Category Archives: High Seas

Wellington Harbour will soon boast the Southern Hemispheres first battery-powered commuter ferry, as Kiwi firms make waves in the electric marine revolution. Todd Niall reports.

Jeremy Ward seems almost surprised to be within weeks of putting a new electric ferry into service in the capital.

The 135-seat carbon-fibre-hulled catamaran should join East by West Ferries cross-harbour run by Christmas, the most tangible achievement so far for New Zealands local marine industry as the world goes electric.

I dont quite understand why little old East by West is leading this, said Ward, its managing director and the one who started the talk of going electric with the next ferry.

READ MORE:* Southern Hemisphere's first fully-electric passenger ferry to launch on September 9 * Diesel, batteries and biofuels: Setting our ferries on course for a green future* Who should get Auckland's clever ideas over the line?

The ferry operators sister firm Wellington Electric Boat Building Company (WEBBCO) is just one of around 20 Aotearoa firms making big or small waves in the electric marine revolution.

Electric is an exciting development, said Peter Busfield, the executive director of the Marine Industry Association.

As exciting as moving from black-and-white to colour television - after ones got it, everyone else will want it.

Wellington is an unlikely place to be leading the electric marine revolution, a city that Ward points out lost its boat-building industry about 20 years ago.

Ward had been pondering a new ferry for the fleet, and on an overseas trip got hooked by a 40-metre-long, 400-passenger electric tourist ferry running in Norways fiords.

Back home, he met up with Fraser Foote, an experienced ferry-builder, and WEBBCO was formed in 2018, setting up in Gracefield.

Jericho Rock-Archer/Stuff

East by West Ferries owner Jeremy Ward, left, and WEBBCOs Fraser Foote, right, with the Ika Rere.

Partners included Whangrei-based McKay a big marine electrics and electronics builder and SSC Design in Auckland. So far, Ika Rere has outperformed the design expectations.

With the boat going faster than we thought, our resistance is down, therefore energy use is below what we expected we can go further and faster, said Foote.

WEBBCO is looking at two smaller boats for a service from downtown to Miramar and connecting to the airport, but the big opportunity is overseas, where the ferry has sparked interest.

WEBBCO/Supplied

East by West Ferries Ika Rere in sea trials on Wellington Harbour.

We are waiting now till everything is proven and the boat is in service, and we have actual data, then we will be looking to grow those enquiries, he said.

WEBBCO believes it can service orders in Australasia from the Wellington base, fed by suppliers in Napier, and Whanganui, but further afield, deals might involve licensing builders in export markets.

Grants from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Agency (EECA) and Callaghan Institute have helped, but most of the nearly $9 million development cost has been self-funded.

In Auckland, friend and rival EV Maritime appears close to a green light for the first carbon-fibre electric ferries to go into service on the Waitemat Harbour.

LAWRENCE SMITH/Stuff

Michael Eaglen, co-founder and CEO of Aucklands EV Maritime.

EV Maritime spun out of established boat builder McMullen and Wing, and has had a contribution from ferry operator Fullers360.

Its hopes are linked to Auckland Transports protracted work to devise a new strategy and funding for up to 20 public transport ferries, but it also has eyes overseas.

Auckland, Sydney, Hong Kong, all have significant ferry fleets doing long distances, that have to go fast there are substantial fleets of diesel ferries serving those cities, said Michael Eaglen, CEO and co-founder.

He said fast electric commuter ferries were a logical part of the market to start in: They are such busy boats, commuter ferries work hard, so lower operating costs give a real payback for investment.

EV Maritime/Supplied

EV Maritime has designed an electric ferry for commuter service in Auckland.

East by West estimated the premium to go electric could be clawed back in six to seven years.

A diesel [engine] youll be rebuilding after 15,000 hours, and theres daily checks, but an electric motor you wont touch for 50,000 hours, said Ward.

Fraser Foote put the fuel savings at $200,000 a year, and maintenance a further $50,000.

