Easter Island’s Carnival Magic Seduces Tourists

Jakarta Globe, Mike Leyral, Feb 22, 2015

People take part in dance contest in Hanga Roa on Chile's Easter Island (or Rapa
 Nui as its inhabitants call it) in the Pacific Ocean on Feb. 10, 2015 as part of the 47th
 edition of Tapati, an all-out 15-day contest between rival teams to crown a new monarch.
(AFP Photo/Gregory Boissy)

Far from home on Chile’s Easter Island for Carnival festivities, one middle-aged American woman throws caution to the wind. Stripped down to a thong, she lets a local reveler paint her chest.

“If someone had told me I would end up walking down the street almost naked, I would never have believed it,” the woman, who only gave her first name Susan, said.

Susan is one of a few thousand tourists who joined the Pacific island’s 9,000 residents for Tapati, an exuberant mix of music, dance and traditional sports that takes place for two weeks every February.

In the island’s only town Hanga Roa, revelers wait in a long line under the blistering tropical summer sun to take part in a time-honored ritual — a plunge in an old tub filled with clay.

A man known as Ale then spreads with his hand this reddish-brown natural paint on the bodies of other locals — and any tourist ready to participate.

Then, other lines form in front of tubs filled with white and yellow paint.

It’s time for the Rapa Nui — the Polynesian word for both the island and its residents — to paint symbols, inspired by the local Birdman legend, or characters from the long-lost Rongorongo system of writing.

Shortly after 5:00 p.m., a warrior blows into an enormous shell, signaling the start of the nightly parade, which features colorful floats and dancers in elaborate costumes, not unlike the massive Carnival celebrations in Rio de Janeiro.

The Tapati festival is at once a test of masculine strength and feminine grace celebrating Polynesian pride.

Easter Island is at the southernmost point of the so-called Polynesian Triangle — a Pacific region with Hawaii and New Zealand at the other corners.

The Unesco World Heritage Site is famous for its nearly 900 massive stone monuments — the Moai, carved by the Rapa Nui hundreds of years ago.

Rival teams are locked in an all-out contest to crown a new Tapati queen, who reigns for a year.

Numerous races and other contests take place — including reed board surfing, underwater fishing, fruit-carrying, a triathlon and horse races — but the nightly parades and dance competitions are the highlight.

Locals spend months carving out large wooden statues for the parade floats from Eucalyptus trees representing deified ancestors, such as the mystical Moai stone giants or the Birdman.

One night, a man draped in animal skins leads the way on his motorcycle, featuring a bull’s skull on the steering wheel.

Behind him, a woman dressed as a mermaid — her costume made of all-natural materials including a tail taken from a tuna caught just that morning — poses on a float decorated with huge wooden octopuses.

People originally from the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia play large pahu drums, while the Rapa Nui prefer horse jaws that make a light sound close to maracas when the teeth hit one another.

Some of the Tapati activities reflect a more Latin vibe taken from Chile — the elderly do battle to be the accordion king, as young people display their tango skills.

But the Polynesian dance competitions are fierce.

At the Hanga Vare Vare, the main festival stage in Hanga Roa, dancers sway sensually to the Polynesian drum rhythms.

Agence France-Presse

Related Article:

The Mysteries Revealed of Rapa Nui (5) - Oct 18-21, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"The Timing of Creation" – Aug 12, 2012 (a message from Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

Thailand failing to tackle fishing industry slavery, says rights group

Environmental Justice Foundation says progress on eliminating human trafficking in Thai fishing ‘wholly inadequate’

The Guardian, Kate Hodal, 18 Feb 2015

The Thai government claims to have made progress in cracking down on slavery
in its fishing industry, but a report by the Environmental Justice Foundation
contains a litany of failures. Photograph: Nicolas Asfouri/AFP/Getty Images

Thailand has made wholly inadequate progress in its efforts to eliminate human trafficking in its multi-billion dollar fishing industry, and has failed to combat both endemic corruption and the involvement of state officials in trafficking despite repeated promises to do so, a rights group claims.

