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Investigative journalist Yassin Musharbash, a reporter with the German newspaper Die Zeit, was the first to report on the documents. One plan: to seize passenger ships. According to Musharbash, the writer "says that we could hijack a passenger ship and use it to pressurize the public." Musharbash takes that to mean that the terrorists "would then start executing passengers on those ships and demand the release of particular prisoners." The plan would include dressing passengers in orange jump suits, as if they were al Qaeda prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and then videotaping their execution.

Inspired by this story from The Hill

With bodies still trapped inside Costa Concordia’s underwater tomb, Carnival (CCL: 30.48, 0.00, 0.00%) now finds itself at the heart of scrutiny only likely to rise along with the death toll. Carnival’s worst-ever wreck and one of the most high-profile incidents since the Titanic sank 100 years ago, it’s hard to imagine such a massive company blaming the disaster on a single person -- even if he did abandon ship early and steer a little too close to shore. Even worse, while Carnival has vehemently denied earlier reports that it would offer survivors a 30% discount off future cruises, instead...

She was found inside the ship's chapel, submerged up to her shoulders, but in one piece. Fire department divers wrapped her in a white towel, and used a nylon belt to hold it in place so she would not be damaged as they pulled her out. On Saturday, the plaster statue of the Madonna from the doomed Costa Concordia cruise liner stood in a white tent on the port of Giglio, still wrapped in the same towel.

This locally acquired information playback shows the course and actions of the Concordia based on locally broadcast ship information prior to --and after-- the rock collision and subsequent grounding. Well worth watching. Clearly looks like captain error if he was at the helm. Incidentally this is an excellent site if you have an interest in maritime matters.

The sight of the giant cruise ship Costa Concordia listing in the deadly embrace of the sea is a now a graphic symbol of failure. Its timing is absolutely eerie, coming so close to the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. But, unlike the Titanic, this disaster did not take in the middle of the ocean, far from the range of observation. The Costa Concordia appears to be almost touching the rocky Italian coastline. The digital revolution ensures that we are all able to see the wreck of the ship in living color. And then came the story....

(CBS/AP) The cruise ship captain under fire for abandoning his vessel while thousands of passengers scrambled for rescue has reportedly come up with an explanation for his flight - he accidentally tripped and fell into a lifeboat: Capt. Francesco Schettino stated: "I didn't even have a life jacket because I had given it to one of the passengers. I was trying to get people to get into the boats in an orderly fashion. Suddenly, since the ship was at a 60 to 70 degree angle, I tripped and I ended up in one of the boats. That's how I found...

A woman from Birmingham (UK) says she feels lucky to be alive after arriving home safely from the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship in Italy. Amelia Leon, 22, was in her cabin with her boyfriend, a crew member, when the liner struck the rocks on Friday. [snip] Ms Leon, a professional singer, said she felt very emotional following the shock of what she had experienced, and knowing people are still missing. She said: "The TV went on to the floor and completely smashed and the lights went out. 'This is horrible' "Obviously lots of people were pushing and shoving but...

GIGLIO, Italy (WLS) - Audio recording of the conversation between Capt. Francesco Schettino and Port Authority officials after the doomed Italian luxury cruise liner Costa Condcordia struck rocks Friday was released Tuesday morning. At least 11 people were killed in the aftermath, according to Italian media, and dozens more are still missing. The following is a translation of the recording, which was posted on the news website Corriere della Sera: Captain Schettino: It's Capt. Schettino. Port Authority: Schettino, listen to me, there are people trapped onboard, now you go back, you will go with your rescue boat under the stern...

Italian navy divers have set off explosives to create openings in the hull of a cruise ship that ran aground near a Tuscan island, in a desperate effort to speed the search for 29 missing passengers and crew. Navy spokesman Alessandro Busonero said micro-charges placed on the side of the ship created four openings to allow divers 'to enter easily for the search'. Extensive debris and the 'sideways' nature of the ship has hampered rescuers from getting into sections of the stricken vessel. The holes were made both above and below the water level. Television footage showed the holes to...

Francesco Schettino to appear before judge today Arrested on suspicion of multiple manslaughter and abandoning ship Ignored order from coastguard to return to ship 'Offered to return to doomed cruise liner, but only to collect black box' Junior officers led a 'mutiny' after he dithered in giving orders Seventh person was found dead in shipwrecked vessel, rescuers say this morning 35 Britons on board reported safe and well, more than 60 people injured, 29 still missing Reports Schettino was dining with passengers when the accident happened The Costa Concordia's captain did abandon ship before hundreds of his passengers, it has...

