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Intentional, premeditated
In a prior editorial, this paper raised the possibility that the Chinese vessels hitting a Philippine Coast Guard ship and a resupply boat it was escorting to Ayungin Shoal in the West Philippine Sea might have been intentional. While we let readers read between the lines, factual narrations of the event tended to show how improbable it would have been for two separate collision incidents, involving several Chinese and Philippine vessels, to happen by accident in the wide expanse of ocean. The two collisions happened miles away from each other amid fair weather conditions with the sun shining brightly, thus neither poor visibility nor questionable seamanship could have been a factor in the incidents. As in most cases, the simplest explanations often prove to be the correct or accurate ones. In these incidents, the latest in China’s aggressive maneuvers in the WPS, the actions taken by the Chinese coast guard and militia vessels smacked of premeditation. On Monday, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro confirmed in a press briefing that the Chinese vessels “intentionally” hit the Philippine boats trying to resupply troops stationed on the intentionally grounded navy vessel, the BRP Sierra Madre. “While conducting legitimate rotation and resupply operations within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, Chinese coast guard and maritime militia vessels, in blatant violation of international law, harassed and intentionally hit the Unaiza May 2 and Philippine Coast Guard vessel BRP Cabra,” Teodoro said. It was a conclusion that would not have required the title Defense Secretary to make. Video footage and photos of the first incident showed a China Coast Guard ship chasing the very small resupply boat. As if the David-versus-Goliath affair were not enough, a second CCG vessel then cut off the boat. All the pieces of evidence considered, the word “collision” does not apply to the actions China took because this would presuppose the possibility of their being mere accidents. The operative word should be “bumped” or, if the incident resulted in grave damage to the Philippine vessels, “rammed.” The stern of the smaller resupply vessel and the bow of the Chinese coast guard ship were seen briefly touching in the video released by the Philippine military. According to a statement from the National Security Council, the supply boat sustained damage. It added that a second resupply boat was able to complete its mission to the BRP Sierra Madre. With the United States and Canada condemning China over the incident, the collision may not be the last or it may just be a portent of more serious “interactions” to come between China and the Philippines as both assert their respective sovereign claims in the WPS. If only to ensure peace in the Indo-Pacific region, countries that have pledged to conduct freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea should start doing so. The burden of checking Beijing’s expansionist designs in the region should be shared not only by other claimant nations, but by governments that benefit from the trillions of dollars in trade that pass annually through the South China Sea. We cannot expect the Philippines’ summoning of the Chinese ambassador over the incidents to amount to anything, except to register the country’s strong and continuing opposition to Beijing’s aggressive acts in the WPS. China can never claim Ayungin to be part of its sovereign waters because it lies 1,000 kilometers from its nearest major landmass, Hainan Island, while the shoal is only 200 kilometers from the western Philippine island of Palawan. This proximity of Ayungin Shoal to Palawan, along with other proof presented by the Philippines to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, was primarily considered by the court in ruling in favor of the Philippines in 2016. China had refused to recognize the arbitral ruling precisely because it did not go its way. In fact, the court declared as baseless China’s nine-dash line claim to nearly the entire South China Sea. CCG’s ramming of Philippine vessels is a calculated act of provocation. It is a message to the Philippines and the rest of the world that China is willing to use force to achieve its goals. Beijing’s actions are a threat to peace and stability in the South China Sea and the Asia-Pacific region. Nations must not allow China to succeed in its bullying tactics. The international community must take a stand and not allow China to undermine the rules-based order in the Asia-Pacific. The aggression being shown by Chinese maritime assets is a threat to the world, and must be stopped. The post Intentional, premeditated appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Scores killed in Gaza strikes as new aid convoy arrives
Scores of Palestinians were killed in central Gaza on Sunday after Israel stepped up its strikes on the war-torn enclave and another convoy of 17 aid trucks arrived as the Hamas-run territory faces "catastrophic" shortages. With the violence raging unchecked, Iran said the region could spiral "out of control". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a stark warning to Lebanon's Hezbollah, saying getting involved would be "the mistake of its life". Washington warned any actors looking to inflame the conflict that it would not hesitate to act in the event of any "escalation". Hamas militants in Gaza stormed across the border into Israel on 7 October, launching a raid that killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians who were shot, mutilated, or burnt to death on the first day, according to Israeli officials. They also seized more than 200 hostages in the worst-ever attack in Israel's history. Israel has hit back with a relentless bombing campaign that has so far killed more than 4,600 Palestinians, mainly civilians, according to Gaza's health ministry. Officials said the central town of Deir al-Balah had been particularly badly hit overnight from Saturday to Sunday. The ministry said at least 80 people had been killed in the overnight raids on central Gaza, which destroyed more than 30 homes. At the hospital morgue, an AFP journalist saw the bodies of many children on the bloodied floor, where distraught families wept as they identified the victims. Among them was a man clutching his dead toddler and a young boy who pulled back a blanket over his little sister's body. "My cousin was sleeping in his house with his daughter in his arms. He was a man with no record, nothing to do with the resistance," said Wael Wafi, gazing at the body of his cousin, his arm still wrapped around his three-year-old daughter Misk. Also Sunday, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said that 29 of its staff had been killed since the start of the war in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, saying half of them were teachers. On Saturday it had given a toll of 17. The scale of the bombing has left basic systems unable to function. The UN said dozens of unidentified bodies had been buried in a mass grave in Gaza City because cold storage had run out. Meanwhile, an Israeli soldier was killed near the Gaza border by an anti-tank missile fired by militants inside the enclave, the army said. 'Accident' as Israel hits Egypt post Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant warned the war with Hamas could take months. "It will take one month, two months, three months, and at the end, there will be no more Hamas," Gallant said. A second convoy of 17 trucks of aid entered Gaza from Egypt on Sunday following an initial delivery of 20 trucks on Saturday after intensive negotiations and US pressure. Separately, an AFP journalist saw six trucks leaving Rafah after filling up from dwindling fuel stocks held at the crossing as the enclave faces catastrophic shortages after Israel cut off supplies of food, water, fuel, and electricity. It later resumed water supplies to the south on 15 October. Although Egyptian media said another 40 trucks would enter Gaza on Monday, the UN says the enclave needs 100 trucks per day to meet the needs of Gaza's 2.4 million residents. And so far, there have been no deliveries of fuel, with UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini warning Sunday that supplies would run out "in three days". "Without fuel, there will be no water, no functioning hospitals, and... aid will not reach many civilians in desperate need," he said. The Hamas government said 165,000 housing units -- half of those in the entire Gaza Strip -- had been destroyed in the