Elite Indian Navy Team Secures Hijacked Bulker

Elite commandos from the Indian Navy secured the hijacked bulker and ensure the safety of the crew (Indian Navy)

PUBLISHED JAN 5, 2024 10:24 AM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

The Indian Navy intercepted the bulk carrier Lila Norfolk early on Friday, January 5, and an elite team of marine commandos boarded the vessel to “sanitize” the ship. The latest reports are that the pirates fled the ship and the crew of the bulker is reported safe. 

The incident began late on Thursday, January 4, when the Lila Norfolk alerted the UK Maritime Trade Organizations that five or six armed individuals were boarding the vessel. The 170,000 dwt bulker registered in Liberia was sailing from Brazil bound for Bahrain. It was in a position 460 nautical miles to the east of Eyl, Somalia at the time the incident was reported.

AIS signals show the vessel was initially continuing on course but later stopped. The Indian Navy reported the crew had been operating the vessel from the citadel and that they were secure. The vessel however later turned toward Somalia, but it is unclear if the boarders were able to breach the citadel.

 

Track of the Lila Norfolk (courtesy of EOS Risk Group)

 

The Indian Navy dispatched its destroyer Chennai and a patrol aircraft and was able to establish contact the Lila Norfolk on Friday morning. There are 21 crewmembers, including 15 Indian nationals, aboard the vessel. They determined that the crew was safe.

After tracking the vessel and monitoring the situation, the Indian destroyer launched a helicopter and issued an ultimatum to the pirates to surrender the vessel. The elite commando team boarded the Lila Norfolk and according to the navy was making a thorough sweep to find the boarders and secure the vessel. The Navy said that based on the size of the ship it would require time to fully search the vessel.

The UK MTO issued an alert saying that the Indian team had not found any unauthorized people aboard and that the crew was safe. The Lila Norfolk is reported to be proceeding out of the area.

 

 

This marks the second hijacking of a merchant ship in the region off Somalia in recent weeks. In mid-December, Somali pirates were successful in taking a Navibulgar vessel the Ruen which is still being held off Somalia. The Indian Navy was also able to intercept and track that vessel and took custody of one crewmember who was injured and transferred him to a hospital in India. In addition, reports are that at least five fishing vessels have been taken in the waters around Somalia.

There have been fears that the pirates might be working in conjunction with the Houthi rebels in Yemen, but Reuters is quoting an analyst saying they believe the pirates have been emboldened by the focus on the Red Sea believing there might be less attention on the area around Somalia. 

The EU maintains a security program in the area known as Operation ATALANTA, a maritime security operation covering portions of the Western Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. A Spanish vessel, the Victoria, is the current flagship of the operation and in December the Italian Fasan joined the operation.

There had not been a hijacking of a merchant ship off Somalia since 2017.

 

Port of Virginia Switches to 100% Clean Power

Courtesy Port of Virginia

PUBLISHED JAN 4, 2024 11:37 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

On New Years' Day, the Port of Virginia became the first seaport on the U.S. East Coast (and one of a handful in the world) to run all of its operations on 100 percent clean power. The port had planned to arrive at this landmark by 2032, but it has achieved its goal early. 

"This achievement aligns the port with some of the world’s leading ocean carriers, retailers, manufacturers, suppliers and multinational corporations’ sustainability efforts and differentiates the port as a leader in port sustainability and technology," a spokesperson for the port said in a statement.

The switch nearly cuts carbon emissions per container move in half. The savings are in both Scope 1 (direct onsite emissions from equipment) and Scope 2 (supply chain emissions from power generation). 

Port of Virginia is well-positioned to take advantage of clean electricity because it has already invested in electrification. The port operates 116 electric stacking cranes, four electric rail cranes and 27 electric STS cranes. As the port finishes up work at the North Berth at Norfolk International Terminals, these numbers will increase to 152, seven and 31, respectively. 

The port has secured its green power supply through a power purchase agreement with Dominion Energy. The giant utility is a port customer and partner, and is investing heavily in offshore wind. Dominion President and CEO Robert M. Blue commended the port for making the switch to clean power.  

“Virginia’s port is second to none and plays a vital role in the development of offshore wind along the East Coast. The action it is taking on its sustainability goal shows this is a forward-looking organization at the forefront of Virginia’s clean energy transition," said Blue in a statement. 

