- A confidential report on safety conditions aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, conducted about one month before the rig’s explosion, points to widespread fear of reprisal for reporting employee mistakes that could undermine safety aboard the rig.

“There was a stated fear of reprisal related specifically to the reporting of dropped objects,” states an executive summary of the report obtained by CNN.

“Only 46.3 percent of participants felt that, if their actions led to a potentially risky situation (e.g., forgetting to do something, damaging equipment, dropping an object from height), they could report it without any fear of reprisal,” the report states.

Transocean, the rig operator, commissioned the survey of about 40 employees, about half its staff aboard the Deepwater Horizon.

The report concluded, “Deepwater Horizon was relatively strong in many of the core aspects of safety management.” But it also uncovered fear among workers of suffering reprisal for reporting conditions that could lead to a “risky” situation onboard the rig.

The study also found some Transocean employees entered fake data to try to circumvent a safety system, according to a person familiar with the full report.

The study was based on surveys conducted March 12-16 by Lloyd’s Register Group, a consultant that analyzes the safety of business processes and products. The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded the night of April 20 while drilling BP’s Macondo oil well. Two days later it sank. The Lloyd’s report was completed afterwards; it is dated May 11.

Lloyd’s said it was retained by Transocean to “proactively understand their safety culture and assess the equipment on the Deepwater Horizon.” Transocean has commissioned safety surveys of its staff aboard 20 other drilling rigs.

A spokesperson for Transocean insisted the study of employees aboard Deepwater Horizon reflected the company’s commitment to safety.

“This rig did go seven years without a lost-time incident or any major environmental accidents,” said spokesman Lou Colasuonno. “This rig was exhibit-A for a well-run rig.”

In assessing the safety culture onboard the rig, the consultants gave ratings of between 2.9 to 3.5 on a scale of 1 to 5 for policies such as leadership, communication, training and monitoring.

A separate report by a different Transocean consultant on the Deepwater Horizon’s equipment cited at least 26 components and systems out of 129 categories on the rig that were in “bad” or “poor” condition, according to a report in Thursday’s New York Times.

Transocean’s spokesman told CNN all equipment on the Deepwater Horizon was in line with government guidelines. “Every device met regulatory standards,” Colasuonno said.

Rights groups collected evidence that white phosphorus was used in civilian areas

The Israeli military will restrict its use of artillery shells containing white phosphorus, it has told the UN.

The controversial weapons cause deadly burns and rights groups say they are banned from use in civilian areas.

The Israel Defense Forces used weapons containing white phosphorus during a 22-day assault on Gaza which began in December 2008.

In its report to the UN, the IDF said steps would be taken in future to avoid civilian casualties.

“The IDF chief of general staff ordered the establishment of a clear doctrine and orders on the issue of various munitions that contain white phosphorus,” the report said.

“These instructions are currently being implemented.”

Burning

During the Israeli offensive on Gaza, known as Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli military used white phosphorus rounds in densely populated areas, the UN and Human Rights Watch said.

Part of a UN compound burned down after it was hit by chunks of the burning chemical which ignites on contact with air.

The weapon has been used on battlefields to create cover for advancing troops and to flush infantry out of their positions, but human rights groups say international law bans its use in civilian areas.

Burning phosphorus sticks to skin and will continue to burn flesh until the supply of oxygen is cut off.

Palestinians and rights groups say more than 1,400 Gazans died in the conflict, but Israel puts the figure at 1,166. Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, were killed.

War crimes

The Israeli military say that the attack was launched to prevent rockets being fired into southern Israel from Gaza.

The UN has sharply criticised both sides in the conflict.

A report by the former prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Richard Goldstone, accused both the IDF and Hamas of war crimes.

The Goldstone report has been condemned by the Israeli government as biased.

Hamas has also denied its fighters committed war crimes.

Israel’s latest report to the UN, posted on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also says it has launched 150 investigations into the conduct of its soldiers during the offensive.

– Some beaches suffer from pollution, but there are many gorgeous, pristine escapes that offer a sanctuary to wildlife and travelers alike. We scoured the planet to find the most spectacular shorelines — and, no surprise, most of our top choices are on protected land or are nearly impossible to reach.

Whitehaven Beach, Whitsunday Islands, Australia

This 4.3-mile white sparkling beach has won many awards, including “Cleanest Beach in Queensland,” and national awards for resource recovery and environmental protection. The breathtaking beach is located on Whitsunday Island, the largest of a 74-island chain. Visitors are limited by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and must register with a tour guide for access.

