Divers are searching the hull of a sunken boat off the coast of southern Thailand for more than 50 passengers who are missing after a violent storm Thursday afternoon.
The Phoenix PC diving boat ran into trouble off the coast of the resort island of Phuket when a storm whipped up waves as high as five metres (16 feet), crashing them against the vessel and causing it to keel over.
105 passengers were believed to be on board the capsized vessel, including 93 tourists, one guide and 11 crew members.
Many were thought to be Chinese tourists vacationing at the Thai resort.
Images from the scene posted to the Thai Navy’s Facebook page showed passengers wearing bright orange life vests on inflatable life rafts.
Police Lt. Col. Somsak Sophakarn, the deputy chief of Phuket’s Chalong Provincial Police Station, said Thursday that 48 people had been rescued and taken to shore.
The Thai Navy, marine police and local fishermen searched for the remaining passengers Thursday evening, but called off their operation late at night.
They resumed their search again Friday morning, dispatching helicopters, fishing vessels and divers to scour the waters.
Chinese state media reported Friday that one Chinese national had died, and 53 are missing.
Of the 53 people missing, 50 are Chinese tourists, according to Xinhua news agency, citing the Chinese Consul General in Songkhla.
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Seven members of Japanese cult executed for Tokyo sarin attack
Seven members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, which carried out the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway have been executed, Japanese officials said Friday.
Cult leader Shoko Asahara, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, had been in prison for 22 years before his execution this week.
The attack left more than a dozen people dead and thousands injured.
Twelve other members of Aum Shinrikyo were sentenced to death for their roles in the Tokyo attack.
Asahara’s death sentence was finalised in 2006, according to public broadcaster NHK, but trials of his co-conspirators dragged on for a further 12 years.
Since those proceedings finished earlier this year, the days of the Aum Shinrikyo members had been numbered, even as opponents of the death penalty attempted to block the executions.
Asahara was one of seven members of the cult hanged this week.
The others are Tomomasa Nakagawa, Tomomitsu Niimi, Kiyohide Hayakawa, Yoshihiro Inoue, Seiichi Endo and Masami Tsuchiya, according to Japanese Justice Minister Yoko Kawakami.
Six other people are still sentenced to death in connection to the 1995 attack and other Aum Shinrikyo crimes.
The date of their executions is not known.
Executions in Japan are done in secret, with no advance warning given to the prisoner, their family or legal representatives, according to Amnesty International.
Prisoners often only learn hours before that they are to be killed.
US, China fire first shots in $34bn trade war
US tariffs on $34bn (£25.7bn) of Chinese goods have come into effect, signalling the start of a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
The 25% levy came into effect at midnight Washington time.
China has retaliated by imposing a similar 25% tariff on 545 US products, also worth a total of $34bn.
Beijing accused the US of starting the “largest trade war in economic history.”
“The Chinese side, having vowed not to fire the first shot, is forced to stage counter-attacks to protect the interests of its people,” the Chinese Commerce Ministry said.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump ordered the US to impose tariffs on $50bn worth of Chinese goods and the first round of these kicked off on Friday.
The imposition of the tariffs had little impact on Asian stock markets.
Shanghai fell in morning trade before recovering to stand 0.6% higher, while markets in Hong Kong and Tokyo both rose 1.3%.
The tariffs are part of Mr. Trump’s protectionist agenda, which has undermined the free trade policies that have shaped the global exchange of goods in recent decades.
He has said the tariffs are aimed at stopping the “unfair transfers of American technology and intellectual property to China” and protecting jobs.
The White House said it would consult on tariffs on the other $16bn of products, which Mr. Trump has suggested could come into effect later this month.
The president has already imposed tariffs on imported washing machines and solar panels, and started charging levies on the imports of steel and aluminium from the European Union, Mexico and Canada.
Mr. Trump has threatened a 10% levy on an additional $200bn of Chinese goods if Beijng “refuses to change its practices.”
He upped the stakes on Thursday, saying the amount of goods subject to tariffs could rise to more than $500bn.
“You have another 16 [billion dollars] in two weeks, and then, as you know, we have $200bn in abeyance and then after the $200bn, we have $300bn in abeyance. OK? So we have 50 plus 200 plus almost 300,” he said.
The US tariffs announced so far would affect the equivalent of 0.6% of global trade and account for 0.1% of global GDP, according to Morgan Stanley in a research note issued before Mr. Trump’s comments on Thursday.
Analysts are also concerned about the impact on others in the supply chain and about an escalation of tensions between the US and China in general.
