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MOGADISHU, Somalia (KABC) -- The Somali pirates who are holding a Southern California man hostage released a statement Friday night saying they have moved the man around four times in fear of a Navy SEALs attack. This comes after the dramatic rescue of two other hostages this week, possibly putting his life at risk. Michael Scott Moore, an author and journalist from Manhattan Beach, had been working from Berlin, Germany, and had traveled to Somalia before to conduct research. But this time, he was captured. There are conflicting reports from Somalia about whether the pirates plan to hold him ransom...

U.S. special operations forces have rescued a kidnapped American aid worker and her Danish colleague in Somalia, U.S. officials said Wednesday. During the raid, all nine of their captors were killed. Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, were abducted Oct. 25 by a group of armed men in the Somali town of Galkayo. Pentagon officials said there is no indication the men had any connection to international terrorism or al-Shabab, Somalia’s al-Qaeda affiliate. Instead, the men are believed to have been pirates, hoping to trade their captives for ransom.

MOGADISHU, Somalia — U.S. military forces flew into Somalia in a nighttime helicopter raid Wednesday, freed an American and a Danish hostage, and killed nine pirates in a mission President Barack Obama appeared to reference before his State of the Union speech, officials and a pirate source said.

The Sea Shepherd anti-whaling group said three Australian activists were being held as "prisoners" by the Japanese harpoon fleet Sunday after sneaking aboard one of their vessels overnight to protest. Sea Shepherd said they had helped the three men from the Forest Rescue Australia environmental group to board the Shonan Maru No.2 16 miles (26 kilometres) off Australia's west coast. "The boats approached the Shonan Maru under the cover of darkness and the three negotiated their way past the razor wire and spikes and over the rails to successfully board the Japanese whaling vessel," Sea Shepherd said of the Forest...

Days after Iranian leaders warned the U.S. to keeps aircraft carriers out of the Persian Gulf, a U.S. Navy ship that had just finished operations in the Gulf rescued an Iranian fishing boat that had been commandeered by suspected Somali pirates. Video Here: http://youtu.be/_su_cszY950

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The same U.S. aircraft carrier group that Iran warned not to return to the Gulf has rescued 13 Iranians held hostage for weeks by pirates in the Arabian Sea, the Pentagon said on Friday. The rescue operation took place on Thursday, when forces with the USS John C. Stennis carrier strike group received a distress call from the master of the Al Molai, an Iranian-flagged fishing vessel, who said he was being held captive by pirates.

Authorities are investigating human remains found at the same U.S. border lake where a Colorado man was reported to have been killed by Mexican drug cartel members last year. A professional fisherman found the skeletal remains on the Mexican side of Falcon Lake on the Texas-Mexico border, according to multiple reports. The skeleton was found about 15 miles from where 30-year-old David Hartley was last seen alive on Sept. 30, 2010. His wife, Tiffany Hartley, said the couple had set out on Wave Runners to take photos of a half-submerged church on the Mexican side of the lake when they...

AFP - A French court on Wednesday jailed five Somali men for between four and eight years for taking a French couple hostage on their yacht in the Gulf of Aden, and acquitted a sixth. In France's first prosecution of suspected Somali pirates, prosecutors had asked for the men, aged between 21 and 36, to be sent to jail for between six and 16 years on charges of hijacking, kidnapping and armed robbery. The six allegedly seized the yacht and its crew, Jean-Yves Delanne and his wife Bernadette, both aged 60, off the coast of Somalia in 2008 and demanded...

Indian Naval Ship Sukanya, presently deployed on anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden under the operational control of the Western Naval Command, found herself once again in the thick of things, thwarting a multiple-boat piracy attack on 10 Nov 11. The ship was escorting a group of five merchant vessels through the IRTC (Internationally Recognised Transit Corridor) when, at about 9:25 in the morning of 10th Nov, she detected a group of five suspicious boats, speedily approaching the merchant vessels of her group. The warship immediately altered towards the suspicious vessels and challenged them. On seeing the resolve evident...

Claims that at least six Somali pirates were killed and three others were captured by the crew of the Greek owned MT Liquid Velvet chemical tanker which was hijacked last week, are up for debate due to infighting among pirates, according to several pirates who spoke to Somalia Report. “Six of our colleagues were killed by the hostages who escaped while the ship was coming to the coastal city of Harardhere in Mudug region. We will retaliate against our enemy,” said Abdi, a pirate. Abdi explained that the fighting broke out when the pirates were trying to search the pockets...

An oil tanker seized by pirates off the coast of the Niger Delta last week has been released, officials in Nigeria say. The vessel -- the MT Halifax -- was attacked near the oil city of Port Harcourt. The crew of 25, mainly Filipinos, were said to be safe and accounted for. The area has seen an increase in the number of hijackings of tankers as pirates target oil shipments moving out of Nigeria. In most cases the cargo of fuel is taken off before the ship and crew are released unharmed - unlike in Somalia where crews and their...

