LAST CHANCE ; Titanic Rescue Teams Have Until Just 12.08pm To Save 5 Trapped On Titan

 

FRANTIC search teams have until just 12.08pm today to find and rescue the five crew members helplessly stranded on the Titanic sub.
But it’s feared time may have run out to successfully locate the stricken vessel and winch it to safety before the sub’s oxygen supply runs out.

Search crews have been frantically looking vessel in the Atlantic a tense race against the clock after it lost communication on sunday with just 96 hours of life support.

The US Coastguard warned the oxygen supply was due to run out at 12.08pm BST (7.08am ET) today – meaning it is probable the crew on board Titan are now without breathable air.

Experts say humans can only survive a few minutes without oxygen.

Ocean Gate’s sub, Titan, vanished less than two hours into its descent 12,500ft down to the Titanic wreckage on Sunday. It failed to resurface that afternoon, with its final “ping” to mothership Polar Prince placing the sub directly above the ruins.

British billionaire adventurer Hamish Harding, businessman Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Sulaiman, 19, paid £200,000-a-head for the trip.

It was led by OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, 61, and veteran French explorer Paul- Henri Nargeolet, 77.

Guillermo Sohnlein, who founded OceanGate with Mr Rush in 2009, believes if all five men have stayed calm and laid still, there is a chance their oxygen supply could’ve lasted longer.

He said: “Today will be a critical day in this search and rescue mission, as the sub’s life support supplies are starting to run low.”

Sounds of banging detected underwater on Wednesday had raised hopes of a last-gasp miracle as extra rescue ships rushed to join a final bid to find lost craft Titan in the Atlantic.

The late arrivals – carrying the world’s most advanced undersea search technology – provided the best hope of an incredible last-minute rescue.

The US Coastguard said today that Canadian vessel Horizon Arctic has deployed a robot that has reached the sea floor and started its search for the missing sub.

And RAF and USAF cargo planes are today flying a specialist ultra-deep submersible to St John’s Canada to assist what sources are now calling the “recovery mission”.

The remotely operated vehicle, nick-named Juliet, has already surveyed the Titanic wreck.

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Source: thesun.co.uk/

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Beyonce Gives £8k In Grant To Nigerian-Owned Restaurant In London

 American singer, Beyonce, has awarded a sum of £8,000 in a grant to a popular Nigerian-owned restaurant in North London, alongside nine other winners.

According to ITV news on Tuesday, the Black Parade Small Business Impact Luncheon was created by Beyoncé’s BeyGood Foundation to “celebrate people, communities, and small businesses impacted by economic inequities worldwide”, with Beyoncé committing £806,400 to support businesses.

The restaurant, Chuku’s, which is located in Tottenham was selected to receive £8,000 by Beyoncé’s foundation.
Emeka Frederick, co-founder of Chuku’s, expressing his happiness said, “This grant couldn’t be more welcome.
Chuku’s, like other restaurants that don’t have a financial reserve, has been battered by lockdowns and the cost of living crisis.

“Every day, we’re fighting to stay open to make it to our fourth birthday. This money will make that fight a little easier and allow us to continue celebrating Nigerian culture on Tottenham’s High Road for the time being.”
The luncheon was held at the Four Seasons in Tower Hill where over 100 entrepreneurs gathered at the event with the chance to win £806,000 in prizes.

Source: Graphiconline

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Kenyan MPs Vote To Double Taxes On Fuel

 Kenyan MPs have voted in favour of doubling the Value Added Tax (VAT) levied on fuel to 16%, which is expected to add to the rising cost of living.

On Wednesday, ruling party coalition MPs pushed through the proposal with 184 approving the clause within new finance bill, while 88 lawmakers opposed it.

The government, which is looking to raise about 50bn Kenyan shillings ($356m; £279m) from the additional tax, has defended the move as necessary amid a rising debt burden.

But the leader of the opposition MPs in parliament said it was punitive, terming the decision to push ahead with the fuel tax clause as “the saddest day in the history of this country”.

This week, Kenya’s parliament has been combing through clauses within the unpopular finance bill and considering and voting on amendments.

Besides the fuel tax, some of the controversial proposals include a housing fund levy to be paid by all salaried workers and an increase in taxes for social media influencers.