Playa Matapalo, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

Known as the lungs of the Earth, the Osa Peninsula is blessed with a dense forest and a conservation-minded government. Half of the 500,000 species of flora and fauna located in Costa Rica can be found here. The area is also home to beautiful Playa Matapalo, a gray-sand beach popular with surfers that leads into the Portalon National Wildlife Refuge complete with a marine turtle protection project.

Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, Oahu, Hawaii

Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve wasn’t always so clean. The state has been enforcing strict rules for beachgoers in the former volcanic crater site since 1990, and it is the first Marine Life Conservation District in Hawaii. Visitor numbers are restricted and an educational video about preserving the fragile ecosystem is mandatory before entry. Now the living reef environment is one of the top spots in the state for snorkeling.

MNN: 8 under-the-radar gems of the national parks system

Koh Libong, Trang Province, Thailand

While many popular beaches in Thailand have been trashed by tourism, Trang Province officials are committed to sustainability and ecotourism. Koh Libong is the province’s largest island and has been protected with the help of Swedish environmentalists. The sparsely populated area doesn’t get many tourists, leaving the golden beaches open to crabs, birds, turtles and dugongs.

Las Islas Cies, Galicia, Spain

Often considered one of the best beaches in Europe, the white sand of Las Islas Cies remains beautiful because the island is protected as a national park. The number of visitors is restricted, cars are prohibited and overnight stays are restricted to camping. Many beachgoers tell stories of feeling as if they are the only ones on the island. Even though it’s on the Atlantic Ocean, the water is as calm as a lake.

MNN: 9 amazing caves from around the world

Sancho Bay, Fernando de Noronha, Brazil

The island of Fernando de Noronha is a protected marine ecological reserve, and only 420 tourists are allowed to access the beach at one time. Those who do visit will find 15 beaches with sparkling blue water and white sand beaches, but Sancho Bay, surrounded by natural walls, is one of the most unspoiled and secluded spots on the island. It is accessible only by a ladder that’s wedged in a rock crevice.

Short Sands Beach: Oswald West State Park, Oregon

Many trails lead to the beach in Oswald West State Park, and they all wind through an amazing forest of towering mature trees. Expect to see surfers toting their boards to the waves. The beach is tucked away in a cove and surrounded by mountains, which makes it feel secluded from the rest of the world. Visitors can also access a 13-mile stretch of the Oregon Coast Trail from this beach.

Goosewing Beach Preserve, Little Compton, Rhode Island

Beach, dune and coastal pond environments come together in this scenic Rhode Island spot. Goosewing Beach is owned by the Nature Conservancy of Rhode Island and other groups, an effort to protect endangered shorebirds. It is one of the few breeding sites for the piping plover.

Filed Under: Acts
of terror

Homeless in Haiti 6 months after quake

Six months ago, Michel Clervil and his wife, Eliane, looked lost in a sea of makeshift tents. Eliane nervously clutched a small hand-cranked radio distributed by the U.S. Army, while Michel periodically wiped at the sweat on his brow with a rag.

The couple had just taken shelter with their children in the filthy camp that sprang up on a golf course in Port-au-Prince. They were disoriented and almost appeared to be in shock.

In fact, the Clervils were lucky to be alive.

Somehow, everyone in the family escaped unharmed when the walls of their five-story house came tumbling down on January 12. At least 220,000 people were killed in the earthquake. Many more were injured.

But the disaster left Michel and Eliane Clervil facing terrible uncertainty.

Until the earthquake, Michel had managed to provide his family with the Haitian equivalent of a middle-class existence by renting out rooms on the first several floors of his house to tenants. Michel had even succeeded in sending two of his daughters to universities overseas.

With the destruction of the house, Michel and Eliane lost their only source of income. There was no homeowners’ insurance. All of the family’s surviving possessions were stored under a tent made out of bed sheets, where the Clervils sat swatting at flies in the sweltering heat.

Dressed in a baseball cap, spectacles and blue jeans, the middle-aged man took a sledgehammer and began singlehandedly demolishing the few walls that still stood on his property.

“I want to destroy this so that I can build a new house,” he told CNN in late January. “I don’t have any money to hire people to help me.”

Six months later

Six months after the earthquake, most of the rubble was gone from the Clervils’ small plot of land. No new construction had begun there.

We found Michel several blocks away, dressed in the same baseball hat and blue jeans, but with small holes in his white T-shirt and several days’ growth of beard on his face.

He gave a CNN reporter a warm bear hug, and then shared a horrible piece of news.

