World sea piracy numbers drop for third-straight year

Deutsche Welle, 15 January 2014

World sea piracy has fallen for the third-straight year and to a six-year low, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has said. Curbing the threat of Somali pirates has been key.

Global pirate attacks in 2013 numbered 264, down from 297 the previous year, the IMB, a London-based anti-crime arm of the International Chamber of Commerce, said Wednesday. It continues the decline since 445 attacks were registered in 2010.

The IMB said 12 vessels were hijacked in 2013, with more than 300 hostages taken and one killed.

Attacks by Somali pirates dropped from 75 in 2012 to 15 in 2013, with international navy patrols and increased ship security playing a role. IMB director Captain Pottengal Mukundan said targeting a reduction in Somali piracy off the east coast of Africa had been the "biggest reason for the drop in worldwide piracy."

But he said maintaining vigilance was pivotal to keeping shipping lanes safer: "It is imperative to continue combined international efforts to tackle Somali piracy. Any complacency at this stage could rekindle pirate activity," he said.

Nigerian pirates a growing threat

While East African piracy was down, there were increases of incidents off the west coast of the continent. Nigerian pirates accounted for 31 of the 51 attacks in the region, traveling into waters off Gabon, the Ivory Coast and Togo.

"Nigerian pirates were particularly violent, killing one crew member, and kidnapping 36 people to hold onshore for ransom," the IMB's report said.

There were also increases in the Indonesian archipelago, with attacks up from 81 in 2012 to 106 in 2013. The IMB report said it was working closely with Indonesian marine police, who have increased patrols.

Other attacks - described as "low-level opportunistic threats," like many of those in Indonesia waters - were recorded in India and Bangladesh. Nine cases were reported in the Singapore Straits and the waters of Malaysia.

ph/dr (AP, dpa)

Heavy metals threatening Chinese white dolphins with extinction

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-01-13

Marine biologists rescue a sick Chinese white dolphin in south China's
Pearl river estuary, one of its major habitats. (Photo/Xinhua)

Chinese white dolphins are once again under threat of extinction as research has found new toxins in the the marine mammals, with marine biologists at the Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) in southern China's Guangdong province claiming that the species will drop by 74% in the next 60 years.

Research by the university has found organic pollutants and heavy metals, such as mercury and lead, in Chinese white dolphins, causing damage to their nervous system and immune system. The rare species are commonly found in the Pearl River Delta, south of China's east coast.

Wu Yu-ping, a professor at the SYSU's marine science department, said that the pollution of the Pearl River Delta is an increasing concern, and the density of heavy metals will no doubt jeopardize the future of the marine mammals.

The organic pollutants come from insecticide and fertilizers, which affect the dolphins' immune and reproduction systems, the professor said. Young dolphins absorb pesticides through their mothers while she nurses them, and the substances increase the young dolphins' mortality, or later, development, said Wu.

A fellow researcher at SYSU said it is vital for the authorities to improve the water quality in south China's Pearl river estuary to ensure the species' survival.

UN Warns Australia Over Reported Refugee Boat Push-Backs

Jakarta Globe – AFP, January 10, 2014

Asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran cry as Indonesian officers
 force them to leave the Australian vessel Hermia docked at Indah Kiat port in
 Merak, Indonesia’s Banten province in this April 9, 2012 file photo. (Reuters
Photo/Aulia Pratama)

Geneva. The UN refugee agency Friday warned that Australia could be breaking international law, amid reports that it pushed back to Indonesia boats carrying asylum-seekers.

Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the UN high commissioner for refugees, said the agency wanted an explanation after the reports that the Australian navy forced boats back, as well as plans to buy more vessels to bolster such operations.

“UNHCR would be concerned by any policy or practice that involved pushing asylum-seeker boats back at sea without a proper consideration of individual needs for protection,” Edwards told reporters, saying it was still seeking details from the government.

“Any such approach would raise significant issues and potentially place Australia in breach of its obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention and other international law obligations,” he added.

Australia’s conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who won power in September after campaigning to “stop the boats”, has introduced the military-led Operation Sovereign Borders to crack down on asylum-seekers coming by boat.

