Category Archives: High Seas

Nearly all maritime kidnappings and hostage-takings in the nine months to the end of September this year took place in or near the Gulf of Guinea, said global maritime piracy watchdog the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

New data from the IMB shows that worldwide there have been 70 actual kidnappings of seafarers and 49 hostage-takings year to date. The West African country of Guinea alone saw 23 hostage-takings, Nigeria a further 12 and the West African country of Togo an additional seven. Cameroon and Nigeria were hot spots for kidnapping, too.

The IMB says about 86% of all maritime hostage-taking and 82% of all actual kidnappings happen in or near the Gulf of Guinea. The body adds that there were at least 119 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships from January through September. Thats a 31% decline compared to the 156 incidents recorded in the same period in 2018.

Although incidents are down, the Gulf of Guinea continues to be a concern for piracy and armed robbery-related activities, with kidnappings of crew members increasing in both scale and frequency, said Pottengal Mukundan, a director of the IMB.

That said, the IMB freely concedes that theres a high degree of under-reporting. The assistant director of the IMB, Cyrus Moody, told FreightWaves that the IMBs own research indicates theres roughly a 50% under-reporting of incidents.

Possible reasons why include the fear that insurers will hike rates if it is known that a ship was attacked. There are also fears that if an attack on a ship is reported then criminals may go harder on the crew, the next time the same ship is attacked. Some operators may worry that local authorities could hold or delay the ship.

The Gulf of Guinea lies between West Africa and Central Africa. Its the sea-space at zero degrees longitude and zero degrees latitude. There are different definitions what constitutes the Gulf of Guinea. The international Guidelines for Owners, Operators and Masters for protection against piracy and armed robbery in the Gulf of Guinea region, a document issued by the major global maritime shipping organizations, applies to the waters off the countries of Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon.

However, the Guidelines also say pirate attacks have occurred as far south as Angola and as far west as Sierra Leone, so the area of threat is enormous.

The Gulf of Guinea is an attractive area of operations for marine criminals for several reasons.

Firstly, it has many high-value targets.

There are many ships because there are numerous ports and a great deal of cargo. And, because vessels are entering or leaving port, ships may be traveling slowly. They may be sitting low in the water, and are therefore easier for pirates to board, because they are fully laden. Or they may be at anchor waiting for commercial instructions or repairs or for any number of other reasons. As Moody pointed out, ships are constantly entering and leaving, or waiting around or in, the area of high threat.

Secondly, the targets are poorly defended because of certain provisions of international law. That is also the reason why experts talk of piracy and armed robbery against ships, and why there is a distinction between the two in statistical tracking, even though theyre physically the same crime.

A summary of Article 101 of the UN Convention on the International Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) indicates that maritime piracy is any illegal act of violence committed for private ends by the crew or passengers of a private ship and directed on the high seas, or in a place outside the jurisdiction of any country, against another ship.

The International Maritime Organization, a specialized body of the United Nations, uses the international definition for piracy to define armed robbery against ships but with the difference that the crime happens within the borders of a country.

The key parts are the concept of high seas and outside the jurisdiction of any country. Or, to put it another way, whether a maritime crime is piracy or an armed robbery against a ship depends upon where the crime happens in relation to the international/territorial border.

So a crime against a ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean is piracy. But a criminal attack on a ship in, say, the Port of Long Beach, California, is armed robbery against a ship in the U.S.

On land, a man-made barrier, or a natural barrier such as a river, often marks the location of the border. While there are no visible barriers or landmarks at sea, nonetheless, there is still a border. Under UNCLOS, a countrys sovereignty can extend from the coast out to sea up to a limit of 12 nautical miles (about 13.8 U.S. miles). This sea-space is known as the territorial sea.

Just as crimes against crew and ships in U.S. territorial waters are subject to U.S. law, crimes against crew and ships in the waters off Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Cameroon are subject to the criminal laws of those countries. The close proximity of all those sovereign nations poses several challenges.

Law enforcers have a right of hot pursuit under article 111 of UNCLOS. Marine police (or navies) can chase and capture criminals who flee out of a countrys jurisdiction and onto the high seas. But if the criminals cross the border into a neighboring country, the chasing police lose that right. And, just as happens with neighboring countries the world over, police and criminal investigators cannot wander freely back and forth across borders to tackle crime.

A few years ago there was a big problem with Somali pirates attacking ships as they sailed through the Gulf of Aden. Deployment of armed guards aboard ships was the primary means of tackling Somali piracy along the east coast of Africa. Unlike ships in the Gulf of Guinea, however, ships sailing off the coast of Somalia were attacked in international waters and therefore the law of the local coastal state did not apply. So armed guards were a legally sensible response.

But that wouldnt work in the Gulf of Guinea. Ships have to enter and leave the territories of the coastal states to visit the local ports. Nations jealously guard their monopoly on the right to use armed force in their jurisdictions and generally do not allow large numbers of openly armed foreigners to enter and hang around in their territory. So ship-borne foreign armed guards would not be allowed.

National sovereignty presents a further problem to deterring or stopping pirates because not every country has a well-developed law enforcement and judicial system. Theres a good reason theres no piracy epidemic immediately off the coast of, say, the state of Oregon. U.S. law enforcement would take decisive action against repeated acts of organized piracy or armed robbery in that area. And the U.S. has prosecutors, courts, judges and a penal system to try, convict, sentence and imprison pirates and other maritime criminals.

Thats not so in the Gulf of Guinea.

Nigeria did not even have piracy as a crime, Moody explained to FreightWaves. So piracy (if outside the territorial sea) or armed robbery against ships couldnt even be prosecuted as such in Nigeria. However, Moody pointed out that Nigeria has more recently enacted laws against piracy.

You always have maritime crime where the response from law enforcement and the judicial system is not adequate or robust, Moody told FreightWaves.

However, Moody added, there is a sense that Nigeria acknowledges there is a problem and is taking the first steps to tackle offshore violence.

Moody said there was a regional law enforcement conference recently to discuss the issue, and local authorities are thinking about partnerships to carry out security exercises and safeguard local waters.

And, in the last few days, the Nigerian Navy has announced that it will use designated maritime courts to handle cases of piracy and maritime armed robbery.

Moody also said the Nigerian Navy will respond to calls for help.

We have good cooperation with the Nigerian Navy and the local maritime administration. Weve relayed information to the Nigerian Navy who have gone to assist, Moody stated.

But there are other obstacles to enforcement.

Africa is huge. And the Gulf of Guinea sea-space is vast. The straight-line distance from the western border of Ghana to the southern border of Cameroon is about 910 U.S. miles. If a mariner were able to sail the same distance in a north-northeast direction in a straight line from the southern tip of Florida, he or she would finish at roughly the same latitude as Richmond, Virginia.

Moody pointed out that if a navy does respond to a distress call in the further reaches of the Gulf of Guinea, its a few hours of sailing. Pirates have been, done what they need, and have left.

Thats a problem because pirates often kidnap and hold crew in some pretty inhospitable terrain. Nigeria alone saw 23 kidnappings and 12 hostage-takings of seafarers, and Cameroon saw another 23 kidnappings. Areas where hostages are held include marshes, rivers, swamps and jungle. So there are physical as well as jurisdictional barriers to tracking down pirates and robbers who have kidnapped crew.

Shipping industry executives do not discuss how much they pay in ransoms, and the crew are held hostage during the negotiation period for, on average, about four to 12 weeks.

Unlike their Somali counterparts, West African pirates kidnap crew, rather than hijack ships, because local law enforcement agencies would be able to track down and recapture a large ship. The Somali pirates were able to hijack and seize ships because they operated from a failed state with no local law enforcement.

The typical attack by West African pirates and robbers involves the pirates climbing aboard to loot the ship of small property and the crews personal effects and to kidnap the crew.

Theres lots of violence, Moody explained. There have been no fatalities this year, but crew do tend to get injured. The typical criminal activity is yelling, shouting and slapping to intimidate and get compliance from the crew. With the slightest resistance from the crew, they tend to get roughed up.

West African pirates tend to be armed with knives for cutting ropes, crowbars for breaking open doors and lockers, and heavy-caliber automatic firearms.

Apart from ransacking the ships and kidnapping the crew, the pirates also want to steal cargo. Typically, they seize smaller quantities of refined products of crude oil, such as gasoline, that can be sold in the local markets around the Gulf of Guinea.

The IMB is a not-for-profit and non-political specialist division of the International Chamber of Commerce set up in 1981 as a focal point to help counter international maritime crime. The International Maritime Organization (a division of the United Nations) adopted a resolution on November 20, 1981, urging governments and all other interested parties to co-operate and share information with the IMB to help in the fight against maritime crime.

One of the key functions of the IMB is to relay live piracy and armed robbery information. In the event of an attack, the IMB can relay information to local maritime police and navies who may be in a position to intervene. Secondly, the IMB can broadcast and emergency alert to all ships in the region so that they can take countermeasures or, if appropriate, render assistance. The warning will also let ships that are about to enter the high threat area.

As maritime piracy and armed robbery takes place all over the globe, the IMB will accept reports from around the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The IMB urges ship operators and other appropriate persons to file incident reports.Your information may save lives, the IMB has stated.

Contact the IMBs 24 hour anti-piracy emergency helpline: + 60 3 2031 0014

The IMB can also be contacted by fax and email:

Fax: + 60 3 2078 5769E-mail: imbkl@icc-ccs.org / piracy@icc-ccs.org

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West Africa: the center of maritime piracy, armed robbery and kidnap - FreightWaves

Credit: Marvel Comics

Marauders #1Written by Gerry DugganArt by Matteo Lolli and Federico BleeLettering by Cory PetitPublished by Marvel ComicsRama Rating: 7 out of 10

Serving as a spiritual successor to X-Men: Gold if not an overt one, Marauders #1 brings Kitty Pryde to the mutant high seas, as she takes on a leadership role unlike any shes undertaken before. Writer Gerry Duggan and artist Matteo Lolli deliver a solid storyline for their intangible heroine, even if they dont necessarily reinvent the wheel in the same way as Jonathan Hickmans megahit series House of X and Powers of X.

Since the days of Chris Claremont, writers have bent over backwards to show how Kitty Pryde is different from the rest of the X-Men, but Id argue that the angle that Duggan has taken in Marauders makes her more sympathetic and likable than weve seen Shadowcat since the days of Joss Whedon. Without spoiling too much, Duggan really zeroes in on Kittys flaws, and seeing this one-time prodigy transform into a highly competent screw-up feels like a fun way to reinterpret the character - while Hickmans relaunch of the X-Men were all about big ideas and world-shaking twists, Duggans warmer, funnier style shows readers what its like to live in that weird, crazy world.

Artist Matteo Lolli, meanwhile, reminds me a bit of Mahmud Asrar - he does some strong expression work with Kitty and Iceman in particular, making them the emotional centerpieces of the book thus far. Additionally, Lollis fight choreography with Kittys phasing powers is rock-solid stuff, helping her establish her leadership bonafides and reminding readers shes not a kid, but a force to be reckoned with. Still, I do wish Lolli varied up his panel layouts a bit more - theres a little bit of a focus on horizontal letterbox panels, which make some of the establishing shots feel a little less than immediate.

