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The most well-known ship of 2021, and why we adore it

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Unless a ship sinks, ships are rarely discussed. Ships have been the drivers of human migrations, economy, trade, and culture for thousands of years, but we don’t pay them much attention. They simply go about their business, ruling the planet in silence.

The month of March 2021 was an outlier. It was a time when a ship became trapped and virtually the entire world took notice. And what a location to become stuck in.

On March 23, 2021, the Ever Given, one of the world’s largest container ships, became caught in the Suez Canal, and since the Suez Canal is so narrow, the stopped ship blocked the Canal. That was it; a ship had become stranded, and a large portion of global trade had come to a halt. That’s when the rest of the world took notice.

It wasn’t all the fault of the poor giant. A sandstorm occurred just as the ship was crossing the Canal, and the ship went aground on a sandbank due to a strong gust of wind.

The Suez Canal is responsible for 12% of global trade, therefore it’s a terrible place to get stalled. According to estimates, the block was holding up items worth $9.6 billion dollars every day, or $400 million per hour.

The ship became the world’s favourite news and meme fodder of the year while trapped. After all, history isn’t written by well-behaved, disciplined ships.

To liberate the 200,000-ton cargo ship, it needed every tugboat in the area, a large number of ocean salvage specialists, and a lot of effort. However, before the ship was released, a little excavator became well-known.

For a long time, the image of hope, determination, and efforts will remain the little boy digging up sand to refloat the Goliath ship looming before it.

The ship sparked some of the year’s best and most inventive memes.

There’s a website where you can have Ever Given become trapped wherever you want it to get stuck. Why should the Suez Canal have all the fun? The cleverly named website ‘Ever Given Ever Ywhere’ allows you to stick Ever Given everywhere.

After nearly a week, Ever Given was eventually let free. While the Canal was closed, Egyptian authorities proclaimed a state of emergency. They had even filed a billion-dollar lawsuit against the shipowners. Ever Given was stranded, not literally, but legally, in the Great Bitter Lake for months after being refloated while the court dispute raged on.

The ship was finally liberated in July, and it crossed the Canal again in August this year, happily without being trapped. After arriving at the UK’s Felixstowe port on December 27, the world-famous ship has safely crossed the canal a couple of times and is now in the North Sea. It is now en route to Hamburg, Germany.

The Suez Canal is the shortest shipping route between the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean, measuring around 120 miles long. It connects the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean and is extremely important since, without it, ships would have to circumnavigate the whole African continent before reaching the Indian Ocean, as they did until 1869.

Ever Given got trapped, providing us with some much-needed relief from the Covid pandemic’s never-ending doom. For once, we weren’t talking about mortality, diseases, infections, or hospitals. In other ways, the ship symbolised how the world must keep moving forward, despite the fact that the epidemic is merely a sandbank. It can only slow us down, not stop us.

Let us all hope that global trade will continue unabated in 2022 and that no ships will become stranded.

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Traffic Block On Sion-Panvel Highway For Sanpada Pedestrian Bridge Repairs

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Sion-Panvel Highway Traffic Block for Repairs to the Sanpada Pedestrian Bridge.

The Repair

The Public Works Department (PWD) has announced a traffic block on the Sion-Panvel Highway on Thursday night, March 6, from 11:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. (March 7), due to essential repair work on the pedestrian bridge at Sanpada.

The flyover suffered significant damage on February 6 after being struck by a dumper, which bent and broke parts of its steel structure and railing. As a precaution, pedestrian access to the bridge has been temporarily restricted until repairs are completed.

To facilitate the work and minimize disruptions, traffic diversions have been put in place. Motorists traveling from Vashi towards Panvel are advised to use Palm Beach Road as an alternative route to avoid congestion.

K.R. Gupta, Executive Engineer of the PWD, urged commuters heading towards Panvel and Pune to cooperate and use Palm Beach Road during the traffic block hours. He assured that these measures are necessary to ensure public safety and the timely completion of the repairs.

Authorities have urged motorists to plan their journeys accordingly to prevent inconvenience. Traffic personnel will be deployed to assist with the diversions and ensure a smooth flow of vehicles.

Commuters are advised to stay updated on traffic advisories and follow official guidelines to avoid delays. The PWD has assured that every effort is being made to restore normalcy as soon as possible.

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After Refusing A Divorce, A Man Was Murdered In Navi Mumbai, His Wife, Son, And Two Other People Were Taken Into Custody

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Man Murdered in Navi Mumbai After Refusing Divorce; Wife, Son, and Two Others Arrested.

The Case

The Navi Mumbai Police have arrested a woman, her son, and two accomplices for allegedly murdering her husband after he refused to grant a divorce. The crime came to light after an unidentified body was discovered on February 23 on a bridge near Vahal village.

Initially registered as an accidental death, the case took a turn when Reshma Sachin More and her son reported her husband, Sachin More, missing. When police showed her photos of the unidentified body, she confirmed it was her husband. However, her suspicious behavior during questioning prompted further investigation.

Police analyzed Reshma’s phone records, CCTV footage, and the post-mortem report, which confirmed suffocation as the cause of death. On February 26, the case was reclassified as murder.

Investigations revealed that Sachin allegedly harassed Reshma both mentally and physically and refused to grant her a divorce. In response, Reshma conspired with her son, friend Rohit Temkar, and auto driver Prathamesh Mhatre to kill him.

Rohit provided sedatives, which were mixed into bitter gourd juice and given to Sachin. Once drugged, they took him in an auto-rickshaw under the pretense of taking him to a hospital. Near Jasai, Reshma strangled Sachin with a scarf and later smothered him. With assistance from her son and the auto driver, they disposed of his body by throwing it off the bridge.

All four accused have been arrested and are in police custody.

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Clash Between Transgenders and Police at APMC Truck Terminal

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A group of 15 transgenders clashed with police officers at the APMC Truck Terminal late Sunday night, leading to chaos at the APMC police station in the early hours of Monday. The police have registered a case against the group for unlawful assembly, public indecency, obstructing government work, and assaulting public servants.

According to the police, complaints had been rising about transgenders engaging in obscene activities near the truck terminal. Around midnight, Assistant Police Inspector Prabhakar Shiurkar and his team were patrolling the area when they spotted a few transgenders partially undressed, stopping vehicles, and making obscene gestures. When asked to leave, the transgenders allegedly became aggressive, hurled abuses, and issued threats.

A group of 10 to 15 transgenders gathered, and one reportedly grabbed a police officer’s collar and pushed him. The group also accused the police of interfering with their means of livelihood. As the situation escalated, police reinforcements were called in, and mild force was used to disperse them.

At around 2:15 AM, the same group stormed the APMC police station, creating further disruption. Some reportedly removed their clothes, shouted abuses, and even climbed onto tables, raising slogans. Despite multiple warnings, the group continued clapping loudly and insulting officers. Additional personnel were deployed, and after nearly an hour of chaos, the group finally dispersed. The police have filed a case and are investigating further.

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