Former DSME Employee Allegedly Leaked Submarine Secrets to Taiwan

DSME built three submarines for Indonesia and it alleged that designs details were leaked to Taiwan (DSME file photo)

PUBLISHED JAN 4, 2024 7:57 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

 

South Korea has charged two people including a former employee of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) for their involvement in leaking details and blueprints of its submarines to Taiwan. Media reports are that a consulting firm set up by the former DSME employee and a former officer from the South Korean Navy is also under investigation for not preventing the leak of the blueprints of the submarines.

The timing for the leak of the information was not revealed and has been at the center of a controversy over when it was first discovered and DSME’s awareness of the incident. Media reports suggested that the company only became aware of the leak last year, but Hanwha Ocean, which acquired DSME in 2023, told the Korea JoongAng Daily that the shipyard was aware of the leak since 2019 and has been cooperating with the investigation.

According to the report, the two individuals are being charged for violating the Foreign Act and Trade Secret Protection Act. They are believed to have first supplied details about the DSME 1400 submarine to Taiwan while they were working for the shipyard. One individual later helped to start the independent consulting firm which was working with Korea’s submarine programs and while at the firm provided additional information to Taiwan. According to the allegations, the information was supplied to CSBC, Taiwan’s state-owned shipbuilder.

South Korea maintains a balancing act in its relationship with Taiwan. They have a careful approach in order not to anger Beijing and its relationship with mainland China. 

The incident involved the 1400 a submarine design developed by DSME as an improvement on a diesel-electric attack submarine initially developed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (HDW) of Germany for South Korea. The initial design was developed in the late 1980s and HDW sold it to South Korea building the first submarines and then consulting with DSME for the construction of additional vessels. South Korea commissioned a total of nine of the submarines between 1993 and 2001. DSME later built three additional submarines sold to Indonesia between 2017 and 2019.

Taiwan launched a program in 2016 to develop a domestic design for submarines. In September 2023, Taiwan christened its first new domestically-built submarine as part of a program that reported will see three submarines built to replace badly outdated vessels in its fleet.

The Korean Economic Daily in an exclusive report on the case indicates that it is not the first time the unnamed consulting firm has faced charges for its involvement in the leak of trade secrets. The firm and one of its executives, the newspaper reports, were sentenced last year in a case involving other parts for the Taiwan submarine program.

Hanwha in its statement emphasized that the incident occurred in the past when the shipyard was managed by Daewoo. DSME and the submarine programs were the target of cyberattacks which were believed to also be seeking data on the submarines and their designs. In 2016 and again in 2021, it was alleged that the shipyard was the victim of three cyber attacks which were associated with North Korea. It was unclear from the public reporting if any of the attacks were successful in breaching the sensitive data on the submarines.

Kush*: A drug sometimes mixed with human bones is ravaging Sierra Leone

Jamal OsmanAfrica Correspondent 2 Jan 2024

It’s so addictive, users become hooked after a single hit, then find themselves quickly trapped in a cycle of self-destruction.

Kush is a mysterious new zombie drug that’s ravaging Sierra Leone – an epidemic described as the worst in Africa. And amid fears the crisis could destabilise the entire nation – a shocking new twist: the use of ground-up human bones as one of the drug’s cocktail of ingredients.

A warning, this report contains some distressing images.

*KUSH IN NORTH AMERICA IS A NAME FOR A STRAIN OF POT

International Olympic Committee issues new guidelines on transgender athletes

Athletes will no longer be required to undergo “medically unnecessary” hormone treatments to compete, the IOC said.

Laurel Hubbard of New Zealand during the women's weightlifting competition at the Tokyo Olympic Games on Aug. 2.Chris Graythen / Getty Images file

 Updated Jan. 2, 2024, 5:43 PM MST
By Matt Lavietes

The International Olympic Committee announced a new framework for transgender and intersex athletes Tuesday, dropping controversial policies that required competing athletes to undergo "medically unnecessary" procedures or treatment.

In a six-page document, the IOC outlined 10 principles, which it described as "grounded on the respect for internationally recognised human rights," that sports competitions should follow. It also said it will no longer require athletes to undergo hormone level modifications to compete.

"This Framework recognises both the need to ensure that everyone, irrespective of their gender identity or sex variations, can practise sport in a safe, harassment-free environment that recognises and respects their needs and identities," the committee said.

