World news in brief
Sri Lanka ship fire causes marine wildlife disaster
Nearly a hundred carcasses of turtles, as well as a dozen dead dolphins and a blue whale, have washed ashore in Sri Lanka since a container ship burned and sank, raising fears of a severe marine disaster. Ecologists believe the deaths were directly caused by the fire and release of hazardous chemicals while the Singapore-flagged X-Press Pearl burned for 12 days and sank last week off Sri Lanka’s main port in the capital Colombo.
The fire started on the ship on May 20 and dead marine species started washing ashore days later. A ship manifest seen by the Associated Press said 81 of the ship’s nearly 1,500 containers held “dangerous” goods. The Sri Lankan navy believes the blaze
was caused by its chemical cargo, most of which was destroyed in the fire. Sri Lanka plans to claim compensation from X-Press Feeders, the ship’s owner, and has already submitted an interim claim of £28.8m.
Cambodia charges environmental activists with insulting king
A Cambodian court has charged three environmental activists with insulting the country’s King Norodom Sihamoni and plotting against the government. They face up to 10 years in prison. The three members of environmental group, Mother Nature were arrested last week after they documented waste discharge into Phnom Penh’s Tonle Sap River.
Human rights organisation, Licadho, said that the three members – Sun Ratha, Ly Chandaravuth and Yim Leanghy – were detained on 16 June while documenting the wastewater discharge into the river. Naly Pilorge, the Licadho director said: “The Cambodian government has relentlessly targeted Mother Nature Cambodia. This marks an escalation with the outrageous charges of plotting.”
Woman who killed domestic worker gets 30 years in prison
A court in Singapore on Tuesday sentenced a woman who starved, assaulted and killed her domestic worker to 30 years in prison. In February 2021, Gaiyathiri Murugayan, who is a police officer’s wife, had admitted to starving and beating to death Piang Ngaih Don, an immigrant domestic worker from Myanmar.
While sentencing Murugayan, Singapore High Court judge See Kee Oon said: “Words cannot describe the abject cruelty of the accused’s appalling conduct,” reported The Straits Times. The judge called the case as “among the worst type of culpable homicide” and said the victim was made to suffer for a long time before she died.
Australian prison to be evacuated after mice plague
A plague of mice that has ravaged vast swathes of eastern Australia has forced the evacuation of a prison while authorities repair gnawed electrical wiring and clear dead and decaying mice from walls and ceilings. Around 200 staff and 420 inmates will be transferred from the Wellington Correctional Centre in rural New South Wales state to other prisons in the region during the next 10 days while cleaning and repairs take place, corrective services commissioner Peter Severin said on Tuesday.
Millions of mice have caused havoc in the grain-growing region of Australia’s most populous state for months, devouring crops and haystacks as well as invading homes, businesses, schools, hospitals and prisons. The most common complaint about the plague is an ever-present stench of mice urine and decaying flesh. Plagues usually happen when rain follows several years of drought.
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