raids. With fears growing that the conflict could spread, Israel on Sunday admitted accidentally hitting an Egyptian border post, apologizing for the incident which Cairo said had left an unspecified number of border guards with "minor injuries". Risk of regional escalation There were fresh exchanges of fire over Israel's northern border with Lebanon as fears grew that Hezbollah, a close ally of Hamas and Iran, could enter the conflict, prompting Israel's Netanyahu to warn it would be "the mistake of its life". "We will strike it with a force it cannot even imagine, and the significance for it and the state of Lebanon will be devastating," he said. Iran also warned about the conflict spreading on Sunday, with top diplomat Hossein Amir-Abdollahian cautioning that if Washington and Israel did not "immediately stop the crime against humanity and genocide in Gaza.. the region will go out of control". But Washington said it wouldn't hesitate to act in the event of any "escalation", just hours after the Pentagon moved to step up military readiness in the region. "If any group or any country is looking to widen this conflict and take advantage of this very unfortunate situation that we see, our advice is: don't," US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on ABC News. On Sunday, Pope Francis used his weekly Angelus prayer in Rome to plead for an end to the bloodshed. "War is always a defeat, it is a destruction of human fraternity. Brothers, stop!" he said. He later held a 20-minute conversation with US President Joe Biden about "conflict situations in the world and the need to identify paths to peace", the Vatican said. Biden later discussed with war with the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, and Italy, the White House said. The US president also held talks with Netanyahu, said the White House, adding: "The leaders affirmed that there will now be continued flow of this critical assistance into Gaza." In Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron's office announced he would be traveling to Israel on Tuesday for talks with Netanyahu. Protesters marched in several European capitals on Sunday. At least 10,000 people rallied in support of Israel in Berlin as Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to stamp out a resurgence of anti-Semitic incidents linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict. Thousands gathered in Paris to demand an end to Israel's operation in Gaza, the first pro-Palestinian rally in the French capital that wasn't banned on security grounds. The post Scores killed in Gaza strikes as new aid convoy arrives appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Canada St Lawrence seaway workers strike
Workers who help thousands of freight shipments each year navigate Canada's St. Lawrence seaway connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean went on strike Sunday. In a statement, Unifor said the union representing some 360 workers and their employer, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation, remain "1,000 nautical miles apart" on wages. Observers suggested the strike effectively brings an early end to the shipping season on the waterway, which normally starts in March and ends with the first snow. Each year more than 4,000 vessels move through the system of locks, canals, and channels from Lake Erie to Montreal, transporting an estimated 35 million metric tons of grain, iron ore, and other cargoes. The seaway workers have been without a contract since their last collective agreement expired in March. "This impasse is extremely unfortunate," said Unifor national president Lana Payne, "But our members remain committed to getting a fair agreement." The St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation said only 100 vessels "outside the system" are currently affected by the strike, adding that none were waiting to exit the seaway. The non-profit corporation, which operates the seaway on behalf of the Canadian government, said employees' wage demands appeared to be patterned after current negotiations with autoworkers who had fallen behind inflation. It argued that its own staff had negotiated salaries well above inflation over the past two decades. The post Canada St Lawrence seaway workers strike appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
NATO naval drills begin as U.S.-Armenia exercise irks Moscow
Thirteen members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Sweden kicked off a naval exercise in the Baltic Sea on Saturday amid rising tensions with Russia as Moscow summoned Armenia’s ambassador over Yerevan’s planned war games with the United States military. About 3,200 soldiers from Italy, France, Finland, Estonia, Denmark, Canada, Belgium, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, the US and non-NATO member Sweden are taking part in the German-led Northern Coasts 23 exercise, Germany’s navy said in a statement. Thirty ships, submarines, up to 19 aircraft and various landing units are involved in the war games, it added. The exercise will take place off the coasts and on the territory of Latvia and Estonia. Russia regularly holds naval drills in the Baltic Sea, often in response to NATO exercises in the area. It last held drills in the area in early August. Meanwhile, Moscow’s foreign ministry said Friday the Armenian ambassador was given a “tough presentation” of Yerevan’s “series of unfriendly steps.” Armenia announced drills with the US military after its increasing criticism of Moscow’s role in the Nagorno-Karabakh standoff. Yerevan, a traditional Russian ally, has increasingly criticized Moscow’s peacekeeping mission in the Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan. Russia deployed peacekeepers to Karabakh as part of a Moscow-brokered deal to end a 2020 war between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Russian ministry also said that the Armenian prime minister’s wife traveled to Kyiv, Ukraine, which is at war with Russia, and Yerevan intended to join the International Criminal Court, which issued a warrant of arrest against Russian President Vladimir Putin for allegedly deporting Ukrainian children to his country. Despite the summoning, the foreign ministry stressed that Russia and Armenia “remain allies and all agreements on developing the strengthening of the partnership will be fulfilled.” WITH AFP The post NATO naval drills begin as U.S.-Armenia exercise irks Moscow appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Canada wildfires inflict brutal toll on tourism, other areas of economy
Joanna Schlosser found refuge from advancing wildfires at a winery where she works, but is now dealing with a tourism downturn and other wide-ranging fallout on the business -- and Canada's economy. An inferno jumped Okanagan Lake and was barreling down hills behind her Kelowna home when a knock on the door woke up the family of five, ordering them to leave immediately. For two weeks, they stayed at a guest house at Quails' Gate winery with other evacuees, some of whom lost their homes. About 200 houses in the valley would be destroyed. "Your home is your biggest investment and with only five minutes to get out you start to reel about things you left behind that you might not ever see again," Schlosser told AFP. She also fretted about the grape harvest now underway. None of the 222 wineries in the region reported any direct fire damage. But they suffered a big drop in revenues as tourists stayed away during the peak month of August. Kelowna's airport and main highway closed temporarily. Tasting tours, weddings, and other events at the wineries were canceled. "We're now facing a pretty devastating season in terms of winery traffic and sales," said Schlosser. Across Canada, more than 15 million hectares (37 million acres) have been scorched, and 200,000 people displaced, spanning from Halifax on the Atlantic coast to parts of the Northwest Territories. Stephen Brown of Capital Economics noted that forest fires do not normally have a measurable impact on the Canadian economy. But this year, he said in a research note, "With the fires so widespread, we are seeing more of an impact than usual." "The worst Canadian wildfires on record appear to be behind much of the recent weakness in GDP and, with more areas now under evacuation orders, the data are likely to remain weak in the coming months," he said. Sun blocked, roads closed Statistics Canada on Friday reported a 0.2 percent contraction in the second quarter and a weak start to the third. It pointed to wildfire disruptions at mines and oil facilities. Lumber mills were also idled. Outfitters