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A plague of piracy off the Somali coast, with six vessels seized so far this year and many more attacked or threatened, has prompted the UN Security Council to consider a tougher counter-attack by the world’s navies. The latest victims were the 26 crew of a Spanish fishing boat, freed unharmed at the weekend after a $1.2m (€770,000, £606,000) ransom was paid, according to Somali officials. Earlier this month French forces captured six hijackers of a French yacht after pursuing them on to land and recovering a reported $2m ransom. The pirates were taken to France, where they are awaiting...

A second American aircraft carrier steamed into the Persian Gulf Tuesday as the Pentagon ordered military commanders to develop new options for attacking Iran. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that the planning is being driven by what one officer called the "increasingly hostile role" Iran is playing in Iraq - smuggling weapons into Iraq for use against American troops.

A vessel contracted by the Navy in the Persian Gulf fired warning shots Thursday on two Iranian fast boats, FOX News has learned. The Westward Venture, a ship contracted by the Navy to carry military cargo to Kuwait, fired upon the boats Thursday after attempts to get Iranian boats' attention failed. The ship was about 50 miles off the coast of Iran when the fast boats approached. A Navy security team, armed with M16 rifles and .50-caliber machine guns, was onboard at the time the warning shots were fired.

NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices rose sharply Friday on news reports that a ship under contract to the U.S. Navy fired warning shots at two Iranian boats. The report on Fox News raised concerns that a conflict between U.S. and Iranian forces could cut oil supplies from the Persian Gulf region. Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose $2.85 to $118.91 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier rising as high as $119.50. Prices were already up before the report on news of a pipeline attack in Nigeria and a looming refinery strike in Scotland. At...

THE crew of a Spanish fishing boat seized by pirates off Somalia have been freed... The Playa de Bakio trawler has been taken to "safer waters", escorted by a Spanish warship, and the government is making plans to repatriate the 13 Spaniards and 13 Africans, she said. Speaking at a press conference, she did not indicate the circumstances in which the crew were released, or whether a ransom had been paid. Spanish news media said earlier a ransom of 1 million euros...had been demanded, and negotiations were taking place at a London hotel. The 76-metre trawler and its crew were...

Oil prices have spiked to a record of $117.40 a barrel after a Japanese oil tanker was attacked in the Middle East, off the east coast of Yemen.

via translation - The boat tuna freezer basque Bakio Beach this Sunday has been assaulted by pirates while fishing seems to be "off the coast of Somalia, has informed the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of the Basque Government, which has ensured that the pirates have taken control of the boat. Apparently, according to this source, the pirates had attacked the ship with rocket-propelled grenades Spanish, although there have been no injuries among the crew of fishing. A total of 26 people make up the crew of Bakio Beach: 13 of African descent and 13 Spanish origin -5 them...

Six Somali men involved in capturing a French yacht and holding its 30 crew hostage have said they were part of a maritime militia group with a written code of conduct... The men were captured in the Somali desert by French troops on Friday after holding the yacht and its crew off Somalia for a week and fleeing with part of the ransom, which was recovered. They were flown to France this week to face trial. The yacht's captain told investigators the ransom paid was $2 million (1 million pounds). But the half-dozen men are just part of a larger...

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran denied a report that several of its boats taunted a U.S. Navy vessel in the Persian Gulf on Thursday night, according to IRNA, Iran's official news agency. A U.S. military official told CNN Friday that the USS Typhoon, a small patrol craft, was approached by three small Iranian boats in a "taunting manner." "There has been no confrontation between Iranian boats and the U.S. [Fifth] Fleet," IRNA quoted an unnamed Iranian source as saying.

via translation - France calls for "international force" against maritime piracy TOKYO - France calls for the creation of an "international force" under a UN mandate to combat acts of piracy at sea, such as the diversion of Ponant by Somalis, said Saturday french Prime Minister Francois Fillon you! a visit to Japan. "We are going to ask that under UN mandate an international force, to which France is naturally ready to participate, to work towards the safety and security of maritime transport in the region, as in the Malacca Strait," said M . Fillon in a speech before the...

SOMALIA: 6 PIRATES ARRESTED AFTER THE SEIZURE OF "PONANT" (AGI) - Paris, 11 April. - Some of the pirates who took part in the seizure of the French yacht "Ponant" off Somalia were arrested soon after the freeing of 30 members of the crew who had been taken hostage. This statement was released by the General Jean-Louis Goergelin of the French armed forces. The arrest of six pirates took place one hour after the release of the hostages, once the thirty members of the crew were landed. The six pirates were held aboard a French ship.

