Operation to Raise Cruise Liner

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Operation to Raise Cruise Liner
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Engineers began a costly and potentially
hazardous operation on Monday to raise the wreck
of the Costa Concordia cruise liner just off the
coast of Giglio Island in Italy, using huge
jacks, cables and other specialized equipment to
coax the 951-foot vessel off two granite reefs
where it ran aground 20 months ago with the loss
of 32 lives. More than 500 divers, technicians,
engineers and biologists prepared the ship for
what is known as parbuckling to bring it
upright and minimize environmental risks to
Giglio Island, a marine sanctuary. The size and
the location of the 114,500-ton ship whose
length is equivalent to around three football
fields are the most challenging aspects of the
project. The vessel lies at an extreme angle
about 50 yards from the shore. Preparations for
the salvage operation took 14 months, and the
cost has risen to 799 million from 300 million
and could rise further.
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• Yemen's human rights minister wants child
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  emerged last week that a girl named Rawan, from
  the northern Yemeni town of Haradh, died a few
  days after being married off to a 40-year-old
  man, Yemenis were horrified. International
  outrage quickly grew, as the alleged incident
  highlighted once again the extremely
  controversial issue of child marriage in Yemen --
  a country where the practice is still legal.