Source: BBC

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Kenya President’s Bodyguards Injured After Car Rolls

 At least two members of the Kenyan president’s security team have been injured after their car rolled over on a road in the Rift Valley district of Naivasha.

The vehicle was part of a motorcade that was on its way back to the capital, Nairobi, on Wednesday after President William Ruto had attended an event to flag off the WRC Safari Rally competition.

Mr Ruto is said not to have been in the motorcade as he had flown by helicopter.

It was not clear what caused the accident. Witnesses told local media that the driver had been trying to negotiate a sharp bend.

The injured were taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Source: BBC

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Trump, the indictments and his election campaign

Donald Trump becomes the first US president to face federal criminal charges after being arraigned in Miami.

As the number of indictments against former US President Donald Trump grows, so do the questions from the United States and around the world about how Trump is managing these cases along with his 2024 election campaign. If he is elected president again, he could claim immunity or pardon himself. But if he loses the campaign and the case, he could face prison for life. And in the meantime, what does this unprecedented legal battle mean for the US and how it is seen by the world?

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

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Qatar secures second major LNG supply deal with China

Under the deal, China will purchase four million metric tonnes of LNG annually from Qatar.

Qatar has signed a 27-year gas supply deal with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the Gulf nation’s second major gas supply deal with a Chinese state-controlled company in less than a year.

QatarEnergy and CNPC signed the agreement on Tuesday under which China will purchase four million metric tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) annually from the Gulf Arab state.

CNPC will also take an equity stake in the eastern expansion of Qatar’s North Field LNG project.

The stake is the equivalent of five percent of one LNG train with a capacity of eight million tonnes per year.

“Today we are signing two agreements that will further enhance our strong relations with one of the most important gas markets in the world and key market for Qatari energy products,” Saad al-Kaabi, the Gulf state’s energy minister and CEO of QatarEnergy, said.

In an identical deal, QatarEnergy sealed a 27-year supply agreement with China’s Sinopec in November for four million tonnes of LNG a year.

Asia, with an appetite for long-term sales and purchase agreements, has been ahead so far in securing gas from Qatar’s massive production expansion project.

Tuesday’s deal is QatarEnergy’s third deal to supply LNG from the expansion to an Asian buyer.

Qatar is the world’s top LNG exporter, and competition for LNG has ramped up since the start of the war in Ukraine, with Europe, in particular, requiring a large quantity to help replace Russian pipeline gas that used to make up almost 40 percent of the continent’s imports.

QatarEnergy had previously said it could give up to five percent stakes in the gas trains linked to its North Field expansion to what al-Kaabi described as “value-added partners”.

In April, China’s Sinopec became the first Asian energy company to become a “value-added” partner in the project.

QatarEnergy has also signed equity partnerships on the project with international oil companies, but has said it plans to retain a 75 percent stake in the North Field expansion, which will cost at least $30bn, including the construction of liquefaction export facilities.

As Beijing’s ties with the United States and Australia, Qatar’s two biggest LNG export rivals, are strained, Chinese national energy firms increasingly see Qatar as a safer target for resource investment.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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Idris Elba Calls For Peaceful Sierra Leone Election

 British actor Idris Elba, who also has Sierra Leonean citizenship and heritage, has called for a peaceful general election in Sierra Leone, which will take place on Saturday.

“This election please let it be peaceful,” he said in a message in Pidgin English.

He reminded young people that they have the “power” in this vote, and that if the country is destroyed due to violence, it will be down to Sierra Leoneans to have to patch it back up again.
“Not only is the world watching,” he said, but the whole of Africa.
Saturday’s vote will be the country’s sixth presidential vote since a military takeover in 1992.

It will see the incumbent, President Julius Madaa Bio of the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) go up against Dr Samura Kamara of the All People’s Congress (APC).
There have been arrests of critical opposition voices in the run-up to the vote.
Elba’s comments come on the same day that the Commonwealth Observer Group in Sierra Leone, led by former Nigerian Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo, called for peaceful elections that will reflect the will of the people.

“The eyes of more than 2.5 billion people of the Commonwealth – more than 60% of whom are young people under the age of 30 – will be upon Sierra Leone. Watching, in solidarity and in hope,” Prof. Osinbajo said.

Source: BBC

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