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Updates welcome. The story just showed up. Casus belli ?

The mayor of a small coastal village in northern Somalia dismissed media reports that the 288 feet French luxury yacht Le Ponant hijacked by pirates on Friday Apr. 4 in the Gulf of Aden has anchored near the village of Eyl, 500ikm north of the Somali capital Mogadishu. Abdullahi Said O'Yusuf, the mayor of Eyl, told Africa’s Radio Garowe last night that the hijacked French yacht had passed Eyl and headed south towards coastal waters off the region of Mudug, in central Somalia. Initial reports were that the French yacht and its 32-member crew had docked near the coastal...

MOGADISHU, Somalia: A French luxury yacht seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden with 30 crew on board has arrived in northern Somalia, officials and fishermen said Sunday.

OTTAWA -- The federal government has laid charges against the anti-sealing vessel Farley Mowat, which was involved in a confrontation with sealers near Cape Breton last weekend. Fisheries and Oceans announced Sunday an investigation into a high-seas confrontation between the Farley Mowat and sealers on Mar. 30 has ended in charges laid against the vessel's captain, Alexander Cornelissen, and first officer, Peter Hammarstedt. "The seal hunt is a humane, sustainable, and legal activity, and our government is committed to protecting the safety and security of sealers," said Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Loyola Hearn. "This guides our decisions on the...

The Le Ponant pleasure yacht was seized Friday in international waters opposite Somalia without passengers on route from the Seychelles to Aden Port and the Mediterranean after its first pleasure trip of the summer season in the Indian Ocean. The 32-man crew was taken hostage. Our shipping correspondent reports that the French Le Commandant Rouen warship was diverted from NATO’s Afghanistan operation to join the Yemeni coast guard in the hunt for and rescue of the captured craft. The Le Ponant caters to 64 high-profile luxury tourists, one of three owned by Le Compagnie Des Iles du Ponant, a...

Pirates seized control of a French cruise ship Friday off the coast of Somalia, France's Foreign Ministry said. A ministry official said details about the attack were scarce, and it was not clear how many crew members were on board the ship or if there were any passengers. The ship is in the high seas in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean. The official declined to identify the vessel or its owner. The ministry has set up a crisis center to deal with the situation, said the official, who asked not to be...

Pirates seized control of a French vessel carrying 30 crew members Friday off the coast of Somalia, the French government and the ship's owner said. Attackers stormed aboard "Le Ponant" as it returned without passengers from the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, toward the Mediterranean Sea, said officials with French maritime transport company CMA-CGM. The corporate officials said they were in close contact with the French Foreign Ministry, which said in a statement that a cruise boat and its crew had been attacked by pirates. The ship was in the high seas in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast...

The British master of a tug has told how he feared for his life during a six-week hostage ordeal at the hands of pirates off the coast of Somalia. Colin Darch, 70, who is recovering at home in Appledore, Devon, was freed only after the Danish owners of the tug, the Svitzer Korsakov, were reported to have paid a £350,000 ransom. About 20 pirates boarded the vessel on Feb 1 in the Gulf of Aden off the north coast of Somalia. "Someone shouted that they were aboard," said Mr Darch. "They were firing guns. We then shut down the ship....

WASHINGTON, March 26, 2008 – U.S. 5th Fleet officials today expressed regret for the death of an Egyptian citizen who died the night of March 24, an apparent result of warning shots fired at a small boat approaching a ship chartered by the U.S. Navy. “We express our deepest sympathies to the family of the deceased,” Vice Adm. Kevin J. Cosgriff, 5th Fleet commander. “We are greatly saddened by events that apparently resulted in this accidental death. This situation is tragic, and we will do our utmost to help take care of the family of the deceased.” The U.S. Navy’s...

Plans have been finalized by Mexico to develop Punta Colonet as a West Coast Mexican alternative to the U.S. ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach. The proposal includes a deep-water Pacific Ocean port on Mexico's Baja California peninsula about 150 miles south of Tijuana that could serve as a destination for the 30 million containers headed to North America from China and the Far East each year, according to a report published Tuesday in the Los Angeles Times. The on-again, off-again plan to develop Punta Colonet has been discussed before as the number of containers from China grows and...