Indonesia says Australia has turned back at least one boat carrying asylum-seekers to its shores, although The Australian newspaper said as many as five have been secretly returned.

“As past experience has shown, such practices are operationally difficult and potentially dangerous for all concerned,” Edwards said.

On Friday, Abbott likened the fight against people-smugglers to war. The government has declined to reveal details of the boat incidents.

It has also refused to confirm or deny that it is planning to buy 16 hard-hulled lifeboats to ferry asylum-seekers to Indonesia.

Australia’s tough policies have irked Jakarta, which has warned that turning boats back could breach Indonesian sovereignty, feeding into existing diplomatic spats.

Over the past decade, UNHCR has repeatedly crossed swords with Australian governments of all political stripes, including Abbott’s Labor Party predecessors who also backed tough measures.

Australia argues that is on the front line of a wave of illegal immigration and needs to step up the fight against people-smugglers who try to bring people in, often on unseaworthy wooden vessels heading from Indonesia.

It insists that tough measures are needed to discourage illegal immigrants, and that genuine asylum-seekers get a fair hearing.

Australia’s policy of sending arrivals to Papua New Guinea and Nauru pending asylum hearings has faced criticism from UNHCR and rights groups over conditions in camps there and the lengthy process, but like previous administrations, Abbot defended it.

Agence France-Presse

Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa talks to journalists during

 a press conference following the Special Conference on Irregular Movement
of Persons in Jakarta on August 20, 2013. (EPA Photo)

Related Articles:

Australia’s Boat Policy Rebuked

Australian PM Likens People-Smuggling Crackdown to War

Over 8,000 Pig-Nosed Turtles Rescued in Indonesia

Jakarta Globe – AFP, January 10, 2014

Pig-nosed turtles are seen during a press conference at the Soekarno-Hatta
airport quarantine station in Jakarta on April 1, 2013. (EPA Photo)

Indonesian officials said Friday they have rescued more than 8,000 baby pig-nosed turtles hidden in suitcases and thought to be destined for China and Singapore.

A total of 2,968 were discovered in four suitcases at the airport serving the capital Jakarta after arriving from the remote eastern Papua region, said Zaenal Abidi, quarantine official.

“The suitcases were full of plastic boxes holding 15 to 20 turtles each. Sadly, 14 of them were dead on arrival,” he said.

Airport officials were asked Thursday to be on the look-out for pig-nosed turtles — classified as vulnerable — after 5,400 of the creatures were discovered in seven suitcases in Papua, he said.

Abidi said that pig-nosed turtles smuggled through Jakarta are usually sent to Singapore or China, where they are sold as exotic pets and sometimes end up in food markets.

All the turtles would be returned to their natural habitat in Papua, Abidi said.

He added that police knew who had checked in the luggage but their whereabouts were now unknown.

The pig-nosed turtle is only found in Australia and New Guinea, an island shared between Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, and is protected under Indonesian conservation laws.

It has a distinctive snout-like nose and webbed feet.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the pig-nosed turtle as vulnerable and trade of the species is restricted.

Agence France-Presse

For sharks, old age may be 70 or more: study

Rappler – AFP, January 9, 2014

WASHINGTON DC, USA – Great white sharks may live until their 70s, more than three times as long as previously thought, according to a new analysis of the marine predator's backbones out Wednesday, January 8.

Using radiocarbon dating technology, researchers analyzed vertebrae from four male and four female adult white sharks from the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.

The largest male was 73 years old and the largest female was 40, said the report by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

"Our results dramatically extend the maximum age and longevity of white sharks compared to earlier studies," said Li Ling Hamady, lead author of the study published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Previous research on growth bands – which are similar to rings in trees that signify age and growth – in sharks' bones presumed that each band was equal to about a year.

By those measures, the oldest white sharks ever found were a 22-year-old from the southwestern Pacific Ocean and a 23-year-old from the western Indian Ocean.

However, the latest study measured their ages by looking at their bones for radiocarbon residue from nuclear tests done by the United States and Soviet Union during the 1950s and 1960s.

Bomb carbon from these tests – which were banned after 1963 – got into the atmosphere and ocean.