British ships are to be allowed to carry armed guards to protect them from pirates, David Cameron has announced. A legal ban on weapon-toting protection staff will be relaxed so that firms can apply for a licence to have them on board in danger zones. The Prime Minister said radical action was required because the increasing ability of sea-borne Somali criminals to hijack and ransom ships had become "a complete stain on our world". ... Under the plans, the Home Secretary will be given the power to license vessels to carry armed security, including automatic weapons, currently prohibited under firearms...

The Sea Shepherd has become increasingly successful in recent years in disrupting the Japanese whaling, last summer forcing Japan's whaling fleet to head home early, and led Japanese whalers to obtain only 17 percent of their whaling quota. Japanese government on Tuesday announced the research whaling program will go ahead later in December, and there are reports that an extra 27 million U.S. dollars worth of security will be added to the whaling fleet.

Aside from cost, the major problem for oil importing countries is getting the purchases safely home. Essentially, there are only two options – pipelines and maritime transport. Both are vulnerable to attack and this is increasingly preoccupying Chinese leaders, especially as, according to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China's dependence on imported oil rose to 55.2 percent for the first five months of 2011, surging to 9.61 million barrels per day. What to do to secure uninterrupted supplies of ‘black gold?” Negotiate. In a development with significant implications for the Pentagon’s professed “full spectrum dominance,” (i.e., quash all...

Two men who were flying the Jolly Roger pirate flag on their boat are facing charges after boarding another boat moored in Gloucester Harbor Thursday night, police said.

These people are running circles around us! As if the taunting with their own American-style cheerleaders wasn't enough, flooding the 'net in a blatant psy-ops effort designed to undermine US morale lol... typical KGB, who brought the world the "honey trap" espionage technique  (reportedly still in use by today's FSB). Next, the Russian Navy schools strategically clueless  Team Obama on how to deal with pirates-- THEN Putin has agents bomb a US embassy while he slaps Obama and Shrillary around like a couple of rag dolls... All I know is it sure must be nice to have a leader that knows what country he...

PITTSBURGH -- Pirates catcher Chris Snyder and his wife Carla came face-to-face with a man accused of attacking them during a road rage incident last month. Chris and Carla Snyder spoke to Channel 11 News after a hearing on Wednesday, in which all charges against Subhash Modhwadia, of Scott Township, were held for court. "It was a weird situation. Everything happened so fast," Chris Snyder said. With an Indian interpreter on video, Carla Snyder testified that when she turned into a BP gas station on Banksville Road, Modhwadia blocked her sports utility vehicle and accused her of cutting him off.

This is how you do it:  nab the perps, tie 'em up, put them back on their own boat, then set the whole kit and kaboodle on fire and.... pooof, no more pirates. The video below shows Russian Navy commandos on a Somali pirate ship shortly after the pirates had captured a Russian oil tanker. A number of commands directed at the prisoners are heard from from an English-speaking Russian, i.e. when the commandos find a weapons stash ("WTF??!")- and "This is not a fishing boat!"The soldiers immediately freed their compatriots and the Russian oil tanker. They moved the pirates...

Over the last few years, thanks largely to Hollywood’s “pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, maritime buccaneers have acquired a highly romantic image. The reality of modern piracy is far removed from the images peddled by Tinseltown. In the most recent nautical attack, Somali pirates on 6 July attacked the 900-foot Brillante Virtuoso, which was carrying over 141,000 tons of fuel oil from Ukraine to Qingdao, China, 20 miles off the Yemeni port of Aden. The vessel’s 26 crew members abandoned ship after the attackers fired an RPG round into their sleeping quarters. According to ship manager Central Mare Inc., the...

GULF OF ADEN (NNS) -- USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) responded to a distress call issued by the Marshall Islands-owned, Liberian-flagged, motor vessel Brilliante Virtuoso at approximately 3:30 a.m. (local time) July 6. Brilliante Virtuoso, a 144,000-ton very large crude carrier, was approximately 20 nautical miles southwest of Aden, Yemen when they issued the call which stated they believed they were under attack by suspected pirates and required assistance. The motor vessel was travelling eastbound from the Suez Canal through the Gulf of Aden at the time of the attack. Shortly after the suspected attack, Brilliant Virtuoso reported a fire...

One of the most popular movie series of all-time has been Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean starring Johnny Depp. Fraught with action, adventure, and danger, these same words can also be used to describe the U.S. Treasury market. In fact, the similarities are almost chilling. If you’re sailing on the high seas and a storm was imminent, more than likely you would head for the nearest port. Trying to ride out the storm would probably bring death and destruction, and anything would be better than that. However, if the port within reach was occupied by Johnny Depp and his collection...

