Barrier Reef: US Navy May Retrieve Bombs

The US Navy is considering salvaging four unarmed bombs dropped on Australia's Great Barrier Reef after a training exercise went wrong.

The two AV-8B Harrier jets launched from aircraft carrier USS Bonhomme Richard each jettisoned an inert bomb and an unarmed explosive bomb on the World Heritage site on Tuesday, the US 7th Fleet said.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, the government manager of the 133,360 square mile (345,400 square km) protected zone, said in a statement that identifying options for the "rapid recovery" of the bombs so that they could pose no risk to the marine park was "a high priority".

But the authority also said the ordnances posed a "low risk to the marine environment".

"Based on where the ordnance have been dropped in a location that is in water around 164ft (50m) deep, about 19 miles (30km) from the nearest reef and 31 miles (50km)  from the shoreline, the immediate impact on the marine environment is thought to be negligible," the statement said.

US 7th Fleet spokesman Lt David Levy said on Monday that the Navy was currently reviewing the possibility of retrieving the ordnances in consultation with Australian authorities.

"If the park service and the government agencies of Australia determine that they want those recovered, then we will coordinate with them on that recovery process," he said.

The bombs were dropped from two AV-88 Harrier jets

The four bombs, weighing a total of 1.8 tons (4,000lb), were dropped into more than 164ft of water away from coral to minimise damage to the reef, the US 7th Fleet said.

The jets from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit had intended to drop them on the Townshend Island bombing range, but aborted the mission when controllers reported the area was not clear of hazards.

Both aircraft were running low on fuel and could not land with the bombs on board.

US Navy Commander William Marks told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday that the crews detected civilian vessels inside the drop zone.

"The approved area where they could do some of this live training with these 500lb bombs, it was not safe to drop the bombs," he said. "There were civilian boats right below them."

The joint Australia-US training, which began on July 15, involves 28,000 troops and Commander Marks was unable to say how civilian vessels had strayed into the Shoalwater Bay military training area.

"I don't have any more information about what they were doing and why they were there," he said.

Australian senator Larissa Waters, Greens party spokeswoman on the Great Barrier Reef, described the dumping of bombs as outrageous and said it should not be allowed.

She said: "Have we gone completely mad? Is this how we look after our World Heritage area now? Letting a foreign power drop bombs on it?"

Graeme Dunstan, who is among the environmentalists and anti-war activists protesting against the joint exercise, claimed the US military could no longer be trusted to protect the environment.

"How can they protect the environment and bomb the reef at the same time? Get real," Mr Dunstan said from the Queensland coastal town of Yepoon near where the military exercise is taking place.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest network of coral structures rich in marine life that stretches more than 1,800 miles along the Australian northeast coast.

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China: Twin Earthquakes Leave Dozens Dead

Two earthquakes have struck in China killing at least 75 people and injuring 400, according to the local government.

Emergency workers carry the injured to safety

The twin quakes hit near the city of Dingxi in Gansu province, a region of mountains, desert and pastureland with a population of 26 million.

An official at the provincial earthquake bureau said: "More than 21,000 buildings were severely damaged and more than 1,200 have collapsed."

Some 21,000 buildings have been damaged by the quakes

The most recent figures given for the number killed and injured came from the local government in Dingxi, who posted the details on their verified social media account.

The first 5.9-magnitude quake struck at 7.45am (11.45pm GMT) in the Gansu province and the second, measuring 5.6-magnitude, hit in the same region at 9.12am, according to the US Geological Survey.

Rescue teams move in looking for people under the debris

A resident of Min county said he was at work at a medicine production plant when the tremor struck and he saw tower blocks shake "ferociously".

"I was in the workshop. I felt violent shaking and so I ran to the yard of the plant immediately," said the man, surnamed Ma.

"Our factory is only one floor. When I came to the yard, I saw an 18-storey building, the tallest in our county, shaking ferociously, especially the 18th floor."

A woman is given water as she waits to be taken to safety

Shaking was felt in the provincial capital of Lanzhou 110 miles north, and as far away as Xi'an, 250 miles to the east.

"You could see the chandeliers wobble and the windows vibrating and making noise, but there aren't any cracks in the walls," said a front desk clerk at the Wuyang Hotel in Zhang County, about 25 miles from the epicentre.