“My wife died,” he said, his eyes welling up with tears. “She was my wife for 25 years. … Life doesn’t make sense to me anymore.”

Clervil’s 26-year-old son, Chesnay, offered an explanation:

“It’s because she was under extreme stress. She had high blood pressure,” he said.

The tall, soft-spoken young man and his father described how Eliane had been listening to news on the radio, and then collapsed when she heard that people would have to move from their camp to a new location. Eliane was hospitalized in late February and died several days later.

“I believe it was because of the aftershocks, again and again,” Chesnay said, shaking his body for emphasis as he spoke. “She couldn’t take the tremors.”

Both father and son led visitors to a small cemetery, littered with garbage and human bones. There, they pulled weeds away from the simple unmarked grave where 55-year-old Eliane Clervil was buried.

Michel put his hand on the concrete block.

“I want to join my wife,” he said quietly.

The agony of losing Eliane has been made all the more unbearable by the ongoing economic hardship the Clervils are still facing.

“My [youngest] daughter asked me for 500 gourdes (about $12) for school yesterday,” Michel said. “I had nothing to give her.”

At dusk, a heavy rain began falling as Michel and Chesnay led visitors through a muddy maze of shacks. Michel lives in this new camp in a one-room hut built out of scavenged wood and sheet metal. Rain clattered on the leaky roof, a blue plastic tarp that had been distributed by an aid organization.

With the exception of the tarp, Michel claimed he had received no assistance from the government or the United Nations. Chesnay, an engineer by training, had been working for a government program to assess the structural integrity of buildings hit by the earthquake. But the program had just come to an end, and Chesnay was once again jobless.

Homeless, penniless and heartbroken, Michel sat in his shack in the dark smoking a cigarette, his face lit up periodically by flashes of lightning.

“The last six months have been very difficult,” he said. “The next six months will be even harder.”

It is impossible to quantify the impact one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history continues to have on millions of Haitians. Michel Clervil may never fully recover from the day the earth shook Port-au-Prince.

– A much-anticipated
meeting Tuesday between military officers of the U.S.-led U.N. Command
and North Korea in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea
has been postponed, the command said.

A new meeting time was not
immediately proposed, the command said.

They planned to discuss
the March 26 sinking of a South Korean warship, the Cheonan.

The
U.N. officers were slated to be U.S. colonels, as the United States
holds responsibility for U.N. security forces in Korea.

North
Korea had accepted a U.N. proposal for the meeting of colonel-level
leaders to be a precursor to talks between generals on the contentious
naval incident.

The demilitarized zone was created as part of the
armistice signed between North and South Korea in 1953 that halted the
Korean War, but the war has never officially ended.

The United
Nations and North Korea began occasional meetings between generals —
“General Officer Talks” — at Panmunjom in 1998 to lessen tensions.
There have been 16 such meetings to date, the last one in March 2009,
the United Nations said.

On Friday, the United Nations formally
condemned the sinking of the Cheonan but did not specifically name North
Korea, which an international joint civilian-military investigation
deemed culpable. Australia, Britain, the United States, Sweden and South
Korea provided experts for the inquiry.

“The Security Council
deplores the attack,” the 15-member council said Friday in what is known
as a presidential statement. It urged that “appropriate and peaceful
measures be taken against those responsible for the incident aimed at
the peaceful settlement of the issue.”

It also called for full
adherence to the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement, which ended
hostilities in the Korean War.

Despite the absence of North
Korea’s name in the condemnation, Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the
United Nations, said the message to the communist nation is
“unmistakable.”

“This statement is notable and it is clear,” Rice
said after its approval at a Friday session. “It uses the term ‘attack’
repeatedly, which you don’t have to be a scholar of the English
language to understand is not a neutral term.”

South Korea
welcomed the statement.

“I think it’s crystal clear that [the]
Security Council made it clear that North Korea [is] to be blamed and to
be condemned,” said Park In-kook, South Korea’s ambassador to the
United Nations.

A presidential statement, unlike a Security
Council resolution, is not legally binding, though it requires approval
of the council’s five permanent members: China, Russia, France, the
United Kingdom and United States.

The Security Council expressed
“deep sympathy and condolences” for the deaths of 46 sailors aboard the
Cheonan.

The isolated North has maintained its innocence,
rejecting the investigation findings outright, questioning the validity
of the experts involved, asking to conduct its own inquiry and telling
the Security Council that North Korea is the true victim of a
conspiracy.

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of North Korea,
officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, called the
presidential statement “devoid of any proper judgment,” according to the
state-run Korean Central News Agency on Friday.