saw their livelihoods upended by fishing bans. A road to Tofino, a tourist hotspot on Vancouver Island with ancient forests and sandy beaches, was cut off. In the Okanagan Valley, orchards lamented smoke blocking out the sun delaying the ripening of apples. The toll, however, is "not as bad as it could have been," said Tony Stillo at Oxford Economics. "Even though the wildfires are record-setting, they're happening in more remote areas with less of an implication for large population or economic centers or transportation corridors -- things that would cut off supply lines," he explained. Disruptions have also been relatively short. Oxford Economics in a June report warned that wildfires could slash Canada's economic growth this year by as much as 0.3 to 0.6 percentage points. Firefighting costs rise Ottawa estimates the annual cost of fighting wildfires at Can$1 billion (US$737 million) and noted that, according to the Canadian Climate Institute, climate impacts such as more and bigger fires could halve Canada's projected economic growth in the coming years. By 2030, the average annual losses from disasters are forecast to reach Can$15.4 billion. Insurance losses have already jumped fivefold since 2009 to more than Can$2 billion annually, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada. The bureau's Jason Clark said the number of catastrophic events and insurance payouts will continue to rise. Most worrying, he said, is that Canadians aren't dealing anymore with one localized disaster every few years or decades, but rather "several events stacked on top of each other in a single year" -- including fires, floods, heatwaves, and powerful storms. "Where countries regularly experience large losses it has a significant impact on insurance risk assessments and premiums," he said. "We need to be better prepared." Back at Quails' Gate, Schlosser assessed the smoke's impact on grapes, noting that the industry has developed mitigation techniques. "Sometimes it works quite well and others (the smoke taint) is just not something you can avoid," she said, adding that "sommeliers may talk about it in terms of terroir like it's part of that vintage." Smoke taint can add character to a wine, but also risks producing overpowering burnt or medicinal notes. The post Canada wildfires inflict brutal toll on tourism, other areas of economy appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Canada’s far north speeds up evacuations as fire approaches main city
Residents of Yellowknife in Canada's far north on Friday raced to evacuate ahead of a midday deadline as wildfires bear down on the remote city and other parts of the vast country. Since authorities in the Northwest Territories issued the city-wide evacuation order late Wednesday, long lines of cars have snaked along the lone highway connecting the area to Alberta province to the south ahead of the 12:00 pm (1800 GMT) cutoff. About 1,500 people have so far left Yellowknife, the regional capital, by plane, with an increased number of flights scheduled Friday to evacuate more of the city's 20,000 residents. The nearest evacuation center is 1,150 kilometers (700 miles) away, in Alberta, where several sites have been set up. Crews have scrambled to erect fire barriers as the flames approached Yellowknife, while water bombers have been seen flying low over the city and swooping in to fill up at a nearby lake. Northwest winds over the next two days will send the fire, already close to the city's perimeter, "in directions we don't want," Northwest Territories' fire information officer Mike Westwick said Thursday. Several military aircraft have already been dispatched, along with more than 120 soldiers to help beat back the flames. In what had already been declared the Northwest Territories' largest-ever evacuation, the emptying of Yellowknife now means half the population of the near-Arctic territory will soon be displaced. Several towns and Indigenous communities were also already under evacuation orders. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau interrupted his summer vacation Thursday to convene an incident response group. In British Columbia in western Canada, evacuation orders were also put in place for areas near Kelowna, as a different fire threatened the city of around 150,000. Scientists say human-caused global warming is exacerbating natural hazards, making them both more frequent and more deadly. The evacuation of Yellowknife is the second time a sizeable Canadian city has been cleared due to wildfires since 100,000 residents of Fort McMurray in Alberta's oil and gas-producing heartland were forced out in 2016. Earlier this year, suburbs of Halifax on the Atlantic coast were also evacuated. Canada is experiencing a record-setting wildfire season, with official estimates of over 13.7 million hectares (33.9 million acres) already scorched. Four people have died so far. Waves of smoke have also intermittently descended on the United States, prompting several air alert warnings in large swaths of the country's center and east. The Yellowknife evacuation comes amid heightened awareness about the deadly speed of wildfires after a town on the Hawaiian island of Maui was razed by a fast-moving inferno, killing more than 100 people. The post Canada’s far north speeds up evacuations as fire approaches main city appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Canada wildfires have burned over 10 mn hectares this year
Canadian wildfires have burned more than 10 million hectares (24.7 million acres) this year, a record-breaking figure that has surpassed scientists' most pessimistic predictions, government data showed Saturday. The prior all-time high occurred in 1989 when 7.3 million hectares were burned over the course of an entire year, according to national figures from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. The area burned this year, in just six and a half months, is roughly equivalent to the size of Portugal or Iceland. In total, 4,088 fires have occurred since January, including many blazes that have scorched hundreds of thousands of hectares. More than 150,000 people have been displaced, and a 19-year-old firefighter died Thursday. "We're dealing with immense areas," Colonel Philippe Sansa, who heads a detachment of French firefighters deployed in hard-hit northern Quebec, told AFP. "The fire we're managing is 65 kilometers (40 miles) long, which poses enormous organizational challenges." Sansa said his team, in France, would be able to deploy far more firefighters and helicopters on a blaze 100 times smaller. The majority of fires have occurred far from inhabited areas -- but they still have serious consequences for the environment. "We find ourselves this year with figures that are worse than our most pessimistic scenarios," Yan Boulanger, a researcher at Canada's natural resources ministry, told AFP. "What has been completely crazy is that there has been no respite since the beginning of May," he said. As of Saturday, there were 906 active fires in the country, including 570 deemed out of control -- with no province spared. The dire situation has shifted across the country in recent months: In May, at the beginning of the wildfire season, Alberta in the west was the center of attention, with unprecedented blazes. Several weeks later, Nova Scotia, an Atlantic province with a mild climate, took up the baton, followed by Quebec, where huge fires created plumes of smoke that even blanketed parts of the United States. Since the beginning of July, the situation has taken a dramatic turn in British Columbia, with more than 250 fires starting in just three days last week, mostly triggered by lightning. Much of Canada is suffering from severe drought, with months of below-average rainfall and warm temperatures. The country is warming faster than the rest of the planet because of its geography, and has been confronted with extreme weather events whose intensity and frequency have increased due to climate change, scientists say. The vast green ring of forests in the planet's northern regions -- including Canada -- is vital to the Earth's health. And given the density of underbrush, wildfires in the north can liberate far more carbon per area burned than some other ecosystems -- thereby further contributing to the planet's warming, in a vicious circle. The post Canada wildfires have burned over 10 mn hectares this year appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Canada opens investigation of Titanic sub implosion