"Shop assistants all poured out onto the streets when the shaking began."

Two earthquakes his the Gansu province

The quake was shallow, which can be more destructive. The first quake was 9km deep while the second was 10km deep.

Dingxi is about 766 miles west of Beijing.

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Woman Jailed Over Dubai Rape Claim Pardoned

A Norwegian woman who was jailed for 16 months in Dubai after she reported she had been raped, has had her sentence overturned.

Marte Dalelv, 24, told police she had been attacked by a male colleague, but was herself charged with extra-marital sex, drinking alcohol and filing a false statement.

The Norwegian government condemned the verdict, and following talks between Norway's foreign minister Espen Barth Eide and his counterpart in the United Arab Emirates, Sheik Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ms Dalelv has been pardoned.

Norwegian spokeswoman Ragnhild Imerlund said: "She hasn't been deported, she has been pardoned. She can remain in Dubai if she wishes. Her passport has been returned to her.

"She will travel home shortly."

The alleged incident occurred on March 6 when Ms Dalelv, who works for an interior design firm in Qatar, was on a work trip with a group of colleagues in Dubai.

On the last day of the business trip she joined them for drinks, and later asked one of her male colleagues to escort her up to her hotel room.

Dubai is known as a tourist hotspot, but the city has strict laws

Speaking to Reuters she described what she alleges happened next.

"(He was) trying to convince me to come in to his room and again I said 'no' and that's when he start pulling my bag trying to drag me to his room," she said.

"So I just thought I need to calm the situation down, so I walked in with him and I sat down and wanted to drink my bottle of water; I thought I would finish this water and find my room by myself. That's the last thing I remember.

"And the following morning I woke up on my stomach, my clothes were off and I was being raped."

Following the alleged incident, Ms Dalelv immediately went down to the hotel reception and asked them to call the police.

A group of policemen arrived and took a statement from Ms Dalelv and the alleged rapist, before they were both taken to the Bur Dubai police station.

She was then held for four days in a Dubai prison until contact was made with the Norwegian consulate and her bail was arranged.

"If I did not call the police he (her alleged attacker) will be still free but then I also wouldn't be in this situation," said Ms Dalelv who has been staying at the Norwegian Seaman's Centre in Dubai.

Her alleged attacker received a sentence of a year in prison. However, Ms Dalelv did not know if he has appealed.

Ms Dalelv said she was disappointed with the way the judicial system in Dubai deals with rape cases.

"I am very surprised. We have a DNA report, we have a medical report and we have a witness," she said.

"It is also being clarified and it has been proved that he has been lying the whole time in court in front of the judge and still they did not believe me, that was very shocking."

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Hizbollah's Armed Wing On EU Terror Blacklist

The History of Hizbollah

Updated: 12:05pm UK, Monday 22 July 2013

Lebanon's powerful Shi'ite Muslim party Hizbollah is a key client of Iran and an ardent ally of Syria's regime.

Hizbollah, which means the Party of God, was founded in 1982 in response to Israel's invasion of Lebanon.

It spearheaded an anti-Israeli guerrilla campaign and was the key actor in forcing the Jewish state to finally withdraw in 2000.

That success, coupled with the movement's extensive network of social services, has gained it enormous support among Lebanon's Shi'ites, who represent about a third of the country's population and the largest single community.

Widely considered more powerful than Lebanon's army, Hizbollah never disarmed at the end of the 1975-1990 civil war on the grounds it was necessary to protect the country against Israeli attacks.

It now wields great influence on Lebanese politics.

It, and its allies, have ministers in the government and control several seats in parliament which allows them to veto any policy or legislation not to their liking.

Though the EU sought to differentiate between Hizbollah's political and military wings, the reality is the movement makes no such distinction because it defines itself as a party of the anti-Israeli resistance and all its activities as linked to the cause.

Hizbollah has a formidable security and intelligence apparatus and is known abroad primarily for its military prowess.

Although it initially sought to impose an Islamic way of life in multi-confessional Lebanon, it has since toned down its rhetoric.

The party drew its inspiration from the 1979 Islamic revolution in Shi'ite Iran, and has long been the recipient of financial and military backing from Tehran.

