Carnival says caring for cruise disaster victims

 

Carnival Corp & plc, whose luxury liner Costa Concordia capsized off the coast of Italy last week, said it was providing lodging, refunds and other support to people affected by the accident, even as some public relations executives criticized the company's handling of the situation. "I give my personal assurance that we will take care of each and every one of our guests, crew and their families affected by this tragic event," Carnival Chief Executive Micky Arison said in a statement late on Wednesday - five days after the incident that left 11 people dead and 22 missing. Costa Cruise Lines, a unit of Carnival and operator of the ship, has been arranging lodging and transportation for passengers and crew members to return home, and has offered assistance and counseling as needed. It has also begun refunding passengers their cruise fares and all costs incurred while on board. The company also said it was contacting every passenger and crew member or their family and will be addressing personal possessions lost on board. Public relations experts have chastised Carnival for being slow to address the disaster and vague about its response and efforts to prevent similar incidents in the future. On a scale of one to 10, with 10 being "outstanding," Carnival's public relations strategy in the immediate wake of the disaster gets a four, said Allyson Stewart-Allen, director of International Marketing Partners, a consulting firm. "It wasn't quick, it wasn't specific, it wasn't reassuring," Stewart-Allen said, noting that Carnival's first statement, released on Saturday nearly 24 hours after the Costa Concordia liner struck rock causing it to capsize, did not quote a specific person. Subsequent statements on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday quoted Arison, who has been in continuous contact with executives in Italy, but has not flown there himself. Arison, who also owns the Miami Heat NBA team, has written six messages on Twitter mentioning the tragedy, but Evan Nierman, founder of Florida public relations firm Red Banyan Group said that was not enough. "If he's the point person, I would want a constant flow of information - Twitter, Facebook, talking to reporters, letting them know what's going on. I would have him out there in a real way. He needs to be in front of cameras, he needs to be meeting with people, he needs to show that he's in charge of the situation." A statement on Wednesday from Costa Cruises, owned by Carnival, said the Italian company commissioned salvage experts in the hours after the accident to draw up a plan to recover the fuel reserves from the ship before they leak into the water.

Doctors may strike over cuts to their pension pots

 

The British Medical Association, which represents 130,000 doctors and medical students, said two thirds of its members support industrial action which could cripple hospitals and GP surgeries throughout the country. The association rejected cuts to doctor’s pensions despite warning that some hospitals are so financially stretched that patient safety can no longer be guaranteed and that “accidents will happen”. Senior government figures said the reductions in their pensions were “modest” and in line with other public sector staff. A government source said: “It seems a bit rich for doctors to be complaining about cuts and patient care when they leave the NHS as millionaires.” Over the past decade, the average consultant has seen their pay rise by 54 per cent, with less qualified doctors enjoying a rise of 30 per cent. Their pay has recently been frozen, with the average GP now earning about £110,000.

Meat causes cancer. It’s been said so many times that you’d have to be an idiot not to believe it, right?

 

 The latest confirmation of this apparent common sense was a report published last week in the British Journal of Cancer Research. The authors, from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, brought together 11 studies - published between 1993 and 2011 - that assessed the risk of pancreatic cancer from eating red meat and ‘processed’ meat. From this meta-analysis, the authors found that red meat increased the risk of pancreatic cancer for men, but not for women, and that the risk of pancreatic cancer rose by 19 per cent for every 50 grams of processed meat consumed. The simple claim that ‘processed meat causes cancer’ was widely reported after the study was published. However, it would be wrong to assume that such claims about risk are all they are cracked up to be. First, there is the question of whether the association claimed is real. Epidemiological studies like the ones brought together by the Swedish researchers will typically find out what participants ate for a day or a week using a questionnaire or a food diary. Then, the participants will be checked some years later to see who has succumbed to the disease in question. Did people correctly remember what they ate? And did they accurately recall how much they consumed? It would be unusual for anyone to have weighed the food, so the amounts could be inaccurate, too. What else did the participants eat? Did they change their eating habits in subsequent months or years? And what the hell is ‘processed’ meat, anyway? Unless you slaughter your own animals, your meat will have been processed to one degree or another. At what point does meat that has been processed become ‘processed meat’? There are so many ways in which the crude tools of epidemiology could screw up the result of studies like this that it is normal for fairly small risks - like the 19 per cent increase in this case - to be treated with a massive pinch of salt. The authors of this study even note: ‘All studies controlled for age and smoking, but only a few studies adjusted for other potential confounders such as body mass index and history of diabetes.’ Secondly, even if the association is not simply a product of the way in which the study was designed, we still don’t know if correlation equals causation. The best we could say is that the kind of people who like to eat processed meat are a bit more likely to get pancreatic cancer than the kind of people who don’t eat meat at all. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist - or a professor of epidemiology - to realise that vegetarians live, on average, quite different lifestyles from people who tuck into burgers and kebabs. Thirdly, even if this study has somehow managed to be supremely accurate and found a real risk, we have to ask if such an increase is of any practical significance in the real world. Cancer Research UK gives the following statistics on pancreatic cancer: for the UK, the age-standardised rate is 9.3 cases per 100,000 people per year - roughly one person in every 10,000. So even those people who really like processed meat and eat 150g per day would have about a 50 per cent increased risk - or about 15 cases per 100,000. To express that in terms of odds, instead of it being 10,000-to-one that these kebab-and-burger lovers develop pancreatic cancer in any particular year, it would be 6,667-to-one. So, to sum up: the association between processed meat and pancreatic cancer is so weak it might well be a mirage; the increased risk might not be caused by the processed meat itself; and even if it is, the risk is so low that it’s really not worth bothering about. Yet still we are advised to consider cutting down on our red meat and processed meat consumption. Life is, frankly, too short to miss out on such tasty foods on the slim chance that we might lose a few years of life in old age. Still, that won’t stop people being harangued anyway. A particularly unsavoury example of this appeared in Sunday’s Observer. Illiberal Liberal of the Week contender, columnist Barbara Ellen, declared that the bovine attitude of recent governments towards smokers and drinkers should apply to meat-eaters, too. Now that a precedent has been set - that people should be harangued for doing things that are legal but disapproved of by Those Who Know Better - Ellen is simply following through this logic by attacking those who like sausages, bacon and pies. Here’s the argument: people (like smokers and drinkers) who deliberately do things that are bad for them, despite being told time and again that they should not, are now lectured, restricted and even have their basic rights taken away; eating meat - and particularly ‘processed’ meat - increases your risk of getting cancer and is bad for you; therefore, people who eat meat should now be lectured, restricted and even have their basic rights taken away. This is a shocking but perfectly logical argument, if you accept the petty-authoritarian mindset that flourished under New Labour and is still going strong under the Lib-Con coalition (and, indeed, around the world). Given the tone of Ellen’s piece, you might hope that she would end by saying: ‘Of course, telling people not to eat meat is stupid - every bit as stupid as telling them not to drink or smoke or telling them not to be fat. The government should just butt out.’ Sadly, there is no note of irony anywhere. She really does want to stick it to meat-eaters. So, of the supposed risks of eating meat, Ellen declares: ‘This information has popped up regularly for years in all forms of popular media. Indeed, in this era of info overload, if you’ve never come across the “burgers and kebabs are unhealthy” revelation, one would have to presume you’ve been lying in a coma. With this in mind, isn’t it time to ask, exactly how thick, how hard to educate, are meat-eaters and why aren’t they held accountable in the same way everyone else is?’ She continues: ‘Sympathy is in short supply these days. You can’t move for people being blamed for their own miserable situations: smokers who “burden” the NHS; alcoholics who don’t “deserve” liver transplants; obese people who “should” pay more for flights. Even those poor terrified women with the faulty breast implants are said to have “brought it on themselves”. By this logic, people who’ve been regularly informed of the dangers of meat, particularly the cheap processed variety, but who continue to wolf it down should be held just as accountable.’ Now that the precedent has been set for the government to lambast those who engage in unapproved habits, it’s open season on any habit that a campaigner or columnist disapproves of. Ban it! Tax it! Make them get a prescription for it! Deny them medical care! Ellen’s article is objectionable but it only follows the remorseless logic of so many others. There is another lesson from the meat-and-cancer story: at a time when all sorts of dubious claims are made based on junk science and dodgy statistics, only some panics get wide publicity; others just pop up and disappear again in a matter of hours. The difference is that some play to an existing political or media agenda and some do not. The idea that meat causes cancer appeals to health busybodies, politicians scrabbling around for a sense of purpose, vegetarians who can’t win a moral argument about animal rights, and environmentalists who have failed to convince us that increasing the ‘human footprint’ - by wanting to eat more meat, for example - is killing the planet. It’s not quite possessed of the same force as religious fervour - do the ‘right thing’ or live in agony for eternity - but the idea that if you do something naughty like enjoy bacon then you might die in agony before your time, is the best that many such claims-makers have got going for them right now. The only proper response to this junkscience-based illiberalism is to be extremely sceptical of any such claims and to defend everyone’s right to indulge in these petty vices.

