BEIJING – China will this month start allowing tourists to visit the Paracel Islands, one of a group of disputed islets and reefs in the South China Sea, state news agency Xinhua said, a move likely to irk rival claimant Vietnam. A cruise ship that can accommodate 1,965 passengers is ready for sailing to the Paracels, known in Chinese as Xisha, Xinhua reported, citing ship owner Haihang Group Corp. Hainan Harbor and Shipping Holdings Co is building another cruise ship Continue reading
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Limbless Frenchman swims between US, Russian islands
Quadruple amputee Philippe Croizon swam between islands in the icy Bering Strait Friday to cross from America to Asia in the final part of a quest to link all continents. The Frenchman braved strong currents and near-freezing temperatures in a roughly four kilometre (2.5 mile) swim between the US island of Little Diomede and Big Diomede in Russia that he said took about one hour and 20 minutes. “This was the hardest swim of my life, with a water temperature of four degrees Celsius (39 degrees Fahrenheit) and strong currents,” the deeply moved Croizon told AFP after reaching the Russian island Continue reading
How one man swam to freedom and into fight against modern-day slavery
In 2009, Prom Vannak jumped from a Thai fishing boat on which he was a slave and swam for freedom. His story puts a spotlight onthe estimated 27 million people who live as slaves around the world. In 2009, Cambodian Prom Vannak Anan dove into a dark sea and away from a life of beatings, unpaid labor and imprisonment on a fishing boat. Continue reading
China, Japan discuss islands row
16 May 2012 Last updated at 04:37 ET China and Japan are holding talks on maritime issues, with a group of disputed East China Sea islands top of the agenda. The talks in China are being attended by foreign, defence and maritime officials from the two countries. They were expected to discuss the row over the resource-rich island chain known in Japan as Senkaku and in China as Diaoyu Continue reading