Terri Irwin to launch whale research

The widow of TV wildlife entertainer “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin said she would launch a non-lethal whale research programme in Antarctic waters next year in an effort to show that Japan’s scientific whaling cull is a sham.

Terri Irwin announced that the whale-watching programme she started to honor her late husband, who died in a freak stingray attack off Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, would expand into scientific research. Tokyo has staunchly defended its annual cull of more than 1,000 whales as crucial for research purposes, and says killing whales is necessary to gather information about their breeding and migratory habits. Environmentalists and anti-whaling nations say the slaughter is commercial whaling in disguise. Japan had planned to kill up to 50 endangered humpback whales this season, but backed away from the plan in the face of strong international condemnation. Irwin says that they can actually learn everything the Japanese are learning with lethal research by using non-lethal research.

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Leading yachts surge into Bass Strait, Slade still hopeful of record

The three maxis leading the Rolex Sydney Hobart fleet entered Bass Strait around 4am this morning with Bob Oatley’s Wild Oats XI still in the lead.

At 0500hrs the Sydney maxi, which is aiming for a hat trick of line honors wins, held a 9-mile break on Mike Slade’s British maxi City Index Leopard, with Skandia another 6 miles astern. Nevertheless, with the wind now on the nose, Slade is hopeful he may yet wind the local race favorite in. Slade believes that, with the amount of ground the maxis covered in the first 10 hours of the race the record is still a possibility even though the front has slowed them down.  At their present speed, City Index Leopard would expect to arrive in Hobart about an hour and a half too late to break the record, but if the breeze freshens during the day “we could easily gain that hour and a half.” Roger Sturgeon’s Farr STP 65 Rosebud is hanging onto fourth as the American boat prepares to enter Bass Strait, narrowly ahead of Matt Allen’s Ichi Ban in fifth.

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Costa Cruises makes Dubai its regional cruise hub.

For the second consecutive year, Europe’s leading cruise operator Costa Cruises has made Dubai its regional cruise hub.

It has also deployed two ships offering six weekly packages to destinations in the UAE, Arabian Gulf and the Middle East regions. For the 2007-2008 cruise season, the Italian group has drafted two huge cruise ships – Costa Romantica and Costa Europa- with a combined passenger and crew capacity of 4756. Last year, the company had deployed only one cruise ship. The regional package covers Dubai, Muscat, Fujairah, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain. There is complete passenger exchange programme at each ship during the current season. Costa is one of the world’s leading cruise operators with 11 ships under deployment. A grand reception was organized on board the Costa Romantica at the Dubai Cruise Terminal in Port Rashid Complex on December 22 to celebrate the inaugural cruises for the 2007-2008 seasons in the Gulf region.

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