WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — An oil spill is “highly probable” from a grounded New Zealand navy ship which sank and caught fire off the coast of Samoa, the Pacific island nation's acting prime minister said late Sunday.
Officials in Samoa are conducting an environmental impact assessment in the area where the ship sank on Sunday morning, acting Prime Minister Tuala Tevaga Iosefo Ponifasio said in a statement.
All 75 people on board the HMNZS Manawanui were taken to safety on life rafts in “challenging conditions” and darkness, New Zealand’s Chief of Navy Rear Admiral Garin Golding told reporters. The vessel was about a mile from shore when it grounded on a reef and began taking on water, but it took the first survivors five hours to reach land, he said.
New Zealand will hold a court of inquiry into the loss of the ship, which was one of nine in its navy. The cause of the disaster is not known.
The specialist dive and hydrographic vessel had been in service since 2019. It was surveying a reef off the coast of Upolu, Samoa’s most populous island, when it ran aground on the reef.
Photos and videos taken from the shore appeared to show the ship listing before disappearing completely below the waves, with a large plume of smoke rising where it sank. Defense Minister Judith Collins said she did not expect the vessel could be salvaged.
“This is a ship that unfortunately is pretty much gone,” she told reporters.
Those on board included civilian scientists and foreign military personnel, Golding said. Authorities in Samoa said some were treated for minor injuries.
There was “a lot of fuel” on the ship and efforts had turned to assessing the potential environmental impact, Collins told Radio New Zealand Monday. New Zealand “would obviously have to front up” if there was a spill, she added.
The state of New Zealand’s ageing military hardware has prompted warnings from the defense agency, which in a March report described the navy as “extremely fragile,” with ships idle due to problems retaining the staff needed to service and maintain them.
Golding said the HMNZS Manawanui underwent its usual maintenance before the deployment. The ship’s captain was an experienced commander who had worked on the vessel for two years, he said.
This image released by New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), shows HMNZS Manawanui at the Three Kings islands off the coast New Zealand, on Dec. 1, 2023. (Petty Officer Chris Weissenborn/NZDF via AP)
In this image released by New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF), HMNZS Manawanui arrives in Funafuti Lagoon, Tuvalu, on Sept. 7, 2022. (PO Christopher Weissenborn/NZDF via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris opened a media blitz by the Democratic ticket on Sunday by appearing on the popular “Call Her Daddy” podcast about abortion, sexual abuse and other issues that resonate with women, working in some digs at her GOP opponent along the way.
In the roughly 40-minute interview, taped last week, the Democratic presidential nominee spoke about the grit it takes to be a woman seeking public office, the toughness her mother instilled in her and the importance of reproductive rights in this election.
The program is the most-listened-to podcast for women and it has millions of fans tuning in for talk about relationships, sex, mental health and women’s empowerment. The discussion with Harris was on the tame side for the show, with the vice president keeping her message focused, in part, on the value of ignoring people who have doubted her.
“I don’t hear no. I urge all the ‘Daddy Gang,’ don’t hear no, just don’t hear it,” she said. “I think it’s really important not to let other people define you.”
The interview was part of a broader media outreach effort by Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as the Democrats seek to boost their support in the final 30 days of the campaign against Republicans Donald Trump and JD Vance.
Harris has been criticized for not doing more media interviews.
On the podcast, the Democratic nominee largely stuck to her usual messaging on abortion, and said that in her travels she's seen that even people who have strong opposition to abortion tell her they “are now seeing what’s happening and saying ‘Hmm, I didn’t intend for all this to happen' ” when they see the health problems arising since Roe v. Wade was repealed.
Harris dinged Trump as she has in recent speeches, leaning in on his integrity and saying “this guy is full of lies” when he talks about abortion and other issues. She dismissed Vance’s comments about “childless cat ladies” as “mean, and mean-spirited.”
Trump has continued to stress that abortion policy should be left to the states and that doctors have a duty to provide emergency care to women whose lives are in danger. Vance, for his part, has said his remark about childless women were misinterpreted and that he wants to support families.
There's much more to come from Harris and Walz.
Harris has taped an interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes” that will air Monday night. She is booked Tuesday on Howard Stern’s satellite radio show, ABC’s “The View” and “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert on CBS. Walz will be on Jimmy Kimmel’s ABC show on Monday.
In a “60 Minutes” excerpt released Sunday, Harris navigated around a question about whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “a real close ally,” saying that “The better question is: Do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? And the answer to that question is yes.”
And nearly a week after his verbal stumbles in the only vice presidential debate, Walz used his debut campaign appearance on a Sunday news show to try to fend off criticism of his stand on abortion rights and to “own up” to past misstatements.
Walz's Fox appearance also touched on the turmoil in the Middle East, with anchor Shannon Bream pressing the Minnesota governor on whether Israel has a right to preemptively attack Iran's nuclear and oil facilities in response to Tehran's firing of missiles against Israel. It was a question that Walz did not fully answer during his debate this past week with Vance, an Ohio senator.
Walz said Sunday that “specific operations will be dealt with at the time” and he spoke of ”consequences for what they do."
He said Israel has a right to defend itself and that Harris worked with Israel this past week to repel the Iranian attack. President Joe Biden said last week he would not support an Israeli strike on sites related to Tehran’s nuclear program.
Walz defended a law that he signed as governor to ensure abortion protections, saying it "puts the decision with the woman and her health care providers.”
Trump has said he would not sign a national abortion ban into law, and during the interview Sunday, Walz was asked whether he was calling that “a flat-out lie.”
“Yes ... of course,” Walz said.
Walz also faced questions in the interview about misstatements related to his military service, drunken driving arrest, infertility treatment for his family and claims to have been in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in China.
“I will own up when I misspeak,” Walz said. “I will own up when I make a mistake.”
He said he believes voters are more concerned by the fact that Vance could not acknowledge during their debate that Trump lost the 2020 election to Biden and that there could be restrictions on the infertility treatments, like the intrauterine insemination that his wife, Gwen, received.
“I think they’re probably far more concerned with that than my wife and I used IUI to have our child and that Donald Trump would restrict that," Walz said. "So I think folks know who I am.”
Bream noted that Trump has come out in support of fertility treatments, even as he has said that abortion questions should be decided by states.
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks to reporters before boarding Air Force Two at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Saturday, October 5, 2024, in Charlotte, N.C., after a briefing on the damage from Hurricane Helene. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz speaks during a campaign event in York, Pa., Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
