Latest news with #RM4.2bil
The Star
4 days ago
- General
- The Star
Singapore shipowner told to pay US$1bil over marine disaster
The highest court has ordered a Singaporean shipping firm to pay US$1bil (RM4.2bil) in damages for causing the island's worst marine pollution when its vessel sank four years ago. The Supreme Court directed Express Feeders, the owner of the MV X-Press Pearl which sank off Colombo Port in June 2021 after a fire that raged for nearly two weeks, to pay the money within a year. 'The X-Press Pearl... shall make further compensation payments as may be directed by this court,' the 361-page judgment read. Environmentalists had brought the case to court, alleging that both government authorities and firm owners had failed to prevent the fire from becoming an unprecedented ecological disaster. The shipping firm initially apologised and paid US$7.85mil for the immediate cleanup and as compensation for fishermen who were deprived of their livelihoods following the catastrophic incident. They then obtained an order from London's admiralty court in July 2023, limiting their liability to a maximum of £19mil. Sri Lanka has appealed that decision. The Sri Lankan government also filed a lawsuit against the shipowner in the Singapore International Commercial Court, claiming unspecified damages. That case has been put on hold pending a decision from the admiralty court in London. There was no immediate response from the Singaporean owner or their local representatives. The vessel was carrying 81 containers of 'dangerous cargo', including acids and lead ingots, when it sank. Tonnes of microplastic granules from the ship inundated an 80km stretch of beach along Sri Lanka's western coast. Fishing was prohibited for months due to the plastic pollution. Sri Lankan authorities believe the fire was caused by a nitric acid leak, which the crew apparently knew about nine days before the blaze started. Ports in Qatar and India had refused to offload the leaking nitric acid, and the vessel arrived in Sri Lankan waters with the leak. — AFP
The Star
14-06-2025
- The Star
King Tut gold mask to leave Cairo museum after nearly 100 years
The golden funerary mask of ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamun (1341-1323 BC) is displayed at the Tutankhamun gallery at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo's central Tahrir Square. Photo: AFP After nearly a century in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, King Tutankhamun's iconic gold mask and remaining treasures are set to move to the new Grand Egyptian Museum near the Giza Pyramids. Visitors have just days left to see the boy king's world-famous gold funerary mask before it joins more than 5,000 artefacts from his tomb at the GEM, a US$1bil (RM4.2bil) megaproject opening on July 3. "Only 26 objects from the Tutankhamun collection, including the golden mask and two coffins, remain here in Tahrir," said museum director Ali Abdel Halim. "All are set to be moved soon," he told AFP, without confirming a specific date for the transfer. The government has yet to officially announce when or how the last artefacts will be relocated. Still on display are the innermost gold coffin, a gilded coffin, a gold dagger, cosmetic box, miniature coffins, royal diadem and pectorals. Tutankhamun's treasures, registered at the Egyptian Museum on Cairo's Tahrir square in 1934, have long been its crown jewels. But the neoclassical building - with faded cases, no climate control and ageing infrastructure - now contrasts with the high-tech GEM. Tourists view the gilded wooden outer sarcophagus of ancient Egyptian King Tutankhamun (1341-1323 BC) at the Tutankhamun gallery at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo's central Tahrir Square. Photo: AFP Once open, the GEM is believed to be the largest in the world devoted to a single civilisation, housing more than 100,000 artefacts - with over half on public display. In a dedicated wing, most of King Tut's treasures will be exhibited together for the first time in history since British archeologist Howard Carter discovered the young pharaoh's intact tomb in 1922. His mummy will remain in its original resting place in Luxor's Valley of the Kings as it is "a vital part of the archeological site", Egyptian officials have said. A virtual replica, however, will be displayed at the GEM using virtual reality technology. The Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, long the historic heart of Egyptology, has lost in 2021 other star exhibits: 22 royal mummies including Ramses II and Queen Hatshepsut that were relocated in a widely watched state procession to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Old Cairo. Still, it is home to around 170,000 artefacts, according to the museum director, including treasures from Yuya and Thuya - Tutankhamun's ancestors - and items from ancient Tanis, such as the golden funerary mask of King Amenemope. A total of 32,000 artefacts have already been relocated from storage and display halls at the Tahrir museum to the GEM. The museum's director said the space left behind by Tutankhamun's collection will eventually be filled by a new exhibition "on par with the significance of Tut's treasures". – AFP
