Category Archives: High Seas

Watch the terrifying moment Mexican pirates rob boat passengers off the coast of Tabasco.

TOURISTS on board a boat off the shores of Tabasco, Mexico faced terror as it was stormed by armed pirates.

The horrifying footage captures the moment the five men climbed aboard the riverboat to threaten holidaymakers at gunpoint. The incident took place in Tabasco, the homeland of President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador, who keeps saying that everything is fine in Mexico, and that people is feliz, feliz, feliz (happy, happy happy).

A birthday celebration onboard a tourist vessel in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco was cut short when the gang of heavily armed pirates made their way onboard to rob passengers.

A group of 34 holidaymakers onboard the Bucanero del Sur boat were sent into a state of panic when the five men interrupted the popular Second Rivercruise, pointing guns at those on board and demanding them to hand over their personal belongings, including of course womens purses, goldchains, wallets and cellphones.

In the video the voice of the pirate can be heard with the typical Tabasco accent (that reminds us of course of Lpez Obrador), saying: Todos al suelo, cabezas abajo (lie down on the floor, heads down) dame todo el dinero, dame la bolsa, no se muevan (Give all the money, give me the bag, dont move).

The Yucatan Times Newsroom with information from larazon.com.mx

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Modern pirates rob passengers in high seas off the coast of Tabasco (VIDEO) - The Yucatan Times

The British flagged oil tanker the Stena Impero seems to have at last been released and heading back to sea.

The ship was detained by Iran after the UN impounded an Iranian tanker just off Gibraltar.

This morning ship tracker shows the Stena Impero heading out of Iranian Bandar Abbas port.

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What must have been a very worrying time for the families of the captured seamen we at the Euro Weekly News wish them Bon Voyage!

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Iranian Captured Tanker Heads To The High Seas - Euro Weekly News

An injured seal pup which washed up on Llandudno promenade has been rescued.

The baby seal, which had injuries to its flipper, is believed to have been thrown on to the shore by strong waves.

It is thought the pup came ashore at around 1pm before being rescued by the RSPCA at 4pm.

The seal will now be transferred to RSPCA Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre to be treated.

Paul Board, 61, who volunteers for North Wales Wildlife Trust, spotted Facebook posts about the seal and went to the prom to see if he could be of any assistance.

He said: "I came along after seeing various posts on Facebook about the seal, so I thought I better take a look.

"It's a common seal - also known as a harbour seal - but it's not all that common for round here.

"It didn't look too distressed. I think it's just washed up with it being high seas.

"I didn't see any injury myself, but others said that, when it rolled over, they saw an injury to its flipper.

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"I didn't want to touch it to check as I didn't want to distress it any further, but from what I saw it didn't appear badly injured."

Mr Board said that members of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) were called to assist but were stood down.

Following phone calls from the public regarding the seal, the Coastguard said they were unable to rescue it as they are "not equipped or trained to deal with wildlife", and will not attend incidents involving wildlife unless human life is at risk.

The advice usually given by the BDMLR when a seal washes up is to monitor it from a distance and avoid approaching the animal.

An RSPCA spokesperson said: RSPCA Cymru would like to thank those who alerted us to this seal.

The seal has been collected by an RSPCA officer and is due to be transferred to RSPCA Stapeley Grange Wildlife Centre.

"The seal has a couple of injuries to its flippers but appears to be in a good condition.

The officer was aware that well-meaning members of the public had wanted to move the seal.

"However, the RSPCA urges members of the public not to chase or move seals found on the beach into the water as this often does more harm than good.

Ideally, lone seal pups looking fit and healthy should be monitored from a safe distance for 24 hours.

Please always stay at a safe distance and keep dogs well away - seals can have a very nasty bite."

If you see a seal that may be abandoned, thin or ill, call the BDMLR for advice and assistance on 01825 765546 or 07787 433412.

Alternatively, get in touch with the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999.

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Rescue launched after rough sea leads to rare appearance by seal on Llandudno prom - Daily Post

Tony Award winner Laura Benanti will perform in a gala concert at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center October 19.

The performance will mark the New Jersey native's Shore debut, hot on th heels of her Broadway return as Eliza Doolittle in Lincoln Center Theater's revival of My Fair Lady.

