sides it is difficult to know what is being discussed. Any constructive solution or deal will be negotiated behind closed doors,” he says.

A meeting between the Turkish and Syrian foreign ministers held in Moscow in late December 2022, should be seen as a sign that the process of normalizing relations between the two enemies was, at least before the quake, moving forward.

“I think deals will be made eventually,” says Aron Lund. “Turkey and Syria are still formally enemies, but both Erdogan and Assad can see they have mutual interests and are pragmatic enough to reach agreements, even if they cannot fully resolve the conflict.”

‘New world order is taking shape’: Azerbaijan’s president

‘We are witnessing most serious East-West conflict since end of Cold War,’ Ilham Aliyev says at Non-Aligned Movement Contact Group meeting

Burc Eruygur |02.03.2023

ISTANBUL

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday said that a “new world order is taking shape” as he addressed the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Contact Group meeting in the capital Baku.

“Now the world is witnessing the most serious East-West confrontation since the end of the Cold War, with repercussions for the remaining part of the world. As the second largest international institution after the UN, NAM should play a more visible and efficient role in the international arena and actively participate in reshaping the new world order,” Aliyev said.

He said that the international security architecture that has existed for decades is currently undergoing radical changes, adding that multilateralism is at stake with “the erosion of international law norms and principles" further threatening international order.

“More cases of violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity and intervention in the internal affairs of states are observed. The decisions of the leading international organizations are not either implemented or the selective approach and double standards are being applied,” he said.

Aliyev said that the NAM must unite to eliminate the growing trend of neo-colonialism, adding that the organization “strongly” supports the sovereignty of the Union of Comoros over the island of Mayotte, a French overseas department in the Indian Ocean, and that the NAM calls on Paris to “respect the rights of the New Caledonian people and other peoples in French overseas communities and territories.”

“The French-administered territories outside Europe are nasty remains of the French colonial empire. We also call on France to apologize and admit its responsibility for its colonial past and bloody colonial crimes and acts of genocide against NAM member countries in Africa, South-East Asia and other places,” the Azerbaijani president said.

Aliyev said that one permanent seat should be given to the NAM in the UN Security Council, in addition to supporting the idea of granting permanent seats to African countries, adding that the UN body is “reminiscent of the past and does not reflect the current reality.”

He said that the UN Security Council is “inefficient,” adding that four resolutions adopted by the UN body on the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Armenian forces from Azerbaijan’s territory were ignored for nearly three decades.

“In 2020, Azerbaijan itself restored its territorial integrity and historical justice by military-political means and enforced the Security Council resolutions' implementation. Probably, it was the first case in the world since the establishment of the UN,” he said.

The Non-Aligned Movement was formed in 1961 under the leadership of then Yugoslavia when the world began to polarize between East and West. It currently has 120 members.

Women of Iran's Evin prison, locked up amid protests, remain defiant

Agence France-Presse
March 02, 2023

In this 2006 file image, a guard at Evin prison walks down the corridor of the women's ward in Tehran, Iran. © Atta Kenare, AFP

"Listen to this! One. Two. Three!" Down the crackling phone line from the women's wing of Tehran's Evin prison, a chorus of prisoners then launch into raucous song. It's a Persian rendition of the Italian protest song "Bella Ciao".

"All for one and one for all!" they sing, laughing in shared defiance in support of the "Woman, life, freedom" protests that have shaken Iran's clerical authorities for five months.

The audio clip of the January telephone call, released on social media by a daughter of one of those held, has become a symbol of the courage of the women held in Evin prison and their refusal to stop campaigning even behind bars.

Many such as environmental activist Niloufar Bayani, arrested in 2018, have been held for several years. Others including the activist Narges Mohammadi, tipped by supporters as a Nobel Peace Prize contender, have spent much of the past decade in and out of jail.

Some were arrested well before the women-led protests sparked by the September 16 death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian Kurd who had been detained for allegedly violating the strict dress code for women. But their numbers swelled in the ensuing crackdown.

