Martin World News

 

Not so much a funny news post, but I thought I might think of random flyspeck countries and see what news they had.  So let's wander the world to...

VANUATU

VMSA confirms Derek French as legal owner of superyacht Blue Gold

Now if you were a boatie, you might know this story, which I didn't.  Blue Gold was a 50-meter, 360 ton Benetti luxury superyacht, launched in 1982 and for some time in the 2000's had been cruising the islands of Vanuatu.  In 2015, Cyclone Pam unleashed her cat-5 fury on it...

Cyclone Pam struck as a Category 5 storm, the most powerful and dangerous there is. As its eye skimmed past Efate, nearby Port Vila was enduring sustained winds of 250km/h. Yachts secured on moorings in Port Vila harbour fell like pins in a bowling alley, one crashing into the next. Havannah Harbour is only about two and a half kilometres across at most, but the south-east winds stirred up the protected water into huge five metre swells, (Captain Nixon) Sarai estimates. “I felt like I was in the open sea."

“By 9.30pm the wind was really, really strong. I commanded the crew to stay together on board; no one was to go outside. They were panicking, they thought they were going to die.”

He tried to rally them, telling them that they were a team and that they had to think they were going to make it together. But the storm was still growing at that point, winds gusting to more than 320km/h. At 10.30pm Blue Gold was struck by Tukoro, a navy patrol boat. It was the kiss of death. The boat hit the yacht at the bow, breaking her starboard anchor chain. At 11.30pm, the port anchor gave up and Blue Gold hit the reef. Around midnight, at the height of the storm, a set of three giant swells carried the massive yacht to shore. (From 2011 article in Boat International by Kate Lardy)

So now the boat's stuck.  The director of the company was trying to get her re-floated, but it was a challenge with infrastructure on Vanuatu being somewhat like that on Gilligan's Island, and the company went bankrupt.  While wrangling went on, the director surrendered the boat to the Vanuatu government agency involved (VMSA).  They looked for someone to take care of the mess, and thought they had someone in a dude named Brett Devine, who apparently contracted his company to float her- but did nothing.  Last January, they finally gave up on Devine and began to recertify it to the above Mr French.  This process completed today, and he has until the day after next Christmas to get it off the beach.

Credit: Sean Meagher

UZBEKISTAN

Samarkand accountant loses over 6 billion soums of company money in online gambling

First thing, 6.4 billion Soums comes to about a half a million USD.  Next, this accountant took advantage of Uzbeki law that allows one person to have multiple bank cards, which apparently according to the story, are linked to your passport.  I don't know if that means this dude- only known as B.M. (which is funny for a very different reason)- was a national or not.  What I do know is it wasn't the embezzlement from the company that nailed him, but the amount of bank cards he used to do it, which regulators are looking into limiting.  It seems they were looking for cases of abuse, and boy, did they find one!

SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE

Nothing to see here

I was bopping around their newspaper website, about to click on what might have been a winner, when their site apparently crashed.  I did learn before that, that they call themselves "Santomeans".

EQUATORIAL GUINEA

225 officials with double employment have resigned from their other jobs

Not only is this a familiar story in light of the incoming Trump administration's DOGE plans, but also the tip of the iceberg.  Now mind you, this was NOT about criminal double dipping- the group were thanked for "for the work, rigour and professional zeal demonstrated"-, the government was concerned about absences at one job that were caused by the other.  When the investigation concluded, they found that "of the 22,387 civil servants recognised by the State Treasury, only 19,586 were registered." Which means they still have 2,576 double-dippers on the payroll.  I'm assuming it remains to be seen what their future status will be.  Interestingly (to me), this means EG had 1.17 % of the population working as civil servants- about double the percent in the US.

SURINAME

Cash grant for every Surinamese

Apparently fairness in oil profits is sweeping the smaller nations on the north end of South America, as just after neighboring Guyana announced a grant of $500 USD equivalent to every citizen, Suriname topped that with a $750 grant.  It's not exactly cash in hand...

“The RVI instrument means that every Surinamese who lives in our country receives a savings note, worth 750 US Dollars, with an annual interest of 7 %. The money will be paid out in the future from the royalty income of Block 58. The payment will only be made when the oil from Block 58 has been sold, and Suriname has received the royalties,” says President Chan Santokhi.  It's calculated in USD to keep it stable, and will be paid out in the future- estimates say 4 years from now- in Suriname dollars, which comes to just over S$26 K.  Assuming Venezuela or Brazil doesn't invade them by then.  In the meantime, social justice warriors in the nation are on the warpath because they wanted the grant to come to $5,000.  Can you say, "There's an election coming in May..."?

How about just one more...

BRUNEI

Bruneians rack up $2 million in losses from online scams

So I learned two things about Brunei this afternoon.  One is that they are whiners.  In 2023, there were 834 cases - one for every 543 people in Brunei- totaling $2 million in losses, or $2,398 per case.  In the US, by FBI data, we had 880, 418 cases (one for every 318 people), totaling $12.5 BILLION, or $14, 298 per case.  Given that the per capita incomes in our 2 countries are only 4 grand off, I guess we can also say that Brunei is a lot more intelligent scam wise than we are.

That other thing?  Don't use an article that starts with "the Sultan".  His full title is...

His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam...