After a ferry caught fire off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, three people died and more than 500 others were saved, according to emergency officials.
After the fire broke out on Sunday, passengers jumped overboard the KM Barcelona 5 as it departed from Melonguane port in the Talaud Islands district and headed for Manado, North Sulawesi province’s capital, according to the Indonesian coastguard.
As orange flames and black smoke poured out of the burning vessel, according to photos and videos that were popular on social media. The passengers were pictured jumping into the water while wearing life jackets.
A coastguard vessel was seen spraying water on the ferry, which was producing black smoke, in a video released by the Manado rescue agency.
Authorities in Indonesia had previously reported five fatalities in the accident, but later revised the figure to three after two initially reported fatalities, including a baby who was two months old, had been saved in a hospital with seawater-filled lungs.
The national search and rescue organization announced in a statement on Monday that at least 568 people had been saved from the ferry.
The Manado navy base’s chief, Franky Pasuna Sihombing, reported to The Associated Press news agency that the rescue operation included a coastguard ship, six rescue vehicles, and several inflatable boats.
The fire is thought to have started on the upper deck, according to officials.
The joint rescue team has been conducting the search and rescue operation as of right now because the data is still being developed, Manado rescue agency head George Leo Mercy Randang told the AFP news agency on Monday. In the event that families want to report a missing relative, our post is still open 24 hours a day.
One survivor described the passenger deck becoming oozing with smoke.
After being evacuated to Manado port, Johan Rumewo reported to Kompas TV that “everyone started panicking.” I jumped into the water while grabbing a life jacket. Before being saved, I floated for about an hour.
Only 280 passengers and 15 members of the ferry’s crew were recorded on the log. According to local media reports, the ship could accommodate 600 passengers.
The Southeast Asian archipelago’s 17, 000 islands are regularly hit by marine accidents, in large part due to poor safety practices or bad weather.
At least 19 people died when a ferry sank off the popular resort island of Bali on Sunday, according to the fire, which occurred just weeks prior to the tragedy.
Adolfo Macias Villamar, the leader of the Ecuadorean gang, will appear in a federal court in the United States, according to his attorney. He will enter a plea not guilty to trafficking in drugs and weapons internationally.
The notorious drug trafficker was recaptured a month after escaping from a maximum-security penitentiary in 2024, according to the country’s prison system’s official website.
The Los Choneros gang’s leader, Macias, was serving a 34-year sentence in a Guayaquil prison for a number of crimes, including murder, organized crime, and drug trafficking.
According to the report, the flight carrying Macias made an overnight landing in New York State on Sunday night. Macias “will plead not guilty” to the Brooklyn federal court on Monday, according to his attorney, according to Reuters news agency.
Details regarding the extradition and handover to the US government were not made public. Following the extradition, the US government has not yet released an official statement.
In April, Macias was charged with the US Attorney’s Office with a charge of drug trafficking, conspiracy, and weapons-related offenses, including weapons smuggling.
The former taxi driver turned crime boss agreed to be charged in the US and be extradited to Quito last week.
After a referendum in which President Daniel Noboa sought the approval of measures to boost his fight against organized crime, he is the first Ecuadorean to be extradited by his nation since last year.
Colombia and Peru, two of the world’s two biggest cocaine exporters, once a haven for peaceful relations, have recently experienced violence as rival gangs with connections to Mexican and Colombian cartels compete for control in Ecuador.
Cult following
Noboa ordered the military and tanks to enter the streets of Ecuador shortly after Macias escaped from prison in January 2024 and immediately declared that the country was in “internal armed conflict.” Human rights organizations have criticized the action.
As a drug lord, Macias cultivated a cult following among his coworkers and the general public.
He was detained in 2023 and he released a video addressing “the Ecuadorian people” while surrounded by armed men. He also held cockfighting parties at roosters’ parties in prison, where he had access to everything from liquor to roosters.
According to the Ecuadorian Organised Crime Observatory, Macias’ Los Choneros has ties to the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, Gulf Clan in Colombia, which is the world’s largest cocaine exporter, and other Balkan mafias.
A massive military and police recapture operation, including government “wanted” posters offering $1 million for information leading to his arrest, sparked widespread violence and a ransom for his escape from prison.
In a luxurious mansion in Manta, the port of Manta, where Los Choneros operate from their base, on June 25, Macias was discovered hiding in a bunker hidden beneath floor tiles. The sooner the better, Noboa declared that he would be extradited.
Noboa told CNN at the time, “We will gladly send him and let him respond to the North American law.”
Seoul, South Korea: Sideny Sim had the opportunity to travel to the US for business a long time ago, which was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.
Sim had long admired the US as a global force as well as a cultural juggernaut like many South Koreans.