WASHINGTON, March 25, 2008 – A ship on short-term charter to the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command fired warning shots at a small boat approaching the ship as it was preparing to transit the Suez Canal last night, military officials reported. There were no reports of casualties from the ship, the Global Patriot. Officials said several boats approached the Global Patriot while it was preparing to transit the Suez Canal. The boats were hailed and warned by a native Arabic speaker on the Global Patriot to advise them to turn away. Other warning steps, including a signal flare, were used...

Excerpt - The US embassy in Cairo on Tuesday denied reports that a US Navy chartered ship opened fire on Egyptians near the Suez Canal and killed one person, insisting no one was hurt. The Global Patriot "fired warning shots at a small boat approaching the ship as it was preparing to transit the Suez Canal Monday evening," an embassy statement said. "Initial reports from the Global Patriot indicate that no casualties were sustained on either vessel." US warships in the Middle East have previously been harassed or attacked by small boats. ~ snip ~

ONE Egyptian was killed and two wounded when a US military ship about to cross the Suez Canal opened fire on barges of hawkers that approached their boat today, a security source said.

One Egyptian was killed and two wounded when a US military ship about to cross the Suez Canal opened fire on barges of hawkers that approached their boat on Monday, a security source told AFP. The ship, Global Patriot, was preparing to travel from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean when a group of Egyptians seeking to sell merchandise approached the boat on small barges, the source said. Americans on board told the barges to stop and opened fire when they continued to approach.

Oil tankers and other merchant vessels will be assembled into convoys to sail under the protection of warships’ guns. The plans follow two serious confrontations between Iranian gunboats and British and US naval ships. Four of our frigates and destroyers are to be sent to the key Strait of Hormuz amid fears that commercial shipping will be targeted next. The narrow “chokepoint” carrying oil from the Persian Gulf is the most vulnerable area for attacks or suicide rammings. Three US ships almost opened fire there in January after being “buzzed” by Iranian boats. Advertisement The convoy plans have emerged from...

The head of the Japanese Navy was dismissed yesterday and scores of officers and civilian bureaucrats punished after a series of fiascos that have heaped humiliation on what was once the proudest of the country’s armed services. Admiral Eiji Yoshikawa, chief of staff of the Maritime Self-Defence Force (MSDF), was one of 88 people disciplined one month after an incident in which a 7,750-tonne ship crushed a fishing boat while the officers on watch were sheltering from the rain and its captain was asleep. Yesterday Shigeru Ishiba, the Defence Minister, published a report revealing that the ship’s lookouts were inside...

DOHA (AFP) - Damage to several undersea telecom cables that caused outages across the Middle East and Asia could have been an act of sabotage, the International Telecommunication Union said on Monday. "We do not want to preempt the results of ongoing investigations, but we do not rule out that a deliberate act of sabotage caused the damage to the undersea cables over two weeks ago," the UN agency's head of development, Sami al-Murshed, told AFP.

WASHINGTON, DC, September 22, 2004 (ENS) - The Bush administration and the U.S. Congress must work together to forge the political will to reshape the nation's ocean policy, the chair of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy told the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday. Retired Admiral James Watkins said the work of the commission "pales in comparison with what is needed now" and warned that time is already running out. The 610 page final report by the commission, released Monday, presents a troubling view of the nation's oceans and coastal areas, which are plagued by pollution, nutrient runoff, erosion, overfishing...

Canadian frigate quietly patrols troubled waters in ABOARD HMCS CHARLOTTETOWN in the Strait of Hormuz - The so-called Filipino Monkey did not scream abuse on the radio and no Iranian speedboats made menacing approaches when this Halifax-based warship transited the world's most sensitive, maritime battle space this week. But there was a nerve-wracking complication when a prankster who sailors call a Filipino Monkey briefly hobbled the international emergency distress frequency by playing music as the HMCS Charlottetown sailed within 1,500 metres of Iranian territorial waters. "The potential for trouble here is high because the strait is a very strategic choke...

CNN) -- A telecommunications company on Friday blamed a ship anchor for cutting one of three severed undersea cables that snarled Internet traffic throughout the Middle East last week. FLAG Telecom's FALCON cable spanning Dubai and Oman was snapped February 1 by an abandoned six-ton ship anchor, the company said, and will be repaired by Sunday.< >Another target of the Internet sabotage speculation is Islamic terrorists. "It was a six-ton anchor that took out that cable in the Persian Gulf. Unless al Qaeda has extremely strong frogmen or submarines, I'm not sure how they did it," laughed Beckert.< >

Ships are not responsible for damaging undersea internet cables in the Mediterranean, Egypt's Government says. Two cables were damaged earlier this week in the Mediterranean sea and another off the coast of Dubai, causing widespread disruption to internet and international telephone services in Egypt, Gulf Arab states and South Asia. A fourth cable linking Qatar to the United Arab Emirates was damaged on Sunday causing yet more disruptions, telecommunication provider Qtel said. Egypt's transport ministry said footage recorded by onshore video cameras of the location of the cables showed no maritime traffic in the area when the cables were damaged....

