| Puppet Masters |
|
RT
2015-06-06 20:39:00
Pope Francis has attacked what he called "the atmosphere of war," which he believes is hampering the world. He also attacked those profiteering from war and those engaging in arms sales, as he led a mass in Bosnia on Saturday. Francis received a joyous welcome from around 100,000 people who lined the streets of Sarajevo, Bosnia's capital, as his motorcade made its way to the national stadium, where the pontiff celebrated mass for a mainly Catholic audience of around 65,000, speaking in Italian. Many conflicts across the planet amount to "a kind of Third World War being fought piecemeal and, in the context of global communications, we sense an atmosphere of war," the pontiff said, according to AFP. "Some wish to incite and foment this atmosphere deliberately," he added, attacking those who want to foster division for political ends or profit from war through arms dealing. | |
Comment: The Pope is absolutely correct here but what are the solutions? It will be interesting to see the results of Putin's visit with the Pope.
| |
 |
|
Eva Bartlett
RT 2015-06-05 16:22:00
Reports have come out that the UN was considering adding Israel to the list of "grave violations against children in armed conflict." As detailed below, Israeli army and Israel's state policies are systematically violent against Palestinian children. A recent Independent article noted that [Special Envoy for Children and Armed Conflict Leila] "Zerrougui's draft report cited IDF attacks on schools and hospitals during the 2014 war in the Gaza Strip..." Even though the UN has historically not taken strong action against any of Israel's war crimes over the decades, let alone those specifically against Palestinian children, Israel has reportedly exerted pressure to be de-listed from the draft list, with seeming success. The Independent wrote, "UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, however, is said to be leaning towards not including Israel in the list, amid what several diplomatic sources anonymously said was intense lobbying from Israel." Apparently, Israel thinks such call for its joining the list is "a heinous and hypocritical attempt to besmirch the image of Israel and it is doomed to fail," Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon reportedly said. In fact, the UN should have listed Israel from at least 2009 when, as the UN websitenotes, "the Security Council decided to also list armed forces and groups who kill and maim children, commit sexual violence against children, and attack schools and hospitals."
Does Israel violate the six areas detailed? Five out of six, most definitely: | ||
|
|
Michael Woodiwiss
History & Policy 2012-11-01 00:00:00
Organised crime, the mythology of the Mafia, and the American/Anglo Response
| |
Comment: The war on crime, the war on drugs, the war on terror, even the war on poverty, who benefits? Follow the money.
| |
|
|
South Front
2015-06-06 15:55:00
The clashes have been continuing at the frontline since last evening. Ukrainian artillery has shelled Putilovka and Kievskiy districts of the city Donetsk. The firefight was going in the sector of Spartak last night. Kiev's forces attacked from sector of Avdeevka to the Yakovlevka and Yasinovataya checkpoint.
| ||
Comment: Kiev has been violating the Minsk 2.0 agreements since the beginning, and the U.S. has known about for just as long. See: Caught red handed: Leaked email reveals Kiev violated ceasefire many times. But that hasn't stopped them from publicly stating the exact opposite. What can we expect? Psychopaths are notorious liars.
| ||
|
|
Sputnik News
2015-06-06 14:39:00
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) representative to Ukraine Heidi Tagliavini resigned over disagreements between the sides involved in Contact Group reconciliation talks, a source close to negotiations said Saturday. Tagliavini's resignation was reported in Swiss national media late Friday. The Die Suedostschweiz daily later cited the country's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs as confirming the Swiss diplomat's intention to leave the post in the near future. "Having seen that it is not help that the sides need, but that they cannot agree in the first place, Ms. Tagliavini decided that her future work will not get the peace process moving," the source told RIA Novosti. | |
Comment: The parties responsible for increasing tensions don't need the OSCE. They say Russia invaded Ukraine 389 times, and that's going to be the story no matter what. They believe that they're the reality creators:
But now, thanks to their lunacy, reality is actually a lot closer to 'Russian propaganda'. Check out:
| |
|
|
Sputnik News
2015-06-06 14:15:00
While analysts continue to discuss what Georgia's ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili's appointment as governor of Ukraine's Odessa region might actually mean to Ukraine, American bimonthly international affairs magazine The National Interest comes with its analysis of the "great friend of Ukraine" and his "Stanislavski school of governance." US bimonthly international affairs magazine The National Interest came up with an analysis of Georgia's former President Saakashvili, wanted by his country's prosecutors for embezzlement, abuse of power and politically-motivated attacks. The magazine bluntly analyzed his "knowledge, experience and unique know-how", as well as what his "school of governance" is all about and what it will mean to Ukraine. | |
|
|
Stephen Lendman
Global Research 2015-06-06 14:43:00
It operates like a slapdash Keystone cops bunch - its ranks filled with unhappy conscripts wanting no part of fighting their own people. Corruption is rampant. Hundreds of millions of dollars disappear into the pockets of high-ranking military officials. Ordinary Ukrainians suffer enormously from impoverishment, unemployment, skyrocketing inflation, unaffordable goods and services, and hugely repressive regime practices. | |
|
|
Russia Insider
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sat down with Bloomberg News — and what he said should come as no surprise to even an amateur Russia watcher. Lavrov insists that a "realistic approach is getting the upper hand" in relations with the U.S. Although dismissing the idea of a new "reset", Lavrov described John Kerry's recent visit to Sochi as "the realization of the need for normalcy."2015-06-06 15:11:00 Watch the whole interview:
| |
|
|
RT.com
2015-06-06 05:42:00
Russia is not building up its offensive military capabilities overseas and is only responding to security threats caused by US and NATO military expansion on its borders, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Italian outlet Il Corriere della Sera. Speaking to the paper on the eve of his visit to Italy, Putin stressed that one should not take the ongoing "Russian aggression" scaremongering in the West seriously, as a global military conflict is unimaginable in the modern world. "I think that only an insane person and only in a dream can imagine that Russia would suddenly attack NATO. I think some countries are simply taking advantage of people's fears with regard to Russia. They just want to play the role of front-line countries that should receive some supplementary military, economic, financial or some other aid," Putin said. Certain countries could be deliberately nurturing such fears, he added, saying that hypothetically the US could need an external threat to maintain its leadership in the Atlantic community. "Iran is clearly not very scary or big enough" for this, Putin noted with irony. Russia's President invited the journalists to compare the global military presence of Russia and the US/NATO, as well as their military spending levels. He also urged them to look at the steps each side has taken in connection with the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia's military policy is "not global, offensive, or aggressive," Putin stressed, adding that Russia has "virtually no bases abroad," and the few that do exist are remnants of its Soviet past. He explained that there were small contingents of Russian armed forces in Tajikistan on the border with Afghanistan, mainly due to the high terrorist threat in the area. There is an airbase in Kyrgyzstan, which was opened at request of the Kyrgyz authorities to deal with a terrorist threat there. Russia also has a military unit in Armenia, which was set up to help maintain stability in the region, not to counter any outside threat. | |
|
|
Sputnik
2015-06-05 00:52:00
US Senator John McCain said that the increasing frequency of cyberattacks on the United States should prompt Congress to pass cybersecurity legislation without delay. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The increasing frequency of cyberattacks on the United States should prompt Congress to pass cybersecurity legislation without delay, US Senator John McCain said in a statement on Friday. "It is long past time for Congress to finally pass legislation that allows for the sharing of information on cyber threats," McCain said. McCain's comment came in response to the latest cyberattack that breached the networks of the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM). | |
Comment: There's been no credible evidence released to suggest that China has had any involvement in the hacks, and would have nothing to gain from participation in them. However, considering the mounting tensions between the US and China overdevelopments in the South China Sea and the Philippine President equating China's activities there to Hitler's annexing Czechoslovakia, one has to wonder if a Western intelligence agency didn't have a hand in it.
| |
|
|
Sputnik
2015-06-05 00:44:00
In its quest to realize the ever-elusive pipe dream of an affordable bomber, the US Air Force will soon award a contract for its new generation of long-range bombers. Will it come in under budget? Or balloon out of control like the B-2 and F-35? When the Pentagon first proposed development of the B-2 stealth bomber, it estimated that the cost would be, roughly, $441 million per plane. That number was - be it through lack of foresight or malice - a fairly generous estimate. Within six years, that price skyrocketed to $2.2 billion per plane, not to mention the $135,000 it cost to pilot the B-2 per hour of flight. For its next fleet of long-range bombers, the Pentagon is hoping to keep those costs down, and in August, it plans to announce whether defense contracting firms Northrop Grumman or Boeing Co-Lockheed Martin Corp will be awarded the contract. To save money, the project is expected to rely on already existing technologies, cutting down on research costs. The Air Force is also looking to downsize the new plane, creating something roughly half the size of the B-2. Whichever company wins could receive between $50 billion to $80 billion to build between 80 and 100 aircraft. That equates to roughly $550 million per plane. But if past precedent is any indication, that price could climb. | |
Comment: Just to put these numbers into perspective, for the amount of money that is to be spent on these new bombers the US could end world hunger. For the amount already spent on the F-35 fighter jet the US could have eliminated both poverty in America as well as extreme global poverty.