Trafficking victims are still vulnerable to abuse and attack in Thai government shelters, while government inspections of fishing vessels consistently fail to identify abuse or perpetrators of abuse, the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) says in a briefing paper, Broken Promises (pdf). These failures, among a litany of others, prove that the government’s efforts over the past year have failed to meet even the most minimum of standards for eradicating slavery, the group says.

Thailand was downgraded in June to the lowest level in the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons report, ranking it alongside Iran, North Korea and Saudi Arabia in its treatment of workers and the way it protects them from abuse. The downgrade came after a Guardian report into the Thai fishing industry found that slaves forced to work on Thai fishing boats for no pay were integral to processing prawns sold in the US, UK and elsewhere in the EU by industry giants including Tesco, Walmart, Carrefour and Costco.

But the military-backed government claims to have made significant progress in its attempts to combat human trafficking over the past year. Last month, deputy foreign minister Don Pramudwinai detailed extensive new measures – GPS-monitoring systems on fleets, million-dollar fines for illegal fishing and anti-corruption officers to improve investigations – as proof that the nation was cracking down on slavery.

The EJF paper, however, highlights alarming reports of slavery over the past year, among them the October rescue by Indonesian authorities of 35 Thai nationals from Thai fishing fleets, and the January sale of a father and son on to a Thai trawler by Thai police officers.

The lack of regulation or prosecution of illegal labour brokers, enforcement of existing laws, or even provision of adequate protection and support to trafficking victims – many of whom have alleged assault, threats at gunpoint and physical beatings at government shelters – are clear indicators that Thailand should remain on the State Department’s lowest ranking this year, said EJF’s executive director, Steve Trent.

“Nothing that we have seen or heard in the last year indicates that Thailand has taken meaningful action to address the root causes of trafficking and abuse,” said Trent. “After four years on the tier 2 watchlist and one year on tier 3, the Royal Thai government is still failing to take the action needed to prevent trafficking and human rights abuses in the fishing industry.”

Although Thailand began inspections at sea last year, video footage shows interviews of fishermen taking place in front of their boat captains or gangmasters – the very men who are often responsible for trafficking workers – while local media reports indicate that officials often fail to determine the work conditions, wages or trafficking status of those being questioned. This is due in part to inadequate screening processes, EJF claims, but also to the lack of official vessels at sea, budget restrictions on fuel, and maritime border issues.

Other rights groups, among them Human Rights Watch, have said that nothing less than a complete overhaul of Thailand’s fishing industry would suffice to address the “systematic and pervasive use of trafficked men” on its fishing boats.

“Only a few of the most open and forward-looking companies and industry associations are moving to address the challenges of labour exploitation quickly enough, and they too are held back by the government bureaucracy, corruption and entrenched broker-reliant migrant recruitment, registration and regularisation systems,” migrant rights activist Andy Hall said.

“Too many companies, as well as purchasing giants overseas, continue to seek to hide these challenges through ineffective audits whilst passing almost all of the burdens and costs of these challenges on to workers or subcontractors.”

Thailand has pointed to its registration of 1.6 million migrant workers – 70,000 of whom EJF claims work directly in the fishing industry – as proof that it is combating trafficking. But with the Thai fishing industry facing a labour shortage of roughly 50,000 men, recruitment on to fishing boats remains, by and large, an informal process taken on by illegal brokers who work directly with Thai boat captains.

Little has been done to address that shortage, rights groups claim, and a recent government proposal to fill that gap with prison inmates was met with both local and international derision.

Activists working in trafficking hotspots in Thailand recently told the Guardian that while the government had ramped up patrols in ports and on docked fishing vessels, the real problem was still the thousands of trafficked men stuck out at sea.

“From what I can see, trafficking is still in full force,” one activist charged with helping vulnerable seafarers in southern Thailand told the Guardian. “A Burmese slave recently escaped from a [fishing] boat and said there were many others like him still out at sea – Burmese, Cambodian, all sorts – so to me it looks like the measures aren’t working.”

Divers find record trove of gold coins in Mediterranean

Yahoo – AFP, 18 Feb 2015

A handout picture released by Israel's Antiquities Authority shows some of the gold

 coins recently found on the seabed in the ancient harbour in Caesarea (AFP Photo)

Jerusalem (AFP) - Scuba divers have discovered the largest trove of gold coins ever found off Israel's Mediterranean coast -- about 2,000 pieces dating back more than 1,000 years, the country's antiquities authority said Tuesday.