The captain of the Costa Concordia has become the most hated man in Italy. Francesco Schettino, 52, is at the centre of a Facebook hate campaign after being squarely blamed for the cruise liner running aground. Thousands have taken to the web to vent their fury at the so-called ‘Captain Coward’, who is now claimed to have ‘skimmed’ past the Tuscan isle of Giglio not just to salute a retired officer but also to impress his head waiter’s family on shore. Many scorned his decision not to remain with his stricken ship. The official death toll rose to six yesterday...

A cruise ship with up to 4,000 people on board ran aground on the island of Giglio, off the Tuscan coast, on Friday night, and UK media reported that at least two people died. The Telegraph said some passengers jumped from the steeply listing Costa Concordia and swam a short distance to the island. A photo in the Telegraph showed the brightly lit ship teetering just outside a harbor wall. Sky News quoted coast guard officials as saying two people died.

Two people were killed and at least nine injured on Thursday in a fire on a cruise liner operating on a popular route along Norway's craggy coast, officials said. Police said they received information that an additional four people were missing, but could not immediately confirm it. Nine people were taken to the hospital, two with serious burns and smoke injuries. The MS Nordlys, with 262 people on board, was evacuated after it caught fire at 9:20 a.m. (0720 GMT) before arriving in Alesund, 230 miles (375 kilometers) northwest of Oslo. More than 100 passengers were evacuated into lifeboats before...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A California man was arrested in the U.S. Virgin Islands on suspicion of selling drugs to fellow passengers on a Caribbean cruise, officials said Friday. Steven Barry Krumholz, 51, of West Hollywood, was arrested on board the Allure of the Seas in St. Thomas, said Jeffrey Quinones, a spokesman in Puerto Rico for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The ship had just come from the Bahamas on a charter billed as the "world's largest gay cruise."

Two tugboats slowly pulled a disabled cruise ship with nearly 4,500 passengers and crew toward San Diego on Wednesday. The 952-foot Carnival Splendor crept into cell phone range and the onboard phone system started working on a limited basis, allowing passengers mostly cut off from communication since an engine fire Monday to finally reach their loved ones. Officials said the ship could arrive in San Diego as early as midday Thursday. Source: Cruise Passengers Make Slow Way Home | NBC San Diego

SAN DIEGO — The nearly 4,500 passengers and crew of the Carnival Splendor have no air conditioning or hot water. Running low on food, they have to eat canned crab meat and Spam dropped in by helicopters. And for at least another 24 hours, they have no way out. What began as a seven-day cruise to the picturesque Mexican Riviera stopped around sunrise when an engine room fire cut power to the 952-foot vessel and set it adrift off Mexico's Pacific coast.

MIAMI (Reuters) – A Carnival cruise ship was held off the Florida coast for several hours on Sunday while authorities searched the vessel and arrested a drunk passenger on bomb hoax charges, the Coast Guard said. No explosives or hazardous materials were found and the ship, the Carnival Sensation, was allowed to dock at Port Canaveral on Florida's Atlantic coast Sunday morning, Coast Guard petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Evanson said. The ship carried 3,470 passengers and crew and was headed back to Port Canaveral after a three-day cruise to the Bahamas when a passenger reported hearing another passenger make...

The world's largest cruise ship cleared a crucial obstacle Sunday, lowering its smokestacks to squeeze under a bridge in Denmark. The Oasis of the Seas — which rises about 20 stories high — passed below the Great Belt Fixed Link with a slim margin as it left the Baltic Sea on its maiden voyage to Florida. Bridge operators said that even after lowering its telescopic smokestacks the giant ship had less than a 2-foot (half-meter) gap. Hundreds of people gathered on beaches at both ends of the bridge, waiting for hours to watch the brightly lit behemoth sail by shortly...

World’s largest cruise ship sets sail Oasis of the Seas features 2,700 cabins, can accommodate 6,300 passengers The Associated Press updated 11:06 a.m. ET Oct. 30, 2009 HELSINKI - The world's largest cruise liner on Friday began its maiden voyage to Florida, gliding out from a shipyard in Finland with an amphitheater, basketball courts and an ice rink on board. The 16-deck Oasis of the Seas spans 1,200 feet (360 meters) from bow to stern. Its 2,700 cabins can accommodate 6,300 passengers and 2,100 crew. Commissioned by Royal Caribbean International, the ship cost $1.5 billion and took two and a...

