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MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali pirates freed a Greek-flagged tanker carrying 2 million barrels of oil on Monday, a day after the biggest ransom yet paid to them was dropped onto its deck, the pirates and a maritime official said. The Maran Centaurus was seized on November 29 with 16 Filipinos, nine Greeks, two Ukrainians and a Romanian on board. An aircraft dropped a ransom believed to be between $5.5 million and $7 million onto the vessel on Sunday, officials said. "We have agreed to solve our disagreements and release the ship. It is free and sailing away now," one of...

The Secret Anti-China Message Behind Obama's Mission To Yemen Joe Weisenthal Jan. 9, 2010, 11:13 AM The war on terror is back, though the story has moved from Afghanistan (which is ostensibly now in nation-building mode) to Yemen, which up until recently, many Americans probably had never heard of. Asia Times has an excellent overview of the situation written by former Indian ambassador M K Bhadrakumar. What's most interesting is his analysis of Yemen through the lens of the broader tension between the US and China. Most important, however, for US global strategies will be the massive gain of control...

The Somali pirates have once again warned that they could kill the crew of the Chinese flagged merchant vessel De Xin Hai if a military action is launched to rescue them. Speaking from the ship by phone, a pirate cautioned, “We know [the Chinese] have arrayed their warships in Somalia waters to attack us… We are telling them not to gamble with the lives of the Chinese teenagers in our hands. Honestly, we will kill if we are attacked" (Shanghaidaily.com, December 1). Chinese Missile Frigate Zhoushan docks in Zhejiang province after returning from the Gulf of Aden De Xin Hai...

Apparently unsuccessful in marketing it for anti-piracy operations, Xe has put its 183-foot ship McArthur up for sale. In an online advertisement on the Web site Yachtworld.com, the McArthur is listed at a reduced price of $3.7 million. The vessel is docked in Alicante, Spain.

YEMEN'S navy is charging commercial vessels up to $US55,000 ($60,800) each to guarantee transit through the pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden under a deal that has reaped about $US30 million over 18 months. The hiring of Yemeni military came as al-Qa'ida flourishes in the Arabian Peninsula nation, and was agreed without the apparent knowledge of Yemeni government officials or international anti-piracy military forces. at least one merchant ship a day, including some of the largest ship owners, are discreetly paying Yemen for military protection, Somali pirates have attacked more than 200 commercial ships and hijacked nearly 50 over...

SOFIA (Reuters) - Somali pirates hijacked a British-flagged vehicle carrier off the Somali coast late on Friday, the Bulgarian foreign ministry said. The Asian Glory was seized about 600 miles east of the Somali coast before it joined a convoy heading for the Gulf of Aden, ministry spokesman Dragovest Goranov said. Somali pirates have made tens of millions of dollars from seizing ships for ransom in the Gulf of Aden, linking Europe to Asia, and are also hunting far into the Indian Ocean to evade foreign navies sent to protect commercial shipping. The European Union's counter-piracy force, EU Navfor and...

Maritime authorities on Saturday said that Somali pirates seized an Indonesian chemical tanker with 24 crew in the Gulf of Aden. A spokesman for the East Africa Seafarers Assistance Program said the Singapore-flagged Pramoni was on its way to India when it was captured.

Somali pirates holding a Chinese cargo ship and its crew of 25 said Sunday they would release the vessel after collecting a ransom of 3.5 million dollars (2.2 million euros) later in the day. The bulk carrier Dexinhai, owned by Qingdao Ocean Shipping, was seized on October 18 northeast of the Seychelles as it was sailing to India from South Africa with a cargo of coal. It was subsequently taken to the Somali coast, between the pirate lairs of Harardere and Hobyo, where it laid at anchor with other captured vessels and negotiations on its fate began. "We have been...

Law: American heroes are arraigned for allegedly punching a terrorist in wartime. What happens to Tiger Woods isn't vital to our country's future. What happens to Matthew McCabe, Julio Huertas and Jonathan Keefe is. People are more likely to recognize the names of Tiger's alleged bimbo eruptions than the names of these three Navy SEALs we sent into battle. They are not household names in a nation consumed with Climate Gate, the public option and the antics of billionaire athletes. An administration consumed with apologies has said the architect of 9/11's massacre, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, must be given all the...

The Maersk Alabama, a U.S. flagged cargo vessel, is now a veteran of not one, but two attacks by Somali pirates. The first, back in April, although ending well (except from the perspective of the pirates), was a horrid ordeal. The crew, using kitchen knives [Correction: I have just been informed that it was pocket knives, rather than kitchen knives, that the crew used--my apologies for the mistake] as their weapons, staged a fighting retreat to a secure compartment. There, they endured terrible (and potentially fatal) conditions: for 13 hours, in 130° heat, without drinking water or ventilation, they waited...