She will perform an 80-minute set, reinterpreting songs from The Sound of Music, My Fair Lady and other musicals she has performed on stage and screen.

As a native Jersey girl, I am thrilled to be performing at the Axelrod in October, Benanti says. Jersey people are my favorite people. Outspoken, funny, warm and approachable. I always do my best to embody those qualities and do my home state proud."

Benanti won a Tony Award in 2008 for her portrayal as Louise in the Patti LuPone-led revival of Gypsy; she also earned nominations for Swing, Into the Woods, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and She Loves Me.

Benanti has been a special guest performer on Playbill Travels Broadway on the High Seas cruises. Cabins are now on sale for Broadway in the Great Northwest, Playbill Travels first domestic cruise featuring Kate Baldwin, Tedd Firth, Christopher Fitzgerald, Aaron Lazar, and Faith Prince (April 26May 4, 2020), and for Broadway on the Mediterranean (August 31September 7, 2020), featuring Audra McDonald, Will Swenson, Gavin Creel, Caissie Levy and Lindsay Mendez, and for Broadway on the Nile (December 27, 2020January 7, 2021), with performers soon to be announced. To book a suite or stateroom, call Playbill Travel at 866-455-6789 or visit PlaybillTravel.com.

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Tony Winner Laura Benanti to Perform in Concert at the Axelrod - Playbill.com

The all-weather lifeboat The Barry and Peggy High Foundation was launched at around 3.50pm on Sunday, September 29 after a Mayday call was made from the cruiser.

The vessel was reported to be at Foreland Point near Lynmouth, and the Ilfracombe lifeboat made its way through waves of up to four metres and gale force north-westerly winds.

The cruiser had been travelling from Bath to Appledore when the weather worsened. It continued to try to make passage, but in the heavy seas and strong tides it suffered engine problems, forcing the distress call.

The lifeboat escorted the cruiser as it made way, but as it reached Combe Martin Bay an engine failed, prompting the decision to tow the vessel to safety.

The cruiser was towed back to Ilfracombe harbour, arriving at 7.30pm, the spring tide meant the lifeboat could not return to station until 10pm.

Volunteer RNLI Coxswain Andrew Bengey said: "The motor cruiser crew were experienced sailors and were well equipped for the passage. Although they were caught out by the weather they were wearing life jackets and did the right thing to raise the alarm when their engine began to fail.

"The RNLI would urge anyone to always wear their life jackets and look at the weather forecast when heading out to sea."

The cruiser had been seen earlier that day near Minehead by a member of the public who believed the vessel to be in difficulties in the heavy sea conditions.

Watchet Coastguard sent their team to search the coastline for the vessel, but no sightings were made, and no distress calls were reported.

The RNLI Minehead lifeboat was launched and attempted to proceed westwards towards Porlock Bay, however it could only get as far as Selworthy Sands due to the extreme sea conditions.

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Ilfracombe RNLI recover cruiser caught in heavy seas and gale force winds - North Devon Gazette

Press release from the US Coast Guard:

22 ft swell crashes at the North Jetty in 2017. [Image by Laurie Jensen]

The Coast Guard encourages mariners to take precautions for high seas and gale force winds along Mendocino, Humboldt and Del Norte coastal areas beginning Wednesday.

The Coast Guard and National Weather Service (NWS) in Eureka are expecting powerful ocean swells as large as 19 feet to effect the northern California coast beginning Wednesday. These conditions have the potential to create large waves within entrance channels, especially during out-flowing ebb tides.

We advise smaller vessels to remain in port or take shelter, said Captain Gregory Fuller, Commander of Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay, commercial vessels should prepare for rough seas and consider remaining in port until these hazardous conditions subside.

The Coast Guard has established temporary safety zones to close entrance channels of Crescent City, Humboldt Bay and Fort Bragg during periods of hazardous surf. These safety zones will be activated by Coast Guard broadcast on VHF-FM channel 16 and will prohibit vessels from transiting harbor entrance channels during extreme environmental conditions.

We are now at the start of the season with higher risk of large surf and sneaker waves, cautioned Ryan Aylward, NWS Warning Meteorologist. We recommend avoiding steep beaches, rocky outcroppings and jetties, and remaining well back from any wet rocks or sand.

