The seven underwater specialists involved in the remarkable rescue were joined on the prestigious annual achievement list by Hollywood filmmaker Christopher Nolan and former supermodel Lesley Lawson, better known as Twiggy.

Other recipients include Monty Python actor Michael Palin and Jim Carter from “Downton Abbey”, best-selling author Philip Pullman and leading Brexiteer lawmaker John Redwood.

Four of the divers were given awards for exceptional bravery while the three others were made Members of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE).

Richard Stanton and John Volanthen — the first of the divers to reach the 12 stricken children and their coach — were awarded the George Medal, the country’s second highest civilian gallantry award.

Stanton had already been made an MBE in 2012 for his rescue services.

Fellow divers Christopher Jewell and Jason Mallinson receive the Queen’s Gallantry Medal, while Joshua Bratchley, Connor Roe and Vernon Unsworth were decorated with MBEs.

“For me, after saving the boys, this is the icing on the cake,” said Unsworth, who has also risen in fame after suing Tesla entrepreneur Elon Musk for labelling him a “pedo guy”.

“This was a team effort and I’m very honoured to have been recognised, particularly as you don’t engage in a major rescue expecting this outcome,” he added.

– ‘It makes me giggle’ –

Sixties it-girl Lawson receives a damehood for services to fashion following a decades-spanning career modelling, singing and acting.

The 69-year-old told Britain’s Press Association that the recognition was “wonderful, but it makes me giggle”.

“The hardest thing has been keeping it a secret,” she said.

Acclaimed director Nolan, an Oscar nominee this year for “Dunkirk” — as well as in 2011 for “Inception” and in 2002 for “Memento” — gets a CBE for services to film.

After graduating from low-budget independent movies, he has directed some of the biggest blockbusters ever made — including several “Batman” films — and become renowned for his technical and narrative daring.

Pullman, the creator of the hugely successful “His Dark Materials” trilogy, receives a knighthood for services to literature.

The 72-year-old said he was “very surprised and honoured” by the acknowledgement.

“I’m most grateful of all to those who continue to read my books, and I hope they don’t have to work as hard as those who edit them,” Pullman added.

Brexiteer wins knighthood

Palin, 75, becomes the first of Monty Python’s revered comedy cast to receive a knighthood.

The veteran actor, who has reinvented himself as a travel documentary maker and writer in later life, gets a knighthood for his international contributions to travel, culture and geography.

He said news of the accolade had yet to sink in. “I don’t think it will be until I see the envelopes addressing me as Sir Michael Palin,” he added.

Meanwhile, as Britain prepares to leave the European Union in March after decades of membership, John Redwood — one of parliament’s most prominent eurosceptics — was made a knight.

Redwood was part of a group of eurosceptics who plotted to bring down the government of former Conservative prime minister John Major, who called them the “bastards”.

The veteran Conservative lawmaker — a vocal opponent of Prime Minister Theresa May’s draft Brexit deal, set to be voted on in mid-January — was among three MPs awarded knighthoods.

There had been speculation this year’s honours could be deployed to try to win support for May’s plan — but it appears unlikely with Redwood.

Earlier this week he published a blog outlining “eight things wrong with the withdrawal agreement”.

Overall, 1,148 recipients were named in Queen Elizabeth II’s 2019 New Year Honours List.

Ardhi Nurdin, the head of the event committee, told tempo.co on Thursday in Yogyakarta that the concert would be held at Yogyakarta’s Titik Nol Kilometer (Kilometer Zero), an open-air public square.

“It is a big loss for Indonesia, particularly for its music industry,” said Ardhi, who has organized the concert, “Untukmu Sahabat: Tribute to Seventeen” (For You, Our Dear Friend: Tribute to Seventeen), along with social organizationJogja Berbakti.

Seventeen was formed in Yogyakarta in 1999.

The idea of the event emerged as Ardhi and several friends attended Seventeen guitarist Bani’s funeral, where they met with fellow musicians and were moved to organize an event to send prayers.

Read also: I’m all alone, says devastated Seventeen vocalist

The concert line-up includes Drummer Guyup Yogyakarta (DGYK), Cah Nyanyi Yogyakarta, Dexter Band, Laf, Megahit, Shakey, Jikustik, the Jogja Hiphop Foundation (JHF), Jasmine Elektrik and Istana Band, which is to feature former Seventeen vocalists Doni and Yudhi.

“The event will run from 2:30 p.m. to 10 p.m, presenting performances from each musician, and will be hosted by several MCs,” Ardhi was quoted as saying.

Testimonies from friends of Seventeen will take place between sets, as well as a  fund-raiser supported by BNI 46 bank and the people of Indonesia, in particular the people of Yogyakarta. The funds are to be distributed to the families of the deceased Seventeen members and other victims of the Sunda Strait tsunami.

Many individuals and organizations have also given their support to the event, including the Gedung Agung presidential palace in Yogyakarta.

“This is a positive event that deserves the government’s support through the Yogyakarta Presidential Palace [sic],” said palace head Saifullah.

In a few decades, when people look back on 2018, perhaps they will only remember one or two major headlines.