Much of the weaponry has been funnelled to it by the regime of Syrian President Bashar al Assad, including thousands of missiles.

Those weapons played a key role in a second event that raised Hizbollah's popularity in Lebanon and the wider Arab world - the 2006 war against Israel.

Hizbollah guerrillas carried out a daring cross-border raid, capturing two soldiers. Israel retaliated with a fierce air and land assault on Lebanon that devastated much of the Shi'ite-majority south and parts of Beirut itself.

Rocked by hundreds of Hizbollah's missiles and stymied by a fierce resistance on the ground, Israel never managed to vanquish the movement and the party emerged even stronger.

Intelligence officials now estimate it has amassed an arsenal of more than 40,000 short and long-range rockets which the party claims can reach deep inside Israel, as well as anti-aircraft guns and other sophisticated weaponry.

In 2008, things started to sour.

During clashes with supporters of key Sunni politician Saad Hariri, Hizbollah fighters seized control of a section of western Beirut, sparking fears of a new civil war.

The party and its Syrian allies were already suspected of having been behind the 2005 assassination of Hariri's father, Rafiq, and four of its members were eventually charged by a UN-backed tribunal.

Its leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened in 2010 to "cut off the hand" of anyone who attempted to arrest them, and they remain at large.

Prior to Monday's EU decision, Hizbollah had already been blacklisted as a terror group by the US, Britain, the Netherlands and Australia.

The latest move comes after it was implicated in an attack against Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year and its activities in Cyprus.

Hizbollah's growing involvement in the Syrian conflict in recent months has further worried EU nations.

The charismatic Nasrallah took over as secretary general in 1992 after his predecessor, Abbas Mussawi, was assassinated in an Israeli missile strike.

He acknowledged for the first time on April 30 that his troops were involved in the fighting in Syria, where they helped Mr Assad's troops to recapture the former rebel bastion of Qusayr.

Nasrallah has also warned that the "friends of Syria" - a reference to Hizbollah and to Iran - will not allow the fall of Mr Assad and has promised "victory" in his country.

Lebanese University professor Waddah Sharara, an expert on Hizbollah, said its militia has about 20,000 fighters, including 5,000 trained by Iran in urban warfare.

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Australia: Fears Over New 'Stolen Generation'

By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent

Campaigners are asking for the law to be changed to help rescue thousands of Aboriginal children in Australia from extreme neglect.

Alcohol abuse is rife amongst indigenous communities and children are being abandoned while their parents drink.

In some rural areas it is common to see toddlers in nappies wandering around unsupervised, even begging for food or warm clothing.

Many non-indigenous families are so concerned that they have been taking children off the streets and into their homes without formal permission.

They want the law changed to make it easier for white Australians to foster or adopt Aboriginal children.

Eight-year-old Cebby, who was born to an alcoholic mother, has been surrounded by alcohol abuse and violence throughout his young life.

He told Sky News about the few simple things he thinks adults should provide.

"I want them to make me feel safe. Make me feel alright, not scared. Make me feel normal."

The community of Tennant Creek is seeing hundreds of abandoned children

Becky Healy, who runs a motel in Tennant Creek - a town in the heart of Australia's outback, is distraught at the huge numbers of Aboriginal children wandering the streets unwashed, unfed and unschooled.

Her motel has inadvertently become a refuge for neglected children.

"It's a crisis. We are now at a point of do or die and we have to do something for these kids.

"If it means taking them into our complex and feeding them and training them when we have nothing to do with the social sector, then so be it."

Children surrounded by substance abuse are even becoming addicted themselves.

Recently three girls, barely in their teens, were caught on CCTV in Tennant Creek breaking into a workshop and sniffing petrol fumes from a tractor engine.

Politicians are now considering putting neglected Aboriginal children up for adoption, until now there has been an unwillingness to act because of fears of a new "stolen generation".

The legacy of the 'stolen generation' has prevented adoptions

That was a misguided policy which only ended in the early 1970s where Aboriginal children were taken from their families and placed under foster care with white families or institutions.

The law has since stated that Aboriginal children in need must always be placed within their community, wherever possible.

Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles, Australia's first indigenous state or territory leader, says it is time to revisit the legislation.

"Whatever we do has to be about making parents take responsibility for their kids," he said.

