Tag Archives: oceania

A cargo ship has hit a tanker carrying jet fuel off the coast of eastern England, setting both vessels on fire and triggering a major rescue operation, emergency services say.

Local lawmaker Graham Stuart said he had been told by the transport secretary that 37 crew members were aboard the two ships, and one was hospitalised.

"The other 36 mariners across both crews are safe and accounted for," he said.

The US-flagged chemical and oil products tanker MV Stena Immaculate was at anchor near the port of Grimsby on Monday morning (Monday evening AEDT) after sailing from Greece, according to ship-tracking site VesselFinder. The cargo vessel, Portugal-flagged container ship Solong, was sailing from Grangemouth in Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

US-based Crowley Ship Management, which operates the Stena Immaculate, said the tanker "sustained a ruptured cargo tank containing Jet-A1 fuel" when the container ship struck it, triggering a fire and "multiple explosions onboard", with fuel released into the sea.

It said all the mariners on the tanker were safe and accounted for.

Martyn Boyers, chief executive of the Port of Grimsby East, said 13 casualties were brought in on a Windcat 33 high-speed vessel, followed by another 19 on a harbour pilot boat.

Britain's Maritime and Coastguard Agency said several lifeboats and a coast guard rescue helicopter were dispatched to the scene in the North Sea, along with a coast guard plane.

The site of the collision is off the coast of Hull, about 250 kilometres north of London.

Coast guards said the alarm was raised at 9.48am (8.48PM AEDT). Humber Coast Guard made a radio broadcast asking vessels with firefighting equipment and those who could help with search and rescue to head to the scene.

The RNLI lifeboat agency said "there were reports that a number of people had abandoned the vessels following a collision and there were fires on both ships". It said three lifeboats were working on search and rescue at the scene alongside the coast guard.

Video footage aired by the BBC and apparently filmed from a nearby vessel showed thick black smoke pouring from both ships.

Boyers, the port chief, said he had been told there was "a massive fireball".

"It's too far out for us to see – about 10 miles (16 kilometres) – but we have seen the vessels bringing them in," he said.

"They must have sent a mayday out. Luckily there was a crew transfer vessel out there already. Since then, there has been a flotilla of ambulances to pick up anyone they can find."

UK Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said she was being kept up to date on the developing situation

"I want to thank all emergency service workers involved for their continued efforts in responding to the incident," she said.

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We heard a scream’: Witness recounts panic after surfer mauled by shark

2025-03-10 FreeNews

A witness has described the panic as a surfer in his 30s was attacked by a shark off a Western Australian beach where his partner sat watching.

Police, Marine Rescue WA, and SES were searching this afternoon for the surfer off the coast of Wharton Beach in Cape Le Grand, Condingup, 60 kilometres east of Esperance.

Beachgoers said a massive shark went for the male surfer in chest-deep water.

Police, Marine Rescue WA, and SES are currently searching for the surfer off the coast of Wharton Beach in Cape Le Grand, Condingup, 60kms east of Esperance.

"There were screams. There were people saying like 'get out', everything – it was a very panicked moment," witness Joscelin Boissieux said.

Dozens of surfers in the water saw what happened.

"We heard a scream and everyone got out of the water," Boissieux said.

There was only a surfboard left floating around about 30 metres from the shore.

"The water next to it was dark, with a shark's fin circling around."

That board was found with bite marks and police were were called to the scene at 12.10pm (3.10pm AEDT).

According to monitoring website SharkSmart, a public report was made about a shark sighting 50 metres off the shore five minutes later at the same beach.

"It is believed the surfer was the victim of a serious shark bite incident," police said.

Boissieux said the man's partner was on the beach when he was attacked.

"She was shocked," he said.

The coast around Esperance has a history of fatal attacks.

In 2020, 57-year-old Gary Johnson was killed diving near Cull Island and surfer Andrew Sharpe was fatally mauled at Kelp Beds.

Three years earlier, teenager Laeticia Brouwer was also killed surfing.

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Rotorua Mongrel Mob member jailed for kidnap and assault of visitor from Hawke’s Bay

2025-03-10 FreeNews

Friend feared next time she would see kidnapped woman was ‘at her funeral’.