In December, travelers will be able to board a $1.4 billion ship five years in the making. After five years of planning and construction, Royal Caribbean is unveiling the Oasis of the Seas, a $1.4 billion ship that will be the largest and tallest cruise liner in the world when it takes its maiden voyage this December. At 1,184 feet from stem to stern, it's nearly as long as the Empire State building is tall--while rivaling the amenities of any world-class Las Vegas resort. A crew of roughly 2,160 will man 18 decks and tend to 5,400 passengers (assuming two...

A cruise ship carrying dozens of victims of swine flu among its 5,000 passengers and crew has docked in the south of France, officials have said. Sixty crew members have so far been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus, while 70 of their colleagues were also showing signs of being infected, they added. They will be treated on board the ship while it docks at Villefranche-sur-Mer.

SEATTLE - Two police officers were assaulted by women as they responded to a huge brawl aboard a cruise ship early Sunday on the Seattle waterfront. The officers responded to the scene at about 1:40 a.m. after receiving a 911 call about a large-scale disturbance aboard a cruise ship docked in the 1100 block of Alaskan Way. When police arrived, they found a chaotic scene of more than 100 people on the dock, many of them shouting and arguing. Officers then learned that some passengers were still physically fighting aboard the ship. Officers moved to the dock to begin clearing...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A man found clinging to a buoy after falling from a cruise ship in coastal Florida has been rescued. .. Carnival says the man told authorities he slipped after climbing on a railing to get a better view of the pilot boat. The ship was returning from a four-day cruise. The case remains under investigation.

ROME — An Italian cruise ship with 1,500 people on board fended off a pirate attack far off the coast of Somalia when its Israeli private security forces exchanged fire with the bandits and drove them away, the commander said Sunday. Cmdr. Ciro Pinto told Italian state radio that six men in a small white boat approached the Msc Melody and opened fire Saturday night, but retreated after the Israeli security officers aboard the cruise ship returned fire.

ROME — An Italian cruise ship fended off a pirate attack off the coast of Somalia, with its security forces exchanging fire with the bandits, the commander said Saturday. Cmdr. Ciro Pinto told Italian state radio that six men in a small white boat approached the Msc Melody and opened fire Saturday night, but retreated after security forces aboard the cruise ship returned fire. Domenico Pellegrino, head of the ship-owner Msc Cruises, told ANSA news agency that all 1,500 passengers and crew aboard the Melody were safe, and credited Pinto for his "cool-headed" handling of the incident. The attack occurred...

MIAMI | A Norwegian Cruise Line cruise ship at the center of a missing person mystery returned to the Port of Miami on Sunday morning, where FBI agents stood waiting. Sunday they launched an investigation into the disappearance of Jennifer Seitz, 36, who was a passenger aboard the Norwegian Pearl, officials said. “We’re looking to see if a crime was committed on the high seas,” said FBI Special Agent Michael Leverock. He added that agents interviewed numerous passengers and crew members Sunday morning and searched the cabin Seitz was staying in for any potential clues to what may have happened...

Somali pirates say they have thwarted an apparent revolt by the crew of a hijacked Ukrainian cargo ship... sailors of the MV Faina tried to "harm" two of their captors. The ship is carrying 33 tanks and other weaponry and was seized by pirates two and half months ago. "Some crew members on the Ukrainian ship are misbehaving," the pirate said. "They tried to harm two of our gunmen late Monday. This is unacceptable, they risk serious punitive measures. "Somalis know how to live and how to die at the same time, but the Ukrainians' attempt to take violent action...

A cruise ship will evacuate passengers before sailing past the Somali coast and fly them to the next port of call to protect them from possible pirate attacks, German cruise operator Hapag-Lloyd said Tuesday. An official with the European Union's anti-piracy mission said separately that it would station armed guards on vulnerable cargo ships _ the first such deployment of military personnel during the international anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden.

Chilean naval crews are waiting for the high tide on Monday to try to free a cruise ship stranded in Antarctica, after the first attempt to refloat the vessel was unsuccessful. Attempts on Sunday to free the MV Ushuaia, which is stuck on the rock, tilted to one side and leaking fuel, proved to be more difficult than first thought. Eleven Australians were among 120 people on board the ship who had to be evacuated to Argentina after the vessel was damaged when it hit a rock on Thursday. US-based International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators executive director, Steve Wellmeier,...

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – The Argentine navy says a cruise ship carrying 122 people is adrift and taking on water in Antarctica but is no danger of sinking. .. 89 passengers .. 33 crew .. the "Ushuaia."

