Stranded

It was evidently good enough for Gilligan and Robinson Crusoe. But is coconut water a healthy choice for people who aren't stranded on a deserted island? A longstanding treat in tropical regions across the globe, coconut water hit U.S. supermarkets a few years back and is now being marketed with a vengeance. Sometimes billed as nature's sports drink, the slightly sour beverage has also acquired a reputation for being able to improve circulation, slow aging, fight viruses, boost immunity, and reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease and stroke.

Princess Cruises says it will continue to investigate why the Star Princess cruise ship in March passed up a fishing boat in distress, leaving two Panamanian men in the boat to die. The cruise line also said it “deeply regrets” the incident off the South American coast that it blames on a communication glitch. Passengers aboard the cruise ship spotted the small boat and alerted crew members, but the message never got to the ship's captain and no action was taken, the cruise line said.

New rules on delayed flights Under a directive announced by the Transportation Department, starting in April domestic airlines must: Allow passengers to return to the terminal if they have been stranded on the tarmac for more than three hours. The only exceptions are if safety or security reasons prohibit the plane from returning to the gate or if air traffic controllers advise against it. Provide food and water and access to a working bathroom after a plane has been delayed for more than two hours.

The Angels position players took the field Thursday night with an old-school, slump-busting kind of look, their bright white uniform pants pulled to their kneecaps and their red socks worn high. Considering how that worked, they may resort to sacrificing a live chicken or tossing their bats into a pile and starting a bonfire Friday. Albert Pujols mashed three doubles, but the Angels failed to cash in on too many chances, stranding two runners in five of nine innings and going three for 12 with runners in scoring position in a 4-2 loss to the Oakland Athletics at Angel Stadium.

For travelers who find themselves in the same dilemma as Nancy Belcher (June 9), being stranded in Penang, Malaysia, for want of a reservation on the International Express to Bangkok, several trains leave for Bangkok daily from Haddayi in southern Thailand. The accommodations are about half the price of those on the International Express, and spaces are almost always available, even a couple of hours before departure. A local train leaves Butterworth station around 8 a.m. for the four-hour trip to Haddayi, and you are guaranteed a spot on this train, though it may be standing.

VANCOUVER - The Make-A-Wish Foundation found an "angel" on Thursday to save the Olympic dream vacations of 11 terminally ill children who were left without rooms when the cruise ship that was to provide accommodation canceled its Vancouver plans and left them high and dry. The plight of the stranded children made headlines around the world, triggering a flood of offers of help, including one from Jet Set Sports, which stepped up to provide downtown...

Passengers who had spent the night trapped in freezing temperatures in the English Channel tunnel emerged Saturday describing "a complete nightmare" in pitch-dark unheated trains without food or water. Four trains on the Eurostar line joining London and Paris broke down after entering the tunnel on the French coast Friday night, and a journey that should have taken less than three hours turned into a cold 11- to 16-hour marathon for more than 2,000 people. The first trickle of shivering passengers appeared Saturday morning at London's St. Pancras station and central London bus stations hungry, thirsty and angry.

They are the ships that fell from the sky; two immovable objects, their very presence defying reason. Residents call them acts of God. Most cannot fathom that the two ocean vessels were transported miles inland by floodwaters of the 2004 tsunami that ravaged this small city on Sumatra's northern tip. Miles apart, both have been left intact as memorials to the 170,000 residents of Aceh province who either died or disappeared in the catastrophe....

A Cuban family stranded in Canada for five months in an immigration dispute learned Monday they have been granted political asylum and can head home to Florida. Carlos Fajardo, his wife, Bermaida, and her two children crossed into Niagara Falls, Ontario, on Dec. 23, while on a Christmas vacation to see snow. They were denied permission to re-enter the United States because they lacked proof of citizenship.

A rare, 30-foot right whale had to be euthanized after it stranded itself on a remote North Carolina beach, officials said. Employees from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service have started a necropsy to try to determine why the 2-year-old whale stranded. It died Thursday. The whale was spotted by a pilot Monday. Rough weather hindered rescue efforts, but a veterinarian and others, ferried by a Coast Guard helicopter, reached the remote site Wednesday.

