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Japan will not join a US-led security mission to protect merchant vessels passing through key Middle Eastern waterways, but will consider deploying its naval force independently, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Tuesday. Citing unidentified government sources, the Yomiuri said Japan was considering a plan to send its Maritime Self-Defense Force (SDF) on information-gathering missions in the areas around the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab shipping lane between Yemen, Djibouti and Eritrea. It would also consider including the Strait of Hormuz in the SDF’s sphere of activity if Iran agrees, the paper said, according to Reuters.

MADRID (Reuters) - The Spanish navy captured eight suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia on Sunday as part of Europe's anti-piracy mission in the area, the Defense Ministry said. The Spanish frigate Victoria captured a whaleboat and various skiffs, on which the ministry said arms and other materials suitable for use in pirate attacks were discovered. Under instructions from Europe's anti-piracy "Operation Atalanta," the Spanish navy destroyed the whaler and took its eight crew on a skiff toward the Somali coast, the ministry said in a statement.

Experts in the Far East have suggested that more than one third of the current number of shipping companies may go bankrupt in 2009, because of the global economic downturn. Since the beginning of the crisis last September, at least four companies, hit by a combination of falling rates and a global capacity glut, have had to seek bankruptcy protection in order to keep trading. Exacerbating the situation is China's diminishing need for iron ore imports. Analysts suggest that shipping lines will respond by scrapping almost one third of active vessels over the next 24 months. Shipping lines trying to...

Frozen in time... the watch which shows the moment newlywed Titanic passengers fell into sea and died By Richard Smith 21/02/2009 THIS [see PIC in URL] is the pocket watch which shows the moment a couple of newlywed Titanic passengers fell into the sea and died together. John Chapman, 37, was on honeymoon with new bride Lizzie, 29, when the liner struck an iceberg on April 15, 1912 and sank 35 minutes after they were pitched into the freezing Atlantic water. Lizzie died after refusing a place on a lifeboat because her beloved husband was not allowed to go with...

Strategist says move would show U.S. is committed to Latin America MIAMI — The Navy is considering restoring the 4th Fleet in the Atlantic Ocean, a bureaucratic change that would raise the prominence of Pentagon maritime activities in Latin America and the Caribbean. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the disclosure during a visit to the Southern Command last week — calling it "a great idea" that "as far as I know is moving forward." The move would bring no new vessels to the region but would put Southcom on par administratively with other Pentagon...

Will Americans rule themselves or be ruled by others — this is to be a great question of the 21st century. An opening scene is currently being played out in the U.S. Senate concerning international courts and supranational institutions. The Bush administration and the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are pushing ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS or LOST). The U.N. convention established a transnational institution, the International Seabed Authority, to regulate maritime activities for over 70 percent of the earth’s surface. Supporters contend that it is in America’s interests to...

With all the critical problems facing America today, it's hard to see why President George W. Bush is wasting whatever is left of his political capital to partner with Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., to try to get the Senate to ratify the United Nations Law of the Sea Treaty. As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Biden is scheduled to hold a hearing loaded with pro-treaty witnesses and then try to sneak through ratification while the public is focused on other globalism and giveaway mischief. The Law of the Sea Treaty is the globalists' dream bill. It would put...

USS IWO JIMA, At Sea (NNS) -- The Iwo Jima (LHD 7) Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) passed through the Suez Canal, July 4, entering the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations (AOO). The ESG will conduct maritime security operations (MSO) throughout the region and support further tasking from the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). “We're ready to begin our taskings in support of [MSO],” said Capt. Sinclair M. Harris, commodore of Amphibious Squadron 4. “Our months of training will be used to support [U.S. Naval Forces Central Command].” MSO help set the conditions for security and stability in the maritime environment,...

ARABIAN SEA (NNS) -- USS Reuben James (FFG 57) rendered medical assistance to a Sri Lankan fisherman while conducting maritime security operations (MSO) as part of a Dutch-led task force in the Arabian Sea, April 21. During a routine visit to a Sri Lankan fishing vessel, the Deuedu Pietro, Sailors from Reuben James discovered that one of the vessel’s crew members had sustained a knee injury five days earlier that had become infected. The Sailors radioed back for medical assistance from Reuben James’s independent duty corpsman, Hospital Corpsman 1st Class (FMF/PJ) Matthew Breske. Breske joined the boarding team aboard the...

THE Bush administration has failed to put adequate security conditions on a deal for a state-owned Dubai company to manage major U.S. ports, and it should not go forward pending a full investigation, a key Republican congressman said overnight. Lawmakers from both parties joined in criticising the deal, and one called the administration "tone deaf" for approving it. Republican Peter King, chairman of the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, said that before the administration approved the sale of British firm P&O, which manages six U.S. ports, to Dubai Ports World of the United Arab Emirates, it failed to determine...

Feb. 14--The Bush administration was urged yesterday to take another look at a deal that would turn over operation of two marquee New York Harbor ports to Dubai, a nation with ties to the 9/11 hijackers. The emirate-owned Dubai Ports World finalized a $6.8 billion deal yesterday to buy the English firm P&O Ports, which now runs Manhattan's cruise-ship terminal on the West Side and the Port Authority's Newark Container Port, as well as ports in New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Miami. "If a terrorist organization decided to infiltrate this company... what would stop them?" asked Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)....

THIS DOESN'T SOUND like much of a Homeland Security triumph: The city's ports, considered a major target of terrorists, are about to be taken over by a firm based in the United Arab Emirates, a country with financial links to the Sept. 11 hijackers. Dubai Ports World is set to complete a $6.8 billion deal to purchase Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., a London company that already runs commercial port operations in New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, New Orleans and Miami. Color me unimpressed./posted at 08:50 AM by Glenn Reynolds

On the 30th anniversary of her famous wreck, Jason Davis and "5 EYEWITNESS NEWS ON THE ROAD" show you how Minnesotans are remembering the Edmund Fitzgerald. You'll hear how top Twin Cities musicians are paying tribute to her lost crew of 29. We'll also take you on the only voyage families of the victims ever made to the site of the disaster.