June 2021: New Zealand weightlifter becomes first transgender athlete to go to Olympics

JUNE 21, 2021   00:21

The new framework is not legally binding and was developed following an “extensive consultation” with athletes, other sports organizations and experts in the fields of human rights, law and medicine, the IOC said. It comes just three months after the Tokyo Olympics, which saw the first transgender and intersex athletes compete in the Games' history.

Tuesday's framework replaces guidelines the IOC released in 2015, which put a limit on athletes' testosterone levels that required some of them to undergo treatments the IOC now describes as "medically unnecessary." Before 2016, the IOC required athletes to undergo genital surgery.

Chris Mosier was the first out trans athlete to compete on a U.S. national team, in the 2016 world championship for the sprint duathlon, and has challenged some of the previous guidelines. Mosier applauded the release of the new framework, writing on Twitter that it “takes the next step in centering human rights as the foundation of sport.”

“The new IOC Framework makes clear that no athlete has an inherent advantage & moves away from eligibility criteria focused on testosterone levels, a practice that caused harmful & abusive practices such as invasive physical examinations & sex testing,” he wrote.

Canadian soccer gold medalist Quinn, who in July became the first openly transgender athlete to participate in the Olympics, also chimed in, calling the new framework "groundbreaking."

“Far too often, sport policy does not reflect the lived experience of marginalized athletes, and that’s especially true when it comes to transgender athletes and athletes with sex variations,” Quinn said in a statement. “This new IOC framework is groundbreaking in the way that it reflects what we know to be true — that athletes like me and my peers participate in sports without any inherent advantage, and that our humanity deserves to be respected.”

Quinn of the Canada women's soccer team poses with their gold medal in Yokohama, Japan, on Aug. 6.

Naomi Baker / Getty Images

LGBTQ advocates welcomed the IOC's new guidelines but stressed that following the implementation process is necessary.

“As with any set of guidelines, the success of this new framework in ensuring a safe and welcoming environment within the Olympic movement will largely depend on the education and implementation process with national governing bodies, international federations, and other key stakeholders,” Anne Lieberman, the director of policy and programs at LGBTQ advocacy group Athlete Ally, said in a statement.

Some advocates argued that while the IOC's new framework is intended for elite athletes, it bolsters their case in their fight against state bills in the United States that restrict transgender students' participation in school sports.

Recommended

OUT NEWS  USA Boxing updates rulebook to include strict transgender athlete policy

OUT POLITICS AND POLICY  Missouri GOP says LGBTQ issues will take a back seat to child care, education policy in 2024


"On the heels of the most anti-LGBTQ legislative session in history with the majority of bills targeting trans youth in sports, every state and lawmaker should listen to the experts from the world of sports, medicine, and athletes themselves to allow transgender youth the same opportunities to play with their friends, have fun, learn, grow, and benefit from the lasting life lessons and supportive community sports can provide," Alex Schmider, the associate director of transgender representation at LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD, said in a statement.

Ten U.S. states have enacted laws restricting trans students’ participation in school sports, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a nonprofit think tank. An additional 21 states have considered similar bills in 2021, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

CORRECTION (Jan. 2, 2024, 7:40 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the year that the IOC's surgical guideline changes went into effect. It was 2016, not 2015.

 How misinformation works on the brain, according to a psychologist

CBS News

With the 2024 elections less than a year away, a recent survey found 53% of Americans say they see false or misleading information online every day. Lisa Fazio, associate professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University, joins CBS News to unpack why people fall for misinformation -- and what it's doing to our brains.

Palestinian Performance Art Reflects The Fighting Spirit Of A Besieged Nation

Divided by apartheid walls and censorship, Palestinian performing artists explore the metaphysical to capture the realities of constant war and life in the 'world’s largest open-air prison'

Palestinian female artist is seen drawing a picture titled 'GAZA 2024' on the concrete of the rubble 

Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images

Outlook Web Desk
UPDATED: 04 JAN 2024

"A dancer in Gaza is always at the risk of arrest…,” says 22-year-old Rahman, a performance artist in Bethlehem. This is true more than ever today in Gaza, which has been under attack from Israeli armed forces since October 7. While Palestinian civil society including artists is used to the risk of Israeli backlash, the months after the Hamas attack in Israel followed by the escalation of violence in Gaza has seen an intense crackdown on Palestinian civil society, especially artists who have been facing detention, arrests, harassment and violence for raising their voice in support of Palestine and standing up against what many have dubbed a “genocide” in Gaza.

