MoD's permanent secretary suggested that, unlike service personnel, civil servants are harder to sack because they have "flexible skills."
WHITE FLEETS
The first stop for passengers on the cruise ship Costa Deliziosa on her world cruise from Italy was in drydock at the Chantier Naval de Marseille shipyard because of a major but unspecified technical problem. Many of the 2000 passengers stayed onboard after the port authority hurriedly positioned gangways around the dock and arranged parking areas for tour buses and taxis.
THOSE THAT GO BACK AND FORTH
In Kenya at Lamu, a policeman tried to prevent an overloaded small ferry from leaving but the ferry operator talked him out of it. Soon after, in the dark of night, the ferry collided with a vessel loaded with oil drums. At least 23 of 82 passengers died. A new water ambulance - a gift from an international donor - remained moored as the government had not provided funds for fuel or an operator.
Obesity rules! Because the United States Coast Guard recently raised the weight of the average adult passenger from 72.5 kilos to 84 kilos, the legal carrying capacity of a 2000-passenger ferry will drop by about 250 people.
LEGAL MATTERS
Federal agents were waiting when the tanker Sanko Venture docked at Corpus Christi, Texas. Two stowaways jumped overboard but were captured and agents found 42.5 kilos of cocaine and around 2.25 kilos of heroin in two bags.
IMPORTS
A boat was carrying more than 250 people from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Turkey to Australia in search of a better life, but more than 200 of them went missing when the boat became unsteady 20 miles off Java. People started panicking, causing the boat to sway violently back and forth until she finally capsized. Two children, aged eight and 10, were found clinging to debris. The survivors are believed to be on Christmas Island.
NATURE
Further news on those surprising microbes which ate much of the oil BP spilled last year in the Gulf of Mexico. The plentiful presence of gas, mainly methane, propane and ethane, and cold temperatures (the little bugs prefer it to be cold!) were keys to their rapid consumption of the plume. Among unknowns to be studied is how this affected the oil spill.
ODD BITS …
What may be the world's oldest aircraft carrier has been at the Fleet Air Arm's museum at RNAS Yeovilton for careful restoration and preservation. The 1918 Thorneycroft Seaplane Lighter was one of 50 ordered during the First World War. Thorneycroft used her for years as a cargo barge before she was abandoned on a bank of the River Thames. Towed by a destroyer, each 17.5m barge had a high-speed ship-shaped bow and a stern ramp that allowed launching for water take-off and subsequent recovery of a Curtis H12 flying boat. Alternatively, a wooden flight deck allowed a Sopwith Camel fighter to take off. It either landed ashore or was ditched.
… AND A HEADSHAKER
Early-morning ferry travellers had to wait outside the Swartz Bay ferry terminal in British Columbia while a Mountie shot a 50 kilo male cougar that had found its way inside.
New Zealand - Volpower NZ Limited Ph. 0800 865 769 www.volvopenta.co.nz
VIP.WB12