Jericho Rock-Archer/Stuff

Boat builder Fraser Foote, left, and East by West Ferries owner Jeremy Ward in the control room of the Ika Rere.

New Zealands place at the pointy end of the electric maritime sector was no mystery to Eaglen.

That performance drive has often been our [New Zealands] speciality, not just in yacht racing, but even superyachts, which we were very busy with in the 90s and 2000s; quite novel, one-off boats taking on the challenge of technical tasks, he said.

A bit further along Aucklands eastern Tmaki Estuary, Seachange is working another niche - a hydrofoiling, carbon-fibre car ferry, with a small prototype destined for the Cook Strait run.

Seachange/Supplied

Artists impression of the electric hydrofoiling car ferry being developed by Auckland firm Seachange.

A team of 25 is led by founder and chief executive Max Olson, who has his own take on Kiwi activity in the sector.

My pick would be we have a really strong composites [carbon fibre] industry, and a bunch of really talented generalist engineers, who can tackle those hard cross-functional problems, said Olson.

Jason Dorday/Stuff

Max Olson is the CEO and co-founder of Seachange in Auckland.

A lot of the work put into Americas Cup boats over the last two decades has really helped funnel that, and kept it pushing along.

Seachanges team includes engineers hired from the Americas Cup and from the SailGP racing circuit, and one of its backers is Sir Stephen Tindalls K1W1 investment vehicle, which is also a backer of Rocketlab.

Seachange/Supplied

Seachanges eventual electric hydrofoiling ferry would carry 20 cars and 150 passengers.

Seachange is working on a 24-metre-long, six-car, 30-passenger vessel to trial on the Cook Strait by late 2023.

The production version is likely to be 40 metres, carrying 20 cars and 150 passengers, riding on foils 5 metres above a calm surface, enabling smooth passage in high seas.

While we dont have a super-deep car ferry market in New Zealand, Cook Strait aside from a few minor differences looks like a lot of routes in Europe, and Europe is a $30 billion car ferry industry.

Seachange/Supplied

Seachanges battery-powered car ferry will ride on foils 5 metres clear of the surface.

Nearby Zerojet, formed in 2015, has developed a battery-powered jet propulsion system for small runabouts and dinghies.

Zerojet hopes to have the first boats in the water before Christmas, aiming for 100 local sales before selling into the world market, where production boat builders have already shown strong interest.

Theres huge demand from overseas weve got more demand than we know what to do with, and people are very excited about the product, said Bex Rempel, the co-founder and chief executive.

Jason Dorday/Stuff

Bex Rempel is CEO and co-founder of Zerojet in Mt Wellington, Auckland.

For launching we are focused on [the] tender market, the dinghy on the back of bigger yachts, to go from the yacht to a beach and back, or a neighbours boat, sightseeing or other activities on the water, she said.

Europe is Zerojets initial most-promising market, followed by parts of the United States.

Regulations are changing around the world, very fast putting increasingly higher emissions restrictions on outboards, to the point it wont be economical to produce combustion outboards under, say, 40 horsepower, she said.

Zerojet is not alone globally, but Rempel says there is room for a lot of players.

Zerojet/Supplied

The first dinghy with a Zerojet battery jet unit is due on sale by the end of 2021.

Theres no one solution thats going to make everyone happy; the industry is in infancy with so much room for growth and so much room for innovation.

Like the other firms, Rempel saw a big future for New Zealand operators, as the marine sector followed land transport into switching from combustion engines, to clean electric.

Electric is the future, if you look at the current market its only about 1.5 per cent of total sales, said Rempel.

Being in New Zealand is fantastic for us, we are definitely in the right place.

See the original post:

'Electric is the future': Kiwi boat builders ride wave as first battery-powered ferry service nears - Stuff.co.nz

For most Americans, the COVID-19 pandemic meant shifting where and how they did things. Working from home instead of the office. Getting groceries delivered rather than going to the store. Playdates for the kids at the park, not somebody's house.