"The largest treasure of gold coins discovered in Israel was found in recent weeks on the seabed in the ancient harbour in Caesarea," the authority said in a statement.

It was by pure chance that members of a diving club in the Roman-era port had come across the coins, which the authority said weighed nine kilograms (almost 20 pounds) but described as "priceless".

"At first they thought they had spotted a toy coin from a game and it was only after they understood the coin was the real thing that they collected several coins and quickly returned to the shore in order to inform the director of the dive club about their find," it said.

Experts from the authority called to the site uncovered "almost 2,000 gold coins in different denominations" circulated by the Fatimid Caliphate, which ruled much of the Middle East and North Africa from 909 to 1171.

Kobi Sharvit, director of the marine archaeology unit at the Israel Antiquities Authority, said excavations would be carried out in the hope of shedding more light on the origin of the treasure.

A handout picture released by Israel's Antiquities Authority shows

 a scuba diver holding in his hand some of the gold coins found on

the seabed in the ancient harbour in Caesarea (AFP Photo/

Kobi Sharvit)

"There is probably a shipwreck there of an official treasury boat which was on its way to the central government in Egypt with taxes that had been collected," said Sharvit.

"Perhaps the treasure of coins was meant to pay the salaries of the Fatimid military garrison which was stationed in Caesarea and protected the city.

"Another theory is that the treasure was money belonging to a large merchant ship that traded with the coastal cities and the port on the Mediterranean Sea and sank there," he said.

The Israeli Antiquities Authority declined to put a cash value on the coins, which it said had been exposed as a result of winter storms.

The find was "so valuable that its priceless," spokeswoman Yoli Schwartz told AFP, adding the haul was now the property of the state, and that there was no finder's fee.

Related Article:

Scuba divers discover hoard of ancient gold in Israel

Sinking Poachers’ Boats Doesn’t Float With Environmentalists

Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon, Feb 17, 2015

The detonation and sinking of illegal foreign vessels, such as this Thai-flagged
 boat, has proved popular with the public despite the environmental blowback.
(Antara Photo/Joko Sulistyo)

Jakarta. Indonesia’s fisheries minister, Susi Pudjiastuti, has fast become one of the most popular ministers in President Joko Widodo’s cabinet, thanks in large part to her trigger-happy policy of sinking foreign fishing vessels caught poaching in Indonesian waters.

The sinkings began on Dec. 5 when three vessels flying the Vietnamese flag were scuttle off the Riau Islands.

Since then, the minister has been on a crusade, with the Navy behind her, to sink more boats, the most recent being on Feb. 10, when another Vietnamese vessel met a fiery fate in the pristine waters of the Raja Ampat archipelago in Papua.

But while the policy has earned Susi brownie points with the public (a survey last month identified her as the most popular minister in the cabinet), environmentalists are appalled at the gung-ho sinking of vessels, using explosives, in delicate maritime ecosystems.

“The debris of the vessels can end up becoming trash floating around in the sea,” says Arifsyah Nasution, an oceans campaigner at Greenpeace Indonesia.

“The use of explosives to sink the boat disturbs and threatens the fish near the location of the explosion — in a way, it has the same effect as using dynamite to catch fish.”

There is also no indication that the Navy properly cleans out the vessels of their highly polluting diesel and bunker oil before sinking them.

“The bigger the boat, the more oil is left over in the tanks, and that oil will contaminate the sea,” says Anton Wijonarno, the manager of the marine protected area for fisheries program at WWF Indonesia.

Both Arifsyah and Anton conceded that there has been little research on the impact to maritime ecosystems of blowing up wooden boats, but say the explosions need to stop, at least for now.

“There should be a discussion among maritime ecosystem experts on this matter as a precautionary approach before the government carries on sinking more vessels,” Arifsyah says.

Anton says the government must consider several factors to minimize damaging delicate ecosystems, such as Raja Ampat, which is an important habitat for manta rays and other rare marine species that flock to its extensive coral reefs.

“Any explosion should be conducted in an area where the water depth is at least 40 meters, not in shallow areas where coral grows,” Anton says.