Sim, a 38-year-old engineer who lives close to Seoul, doesn’t feel any of this love for the nation at this time.
Sim cannot help but feel betrayed as US President Donald Trump threatens to impose a 25% tariff on South Korea starting August 1.
According to Sim, “If they were once a nation that was regarded as a leader in culture, the economy, and the perception of being “good,” the US is now a threat to geopolitical balance.”
Deep and lasting ties exist between South Korea and the US.
With about 28, 000 US troops serving as a bulwark against North Korea, South Korea is one of Washington’s most enmity allies in Asia.
South Korea has a larger diaspora than any other nation in the US.
These ties are becoming jeopardized as a result of Trump’s “America First” campaign campaign returning to Washington, D.C.
In a Pew Research Center survey earlier this month, 61 percent of South Koreans had a favorable opinion of the US, down from 77 percent in 2024.
If South Korea can’t agree on a trade deal with the Trump administration by the August deadline, South Korea will likely experience severe economic disruption.
More than 40% of the Asian nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) is generated by exports, making it a major exporter of electronics, ships, and cars.
Trump also stated in a letter to South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung that the country pays “very little” to support the US Forces Korea (USFK) presence earlier this month that he had also addressed a letter to Lee Jae-Myung outlining his tariff threats.
Trump’s comments heightened rumors that he might demand an increase in the government’s funding for the USFK or increases in its national defense spending.
An “in-principle” agreement was possible by the deadline, according to Seoul’s top trade envoy after Trump last week told reporters that South Korea “wants to make a deal right now.”
Many South Koreans are upset about Trump’s trade policies because the time is running out for a deal.
Kim Hyunju, a Korean customer service agent, claimed Trump’s trade speeches did not seem fair despite the fact that her company would not be directly affected by the tariffs.
According to Kim, “It would only be fair if they are okay with us raising our tariffs to the same level as well,” Kim continued, noting that her feelings toward the US had been brought on by the Trump administration.
“I can’t help but think that the US is a powerful country that uses pure power plays and money to serve its interests,” Kim said.
“I’ve always seen the US as a special ally for us, particularly in terms of national defense,” he said. I appreciate how important it is for us to keep this friendly relationship, but when Trump also demanded more money for the US military’s presence in our nation, I kind of lost faith.
Kim Hyun-ju claims that Trump’s policies have caused her to feel hostile toward the US.
Kim Chang-chul, an investment strategist in Seoul, acknowledged the potential harm to South Korean businesses from Trump’s trade policies, but she still remained optimistic about them.
Kim told Al Jazeera, “The US tariff policy is a burden on our government and businesses, but the move really shows how thoughtful and strategic the US is,”
Trump wants South Korea to play a bigger role in US energy plans for Alaska. It is a result of US efforts to restore economic balance and geopolitical alignment.
The US opened discussions with South Korean officials earlier this year, which helped spur US liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports to South Korea, a major LNG importer.
A US ally like South Korea has had to struggle to understand Trump’s comments and actions, according to Keum Hye-yoon, a researcher at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP).
According to Keum, “Trump’s use of “fairness” in his tariff policy is based on unintended expectations of improving the US trade balance or reinforcing economic strength in some industries.”
Disregarding these structures and imposing high taxes will likely put a burden on US businesses and consumers because allies like South Korea work closely with US companies that share supply chains with them.
South Korean manufacturers have already reported some disruption, despite Trump’s most severe tariffs still pending.
According to preliminary data released by the Korea Customs Service on Monday, exports to South Korea decreased by 2.2 percent over the first 20 days of July from the previous year.
Exporters in the auto, steel, semiconductor, and pharmaceutical industries were particularly hit by Kim Sung-hyeok, the head of research at the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) Labor Institute.
Production orders in domestic factories have decreased significantly since the tariff announcements, according to Kim, who told Al Jazeera.
“Some steel and automotive production lines have temporarily shut down, and others have completely shut down.” Some of these places have seen a rise in voluntary resignations and redeployments.
Kim claimed that small businesses could be hit hardest by the tariffs because they are unable to “move their manufacturing plants to the US” or “diversify their trade routes outside of the US.”
These small businesses will also experience a shortage in product delivery volume, which will lead to employment disputes, he said, as major corporations are currently experiencing a general decline in exports.
On July 8, 2025, a port in Pyeongtaek, southwest of Seoul, will export vehicles.
The Korea Development Institute predicted that, in comparison to the 160, 000 increase in last year, the number of employed South Koreans would increase by just 90, 000 this year, in part because of the uncertainty in the economy.
US-South Korea relations had previously experienced difficult times even before Trump’s political emergence.