But for the denizens of the travel industry, those shifts represented an existential threat. Life went on, but with a whole lot less moving around. Cruises shut down, road trips were postponed, and flights were reserved for acts of desperation.

Nearly two years in, with effective vaccines nearly universally available, the industry is coaxing Americans out of their bunkers and starting to understand the many ways we've changed how we all think about movement.

For the Travel section of this year's edition of Insider's 100 People Transforming Business, we've highlighted 10 of those transformers, people working to accommodate those shifts and make the most of them, whether they're helping us get across town or around the world.

The dream of the self-driving car has been knocking around nearly as long as the car itself, but now that the technology is approaching ready for wide-scale deployment, it's time to figure out how to work it into people's lives.

At Argo AI, much of that work falls to Cynthia Kwon. The Waymo competitor's VP of strategy and business development is in charge of striking the deals to do all the non-technological stuff Argo doesn't want to take on. Lately, that means partnerships with Walmart to deliver goods in Miami, Austin, and Washington, D.C, and with Lyft to put robo-cars on the ride-hail platform in Miami this year and Austin in 2022.

At Zoox, the self-driving startup acquired by Amazon last year, CEO Aicha Evans is working to make good on the outfit's promise not just to change the role of the human in the vehicle but to rethink the nature of the vehicle itself. "The hard problems aren't something to be feared," Evans told Insider, "but rather an opportunity to learn."

Meanwhile, Uber veteran Raquel Urtasun is going back to the beginning of the process. This summer, she launched her startup, Waabi, with the goal of building a self-driving car from the ground up, based heavily on her expertise, machine learning. "When you don't have a solution yet, everybody thinks the same," Urtasun said. "Everybody's going for the same approach. Chances of success actually diminish."

If managing director of global operations for United Airlines David Kensick gets his way, we could see the end of a time-honored airport tradition: sprinting through the airport, desperate to make your connection. Kensick is the force behind the airline's ConnectionSaver program, which prioritizes helping people make their flights over traditional performance indicators like airplane turnaround time. "This is such a leap that I do think at some point the industry will start to evolve towards these metrics," Kensick said.

Roei Ganzarski wants to make a bigger change to the flying experience. The aviation industry may be many years from erasing its Bigfoot-sized carbon footprint, but Ganzarski's startup, MagniX, is looking to take it down a size by developing a 40-seat, hydrogen-powered, electric aircraft set to take off in 2024.

Norwegian Cruise Line CEO Frank Del Rio is dealing with a much more imminent problem: how to safely return to the high seas, especially after multiple virus outbreaks on cruise ships in the early days of the pandemic. His answer: a strict mandate that everyone on board be vaccinated, even if that means saying no to families with kids too young for the shot and battling with politicians like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

The biggest travel-related changes stemming from the pandemic may be those hitting the hospitality business, as people rethink where they want to spend their time, whether they're working or on vacation. At Sonder, an Airbnb competitor that rents out properties it owns itself, CEO Francis Davidson says he's witnessed a decade's worth of "behavioral progress" in about 18 months.

Hopper's head of fintech, Anwesha Bhattacharjee, has deployed a "price freeze" tool to let customers lock in rates. "People wanted to travel, but we had to create something that made them comfortable booking it," she said. "We constantly kept our ears to the ground as we shifted to understand what customers wanted out of this product."

Since becoming Airbnb's global head of hosting in July 2020, Catherine Powell has been helping the company's hosts navigate those shifts. "Their ability to be resilient, their willingness to adapt, and their desire to continue to really create the best possible hosted experience has been really humbling," she said.

More:

How the Covid-19 Pandemic Reshaped How We Travel, Forever - Business Insider

Pupils marched to the Southern Water pumping station Photo Steven Collis

Year 5 pupils at Northdown Primary School have held a protest over the pollution of our seas which has been filmed and will be screened at Turner Contemporary.

Forty youngsters marched with banners and sea creature sculptures made of recycled plastic along Palm Bay to the Margate wastewater pumping station to air their concerns over plastic and sewage dumped into the sea.

