Costa Concordia: Cruise Ship 'Floating Again'

The shipwrecked Costa Concordia is floating on its own for the first time in two and a half years as one of the biggest salvage operations ever enters its most crucial phase.

"The ship is floating," chief engineer Franco Porcellacchia told scores of reporters gathered on the island of Giglio.

"It is now about one metre off the underwater platform it was lying on ... This is extremely positive."

The massive ship - twice as large as The Titanic - will be raised another metre before being shifted towards the open sea by the end of the day in a salvage operation costing $2bn (£1.17bn).

Compressed air is being pumped into 30 tanks attached to the sides of the vessel to force out seawater and refloat the vessel.

Water gushed out as compressed air was pumped in to special refloat tanks

Thirty-two people died when the huge ship slammed into rocks off the Italian island in January 2012 and part of the ship's 290-metre-long hull sank beneath the water.

But having been hauled into an upright position after a 19-hour operation last September, the wreckage of the luxury liner will soon be dragged to the port of Genoa where it will be broken up and sold as scrap.

The 114,500-tonne vessel was being raised two metres off the artificial platforms it has rested on since September in the initial phase of the operation on Monday.

Mr Rebello, second left, is the only victim whose body is still missing

Engineers are hoping to tow it 30 metres from shore and moor it using anchors and cables.

"The risks are that the ship could bend as it is raised, or the chains underneath it could snap," Salvage Master Nick Sloane said before the operation began.

"There will be 42 people on board during the first manoeuvre. If disaster strikes we will evacuate through emergency escapes on the bow and stern."

The bulk of the refloating operation is due to take place from Thursday to Saturday, as the decks slowly emerge to be cleared of debris and checked for structural damage.

The salvage operation is the biggest in maritime history

Search teams will scour the wreck in an attempt to find the body of the only victim still missing, Russel Rebello, an Indian waiter. 

In an interview with Sky News last January, Mr Rebello's brother, Kevin, who has made regular trips to Giglio from his home in Milan, said: "More than anything we would just like to find Russel's body so we can bury him and draw a line on what happened.''

Eerie video footage shot by divers and released by police earlier this month showed twisted metalwork, broken furniture and discarded belongings left by the 4,200 people who were on board the Costa Concordia when it crashed.

Francesco Schettino, the ship's captain, is on trial on several counts, including manslaughter. He is fighting the charges.

Francesco Schettino is accused of fleeing the ship

Schettino is accused of deliberately altering the course of the Concordia in order to carry out a sail-by salute of the island in order to impress local residents and passengers.

The 53-year-old, who was allegedly on the bridge with his Moldovan lover Domnica Cemortan, claimed it was ''too dark to see anything'' and told investigators he had not fled but had ''tripped and fell into a lifeboat".

He was dubbed 'Captain Coward' by some tabloid newspapers after reportedly refusing orders from the coastguard to return to the ship to help with the rescue operation.

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Pistorius Breaks His Silence On Twitter

Oscar Pistorius has broken his silence on social media by posting a string of religious messages.

The Paralympian took to Twitter on Sunday afternoon, five days after the last evidence was heard in his murder trial.

He posted a collage of himself posing with children, along with the message: "You have the ability to make a difference in someones (sic) life."

The 27-year-old also uploaded a passage about how a man in "utter desolation" can still "achieve fulfillment" through "loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved".

The athlete posted a picture of himself with children

The last time he tweeted before that was on February 14 this year, the first anniversary of the day he killed girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.

Then, he wrote about the "devastating accident" that caused "such heartache for everyone who truly loved - and continues to love Reeva".

The double-amputee is waiting to learn whether he will be found guilty of the 29-year-old model's murder.

Pistorius says he heard what he thought was an intruder in his house and, in "fear for his life", approached a closed toilet door and fired four shots through it.

Pistorius shot Reeva four times through a toilet door

He said he thought Reeva was still in the bedroom when he opened fire.