| |
|
| Society's Child |
|
RT
2015-06-06 20:54:00
A massive march took place in the streets of Kiev to protest against the policies of the current Ukrainian government, calling for its resignation and economic reforms. According to TASS news agency, up to 3,000 people took to the streets in Kiev on Saturday to protest against lack of reform and economic instability. The people carried placards reading "We are hungry," "Raise pensions" as well as some anti-LGBT slogans as they marched along Khreshchatyk Street to Independence square (Maidan Nezalezhnosty) in central Kiev. | |
Comment: It was only a matter of time for the people of Ukraine to rise up when they see their standard of living plummeting.
| |
|
|
Graham Hunter
Taking a shower might not seem like much of a privilege. But for the homeless, it can be. Finding a place isn't easy, but we found a North Fort Myers man who is trying to change that. Drew Broderick is the creator of a mobile shower unit. He uses it to help provide free showers for the homeless.NBC 2015-06-03 21:49:00 He built the unit inside what was once his construction trailer. Broderick used to own his own construction business, but when the Great Recession hit, he lost his business and eventually he was homeless.
| |
|
|
Sputnik
2015-06-06 15:49:00
Global food shortage could be behind the influx of migrants from Africa and the Middle East into Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Italian newspaper Il Corriere della Sera ahead of his visit to Milan's exposition "Expo Milano 2015 — Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life." Political instability and terrorist activity in various regions of the world are also tied to the problem of food shortage, Putin said, explaining that "all of this is interconnected. The wave of illegal migrants that is engulfing Italy and the entire Europe is also linked to this." Russia has allocated over $200 million to help reduce food shortage worldwide through a number of UN programs, the president said. | |
Comment: Putin, as always, develops humane ways to deal with problems unlike Europe.
| |
|
|
Lily Dane
The Daily Sheeple 2015-06-05 13:55:00
On August 11, 2014, Dillon Taylor, his brother, and his cousin were exiting a 7-Eleven in Salt Lake City when police arrived on the scene. They were responding to a 911 call about a "guy flashing a gun." Minutes later, 20-year-old Dillon was dead. **** On September 30, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said that Officer Bron Cruz was justified in shooting Dillon because he was "non-compliant" when confronted by officers: "Nothing that Mr. Taylor did assisted in de-escalating the situation," Gill said. "If anything, it escalated things."Last August, the district attorney released only a portion of the body camera footage when ruling the shooting justified. | |
Comment: Are we really to believe that Officer Cruz feared for his life? Is he such a nervous-nellie that he's thrown into spasms of fear at the sight of youngsters in public?
Cops trained to justify use of deadly force by saying they felt 'threatened' | |
|
|
RT
2015-06-05 00:37:00
A 13-year-old girl from Washington State jumped off an overpass in Tacoma days after her father posted a YouTube video showing the aftermath of a punishment for an undisclosed misdeed. Izabel Laxamana jumped off an overpass on Interstate 5 on Friday, May 29. She died the following day at a Seattle hospital. Days before, her father, Jeff, reportedly posted a YouTube video of an apparently sullen Izabel. | |
Comment: A parent's role is to love their children and provide them with unconditional support and encouragement. Not tear them down with cruel punishments that are broadcasted for all the world to see. No matter the misdeed, no parent should publicly shame their child.
| |
|
|
Jessica Weiss
Miami New Times 2015-06-05 21:28:00
This past November, anticipating the launch of a new toll system on the Dolphin and Airport expressways, Doral resident Alexander Gonzalez was worried. He was already paying about $50 every month on those roads to get to and from work at a communications company in Coral Gables. The changes would double, to $100 a month in tolls — severely denting his family's expenses. So he decided to start a petition to air his grievances to the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority (MDX). He expected 100 signatures at most. But now, seven months later, it's been signed more than 12,000 times. He plans to deliver it soon to Mayor Carlos Gimenez. "I'd never made a petition before, and I didn't expect anything," Gonzalez says. "I have no idea how it got so many signatures, but it just shows how people are feeling." The new tolls began November 15, with a charge at every entrance and exit on the Dolphin and Airport expressways. Previously, all traffic heading west was toll-free, and many motorists never paid a single toll. Now, every car traveling on the two roads pays. | |
Comment: The powers that be, whether local or federal, seem hellbent on making life as difficult as possible for the average Joe while building their own bank accounts.
