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A family owned commercial fishing business in Virginia and two of its owners paid $6.8 million in fines and forfeitures after pleading guilty to hiring 126 illegal aliens to work on their boats. The charge is a misdemeanor and federal prosecutors had recommended home confinement in addition to the monetary penalties, but U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson sentenced Yvonne Michelle Peabody, the company’s vice president, to three months in prison. At the sentencing hearing last month, the judge said he was making an example out of Peabody, who had served on the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Council’s law enforcement subcommittee at...

SOMALIA: 6 PIRATES ARRESTED AFTER THE SEIZURE OF "PONANT" (AGI) - Paris, 11 April. - Some of the pirates who took part in the seizure of the French yacht "Ponant" off Somalia were arrested soon after the freeing of 30 members of the crew who had been taken hostage. This statement was released by the General Jean-Louis Goergelin of the French armed forces. The arrest of six pirates took place one hour after the release of the hostages, once the thirty members of the crew were landed. The six pirates were held aboard a French ship.

PARIS (AP) - For sale: A palatial pleasure yacht with swimming pools, opulent salons and, should the winds of war blow, a rocket launcher and mini-submarine. The sale of the 269-foot Ocean Breeze, built for Saddam Hussein and docked on the French Riviera, could be thwarted, however, if Iraq can prove it belongs to someone in the late dictator's entourage - and now, therefore, to the government in Baghdad. A court hearing will likely be held in March to determine the rightful owner. The government in Baghdad suspects the yacht, which French authorities seized on Jan. 31, is still Iraqi....

Storm-battered and abandoned in winter, Sweden’s harbor-side restaurants come alive in the summer. But two million boat lovers’ thirst for good food and seaside relaxation means tough work for the seasonal restaurant owners.

Norway has more millionaires, measured in US dollars, than any other country in the world in terms of its size.

A WORKER at a UK boat-building firm has been caught trying to steal a luxury yacht one piece at a time. James Light, 35, stole hundreds of yacht parts worth £55,000 ($133,000) over a period of seven years, Bournemouth Crown Court heard yesterday. He stole the parts from his former employer, Sunseeker.

War On Drugs: While not the end of the tale, the crushing of the Javier Arellano Felix drug cartel is a victory that should be played up. By itself, the arrest is satisfying. Better still, it shows the U.S. can work with Mexico. That wasn't the case when Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, an agent with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, was murdered by drug traffickers in Guadalajara in 1985. Back then, Mexican authorities threw roadblocks at apprehending drug lord Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, who was a leading member of the group that kidnapped, tortured and killed the agent. Mexican police told...

WASHINGTON, June 9, 2006 – Wounded veterans cruised the Potomac River in style yesterday aboard the presidential yacht USS Sequoia, while area businesses and Defense Department officials honored their sacrifice. Wounded troops and their families board the USS Sequoia, greeted by the yacht's crew and Army Sgt. 1st Class Antonio Giuliano, a tenor with the U.S. Army Band, in Washington, June 8. Photo by Paul X. Rutz  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "I want them to feel the weight of their sacrifice in a way that brings honor and joy to them as a small form of compensation...

IN an effort to capitalize on the megadollars that megayachts can bring to a harbor area, coastal resorts around the globe are racing to build or retrofit their marinas to accommodate the colossal cruisers. [. . .] . . . new marinas . . . are being developed . . . To keep megayacht owners busy - not to mention spending - while their boats are parked at the marina, developers are surrounding their ports with high-end restaurants and retail shops. To entice yacht owners and their entourages to stay longer, they are also building luxury condominiums and five-star hotels....

For Steve McVicar, the worst part of lying in the cockpit of his sailboat with a sawed-off shotgun pressed to his head by a Venezuelan pirate was how casually his life could end. "It's just a horrible feeling that your life is so frail, hanging by a thread, when somebody has a gun on you," the 50-year-old Trail orthopedic surgeon said Monday in a telephone interview. "You could be gone instantly." McVicar and his companions, another B.C. doctor and his wife, had just set off on a two-week Caribbean cruise off the coast of Venezuela early last month when pirates...

In days of yore, there were only yachts. Until there came superyachts. Twice as large as their predecessors, with midocean necessities such as spiral staircases, split-level saloons and flybridge hot tubs, these floating mansions did more than eclipse conventional yachts -- they made them appear impish, toylike. And then, along came megayachts. These Poseidons, in good truth, possessed not only grandeur (nobody dared describe a yacht less than 150 feet as a "mega"), but touches of lavishness, such as crystal elevators and goatskin walls. They even came with gyroscopically controlled swimming pools -- to keep the water smooth in the...

Kemah Blessing of the Fleet Kemah-TX (Houston) The Colorful 37th annual Kemah Blessing of the Shrimp and Pleasure Boat Fleet will be held Sunday August 7 at the Kemah boardwalk. Decorated shrimp boats and pleasure craft file past the Cadillac Authentic Mexican Restaurant where the officiating priest and minister bless each of the boats. Bring your family and friends down to the Kemah Boardwalk to witness the festive boats and colorful crews as they parade down the channel in celebration of this time honored tradition. Visit http://www.kemah.net download an entry form or pick one up at Kemah Boardwalk Marina (281)...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Need a gift for that hard-to-please someone? For $10,000, you can rent the Sequoia Presidential Yacht for four hours and party on the Potomac, just like the commanders-in-chief once did. The USS Sequoia, first used by Herbert Hoover and sold by Jimmy Carter as a sign of his frugality, accommodates 50 people. And it comes loaded with presidential history. Dwight Eisenhower entertained Korean War veterans on the yacht. John Kennedy celebrated his 46th -- and last -- birthday on it. Lyndon Johnson watched movies on it. And Richard Nixon, convinced the Sequoia was bugged, had an electronic...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress on Saturday passed a $388 billion package financing government programs in this fiscal year after days of tough talks, but a last minute snag means it may not be sent to President Bush for signing into law for several days. The Senate voted 65-30 for the legislation late on Saturday that sets aside funds for a range of priorities including a presidential yacht, foreign aid and energy. It is one of the final pieces of work for the 108th Congress and they may return to finish a spy agency overhaul before the end of...