The athlete's first message to his 354,000 followers - posted at 5.26pm on Sunday - contained seven pictures of himself with children.

Eight minutes later, he posted a passage from Man's Search For Meaning, a book published in 1946 by Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, about his experiences as an inmate at Auschwitz.

It mentions "how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss" by contemplating "his beloved".

His last tweet contained a prayer about those living in pain

Thirteen hours later, he posted a prayer saying: "Lord, today I ask that you bathe those who live in pain in the river of your healing. Amen."

His trial resumes on August 7 and 8, when lawyers will present their final arguments at Pretoria High Court.

The judge will then retire to consider her verdict, which could take several weeks.

Pistorius faces between 25 years and life in prison if found guilty.

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'Dead' Girl, 3, Wakes Up At Her Own Funeral

A three-year-old girl pronounced dead after a fever has apparently woken up at her own funeral in the Philippines.

The girl was declared clinically dead by medical personnel in Zamboanga del Sur, Mindanao, on Friday.

But during the funeral service on Saturday she apparently began moving her head before her family took her out of her coffin.

The girl began moving her head whilst in her coffin

Senior Inspector Heidil Teelan, police chief in Aurora, told The Philippine Star the girl had been suffering from a severe fever when she was taken to a medical clinic.

He told the newspaper: "During that time, the attending clinic personnel and physician confirmed that the young patient had no more pulse and was clinically dead last Saturday morning about 9am."

The girl's coffin

He added that after the little girl reportedly moved her head, family members discovered she had a pulse and immediately gave her water before going for medical help.

The condition of the girl was unknown.

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Ukrainian Plane 'Likely Shot Down From Russia'

A Ukrainian transport aircraft was "probably" shot down from within Russian territory, Ukraine's defence ministry has claimed.

Pro-Russian rebels had previously claimed they had shot down the AN-26 transporter.

Ukrainian officials lost contact with the aircraft's crew near rebel-held Luhansk at lunchtime on Monday.

The defence ministry said some crew of the downed plane had been in contact with the army's general staff.

A statement on the Ukrainian presidency website said only missiles "likely from the territory of the Russian Federation" would have been able to reach the aircraft at the altitude it was flying.

A plane similar to the AN-26 transporter shot down

It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties on the aircraft, which officials said could have been carrying about 20 people.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing saw parachutes. 

Fighting has been intensifying around Luhansk as government forces stepped up efforts to disrupt rebel lines.

Warplanes inflicted heavy losses on the separatists during airstrikes overnight, Ukraine's military said.

Government troops retook several villages around Luhansk and reopened a corridor to the airport, it was claimed.

A Ukrainian woman in Semenovka looks at buildings destroyed during combat

Meanwhile, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has accused the Russian military of sending officers to fight alongside the rebels in the east of the country.

He also claimed that a newly developed Russian missile system had been used against Ukrainian forces during the previous three days.

NATO said Russia had increased its forces along the border and now had 10,000-12,000 troops in the area.

But amid the heightened tensions, Russia said it had invited the OSCE security monitoring group to two of its border crossings with Ukraine as a sign of "goodwill".

Ukrainian forces have been retaking territory on the edge of Luhansk

At the weekend, Moscow claimed a man in Russia had been killed by a shell that had come from across the border.

But Ukraine's National and Security Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko accused rebel fighters of being behind the cross-border shelling.

He told journalists on Monday morning: "The (rebel) fighters systematically fire mortar and shoot into Russian territory which killed a Russian citizen."

On Sunday, Vladimir Putin met with Angela Merkel at the World Cup in Brazil. The German Chancellor urged the Russian President to use his influence over the separatists to help bring about an end to fighting.

In the last two weeks, the government has halved the amount of territory held by the pro-Russia fighters.

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Israelis 'Admit' Palestinian Teen's Murder

Israel has charged three people with killing a Palestinian teenager who was set on fire and left in a forest.