"(However) we have to give those kids the best opportunity in life and where we deem it necessary we won't be afraid to make those decisions about the child's future."
                 
It is a change Yvonne Mudford and her husband Leigh Swift say can't come soon enough. Their aboriginal neighbours asked them to take their child Mikala for a few hours, then weeks and now permanently.

She still sees her natural parents but is thriving in a home free from alcohol abuse and violence.

Martina is one of thousands of children who need help

"It's just a basic right that every child is entitled to. Safety, a good home life, food, clothing and to be looked after and loved … why should these kids miss out on that?"

Critics though, whilst acknowledging something needs to be done, are concerned about removing children.

Northern Territory Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation spokeswomen Vicki Lee Knowles recently told the ABC: "Within an Aboriginal family ... the loss of culture, land and language has a long-term impact on the social and emotional wellbeing of those children who are removed."

Aborigines are the most disadvantaged Australians, with indigenous children twice as likely to die before their fifth birthday as other children.

While accurate data on child abuse and family violence in Aboriginal areas is scarce, the Australian government has said many children grow up in communities where violence has become "a normal and ordinary part of life".

Aborigines are believed to have numbered around one million at the time of British settlement in 1788, but there are now just 470,000 out of a total population of 23 million in Australia.

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Giant Tuna Capsizes Hawaiian Fisherman's Boat

A Hawaiian fisherman who reeled in a 200lb (105kg) tuna has been rescued after the giant fish caused his boat to capsize.

Anthony Wichman thought he had hooked the catch of the day when the fish took his bait off the island of Kauai.

But when the 54-year-old hauled the massive tuna from the ocean, his 14-foot boat capsized under the weight, throwing him into the sea.

Mr Wichman's leg then became caught in the fishing line, dragging him underwater.

He eventually managed to free himself and clambered onto the hull of his partially-capsized boat to call his wife.

The US Coast Guard sent a helicopter to rescue Mr Wichman, who was taken to a hospital in Lihue with minor injuries.

Mr Wichman is pulled from the sea by a rescue swimmer. Pic: US Coast Guard

Meanwhile, his friends arrived on a second boat and were able to right his vessel before towing it - together with Mr Wichman's tuna, which was still attached to the line - back to port.

"At the end of the day, we couldn't have asked for a better rescue," Lieutenant Jessica Mickelson, of the US Coast Guard, said.

"Mr Wichman was delivered safely to shore with minimal injuries and he and his friends will have quite the indisputable fish tale to tell."

Yellowfin, or ahi, tuna are found throughout the year in tropical waters and are often found close to anchored buoys, dolphins and other large marine animals.

Despite their short life span of between six and seven years, they can grow up to six feet long and weigh as much as 400lb (180kg), according to the US National Marine Fisheries Service.

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Great Barrier Reef Hit By Four US Jet Bombs

Two American fighter jets dropped four bombs on Australia's Great Barrier Reef after a training exercise went wrong, it has emerged.

US officials said the pilots of two AV-8B Harrier jets were forced to jettison the unarmed devices on Tuesday because both aircraft were running low on fuel and could not land with the bombs on board.

The pilots intended to drop the munitions on a designated bombing range on Townshend Island but aborted the mission when controllers reported the area was not clear of hazards.

Instead, they jettisoned two bombs from each aircraft on the World Heritage-listed marine park off the coast of Queensland state.

The pilots tried to minimise the damage by releasing the devices over deep water of more than 164 feet (50 meters) and away from coral reefs, officials said.

All four bombs were inert and so did not explode. It is unclear whether any environmental damage was caused.

The bombs were dropped from two AV-88 Harrier jets

An Australian Defence Force spokesman was quoted as saying the bombs posed "minimal risk or threat to the public, the marine environment or civilian shipping transiting the reef area".

The two jets were launched from aircraft carrier USS Bonhomme Richard during a three-week joint military training exercise involving around 28,000 US and Australian personnel.

Graeme Dunstan, who is among the environmentalists and anti-war activists protesting against the joint exercise, claimed the US military could no longer be trusted to protect the environment.