LOS ANGELES - Two men pleaded guilty to smuggling 50 Mexican nationals into the United States by crowding them into the small cabin of a rented luxury yacht, the Department of Homeland Security said. On Monday, Gregory Ray LaBono, 48, of Lomita and 21-year-old tropical fish dealer Vernon Eugene Siegel of Big Pine, Fla. each admitted to one felony count of conspiracy to encourage and induce an alien to enter the United States, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice. Their 44-foot yacht was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard near an entrance to Los Angeles Harbor...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Oct. 14) -- Tiger Woods and his bride were briefly detained Thursday by U.S. Coast Guard officers on their yacht Privacy, then were turned away from San Juan's port because they had failed to notify authorities of their arrival Since July 1, new security regulations require many boats to submit an arrival notice at least four days before entering a U.S. port, Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Eric Willis said. The 28-year-old golfer and Swedish model Elin Nordegren, 24, were married Oct. 5 at a luxury resort in Barbados and later set out on the Privacy, along...

Mirabella V - believed to be the largest and most expensive yacht in the world - left Portsmouth on her maiden voyage on Sunday A good head for heights is needed atop the £30m yacht's 90m-tall mast The yacht was made in Southampton for US businessman Joe Vittoria, the former head of car hire firm Avis The interior was designed by Mrs Vittoria herself The yacht is heading for Mrs Vittoria's home town of Naples ====================================== Snippets of Related BBC Article: ....Mr Vittoria....The former head of car hire firm Avis then intends to charter the yacht out at a cost...

Click on the source URL, and scroll down to near the bottom of the page for an advertising image of the yacht and a link to the yacht's registration paperwork.

Carrier Roosevelt Taking Truman To Big Navy Show; President To Get First Hand Review Alexandria Gazette4/22/1946 By United Press President Truman is seeing one of the greatest shows on earth today-and from the best seat in the house. The Chief Executive is aboard the Navy’s mightiest carrier-the Franklin D. Roosevelt-for a first hand review of the brand of action which swept the Pacific clean of Japanese warships. Shortly after breakfast, Mr. Truman and his party were transferred in a launch from the Presidential yacht Williamsburg to the carrier F.D.R. in Hampton Roads, Va. Both the F.D.R. and an accompanying flat-top,...

VLADIMIR Putin, the president of Russia, has splashed out £2.6 million on a luxury yacht in a fresh sign of his taste for expensive accessories. Craftsmen in Moscow confirmed yesterday they are near to completing the multi-million pound vessel, named Pallada. However, managers at the MSZ shipyard refused to elaborate on details of the yacht, saying it is being kept under wraps until it is finished this month. Dmitri Mironenko, the commercial director, said: "I can only tell you that we constructed the yacht in a record period by not just Russian, but also European standards. "No further details are...

Just saw some footage on Fox. They showed a well equipped Yacht that had already been partially looted. I believe that what was described as a washing machine was in fact an autoclave used for sterilization. Wondered if anyone else thought so too. Could this be for bioweaponry?

Twisted hulk is Saddam's testament By Tom Newton Dunn In Basra Scorched and bomb-blasted, it is one of the last pathetic defiant symbols of Saddam Hussein's sunken regime. The Iraqi tyrant's massive presidential yacht is still afloat, and drifting aimlessly with the tide on the Shatt-al-Arab waterway beside Basra's dockyards. Local bystanders counted 16 different bombs, shells and missiles - dropped from the air and fired from the ground - plough into it during the two-week siege of Iraq's second city. But no matter how hard the coalition tried, they still couldn't sink it. Nonetheless, the invaders' psychological point...

IN a huge blow to Saddam Hussein's pride, his vast presidential yacht is believed to have been sunk in a coalition air strike. Typically, his yacht - the luxurious Al Mansur - was the largest ship in the Iraqi navy, despite having no military value whatsoever. But following an attack by allied bombers on the port of Basra, Saddam's floating pride and joy is now understood to be partially submerged. Also destroyed in the attack were virtually the entire remnants of the Iraq navy, with two large patrol boats and a supply ship left shattered on the bed of the...

Monster Squid Grips Racing Yacht? AFP Jan. 16 — A French yacht taking part in the Jules Verne round-the-world sailing trophy was gripped by a giant squid for about an hour in the mid-Atlantic, its skipper announced by radio-link. Veteran yachtsman Oliver de Kersauson, at the helm of the trimaran Geronimo, said the three-hulled boat was hit by strange vibrations on Sunday, so he sent a crew member below deck to try to identify what was wrong. "Suddenly he saw something moving," de Kersauson said. "It was tentacles. "The squid was pulling really hard, so we put the boat...