The action followed a 12 week school project with youth charity Arts Education Exchange, with the children researching, writing, discussing and making art about the devastating impacts of plastic and sea pollution.

Youngsters have also written letters to Asda and Coca-Cola about their project and constructed sea creatures out of recycled plastics which were animated using iPads, but the group decided it wasnt enough.

The pupils say they discovered that 8 million tonnes of plastic gets dumped into the oceans every year, making enough dumped materials to stretch to the moon and back three times!

Initially the young artivists were going to carry out a beach clean but this was cancelled due to a wastewater release which put the beach below high tide off limits, prompting the protest from the disappointed youngsters.

So, on the morning on November 17 the children assembled in the reception of their school, wrapped up against the wind and, with banners and plastic sea creatures on sticks held high, they stomped to the sea and began their march towards the water pumping station at Botany Bay chanting: Plastic pollution is in our oceans, theres no cure or potion, stop using plastic, it is drastic.

Arts Education Exchange director/founder Ollie Briggs said: Children are the future and I get the feeling well be ok. If education is about consciousness, agency and community action then Im happy to report that these year 5 pupils of Northdown Primary School are getting theirs.

Huge thanks to the fantastic teachers Tammy Provost-Lines, Sinead Ford and Sasha Bryant for inviting us to be part of this special occasion.

Year 5 teacher and writing lead Tammy said she contacted Arts Ed Exchange to get involved with the children on their topic of plastic pollution with the question will our oceans ever recover?

She added: We were meant to do a beach clean to collect plastics for our project with them at Turner Contemporary but it was cancelled because of sewage in the sea. The children were really disappointed and so took it a little bit further so instead of just been a structure created for Turner Contemporary it turned into a protest.

The event was documented by local filmmaker and artist Nathan Ryan-Jones and will be screened at Turner Contemporary on December 2 alongside the banners and sculptures made by the children.

It was also photographed by Ramsgates Steven Collis and was supported by Haeckels Director Dom Bridges and environmentalist and activist Daniel Webb of Everyday Plastic.

View post:

Northdown Primary pupils highlight sea pollution with filmed protest which will be screened at Turner Contemporary - The Isle of Thanet News

Welcome to High Seas Trading Co!Men's Hawaiian Shirts, Aloha Face Masks, Women's Hawaiian Shirts, Made in USA Clothing, T-shirts, Caps, and Outerwear!!We are your go-to Hawaiian shirt store!

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We are excited to announce a new collection of ladies' aloha shirts in sizes Small-XXL . Our new women's shirts features 15new designs that are made of 100% high thread count combed cotton in bright tropical prints and are all made in the USA. The ladies' cut has a contoured fit with shorter set in sleeves, real coconut buttons, and 4" side slits so shirt can be worn outside or tucked in.

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Aloha Face Mask Co.

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All Men's Shirts by High Seas Trading Co

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Shirt Sizing Chart

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Company History:

Three Decades ago, the journey began in the coastal city of Dana Point, Ca. Drawing inspiration from the ocean, nature, travel, and culture, we are dedicated to converting fine art to cloth which is tailored and brought alive on each one of our Hawaiian shirts. Our shirts have been designed and made in California since 1988.

High Seas Trading Co. is a family run company and is proud to be in the less than 2% of apparel companies that manufacture in the USA. Being a local company gives us the speed and flexibility to make limited edition and small runs of rare fabrics. We are passionate about art and design which drives us to constant design and release 7-10 new prints monthly.

High Seas Trading Co. would like to thank our many customers who have supported us for more than 32years. We have gained valuable feedback and great ideas which has helped us to continually improve our line.

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High Seas Trading Co.- Hawaiian shirts | Aloha Shirts ...

Billy Wilder once said, Theres not much difference in making a good movie or a bad movie. You still have to wake atfivea.m. Thats how I felt in August of 1987 working on the filmAct of Piracyon the Greek island of Skiathos.