Several women have been released in recent weeks, including Alieh Motalebzadeh, a journalist and women's rights campaigner whose daughter posted the viral clip of the "Bella Ciao" protest song, and French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah.

'Basic rights and freedoms'

But campaigners have rejected the amnesty as a PR stunt and key figures remain detained. They include Bayani and Mohammadi and also environmental campaigner Sepideh Kashani, arrested in the same case as Bayani, the labour activist Sepideh Gholian, journalist Golrokh Iraee, arrested in the protest crackdown, and German-Iranian Nahid Taghavi.

Also held in Evin are Fariba Kamalabadi and Mahvash Sabet, two members of the Bahai faith not recognised by the Islamic republic who were detained in July and are now serving a 10-year prison sentence apiece for the second time in their lives.

These women remain deprived of their freedom because Iran's clerical authorities under supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "tremble at their words", said Jasmin Ramsey, deputy director of the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran (CHRI).

"The hijab headscarf is a pillar of the Islamic revolution and so is the subjugation of women. They hate it when women speak out and say 'I can do anything!'" she told AFP.

Ramsey dismissed the recent amnesty, saying: "The doors of Iranian prisons are revolving when it comes to political prisoners... The prisons will swell when there are more protests."

Of those who remain jailed, she said: "Many need medical help and their basic human rights have been violated for so many years."

The CHRI is now leading a petition signed by almost 40 other rights groups and directed at the current European Union presidency holder Sweden urging EU nations to summon Iranian ambassadors in unison for International Women's Day on March 8.

The ambassadors should be told to "stop detaining and committing violence against women who are calling for basic rights and freedoms in Iran" and to "end the physical and sexual violence against women detainees and protesters", it said.

'Sound of a revolution'

Mohammadi, a member of the chorus in the "Bella Ciao" song, has in the last months emerged as among the most outspoken of those held, denouncing the conditions in Evin and vocally supporting the protests.

"Narges does not stay silent. This is not acceptable for the Iranian government," her Paris-based husband Taghi Rahmani told AFP in October.

In December, she released an open letter from prison denouncing the sexual assault of detainees and detailing shocking cases of women being raped by their interrogators.

"I believe that we, the brave, resilient, lively and hopeful women of Iran, will come to the streets and will continue to fight despite the government's repressive and violent measures and despite the danger of assault and even rape."

Sepideh Gholian, who is serving a five-year sentence on national security charges after supporting a strike by workers, in a lacerating letter published by BBC Persian in January described the methods used by interrogators to force confessions and the screams heard within the prison.

"Today the sounds we hear... across Iran are louder than the sounds in interrogation rooms; this is the sound of a revolution, the true sound of 'Woman, life, freedom'," she said.

The women have also launched appeals published on the Instagram account of Mohammadi for the Islamic republic to halt executions, after four men were hanged in cases related to the protests.

"The women have shown they are voices of change, freedom and equality. One reason Narges is still there is they (the authorities) are scared of her. She makes them quiver," said Ramsey.

(AFP)

Giving out Bibles with aid in Turkey is ‘opportunistic’ and ‘not the way of Jesus’

Churches in earthquake region reprimand faith organisations

byREBECCA PAVELEY

02 MARCH 2023

Homeless evacuees in Kilis, southern Turkey, last week

CHRISTIANS in Turkey have pleaded with faith groups and charities not to distribute Bibles as part of relief efforts in areas of the country recovering from the powerful earthquake three weeks ago, which also struck parts of northern Syria (News, 10 February).

Church leaders in Kahramanmaras, close to the epicentres of the two earthquakes which killed more than 50,000 people on 6 February, have branded those who distributed Bibles along with aid “opportunistic”.

Ilyas Uyar, an elder in the Protestant Church Foundation of Diyarbakir, told the magazine Christianity Today: “This is not the way of Jesus; it is opportunistic and doesn’t work. We say we are Christians all the time, but it is disgusting to connect this to aid.”

He also reported that a group of Christians from Italy came to offer help, but filmed and took pictures and then moved on.