Rahman, a dabke dancer from West Bank, and many like him, have to wade through an oppressive milieu of armed checkpoints and hostile forces everyday, and live a life of secrecy, just to continue practicing their art. It’s risky but for Rahman, it’s important because for him and a majority of Palestinians, art is a means of protest. He says that art has always been a vital element of the Palestinian resistance movement and an instrument to reaffirm political existence by way of preserving the cultural identity of the nation. Performance art forms like traditional dances, can also be a means to bypass oppressive censorship and surveillance and take the message of Palestinians to the masses across the world.

But such work comes with a heavy price for the artists themselves who often have to risk their own lives to continue their art. Since October 7, multiple Palestinian artists across the world have faced censure, or have been suspended from their employment, for taking a stand on Gaza and interpreting the ongoing violence and bloodshed in creative ways.

Artists posting pro-Palestinian works on social media have alleged facing “shadow bans” being implemented by the platforms to silence Palestinian voices and calls for ceasefire. Dozens of Arab citizens of Israel have been arrested in connection with social media posts about the war in Gaza. Among them is a well-known singer and influencer from Nazareth, Dalal Abu Amneh, who is known to talk about Palestinian heritage through her songs, was held in police custody for two days before being released on bail. Palestinian artists like Berlin-based Jumana Manna, artistic director Ahmed Tobasi, and producer Mustafa Sheta have also faced detainment and harassment, among others.

Internationally renowned artists like Chinese contemporary artists Ai Weiwei, South African artist Candice Breitz, curator Anaïs Duplan, have faced consequences like show cancellations and social media trolling following their vocal support for Palestine.

In November, over 1300 artists including visual artists, actors, filmmakers, writers, musicians and performers wrote an open letter accusing Western media and institutions of “silencing and stigmatising” Palestinians voices and perspectives.

In another incident deemed as “cultural genocide,” Israel sparked widespread criticism after raiding the Freedom Theatre, a community theatre based in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, detaining three of its artists and brutally beating them later, according to reports.

Many in Palestine and the besieged Gaza feel that the crackdown on artists is not just to control dissent and information blackout in Gaza but also an attempt, aided by Western powers, to completely erase Palestinian cultural identity. It a way to dehumanise Palestinians.

The Palestinian fighting spirit nevertheless remains strong as can be seen in the ever-mounting body of resistance art. Even amid internet shutdowns, airstrikes, bombings, and constant rubbles restricting their movements, Palestinian artists like Rahman have not given up and continued to find creative and ingenious ways to artistically translate and showcase the historical suffering of Palestinians.

From graffiti to skateboarding, traditional music, embroidery styles like Tattreez, dance forms like Dabke, or Palestinian food recipes, Palestinian artists have found their way to connect and share experiences and ensure that their culture and identity are not erased. In its anniversary issue, Outlook brings together testimonials from Palestinian artists who continue to showcase the realities of war and life in the world’s “greatest open air prison”.

Claudine Gay says exit from Harvard University rooted in 'lies and insults'

Former president of elite American university says she was targeted by "recycled racial stereotypes" about Black talent, following her response to pro-Palestine demonstrations on campus, which was dubbed as "anti-Semitism" by American right-wingers.



AFP

Gay, who made history as the first Black person to be president of Harvard, says she was targeted because she believed "that a daughter of Haitian immigrants has something to offer to the nation's oldest university." / Photo: AFP


Harvard University's former president has said following her resignation that she made mistakes but insisted she was the target of a sustained campaign of lies and personal insults.

"Those who had relentlessly campaigned to oust me since the fall often trafficked in lies and ad hominem insults, not reasoned argument," Claudine Gay wrote in The New York Times on Wednesday.

"They recycled tired racial stereotypes about Black talent and temperament. They pushed a false narrative of indifference and incompetence."

"It is not lost on me that I make an ideal canvas for projecting every anxiety about the generational and demographic changes unfolding on American campuses: a Black woman selected to lead a storied institution. Someone who views diversity as a source of institutional strength and dynamism."

Gay was criticised in recent months after reports surfaced alleging that she did not properly cite scholarly sources. The most recent accusations came on Tuesday, published anonymously in a conservative online outlet.

