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A US warship, which was deployed off Lebanon in February amid concern over Beirut's political crisis, crossed Egypt's Suez Canal on Sunday on its way to the Mediterranean, an official with the canal authority told AFP. “The USS Cole has crossed the Suez Canal and is headed to the Mediterranean,” the official said, adding he did not know its exact destination. The United States sent the guided-missile destroyer to waters off the coast of Lebanon on February 28, in what US officials said was “a show of support for regional stability” amid concerns over Lebanon's protracted political crisis. US Secretary...

Tensions between French and German leaders seem to have eased following an announcement from Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel that they have found common ground on a proposal for a new Mediterranean Union. A cold snap in Franco-German relations may be thawing -- at least on one serious issue that has been dividing Berlin and Paris. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced jointly on Monday that they had reached a compromise regarding Sarkozy's proposed Mediterranean Union. Merkel had repeatedly criticized (more...) the project in recent weeks. But on Monday, the leaders appeared to have forged a...

New cable cut compounds net woes A submarine cable in the Middle East has been snapped, adding to global net problems caused by breaks in two lines under the Mediterranean on Wednesday. The Falcon cable, owned by a firm which operates another damaged cable, led to a "critical" telecom breakdown, according to one local official. The cause of the latest break has not been confirmed but a repair ship has been deployed, said owner Flag Telecom. The earlier break disrupted service in Egypt, the Middle East and India. "The situation is critical for us in terms of congestion," Omar Sultan,...

Russian Navy seeks bluewater revival By Vladimir Petrov 07 December 2007 The Russian Navy has resumed efforts to revive its global maritime presence, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told President Vladimir Putin at a meeting in the Kremlin on 5 December. The minister informed Putin that from this date the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) would dispatch a Joint Naval Task Force (JNTF) to the northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea. The expedition, which will last until 3 February 2008, is aimed at ensuring a naval presence "in the operationally key areas of the world oceans" and establishing conditions for secure Russian...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Wednesday it would start the first major navy sortie into the Mediterranean since Soviet times, the latest move by an increasingly assertive Moscow to demonstrate its military might. "The aim of the sorties is to ensure a naval presence in tactically important regions of the world ocean," Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov told President Vladimir Putin, who wished the sailors well. The rest of the meeting was closed. Serdyukov said 11 ships, including an aircraft carrier, would take part in the sortie and be backed up by 47 aircraft -- including strategic bombers. Buoyed by...

Analysis: Russia uses Syrian port to demonstrate its power in the Med By ALEX KOGAN Russia is expanding its military presence in Syria, developing an advanced naval port at Tartus and providing Syria with sophisticated missile technology. The story of Russia's return to Tartus, Syria's second most important port after Latakia, broke a year ago. It is Moscow's only foreign naval outpost situated outside the former Soviet Union. In June 2006 Russian media reported that Moscow had begun dredging at Tartus with a possible eye to turning what was largely a logistical base into a full-fledged station for its Black...

Article published Aug 7, 2007 Russian navy covets Mediterranean Sea August 7, 2007 By David R. Sands - Having just staked a claim to the North Pole, Russia is now eyeing the Mediterranean. With Moscow's coffers replenished by the global oil boom, Adm. Vladimir Masorin, Russia's naval commander, has announced ambitious plans to expand the country's primary Black Sea base and establish a "permanent presence" in the eastern Mediterranean for the first time since the Cold War. "The Mediterranean is very important strategically for the Black Sea Fleet," the admiral told reporters Friday on a visit to the Russian base...

After claiming the Pole, Russia looks south By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow Last Updated: 2:47am BST 04/08/2007 Russia stirred memories of the Cold War yesterday when the country's senior admiral called for the establishment of a permanent naval base in the Mediterranean for the first time since the Soviet era. Russia planted its national flag under the North Pole claiming sovereignty over the Artic territory Coming a day after an audacious mission to the North Pole to bolster Russia's territorial claims in the Arctic, Moscow's renewed naval ambitions are likely to spread further unease in Nato capitals. "The Mediterranean Sea...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia should have a permanent naval presence in the Mediterranean, the head of its navy said on Friday, mirroring the military ambitions of the Soviet Union. "The Mediterranean Sea is very important strategically for the Black Sea fleet," Admiral Vladimir Masorin said during a visit to the base of the fleet in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol, RIA news agency reported. "I propose that, with the involvement of the Northern and Baltic fleets, the Russian Navy should restore its permanent presence there." Buoyed by huge oil revenues and with President Vladimir Putin showing increasing assertiveness, Russia has...

A ship from the 8th century discovered off Dor Beach in the Mediterranean is thought to be the only vessel from that era ever found in the region. "We do not have any other historical or archaeological evidence of the economic activity and commerce of this period at Dor," said Ya'acov Kahanov from the Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies and the Department Of Maritime Civilizations at the University of Haifa. "The shipwreck will serve as a source of information about the social and economic activities in this area." The wreck [image] was found almost a decade ago but only...

Gibraltar Bay from the Space Station: From the top: As an aside, the other "Pillar of Hercules" is Monte Hacho, in Ceuta, a "Spanish enclave in North Africa". Monte Hacho is not as imposing as Gibraltar. It's the hill overlooking the harbor in the picture below. However, the alternate Pillar is Jebel Musa (in Morocco, not the Sinai Peninsula!). I like this one. The picture is Jebel Musa viewed from Gibraltar. I think the key difference is that Monte Hacho is owned by Spain and Jebel Musa isn't.

A £300,000 schooner has been found floating empty in the Mediterranean - echoing the fate of the Marie Celeste over 130 years ago. The 66ft twin-masted vessel had no name and no other identification markings. On board there was a half-eaten meal, maps of the Med, piles of clothes and a punctured dinghy. The boat was found drifting off the Sardinian resort of Punta Volpe. Strong currents were pushing it towards rocks and coastguards boarded the vessel just in time and towed it to the port of Olbia. Officials found a plaque with the name Bel Amica but said that...

A fisherman has caught what has been described as a "miracle fish" off the North East coast. Peter Dent spotted the Mediterranean swordfish thrashing about in his salmon net a mile off Newbiggin-by-the-Sea in Northumberland on Monday. It is thought the 6ft-long, 58lb specimen was following mackerel shoals. Fishing commentator Sam Harris said it was the first time he had heard of a swordfish being caught in chilly British waters. He said: "It's a miracle. This fish is 2,000 to 3,000 miles off course. It just proves how the water temperature is hotting up. "I couldn't believe it when someone...

NEW DELHI: Keeping as it does a watchful eye on the rapidly-modernising Chinese Navy, the Indian Navy has detected, tracked and photographed three spanking new Chinese submarines in the Mediterranean region. This is the second such instance of remarkable long-range maritime snooping by the Navy this year. Its TU-142M and IL-38 maritime surveillance aircraft had "spooked" a new Chinese destroyer off Yemen's Socotra Island, almost 2,300-km away from the Indian mainland, as was reported by TOI in February. This time, four of its warships — destroyer INS Mysore, guided missile frigates INS Brahmaputra and INS Betwa and tanker INS Aditya...

Harkening to days gone by, Russia's fleet is returning to the Mediterranean as the Kremlin sends military advisors and weapons to Syria. A mild westerly wind blows in from the Mediterranean onto the harbor of Tartus, where cube-shaped and weathered brownish houses sit atop Phoenician era ruins. A small mosque's minaret and a fish restaurant dominate the scene. But this idyllic image quickly disappears just a few minutes outside the town, where Russian soldiers have set up camp. Surrounded by olive groves and long greenhouses, and guarded by Syrian marines, Moscow's last remaining naval base outside of the post-Soviet Commonwealth...