When Oceania Cruises announced this weekend that pirates had attempted to approach its Nautica as it cruised through the Gulf of Aden, it heightened existing concerns about passenger and cruise ship safety in that dangerous part of the world. Nautica's captain, officers and crew successfully evaded the pirates yesterday, which is obviously the good news. No one was injured, and the ship is not even off schedule at this point. Still, increasing attacks by pirates on cargo vessels and oil tankers, not to mention this latest incident affecting a cruise ship, begs the question: If you're on a cruise ship...

A luxury cruise ship carrying dozens of British passengers has been attacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia, en route to Oman. The Oceania Nautica was fired at during its 32-day voyage from Rome to Singapore. The ship – carrying 690 passengers and 386 crew – was approached yesterday by two small skiffs which fired several shots. No one on board was hurt and Nautica's captain Jurica Brajcic was able to take evasive action and outrun the two boats. "One of the skiffs did manage to close the range to 300 yards and fired...

A luxury cruise ship carrying scores of British passengers has come under attack from Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden.   The luxury cruise ship, Nautica, managed to avoid being hijacked  Two pirate boats opened fire on the six-star Nautica, as she sailed between Somalia and Yemen on Sunday.The cruise ship, which carries 690 passengers and 386 crew, was sailing past several groups of fishing boats when two small skiffs tried to intercept it.Captain Jurica Brajcic began evasive manoeuvres when the pirates were about 1,000 yards away from the ship and managed to avert the attack.While cargo ships...

Pirates seized control of a French cruise ship Friday off the coast of Somalia, France's Foreign Ministry said. A ministry official said details about the attack were scarce, and it was not clear how many crew members were on board the ship or if there were any passengers. The ship is in the high seas in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean. The official declined to identify the vessel or its owner. The ministry has set up a crisis center to deal with the situation, said the official, who asked not to be...

I'm dancing on the top deck with a 71-year-old feminist and psychotherapist whom I've come to think of as the Twirler. We've spent two days attending seminars on The Nation magazine's Alaska cruise; we've talked about the Bush presidency and prison reform and single-payer health care. Now, at almost midnight, my fiercely intelligent and opinionated new friend is putting all the heady political talk behind her by bodily twirling. "If I start to get dizzy, then I twirl in the opposite direction," Charlotte tells me as the live band revs up its throbbing Motown beat. "I won't fall." "Good, please...

A Norwegian cruise ship carrying some 300 people lost engine power during an electrical outage and struck an Antarctic glacier, smashing a lifeboat but causing no injuries... The MS Fram hit the ice late Friday near Browns Bluff in the Antarctic... The engine started again and the liner continued to King George Island for an inspection. "We hit a glacier. We have damage to a starboard lifeboat and a little bit forward," ... the ship apparently suffered no serious damage. Hansen said the power outage lasted 40 to 50 minutes and sent the vessel adrift against the glacier, where it...

SAN DIEGO — A teenager whose appendix ruptured at sea, hundreds of miles from help, got safely to shore Tuesday after an unusual rescue in which the Navy airlifted her from a cruise ship for emergency surgery. Laura Montero, 14, fell ill aboard the Dawn Princess cruise ship off the coast of Baja California. The Bahamian-registered ship sent out a distress call Friday that was answered by the USS Ronald Reagan, which was on maneuvers about 500 miles away.

Rumblings on the Norwegian Cruise Line boards alerted Cruise Critic to the fact that there is a norovirus outbreak on Norwegian Pearl, which is en route back to Miami after a nine-night southern Caribbean sailing that started on November 30. The outbreak may cause the ship's next sailing, slated to depart on December 9, to be delayed. At noon (EST) yesterday, member JJSlim posted that he had heard from two people onboard the ship that there was a possible outbreak. Nothing at that time had been posted to the Center for Disease Control’s Web site. Later, member Dogbeau posted from...

Explanation of MS Explorer's sinking doesn't hold water By Colin Woodard Mon Dec 3, 3:00 AM ET People familiar with the Antarctic tourism industry weren't surprised that a cruise ship sank there. What stunned them was that the ship in question was the MS Explorer, a veteran of the polar cruise ship trade, purpose-built to operate in extreme polar environments, and manned by an experienced crew. That it sank during what appears to have been the most routine of circumstances – cruising through young pack ice in mild weather – has experts scratching their heads. "I'm totally shocked and surprised,"...

SANTIAGO, Chile – About 2,500 penguins en route to their Antarctic mating grounds could be sickened by a diesel fuel spill from a cruise boat that struck an iceberg and sank last week, Chilean scientists said Friday. Areas surrounding the mile-long spill site include breeding grounds for Antarctic and Adelia penguins, and the largest mating colony for Papua penguins, said Maria Jose Rosello, a Chilean marine biologist. “The danger is that this fuel spill will impede the journey that species like Papua penguins make at this time of year,” Rosello said. Veronica Vallejos, director of the scientific department at the...

