Ship capsizes in Gulf of Suez, at least 4 dead – DW – 07/02/2025
A ship capsize in the Gulf of Suez has left at least four people dead with another four still missing, authorities in Egypt said on Wednesday.
This was confirmed in reports citing the vessel operator's Saudi Arabian owner, ADES Holding Company, although according to them only three were believed to be missing.
AP news agency cited Egypt's Red Sea province governor Amr Hanafy as saying that there had been 30 workers on board the vessel when it capsized.
Hanafy said rescue teams recovered the bodies of four people but also managed to pluck 22 people to safety, who were then taken to hospital.
Vessels from Egypt's navy assisted in search and rescue efforts.
The circumstances surrounding the capsize remain unclear, but local media reported it was being tugged for excavations in another area when it overturned.
Egypt's petroleum ministry on Tuesday said oil and gas producer Offshore Shukheir Oil Co (OSOCO) reported the incident as occurring near Egypt's Gabal El-Zeit area along the Red Sea,
The Suez Canal Authoritiy said in a statement that the incident involved the Admarine 12 oil-drilling ship and took place 130 nautical miles from the southern entrance of the Suez Canal.
The authority said that navigation in the important shipping route had not been impacted.
ADES said that three of its personnel and one contractor were killed, and rescuers were searching for the remaining three, ADES said.
"The company is working closely with local authorities and emergency services, with the safety and well-being of all personnel remaining its highest priority. A full and thorough investigation into the incident will be conducted," ADES said.
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DW
02-07-2025
- DW
Ship capsizes in Gulf of Suez, at least 4 dead – DW – 07/02/2025
An oil-drilling vessel overturned with reports that it was being towed in the important shipping route. Three people are still missing. A ship capsize in the Gulf of Suez has left at least four people dead with another four still missing, authorities in Egypt said on Wednesday. This was confirmed in reports citing the vessel operator's Saudi Arabian owner, ADES Holding Company, although according to them only three were believed to be missing. AP news agency cited Egypt's Red Sea province governor Amr Hanafy as saying that there had been 30 workers on board the vessel when it capsized. Hanafy said rescue teams recovered the bodies of four people but also managed to pluck 22 people to safety, who were then taken to hospital. Vessels from Egypt's navy assisted in search and rescue efforts. The circumstances surrounding the capsize remain unclear, but local media reported it was being tugged for excavations in another area when it overturned. Egypt's petroleum ministry on Tuesday said oil and gas producer Offshore Shukheir Oil Co (OSOCO) reported the incident as occurring near Egypt's Gabal El-Zeit area along the Red Sea, The Suez Canal Authoritiy said in a statement that the incident involved the Admarine 12 oil-drilling ship and took place 130 nautical miles from the southern entrance of the Suez Canal. The authority said that navigation in the important shipping route had not been impacted. ADES said that three of its personnel and one contractor were killed, and rescuers were searching for the remaining three, ADES said. "The company is working closely with local authorities and emergency services, with the safety and well-being of all personnel remaining its highest priority. A full and thorough investigation into the incident will be conducted," ADES said.
Local Germany
20-06-2025
- Local Germany
Will Berlin open up the Spree river to swimmers?
This week a group of eager swimmers in Berlin made the news when they dove into the River Spree as part of a protest against the city's swimming ban. According to a report by AP , around 200 swimmers jumped into the river on Tuesday to demonstrate that the water is clean enough for bathing, and demand that the city move forward with a plan to create a designated swim zone in the Mitte district. Swimming in the centre of Berlin is generally verboten , but in this case it was allowed because a group called Fluss Bad Berlin had organised the event as a registered protest. The group , which has around 500 members, is a non-profit that has advocated for cleaning up the Spree and making it swimmable since 2012. 'For 100 years now, people have not been allowed to swim in the inner-city Spree and we no longer think this is justified…' Jan Edler, a board member of the group told AP . Their chief goal, of reclaiming a central section of the Spree for recreational swimming, is closer to being realised than ever before, as city leaders have voiced enthusiasm for doing so as early as summer 2026. What's the plan? According to the initiative brought by Fluss Bad Berlin , the plan is to open up an 840-meter-long section of the Spree Canal between Schloßplatz and the Bode Museum for recreational swimming. This central section of the river makes sense as an initial bathing location because it's closed off to boat traffic. And, believe it or not, there is a history of Spree swimming specifically in this area. Up until around 100 years ago, there were river bathing locations established around the Humboldt Forum. Numerous participants cavort at a swimming demonstration between Schinkelplatz and the Humboldt Forum against the bathing ban in the Spree. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Jens Kalaene The initiative faces two primary challenges: ensuring swimmable water quality and the need to restructure historical monuments. To keep the water clean, the use of plants that remove pollutants from water has been proposed, as well as a disinfection system with UV radiation that kicks in to sterilise waste water overflows that can happen during heavy rain. Initial tests suggest that a combination of these measures can keep water in the Spree sufficiently safe for swimming. Advertisement A point of contention, however, is that the canal in this area is surrounded by protected historical monuments, including UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Parts of these monuments would need to be altered in places to allow swimmers better access to the Spree. Current plans - drawn up with the interests of monument protection in mind - would include outdoor stairs into the water at the Humboldt Forum and at the ESMT University of Applied Sciences, located on Schlossplatz. The responsible district councillor, Ephraim Gothe (SPD), recently told German media outlets that he could imagine opening the Spree Canal to swimmers as early as summer 2026. READ ALSO: The ultimate guide to looking and sounding like a local in Berlin What are the current rules? According to Berlin's Bathing Water Ordinance, swimming in the centre of the city is outlawed. Bathing here was banned a century ago after it became known that the water quality had deteriorated to the point that people were getting sick. (The swimming protest on Tuesday marked the 100th anniversary of the swim ban.) Advertisement But the Spree River swim ban doesn't apply everywhere in the city. The press office of the Berlin police told Tip Berlin that the Spree swim ban applies "in the lock area", "in the boat traffic areas" and in places with a 'no swimming' sign. Put simply, swimming in the canals and the central part of the city are not allowed, as well as marked locations. Also swimmers need to be mindful that the Spree does see a fair share of boat traffic. Swimming would be allowed in the canal that goes around Museum Island. Map by Fluss Bad Berlin. There are places not far from the city where swimmers are seen semi-regularly in the summer months – such as near the Funkhaus, across from Planterwald. Swimming is not technically allowed here, and the Berlin Water Police have been known to issue citations from time to time. Some cheeky bathers in the area have objected to the citations on the grounds that, while swimming is prohibited, falling off a dock into the river is merely an unfortunate accident. Advertisement How dirty is it? The water in Berlin's officially permitted bathing areas is tested biweekly during the swimming season. While the Spree itself is tested less regularly, there is still ample evidence that its water quality has improved significantly in recent years. "The water quality in the suburban Spree is generally good from a hygienic point of view," Andreas Matzinger of the Berlin Water Competence Centre (KWB) told TipBerlin . However, the quality can fluctuate. The city's sewer system is designed to overflow into the river in places during heavy rain, so pollution levels generally rise for a few days following a heavy storm. Levels of bacteria like E. coli and chemical pollutants are found in higher concentrations during these times. READ ALSO: Hotels, transport and food - How the cost of travel in Germany is rising this summer Because the river flows to the west through the city, water quality tends to be a bit better in the eastern districts. Some residents in Berlin maintain a degree of scepticism about the Spree's cleanliness, but for the 200 or so people who swam in the canal this week – as well as plenty more who regularly swim and paddle on the river during the summer months – the water seems inviting.
DW
26-05-2025
- DW
How Malcolm X fought against the 'American nightmare' – DW – 05/19/2025
"By any means necessary": He saw violence as a tool of resistance against the oppression of Black people. Malcolm X, who was born 100 years ago, remains an icon of the Black civil rights movement. "What do you think you would do after 400 years of slavery and Jim Crow and lynching? Do you think you would respond nonviolently?" Those were some of the key questions Malcolm X posed to American society. Although slavery had been abolished in the US in 1865, the so-called Jim Crow laws continued to cement everyday discrimination against Black people until 1964. There were artificial barriers to their right to vote in some states, and in many they weren't allowed to sit next to white people on buses or in restaurants. "Malcolm X addressed precisely the issues that were burning on the minds of oppressed African Americans," Britta Waldschmidt-Nelson, author of the biography "Malcolm X: The Black Revolutionary," told DW. His message to African Americans was clear: Be self-confident! Fight for your rights "by any means necessary" — even with violence. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Les Payne (1941-2018) recalled in his Malcolm X biography how a 1963 speech by the activist freed him, as if by a "flashing sword blow," from the "conditioned feeling of inferiority as a Black man" deeply rooted in his psyche. That was precisely Malcolm X's goal. Malcolm X giving a speech in Harlem in New York City in June 1963 Image: AP/picture alliance A childhood marred by racism Born on May 19, 1925, in Omaha, Nebraska, Malcolm Little's childhood near Detroit was marked by poverty and violence. He was six years old when his father was found dead; according to various accounts, he had been murdered by white supremacists. With seven children and little money, Malcolm's mother was completely overwhelmed and became mentally ill. Malcolm was placed in various foster families and institutions; he later spoke in his autobiography of the "terror of the very white social workers." Despite his difficult beginnings, he was a good student, the only Black person in his class. A key experience had a profound impact on him: His favorite teacher asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. Malcolm replied that he would like to study law. But the teacher, using an offensive racist slur to describe him, told him that wasn't a realistic goal for a boy like him. He was born Malcolm Little Image: Everett Collection/picture alliance The young Malcolm was completely disillusioned. His grades dropped dramatically, and at 15, he moved to Boston to live with his half-sister Ella Collins, and later to New York. He supported himself by doing odd jobs before becoming a petty criminal. In his early 20s, he was imprisoned for various burglaries. "Here is a Black man caged behind bars, probably for years, put there by the white man," he later wrote in his autobiography. "You let this caged-up Black man start realizing, as I did, how from the first landing of this first slave ship, the millions of Black men in America have been like sheep in a den of wolves. That's why Black prisoners become Muslims so fast when Elijah Muhammad's teachings filter into their cages by the way of other Muslim convicts." The mentor Malcolm X refers to, Elijah Muhammad, was a Black separatist and the leader of the Nation of Islam, a religious-political organization of African Americans outside of Islamic orthodoxy. Elijah Muhammad, founder and head of the Nation of Islam, right, introduces Malcolm X in Chicago in 1961 Image: picture alliance/AP Photo Fight against the 'white devils' Nation of Islam (NOI) "claims that all Black people are inherently children of God and good, and all white people are inherently evil and children of the devil," explains Waldschmidt-Nelson. "What made this very attractive to Malcolm and many other prison inmates, of course, is that someone would come along and say, 'You are not to blame for your misery; it is the blue-eyed devils who made you go astray.'" After joining NOI, he started calling himself Malcolm X, because African Americans' surnames had historically been assigned by their slave owners. Therefore, NOI members rejected their slave names and called themselves simply "X." He spent his seven years in prison educating himself and remained a member of NOI for 14 years. Leader Elijah Muhammed appreciated the young man's intellectual acumen and oratory skills and made him the organization's spokesperson. In his speeches, Malcolm X repeatedly denounced the "white devils." Although he lived in the northern states of the US — the "Promised Land" for Black people from the even more restrictive southern states — he no longer placed any hope in white "liberals" there either. After all, he had personally experienced how Black people were treated as second-class citizens throughout the US. Malcolm X was long scornful of Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights movement. He criticized King's famous speech at the 1963 March on Washington about a free and united America, united across all racial barriers, as unrealistic: "No, I'm not an American. I'm one of 22 million Black people who are the victims of Americanism. [...] And I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare." Pilgrimage to Mecca — and a change of heart After becoming disillusioned with the organization's leader, Malcolm X broke ranks with the Nation of Islam in March 1964. That same year, he made a pilgrimage to Mecca — and his image of the "white devils" began to waver. "He was deeply impressed by the hospitality and warmth with which he was greeted, even by white Muslims in Saudi Arabia," writes Britta Waldschmidt-Nelson in her biography. "And then, in the last year of his life, he turned away from this racist doctrine," she told DW. Malcolm X meeting with King Faisal in Saudi Arabia in 1964 Image: AP Photo/picture alliance He set himself a new task: "Malcolm X wanted to create an alliance of all oppressed people of color against white colonial oppression," says the biographer. On a trip to Africa, governments praised his intention, but he couldn't count on their support: "Of course, they were all dependent on US development aid, and most African governments wouldn't have operated openly against the US at the time." Instead, Malcolm X became the focus of the CIA. The Nation of Islam was also on his heels. "He knew he was going to be assassinated, and it was also a conscious decision on his part to face it," says Waldschmidt-Nelson. "He probably said to himself: I can't give up now. After his experience in Mecca, Malcolm had embarked on a completely new path, open to collaborating with King's civil rights movement and, if necessary, with white people as well." But that never happened. On February 21, 1965, he was shot dead during a lecture by members of the Nation of Islam. He was only 39 years old. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X met for the first and only time in Washington, D.C. in March 1964 Image: Henry Griffin/AP Photo/picture alliance A renewed legacy In the 1980s, hip-hop artists celebrated Malcolm X's legacy by sampling his speeches in their music: "All that became very resonant," says Michael E. Sawyer, professor of African American literature and culture at the University of Pittsburgh. "It was a way to create this kind of resurgence of Black identity as also a political identity." The songs served as political declarations of war on white racism, police brutality and the impoverishment of the Black underclass. In 1992, Spike Lee adapted Malcolm X's autobiography into a film starring Denzel Washington, which also contributed to turning the revolutionary figure into an icon forging many Black people's cultural identity. Today, as the current US administration is whitewashing history to understate the role racism played in shaping the country, and with the MAGA movement opposed to any criticism of America's alleged past glory, Malcolm X's words remain more relevant than ever: "You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it." This article was originally written in German.