That said, if theres anything holding Marauders back, its that Duggans singular focus on Kitty makes the actual team element of the book a little harder to swallow. Characters like Storm, Iceman and Pyro more or less just show up, rather than there being a particularly deliberate feeling behind this lineup - and unfortunately, theres a plot element that keeps Ororo and Bobby in particular feeling sidelined. Beyond Kittys fun action sequence, the only other character in the series that gets even a small chance to shine is Pyro, with an unexpected but satisfying team-up that definitely secures his place in the book.

By the time you finish reading Marauders #1, this books high concept will click into place, and youll understand the idea of Kitty Pryde and her mutant pirates in a way that makes more sense than, say, a throwback to Nightcrawlers 1990s era hoop earring and buccaneer boots. Admittedly, Duggan doesnt necessarily capitalize on his page count in terms of introducing the rest of his characters, but his take on Kitty is a winning one, and hopefully as this series picks up steam, Marauders will shore up some extra goodwill for its high seas high concept.

Link:

Best Shots Advance Review: MARAUDERS #1 'Shows What It's Like to Live in that Weird, Crazy World' - Newsarama

Jaryd 'summit1g' Lazar has been enjoying himself after returning to Sea of Thieves on Twitch, but there are some issues that he would really like to see resolved in the near future.

The variety Twitch streamer has built up quite the reputation for unbelievable player vs. player (PvP)playsin the world of high seas and skeleton pirates, but things haven't always been going to plan after coming back.

He took a moment to plead for changes from developers during his October 20 broadcast, after becoming really frustrated with some aspects of the current meta.

Rare

Sea of Thieves' PvP action has been called into question by summit.

Just like many others in Sea of Thieves, summit was playing alone and wanted to try to get on board a few different Galleons during the stream, which he did do successfully on a number of occasions.

Although, there was a period of about 25 minutes during the livestream where he had a terrible time, getting destroyed by enemy crews that all wielded swords - and it wasn't just the streamer that thought the weapon was potentially a problem for the game. His chat very much agreed, after seeing what was happening.

"The f****ing meta in this game is unbelievable man. It's unbelievable! How is the meta just hold W and left click continuously forever? Come on."

The speed in which swords can strike opponents in Sea of Thieves is much faster than that of a weapon and the damage, judging by these clips, appears to be a similar per hit - handing the enemy crew a huge advantage over the player.

Once he had been eliminated once again, riding in the Ferry of the Damned,summit1g decided enough was enough and called out Rare directly. "It's just the most unskilled, piece of s**t way to play the game. It's crazy," he said with hishead in hands.

"Rare, please, please... PLEASE revisit your combat. Please revisit your stupid f****ing healing materials, like please. It's so f****ing disappointingly overpowered for the piece of s**t Galleons," he added. "Just do something man! Piece of s**t f****ing meta."

Clearly things got a bit heated during this segment of summit's broadcast, but those fearing him quitting the game shouldn't be too worried. He carried on playing for a long time after these clips were captured.

The former CS:GO player then posted about his frustrations to Twitter, where he - again - took his issues up with the game's developers directly.

"PleaseSeaOfThievesfix your combat.The sword brain dead meta is awful, either show some love to guns which got mega nerfed or put sword where it was before," he tweeted. "Solo/Duo players stand no chance against that right trigger Zerg.

There's a chance that he might jump into another game in the near future, if Rare doesn't respond with some sort of PvP update in due course. Even then, though, we'll have to wait and see.

See the original post:

Summit1g blasts Sea of Thieves devs with PvP rant - Dexerto

While a heatwave continues over parts ofGauteng, North West, Free State and Limpopo, localised flooding is expected over parts of the Western Cape, according to the South African Weather Service.

Warnings

Extremely high fire danger conditions are expected over the North West and Free State, the extreme eastern parts of the Northern Cape, northern and central interior of the Eastern Cape, Central Karoo of the Western Cape, as well as western parts of KwaZulu-Natal.

Localised flooding is expected over susceptible informal settlements of the Cape Metropole and Overberg District, with possible heavy falls over the mountains.

Galeforce west to south-westerly winds (60-70km/h, gusting 70-80km/h) are expected along the coastal regions between Gordons Bay and Port Alfred by the afternoon.

Watches

Severe thunderstorms are expected over the eastern parts of Mpumalanga and the south-eastern parts of Limpopo on Monday.

High seas, with wave heights in excess of 6m, are expected along the coast between Cape Agulhas and Port Alfred from Monday evening into Tuesday.

Special weather advisories

A heat wave with persistently high temperatures is expected over the eastern parts of North West and Free State, Limpopo and Gauteng, persisting until Monday.

Extremely hot temperatures are expected in the Lowveld of Mpumalanga and the Limpopo Valley, Limpopo Lowveld and the Western Bushveld on Monday.

Hot and humid weather will result in extremely uncomfortable conditions in Limpopo and the Lowveld of Mpumalanga.

Strong north-westerly winds (55 to 60km/h) are expected over the Central Karoo District and the Breede Valley of the Western Cape and Karoo Hoogland municipality of the Northern Cape.

The weather in your region

It will be fine in Gauteng,becoming partly cloudy and hot in the afternoon. The expected UVB sunburn index is extreme.

Mpumalanga will be partly cloudy in the east at first. Otherwise, it will be fine and hot, but very hot to extremely hot in the Lowveld. It will become partly cloudy from the afternoon, with isolated to scattered thundershowers in the east.

Limpopo will be partly cloudy and very hot, but extremely hot in the Lowveld, Limpopo Valley and Western Bushveld. Isolated thundershowers are expected from the afternoon, with scattered in the south-eastern parts.