Montreal, Canada —Canadian authorities on Saturday began a probe into the implosion of the Titan submersible, whose disappearance near the wreckage of the Titanic with five men aboard had set off a multinational search-and-rescue operation. "Our mandate is to find out what happened and why and to find out what needs to change to reduce the chance or the risk of such occurrences in the future," said Transportation Safety Board (TSB) chair Kathy Fox. "We know everybody wants answers, particularly the families and the public," she told reporters in St. John's, Newfoundland. The full probe could take between 18 months to two years. TSB investigators on Saturday boarded the Canadian-flagged Polar Price cargo ship, which had set sail from St. John's last weekend to bring the ill-fated Titan to its launch point in the North Atlantic. The Transportation Safety Board routinely probes air, rail, marine, and pipeline accidents with the aim of improving transportation safety. It does not assign fault or determine civil or criminal liability. The US Coast Guard said Thursday that all five people aboard the submersible had died after the vessel suffered a "catastrophic implosion." A debris field was found on the seafloor, 1,600 feet (500 meters) from the bow of the Titanic. Meanwhile, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) was looking into whether any criminal laws had been broken in the chain of events that led to the deaths of the Titan adventurers. The investigators' job is to determine "whether or not a full investigation by the RCMP is warranted," said Newfoundland and Labrador Superintendent Kent Osmond. "Such an investigation will proceed only if our examination of circumstances indicates criminal federal or provincial laws may possibly have been broken." jle/acb/tjj © Agence France-Presse The post Canada opens investigation of Titanic sub implosion appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Canada probing Titan’s deadly implosion
Canadian authorities announced Friday that they would investigate the loss of the submersible Titan and five people aboard during a dive to the Titanic wreck earlier this week. The Titan was towed out to sea by the Canadian-flagged Polar Prince cargo ship last weekend, but contact was lost about an hour and 45 minutes after the submersible launched into the ocean depths. The Canadian Transportation Safety Board said it would “conduct a safety investigation regarding the circumstances of this operation.” All five occupants of the submersible perished, according to a statement released by the US Coast Guard on Thursday, after it experienced a “catastrophic implosion.” A debris field was found on the seafloor, 1,600 feet (500 meters) from the bow of the Titanic. The somber announcement brought to an end a global search and rescue effort that had captured the world’s attention ever since the small tourist vessel vanished in the North Atlantic four days earlier. The Transportation Safety Board routinely probes air, rail, marine and pipeline accidents with the aim of improving transportation safety. It does not assign fault or determine civil or criminal liability. The independent agency said it has sent investigators to St. John’s, Newfoundland, from where the Polar Prince set sail, “to gather information, conduct interviews, and assess the occurrence.” “In the coming days, we will coordinate our activities with other agencies involved,” it added in a statement. The post Canada probing Titan’s deadly implosion appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
All five on Titanic sub dead after ‘catastrophic’ implosion
All five people aboard a submersible missing near the wreck of the Titanic died -- likely in an instant -- after their vessel suffered what the US Coast Guard said Thursday was a "catastrophic implosion" in the ocean depths. The somber announcement ended a multinational search-and-rescue operation that captivated the world since the tiny tourist craft went missing in the North Atlantic four days ago. Rear Admiral John Mauger told reporters in Boston that analysis showed debris found on the seafloor, 1,600 feet (500 meters) from the bow of the Titanic, was consistent with the implosion of the sub's pressure chamber. "On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families," Mauger said. On board were British explorer Hamish Harding, French submarine expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Pakistani-British tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman, and Stockton Rush, CEO of the sub's operator OceanGate Expeditions. OceanGate said its "hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time." "These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans," it said in a statement. The Coast Guard announced earlier Thursday that an underwater robot had discovered a "debris field" in the search area. 'Unforgiving environment' Authorities said they later learned the pieces included the sub's tail cone and front and back ends of its pressure hull. Mauger said the Coast Guard could not be sure when or why the vessel imploded and declined to be drawn on whether remains of the men would be retrieved. "This is an incredibly unforgiving environment down there on the seafloor," he said. The process of demobilizing personnel and vessels from the scene would soon begin, but unmanned robots would continue operations on the seabed for now, Mauger added. "We'll collect as much information as we can," he said. The US military originally detected the likely implosion of the craft on secret underwater sound monitoring devices shortly after it went missing on Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. "The US Navy conducted an analysis of acoustic data and detected an anomaly consistent with an implosion or explosion in the general vicinity of where the Titan submersible was operating when communications were lost," an unnamed senior Navy official told the Journal. The small sub named Titan disappeared on Sunday as it descended to the Titanic, which sits more than two miles (nearly four kilometers) below the ocean's surface and 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. OceanGate Expeditions charged $250,000 for a seat on the sub. In a 2018 lawsuit, its former director of marine operations raised concerns about the "experimental and untested design" of Titan. Harding was a billionaire and keen explorer with three Guinness Records to his name, while the Dawoods belonged to one of Pakistan's richest families. Nargeolet was nicknamed "Mr Titanic" for his frequent dives at the site. Harding's family paid tribute to the aviation tycoon in a statement, saying he was a "passionate explorer" as well as a "loving husband and a dedicated father to his two sons." "What he achieved in his lifetime was truly remarkable and if we can take any small consolation from this tragedy, it's that we lost him doing what he loved," the family said. The Dawoods' loved ones also expressed their "profound grief" at their loss in a brief statement. The British and Pakistani governments expressed their "deepest condolences" to all the men's families. Titanic's lure The 21-foot (6.5-meter) Titan had been due to resurface seven hours after beginning its descent at 8:00 am on Sunday. But the craft lost communication with its mothership less than two hours in. Ships and planes from the US and Canadian coast guards, as well as a robot sent from France, scoured 10,000 square miles (around 20,000 square kilometers) of surface water -- roughly the size of the US state of Massachusetts -- for the vessel. The search honed in on areas where underwater banging noises were detected late Tuesday and Wednesday. But Mauger said that ultimately the sounds did not appear to have any relation to the site of the debris. The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in 1912 during its maiden voyage from England to New York with 2,224 passengers and crew on board. More than 1,500 people died. It was found in 1985 and remains a lure for nautical experts and underwater tourists. The pressure at that depth as measured in atmospheres is 400 times what it is at sea level. Marine scientist and oceanographer David Mearns, who specializes in deep water search and recovery operations, said earlier the debris discovery indicated a rapid breakup of the submersible. "The only saving grace about that is that it would have been immediate, literally in milliseconds, and the men would have had no idea what was happening," Mearns, who was friends with two of those onboard, told Sky News. The post All five on Titanic sub dead after ‘catastrophic’ implosion appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Titan sub: what is a ‘catastrophic implosion’?
