Master of the locks
A cargo vessel crossing the locks to pass through the Panama Canal. Hallax at the locks of the Panama Canal's Miraflores Visitor Centre in Panama City. — Nathalia Angarita/The New York Times
HANGING from a ladder attached to the hull of a giant, bobbing tanker, Capt Efrain Hallax began his climb up to the crew awaiting him atop the Athina, a ship anchored in Panama Bay and third in line to transit the Panama Canal.
The daunting 30m ascent up the shifting ship was nothing new for Hallax, 73. Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!
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New Straits Times
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#SHOWBIZ: J-pop Queen Ayumi Hamasaki denies Elon Musk fathered her child
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The Star
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The war that still haunts America
A SCRATCHY prerecorded message crackled over American Armed Forces radio in Saigon 50 years ago, announcing the temperature was '105 degrees and rising', before playing a snippet of White Christmas. It was a covert signal – the emergency evacuation had begun. After 15 years of fighting, US$140bil in military spending, and 58,220 American lives lost, the last US foothold in Saigon was collapsing. The Vietnam War was ending. Or was it? As the United States marks a half-century since that chaotic April day in 1975, veterans say the war still echoes through American culture, politics and their own lives. And its lessons, they argue, remain unlearned. Iconic images of the fall of Saigon – crowds scrambling onto the US embassy roof, desperate for the last helicopters out – remain seared into the nation's memory. 'We watched the city die right in front of us,' recalled Douglas Potratz, a Marine veteran based at the embassy. 'So many had died, and it was all for nothing.' 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The Star
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Master of the locks
A cargo vessel crossing the locks to pass through the Panama Canal. Hallax at the locks of the Panama Canal's Miraflores Visitor Centre in Panama City. — Nathalia Angarita/The New York Times HANGING from a ladder attached to the hull of a giant, bobbing tanker, Capt Efrain Hallax began his climb up to the crew awaiting him atop the Athina, a ship anchored in Panama Bay and third in line to transit the Panama Canal. The daunting 30m ascent up the shifting ship was nothing new for Hallax, 73. Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!