In the field of diplomacy, they may remember the meeting between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un.

If this were to happen it would be one of the biggest injustices of selective history and memory.

Because without South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s insistence, persistence and patience, the Trump-Kim summit would never have happened. No Moon – Kim summit, no Trump – Kim summit.

A period of tension

If we think back to the tail end of 2017, the headlines that was taking place in and around the Korean Peninsula highlighted a region that was on edge.

Trump had antagonized Pyongyang with a series of tweets including comparing his rocket size to Kim, calling the chairman a ‘little rocket man’ and threatening nuclear destruction of North Korea.Pyongyang responded by calling Trump a “dotard” and questioning his mental stability.

The world watched with anxiety as it moved a little closer to a nuclear conflict, the doomsday clock inched towards midnight.

Remember how much panic there was in January in Hawaii when nuclear raid sirens went off accidentally. The world seemed to teeter on the brink.

Rapid de-escalation 

The reason that Moon Jae-in is our person of the year is because he single-handedly disarmed the powder keg that had been primed.

Moon reached across the border when it was not popular or politically prudent to do so.

His insistence on inviting and meeting with the North Korean delegation at the Olympic Games slowed down tensions and opened room for negotiations.

His administration, at his insistence, worked tirelessly to assuage any paranoia the North had. It finally culminated in a historic meeting between the leaders of the two Koreas at the demilitarized zone.

When they did meet on the DMZ Moon did not hesitate to accept Kim’s invitation to ‘step over the line’ into North Korean territory knowing full well that there were symbolic repercussions.

The good will between the two leaders seem genuine too with Moon later returning the favour by becoming the first South Korean president to visit Pyongyang since Roh Moo-hyun a decade prior.

Preserving Alliances 

That is not to say that Moon has turned his back on the United States. The president has repeatedly maintained that the US has an important part to play in bringing peace to the Korean peninsula, even when it was not necessary for him to do so.

Seoul signed off on the Trump – Kim summit in Singapore and took a back seat to the whole affair knowing that Trump’s vanity meant that he had to take center stage and that the US President would demand full credit for the de-escalation of tensions.

When US media hyperbolized about a possible Nobel peace prize for Trump, there was only encouragement from Seoul.Person of the year

While it should be mentioned that Moon has a complicated legacy at home, his poll numbers have fallen on the back of several unpopular economic and energy policies. It should not in any way tarnish the legacy that he has built up in 2018.

Moon wins ANN’s person of the year not just because he single-handedly deescalated tensions when they were at an all time high on the peninsula. Moon wins it because he reminds us that patient non-zero-sum diplomacy still has a place in this world. In an age where leaders are increasingly boisterous, vainglorious and quick to act, that is perhaps more important than ever.

The earthquake struck at around 10 a.m. local time, with its epicenter located some 55 kilometers southeast of South Manokwari and predicted to be 26 km deep.

“It did not trigger a tsunami,” a BMKG spokesperson said in a press release, adding that no casualties were reported as of yet.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said separately that the earthquake triggered panic among residents.

“A strong earthquake was felt for five seconds in Manokwari regency, prompting people to gather in open fields,” said BNPB spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

Authorities in the Muslim-majority nation’s Aceh province took a match to the bricks of pot and also destroyed some 19 kilogrammes of methamphetamine, seized in raids this year.

Five drug suspects in bright-orange prison garb were paraded around the ceremony.

Aceh is a deeply conservative region at the tip of Sumatra island that publicly whips criminals for a range of offences including gambling, drinking alcohol, and having gay sex or relations outside of marriage.

    Indonesia also has some of the world’s strictest drug laws.

This month, five foreigners were arrested in Bali for drug trafficking, with a German and Peruvian possibly facing execution if convicted.

Authorities also widened a no-go zone around rumbling Anak Krakatoa to five kilometres (three miles) — up from a previous two kilometres — and warned shell-shocked residents to stay away from the coast, after more than 400 were killed by Saturday night’s killer wave.

Plumes of ash burst into the sky as pyroclastic flows — hot gas and other volcanic material — flowed down the crater, threatening anyone too close to the volcano and raising the risk of rough seas for boats in the vicinity.

“There is a danger of more eruptions,” said national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

    “People (near the volcano) could be hit by hot rocks, pyroclastic flows and thick ash.”

Authorities raised the crater’s status to high alert, the second-highest warning on the country’s four-point danger scale, while aviation officials ordered flights to be redirected away from the area.

“We’ve raised the status of (the volcano) since this morning because there’s been a change in the eruption pattern,” Kus Hendratno, a senior official at the Krakatoa observatory, told AFP Thursday.

 – ‘Just pray for us’ –

The new flows posed no immediate danger to area towns as the volcano sits in the middle of the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra islands.

But the status change sparked new fears with many residents already scared and refusing to return to their communities over fears of another tsunami.

“This worries me,” said Ugi Sugiarti, a cook at the Augusta Hotel in hard-hit Carita. “I’ve already left.”

Sukma, a security guard at the shattered Mutiara Carita Cottages, added: “Just please pray for us and that everything will be okay.”

