26 December 2014 Last updated at 07:59
Rob and Paul Forkan were left orphans by the 2004 disaster. Now they are setting up a children’s home in Sri Lanka
Port Blair: The December 26 tsunami killed almost a quarter of the indigenous communities of India's remote Nicobar Islands at the southern end of the Bay of Bengal, close to the earthquake's epicentre.
Tsunami-hit nations mark anniversary
Memorial services are being held in Indonesia and other nations for the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami on the 10th anniversary of the disaster.
In Indonesia's province of Aceh - the worst hit area - Vice-President Jusuf Kalla led tributes to the dead at the Siron mass grave.
Memorial ceremonies will also take place in Thailand and Sri Lanka.
More than 200,000 people died when an underwater earthquake set off massive waves on 26 December 2004.
In Aceh's capital, Banda Aceh, Mr Kalla thanked local volunteers and the outside world for helping Aceh recover from the tragedy. He also presented awards to ambassadors from the donor nations.
"Thousands of corpses were sprawled in this field" he said. "Tears that fell at that time... there were feelings of confusion, shock, sorrow, fear and suffering. We prayed."
Indian Ocean tsunami: Britons caught up in disaster help Sri Lanka rebuild
Rob and Paul Forkan were left orphans by the 2004 disaster. Now they are setting up a children’s home in Sri Lanka
For years, Rob and Paul Forkan were reluctant to set foot in Sri Lanka where their parents, Kevin and Sandra, died in the Indian Ocean tsunami 10 years ago – one of the world’s worst natural disasters on record.
The brothers, then 17 and 15 respectively, were spending Christmas with their family in Weligama, a small fishing town on the south coast of Sri Lanka. On that Sunday morning, the family woke up to screams and huge waves crashing through their hotel rooms. The parents struggled against the rush of water to put the two youngest children, Mattie and Rosie, up on the roof.
Rob managed to climb up the building, grab a metal bar, clutching on to Paul with his other arm. They and their siblings survived. Kevin and Sandra, with whom they had been on the road for the previous three years, were swept away and died.
Oil, coal and gas soon worthless?
Bankers and investors are questioning whether it's worthwhile to invest in fossil fuels, especially in light of new climate agreements that could leave the materials in the ground forever.
Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney's letter to the Environmental Audit Committee of the British parliament in late October 2014 fueled the debate over combustion of fossil fuels. He argued that to manage global warming, and avert climate disaster, such energy reserves should stay in the ground.
Joan Walley, who heads the Environmental Audit Committee, told the Financial Times that investors should closely watch for what effects climate treaties could have on fossil fuel reserves.
"Policymakers and now central banks are waking up to the fact that much of the world's oil, coal and gas reserves will have to remain in the ground unless carbon capture and storage technologies can be developed more rapidly," Walley said.
Tranquil and isolated for centuries, until the big waves came
December 26, 2014 - 12:15AMJason Koutsoukis
South Asia correspondent at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald
Port Blair: The December 26 tsunami killed almost a quarter of the indigenous communities of India's remote Nicobar Islands at the southern end of the Bay of Bengal, close to the earthquake's epicentre.
The eight 20-metre-high waves that smashed the archipelago's 24 islands - only 12 of which are inhabited - not long after dawn wiped out an idyllic way of life forever.
Located 1200 kilometres off the east coast of India, none of the islands were spared. Entire villages that had been protected for centuries behind mangroves and fragile sand bars dissolved into the ocean.
"We'd had a big Christmas party the night before, a lot of coconut wine," says Prince Rasheed Yousuf, a tribal leader from the island of Nancowrie, which was home to 79 families.
Christmas in Bethlehem: For Palestinian Christians, a time of needed hope
Facing political strife and a poor economy in Bethlehem this Christmas, Palestinian Christians say they are finding hope in Jesus’s message of peace and justice.
BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK — Palestinian worshipers were welcomed this Sunday to the Bethlehem Christmas Lutheran Church, nestled just off a narrow cobblestone road, with the words of St. Paul:
“And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Under a stained-glass window depicting the angel’s joyful tidings of Jesus’s birth, candles flickered and a Christmas tree twinkled with red lights as the worshipers joined in singing traditional Christmas songs in Arabic.
Inside Drone School: How to Fly an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
Federal regulators are still working on new rules for the safe use of drones over American soil — but customers haven't been waiting around.
Unmanned aerial vehicles were once again a hot gift this holiday season. More than a million machines have been sold in recent years, and new potential uses are dreamed up seemingly by the day. But hey, hold on a second: do these buyers even know how to fly?
Not exactly.
That's why both the Federal Aviation Administration and nation's leading flight schools are working to close the gap between enthusiasm and expertise, preparing people to fly in the skies of tomorrow.
"It's a lot like riding a bike, it's not hard but you crash a lot when you are learning."
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