Gay stepped down on Tuesday after coming under ferocious attack over her response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus, which was dubbed as "anti-Semitism".



Resignation not enough

Gay was engulfed by scandal after she declined to say unequivocally whether calling for the genocide of Jews would violate Harvard's code of conduct during testimony to Congress alongside the heads of MIT and the University of Pennsylvania last month.

Gay, who made history as the first Black person to be president of Harvard, said she was targeted because she believed "that a daughter of Haitian immigrants has something to offer to the nation's oldest university."

Gay, 53, was born in New York to Haitian immigrants and is a professor of political science.

Her downfall comes after the powerhouse university in Cambridge, Massachusetts's governing Harvard Corporation, had initially backed her after the public relations disaster of the congressional testimony.

The university's governing Harvard Corporation said that Gay had "shown remarkable resilience in the face of deeply personal and sustained attacks."

The House Republican who challenged Gay out during her testimony with the question about whether free speech extended to calling for the genocide of Jews has now called for members of the Harvard Corporation to apologise.

"Neither the resignation from Claudine Gay nor the statement from the Harvard Corporation included any apology for the morally bankrupt testimony," she wrote on social media.

At the heart of the crisis

Students and professors at Harvard were targeted after allegations of anti-Semitism linked to fury over Israel's brutality in besieged Gaza ripped through the famous institution and other elite US universities.

The historical campus in the heart of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was roiled in October by pro-Palestinian marches. The anger mirrored widespread concern among young, liberal American students over the civilian costs of Israel's war against Gaza.

However, the protests quickly sparked alarm, promoted by American far-right and Zionist groups, that anti-Semitism was flourishing in Harvard and other Ivy League universities, which host top students from around the world.

Protestors' banners called for a ceasefire in the bloody war gripping Gaza and proclaimed that accusing Israel of genocide is not the same as anti-Semitism.

A conservative Jewish group called the Jewish National Project drove a billboard truck around Harvard emblazoned with messages accusing Gay of anti-Semitism and being a "national disgrace."
SOURCE: TRTWORLD AND AGENCIES

Japan's major earthquakes since the 1995 Kobe disaster

Road cracks caused by an earthquake is seen in Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan Jan 1, 2024, in this photo released by Kyodo.
PHOTO: Kyodo via Reuters

PUBLISHED ON JANUARY 03, 2024

TOKYO — A powerful earthquake struck central Japan on Monday (Jan 1), killing at least six people, destroying buildings and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes.

Situated on the "Ring of Fire" arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches that partly encircles the Pacific Basin, Japan accounts for about 20 per cent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater, and each year experiences up to 2,000 quakes that can be felt by people.

Following are some major Japanese quakes in the last 30 years:

- On Jan 16, 1995, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 hit central Japan, devastating the western port city of Kobe. The worst earthquake to hit the country in 50 years killed more than 6,400 and caused an estimated US$100 billion (S$132.96 billion) in damage.

- On Oct 23, 2004, a 6.8 magnitude quake struck the Niigata region, about 250 km north of Tokyo, killing 65 people and injuring 3,000.

- On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck northeast Japan, killing nearly 20,000 people and causing a meltdown in Fukushima, leading to the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.


- On April 16, 2016, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck in Kumamoto on the southern island of Japan, killing more than 220 people.

- On June 18, 2018, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake in Osaka, Japan's second-biggest metropolis, killed four people, injured hundreds more and halted factory lines in an industrial area.

- On Sept 6, 2018, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake paralysed Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, killing at least seven people, triggering landslides and knocking out power to its 5.3 million residents.

- On Feb 13, 2021, a 7.3 magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Fukushima in eastern Japan, injuring dozens of people and triggering widespread power outages.

- On March 16, 2022, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake jolted the coast off Fukushima again, leaving two dead and 94 injured and reviving memories of the quake and tsunami that crippled the same region just over a decade earlier.

ALSO READ: Japan in 'battle against time' to rescue New Year's Day quake survivors

Source: Reuters

Malawi Sends Workers to Israel as Critics Call for Transparency

January 04, 2024

Malawi’s government is sending young people to work on Israeli farms amid the conflict with Hamas. Critics say the program is shrouded in secrecy and has exposed unemployment issues in the country. Human rights activists say young people are willing to take opportunities abroad, despite the risks.