Piracy News

As we have pointed out previously, pirates based in Somalia remind us of an earlier group of freebooters, the Barbary Pirates of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Piracy off Somalia's coast is a symptom of wider problems ashore, and any strategy to tackle it must also deal with its root causes and strengthen regional capacity, the United Nations envoy to the country warned today.

SANA'A, Yemen a " Yemen's coast guard says Somali pirates have hijacked a Panamanian cargo ship in the treacherous Gulf of Aden between the Arabian peninsula and the Horn of Africa.A coast guard official says the Red Sea Spirit was carrying an unknown number of crew when it was hijacked Friday morning 36 nautical miles from the Yemeni port of ...

The British couple kidnapped by Somali pirates fear they will be killed within a week unless British officials open negotiations with their captors.

Nov 20 - The hijacked Spanish trawler "Alakrana" arrives in the Seychelles after the boat and crew were released.

UN Security Council members on Wednesday called for intensified efforts to fight piracy off the Somali coast and criticised the practice of paying ransom.

On the eve of Hamid Karzai's inauguration for another term as Afghanistan's president, there are continued U.S. concerns about his government.

China has called on the international community to work toward an integrated solution to the problem of piracy off the coast of Somalia.

Somali pirates have freed a United Arab Emirates-owned cargo ship, a Somali businessman said on Thursday, dismissing suggestions that it had been carrying weapons to the anarchic country.

The Maersk Alabama was ready this time.

On Wednesday, when a speedboat full of armed pirates launched an attack some 350 miles east of the Somali coast, the Maersk Alabama's armed guards repelled the attack.

While successful, the defense of the Maersk Alabama - a US-flagged cargo ship made famous in April for the rescue by US Navy Seals - raises anew the debate about whether merchant ships should follow its example and hire armed guards when traveling through the ever-expanding territory of Somali pirates.

The American sea captain who was held by pirates off of Africa and the crew of a Navy ship involved his rescue are reuniting in Virginia .

Ex-crewmen John Cronan and Shane Murphy said in separate interviews Wednesday that they feared and anticipated another attack after the ordeal in April when their captain was taken hostage but eventually freed by U.S. Navy SEALs.

The United States is calling for intensified efforts to combat piracy and warning against paying ransom.

The head of U.S. naval forces in the Middle East is praising action by armed guards that foiled a pirate attack off the coast of Somalia.

Film star Nicolas Cage has visited a Kenyan prison holding suspected Somali pirates awaiting trial to highlight the problem of piracy in the Indian Ocean.

NATO says it's waiting for President Barack Obama's decision on additional troops for Afghanistan before it holds a conference on pledging reinforcements.

The EU's anti-piracy force says that Somali pirates have again attacked the Maersk Alabama, the U.S.-flagged ship hijacked last spring.

Judge Mohamed Abdi Aware of the Puntland high court and the Puntland Supreme Judicial Council, had recently jailed four members [IOL report] of the al-Shabaab Islamist group and had sentenced 12 suspected pirates [AFP report] to terms ranging from three to eight years.

Nov 17 - The Spanish fishing vessel hijacked by Somali pirates six weeks ago is released but another ship has been seized off the Seychelles.

Europea s foreign policy chief Javier Solana says the European Union may launch its planned mission to train Somali forces next month.