Guidance for those wanting to help with aid efforts has been drawn up by the Association of Protestant Churches in Turkey (TeK). Its guidance prohibits the sharing of Bibles and other evangelistic materials, and urges aid organisations to work with the local church to co-ordinate aid. There should also be no political commentary, and no use of unauthorised photos, it said.

TeK has urged people to work through the First Hope Association: a relief foundation set up by Turkish Christians. Its chairman, Demokan Kileci, told Christianity Today that the area was also seeing an influx of humanitarian tourists, who fly over, stay in hotels, and visit the affected areas, using up scarce resources.

First Hope is working with Samaritans Purse, whose field hospital is treating patients pulled from the rubble after the disaster, as well as those with long term medical conditions, with a rotating crew of hundreds of disaster relief specialists.

More detail is emerging of the scale of the destruction in terms of lost heritage buildings. The city centre of Antakya, the site of the ancient city of Antioch, has been almost completed flattened, and places of worship for Christians, Jews, and Muslims destroyed. The fate of some of the more remote heritage sites, such as the monastery of St Simeon Stylites the Younger, close to the Syrian border, is still unknown. In total, about 54,000 buildings are thought to have been destroyed or damaged.

Aftershocks, some powerful, continue to strike the region, and there have been four new earthquakes since 6 February, Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority reports.

Donations to the emergency appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee for survivors reached more than £100 million last week.

Another Illusion Falls in Turkey

The aftermath of the the February 6 earthquakes is a marker of how deeply politicized Erdoğan’s leadership has left Turkey that the tragedies did not put even a day’s pause on politics.

WRITTEN BY
Nate Schenkkan
Senior Director of Research, Countering Authoritarianism
@nateschenkkan


A photo of Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seen near the rubble of a collapsed building after a massive earthquake devastated the southern region of the country. 

(Photo by Celestino Arce/NurPhoto via Getty Images)


On February 5, 2023, Turkey’s attention was on politics. After five years under the new superpresidential system that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has designed around himself, the main opposition was gearing up to announce a unity candidate representing six parties for elections that Erdoğan said would be held May 14. Already, Erdoğan was mobilizing his powers to shape the field, passing a new law criminalizing “disinformation,” implementing new electoral laws to disadvantage his opponents, and engineering spurious criminal charges against the mayor of Istanbul, one of his more potent rivals.

Then, in the early hours of February 6, an enormous pair of earthquakes struck southern and central Turkey, with the shocks spanning 11 provinces and reaching into bordering Syria. The earthquakes destroyed entire neighborhoods in the major Turkish cities of Antakya, Gaziantep, Malatya, and Kahramanmaraş. At the time of writing, the combined death toll in Turkey and Syria was more than 53,000, with over 45,000 people killed in Turkey. This staggering figure continues to climb as teams recover bodies. More than one million people in Turkey are living in temporary shelter; millions more have left the region and sought refuge elsewhere in the country.

It is a marker of how deeply politicized Erdoğan’s leadership has left Turkey that the earthquakes did not put even a day’s pause on politics. Instead, they raised the stakes in what already felt like an existential election. With an unusual but still fragile level of unity, the “table of six” parties from the opposition will be working together to unseat Erdoğan, who has led Turkey as either prime minister or president since 2003. Especially since moving to the presidency in 2014, Erdoğan has rebuilt the state around himself, eliminating rivals within his party (two of whom now lead parties among the table of six), amending the constitution, and imprisoning some of his most prominent critics. Erdogan argued that he was reducing inefficiency and strengthening the capacity of the state to serve the people, who in turn would lift the state to greatness: “You will see the power of the Turk,” as the nationalist slogan goes.

Then the earthquakes struck. Tens of thousands of buildings erected in contravention of Turkey’s building codes collapsed, and in many cases, it took the state four days to even reach those buried in the rubble. As people in the earthquake zone waited in vain for aid to arrive, they did not see power. Instead they asked, “Where is the state?”