Mariners and beachgoers are encouraged to take the following precautions to protect themselves and their vessels:

Monitor the weather and heed all marine warnings on VHF-FM channel 16. Recreational boaters, personal watercraft and paddle craft users are advised to stay off the water due to hazardous sea conditions. Beachgoers are urged to stay out of the water and off jetties during this period of heavy weather due to increased risk of rip currents and sneaker waves.

For more information forecast conditions, visit the National Weather Service, Eureka Office http://www.weather.gov/eureka or facebook.com/NWSEureka.

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Watch Out for High Seas and Gale Force Winds, Says US Coast Guard - Redheaded Blackbelt

A new report from YouGov has revealed that cruise vacations, once seen as the holiday choice of the retired, are steadily becoming the intersection of experiential travel and innovation. Increasingly, cruise vacations are being viewed as a unique way to explore the world, while delivering a highly personalized experience via on-board smart technologies.

The research also reveals a strong appetite among Americans for this type of vacation. Three in ten (31%) US adults say they have been on a cruise before and one in six (16%) say they plan on cruising within the next year.

A YouGov spokesperson said: "The data reveals that a third of Americans have been on a cruise, but we can learn even more about the cruise industry by examining the general populations cruising history against their intent to cruise.

"The profile of someone who is cruising for the first time looks different to that of someone who has cruised before. Cruise lines will obviously wish to market to people differently based on their cruising history."

The report data shows, for example, that nightlife is an important vacation influencer for both first-time and repeat customer groups. First-time cruisers (14%) and repeat cruisers (16%) are significantly more likely than leisure travelers overall (11%) to say that nightlife options such as clubs, bars, and restaurants factor into why they choose certain vacation types over others.

From a marketing point of view, the report reveals that online ads particularly those on social media grab the attention of people who go on cruises. While TV remains an effective advertising channel among first-time and repeat cruisers, nearly half in each group say online ads are another way to catch their eye. Surprisingly, 42% of first-time cruisers and 45% of repeat cruisers are millennials.

At a more granular level, both first-time cruisers (50%) and repeat cruisers (60%) are more likely than the average American (32%) to agree that they engage with ads on social media more than they do with ads on regular websites.

You can download the free report on cruise travel here and learn more about YouGov's Plan and Track offering here.

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Carry on cruising: YouGov report reveals bright future on the high seas - The Drum

ISTANBUL Thedrone attackon Saudi Arabia oil facilities on September 14 is jolting the entire Middle East, the latest incident in a months-long battle between the Trump Administration and Iran. Yemens Houthi movement claimed credit for the devastating attack that shut down half of Saudi Arabias oil production. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blames Iran for the attack, while Iran has categoricallydenied it.

Lets not forget that the Trump Administration started this low-level war by withdrawing from the Iran nuclear accord. The UN Security Council voted unanimously to ratify the agreement, so the US stands in violation of UN resolutions and international law.

At the same time, in almost forgotten incidents, the powers that be in Washington, D.C., are reviving piracy on the high seas. For three months, the Trump Administration has subverted the law, instigated an armed ship seizure, and tried to bribe a ship captain in order to seize an Iranian oil tanker in the Mediterranean.

The United States has become a hi-tech Blackbeard.

On July 4, 30 British marinesstormedan Iranian oil tanker anchored off the coast of Gibraltar, a British colony located on the southernmost tip of Spain. United Kingdom and Gibraltar authorities, acting on behalf of the Trump Administration, claimed the ship was violating European Union sanctions by planning to deliver crude oil to Syria.

Those authorities had to bend themselves into pretzels to legally justify the seizure because the action, in fact, involved multiple violations of international law.

In retaliation, IranseizedBritish and United Arab Emirate oil tankers, and as of this writing, continues to hold them hostage. How did this mess begin?

Making it up as they go along

When the United States engages in piracy, it tries to make it look legal. The ship seizure near Gibraltar was clearly planned in Washington, asrevealedby the Spanish dailyEl Pais. The conservative government in Britain, even before the ascension of Boris Johnson as prime minister, willingly participated in Trumps tanker takeover.

Based on US intelligence, Gibraltar and British authorities claimed the ship was violating EU sanctions against Syria. A careful reading of thosesanctions, however, reveal that they prohibit exporting oilfromSyria, not delivering oiltoSyria. It also turns out that Gibraltar had no law allowing seizure of ships under the EU sanctions. So, on July 3, Gibraltarchanged its regulationsin order to legalize the seizure the following day.