Expect it to be fine, windy and warm to hot in the North West, while it will be fine, windy and cool to warm in the Free State.

It will be warm in the north-east and extreme north of the Northern Cape. Otherwise, it will be fine, windy and cool, becoming partly cloudy in the central parts by late morning with isolated showers in the extreme west, clearing in the evening. The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh south-westerly.

The Western Cape will be cloudy and cool to cold with isolated to scattered showers, but widespread in places over the south-west. Windy conditions can be expected along the south-west and south coast, as well as over the Karoo. The wind along the coast will be strong westerly to south-westerly, reaching gale force along the south-west and south coast from the afternoon.

The expected UVB sunburn index is moderate.

The western half of the Eastern Cape will be fine and cool, but cloudy with scattered showers and rain along the coast, but isolated showers and rain along the coast and adjacent interior east of Cape St Francis, spreading to the interior by mid-morning. The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh south-westerly, becoming strong east of Tstistikamma by late morning, spreading west to Plettenberg Bay in the afternoon, reaching gale west of Cape St Francis at times in the late afternoon. It will be cloudy and cool over the eastern half of the Eastern Cape, with isolated showers and rain, but partly cloudy over the northern interior.

The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh south-westerly, becoming strong in the afternoon, reaching gale force in places south of Kei Mouth in the evening.

KwaZulu-Natal will be fine in the west at first. Otherwise, it will be cloudy and cool, but warm to hot in places in the north. Isolated showers and thundershowers are expected, except in the extreme west. The wind along the coast will be moderate to fresh south-westerly, becoming south-easterly in the afternoon.

The expected UVB sunburn index is low.

- Compiled by Adiel Ismail

Click here to see the specific forecast for your city over the next few days

See the original post here:

Your Monday weather | Heatwave persists over Gauteng and surrounds, while Cape Town gets a flood warning - News24

It makes sense that a show about the dangerous-as-hell business of deep-sea crab fishing would provide for some of the most fraught moments reality TV has ever had to offer.

These fishermen puttheir lives at risk every time they head outto mine the depths of the ocean for Alaskan king crab and other crustacean delicacies that consumers get to enjoy thanks to their blood, sweat and, more often than you might think, tears.

In turn, Deadliest Catch has won 16 Emmys, including two for Best Unstructured Reality Program (a rare assignation if there ever was one), spawned books and video games, and remains a must-watch for millions after 14 years on Discovery Channel.

But perhaps because of the very nature of the job at hand, the drama over 15 seasons hasn't been confined to the adventures unfolding at sea.

The most striking tragedy to afflict the show came five years in when Phil Harris, the tough, gruff and entertaining captain of theCornelia Marieone of severalcrabbing boats at the center of the actionsuffered a stroke.

He was hospitalizedand visits from his devoted crew, flock of buddies, and sons Jakeand Joshmuch of it captured for the show, as Harris wantedhad audiences weeping, as well as drew the interest of people who had never watchedDeadliest Catch before but were hearing about this heartrending upheaval taking place in the world of these rugged fishermen.

Harris, who was only 53, died on Feb. 10, 2010, and the season that chronicledthis sad turn of events premiered that April.

"Death is not uncommon in our industry," Josh Harris told the Los Angeles Times in 2010. "He always taught us to deal with that possibility."

"We're not characters, we're real people," added Time Bandit co-captainJohnathan Hillstrand. "Phil was an easy guy to lovehe was always the coolest guy in the buildinghonest, hardworking, old-school handshake kind of guy. I really loved him."

Producers and the network considered it their duty to honor Harris in a fitting way, and they felt they achieved that with how season six unfolded.

"We obviously weren't going to show anything that was distasteful," executive producer Thom Beers toldEntertainment Weeklyafter the episode in which Harris died aired."We were treading on really thin ice. Of course I had the shots of someone yelling 'clear' and getting the paddles out, but why would I show that? The whole point of it was to show that point-of-view of a family member at home who would get the call. That's the way we all live. That's how we find out how our fathers have died or passed away."

Beers continued, "The whole idea was to make it totally accessible to everyone who experienced a family member's passing. It was the rawest, barest form of filmmaking we have ever done. I pulled away, there was no music, no sound effects. I stayed with shots longer. When you are in those moments, everything slows down. I wanted to give it that same sense. Those pure simple moments of a man on his death bed telling his son he was sorry he wasn't a great dad and his son telling him he was the greatest dad in the world."

And then it was "back to fishing," Beers said. "We had a traumatic loss this season with Capt. Phil, but I think the lesson in the last episode is that we all go on. We carry that loss with us, but we still have to go back to work."

At the same time, Jake Anderson, a crew member on Sig Hansen'sNorthwestern, was dealing with the disappearance of his father, Keitha man who they said never spent a night away from his wife in 43 years of marriagein January 2010.His phone was discovered in a mud puddle near their house.

Two weeks after his family reported him missing, Keith Anderson's truckwas found parked in a remote area in Skagit County, Washington.

The trail ran cold, leaving Jake Anderson(whohad also been at sea in 2009 when he found out his 37-year-old sister Chelsea had died due to complications of pneumonia) withno closure, as well as a bit ofjealousy that Jake and Josh Harris at least were able to say goodbye to their father, as heavy as their loss was. He also wondered if something more sinister had happened to his dad, saying that the keys found in Keith's truck had blood on them.

"I just want to know what happened to my dad," Anderson said in 2010, per Perez Hilton. "I want to bring my father home. He wouldn't give up on us, and I'm not going to give up on him. I just don't know what to do. We need help, and I hope that someone out there will help give us some sort of closure."