CAIRO (Reuters) - The Egyptian authorities have given the go ahead for the underwater exploration of what appears to be a Roman city submerged in the Mediterranean, Egypt's top archaeologist said on Monday. Zahi Hawass said in a statement that an excavation team had found the ruins of the Roman city 35 km (20 miles) east of the Suez Canal on Egypt's north coast. Archaeologists had found buildings, bathrooms, ruins of a Roman fortress, ancient coins, bronze vases and pieces of pottery that all date back to the Roman era, the statement said. Egypt's Roman era lasted from 30 BC...

April 28, 2006Cornell study of ancient volcano, seeds and tree rings, suggests rewriting Late Bronze Age Mediterranean history By Alex Kwan Separated in history by 100 years, the seafaring Minoans of Crete and the mercantile Canaanites of northern Egypt and the Levant (a large area of the Middle East) at the eastern end of the Mediterranean were never considered trading partners at the start of the Late Bronze Age. Until now. Trenchmaster Vronwy Hankey and foreman Antonis Zidianakis excavate storage jars from the Minoan settlement Myrtos-Pyrgos. The jars were analyzed in the Cornell study using radiocarbon analyses. Cultural links between...

Reflecting on his childhood, Brigadier General Dean Carlton DuBois, Sr. recalled his mother’s quip: “You look like you’re full of enthusiastics.” Though he remembered the phrase as awkwardly charming, it would define his character, even in the darkest days prior to his death.

BERLIN, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Russia will send ships early next year to help in NATO patrols of the Mediterranean Sea aimed at intercepting boats suspected of links to terrorism, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Wednesday. :::SNIP::: Russia and NATO agreed last year to work more closely together in the fight against terorrism and have been negotiating for months on how Russia can take part in the patrols, known as "Operation Active Endeavour".

Cyprus was the first Mediterranean country to make wine, an Italian archaeologist has claimed. Maria-Rosaria Belgiorno said she uncovered evidence, during an archaeological dig near the southern coastal town of Limassol, that Cypriots produced wine up to 6,000 years ago, AFP reports. 'At Pyrgos we found two jugs used for wine and the seeds of the grapes. And at Erimi, of the 18 pots we looked at, 12 were used for wine between 3,500BC and 3,000BC,' Belgiorno was quoted as saying in the Cyprus Weekly newspaper. It was previously believed that the Mediterranean wine-making tradition originated in what is now...

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Syria and Russia, one-time allies driven apart by the collapse of the Soviet Union and brought closer again by American policies, both stand to gain from a relationship reinvigorated by Syrian President Bashar Assad's visit to Moscow. The four-day visit, which began Monday, is the first by the young Syrian leader to Moscow since he took office in 2000 after the death of his father, the late President Hafez Assad, who ruled for three decades and was a close ally of the Soviets in the 1970s and 1980s. Already, Bashar Assad has clinched a debt-reduction package that...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. .................................................................. .................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. Welcome to "Warrior Wednesday" Where the Freeper Foxhole introduces a...

http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2004-09/07/article05.shtml Israel Tries to "Win Russia Over": Report Lavrov, right, made a distinction between occupied Palestine and Chechnya (AFP) OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, September 7 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) –Showing appreciation for Israel's sympathy and offers of security assistance, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov however drew a line between Chechnya and Palestine, making it clear Arab countries could not be excluded from any alliance against terror. "Chechnya is a part of Russia. But the Palestinian territories are declared by UN resolutions and international legitimacy as occupied lands," Lavrov said during a joint press conference with his Israeli counterpart Silvan Shalom, according...

According to the Associated Press, a Russian foreign minister says Moscow respects Lebanese sovereignty. In a veiled swipe at the United States and its United States allies such as Israel, Russia's foreign minister said Sunday his country opposed a Security Council resolution demanding free presidential elections here and a Syrian troop withdrawal out of Moscow's respect for Lebanese sovereignty. Sergey Lavrov made his comments after meeting Lebanese President Emile Lahoud in Beirut, marking his latest high level meeting during a Middle East tour that has included talks with the leaders of Egypt and Syria. He is expected to arrive in...