Princes William and Harry fly to Spain for secret weekend hunting trip

 

They bagged themselves several brace of pheasant at Sandringham over Christmas. But at the weekend Prince William and Prince Harry set their sights on bigger game. The brothers flew to Spain on Friday for a secret hunting trip to celebrate the end of Harry's advanced helicopter training. The royal pair were staying on an estate in the backwaters of rural Cordoba owned by the Duke of Westminster, Gerald Grosvenor, Britain's third-richest man and one of William's godfathers. Finca La Garganta, near the village of Conquista, on the border of Castilla La Mancha, is one of the largest and most exclusive hunting estates in western Europe. It is teeming with wildlife including wild boar and stag which William and Harry, both crack shots, are said to be keen to bag. Beaters and packs of dogs were brought in to ensure that the princes did not return home without several 'kills' to their name. The brothers have visited the estate before and last time were said to have bagged a staggering 740 partridge on a single day. The second and third in line to the throne arrived in Spain on Friday on separate flights as they are not allowed to travel together in case of an accident. William , 29, who was not believed to be accompanied by his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, flew into Seville while Harry, 27, arrived on a private jet at Cuidad Real Central later in the afternoon.

World Bank warns emerging nations to prepare for slump

In a report sharply cutting its world economic growth expectations, the World Bank said Europe was probably already in recession. If the euro area debt crisis deepened, global economic forecasts would be significantly lower. "The sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone appears to be contained," Justin Lin, the chief economist for the World Bank, told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday. "However, the risk of a global freezing-up of the markets and as well as a global crisis similar to what happened in September 2008 are real." The World Bank predicted world economic growth of 2.5pc in 2012 and 3.1pc in 2013, well below the 3.6pc growth for each year projected in June. "We think it is now important to think through not only slower growth but sharp deteriorations, as a prudent measure," said Hans Timmer, director of development prospects at the bank.

New guidelines for Ascot dress code

 

The fashion stakes are always high at Royal Ascot but organisers are now raising the bar by banning fascinators in the royal enclosure. The decision is part of a move to tighten and clarify the dress code at the annual summer event and comes amid criticism of sartorial standards which have been more loosely enforced in recent years. Thousands of visitors who flock to the less formal grandstand enclosure during the week-long meet in June will also be obliged to adhere to strict new guidelines. Organisers have defended the changes and insist the revised dress code is designed to restore formality rather than encourage "elitism". Ascot spokesman Nick Smith said: "It is probably fair to say that the dress code hasn't necessarily been enforced quite as rigorously as we might have liked. "It is stretching a point to say standards have collapsed but there is no doubt that our customers would like to get back to a situation where it is universally acknowledged that this is a formal occasion and not an occasion where you might dress as you would at a nightclub." In the royal enclosure, this means fascinators - which are often favoured by the Duchess of Cambridge - are no longer deemed acceptable. The new dress code states: "Hats should be worn; a headpiece which has a base of four inches (10cm) or more in diameter is acceptable as an alternative to a hat." Women will also be expected to wear skirts or dresses of "modest length" which fall just above the knee or longer. This clarifies previous guidance which stated miniskirts were "considered unsuitable". For men, a waistcoat and tie are now compulsory in this area of the course and cravats will not be allowed. Black shoes must also be worn with morning dress. In the grandstand, which is open to the public and subject to less stringent rules, a hat or fascinator will be compulsory for women. This marks a significant change to previous years, when female racegoers were simply advised that "many ladies wear hats". Strapless or sheer-strap tops and dresses will be banned. For men, a suit and tie will now be imperative. The less formal Silver Ring will not be affected by the changes. Charles Barnett, Ascot's chief executive, said the overarching intention was to be "as helpful as possible" to visitors and to assist racegoers in understanding what is "cherished" about the dress code at Royal Ascot. He said: "It isn't a question of elitism and not being modern in a world where there is less and less requirement to dress smartly - far from it. We want to see modern and stylish dress at Royal Ascot, just within the parameters of formal wear, and the feedback we have received from our customers overwhelmingly supports that."