A "catastrophic implosion," such as that believed to have destroyed the Titan submersible, would have happened with incredible force and speed given the crushing water pressure on the floor of the ocean. The remains of the Titanic rest on the seabed in the North Atlantic at a depth of some 3,800 meters (12,400 feet). At sea level, atmospheric pressure is 14.7 pounds per square inch (psi). Water pressure at the depth where the ocean liner lies is equivalent to around 400 atmospheres, nearly 6,000 psi. As a comparison, the bite of a large great white shark exerts a force of nearly 4,000 psi, according to Scientific American. In an implosion caused by a defect in the hull or for some other reason, the submersible would collapse in on itself in milliseconds, crushed by the immense water pressure. Death would be virtually instantaneous for the occupants of the pressurized chamber. The Titan, built by OceanGate Inc. of Everett, Washington, was designed to sustain the extreme water pressure at the depth of the Titanic and had made previous dives to the wreck. But safety concerns had been raised, most notably in a lawsuit involving OceanGate's former director of marine operations, David Lochridge, who was fired in 2018 after warning about the Titan's "experimental" carbon fiber hull. Roderick Smith, an engineering professor at Imperial College, London, said the accident was likely due to a "failure of the pressure hull," but debris will need to be recovered to carry out a full investigation. And even then it may be difficult to pinpoint the cause. "The violence of the implosion means that it may be very difficult to determine the sequence of events," Smith said. The post Titan sub: what is a ‘catastrophic implosion’? appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Desperate search for sub near Titanic with about 40 hours of oxygen left
Rescue teams raced against time Tuesday to find a deep-diving tourist submersible that went missing near the wreck of the Titanic with five people on board and an estimated 40 hours of oxygen left. All communication was lost with the 21-foot (6.5-meter) Titan craft during a descent Sunday to the Titanic, which sits more than two miles (nearly four kilometers) below the surface of the North Atlantic. The submersible was carrying three fee-paying passengers -- British billionaire Hamish Harding, and Pakistani tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman. The US and Canadian Coast Guards have deployed ships and planes in an intensive search for the vessel, which was attempting to dive near the wreck of the Titanic some 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick told reporters that the rescue efforts over an area of 7,600 square miles, larger than the US state of Connecticut, "have not yielded any results." "There's about 40 hours of breathable air left based on that initial report," he said referring to the sub's capacity to hold up to 96 hours of oxygen. A P-3 plane from Canada dropped sonar buoys in the area of the Titanic wreckage to listen for any sound from the small sub. The search, initially restricted to the ocean's surface, was expanded underwater on Tuesday. France's oceanographic institute said it was sending a deep-sea underwater robot to aid efforts. In an Instagram message posted just before the dive, Harding said a mission window had opened after days of bad weather. Among the crew he named was Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a veteran diver and expert on the Titanic wreck. Unconfirmed reports said the fifth person on board was Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions which operates the tourist dives. The Titan lost contact with the surface less than two hours into its descent, according to authorities. "We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely. Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families," OceanGate said in a statement. Mike Reiss, an American television writer who visited the Titanic wreck on the same sub last year, told the BBC the experience was disorientating. The pressure at that depth as measured in atmospheres is 400 times what it is at sea level. "The compass immediately stopped working and was just spinning around and so we had to flail around blindly at the bottom of the ocean, knowing the Titanic was somewhere there," Reiss said. Legendary explorers He told the BBC that everyone was aware of the dangers. "You sign a waiver before you get on and it mentions death three different times on page one" OceanGate Expeditions charges $250,000 for a seat on the Titan. Harding, a 58-year-old aviator, space tourist, and chairman of Action Aviation, is no stranger to daredevil antics and has three Guinness world records to his name. A year ago, he became a space tourist through Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin company. In his Instagram post, Harding said how proud he was to be part of the latest mission. "Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023," he wrote. "The team on the sub has a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s including PH Nargeolet," the post added. Shahzada and Suleman Dawood hail from one of Pakistan's richest families that runs an investment and holding company headquartered in Karachi. Shahzada is the vice chairman of the subsidiary company Engro, which has an array of investments in energy, agriculture, petrochemicals, and telecommunications. Clock is ticking The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in 1912 during its maiden voyage from England to New York with 2,224 passengers and crew on board. More than 1,500 people died. It was found in 1985 and remains a lure for nautical experts and underwater tourists. Without having studied the lost craft itself, Alistair Greig, professor of marine engineering at University College London, suggested two possible scenarios based on images of the Titan published by the press. He said if it had an electrical or communications problem, it could have surfaced and remained floating, "waiting to be found" -- bearing in mind the vessel can reportedly be unlocked from the outside only. "Another scenario is the pressure hull was compromised -- a leak," he said in a statement. "Then the prognosis is not good." There are few vessels able to go to the depth to which the Titan might have traveled. "The clock is ticking... going undersea is as, if not more, challenging than going into space from an engineering perspective," said University of Adelaide associate professor Eric Fusil in a statement. The post Desperate search for sub near Titanic with about 40 hours of oxygen left appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Rescue teams search for missing submersible near Titanic wreck
