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Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Korean fishing vessel sinks off Antarctica


A Korean fishing vessel carrying 42 crew members, including eight Koreans, sank off Antarctica yesterday, leaving five crew dead and 17 others missing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said yesterday. The cause of the sinking was unknown. Only one Korean was rescued. Two of the confirmed dead were Korean and the Korean captain is among the missing, the ministry said. The ship also had eight Chinese crew, 11 Indonesians, 11 Vietnamese, three Filipinos and one Russian. Rescue mission operators said the chances the missing sailors will survive are slim because of the cold water temperature. The Foreign Ministry said the 614-ton Busan-based ship, No. 1 Inseong, was 2,593 kilometers (1,400 miles) south of New Zealand when it went down around 4:30 a.m. Five fishing vessels that were operating nearby - three Korean and two from New Zealand - were mobilized for rescue operations coordinated by Maritime New Zealand. Maritime New Zealand said on its Web site that it considered mobilizing an Orion aircraft and a Hercules aircraft, but gave up on it. 

Kosovo claims victory

Kosovo's prime Minister Hasim Thaci, claimed victory last night as exit polls put the ruling PDK in the lead in a historic parliamentary election, the first since the unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia in 2008. The polls indicated that the PDK was ahead by six percentage points, gaining 31 per cent of the vote, with its coalition ally, the LDK, receiving 25 per cent. The results suggest that Mr Thaci will seek backing from marginal parties that have won supporters away from the coalition. Both leading parties support EU and Nato membership for Kosovo, continued privatisation of state enterprises and entering talks with neighbouring Serbia. The early elections were called last month after the ruling coalition collapsed in September. The Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) left the government after the Constitutional Court ruled that its leader, President Fatmir Sejdiu, could not simultaneously be President and leader of a political party, leaving the Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK) without its coalition partner. Analysts say the elections are the first test for Kosovo's young democracy, where promises of independence meant certain electoral victory in the recent past. However, the hottest issues among the disillusioned population now are unprecedented poverty and unemployment among 1.6 million voters, along with prevailing corruption that reaches the top echelons of power, and rampant organised crime.