Anderson also said, "My relationship with my dad has always been good.He is the one who taught me how to work hard and earn everything. He has always taken good care of my mom and all the kids. He was a real family man. I miss him and want to know what happened."

InJune 2012, a hiker found human bones that turned out to be Keith's.

In the meantime, Jake Anderson had been sober since 2009 after battling substance abuse issues that started when he began taking pills after a skateboarding injury and ultimately devolved into meth use and heavy drinking.

In his 2014 memoirRelapse, he opened way up about the low points in his life and credited being cleanalong with faith, family and his intense, demanding jobwith his ability to get through the loss of his sister and father.

"I don't have every emotion in my body running off negativity," Anderson explained to the Skagit Valley Heraldat the time. "Since I was sober I had the power of choice."

Jake Harris, on the other hand, continued to struggle in the wake of father Phil's death.

He was arrested on DUI and hit-and-run chargesin Shoreline, Wash., less than two weeksafter Phil died and various issues led to him leavingDeadliest Catchin 2013.

"He's lost in drugs still,"Josh, the elder Harris brother, said in the season nine premiere, which wasnoticeably missing Jake. "Jake's gotta take care of his own stuff right now. Deal with his demons."

Meanwhile, Derrick Ray,who took over as relief captain oftheCornelia Marie, left the show in 2011 and had nothing nice to say about either Harris brother.

Talking about a point where he accused Jake of using drugs on the boat, Ray told theOregonianin March 2011, "He was smoking dope in Dutch Harbor when we were shooting scenes prior to his father's funeral. There was a scene at night shot through the wheelhouse window and I was looking at charts and he was stoned to bejesus. I sat and had dinner with him and watched him drool on himself. He was filmed smoking dope on the boat."

Thatpurported footage didn't air on the show, but, Ray explained, "The Coast Guard has a zero-tolerance policy. Having drugs on the boat is against the law. I have a captain's license. I could lose my captain's license. There's footage of it and I knew he was smoking dope, and I was trying to get him to stop."

Ray further concluded that neither Harris brother really wanted to carry on the family business, and they only owned a portion of the boat anyway.

"They didn't want to be there," he said. "They're not fishermen, neither one of them...They want to make TV. Josh is not a fisherman and never will be. I think he grew up with Velcro on his shoes, because he couldn't tie a fishing knot if you held a gun to his head."

On After the Catcha few months later, the brothers confrontedRay face to face.

"You know what, we did work hard, and we did work for you as a captain," Josh told him.

"Did y'all ever own a crab boat before your dad did?" Ray replied.

"I'm learning!" Josh said. "And you told me to ask, [saying] no question was a stupid question. I ask you one f--king question the whole season, you shut me down, you make me feel like s--t, then you proceed to start fights with ever f--king crew member on that boat. It was not your boat to begin with, and you knew that."

Josh becamecaptain of theCornelia Mariein 2015 and remains onDeadliest Catch.

Rick Gershon/Discovery Channel

Meanwhile, that same yearRamblin' Rosecaptain Elliott Neeseleft theshow,later tweeting, "To everyone yea I had issues but went to passages Malibu for 60 days and have a new outlook on things now!Hate all you want but I'm above it."

Two years prior he had been missing from the season nine promo reel, prompting fans to wonder if he was returning.

Sig Hansen remarked, "I am kind of not surprised that Elliot isn't here this year," while the narrator intoned, "Last season, Elliott faced huge setbacks, both at sea and at home."

Jake Harris, unfortunately, has had a lamentable journey since leaving the show. In 2016he was robbed and beaten after leaving the Quil Ceda Creek Casino in Marysville, Wash.,with a couple he met there; he later told police he woke up on the side of the road, missing $2,400 that had been in his wallet.

Josh Harris shared on social media that his brother was in intensive care with a cracked skull.

"My brother was jumped last night and some individuals decided to beat him pretty good, which is a terrible, terrible thing," he said. "They literally beat my brother, left him for dead, threw him out of a moving vehicle onto the side of the freeway.

Two suspects were promptly arrested.

"He's pretty messed up," Josh added. "Hopefully one day we'll get him back fishing again."

While only more time will tell if a return to the profession he once devoted his life to and which meant so much to their dad is in the cards, for now, Jake Harris has a lot of time on his hands to focus on turning things around.

Jake Harris was arrested again,on suspicion of drug possession and car theft after taking an impromptu trip to Phoenix from Washington with a woman and then leaving their hotel with her car, in April 2017.

Then, this pastJanuary, he was stopped by park rangers in Skagit County on suspicion of DUI and ended up leading them in a chase from the wheel of his RV that ended with his arrestfor driving under the influence as well as drug possession and possession of a stolen firearm.

The gun charge was dismissed but Jake Harris ended up pleading guilty toDUIand possession with intent to manufacture or distribute heroin, and was sentenced Aug. 1 to 18 months in prison, Oxygen.com reported.

In the meantime,Phil Harris wasn't the only premature loss for theDeadliest Catchfamily.

In February 2011,Time Bandit deckhand Justin Tennison died suddenly at the age of 33 in a hotel room in Alaska. The official cause of death was given as complications of sleep apnea. The crew scattered his ashes at sea.

"We've talked about...how living in a high-risk job you never know. His last wishes were to be cremated and taken out to the water for one long trip," deckhand EddieUwekoolani told ABC News.

The tight-knit crew of the Cornelia Marie suffered another blow whenTony Lara, a close friend of Phil's who came in to captain the ship in 2011, died of a heart attack in August 2015. He was 50.

"Still in shock over losing Capt #TonyLara @alaskatuff #RIP my friend You had a heart of gold #CorneliaMarie #DeadliestCatch @DeadliestCatch," tweeted his successor as Cornelia Mariecaptain, Casey McManus.