Rescue teams raced against time on Tuesday in their search for a tourist submersible that went missing near the wreck of the Titanic with five people on board. One of the passengers has been identified as British businessman Hamish Harding, whose aviation firm had posted on social media about his expedition. Prominent Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood, who is vice-chairman of the conglomerate Engro, and his son Suleman were also on board, a family statement said. The 21-foot (6.5-meter) craft, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, began its descent to the wreck on Sunday but lost contact with the surface less than two hours later, according to authorities. "As of now, contact has been lost with their submersible craft and there is limited information available," the Dawood family statement said. "We are very grateful for the concern being shown by our colleagues and friends and would like to request everyone to pray for their safety," it added. The US Coast Guard had launched two planes to survey the remote area in the North Atlantic, while its Canadian counterparts had sent a plane and a ship. Time is a critical factor. The vessel has a range of 96 hours for the crew of five, and US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger said Monday afternoon that he believed it still had 70 or more hours of oxygen remaining. "It is a challenge to conduct a search in that remote area, but we are deploying all available assets to make sure that we can locate the craft and rescue the people on board," Mauger told reporters in Boston on Monday. But with no reported sightings of the vessel or communication signals throughout the day, the US Coast Guard halted its flights for the day. It said search operations through the night would be led by the US National Guard and the mission's operator. The Coast Guard added that searches by Canadian aircraft, which were using buoys to scan underneath the surface, would continue on Tuesday morning. An OceanGate Expeditions spokesperson told AFP in a statement late Monday that "for some time, we have been unable to establish communications with one of our submersible exploration vehicles which is currently visiting the wreck site of the Titanic." "Our entire focus is on the wellbeing of the crew and every step possible is being taken to bring the five crew members back safely." The company uses a submersible named Titan for its dives to the Titanic wreck, with seats priced at $250,000, according to its website. Harding, a 58-year-old aviator, space tourist and chairman of Action Aviation, had posted Sunday on his Instagram account that he was proud to join OceanGate's Titanic mission. "Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023," he wrote. Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a veteran diver and expert on the Titanic wreck, was also part of the Titan crew, Harding said in his post. "The team on the sub has a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s including PH Nargeolet," the post says. Action Aviation posted Sunday on Twitter that "the sub had a successful launch and Hamish is currently diving," and included several photographs of Harding and mission staff on the surface. - 'Clock is ticking' - The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in 1912 during its maiden voyage from England to New York with 2,224 passengers and crew on board. More than 1,500 people died. The wreckage is in two main pieces 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, some 13,000 feet underwater. It was found in 1985 and remains a source of fascination and a lure for nautical experts and underwater tourists. Without having studied the craft itself, Alistair Greig, professor of marine engineering at University College London, suggested two possible theories based on images of the vessel published by the press. He said if it had an electrical or communications problem, it could have surfaced and remained floating, "waiting to be found." "Another scenario is the pressure hull was compromised -– a leak," he said in a statement. "Then the prognosis is not good." While the submersible may still be intact during its dive, "there are very few vessels" able to go to the depth to which the Titan might have traveled. "The clock is ticking, and any submariner/submersible deep divers know how unforgiving the Abyssal domain is: going undersea is as, if not more, challenging than going into space from an engineering perspective," said University of Adelaide associate professor Eric Fusil in a statement. iba/nro/mlm/des/dhw/sco © Agence France-Presse Add to cart Print Download Share this document The post Rescue teams search for missing submersible near Titanic wreck appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Underwater vessel exploring Titanic wreck declared missing
A submersible vessel carrying five people to see the Titanic's wreckage in the North Atlantic has gone missing, triggering a multinational search-and-rescue operation, US and Canadian authorities said Monday. The vessel, operated by OceanGate Expeditions, began its descent on Sunday morning and lost contact with the surface less than two hours later, the US Coast Guard said on Twitter. One of those onboard is believed to be a British aviator after he posted on social media about joining the expedition beforehand. The US Coast Guard said in a statement Monday that one of its aircraft was "searching for five persons after the Canadian research vessel Polar Prince lost contact with their submersible during a dive, approximately 900 miles (1,450 kilometers) east of Cape Cod." The Canadian Coast Guard said it too is taking part in the search effort with a fixed-wing plane and a ship sent to the search area. On its website, OceanGate Expedition says a dive expedition to the Titanic site was "currently underway." The company says it uses a submersible named Titan for its dives to a maximum depth of 4,000 meters (13,100 feet). It has a range of 96 hours for a crew of five. In a statement quoted by CBS News and other media outlets, OceanGate Expeditions said: "Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families." British billionaire and aviator Hamish Harding had on Sunday posted on his Instagram account that he was "proud to finally announce" he had joined the OceanGate Expedition "for their RMS TITANIC Mission as a mission specialist on the sub going down to the Titanic." "Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023," added the 58-year-old aviator. "A weather window has just opened up and we are going to attempt a dive tomorrow." It was not known who else was on board. Harding wrote that "the team on the sub has a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s." OceanGate was not immediately reachable, and Harding's company Action Aviation, contacted by AFP, declined to comment. Different scenarios In its statement, OceanGate added that it was "deeply thankful for the extensive assistance we have received from several government agencies and deep sea companies in our efforts to reestablish contact with the submersible." The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in 1912 during its maiden voyage from England to New York with 2,224 passengers and crew on board. More than 1,500 people died in the tragedy. The wreckage is in two main pieces 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, under 12,500 feet of water. It was found in 1985 and remains a source of fascination and a lure for nautical experts and underwater tourists. Without having studied the craft itself, Alistair Greig, professor of marine engineering at University College London, suggested two possible theories based on images of the vessel published by the press. He said if it had an electrical or communications problem, it could have surfaced and remained floating, "waiting to be found." "Another scenario is the pressure hull was compromised -– a leak," he said in a statement. "Then the prognosis is not good." While the submersible may still be intact during its dive, "there are very few vessels" able to go to the depth to which the Titan might have traveled. The post Underwater vessel exploring Titanic wreck declared missing appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Thousands ordered to flee advancing wildfires in Quebec