For nine straight days,itrained. Wed shot all our interior scenes and were at a standstill until the weather improved. The crew was restless. People killed time in the hotel lobby reading or playing cards. Everyone complained.Whose brilliant idea was it to come to a Greek island in winter, thesecondAssistant Director asked. How can we film a boat movie when we cant even leave the docks?

Jorgos, the hotel concierge, shut us all up. Its the Curse! Wed heard about the Curse since we arrived. No one paid it much heed at first, but two months into production we were becoming believers. There had been too many freak events. During the first week of shooting, an electrician positioning lights on the hotel roof stepped into an abandoned elevator shaft and fell 90 feet to his death. The hotel fired the maintenance man who then drank himself into a stupor and fatally drove off a cliff.

Other accidents followed. A boat anchor fell on director Bud Cardos foot, breaking his toes. Cardos son crashed a motorcycle on an abandoned road and nearly bled to death. Gary Busey, the films star, was knocked unconscious when an out-of-control camera crane struck him on the head. A Greek grip was electrocuted when a cable shorted on a leaking motorboat nearly killing him. Added to this was a bladder infection afflicting half the crew.

What is this curse, I asked Jorgos.

Do not talk about, he said. Is no good.

John Belyeu, the special effects coordinator, shook his head and laughed. You cant deal with these Greeks, man. Theyre still paying rent to their crazy gods. Belyeu was the latest bladder case and hadnt urinated in days. He also had a painful case of piles forcing him to walk hunched forward as if in a wind tunnel.

This is my last damn location picture. When I get back to Los Angeles Im getting a studio gig. This shit aint worth it.

Co-Star Ray Sharkey was holed up in his hotel room battling a bad cold. I brought him a case of Nyquil, but he couldnt shake the illness. I think I got sick when I was jogging near the harbor, he told me. I was hit by a breeze and then my whole body started shivering. (Two years later, Sharkey was diagnosed HIV positive. He died of complications from AIDS in 1993.)

Making movies is always difficult. The 14-hour days, six-day weeks and constant combat fatigue are standard fodder. But the problems we encountered seemed magnified. The film became a negativity magnet.

Act of Piracywas an action-adventure on the high seas. The story was straightforward. The hero played by Busey takes his wife and two kids on a boat trip to the Mediterranean. The villain Sharkey raids the boat with his gang and takes Buseys family hostage. Busey spends the rest of the film trying to rescue his family and kill Sharkey.

My job wasThirdAssistant Director. I did everything no one else wanted to. I brought coffee to the actors, distributed call sheets, coordinated extras and stood around with dry towels for the wet crew. I learned to pilot a motorboat where I became a liaison between the hotel production office and the ocean-bound set.

The crew numbered 85 people representing seven countriesAmerica, Greece, South Africa, Italy, Britain, Spain and Australia. Nearly a third of the crew were Greek. This posed a serious communication problem. I soon realized that the Greek language sounded like you were reciting the names of 20th-century gangster legends in quick cadence. Al Capone translated to quiet on the set. Owney Madden, meant next setup. Dutch Schultz-Machine Gun Kelly was interpreted as, Thats a cut. Time for lunch. I had lengthy conversations over the walkie-talkie with Stavros, the generator operator. One day I told him, Stavros, John Dillinger, which I thought meant Would you like some coffee? He thought Id said, Stavros, Im going to crucify you. That was the last of my off-the-cuff Greek.

Most of the Greek men I encountered had one of four names: Jorgos, Stavros, Nikos or Kristos. One morning I answered the hotel commissary phone during breakfast. The caller was looking for Jorgos. I yelled out, Is Jorgos here? Ten heads turned my way.

In the summer, Skiathos was a popular island resort. Since we were filming in winter, the only locals we encountered were fisherman and priests. Strangely, there were no women. This meant we had a crew of randy, testosterone-spewing hound dogs with no outlet. On our day off, I asked Jorgos the concierge if there were any women on the island.

