ID :
120722
Fri, 05/07/2010 - 15:00
Auther :

Freed Russian tanker to call at port, sail on to China.



MOSCOW, May 7 (Itar-Tass) -- The Russian tanker Moscow University that
was hijacked by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden and freed by commandos
from the Marshal Shaposhnikov warship is ready to sail on to China, but
will first call at a nearby port for supplies.
"The tanker will sail on after receiving the necessary supplies in a
nearby port," tanker's owner, Novoship Company, said on Thursday.
"Captain Yuri Tulchinsky confirmed all crewmembers are in good health
and ready to continue the voyage," it said.
The 23-member crew survived the 20-hour siege by hiding in a safe room
that was inaccessible to the hijackers. The tanker carries crude oil worth
$52 million.

.Australian pilots helped detect pirated Russian tanker.

WASHINGTON, May 7 (Itar-Tass) -- An Australian P3 patrol aircraft
assisted in the safe rescue of a pirated Russian vessel in the Gulf of
Aden on Thursday, the Bahrain-based Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) said.
The aircraft was dispatched to locate MV Moscow University, a
Liberian-flagged, Russian-owned 240-meter crude oil tanker that came under
pirate attack on Wednesday.
After locating the vessel and sharing its position with the Russian
Marshal Shaposhnikov warship, the tanker was subsequently boarded by a
Russian team and the suspected pirates were apprehended with no injuries
sustained by the 23-member crew, the CMF said.
"This was an excellent example of the CMF and independent navies
working together to ensure a quick and successful response to a piracy
attack," said Commodore Tim Lowe, Royal Navy, Deputy Commander Combined
Maritime Forces.
The 24 nations comprising CMF patrol more than 2.5 million square
miles of international waters.

.Norway detains Russian trawler.

OSLO, May 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Norwegian coasts guards detained the
Russian Viking trawler near Spitsbergen on Thursday on suspicion of
poaching.
Coast guard representative Tronn Johansen said the vessel from
Murmansk was convoyed to the port of Tromse and local police are
investigating whether the Viking has been poaching.
He said a patrol helicopter spotted the trawler discharging fish into
the sea in the fish preservation zone established by Norway near
Spitsbergen, which is a major violation of Norwegian rules. There were
certain nonconformities in the fishing documents of the trawler, he said.


.Russia concerned over Islamophobia rise in Europe.

VIENNA, May 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Russia shares concerns of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) caused by the threat of
growing Islamophobia in European countries, Russian Ambassador to the OSCE
Anvar Azimov said on Thursday after OIC general secretary addressed the
OSCE Permanent Council.
"We share the concern and believe the phenomenon is a reflection of
growing extremist and nationalist manifestations," Azimov said.
"It is specifically deplorable that such developments take place 65
years after the victory over Nazism. The Second World War was unleashed on
the basis of racial hatred and racial superiority theory," he added.
"The collective task of the OSCE and OIC is to make everything
possible to prevent the growth of xenophobia, intolerance and neo-Nazism,
to educate young people the culture of respect to people of other
nationalities and religions," Azimov said.
Russia is working to promote equal and mutually beneficial relations
with the Islamic world. "We are united by such fundamental principles such
as the necessity to form a just and democratic world order based on the
central role of the United Nations and the recognition of cultural and
civilization variety of the modern world," the ambassador said adding the
Islamic countries are allies in the fight against terrorism and extremism.
Azimov said Russian relations with the OIC have a high dynamic due to
the granting of the observer status to Russia and the opening of a
permanent Russian mission at OIC headquarters in Jeddah.

.NKorea confirms Kim's visit to China.

PYONGYANG, May 7 (Itar-Tass) -- North Korea on Friday confirmed the
country's leader Kim Jong Il visited China from Monday to Friday.
Kim "'paid an unofficial visit to the People's Republic of China at
the invitation of Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Central Committee of
the Communist Party of China and president of the PRC, from May 3 to 7,"'
the Korean Central News Agency reported.
It said Kim toured Dalian and Tianjin and held talks with Chinese Vice
Premier Li Keqiang in Dalian.
It was Kim's first visit to China since January 2006 and fifth since
becoming the country's top leader in 1998.
-0-nec


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