Cruise ship captain charged in sinking

ATHENS -- A Greek prosecutor yesterday charged the captain and five other crew members of a cruise ship that ran aground near the Aegean island of Santorini, as the search continued for two French passengers missing since the shipwreck. The 22,412-ton Sea Diamond, run by Louis Cruise Lines, hit a reef on Thursday close to the shore of the island, one of Greece's most popular tourist destinations. It listed and was evacuated within hours. A 45-year-old Frenchman and his 16-year-old daughter remain unaccounted for. His wife and son were among 1,156 passengers and 391 crew safely evacuated from the Greek-registered ship. (Reuters)

Thailand

BANGKOK -- YouTube offered yesterday to "educate" Thai officials who want to block individual clips from its video-sharing service, hoping to end an impasse that arose after a slideshow mocking the country's revered king appeared online. Thailand blocked YouTube on Wednesday after its owner, Google Inc., refused to remove the slideshow of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The video, which was withdrawn Thursday, showed pictures of feet over the king's head -- a major cultural taboo in Thailand, where feet are considered dirty and offensive -- and graffiti scrawled over the 79-year-old monarch's face. (AP)

Nigeria

ABUJA -- Gunmen kidnapped two Turkish engineers from their car in Port Harcourt in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta, police said yesterday . One of the men works for Merpa, a Turkish firm that maintains telecoms equipment on one of the oil platforms of Italian firm Agip in the delta, said Agip's parent company, Eni. The employer of the second captive was not known. (Reuters)

Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO -- After 3,272 miles of exhaustion, sunburn, delirium, and piranhas, a 52-year-old Slovenian completed a swim down the Amazon River yesterday that could set a new world record for distance -- one he has broken three times already. After nine weeks, Martin Strel arrived near Belem, the capital of the jungle state of Para, ending a swim almost as long as the drive from Miami to Seattle. Strel averaged about 50 miles a day since beginning his odyssey at the source of the world's second-longest river in Peru on Feb. 1. (AP)