Home sought for 13 year trip boat

Adventurer Jason Lewis is seeking a permanent home for the pedal boat, which carried him thousands of miles during his 13-year round-the-world trip.

Mr. Lewis, from Askerswell, Dorset, used only human power to become the first to circle the globe on human power alone. He battled robbers, dodged pirates and crocodiles and survived a car crash in the US, which broke both his legs. The 40-year-old said he did not want to see the £26,000 Devon-built craft Moksha ending up hidden away in a shed. Mr. Lewis has been talking to a number of maritime museums around the country, but would ideally like to see the boat - built at the now closed Exeter Maritime Museum - settled somewhere in the South West.
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Gaza pilgrims stranded in Red Sea

Some 2,000 Palestinians returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca are stranded on two boats off the Egyptian coast.

Egypt is insisting that they must re-enter Gaza through Aouja, a border crossing controlled by Israel. The group is thought to include senior members of the militant organisation Hamas, and Israel believes some of them may attempt to smuggle funds into Gaza. Hamas believes that if the pilgrims travel through Aouja, Israel will arrest the Hamas members. Senior Hamas officials have accused Egypt of bowing to Israeli pressure by refusing to let the pilgrims cross into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, which is the only entry-point into Gaza not controlled by Israel.
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First cargo shipping line launched between Iran, UAE

The first shipping line was established between the Iranian island in the Persian Gulf and the United Arab Emirates to transit different cargos between the two sides.

Managing Director of the Kish Shipping Company Ahmad Karami told IRNA that the line was launched to organize transit of goods for those who are active in different businesses in the Kish Free Trade Zone. The Kish-UAE shipping line comprises a 1,000-ton vessel with a capacity of 50 cars or 40 containers within a distance of 100 miles between Kish and the UAE in 12 hours. Establishing of the shipping line would lessen risks of transit of goods by non-standard boats through the waterway. He added that goods would be transited between the island and the UAE three times a week.
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Holidaymakers swept to deaths from beach

Two people drowned as waves swept holidaymakers off a beach in eastern Indonesia and a small cargo ship is missing in high seas.

A huge wave came in suddenly while people were swimming at the beach. The local meteorology office warned of waves as high as six metres and winds of up to 50km/h. Joseph Lagadoni Herin, a Flores island government official, said separately today that he had received reports a small cargo ship had gone missing. It had been expected to arrive in Flores from South Sulawesi and the number of crew on board the ship was not known. The local meteorology office warned of waves as high as six metres and winds of up to 50km/h. Torrential rains have inundated Indonesia's main island of Java over the past week, killing scores of people in landslides and displacing thousands following floods. High seas and wild weather are not unusual from December to February, when the rainy season hits a peak across the nation.
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Man drowns in diving mishap

A man has drowned while diving in southern Tasmania.

The 38-year-old man from Brighton was diving near Sloping Island, near the northwest point of the Tasman Peninsula. Police were called around midday and told the man had stopped breathing. The deceased male was participating in hooker diving at the time of the incident, involving a compressor on the surface and a hose. The man was the third to die in Tasmanian waters this month. A 25-year-old man died after being swept away by a rip in Ansons Bay, north of St Helens. A 50-year-old Claremont man was swept off rocks at Cosy Corner, Binalong Bay, north of St Helens. His body has not been found.
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