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TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s Environment Minister said Thursday a clandestine oil deal that would have turned a scuba divers’ paradise into a waypoint for Emirati oil headed for Western markets has effectively been blocked.... ...The secret deal would have significantly increased the number of oil tankers docking and unloading in the Israeli resort city of Eilat. It was struck last year between the Europe-Asia Pipeline Company, the Israeli government-owned corporation, and MED-RED Land Bridge, a joint Israeli-Emirati venture, following the historic agreement establishing formal diplomatic ties... ...Senior officials in former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government — including his...

A CRACK team of scuba-diving sleuths has solved a staggering seven cold cases in just two months, bringing much-needed closure to heartbroken families who had been left without answers for years. The group, known as Chaos Divers, operates out of Southern Illinois and is comprised of divers Jacob Grubbs and Eric Bussick, and head of logistics Lindsey Bussick. The group users sonar technology to help solve cold cases that in some instances have been open for decades. Between October and December of last year, the trio managed to solve seven missing persons cases in a number of different states, including...

A New York financier has been killed in a shark attack while scuba diving off the coast of Costa Rica, the country's Environment Ministry announced. Rohina Bhandari, 49, a senior director at WL Ross & Co. LL, was identified by friends as the American tourist who was fatally attacked last Thursday. She was dragged from the Pacific Ocean after sustaining severe bites to her legs but could not be saved. Her 26-year-old diving instructor was also badly injured.

For months, hype has been building about a set of 15 giant sculptures that were built and designed to be sunk yesterday off the coast of Deerfield Beach, making an artificial reef for scuba divers to explore. These pieces were eight to 22 feet tall and designed as replicas of the mysterious heads at Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui. But things took a bizarre turn when the barge carrying the sculptures tipped over and sunk on top of them, crushing them all.

The world is getting smaller and smaller every day, and in the last 30 years it has even become smaller for those who are limited to wheelchairs due to crippling injuries or birth defects. In the three videos I offer for your viewing, you can see British artist Sue Austin as she navigates underwater in a swimming pool and around a coral reef in the Ocean using a specially designed wheelchair.Sue Austin, is a British artist who has been disabled since 1996. Sue has created her own style of artistic expression she calls "Freewheeling". Before her new found fame with...

The world is getting smaller and smaller every day, and in the last 30 years it has even become smaller for those who are limited to wheelchairs due to crippling injuries or birth defects. In the three videos I offer for your viewing, you can see British artist Sue Austin as she navigates underwater in a swimming pool and around a coral reef in the Ocean using a specially designed wheelchair.Sue Austin, is a British artist who has been disabled since 1996. Sue has created her own style of artistic expression she calls "Freewheeling". Before her new found fame with...

For many candidates, running for office may feel like a season of “Survivor,” the hit reality TV show where contestants build alliances and try to outwit, outplay and outlast one another for the big prize. But for South Florida’s own conservative firebrand, U.S. Rep. Allen West, the comparison is less academic than, well, reality. The Republican congressman stepped off the campaign trail for a brief moment recently to participate in a “Survivor”-like reality TV show filmed in Palm Beach County.

(click on image above for a larger view) >If you like diving, then you might truly enjoy these photos from the worlds deepest indoor diving pool in Brussels, Nemo33. In the series of photos below you will be presented with images that were taken of A complex designed by Belgian diving expert, John Beernaerts.  It is a multi-purpose diving instruction, recreational, and film production facility.  Beernaerts's dream of creating the world's first indoor diving complex began as a simple doodle, sketched on a napkin in a Brussels bar. The place is very clean, and set up and maintained to...

THERE was no reasonable prospect of proving a murder charge against American man Gabe Watson, the Director of Public Prosecutions said today. Tony Moynihan S.C. today said the decision to accept Watson’s plea of guilty to the manslaughter of his wife on a Queensland diving holiday "was made after a careful and thorough examination of the admissible evidence, and was not taken lightly", The Courier-Mail reported. Mr Moynihan said that "given the complex circumstantial nature of the case, Mr Watson’s admission that he breached his duty to render assistance to his wife ultimately meant there was no reasonable prospect of...

An American scuba diver has been charged with murdering his wife by drowning her during their honeymoon at the Great Barrier Reef. The move allows authorities to begin the process of extraditing David Gabriel Watson, of Birmingham, Alabama, to face the charges in Australia. Watson's wife, Christina Watson, drowned on October 22, 2003, while the couple was diving at a shipwreck off Queensland's coast, eleven days after their wedding. The body of Tina Watson (circled) lies on the sea bed after her husband had swum to the surface The alleged murder only came to light after a photograph showing Mrs...

Despite challenges such as darkness, limited visibility and cold temperatures, the waters in and around Sweden offer unique opportunities for underwater exploration. Worlds away from the warm, clear waters of the tropics, Swedish diving is in a class of its own.

Quarry victim's son wants body removed Saturday, January 22, 2005 - Bangor Daily News ROCKLAND - Justin Dennison walked into City Hall early Friday, plunked a wad of cash onto the counter and implored authorities to remove his mother's body from the quarry where her SUV sank the day before. He was politely told to go home. Authorities believe Dennison's mother, Llynne Haskins, 46, of Rockland, died Thursday morning when her Chevrolet S-10 Blazer skidded out of control on the snow-covered Old County Road and rolled into the quarry. The car plummeted 100 feet to the ice-covered surface, broke through...

UKIAH, California (AP) -- The Coast Guard has recovered the headless body of a diver who was killed by a shark off the Mendocino County coast. Randy Fry, 50, was attacked Sunday afternoon in shallow water near Westport while diving for abalone with a companion. Fry's body was recovered Monday; the companion escaped injury. A friend of Fry's estimated the shark was between 16 to 18 feet long.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - A bank robber wearing a wetsuit under his clothes tried to make a scuba-diving getaway but was tackled by police before he reached the water, authorities say. Police subdued the man Thursday on the shore of Budd Inlet after a car chase, a crash and a sweaty quarter-mile dash through the woods, during which he tried to sprint into the water while lugging his diving gear and a backpack filled with the stolen cash, Sgt. Ray Holmes said. Charles E. Coma, 35, was jailed on suspicion of robbery. Police said Coma held up a bank Thursday...

JEDDAH, 6 December 2003 — Saudi authorities have detained two expatriates for questioning. The two continue to be held in a jail in Jeddah for as yet unspecified reasons, Arab News has learned. David Heaton, a British national and convert to Islam, and Abdullatif Ibrahim Bilal, a US national, were taken into custody for questioning last Thursday. “We confirm that David Heaton is currently being detained,” Barry Peach, a spokesman for the British Embassy, told Arab News. “The embassy has requested a counselor to assist Heaton and has been in touch with his next of kin, but up to now...

Few answers appear in the probe of students in Netherlands suspected of ties to Al Qaeda AMSTERDAM — The guys around the scuba school laughingly called them the "Al Qaeda Diving Team." But for law enforcement officials, it was no joke. Late last year, Dutch counter-terrorism agents investigating a possible Al Qaeda recruitment cell grew interested in the school because a man suspected of recruiting terrorists had become a certified diver and studied to be an instructor there. Iraqi-born Kasim Ali was one of between 50 and 150 Muslim men who had taken classes in recent years with the same...