There are plenty of women, he said.

Where?

Come back 2:00. I show you.

That afternoon I drove with Jorgos in his battered Jeep beyond the tavernas and olive groves. He turned onto a thin dirt road and weaved the vehicle up a steep hill. He stopped in the middle of a large, dry field. TheAegeanwas visible on the horizon.

Here we are, my friend, he said.

Where?

I saw nothing but dirt and distant trees.

The women. Come with me.

We walked across a barren pasture. I assumed he was taciturn to protect the location of the hidden females. Halfway across the field, I smelled the acrid stench of livestock. We neared a forest of Aleppo pine. A thin wave of light spilled through a forest clearing.Jorgos stopped and spread his arms wide.

We are here.

Cordoned off in a 50' x 50' area surrounded by barbed wire was a well-lit enclosure with several dozen sheep. An elderly man in a wool suit stood at the paddock entrance. Behind him, a Greek man with pants down to his ankles, crouched behind a sheep pumping away. The sheep bucked and bleated but the mans grip was tight. The sheep suddenly lurched forward out of the mans grasp. The man fell face first into the dirt.

Jorgos laughed. I was horrified.

I pay for you, my friend, Jorgos said. Only 300 drachmas.

You go ahead. Ill wait in the car.

You make mistake. Is beautiful.

Jorgos paid the sheep pimp and entered the paddock. I watched as he carefully studied the flock. He seemed attracted to a smaller sheep in the corner. He slowly unbuckled his belt.I walked away at this point, not wanting bestial voyeurism on my conscience.

Back at the hotel, production problems continued. The most recent batch of dailies were overexposed. The director of photography blamed the film lab while the lab technicians blamed the camera department. If the negative couldntbe salvaged, this meant a weeks worth of filming was ruined.

Adding to the difficulties, the hotel staff (except Jorgos) went on strike. This meant no maids to clean rooms, no clerks to wash laundry and no chefs. The actors had a stipulation in their contracts promising five-star accommodations so they were threatening to fly back to the States.

A few crew members, including myself, went into the hotel kitchen and cooked large batches of pasta. The result was a disgusting, pasty gruel that we tried to improve with sauteed garlic and canned tomato sauce. The industrious crew members ordered food care packages from Athens so they could cook their own meals. This further alienated people since some dined on fresh meat and vegetables while others were stuck with canned tunaand bread. All the restaurants and markets in town were closed for winter. The crew resorted to heavy drinking.

Greek alcohol was horrendous. The Ouzo tasted like mouthwash, Metaxa smelled like turpentine and the Retsina wine was like pine sap. Drinking became an act of self-flagellation as if the crew were taking revenge on the island by destroying themselves. We all became obnoxious drunks, yelling and smashing plates. Someone broke into the prop room and fired rocket flares into the ocean.

Its the Curse, Jorgos reminded us. You no should stay here. Is no good.

Shut up, John Belyeu screamed. Shut your mouth before I stuff it with grape leaves.

Belyeu finally crumbled. We all saw it coming. As Special Effects Coordinator, his job was to detonate and sink the main characters boat, the dramatic climax to the film. The explosion was beautiful, with wood planks shooting hundreds of feet into the air. Unfortunately the camera wasnt rolling. Belyeus Greek assistant thought the rehearsal action was the actual action. The mockup boat that had taken six weeks to build was destroyed. This left the movie without a final scene.

I cant wait to get out of this shithole, Belyeu moaned. They dont even have beer. What kind of fucked up place doesnt have beer? Thats what I get for coming to a place where everyone looks like Ernest Borgnine.

As the rain continued, the crew grew despondent. We were in a state of cinematic paralysis until the weather improved. Rumors spread that production would be shut down.The producers gathered everyone for an emergency meeting. They informed us of the new plans. Several exterior scenes were cut from the script. Extensive dialogue scenes were changed from exterior to interior. All that was needed was five days of decent weather to complete the film. Any rumors of lack of funds or production cancellation were false.