Richard Phillips, the ship captain toasted as a hero after he was taken captive by Somali pirates, ignored repeated warnings last spring to keep his freighter at least 600 miles off the African coast because of the heightened risk of attack, some members of his crew now allege. Records obtained by The Associated Press show that maritime safety groups issued at least seven such warnings in the days before outlaws boarded the Maersk Alabama about 380 miles off the shore of Somalia. A piracy expert and the captain's second-in-command say Phillips had the prerogative to heed the warnings or not....

NAIROBI, Kenya - Somali pirates seized a tanker carrying crude oil from Saudi Arabia to the United States in the increasingly dangerous waters off East Africa, an official said Monday, an attack that could pose a huge environmental or security threat to the region. The Greece-flagged Maran Centaurus was hijacked Sunday about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) off the coast of Somalia, said Cmdr. John Harbour, a spokesman for the EU Naval Force. Harbour said it originated from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and was destined for the United States. The ship has 28 crew members on board, he said. The shipping intelligence...

Somali Pirates Seize U.S.-Bound Tanker JEFFREY GETTLEMAN November 30, 2009 NAIROBI, Kenya — Somali pirates have struck again, seizing an oil tanker loaded with $20 million in crude that was headed from Saudi Arabia to the United States, naval authorities said Monday. According to European naval reports, nine pirates hijacked the tanker and its crew of about 30 about 800 miles offshore and headed back toward pirate havens along the coast of central Somalia. The Somali pirate business appears to be back in full swing after a brief lull this summer that some attributed to increased naval patrols but which...

African pirates attacked an oil tanker Tuesday in the oil-rich waters off the continent's west coast, Agence France Presse reported. The pirates reportedly killed a Ukranian crewman, believed to be the chief engineer of the 750-foot vessel, AFP reported.

Here is video of British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler, seized by Somali Pirates 30 days ago, pleading for their lives as they were surrounded by Somali Gunmen. The pirates are asking nearly $7 million ransom for the couple's release: The family of a British couple kidnapped by pirates have made another appeal for their release after seeing footage of them surrounded by gunmen. In a video obtained by Channel 4 News, Paul and Rachel Chandler, aged 59 and 55 and from Kent, are seen surrounded by Somali gunmen. Mr Chandler pleads for their lives, saying they fear they may...

Yesterday, Somali pirates attacked the commercial cargo ship Maersk Alabama. This time, however, an armed security team successfully thwarted the attackers. Last April, Somali pirates successfully attacked the Alabama, kidnapping ship’s Captain Phillips and holding him hostage until Navy SEAL snipers killed the captors. In 2008, Vice Admiral Bill Gortney, commander of the U.S. Navy’s fleet in that area, specifically warned that the Navy “can’t be everywhere” and that “shipping companies have to take responsibility for their own ships.” It appears that after the last near-tragedy, Maersk took the warning seriously. But the story also highlights media bias against self-defense....

Merchant ships need guns to fight pirates. Seven months ago, Somali pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama and held its captain hostage. Pirates attacked the Maersk Alabama again this week but were repulsed because the Maersk Shipping Line put armed guards on its ships. Pirates successfully attacked another unarmed ship on Monday, leaving 28 members of its crew dead. On Tuesday, 36 crew members of a Spanish ship were released only after pirates were paid a $3.3 million ransom. But when the pirates got within 300 yards of the Maersk Alabama, the ship tried evasive maneuvers and its security team successfully...

Obama needs more time help the black community ? Ok...Kicked Paterson and Thompson of NY to the curb ...Ignores his Grandma ...Murders of blacks in Chicago ...But has played more golf in his first year than Bush did in 8 years . Etc...

MOGADISHU, Somalia — As a Spanish warship looked on, a $3.3 million ransom was delivered by boat Tuesday and Somali pirates freed a Spanish trawler and its 36 crew members. Spain's prime minister did little to deny paying off the hijackers — one reason the lucrative attacks are on the rise. "The government did what it had to do," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told a news conference in Madrid. "The important thing is that the sailors will be back with us. The first obligation of a country, of the government of a state, is to save the lives...

ABOARD USS CHOSIN AT SEA, Nov. 19, 2009 – USS Chosin, home-ported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, has assumed the role as flagship for the counter-piracy efforts of Combined Task Force 151 after arriving in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations as part of a regularly scheduled deployment. "We're extremely well equipped to support this mission," said Navy Capt. Timothy Smith, the ship’s commanding officer. "An Aegis-class cruiser has an awful lot of capabilities to search and identify, perform command and control operations, collect intelligence and maintain communications related to counter piracy." Early in the deployment, the Chosin crew sighted...