Obama Administration opens door to tolls on interstate highways - they need more money to put in their pockets | |
|
| Secret History |
| No new articles. |
| Science & Technology |
|
RT
2015-06-06 05:57:00
Japanese engineers have come up with a robot that can copy the moves of a samurai sword master and then beat his "teacher" in a fight. The samurai machine carries out hard-angled cuts with speed and precision - without breaking sweat. Among the robot's most spectacular accomplishments is a party trick: being able to slice a runner bean lengthways.
| ||
|
|
Ulson Gunnar
New Eastern Outlook 2015-06-05 21:00:00
It is often said that if it can be imagined, it will inevitably be done. And such a sentiment could not be any truer in terms of applying genetic engineering and synthetic biology to the genomes of our planet's organisms including humans themselves. While the process of synthesizing and arranging genetic code has many processes, perhaps none has been as promising as the CRISPR-Cas system. From laboratory experiments to emerging software used to create code genetically almost as easily as code for a computer, gene editing has never been easier, opening the door to never-before-possible applications. Perhaps no technology yet has been poised to change the world so profoundly. All life on Earth, every living organism, now stands the possibility of potentially being "edited" on the most basic genetic level, enhancing or degrading it, but forever changing it. | |
|
| Earth Changes |
|
denver.cbslocal.com
2015-06-05 17:49:00
A lengthy hailstorm caused a mess in a Denver neighborhood overnight. The neighborhood in the area of South Irving Street and West Alaska Place had several feet of hail piled up on the roads and sidewalks early Friday morning after daybreak. It caused a lot of work for residents like Sinforoso Sanchez. They had to use snow shovels to get their cars out.
"It was ridiculous," he said. "It was like a rushing river of hail coming through here. I mean, vehicles sideways being pushed away from the curb and everybody in the neighborhood was helping everybody else try to get people out of cars.
| |||
|
|
The Mayal Mail
2015-06-06 17:30:00
Flash floods caused by torrential rains in southwest Pakistan killed at least 16 people including 14 women, officials said yesterday. The floodwaters swept away many people in two remote villages of Khuzdar district in Baluchistan, around 370 kilometres (230 miles) south of the provincial capital Quetta. "The torrential rains in the hilly areas created flash floods which swept away some gypsy people sleeping in makeshift tents in the dried water channel," Akbar Harifal, a senior administration official in the region, told AFP. "Some people saved themselves but could not rescue their family members because the floodwaters came suddenly," he said. Nuclear-armed but economically underdeveloped Pakistan regularly battles natural calamities such as floods. | |
|
A 48-year-old woman was forced to kill her own dog after it attacked her as it was fighting with another dog. According to the East Baton Rouge Animal Shelter, the incident happened Thursday at a home located on Confederate Avenue, which is located near Tiger Bend. It happened shortly before 5 p.m. "The woman owned two pit bulls," said Hilton Cole, Director for the EBR Shelter. "The two dogs began fighting each other and she had to defend herself from her own dog when she tried to break up the fight." Cole says the woman stabbed the dog after it latched on to her left arm. The woman was transported to the hospital by EMS for treatment of her injury." "It was self-defense," Cole said. "Unfortunately, we see cases like this where a dog just explodes and loses control of its self and attacks its owner. "We always emphasis that dogs are predators and even though they've been domesticated, you have to be careful around them," Cole added, "especially the bigger, stronger breeds." The dog that attacked the woman was dead when officers arrived. The second dog was seized by the shelter with the permission of the owner. Both dogs were males. | |
|
|
Ankit Yadav
The Times of India 2015-06-06 16:45:00
Panic gripped Pandari Nomhala village, under Hafizganj police station, on Friday when awild boar entered into the house of a local farmer and injured six people. Four people, who were severely injured, have been admitted to a private hospital. While the animal was chased away by the villagers, forest department has ordered an inquiry into the incident. On Friday, the boar entered into the house of Janki Prasad, a local farmer, in Pandari Nomhala village. When Prasad tried to scare the animal away with a bamboo stick, it pounced on the farmer and ate his leg. When his son Manoj intervened, the animal injured him too. | |
|
|
boston.cbslocal.com
2015-06-06 16:10:00
A 17-year-old had a frightening encounter with a bear in Western Massachusetts over the weekend. Carly Hall came face-to-face with a black bear on Tracey Circle in Amherst Saturday night. "It was really scary," she said. "We were in the wrong place at the wrong time." The Belchertown teenager was walking a dog with her friends when the dog started barking frantically. That's when the group spotted something in a neighbor's yard. "And then we realized it was a bear," Hall said. "We started to back up slowly." The bear chased after Hall and the dog, getting close enough to leave scratches on her back. She managed to get on to the roof of a parked car, and the bear continued after the dog. "I was just trying to get away from it," Hall said. "I think I was actually pretty lucky because it wasn't a bad scratch at all."
