World

One person died and four were injured when a massive wave smashed into an Antarctic cruise ship during a storm as it sailed off the southernmost tip of South America, the company said Thursday.

The Viking Polaris cruise ship was sailing Wednesday towards Ushuaia in Argentina — the main starting point for expeditions to Antarctica — when there was “a rogue wave incident,” a representative of the Viking cruise company said in a statement.

“It is with great sadness that we confirmed a guest passed away following the incident. We have notified the guest’s family and shared our deepest sympathies,” said the statement.

Four other tourists “sustained non-life-threatening injuries” and were treated onboard.

The ship suffered minor damage and was anchored off Ushuaia, 3,200 kilometers (nearly 2,000 miles) from the capital Buenos Aires, with several windows smashed on the side, AFP journalists reported.

Viking said it was “investigating the facts surrounding this incident.”

Scientists often refer to rogue waves as extreme storm waves that surge out of nowhere, often in an unpredictable direction, and can look like a steep wall of water, up to twice the size of surrounding waves.

These rare killer waves were once seen as a myth reported by mariners or explorers. The polar explorer Ernest Shackleton wrote in his book of a “gigantic” freak wave he encountered in Antarctica in 1916.

However, scientists have learned more about them in recent decades, studying how they emerge and how to predict the wall of water that can surge up even in calm seas.

The Viking Polaris was launched in 2022 and is the newest ship in the company’s fleet.

The incident comes two weeks after two tourists died on another Antarctic cruise. The two men, aged 76 and 80, had left the World Explorer ship for an excursion on an inflatable zodiac boat which overturned near the shore.

Spanish police were investigating Thursday a series of letter bombs sent to targets including the prime minister and the US embassy, similar to one which went off at the Ukrainian embassy, hurting a staff member.

The interior ministry revealed that an envelope with “pyrotechnic material” had arrived at Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s official residence on November 24. It was destroyed in a controlled explosion.

Spain’s High court meanwhile announced it had broadened an initial investigation over the Ukraine embassy letter bomb to cover the all the other incidents.

Both announcements came a day after the security officer at Ukraine’s embassy in Madrid suffered a light injury to one hand while opening a letter bomb addressed to the Ukrainian ambassador, an incident that prompted Kyiv to boost security at its embassies worldwide.

That letter, like the others discovered, arrived by regular mail.

Later in the evening, a second “suspicious postal shipment” was intercepted at the headquarters of military equipment firm Instalaza in the northeastern city of Zaragoza, the interior ministry said.

Instalaza makes the grenade launchers that Spain donates to Ukraine.

Then on Thursday morning letter bombs arrived and at the defence ministry; and at an air base in Torrejon de Ardoz, just outside Madrid, from where weapons donated by Spain are sent to Ukraine.

“The characteristics of the envelopes, as well as their content, are similar in the five cases,” Spain’s Secretary of State of Security, Rafael Perez, told journalists.

“There are signs that indicate that the letters came from Spanish territory, but I insist we must be prudent…we are at the beginning of the investigation.”

A few hours after he spoke the interior ministry said another letter “with similar characteristics as the others” had been intercepted at the US embassy in Madrid.

– ‘Terrorist methods’ –

Ukraine’s ambassador to Spain, Serhii Pohoreltsev, appeared to blame Russia for the letter bomb at its embassy.

“We are well aware of the terrorist methods of the aggressor country,” he said during an interview late Wednesday with Spanish public television.

“Russia’s methods and attacks require us to be ready for any kind of incident, provocation or attack,” he added.

But in a statement Thursday, Russia’s embassy in Spain said: “Any threat or terrorist act, especially those that target a diplomatic mission, is to be totally condemned.”

The letter to the defence ministry was addressed to Defence Minister Margarita Robles. The one sent to the air base was meant for a European Union satellite centre located there.

That centre supports the bloc’s foreign and security policy by gathering information from satellite imagery, according to its website.

After scanning the envelope that arrived at the air base by X-ray, security officers determined it contained “a mechanism”, the ministry statement said. Police were still analysing the envelope.

– ‘Soaked in red liquid’ –

In Ukraine, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said three embassies had now received threatening letters.

The letters had not contained explosives but another substance, he added, saying only that they had been “soaked in red liquid”.

Kuleba has already ordered the strengthening of security at all of their embassies, the country’s foreign ministry said Wednesday after the letter bomb went off at the embassy in Madrid.

