The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Salvage of stricken ship off NZ resumes, businesses voice fears
- U.S. convicts three men of Jihad plot
- Obama says Iran to face toughest possible sanctions
| Salvage of stricken ship off NZ resumes, businesses voice fears Posted: 13 Oct 2011 08:24 PM PDT WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Salvage experts were preparing on Friday to pump more oil off a stricken container ship off the New Zealand coast as businesses started to count the cost of the country's worst environmental disaster in decades.
The Liberian-flagged Rena has been stuck for nine days on a reef 14 miles (22 km) off Tauranga on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island, spilling about 300 tonnes of heavy toxic fuel and some of its hundreds of containers into the sea. Splits down the middle of the hull of the 236-metre (775-foot) ship have raised fears it will break apart spilling hundreds more tonnes of oil. Salvage teams were back on board the 47,230-tonne ship preparing to cut holes in the stern to get to the tanks holding about 1,000 tonnes of fuel. "It's complex, it's hard, it's difficult and they will start pumping as soon as they can," Maritime NZ spokesman Bruce Anderson told reporters. Oil has washed up along about 40 km (25 miles) of the coast, which is popular with surfers and fishermen. Weather and sea conditions were favourable, but winds are expected to strengthen and may force the salvage workers off the ship, which is listing at about 21 degrees. The salvage company, Svitzer Ltd, said working conditions were difficult. "There are containers on that vessel that are still very loose and could topple over. There is no power on the vessel, so when the salvors go below deck it is pitch dark," said company spokesman Matt Watson. Platforms have been built to clip on to the stern to give level access to the ship's tanks, but Watson said it was unlikely pumping would resume on Friday. WORKERS COLLECT OIL Tourism businesses in the district, which is a holiday spot renowned for good surfing waves and big-game fishing, were reporting cancellations, and some were fearing for their survival. "Effectively, I think a lot of people will have to sell their business or go under," said surf school operator, Bjorn Waling, adding that oil could be washing up on the coast for years, which would ruin the district's reputation. The area's chamber of commerce is working with government agencies on possible short-term subsidies and payments to affected businesses. Hundreds of white-suited workers, including soldiers, wildlife experts, and residents, returned to beaches to collect the foul-smelling fuel oil that has fouled more than 40 km (30 miles) of sandy beaches. More than 100 tonnes of oil have been recovered from an estimated 300 that leaked from the ship, while about 20 containers of the 88 known to have fallen off the ship have been washed up. Preparations were also being made in the small town of Whakatane, about 80 km (50 miles) down the coast from Tauranga, should wind and currents push oil that far. Operations at Tauranga, the country's biggest export port, were back to normal after being shut overnight to clear debris, including containers, from the harbour and shipping lanes. The ship's captain and second officer, both from the Philippines, have been charged and remanded on bail, accused of operating the ship in a dangerous manner. But the mayor of Tauranga dismissed an apology from the ship's owners, Greece-based Costamare Shipping Inc. "It's half an apology and a lot of excuse, no it's not good enough, I'd like to see the ship's owner come to Tauranga and stand up in front of our people," Stuart Crosby said on TVNZ. (Editing by Robert Birsel) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. | ||
| U.S. convicts three men of Jihad plot Posted: 13 Oct 2011 08:24 PM PDT RALEIGH, N.C. (Reuters) - A U.S. jury found three North Carolina men guilty on Thursday of conspiring to provide material support to Islamist militants in foreign countries. The indictment named the three men, all in their 20s, as Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, Ziyad Yaghi, both U.S. citizens, and Hysen Sherifi, a native of Kosovo and U.S. resident. It said Boyd, a drywall contractor from Willow Spring, North Carolina, had drawn his sons and the other men into a plan to travel abroad to help Islamist militants, although prosecutors have said there was no indication they were linked to any international militant organization. The indictment added that Boyd had travelled between 1989 and 1992 to Pakistan and Afghanistan, "where he received military-style training in terrorist training camps for the purpose of engaging in violent jihad." It added that from at least November 2006, when the federal investigation began, Boyd conspired with the other defendants "to provide material support and resources to terrorists, including currency, training, transportation and personnel." Boyd and Sherifi were also accused of conspiring to kill U.S. military personnel "in an attack on government and military installations in Virginia and elsewhere." The federal jury found Sherifi guilty on five counts, including three counts of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists; to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons; and to kill a federal officer or employee. He also was convicted of two counts of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. The jury found Yaghi guilty on two counts of conspiracy. Hassan was convicted on one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, but acquitted on a second count of conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim and injure people, court records show. The government's case was based largely on secretly recorded conversations between the defendants and statements from a confidential informant. Mauri Saalakhan, director of the Peace Through Justice Foundation, based in the Washington D.C. area, attended closing arguments and said the convictions were brought about by "a post-9/11 atmosphere of fear and patriotism." "I just feel it was a terrible miscarriage of justice that doesn't make America any safer," Saalakhan said. (Edited by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Johnston and Sandra Maler) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. | ||
| Obama says Iran to face toughest possible sanctions Posted: 13 Oct 2011 06:51 PM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama warned Iran on Thursday it would face the toughest possible sanctions for an alleged plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington, as officials eyed action against its central bank.