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Canadian state slaps 25% electricity tax on US over Trump’s trade war

2025-03-10 FreeNews

The leader of Canada's most populous province has announced it is charging 25 per cent more for electricity to 1.5 million Americans in response to US President Donald Trump's trade war.

The price hikes in Minnesota, New York and Michigan came on the same day China retaliated with an additional 15 per cent tax on key American farm products, including chicken, pork, soy beans and beef.

"I will not hesitate to increase this charge. If the United State escalates, I will not hesitate to shut the electricity off completely," Ontario Premier Doug Ford said at a news conference in Toronto on Monday.

"Believe me when I say I do not want to do this. I feel terrible for the American people who didn't start this trade war. It's one person who is responsible, it's President Trump."

Ford said Ontario's tariff would remain in place despite the one-month reprieve from Trump, noting a one-month pause means nothing but more uncertainty. Quebec is also considering taking similar measures with electricity exports to the US.

Ford's office said the new market rules require any generator selling electricity to the US to add a 25 per cent surcharge. Ontario's government expects it to generate revenue of $CA300,000 Canadian dollars ($330,000) to $CA400,000 ($440,000) per day, "which will be used to support Ontario workers, families and businesses".

The new surcharge is in addition to the federal government's initial CA$30 billion worth of retaliatory tariffs have been applied on items like American orange juice, peanut butter, coffee, appliances, footwear, cosmetics, motorcycles and certain pulp and paper products.

Mark Carney, Canada's next prime minister, said Canada would keep those tariffs in place until "the Americans show us respect".

"We didn't ask for this fight. But Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves," Carney said, in a reference to fighting in ice hockey.

"The Americans, they should make no mistake, in trade, as in hockey, Canada will win."

China strikes back at Trump tariffs with 15% levies targeting US farmers

China's new tariffs, announced last week, were a response to Trump's decision to double the levy on Chinese imports to 20 per cent on March 4. China's Commerce Ministry had earlier said that goods already in transit would be exempt from the retaliatory tariffs until April 12.

Imposing tariffs on imports is a key part of Trump's agenda. He believes the import taxes can raise money for the Treasury, protect American industries and pressure foreign countries to do what he wants in a range of issues, including immigration and drug trafficking.

On Wednesday, Trump is set to remove exceptions on 25 per cent steel tariffs he imposed in 2018 — effectively raising the taxes — and raise his levy on aluminium from 10 to 25 per cent.

Australia is fighting to carve out an exemption but recent signals have not been positive.

Trade war intensifies

In a bewildering series of announcements last week, Trump slapped tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, then delayed many of them for 30 days. Next month, he could plaster "reciprocal tariffs'' — meant to raise US tariffs to match higher tariffs imposed by foreign countries — on a wide range of imports from around the world

Ontario's premier estimated his state's electricity charge woiuld add about CA$100 a month to the bills of each American affected.

"It needs to end. Until these tariffs are off the table, until the threat of tariffs is gone for good, Ontario will not relent," Ford said.

Ford said Trump changes his mind every day, but if he continues to attack Canada he will do everything it takes to maximize the pain.

"Republicans, at least the ones I speak to, do not agree with President Trump but they are too scared to go out there and say it publicly," Ford said. "It's a shame but we need to end this."

Trump has urged US automakers to move auto production from Canada and Mexico to the US Last week Trump granted a one-month exemption to 25 per cent tariffs on vehicles and auto parts traded through the North American trade agreement USMCA after speaking with leaders of automakers Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. Ontario is the auto sector hub of Canada.

Ford calls for export taxes on Canadian oil

Trump's trade war and his talk of making Canada the 51st US state have infuriated Canadians, who are booing the American anthem at NHL and NBA games. Some are canceling trips south of the border, and many are avoiding buying American goods when they can.

Ford's Progressive Conservative government just won reelection by standing up for Canada against Trump.

Ford said the Canadian province of Alberta should agree to put an export tax on oil. Alberta provides 4.3 million barrels of oil a day to the US

"You want to talk about a Trump card. That will instantly change the game," Ford said.

"I know the Americans. If all of a sudden their gas prices go up a dollar a gallon they will lose their minds."

Despite Trump's claim that the US doesn't need Canada, nearly a quarter of the oil America consumes per day comes from Canada. About 60 per cent of US crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85 per cent of US electricity imports as well.

Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminium and uranium to the US and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing for national security.

Nearly CA$3.6 billion worth of goods and services cross the border each day.

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Stocks tank as Wall Street wonders how much pain Trump will accept

2025-03-10 FreeNews

The US stock market's sell-off has worsened as Wall Street questions how much pain President Donald Trump is willing for the economy to endure in order to get what he wants.

The S&P 500 was down 2.1 per cent in midday trading on Monday, coming off its worst week since September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 405 points, or 0.9 per cent, as of 11.20am (3.20am on Tuesday AEDT), and the Nasdaq composite was 3.6 per cent lower.

The main measure of the US stock market is on track for a seventh swing of more than 1 per cent, up or down, in the last eight days following a scary stretch dominated by Trump's on-and-off tariffs.

The worry is that the whipsaw moves will either hurt the economy directly or create enough uncertainty to drive US companies and consumers into an economy-freezing paralysis. The S&P 500 is down 8 per cent from its all-time high set on February 19.

The economy has already given some signals of weakening, mostly through surveys showing increased pessimism. And a widely followed collection of real-time indicators compiled by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta suggests the US economy may already be shrinking.

Asked over the weekend whether he was expecting a recession in 2025, Trump told Fox News Channel: "I hate to predict things like that".

"There is a period of transition because what we're doing is very big. We're bringing wealth back to America. That's a big thing," he said.

"It takes a little time. It takes a little time."

Trump says he wants to bring manufacturing jobs back to the US, among other reasons he's given for tariffs. His Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has also said the economy may go through a "detox" period as it weans itself off an addiction to spending by the government.

The US job market is still showing stable hiring at the moment, to be sure, and the economy ended last year running at a solid rate. But economists are marking down their forecasts for how the economy will perform this year.

At Goldman Sachs, for example, David Mericle cut his estimate for US economic growth to 1.7 per cent from 2.2 per cent for the end of 2025 over the year before, largely because tariffs look like they'll be bigger than he was previously forecasting.

He sees a one-in-five chance of a recession over the next year, raising it only slightly because "the White House has the option to pull back policy changes" if the risks to the economy "begin to look more serious".

"There are always multiple forces at work in the market, but right now, almost all of them are taking a back seat to tariffs," according to Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.

The worries hitting Wall Street have so far been hurting some of its biggest stars the most. Big Tech stocks and companies that rode the artificial-intelligence frenzy in recent years have slumped sharply.

Nvidia fell another 4.9 per cent Monday to bring its loss for the year so far to 20.2 per cent. It's a steep drop-off from its nearly 820 per cent surge over 2023 and 2024.

Elon Musk's Tesla fell 8.7 per cent to deepen its loss for 2025 to more than 40 per cent. After getting an initial post-election bump on hopes that Musk's close relationship with Trump would help the electric-vehicle company, the stock has since slumped on worries that its brand has become intertwined with Musk.

Protests against the US government's efforts to cull its workforce and other moves have targeted Tesla dealerships, for example.

Stocks of companies that depend on US households feeling good enough about their finances to spend also tumbled sharply. United Airlines lost 8.3 per cent, and cruise-ship operator Carnival fell 8.2 per cent.

It's not just stocks struggling. Investors are sending prices lower for all kinds of investments whose momentum had earlier seemed nearly impossible to stop at times, such as bitcoin. The cryptocurrency's value has dropped back toward $US80,000 ($127) from more than $US106,000 ($168,000) in December.

Instead, investors have been herding into US Treasury bonds as they look for things whose prices can hold up better when the economy is under pressure. That has sent prices for Treasurys sharply higher, which in turn has sent down their yields.

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Trump lashes out after Turnbull says China will take ‘massive advantage’ of him

2025-03-10 FreeNews

US President Donald Trump has lashed out at Malcolm Turnbull after the former Australian prime minister suggested his "chaotic" and "abusive" style would help China.

Turnbull said the world was seeing a more "determined" and "undiluted" leader in his second term in the White House and China would take "massive advantage" of the billionaire.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Turnbull said, had a chance to treat the commander in chief very differently this time around and could present himself as a sort of "anti-Trump" in style.