'Neurology time bomb' on the cards for NHS

 

The NHS could find itself facing a "neurology time bomb" as more people develop conditions such as motor neurone disease and Parkinson's disease. According to the Neurological Alliance, which represents 70 groups and charities, the rising number of cases is being compounded by the poor quality of services. The alliance's criticisms follow a report by the National Audit Office, which questioned the level of care on offer, bringing particular attention to delays in diagnosis and muddled follow-up care. In response, the government has acknowledged that more needs to be done. Steve Ford, chair of the alliance and chief executive of Parkinson's UK, said: "The situation can only get worse. A crisis is looming but the government has its head in the sand. "When it comes to helping vulnerable people with a neurological condition, the government is floundering around in a fog of its own making." It is estimated that more than 200,000 people in the UK have long-term progressive neurological conditions, according to the BBC.

Captain ordered back onto boat by port officials

 

 Mr Schettino 'attempted to take a taxi away from the scene' • Crew 'began evacuation before captain's orders' • Number of missing passengers and crew rises to 29 • Navy blasting holes in hull to improve access to divers • Captain due to appear in court this morning • Minister warns of ecological disaster According to reports in Italian media, Captain Francesco Schettino was attempting to catch a taxi away from the scene. “What do you want to do, go home?” one official asked him, according to transcripts of the increasingly frantic exchanges between port authorities and the captain, who allegedly refused a direct order to return to the ship and take charge. The transcripts reveal the mounting anger and frustration of port and Coast Guard officials as they began to realise the full extent of the disaster, despite the commander’s repeated insistence that the situation on board was “all OK”. When officials told the captain that there were reports of bodies in the water, the commander allegedly asked: “How many?”.

Property owners not impressed by Junta's decree on irregular property

 

The regional government’s plan to regularise the dozens of thousands of illegal properties is not proving successful. Owners of the properties are refusing to pay the costs of bringing their properties into legality. In most cases the regional council for public works and housing have offered a ‘recognition’ of the properties – a legal device to allow them to come out of limbo and gain access to power and water. But this needs the collaboration of the citizens, and their money. Many Town Halls have discovered the process does not get underway, and El País reports that two of the most interesting cases are in Córdoba and Chiclana in Cádiz. These two localities have about 25,000 homes build outside the regulations, 15,000 in Chiclana and some 9,000 in Córdoba. In both cases the property owners are refusing to meet the costs of the regularisation process; in Chiclana only 56 have applied. In Córdoba none of the 42 illegal urbanisations has brought itself into legality. Meanwhile in the Axarquía where many foreigners have purchased such property in good faith, say they are against the latest decree from the Junta last week. President of the Save Our Homes association, Philip Smalley, says the formula will just leave thousands of properties in the district in limbo. He says there is no judicial guarantee after the process because the Junta will be able to do what they want with the properties in the future. The Junta has identified 12,760 irregular properties in the Axarquía. In the Almanzora valley in Almería, again there are many foreign property owners affected. The AUAN protest group there says the decree does not help those with ongoing court proceedings against demolition. President Maura Hillen considers that only 16% of their members will benefit from the decree.

