COAST GUARD

Captain Francesco Schettino of the Costa Concordia was ordered by the port authority to return to his sinking ship after abandoning his crew and thousands of suffering passengers, according to transcripts of radio calls and telephone conversations released Tuesday.

More than 70 passengers who were on the Costa Concordia, the Italian cruise ship that is sinking after running aground in Italy, joined a class action lawsuit against its owner, according to reports. The captain of the ship Francesco Schettino remains in custody.

With 29 people still missing following the wreck of the Costa Concordia, rescuers in Italy have restarted their search for survivors. On Tuesday, navy divers blew a hole in the ship's hull using small explosive charges and made their way into the submerged vessel.

The Costa Concordia, the Italian luxury cruise ship that ran aground off the west coast at Giglio island, is almost submerged in the Mediterranean Sea.

Italian coast guard officials said, on Monday, the number of people missing from the wreckage of the Costa Concordia has increased to 29.

Divers found the bodies of two elderly men inside a capsized cruiseliner on Sunday, raising to five the death toll after the luxury vessel foundered and dramatically keeled over off Italy's coast.

A South Korean honeymoon couple and an injured crew member were plucked from the partially submerged Costa Concordia shipwreck on Sunday, more than a day after the cruise ship met its doom close to Italy's Isola del Giglio, as rescue workers struggled to find any others still trapped on board.

On Saturday, Italian authorities questioned the captain of the Costa Cruises ship accident that occurred Friday night. The ship ran aground and turned onto its side, killing three people and leaving dozens more missing, officials reported.

Three people died in the disaster and about 70 remain unaccounted for.

For most of us Friday the 13th was as uneventful as it could get; for the unlucky passengers on board the cruise ship Costa Concordia, on a trip to the Mediterranean, it was one the worst days of their lives.

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United States offshore petroleum regulators ruled this week that a Spanish rig headed to Cuban waters meets international safety standards.

The Iranian ship’s engine room was flooded and the vessel was deemed not seaworthy.

Around this time of year, wanderlust travelers raise a Champagne glass and spin the globe in search of the next great destination for the coming year. What will be the top destinations in 2012? Have a look:

Cuban immigration officials eventually send illegal Haiti migrants back to their home country.

Shell confirmed the loss of 319 barrels of drilling fluids from a booster line, which is separated from the actual well bore but provides additional drilling fluids. The company has decided to temporarily abandon the well in order to make needed repairs. The source of the leak is not yet disclosed.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.5 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.3 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.4 percent at 0819 GMT.

Comic book artist Joe Simon, who created Captain America with the late Jack Kirby, has died at age 98, a family spokesman said on Thursday.

China expressed regret on Tuesday for the apparent murder of a South Korean coast guard officer at the hands of a Chinese fisherman.

This was the second time in less than four years that a South Korean coast guard official has been killed in such a clash over disputed fishing waters.

A South Korean coast guard was stabbed to death by a Chinese fisherman Monday in an operation to apprehend a Chinese vessel operating illegally near South Korean waters, a South Korean official said.