Foreign News
Russian captain in North Sea ship collision charged with manslaughter
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]
Sustained heavy gunfire and loud explosions have been heard in Niger near the international airport outside the capital, Niamey.
Multiple eyewitness accounts and videos showed air defence systems apparently engaging unidentified projectiles in the early hours of Thursday.
The situation later calmed down, reports say, with an official reportedly saying the situation was now under control, without elaborating.
It is not clear what caused the blasts, or if there were any casualties. There has been no official statement from the military government.
The gunfire and blasts began shortly after midnight, according to residents of a neighbourhood near the Diori Hamani International Airport, the AFP news agency reports. They said calm returned after two hours.
The airport houses an air force base and is located about 10km (six miles) from the presidential palace.
Niger is led by Abdourahamane Tiani who seized power in a 2023 coup that ousted the country’s elected civilian president.
Like its neighbours Burkina Faso and Mali, the country has been fighting jihadist groups who have carried out deadly attacks across the region.
It is also a major producer of uranium.
A huge uranium shipment destined for export has been stuck at the airport amid unresolved legal and diplomatic complications with France after the military government nationalised the country’s uranium mines.
“The situation is under control. There is no need to worry,” the Anadolu news agency quoted a Foreign Affairs ministry official as saying, without elaborating.
The official told the agency they were trying to determine whether the gunfire was linked to the uranium shipment.
[BBC]
A South Korean court has sentenced former First Lady Kim Keon Hee to one year and eight months in prison after finding her guilty of accepting bribes from the Unification Church, according to South Korea’s official Yonhap news agency.
The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday cleared Kim, the wife of disgraced ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol, of additional charges of stock price manipulation and violating the political funds act.
Kim was accused of receiving bribes and lavish gifts from businesses and politicians, as well as the Unification Church, totaling at least $200,000.
The prosecution team had also indicted Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja, now on trial, after the religious group was suspected of giving Kim valuables, including two Chanel handbags and a diamond necklace, as part of its efforts to win influence with the president’s wife.
Prosecutors in December said Kim had “stood above the law” and colluded with the religious sect to undermine “the constitutionally mandated separation of religion and state”.
Prosecutor Min Joong-ki also said South Korea’s institutions were “severely undermined by abuses of power” committed by Kim.
The former first lady had denied all the charges, claiming the allegations against her were “deeply unjust” in her final testimony last month.
But she has also apologised for “causing trouble despite being a person of no importance”.
[Aljazeera]
A plane crash has killed the deputy chief minister of India’s Maharashtra state, Ajit Pawar, the country’s aviation regulator has said.
The plane, which took off from the state capital, Mumbai, on Wednesday, crash-landed at the airport in Pawar’s constituency of Baramati, according to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Two members of the prominent politician’s staff and two crew members were also reported to have been killed.
The cause of the crash has not yet been officially confirmed.
Flightradar24, an online flight tracking service, said the aircraft was attempting a second approach to Baramati airport when it crashed.
The Times of India newspaper quoted DGCA officials as saying the aircraft, a Learjet 45 operated by a company called VSR, crashed at about 8:45am local time (03:15 GMT).
The daily said Pawar, the nephew of veteran politician Sharad Pawar, who founded the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), was on his way to attend a public rally for the district council elections.
A witness quoted by the newspaper said the aircraft exploded moments after hitting the ground.
“When we rushed to the spot, the aircraft was on fire. There were four to five more explosions. People tried to pull the passengers out, but the fire was too intense,” said the witness.
Pawar, 66, built his political base through the grassroots cooperative movement. He was a key figure in state politics and served as the second-highest elected official in Maharashtra, as part of the larger federal governing coalition led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He wielded considerable influence in the state’s vibrant sugar belt and was known for his ability to mobilise rural voters.
[Aljazeera]
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