Nine in every 10 Spaniards feel uncomfortable speaking English

 

A new survey has shown that nine in every ten Spaniards still feel uncomfortable speaking English, despite the fact that 37% of them have spent more than 15 years studying the language. Thirty five percent said they felt insecure and embarrassed, and 4% said they would not make the attempt in case they seemed ‘ridiculous’. Europa Press reports that one in two, although knowing that their grammar was not correct, would however try and speak the language. The survey by ‘Pueblo Inglés – More than English’ also revealed that 98% of those questioned felt that the standard of teaching English in Spain’s schools was not the best. Many felt that more time should be spent on the subject in schools, with particular emphasis on conversations with English speakers and on role playing for real life situations. Language schools and academies were the most popular method of learning English, but more than half said the best way was spending time abroad in English-speaking countries.

British peer calls for abolition of time limit on expat voting

 

Britons who live abroad currently have no voting rights if they have been out of the country for more than 15 years An estimated 5.6 million Britons currently live abroad but, under UK law, those who have been out of the country for more than 15 years have no right to vote in British elections. There has been support for changes to the law in a recent debate on electoral reform in the House of Lords. The Telegraph reports this week on a comment from Lord Lexden, the Conservative Party’s official historian, that the time limit is, ‘a problem which has been allowed to go on for far too long.’ He proposed that the government’s plans to reform the electoral system could provide the ‘perfect vehicle’ to abolish a limit which he said has been ‘chopped and changed’ ‘without rationale.’ It was originally set at five years in 1985, was extended to 20 years in 1989, and was then reduced to 15 in 2002. Brian Cave from the website www.votes-for-expat-brits.com, which campaigns for the right to vote for Britons abroad, told the Telegraph, ‘To have Lord Lexden make such a long speech and make such telling comments was a milestone in our campaign.’ The newspaper however notes a comment by the Labour peer Lord Lipsey during a radio debate last month that there was, ‘no chance’ of the limit being abolished.

Elton John’s husband attacks Madonna after Golden Globes win, calling her ‘embarrassing’ and ‘desperate’

 

David Furnish was one angry man following last night’s Golden Globes in Hollywood, attacking Madonna for her ‘embarrassing’ speech (watch it below) after she beat his husband Elton John to Best Original Song. Advertisement >> Shortly after Madonna won the award for single Masterpiece – which she wrote for her own film W.E. – David logged onto Facebook and criticised the singer and the ceremony. He typed angrily: “Madonna. Best song???? F**k off!!! “Madonna winning Best Original Song truly shows how these awards have nothing to do with merit. Her acceptance speech was embarrassing in its narcissism.”

Thousands of children are being "needlessly dumped in prison" because of Britain's failing youth justice system

 

Thousands of children are being "needlessly dumped in prison" because of Britain's failing youth justice system, a think-tank has warned. The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) said courts and prisons were being used to "parent children" and were expected to sweep up problem youngsters inadequately dealt with by other departments, such as social services. In a new report, the group called for a radical overhaul in the way the Government deals with young offenders. It said there needed to be a drastic cut in the 5,000 children a year currently given custodial sentences, arguing the imprisonment of youths between the age of 10 and 17 should be limited to the "critical few" guilty of the most serious or violent crimes. The CSJ said too many children are being taken before the youth courts for trivial reasons. The report cited one example where a child who had thrown a bowl of Sugar Puffs at his care worker, jumped out of the window, then climbed back in, was held in a police cell over a weekend on suspicion of assault and attempted burglary. The independent think-tank, set up in 2004 by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, urged a return to a "common-sense" approach to minor incidents with parents and teachers using their judgment to deal with them at a home or school level. It also criticised the widespread use of short sentences for young offenders, arguing they undermine justice and disrupt attempts to educate and rehabilitate them. Gavin Poole, executive director of the CSJ, said: "Many young people fall into the system unnecessarily and do not receive the help they need to free themselves from it. Custody is sometimes neither a protective nor a productive place for children, and community orders can be equally ineffective. Moreover, despite years of good intentions, many young people leaving custody are still not being provided with the basic support they need for rehabilitation." Among a series of recommendations, the CSJ said there should be no sentences shorter than six months and an emphasis should be placed on non-custodial punishments where underlying behavioural problems can be tackled more effectively. The group also said measures to prevent lawbreaking by young people should be the primary responsibility of child welfare services rather than the youth justice system. It added local services needed to work together to ensure that young people and their families receive the help they need early.

Birmingham murders: Second man arrested

 

A second man has been arrested on suspicion of murder over the death of a couple in Birmingham. The 41-year old is being questioned over the murder of Carole, 58, and Avtar Singh-Kolar, 62, who were found dead at their home in Handsworth Wood. Post-mortem tests confirmed the couple died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head and that both had been struck a number of times. A 24-year-old man arrested on Friday in Birmingham remains in custody. The couple's bodies were discovered on Wednesday by their son, Jason, a serving police officer.

M&S workers pose nude for charity calendar sold under the counter

A calendar with pictures of scantily clad Marks & Spencer staff has raised £2,500 for charity despite having to be sold under the counter.

The M&S workers were asked to keep the calendar under the counter (Picture: SWNS)

The publication features naked and topless workers in Calendar Girls-type poses involving items for sale such as cakes, newspapers, underwear and marshmallows. 

It was not intended for sale to the public but word got around and copies were bought discreetly.

‘We weren’t really allowed to put it on display in the shop,’ said one member of staff at the store in Barnstaple, Devon.

‘It was a bit of a brown paper bag job, to be honest.’

The saucy calendar is raising money for North Devon District Hospital's Chemotherapy appeal. (Picture: SWNS)

Marks insists only a limited number of calendars were produced, all of which have now been sold.  

A M&S spokesman said: 'M&S supports the Barnstaple store's efforts to raise funds for the North Devon Health Care Chemotherapy Unit. 

'A limited number of calendars were produced by members of staff for sale to friends and family, and were never intended for commercial sale in-store

Three people were found alive on Sunday as rescuer workers continued to search a partly submerged Italian cruise ship

 

Three people were found alive on Sunday as rescuer workers continued to search a partly submerged Italian cruise ship resting just off this small island near the Tuscan coast. Multimedia Map Map of the Area Where the Italian Cruise Ran Aground Photographs Cruise Ship Runs Aground in Italy Cruise Ship Runs Aground Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines. Enlarge This Image Enzo Russo/European Pressphoto Agency The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, was arrested on Saturday. More Photos » Early Sunday, an Italian fire brigade found a honeymooning couple from Korea alive inside a cabin of the Costa Concordia, which was resting on its side with a gash just below the waterline and a rock stuck in the hull. A brigade spokesman, Luca Cari, said the couple had been taken to a local hospital. Later, an Italian man, who was identified in media reports as a crew member, was taken from the ship by helicopter. The man was thought to have a broken leg. At least three people were killed when the Costa Concordia, carrying 4,200 passengers and crew on a weeklong Mediterranean cruise, slammed into an undetermined object near the island Friday night as passengers for the late seating had just started dinner, tucking into appetizers of grilled mushrooms and scallops. On Sunday, media reports described rescue workers in boats circling the big ship, tapping on the hull, and listening for a response. Divers also combed the ship’s underwater cabins for those still missing, up to 41 people. Shaken survivors spoke of a mad crush to flee a sinking cruise ship off the Tuscan coast, raising questions about the crew’s preparedness, Italian authorities arrested the ship’s captain amid concerns that the megaship had steered dangerously off course. Anxious survivors, many comparing the experience to the movie “Titanic,” recounted a chaotic and terrifying scene in which some crawled through hallways to escape down perilous ladders to lifeboats, while others leapt overboard into the wintry Tyrrhenian Sea. “In a moment, everything was up in the air,” said Alessandra Grasso, 24, a passenger from Sicily. “People, chairs, glasses, food.” Ulrike Schweda, 63, from Germany, was caught in a crowd of people pushing toward a lifeboat, and slipped on the deck. “The most terrible thing was seeing children trying to get down this ladder they had put on the side of the boat,” she said. Two French citizens and a Peruvian crew member were reported dead, according to a hospital official in Grosseto, Tuscany. Divers searched until nightfall Saturday for the missing, perilously probing the 2,000 cabins for survivors while the Leviathan ship lay on its side in the water, a boulder poking through a 160-foot gash in its hull. The Italian Coast Guard said 41 people were still unaccounted for. The coast guard is also monitoring the environmental impact of the accident, but as of Sunday morning, no oil had seeped into the ocean from the ship. “We are optimistic and hope that the ship is not going to slide further down,” Cmdr. Cosimo Nicastro, a spokesman for the coast guard, told reporters. “But the weather conditions are slowly worsening, and that is a cause of concern.” There were conflicting reports about whether the ship was off course in reef-filled waters just miles from the shore or whether an electrical failure had caused the crew to lose control. Passengers spoke of faulty evacuation procedures and unprepared staff who told them nothing was wrong — until the ship began tipping over. After questioning him for several hours, the Italian police detained the ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino, and the first officer, for questioning on charges of manslaughter, failure to offer assistance and abandonment of ship, the police said. Before his detention, Captain Schettino told Italian television that the ship had hit a reef that was not on its navigation charts. Gianni Onorato, the president of the Costa cruise company, a subsidiary of Carnival Cruise lines, said the ship had been sailing its “regularly scheduled itinerary” from Civitavecchia to Savona, Italy, when it struck “a submerged rock.” He said Captain Schettino “immediately understood the severity of the situation” and “performed a maneuver intended to protect both guests and crew.” The Italian coast guard said the captain had tried to turn the ship toward port in Giglio to make an evacuation easier, but it began to tip over as it reached the port.