Sea creatures incorporated the radiocarbon into their tissues, offering a sort of time stamp to help determine the ages of those that lived during the thermonuclear tests.

The bones studied came from sharks caught in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean from 1967 to 2010.

White sharks are considered a vulnerable species worldwide, and researchers said that knowing more about how fast they grow and how long they live can aid conservation efforts. – Rappler.com

Australia’s Boat Policy Rebuked

Jakarta Globe, Vanesha Manuturi, January 8, 2014

Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa talks to journalists during
 a press conference following the Special Conference on Irregular Movement
of Persons in Jakarta on August 20, 2013. (EPA Photo)

Indonesia rebukes Australia’s policy in turning the boats of asylum-seekers back to the country’s waters, Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa said during his annual speech on Tuesday in Jakarta.

The most recent incident reportedly happened last month when a vessel of about 47 people, mostly from Sudan and Somalia, was forced back to Indonesian waters by the Australian navy, according to Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The broadcaster reported that the boat later ran out of fuel, before washing ashore on Rote Island, East Nusa Tenggara on Dec. 19 and those on board were picked up by Indonesian authorities.

“[Turning back the boats] is not the solution. If we all practice the same thing, when will the issue end?” Marty said. “We are hoping for a better solution.”

However, Marty declined to comment on the operational details of the incident, deferring it to the Coordinating Ministry of Political Affairs and Defense.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Immigration Minister Scott Morrison remained mum on the issue, stating that: “For operational security reasons, the government does not disclose, confirm or otherwise comment on reports of on-water activities in relation to Operation Sovereign Borders.”

Operation Sovereign Borders is Australia’s military-led program to hinder smugglers in bringing asylum-seekers to Australia, mostly on rickety fishing boats from Indonesia.

With the policy, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s government will turn back boats, with the possibility of violating Indonesia’s territorial sovereignty.

Hundreds of people have drowned in the past few years as they desperately attempted to reach Australia, often on fragile, wooden boats.

The relationship between Australia and Indonesia has strained ever since the Australian government was reportedly found spying on several top Indonesia officials in November.

According to Marty, the current state of the relationship is an aberration, not the rule. He believes the relationship should reconcile in due time, but not instantly.

“Diplomacy, foreign affairs and the relations among nations is a process, not an event, or something that can be simply restored by several declarations,” he said.

“What’s needed is a gradual restoration of confidence and trust.”

Marty pointed to the six-point roadmap introduced by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Nov. 26. “We are currently on the first phase of the roadmap,” he said.

The first phase of the roadmap is to continue communications and discussions between the neighboring countries on sensitive and important issues.

In the implementation of the roadmap, the minister met with his Australian counterpart, Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, in December, and he has been in constant communication with Bishop since.

Following talks and establishment of agreements, the second step would be to discuss codes of conduct and protocols.

No deadline has been set for this.

During the annual statement on Tuesday, the minister also affirmed that Indonesian foreign policies will continue to focus on three challenges in the Asia-Pacific region: trust deficits, territorial disputes, and geopolitical, geo-economic shifts.

“I believe that amongst the most fundamental and basic challenge in front of us must be the maintenance of the region’s peace and security. This has been, and will continue to be, Indonesia’s principal priority in 2014,” Marty said.

After all, he continued, these conditions are the prerequisites to the region’s continued economic progress and prosperity.

“Therefore, there can be no complacency. Peace must be waged. Prosperity must be secured.”

Marty said that the region is now witnessing various seemingly contradictory symptoms, citing that at a time when the Southeast Asia region is entering that final stretch towards Asean Community 2015, East Asia is showing signs of rising tensions and uncertainties.

“At a time when the economies of the region are more intertwined and interdependent than ever before signs of trust deficits are ever more prevalent.

“And at a time when the advantages of peaceful settlement of disputes are self evident, there are signs that unilateral approaches are instead being preferred,” Marty commented.

Therefore, Indonesia’s foreign policy in 2014, he said, would continue to vigorously address the aforementioned triple challenges, in Indonesia’s view, of Asia and the Pacific region

“Indonesia in essence will try to convert the ‘trust deficits’ evident in much of the region to a ‘strategic trust’,” Marty said, adding that the country would also actively attempt to set aside the use or the threat of use of force as a means to solve territorial disputes, while mediating all disputing countries to use diplomacy and negotiation solve problems.