Sadlyenough, Lara's death came two weeks afterJoe McMahon, an associate producer on Deadliest Catch's ninth season, was shot to death in East Pasadena, Calif., not far from his home. He was 25.

The 24-year-old suspect in McMahon's killing was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound hours later.

"We are heartsick about this tragedy," Discovery stated at the time. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and to all that knew and worked with him."

Another pastmember of the family, Blake Painter, the deck boss on theMaverick in 2006 who returned as captain in 2007, was found dead at the age of 38 in May 2018.

Friends told police that he had been happy and sober in the days prior to his death, but TMZ reportedthat July that numerous pills, including the painkiller Tramadol, and paraphernalia containing traces of drug residue were found in his home.

And just this month,Jerod Sechrist, featured briefly on the show as a deckhand in 2016, was charged in Floridawith heroin possession and violating probation on a past traffic offense.

But itisn't just the minor or formerDeadliest Catchcrew members whosebehavior on land doesn't match the integrity they try to maintain on the high seas.

It's harder to find excellent guys," Bill "Wild Bill" Wichrowski, now captain of theSummer Bay, explained to PopCulture.com this spring. "They used to be lined up 12 deep when we were making the crazy rock star money, but now it's almost easier to mold the ones you have and obviously, there's, throughout the fleet, there's addiction problems."

He had givendeck boss Nick McGlashana second chanceafterMcGlashan went to rehab.

"It's in my best interest to do the most for these guys that I can," Wichrowski said. "If you have a crew of five and you lose one, you lost 20 percent of your crew, so we can't really run these guys into the ground and make them want to quit and go home."

Nick"had helped me get where I am today, and I put a lot into him and I tend to get a lot out of him, and I hope that he keeps his head straight."

NorthwesternCaptain Sig Hansen, who's been on the show since the beginning, pleaded guiltylast year to misdemeanor assault for kicking and spitting on an Uber driverin 2017. He was given a deferred sentence of a year's probation and ordered to stay away from alcohol and marijuana and seek alcohol treatment.

The sentencing judge noticed a previous drunk-and-disorderly case in Hansen'spast from 2008.

"I hope that you will take this opportunity to make some positive changes in your life,"Seattle Municipal Court Judge Ed McKenna said, per the Seattle Times.

Less than two weeks later, Sig's younger brother Edgar Hansen, deck boss and relief caption on theNorthwestern, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a16-year-old girl in September 2017.

Edgar received a 364-day suspended jail sentence, was ordered to pay court fines and fees of $1,653,and was ordered toundergo a sexual-deviancy evaluation and treatment, as well as give a DNA sample to authorities, theSeattle Times reported in July 2018.

In pleading tofourth-degree assault with sexual motivation, officially classified as a "gross misdemeanor," Edgar admitted to forcibly kissing and touching the girl.

"I committed this assault for the purpose of my own sexual gratification,"Edgar said in a written statement obtained by theSeattle Times."I am very sorry for that conduct and I have commenced treatment to ensure that nothing like this assault ever happens again."

He did not return toDeadliest Catch.

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The Surplus of Drama That Has Sprung From Deadliest Catch - E! NEWS

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. Periodically throughout the year in South Florida, water from the sea invades our coast. It leaks out of bays, climbs over sea walls and docks, and floods out of sewer drains built to contain it.

For hours, it sits like an unwelcome guest swallowing up whole streets, parking lots, marinas and driveways. It creeps under the doors of unsuspecting homes and businesses and seeps in through the cracks of futile sandbags.

Then, like a thief in the night, it slips away.

The phenomena, known as king tide, occurs a handful of five- to seven-day periods each year. The worst of it happens between the end of the summer and Thanksgiving, when a stronger gravitational pull between the sun and moon creates higher than usual tides. Another round of king tides began Friday and will extend into Wednesday.

For the uninitiated, the water will seem random.

For scientists, researchers and climate change activists, its a crystal ball of sorts: a brief, physical realization of South Floridas perilous future if nothing is done to combat rising seas and global temperatures.

But for South Floridians simply living their lives, the water which many acknowledge has increased in recent years is more like a temporary nuisance they know will eventually go away.

That was the sentiment earlier this month driving along on A1A in Hollywood. Near Franklin Street, king tide flooding created a pool of water that crept up to the wheels of cars. Some drivers, particularly those in sedans, made a U-turn rather than confront it.

Peter Ide, the owner of a charter fishing operation, leaned against a wooden post and watched, unfazed. King tide, he said, and shrugged. Some years are less, some years are more.

Ide has lived all his life in South Florida and said he remembers the flooding was particularly bad in 1969 years before people were talking about climate change.

Everybody says its a new phenomenon, he said. Ive seen this all my life.

Williams Sweet, an oceanographer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said king tides havent changed. In fact, the rising and falling of tides is a process that has occurred for centuries. Whats changed is the sea level, Sweet said.

The sea level in South Florida has risen 5 inches in the last 25 years, according to Sweet. But incremental increases will lead to more flooding in the coming years that is deeper, wider and slower to recede, he said.

In short, what were encountering these days in South Florida wont be a once-in-a-blue-moon thing. Thats going to become the new normal, Sweet said.

Ide, who conceded that the flooding earlier this month seemed bad relative to other years, remained unconvinced that things are getting worse. He views the amount of flooding year-to-year more like a roll of a dice.

To prove his point, Ide pulled up pictures of the same street in 2016. The water was so deep that he was able to paddle a small boat down the street. The water before him, consuming his gravel parking lot, was still too shallow to do that.

