Princess Chatter

"ROME — Italy Thursday said it was taking legal action against the company of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship to pay for possible environmental damage and the cost of dealing with the wreckage.

The environment ministry said it was taking legal action "in view of a possible claim for damages to the environment" from the luxury liner which ran aground on a reef off a Tuscan island on January 13, killing 32."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jMrLMJ70CEoVWh1PI1ImUVxDmwYA?docId=CNG.b3f722c965ea81049a39936321bef0c0.3e1

"Discovery’s Costa Concordia documentary has slid past National Geographic Channel’s Concordia disaster doc. The premiere of Discovery’s “Cruise Ship Disaster: Inside the Concordia,” last Sunday averaged 1.83 million viewers.

One week earlier, the premiere of National Geographic’s “Terror at Sea: The Sinking of the Concordia” clocked 1.2 million viewers, according to numbers-crunching Nielsen."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tv-column/post/and-the-winner-in-the-italian-cruise-ship-disaster-documentary-ratings-race-is/2012/02/23/gIQAbcBXWR_blog.html

I make my living off the evening news
Just give me something, something I can use
People love it when you lose, they love dirty laundry - Don Henley

(AGI)Grosseto- The prosecution for the Costa Concordia case appealed against the decision to place the captain under house arrest. The public prosecutor's office of Grosseto seek to overturn the decision by the appeals tribunal in Florence which confirmed Francesco Schettino's sentence to house arrest on February 7.

http://www.agi.it/english-version/italy/elenco-notizie/201202242121-cro-ren1090-concordia_case_prosecution_demand_schettino_return_to_jail

In the U.S. Nat Geo's "Italian Cruise Ship Disaster: The Untold Stories" was aired.

"Italian cruise ship operator Costa Crociere said Friday it was taking legal action against a woman who falsely claimed to have suffered a miscarriage as a result of the Costa Concordia tragedy last month.

"The company has confirmed that neither the woman nor her husband was on the Costa Concordia's guest list," Costa Crociere said in a statement, referring to a couple who had asked for 1.0 million euros ($1.3 million) in damages.

Costa Crociere said it "intends to file a complaint with the legal authorities and that it will take similar action in response to any similar scams or attempts at profiteering in the wake of the Concordia tragedy.

"The woman was purportedly five months pregnant when she went on the cruise and lost her baby several days after escaping the stranded ship off the coast of the island of Giglio," the company said.

It said an Italian television programme "investigated the claims and discovered that the whole story was in fact made up: the couple were using false identities and neither of them had been on board".

http://news.ph.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5897952

"THE Italian region of Tuscany has invited tourists to visit the island of Giglio - the scene of a cruise ship disaster last month that locals fear could destroy the local economy.

"We will ensure that the island of Giglio is favoured in our campaigns but the main promotion is for everyone to make a gesture of love by going to Giglio," said Cristina Scaletti, head of Tuscany's tourism department.

I went there last year on holiday and I will be going back this year with my whole family,'' Scaletti said on the sidelines of a tourism fair in Milan."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/travel/news/tuscany-invites-tourists-to-shipwreck-island/story-e6frg8ro-1226273591885

"Italian President Giorgio Napolitano has attended a memorial mass in Rome for the victims of last month's Costa Concordia shipwreck and expressed ''regret'' for any blame ascribed to his compatriots.

''It was a tragedy and I express regret for whatever responsibility there was, Italian and by Italians,'' Mr Napolitano said."

http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/world/world/general/italy-holds-mass-for-ship-dead/2454362.aspx

"But after less than 30 minutes, with the ship listing at 20 degrees, disarray has set in.

A man identified as captain Francesco Schettino is seen talking on the phone while a senior colleague shouts: “What do we do?”

Then, 25 minutes before the "abandon ship" signal is given, one officer is heard saying: "Passengers are getting into the life boats", to which a man believed to be Schettino replies: "Vabbuo", which means "whatever".

The film also appears to reveal officers saying they were leaving the ship 10 minutes before the order was given to passengers.

The Corriere della Sera newspaper speculated that the sounds of heels near the mystery cameraman or woman meant that the married captain's presumed lover, Domnica Cemortan, 24, may have taken the video."

http://www.tradewindsnews.com/costa/663612/chaos-on-the-bridge