— Additional reporting from Agence France-Presse

What happened to winter? It could be 14 Celsius on Monday

DutchNews.nl, Sunday 05 January 2014

(weeronline.nl)

While North America may be coping with snow storms and very low temperatures, it could reach as high as 14 Celsius in the Netherlands on Monday, according to weather website weeronline.nl.

Over the next few days it will be almost spring-like, although it will be cooler towards the end of the week, weeronline.nl says. And the long-range forecast don't give any hint that wintry weather is on its way.

The relatively warm weather is due to strong southwesterly winds from southwestern Europe and will be coupled with showers all week, weather forecasters say.

The warmest January 6 on record dates from 1999, when the temperature reached 13.1 Celsius at the De Bilt weather station near Hilversum. Friday was the warmest January 3 on record.

The warm weather is also causing problems for hayfever sufferers as some flowering trees and shrubs are blooming earlier than normal, news agency ANP said.

Related Articles:

Monday is second warmest January day on record, at 14.5 Celsius

Weather: UK's worst winter storms for two decades set to continue

Storms have killed 16 in the US and temperatures are set to reach lows not seen for a generation

Britain, France hit hard by wild pre-Christmas storms

Brazil president pledges aid after deadly floods

Jerusalem buried in snow as rare storm pounds Mideast


Antarctic sea ice hit 35-year record high Saturday (21 Sep 2013)

Antarctic sea ice extent on September 22 compared

to 1981-2010 median depicted by orange curve (NSIDC)

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism, Higgs Boson), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)

"...The Weather... Again

My partner has been "against the grain" in the past years, giving you what I have channelled about the weather. Is it global warming? No. Is it going to get better? No. This is a two-generation cycle. There will continue to be earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, and storms. This is a recalibration of life in the ocean, and humanity must go through this in any way they can. This is a cycle, a known and expected one, but since you haven't gone through it in modern times, it's not well understood yet. ..."

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

New Mini Ice Age

“… So now we've refreshed that which we have said before, a review. You are in the middle of a cycle that will bring cooling to the planet. It is not a heat cycle, but rather a cooling cycle. But it always starts with a short heat cycle. It has been here before. It will come again. It is a long cycle - one generation plus five years. That's how long it's going to last. It starts with the melting of the ice caps, which is far more than any of you have seen in your lifetime or those of your ancestors. It is a cycle whose repetition is thousands of years long, but one that has not yet been recorded to the books of Human record. But it's definitely been recorded in the cores of the ice and in the rings of the trees.

Thousands of years old, it is, and it happens in a cyclical way. It's about water. It starts with that which is the melting of the ice caps to a particular degree, which has a profound effect on the planet in all ways. You can't have that happen without seeing life change as well as Gaia change and you've seeing it already. What happens when you take that which is heavy on the poles [ice] and you melt it? It then becomes cold water added to that which is a very, very gentle and finite balance of temperature in the seas of the planet (1). The first thing that happens is a redistribution of the weight of water on the thin crust of the earth from ice at the poles to new water in the seas. The results become earthquakes and volcanoes, and you're seeing them, aren't you? You are having earthquakes in places that are not supposed to have earthquakes. Volcanoes are coming to life in a way that you've not seen before on a regular basis. There will be more. Expect them.

Is it too much to ask of a Human Being that if you live by a volcano that you know might erupt, maybe you ought to move? Yet there will be those who say, "It hasn't erupted in my lifetime or my parents' lifetime or my grandparents' lifetime; therefore, it won't." You may have a surprise, for all things are changing. That is what is happening to Gaia. ….“

Sea Shepherd catches Japanese fleet, four whales dead

Google – AFP, Amy COOPES (AFP), 6 January 2014

Three dead minke whales on the deck of the Japanese factory ship Nisshin

Maru, on January 5, 2013 (Sea Shepherd Australia Ltd/AFP, Tim Watters)

Sydney — Militant anti-whaling activists Sea Shepherd said they had zeroed in on a Japanese fleet Monday and captured evidence that four whales had been slaughtered, alleging the ships were found inside a Southern Ocean sanctuary.