Canada is facing a catastrophic spring wildfire season with massive and powerful blazes out of control in all corners of the country, and thousands more people displaced on Friday. "This is a scary time for a lot of people from coast to coast to coast," said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, alluding to the vastness of a nation on fire stretching from the Pacific to the Atlantic to the Arctic oceans. Some 10,000 people on Friday were ordered to evacuate from Sept Iles in Quebec in the face of advancing wildfires. Steve Beaupre, mayor of the small city on the St. Lawrence River, declared a local state of emergency and announced the mandatory evacuation after nearby wildfires "advanced very quickly" overnight. Residents were told in the morning to vacate their homes by 4 pm local time (2100 GMT). Stephane Lauzon, a member of Parliament from Quebec, told a news conference in Ottawa that as many as 10,000 residents, or one-third of the population of Sept Iles, would be displaced. This followed the evacuation on Thursday of 500 residents of Chapais in the north of the province. "The situation is quickly changing in Quebec," Lauzon said, adding that about 100 fires, "many more than yesterday," were burning in the province, including about 20 out of control. Canada has been hit repeatedly by extreme weather in recent years, the intensity and frequency of which have increased due to global warming. Across Canada more than 210 fires were burning on Friday after scorching more than 2.7 million hectares (6.7 million acres). A total of 29,000 people had been evacuated before Friday's order. After major flareups in the west of the country in May, notably in the Prairies provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, firefighting shifted in the past week to Nova Scotia on the Atlantic coast. Officials hoped rain and cooler temperatures in forecasts for the weekend following a record-breaking heat wave will bring relief. "Weather has favoured the fires all week, not the firefighters. We're hopeful that this will soon change," Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston told a briefing. "We need rain. Hopefully that rain comes in sufficient amounts this weekend." Almost 1,000 firefighters from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United States also arrived or were en route to bolster firefighting efforts. And Ottawa was deploying the military in Nova Scotia and Quebec to help out, officials said. In Halifax, the largest city in Nova Scotia, busloads of suburban residents were taken on tours for a first glimpse of devastated neighborhoods. In a video shared by local media, people on the bus could be heard trying to identify items burned or melted. "I think that was my car," a woman says when it stops at the end of a long driveway. Jason Young told reporters it was "pretty surreal" to see the blackened wooded lots and smoking debris. "The house is gone. The shed is gone. Everything's gone. On our property, there's nothing left. It's completely gone," he said. Others weren't ready yet to take it all in. "If I see my property I want to do it with my family, by ourselves, and be able to physically go in and (maybe) sort through stuff," Jody Stuart said, aware that he has lost everything. About 200 homes, as well as a wooden bridge and a historic private Halifax club founded in 1908, have been destroyed and nearly 20,000 residents have been displaced by wildfires in Nova Scotia. A few were allowed to return home on Friday after more than a week away. Houston lamented the "many, many lives turned upside down" by fires, noting a number of people "responding to the fires are evacuees themselves and it's absolutely heartbreaking." But he also expressed solace: "Though all this despair, zero deaths, zero missing persons, zero serious injuries." The post Thousands ordered to flee advancing wildfires in Quebec appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Aviation reviewer recognizes world’s 25 excellent airlines
Aviation reviewer AirlineRatings ranked the 25 best excellent airlines in the world. In the 25 Airline Excellence Awards list it issued on Wednesday, Air New Zealand was rated number one, followed by Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, Korean Air, and Singapore Airlines in second to fifth place, respectively. The sixth to 25th spots went to Qantas, Virgin Australia/Virgin Atlantic, EVA Air, Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates, Lufthansa/Swiss, SAS, TAP Portugal, All Nippon Airways, Delta Air Lines, Air Canada, British Airways, Jet Blue, JAL, Vietnam Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Hawaiian, KLM, Alaska Airlines, and United Airlines. AirlineRatings has adopted a unique seven-star rating system to evaluate more than 360 airlines across the globe every year. The Airline Excellence Awards, judged by experienced editors, with the following key criteria including fleet age, profitability, investment rating, product and service offerings, staff relations, and passenger reviews, among others. The post Aviation reviewer recognizes world’s 25 excellent airlines appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Titanic shipwreck captured in first full digital scan
The first full-sized 3D scan of the Titanic shipwreck published on Wednesday may reveal more details about the ocean liner's fateful journey across the Atlantic more than a century ago. The high-resolution images, published by the BBC, reconstruct the wreck that lies at a depth of nearly 4,000 meters (13,100 feet) in great detail and were created using deep-sea mapping. The luxury passenger liner sank after colliding with an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York in April 1912, leaving more than 1,500 dead. The shipwreck has been explored extensively since it was first discovered in 1985 around 650 kilometers (400 miles) off the coast of Canada, but cameras were never able to capture the ship in its entirety. The reconstruction was carried out in 2022 by deep-sea mapping company Magellan Ltd and Atlantic Productions, who are making a documentary about the project. Submersibles remotely controlled from a specialist ship spent over 200 hours surveying the wreck at the bottom of the Atlantic, taking over 700,000 images to create the scan. Magellan's Gerhard Seiffert, who led the planning for the expedition, told the BBC they were not allowed to touch anything "so as not to damage the wreck". "The other challenge is that you have to map every square centimeter -- even uninteresting parts, like on the debris field you have to map mud, but you need this to fill in between all these interesting objects," Seiffert said. The images show the wreck -- its stern and bow lying apart surrounded by debris -- as if it were lifted from the water, revealing even the smallest details, like the serial number on one of the propellers. The new scans may shed more light on what exactly happened to the liner with historians and scientists racing against time as the ships is disintegrating. "Now we are finally getting to see Titanic without human interpretation, derived directly from evidence and data," Parks Stephenson, who has studied the Titanic for many years, told the BBC. Stephenson said there is "still much to learn" from the wreck, which is "essentially the last surviving eyewitness to the disaster". "And she has stories to tell," he added. The post Titanic shipwreck captured in first full digital scan appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Sun Life, Pru Life offer new insurance products
Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc. has partnered with telehealth firm Kitika Mobile Healthcare Inc. for a personal accident coverage offer......»»
