Mediterranean Sea

BEIRUT -- The big bulldozer of Boutros Farris pawed the ground. It caught, and with a snort of diesel smoke and clank of moving steel, ripped out the columns yesterday from under the old U.S. Embassy here.The left third of the six-story building collapsed in a shroud of dust. A heap of rubble replaced the bombed-out building that has for 11 years stood as a grim symbol of the cost of U.S. involvement in the tangled Middle East.A suicide bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in 1983 killed 63 people and crushed American delusions that it could solve the problems in this region by sending in the Marines.

On the morning of our departure from Barcelona, Spain, I opened the drapes at the Grand Marina Hotel and saw The Ship. That gigantic ocean liner, European Stars, our home for the next week, had docked right outside our window as we slept. As we looked it over, a man and a woman in terry-cloth robes emerged from their stateroom onto their little veranda. They embraced and began twirling like Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Not a bad little prelude for a swing around the Mediterranean: warm Catalan sunshine in our faces, magical Barcelona beyond our hotel window, the Mediterranean beckoning and a big luxury liner awaiting our pleasure, a ship so romantic that passengers tango before drinking their orange juice.

A Maryland deep-sea salvage company has discovered the deepest ancient shipwreck ever found: a 2,300-year-old Greek trading vessel sunk nearly two miles under the Mediterranean. The find, by Hanover-based Nauticos Corp., may upend long-held theories of how ancient mariners navigated the open seas and provide clues to environmental changes during the past two millenniums. Details of the discovery will be published Monday in Archaeology, the magazine of the Archaeology Institute of America.

The Glenwood library, 2350 Route 97, Cooksville, will present "Can't Stand the Heat? No-cook Summer Meals," with personal chef Elizabeth Watts, at 7 p.m. July 29. Watts, also known as the "Dinner Fairy," will suggest appetizers, main dishes, soups and salads that help you stay cool as you prepare them, and she will offer samples. Master gardener Karen Brenner will demonstrate how tropical plants act as natural air filters during a program, "Tropical Plants in Your Home," at 7 p.m. July 30. Registration is required.

Petry is on deployment in the MediterraneanMarine Sgt. Scott P. Petry recently deployed with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, Camp Lejeune, N.C., for six months to the Mediterranean Sea as part of the USS Guam Amphibious Ready Group.The 22nd MEU will participate in joint and combined amphibious exercises with other NATO forces. Marines and sailors of the MEU will be aboard the USS Guam, USS Austin, USS Gunston Hall, USS Sumter and USS LaMoure County. Marine Corps air and ground units, as well as support and command units, are included in the 22nd MEU.The Guam ARG will carry Landing Craft Air Cushion assault craft, amphibious landing craft and detachments of Naval Beach Group Two, Tactical Air Control Squadron 22 and Special Warfare Group Two.The Navy and Marine "sea-air-land" team is capable of a full range of action, from port visits and humanitarian relief to major offensive operations.

The Glenwood library, 2350 Route 97, Cooksville, will present "Can't Stand the Heat? No-cook Summer Meals," with personal chef Elizabeth Watts, at 7 p.m. July 29. Watts, also known as the "Dinner Fairy," will suggest appetizers, main dishes, soups and salads that help you stay cool as you prepare them, and she will offer samples. Master gardener Karen Brenner will demonstrate how tropical plants act as natural air filters during a program, "Tropical Plants in Your Home," at 7 p.m. July 30. Registration is required.

* Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Danny W. Nightingale recently returned aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, based in Norfolk, Va., following a six-month deployment.He participated in operations in the Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea and PersianGulf, as well as in the NATO Exercise Teamwork '92 in the Norwegian Sea.Teamwork '92, designed to improve the professionalism and effectiveness of NATO forces while operating in the North Atlantic and coastal waters of Norway, included maritime, air, amphibious and field training exercises.

Knights of Columbus Father McGivney Council No. 7025 of Glen Burnie will sponsor an Oktoberfest celebration from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sept. 29 at the council, 7025 McGivney Way. The event will feature knockwurst, sauerkraut, German potato salad, German music and German costumes. The event is open to those age 21 and older. The cost is $8 for singles and $15 for couples. No tickets will be sold at the door. Proceeds will go to local charities. Information: 410-760-9764. Internet training for adults to be offered at libraries Registration begins today for "Click Here," Anne Arundel County Public Library's free Internet and library Web catalog training class for adults at branches including the North County branch at 1010 Eastway, Glen Burnie.

The White House confirmed yesterday that Rear Adm. John R. Ryan, commander of the Navy's air forces in the Mediterranean, is President Clinton's pick to become the superintendent of the Naval Academy this summer.Pentagon sources previously acknowledged that Ryan was front-runner for the job, and Defense Secretary William S. Cohen made it official yesterday when he announced that Clinton would forward Ryan's name to the Senate for confirmation. Clinton also nominated Ryan for a promotion from two-star to three-star admiral.

Air Force Airman 1st Class David J. Fugiel, son of Jack H. Fugiel ofAnnapolis, has arrived for duty at Andrews Air Force Base in Missouri.Fugiel is a fuels specialist.MELLEMA FINISHES COURSEDATELINE:ANNAPOLISArmy Reserve Pvt. Ernest R. Mellema IV, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest R. Mellema of Annapolis, has completed a unit supply specialist course at Ft. Jackson, S.C.Mellema is a 1990 graduate of Broadneck Senior High School.PRANN AT FT. RILEYDATELINE: ANNAPOLISArmy Spec. John C. Prann, son of Valeria Johnson of Annapolis, has arrived for duty at Ft. Riley, Kan.Prann is a 1988 graduate of Annapolis Senior High School.

Knights of Columbus Father McGivney Council No. 7025 of Glen Burnie will sponsor an Oktoberfest celebration from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sept. 29 at the council, 7025 McGivney Way. The event will feature knockwurst, sauerkraut, German potato salad, German music and German costumes. The event is open to those age 21 and older. The cost is $8 for singles and $15 for couples. No tickets will be sold at the door. Proceeds will go to local charities. Information: 410-760-9764. Internet training for adults to be offered at libraries Registration begins today for "Click Here," Anne Arundel County Public Library's free Internet and library Web catalog training class for adults at branches including the North County branch at 1010 Eastway, Glen Burnie.

When word reached me that a new fish was in town, I hustled down to the harbor to meet it and eat it. I said "nice to meet you" and "bon appetit" to five different servings of gilthead sea bream, a fish with a Mediterranean heritage that grew up in an East Baltimore warehouse. A lunch honoring the fish was held last week at the Columbus Center in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. There, researchers at the Center of Marine Biotechnology were trumpeting the fact that they had successfully induced the sea bream, normally an ocean dweller, to reproduce in captivity.

A Maryland deep-sea salvage company has discovered the deepest ancient shipwreck ever found: a 2,300-year-old Greek trading vessel sunk nearly two miles under the Mediterranean. The find, by Hanover-based Nauticos Corp., may upend long-held theories of how ancient mariners navigated the open seas and provide clues to environmental changes during the past two millenniums. Details of the discovery will be published Monday in Archaeology, the magazine of the Archaeology Institute of America.

The White House confirmed yesterday that Rear Adm. John R. Ryan, commander of the Navy's air forces in the Mediterranean, is President Clinton's pick to become the superintendent of the Naval Academy this summer.Pentagon sources previously acknowledged that Ryan was front-runner for the job, and Defense Secretary William S. Cohen made it official yesterday when he announced that Clinton would forward Ryan's name to the Senate for confirmation. Clinton also nominated Ryan for a promotion from two-star to three-star admiral.

ABOARD THE USS JOHN RODGERS, Mediterranean Sea -- Mail call for American sailors at sea will never be the same.Now it's e-mail call.Most sailors deployed on six-month cruises have the chance for the first time in the service's history to send and receive electronic mail. Instead of waiting days or weeks for a letter to reach them, sailors and officers are hearing from their families and friends, often within 24 hours.And what a difference a day makes, especially for morale, say sailors and their commanders.

ABOARD THE USS JOHN RODGERS, the Mediterranean Sea -- The distress call reached the USS John Rodgers yesterday morning: A sailboat cruising from Cyprus to Israel was taking on water.The American destroyer, alerted by the Israeli navy, dispatched a Seahawk helicopter toward the stranded boat. The Israelis also radioed two Turkish navy vessels in the area for help. The coordinated rescue mission ended happily and as expected: The Americans handily pulled two life-size mannequins from the calm, blue sea.The exercise, dubbed Reliant Mermaid, might seem harmless enough: a peaceful rescue practice at sea. But the latest sign of alliance between Israel and Turkey -- the strongest military powers in the region -- has set off alarms among the Arabs and even the Greeks, who are Turkey's abiding rivals.

JERUSALEM -- In the fine print of their peace pact, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators proposed an alchemy of dreams: From the dust of old schemes, they resurrected a century-old plan to connect the Mediterranean and Dead seas.The idea of a canal crossing 65 miles of the arid Negev Desert -- an idea abandoned by Israel in 1985 as too grandiose -- was included on a list of potential cooperative projects in a regional economic program.If they are attempting something so bold as peace, the negotiators concluded, why not think big?

That historic handshake in Washington between leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel has already resulted in a decision by the Clinton administration to commit a preliminary $250 million in economic aid for the Gaza strip and the Jericho area of the West Bank. Further commitments are expected from the World Bank.The apparent new order also radically alters the role of Jordan, dramatized the other day by another Washington handshake under President Clinton's auspices. This one linked Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Crown Prince Hassan, brother and foreign minister to Jordan's King Hussein.

Defense Secretary William S. Cohen's much-anticipated military and defense review has been released, but the flaws in Pentagon planning are still glaring.America's defense does not require a larger budget to meet the challenges of the post-Cold War world. It needs different resources.Haiti, Bosnia, NATO expansion, stability in Korea, keeping Iraq in check; all these are primarily Army and Air Force missions. Yet the Army has been reduced by about 40 percent, the Navy has been cut back far less, and the Marines hardly at all.Advances in technology make the Marines' expeditionary role and the Navy's aircraft carriers obsolete.

It's not a diet, it's a way of life -- a prescription for good health that hasn't changed in thousands of years.It's the Mediterranean diet, a catchall phrase that includes the foods generally eaten on the edges of the Mediterranean Sea, from Spain to Italy to Greece to Lebanon to Morocco and Tunisia.Study after study has found high correlation between the typical diet of the people of this region and general good heath. Interest in the studies, and in the diet, has spawned a slew of cookbooks and created new markets for such Mediterranean foodstuffs as couscous, lentils, and olive oil.Increasingly, food with a Mediterranean focus is showing up on restaurant menus, as chefs and consumers seek food that is full-flavored and health-enhancing at the same time.