Foreign News
EU ambassador assaulted in Khartoum home
The EU’s ambassador in Sudan has been assaulted in his home in Khartoum, top EU diplomat Josep Borrell has said.
Borrell did not reveal any details of the attack, but an EU spokeswoman said the ambassador was “OK”. “Security of diplomatic premises and staff is a primary responsibility of Sudanese authorities,” Borrell wrote on Twitter. Although Borrell didn’t name him, the EU’s ambassador to Sudan is Aidan O’Hara, an Irish diplomat.
The BBC has contacted O’Hara’s office. O’Hara trained as a lawyer in Dublin, before he started his career in Ireland’s foreign office in 1986. Before moving to Sudan, he worked as EU ambassador in Djibouti and Irish ambassador to Ethiopia and South Sudan.
(BBC)
British police have charged the Russian captain of a cargo ship that crashed into a United States fuel tanker in the North Sea this week with manslaughter and gross negligence over the death of a crew member.
Humberside police said on Friday night that Vladimir Motin, 59, from Primorsky in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was remanded in police custody and will appear at Hull Magistrates Court on Saturday.
On Monday, the Portuguese-flagged Solong container vessel, of which Motin was the captain, hit the Stena Immaculate tanker at full speed while it was anchored off the coast of Hull in northeastern England. The Stena Immaculate was carrying US military jet fuel.
During the crash, which caused massive fires and explosions, one of the Solong’s crew members, 38-year-old Filipino national Mark Angelo Pernia, went missing and is now “presumed” dead.
“Extensive searches were carried out by HM Coastguard to locate the missing crew member, now presumed deceased,” Humberside police said in a statement.
“The family are being supported by specialist trained officers and our thoughts remain with them at this difficult time,” it added.
The remaining 36 crew members from both vessels survived the incident and were brought to shore.
On Friday, the Russian embassy in London said on its Telegram channel that its diplomats had held a “detailed telephone conversation with the captain of the vessel” on Thursday.
“According to him, he feels well. The Russian citizen has been provided with an interpreter and a lawyer, with whom our employees also maintain constant contact,” the embassy wrote, adding that it was in “close contact with the British competent authorities.”
The coastguard said on Thursday that salvage companies boarded the two vessels to carry out initial damage assessments, as the Stena Immaculate remains anchored at the point of the crash and the Solong drifted south of the site.
In an update on Friday, chief coastguard Paddy O’Callaghan said the vessels were “stable”.
“There are now only small periodic pockets of fire on the Solong, which are not causing undue concern. Specialist tugs with firefighting capability remain at both vessels’ locations,” O’Callaghan said adding that there continues to be “no cause for concern” of pollution from the crash.
While the British government has ruled out foul play in the crash, investigators are still examining its causes.
Moreover, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the situation was “reasonably contained” on Thursday.
[Aljazeera]
Search efforts for a missing University of Pittsburgh student who disappeared on spring break while in the Dominican Republican have entered their second week.
Sudiksha Konanki, 20, was last seen at a hotel around 04:00 local time on 6 March.
Her disappearance is being investigated as a missing persons case as officials consider whether Ms Konanki may have drowned.
The Dominican Republic attorney general indicated investigators are also not ruling out foul play.
Ms Konanki is a 20-year-old college student attending the University of Pittsburgh, where she studies biology and chemistry.
The college junior travelled with a group of five female friends to a resort in Punta Cana on a spring break trip, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.
She is a citizen of India and a permanent resident of the United States. She lives with her family in Chantilly, Virginia, located in Loudoun County.
Ms Konanki was last seen early in the morning of 6 March. Surveillance video shows her and a group of friends walking toward the beach. She was with five women and two American men in the video.
Ms Konanki stayed on the beach with one of the men as the others returned to the hotel, Dominican police told the BBC’s news partner CBS.
Dominican President Luis Abinader said earlier this week during a news conference that the last person who had contact with Ms Konanki reported a wave hit them while they were on the beach.
The parents of the man – Joshua Riibe – last seen with Ms Konanki released a statement to CBS News saying they hope Ms Konanki is “found as soon as possible”.
Riibe is a senior at St Cloud State University in Minnesota.
“We recognise that this is a complex and painful situation for all parties involved, and we trust that the investigation will be conducted with transparency and justice. Our only interest is that due process be respected and that actions be taken with the fairness that the situation requires,” the statement reads.
[Defensa Civil Dominican]
Officials said they’ve spent dozens of hours looking for Ms Konanki. Dominican police are dividing search areas and assigning drones to certain sectors.
Pilots are monitoring footage that is being uploaded to a command centre where AI is looking to identify objects in the ocean. Search crews are looking in water and on land.
Authorities say it’s not clear whether foul play was involved in Ms Konanki’s disappearance.
There was no blood or signs of violence found at the beach.
The University of Pittsburgh, where Ms Konanki is a student, said in a statement they are working with the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Homeland Security and local authorities in response to her disappearance.
[Defensa Civil Dominicana]
Interpol issues alert
The International Criminal Police Organization, known as Interpol, issued a global alert after Ms Konanki went missing.
The yellow notice is for missing persons such as victims of kidnappings or “unexplained disappearances”.
[BBC]
A senior Islamic State (IS) group leader in Iraq and Syria has been killed in an operation by members of the Iraqi national intelligence service along with US-led coalition forces, the Iraqi prime minister has said.
Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, also known as Abu Khadijah, “was considered one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world”, according to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
US President Donald Trump said “he was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters”.
The US Central Command (Centcom) said it conducted a “precision airstrike” in Iraq’s western Al Anbar province, which killed “one of the most important” IS members on Thursday.
Rifai was the head of IS’s most senior decision-making body and was responsible for operations, logistics, and planning conducted by IS globally, the US Central Command said.
He also directed a large portion of finance for the group’s global organisation, Centcom added.
Posting on his Truth Social platform, President Trump said: “His miserable life was terminated, along with another member of ISIS, in coordination with the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!”
Rifai was found dead alongside one other IS operative, Centcom said.
“Both terrorists were wearing unexploded ‘suicide vests’ and had multiple weapons,” it added.
Centcom and Iraqi forces were able to identify him through a DNA match from DNA collected on a previous raid where he “narrowly escaped”, it added.
Gen Michael Erik Kurilla said Rifai “was one of the most important IS members in the entire global IS organisation.
“We will continue to kill terrorists and dismantle their organizations that threaten our homeland and US, allied and partner personnel in the region and beyond.”
IS once held 88,000sq km (34,000sq miles) of territory stretching from north-eastern Syria across northern Iraq and imposed its brutal rule on almost eight million people.
Iraq declared the defeat of IS in December 2017 and the group was driven from its last piece of territory in 2019.
However militants and sleeper cells continue to have a presence in various parts of the country and carry out sporadic attacks against Iraq’s army and police.
[BBC]
Russian captain in North Sea ship collision charged with manslaughter
Search continues in Dominican Republic for missing student Sudiksha Konanki
Islamic State leader in Iraq and Syria killed, US says
-
Editorial6 days agoRanil roasted in London
-
Latest News7 days agoS. Thomas’ beat Royal by five wickets in the 146th Battle of the Blues
-
Features6 days agoThe JVP insurrection of 1971 as I saw it as GA Ampara
-
Opinion5 days agoInsulting SL armed forces
-
Features6 days agoMr. JR Jayewardene’s passport
-
News3 days agoAlfred Duraiappa’s relative killed in Canada shooting
-
Features6 days agoAs superpower America falls into chaos, being small is beautiful for Sri Lanka
-
Opinion6 days agoBeyond Victory: sportsmanship thrives at Moratuwa Big Match