Sea Shepherd said it had located all five Japanese vessels and was now in pursuit, forcing the harpooners to cut short their operation and retreat.

The group released footage and photographs showing three minke whales dead on the deck of the factory ship Nisshin Maru and said a fourth, also believed to be a minke, was being slaughtered when Sea Shepherd's helicopter flew overhead.

"There's three carcasses on the ship, a fourth carcass has been cut up. There's blood all over the place, meat being carted around on this factory ship deck, offal and innards being dumped in the ocean," said Sea Shepherd Australia chairman Bob Brown.

"That's just a gruesome, bloody, medieval scene which has no place in this modern world."

When the Nisshin Maru was first spotted from the air, Brown said it was in Antarctica's Ross Dependency, within New Zealand's territorial waters and the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, which he described as a "gross breach of international law".

The deck of the Japanese whaling ship Nisshin Maru is covered with blood, in

 a picture taken by Sea Shepherd Australia on January 5, 2014 (Sea Shepherd

Australia Ltd/AFP, Tim Watters)

The commercial hunting of whales is prohibited in the sanctuary, which was designated by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in 1994, but Japan catches the animals there under a "scientific research" loophole in the moratorium on whaling.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully denied whaling was taking place within his country's maritime jurisdiction, saying the site was considered international waters, as he condemned the "pointless and offensive" practice.

"The New Zealand government has repeatedly called on Japan to end its whaling programme. We reiterate this message today," he said.

Japan's fisheries agency said its programme was being conducted "in line with a research plan submitted to the IWC".

"We are not aware of the existence of a whaling sanctuary so we don't want to comment on their arguments," an agency spokesman said of Brown's claims.

The Japanese foreign ministry said research whaling was "not a violation or an abuse of a loophole in the international convention".

"Quite the contrary, this is a legitimate right of the contracting party under Article VIII of the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling," it said.

Sea Shepherd's newest ship, the Sam Simon is moored at Circular Quay

in Sydney, on August 31, 2013 (AFP, William West)

Brown described "massive violence" against the whales, using grenade-tipped harpoons to catch them, and said Sea Shepherd would do "all it peaceably can to prevent this grotesque and cruel destruction", also urging Australia and New Zealand to take action.

"There is nothing scientific about this, it is butchery," Brown said.

"The one thing that's missing here is gumption -- a bit of spine in Canberra and in Wellington to put an end to it."

Australia has taken Japan to the International Court of Justice seeking to have its research whaling programme declared illegal, with a ruling due this year.

Australia's Environment Minister Greg Hunt said the government's opposition to whaling was "well known" and it "continues to remain hopeful that the International Court of Justice will soon make its ruling."

In the meantime, he said Canberra would dispatch a government jet to fly over the whaling zone and monitor confrontations between Sea Shepherd and the Japanese.

"The aircraft will be able to monitor activities over a large area. It sends a clear message that the Australian government expects all parties to abide by the laws of the sea," said Hunt.

Sea Shepherd left Australia for their 10th annual harassment campaign of the Japanese fleet last month, sending three ships to tail and run interference against the harpooners.

High-seas clashes between the two groups are common, resulting in the 2010 sinking of the Sea Shepherd vessel Ady Gil.

Minke whale (AFP)

.

Senegal Seizes Russian Trawler Fishing 'Illegally'

Radio Free Europe, January 05, 2014

A photo from a Greenpeace blacklist of the Russian-flagged
trawler "Oleg Naidenov"

Senegal's navy has boarded and seized a Russian-flagged ship suspected of fishing illegally in the country's waters, reportedly escorting it to a military base near the capital, Dakar.

Senegal's military said on January 5 that the ship, the "Oleg Naidenov," was boarded after it was observed illegally fishing in Senegalese waters near the border with Guinea Bissau.

Russian news agency reported that the ship had 62 Russians and 20 citizens of Guinea Bissau aboard.

A spokesman for Russian state fishing company Rosrybolovstvo called it a "brash armed attack against the Russian fishing trawler."