He notes that while sunken wrecks can and often do serve as artificial reefs in coastal waters, the “excessive use” of explosives by the Navy can end up “destroying the vessels completely, thus rendering them useless as artificial reefs.”

President Joko claims that destroying illegal foreign fishing vessels has proven an effective deterrent against poachers. There are, however, no statistics available on the proliferation of such boats in Indonesian waters before and after the sinkings began to corroborate this.

For her part, Susi claims the government has, through the new hard-line policy, managed to slash the number of illegal vessels operating in the country’s waters by 90 percent — another figure that cannot be independently verified — and prevented them from “stealing the archipelago’s underwater natural resources.”

Greenpeace’s Arifsyah said that no matter how effective the government made the policy out to be, it should still consider sinking boats in the middle of the sea using explosives as an act of last resort.

“There are two other ways: sinking them without any burning or use of explosives, or towing them back to shore and breaking them up and selling the parts,” he says.

Hong Kong captain jailed for 8 years over ferry tragedy

Yahoo – AFP, February 16, 2015

Hong Kong captain jailed for 8 years over ferry tragedy

Hong Kong (AFP) - A Hong Kong boat captain was on Monday sentenced to eight years in prison for the manslaughter of 39 people in a 2012 ferry collision, the city's worst maritime disaster in nearly four decades.

Sea Smooth skipper Lai Sai Ming, 56, was found guilty on Saturday following a trial that gripped the city, over the accident between his high-speed ferry and a pleasure boat near Lamma Island.

"I have concluded you should go to prison for eight years," judge Brian Keith told a court.

"You were in command of a fast ferry, not a small pleasure boat. You knew if you didn't check for the presence of other vessels you would be risking lives... your conduct that night fell way below the standard of professionalism," he said.

"The case has been personal tragedy for your and your family but that cannot begin to compare with the unimaginable grief to those who lost their loved ones," he said, as Lai listened from the dock with his head lowered.

Lai was jailed for a further 18 months for endangering the safety of others at sea, but the terms will be served concurrently.

Chow Chi-wai, 58, who was piloting the leisure boat Lamma IV with 120 people on board in the collision, was jailed for nine months for endangering others' safety at sea. He was acquitted of all 39 charges of manslaughter.

His lawyer Gerard McCoy said that, after the October 1, 2012 incident, Chow "has deep, abiding fear of the sea" and cannot go on ferries anymore.

Saturday's verdict came after a nine-member jury deliberated for four days following a 60-day trial.

Irene Cheng, who lost her 24-year-old son in the accident, told AFP that the sentences could not bring back the families' loved ones.

"I respect the court decision. But even if they were given a death penalty it cannot compensate... his life will not return and my family will never be the same," she said.

The collision raised questions over safety in the crowded waters of Hong Kong, one of the world's busiest ports, with an inquiry pointing to a "litany of errors" that caused the disaster.

Victims could have had vital extra minutes to escape if the Lamma IV had been equipped with a watertight door, while several were actually left trapped when seats fell on top of them, the inquiry found.

The boat also had no children's life jackets onboard when it sank, claiming the lives of eight youngsters.

It was the city's most serious maritime accident since 1971, when a ferry between Hong Kong and Macau sank off the island of Lantau during a typhoon, killing 88 people.

Related Article:

Costa Concordia captain Schettino sentenced to 16 years

After Knut: Germany's next top polar bear?

Ever since Knut drew millions of visitors to the Berlin Zoo in 2007, Germany has been known for its infatuation with baby polar bears. Knut's little brother - who still needs a name - may be its next animal celebrity.

Deutsche Welle, 15 Feb 2015

Rostock, a city in northeast Germany, has a new potential superstar. He's only two-and-a-half months old, weighs eight kilograms (about 18 pounds) and lives right by the Baltic Sea with his mother Vilma. It's a polar bear baby, a male one, a detail only recently discovered by zoo staff.

The little ball of white fur looks remarkably like Knut, the polar bear that drew people from all over the world to the Berlin Zoo in 2007. The resemblance is no coincidence: the new polar bear baby in Rostock is Knut's half-brother - the two share the same father, Lars.