It comes as rocket attacks and airstrikes between Israel and Gaza continued seven days on from the start of an Israeli offensive.

And 27 British nationals and their Palestinian dependants have been evacuated from Gaza amid the violence.

Mohammed Abu Khadeir's mother shows a picture of him on her phone

Mohammed Abu Khadeir was taken from his home in east Jerusalem and apparently burned alive in revenge for the abduction and killing of three Israeli teenagers, according to Israel's Shin Bet security service. 

The three people, two of them aged just 17, charged over the 16-year-old Palestinian's death have admitted the killing and even re-enacted the murder, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Shin Bet said the three suspects "patrolled Arab neighbourhoods of Jerusalem for a number of hours, in an attempt to find a victim to abduct, until they spotted Mohammed Abu Khudair".

An Israeli F-16 fighter jet flies over the Gaza Strip on Monday

After forcing him into a car, he was driven to the forest where he was beaten with a tyre iron before before set on fire, the agency added.

Hamas militants were blamed for the killing of the three Israelis and since the deaths Israel has launched a concerted military operation against the group in the Gaza Strip.

At least 172 Palestinians have been killed in the offensive, which Israel says is aimed at halting rocket attacks across the border.

More than 40 sites were bombed on Sunday night, while the Israeli military said it had shot down a drone from Gaza - the first one used by Palestinian militants in the latest violence.

Israeli tanks near the border with the Gaza Strip

Elsewhere, Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian man during clashes with stone-throwers in the occupied West Bank.

Activists said Israel also detained dozens of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club, which campaigns for Palestinians jailed by Israel, said 57 people were seized overnight, including 12 Hamas politicians.

That brings the number of Palestinians arrested since last month to 1,071, it said.

Homes are destroyed in Deir El Balah in the central Gaza Strip

The Israeli military confirmed 25 arrests in the West Bank overnight.

In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called the West Bank arrests "a continued Israeli escalation against our people".

On Sunday, Israeli troops launched a ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip, the first since the offensive began.

The navy commandos' brief incursion - which ignored a United Nations call for a ceasefire - targeted a rocket launcher site, according to Israeli public radio.

Thousands of residents in northern Gaza have fled their homes after the Israeli military warned them to leave for their own safety.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his forces would be hitting Hamas "with growing force".

"We do not know when this operation will end," he told ministers.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has phoned Mr Netanyahu to renew a US offer to help mediate a truce.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he would ask the United Nations for international protection.

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Putin Tells Britain To Resolve Falklands Row

Vladimir Putin has waded into the Falkland Islands row, telling Britain it must sit down with Argentina for fresh talks to resolve the dispute.

The Russian president, who has faced international criticism over the annexation of Crimea and continuing tensions on the Ukraine border, said his country supported "the necessity" to find a solution to the 200-year-old feud.

Speaking at a dinner with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on a one-day visit to the country, Mr Putin added: "I'd like to draw attention to the words of the president regarding double discourse in international affairs."

Ms Fernandez has previously accused Britain of double standards for criticising a pro-Russian secession vote in Crimea, while using last year's Falklands referendum, in which islanders voted in favour of remaining British, to justify its rule of the archipelago.

Mr Putin shared a drink with Ms Fernandez and also played an accordion tune

At the dinner with Mr Putin, she thanked the Russian leader for supporting her country's "national cause".

"Colonisation is a dark cloud over the 20th and 19th centuries and something that should be totally wiped out," she said.

"We thank the position of Russia regarding the Falkland Islands and I am going to call a toast in the name of, as you put it, a world without double discourse ... where the international rights are the same for everyone and applied the same way everywhere."

Britain has controlled the Falklands since 1833 - except for 74 days of occupation in 1982 - but Argentina claims it inherited rights to the islands in 1816.

The sovereignty of the Falkland Islands has long been disputed

More than 900 people were killed and 2,000 injured during the war triggered by an Argentine invasion 32 years ago.