"How can they protect the environment and bomb the reef at the same time? Get real," Mr Dunstan said from the Queensland coastal town of Yepoon near where the military exercise is taking place.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest network of coral structures rich in marine life that stretches more than 1,,800 miles (3,000 kms) along the Australian northeast coast.

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Two Britons Killed In Russian Helicopter Crash

Two British tourists have been killed alongside their Russian guide in a helicopter crash in northern Russia, according to reports.

The private Eurocopter crashed in the Murmansk region on the Kola Peninsula, according to Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry, the Associated Press reported.

The ministry said the helicopter banked on one side and crashed while attempting to take off.

It is understood the pair, who had travelled to the remote region for an organised river fishing expedition, and their Russian translator were killed by the whirling rotors of the helicopter as the aircraft landed on its side.

The Investigative Committee, which has opened a review of the accident, said the Britons were born in 1944. The Life News website described them as "VIP tourists".

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are aware of reports of the deaths of two British nationals in Russia. We are in touch with the local authorities and stand ready to provide consular assistance."

Fishing expeditions to the salmon-rich rivers of the Far North are one of very few tourism attractions of Russia that bring in high-paying foreign tourists to regions beyond Moscow and St Petersburg.

"The foreign tourists were staying in a luxury camp for fishing," a security source told the Interfax news agency.

A distress signal had already been received from the Eurocopter-120 before it made the crash landing. The pilot survived but was injured.

More follows ...

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Schindler's List For Sale On Ebay For $3m

An original copy of Schindler's list is up for an sale on eBay - but collectors will need to spend at least $3m (£1.9m) to get their hands on a rare piece of Second World War history.

The typewritten list - one of only four in existence - bears the names of 801 men saved from the Holocaust by Oskar Schindler.

He is thought to have saved the lives of 1,200 Jews employed in his factories during the war - a story which inspired Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning film Schindler's List in 1993.

Mr Schindler's 14-page list, which dates back to 1945, previously belonged to the family of Itzhak Stern, his accountant and right-hand man.

The 1945 list has a starting price of some $3m (£1.9m)

It is listed on eBay with an extract from an interview he gave 10 years before his death, which reads: "I felt the Jews were being destroyed. I had to help them. There was no choice."

Gary Zimet, a Los Angeles-based auctioneer who listed the item with his business partner Eric Gazin, said: "I don't anticipate any bidders until the last day or probably the last five or 10 minutes."

He said they chose to sell the item through eBay and not a conventional auction house because of the website's global reach.

Potential buyers may be screened or asked to leave a deposit before their bids are accepted.

The successful bidder must be able to pick up the document from Israel, as it will not be sent by post.

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Costa Concordia: Five Guilty Of Manslaughter

Five people have been found guilty of manslaughter over the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster which left 32 people dead.

The court in Grosseto in Italy handed down the highest sentence to the crisis co-ordinator for the Italian cruise company Costa Crociere, Roberto Ferranini, who could serve two years and 10 months.

The ship's hotel director was sentenced to two years and six months while two bridge officers and a helmsman got sentences ranging from one year and eight months to one year and 11 months.

None are likely to go to jail though as the sentences of less than two years are suspended, and the longer sentences may be appealed or replaced with community service, judicial sources said.

On Thursday, Francesco Schettino - the captain of the Costa Concordia and the main defendant - asked the judge at his manslaughter trial to order tests on the cruise liner's wreckage to determine why electrical and other systems failed after the vessel struck a reef off the Italian island of Giglio.

Schettino talks to his lawyers in Grosseto

The outcome of his request will not be known until at least September.

His trial was adjourned until September 23 for a summer's break.

Schettino is also charged with causing the shipwreck in January 2012 and abandoning ship before all aboard had been evacuated.

His defence claims that no one died in the collision itself, but that the failure of a backup generator and supposedly water-tight compartments that were flooded created problems during the evacuation, when the deaths occurred.

If convicted, Schettino could receive up to 20 years in prison.

The cruise company Costa Crociere was given an administration fine of one million euros (£860,000) earlier this year, under a law in which companies whose employees commit crimes can be sanctioned. It has put the blame for the collision on Schettino.

Salvage experts are still attempting to work out how to right the ship, which remains stuck on a reef off Giglio, and float it away to the mainland for demolition.

The boat has become a macabre tourist attraction in the area.

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