The shock of the earthquakes led immediately to frantic discussion of whether to postpone the elections. Turkey’s recently amended constitution is crystal clear: the first round of presidential elections must be held by June 18. There is no exception for natural disasters made in the text. One of Erdogan’s few remaining allies from his party’s golden days, former deputy prime minister Bülent Arınç, floated the idea of postponing them. “Constitutions are not sacred texts,” he wrote. The opposition, as well as many prominent civil society voices, denounced the statement as calling for a coup. After two weeks of uncharacteristic silence on the topic, on February 28, Erdoğan announced he would stick with his pre-earthquake plan. Elections will be held on May 14.

The devastation of the earthquakes and the state’s stumbling response have shredded the narrative that Turkey under Erdogan had cast off the disregard for life, as well as the inefficiency and incompetence, of previous governments. Even with less than three months remaining before elections, it remains too soon to say whether this will produce a change in government. What is sure is that yet again, the strongman’s gift for efficiency has been proven an illusion.

ECOCIDE

Search on for sunken Philippine tanker leaking industrial fuel

The Princess Empress sank with 800,000 litres (210,000 gallons) of industrial fuel oil that is leaking into the sea.

This Philippine Coast Guard image shows an aerial view of an oil spill in waters off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro province, Philippines, on March 1, 2023

[Philippine Coast Guard/EPA-EFE]

Published On 2 Mar 2023

Authorities in the Philippines are racing to find and secure a sunken tanker ship loaded with 800,000 litres (210,000 gallons) of industrial fuel oil that has started to leak into waters rich in coral and marine life.

The Princess Empress was travelling from Bataan province, near the capital, Manila, to the central province of Iloilo on Tuesday when it developed engine trouble and sank in rough seas.end of list

The Philippine Coast Guard initially reported that a spillage spotted in the sea was diesel fuel from the stricken vessel’s engines and not the ship’s cargo of industrial oil.

But the coastguard said on Thursday that tests of water samples showed that some of the industrial oil had leaked into the sea off Oriental Mindoro province.

The spill had spread over 24sq km (9 square miles) by Wednesday, the coastguard said previously. It is not known how much diesel fuel and how much of the industrial fuel oil cargo is in the water.

“A ship’s structural integrity may be compromised during sinking, and it may develop a hole through which oil will leak under pressure,” said Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson Rear Admiral Armand Balilo, according to local news site GMA News Online.

The cargo of fuel oil was loaded directly into the tanker and was not in sealed containers, Balilo said, noting that the Princess Empress sank in waters more than 400 metres deep (1,300 feet), which was too deep for divers to reach.

Oriental Mindoro provincial Governor Humerlito Dolor said a search was under way to find the tanker and plug the leak.

“The coastguard made assurances to us that they are ready to syphon off the oil once they identify [the location],” Dolor told local media. “Unfortunately, after two aerial surveillance [flights], we still can’t find the exact location of the ship.”

The coastguard has deployed oil spill booms to try to contain the leaking fuel and has sprayed chemicals to break down the oil in the water. Fishermen and tourism operators along the coast depend heavily on the waters for their livelihoods and there are concerns these could be at risk.

The Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources said 21 marine protected areas were endangered by the oil spill, including the Verde Island Passage (VIP), which is considered to be one of the most diverse and productive marine ecosystems in the world, the Philippine Star digital edition reported.

The waters of the VIP strait provide food and sustain the livelihoods of more than two million people, according to environmental groups.

Oil has been spotted along a roughly 60km (37-mile) stretch of water between Naujan and Bongabong municipality, said Ram Temena, Oriental Mindoro disaster operations chief.

“We have many fish sanctuaries along the coast,” Temena said.

“It could have a huge impact due to the possibility that the oil could attach to the coral reefs, affecting the marine biodiversity.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

Oil from sunken tanker swamps central Philippine coast


Philippines oil leak from tanker. (Twitter)

AFP, Manila
Published: 02 March ,2023

Clean-up efforts were under way on the blackened coasts of a central Philippine island Thursday after spillage from a sunken oil tanker washed ashore, the country’s environment minister said, as fears of economic and environmental harm grew.

