Somali pirates

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Somali Pirates Free Danish Family

Three children were among those held hostage

(Newser) - The Danish family held hostage by Somali pirates since February has been released and is safe. Jan Quist Johansen, his wife, their three children between the ages of 12 and 16, and two adult crew members are in “relatively good condition,” according to Denmark’s foreign ministry and...

Pirate Hostages Plead for Help in YouTube Video

Danes, Filipinos urge ship's owner to secure their freedom

(Newser) - A shipping industry group has released a harrowing video of Danish and Filipino seamen being held hostage by Somali pirates. The men, who were seized when pirates hijacked a Danish cargo ship in January, plead for their freedom in the video, which Save Our Seafarers says it uploaded to YouTube...

Lousy Weather Forecasts May Be Pirates' Fault

Scientists can't collect ocean data, ask US, Australia for help

(Newser) - Scientists have asked the American and Australian navies to help them deploy robots in a vast area of the Indian Ocean that pirates have made too dangerous for ordinary vessels. Deep-ocean robotic buoys play a vital role in climate change studies and weather forecasts, but researchers say pirate activity has...

4th Somali Pirate Pleads Guilty in Yacht Hijacking

A Somali man may have helped take four Americans hostage, and killed them

(Newser) - A fourth Somali man has pleaded guilty to piracy for his role in the hijacking of a yacht that left four Americans dead last February. Burhan Abdirahman Yusuf, who pleaded guilty in federal court in Norfolk today, is among 14 people from Somalia and one from Yemen facing charges related...

FBI Hauls in Somali Pirate Boss for Deadly Attack

US captures pirate on land for first time for Virginia indictment

(Newser) - The FBI has hauled an alleged pirate leader from Somalia to Virginia to stand trial for his role in the killings of four American hostages earlier this year . Mohammad Shibin was captured in a joint operation coordinated with Somali authorities, reports the Wall Street Journal . The arrest of Shibin, who...

India Captures 61 Pirates, Mothership

Navy, hijackers battle on Arabian Sea

(Newser) - India nabbed 61 Somali pirates in the Indian Sea today, reports the AP , after naval vessels returned fire from their hijacked fishing boat, which caught fire. The fishing boat from Mozambique had been used as a roving mothership for many attacks on commercial vessels traveling between East Africa and India....

Somali Pirates Out of Space for Captured Ships

They're starting to accept lower ransoms because they've got too many

(Newser) - Good news/bad news time, shipping industry. The good news: Somali pirates are starting to accept lower ransoms for ships! Bad news: It’s because they’ve captured so many they’re running out of places to put the dang things. The ports at Haradheere, Eyl, and Hobyo are jam-packed with...

Somali Pirate: I Raked In $2.4M Last Year

Which Saeed Yare spent on bodyguards, three villas, among other things

(Newser) - It's not exactly an honest day's work, but it certainly seems to return much more than an honest day's pay: Somali pirate Saeed Yare tells Reuters —while reclining against his luxe Toyota Landcruiser—that he raked in $2.4 million last year. He raked that in by investing in...

Danish Family Knew They Might Be Hijacked by Pirates

Parents, teens had prepared a 'piracy plan'

(Newser) - The Danish family that was captured by pirates in the Indian Ocean on Thursday wasn't caught unawares, reports the AP . The family—a couple with three children, ages 12 to 16—had written on a travel blog that they were in daily contact with anti-piracy forces, and had prepped a...

Children on Sailboat Hijacked by Pirates

Danish family captured in Indian Ocean

(Newser) - Somali pirates have seized child hostages for what is believed to be the first time. The three children aged 12 to 16 were aboard a Danish sailboat hijacked as it crossed the Indian Ocean, AP reports. Their parents and two Danish crew members were also captured. Danish officials say the...

Pirates Kill All 4 American Hostages

US officials have killed or captured all the pirates

(Newser) - The four Americans on a yacht captured by Somali pirates Friday have been shot and killed by their captors, NBC News reports, and US forces killed two pirates and captured the remaining 13. Phyllis Macay, Robert Riggle and the yacht’s owners Jean and Scott Adam were captured on a...

Somali Pirates Hijack 4 Americans

California couple on round-the-world mission since 2004

(Newser) - Somali pirates yesterday hijacked a yacht with four Americans aboard, in likely retaliation for the 33-year prison sentence this week of a pirate in the hijacking of the US vessel Maersk Alabama. The yacht Quest belongs to missionaries Jean and Scott Adam, who have been sailing around the world since...

Somali Pirate Gets 33 Years in Prison

Federal judge says Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse deserves his harsh sentence

(Newser) - A Somali pirate who kidnapped and brutalized the captain of a US-flagged merchant ship off the coast of Africa in 2009 was sentenced to more than 33 years in prison today by an emotional judge who told him he deserved a stiff punishment for leading a crew of bandits who...

Somali Pirates Torturing Hostages

Bandits use captives as human shields

(Newser) - Somali pirates beat, tortured, and threatened to kill captured South Korean sailors, the Telegraph reports. “Pirates trampled and beat me whenever I talked with my captain,” said one of the seven rescued sailors, who went home yesterday. “I lost my four front teeth after being hit by...

US Should Treat Pirates Like Terrorists: Vice Admiral

To stop piracy, follow the money and bust the network

(Newser) - The problem of piracy in the Gulf of Aden might be receiving less attention in the media these days, but it has not gone away. In fact, hostage-taking is up, from 350 people in captivity in September to 750 today. Ransoms are a million-dollar business for pirates, who are also...

South Korea Raid Frees Hijacked Ship From Pirates

Commandos free 21 hostages, kill 8 scoundrels

(Newser) - South Korean commandos stormed a chemical freighter that had been hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean last week, rescuing all 21 captives while killing eight pirates and capturing five more, according to officials in Seoul. The raiding party boarded the ship in the pre-dawn darkness this morning, systematically...

Blackwater Founder Training Somali Mercenaries

Erik Prince joins forces with controversial South African firm

(Newser) - Lawless, chaotic Somalia appears to be a land of opportunity for controversial Blackwater security company founder Erik Prince. The ex Blackwater honcho—who has left the security company he created and set up shop in the United Arab Emirates—is involved in a project to recruit and train thousands of...

Pirates Took Record 1,181 Hostages in 2010

Somali bandits grab 53 ships, kill 8

(Newser) - It was a banner year for piracy in 2010, with marauders taking 1,181 hostages, according to the AP . That’s the most prisoners pirates have taken in any year since 1991, when record-keeping began, according to the International Maritime Bureau. But they accomplished the feat while taking only 53...

New Way to Fight Pirates: With a Laser

Weapon emits harmless but effective green light

(Newser) - Somali pirates, beware: British scientists are developing a laser that works by confusing would-be attackers from more than a mile away, the Daily Mail reports. The laser hides the ship in a veil of green light, preventing pirates from easily steering toward or aiming at their victims. “We are...

Five Somali Pirates Convicted
 Five Somali Pirates Convicted 
Nov 24, 2010 12:07 PM CST

Five Somali Pirates Convicted

In the first piracy trial in the US since the Civil War

(Newser) - Five Somali men accused of attacking a US Navy ship off Africa's coast were convicted on federal piracy charges today, in what experts said was the first trial of its kind since 1861. The verdict was handed down by a jury in US District Court in Norfolk, as the five...

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