Significantly, no EU country voiced support for the U.S./British piracy. Carl Bildt, former Swedish prime minister and now co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations,tweetedon July 7:

The legalities of the UK seizure of a tanker heading for Syria with oil from Iran intrigues me. One refers to EU sanctions against Syria, but Iran is not a member of EU. And EU as a principle doesnt impose its sanctions on others. Thats what the US does.

Bribery and chicanery

Brian Hook, the State Departments point man on Iran sanctions,emailedthe Iranian ships captain offering him several million dollars if he would send the tanker to a port where it could be seized on behalf of Washington.

Like a swaggering buccaneer of old, Hook offered a cash reward followed by a threat. With this money you can have any life you wish and be well-off in old age, Hook wrote in an email seen by theFinancial Times. If you choose not to take this easy path, life will be much harder for you.

When the captain, an Indian national, didnt respond to the email, the Trump Administration applied unilateral sanctions on him.

Meanwhile, the United States had secretly launched a cyber attack on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, allegedly disabling key computer systems. Unnamed senior US officialsboastedtoThe New York Timesthat the cyber attack degraded Irans ability to disrupt civilian shipping. But it apparently didnt stop Iran from seizing a British oil tanker, the Stena Impero,in the Strait of Hormuz on July 19.

AnIranian officialadmitted the Stena Imperowas seized in response to the taking of the Iranian tanker. On September 16, Iran seized aUAE tankercarrying what it described as smuggled diesel.

The Mediterranean has apparently returned to the buccaneering days of old. If a country seizes one of your ships, you seize two of theirs. Well, shiver me timbers.

On August 16, Gibraltar ignored a last-minute U.S. legal plea and released the Iranian ship. On August 26, theship was soldto an unrevealed buyer and renamed the Adrian Darya 1. Pegleg Trump and his hardy band of pirates then proceeded to threaten oil brokers and port authorities throughout the region not to allow the oil to be unloaded.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeosaid, Weve made clear anyone who touches [the tanker], anyone who supports it . . . is at risk of receiving sanctions from the United States.

Remember, there is no legal authority whatsoever for Pompeos threats other than the unilateral US sanctions that are themselves a violation of UN Security Council resolutions. Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear agreement, which the UN Security Council had passed unanimously, and is thus violating international law.

On September 15, the Iranian foreign ministry announced that the Adrian Darya offloaded its cargo at an unnamed Mediterranean port, while western countries claim that country is Syria. As of this writing, Iran has not released the British or UAE tankers.

In the days of old, pirates fired canons and boarded ships with cutlasses clamped in their teeth. Today the Trump Administration does it with cyber attacks and stopping wire transfers. Iran has the right to ship its oil to willing buyers. Denying that right is piracy pure and simple.

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Foreign Correspondent: Trump's piracy on the high seas - 48 Hills

If people in the touring business had been alive 200 years ago, they probably would have been pirates, says Baz Halpin, whos responsible for much of what youve seen in some of the most spectacular concert outings in recent years, including the past several Taylor Swift and Pink tours. Hes speaking of a maraud-and-run business that attracts itinerants who deal well with stress and high stakes, spending a few hours putting up a stage where a diva can unleash her high Cs before everyone returns to the high seas.

The Burbank complex that houses Silent House, the company Halpin founded 10 years ago, is the navigation bridge for these complex endeavors. Despite his analogy, its definitely never talk like a pirate day here. Gathered in a conference room, he and his three partners speak as responsible creative executives who are determined to take an unruly business made up primarily of disconnected freelancers and find structure and stability, building a new model for touring that puts a lot of the industrys formerly independent operators under one roof.

What were trying to do is streamline this concept of producing a tour by having this one-stop shop to produce the event, says Halpin, a native of Dublin who moved to the U.S. in 2010. Thats critical, because as everything gets more complicated, with more people, more technology and more vendors, its got to be so much more organized than it used to be.

His brainchild was to bring all the creative and business elements of touring together something that, as much as it might make intuitive sense to people in other businesses, has never been the way of the live music biz.