The oil spill off Naujan town on Mindoro island reached the shores of the next four municipalities on the island’s east coast around noon Thursday, and appeared to be flowing further south, Environment Secretary Maria Antonia Loyzaga said in a statement.

As it sailed into rough seas off Naujan on Tuesday, the Princess Empress sank with its cargo of 800,000 liters (210,000 gallons) of industrial fuel oil.

Another vessel rescued the 20 crew members on board, but the Princess Empress leaked some of its cargo into the sea after initially spilling diesel fuel which had been powering the vessel, the Philippine Coast Guard said.

Environment personnel “are now focusing on coastal clean-up” given the extent of the affected shoreline, Loyzaga said.

Divers will meanwhile assess the impact on reefs, mangroves and sea grasses, as “possible contamination might actually affect the viability of these systems.”

She added: “We expect that these efforts will require personnel who will need to work over a period of time.”

The spill had spread over 24 square kilometers (nine square miles) of water by Wednesday, the coastguard said previously.

It is not known how much diesel fuel and industrial fuel oil is in the water.

Provincial governor Humerlito Dolor said a search was still under way for the stricken tanker, estimated to be 460 meters (1,500 feet) under the sea.

“The coastguard made assurances to us that they are ready to syphon off the oil once they identify (the location),” Dolor told local media.

“Unfortunately, after two aerial surveillance (flights) we still can’t find the exact location of the ship.”

In the meantime, the coastguard has deployed oil spill booms to try to contain the material and sprayed chemicals to break down the oil.

Fishermen and tourism operators along the coast depend heavily on the waters for their livelihoods.

Oil has been spotted along a roughly 60-kilometre stretch of water between Naujan and Bongabong municipality, said Ram Temena, disaster operations chief in the affected province of Oriental Mindoro.

“We have many fish sanctuaries along the coast,” Temena said.

“It could have a huge impact due to the possibility that the oil could attach to the coral reefs, affecting the marine biodiversity.”

Bongabong municipal disaster officer Michael Fanoga said fishermen had complained of a “foul smell” about two kilometers offshore.

“If it spreads in the shoreline, our beaches will be destroyed as well as the remaining coral,” Fanoga said.

Sunken Philippine tanker leaks industrial fuel oil into sea

Published: 02 Mar 2023 -

In this handout photo received from the Philippine Coast Guard and taken on March 2, 2023, a coast guard personnel collects water sample from of an oil spill in the waters off Naujan, Oriental Mindoro. Photo by Handout / Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) / AFP

Manila: A sunken Philippine tanker carrying 800,000 litres (210,000 gallons) of industrial fuel oil has leaked some of its cargo into the sea, authorities said Thursday, as they raced to find the vessel and contain the spill.

The Princess Empress was travelling from Bataan province, near the capital Manila, to the central province of Iloilo on Tuesday when it had engine trouble and sank in rough seas off Oriental Mindoro province.

The Philippine Coast Guard initially reported the spillage was diesel fuel, which had been powering the vessel, and not industrial fuel oil from the ship's cargo.

But water sample test results showed some of the cargo had also leaked into waters off Naujan municipality, the coast guard said Thursday, sparking concern for the region's rich marine life and coral reefs.

The spill had spread over 24 square kilometres (nine square miles) of water by Wednesday, coast guard said previously.

It is not known how much diesel fuel and industrial fuel oil is in the water.

Provincial governor Humerlito Dolor said a search was still underway for the stricken tanker, estimated to be 460 metres (1,500 feet) below sea level, and stop it leaking.

"The coast guard made assurances to us that they are ready to syphon off the oil once they identify (the location)," Dolor told local media.

"Unfortunately, after two aerial surveillance (flights) we still can't find the exact location of the ship."

In the meantime, the coast guard has deployed oil spill booms to try to contain the material and sprayed chemicals to break down the oil.