Spain’s interior minister said it had ordered increased security measures at all embassies and consulates in the country, as well as “other sites that require special protection”.

Security had already been boosted in February after the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In addition to sending arms to help Ukraine, Spain is training Ukrainian troops as part of a European Union programme and providing humanitarian aid.

From the white cliffs above Dover, on England’s south coast, it’s possible to watch as migrants who have attempted to cross from northern France in small boats are brought ashore.

On Monday, 426 were intercepted, according to government figures. On Tuesday, there were 884 in 17 boats, with 426 in eight boats on Wednesday.

The numbers add to a growing total of some 43,000 who have made the journey across the Channel so far this year — a record.

One of the main promises of the Brexit-supporting UK government was a promise to “take back control” of immigration after it left the European Union.

But Home Secretary Suella Braverman told parliament last month: “We have failed to control our borders.”

Above Dover on Wednesday, on a fairly mild day with a cold but calm sea below, the scale of the situation is clear.

Border Force boats return to port with empty inflatable boats. One pulls as many as four of the flimsy vessels. 

At about 2:00 pm (1400 GMT), dozens of migrants intercepted at sea arrive on board two more Border Force craft.

A few hours later they are taken by bus to a transit centre, where their demand for asylum will begin to be considered.

One such centre, Manston, near Dover, was embroiled in a political row in October after more than 4,000 people were placed there despite it having a capacity of just 1,600.

One man with diphtheria died at the centre in mid-November. Since then, dozens of cases have been identified among other migrants.

– Housed in hotels –

“I did the crossing in September,” said Abas, a 30-year-old Afghan originally from Kabul.

“The boat was in a bad condition. There was water coming in. We called the UK for help once in UK waters,” he told AFP.

After being transferred to Manston, he was moved into hotel accommodation and is currently housed in London, near the modern highrises of the city’s business district.

The hotel is now closed to tourists and paid by the government to accommodate asylum-seekers.

Abas, who has applied for refugee status, says his decision to escape Afghanistan where he had worked for NATO was prompted by the Taliban takeover in August 2021.

He fled via Iran, then Turkey before crossing Europe. He came to the UK because he speaks English. 

There are, according to Abas, 300 other asylum-seekers like him in his hotel.

Many arrived by boat across the Channel, which is one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. But others who have been in the UK for longer stowed away in lorries.

– Channel tragedy –

“It has become so difficult to travel by road on lorries,” said Peter William Walsh of the Migration Observatory at Oxford University.

The small boat route “has become an established route now”.

“With the smuggling elements, it’s become more established and also I think in the minds of those making the crossing, the Channel no longer represents this big barrier that it did once,” he added.  

On November 24 last year, however, in the worst migrant tragedy to date in the Channel, at least 27 migrants including a seven-year-old girl died.

The tragedy and a controversial UK government plan to send failed asylum seekers on a one-way ticket for resettlement in Rwanda has not proved a deterrent.

The Rwanda plan, announced by former prime minister Boris Johnson’s government, has since stalled due to court challenges.

In the meantime, Paris and London signed an agreement in mid-November with the UK agreeing to pay France another 72.2 million euros ($74.5 million) to prevent migrant boat crossings.

For now, the UK’s asylum system remains more overwhelmed than ever. 

As of the end of September, over 140,000 asylum-seekers were waiting for their cases to be dealt with — three times more than in 2019.

Nearly 86,000 people applied for asylum between September 2021 and September 2022, the highest figure since 2003, when there were more than 87,000 applications.

The Taliban on Thursday removed from the airwaves US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Afghanistan service, which has vowed not to comply with the country’s Islamist rulers.

Azadi, which means “liberty,” broadcasts in Dari and Pashto and, since the Taliban takeover last year, has partly dedicated efforts to providing educational programming for girls barred from school.

Abdul Haq Hammad, a Taliban information ministry official, wrote on Twitter that Azadi was being taken off the air for “non-compliance with journalist principles and one-sided coverage.”

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is funded by the US Congress but editorially independent, confirmed that Azadi was taken off the AM and FM dials and vowed to expand efforts so Afghans can access the service through other means.

“Azadi is a lifeline for tens of millions of Afghans, making the Taliban’s decision all the more tragic,” Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty president Jamie Fly said in a statement.

