Daily Archives: December 18, 2011
Boat sinks off Indonesia, hundreds missing
JAKARTA: A boat carrying 380 migrants, most of them from the Middle East, sank off the coast of east Java in Indonesia Saturday and hundreds of the passengers were missing, a senior emergency official said.
Only 76 people had been rescued, said Sahrul Arifin, the head of emergency and logistics at the East Java Disaster Mitigation Center.
He said strong waves wrecked the wooden boat about 90 km (56 miles) out to sea. “Our search and rescue team have begun sweeping the water around where the accident took place but we are now sending body bags to that area,” Arifin said.
He said the passengers were believed to be illegal migrants. Many boat people from the Middle East and Asia use Indonesia as a transit point en route to Australia.
Tennis ace Aisam ties the knot
LAHORE: Pakistani Tennis hero Aisam-ul-Haq has finally tied the knot amid an impressive wedding ceremony held here at Garrison Golf Club on late Saturday, reports SAMAA.
The bridegroom’s Indian tennis partner Rohan Bopana as well as their American coach were also among those guests who graced the marriage ceremony.
The ceremony kicked off with the solemnization of Nikkah where the bridegroom glittered like a real star in appealing Sherwani outfit with red turban around his head while his bride looked gracefully amazing in the traditional red ‘lehnga’ dress.
Sony PS Vita console launch in Japan
Technology giant Sony on Saturday held the world launch of its next-generation PlayStation Vita handheld console in Japan, as the company aims to take a bite out of the growing smartphone games market.
Gaming fans in Japan, Sony’s home country, flocked to the shops to get their hands on the device, which costs between 25,000 yen and 30,000 yen ($320 to $380).
It features a five-inch (12-centimetre) LED touch screen, two cameras and a GPS receiver, and comes in WiFi and 3G models.
By mid-morning hundreds were queuing at stores in Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district to buy the PS Vita, which hit Japanese shops in time for the end-of-year festivities.