Fishermen and tourism operators along the coast depend heavily on the waters for their livelihoods and there are concerns these could be at risk.

Oil has been spotted along a roughly 60-kilometre stretch of water between Naujan and Bongabong municipality, said Ram Temena, Oriental Mindoro disaster operations chief.

"We have many fish sanctuaries along the coast," Temena said.

"It could have a huge impact due to the possibility that the oil could attach to the coral reefs, affecting the marine biodiversity."

Some spillage has washed up on the shores of at least two villages in Naujan and one in Pola municipality.

Resort worker Andrea Riva said she and her colleagues were "keeping our fingers crossed" that the waves did not bring the spillage to the waters off Pinamalayan municipality, south of Pola.

Bongabong municipal disaster officer Michael Fanoga said fishermen had complained of a "foul smell" about two kilometres offshore.

"If it spreads in the shoreline, our beaches will be destroyed as well as the remaining coral," Fanoga said.

Greek rail workers strike over conditions after deadly crash

COSTAS KANTOURIS and DEREK GATOPOULOS, 

Associated Press
March 2, 2023

1of14Cranes remove debris after a collision in Tempe, about 376 kilometres (235 miles) north of Athens, near Larissa city, Greece, Thursday, March 2, 2023. Emergency workers are searching for survivors and bodies after a passenger train and a freight train crashed head-on in Tempe, central Greece just before midnight Tuesday. It was the country's deadliest rail crash on record.Vaggelis Kousioras/APShow Mor

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THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Rescuers using cranes and heavy machinery on Thursday searched the wreckage of trains involved in a deadly collision that sent Greece into national mourning and prompted strikes and protests over rail safety. The death toll from Wednesday's head-on crash involving a passenger train and freight carrier remained at 43 as crews continue to check the burned out and twisted rail car remains for more bodies. More than 50 people remained hospitalized, most in the central Greek city of Larissa, some in serious condition. Railway workers' associations called strikes, halting national rail services and the subway in Athens, to protest working conditions and what they described as a lack of modernization of the Greek rail system.

Wednesday's collision occurred near the small town of Tempe in northern Greece, when a freight train loaded with heavy construction equipment smashed into a passenger service on Greece's busiest line between Athens and the country's second largest city, Thessaloniki. More than 300 people were on board the train, many of them students returning from a holiday weekend and annual Carnival celebrations around Greece.

As Greece reeled from its deadliest ever train disaster, Pope Francis and European leaders sent messages of sympathy. Among them were the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, whose country is recovering from devastating earthquakes last month. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent a message in Greek, writing “The people of Ukraine share the pain of the families of the victims. We wish a speedy recovery to all the injured.”

A stationmaster arrested following the rail disaster is due to appear in court Thursday as a judicial inquiry tries to establish why the two trains traveling in opposite directions were on the same track.

Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned following the crash, his replacement tasked with setting up an independent inquiry looking into the causes of the accident.

“Responsibility will be assigned,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a televised address late Wednesday after visiting the scene of the collision. “We will work so that the words ‘never again’ ... will not remain an empty pledge. That I promise you.”

Rage explodes in Greece following devastating train collision

A 24 hour strike and clashes. Victims for now are 46

02 MARCH, 2023



(ANSAmed) - ATENE, 02 MAR - Rage has exploded in Greece following tuesday evening's train collision in the Vale of Tempe, near Larissa. The provisional death count has risen to 46 when 7 carbonized bodies were extracted from the train wreckage.

For the most part the victims are students who were returning to Thessaloniki after the orthodox Carnival. Thursday all train lines are not operating due to a 24 hour strike called by the Pan-Hellenic Train Federation (POS), while protesters clashed with the police in Athens in front of the headquarter of the Hellenic Train, the company that runs passenger and freight trains in Greece. Protests are also ongoing in Thessaloniki and in Larissa. A banner was placed outside the hospital where the wounded were taken, denouncing the deficiencies of the train system that will be covered in the inquiry.