Senegalese Fisheries Minister Haidar El Ali described the trawler as a "repeat offender."

The environmental group Greenpeace included the "Oleg Naidenov" on a blacklist of poaching vessels in West African seas.

Two years ago, Greenpeace activists painted the words "pillage!" and "plunder!" on the side of the "Oleg Naidenov's" hull after they discovered it fishing illegally -- with canvas covering its identifying markings -- in Senegalese waters.

The Russian Embassy in Senegal initially said it had not received any information about the detention of the trawler, which belongs to the company Feniks, registered in Murmansk, northern Russia.

A spokesman for Rosrybolovstvo, Aleksandr Savelyev, said: "We have not been provided with any sensible explanation from Senegalese authorities about the reasons behind this brash armed attack against the Russian fishing trawler. The crew -- both Russian and Guinea Bissau citizens -- is currently being held by [the Senegalese] military police onboard the trawler that is moored at a [marine] military base in Dakar. Russian fishing company Rosrybolovstvo representatives are trying to get through to them."

Yury Parshev, the executive director of the company that reportedly owns the "Oleg Naidenov," told Rossiya 24 TV that the seizure "is an attempt to squeeze out our flag and our fleet from this region of the world ocean among others -- plain and simple. We have been present there before and we have always worked in these territories."

Senegal has long battled unauthorized fishing by foreign trawlers in its waters.

In its blacklisting, Greenpeace noted that "[t]he 120 meter-long 'Oleg Naydenov' is one example of the enormous foreign fleet of foreign trawlers operating in West Africa’s waters."

Based on reporting by AFP, ITAR-TASS, and RFE/RL

Related Article:

Russia accuses Greenpeace of encouraging Senegal to seize trawler

US icebreaker heads to Antarctic to help stuck shipsant

Google – AFP, 5 January 2014

This photo released by the Australian Antarctic Division on January 2, 2014

 shows the Chinese Antarctic vessel Xue Long (C) from the bridge of the Aurora

 Australis ship off Antarctica (Australian Antarctic Division/AFP/File, 

Jessica Fitzpatrick)

Sydney — US icebreaker Polar Star was Sunday set to sail for the Antarctic to assist a Russian vessel trapped in heavy ice and a Chinese ship which went to its aid, officials said.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said the US Coast Guard had accepted its request to help the stranded Russian ship Akademik Shokalskiy and Chinese icebreaker Xue Long, which itself became trapped after using its helicopter to ferry dozens of passengers to the safety of an Australian ship.

The Polar Star, which is on a mission to clear a navigable channel to resupply McMurdo Station research base, will depart from Sydney Sunday after taking on supplies, it said in a statement.

The 122-metre (399-foot) ship is capable of continuously breaking ice up to 1.8 metres (six feet) while travelling at three knots and can break ice more than six metres thick by ramming.

It is expected to take seven days to reach Commonwealth Bay where the two ships are trapped in ice.

"Our highest priority is safety of life at sea, which is why we are assisting in breaking a navigational path for both of these vessels," Vice Admiral Paul Zukunft, US Coast Guard Pacific area commander, said in a statement.

The Xue Long, or Snow Dragon, came tantalisingly close to cutting through heavy ice to reach the Shokalskiy a week ago but had to abandon its attempt once it realised it could not break through.

Chinese news agency Xinhua, which has reporters onboard the Xue Long, said the ship's passage had been blocked since Friday by a drifting, one-kilometre long iceberg.

The Shokalskiy remains stuck in ice 100 nautical miles from the French Antarctic base of Dumont d'Urville with 22 crew on board.

The 22 scientists, 26 paying passengers and four journalists on board the Shokalskiy who were helicoptered off the ship on Thursday are now on the Australian Antarctic supply ship Aurora Australis.

The Aurora Australis is now set to deliver supplies to Australia's Antarctic base Casey before heading to the Australian city of Hobart.

Australian authorities have said that any inquiry into how the Shokalskiy came to be stranded would have to be conducted by Russian authorities but have acknowledged that the incident could impact guidelines for polar expeditions.

