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Ian Geoghegan News

17 Dec 2016

China to Return Seized US Underwater Drone

USNS Bowditch (Photo: U.S. Navy)

China's Defense Ministry said on Saturday it plans to return an underwater U.S. drone seized this week by a Chinese naval vessel in the South China Sea, but complained the United States was "hyping up" the incident. The drone was taken on Thursday, the first seizure of its kind in recent memory. It prompted the Pentagon to go public with a diplomatic complaint, and drew criticism from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to take a more aggressive approach in dealing with Beijing.

25 Jan 2015

Obama, Modi Aim High on India Trip

In a fresh bid to make India an enduring strategic partner, U.S. President Barack Obama lands in New Delhi on Sunday for a highly symbolic parade and to nurture friendship with a prime minister who until last year was persona non grata in Washington. Obama will be the first U.S. president to attend India's Republic Day parade, a show of military might long associated with the anti-Americanism of the Cold War, and will host a radio show with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His presence at Monday's procession at Modi's personal invitation is the latest revival in a roller-coaster relationship between the two largest democracies that just a year ago was in tatters.

31 Aug 2014

Fukushima Fallout: Resentment Grows

Like many of her neighbours, Satomi Inokoshi worries that her gritty hometown is being spoiled by the newcomers and the money that have rolled into Iwaki since the Fukushima nuclear disaster almost three and a half years ago. "Iwaki is changing - and not for the good," said Inokoshi, 55, who echoes a sentiment widely heard in this town of almost 300,000 where the economic boom that followed the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl has brought its own disruption. Property prices in Iwaki, about 60 km (36 miles) south of the wrecked nuclear plant, have jumped as evacuees forced from homes in more heavily contaminated areas snatch up apartments and land. Hundreds of workers, who have arrived to work in the nuclear clean-up, crowd downtown hotels.

30 Apr 2014

Korea Ferry Disaster Points Up Cronyism

A culture of cosy personal ties that can blur the lines between businesses and those regulating them, of profit over safety, and soft courts is in focus as South Korea demands answers over the sinking of a ferry with the loss of more than 300 lives, mainly high school students. Prosecutors are investigating two shipping trade organisations responsible for vessel safety checks and for certifying ships that operate in domestic waters. Two officials at the Korea Shipping Association (KSA) have been arrested on charges of obstructing justice for destroying documents related to a probe into lobbying government officials. A third official was arrested for alleged influence peddling and embezzlement. Prosecutors are also investigating Korean Register (KR), which tests and certifies ships.

23 Apr 2014

Global Shipping Exposed to Cyber Threats

The next hacker playground: the open seas - and the oil tankers and container vessels that ship 90 percent of the goods moved around the planet. In this internet age, as more devices are hooked up online, so they become more vulnerable to attack. As industries like maritime and energy connect ships, containers and rigs to computer networks, they expose weaknesses that hackers can exploit. Hackers recently shut down a floating oil rig by tilting it, while another rig was so riddled with computer malware that it took 19 days to make it seaworthy again…

16 Apr 2014

Hundreds Unaccounted for in S.Korea Ferry Disaster

Photo courtesy South Korea Coast Guard

For the parents of the many teenagers still missing after the Sewol ferry capsized off the coast of South Korea, the wait for news - good or bad - is almost unbearable. Of 462 passengers on board the ship when it set sail from the port of Incheon late on Tuesday, nearly 340 are believed to have been from the same high school near the capital Seoul, on their way to Jeju island for a field trip. The prospect of hundreds of pupils in their late teens perishing in a single accident only adds to the sense of tragedy after Wednesday's disaster.