| ||
|
|
Daniel Borunda
El Paso Times 2015-06-02 15:59:00
A black bear attacked a 55-year-old man Monday afternoon in the Lincoln National Forest east of Capitan, the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish said Tuesday. The man was searching for antler sheds in thick brush when he surprised the bear, which then charged at him. The man received deep scratches to his chest and a bite to a leg before the bear ran off into the woods, the Department of Game and Fish said in a news release. The injured man used a two-way radio to call his search partner, officials said. The two walked to their vehicle and drove to the Lincoln County Medical Center in Ruidoso. The man was treated at the hospital and released. The attack occurred near the Baca Campground off Forest Service Road 57, officials said. On Tuesday, Game and Fish officers were looking for the bear so it can be tested for rabies. | |
|
|
Richard Gray
The Daily Mail, UK 2015-06-03 10:10:00
Pictures captured in northern England show the midnight skies illuminated with an electric blue colour. The phenomenon was caused by rare noctilucent clouds - extremely small ice crystals that form in the mesopause - that sit more than 47 miles (75km) above the Earth's surface. These clouds, which are the highest in the Earth's atmosphere, scatter the sunlight as it dips low in the sky, creating an eerie glow. They usually occur in the weeks around the summer solstice when sunlight dips just below the horizon to illuminate the clouds. | |
Comment: Noctilucent clouds were also captured a couple of days ago near Minsk, Belarus:
| |
|
|
The Extinction Protocol
2015-06-06 15:35:00
Parts of Europe are sizzling on Friday as an early-season heat wave sweeps across the continent. The heat is not particularly intense or dangerous, but it's pretty early the season for temperatures of this magnitude in northern Europe. Late-afternoon highs were surging into the low 90s, particularly in the Rhine River Valley in southwest Germany and eastern France. Temperatures are steaming at as much as 25 degrees Fahrenheit above average for this time of year. Accuweather's Eric Leister says that some cities, including Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt, are seeing their hottest temperatures of the year thus far. The heat and humidity was fueling a line of showers and thunderstorms that's tracking east across northern Europe, with potential to impact the French Open on Friday evening. The heat wave has likely reached its peak on Friday afternoon, though above-average temperatures will continue to spread south across Europe on Saturday into Sunday, but will regulate to highs closer to normal by early next week. Reuters reports that while the heat is making the tourists sweat in Paris, they don't necessarily mind the brilliant blue sky. | |
|
|
Rob McElwee
Al Jazeera 2015-06-03 12:41:00
Temperatures hit 50C in United Arab Emirates as heat spreads across the Middle East The highest daytime temperature in the world on Wednesday was recorded at Sweihan, Abu Dhabi, where the temperature climbed to 50.5C at 12pm local time. The UAE has recently been enduring a heat wave, which started many thousands of kilometres away. A week ago, while India was suffering an official heat wave, it was hotter still in the middle of Pakistan. In the Indus Valley, temperatures were daily at 48C and 49C. Nawabshah, north of Hyderabad, registered at least 49C for four days in a row. May 24 saw the highest temperature of Pakistan's heat wave: 49.5C in Nawabshah. This heat did not just go away, it has been blown gently south, through the Indus delta, over Gwadar, into the Arabian Sea. Indeed, as June came in, Gwadar's temperature shot up ten degrees to 48C for two days in a row. This hot air, loaded with dust which is visible by satellite, has now reached Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Temperatures here have risen three to five degrees since the start of June. On Wednesday, Khasab, Sunayah and Fahud, all in Oman, each measured 49C. This looks like a record-equalling high for Khasab, on the Musandam peninsula. This region is known as Oman's 'Norway of Arabia', with its fjord-like inlets and cliffs overlooking the Strait of Hormuz. The UAE's heat wave also affected Ras al-Khaimah, recording two successive days at 47C, while Sharjah notched up 46C and the city of Dubai 45C. | |
|
Severe weather that passed through Key Largo around noon Friday produced a waterspout caught on camera.