Last month, a UN committee approved a resolution calling on the UK and Argentina to negotiate over the Falkland Islands.

Argentina's foreign minister Hector Timerman told the UN special committee on decolonisation the UK's refusal to "fulfil its obligations to negotiate" over the islands' sovereignty went against the founding principle of the UN.

However, Falklands residents gave speeches at the meeting, saying they were "happy with the current status and don't want to change it".

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Iraq: Gunmen Shoot Dead 29 In 'Brothel'

At least 29 people have been shot dead in the Iraqi capital Baghdad in a building that police believe was being used as a brothel.

Twenty of them were said to be women.

Gunmen carried out the raid on two rundown apartments in a housing complex in the east of the city on Saturday evening.

A police officer told Reuters that the words: "This is the punishment of those practising prostitution" were scrawled in black on the walls on at least one of the flats where the bodies of the women were found.

Shia militia members have been accused by locals of carrying out killings of women branded as prostitutes in that district of Baghdad.

At least 18 people were wounded, police said.

The apartment block where the attacks took place

The attack happened in Zayouna neighbourhood and local people said it was was carried out by men wearing a mix of plain clothes and camouflage.

The exact number killed has yet to be confirmed but some locally said the figure could be much higher.

Dhafir Abdullah, a local resident said: "While I was having a picnic at 8.30pm yesterday, I saw police vehicles parked. Then I heard that 35 women were killed in vague circumstances."

Video footage of the scene showed bloodstains on the path leading to the apartment doorways and discarded clothing and medical equipment left by the emergency services.

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Pope: One In 50 Clergy Involved In Paedophilia

Pope Francis has condemned child sex abuse as a "leprosy" and believes one in 50 people in the Church is involved in paedophilia.

In an interview with Italy's La Repubblica newspaper, he also promised "solutions" to the issue of priestly celibacy and raised the possibility the Catholic Church may eventually lift its ban on married priests.

The Pope, who has previously said he would show zero tolerance for clergy who abused children, cited his aides as saying that "the level of paedophilia in the Church is at 2%".

"That 2% includes priests and even bishops and cardinals," he said.

Francis arrives to lead prayers in Isernia, southern Italy

Asked whether priests might one day be allowed to marry, Francis pointed out that celibacy was instituted "900 years after Our Lord's death" and that clerics can marry in some Eastern Churches under Vatican tutelage.

"There definitely is a problem, but it is not a major one. This needs time but there are solutions and I will find them," he said, without giving further details.

In May, Francis likened paedophilia by priests to a "satanic Mass" - and announced his first meeting with a group of victims at the Vatican.

Asked about his approach to bishops accused of sexual abuse, he said "there will be no daddy's boys".

He said three bishops were currently being investigated.

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Israeli Troops Launch First Ground Raid On Gaza

Israeli troops have launched a ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip, the first since the offensive against Hamas began, as Palestinian deaths continue to mount.

The navy commandos' brief incursion - which ignored a United Nations call for a ceasefire - targeted a rocket launcher site, according to Israeli public radio.

The armed branch of Hamas confirmed that Israeli troops had exchanged gunfire with Palestinian fighters.

Thousands of residents in northern Gaza have fled their homes, after a warning from Israel's military that they should leave "for their own safety".

Artillery flares illuminate the sky following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is to ask the United Nations for international protection as the six-day offensive continues.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation said in a statement: "President Abbas will present a letter to the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry, addressed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, to officially put the State of Palestine under the UN international protection system and to form a legal committee for immediate follow-up."

Israel says it plans to step up its offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza over the next 24 hours in an effort to stop missiles being fired into Israel.

It has been massing military hardware and troops close to the border with northern Gaza.

A picture tweeted by Israel claiming to target a militant rocket site

Sky's Alex Rossi said more than 100 Israeli armoured personnel carriers and tanks are in the area.

