Andrew, Tristan Tate arrested in Miami
Miami, July 19: Influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, whose social media empire promoting wealth, male dominance and misogyny has made them among the world’s most polarizing internet personalities, were arrested Saturday in Miami as British authorities sought their extradition on rape and sex trafficking charges. The brothers were taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service on a sealed warrant, agency spokesperson Brady McCarron told The Associated Press, placing the United States at the center of an international legal saga that has stretched from Romania to Britain. British prosecutors announced Saturday that they were seeking the brothers’ extradition on charges alleging they raped and trafficked women between 2010 and 2017. The dual U.S. and British citizens moved to Romania in 2016. (AP)
Suspected Somali pirates seize Tanzanian tanker
Somalia, July 19: A Tanzanian-flagged tanker was hijacked by suspected Somali pirates off Yemen’s coast, security sources and local officials familiar with the incident said on Sunday. The commercial tanker has since been moved to waters off Somalia’s northeastern Bari region, according to local officials. The MT ASANA, a general tanker, was seized on Friday after departing from Mukalla, Yemen, according to the sources. The vessel is now being held off the coast of Caluula in the semiautonomous state of Puntland’s Bari region. According to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the incident publicly, the ship was hijacked by seven armed Somali pirates. Public vessel-tracking data reviewed by The Associated Press showed the MT ASANA transmitting its position on Friday as it moved slowly in the Gulf of Aden, listing Bosaso, Somalia, as its destination. The vessel was travelling at about 2 knots, an unusually slow speed consistent with earlier reports that it had transmitted a distress signal during the incident. (AP)
5 rescued, 20 missing after Indonesia boat sinks
Palu, July 19: Rescuers on Saturday evening found five survivors, including a 7-year-old girl, from a passenger boat that sank earlier in the week in eastern Indonesia waters and were searching for 20 people still missing. The KM Nurul Salsa, which was carrying 78 passengers and crew, experienced engine failure and sank Wednesday about 43 nautical miles (79 kilometres) from the port in the Selayar Islands, in South Sulawesi Province. The five survivors were found late Saturday afloat, clinging to a fish trap belonging to a local fisherman, Muhammad Arif Anwar, head of the Makassar Search and Rescue Office, said in a statement. At least one person is known to have died from the accident. The Makassar Search and Rescue Office previously reported that the boat was carrying 74 people when it departed from Jampea Island, but the figure was later raised. The five survivors, one man and four women, were found before dark and evacuated by a fishing boat that passed near Matallang Island before they were finally taken to the search and rescue boat. (AP)