The rescue mission, which also initially involved the French ship the Astrolabe, has also impacted some Antarctic research programmes, according to Yves Frenot, director of the French Polar Institute.

The rescue mission forced French scientists to scrap a two-week oceanographic campaign using the Astrolabe, he said.

"But we are relatively lucky. The Chinese have had to cancel all their scientific programme, and my counterpart in Australia is spitting tacks with anger, because their entire summer has been wiped out," he said.

The Aurora was forced to suspend its resupply of the Australian base to rush to the aid of the Shokalskiy, but authorities said it was not yet known what impact the incident would have on scientific programmes.

The trip on the Akademik Shokalskiy was aimed at emulating a 1911-1914 expedition by the Australian explorer Sir Douglas Mawson.

The scientists onboard, assisted by the passengers, were repeating century-old measurements to discover the environmental changes taking place in the frozen southern region.

Akademik Shokalskiy is now moving slowly though visibility is poor,

the captain says

Related Articles:

Antarctic ships escape from ice trap as weather changes

Trapped Chinese icebreaker to wait out weather after Antarctic rescue

Antarctic expedition stranded as ship gets stuck in ice

An image of the Chinese icebreaker Xuelong blocked by

thick sheets of sea ice, Jan. 3. (Photo/Xinhua)

Italian, Greek navies rescue hundreds of would-be migrants

Deutsche Welle, 2 January 2014

The Italian and Greek navies have rescued hundreds of people from the waters off their respective coasts. Each year thousands seek to enter the European Union through the two southern member states.

The Italian navy said on Thursday that one of its destroyers, the San Marco, had plucked 233 people from a 10-meter-long (33 foot) boat that had been struggling in strong winds and choppy waters about 80 nautical miles (130 kilometers) from the country's southern-most island, Lampedusa.

"Considering the rough seas, the overcrowded boat and the precarious conditions, a situation of emergency was declared," a statement released by the Italian navy said.

The passengers, who reportedly came from Eritrea, Nigeria, Somalia, Zambia, Mali and Pakistan, were then brought to a frigate, which was ferrying them to the port of Augusta on the east coast of Sicily.

A navy spokesperson said that the migrants were generally in good health, despite having suffered from prolonged exposure to cold.

Italy recently launched a major naval operation in the Mediterranean dubbed "Mare Nostrum," which is aimed at preventing further tragedies like two shipwrecks last October in which more than 400 people died.

Aegean rescue

Also on Thursday, the Greek coast guard rescued 85 people from a boat trying to reach the EU member state from Turkey via the Aegean Sea. They were picked up off the Greek island of Astypalaia after the captain of the vessel they were travelling in sent out a distress call after getting into trouble in rough waters.

Every year, thousands of people, mainly from Africa or the Middle East seek to enter the European Union through Italy or Greece by crossing the seas in what are often less-than-seaworthy vessels. Those who do make it risk being sent back unless they are deemed eligible for asylum.

pfd/se (AFP, AP, dpa)

Chinese chef saved by Japan after bid to claim Diaoyu by balloon

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-01-02

A still of footage of the balloon floating on the ocean shown on
Japanese television. (Internet photo)

A 35-year-old Chinese chef failed in his attempt to reach the disputed Diaoyutai (Diaoyu or Senkaku) islands in the East China Sea aboard his balloon on Jan. 1, according to the Hong Kong-based Communist Party mouthpiece Ta Kung Pao.

The cook is a native of Hebei province in northern China. On the morning of Jan. 1 he departed from Fuqing in the southeast coastal province of Fujian to claim Chinese sovereignty over the disputed islands, which have been administered by Japan as the Senkaku since 1972 but are also claimed by China and Taiwan. However, his balloon encountered technical problems and was forced to land in the sea. The chef then radioed the coast guard in Taiwan to rescue him.

Ironically, the Republic of China coast guard then requested that the Japan Coast Guard carry out the rescue operation. The Chinese chef's balloon was eventually located by a Japan Coast Guard helicopter that afternoon, according to the Ta Kung Pao. He was eventually turned over to a Chinese coast guard vessel about 22 kilometers off the islands at 7:48pm local time.