Says Halpin: [Silent House is a place] where you can go as an artist and say, I want you to design my tour, and I want you to produce my tour. This is how much money weve got. This is the promoter. Go. And I do see this becoming the way the business will go in the next 10 years. If Im a manager, I would rather go to one person and say, Hey, take care of it, and be comfortable in the knowledge that all those boxes are going to be ticked. But its a new concept. Its a really new concept.

Silent House is responsible for the aesthetics, logistics and financials of current or recent tours by the Jonas Brothers, Khalid and Childish Gambino, on top of a long roster of past or present clients thats included Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Halsey and Bruno Mars. The execs emphasize that they dont always have to fulfill every role on every tour they take on just that they can.

Some people come to us and say, Do the whole thing lighting design, set design, choreography, video content, produce it, everything, says Halpin. But some people will say, Hey, I just want production design, or choreography or whatever. And sometimes well just produce the show and not do any of the creative.

Laughs partner Tamlyn Wright: It sounds like a buffet. Adds Alex Reardon, another member of the key Silent House quartet: You can eat it all or just the roast beef.

All four of the principals in SilentHouse have more than two decades of working in the biz under their belts.

When I started almost 30 years ago, [touring] was a loss leader for album sales and it was a bunch of hairy roadies in a van throwing some lights around, Reardon says.

Halpin also strains to recall simpler times when he started out as a lighting director. My first tour was with Jethro Tull. I had two lighting trusses and one truck, one bus, 11 guys on the crew, and that was it. Now were doing 60-truck tours with 140 guys on the crew, and you have 20 to 25 guys running the show, operating lifts, confetti cues, inflatables, moving props, moving scenery.

Pink runs like a Broadway show, with props coming on and off stage every song, and dancer quick-changes. So many shows have robots, drones, inflatables and pyro. And all these things need to be factored into this duck that floats across the top of the water that seems so seamless and effortless, while this giant machine is churning underneath. Even 10 years ago there were just a handful of artists who did theatrical shows. Now everybody wants a spectacle.

Halpin notes that Silent House never outright says no to an artists ideas, but guides them gently toward whats feasible. Many put on what Halpin refers to as an arthouse touring show visually resplendent but without as many dancers and moving parts.

In a meeting it can sound like a great idea: I want to fly from there to there. But how many trucks is that going to add? How many bodies? Whats it going to do to the overall weight, or the sightlines? Because for that one gag, say its $50,000, hypothetically, for you to fly from there to there. But it might add $200,000 in associated costs that you dont necessarily see on that first piece of paper when you get a quote. For an artist to come off after working for six months and go, I sold out arenas why didnt I earn any money? thats not a result anybody wants.

At Silent House, the four partners are part of a 14-person team incorporating studio managers, project managers, illustrators, 3D and 2D draftsmen, renderers, communications and office managers who have the ability to oversee all the aesthetics of a show as well as logistics and finances.

Two years ago, Silent House moved to a Burbank campus where the execs also brought in as fellow renters some of their most frequent collaborators, including Blink TV and Earlybird Visual.

We have two video-content companies, a costume shop, a design-services facility, a film studio and a dance studio, Halpin says. (Leading a tour through the facilities, hes careful to call out and make sure there are no naked dancers undergoing fittings amid the array of desktop jockeys.)

We started out as designers, which isa very solitary sort of existence. So to be able to build a campus where its a collective group of people all pushing through the same goal and being able to share their highs and their lows, its good for the spirit.

Whats the workload? In a given year, Halpin estimates the company would do 30 tours and 100 unique performances meaning individual one-offs, like performances on award shows and maybe 12 to 14 television shows that we would either produce on or act as designers for.

Many are on the humbler side, despite Silent Houses rep for working on some of pop historys most monumental tours: We just did Jordan McGraw [as a one-off] on the Teen Choice Awards, and thats his first-ever performance.

Says partner Tamlyn Wright: Its all scalable. Ive got Lauren Daigle out on tour right now, who just hit big, from Christian to crossover artist. Right now shes got one truck, three buses, but its going to get bigger and bigger. So its not just the Taylors and the Pinks. Laurens entire evening costs as much as one song in Pinks show.

TV is a big part of Silent Houses business, and not just single performances on awards shows, but having a hand in the whole program. Halpin himself is a co-executive producer on the American Music Awards, the ACMs and the iHeart Radio Awards.

