"Captain's Error" in Cruise Ship Disaster

Costa Cruises suggested Sunday that the accident which scuttled the Costa Concordia cruise ship off the Italian coast, resulting in at least five deaths, may be attributed to actions by the ship's captain.

In a statement, the cruise line said that it was working with investigators to find out how the accident occurred. "While the investigation is ongoing, preliminary indications are that there may have been significant human error on the part of the ship's master, Captain Francesco Schettino, which resulted in these grave consequences.

"The route of the vessel appears to have been too close to the shore, and in handling the emergency the captain appears not to have followed standard Costa procedures."

Apparently cruise ships are equipped with black boxes like airplanes.  This black box will be examined.
Schettino joined the cruise line Costa Crociere in 2002 as a safety officer and was appointed captain in 2006.

15 people remain unaccounted for following the late Friday accident, which led to a panicked evacuation of more than 4,000 people to the island of Giglio. Three people have been rescued from within the hulk of the ship, which is resting on its side close to shore.

Costa Cruises said its immediate priority is to account for all passengers and crew, and to secure the vessel, ensure no environmental impacts.

Dramatic Pictures of the Costa Concordia

The Costa Concordia cruise ship tipped and went aground off the coast of Italy on Saturday.

Some dramatic shots.

College BB Teams Earn Frequent Flyer Miles this Summer

Forget the Maui Classic, forget the Great Alaska Shootout, and pay no attention to the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands. 

The travel season has begun early for dozens of college hoops teams who are allowed to take a trip abroad every few years as kind of a preseason for the upcoming college basketball season.

Coaches can use this time to give their young teams some valuable experience or use as a recruiting tool to show potential recruits that they take a cool trip every few years.

Here is the list of who's going where:

LSU Italy May 17-27

Mississippi State Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris Aug. 5-15

Villanova France, Netherlands Aug. 7-16

West Virginia Italy Aug. 8-21

Texas A&M Switzerland, France Aug. 8-17

Iowa State Italy Aug. 9-19

Illinois Italy Aug. 10-20

Louisville Bahamas Aug. 10-14

Baylor Toronto Aug. 11-16

DePaul France Aug. 11-21

California Sweden, Norway, Denmark Aug. 12-22

USC Brazil Aug. 12-21

Georgetown China Aug. 13-24

Duke China, Dubai Aug. 14-26

Virginia Tech Canada Aug. 16-18

Oregon Italy Aug. 22-Sept. 2

Stanford Spain Sept. 3-14

Northern Iowa Brazil Aug. 1-9

Murray State Canada Aug. 4-9

North Florida Canada Aug. 4-10

La Salle Canada Aug. 6-9

Hawaii China, Japan Aug. 6-21

Wichita State Brazil Aug. 7-18

Ball State Canada Aug. 8-16

Dayton Amsterdam, Paris Aug. 8-18

Illinois State Canada Aug. 8-13

UTSA Australia Aug. 9-19

Drake Australia, New Zealand Aug. 10-20

Wright State Italy Aug. 10-20

Central Florida Canada Aug. 10-15

Creighton Bahamas Aug. 11-17

Stony Brook Ireland, England, France Aug. 11-22

UMKC Italy Aug. 11-20

Duquesne Canada Aug. 12-15

Elon Germany, Italy Aug. 12-22

Oakland Canada Aug. 13-15

Fairfield Italy Aug. 15-25

BYU Greece Aug. 15-27

UT-Arlington Vancouver Aug. 16-23

Albany Canada Aug. 19-25

Saint Louis Canada Aug. 19-29

Santa Clara Vancouver Sept. 5-10

I believe three of the Duke games in China are going to be televised on ESPN (imagine that) and how about Cal's trip to Scandinavia, Stanford to Spain, and Drake to Australia and New Zealand.  Great spots.  And how about Duke's side trip to Dubai.  You can do that when you are Duke.

Europe Braces for Mass Exodus from Libya

As protest and violence continued across Libya, European officials on Thursday debated how to handle a possible influx of migrants into Europe from the North African country.

Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni warned that Libya's political unrest could create a "catastrophic" humanitarian crisis.

Maroni told reporters in Brussels that the EU border agency Frontex estimates that as many as 1.5 million refugees could pour into Italy, a number, he says, would "bring any state to its knees."

The Italian interior minister pleaded for assistance from the European Union, but his counterparts showed little interest in sharing the potential burden posed by those fleeing the violence in Libya.

Austrian Interior Minister Maria Fekter said Italy should be able to manage, her country already is among the top recipients of asylum seekers in Europe. "Austria is a much smaller country than Italy. We think that the figure of 5,000 [refugees] is figure of persons Italy can handle alone," she said.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière downplayed the situation, noting there has been no major influx of people fleeing Libya.

Italy did find support from Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba. "Italy is the door of Europe.  And because of this, it its necessary for all of Europe.  We don't know the amount of persons who could arrive in Europe.  But in any case, we have to manage this problem because this is not the first time," he said.

The International Organization for Migration says nearly 6,000 Tunisians have arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa in recent weeks.  IOM spokeswoman Jemini Pandya says that at this point, no Libyans have arrived in Italy and she expects very few will.

Austria says it will reconsider its stance, if there is a major migration of people from Libya.  But the Austrian and German foreign ministers noted that only 50 Tunisians have formally requested asylum since their country erupted in protests several weeks ago.  

Germany's interior minister said Europe is not the answer for migrants seeking a better economic future.  But Pandya of the International Organization for Migration says Tunisian migrants are leaving their country not only for work.  

"We increasingly being told by the Tunisians, who are arriving in Lampedusa, that they are coming not only for economic reasons, but for family reunification.  They simply just want to rejoin their families," Pandya said.

The EU recently launched a mission to help Italy cope with the influx of Tunisian migrants on Lampedusa.