UK-based Swire Shipping said yesterday it had reached a deal with the Australian government on compensation for an oil spill this year that hit pristine tourist beaches in northeastern Australia.
The shipping firm will pay A$25 million (US$21 million) in compensation for the spill from the ship Pacific Adventurer, which spread 270 tonnes of fuel oil onto beaches north of Brisbane, in Queensland state’s picturesque Sunshine Coast.
The disaster occurred when a cyclone hit the area in March. A massive cleanup was mounted involving 2,500 people, which enabled the beaches to reopen within nine weeks.
“We very much regret the accident, caused by Cyclone Hamish, that resulted in the oil spill — and also the effect of the spill on the Queensland coastal environment and the people of Queensland,” Swire’s chairman in Australia, Bill Rothery, said in a statement.
The company said the A$25 million compensation was well above its legal obligations and was in addition to A$2 million it had already spent on the clean-up. It would also ensure that private businesses affected would receive more than they otherwise would have, the company said.
At the time of the accident, Swire agreed to pay all the cleanup costs. However, last month Queensland Premier Anna Bligh accused the company of trying to backtrack on that commitment and leave taxpayers with much of the bill.
Bligh yesterday said the deal was fair to taxpayers.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS