The worlds only biker rally cruise, High Seas Rally, will now take place on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship October 22-29, 2021.

Riding with all the excitement and camaraderie of motorcycle rallies, the High Seas Rally will sail on Royal Caribbeans Mariner of the Seas from Port Canaveral to Nassau, Bahamas; Perfect Day at Coco Cay, Bahamas; Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic and Labadee, Haiti.

2021 will mark the 21st High Seas Rally sailing, each powered by legions of bike enthusiasts who come together for a first-class vacation that celebrates love of motorcycles and the freedom of the high seas. Rally cruisers also share a passion for helping others, which is the engine behind the High Seas Rally Dialysis Program and its rich history of giving back to the community.

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Plans for the 2021 High Seas Rally include:

Entertainment: The Slow Ride at sea will be headlined by Foghat, plus Molly Hatchet and more bands to be announced in the coming months. On the High Seas Rally, the musicians dont just perform, they sail and party with guests all week.

Cruising for a Cause: The High Seas Rally sails with the proud legacy of supporting dialysis patients by providing them with an incredible all-expenses paid vacation on the high seas. In 21, the cruise will expand the cause to honor and support Military Veterans and First Responders.

Host Xavier Muriel: Their first-time host is Cycle Source Magazines 2019 Readers Poll Builder of the Year and builder of Easyriders Magazines 2019 Bike of the Year. Xavier, former drummer for the rock band Buckcherry, is currently building a custom HSR motorcycle at his garage (Providence Cycle Worx in Austin, Texas) which will be awarded to a lucky guest to take home after the 21 cruise.

Host Dave Nichols: Daves motorcycle credentials include rides as editor-in-chief of Easyriders and V-Twin motorcycle magazines, host of V-Twin TV (26-episode series on SPEED Channel) and a new TV series called Chrome Chronicles featuring host Richard Karn. He has written and produced over 1,200 TV commercials, wrote and produced a series of specials for HBO and was head writer and producer of American Top 40 for ABC. He also has produced live TV events and developed ad campaigns for radio, TV and feature films.

Comedian Roy Riley: For more than 43 years, Roy has entertained crowds from coast to coast as a stand-up comic. Guests have been hooked on Roy ever since he joined the first High Seas Rally in 2003. Roy keeps the fun and frivolity rolling during onboard shows, events and gatherings.

Newly Remodeled Cruise Ship: Royal Caribbeans Mariner of the Seas recently completed a $120 million renovation that saw many new features added to the vessel.

Cabin rates for the High Seas Rally begin at $900 per person, and include meals, tickets to all concerts, activities, parties and other events. Further information can be found at http://www.highseasrally.com or by calling 844-279-8460.

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Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship Hosting World's Only Biker Cruise in 2021 - Cruise Fever

The coronavirus has been good for pirates.

Piracy incidents across Asia have doubled in the first half of this year due to the coronavirus, according to a report by Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP).

The majority of attacks took place in the Singapore Strait, but there has been an alarming increase near Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and in the South China Sea as well.

While a majority of the piracy acts are considered smaller, opportunistic robberies, Small crimes, if not addressed, can embolden criminals to commit more serious acts, ReCAAPs executive director Masafumi Kuroki told the BBC.

[Sometimes] the pirates are local fishermen who see piracy as a way to supplement their incomes. In other parts of Asia, many are jobless young men who have travelled to Batam [in Indonesia] or other places looking for work, Brandon Prins, a scholar of sea piracy at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville told the BBC.

The global pandemic is the cause of this upward tick on high seas robbery as joblessness rises.

My fear has always been that COVID-19 would reduce global trade, which lowers growth, increases poverty and joblessness [and then] leads to more sea piracy, Prins added.

There is certainly concern that with trade going down, there will be fewer sailors on board ships [and therefore] fewer crew monitoring for potential pirates or armed robbers.

A total of 77 seafarers were taken hostage or kidnapped for ransom since January, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

The organization upped their presence in West Africa and Peru, with the Gulf of Guineas responsible for 90% of the worlds pirate attacks.

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Pirate attacks have doubled in Asia thanks to the coronavirus - New York Post

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Top 10 world news: UK suspends extradition treaty, Oxford vaccine trials, and more - WION

On March 26th, the coronavirus accomplished what no foreign adversary has been able to do since the end of World War II: it forced an American aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, to suspend patrol operations and shelter in port. By the time that ship reached dock in Guam, hundreds of sailors had been infected with the disease and nearly the entire crew had to be evacuated. As news of the crisis aboard the TR (as the vessel is known) became public, word came out that at least 40 other U.S. warships, including the carrier USS Ronald Reagan and the guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd, were suffering from Covid-19 outbreaks. None of these approached the scale of the TR and, by June, the Navy was again able to deploy most of those ships on delayed schedules and/or with reduced crews. By then, however, it had become abundantly clear that the long-established U.S. strategy of relying on large, heavily armed warships to project power and defeat foreign adversaries was no longer fully sustainable in a pandemic-stricken world.

Just as the Navy was learning that its preference for big ships with large crewstypically packed into small spaces for extended periods of timewas quite literally proving a dead-end strategy (one of the infected sailors on the TR died of complications from Covid-19), the Army and Marine Corps were making a comparable discovery. Their favored strategy of partnering with local forces in far-flung parts of the world like Iraq, Japan, Kuwait, and South Korea, where local safeguards against infectious disease couldnt always be relied on (or, as in Okinawa recently, Washingtons allies couldnt count on the virus-free status of American forces), was similarly flawed. With U.S. and allied troops increasingly forced to remain in isolation from each other, it is proving difficult to conduct the usual joint training-and-combat exercises and operations.

In the short term, American defense officials have responded to such setbacks with various stopgap measures, including sending nuclear-capable B-1, B-2, and B-52 bombers on long-range show-of-force missions over contested areas like the Baltic Sea (think: Russia) or the South China Sea (think: China, of course). We have the capability and capacity to provide long-range fires anywhere, anytime, and can bring overwhelming firepower even during the pandemic, insisted General Timothy Ray, commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command, after several such operations.

In another sign of tactical desperation, however, the Navy ordered the shattered crew of the TR out of lockdown in May so that the ship could participate in long-scheduled, China-threatening multi-carrier exercises in the western Pacific. A third of its crew, however, had to be left in hospitals or in quarantine on Guam. Were executing according to plan to return to sea and fighting through the virus is part of that, said the ships new captain, Carlos Sardiello, as the TR prepared to depart that Pacific island. (He had been named captain on April 3rd after a letter the carriers previous skipper, Brett Crozier, wrote to superiors complaining of deteriorating shipboard health conditions was leaked to the media and the senior Navy leadership fired him.)

Such stopgap measures, and others like them now being undertaken by the Department of Defense, continue to provide the military with a sense of ongoing readiness, even aggressiveness, in a time of Covid-related restrictions. Were the current pandemic to fade away in the not-too-distant future and life return to what once passed for normal, they might prove adequate. Scientists are warning, however, that the coronavirus is likely to persist for a long time and that a vaccineeven if successfully developed may not prove effective forever. Moreover, many virologists believe that further pandemics, potentially even more lethal than Covid-19, could be lurking on the horizon, meaning that there might never be areturn to a pre-pandemic normal.

That being the case, Pentagon officials have been forced to acknowledge that the military foundations of Washingtons global strategy particularly, the forward deployment of combat forces in close cooperation with allied forcesmay have become invalid. In recognition of this harsh new reality, U.S. strategists are beginning to devise an entirely new blueprint for future war, American-style: one that would end, or at least greatly reduce, a dependence on hundreds of overseas garrisons and large manned warships, relying instead on killer robots, a myriad of unmanned vessels, and offshore bases.

In fact, the Navys plans to replace large manned vessels with small, unmanned ones was only accelerated by the outbreak of the pandemic. Several factors had already contributed to the trend: modern warships like nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and missile-armed cruisers had been growing ever more expensive to build. The latest, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has cost a whopping $13.2 billion and still doesnt work to specifications. So even a profligately funded Pentagon can only afford to be constructing a few at a time. They are also proving increasingly vulnerable to the sorts of anti-ship missiles and torpedoes being developed by powers like China, while, as events on the TR suggest, theyre natural breeding grounds for infectious diseases.

Until the disaster aboard the Theodore Roosevelt, most worrisome were those Chinese land-based, anti-ship weapons capable of striking American carriers and cruisers in distant parts of the Pacific Ocean. This development had already forced naval planners to consider the possibility of keeping their most prized assets far from Chinas shores in any potential shooting war, lest they be instantly lost to enemy fire. Rather than accept such a version of defeat before a battle even began, Navy officials had begun adopting a new strategy, sometimes called distributed maritime operations, in which smaller manned warships would, in the future, be accompanied into battle by large numbers of tiny, unmanned, missile-armed vessels, or maritime killer robots.

In a reflection of the Navys new thinking, the services surface warfare director, Rear Admiral Ronald Boxall, explained in 2019 that the future fleet, as designed, was to include 104 large surface combatants [and] 52 small surface combatants, adding, Thats a little upside down. Should I push out here and have more small platforms? I think the future fleet architecture study has intimated yes, and our war gaming shows there is value in that And when I look at the force, I think: Where can we use unmanned so that I can push it to a smaller platform?

Think of this as an early public sign of the rise of naval robotic warfare, which is finally leaving dystopian futuristic fantasies for actual future battlefields. In the Navys version of this altered landscape, large numbers of unmanned vessels (both surface ships and submarines) will roam the worlds oceans, reporting periodically via electronic means to human operators ashore or on designated command ships. They may, however, operate for long periods on their own or in robotic wolf packs.

Such a vision has now been embraced by the senior Pentagon leadership, which sees the rapid procurement and deployment of such robotic vessels as the surest way of achieving the Navys (and President Trumps) goal of a fleet of 355 ships at a time of potentially static defense budgets, recurring pandemics, and mounting foreign threats. I think one of the ways you get [to the 355-ship level] quickly is moving toward lightly manned [vessels], which over time can be unmanned, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper typically said in February. We can go with lightly manned ships You can build them so theyre optionally manned and then, depending on the scenario or the technology, at some point in time they can go unmanned That would allow us to get our numbers up quickly, and I believe that we can get to 355, if not higher, by 2030.

To begin to implement such an audacious plan, that very month the Pentagon requested $938 million for the next two fiscal years to procure three prototype large unmanned surface vessels (LUSVs) and another $56 million for the initial development of a medium-sized unmanned surface vessel (MUSV). If such efforts prove successful, the Navy wants another $2.1 billion from 2023 through 2025 to procure seven deployable LUSVs and one prototype MUSV.

Naval officials have, however, revealed little about the design or ultimate functioning of such robot warships. All that services 2021 budget request says is that the unmanned surface vessel (USV) is a reconfigurable, multi-mission vessel designed to provide low cost, high endurance, reconfigurable ships able to accommodate various payloads for unmanned missions and augment the Navys manned surface force.

Based on isolated reports in the military trade press, the most that can be known about such future (and futuristic) ships, is that they will resemble miniature destroyers, perhaps 200 feet long, with no crew quarters but a large array of guided missiles and anti-submarine weapons. Such vessels will also be equipped with sophisticated computer systems enabling them to operate autonomously for long periods of time and under circumstances yet to be clarified take offensive action on their own or in coordination with other unmanned vessels.

The future deployment of robot warshipson the high seas raises troubling questions. To what degree, for instance, will they be able to choose targets on their own for attack and annihilation? The Navy has yet to provide an adequate answer to this question, provoking disquiet among arms control and human rights advocates who fear that such ships could go rogue and start or escalate a conflict on their own. And thats obviously a potential problem in a world of recurring pandemics where killer robots could prove the only types of ships the Navy dares deploy in large numbers.

When it comes to the prospect of recurring pandemics, the ground combat forces of the Army and Marine Corps face a comparable dilemma.

Ever since the end of World War II, American military strategy has called for U.S. forces to fight forwardthat is, on or near enemy territory rather than anywhere near the United States. This, in turn, has meant maintaining military alliances with numerous countries around the world so that American forces can be based on their soil, resulting in hundreds of U.S. military bases globally. In wartime, moreover, U.S. strategy assumes that many of these countries will provide troops for joint operations against a common enemy. To fight the Soviets in Europe, the U.S. created NATO and acquired garrisons throughout Western Europe; to fight communism in Asia, it established military ties with Japan, South Korea, South Vietnam, the Philippines, and other local powers, acquiring scores of bases there as well. When Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Islamic terrorism became major targets of its military operations, the Pentagon forged ties with and acquired bases in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, among other places.

In a pandemic-free world, such a strategy offers numerous advantages for an imperial power. In time of war, for example, theres no need to transport American troops (with all their heavy equipment) into the combat zone from bases thousands of miles away. However, in a world of recurring pandemics, such a vision is fast becoming a potentially unsustainable nightmare.

To begin with, its almost impossible to isolate thousands of U.S. soldiers and their families (who often accompany them on long-term deployments) from surrounding populations (or those populations from them). As a result, any viral outbreak outside base gates is likely to find its way inside and any outbreak on the base is likely to head in the opposite direction. This, in fact, occurred at numerous overseas facilities this spring. Camp Humphreys in South Korea, for example, was locked down after four military dependents, four American contractors, and four South Korean employees became infected with Covid-19. It was the same on several bases in Japan and on the island of Okinawa when Japanese employees tested positive for the virus (and, more recently, when U.S. military personnel at five bases there were found to have Covid-19). Add in Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti and Ahmed al-Jaber Air Base in Kuwait, not to speak of the fact that, in Europe, some 2,600 American soldiers have been placed in quarantine after suspected exposure to Covid-19. (And if the U.S. military is anxious about all this in other countries, think about how Americas allies feel at a moment when Donald Trumps America has become the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic.)

A world of recurring pandemics will make it nearly impossible for U.S. forces to work side-by-side with their foreign counterparts, especially in poorer nations that lack adequate health and sanitation facilities. This is already true in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the coronavirus is thought to have spread widely among friendly local forces and American soldiers have been ordered to suspend joint training missions with them.

A return to the pre-Covid world appears increasingly unlikely, so the search is now on big time for a new guiding strategy for Army and Marine combat operations in the years to come. As with the Navy, this search actually began before the outbreak of the coronavirus, but has gained fresh urgency in its wake.

To insulate ground operations from the dangers of a pandemic-stricken planet, the two services are exploring a similar operating model: instead of deploying large, heavily-armed troop contingents close to enemy borders, they hope to station small, highly mobile forces on U.S.-controlled islands or at other reasonably remote locations, where they can fire long-range ballistic missiles at vital enemy assets with relative impunity. To further reduce the risk of illness or casualties, such forces will, over time, be augmented on the front lines by ever more unmanned creations, including armed machinesagain those killer robotsdesigned to perform the duties of ordinary soldiers.

The Marine Corps version of this future combat model was first spelled out in Force Design 2030, a document released by Corps commandant General David Berger in the pandemic month of March 2020. Asserting that the Marines existing structure was unsuited to the world of tomorrow, he called for a radical restructuring of the force to eliminate heavy, human-operated weapons like tanks and instead increase mobility and long-range firepower with a variety of missiles and what he assumes will be a proliferation of unmanned systems. Operating under the assumption that we will not receive additional resources, he wrote, we must divest certain existing capabilities and capacities to free resources for essential new capabilities. Among those new capabilities that he considers crucial: additional unmanned aerial systems, or drones, that can operate from ship, from shore, and [be] able to employ both collection and lethal payloads.

In its own long-range planning, the Army is placing an even greater reliance on creating a force of robots, or at least optionally manned systems. Anticipating a future of heavily-armed adversaries engaging U.S. forces in high-intensity warfare, its seeking to reduce troop exposure to enemy fire by designing all future combat-assault systems, including tanks, troop-carriers, and helicopters, to be either human-occupied or robotically self-directed as circumstances dictate. The Armys next-generation infantry assault weapon, for instance, has been dubbed an optionally manned fighting vehicle (OMFV). As its name suggests, it is intended to operate with or without onboard human operators. The Army is also procuring a robotic utility vehicle, the squad multipurpose equipment transport (SMET), intended to carry 1,000 pounds of supplies and ammunition. Looking further into the future, that service has also begun development of a robotic combat vehicle (RCV), or a self-driving tank.

The Army is also speeding the development of long-range artillery and missile systems that will make attacks on enemy positions from well behind the front lines ever more central to any future battle with a major enemy. These include the extended range cannon artillery, an upgraded Paladin-armored howitzer with an extra-long barrel and supercharged propellant that should be able to hit targets 40 miles away, and the even more advanced precision strike missile (PrSM), a surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a range of at least 310 miles.

Many analysts, in fact, believe that the PrSM will be able to strike at far greater distances than that, putting critical enemy targetsair bases, radar sites, command centersat risk from launch sites far to the rear of American forces. In case of war with China, this could mean firing missiles from friendly partner-nations like Japan or U.S.-controlled Pacific islands like Guam. Indeed, this possibility has alarmed Air Force supporters who fear that the Army is usurping the sorts of long-range strike missions traditionally assigned to combat aircraft.

All these plans and programs are being promoted to enable the U.S. military to continue performing its traditional missions of power projection and warfighting in a radically altered world. Seen from that perspective, measures like removing sailors from crowded warships, downsizing U.S. garrisons in distant lands, and replacing human combatants with robotic ones might seem sensible. But looked at from what might be called the vantage point of comprehensive securityor the advancement of all aspects of American safety and wellbeingthey appear staggeringly myopic.

If the scientists are right and the coronavirus will linger for a long period and, in the decades to come, be followed by other pandemics of equal or greater magnitude, the true future threats to American security could be microbiological (and economic), not military. After all, the current pandemic has already killed more Americans than died in the Korean and Vietnam wars combined, while triggering the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Imagine, then, what a more lethal pandemic might do. The countrys armed forces may still have an important role to play in such an environmentproviding, for example, emergency medical assistance and protecting vital infrastructurebut fighting never-ending wars in distant lands and projecting power globally should not rank high when it comes to where taxpayer dollars go for security in such challenging times.

One thing is inescapable: as the disaster aboard the Theodore Roosevelt indicates, the U.S. military must reconsider how it arms and structures its forces and give serious thought to alternative models of organization. But focusing enormous resources on the replacement of pre-Covid ships and tanks with post-Covid killer robots for endless rounds of foreign wars is hardly in Americas ultimate security interest. There is, sadly, something highly robotic about such military thinking when it comes to this changing world of ours.

FALL FUNDRAISER

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The Pentagon confronts the pandemic - NationofChange

With Ubisoft's much-anticipatedSkull and Bonesabsent with scurvy this year, you may be hankerin' for another slice of high-seas adventure. Italian studio 3DClouds is stepping up to deliver just that.King of Seasis a procedurally-generated pirate ARPG (ARRPG?) set during the golden age of piracy. It'll launch for PC and consoles this autumn.

3DClouds saysKing of Seaswill immerse you in a time of "pirates, ferocious sea battles, hidden treasure, and lost islands". You are, amazingly enough, a pirate, who must embark on a journey to avenge the death of your father. As you journey, your quest takes on a new objective: you must stake your claim as the king of all pirates. You can check out a trailer forKing of Seasright here:

King of Seaspromises a world in which every action you take will cause a reaction, forcing you to "evaluate your strategy at every turn", according to a press release. Naval routes may change, so you'll need to find alternate routes to your destinations, or weather conditions may force you into more dangerous routes. This being a pirate game, there'll also be plenty of opportunity to travel to distant islands, trade goods with locals, and upgrade your ship, as well as engage in naval combat, and take part in a variety of story missions.

You'll be able to check outKing of Seasthis autumn on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch. If you're into the idea of this pirate ARRPG (still not sick of that joke), you can wishlist it over on Steam right now. We don't have a concrete release date forKing of Seasyet, so when we know more - including more concrete gameplay details - we'll bring it your way.

DoesKing of Seaslook like your pirate-themed jam? Let us know in the comments below, ye scurvy dogs!

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With Skull And Bones Missing, King Of Seas May Be Your Pirate ARRPG This Year - TechRaptor

Al Fahidi Fort built in 1799, the oldest surviving structure in dubai. Taken in 1950. Image Credit: Gulf News Archives

I was a child when I first heard the stories from my grandmother, daring tales of adventures and swashbuckling pirates on the high seas, embarking to a foreign land full of wonders. It would be years before the reality would dawn that my grandmas tales were in fact real-life accounts of the familys perilous journey to the Gulf more than 100 years ago.

To put things into perspective, I am a fourth-generation expat brat who grew up on the shores of Dubai Creek at a time when neighbourhood malls were all but a twinkle in the eyes of the construction juggernauts. Our weekend entertainment consisted of Thursday night abra rides with the family, while making haste to return home to watch the Bollywood potboiler of the week that would screen on the now defunct Channel 33.

Those of you who grew up in the UAE in the 80s and 90s would easily recall the Golden Falcon that perched proudly at the mouth of Al Shindagha Tunnel. It was a time when the Flame Roundabout actually burned bright into the night, when nothing existed beyond an afternoon snack of Chips Oman and Laban Up, and Dadabhai satisfied us aplenty before the razzle dazzle of Toys R Us and Hamleys caught the eyes of generation next.

Yet, this trip down memory lane pales in comparison to the tales narrated to me as a child, stories of real hardship that involved surviving soaring desert temperatures without basic electricity, hauling fresh water from the neighbourhood well that was ferried on the backs of donkeys, all while eagerly awaiting a bounty from the next pearl diving haul.

Tale as old as time

My great grandfather, Vissumal Narsinghdas Thawardas, first set foot on the shores of Dubai in 1891, with an endless, barren wasteland welcoming many adventurous spirits like him who recognised the potential of sparking a lucrative trade route between the Gulf and India.

The India-Pakistan partition, which split the two Asian powerhouses into two nations, was still 56 years away, while the dust had long erased the footsteps of Jaisalmers Bhatti clan that had abandoned their homes after being driven out of Rajasthan by the Mughals in the 1800s.

The clans settled far and wide, in the provinces of Punjab, Kutch and Sindh, losing ties with each other over the passage of time. My ancestors chose to journey to Sindh, finding solace and a new home in the village of Thattha. The Rajput warrior clans soon exiled their weapons and took to trading, with the following generations eagerly working to expand the merchant business in far-flung lands.

According to historical record, the Bhattis, who were now called Bhatias, heard of the lucrative pearl trade in the Gulf and chose to establish a trade route between the regions. Bahrain, Oman and the Trucial States of Sharjah and Dubai were singled out by the Gujarati, the Sindhi and the Bhatia communities who set sail for these foreign lands in 1880s.

My great-grandfather was one such enterprising mind who signed on during the Pearl Rush, embarking on a liner at Karachi port according to his grandson, Kishore Jamnadas, while travelling for days through stormy climes and questionable navigational charts to reach the port of Bandar Abbas in Iran, before journeying on through that final stretch that would bring him to a land called Sharjah.

Food was scarce and resources further limited during those early days, so anyone who travelled would pack perishables that would ride them out through the cruel summer months, recalled Jamnadas.

Liners would come to port sporadically at first, according to community members, with a haul of groceries and vegetables often not surviving the journey.

They made ends meet somehow, said Jamnadas. Everyone mastered basic skills of cooking before venturing here. My own father would tell us stories of a community cook who was also stationed here to ensure no one slept hungry.

Building a community

The UAE pearl trade, according to insiders, was a seasonal affair, with most members of the Indian community setting forth for the Gulf in April and conducting their business affairs until August.

The local divers would auction sealed oysters to Indian traders and much of it was a game of chance. My grandfather lost Rs35,000 (which would command a purchasing power of Rs1 million today) this one time when a years haul resulted in empty shells, stated Jamnadas.

As business grew, the community also established its roots here with the first Hindu temple reportedly being built on the banks of Sharjah in the late 1800s. Bharat Chachara, head of the India Club Dubai and a historian who has actively been archiving the stories of the Bhatia community, spoke of the temples eventual move to Dubai shortly after.

Bharat Chachara

The late Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Al Maktoum gifted the land to the community which stands in Al Bastakiya neighbourhood where the Krishna temple was established the oldest in the UAE, recalled Chachara. While stories date the establishment to 1903, official records place the construction in mid-1930s.

With the collapse of the pearl industry in the 1920s, followed by the Great Depression and the Second World War, trade in Dubai was affected, prompting many Indian traders to journey back home and ride out the economic storm. The corresponding few decades would see a lull before the oil boom of the 60s and the establishment of electricity and the states first paved road.

The British would remain steady with their influence on Dubai until 1971, but the Al Maktoum familys open-door policy invited many Indian community members, including my ancestors, to return and expand their business enterprise in the emirate with the passing of the baton to the next generation of traders. My grandfather happened to be one of them and he undertook his own journey to the Gulf in 1943, or 77 years ago.

While Oman was his first port of call for a few years, the budding opportunities in Dubai soon led him to also follow in his fathers footsteps and make his way to the Trucial coast in 1950, with my grandmother soon following him with children in tow.

Kishore Jamnadas

I followed my father 13 years after he followed in his fathers legacy, recalled Jamnadas. It was the year 1956, the struggles of the partition were still vivid in the minds of our parents and the UAE provided that safe haven for many, away from the politics and the destruction that we left behind.

Chachara also weighed in, saying: There was almost a mass exodus towards the Gulf post the India-Pakistan partition. Perhaps a lot of it had to do with people being forced to abandon their homes, with many in search of a new home, security and steady income.

Neighbourly bonds

My grandmother, Nenibai Jamnadas, was one of a handful of female community members who decided to journey to the UAE with her children in the hope of making some extra income and keeping the family together. While she has long passed, her stories remain entrenched in my memory tales of her harrowing journey across the seas with meagre belongings, fears of cholera rife and battling motion sickness along the route.

While piecing together memories of their lives in the late 50s on the banks of Dubai, stories unravelled through their neighbour in Thattha who would take tuitions from my late aunt before her journey as well to Oman, which became her permanent home for 60 plus years before her demise.

Muljimal Lalchand

I was stationed in Bahrain with Gulf Air in those initial years, but because my father had been in Dubai I became a frequent visitor since 1957, before eventually moving here, recalled longtime UAE resident Muljimal Lalchand Chachara and Bharat Chahcharas father. What sticks with me even today is the taste of the water.

We were in a desert, with no real avenue of getting fresh drinking water. So neighbourhood wells would be dug up and water stored in bags made of camel hide that would be ferried on the backs of donkeys. We had one such well in the old Bastakiya area, which is pretty much very everyone lived in little shanties, waiting for the liners to dock every Thursday that would bring in the post, stories of loved ones and, more importantly, fresh vegetables. We would eat once a day, with the evening meal limited to a piece of fruit sometimes. But on Fridays we feasted.

Jamnadas affirms the same, saying his mother was one of the first women from the community to move here and she would partake in the Friday community cookout that invited neighbours and friends to dine together.

Those were simpler times. We had not much going for us in terms of resources, but we had a sense of belonging. People like my mother would cook for the community, while my father had become the resident healer, walking through the neighbourhood every night with his cane in one hand and a lantern in the other, asking around if anyone needed his help, recalled Jamnadas.

Electricity was still years away, but senior Chachara says each home was given a bulb, with generators allowing everyone meagre lighting in the late hours for a limited time. The summer heat would be stifling, so every night, we would take our bedding and sleep in the outdoors. Not that that was any better, but we made it work, somehow.

Family legacy

After finishing his higher studies in India, my father, Suresh Jamnadas, also permanently moved back to Dubai in the 60s to work his way up the relatively new banking sector that had found a foothold here under the British.

The oil boom was upon the UAE, as were opportunities, but the Trucial states had yet to form a union.

We had to pay 25 fils for a visa if we wanted to visit Abu Dhabi even when I arrived, recalls Kanta Suresh, a resident of Dubai since 1968 and my mother. By the time I moved, there was running water and electricity but the city was still limited to the outer stretches of Jumeirah and Karama. Life revolved around the old Chapra Bazaar (or Souk Al Kabeer as we know it) where traders like my cousin provided us all that we needed in basic food supplies.

The business in question is that of Tulsidas Lalchand General Trading that has been standing in Souk Al Kabeer for more than 100 years, with four generations of his family playing a part in the citys growth. Lalchand moved to the UAE in 1870, with the business now being run by his grandson.

Our four generations, including my grandchildren, have become a fabric of Dubais growth, he states.

Stories like that of my family are aplenty when you look at the original settlers in the Gulf. Bharat Chachcara agrees, saying: We are pioneers in this part of the world, but as a community, we have maintained low profile, but it satisfies me to say that our place in history is recorded. It is visible in the books, the literature and the stories that will be passed down generations.

Credit goes to the early settlers, who chose to come to a desert land with no facilities, resources or money but harboured a simple dream. They chose to live here and in turn, help build the foundation of a country. And irrespective of the highs and lows life throws at us, we have left our mark in the temple that stands tall even after 100 years, through the spices that are blended in daily Arabic cuisine today and in the trade and business that we brought to this land. This is and shall remain our legacy, even as the UAE stands at the cusp of turning 50.

Read this article:

129 years in the UAE: My family's journey through the birth of a country - Gulf News

As a reimagined Justice League sets sail on Death Metal's high seas, the fearsome Omega Knight rises from watery depths to meet them.

The reimagined reality of the DC UniversefromDark Nights: Death Metal has led to the heroes taking on radically different roles, with Nightwing leading a crew of pirates made up of familiar faces.

In DC's October solicitation forJustice League #55, readers will see the middle installment of a five-issue story arc tying in directly to Death Metalthat follows an ensemble of redefined heroes on the pirate ship Doom Metal, made from the Metal Men as they encounter a new Dark Knight, the Omega Knight.

RELATED:DC Declares the Batman Who Laughs a New God With Death Metal One-Shot

The opening issue of Death Metalrevealed The Batman Who Laughs had placed Aquaman in charge of the Black Fleet patrolling the high seas of his hellishly rewritten DCU. With Atlantean superhero nowhere in sight, the crew of Doom Metal may find themselves outmatched as Omega Knight rises like a leviathan from the deep.

RELATED:The Robin King: Why The Batman Who Laughs' Sidekick is So Dangerous

Justice League #55,by Joshua Williamson, Robson Rocha and Daniel Henrique, goes on sale Oct. 20 from DC.

Justice League Dark #24

Sam Stone is a 10th level pop culture guru living just outside of Washington, DC who knows an unreasonable amount about The Beatles. You can read his work in the pages of Image+, follow him on Twitter @samstoneshow, and listen to his podcast Geek Out Show on iTunes and Google Play.

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Justice League Death Metal Tie-In Introduces Major Villain: The Omega Knight - CBR - Comic Book Resources

Master and Commander was an Oscar-nominated, critically acclaimed epic starring Russell Crowe, but it never spawned a franchise here's why.

Master and Commander 2 never happened, and there are a few reasons why the franchise Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World was intended to launch didn't materialize. Directed by Peter Weir and starring Russell Crowe, Master and Commanderis a 2003 movie based on Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels about Captain Jack Aubrey, the commander of the HMS Surprise, who sailed for the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars.

Master and Commander combined elements from several of O'Brian's novels, but the basic story was adapted from The Far Side of the World. Set in 1805, Captain Jack Aubrey is tasked with battling a French privateer, the Acheron, to prevent Napoleon's navy from gaining control of the Pacific. Aubrey's closest friend on his ship containing 197 souls is Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), the ship's surgeon. Despite Aubrey's skills as a seaman, the Acheron continually outsails and outfights him. As the situation worsens for the Surprise, Aubrey continues to chase his enemy across the oceans, and Maturin forces the Captain to confront the possibility that his own ego is placing his ship and his crew in danger. To achieve its impressive verisimilitude, Master and Commander shot for several months on an authentically-created set in a water tank soundstage, with an additional 10-days of filming on the high seas on a budget of $150-million.

Related: How Gladiator 2 Can Bring Back Russell Crowe's Maximus

Despite its critical acclaim and 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director for Peter Weir, Master and Commander only grossed $212-million worldwide. The historical epic also lost out to Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at the Oscars. Even though Russell Crowe was at the height of his movie stardom after Gladiator in 2000, Master and Commander didn't dominate the box office as 20th Century Fox's head Tom Rothman, who championed the expensive prestige picture, had hoped. Since the film was not profitable, the sequel that the filmmakerswanted weren't greenlit and 17 years later, there are still no plans for Master and Commander 2, despite Crowe hinting in 2017 that he heard "whispers" that the sequel could finally happen.

One of the reasons Master and Commander underperformed is that the year when it was released saw audiences' tastes transitioning to fantasy and superhero movies. Spider-Manset records the year before and X2: X-Men United was a blockbuster just months before Master and Commander bowed in November 2003. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was also a monster hit in the summer of 2003, and Johnny Depp's inaugural pirate fantasy contained all of the escapism that audiences were looking for and it indeed spawned a Pirates franchise.

By comparison, Master and Commander was decidedly aimed at adults and mature audiences, but it arrived at a time when the sweeping historical epic was rapidly going out of fashion as a favored Hollywood genre. Similarly, Wolfgang Peterson's Troy failed in the summer of 2004. Even though Russell Crowe's Gladiator, which was released just 3 years before Master and Commander,was a box officehit that racked up critical acclaim and Oscars, audiences tastes changed almost overnight in the decade of the 2000s. Indeed, the dominant movies at the box office are Marvel's superhero movies and Disney live-action remakes, which appeal to all audiences, leaving little chance a film like Master and C0mmander could become a blockbuster in the current marketplace.

Weir saw the writing on the wall back in 2005 when he said that that Master and Commander 2 was "most unlikely" because "it did well...ishat the box office, [but] it didn't generate that monstrous, rapid income that provokes a sequel." The fact Master and Commander's biggest supporter at Fox, Tom Rothman, is out of the picture entirely, on top of Disney buying 20th Century Fox in 2019, now completely sinks the chances of Russell Crowe getting to play Captain Jack Aubrey again in Master and Commander 2.

Next: Disney's TWO New Pirates of the Caribbean 6 Movies Explained

Godzilla vs Kong: Why The Titans Are All Heading To Skull Island

John has been writing about what he likes - movies, TV, comics, etc. - for over a decade. He's worked in movies and rubbed shoulders with big names but somehow forgot to ask for money a lot of the time - hence, he is happy to be with Screen Rant. John can be found @BackoftheHead, counts a Black Canary and an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. among his friends, believes (correctly) that Superman is stronger than the Hulk, and he is a friend to all talking gorillas.

Excerpt from:

Master & Commander 2? Why The Sequel Never Happened | Screen Rant - Screen Rant

The forecast looked ominous, a tropical storm brewing over the Pacific Ocean, threatening strong winds and high seas. That meant trouble for Angela Madsen as she sat in a small boat, hundreds of miles from land.

For weeks she had been rowing across open water, pulling for hours at a time, squeezing into a cramped aft cabin to rest, then starting over again. The fatigue could be numbing, interrupted by pain from sores on salt-crusted skin.

This quest of hers, to row from California to Hawaii alone, brought both frustration and joy, setbacks mitigated by small victories.

Ive been able to nudge my way north a bit, she texted at one point. Sooo happy about that.

A solo ocean crossing was audacious for anyone to try; it bordered on madness for a 60-year-old grandmother paralyzed from the waist down.

People had tried to dissuade Madsen, but only a little because they believed she could make it. This was a woman who lost the use of her legs in her mid-30s, winding up homeless for a time and suicidal. She fought back to become an elite athlete, qualifying for three Paralympics in rowing and track and field.

Angela Madsen at the 2015 Parapan American Games in Toronto.

(Joe Kusumoto / USOPC)

A pretty fierce competitor, U.S. coach Erica Wheeler said. It was just her get-it-done mentality.

Big and strong, with a broad grin framed by curls of graying hair, Madsen focused on long-distance rowing later in life. She crossed the Atlantic and Indian oceans in pairs and small crews, a warmup for this 2,500-mile attempt to reach Honolulu.

Her 20-foot fiberglass boat, with snarling teeth painted on the bow, had fore and aft cabins and an open space in the middle where she could work the oars. It had all the latest marine technology. But as Madsen reached the halfway point on her route, there was a problem.

A shackle had broken loose on a parachute-like device that deployed below the surface to keep the boat steady in emergencies. The only way to make a fix was from the water. Going over the side would be dicey, but Madsen worried more about the approaching storm.

On Saturday, June 20, she posted on social media: Tomorrow is a swim day.

::

Angela Madsen on her boat.

(Courtesy of Deb Madsen)

The trip began from Marina del Rey in late April and quickly hit rough weather that nearly capsized the boat. Madsen texted: Stormy and ocean is boiling cant keep oars in water constantly splashed.

Even when conditions mellowed, the swell ran as high as eight feet with winds at 10 to 20 knots. Pretty typical, said Christopher Landsea of the National Hurricane Center. At some point, Madsens electronic gear warned of more bad weather looming to the south; it could not have predicted Tropical Storm Boris would shift direction, staying below her position.

Repairing the parachute anchor must have seemed prudent to someone who liked to keep her vessel, the Row of Life, shipshape. Madsen once told her wife, Deb Madsen, about surviving at sea: You just have to prepare.

Resiliency had always been essential for a woman who grew up around lots of brothers in a military family in Ohio. There were occasional tussles and, always, sports. Madsen sprouted to 6 feet 1 by high school, the tallest player on the volleyball team, a hitter who could block at the net.

Any hopes of playing in college evaporated when, at 17, she gave birth to a daughter, Jennifer. After graduating in 1978, Madsen waited a year for her younger brother to finish high school so they could enlist together.

The Marine Corps trained her for military police duty and dispatched her to El Toro, where she could keep Jennifer in family housing. It seemed like just the right place, with a womens basketball team on base and a beach nearby; Madsen fell in love with surfing.

But life grew complicated when she realized she was gay. The military was years away from dont ask, dont tell back then and, as she later wrote, everyone was so fearful and afraid of being outed.

Angela Madsen and family at Disneyland.

(Courtesy of Deb Madsen)

Things got worse when a hard fall during a basketball game ruptured one disk discs in her back. The injury led to a discharge in 1981 and years of chronic pain as she settled in Southern California, working as a computer-aided drafter. In 1993, she sought treatment at a Veterans Administration hospital in Long Beach.

One surgery led to another, leaving her with a pierced spinal column and partial paralysis that she blamed on doctors. Returning home in a wheelchair, Madsen faced growing tensions with her daughter and an ugly breakup with her girlfriend at the time.

Unable to manage on a slim military pension, she landed on the streets, sleeping beside a bus stop near Disneyland. In a 2014 autobiography, Rowing Against the Wind, she wrote that life has been hard to believe at times and seems like a made-for-TV movie. Victim mentality took hold, threatening to drag her under.

It was easy to give up and give in to despair, she wrote. The only things I could count were my losses, not my blessings.

::

In addition to a transponder, solar panels, an emergency beacon and a desalinator for making fresh water, the Row of Life had a satellite telephone. Never much of a phone talker, Madsen tended to communicate by text and social media.

Horizontal break over, she wrote after a nap. Popping Tylenol and getting back at it.

Angela Madsens boat surrounded by family members.

(Courtesy of Deb Madsen)

On Sunday, June 21, Deb began to wonder about the lack of updates on the anchor repair. From home in Long Beach, she could track Madsens progress on her smartphone the boat usually moved two or three knots an hour while being rowed but now drifted with the current.

That evening, she called Soraya Simi, a filmmaker who had spent a year documenting the crossing. Deb told her: You know, Im worried. Im not sure I should be.

Maybe the day started late and Madsen was still in the water, wrestling with the shackle. Maybe the work had been exhausting and she was asleep. I knew this was dangerous, but I wasnt worried she couldnt fix it, Deb said. She had a MacGyver brain she could fix anything.

Still, Deb and Simi decided to check with the Coast Guard, which referred their call to a Honolulu base.

Column One

Column One

A showcase for compelling storytelling from the Los Angeles Times.

The Fourteenth District patrols more than 14 million square miles of Pacific Ocean, a territory that stretches seven hours by cutter. Commercial freighters and fishing boats often volunteer to help in a pinch.

It really is a joint effort out here when something happens, Petty Officer 3rd Class Matthew West said. Theres so much ocean to cover.

As darkness fell on Sunday, it was too late to begin a search; that would have to wait until morning. Deb ran through the possibilities in her head.

If there were 150 different scenarios, I had thought of them all, she said. I had plans for rescue, plans for everything.

::

Her once-fit body had swelled to 350 pounds. A year after the surgeries, Madsen was still in pain, still in denial about living in a wheelchair.

When doctors offered a bleak prognosis, her despair turned to anger, which might have been the best thing. As she told CNN in 2012, sometimes when you get pissed, you get motivated.

Seeking help from a veterans group, Madsen arranged for temporary housing and got another boost from oddly enough another setback.

On a visit to San Francisco in 1994, she wheeled through an underground train station and hit a crack in the pavement, tumbling out of her chair, landing head-first on the tracks below. As bystanders pulled her to safety, there was no feeling in any part of her body. Over the next half-hour, as movement returned to her arms and hands, she recalled: I started being thankful for what I had.

In her book, she put it another way: If you dont paddle your own canoe, you dont move. You row or die!

A trip to the 1995 National Veterans Wheelchair Games drew her back to basketball. A few years later, someone invited her to an adaptive rowing clinic where she strapped into a specially equipped scull and, given her affinity for the water, was hooked.

Devilish training led to local races, then larger competitions. A bout with cancer and a double mastectomy barely interrupted her progress as she won gold at the 2000 national championships, followed by a string of world championships.

Angela Madsen at the 2016 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials in Charlotte, N.C.

(Joe Kusumoto / USOPC)

Angela was a really special person in the Paralympic world, said Cathy Sellers, a former U.S. Paralympic executive. She always went whole hog.

Life was changing for the better in other ways.

By 2007, Madsen had founded a nonprofit organization to teach rowing to kids with disabilities. Up in Kern County, Deb was working for child protective services and had a difficult case, a boy who used a wheelchair and refused to get out of bed. She wondered if rowing might inspire him, but needed to know more about Madsens program.

I wanted to spy on her, so I went down there and watched how she was with kids, Deb recalled. Angela says I was stalking her.

Not only was rowing a good fit for the boy, it sparked an attraction between the women. Madsen tried to resist, too busy for a relationship, but soon relented. Deb said: She gave me a ring. She told me, lets get married and not even date.

Angela and Deb Madsen

(Courtesy of Deb Madsen)

There was still a cantankerous side to her personality, carping at VA staff and fighting with her daughter. But she also helped that same VA staff at volunteer events and counseled younger teammates as the self-appointed Grandma on the national team.

In the water, her upper-body strength translated into a seventh-place finish in mixed sculls at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, which caught the attention of U.S. track coaches. They invited her to an Olympic training center in Chula Vista to try throwing; the other athletes marveled that a 50-ish woman could push herself so hard, day after day, goading them to suck it up, were going to keep working.

Angela brought life to the track, said Liz Willis, an amputee sprinter who roomed with her at camp. She was larger than life.

Angela Madsen at the 2016 U.S. Paralympic Team Trials in Charlotte, N.C.

(Joe Kusumoto / USOPC)

Over the next eight years, Madsen won bronze in the shotput at the 2012 London Paralympics and finished in the top 10 in the shotput and javelin at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. Age eventually caught up with her, in terms of elite competition, but that did not matter. The sea was calling.

::

Hopes began to fade on Monday, June 22, replaced by a frightful notion. Deb imagined the Row of Life bobbing aimlessly and her wife nearby, motionless in the water.

I really got a sick feeling in my chest, she said. There was something wrong.

That morning, the Coast Guard checked flight logs and noticed that a military transport plane was crossing the Pacific on a scheduled hop from California to Honolulu. A call went out for help.

The C-17, with its massive fuselage and wingspan, figured to reach Madsens location in about four hours but ran into headwinds, making the trip longer as Deb waited for word. Eventually, it found the boat in all that ocean.

Just as Deb had feared, Madsen lay in the water, still attached to the tether she would have used while attempting the repair. As the jet flew low enough for its engines to be heard, crew members radioed Honolulu with a report: Madsen did not respond to their presence.

The Coast Guard had already identified the Polynesia, a German-flagged container ship, to the north, bearing cargo from Oakland to Tahiti. The captain agreed to alter course.

::

Her love of the water was partly physical.

The rigor of scrambling over endless swells, one after another, somehow appealed to her. So did the adrenaline rush of battling squalls and inching across moonless nights when an unseen wave might strike at any moment, sweeping her overboard.

A combination of two sports, she wrote. Rowing and bull riding like trying to do everything including eating, sleeping and rowing while riding a bull.

Even the small hardships freeze-dried food gulped down with a splash of Tabasco, a bucket that served as a bathroom she wore like a badge of honor. Went for pain cream last night and grabbed 5200 marine caulk and sealant almost a big oops, she posted in May.

Long past the thinner days of her youth, Madsen delighted in showing that a big woman could be athletic. But there was another motivation, something harder to describe.

The ocean transported her to a place where, she wrote, some days would just never end and time would overrun itself. If the wind and current ran her way, she could let the boat cruise, watching for sea life. On the Hawaii trip, she texted that two little wahoo swim by the oars and play in the swirls.

Angela Madsen

(Courtesy of Deb Madsen)

The sky above stretched as deep and wide as the horizon so you couldnt help but notice the shades of pink, yellow and blue slowly but intensely transform to orange, purple, crimson and gold, she wrote. There were many days when the sun looked like a huge red ball just hovering out there.

In 2008, Madsen completed her first major voyage with a male amputee partner, the pair rowing 2,552 miles from the Canary Islands to Antigua. Later, she joined small crews that crossed the Indian Ocean and circumnavigated Great Britain. She and another woman made a duo trip from California to Hawaii.

Through all of this, Deb felt mixed emotions. She was always supportive, showing up at track and field practice with a van full of snacks and drinks, and accepting the credit card bills that piled up with each ocean crossing. But she also worried.

Every single time, Angela told me it would be her last [crossing], Deb said. Every time, there was an excuse to do one more.

Madsen made her first solo attempt at the Pacific in 2013. When gale force winds rose suddenly off the California coast, a freighter tried to rescue her but accidentally sucked the Row of Life up and spit it out the back, with Madsen clinging for life inside one of the watertight compartments. A Coast Guard helicopter eventually lifted her to safety.

After that, Deb said, I tried really hard to get her to stop.

::

The Polynesia arrived on site at 6:25 p.m. that Monday, according to Coast Guard records. Crew members pulled Madsens body from the sea, cutting the tether, leaving the Row of Life to drift away. Official notification reached Deb as she formulated theories.

It could have been a heart attack that killed her wife. The tether might have tangled, leaving no slack to climb back aboard. Or Madsen might have succumbed to hypothermia.

She doesnt have any feeling in her legs, Deb said. She wouldnt realize how cold she was.

Several days later, the death had yet to hit home; Deb was too busy with logistics. Madsen had once mentioned a burial at sea You talk about these things because you know its dangerous, Deb said but the ships crew could not perform this service.

Angela Madsen on her boat from the first couple days when she had cell phone service.

(Courtesy of Deb Madsen)

Coronavirus travel restrictions presented another challenge. There was no way to fly to Tahiti to meet the Polynesia and even transporting the body back to the U.S. would be tricky. Madsens grandchildren her daughter died last year wanted a funeral back home, but Deb did not see the use.

I love her but Im not that sentimental about body stuff, she said. I dont think shes still in her body.

Something else seemed more important.

Originally posted here:

Column One: At age 60 and paralyzed, she tried to row across the Pacific - Los Angeles Times

Two properties have partially collapsed after heavy erosion at Wamberal on the NSW Central Coast.

Residents of Wamberal are surveying the damage after another night of wild seas.

Both buildings damaged overnight are understood to include holiday homes of Sydney residents.

The owner of a unit in one of the damaged blocks has had the property for eight years.

Her unit is on a floor above the collapsed ground floor corner.

Neighbours informed her of the damage this morning and she is understood to have been distraught.

Fire and Rescue have since cordoned off the homes and residents were being forcibly evacuated on Saturday.

A third property, home to the Cahill family, has suffered significant structural damage over the recent days of heavy surf.

The balcony collapsed on Thursday late afternoon during the high tide.

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Matilda Cahill, 18, has lived at the house since she was 10 months old.

She and her father, Gordon, are packing their bags to leave the family home on Saturday afternoon.

"They're forcing everyone on the street to evacuate," she said.

"There will be no power, no water they're turning it all off we dont have a house to go to but we've got to go," she said.

"It's a bit scary but insurance is there for a reason, I guess."

Many residents lost metres of grass overnight, while others have seen their balconies topple more than 10 metres down cliffs into the sea below.

Engineers continue to assess properties ahead of the next high tide at 7:00pm tonight.

Last night police advised residents to leave, with most heeding the warning.

Residents claim they have long been attempting to build structures to protect properties but have been blocked by the Central Coast Council.

The powerful surf conditions were caused by a low pressure system that moved in this week, but which fell short of being declared an east coast low.

In response to the dangerous system, the Bureau of Meteorology issued a hazardous surf warning for the NSW coast.

The warning remains in place on Saturday for Byron Coast, Coffs Coast, Macquarie Coast, Hunter Coast, Sydney Coast, Illawarra Coast, Batemans Coast and Eden Coast.

"Surf and swell conditions are expected to be hazardous for coastal activities such as rock fishing, boating and swimming," the BOM warned.

Visit link:

Buildings partially collapse after another night of raging seas on the NSW Central Coast - ABC News

Photo by: Melissa C. Beckman

S.A. Chakraborty is the Locus Award, World Fantasy Award, British Fantasy Award, Crawford Award, and Astounding Award-nominated author of The Daevabad Trilogy, which she describes as an epic fantasy inspired by the folklore and history of the medieval Islamic world that I dreamed up while working in a medical office and finished ten years later during a pandemic. Beginning with The City of Brassand followed by The Kingdom of Copper, the trilogy is now complete with The Empire of Gold, released in June.

For her next project, the writer is taking on a historical fantasy trilogy about an adventure heist thats a bit like Pirates of the Caribbean meets Oceans 11, set in the 13th century Indian Ocean, featuring ex-Crusaders and pirate mothers. (More details here.) A week after her AMA with r/Books (which we highly recommend for those interested in craft), Chakraborty dropped by r/Fantasy for another AMA, where she talked about post-trilogy-completing feelings, writing advice, historical medical procedures, a mythological tree that bears human fruit (!), a very cocky medieval guide to con artistry, parents (ranked), love, stealing a horse on the high seas, and much, much more. Here are the (spoiler-free) highlights!

[Editors note:Questions and responses may have been edited for length and clarity.]

How does it feel to wrap up The Daevabad Trilogy?

I am very, very tired. Haha, no honestly, my emotions have been all over the place. Ive been working on the Daevabad Trilogy for over a decade, nearly my entire adult life, and these fictional characters have been living in my brain through job changes and relocations, marriage and parenthood. Its hard to let them go! But for however sad and wistful Ive been, I mostly feel very, very satisfied. Writing these books put me through the wringer, but Im incredibly proud of the conclusionand more than that, I feel honored to see their reception among readers. People send me fan art! Theres fanfiction! Do you know how freaking cool that is a creator to see?? Its just been an awesome experience.

Can you rank the parents of The Daevabad Trilogy for us?

I feel like theres a spoiler version of this question but Ill resist!

From best to worst:

The Sens

MYSTERY

Hatset

Seif

MYSTERY

Daras parents

Kaveh

Manizheh and Ghassan, Ghassan and Manizheh.you know what, Im very barely putting Manizheh before Ghassan. Hes still the worst.

I think Nahri would make a good mom. Im sure shed be super anxious about it, but shes been through enough horrible things and fought for her own ambitions that I can see her being very understanding, supportive, and fiercely protective.

Lets talk about love! What made you decide to take Nahris romantic arc where you did? (Editors note: This answer is spoiler-free, but you can find the full, spoiler-filled version here.)

Ah, but the romance. With the Daevabad Trilogy, I really wanted to center the romance from Nahris point of view and explore the different ways love, attraction, and passion might weave in and out of her life throughout a period of years. And I wanted it to feel as real, nuanced and messy as love often does in real life. What is it like to have her first crush? To learn how to trust? To be betrayed? To have to navigate a political marriage? How would all this work in terms of her own agency and desire rather than prioritizing the feelings of male characters? And I wanted the story to reflect how Nahriherselffelt about love: that it could be a sentiment not to be trusted, a distraction. That in the end, there were other things she desired just as much, if not more.

Non-spoiler thoughts on romance since I have a spot to put them: I am not unaware this topic has roused some passionate debate among readers! Frankly, Im content to have written the canon and let readers find joy in shipping whoever they want. Its an adult book and were in the middle of a pandemic, steal your happiness where you can find it. But I hope people can do so without tearing into each other. Fictional men (heck, many real ones) arent worth that much negative energy.

How did you approach writing the trilogys complex medical characters and scenes?

I knew I wanted to make my main character a healer, but I also wanted to get it right (I was working in an ob/gyn clinic at the time and watching my own spouse go through medical school and a grueling residency). I wanted to play with some historical techniques and procedures such as the theory of humors, cupping, and trepanation. But more than that, I wanted it all to feel real. I wanted Nahris training to be as grueling and time-consuming as a modern medical student. I wanted some of her patients to be incredibly difficult and I wanted her to make mistakes that would get people killed. It was important to show the arc that gives her the confidence to do surgery in the third bookbecause you need a certain level of insane confidence to cut into someones head! But this also comes with responsibility. For all the politics and war and magical shenanigans (and romance, yes) her overriding ambition is to survive and take care of her patients.

The scenes! I really like the history of medicine so first came the research (and some memorable trips to medical history museums in both the US and the UK). But for the final pass, I always made sure to run everything by the aforementioned spouse. Theres always plenty to nitpick and criticize when you read any book, but let me tell youI know I got the brain surgery correct!

And what about developing and realizing the arcs of characters caught between conflicting loyalties?

I really just wanted to make these characters as messy and real and human as possible and with every revision, I tried to bring this more to the surface. No matter the magical world, theyre dealing with things that rip apart both the larger world and peoples heart everywhere: struggles with faith, duties to community, family drama. I spent a lot of time both sitting with each new dilemma/scene and trying out various paths (so much rewriting and words that will never see the light of day). There is no rule, no craft secret Ive stumbled upon (I had essentially no creative writing background or experience before these books which I can admit now in public since theyve been nominated for awards enough 😉 Its just practice. Critique and revise as many times as you can.

Whats your favorite, most outlandish myth from the medieval Islamic world that you wish youd included in the trilogy but didnt?

Oh man, this is legitimately difficult as there are so many to choosebut the waqwaq tree. Which varies among tellings but is essentially a tree that bears human fruit. Yes. Sometimes children. Sometimes women. Sometimes just heads that wail and scream omens. Theres a bit of a mystery because sometimes its also referred to as the island of Waqwaq, which may or may not contain heads. But you can find elements of the story dating back to earlier Persian tales and the Alexander romances.

What book about that particular period of history would you recommend?

There are a lot but I really enjoy The Book of the Wonders of India. Its set up as a collection of sailors yarns by a tenth century Captain Buzurg ibn Shahriyar (who may or may not have existed) and it just captures such a wide-eyed and woundrous (and wild and often extremely racist!) look at traveling the seas in the early medieval era. From monsters and mermaids to deathly gales and dodgy piratesits one of those books that reminds you how very human the past was.

Any favorite books you came across while doing research?

Theres a great translation coming out from the Library of Arabic Literature of al-Jawbaris Book of Charlatans which is essentially a medieval guide to being a con artist, written by someone who was SUPREMELY full of himself. Its magnificently bizarre and contains an anecdote about a scheme using a trained monkey said to be a bewitched Indian prince to guilt people out of money of the mosque (where said monkey makes his ablutions and performs prayer!)

Lets talk writing advice. How did you get yourself to write when you first started out and not fall into the whole am I good enough to be a writer trap?

I have what is probably both a depressing and inspiring answer to this: I truly, deeply did not ever imagine my dream of seeing these books published would come true. I wanted them to! Desperately! But I had no creative writing background and was not raised with the idea that the arts could be a career (not that my parents discouraged mebut I was a first generation college student from a working class family: financial stability was the dream). And I didnt want to let myself dream too much because I didnt want to me crushed if it all came crashing down. So I wrote the books because I wanted to. I did the work of getting them critiqued and looking for an agent because I had people in my corner who loved them and pushed me, but I didnt let myself get hopeful. I meanI still havent and the trilogy has been optioned by Netflix so you think Impostor Syndrome would start to fade but apparently not.

Which is a long rambling way of saying there is no good enough to be a writer. Write if you want to write, if you have ideas and stories burning in your brain. Write them because you deserve to have a creative outlet in your life regardless if it goes anywhere that pays the bills. And if it does one day? Fantastic! if it doesnt? Every sentence you craft is practice that makes you better. Trust me: I know this is hard to internalize. I agonized over whether or not writing was selfish when my daughter was a baby. But you get to have this.

Coming from a historical background, how did you transition from something grounded in data and archives to building a fantasy world?

I think by both constantly trying to internalize that theyre different things and by reading other works of historical fiction to remind yourself that most arent getting down every tiny detail. Youre trying to sketch out an atmosphere, a scene, a tastenot argue a thesis.

Do you have any advice on adapting existing folktales and mythology without insulting their religions and cultures of origin?

This is a question that needs a far longer answer than I can provide here, but I try to flip the question and not ask what I can do without insulting such traditions, but what I can do to honor and respect them. People (often in the majority demographic) get horribly offended when they think theyre being toldnotto write something when really the attitude of questioning your intentions, trying to internalize and sit with critique, and considering existing power structures, your place in them, and the particular work under consideration will take you pretty far! And probably make you a better, more empathetic author!

In general, I dont think Id feel comfortable doing a deep or edgy reinterpretation of a living religion that isnt mine. Not because of fears of getting called out, but because it doesnt really sit right with me and isnt my lane in a way I think every writer needs to decide for themselves (and I think we should normalize both these discussions and the idea that people can learn). For example, I think the Mahabharat contains some of the greatest storytelling in history, and in particular I find Karna fascinating (the hidden family trauma! the loyalty to the one man who treated him right!) But I wouldnt try to retell his story. Im neither South Asian nor Hindu and it doesnt feel right. I might be inspired by elements of his character or arc, but I wouldnt try to make him as Karna mine. I couldnt do justice to him. (though relatedly, there is a fantastic YA space opera by a South Asian author that takes both Karna and the Mahabharat as its framing and its really, really good: A SPARK OF WHITE FIREhttps://www.skyhorsepublishing.com/sky-pony-press/9781510733817/a-spark-of-white-fire/

Whats the best writing advice youve ever gotten?

Best advice: FINISH THE BOOK. Dont get worn down into despair over a single scene or spend three months on the first ten pages. Writing is a very personal process but I do believe it is generally easier to see a storys larger arc or where the pieces need to go once you have a draft, even if that draft is half outline.

So tell us, how does one steal a horse on the high seas?

So I wrote the stealing a horse on the high sea as a nod to an anecdote from Ibn al-Mujawirs 13th century travelogue about the constant thieving between the so-called pirate amirs of Kish and the free agent pirate contractors horse merchants would hire to steal their horsesbackfrom the amirsthan realized I might want to use it in the next book so I might make you hunt the details yourself for now!

Head on over to r/Fantasy for the full AMA. For more, check out the AMA she did with r/Books last week.

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S.A. Chakraborty Tells Us the Best Writing Advice She Ever Got in Reddit AMA - tor.com

Editorial: Gaming / Facebook / Twitter / YouTube / Instagram / News / Discord / Forums

The development processes of a video game are an inexhaustible source of anecdotes that, when revealed, surprise for what it could be or to account for the changes that, for better or for worse, had an impact on the final product that we enjoy in our console or PC. This time it was the turn of Ghost of Tsushima, the new PS4 exclusive developed by Sucker Punch that could have had a totally different theme.

As part of an article posted on the official PlayStation blog on the occasion of Ghost of Tsushimas debut, Brian Fleming, co-founder of Sucker Punch, revealed interesting detail about what the game might have been if they hadnt chosen feudal Japan during the Mongol invasion. In that sense, the creative started by saying that when they made sure that their new game would be open world and with a certain focus on combat, it was time to decide the topic they would tackle.

In this regard, Fleming shared some ideas they had in mind: but, beyond that, we were insecure. Pirates? Rob Roy? The Three Musketeers? All of these were considered, but we keep going back to feudal Japan and telling the story of a Samurai warrior. Then one fateful autumn afternoon, we found a historical account of the Tsushima invasion in 1274, and the whole vision fell into place.

Thus, Ghost of Tsushima could be a game that would take the adventure on the high seas, that would be inspired by the work of Alexander Dumas or even that would tell the story of the rebellious hero of Scottish folklore, Rob Roy.

Ghost of Tsushima is available on PS4 and at this link you will find all related information, as well as our written review.

Stay here at LEVEL UP.

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Ghost of Tsushima could be a pirate game or the Three Musketeers - Explica

Or How to Make War, American-Style, Possible Again

On March 26th, the coronavirus accomplished what no foreign adversary has been able to do since the end of World War II: it forced an American aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, to suspend patrol operations and shelter in port. By the time that ship reached dock in Guam, hundreds of sailors had been infected with the disease and nearly the entire crew had to be evacuated. As news of the crisis aboard theTR(as the vessel is known) became public, word came out thatat least 40other U.S. warships, including the carrierUSSRonald Reaganand the guided-missile destroyerUSSKidd, were suffering from Covid-19 outbreaks. None of these approached the scale of theTRand, by June, the Navy was again able to deploy most of those ships on delayed schedules and/or with reduced crews. By then, however, it had become abundantly clear that the long-established U.S. strategy of relying on large, heavily armed warships to project power and defeat foreign adversaries was no longer fully sustainable in a pandemic-stricken world.

Just as the Navy was learning that its preference for big ships with large crews typically packed into small spaces for extended periods of time was quite literally proving a dead-end strategy (one of the infected sailors on theTRdiedof complications from Covid-19), the Army and Marine Corps were making a comparable discovery. Their favored strategy of partnering with local forces in far-flung parts of the world like Iraq, Japan, Kuwait, and South Korea, where local safeguards against infectious disease couldnt always be relied on (or, as inOkinawa recently, Washingtons allies couldnt count on the virus-free status of American forces), was similarly flawed. With U.S. and allied troops increasingly forced to remain in isolation from each other, it is proving difficult to conduct the usual joint training-and-combat exercises and operations.

In the short term, American defense officials have responded to such setbacks with various stopgap measures, includingsendingnuclear-capable B-1, B-2, and B-52 bombers on long-range show-of-force missions over contested areas like the Baltic Sea (think: Russia) or the South China Sea (think: China, of course). We have the capability and capacity to provide long-range fires anywhere, anytime, and can bring overwhelming firepower even during the pandemic,insistedGeneral Timothy Ray, commander of the Air Force Global Strike Command, after several such operations.

In another sign of tactical desperation, however, the Navy ordered the shattered crew of theTRout of lockdown in May so that the ship could participate in long-scheduled, China-threatening multi-carrier exercises in the western Pacific. A third of its crew, however, had to be left in hospitals or in quarantine on Guam. Were executing according to plan to return to sea and fighting through the virus is part of that,saidthe ships new captain, Carlos Sardiello, as theTRprepared to depart that Pacific island. (He had been named captain on April 3rd after a letter the carriers previous skipper, Brett Crozier, wrote to superiors complaining of deteriorating shipboard health conditions was leaked to the media and the senior Navy leadershipfiredhim.)

Pentagon officials have been forced to acknowledge that the military foundations of Washingtons global strategy particularly, the forward deployment of combat forces in close cooperation with allied forces may have become invalid.

Such stopgap measures, and others like them now being undertaken by the Department of Defense, continue to provide the military with a sense of ongoing readiness, even aggressiveness, in a time of Covid-related restrictions. Were the current pandemic to fade away in the not-too-distant future and life return to what once passed for normal, they might prove adequate. Scientists are warning, however, that the coronavirus is likely to persist for a long time and that a vaccine even if successfully developed may not prove effective forever. Moreover, many virologistsbelievethat further pandemics, potentially even more lethal than Covid-19, could be lurking on the horizon, meaning that there might never be areturn to a pre-pandemic normal.

That being the case, Pentagon officials have been forced to acknowledge that the military foundations of Washingtons global strategy particularly, the forward deployment of combat forces in close cooperation with allied forces may have become invalid. In recognition of this harsh new reality, U.S. strategists are beginning to devise an entirely new blueprint for future war, American-style: one that would end, or at least greatly reduce, a dependence onhundredsof overseas garrisons and large manned warships, relying instead on killer robots, a myriad of unmanned vessels, and offshore bases.

In fact, the Navys plans to replace large manned vessels with small, unmanned ones was only accelerated by the outbreak of the pandemic.Several factorshad already contributed to the trend: modern warships like nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and missile-armed cruisers had been growing ever more expensive to build. The latest, the USSGerald R. Ford, has cost a whopping$13.2 billionand stilldoesnt workto specifications. So even a profligately funded Pentagon can only afford to be constructing a few at a time. They are also proving increasingly vulnerable to the sorts ofanti-ship missilesand torpedoes being developed by powers like China, while, as events on theTRsuggest, theyre natural breeding grounds for infectious diseases.

Until the disaster aboard theTheodore Roosevelt, most worrisome were those Chinese land-based, anti-ship weapons capable of striking American carriers and cruisers in distant parts of the Pacific Ocean. This development had already forced naval planners to consider the possibility of keeping their most prized assets far from Chinas shores in any potential shooting war, lest they be instantly lost to enemy fire. Rather than accept such a version of defeat before a battle even began, Navy officials had begun adopting a new strategy, sometimes called distributed maritime operations, in which smaller manned warships would, in the future, be accompanied into battle by large numbers of tiny, unmanned, missile-armed vessels, or maritime killer robots.

In a reflection of the Navys new thinking, the services surface warfare director, Rear Admiral Ronald Boxall,explainedin 2019 that the future fleet, as designed, was to include 104 large surface combatants [and] 52 small surface combatants, adding, Thats a little upside down. Should I push out here and have more small platforms? I think the future fleet architecture study has intimated yes, and our war gaming shows there is value in that And when I look at the force, I think: Where can we use unmanned so that I can push it to a smaller platform?

Think of this as an early public sign of the rise of naval robotic warfare, which is finally leaving dystopian futuristic fantasies for actual future battlefields. In the Navys version of this altered landscape, large numbers of unmanned vessels (both surface ships and submarines) willroamthe worlds oceans, reporting periodically via electronic means to human operators ashore or on designated command ships. They may, however, operate for long periods on their own or in robotic wolf packs.

Such a vision has now been embraced by the senior Pentagon leadership, which sees the rapid procurement and deployment of such robotic vessels as the surest way of achieving the Navys (and President Trumps) goal of a fleet of 355 ships at a time of potentially static defense budgets, recurring pandemics, and mounting foreign threats. I think one of the ways you get [to the 355-ship level] quickly is moving toward lightly manned [vessels], which over time can be unmanned, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper typicallysaidin February. We can go with lightly manned ships You can build them so theyre optionally manned and then, depending on the scenario or the technology, at some point in time they can go unmanned That would allow us to get our numbers up quickly, and I believe that we can get to 355, if not higher, by 2030.

To begin to implement such an audacious plan, that very month the Pentagonrequested$938 million for the next two fiscal years to procure three prototype large unmanned surface vessels (LUSVs) and another $56 million for the initial development of a medium-sized unmanned surface vessel (MUSV). If such efforts prove successful, the Navy wants another $2.1 billion from 2023 through 2025 to procure seven deployable LUSVs and one prototype MUSV.

Naval officials have, however, revealed little about the design or ultimate functioning of such robot warships. All that services 2021 budget requestsaysis that the unmanned surface vessel (USV) is a reconfigurable, multi-mission vessel designed to provide low cost, high endurance, reconfigurable ships able to accommodate various payloads for unmanned missions and augment the Navys manned surface force.

Based on isolated reports in the military trade press, the most that can be known about such future (and futuristic) ships, is that they will resembleminiature destroyers, perhaps 200 feet long, with no crew quarters but a large array of guided missiles and anti-submarine weapons. Such vessels will also be equipped with sophisticated computer systems enabling them to operate autonomously for long periods of time and under circumstances yet to be clarified take offensive action on their own or in coordination with other unmanned vessels.

The future deployment of robot warshipson the high seas raises troubling questions. To what degree, for instance, will they be able to choose targets on their own for attack and annihilation? The Navy has yet to provide an adequate answer to this question, provoking disquiet among arms control and human rights advocates whofearthat such ships could go rogue and start or escalate a conflict on their own. And thats obviously a potential problem in a world of recurring pandemics where killer robots could prove the only types of ships the Navy dares deploy in large numbers.

When it comes to the prospect of recurring pandemics, the ground combat forces of the Army and Marine Corps face a comparable dilemma.

Ever since the end of World War II, American military strategy has called for U.S. forces to fight forward that is, on or near enemy territory rather than anywhere near the United States. This, in turn, has meant maintaining military alliances with numerous countries around the world so that American forces can be based on their soil, resulting inhundredsof U.S. military bases globally. In wartime, moreover, U.S. strategy assumes that many of these countries will provide troops for joint operations against a common enemy. To fight the Soviets in Europe, the U.S. created NATO and acquired garrisons throughout Western Europe; to fight communism in Asia, it established military ties with Japan, South Korea, South Vietnam, the Philippines, and other local powers, acquiring scores of bases there as well. When Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Islamic terrorism became major targets of its military operations, the Pentagon forged ties with and acquired bases in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, among other places.

In a pandemic-free world, such a strategy offers numerous advantages for an imperial power. In time of war, for example, theres no need to transport American troops (with all their heavy equipment) into the combat zone from bases thousands of miles away. However, in a world of recurring pandemics, such a vision is fast becoming a potentially unsustainable nightmare.

To begin with, its almost impossible to isolate thousands of U.S. soldiers and their families (who often accompany them on long-term deployments) from surrounding populations (or those populations from them). As a result, any viral outbreak outside base gates is likely to find its way inside and any outbreak on the base is likely to head in the opposite direction. This, in fact, occurred at numerous overseas facilities this spring. Camp Humphreys in South Korea, for example, waslocked downafter four military dependents, four American contractors, and four South Korean employees became infected with Covid-19. It was the same on several bases in Japan and on the island of Okinawa when Japanese employees tested positive for the virus (and, more recently, when U.S. military personnelat five basesthere were found to have Covid-19). Add inCamp Lemonnierin Djibouti andAhmed al-Jaber Air Basein Kuwait, not to speak of the fact that, in Europe, some2,600American soldiers have been placed in quarantine after suspected exposure to Covid-19. (And if the U.S. military is anxious about all this in other countries, think about how Americas allies feel at a moment when Donald Trumps America has become the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic.)

A world of recurring pandemics will make it nearly impossible for U.S. forces to work side-by-side with their foreign counterparts, especially in poorer nations that lack adequate health and sanitation facilities. This is already true inIraqandAfghanistan, where the coronavirus is thought to have spread widely among friendly local forces and American soldiers have been ordered to suspend joint training missions with them.

A return to the pre-Covid world appears increasingly unlikely, so the search is now on big time for a new guiding strategy for Army and Marine combat operations in the years to come. As with the Navy, this search actually began before the outbreak of the coronavirus, but has gained fresh urgency in its wake.

To insulate ground operations from the dangers of a pandemic-stricken planet, the two services are exploring a similar operating model: instead of deploying large, heavily-armed troop contingents close to enemy borders, they hope to station small, highly mobile forces on U.S.-controlled islands or at other reasonably remote locations, where they can fire long-range ballistic missiles at vital enemy assets with relative impunity. To further reduce the risk of illness or casualties, such forces will, over time, be augmented on the front lines by ever more unmanned creations, including armed machines again those killer robots designed to perform the duties of ordinary soldiers.

The Marine Corps version of this future combat model was first spelled out inForce Design 2030, a document released by Corps commandant General David Berger in the pandemic month of March 2020. Asserting that the Marines existing structure was unsuited to the world of tomorrow, he called for a radical restructuring of the force to eliminate heavy, human-operated weapons like tanks and instead increase mobility and long-range firepower with a variety of missiles and what he assumes will be a proliferation of unmanned systems. Operating under the assumption that we will not receive additional resources, he wrote, we must divest certain existing capabilities and capacities to free resources for essential new capabilities. Among those new capabilities that he considers crucial: additional unmanned aerial systems, or drones, that can operate from ship, from shore, and [be] able to employ both [intelligence-]collection and lethal payloads.

In its own long-range planning, the Army is placing an evengreater relianceon creating a force of robots, or at least optionally manned systems. Anticipating a future of heavily-armed adversaries engaging U.S. forces in high-intensity warfare, its seeking to reduce troop exposure to enemy fire by designing all future combat-assault systems, including tanks, troop-carriers, and helicopters, to be either human-occupied or robotically self-directed as circumstances dictate. The Armys next-generation infantry assault weapon, for instance, has been dubbed anoptionally manned fighting vehicle(OMFV). As its name suggests, it is intended to operate with or without onboard human operators. The Army is alsoprocuringa robotic utility vehicle, the squad multipurpose equipment transport (SMET), intended to carry 1,000 pounds of supplies and ammunition. Looking further into the future, that service has also begun development of a robotic combat vehicle (RCV), or a self-driving tank.

The Army is also speeding the development of long-range artillery and missile systems that will make attacks on enemy positions from well behind the front lines ever more central to any future battle with a major enemy. These include the extended range cannon artillery, an upgraded Paladin-armored howitzer with an extra-long barrel and supercharged propellant that should be able tohit targets40 miles away, and the even more advancedprecision strike missile(PrSM), a surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a range of at least 310 miles.

Many analysts, in fact, believe that the PrSM will be able to strike atfar greater distancesthan that, putting critical enemy targets air bases, radar sites, command centers at risk from launch sites far to the rear of American forces. In case of war with China, this could mean firing missiles from friendly partner-nations like Japan or U.S.-controlled Pacific islands like Guam. Indeed, this possibility hasalarmedAir Force supporters who fear that the Army is usurping the sorts of long-range strike missions traditionally assigned to combat aircraft.

All these plans and programs are being promoted to enable the U.S. military to continue performing its traditional missions of power projection and warfighting in a radically altered world. Seen from that perspective, measures like removing sailors from crowded warships, downsizing U.S. garrisons in distant lands, and replacing human combatants with robotic ones might seem sensible. But looked at from what might be called the vantage point of comprehensive security or the advancement ofallaspects of American safety and wellbeing they appear staggeringly myopic.

If the scientists are right and the coronavirus will linger for a long period and, in the decades to come, be followed by other pandemics of equal or greater magnitude, the true future threats to American security could be microbiological (and economic), not military. After all, the current pandemic has already killed more Americans thandiedin the Korean and Vietnam wars combined, while triggering the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Imagine, then, what a more lethal pandemic might do. The countrys armed forces may still have an important role to play in such an environment providing, for example, emergency medical assistance and protecting vital infrastructure but fighting never-ending wars in distant lands and projecting power globally should not rank high when it comes to where taxpayer dollars go for security in such challenging times.

Michael T. KlareTomDispatch

Michael T. Klare, aTomDispatchregular, is the five-college professor emeritus of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College and a senior visiting fellow at the Arms Control Association. He is the author of 15 books, the latest of which isAll Hell Breaking Loose: The Pentagons Perspective on Climate Change.

Reposted with permission from TomDispatch

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Pentagon Confronts the Pandemic - LA Progressive

Leaders of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan will hold a virtual summit on Tuesday to try to break a deadlock in efforts to strike a deal on the operation of the giant dam Addis Ababa has built on the Nile.

The summit will be chaired by South Africa, current chair of the African Union. It comes after 11 days of talks between experts and irrigation ministers from the three countries ended last Monday without an agreement.

The summit was announced by Sudan on Friday night. There has been no official word on the meeting from Egypt or Ethiopia. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi spoke to his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday night, according to a statement from his office that made no mention of the summit.

The three countries have been negotiating on the operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam since construction began nearly a decade ago. The hydroelectric dam is almost completed and Ethiopia says it will start filling the reservoir this month with or without an agreement with Egypt and Sudan.

The two downstream nations are opposed to any unilateral action by Addis Ababa, fearing that it would be a dangerous precedent since Ethiopia has spoken of its intent to build more dams on the Blue Nile, the main tributary of the Nile and the source of about 85 per cent of its water.

A satellite image of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and reservoir behind it on June 26, 2020. Maxar Technologies via Reuters

A satellite image of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and reservoir behind it 16 days later on July 12, 2020. Maxar Technologies via Reuters

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia on July 12, 2020. Maxar Technologies via Reuters

Egypt fears the dam could significantly reduce its share of Nile water, while Sudan is concerned about widespread flooding in case of a breach in the dam. Ethiopia sees the dam as a flagship project that will alleviate poverty and propel the Horn of Africa nation to prosperity.

Failure to make some progress towards an agreement would throw the entire negotiation process into uncertain territory, heighten tension and raise the prospect of armed hostilities.

Egypt has said its share of the Nile water is an existential issue and it would never accept a de facto situation imposed on it. Mr El Sisi has never spoken publicly about military action to settle the dispute, but that option was never entirely off the table.

Ethiopia has taken the possibility of an attack seriously, deploying an air-defence system and troops at and around the dam site.

Segments of Egypts state-controlled media and pro-government social media influencers have been egging Mr El Sisi on to strike the dam before it is filled. Those calls are being made against the backdrop of a nationalist narrative that portrays the country to be simultaneously facing grave threats to its national security.

Also on the rise recently is national pride in the capabilities of the Egyptian armed forces and its ranking as the worlds ninth strongest army. Mr El Sisi has since taking office six years ago spent billions of dollars purchasing cutting-edge weapons that, in theory, enable his military to operate efficiently outside its borders. These include submarines, high-seas troop carriers equipped with helicopter gunships and state of the art jet fighters.

But a military strike against Ethiopia would torpedo any prospect of a negotiated settlement, shatter years of work by Mr El Sisi to build closer relations with sub-Saharan Africa.

Ethiopia describes Cairos Nile policies as essentially an attempt to perpetuate the poverty of the river basins 10 other countries. Egypt denies the charge, saying it appreciates Ethiopias need for electricity to power its development and is ready to accept a manageable level of impact from the dam.

Updated: July 18, 2020 10:19 PM

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Nile dam: Sudan says talks to break deadlock will be held on Tuesday - The National

By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN & IAN M.KAUKUI

TWO registered nurses are among six people who are still missing at sea in Temotu Province since Saturday following the recent bad weather.

Acting Police Commissioner Mostyn Mangau told reporters that searches were conducted by police and medical officers since Tuesday but there were no sightings of the missing boats or persons as of Wednesday.

The banana boat powered by one 40 horsepower engine was carrying six people including two registered nurses from Manuopo clinic in Reef Islands, Mangau said.

Mangau said there were three males and three females on board the boat.

He said the passengers from Manuopo village were returning from Lata, Santa Cruz for banking purposes when they went missing.

Mangau said Lata police are working closely with the health agency.

We also have the support of the New Zealand Air Force who are currently in the country on conducting aerial surveillance patrols in the Pacific.

He added that according to information from Lata Police they are still experiencing bad weather.

The acting police chief urged communities in Temotu to observe the weather and listen out for advice from meteorology for weather forecasts.

Refrain from going out to sea during the bad weather.

Stay at home and consider your safety as well, Mangau said.

Provincial Police Commander (PPC) Temotu Province Superintendent James Toaki in a press statement confirmed they are still experiencing strong winds, high seas and continuous rains all over the islands in the province.

He said unfortunately due to this bad weather they could not go out to sea and search for the missing people.

The boat went missing on Saturday, July 11 on its way to Manuopo Village, Reef Islands from Lata.

Lata Police received a report of the missing boat on Monday, July 13.

Toaki said searches were conducted on Tuesday, July 14 until Wednesday, July 15 and then halted due to the weather conditions not suitable for them to continue with the search.

He advised relatives of those missing to report any sightings as police are on standby should anything is reported.

He also appeals to people in Temotu Province to take all precautions during this time of bad weather.

Director of Solomon Islands Maritime Authority (SIMA), Thierry Nervale yesterday said the search operation is still continuing with aerial and sea search.

In terms of the search area, its a huge area given the boat went missing since on Saturday last week, he said.

A Lata Police officer Constable Gabriel Tavake said they have conducted search since Wednesday mainly around Tinakula but there was no citing.

He said an NZ Air Force aircraft has also assisted to conduct an aerial search on that area and went as far as Nupani Island further behind the Tinakula.

Constable Tavake said the boat left Lata on Saturday despite the weather warning being issued at that time.

The weather that day was unfavourable so other boats also heading to the Reef Islands have to seek shelter and spend the night at Kalabay, but that boat decides to continue its journey across, he said.

He said the boat is also loaded with food and other items.

He said Lata police will continue to carry out the search until further notice is given to suspend the operation.

SIMA Director Mr. Nervale in light of the situation has reminded the public at large to always take into consideration all essential safety rules like checking the weather forecast and have lifesaving equipment for any trip at sea as part of safety measures.

He said abiding with those rules will lessen such incidents and people will always keep safe.

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Nurses among those missing in Temotu - Solomon Star

Supplies land on T-3 by parachute in June 1969. The murder occurred the following year.Dave Scoboria, USGS via Library of Congress

Mario Escamilla was furious. A colleague of his, nicknamed Porky, had just stolen his jug of raisin wine. So the 33-year-old Escamilla grabbed a rifle and set out to reclaim it. He had no idea he was about to get tangled up in one of the knottiest homicides in historya killing that also raises serious questions about how humankind should handle the first, inevitable murder in outer space.

Escamilla worked on T-3, also known as Fletchers ice island, a Manhattan-size hunk of ice that at the time was floating north of Canada in the Arctic Ocean, roughly 350 miles from the North Pole. T-3 had been occupied off and on since the 1950s, and 19 scientists and technicians were stationed there during the summer of 1970, studying ocean currents and wind and weather patterns.

Despite the constant polar sunshine in the summer, the weather could be harsh, with temperatures dipping down to minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit sometimes and winds reaching 160 miles per hour. But the worst thing the scientists faced was boredom: Besides work, there was almost nothing to do. For movies, they had a few 16-millimeter reels theyd seen a dozen times each. For music, they had two eight tracks. One was Jefferson Airplane.

To compound the problem, the scientists had virtually no contact with the outside world. Satellite communication was iffy and often failed. And planes couldnt land on T-3 most of the summer, since the surface of the ice turned mushy under the sun. So after the initial arrival of people in the spring, that was it. Just 19 smelly dudes, with little to do but stare at one another and drink.

As a result, T-3 attracted some real misfits at times, including alcoholics and weirdos. And all that angry, bored energy finally came to a head exactly 50 years agoon July 16, 1970.

If contemporary accounts can be believed, Donald Porky Leavitt was a drunk, and a mean one. Three separate times on T-3, after running low on liquor, he attacked people with a meat cleaver to get his hands on their booze. On the night of July 16, Porky targeted electronics technician Mario Escamilla, breaking into Escamillas trailer and stealing a prized jug of homemade raisin hooch.

When Escamilla found out, something snapped. He was actually an unlikely vigilante. He was pudgy and wore glasses, and was considered quiet, even wimpy. But when he heard about the theft, he grabbed the base rifle and marched over to confront Porky. It was nearly 11 p.m., but the arctic sun was blazing like a Wild West high-noon showdown.

Unfortunately, Escamilla didnt know that the rifle hed grabbed was faulty. One hard bumpeven without pulling the triggerand it would fire.

Escamilla found Porky in a trailer with a meteorological technician named Bennie Lightsy, a 31-year-old from Louisville, Kentucky, who was Escamillas boss on T-3. Porky and Lightsy were, to put it mildly, shitfaced. Theyd been drinking a truly foul mix of raisin wine, grain alcohol, and grape juice; Lightsys blood-alcohol level was later estimated to be 0.26.

A struggle for the raisin wine ensued, and in the confrontation that followed, Escamilla shot not Porky Leavitt, but his boss, Bennie Lightsy, square in the chest. He bled out moments later. With the help of newspaper articles, court transcripts, and online reminiscing from people who were there, Ive laid out more details about the killing in my new podcastalong with many more details about life on the impossibly remote T-3 (including, because I know youre curious, how they went to the bathroom). But here Id like to focus on what happened after Lightsys death, because thats when the real chaos startedthe legal mess.

T-3 was technically run by the U.S. Air Force, but Escamilla was a civilian, so they couldnt court-martial him. The nearest land mass was Canada, but T-3 lay well outside Canadas territorial waters, so it had no jurisdiction there. Perhaps the United States could have claimed the ice islandsimilar to the many uninhabited Guano Islands full of rich, natural fertilizer that the U.S. government seized during the 1800s. But unlike the Guano Islands, T-3 was temporaryit would melt away in the 1980sso under international law, no nation could claim it. Perhaps the law of the sea applied? After all, T-3 was in some sense the literal high seas, being high-latitude frozen seawater. Except, the law of the sea applies only to navigable areas, and T-3 wasnt navigable.

In sum, T-3 was neither fish nor fowl. Murder in Legal Limbo, Time magazine called the case. Some legal scholars seriously questioned whether any nation had the right to try Escamilla. As one noted, It may shock the layman to learn that there may be parts of the world in which possible murders may go untried.

In the end, might essentially tried to make right here. Four U.S. marshals undertook a harrowing, multiday journey via plane and helicopter, first to Greenland and then T-3, fighting brutal Arctic winds and weather. Upon landing, they grabbed Escamilla, the rifle, and Lightsys frozen body for transport back to the United States.

T-3 was essentially treated as a freak occurrencea random, one-off event. But it wontbe.

Escamilla was then charged with murder in a federal court in Virginia. Why there? For the less-than-airtight reason that, well, Virginia was the first place the marshals and Escamilla landed after leaving Greenland, at Dulles Airport. Escamilla initially appeared in court in the same black Arctic rubber boots hed been arrested in.

But the trial presented all sorts of legal issues. First, there was the question of whether the government even had the right to try Escamilla, given T-3s legal limbo. Second, there was the question of venue. Technically, the marshals and Escamilla had landed in Greenland first on the trip back home, so according to international law, he should have been tried there. The U.S. government simply ignored this. Federal prosecutors also attempted to charge Escamilla under special maritime law for crimes committed on vessels, despite the fact that T-3 wasnt a vessel in any real sense.

In addition, the judge in the case instructed the jury to ignore testimony about the harsh, crazy-making conditions on T-3which was surely relevant in determining whether Escamilla had been negligent in wielding a gun there. Along those same lines, theres the question of whether the trial was fair from a constitutional standpoint, on the grounds that Escamilla couldnt possibly be tried by a jury of peers in Virginia. After all, T-3 had no police force or other legal authorityand it did have a meat cleaverwielding maniac running around. Property rights there were enforced with guns or not at all. Contrast that to suburban Virginia, where most peoples grimmest daily fears involved traffic. Could a jury there really understand the pressures Escamilla faced and properly judge his actions?

Ultimately, after an initial conviction for manslaughter and the inevitable appeals and remands, Escamilla was acquitted of all charges, given the faulty rifle. But because of that acquittal, all the juicy legal issues remained unresolved. T-3 was essentially treated as a freak occurrencea random, one-off event. But it wont be.

The July 16, 1970, ice island killing took place one year to the day after the launch of the Apollo rocket that brought the first human beings to the moon. And even at that time, legal scholars realized that, given the legal limbo of T-3, the Escamilla case had huge implications for crime in outer space. No matter how noble and uplifting spaceflight seems, human nature is human nature, and sooner or later somebody will stab or shoot somebody else up there. And we have no idea how well handle it.

When looking for analogues to crime in outer space, some scholars point to Antarctica, where a surprising number of crimes have already taken placeincluding an ax murder over a chess game; an assault with the claw end of a hammer; and arson, when a stir-crazy doctor burned down a building to try to force an evacuation. (Most recently, at a Russian base in 2018, an engineer stabbed a welder in the chest with a knifeeither because, depending on the report, the welder insulted the engineers manhood by offering him money to dance on a table, or because the welder kept spoiling the ending of books the engineer was reading, and he finally snapped.)

In some ways, however, Antarctica isnt a great analogy for space. However remote and undeveloped, its still permanent territory, on Earth, and several countries have made territorial claims, however disputed. Bases down there are largely run by governments anyway and are essentially treated as sovereign territory. The no mans land of T-3 seems a better analogue, legally, to the near-vacuum of judicial oversight in space.

About the only existing law governing space is the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. But the treaty focuses almost entirely on what nation-states can and cannot do (e.g., deploy nuclear bombs, seize celestial bodies). Its virtually silent on what private companies or individuals can dowhich suddenly seems like a glaring loophole given the rise of private space companies like SpaceX, which recently transported its first astronauts to the International Space Station. These private vessels are far murkier in a legal sense.

To be sure, a clause in the Outer Space Treaty does require nations to monitor their own citizens in space, which works fine when astronauts are few. But when hundreds or thousands of people reach orbit, that will become increasingly untenable. And so far, most crimes in remote places like T-3 have involved the citizens of one country alone (e.g., one Russian attacking another).

In 2019, news reports surfaced of the first-ever alleged crime in outer space, when an American astronaut reportedly accessed her estranged wifes bank account from computers on the International Space Station. Since then the astronaut has been cleared, and the wife charged with making false statements.

But even if that crime had taken place, it would have involved two Americans and an American bank, and taken place on the American section of the International Space Station. As a result, only American laws would have applied. But the International Space Station is already, well, international, and future spaceflight likely will be, too. So consider this scenario: a German woman poisons a Congolese man on a spaceship owned by a Chinese-Belgian conglomerate thats headquartered in Luxembourg. Who the hells in charge then?

When colonies get set up on Mars or the moon and people start having children there, things will get even more dicey. Should an Earth court really have jurisdiction over people who have never set foot on Earth in their lives? If exercising legal power over T-3 was a reach, imagine the consequences for doing so on another planet.

As another issue, how would you arrest someone in space? It took U.S. marshals two full days to reach T-3 and grab Escamilla. Mars is multiple months away at its closest, and often farther. So is it really worth sending someone on a billion-dollar interplanetary mission just to make an arrest? Where do you hold the perp in the meantime? (In the most recent Russian assault in Antarctica, the engineer was tossed into the bases tiny Orthodox chapel, since no proper jail cell existed.) And if you do drag them back to Earth, what about finding a jury of peers? Could any earthling truly understand life on Mars and pass judgment on someone living there?

Mario Escamilla had no desire to become a legal pioneer. He just wanted his raisin wine back. But as we return to the moon over the next few yearsNASA has plans to land people there in 2024, and push for Mars in the decade afterexpect to hear more about this obscure homicide. At a minimum, the spacefaring nations of the world need to update the Outer Space Treaty to account for private space flight.

Sure, bickering over treaty clauses and extradition issues isnt as romantic as the quest to land on Mars or as sexy as the technology to get us there. But the Escamilla case shows that mundane legal issues matter, too. Laws dont save lives by themselvesthe first murder in space will happen with or without them. But a little forethought in handling such a case could go a long way toward ensuring that the society were working so hard to build up there gets a chance to survive as well.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.

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How Not to Deal With Murder in Space - Slate

HI-SEAS (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) is a Habitat on an isolated Mars-like site on the Mauna Loa side of the saddle area on the Big Island of Hawaii at approximately 8200 feet above sea level. HI-SEAS is unique, in addition to its setting in a distinctive analog environment, as:

The HI-SEAS Habitat is semi-portable, low-impact, and designed to have all the desirable analog features specified in Keeton et al (2011). It has a habitable volume of ~13,000 cubic feet, a usable floor space of ~1200 square feet, and small sleeping quarters for a crew of six, as well as a kitchen, laboratory, bathroom, simulated airlock and dirty work area.

The HI-SEAS site has Mars-like geology which allows crews to perform high-fidelity geological field work and add to the realism of the mission simulation. The Martian regolith examined by the CheMin instrument (Blake et al. 2012) is very similar to the weathered basaltic materials found in this part of Hawaii. The site is a former cinder rock quarry on the side of a spatter cone. It is surrounded by relatively recent lava flows with very little plant or animal life present. None of the sparse flora or fauna is rare which mitigates the likelihood of adverse environmental impact due to mission activities. The flows include a wide variety of volcanic features to explore, such as lava tubes, skylights, channels, and tumuli. The HI-SEAS site is visually isolated, yet accessible by a dirt road, and a hospital and other emergency services are within a one hour driving distance (much less by helicopter). It has a cool, dry climate that varies very little over the year, enabling long-duration missions.

HI-SEAS offers not only physical isolation and geological similarity. We have developed a robust system of high-latency communication between Crew and Mission Support that imposes a Mars-like 20-minute delay on message reception each way. Communication is solely asynchronous (i.e. no real-time conversations), using email and posts to the mission project site hosted by Basecamp. HI-SEAS offers an environment where communication latency and other mission parameters can be varied according to study requirements.

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HI-SEAS

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Drug traffickers have been busted using everything from drones to ambulances to run narcotics, but the most valuable cargoes move over maritime routes. Law enforcement has cracked down on smuggling aboard container ships and other large vessels, but drug trafficking by the worlds 4.6 million fishing boats has largely been overlooked, says Dyhia Belhabib, principal investigator of fisheries at Ecotrust Canada.

As a result, the role that fisheries-based drug smuggling plays in a global industry worth US $650-billion a year was largely unknown. Now, a new study led by Belhabib reveals that criminals are increasingly using fishing vessels to smuggle illicit drugs, mainly high-value narcotics such as cocaine and heroin. She estimates that over $100-billion in drugs are trafficked aboard fishing vessels each year.

Crime at sea is not a new phenomenon. The fisheries sector is rife with illegal practices, including human trafficking, slavery, money laundering, unauthorized transshipment between vessels, and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing. These activities have been in the spotlight much more than drug trafficking, says Belhabib, and drug traffickers take advantage of the same legal loopholes and trade routes. These illegal operations are frequently carried out by criminal networks and international syndicates, making them types of transnational organized crime.

Vast, unpatrolled oceans provide ideal cover for these illicit activities. Even with the advent of satellite surveillance, we dont have the capacity to monitor the ocean as effectively as wed like, says Teale Phelps Bondaroff, director of research at nonprofit OceansAsia and an expert in fisheries crime who was not involved in the study. The high seas are hotspots for organized crime, as are the waters of developing countries with low enforcement capacity, he says. Where governance is poor, crime will flourish.

To quantify the role of fishing vessels in drug trafficking, Belhabib and her colleagues compiled information on drug seizures from global databases, reports, and media sources. Since most drug shipments are not detected by authorities, the researchers used statistical analyses to estimate the total quantity and value of drugs trafficked between 2010 and 2017.

They found drug seizures aboard fishing vessels tripled in the seven-year period, with the majority occurring on artisanal boats. The drug shipments were small but still high in value, indicating that traffickers are shifting shipments from large vessels to artisanal boats to avoid detection, says Belhabib.

Its a clever strategy, says Phelps Bondaroff. Fishing vessels tend to blend in, he says, whereas cargo ships or other big vessels may draw attention from authorities. Smaller shipments also minimize product loss if a vessel is captured, he adds.

There are multiple reasons why fishers engage in illicit activities, but it basically boils down to reduced catch and lost income, says Ifesinachi Okafor-Yarwood, a maritime security researcher at Scotlands University of St Andrews who was not involved in the research. To prevent fishers from turning to drug trafficking by necessity, governments should consult fishers and implement policies that supplement their livelihoods, says Okafor-Yarwood.

Even well-intentioned conservation effortssuch as no-take marine protected areascan exacerbate this cycle of poverty, forcing fishers to find other ways to sustain themselves, Belhabib says. Future research should examine why fishers turn to trafficking, she says, because the participation of small-scale fishers in the illicit drug trade is a symptom of something much bigger.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had mixed effects on small-scale fisheries, but has likely not drawn new fishers into drug trafficking, says Belhabib. The diversion of resources to the health crisis, however, is certainly good news for existing smuggling operations, she adds.

For vulnerable artisanal fishers already struggling to make ends meet, a harsh enforcement crackdown will only make things worse, warns Belhabib. Poverty is a main driver, and criminalizing the poor will not solve the problem. It never has.

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When the Day's Catch Includes Cocaine and Heroin - Hakai Magazine

LONDON/WASHINGTON - Several companies that certify vessels are seaworthy and ship insurers have withdrawn services to tankers involved in the Venezuelan oil trade as the United States targets the maritime industry to tighten sanctions on the Latin American country.

U.S. sanctions have driven Venezuela's oil exports to their lowest levels in nearly 80 years, starving President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government of its main source of revenue and leaving authorities short of cash for essential imports such as food and medicine.

The sanctions are part of U.S. efforts to weaken Maduro's grip on power after Washington and other Western democracies accused him of rigging a 2018 reelection vote. Despite the country's economic collapse, Maduro has held on and frustrated the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

Maduro's government says the United States is trying to seize Venezuela's oil and calls the U.S. measures illegal persecution that heap suffering on the Venezuelan people.

Washington has homed in on the maritime industry in recent months in efforts to better enforce sanctions on the oil trade and isolate Caracas, Washington's special envoy on Venezuela Elliott Abrams told Reuters.

"What you will see is most shipowners and insurance and captains are simply going to turn away from Venezuela," Abrams told Reuters in an interview.

"It's just not worth the hassle or the risk for them."

The United States is pressuring shipping companies, insurers, certifiers and flag states that register vessels, he said.

Ship classification societies, which certify safety and environmental standards for vessels, are feeling the heat for the first time.

The United States is pressuring classifiers to establish whether vessels have violated sanctions regulations and to withdraw certification if so, as a way to tighten sanctions further, a U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Without certification, a vessel and its cargo become uninsured. Ship owners would also be in breach of commercial contracts which require certificates to be maintained. In addition, port authorities can refuse entry or detain a ship.

London-headquartered Lloyd's Register (LR), one of the world's leading ship classifiers, said it had withdrawn services from eight tankers that were involved in trade with Venezuela.

"In accordance with our program for complying with sanctions' laws, where we become aware of vessels operating in breach of relevant sanctions laws, LR classification has been withdrawn," a Lloyd's Register spokeswoman said.

Abrams said the pressure on the maritime industry was working.

"We have had a number of shippers that come to us and say, 'We just had our insurance company withdraw the insurance, and the ship is on the high seas and we've got to get to port. Could you give us a license for one week?'" Abrams said.

In June, the United States designated six shipping companies -- two of them based in Greece - and six tankers they owned for participating in proscribed Venezuelan trade.

Another leading ship classifier, Hamburg-headquartered DNV GL Maritime, said it had suspended services for three of those vessels in June.

The company resumed services when the United States removed those vessels from the list of sanctioned entities after the shipping companies that own and operate the vessels agreed to cease trade with Venezuela.

Chilling effect

The United States has threatened sanctions on any company involved in the oil trade with Venezuela, and that has had a chilling effect even on trade permitted under sanctions.

Some oil companies are refusing to charter vessels that have called at Venezuelan ports in the past year, even if the voyage was exempt from sanctions.

"The shipping sector has been at the receiving end of U.S. action on Venezuela and it has caused much uncertainty as no one knows who will be next," one shipping industry source said.

Insurers are also in a bind. They have been conservative in their interpretation of U.S. sanctions to avoid any potential violations, said Mike Salthouse, chairman of the sanctions sub-committee with the International Group association. The group represents companies that insure about 90% of the world's commercial shipping.

"If there is ambiguity as to what is lawful and what is unlawful it makes it almost impossible for an insurer to say whether someone has cover or not," he said.

Even after ships and companies are removed from the sanctions list, they may face difficulties, Salthouse said.

"The stigma associated with a designation may last some time," he said.

Oil majors, for example, may review relationships with companies that own or manage vessels that the United States had designated and then removed to avoid any possible problems with other vessels, he said.

'Real threat

Venezuela is on the list of high-risk areas set by officials from London's insurance market.

"If a vessel sails to Venezuela they have to notify the underwriter and it may be that the underwriter will not be able to cover them," said Neil Roberts, head of marine underwriting at Lloyd's Market Association, which represents the interests of all underwriting businesses in London's Lloyd's market.

The industry faces "the direct and real threat of having its trade stopped by a watchful U.S. administration because of an inadvertent infringement," he said.

"This risk alone is enough to fuel the multiplication of compliance checks."

Some of the biggest global flag registries including Panama and Liberia are also looking more closely at ships that were involved in Venezuela trading as they come under U.S. pressure to withdraw registration for ships violating sanctions.

Maritime lawyers in Panama said its registry is fining vessels that do not comply with the U.S. maritime guidance issued in May. The registry is mostly de-flagging vessels targeted by multilateral sanctions rather than unilateral U.S. sanctions, the lawyers said.

Officials at Liberia's registry did not respond to requests for comment.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, a former investor in shipping, helped craft the strategy targeting the maritime sector, sources said.

A Commerce Department spokesperson acknowledged Ross had worked with other government agencies "to determine how to best hold accountable those who are evading U.S. sanctions" on Venezuela.

Abrams vowed to keep up the pressure.

"There are people who don't cooperate ... We'll go after the ship, the ship owner, the ship captain."

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US Turns Screws on Maritime Industry to Cut Off Venezuela's Oil - Voice of America

I dont know about you gamer, but when I think of pirates and swashbuckling I think of card games. You all remember Long John Silver and his early years as a Magic: The Gathering tournament winner before he turned to all that piracy. While this may seem like an odd concept for a game, I was more than willing to give it a whack and see if I would be surprised. While not blown away, I still found a game that is enjoyable.

Pirates Outlaws takes place somewhere. I will be honest the games story is so light it would blow away in a stiff breeze. You are a pirate that does pirate things to other pirates because pirates. There are different characters you can unlock with different unique abilities. The characters are more like manikins than characters as they dont talk and have the same personality as my garden hose.

The main point of Pirates Outlaws is to explore islands, beat other pirates and get cards for your deck. The main mechanic is ranged cards taking ammo and melee cards not affecting enemies hiding behind other enemies as much. It is really simple, but effective and allows the game to flow well.

I know simplicity can sometimes be a bad thing, but in this case, it allows the game to move at a pace to keep it entertaining. If it introduced some convoluted combat system (looking at you Here Be Dragons) it would have killed the main thing that made the game playable.

The audio in this game was on the annoying side and I quickly listened to audiobooks instead. Each little sound and grunt lost its novelty within twenty minutes. Honestly, I recommend playing the game on mute as you can then multitask as the game doesnt make you think on a level that many other turn based strategy games do. Again, this works to its credit, but means you can sneak in the twelfth Dresden Files book while shooting pirates.

Is the game fun? Allow me to wax philosophical for a paragraph and ask you, dear reader, does playing a game for a few hours without thinking about quitting make it fun? I kept playing and playing, but was not exactly having fun. It is a weird place to be in when I realize I missed lunch and my cats are hungry enough to plot my demise, all while not really enjoying it. It plays on youre want to do better than last time desire to try and unlock things to use to do better than your last battle. Its a casual game, through and through.

If you are looking for a deck building game, Pirates Outlaw is a good looking title and will offer good playability for the money. If you want sexy, you will want to go elsewhere. Looking for a pirate game, there are pirates in here, but its far from a standard pirate game. I think Pirates Outlaws offers a great pickup if you want something that will gobble time and not stress you out. Otherwise, it will eat some hours from your week and eventually you will stop for lunch and may or may not come back.

The rest is here:

Pirates Outlaws Offers Deck Building On the High Seas - GameIndustry.com