People make a big deal out of it, Ide said. But its cyclical. It comes and it goes.

Brian McNoldy, a research associate at the University of Miami school of Marine and Atmospheric Science, said its true, the height of king tides do vary year to year.

But there is a constant upward trend when you map out tide measurements back to 1994, the earliest recorded year by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

When 2019 is over with, McNoldy suspects it will be one of the highest years. According to him, records were broken for the highest recorded tides in the months of March, July, August and September this year something that doesnt happen often.

Still, McNoldy hasnt noticed everyday citizens display much alarm. Other places in the country or the world look at us and were like the big story for them, he said, referring to the numerous magazine articles about how South Florida will be underwater soon.

Meanwhile, McNoldy said, South Floridians display a mix of resilience and indifference.

Weve just gotten used to it, he said.

On A1A and the smaller side streets extending outward like a stream from Palm Beach to Miami Beach, drivers did their best to avoid water that tended to gather on the sides of roads, creating small patches of dry land in the center for cars heading in both directions to awkwardly share.

Many sped through flooded lanes earlier this month, splashing salt water on their cars. Smart drivers ended up at car washes later to rinse off their undercarriages to prevent rusting.

Pedestrians on the street often stopped to gawk at pools of water and shoot photos, like Lynne Gillis and Joe Donato out on a morning walk along East Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale.

It just seems like every year it gets a few inches higher and higher, Gillis said.

She noted how quickly the water had appeared, swallowing up a whole lane of traffic, seemingly out of thin air. Then, as if to downplay her observation, she said, I mean, in another two hours it will be gone.

Gillis lives in a mid-rise condo where she said she is safe from the water. What worries her, though, were unlucky people whose homes are flooded year after year especially those new to neighborhoods who may not expect it.

Gillis pointed out an open house sign submerged in water across the street near San Marco Drive. If it goes into your home, youre talking about mold and other things.

Kathleen Dood, a real estate agent who has represented properties along the South Florida coast for over 20 years, said most buyers are aware of flooding near the coast. Often, they ask her about it and she insists she tells them the truth. But she also said that increased flooding hasnt slowed her sales.

As proof, she referenced a sale shed recently made: a $5 million home in a known flooding hot spot on Royal Plaza Drive, a side street off East Las Olas Boulevard.

Dood said most of her buyers, who are generally older and split their time in other cities, are willing to put up with the challenges of living near the water these days.

They like the location, she said. They like being able to walk to the beach. They like being able to walk downtown.

Ed Ziton is one of the many residents along the coast who seemed to agree. He sat on the edge of a sea wall near the Delray Sands Resort, taking a break from his daily, scenic bike ride up A1A.

He watched as waves of water spilled over the sea wall. He said that all week one of two entrances to Hillsboro Beach, where he lives, had been closed due to flooding.

He didnt seem to mind. Its just that time of year, he said.

While some South Floridians seemed to lounge through king tide flooding, others have business to attend to.

Across the region, postal workers wore galoshes while delivering mail. Delivery men during lunch hour wore ponchos and peddled bikes through water while balancing food. Sean Satz cleared the grass from a sprawling fenced-off mansion near Hillsboro.

Satz, a landscaper, said he has worked up and down the coast during king tide season. Personally, the water didnt scare him much. It did, however, make his job harder.

He pointed to big trash bags full of garbage and debris the water had washed up and that hed spent the morning picking out of the grass. He listed off some of the items hed found: Styrofoam cups, flip flops, an empty bottle of tequila. Everything besides money, Satz said.

At Haulover Marine Center in Miami later that afternoon, Bret Lyons, a tug boat operator, helped a soaked man who had unsuccessfully waded into the flooded marina to try and attach his boat to the back of his pickup.

Lyons said he tows at the marina every day, but during king tide season he becomes extra busy. Some people like to go out during this weather, even though its not the best idea, he said.

McNoldy said he finds such stubborn behavior curious, but ultimately understands. After all, he is less fatalistic about the future of South Florida than some of his peers.

All of Southeast Florida is not going to say, Well, thats it, were done,' he said. He believes that somehow, some way, we will figure out how to adapt to rising seas.

Franklin Vivar and his construction crew were busy working on just that on Las Olas Boulevard near Southeast 25th Avenue one afternoon.

They had just covered the old entrance of a salon and real estate firm with a new brick wall and were finishing up a new entrance to both businesses, raised two feet off the sidewalk. Vivar said the entrance was meant to ward off flooding from king tides.

He pointed down the street where restaurants, real estate and law firms had covered their doors with sandbags or metal sheets and taped signs telling patrons to enter through the back doors.

Around the corner from where Vivar and his men worked, Sunset Drive was completely flooded. Near the edge of the road, where the street meets Sunset Lake, a city worker was ankle deep in water, trying to fix a water pump that clearly wasnt working very well.

The water had grown too high for the pump to be of any use, the worker said. The tide that day was made worse by a couple of storms out at sea. Its king tide, high tide, and a storm, he said. Its bad.

Installing water pumps to filter water out of streets, raising docks and sea walls and elevating roads are some of the ways South Florida has attempted to attack rising seas in recent years.

However, experts believe real solutions require more holistic thinking.

Sweet, for example, compared what South Florida is doing to trying to fix an old car one piece at a time instead of investing in a new one. Dont patchwork, he said. Take a step back and determine how to strategically deal with the problem.

McNoldy said that ultimately the real solutions are the ones that are more costly and inconvenient. Anything that takes a lot of money and a lot of time are things that you want to start doing now before its too late.

Whether such steps will be taken to prepare for sea level rise in South Florida remains to be seen.

