Seafarers on hunger strike, hospitalised in Kuwait to stop families going hungry: the full story 02 Feb 2021
After 11 months without pay for their families, 19 seafarers on board the
MV Ula bulk carrier in the port of Shuaiba, Kuwait have gone on a hunger strike.
The mixed crew from India, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Bangladesh are demanding immediate repatriation and payment of $410,415.65 they are owed in wages.
They have rejected all meals from 7 January, saying they cannot eat while their families go hungry. Their hunger strike now drags in to February.
“We only drink water to keep us going,” one said.
Six of the crew have already been hospitalised to stabilise their blood pressure and sugar levels, before they were returned to the ship. The seafarers remain at risk of dying if they continue to refuse food.
Bird Song of the Day
After last week, I searched on “most beautiful bird song” and ended up with the Wood Thrush. Readers? Lots of modern-day dino action in State Game Lands 285!
#COVID19
At reader request, I’ve added this daily chart from 91-DIVOC. The data is the Johns Hopkins CSSE data. Here is the site.
Noah Smith writes: “And in another bit of good news, COVID cases are plummeting. Apparently people are staying home and refusing to take risks while they wait for the vaccine.” • Readers will have heard me [lambert preens] clearing my throat about this fall last week. And today’s charts confirm this, with exceptions noted below.
Investors call UN to address sea-locked workers investordaily.com.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from investordaily.com.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Fishing vessels with crews of forced labourers behave in systematically different ways to the rest of the global fleet, according to a new study that used satellite data, machine learning and the on-the-ground expertise of human rights practitioners to identify such vessels.
In the study, the first of its kind, up to 26 percent of about 16,000 industrial fishing vessels analysed by United States researchers were shown to be at high risk of using forced labour.
As many as 100,000 people are estimated to work on these high-risk vessels, many of whom are potential victims of forced labour. The study also showed where these high-risk vessels fished and the ports they visited.