They’d been alerted by a distress call by a passenger.
ends intro

An Italian naval frigate and helicopter responded to that passenger’s call for help.
The captain of the Moldovan-flagged vessel assured them the ship was not in distress and didn’t need help.
But as it approached the heel of boot-shaped Italy, it was boarded by six coast guard officals.
They couldn’t find any crew and avoided disaster by interrupting the programme that would have sent the ship crashing ashore.
They’re having to unblock the motor to bring the ship safely to port.

The post Italian navy avert shipping disaster appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.

In terms of pure consumption, South Africa is 29^th on the list compiled by the World Health Organisation.

But it’s the weighted figure, omitting the number of abstainers in the population, that rockets the country up the ranks.

Belarus, Moldova and Russia are the world’s biggest alcohol consumers with between 15 and 18 litres of alcohol per adult per year.

But Chad, where nine out of ten adults abstain, the ten percent of drinkers win the tippler’s blue ribbon, consuming 34 litres a year each.

At the other end of the tot measure, France’s alcohol consumption puts it in 20^th place of the 190 countries polled.

But since only five percent of the population is abstemious, the averages drive it down to 113^th place

The post SA features high on world tipplers’ list appeared first on Jean-Jacques Cornish.