Wright, a broadcast specialist with three primetime Emmys to her name, recently did both the Radio Disney and Teen Choice awards shows and just got back from two weeks in China doing a music show for Mango TV, its Netflix equivalent, which she laughingly describes as Chinas cross between the VMAs and The Price Is Right, with this alien astronaut dance party theme inspired by a VMAs I designed several years ago.

Theyre also moving more into corporate gigs. Says Halpin: We did the Audi e-tron launch up in San Francisco, where you get to projection map on an iconic building thats 400 feet long and do a choreographed flight with a thousand Intel drones over a mile-and-a-half stretch over a steamboat thats coming in, and all this cool stuff that you wouldnt necessarily get to do in television or touring.

Those non-music experiences come in handy when its time to figure out whats possible next in the top tiers of touring, he adds.

As for whats on the horizon, Reardon is just about to blurt something when Halpin admonishes him, They dont call us Silent House for nothing.Will they do the next T-Swift tour? Ihope so, if shell have us, says the founder. Weve been with her for a while. I love all the new music.

Having all four partners together in the same room is a rarity, the last time being a good six months earlier. Youre getting an eclipse moment here, says Wright. Half the time were around the world, tapping into a workspace chat room for each show.

They put in all those hours trying to build transportable housing that reflects the vision of the artists who have to live in it, not their own, as architects.

Touring has moved to be the major source of most artists income; gone are the days that it was a promotion for an album, says Halpin. Theyre going to go spend eight months, a year, 18 months, maybe two years doing this show. Youre wanting to give a really specific identity to their essence, because theyre out there with what youve given them, and they have to do their best work in that space.

The four partners of Silent House:

BAZ HALPIN,President & CEO

Halpin moved from Ireland to England as he worked his way up in the business before heading to L.A. and founding the Silent House collective in 2010. Hes a go-to guy for Taylor Swifts tours, and some of his most spectacular recent work has been with Pink. I go back 14 years with Pink, and I hope theres another 14, and more. She is constantly, just as a person, pushing me to do better in my life. I think she is the most incredible human being forget about artist, performer, mother and now vintner.

TAMLYN WRIGHT,Production Designer & Partner

Wright has four Emmys to her credit for art directing the Oscars, Grammys and VMAs. Although awards shows have clearly been a specialty she recently turned the Teen Choice Awards into a beachside festival in Hermosa Beach shes branched out at Silent House to working on such tours as LaurenDaigles. Each of us has 20-plus years behind us, with different backgrounds, and we are able to kind of fill in the gaps and learn from each others know-how, she says.

CORY FITZGERALD,Creative Director, Lighting Designer & Partner

Specializing in lighting, Fitzgerald has worked with Bruno Mars, Beyonc, Justin Bieber, Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson, Gwen Stefani and Skrillex, among others. Recent notches in his belt range from designing Childish Gambinos set at Coachella, to PY1 Pyramid: Through the Echoes, a multimedia experience. Your friend from college can come up with the best flying hoverboard idea youve seen, but if you cant come back with a real budget, youre an idea generator.

ALEX REARDON,Creative Director,Designer & Partner

The son of an architect who started out in lighting design before moving into a wider range of creative production, the London-born Reardon is the one who came up with Silent Houses mantra of priorities: aesthetics, logistics and finance. This year, Khalid was definitely, from an artistic point of view, incredibly rewarding. And then I did a design for Tears for Fears, who I had worked for 25 years ago, and to see them selling out arenas again [in Europe] was so much fun.

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A homemade submarine carrying more than five tons of cocaine was intercepted in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of South America, the US Coast Guard said.

The 39-foot-long (12 meter) vessel had previously been detected by maritime surveillance, according to a statement published Tuesday.

The Coast Guard boarded the self-propelled submersible on September 1 in international waters with the aid of the Colombian navy, the statement added.

On board, the Coast Guard discovered about 5.4 tons of cocaine, with a market value of more than $165 million.

Four suspected drug smugglers were arrested during the operation.

Along with planes and swift boats, South American drug cartels -- particularly from Colombia -- use somewhat rudimentary submarines to transport drugs to Mexico and on to the United States.

In July, the US Coast Guard announced the seizure of 13 tons of cocaine from multiple operations throughout Latin America.

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High seas: US authorities seize five tons of cocaine from submarine - RTL Today