Fire, power failures, crime and tragic overboard deaths are common on cruise vacations

 

A luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia leans on its side after running aground the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, 

They're often billed as the ultimate in worry-free vacations. But cruise critics say these floating hotels -- some as high as 12 storeys tall -- aren't nearly as safe as claimed.

Fire, power failures, crime and tragic overboard deaths are common on cruise vacations, said Ross Klein, a Memorial University sociologist and author of two books on the cruise industry.

The ships, which can carry more than 4,000 passengers, are as big as towns, Klein said, packed with strangers often bent on having a good time. Many passengers wrongly let their guard down.

"People should go on cruise ships with their eyes wide open, to be aware that there can be accidents." Klein told CTVNews.ca.

Last year, 22 people fell overboard on cruise ships, Klein said. Some were accidents. Others were suicides. The vast majority were fatal, said Klein, who compiles cruise accident data for his website www.cruisejunkie.com.

Fires and power failures are also common, though rarely reported in the mainstream media.

Incidents include:

• In September 2010, an explosion aboard the Cunard's Queen Mary 2 caused a power failure as it approached Barcelona, causing it to drift off the Spanish coast.
• In November 2010, a drunken passenger dropped an anchor on a cruise enroute to Tampa from Mexico.

According to data Klein collected, the risk of sexual assault is nearly 50 per cent greater on a cruise ship than on land in Canada. He used data collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and internal industry documents used in lawsuits between 2003 and 2005.

"I believe passengers should go on to a ship well informed," Klein said.

"The industry markets itself as . . . . one of the safest modes of commercial transport in the world. And they want passengers to believe that if they come on a cruise ship they are virtually safe."

An umbrella group for the cruise industry says it's monitoring the latest accident off the Italian coast, where three people have died and dozens are missing.

The website for the Cruise Lines International Association said the group "would like to reassure other cruise passengers that all CLIA member lines are subject to the highest safety standards around the world and according to international maritime requirements."

CTVNews.ca called the association on Saturday, but there was no answer at its Florida office.

U.S. maritime lawyer Jim Walker once represented the cruise industry but switched sides about 15 years ago. Since then, he's represented dozens of passengers and crew members in lawsuits against cruise lines.

Mr. Walker represented the family of George Smith, who vanished from a Royal Caribbean ship while on his honeymoon in 2005. His family suspected foul play and claimed the cruise ship failed to properly investigate the disappearance. His family won a US$1.3 million suit against the cruise line.

Walker also represented a 35-year-old woman who said she was sexually assaulted by a crew member on a Royal Caribbean vessel. Walker said the woman's case resulted in tough reporting rules aboard cruise ships.

Walker urged passengers to be vigilant about crime and safety.

Despite potential dangers, Klein said he loves ocean travel and has taken 30 cruises.

"I love being at sea," he said. "I like to look at the horizon." At sea, he said, "time stands still. It's a wonderful feeling."

