News

The liability requirement was included in the recently passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Lawmakers had been led to believe that Section 11503 of the NDAA was simply a “fix for the families who lost loved ones” in the tragic Conception Dive Boat fire of 2019, DEMA writes.

But the new law goes far beyond one tragedy—it lines the pockets of trial lawyers and does nothing to make sure dive boats are operating safely. 

Diveheart Malaysia is part of the US-based non-profit organization Diveheart in Chicago, which focuses on helping disabled persons become certified divers through the adaptive diving techniques specialty training of the Professional Association Diving Instructors (PADI).

RHB Banking Group’s managing director and chief executive officer, Mohd Rashid Mohamad, said the bank was the first banking group in Asia with its own team of employees who are qualified PADI Adaptive Techniques support divers.

This was my first visit to a Baltictech conference. At long last, I finally got the chance as it wasn't held almost at the same time as DEMA—which is always a priority because of the significant amount of our business we conduct there.

Baltictech, like other such conferences, has been held every other year in recent years, but not since 2019 due to the epidemic so this time around, there was a three-year break.

On Friday 25 November, diver Arthur Castillo, 60, was found guilty of the involuntary homicide of his long-time dive buddy Christine Gauci who died following a dive in Mgarr ix-Xini, a bay on the southern coast of Gozo in January 2020. Ms Gauci was an Armed Forces of Malta member, diving instructor and technical diver.

The court handed Mr. Castillo a two-year jail term suspended for four years, pronouncing itself convinced that this case did not merit effective imprisonment. Castillo told Times of Malta he will be appealing the judgment but declined further comment.

After two years of disruption because of the pandemic, DEMA Show was back in gear. Well, largely. It was still markedly more compact than the pre-pandemic editions but still a large show with far more booths than one could reasonably manage to visit during its four days. Also importantly, the mood appeared to be upbeat, with businesses eager to ramp up activities as the industry and travel activities pull away from the doldrums.