Koepka among those who have to catch up in FedEx Cup
By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer The question was perplexing to Brooks Koepka, perhaps because it was missing specific context or because it takes a lot to make him worry. He was asked going into the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head if he felt any sense of urgency. “Urgency for what?” he replied. Koepka missed three months after a knee injury in October when he slipped on wet concrete at the CJ Cup in South Korea and had to withdraw. When he returned, he played five times — his only top-20 finish was a tie for 17th in Saudi Arabia — and then the COVID-19 pandemic shut down golf for three months. Having played only four PGA Tour events, he was No. 213 in the FedEx Cup standings. The only time he didn’t make it to East Lake for the FedEx Cup finale was in 2015, when he missed a month with an ankle injury. He finished 35th. Koepka was unaware that history is working against him this year. In the last 10 years, Jim Furyk is the only player to be outside the top 200 in the FedEx Cup standings with nine events remaining and reach the postseason. “I just go play golf, just keep doing what I’m doing,” Koepka said that day. “I feel like I’m playing good, so eventually it will come.” He closed with a 65 at Harbour Town to finish seventh and moved up 56 spots to No. 148. And then he withdrew the following week from the Travelers Championship out of caution when his caddie, Ricky Elliott, tested positive for the coronavirus. He returns to the Workday Charity Open this week having slipped seven spots to No. 155. Six tournaments are on the schedule between now and the start of the FedEx Cup playoffs. Furyk in 2016 turned it around with a runner-up finish at the U.S. Open. Only one major and one World Golf Championship remain on the schedule. Koepka has company in that regard. British Open champion Shane Lowry spent most of his time on the European Tour late last year and into the first month of 2020, so he has only seven starts on the PGA Tour and is at No. 148. C.T. Pan, who played in the Presidents Cup, has missed seven of nine cuts since January and is No. 182. Sergio Garcia is at No. 122. One week can change everything. Dustin Johnson, who missed the entire fall recovering from knee surgery, was off to a slow start before the pandemic and missed the cut at Colonial upon his return. Two weeks later, he won the Travelers Championship and moved up to No. 22. Koepka still has the World Golf Championship at TPC Southwind, where he won last year, and the PGA Championship, where he tries to become the first player to win three straight times in stroke play. There is time. Plus, he's not one to sweat such matters. BONES ON THE BAG Matt Fitzpatrick came over from England for the restart of the PGA Tour, and caddie Billy Foster stayed behind. The idea was for Fitzpatrick to get used to the protocols, and then Foster would join him for the World Golf Championship in Memphis, Tennessee, and the PGA Championship in San Francisco. Fitzpatrick used Cayce Kerr for three tournaments. And then he got an offer he couldn’t refuse for two weeks at Muirfield Village: Jim “Bones” Mackay, the longtime looper for Phil Mickelson who now does course commentary for NBC Sports. “I was absolutely shocked,” Fitzpatrick said. “Everyone knows his place in the game and how well he’s done. Even just walking around here, people are excited to see him back and on tour. For me, I was very taken aback.” It wasn’t an accident. Fitzpatrick has an endorsement with Workday, whose CEO knows Mackay and suggested he reach out to Fitzpatrick. They will be working together the next two weeks at the Workday Charity Open and the Memorial. LET’S PLAY TWO Muirfield Village is hosting different PGA Tour events in consecutive weeks, which hasn’t happened in 63 years. The last time was in 1957, when Roberto de Vicenzo won the All American Open against an 83-man field at Tam O’Shanter Club in Illinois. Dick Mayer won the World Championship of Golf on the same course a week later. That was the 10th straight season that the All American Open and World Championship of Golf were held at Tam O’Shanter in successive weeks. Lloyd Mangrum was the only player to win both events in the same year (1948). According to the PGA Tour, there was one other tournament held on the same course in back-to-back weeks. That was in 1956, when the Dallas Centennial Open and the Texas International Open were held at Preston Hollow to coincide with the 100-year anniversary of Dallas being founded. Both events were never played again. DRIVE ON Maybe some of the PGA Tour players should borrow the “Drive On” slogan from the LPGA Tour. That’s all they’ve been doing since the restart last month in Texas. Russell Knox drove his RV from the north Florida coast to Colonial, and then back toward the Atlantic coast to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. From there, he and his wife went north to Connecticut to the Travelers Championship. At that point, they hired a driver (they were passengers) for the trip to Detroit, and now they’re in Ohio. But they had company. One of his closest friends on tour, Brian Stuard, also bought an RV. “We’ve been traveling along with him,” Stuard said. “Decided to do it and really enjoy it so far. Not sure if we’re going to continue to do that. Those were some long drives. But it’s worth it once you get it there.” And then there’s Viktor Hovland. The Norwegian played at Oklahoma State and still lives in Stillwater, so he decided to take the four-hour drive to Colonial. “Then I just kept on thinking, ‘Well, what if I just take my car to all these tournaments?’ I looked it up, it’s 16 hours to Hilton Head. It’s 13 hours to Connecticut. ... Yeah, been having a lot of fun so far.” He drove through the night from Fort Worth, Texas, to Hilton Head and didn’t feel great when he arrived. He took in some views from Connecticut to Detroit. “It’s really nice just driving through New York and Pennsylvania,” he said. “It’s really hilly and a lot of cool views on the way.” DIVOTS Matt Fitzpatrick is hopeful fans will return, especially for the Masters — not so much for him, but his parents. “I know my parents really want to come watch that one,” he said. ... The Senior British Open, canceled this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, will remain at Sunningdale next year. ... After his victory in Detroit, Bryson DeChambeau was listed as the betting favorite over Rory McIlroy in the three majors this year. STAT OF THE WEEK The last three PGA Tour events were won by players from the top 10 in world — Webb Simpson (9) at Hilton Head, Dustin Johnson (6) at Hartford and Bryson DeChambeau (10) at Detroit. The last time that happened was in the summer of 2018 when Johnson (1) won the Canadian Open, Justin Thomas (3) won the Bridgestone Invitational and Brooks Koepka (4) won the PGA Championship. FINAL WORD “I’ll be devastated if I don’t play well.” — Charles Barkley on playing the American Century Championship for celebrities......»»
Complete gear ko : Jennylyn Mercado figures in motorcycle accident
Kapuso star Jennylyn Mercado was involved in a motorcycle accident recently. .....»»