18 JULY 2019 Uncertainty around Brexit may be making its mark, but the loss of vessels this year from the UK Ship Register may also be due to the requirement for vessel operators to comply with EU maritime regulations. According to figures from VesselsValue.com (VV), 234 vessels have reflagged from …
Read More »GHOSTS’ OF 2 UNKNOWN EXTINCT HUMAN SPECIES HAVE BEEN FOUND IN MODERN DNA
17 JUL 2019 When modern humans started emerging from Africa and spreading throughout Eurasia, they found many places already occupied by older hominids such as Neanderthals and Denisovans. As humans do, we got rather friendly with our new neighbours: evidence of that hanky panky lives on in our DNA today. But …
Read More »ISRAELI NGO SUES TO SEIZE IRANIAN-CONTROLLED TANKER
17 july 2019 An Israeli NGO has asked a court in Gibraltar to confiscate and sell the Iranian-controlled tanker Grace 1in order to satisfy an American court judgement. In 2017, pro-Israel nonprofit Shurat Hadin won a lawsuit accusing the Iranian and Syrian governments of complicity in the death of an American child who …
Read More »10 TURKISH SEAFARERS KIDNAPPED IN GULF OF GUINEA
17 july 2019 10 Turkish seafarers from the freighter Paksoy-1 were kidnapped by pirates in the Gulf of Guinea on Saturday evening, the Turkish foreign ministry said Tuesday. According to operator Kadioglu Denizcilik, 12 heavily-armed pirates boarded the vessel as she was under way on a voyage from Cameroon to …
Read More »EMIRATI PRODUCT TANKER GOES MISSING NEAR IRAN
17 july 2019 American officials have raised concerns that Iran may have seized the 1,900 dwt product tanker Riah. The AIS signal for the Riah (IMO 8816455) was last detected by commercial tracking services on Saturday. At the time of the last transmission, she was under way in the Strait of Hormuz, making two …
Read More »PIRACY INCIDENTS DOWN OFF NIGERIA
16 JULY 2019 The number of hijackings and armed attacks on ships sailing off Nigeria has dropped according to new figures from the International Piracy Reporting Centre, IMB. For the Gulf of Guinea and off the coast of Nigeria, 21 pirate incidents were registered in the first half of 2019, …
Read More »NEW GENETIC LINKS REVEAL ANOREXIA COULD BE MUCH MORE THAN A PSYCHIATRIC CONDITION
16 JUL 2019 For the first time, scientists have identified a set of specific gene variants linked to anorexia nervosa, providing some of the strongest evidence yet that the eating disorder is not purely a psychiatric illness. In a massive, six-year-long investigation involving researchers from over 100 institutions worldwide, scientists discovered …
Read More »BRI TRADE REACHED $617.5 BILLION IN FIRST HALF OF 2019
15 JULY 2019 China’s trade with countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) reached $617.5 billion in the first half of 2019, up 9.7 percent year-on-year. This increase was greater than the growth rate of the country’s total trade for the period which remained stable at 3.9 percent, …
Read More »IRCLASS’ ARUN SHARMA TAKES THE HELM AT IACS
14 JULY 2019 Arun Sharma, the head of the Indian Register of Shipping (IRClass), has been elected to a one-year term as chairman of the International Association of Classification Societies (IACS) in a recent council meeting in Busan, Korea. Sharma took over as chair on July 1, and his key …
Read More »PANAMA TO PULL MORE FLAGS FROM VESSELS VIOLATING SANCTIONS
12 JULY 2019 Panama will withdraw its flag from more vessels that violate sanctions and international legislation, the country’s maritime authority told Reuters, following the removal of about 60 ships linked to Iran and Syria from the Panamanian registry in recent months. After the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran by …
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