You would think Costa Allegra passengers, stranded at sea for more than two days and enduring overflowing toilets, no power, cold sandwiches and beastly heat, would want to go home immediately and put the nightmare behind them. Not so. A statement from Costa Cruises says about 70% of the 627 passengers have taken the Italian-based cruise line up on its offer of a free two-week stay in the Seychelle Islands. Passengers disembarked the crippled ship after reaching Port Victoria on Mahe, the Seychelles' main island, midday Thursday local time.

Aid agencies were unable to evacuate any people Saturday from a battle-scarred neighborhood in the central Syrian city of Homs, one day after the United States and other nations demanded that President Bashar Assad allow humanitarian aid into strife-ridden Syria. Among the injured still stranded in Homs' Baba Amr district were a pair of Western journalists, Edith Bouvier of the French daily Le Figaro and Paul Conroy of the Sunday Times of London. Both suffered leg injuries in a shelling attack Wednesday that killed two other Western journalists.

Roy J. Britten, a Caltech biologist who discovered that the mammalian genome includes large quantities of repetitive DNA sequences that do not serve as blueprints for genes, has died. He was 92. Britten, who had pancreatic cancer, died Jan. 21 at his home in Costa Mesa, Caltech announced. Britten and molecular biologist Eric Davidson, a Caltech colleague, also played a key role in the development of the field of evolutionary developmental biology, which demonstrated that most of the differences between species arise from changes in how similar genes are regulated, rather than from mutations in the genes themselves.

There's a certain shaggy, 1970s-era charm to "Loosies," a crime-with-a-side-of-romance (or perhaps it's the other way around) trifle written by and starring Peter Facinelli (the "Twilight" pictures, TV's "Nurse Jackie") as an essentially decent Manhattan pickpocket "working" to pay off his late father's enormous debt. This nicely acted, atmospheric gambol, directed with a light, occasionally random touch by Michael Corrente ("Outside Providence," "Brooklyn Rules") puts Facinelli's sexy, charismatic Bobby at the center of a handful of raggedy story strands that engage even if they never fully coalesce.

A tanker truck filled with thousands of gallons of gasoline exploded on the 60 Freeway in Montebello early Wednesday afternoon, damaging the roadway and overpass and shutting down a major transportation artery in one of the busiest vehicle corridors in the nation. The 60 was closed in both directions between the 710 and 605 freeways. Late Wednesday, the California Highway Patrol said the freeway would remain closed at least through the Thursday morning commute. State transportation officials said Wednesday night that it was unclear when the stretch would be reopened.

The Strand House Rating: half a star Rating is based on food, service and ambience, with price taken into account in relation to quality. ****: Outstanding on every level. ***: Excellent. **: Very good. *: Good. No star: Poor to satisfactory. Location: 117 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Manhattan Beach, (310) 545-7470, http://www.thestrandhousemb.com Prices: Salads, $11 to $15; appetizers, $13 to $18; pizzas, $13 to $19; mains, $23 to $39; sides, $8; desserts, $8 to $12. Corkage fee, $30 per bottle.

More than 70 China Eastern Airlines passengers stranded in Los Angeles since the weekend because of mechanical problems with their plane finally departed for Shanghai late Tuesday night. The Airbus A340 took off at 11 p.m., according to an airline spokesman. The plane was originally scheduled to depart at 1:30 p.m. Sunday but was grounded after problems with its landing gear were discovered. Many of the initial 282 Shanghai-bound passengers took direct flights to Beijing on Monday and Tuesday, while others canceled their trips.

U.S. immigration officials have granted political asylum to a Cuban family from Florida that was stranded in Canada for nearly five months after a sightseeing trip, it was reported today. The Buffalo News said Carlos Fajardo and his family will return to the United States on Tuesday. The family has survived on charity in Niagara Falls and Ft. Erie, Ontario, while waiting for permission to reenter the United States. Their exile began Dec. 23 when, while on vacation, they traveled north to view snow and crossed into Canada.

The Strand House in Manhattan Beach commands an enviable position at the edge of the ocean-side town overlooking the pier. No accident, since owner Michael Zislis is already a big presence here with his Shade Hotel and a number of casual restaurants, including Mucho, Brewco and Rock 'n Fish. But with the Strand House, the Zislis Group is trying something different from its successful run of beachy restaurants. It has overhauled the former Beaches and turned it into a lavish three-level restaurant and lounge that looks more to Hollywood for its style cues than to the town's laid-back beach culture.