He added the case “should have been settled between
the North and the South without referring it to the U.N. The DPRK
remains unchanged in its stand to probe the truth about the case to the
last.”

– The United States and Russia completed a spy swap Friday, exchanging the agents on chartered planes at an airport in Vienna, Austria, a U.S. official and Russian media said.

The plane carrying 10 Russian agents, who were expelled from the United States on Thursday for intelligence gathering, landed at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport on Friday afternoon, the airport press office said.

“The United States has successfully transferred 10 Russian agents to the Russian Federation and the Russian Federation has released four individuals who had been incarcerated in Russia,” Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the National Security Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, said in a statement released as the plane landed in Moscow. “The exchange of these individuals … has been completed.”

The elaborately choreographed transfer — which took place while the planes sat on the ground for about an hour — was reminiscent of a scene from the Cold War.

The White House was first briefed in general terms in February by the FBI, the CIA and the Department of Justice about the program and some of the individuals involved, a White House official said. Additional briefings occurred in subsequent months, the official said.

President Obama was first briefed on the matter on June 11 and given details of the individuals involved over the past decade.

The idea of a swap was discussed among the administration’s national security team before the arrests were made, the official said.

The four individuals freed by the Russians were selected based on humanitarian concerns, health concerns, and other reasons, the official said.

The 10 Russian agents pleaded guilty in the United States on Thursday for failing to register as foreign agents and were ordered out of the country. They then boarded a U.S.-chartered flight accompanied by U.S. marshals, a federal law enforcement source said.

“As a result of the successful exchange … the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has requested that the court dismiss any remaining charges against the 10 Russian agents,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said Friday.

In Washington, Attorney General Eric Holder said none of the 10 had passed classified information and therefore none had been charged with espionage.

“They were acting as agents to a foreign power,” he told CBS News, referring to the Russians who, U.S. officials have said, had been under observation by federal authorities for more than a decade.

Four young children of the Russian agents are now in Russia, according to attorneys for the agents. Two older children are no longer in the United States, though their exact location is unknown. Another two older children have remained in America, the attorneys indicated.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told PBS’ “NewsHour” that although the 10 agents didn’t plead guilty to being spies, they “were clearly caught in the business of spying.”

In a conference call with reporters, senior administration officials said the agents agreed never to return to the United States without permission from the U.S. government.

Holding them would have conferred no security benefit to the nation, they said.

This “clearly serves the interests of the United States,” one official said.

A second official said the four prisoners in Russia were in failing health, a consideration that prompted quick completion of the deal.

Under the plea agreements, the defendants disclosed their true identities in court and forfeited assets attributable to the criminal offenses, the Justice Department said in a news release.

“Defendants Vicky Pelaez, Anna Chapman and Mikhail Semenko, who operated in the United States under their true names, admitted that they are agents of the Russian Federation; and Chapman and Semenko admitted they are Russian citizens,” the Justice Department said.

Carlos Moreno, an attorney for Pelaez, said his client does not want to take up residence in Russia and would prefer ultimately to live in her native Peru or in Brazil, where she has family. Pelaez hopes to continue her work as a journalist, according to Moreno.

Pelaez told the court that Moscow promised her free housing in Russia and a $2,000 monthly stipend for life, as well as visas for her children to travel to see her. Pelaez and her husband, both naturalized American citizens, were stripped of that citizenship as a part of the plea deal.

Authorities have lost track of an 11th suspect, who was detained in Cyprus, released on bail, and then failed to check in with authorities as he had promised to do.

In Moscow, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree Friday pardoning the four Russians imprisoned for alleged contact with Western intelligence agencies, the Kremlin press service said, according to state-run RIA Novosti.

“Three of the Russian prisoners were convicted of treason in the form of espionage on behalf of a foreign power and are serving lengthy prison terms,” the Justice Department said in a letter to U.S. District Judge Kimba M. Wood, who handled the case in the United States. “The Russian prisoners have all served a number of years in prison and some are in poor health. The Russian government has agreed to release the Russian prisoners and their family members for resettlement.”

It added, “Some of the Russian prisoners worked for the Russian military, and/or for various Russian intelligence agencies. Three of the Russian prisoners have been accused by Russia of contacting Western intelligence agencies while they were working for the Russian (or Soviet) government.”

The individuals pardoned by Russia are Alexander Zaporozhsky, Gennady Vasilenko, Sergei Skripal, and Igor Sutyagin.

All four appealed to the Russian president to free them after admitting their crimes against the Russian state, press secretary Natalia Timakova said.