The baby animal weighed only 600 grams at birth, not much larger than a guinea pig. Employees at the Rostock Zoo were overjoyed at his arrival; the last time a polar bear was born there was 10 years ago.

Looking for a name

Knut's little brother was born on December 3, is healthy and continues to gain weight. He already has enough energy to play with his mother, crawling all over her - but what he doesn't have yet is a name. After all, nobody even knew his gender until a few days ago.

Now that this crucial issue has been determined, Udo Nagel, the zoo's director, has called on all animal lovers to suggest a name. The criteria: it has to be a simple name, one that "sounds Nordic." Suggestions can be submitted via email to the zoo's press department until March 10. The person whose name is selected will win two nights at a local hotel and an invite to the bear's christening.

The baby's first public appearance is slated for the end of March. Until then, he remains alone with his mother, because the first three months should be as quiet as possible for the little family. Unnecessary stress should be avoided at all costs.

Famous forerunner

Famous brother Knut was born in December 2006 at the Berlin Zoo. He was the zoo's first newborn polar bear to survive past infancy in more than 30 years, and became a huge attraction.

One reason for his superstardom, aside from his natural cuteness, was his perceived humanity - he was raised by a zookeeper after being rejected by his mother, and played with his "adoptive father" like a puppy.

But that fame wouldn't last, with Knut dying in 2011 of a brain infection.

The Rostock Zoo might be in for a treat: Knut's home in Berlin reported a 30 percent increase in visitors in 2007. The polar bear, who earned the zoo millions of euros in revenue through the sales of tickets and merchandise, had fans all over the world.

13 Chinese fishing boats expelled in Taiwan crackdown

Want China Times, CNA 2015-02-15

Coast guard personnel use high-pressure water cannons to expel
a Chinese fishing boat, Feb. 14. (Photo/CNA)

Taiwan's coast guard has intensified actions to crack down on poaching in the seas northeast of the island, expelling 13 Chinese fishing boats from its waters over the past two days, the Coast Guard Administration said Saturday.

The administration deployed seven vessels, including the 2,000-ton cutter Hsinbei, during the two-day mission around the islets of Pengjia, Huaping and Mianhua, together known as the "three northern islets."

Coast guard personnel used high-pressure water cannons to deter poachers in waters around the islands as it is beltfish season and fishermen are seeking to meet demand in the run-up to the Lunar New Year holiday next week, according to the administration.

Pilot whales die after 198 stranded on New Zealand beach

BBC News, 13 February 2015

A conservation worker tends some of the beached whales

Almost 200 pilot whales have stranded themselves on New Zealand's South Island, as rescuers and volunteers raced to refloat them.

Two dozen of the 198 whales found on Farewell Spit, Golden Bay, had already died, the conservation department said.

If the attempt to refloat them on Friday is unsuccessful, rescuers will have to wait 24 hours for high tide to try again.

A local official said it is the biggest beaching incident in 10-15 years.

"Because there's just so many whales, there are a couple of spots where a lot would gather together and that's kind of problematic from the aspect that you can't get in there, it's just too dangerous," said Mike Ogle, a local conservation ranger.

Farewell Spit has been the location of many whale strandings.

Experts say its shallow waters seems to confuse whales and hinder their ability to navigate.

Once they are stranded, whales can suffer from dehydration and sunburn.

Pilot whales can grow to about 20ft (6 metres) and are the most common species of whale in New Zealand's waters.

Andrew Lamason from the Department Of Conservation said it could take days to refloat the whales and even then there would be no guarantees they would survive.

"We've had plenty times in the past where the pods have gone out to sea and turned around and come back again," Mr Lamason said. "We're preparing for a big few days."

Scientists do not know what causes groups of whales to beach themselves.

File photo of pilot whales in Scotland

Related Article:

“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

“… (2) The second thing the melting ice caps give you is about ecology. I'll give you this prediction in a moment. There is a Human 3D paradigm that says everything gets "used" and then goes away. But nature doesn't work that way, and our prediction is going to go against everything you have been told. I'm going to give you a parable and the prediction in a moment, but before that, I'm going to give you the explanation of the birds and the fish.