"The Russians are coming...The Russians are coming..." Well, that could have been the headlines in Israeli newspapers until a few days ago, before Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov came to Israel. Now, after meeting with Israeli officials, the headlines could be, "Russian FM: Chechen Muslim terror evil, but justifies support for PLO Terror State and help for Iranian Nukes." The day before the Russian Foreign Minister came to Israel, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin, to express his shock at the seizure of the Russian school in Beslan. Sharon told Putin that, "We must concentrate political and...

TEHRAN (MNA) -- During the latest season of excavations of the northern gate of Takht-e Suleiman, an ancient Zoroastrian fire temple located in northwestern Iran, the stamps of two seals were discovered which indicate that objects entered Takht-e Suleiman from other regions with special tags attached to them which seem to be advertisements. They signify that an early form of advertising was being practiced during the Sassanid era (224-642 C.E.), Yusef Moradi, the head of the excavation team, said on Friday. “The team began its excavations in early August and found the stamps of two seals at the upper levels...

Secrets of an ancient Persian armada sunk off the coast of Greece 2500 years ago are being dredged up by modern archaeologists. A team from Greece, Canada and the United States has just completed a second expedition to retrieve artefacts from 300 ships of the Persian King Darius that were wrecked in a storm off the Mt Athos Peninsula, northern Greece, in 492BC or 493BC. Aucklanders will be among the first to hear the results today when three of the expedition leaders present their findings in a free public lecture at Auckland University. In two trips so far, last October...

Ancient treasure trove uncovered Archaeologists have found a 2,700-year-old temple which contains objects from across the ancient world. Gold and silver figures, jewellery and shells from throughout the Mediterranean were gathered in one place on the small Greek island of Kithnos in the Aegean Sea. The finds suggest the temple was for a female god. Many of the objects were originally from Egypt, Italy and Phoenicia which is now Lebanon and Israel. The ancient city was founded during the 10th century BC and abandoned four centuries later, said Alexander Mazarakis-Ainian, over seeing the dig. He is an associate professor at...

Ancient vessel retraces voyages of the past By Stefanos Evripidou IT LOOKS like a tree house stuck on a bamboo banana. In reality it's the incarnation of a pre-Pharaonic reed boat, designed and built to unravel the mysteries of prehistoric navigation. The Abora II drifted in to Larnaca marina yesterday. Weighing in at six- tonnes, the vessel is a totra-reed boat. It is 11.5 metres long, 3.5 metres wide and 1.5 metres deep. The man responsible for building the huge boat is Dominique Goerlitz, a biology teacher at a school in Germany. As a student, Goerlitz was fascinated by the...

The History Channel is going to air a new historical series entitled DECISIVE BATTLES including some classic wars between ancient Persian armies and Roman and Greek ones. The History Channel goes on location to the actual battlefields and integrates cutting-edge videogame technology to bring history and imagination together in the new series DECISIVE BATTLES. The half-hour series DECISIVE BATTLES premieres Friday, July 23 at 9-9:30pm ET/PT. The series is hosted by Matthew Settle (Band of Brothers) on location at the ancient battlefields and features expert commentary from the world©s foremost historians. DECISIVE BATTLES is unlike any series The History Channel...

Since no wreck of a Minoan ship has ever been found, Apostolos Kourtis has had to start from scratch, relying on ancient drawings and using the same methods as the Minoans... With no wreck to provide a model, his four-strong team had to turn to historical sources for help. Frescos unearthed in excavations on the nearby volcanic island of Santorini proved valuable... The 17-metre long and 3.80-metre wide ship with its round-shaped trunk looks like a traditional fishing boat as it emerges in a dockyard in the Cretean city of Chania. It is due to be launched for the...