The photo of the waterspout was taken by the folks at Extreme Nature on Instagram (@ExtremeNature). The waterspout was caught on camera making its way across the 18-mile stretch of U.S. Route 1. It dissipated after about five minutes | |
|
Barry McCone has evaded tree branches and wandering stock on the winding route home from work before, but nothing prepared him for his latest encounter. A claw hammer was used to smash a rear window and free the Milton prison officer from his Ford Falcon, which was one of two vehicles that rolled off Highcliff Rd and into a deep hole caused by a landslide on the Otago Peninsula on Wednesday night. "I was coming home from work, it was raining still quite heavily and it was foggy. I know that road pretty well, I came around the corner and the next thing I was tipping over, I didn't know what the hell was going on." | |
|
|
globalnews.ca
2015-06-03 14:22:00
It was a sinking feeling for a morning delivery man in Saskatoon. A cement truck went through a sinkhole in a back alley on Mackie Crescent. Derek Zary captured the moments afterwards on video. Zary told Global News the fully loaded cement truck arrived around 8 a.m. Wednesday to make a delivery when it went through the sinkhole. A crane had to be called in to lift the truck out of the hole - an operation that took three hours. Crews also had to deal with underground power lines, but power to the area did not have to be shut off.
| ||
|
|
skokholm.blogspot.co.uk
2015-06-03 13:30:00
Given the lack of fat reserves observed when the Swainson's Thrush was ringed yesterday (it had after all just flown across the Atlantic), it was perhaps no surprise that the bird was still present this morning. The fantastic news was that it was happily feeding in the dense shrubbery of the Farmhouse Courtyard. We had read that Swainson's Thrushes often select favoured perches to which they periodically return, and so it has turned out to be. Approximately every 40 minutes or so the bird has been returning to the same area of dappled sunlight and cleaning its bill on the branches. Although it has occasionally been pursued by the resident Blackbirds (which have just fledged their young in to exactly the same area), it has generally been unmolested by our local birds. Given that the bird is showing predictable behaviour, is in an area where a group of birders can observe from a distance without disturbing the bird or Skokholm's fragile habitat and as there is something of a weather window tomorrow, we have decided to press ahead with a twitch. Despite the clear skies prevalent tonight, the bird has found good feeding and must still be relatively light.
| ||
|
|
youtube.com
2015-06-04 13:02:00
Fog bank rolling in over the sea towards Grand Manan coastline Watch a fog bank in action rolling in over the sea towards Grand Manan Island coastline.
| ||
Comment: See also: Fog bank gives illusion of tsunami wave off New Jersey
| ||
|
|
BBC
2015-06-06 07:53:00
The death toll from the Chinese ferry disaster now stands at 396, the authorities say, as emergency workers search the vessel in the Yangtze River. The ship, the Eastern Star, capsized in a storm on Monday and was turned upright in an operation on Friday. Just 14 of the 456 passengers and crew are known to have survived. More than 40 are still missing. The tragedy looks set to be China's worst shipping disaster in more than 60 years of Communist rule.
Hooks were welded onto the ship and a net stretched around the entire structure in order to lift it by crane. Most of the bodies retrieved were inside the vessel. State TV says the focus of the recovery operation is the top and bottom decks of the ship. By first light on Friday, the ship could be seen lying on its side with its name visible just above the water. Officials said there had been no further signs of life inside the ship, Xinhua news agency reports. Chinese President Xi Jinping promised a thorough investigation into the cause of the disaster, after angry relatives protested at the scene. Authorities tightly controlled access to the site, leading family members and journalists to complain about a lack of information. | ||
Comment: The investigation into this terrible tragedy continues, and police have detained the captain and chief engineer for questioning, but an initial probe found the ship was not overloaded and had enough life vests on board.
Survivors have said the ship capsized "incredibly fast" and "within a minute". The captain Zhang Shunwen, and chief engineer Yang Zhongquan both reportedly the vessel was caught in a 'freak storm' and one passenger described it as tilting at a "45-degree angle" before going down. This was backed up by meteorologists in China who confirmed that a "sudden, strong and violent" storm hit the area at the time of the incident. However a local fisherman Feng Xianming, who saw the ship passing upstream, said that 'although the weather was bad, it was not a cyclone', and his riverside shack 'wouldn't have survived if there had been a cyclone'. Pending further evidence, it seems that whatever did happen to the Eastern Star on Monday night, it was very intense and very localized. | ||
|
[Message clipped] View entire message