The next day, the rain stopped. The crew resumed work with a new Theshow must go on attitude. Everyone was lighter, happy to be busy. We glimpsed the sun for a few minutes, though the clouds soon returned.

In his zeal to prepare a congratulatory dinner, Jorgos acquired a batch of Thessaloniki oysters. The entire crew was leveled with a bout of food poisoning. Conditions became so grave that shooting was cancelled for two days.This is when the sun reappeared.John Belyeu damned the entire nation of Greece.No one mentioned a word about a curse.

Read the original post:

Curse on the High Seas - Splice Today

SWASHBUCKLING festive fun is on course for the Trinity Centre in Lickey when award-winning Jigsaw Players stage their annual pantomime which this year is Robinson Crusoe and the Pirates.

The audience can set sail into a world of adventure, hilarity and traditional family theatre at its best where they will meet a host of quirky characters along the way.

They will play out a journey of madness an mayhem from Brazil to the depths of the ocean, onto a desert island and finally back toBrazil in time for Mardi Gras.

Director Maggie Bishton said: This is a panto full of fun, a great story and fabulous songs for the whole family to enjoy, all on your doorstep.

The shows take place at the Old Birmingham Road venue at 7.15pm next Friday, 1.30pm next Saturday and 7pm next Sunday, November 26 to 28.

Further performances will be staged at 7.15pm the following Friday, 1.30pm and 7pm on the Saturday and 2pm Sunday, December 3, 4 and 5.

People should book early to avoid disappointment.

Tickets, at 12, are available by emailing jigsawplayers15@gmail.com or by calling 07772 645722.

Read the original post:

Swashbuckling fun on the high seas as Jigsaw's Robinson Crusoe and the Pirates heads to Lickey's Trinity Centre - Bromsgrove Standard

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Wednesday said it has nabbed three persons and seized 24 kg of Pakistan-origin heroin worth Rs 120 crore in global market from Devbhumi Dwarka district of the state, days after the arrest of three others from Morbi district with heroin worth Rs 600 crore.

Mukhtar Hussain Rao, one of the three accused held by the ATS on November 14 from Morbi, had confessed during his remand that he had hidden 24 kg of heroin inside a house at Navadra village in Kalyanpur taluka of Devbhumi Dwarka district, the ATS said in a release.

An ATS team reached the spot with Mukhtar on Wednesday and recovered the narcotics worth Rs 120 crore from the house, it said.

Further questioning of Mukhtar and two other accused - Samsuddin Saiyad and Ghulam Hussain Bhagad - had revealed that 12 kg of heroin, which was part of the main consignment delivered to the accused by Pakistani smugglers in the high seas, was delivered to one Iqbal Qadri aka Iqbal Bhangariya, the ATS added.

Later, Qadri had delivered the drugs to Ankit Jhakar and Arvind Yadav, both working for dreaded drug mafia Bhola Shooter aka Bharat Bhushan Sharma, who is currently in Punjab jail and running the drug racket through his men, it said.

Upon learning that Iqbal, a resident of coastal town of Salaya in Devbhumi Dwarka district, had arranged a meeting in Rajasthan with Bhola's henchmen to plan the next delivery of drugs, the ATS kept a watch at a place in Sirohi district and nabbed both Iqbal and Yadav, a resident if Sri Ganganagar of the neighbouring district, the release said.

The ATS also nabbed one Hussain Rao from Jodia town of Jamnagar, as he was involved in transfering the heroin from Salaya to Navadra in his car at the behest of other accused held earlier, it added.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Gujarat ATS nabs three more persons with heroin worth Rs 120 crore - Business Standard

Its been well over three years since Disney first announced that Johnny Depps Jack Sparrow would no longer be the focal point of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but fans have completely and utterly rejected that notion.

There are currently two swashbuckling blockbusters in development, one that will act as a direct sequel to Dead Men Tell No Tales, and the other a spinoff being developed by Birds of Prey duo Margot Robbie and Christina Hodson. Petitions and campaigns to see Depp reinstated have gathered millions of online backers, so its clear that a large section of the intended target audience simply have no interest in a high seas adventure without Captain Jack.

