Teenage sailor vows to abandon her homeland

A Dutch teenager who is one day away from becoming the youngest person to sail around the world single- handedly has vowed never to return to her homeland because she faces being taken into care. Laura Dekker, 16, has torn down the Dutch tricolour on her yacht, Guppy, to protest against the social workers who have repeatedly tried to stop her solo voyage. The latest suggestion, she said was that she be seized from her parents on the grounds she has not been spending enough time on the voyage with her schoolwork.