Monday, June 30, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 345 • 24 of 27

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tions and should not by itself be viewed as a referendum on the Obama administration.
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Owner of sunken South Korean ferry blamed for 5 earlier crashes, but punishments were light

• SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- In the same narrow waterways where more than 300 people died this spring aboard the ferry Sewol, another ship owned by the same company crashed into an oil tanker 11 years earlier. The ferry's captain had chosen the difficult water path to cut a mere seven miles from its journey.
• It was among five crashes, from 2003 to 2011, that government investigators blamed mostly on sailors of Chonghaejin Marine Co. ferries. Three of the incidents occurred within a 12-month span, and after those occurred, a government investigator chided the company for failing to make safety reforms.
• None of the crashes caused fatalities, but together, some experts say, they were reason enough for regulators to suspend or even revoke the company's license. That never happened, and in fact Chonghaejin was allowed to expand by adding the Sewol to its fleet last year.
• Chonghaejin's punishment for those five failures: two one-month suspensions for sailors, three verbal warnings to captains, one verbal warning to the company and a fine of 7.5 million won ($7,400). The biggest fine that can be issued in ferry-safety cases is just 30 million won ($29,400).
• The Korean Maritime Safety Tribunal, an arm of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries that serves as a maritime court, recommended safety changes to the company as well, but they were nonbinding.
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Ukrainian city of Lviv withdraws bid for 2022 Winter Olympics; 3rd city to pull out

• LONDON (AP) -- The Ukrainian city of Lviv withdrew its bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics on Monday, becoming the third contender to drop out of the race for a games that no one seems to want.
• Lviv pulled out because of the continuing political and security crisis in Ukraine, where government forces are battling an insurgency by pro-Russian separatists.
• Lviv officials said they would now focus on bidding for the 2026 Winter Games instead.

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