In the meantime, however, many residents here who enjoy the daily sunshine, the beach and the palm trees will continue to view king tide season with a mix of temporary awe and last-minute caution.

Or, just like Ronald Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, part of Vivars construction crew on Las Olas Boulevard, took a break that afternoon to eat lunch.

Because hed been working in the water earlier, hed long ago taken off his boots and socks.

He sat on the ground with his lunch pail and leaned back on the new wall hed helped build. As he ate, he watched the waves in the street crash against the curb each time a car drove by.

Its like being at the beach, he said, smiling.

Not more than 15 minutes later, though, the waves breached the sidewalk and began inching near his bare feet, ending the fantasy. Rodriguez abruptly grabbed his lunch and ran to seek higher ground, in his work truck.

(This story was produced in partnership with the Florida Climate Reporting Network, a multi-newsroom initiative founded by the Miami Herald, the South Florida Sun Sentinel, The Palm Beach Post, the Orlando Sentinel, WLRN Public Media and the Tampa Bay Times.)

Visit the Sun Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) at http://www.sun-sentinel.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Continued here:

King tides are a glimpse into future with rising seas. For many, flooding is the new normal. - Waterbury Republican American

Key point:As weak targets, dronesincrease the chance of escalation and miscalculation.

The proliferation of robotic warships could make naval warfare safer for human beings. But it also could have the unintended effect of reducing the threshold for military action.

Recent events in the Strait of Hormuz underscore that danger. In the summer of 2019 U.S. and Iranian forces each shot down a surveillance drone belonging to the other side, escalating tensions that began with U.S. president Donald Trumps decision to withdraw the United States from the 2015 deal limiting Irans nuclear program.

The immediate danger from militarized artificial intelligence isn't hordes of killer robots, nor the exponential pace of a new arms race, Evan Karlik, a U.S. Navy lieutenant commander, wrote for Nikkei Asian Review.

As recent events in the Strait of Hormuz indicate, the bigger risk is the fact that autonomous military craft make for tempting targets -- and increase the potential for miscalculation on and above the high seas, Karlik wrote.

While less provocative than planes, vehicles, or ships with human crew or troops aboard, unmanned systems are also perceived as relatively expendable. Danger arises when they lower the threshold for military action.

If China dispatched a billion-dollar U.S. destroyer and a portion of its crew to the bottom of the Taiwan Strait, a war declaration from Washington and mobilization to the region would undoubtedly follow. But should a Chinese missile suddenly destroy an orbiting, billion-dollar U.S. intelligence satellite, the White House and the U.S. Congress might opt to avoid immediate escalation.

"Satellites have no mothers," quip space policy experts, and the same is true for airborne drones and unmanned ships. Their demise does not call for pallbearers, headstones or memorial statues.

As autonomous systems proliferate in the air and on the ocean, military commanders may feel emboldened to strike these platforms, expecting lower repercussions by avoiding the loss of human life.

Consider when Chinese naval personnel in a small boat seized an unmanned American underwater survey glider in the sea approximately 100 kilometers [or 6.2 miles] off The Philippines in December 2016.

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Drones Are a Threatbut Not for the Reason You Think - Yahoo News

He's the home-grown chef who's sauteed his way to international success.

Curtis Stone has cooked for some of the biggest celebrity names, become a firm fixture on our televisions, and has also launched two critically acclaimed restaurants in Los Angeles.

Watch the full story above.

Now, the father of two has dropped anchor on Aussie shores for an exciting new project - serving up some delicious dishes on board the Ruby Princess for some fine dining at sea.

More on 7NEWS.com.au

"I haven't opened a restaurant here but I've brought one with me," Stone said.

"I've got three restaurants with Princess Cruises and we're celebrating the Ruby Princess' arrival into Sydney.

"The restaurant's called Share, and we celebrate local ingredients. When you're cruising you're stimulated through so many different ways - so we want to slow time down a little bit.

"We serve a six-course menu and we encourage people to chill out, relax and take their time. And it's food that we've developed from our travels around the world."

Find out more about Share by Curtis Stone here. You can also catch him at Brisbane's Good Food and Wine Show this weekend at the Princess Theatre.

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Chef Curtis Stone takes fine dining to the high seas with Princess Cruises - 7NEWS

A chocolate-themed cruise is set to lift anchor next spring that will sail with master chocolatiers, and quite literally, a boat-load of chocolate.

You could call it a dream trip for chocoholics: for eight days, the Costa Pacifica cruise liner will be transformed into a floating Willy Wonka chocolate factory, with tastings,workshops, tours and chocolate sculpting demonstrations planned throughout the trip.

The Costa Pacifica. Image: courtesy of The Costa Cruises via AFP Relaxnews

The cruise departs from the coastal Italian town of Civitavecchia and sails to Genoa, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Malta and Catania in Sicily. The program is organized in partnership with Eurochocolate, an annual chocolate festival that takes place in Perugia, Italy.

Also on the itinerary is a shore excursion to the Chocolate Museum of Barcelona, which traces the history of chocolate and features a model of the citys famous Parc Guell, in chocolate form.

The Eurochocolate Cruise departs on April 16.

Princess Cruises also developed a Chocolate Journeys program with chocolatier Norman Love, whose chocolate confections and desserts are served in select main dining rooms across the fleet. The program also includes chocolate and wine pairing tastings and chocolate spa treatments. CL/JB

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Chocolate-themed cruise to become Willy Wonka factory on the high seas - INQUIRER.net

iSoftBet takes us back to Neverland in this slot, Lost Boys Loot! This 5-reel 20 line game will be available from the 31st of October.

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Get Ready To Set Sail at Online Casinos On the High Seas and Join Peter Pan in LOST BOYS LOOT - Tunf.com News