In the last few weeks, fish have been washing up dead in certain lakes by the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Birds have been falling from the sky. I'm going to make a statement way in advance of what science is going to tell you. All of it can be traced to the water cycle - all of it. It's always about the weather, a cycle of weather you've not seen before. Do you remember a few years ago when whales were beaching themselves? Did you notice that this attribute stopped? But while they were beaching themselves every year, many Human Beings were in fear, saying, "It's the end of the world. They're committing suicide."

The whales beached themselves because the magnetics of the earth shifted so greatly that their navigational system [the magnetite in their biology, which is their migration compass] steered them right into the land. The land didn't move; the magnetics did. Therefore, you might say their internal inherited migration map was flawed. The reason it's not happening now is because the calves, the generation beyond the one that beached themselves, figured it out and rewrote the maps. Nature [Gaia] does this. So the next generation didn't repeat it. Instead, it realigned itself to the migratory lay lines and now whales don't beach themselves nearly as often.

The magnetics of the planet continue to shift and the birds are unaware. Like the whales, many of the birds have migrated themselves right into a high place in the atmosphere, which pummeled them to death by freezing rain and hail. Then they fall from the sky. It's the weather cycle. Will they continue to do this? Some will, for awhile, and then they will figure it out and recalibrate. That's what nature does.

You might say, "Well, nature's way is severe." It is not severe. It is a positive learning system that allows generations of birds to be around next time. The few deaths allow for the many to continue their life cycle and their lineage on the earth.

I want you to analyze the fish that have washed up. Let science reveal this as well. I want you to analyze the fish. They have something in common. They're all juveniles. And why is that? What do you know about the water cycle? What do you know about cold water and the life cycle of certain fish and their habits of reproduction? I will tell you the layers of water are changing in temperature and that is going to change the life cycle of the oceans and lakes. The juvenile fish are the most susceptible to death by becoming too cold, especially the ones of the kind that washed up dead. By the tens of thousands, the cold killed them. It is the water cycle. Will it continue? For awhile, until they acclimate, until they recalibrate for the cold - and they will. Nature does that.  ….“

"The Energy of the Future" (2) - Dec 7, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version) - New

“… The Physics of It: A Review

Now for some physics, and I'll call it spiritual physics so it's not too complicated. In 1993, we gave you a book called The End Times. In this book, we made some statements. We talked about the magnetic grid of the earth, and we told you that it had to be there for Human life to exist - and it does. At the time, science didn't agree, but now many are seeing it. We went on to give you the esoterics of it, what my partner calls the woo-woo part. Your DNA, a multidimensional molecule, has within it everything that the Universe knows. It carries your Akashic Record, all of your lifetimes, all of your spiritual purpose, your spiritual being and your karma. Everything is in your DNA. This will never be proven, since it's a spiritual attribute. The DNA creates a field and it's called the Merkabah (a Hebrew word).

We also told you that the magnetic grid of the earth, a multidimensional energy, transfers certain things to your DNA on a day-by-day basis. The grid then becomes a major energy transfer system. That should have connected the dots for some of those who were paying attention - for if the grid changes, dear ones, you do, too. I told you the grid would change more in 10 years than it had in 100, and it did. You can measure your magnetic grid's movement with a compass. Between 1993 and 2002, it moved greatly, more than in any other time in modern Human history. We said this would be, and so it was. Our grid group left in 2002, as we told you we would.

Again, those paying attention should have known something was happening. I also told you within those initial transmissions back then that you would have no Armageddon, and you did not. Also, that there would be no World War III, and there wasn't. In the face of all the prophecy that told you differently, we told you there was a potential for Human Beings to pass the marker, survive, and start a new energy on the planet. We told you this would be the start of peace on Earth, and this is where you sit today. All of those years ago, we told you about the potential of where you sit today, listening to this message, and asking what might be next. So I'll label the channel right now: The Energy of the Future.

The Energy of the Future

Last week, I gave you a channelling of what to expect within the next three years. The message tonight will talk to you about the energies that are going to be manifested beyond that and some of the changes to expect and why they are taking place. You may want to listen to this channel a number of times to put it together, for there are reviews and new information.

So before we begin, what have we established?

Number One: Locked into the Human body via your DNA is brilliance and mastery, working at approximately 34 percent.