But in Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner denied Thursday that Sutyagin had been a spy.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the move was made “in the general context of improving Russian-American relations, and the new dynamic they have been given, in the spirit of basic agreements at the highest level between Moscow and Washington on the strategic character of Russian-American partnership.”

The Greek Islands can be found all over the coast of mainland Greece and the tip of Northern Africa. To this day, they are very popular destinations for anyone who goes on vacation.

The Greek Islands are hard to miss as they dot throughout the Aegean Sea on the South East coast of mainland Greece. They come in various sizes, shapes, and geographical varieties and the people that come to visit also come in such a variety. While island hopping is always an option, most people decide to stay on one single island for their entire holiday. The Greek Islands are traditionally divided into seven groups: Cyclades, Aegean, Dodecanese, Sporades, Ionian, Argosaronic Gulf and Crete. Crete, as a single island, is the largest one in the group.

When staying on a Greek Island for the holidays, opt to stay at a boutique hotel. This will give you a whole fresh experience by staying in a small, intimate hotel with minimum decorations and very friendly service. Elounda Gulf Villas and Suites on Crete, Katikies on Santorini and Ostraco Suites on Mykonos are unique choices to stay at and offer you the utmost serenity in an understated lap of luxury.

The part that visitors love most about the Greek Islands is the beach. Depending on which island you stay on, there are beaches of various sizes and qualities. The number of islands itself means that you are sure to find what you are hoping to, from 24-hour entertainment to historical landmarks, traditional villages and museums.

It is easy to get to some of the islands, such as Santorini and Mykonos by plane, but some of them can be reached by taking a ferry from Athens. Ferries usually follow a regular schedule and can be used to visit any island during your entire stay. These ticket operators can be found at the harbors. When on an island, however, it is recommended to hire a bike or a car, or to use the local buses for transportation. Trains are unavailable once you hit the mainland. For those who are feeling slightly more adventurous, hire a sailing boat and sail around the islands – it’s the best experience ever!

South Africa’s rock art wonder

Kamberg, South Africa (CNN) — Sunlight sparkles through the drops of water that tumble off the edge of the cliff. Painted on the rock face behind the tiny waterfall are a pair of faded eland, the largest antelope in Africa. Behind them are two barely visible human figures.

“This is a sacred place,” says Raphael Mnkhati, a guide from the Kamberg Rock Art Center. “Water is important for all life, and it was important for the people who lived here.”

The tiny cave behind the waterfall is only one of thousands of such hidden, secret shelters in the Drakensberg-Ukahlamba Mountains of South Africa. They were the home of the Bushmen, the original inhabitants of this country, who fled to these mountains to escape other Africans moving down from the north of the continent and white settlers moving up from the Cape. The Bushmen were wiped out in the countless conflicts that resulted.

Today they are a vanished people, but their legacy remains in the vibrant paintings they left behind on the rock walls of their shelters. “It’s hard to date these paintings,” Raphael explains. “Some could even be as old as 8,000 years.”

Gallery: The rock art of Drakensberg

Scattered throughout these mountains are some 60,000 individual images, visible at about 600 different sites. The artists used the blood and fat of the eland as well as whitened clay, bird droppings and charcoal as pigments. The delicate lines of the figures were etched with twigs, porcupine quills and ostrich feathers.

Scientists believe that these figures were created by the Bushmen while they were in trance states, and that the paintings reflect the people’s deep reverence for the beauty and power of the natural world that surrounded them.

Higher up the mountain, hidden in a giant overhang at its very crest, is a remarkable fresco of hunters, antelope and mythic figures, known as therianthropes, which are part-human, part-animal beings.

The paintings stretch in a long gallery across the rock face that extends for at least 30 meters under the stone roof. It frames a spectacular view of the tall peaks and the distant valley far below.

“You are not allowed to touch anything, or to collect anything here, it’s a like a church,” Raphael tells us. “And this is why it is important for the Bushman people. Still today many people take their shoes off when they visit here — as a sign of their respect.”

One of the most well-preserved and mysterious panels in the Kamberg series shows a mythical human-like figure tugging the tail of an eland. Some scientists believe that this a sign of human recreation, almost sport, created by the artist — or artists — in a transcendent state of consciousness.

Raphael has been coming here for years, and is now studying rock art through university, but the beauty of this ancient gift left behind by lost generations has not faded for him.

“The Bushmen are very special,” he muses while looking out over the wide landscape that stretches out below, “because they were living here, peacefully, in the mountains. We are all from the same origins. I feel very proud about this place and of the rock art that is here.”