"I think China will take advantage, massive advantage of Trump," Turnbull told Bloomberg in an interview.

"What my prediction will be that President Xi will aim to be the exact opposite of Trump, where Trump is chaotic, he will be consistent. Where Trump is rude and abusive, he'll be respectful. Where Trump is erratic, he will be consistent.

"And what that will do is build trust with countries, and there'll be many countries who will, you know, looking at China on the one hand and Trump on the other, will find China a more attractive partner."

Trump responded soon after in a late-night post on Truth Social.

"Malcolm Turnbull, the former Prime Minister of Australia who was always leading that wonderful country from 'behind', never understood what was going on in China, nor did he have the capacity to do so," he said, shortly before midnight (early afternoon Monday AEDT).

"I always thought he was a weak and ineffective leader and, obviously, Australian's (sic) agreed with me!!!"

The spat comes as Australia's push for an exemption to incoming tariffs due to come into effect on Wednesday on more than $1 billion of steel and aluminium exports to the US.

Australian officials have been working desperately behind the scenes and in public to repeat the success of the Turnbull government in securing a carveout.

Turnbull told Bloomberg the arguments for America to leave Australia out of its 25 per cent tariffs on all imported steel and aluminium were the same as in 2018 but he thought it was "going to be a lot harder this time".

"Trump will be being told, and I suspect he'll conclude himself that you give one country an exemption, then you have to give another and another, and before long, there are too many exemptions, and you haven't got much of a tariff," he said.

After speaking with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in February, Trump promised to give "great consideration" to a tariff reprieve for Australia but there were some less positive signals in the following weeks.

"He really doesn't like the word 'exemption'," National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett recently said.

"If I walk in and offer an exemption then I'll probably get kicked out of the office, we'll see how it goes, but maybe there'll be some, but I doubt it."

Senior government officials and diplomats have been going all out to try to secure an exemption, stressing America's trade surplus with Australia, the price increases taxes would cause for US consumers and even harnessing the superannuation sector to drive the point home.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and former prime minister Kevin Rudd, Australia's ambassador to Washington, have both held high-level talks with senior Trump administration officials this month.

"It is in Australia's interest but it's also in the economic interests of the United States for Australia to be exempted," Albanese said.

Turnbull said Australia was not as economically dependent on the US as Canada and Trump posed greater dangers in other areas.

"The big risk to us is not so much tariffs on Australian exports like steel and aluminium, but rather a slowdown in the global economy, in particular the Chinese economy, which is the destination for much of our exports," Turnbull said.

Turnbull wasn't voted out at an election as Trump suggested but replaced by Scott Morrison after calling and losing a party room leadership vote on the back of sinking polling and internal dissatisfaction with his leadership.

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‘I could punch him in the face’: Father rescued after calling daughter

2025-03-10 FreeNews

Desperate south-east Queensland residents have had to climb on top of cars, roofs and even up trees as flash flooding struck in the wake of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred.

Emergency services and the State Emergency Service have responded to 150 water incidents across Brisbane, Ipswich and the Sunshine Coast, with countless lives saved.

One man was saved from the roof of his ute in Chevallum, on the Sunshine Coast hinterland, after 400 millimetres of rain fell in 12 hours.

Queenslanders have had to climb on top of cars, roofs and even up trees as flash flooding struck in the wake of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred.

A drone pinpointed where he was after he called his daughter for help.

"He called me to say that he was stuck in the floodwater and the car was filling up with water and that he couldn't get out and then I freaked out and called the police," she told 9News.

"I feel like I could punch him in the face, but I feel a lot better now. "

Rescue crews moved in, securing ropes to the man before he stepped into the inflatable and to safety.

Another man was also rescued nearby.

One man described how he had to call triple zero as the floods came.

One man was saved from the roof of his ute, after 400mm of rain fell in 12 hours.

"The car started fill up, so we climbed on the roof," he said.

Further south at Yatala, between the Gold Coast and Brisbane, an elderly couple and their dog were rescued after trying to drive through a flooded road.

Off Bribie Island, Marine Rescue crews saved a sailor and his two dogs on a boat that was drifting onto rocks in 100km/h winds.

Floods have now eased in some places, such as in Nambour on the Sunshine Coast, but multiple warnings remain in place across the state's south-east.