Two middle-school girls from South Korea were killed in a 2002 car-vehicle strike by the US Army.
The nation experienced an upsurge in anti-US sentiment and protests after the US soldiers involved in the incident were found not guilty of negligent homicide by a US military court.
Following a South Korean government’s decision to continue importing US beef despite concerns about the spread of Mad Cow Disease, nationwide protests began in 2008.
President Lee, who was elected in June, has stressed the importance of upholding good relations with China, which is the country’s biggest strategic rival and rival.
According to Keum, the US-South Korea relationship has developed into a “conditional ally,” in which “economic interests take precedence over traditional alliances.”
She said that the US is increasingly requesting South Korea to support its other socioeconomic initiatives, including China’s containment strategy.
To lessen the effects of Trump’s agenda, Keum argued that South Korea will need to look for alternative markets and diversify its exports.
A team of international scientists has identified a number of foods that have seen price increases as a result of extreme climate events since 2022, including South Korean cabbage, Australian lettuce, Japanese rice, Brazilian coffee, and Ghanaian cocoa.
In April 2024, the study cites a 280 percent increase in global cocoa prices following a heat wave in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, as well as a 300 percent increase in lettuce prices in Australia following floods in 2022.
In the majority of cases, prices increased quickly following heatwaves, with increases of 70% for cabbage in South Korea and 48% for rice in Japan, and 81 percent for potatoes in India in early 2024.
Other price increases were related to drought, such as the one that occurred in Brazil in 2023, which came before the global coffee prices rose by 55% the following year, and the one in Ethiopia in 2022, which occurred before overall food prices there rose by 40% in 2023.
Prior to the United Nations Food Systems Summit, which Ethiopia and Italy will co-host from July 27 to July 29, the research was released by six European research organizations along with the European Central Bank.
On July 31, 2024, Hasan Basri, a 55-year-old farmer, pulled out his rice after it was severely dehydrated in Aceh Besar, Indonesia.
The report’s lead author, Maximillian Kotz from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, stated in a press release that “extreme weather will only get worse until we get to net zero emissions, but it already hurts crops and raises the price of food all over the world.”
People are beginning to notice that rising food prices are second only to extreme heat in terms of the number two climate impacts they experience in their lives, Kotz continued, noting that low-income families are frequently the ones who are most affected when “the price of food shoots up.”
The report comes as many voters have been paying attention to the cost of living, including food affordability, as well as the cost of food, in recent years, including in Japan, where the cost of rice was high as many voters were planning to vote this weekend.
In the United States and the United Kingdom, respectively, in 2024 and 2023, and in Argentina, respectively, were key election issues.
On August 22, 2024, Kim Si-Gap, the head of the High-Altitude Cabbage and Radish Producers’ Association, walks through his kimchi cabbage field in Gangneung, South Korea.
According to one of the report’s co-authors, Amber Sawyer from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), “climate change added £360]$482] to the average household food bill in the UK over the years 2022 and 2023 alone.
Following extreme rainfall that scientists claimed was made worse by climate change, the UK had its third-worst arable harvest on record, and England had its second-worst, respectively.
Governments have committed to reducing the global emissions that are causing the climate crisis by 2.6% between 2019 and 2030 in accordance with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
However, these commitments fall far short of the reductions that scientists claim are necessary to maintain the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2. 7 degrees Fahrenheit).
At least 18 people have died and nine others have been missing as a result of the government’s lifting of advisories for heavy rain and the meteorological agency’s warning about a return to heatwaves in the country, according to authorities.
The military also announced sending thousands of troops to flooded areas to aid in recovery efforts, as a result of the toll on Monday.
Some of South Korea’s central and southern provinces experienced some of the heaviest hourly rainfall ever due to the downpours that started on July 16 and poured in some of the provinces. Homes were destroyed by the five-day deluge, which also caused landslides, flash floods, and which also swept away cars and campers.
According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, four people are still missing in the southern county of Sancheong and at least 10 have died there.
A man who had been camping nearby a stream there was found dead after being swept away by rapid currents, and another person was killed when their home fell to the town of Gapyeong, northeast of Seoul.
The man’s wife and teenage son are still missing, according to South Korean JoongAng Daily. In the same town, two other people were reported missing, including a 70-year-old man who had been buried in a massive earthquake.
According to the Yonhap news agency, the rains also caused “extensive property damage” and forced some 14, 166 people to leave their homes in 15 cities and provinces.
Sancheong, South Korea, was a village that was ruined on Sunday by torrential rains.
According to the organization, 2, 238 cases of damage were recorded at private residences and buildings, compared to 1, 999 cases of damage that were reported at public facilities.