“RFE/RL will not change our editorial line to accommodate Taliban demands in order to stay on the air. We know from experience that our audiences make great efforts to find us,” Fly said. 

The broadcaster cited a US government survey that said that half of Afghans accessed Azadi content each week.

Azadi was set up after the United States toppled the Taliban regime following the September 11, 2001 attacks and it closed its physical bureau after the Taliban returned to power last year amid the US pullout.

Azadi has kept operating from outside Afghanistan including through programming for girls from ages seven to 12 and coverage of the plight under the Taliban of women and girls and the LGBTQ community.

US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron emerged from White House talks Thursday pledging to close ranks in helping Ukraine defend itself from Russia and in facing the “challenge” posed by China.

The leaders issued a joint statement following Oval Office talks during Macron’s state visit, which Biden said demonstrated their countries’ “unwavering” alliance.

They “outlined a shared vision to strengthen security and increase prosperity worldwide, combat climate change, build greater resilience to its effects, and advance democratic values,” the statement said.

The two reaffirmed “support for Ukraine’s defense of its sovereignty and territorial integrity, including the provision of political, security, humanitarian, and economic assistance to Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

“They also reiterate their steadfast resolve to hold Russia to account for widely documented atrocities and war crimes,” the statement added.

On China, they said “the United States and France will continue to coordinate on our concerns regarding China’s challenge to the rules-based international order, including respect for human rights, and to work together with China on important global issues like climate change.”

They also expressed “respect for the Iranian people, in particular women and youth, who are bravely protesting to gain the freedom to exercise their human rights and fundamental freedoms, which Iran itself has subscribed to and is violating.”

– 21 gun salute –

Despite tensions over transatlantic trade, Macron took pains to emphasize their countries’ deep historic ties and the current partnership in confronting Russia’s Ukraine invasion. “We need to become brothers in arms once more,” Macron said as he was welcomed to the White House.

Service members from the marines, army, air force and even a detachment of soldiers in 18th-century Revolutionary War garb paraded in front of the White House. Artillery fired off a 21-gun salute, sending puffs of white smoke into the clear, chilly December sky.

Standing on a red-carpeted podium with Macron, Biden said “France is our oldest ally, our unwavering partner in freedom’s cause.”

The visit certainly symbolized how Washington and Paris have buried last year’s bitter spat over the way Australia pulled out of a French submarine deal in favor of acquiring US nuclear subs instead.

However, Macron has made clear, in unusually blunt language, that he wants to confront Biden over the issue of trade.

– Trade dispute –

On his first day of the visit Wednesday, when he toured NASA headquarters, Arlington National Cemetery and met US lawmakers, the French leader surprised his hosts with a bitter attack on Biden’s signature policy to boost the US green economy, saying it would “kill” European jobs.

The legislation, called the Inflation Reduction Act or IRA, is set to pour billions of dollars into environmentally friendly industries, with strong backing for US-based manufacturers. The White House touts the IRA as a groundbreaking effort to reignite US manufacturing and promote renewable technologies, while breaking Chinese dominance in the field.

However, European Union governments are crying foul, threatening to launch a trade war by subsidizing their own green economy sector.

Macron told Biden it is “extremely important precisely to have close coordination” as the US and EU forge ahead in the booming green economy.

Working towards a carbon neutral economy means “creating a lot of jobs, which means investing a lot in our economies, and we have to synchronize our action,” he said.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted that US advances in clean energy will help Europeans too, saying: “This is not a zero-sum game.”

And in their joint statement, Biden and Macron pledged that a US-European Union task force would aim to further strengthen their “partnership on clean energy and climate through mutually beneficial ways.”

– Menu and music –

Aside from the trade dispute fireworks, most of the visit revolves around kindling the long, if often slightly prickly US-French diplomatic friendship.

The state dinner at the White House will return grand-scale entertainment to Washington in a way not seen since the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the capital’s typically busy schmoozing scene.

Grammy-award-winning American musician Jon Batiste will perform at the banquet, which the White House said will kick off with butter-poached Maine lobster, paired with caviar, delicata squash raviolo and tarragon sauce.

The main course features beef and triple-cooked butter potatoes, before leading to the cheese course of award-winning US brands, and finally orange chiffon cake, roasted pears with citrus sauce and creme fraiche ice cream.

Washing all that down will be three different wines — all from US vineyards.