Internet services have been disrupted in parts of the Middle East following damage to an undersea cable in the Mediterranean, according to reports. There was disruption to 70% of the nationwide network in Egypt, a government official told Reuters. There was also disruption in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, reported the Associated Press. India also suffered up to 60% disruption, a national industry body told Reuters news agency. Egypt's Telecommunications Ministry said it would probably take several days for internet services to return to normal following the disruption on Wednesday. In Dubai, one of the two...

(CNN) -- An undersea cable carrying Internet traffic was cut off the Persian Gulf emirate of Dubai, officials said Friday, the third loss of a line carrying Internet and telephone traffic in three days. Dubai has been hit hard by an Internet outage apparently caused by a cut undersea cable. Ships have been dispatched to repair two undersea cables damaged on Wednesday off Egypt. The ships were expected to reach the site of the break on Tuesday with repairs completed by February 12, according to a press release from FLAG Telecom, which owns one of the cables. Stephan Beckert, an...

Under renovation: the total donated to the Cutty Sark by the Heritage Lottery Fund is £20.75million Lottery puts another £10m into Cutty SarkBo Wilson, Evening Standard 25.01.08 Related Articles Inside the burnt-out hull of the Cutty Sark Cutty Sark may not have been insured The Cutty Sark has been granted £10 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund so restoration works can continue following a fire last year. The money brings the total donated to the historic vessel by the fund over the past two years to £20.75 million. Trustees decided to step in to help the restoration project again...

THREE SHIPS COLLIDE IN NEWARK BAY, NEAR NEW YORK CITY -- CNN

The world's first commercial cargo ship partially powered by a giant kite is setting sail from Germany to Venezuela. The designers of the MS Beluga Skysails say the computer-controlled kite, measuring 160sq m (1,722sq ft), could cut fuel consumption by as much as 20%. They also hope the state-of-the-art kite will help reduce carbon dioxide emissions, as it tugs the ship. Fuel burnt by ships accounts for 4% of global CO2 emissions - twice as much as the aviation industry produces. See how the kite ship works The MS Beluga SkySails' maiden transatlantic voyage is from the northern port of...

A sharp-eyed user of Microsoft's Virtual Earth has found images of classified US Navy technology. The image shows an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine being pulled out of the water at the Trident Submarine Base in Bangor, Maine and displays its propeller in full view. Submarine propellers are highly classified and are usually hidden when submarines go into dry dock. Dan Twohig, a deck officer on the Washington state ferry service, found the image when he was searching for a new house. He also writes a blog about shipping called Monster Maritime, on which he broke the news of the discovery....

/begin my excerpt U.S. Carrier Kitty Hawk was in 28-hour Standoff with Chinese Submarine Tense battle-ready standoff in Taiwan Strait (Hong Kong=Yonhap News) Chung Juho = U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk (and its battle group) had 28-hour battle-ready standoff with a Chinese submarine and a missile destroyer in Taiwan Strait last November, it has been revealed. This was the first military standoff between U.S. and China since the Taiwan Strait Crisis in 1996. According to Jan. 16 dispatch by China Times in Taiwan, on Nov. 23 last year, Kitty Hawk battle group was en route to Japan after China...

Navy submarine collides with merchant vessel north of Mumbai Josy Joseph INS Sindhughosh was taking part in fleet-level war games NEW DELHI: One of the Indian Navy’s most advanced submarines, the INS Sindhughosh, rammed into a foreign merchant vessel in a freak accident during war games in the Arabian sea on January 7, raising concerns about safety and sailing precautions. Some sources speculated whether an indigenously developed hydro-acoustal sonar, USHUS, malfunctioned, causing the accident. Sources said the accident took place north of Mumbai when the Sindhughosh, one of few submarines of the Indian Navy that can launch anti-ship and anti-land...

Sri Lanka Sank 6 N. Korean Ships Carrying Weapons between this Feb. and Oct. 12/14/2007 Sohn Ji-heun /begin my summary Six N. Korean ships were sunk by Sri Lankan Navy between Feb. 28 and late October of this year. They were shipping weapons for Tamil Tigers, which were designated as a terrorist organization by U.S. State Dept. Both N. Korean crews and Tamil terrorists were aboard the ships. They were all presumed to be killed. Sri Lankan Navy was able to sink them with the help of U.S., which passed on intelligence on the location of (N. Korean) ships in...

Panama will take bids from four international consortiums seeking to build new, larger ship locks for the Panama Canal... The locks are a key part of the 5.25 billion-dollar canal expansion project begun in September, aimed at doubling the capacity of the 50-mile (80-kilometer) canal connecting two oceans. Panamanian officials hope the project will be finished by 2014. The four consortiums now have until August 2008 to present final proposals and price tags to compete for the contract... The largest ships that now use the canal carry up to 5,000 containers, but after the expansion supertankers and ships carrying as...

The wreckage of a pirate ship abandoned by Captain Kidd in the 17th century has been found by divers in shallow waters off the Dominican Republic, a research team claims. The underwater archaeology team, from Indiana University, says they have found the remains of Quedagh Merchant, actively sought by treasure hunters for years. Charles Beeker of IU said his team has been licensed to study the wreckage and convert the site into an underwater preserve for the public. It is remarkable that the wreck has remained undiscovered all these years given its location, just 70 feet off the coast of...

Somali pirates threaten to kill tanker crew By Laura Clout and agencies Last Updated: 12:32pm GMT 11/12/2007 A tense standoff has developed off the Somali coast between US warships and pirates who have hijacked a tanker packed with explosive chemicals. Somali pirates are able to operate with relative impunity off the volatile Horn of Africa. Under seige from the US navy, the pirates have now threatened to kill all 22 crew members of the Japanese Golden Nori unless a $1 million ransom is paid. The tanker, carrying up to 40,000 tons of inflammable benzene, was captured as it was sailing...

MANAMA, Bahrain, Dec. 7, 2007 – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates today commemorated a historic date in U.S. Navy history -- Pearl Harbor Day -- at U.S. Naval Forces Central Command headquarters here. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates walks with Crown Prince His Majesty Hamad bin Al-Khalifa in Bahrain while on a visit to Southwest Asia, Dec. 6, 2007. Gates is in the region to discuss defense issues and recieve updates from commanders. Defense Dept. photo by U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jerry Morrison  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. He got a detailed briefing about the command’s operations...

Pirates from two small skiffs seized the crew of a Japanese vessel off anarchic Somalia's coast. American forces fired on the skiffs and destroyed them. Now the navies of the U.S. and 19 other countries are after bigger prey. The U.S.-led coalition working to secure sea lanes beset by pirates believe skiffs like the ones used in the attack on the Japanese ship must have come from elusive "mother ships." "The small boats which are used for piracy could not travel" from shore as far into the ocean as ships have been attacked, said Commodore Khan Hasham of Pakistan, one...

LONDON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. military has stepped up chartering of tankers and requests for extra fuel in the U.S. Central Command area, which includes the Gulf, shipping and oil industry sources say. The U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command (MSC) has tendered for four tankers in November to move at least one million barrels of jet and ship fuel between Gulf ports, from Asia to the Gulf and to the Diego Garcia base, tenders seen by Reuters show. "They have been very active," said a ship industry source, familiar with the MSC tender process, who asked not to...

LONDON, England (CNN) -- More than 150 people have abandoned a sinking cruise liner that collided with an iceberg in Antarctic waters, a Chilean navy captain told CNN. The ship sent out a distress call at around 10 p.m. ET Thursday. Passenger ship Explorer reported problems near the South Shetland Islands, south of Argentina. The area is in a sector of Antarctica claimed by the United Kingdom. Capt. Carlos Munita of the Chilean navy said they received a distress call from the Explorer, saying the vessel had hit an iceberg around 10 p.m. ET Thursday. He added a Norwegian rescue...

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6), USS Denver (LPD 9), and USS Rushmore (LSD 47) returned home Nov. 19, after completing a seven and one-half month deployment in support of the global war on terrorism. While deployed, ships from the Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group (BHRESG) conducted Maritime Security Operations alongside coalition partners to promote stability in the Persian Gulf. "The primary mission of BHRESG was to complete maritime operations with partner nations such as Australia, Singapore, Kuwait, and others," said Capt. Rod Clark, commander Amphibious Squadron 7. "The deployment overall was a complete success." The BHRESG...