The South Korean military announced that to aid in the recovery efforts, it has sent about 2,500 personnel to the southwest of Gwangju as well as the provinces of South Chungcheong and South Gyeongsang.
The troops will be rehabilitating the affected homes and businesses, the statement read.
Because of the monsoonal rains that were forecast this year, Associate Professor Hannah June Kim of the Graduate School of International Studies at Sogang University in Seoul, told Al Jazeera.
She said, “We anticipated that monsoons wouldn’t show up this summer.” Therefore, many local areas were unprepared when this heavy rain started to fall this week.
She continued, “We are seeing the severe effects of climate change and how it’s affecting various regions.”
The southern regions of South Korea were expected to experience more rainfall on Monday, but the Meteorological Administration (KMA) warned of a heatwave in the area. The JoongAng Daily reports that parts of South Jeolla, the east coast of Gangwon, and Jeju Island have already received heatwave advisories and warnings.
According to the report, “daytime lows will remain between 23 and 26 degrees Celsius]73.4F to 78.8F] and daytime highs will range from 30 to 35 degrees Celsius [86F to 95F] in the morning and 29 to 33 degrees Celsius]84.2F to 91.4F] during the day.”
According to scientists, extreme weather events are more frequent and frequent all over the world due to climate change.
At least 11 people died as a result of record-breaking rains and flooding in South Korea in 2022.
Three of them died trapped in a Seoul basement apartment, similar to the one that gained international notoriety with the Oscar-winning Korean film Parasite.
A significant Australian think tank predicts that due to recent cuts by Western governments, development financing for Southeast Asia will decline by more than $ 2 billion in 2026.
In a recent report released on Sunday, the Sydney-based Lowy Institute predicted that Southeast Asia’s development assistance would drop from $29 billion to $26 billion.
The figures are billions of dollars below the $33 billion average before the pandemic.
According to the report, bilateral funding is projected to decline by 20%, dropping from about $11 billion in 2023 to about $9 billion in 2026.
According to the report, “social sector priorities like health, education, and civil society support that rely on bilateral aid funding are likely to lose out the most,” and this will hit poorer nations in the regions hardest.
Alternatives to lessening
As NATO members plan to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP in the wake of Russia’s ongoing conflict with Ukraine, funding cuts have been made by Europe and the UK.
Between 2025 and 2029, the European Union and seven of the EU’s governments will reduce foreign aid by $ 17.2 billion, while the UK announced this year that it would reduce spending by $ 7.6 billion annually, according to the report.
The United States, which announced earlier this year that it had cut back on nearly $ 60 billion in foreign aid, has caused the biggest uproar. The US Senate recently made additional $ 8 billion in spending adjustments.
According to The Lowy Institute, countries that are closer to home, like China, will continue to play a significant part in the development landscape.
According to the report, “the center of gravity in Southeast Asia’s development finance landscape appears to be moving East, particularly toward Beijing but also toward Tokyo and Seoul.” Southeast Asian nations “risiko finding themselves with fewer options to support their development” combined with potential weakening trade ties with the US.
Chinese overseas development assistance has started to recover after the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching $4.9 billion in 2023, according to the report.
However, according to the report, it prioritizes spending on infrastructure projects like ports and railroads over social sector issues. Southeast Asia’s middle- and high-income countries benefit from non-concessional loans offered at commercial rates, but its poorest countries, such as Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, and East Timor, are less benefitted by Beijing’s preference.
Less clear is how Japan and South Korea can fill in the blanks, according to experts, as China and other countries like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank gain more traction in Southeast Asia.
South Korea and Japan
According to Grace Stanhope, a researcher at the Lowy Institute and author of the report, both nations have expanded their development assistance to include projects involving civil society.
We’ve been seeing Japan especially enter the governance and civil society sectors, with projects in 2023 that are explicitly focused on democracy and the protection of vulnerable migrants, she said. “[While] Japanese and Korean development support is frequently less overtly “value-based” than traditional Western aid.
The approach of the Japanese and Korean development programmes is moving beyond just the realm of infrastructure, as is the case of South Korea, which recently supported projects to improve the transparency of Vietnamese courts and protect women from gender-based violence.
Tokyo and Seoul are, however, under the Trump administration’s pressure to increase their defense budgets and reduce their development aid, as Europe is.
Shiga Hiroaki, a professor at Yokohama National University’s Graduate School of International Social Sciences, said he was more “pessimistic” about how Japan might help to fill the void left by the West.
He claimed that as Tokyo increases defense spending to a historic high and a “Japanese-first” right-wing party presses the government to rein in funds from abroad, cuts could even be made.
It is highly likely that the aid budget will be sacrificed to finance defense spending, he said, “in light of Japan’s enormous fiscal deficit and public opposition to tax increases.”
