Tag Archives: oceania

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Pollution disaster after container ship burns for 12 days

Firefighters in Sri Lanka have extinguished a blaze on a container ship that had been burning for 12 days, causing an environmental disaster.

The fire on the MV X-Press Pearl ravaged the five-month-old ship, destroyed most of its cargo, and caused severe pollution in the ocean and along a long stretch of the island nation's famed beaches.

The Sri Lanka Ports Authority said salvage personnel "have finally embarked on MV X-Press Pearl after dousing the fire. Assessments are being carried out."

READ MORE: Sri Lanka rescues 100 beached whales after mass stranding

The ship was anchored off the capital, Colombo, waiting to enter its port when it caught fire.

The navy believes the blaze was caused by chemicals being transported on the Singapore-flagged vessel.

It was carrying 1486 containers, including 25 tons of nitric acid and other chemicals that were loaded at the port of Hazira, India, on May 15.

READ MORE: Diver trying to break world record with 24-hour underwater clean-up

Debris — including several tons of plastic pellets used to make plastic bags — from the burning ship has washed ashore and is causing severe pollution on beaches.

The government has banned fishing along about 80km of the coast.

Authorities have also warned residents not to touch the debris because it could be contaminated with harmful chemicals.

The government's Marine Environment Protection Authority says chemicals have mixed with the seawater and could cause severe damage to marine species and coral reefs.

READ MORE: Human-made materials now outweigh all plants and animals

Local television channels are showing dead fish, turtles and other marine life that has washed ashore in recent days.

Police spokesman Ajith Rohana said police have questioned the ship's captain and an official of the ship's local agent.

He said a court in Colombo banned the captain, the engineer and the assistant engineer from leaving the country.

The vessel's 25-member crew was evacuated last week after an explosion.

They include Philippine, Chinese, Indian and Russian nationals.

X-Press Feeders, the operator of the ship, said that the vessel's hull remains structurally intact and there has been no loss of oil into the port's waters.

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US teenage girl fights off mother bear to protect her pet dogs

A 17-year-old California girl has fearlessly confronted and shoved a bear that was swiping at her even more fearless dogs.

Surveillance footage shows a bear and its two cubs climbing down a backyard wall in Bradbury on the outskirts of Los Angeles on Monday.

The ursine intruders were soon confronted by Hailey Morinico's family dogs, who run up and start barking at the much larger animal.

READ MORE: Skier mauled by bear in Alaska 'plays dead' to survive

Hailey Morinico was unhesitant when confronting a bear swiping at her dog.

The video shows the mother bear swatting and swiping at the barking puppies, before the arrival of Hailey, who had been gardening.

The 17-year-old charged down the bear and shoved it off the wall.

"I run to see what they're barking at and it's not a dog — it's a bear," she told KTLA.

READ MORE: Bear filmed in hot pursuit of skier at Romanian resort

"I see the bear, it's grabbing my dog, Valentina, and I have to run over there. She's a baby.

Hailey Morinico suffered a finger sprain when fighting off a bear.

"And the first thing I think to do is push the bear. And somehow it worked."

Hailey grabs the smallest of her dogs and the rest run to safety.

She sprained her finger and scraped her knee, but was otherwise unharmed.

And while she showed no fear when confronting a bear, her Instagram feed showed a different kind of anxiety.

"All the news stations want interviews and as an introvert…HELP," she wrote.

But she has sent out a message to all those who think her experience is representative of most bear encounters.

"Do not push bears," she said.

"Don't do what I did. You might not have the same outcome."

READ MORE: Nail-biting video shows brown bear following child on family hike

Hailey Morinico shoved a bear to stop it swiping at her dog.

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UK rejoices over zero-death COVID-19 milestone

Zero. That, for the first time since the pandemic hit in full force, was the number of COVID-19 deaths the UK government announced on Tuesday (early Wednesday AEST).

The milestone, reflecting the devastating impact the coronavirus has wrought on the country and its staggering turnaround since the vaccine rollout began, was greeted with joy across social media.

Scripps Research Translational Institute director Eric Topol immediately linked the successful vaccination programs in the UK and Israel to their respective zero-death days.

"Likely not a coincidence that the 2 countries leading the world in vaccination have both achieved zero death days now," he said.

READ MORE: Rare English coin found after almost 400 years

https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1399766203220983810

Many smaller countries that have not vaccinated as quickly as the UK or suppressed the virus as successfully as Australia have also recorded days without COVID-19 deaths.

But the good news came amid rising case numbers — 3165 confirmed COVID-19 cases compared to about 2400 last Tuesday — and fears about the rapid spread of variant B.1.617.2, also known as Delta, which was first discovered in India.

The increase has cast doubt on the Conservative government's plans to lift social distancing rules and remaining pandemic-related restrictions on June 21. 

Many scientists are urging a delay, arguing that more people need to be vaccinated before measures can be eased safely.

BBC head of statistics Robert Cuffe noted the deaths reflected case numbers roughly a month ago, the daily count wasn't a perfect picture and that some people who died over Monday public holiday could be reported on Wednesday.

"In fact, according to the UK's current definition, deaths within four weeks of a positive test, there was a day with no reportable deaths last summer – on 30 July," he wrote

"But the government did announce some deaths on that day as they were using a different definition at the time.

"The pandemic is far from over, but this is a unique day in its history to date."

READ MORE: Will Victoria's lockdown be extended?

The UK has recorded almost 128,000 coronavirus deaths, the highest toll in Europe. 

A mass vaccination campaign that started in December brought new infections and deaths down sharply, a trend that continued even as case numbers started rising again.

A terminal at London's Heathrow Airport that was mothballed because of the coronavirus pandemic reopened Tuesday, specifically to serve passengers arriving from high-risk countries — an action that critics said was long overdue.

Britain has barred travellers from a "red list" of 43 coronavirus hotspots including India, Brazil, Turkey and South Africa, fearing they could bring in worrisome virus variants.

UK citizens and residents who return from those countries face a mandatory 10-day supervised quarantine in a government-approved hotel.

Critics, however, have complained that red list passengers have been using the same airport arrivals hall as thousands of travellers from other destinations, though in separate lines, since hotel quarantine was introduced in February. 

Some arriving passengers have described hours-long waits at Heathrow's passport control in crowded conditions.