Number Two: The magnetic grid of the planet postures everything to do with your DNA. It also has much to do with what you call Human nature, what you want and what you've created. It seems static, never changing, and has been seen as "the way it is". However, we will call it the temporary lock on DNA. You see, when your Human consciousness and spiritual maturity starts to move in the next years, your DNA will start to change. This has nothing to do with chemistry, but everything to do with energy stored within it, and rewriting the data. New energies will unlock certain parts that have been locked, some of them being the very parts that I've just told you about at the beginning of this channelling - the things that are puzzling regarding healing and the Akash.  …”

Costa Concordia captain Schettino sentenced to 16 years

Yahoo – AFP, 11 Feb 2015

Costa Concordia's captain Francesco Schettino arrives in the courthouse for his
 final declaration on the last day of his trial on February 11, 2015 in Grosseto, Italy
(AFP Photo/Alberto Pizzoli)

Grosseto (Italy) (AFP) - An Italian court on Wednesday sentenced Francesco Schettino, the captain of the ill-fated Costa Concordia, to 16 years and one month in prison for his role in the shipwreck that claimed 32 lives.

Schettino, 54, was sentenced at the end of a 19-month trial, three years after the January 2012 disaster, which occurred after the huge cruise ship hit rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio. His conviction is subject to appeal.

An Italian court on Wednesday sentenced Francesco Schettino, the captain of the ill-fated Costa Concordia, to 16 years and one month in prison for his role in the shipwreck that claimed 32 lives.

Schettino, 54, was sentenced at the end of a 19-month trial, three years after the January 2012 disaster, which occurred after the huge cruise ship hit rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio. His conviction is subject to appeal.

The disgraced skipper, who had earlier tearfully appealed to the court for mercy, had been charged with manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his ship with passengers and crew still on board.

It was not immediately clear which of the various counts he was convicted on.

Prosecutors had sought a total sentence of 26 years and three months.

Schettino was accused during the trial of recklessly steering the giant cruise ship onto the rocks with more than 4,000 people on board, negligently delaying an order to abandon ship and then leaving the ship himself in a cowardly and unprofessional manner.

In his defence, Schettino said his crew was to blame for the collision, that the delayed evacuation might have saved lives and insisted he fell off the tilting boat rather than fleeing in fear.

Schettino had also claimed he was being made a scapegoat for the disaster and had been the victim of a media witch-hunt.

Wrecked Costa Concordia enters Italian port to be scrapped (AFP)

Related Article:

Wrecked Costa Concordia enters Italian port to be scrapped

Landmark Education Deal Looks to Maritime Future

Jakarta Globe, Rabab Hannan, Feb 10, 2015

Pelita Harapan University (UPH) rector Jonathan L. Parapak, right, director of the
 Shipping and Transportation College Rotterdam (STC-Group) Albert Bos, center,
 and MCS Internasional manning and training services managing director Johan
Novitrian sign a cooperation agreement as Hajo Provo Kluit from the Netherlands
 Embasy, right, and Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi director Theo Lekatompessy
look on. (ID Photo/Emral)

Jakarta. Hajo Provo Kluit, the deputy head of the economic department of the Netherlands Embassy in Jakarta, has formalized the signing of a maritime educational partnership between Pelita Harapan University (UPH), STC-Group Rotterdam and Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi.

The master’s program opens management opportunities in the field of maritime industry, with practical training and internship collaboration provided by STC and Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi.

Held at the university’s executive education facility in Jakarta on Monday, the signing of the cooperation allows the expansion of human resources in the fields of maritime, logistics and supply chain.

“The ties between Indonesia and Netherlands are very broad. Our embassy processes about 28,000 visa applications a year to travel to the Netherlands. Students are also studying at various institutes in Netherlands,” Provo Kluit said.

“Another area in which the Indonesian government is close to the Netherlands is interest in infrastructure, logistics and water management. I like to think of Indonesia as our gateway to Southeast Asia,” Provo Kluit added on behalf of the economic department of the Netherlands Embassy.

UPH’s key mission is for the specialization of the maritime industry and for senior managers to access port authority, shipping and logistics companies throughout Indonesia.