LONDON, England (CNN) -- More than 150 people have abandoned a sinking cruise liner that collided with an iceberg in Antarctic waters, a Chilean navy captain told CNN. The ship sent out a distress call at around 10 p.m. ET Thursday. Passenger ship Explorer reported problems near the South Shetland Islands, south of Argentina. The area is in a sector of Antarctica claimed by the United Kingdom. Capt. Carlos Munita of the Chilean navy said they received a distress call from the Explorer, saying the vessel had hit an iceberg around 10 p.m. ET Thursday. He added a Norwegian rescue...

Miami, the cruise ship "Mecca" and one of the top ten ports in the United States is also one of seven major U.S. cities listed by the FBI as "terrorist havens".  Miami Deputy Port Director, Khalid Salahuddin, an Orthodox Muslim, was a member of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakham's anti-Semitic thugs.  Today, he heads his own mosque, Masjid Al-Ikhlas, in North Miami.  Salahuddin has ties to radical Islam.  He officiated at a fundraiser for the American Muslim Association of North America, a group headed by Sofian Abdelaziz, who was Vice President of Hamas ran "Health Resource Center for Palestine"....

FURTHER UPDATE TO FLASH WITH ADDED INFO ON LB CITY HALL FINANCIAL OUTCOME: At 11:54 a.m. today in an auction in a packed U.S. Bankruptcy courtroom in downtown Los Angeles, Save the Queen, LLC was awarded the contractual rights previously held by QSDI, including development rights to nearly 50 acres of prime property surrounding the Queen Mary for $43 million...the amount of its initial overbid without the need to bid further. The outcome came after initial bidder O & S Holdings tried and failed to have the Court disqualify Save the Queen (on grounds it failed to strictly comply with...

A Spring teen who survived a brutal beating with a pipe last year apparently jumped to his death from a Cozumel-bound cruise ship on Sunday. An 18-year-old was observed by "a bunch of people" jumping over the railing of the upper deck of Carnival Cruise Lines' Ecstasy around 7:35 a.m. Sunday, said Coast Guard spokesman Adam Eggers. [ snip ] Ritcheson's death comes less than three months after he testified before Congress about how two teens nearly killed him on April 23, 2006 by repeatedly kicking a patio umbrella stand into his rectum while shouting "white power!"

A Royal Caribbean International cruise ship resumed its voyage to Puerto Rico on Tuesday as Coast Guard crews searched for a passenger reported missing a day earlier. The Freedom of the Seas turned around Monday to return to the waters east of Eleuthera Island, Bahamas, where it had been sailing when the man was last reported seen. The Coast Guard resumed a search of those waters Tuesday by air. Relatives last saw the 24-year-old American man around 1:45 a.m. Monday on his stateroom balcony, and reported him missing about seven hours later, according to the cruise line. The man's name...

QE2 sold as $100m floating Dubai hotel By David Millward, Transport Correspondent  Last Updated: 3:54pm BST 18/06/2007      Profile: The world's most famous cruise liner Have you travelled on the QE2? Was it worth the money? Where is she now? QE2 webcamAfter nearly four decades as the world’s most celebrated ocean-going liner, the QE2 is to become a floating hotel off the coast of Dubai. The QE2 on a previous visit to Dubai in 1997. The liner will become a luxury floating hotel   The veteran of 25 world cruises and more than 800 transatlantic crossings will undertake its...

Cruise Ship With 281 People on Board Runs Aground off Alaska

ATHENS, Greece (AP) - The captain of a cruise ship that sank in the Aegean Sea was charged Saturday with negligence, a government official said. A Merchant Marine Ministry spokeswoman confirmed that a prosecutor charged the captain but said she could not confirm a report on state NET TV that five other officers also were charged. She spoke anonymously according to customary government policy. Two French passengers are missing after the Sea Diamond hit rocks and foundered Thursday near Santorini island. The rest of the 1,154 passengers and 391 crew were safely evacuated. If upheld in court, the charges carry...

Around 1,450 passengers on a luxury cruise ship have been left without toilets for three days, according to people on board. A series of blockages in the plumbing system is said to have led to "mayhem" on board Thomson's Destiny cruise ship. Tour operator Thomson admitted that there have been problems with the vacuum system of the toilets, but said it was bringing in a team of "super-technicians" to fix the system overnight. A spokeswoman said: "The team of 10 experts will be working through the night to ensure that the problem will be sorted." She was unable to confirm...