SINGAPORE
Oil spill closes beach
Beaches on the resort island Sentosa, which also houses luxury waterfront homes, were shuttered yesterday due to an oil spill at a nearby port, maritime authorities said. The spill resulted from an accident on Friday at the Pasir Panjang terminal between a Netherlands-flagged dredger and a stationary Singapore-flagged bunker vessel, the Maritime and Port Authority said. Waters of three popular beaches on the island “are currently closed for beach cleanup works due to instances of oil spillage observed in the sea waters,” the island said in a notice on its Web site. Black residue from the oil slick was visible on the beaches, a photographer on the scene said.
AUSTRALIA
Chinese premier arrives
Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強) yesterday arrived in Adelaide, saying that relations were “back on track” as he started the first visit by a Chinese premier to the major trading partner in seven years. Australia is “uniquely positioned to connect the West and the East” and stands as “an important force of economic globalization and world multipolarity,” the Chinese embassy quoted Li as saying at Adelaide Airport. Bilateral relations are “back on track after a period of twists and turns,” he said.
UNITED STATES
Alex Jones faces liquidation
A bankruptcy judge on Friday ordered a court-supervised liquidation of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ personal assets, but he dismissed the bankruptcy of Jones’ company Free Speech Systems without ordering it to be liquidated. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez appointed a Chapter 7 trustee to sell Jones’ assets, including his ownership stake in Free Speech Systems, the parent company of his Infowars Web site. The proceeds would go to pay Jones’ creditors, relatives of 20 students and six staff members killed in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Lopez declined to force Infowars itself into a separate liquidation, instead saying at a court hearing in Houston, Texas, that Jones could continue to run the company until the trustee sells his ownership stake. Jones filed bankruptcy protection 17 months ago, but he was unable to reach a settlement that would reduce the US$1.5 billion he owes to the Sandy Hook families after courts in Connecticut and Texas ruled that he defamed them with repeated false statements about the massacre.
UNITED STATES
FAA probes metal in planes
Air regulators are investigating possible safety risks after titanium with counterfeit authentication wound up on commercial jets, officials said on Friday. Jets delivered to airlines by Airbus and Boeing contain the titanium, which appears to be sourced from a Chinese company where an employee forged details on certificates, a New York Times report said. Industry officials said that based on testing, they do not believe the issue poses an immediate safety risk on planes in service. The issue comes amid heightened scrutiny of the aerospace industry following recent manufacturing and safety issues at Boeing. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is “investigating the scope and impact of the issue through our Continued Operational Safety process,” an agency spokesman said. The titanium in question ended up on Boeing 737 and 787 Dreamliner jets and the Airbus A220, which were built between 2019 and last year, the Times said, adding that it not clear how many planes are affected or who owns them.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
China has built a land-based prototype nuclear reactor for a large surface warship, in the clearest sign yet Beijing is advancing toward producing the nation’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, according to a new analysis of satellite imagery and Chinese government documents provided to The Associated Press. There have long been rumors that China is planning to build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, but the research by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California is the first to confirm it is working on a nuclear-powered propulsion system for a carrier-sized surface warship. Why is China’s pursuit of nuclear-powered carriers significant? China’s navy is already
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) launched a week-long diplomatic blitz of South America on Thursday by inaugurating a massive deep-water port in Peru, a US$1.3 billion investment by Beijing as it seeks to expand trade and influence on the continent. With China’s demand for agricultural goods and metals from Latin America growing, Xi will participate in the APEC summit in Lima then head to the Group of 20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next week, where he will also make a state visit to Brazil. Xi and Peruvian President Dina Boluarte participated on Thursday by video link in the opening
IT’S A DEAL? Including the phrase ‘overlapping claims’ in a Chinese-Indonesian joint statement over the weekend puts Jakarta’s national interests at risk, critics say Indonesia yesterday said it does not recognize China’s claims over the South China Sea, despite signing a maritime development deal with Beijing, as some analysts warned the pact risked compromising its sovereign rights. Beijing has long clashed with Southeast Asian neighbors over the South China Sea, which it claims almost in its entirety, based on a “nine-dash line” on its maps that cuts into the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of several countries. Joint agreements with China in the strategic waterway have been sensitive for years, with some nations wary of deals they fear could be interpreted as legitimizing Beijing’s vast claims. In 2016,
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