That brings us to a new rumor emanating from Giant Freakin Robot, who claim that Disney are developing a solo Jack Sparrow project, but they have no intention of allowing Depp to reprise the role. Bear in mind, there is precisely zero information provided beyond that as to the who, what, when, where and most importantly why, so its about as vague as it gets.

The Mouse House may be confident enough that Pirates of the Caribbean can exist without Jack Sparrow, but a solo outing would be franchise suicide. Can you imagine how people would react? Who would be foolish enough to step into Depps shoes? What purpose could it possibly fill? What would it actively achieve from a creative or commercial perspective? All of these questions, and many more, remain unanswered for now.

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Jack Sparrow Rumored for Solo Project Without Johnny Depp, and We Have Questions - We Got This Covered

RIGA - In preparation for the upcoming 2022 Three Seas Initiative Riga Summit, Andris Teikmanis, Chief of Staff of the President of Latvia, will visit the US this Thursday and Friday for meetings with high-ranking US officials from US National Security Council, US Congress, US Department of State, US Chamber of Commerce and American-Central European Business Association in Washington.

Justine Deicmane, head of the president's press office, informed LETA that Latvia will host the Three Seas Initiative Summit and Business Forum in June 2022. During his visit, Teikmanis is also expected to discuss US-Latvia diplomatic relations hundredth anniversary events in 2022, the spokeswoman said.

The Presidential Chancery, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Latvian Investment and Development Agency are currently conducting a round of pre-summit and pre-forum consultations with all Three Seas Initiative countries.

As Latvia was taking over the presidency of the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) from Bulgaria on July 9, 2021, President Egils Levits said at the summit in Sofia: "The Riga Summit will build upon successes of previous summits, and our key focus will be private investments, which are absolutely key. That is our primary mission: to make our region attractive for investors, and more specifically infrastructure projects that will enhance transport, energy and digital connectivity across the region".

The Three Seas Initiative was founded in 2016 by 12 European Union member states: Latvia, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The United States of America, Germany and the European Commission have joined the initiative as partners.

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Head of president's office to meet with high-ranking US officials in preparation for Three Seas Initiative Summit - Baltic Times

The five-star revival of Anything Goes will return for a fresh run at the Barbican in London, plus tour across the UK in 2022!

Cole Porter and PG Wodehouse's classic musical is set on the SS Americana and follows two pairings that try to find love on the high seas. It features numbers such as "I Get A Kick Out of You", "You're the Top", "It's De-Lovely!" and "Anything Goes".

Breaking box office records when it ran across the summer 2021, the revival of Cole Porter's musical is yet to unveil casting for its run in the new year.

Opening at Bristol Hippodrome on 11 April, the show will subsequently head to Liverpool Empire, Edinburgh Festival Theatre and Marlowe Theatre Cantebury, ahead of a London run, once more at the Barbican Theatre, from 15 July to 3 September 2022.

For the 2021 production Kathleen Marshall, who directed and choreographed the 2011 revival, helmed a creative team that also includes set designer Derek McLane, costume designer Jon Morrell, music director and supervisor Stephen Ridley, lighting designer Hugh Vanstone, sound designer Jonathan Deans, orchestrator Michael Gibson (with additions by Bill Elliott) and wig designer Campbell Young.

Dance arrangements were by David Chase, vocal arrangements by Rob Fisher, associate direction by Ian Waller, associate choreography by Carol Lee Meadows, associate set design by Ben Davies, associate costume design by Jan Bench, casting by Serena Hill, associate musical direction by Mark Aspinall, associate production management by Tom McEvilly and props supervision by Mary Halliday and Lisa Buckley.

The tour is on sale from 8am tomorrow for the London run, then 10am on Friday for the tour.

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Anything Goes to return to London and embark on UK tour - WhatsOnStage.com