"The lack of care shown over the years by the governments for the Greek train system is the caused this tragic event in the Vale of Tempe. Unfortunately, our continuous requests to hire new staff with a long-term contract, better training but especially the implementation of modern technology for security, were disregarded", states a press release by the POS Union.

The representative of the Fire Department, Giannis Artopioos, declared on public TV that the operation to extract the victims from the train wagons are taking place in very difficult conditions. (ANSAmed).

 

Greece train crash deaths are a result of privatisation and safety cuts

Greek transport minister Kostas Karamanlis has resigned but that should be just the start of the reckoning


Protesters in Athens, Greece (Picture: εργατική αλληλεγγύη/Facebook)

Hundreds of people protested in Athens and Thessaloniki, in Greece, on Wednesday after an horrific train crash killed at least 43 people. The crash came against a backdrop of years of privatisation and safety cuts.

A passenger service and a freight train travelling between Athens and Greece’s second largest city Thessaloniki crashed head on late on Tuesday. Yiannis Ditsas, the head of the rail workers’ union, said the trains had raced towards each other for 12 minutes before colliding.

The exact details of what happened to cause the crash are still unclear—but circumstances paint a picture of serious safety and signalling failures. It is thought that trains going both ways on that section of the line had been diverted onto a single track after an overhead cable was cut.

Some reports say the passenger train was delayed at a station in the city of Larissa for some 20 minutes amid confusion among rail staff about when it should depart. The station master at Larissa is said to have instructed the passenger train to proceed along the same track as the freight train. He has since been arrested.

But Kostas Genidounias, president of the train drivers association, said the collision wouldn’t have happened if the railway had automatic signalling. He told the ERT news channel that these systems hadn’t been working for years.

“We have been complaining for the last few years that the electronic systems do not work and everything is done manually on the Athens-Thessaloniki line,” he said. “Nothing is working. Everything is done with a human factor, manually, manually.

“Not even the indicators, the traffic lights, or traffic control work. If these worked, the train drivers would see the red signal and the trains would stop within 500 metres of each other.

“We’ve said it repeatedly. This would not happen if the safety systems were working. The information is given by the stationmaster via radio.”

The crash has the potential to become a major scandal for the Tory-type New Democracy government, which faces a general election in April. In a grim coincidence, it came just hours before prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was due to visit a remote control signalling centre near Thessaloniki.

Genidounias had posted in response on social media, “K. Mitsotakis will be at the remote control and signalling centre of the railway network of northern Greece tomorrow. Can someone tell us where the signalling and remote control in northern Greece is and where it works?”

The government’s transport minister Kostas Karamanlis has already resigned, apologising for the state of the rail network. “It’s a fact that we inherited the Greek railway in a state that is not fitting for the 21st century,” he said.

“In those three and a half years we made every effort to improve this reality. Unfortunately, those efforts were not adequate to avert such a tragedy.”

In fact, the New Democracy government’s cuts and privatisation policies made the railways more dangerous. In a statement on Wednesday, the radical left coalition Antarsya said the government had subsidised private rail firms as they cut staff and ignored safety warnings.

And Nikos Nikos Kioutsoukis, secretary of the GSEE union, said promised GPS satellite tracking systems, had gone uninstalled for years, even decades. “Modern GPS systems have not been installed yet, they do not work,” he said. “Some have been bought long ago, since 2000.”

Greece’s previous government, led by the once-radical left Syriza, sold the network for 45 million euros in 2017. It did this at the demand of the European Union and International Monetary Fund, which insisted on swingeing austerity and privatisation measures in return for a bailout loan.

New Democracy, and the Labour-type Pasok party supported the selloff. Both of them in previous governments had also overseen cuts and reforms designed to prime the network for privatisation.

Antarsya said the crash amounted to a “premeditated crime by the wretched New Democracy government and the previous Syriza-Anel government.”

It added, “Prioritizing balance sheets over human lives, profits over safety, they placed it in the hands of capital, which exploited a public good—transport—without conditions or limits. Their responsibility is self-evident.”