14/08/2026

FRIDAY | AUG 14, 2026

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Rescuers continue search for missing ferry passengers

Japan protests Putin visit to disputed islands MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin yesterday visited Russia’s far-eastern Kuril islands for the first time, prompting a“strong”protest by Japan, which also claims the territory. Russian-Japanese relations have long been dogged by tensions over the contested islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and seized by the Soviet Union in 1945. The Kremlin posted a video of Putin on one of the four main islands, with Russian media saying he visited a fish-processing plant and was given caviar. Putin travelled to the islands after visiting the nearby Russian island of Sakhalin on Wednesday, where Russia’s navy was conducting drills. In Sakhalin, Putin held a meeting “on ensuring the security of Russia’s eastern borders,“ RIA Novosti said. Japan responded with a stern condemnation. “The Northern Territories are an inherent part of Japan’s territory both historically and under international law, and the government of Japan strongly protests the visit,“ Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said. Ties have worsened since the full-scale conflict in Ukraine began in 2022, with Japan joining other G7 countries in sanctioning Russia and giving money and non-lethal defence aid to Kyiv. Putin on Wednesday called Japan’s sanctions “unprovoked”. “Japan has identified Russia as a main source of threats. I would like to point out that we are not threatening Japan. On the contrary, it has territorial claims against our country.“ Russia and China have also moved closer, with their navies and air forces conducting joint exercises in areas around Japan, promoting Japanese jets to scramble hundreds of times a year. North Korea, which this month termed Japan’s military build-up a “transformation into a war state”, has also sent troops and artillery shells to help Russia’s war against Ukraine. Japan’s latest defence white paper issued this month again highlighted growing risks from all three countries. The New York Times reported in July that that Russia had turned Japan into a “den of spies” and a key source of dual-use technology needed for its war in Ukraine. The Soviet Union took the strategically located volcanic archipelago north of Hokkaido in the final days of World War II, and has maintained a military presence there ever since. In 2010, then-president Dmitry Medvedev became the first Russian leader to visit the territory. – AFP

occurrence in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands that relies heavily on boat connections for daily transport and tourism. Lax safety standards and unpredictable weather are said to be the main reasons for the disasters. Five individuals died last week when a ferry caught fire off Java Island. A ferry transporting more than 70 passengers sank while sailing near Selayar, a small island south of Sulawesi, last month. Four bodies were recovered, but the search operation ended with 14 individuals still officially missing. – AFP

Muhamad Hariyadi. Survivor Kiky Okta Pradika, 25, told reporters in Lembar on Lombok Island on Wednesday that he had grabbed a life jacket before jumping overboard with several other passengers. “There were a few hours before there was any help.” Another survivor, 45-year-old Sutrisna, remembered passengers panicking and scrambling for life jackets as lifeboats were lowered from the stricken ferry. “The evacuation was difficult because the waves were big, and when the rescue ship came, the waves were even bigger than the ones ealier.” Marine accidents are a regular

o Five individuals remain unaccounted for

BALI: Rescuers the Lombok Strait off Indonesia’s Bali Island yesterday for five individuals declared missing after a ferry fire that killed one and sent dozens of passengers scrambling overboard, officials said. A total of 211 individuals were rescued alive and brought ashore by vessels that rushed to the scene on Wednesday, including a navy ship and another ferry in the vicinity. A 19-year-old Indonesian woman was found dead. Yesterday, the effort had shifted combed

to “the search for five passengers” unaccounted for, the search and rescue office of Mataram on Lombok Island said in a statement. The ferry had been heading from Bali to Lombok when it ran into trouble in the early hours of Wednesday. “In addition to direct searches, we have also instructed ships passing through the Lombok Strait to provide initial assistance or immediately inform the command post if they find any victims,” said search and rescue official

A worker carries a rescued child at the Lembar port in West Lombok. – AFPPIC

Taiwan restricts internet speeds during military drill TAIPEI: Millions of residents in Taiwan were forced indoors and hypothetical Chinese air attacks on communications infrastructure.

the situation, I think it can help me with some of my emergency responses in the future,“ hospital worker Gary Chen, 39, told AFP as he lay in an intensive care unit bed pretending to be in a critical condition. ICU nurse Lily Ku said staff were learning “how to move the hospital beds down to the basement and make the transition”. “The resources would be different so we would simplify everything.“ – AFP

staged combat scenarios for its troops and reservists to practise responding to a Chinese attack. On Wednesday, coast guard and navy ships held a joint exercise to escort a vessel during a simulation of a Chinese blockade in waters east of the island. An exercise in the underground carpark of a hospital near Taipei on Thursday demonstrated a war-time medical facility. “If I play the role of a patient and actually experience and understand

capital Taipei at 2:30pm (0630 GMT), sending residents into underground carparks, subway stations, shopping malls and office buildings in the annual air raid drill. Normally busy streets became quiet as police directed traffic to pull over and waved residents into shelters. This year’s drill also included a reduction in mobile internet speeds for the first time, briefly stifling access to video calls, live streams and food delivery apps during

“Whether it’s going to reflect a total internet shutdown, I think is unlikely. But I think having people get a sense of how it may feel to have an internet disruption is important,“ Ben Lewis of the analysis website PLATracker told AFP ahead of the drill. “I think also to test the resilience of civilian communications and internet systems is very important.“ During the 10-day Han Kuang drills that end today, Taiwan’s military

mobile internet speeds slowed for 30 minutes yesterday during a simulation of a Chinese attack on the island democracy. The drill was part of Taiwan’s annual “Han Kuang”military exercise that aims to prepare the island of 23 million for a potential Chinese invasion. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to annex it. Loud sirens sounded across the