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Last Friday the British sailing couple, Paul Chandler, 58, and Rachel Chandler, 55 were hijacked. The retired duo were alone, asleep on board their yacht when armed pirates arrived at 2.30am.
“I was off watch,” Paul told a British broadcaster from a hijacked ship where they are being held captive. “I was asleep and men with guns came aboard. It was on Friday last week at 2:30 local time.”
For much of the last four years they have been sailing through the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Last Friday they were near the Seychelles. Too close to Somalia I think.
Last week Wednesday their blog describes preparations to leave the Seychelles. On Friday the message was PLEASE RING SARAH.
I’ve never liked the idea of spending time on the ocean. I would be bored. And scared. And way too terrified to be anywhere near pirate seas.
This is AFP’s latest report:
A Somali pirate claiming to
speak on behalf of a group holding a British couple says
they will move the couple to another hijacked ship with
other hostages anchored off the eastern coast of Somalia.
Abdinor, who identified himself only by his first name,
says Paul and Rachel Chandler are healthy and Somali
pirates took them to rest on land Thursday night at the
coastal town of Harardhere.
He said Friday they have yet to make a ransom demand.
The Chandlers were heading to Tanzania in their yacht, the
Lynn Rival, when a distress signal was sent Oct. 23. The
British navy found their empty yacht on Thursday.
Somalia, which has not had an effective central government
for 18 years, became the world’s top piracy hotspot last
year.
Most of my friends have left for Cape Town and will be at the opening event tonight. I am going tomorrow, for the concert. David Bruce, however, won’t be there – he has family commitments. David was one of the objectors who was sentenced for his refusal to serve in the SADF.
Here is an extract from a very moving note he sent to the ECC today:
I wanted to thank ECC for the support that I received from the organization during the time that I was involved in refusing to do military service. I won’t be with you this weekend but hope that it will all be a great success. I think ECC was a truly remarkable organization and that its memory, and the collective effort and sacrifice which produced it, is most worthy of being celebrated.
I’ve posted the programme of events, which is difficult to read on here. For all the information rather go to www.ecc25.org.
Children, work and marriage are hard enough for the rest of us. But being the first couple of the US must be extraordinary hard on romance.
In an interview with the New York Times, Obama expresses irritation about the hoo-ha when he took his wife to New York on a date.
“The notion that I just couldn’t take my wife out on a date without it being a political issue was not something I was happy with.”
And he says,
“Everything becomes political,” he repeated very slowly. Then he said: “What I value most about my marriage is that it is separate and apart from a lot of the silliness of Washington, and Michelle is not part of that silliness.”
Wondering how to find your own adoring Barack? In the December issue of US Glamour Michelle Obama offers her dating tips:
“Cute’s good. But cute only lasts for so long, and then it’s, ‘Who are you as a person?’ Don’t look at the bankbook or the title. Look at the heart. Look at the soul. When you’re dating a man, you should always feel good. … You shouldn’t be in a relationship with somebody who doesn’t make you completely happy and make you feel whole.”
The Daily Dish today quotes Dreher on the demise of newspapers:
I don’t know that the most brilliant and enlightened publisher with a staff of geniuses could have figured out how to make a daily newspaper survive the advent of the Internet. I think about the small corner of the newspaper world that’s my bailiwick, the editorial and op-ed pages. I grew up reading whoever was on the op-ed page that day for insight and analysis into issues and current events. Now, I mostly read blogs, because it’s easier for me to find the kind of information I’m interested in, and it’s often written in a more lively, engaging style, frequently by people who, unlike columnists like me, are not generalists. How can a print newspaper, which has a finite amount of space, and which has to cater to a broad audience, hope to compete with that?
In the short preview I wrote for the paper on Tuesday, I said that these diamonds could help fund the reconstruction of the failing state. I said the diamonds earn about $2.5 million per week. In fact the earnings are close to $1.2 billion a year (according to the researcher of the documentary), which works out to $23 076 923.1 a week! So sorry about that rather large mistake.
Poker for Peace!
In the Nigerian newspaper, ThisDay, a week ago, a very sad letter was published. Joe Igbokwe calls for whites to come back to Nigeria. The letter concludes with this:
In the spirit of all the ECC stories I’ve been hearing:
Thursday, November 5, 2009 from 9:00pm onwards
Location: Kitchener’s Carvery Milner Park Hotel Juta str Braamfontein
Description
Selektas Charles Leonard and Marc Latilla join forces for the first time for an illegal gathering playing an eclectic mix of 50’s – early 80’s Soul/Funk/Rare Groove/Reggae/RocknRoll/Pre&Post Punk/Township SwingJive and odd South African Radio Pop.
This is all new territory. There is no template or safety net.
YOU NEED THIS. WE NEED THIS. THEY DON’T WANT THIS.
A master of the foolish face:
Bush hands back a crying baby in Germany, 2006.
Liberty, the turkey surprises Bush at the White House annual turkey pardoning event three days ahead of Thanksgiving, 2001.
Both pictures are from the Reuters selection of its "pictures of the decade".
Reuters yesterday released a collection of their best pictures taken over the last 9 years. They’re powerful. This is the slideshow our picture department put together.