The Italian captain of a ship that sank off the coast of Tuscany was placed under arrest after one of the most dramatic holiday cruise disasters

The Costa Concordia lies on its side after running aground off the west coast of Italy at Giglio island. Photograph: Reuters

The Italian captain of a ship that sank off the coast of Tuscany was placed under arrest after one of the most dramatic holiday cruise disasters ever seen in the Mediterranean. Three passengers died and 69 were still unaccounted for after the 114,000-tonne Costa Concordia smashed into rocks amid scenes of panic and chaos.

Local prosecutors said Francesco Schettino was being investigated for manslaughter and abandoning ship following reports his stricken vessel failed to raise a mayday alert as the disaster unfolded.

There was speculation that a power failure on board the ship could have led to it losing navigational control and crashing into the rocks. Experts said that passenger reports of a power blackout and large blast indicated the vessel could have suffered an explosion in the engine room.

As the ship came to rest half submerged on its side, yards from the coast of the island of Giglio late on Friday, anger rose among the thousands of passengers who had swum or been ferried and flown to safety over what they described as a botched evacuation by crew members who panicked.

Italian police confirmed that two French tourists and a Peruvian crew member drowned in the accident. About 30 people were reported injured, with three critically hurt.

A British embassy official said not all the Britons on board the vessel had yet been accounted for. He said consular officials had so far confirmed that "around 20" survived.

Survivors described extraordinary scenes of panic, confusion and fear as the ship tilted on its side following what sounded like a loud explosion. Kirsty Cook, one of eight British dancers working on the cruise, said she was "lucky to be alive" after using a rope ladder to climb down to a waiting rescue boat. Another dancer, Rosie Metcalf, 22, from Dorset, had to cling to a fire hose before being winched to safety by a helicopter crew.

The Costa Concordia, which was built in Italy and launched in 2006, set off from Civitavecchia on Friday for a Mediterranean cruise, carrying 3,206 passengers and 1,023 crew. As the ship slid between Giglio and the coast, passengers sitting down for their first dinner on board felt a shudder before the lights went out.

Russian ship suspected of carrying munitions to Syria appears near Turkish port

 

Authorities say a Russian ship suspected of delivering weapons to Syria has anchored off Turkey’s coast. A Foreign Ministry official said Turkish coast guard and customs officials would board the Chariot on Saturday before allowing it to dock at the port of Iskenderun. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government rules. 0 Comments Weigh InCorrections? inShare The ship had made an unscheduled stop in Cyprus, technically violating an EU embargo on arms shipments to Syria. Cypriot authorities allowed it to leave Wednesday after the ship’s owners said it would not head for Syria. Turkey, citing navy intelligence, said the ship nevertheless made its way to the Syrian port of Tartus after leaving Cyprus. U.S. officials said Friday they had expressed concerns to both Russia and Cyprus.

Bacon, deli meat may raise pancreatic cancer risk

Bacon or sausage? You might want to rethink that decision. Consuming processed meat regularly may increase a person’s risk of developing pancreatic cancer, though the risk is still low, says a new study. A meta-analysis of 11 studies involving 6,643 people with pancreatic cancer suggests an elevated risk of the disease when consuming processed meat such as bacon, cold cuts and sausages. In the study, men who ate red meat also showed an elevated risk of the disease, while women did not. The authors believe this is because men generally consume more red meat than women. For every 50 grams a person adds of processed meat to their diet, the risk of pancreatic cancer increased by 19 per cent, according to the study. "When results from all studies were combined, an increase of 50 grams per day of processed meat consumption was associated with a statistically significant 19 per cent increased risk of pancreatic cancer," the authors wrote. For the study, 120 grams was deemed a serving of red meat per day, while 50 grams represented a serving of processed meat. A typical hot dog is about 45 grams. "Processed meats are usually preserved with nitrite and may also contain N-nitroso compounds," write the authors. They say these compounds can also be formed in the stomach from nitrites and from compounds found in animal products and are potent carcinogens that have been shown to induce pancreatic cancer in animals. The study was conducted by Swedish researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and published Thursday online in the British Journal of Cancer.