Word: strait
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...without warning, hundreds of Chinese missiles strike Taiwan. Day two: China's jet fighters tear across the Taiwan Strait and reduce the island's air force to just 30 planes. Day five: paratroopers land near Taipei's Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Plaza, storming the offices of President Chen Shui-bian. In 130 hours, China's hostile takeover of Taiwan is complete?at least in cyberspace...
...Each week, about 500 papuan coastal dwellers and Torres Strait Islanders are granted permission by elders to make a short hop to the neighboring country without a passport or visa. They are able to do so within the designated Protected Zone because of an agreement between Australia and P.N.G. that tries to preserve age-old practices such as hunting, fishing, trading and ceremonies. ACV Commanding Officer Mark Fitzsimmons, a genial and thoughtful man with a reassuring smile, has been with Customs since 1980. Navigating the narrow channel between Saibai Island, part of Australia, and mainland P.N.G., Fitzsimmons notes the stark...
...from a previous encounter. "I'll tell you a story," says Rhodes upon meeting Time's reporter. "Two Murray Islanders put a spear to my throat and stole all my fish. I was fishing 14 nautical mi. from their island." Sea rights is a hot issue in the Torres Strait following landmark native-title decisions in the 1990s; a whiff of secession talk intermittently sweeps through Islander communities, which have been known to dispense harsh treatment to outsiders...
...midnight-to-0200 watch, Radon, anchored off Gabba, monitors instruments and prepares a chart for the next journey. The Torres Strait is a difficult stretch to chart, sometimes requiring 60 wavepoints (or map references) on a single passage. On a radar screen, what appears to be a barge is on course to cross 900 m in front of the ACV's bow. That's too close for comfort, and a warning light begins to flash. On VHF channel 16, after several attempts, Radon makes contact with the chatty master of Barge Express VIII, who alters course. "Roger that! Roger that...
...outlet. Which is why Whittaker's on the phone telling a journalist, "failure's not an option. We have to get this picture any which way." The reporter's in Far North Queensland, sent to cover the story of three children who survived a boat capsizing in the Torres Strait by swimming 3 km to an island through dangerous waters. Whittaker's only half-joking when he reminds the reporter how crucial a photo of the island is: "If you can't get a boat there you'll have to swim." The newsdesk gets the photo, and the copy, filed...