Saudi Arabia on Thursday accused Iran of fomenting instability but pledged a "measured response" over the alleged plot that has heightened tensions between OPEC's two top oil producers. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said, on a visit to Austria, that the evidence showed "Iran is responsible" for the alleged plot and said Tehran had tried to "meddle" in the affairs of Arab states before. In Washington, Obama told a news conference that the United States would not take any options off the table in dealing with Iran, a phrase U.S. officials regularly use toward Tehran that is diplomatic code for the possibility of military action. "This is part of a pattern of dangerous and reckless behavior by the Iranian government," Obama said in his first public comments on the affair. U.S. authorities on Tuesday said they had broken up a plot by two men linked to Iran's security agencies to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir. One was arrested last month while the other was believed to be in Iran. Iran called the accusations a fabrication designed to hurt its relations with its neighbors . The U.S. Treasury Department said it was weighing more sanctions against Iran's central bank to tighten the financial screws and deepen the country's estrangement from the international financial community. Obama came to office in 2009 promising to seek diplomatic engagement with Iran. But his outreach failed to halt Iran's nuclear advances and he has instead spearheaded several packages of international sanctions. The plot raises tensions to a new level between the Obama administration and Iran, which says its nuclear work is peaceful and aimed at generating electricity. Obama told reporters during a news conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak the United State would continue "to apply the toughest sanctions and continue to mobilize the international community to make sure that Iran is further and further isolated and pays a price for this kind of behavior." "Now, we don't take any options off the table in terms of how we operate with Iran, but what you can expect is that we will continue to apply the sorts of pressure that will have a direct impact on the Iranian government until it makes a better choice in terms of how it's going to interact with the rest of the international community," Obama said. 'RULES OF THE ROADS' U.S. financial institutions are already generally banned from doing business with any bank in Iran, including the central bank. But the U.S. Treasury said more action, if it had international support, could further isolate the institution. The White House has persistently sought to highlight the disparity between Iran's support for popular uprisings against other autocratic regimes in the region and its brutal treatment of protesters at home, and Obama repeated this message. "We will continue to work to see how we can bring about a Iranian government that is actually responsive to its people but also following the rules of the roads that other countries and the international community follow," he said. Iran denied the charges and expressed outrage at the accusations. "We hold them (Iran) accountable for any action they take against us," Prince Saud said in Vienna, where he was discussing opening a religious dialogue center. "Any action they take against us will have a measured response from Saudi Arabia." "The goal is pretty clear -- they want to throw up problems, break good relations and foster instability in international relations," he added. "It hurts us very much. Iran is one of our neighbors, it is an Islamic land, and we had never thought that Iran could take such a step and plan such an attack." Asked what actions Saudi Arabia might take, he said: "We have to wait and see." Iran meanwhile painted the accusation as a plot to create rifts between the two Middle East powers. "We have no problem with Saudi Arabia. ... Though our interpretation of regional developments are different ... I hope Saudis are aware of the fact that our enemies do not want us to have convergence and cooperation," Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told state radio on Thursday. Some Iran experts were skeptical about the plot, saying they could not see the motive for such an assassination. Iran has in the past killed its own dissidents abroad, but an attempt to target an ambassador of another country would be a highly unusual departure. Iran said the allegations threaten stability in the Gulf -- where Saudi Arabia and Iran, the biggest regional powers, are fierce rivals and Washington has a huge military presence. Russia, which built a nuclear power plant for Iran, expressed concern over reports of the alleged plot. The reports "have been treated with concern in Moscow," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement late on Wednesday. Russia has used pressure on Iran as a diplomatic tool in its relations with Washington, which have improved in recent years. Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran soured after the 1979 revolution that brought Shiite Muslim clerics to power on the other side of the Gulf. Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran consider themselves protectors of Islam's two main rival sects. The rift sharpened this year after Saudi Arabia deployed troops to the Gulf island kingdom of Bahrain to crush a Shi'ite-led uprising there. (Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell, Angus McDowall and Sylvia Westall; Editing by Will Dunham) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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