Anchorage

The Greek Foreign Ministry is making high-level contacts to secure the release of the Greek cadet captain who was one of 19 crew members aboard the Greek-owned tanker St Nikolas when it was seized by an Iranian army unit in the Red Sea last week.

According to reports, the Greek ambassador issued an official appeal to Tehran for the cadet captain's quick release.

Overview of the site of the 2021 Alaska Airbus AS350 B3 helicopter crash from the NTSB preliminary report. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The positions of the two Greek tankers that have been seized by the Iranian authorities were announced by the website TankerTrackers.com.

The Greek tanker Prudent Warrior is anchored in the port of Bandar Abbas in Iran, while the Delta Poseidon is located north of the island of Larak, according to a post by TankerTrackers.com on Twitter.

One of the largest opals in the world was sold for $125,000 at auction in Alaska on Feb. 20.

The opal, dubbed the "Americus Australis," weighs more than 11,800 carats and is one of the largest gem-quality opals in existence, according to the auction house Alaska Premier Auctions & Appraisals. It also has a long history.

Beijing urged Washington to stop "demonizing" China on July 26 as rancour marked the start of talks with the highest-level U.S. envoy to visit under President Joe Biden's administration.

The helicopter carrying Czech billionaire Petr Kellner, 56, just missed clearing an Alaskan ridge by three to five metres when it crashed, preliminary investigations show.

Mr Kellner, who is worth an estimated US$17.5 billion (A$23 billion) according to Forbes, was one of five passengers on board the fatal flight on Saturday (local time).

Petr Kellner. Photo: EPA-EFE/PPF GROUP

A helicopter crash in Alaska left five people dead late on Saturday, including one of the richest people in Europe, after the chopper went down during what authorities say was likely a backcountry heli-skiing trip.

 Top U.S. and Chinese officials offered sharply different views of each other and the world on Thursday as the two sides met face-to-face for the first time since President Joe Biden took office.

The first high-level U.S.-China talks of the Biden administration got off to a fiery start on March 18, with both sides leveling sharp rebukes of the others' policies in a rare display that underscored the level of bilateral tension.