A section of the crater — which emerged at the site of the Krakatoa volcano, whose massive 1883 eruption killed at least 36,000 people — collapsed after an eruption and slid into the ocean, triggering Saturday night’s killer wave.

At least 430 people were killed, with 1,495 people injured and another 159 were missing.

Nearly 22,000 people have been evacuated and are living in shelters.

On Wednesday evening, the disaster agency said that wind was blowing “ash and sand” from the volcano to the nearby towns of Cilegon and Serang on Java, and advised residents to wear masks and glasses if they had to venture outdoors.

Torrential rains have sparked flooding in some areas, hampering the relief effort and heaping more misery on the stricken region, as thousands cram emergency shelters.

Medical workers have warned that clean water and medicine supplies were running low — stoking fears of a public health crisis.

Indonesia, a vast Southeast Asian archipelago, is one of the most disaster-hit nations on Earth due to its position straddling the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where tectonic plates collide.

The tsunami was Indonesia’s third major natural disaster in six months, following a series of powerful earthquakes on the island of Lombok in July and August and a quake-tsunami in September that killed around 2,200 people in Palu on Sulawesi island, with thousands more missing and presumed dead.

The suit, filed Monday in the Midwestern city where Boeing is based, alleges the two-month-old plane’s safety system improperly engaged and pilots were not adequately instructed by the plane manufacturer on how to respond.

Lion Air Flight 610 vanished from radar 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta on October 29, crashing into waters off the north coast of Indonesia’s Java Island and killing all 189 people onboard.

About 30 relatives of the crash victims have filed lawsuits against Boeing, alleging that faults with the new model 737 MAX led to the deaths.

The Chicago lawsuit was filed on behalf of the family of passenger Sudibyo Onggo Wardoyo, 40, of Jakarta.

“Not only did Boeing place sensors that provided inaccurate data, it also failed to provide the plane’s pilots adequate instructions. It was like Boeing first blindfolded and then tied the hands of the pilots,” the family’s attorney Thomas Demetrio said in a statement.

The preliminary crash report from Indonesia’s transport safety agency suggested that pilots struggled to control the plane’s anti-stalling system immediately before the crash.

Boeing responded to the November report by pointing to the actions of the pilots and claiming an earlier flight on the same plane ended safely when pilots successfully dealt with erroneous sensor data.

“The 737 MAX is as safe as any airplane that has ever flown the skies,” the manufacturer said in a statement.

“Boeing is taking every measure to fully understand all aspects of this accident,” it added.

A Boeing spokesman would not comment on the specifics of the lawsuit. A final crash report is not likely to be filed until next year.

The quake was the strongest in the region after Mount Etna erupted on Monday, spewing ash and forcing the temporary closure of Sicilian airspace. A series of tremors followed, but the latest one was the strongest.

The national institute for geophysics and vulcanology (INGV) said the quake happened in the middle of the night and was only one kilometre (0.6 miles) deep.

Despite the closure of a part of the highway running along the coast, the airport at the eastern city of Catania, the capital of the province, was open.

    The epicentre was located north of Catania and several families had to spend the night in the streets. Four people suffered light injuries, officials said.

Two people were rescued from a collapsed building.

Monday’s eruption occurred on the side of Mount Etna and was the first lateral eruption in a decade.

Mount Etna is 3,300 metres high with frequent eruptions recorded in the past 2,700 years.

Its most recent eruptions occurred in the spring of 2017 and its last major eruption in the 2008/2009 winter.

At the end of March a study published in the Bulletin of Volcanology said Etna was slowly sliding towards the Mediterranean — at a constant pace of 14 millimetres per year.

“We have decided to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission in order to resume commercial whaling in July next year,” top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

“Commercial whaling to be resumed from July next year will be limited to Japan’s territorial waters and exclusive economic zones. We will not hunt in the Antarctic waters or in the southern hemisphere,” Suga added.

The announcement had been widely expected and comes after Japan failed in a bid earlier this year to convince the IWC to allow it to resume commercial whaling.

Tokyo has repeatedly threatened to pull out of the body, and has been regularly criticised for catching hundreds of whales a year for “scientific research” despite being a signatory to a moratorium on hunting the animals.

Suga said Japan would officially inform the IWC of its decision by the end of the year, which will mean the withdrawal comes into effect by June 30.

Leaving the IWC means Japanese whalers will be able to resume hunting in Japanese coastal waters of minke and other whales currently protected by the IWC.

But Japan will not be able to continue the so-called scientific research hunts in the Antarctic that has been exceptionally allowed as an IWC member under the Antarctic Treaty.

The withdrawal means Japan joins Iceland and Norway in openly defying the IWC’s ban on commercial whale hunting.

It is certain to infuriate conservationists and anti-whaling countries such as Australia and New Zealand, and deepen the divide between anti- and pro-whaling countries.

Japan has hunted whales for centuries, and their meat was a key source of protein in the immediate post-World War II years when the country was desperately poor.

But consumption has declined significantly in recent decades, with much of the population saying they rarely or never eat whale meat.