The Mediterranean Was a Desert Alan Feuerbacher In the past three decades convincing evidence has been found that the Mediterranean Sea has completely dried up at least once, and probably many times. The first solid evidence came in the summer of 1970, when geologists aboard the deep sea research and drilling ship Glomar Challenger brought up drill cores containing gypsum, rock salt, and various other minerals that could only have been formed by drying up of seawater. What was remarkable was that these minerals were found on the ocean floor, one to three kilometers deep, buried under as much as...

Loans And Grants It's too bad Southern California isn't part of Iraq. If it were, then the federal aid it will get would be in the form of grants instead of loans. If Southern California were Israel, it could get $4 billion a year in grants without fires. Even so, it's better to be temporarily scorched Southern California than part of Iraq. Iraq doesn't have forest fires, but that's because there are no forests. Iraq has sandstorms instead. Israel is afflicted with perpetual war. It's sad to see so many lose their homes, but it's just nature. Southern California has...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel...

A study of more than 22,000 Greeks provided further evidence on Wednesday that the "Mediterranean diet" rich in cheese, nuts and olive oil can protect against heart disease and cancer. The study found that people who ate a Mediterranean-style diet had a 33 percent reduction in the risk of death from heart disease and a cancer death rate that was 24 percent lower compared to volunteers who ate other foods. The diet, which varies from country to country, often includes monthly servings of meat and weekly meals of poultry, eggs and sweets. Vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, unrefined cereals, olive oil,...

Greek Forces Find 680 Metric Tons of Explosives on Ship 48 minutes ago Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo! ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece said on Sunday its special forces found 680 tonnes of explosives on board a Comoros flagged ship owned by a Marshall Islands registered company named Alpha Shipping. Greece's Merchant Marine Ministry said it had transferred the vessel, which it identified as the Baltic Sky, to a western Greek commercial port for further checks after special forces boarded the ship and found the explosives. "After acting on confirmed information, special forces checked the ship carrying 680...

ABOARD USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT, EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN It was Friday evening and Rabbi Maurice Kaprow, deputy chaplain of the US Navy's Sixth Fleet, led a small congregation aboard this aircraft carrier in a Kabbalat Shabbat service. As we reached the verse in "Lecha Dodi" translated as "whose shelter of peace is spread over us," a jet returning from an operation in northern Iraq slammed down on the flight deck above us, sending a rumble through the chapel. Kaprow, a Conservative rabbi from Florida, had just arrived aboard for a three-week stint during which he plans to hold Shabbat services, Friday night...

ABOARD THE USS HARRY S. TRUMAN, in the eastern Mediterranean -- Vice Adm. Scott A. Fry, commander of the U.S. Sixth Fleet, told sailors and pilots aboard the nation's newest aircraft carrier Friday that their attacks on Iraq would go down in history. ``You are part of a battle force that has more combat power in the Mediterranean than has been here since World War II,'' Fry said in a visit to the Truman. ``I want you to remember that your kids -- and my grandchildren -- are going to read about what you're doing here today in their history...

CHARLESTON, S.C. - What was to be a six-week deployment to snag drug smugglers off South America will likely become more than six months protecting military shipping in the Mediterranean for the Charleston-based Coast Guard cutter Dallas. "It's been eventful for us," the cutter's commander, Capt. Chris Colvin said by satellite phone from the ship on Friday. "So far we have not come under any hostile fire but it's been interesting." The 378-foot cutter has been operating with the U.S. Sixth Fleet in the eastern Mediterranean. Earlier, the Dallas provided escort for military supply ships moving through the Strait of...

ROME (Reuters) - U.S. navy officials boarded and searched a Tonga-registered merchant vessel in the eastern Mediterranean Wednesday in a hunt some media reports said was linked to finding members of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. "At about 0400 GMT, USS Monterey conducted a compliant boarding of the merchant vessel Tara, formerly known as Christie, about 70 nautical miles south of Antalya, Turkey, in international waters," Commander Bob Ross, spokesman for the U.S. Sixth Fleet, told Reuters. The vessel's documentation appeared to be in order, no contraband was discovered and nothing was removed from the ship, Ross said, but...