Israel began its offensive on Tuesday in response to weeks of rocket attacks from Hamas militants in Gaza, who are understood to have fired more than 600 missiles into the country.

Two more rockets shot from Gaza were destroyed over the Tel Aviv area by the Iron Dome missile defence system on Sunday, several hours after another two rockets were intercepted over Lod, close to the country's main airport.

Hamas has denied being behind a rocket attack on Israel from Lebanon on Saturday evening.

Tel Aviv residents take cover during an air raid siren warning of an attack

Earlier that day an Israeli warplane bombed the home of Gaza's police chief and damaged a nearby mosque, killing at least 18 people and wounding 50.

It was the deadliest single attack during the five-day conflict, which has now claimed 165 Palestinian lives and left more than 1,000 injured.

The injured were taken to al Shifa hospital in Gaza City as the bombardment continued.

Dr Ayman al Sahabany, director of emergency ward at the hospital, said: "Women and children are more than half of the casualties. And children form a third of the total casualties."

Israeli soldiers rest in the shade of trees near central Gaza

No Israelis have died so far in the latest conflict, and many of the rockets fired into the country have been intercepted by Iron Dome.

Speaking before an international summit in Vienna, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said there was an "urgent need" to stop the bloodshed.

Earlier, France called on Israel to order an immediate ceasefire.

"We condemn the Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians," said Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

Israeli soldiers walk across a field near central Gaza strip

"But we also call on Israel to show restraint in its response and in particular to respect international law and to ensure that civilian casualties are avoided."

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) defended its military campaign via social media.

"To warn civilians of an impending strike, the IDF drops leaflets, makes personalized phone calls & sends SMSes. How many militaries do that?" it tweeted.

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Search For Body As Costa Concordia Refloated

The Man Who Raised Costa Concordia

Updated: 6:30am UK, Tuesday 17 September 2013

By Tom Kington, on Giglio

The man who raised the Costa Concordia was given a hero's welcome on Tuesday by colleagues and residents of the island of Giglio, where the cruise ship capsized 20 months ago.

After running a control room on a barge near the wrecked vessel, salvage master Nick Sloane was greeted by a cheering crowd in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday as he returned to Giglio port after the successful 19-hour operation to right the ship.

Around 100 members of the 500-strong salvage team toasted the 52-year-old South African salvage veteran with beer and prosecco outside a café on the quayside, shortly after the Costa Concordia was pulled upright onto undersea platforms with giant pulleys.

"This has been the most satisfying job of my life," said DJ Degraaff, 35, a Dutch salvage master. "It's been a hard job but now we are relaxed and satisfied. The ship is resting and that was the goal."

Mr Degraaff said his biggest concern as the ship was rolled upright was that her bilge tanks would collapse. "But we had reinforced them and they held," he said.

There would be no time off now, he said, since work must now start on adding flotation tanks to the starboard side of the ship before she can be refloated and towed away from Giglio.

But Denny Hoffschlag, 34, a Dutch diver, said there was a "lot of joy" among the salvage team after righting the ship. "This has given me goosebumps," he said.

Mr Sloane was accompanied on the quayside by Rich Habib, CEO of Titan Salvage, which won the contract to raise the Costa Concordia.

"The stakes were so high, but it went just the way we planned it," said Mr Habib. The so-called parbuckling did last longer than predicted, 19 hours compared to the 12 forecast, something Mr Habib put down to the need to use slightly more force in the pulleys than had been predicted.

"It needed more oomph," he said.

Habib also said that after inspecting the side of the ship he had seen that the two granite outcrops on which the boat had rested for 20 months had not pierced the hull of the ship. "The steel of the ship compacted on the rocks rather than being pierced by it," he said.

The care taken in raising the Costa Concordia without breaking it up had been done to respect the surrounding martime park, in contract to the common salvage practise of blowing up vessels said Habib. "It's a little bit easier to blow things up," he said.

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