“I’d like to thank STC and Humpuss to have actually taken part together in this executive program to start something unique in Indonesia,” said UPH rector Jonathan Parapak. “This is a very elite program that will be of interest to many Indonesians. Thank you to the embassy of the Netherlands for supporting this too.”

International faculty members will also teach the program from one of the world’s largest shipping schools — STC Group Rotterdam — offering practical and engaging experiences.

“Hopefully this program can help future executives of the government,” said STC director Captain Albert Bos.

The UPH executive education center was established in 2013 with a mission to provide cutting-edge, results-orientated executive education programs that build managerial and leadership capabilities.

UPH is pushing for an international standard in education, especially in the field of human capital training for maritime services.

“The government is pushing for a maritime industry but I think there is a significant gap in the human capital development in that particular sector,” said UPH senior adviser for executive education Grace Ugut. “Building ports can be done quite quickly — money is there — but building human capital is something that will have to be invested in.”

The uniqueness of this program lies in the integration of shipping, commercial, technological and even maritime law and leadership endeavors.

“Our program will not only open up a classroom, but there is a component of internship, local content and we partner with STC because they are really good in terms of technical assistance but we also invite institutes from the UK and Sweden as they are very strong on the maritime quality and insurance,” Grace said. “We want the best standard but at the same time have all the local content.”

Theo Lekatompessy, president director of new partner Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi, however, revealed the extent of international and regional challenges through inconsistent standards of educational recognition.

“The problem is basically we need a standard in Indonesia; at least the harmonization of education. So when you have a certificate in Jakarta it will reflect the same wherever you go,” Theo said. “Our next issue is how to apply the standard on certifications of the skills [in maritime] with international standards?”

He emphasized the need to overlook international standards in order to find national common ground for Indonesian Maritime education.

“STC is fine-tuning the standards and allowing it to become applicable. UPH will focus on the education and development of the capacity building group.”

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Australia's Barrier Reef 'risks becoming dumping ground': WWF

Yahoo – AFP, 9 Feb 2015

An aerial view of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of the Whitsunday Islands, 

along the central coast of Queensland, Australia, on November 20, 2014 (AFP

Photo/Sarah Lai)

Sydney (AFP) - Australia's Great Barrier Reef could be "severely damaged" if the government does not completely ban the dumping of dredge waste in the World Heritage-listed waters, a report commissioned by conservation group WWF said Monday.

The Australian government in January ordered a ban on dumping dredge spoil in the marine park as part of a push to stop the United Nations declaring the site in danger.

But the ban does not include most islands and ports as well as lakes and other waterways that fall outside the marine park but inside the slightly larger World Heritage Area.

Conservationists say dumping waste in reef waters damages it by smothering corals and sea grasses and exposing them to poisons and high levels of nutrients.

The report said port expansions within reef waters, which it noted could see some 51 million cubic metres (1.8 billion cubic feet) of the ocean floor dug up, would have "devastating impacts" on the natural wonder.

The report prepared by the consultancy Dalberg Global Development Advisors said there was no need for coal port expansions along Queensland state's coast -- where the reef is located -- as the capacity at existing terminals was unused one-third of the time.

"These coal port expansions could increase the total coal port capacity of the region from 267 to 637 million tonnes per year", the report added.

"This would make the total capacity of the Great Barrier Reef's coal ports just less than the overall capacity of the current largest port in the world: Shanghai, China."

An aerial view of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of the Whitsunday Islands,

 along the central coast of Queensland, Australia, on November 20, 2014 (AFP

Photo/Sarah Lai)

Australia has come under scrutiny from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization over the reef's health.

UNESCO threatened to put the reef on its World Heritage in danger list, but delayed taking action until the start of this month to allow Australia to submit a report on how it will protect the bio-diverse site.

Environment Minister Greg Hunt said his government's report to UNESCO "clearly demonstrates that the Great Barrier Reef does not warrant being listed as in danger".

One of the measures implemented by the Queensland government includes the banning of dredging for new or expanded major developments outside priority port areas for a decade.

"We know the reef is facing challenges but we are making significant progress. There is strong evidence that our efforts are working," Hunt said in a statement last week.

"The report demonstrates that we have heard the concerns of the (World Heritage) committee and we have comprehensively addressed every one of them. We have also listened to the concerns of the community."