The Pirates of the Caribbean movies have taken an interesting course. The first movie sounded like another Disney attempt to cash in on old favorites from yesteryear...the Pirate ride being one of the most famous in their amusement park for decades. Of course, The Curse of the Black Pearl took in an astounding $350 million domestically, and $650 million worldwide, coming in only second to the third Lord of the Rings movie for movie receipts in 2003. That assured sequels...which were largely disappointing. The second and third movies suffered from being add-ons to the original, which never intended on making...

Pirates of yesteryear have been romanticized in literature through books like "Treasure Island" and in films like "Pirates of the Caribbean". But the modern day piracy off the coast of Somalia is no swashbuckling fun and adventure. It is an expensive and dangerous problem that is escalating at an alarming rate. Piracy cost the international economy up to $8.3 billion last year and "has emerged as a market it its own right," states a new report by political and economic intelligence consulting firm Geopolicity. Already in the first quarter of 2011, Somali pirates have attacked more than 117 ships, killed...

A retired couple who were enjoying a luxury cruise fought off Somali pirates with deck chairs as they attempted to storm the ship and kidnap them. John and Barbara Jeffery had been enjoying the trip of a lifetime when the violent pirates tried to take over the ship they were sailing on. As gun shot rang out, the couple defiantly armed themselves with deck chairs, tables and whatever came to hand as they helped to beat off the outlaws. terror struck just one week in, when the MSC Melody was off the coast of Somalia, a spot haunted by pirates,...

MOGADISHU, Somalia – In a move that could change the pirate-hostage equation, Somali pirates on Friday took in a multimillion dollar ransom, then released the ship and some of the crew but kept all the Indian crew members as hostages. A pirate told The Associated Press the Indian crew members' hostage ordeal is being prolonged in retaliation for the arrests of more than 100 Somali pirates by the Indian Navy. "We decided to keep the Indian because India is holding our colleagues," the pirate, Hassan Farah, said. "We released the other crew members who sailed away from our coast. We...

When a Royal Navy warship captured a crew of Somali pirates, it seemed like a rare chance to strike back at the ruthless sea gangsters. The 17 outlaws were armed with an arsenal of AK 47s and rocket-propelled grenades, and had forced hostages on a hijacked fishing vessel to work as slaves for three months. But instead of bringing them to justice, the British servicemen were ordered to provide the pirates halal meals, medical checks, cigarettes – and in one case even a nicotine patch – before releasing them in their own boats. The extraordinary treatment – revealed in a...

After offering jobs and other incentives to the stone-pelting youth of Kashmir, New Delhi has now offered to entice the increasingly notorious Somali pirates by engaging them in projects and creating jobs for them in Somalia. The pirates have become a major threat to international shipping since 2000, when the second phase of the Somali civil war began. The International Maritime Organisation and the World Food Programme have said in reports that increasing incidents of piracy have contributed to an increase in shipping costs and have impeded the delivery of food aid shipments. India’s Minister for External Affairs SM Krishna,...

Dutch marines have killed two suspected Somali pirates and captured 16 others, the Dutch defence ministry says. The alleged pirates were captured in an operation to free a hijacked Iranian fishing boat off the coast of Somalia. The marines came under fire when they approached the fishing boat, the ministry said. The suspected pirates are being questioned on board a Dutch warship which is taking part in a Nato anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden. Ten suspected pirates were caught as they tried to escape in a high-speed vessel and six were detained on the fishing boat. It is...

There are cameras that capture images clear enough to distinguish between a fishing vessel and a boatload of pirates 10 miles away. There are cascades of water and noxious compounds to repel invaders. And there are shields to withstand a rocket-propelled grenade. A container ship that steamed into a Puerto Rican port Friday was old by commercial shipping standards but it had the latest in security measures, upgrades that convert it into a floating fortress designed to be impregnable to piracy.

NEW DELHI: The Navy is now going the whole hog against pirates daring to venture near Indian waters, in keeping with the new "proactive and aggressive measures" approved by the government. On Saturday, Indian warships sank yet another "pirate mother ship" around 400 nautical miles west of Lakshadweep Islands. With 16 pirates being nabbed in this latest operation in Arabian Sea, which also saw rescue of 12 Iranian and four Pakistani sailors held hostage, the total number of sea brigands apprehended by Navy has gone up to 120 over last two months. In the earlier three operations, the Navy had...

ARABIAN SEA, March 25, 2011 – U.S. naval forces disrupted a pirate attack on a Philippine-flagged merchant vessel, after it reported it had been attacked by pirates yesterday. Navy Chief Petty Officer Nathan P. Rose, an assistant boarding officer, briefs the guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf’s visit, board, search and seizure team before boarding the Philippine-flagged merchant vessel Falcon Trader II, which had sent out a distress call reporting it had been boarded by pirates in the Arabian Sea, March 25, 2011. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Robert Guerra  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. All 20...

International piracy costs the shipping industry billions of dollars a year and leads to high-profile murders that make global headlines. Longstanding concerns over piracy have led to numerous international laws and conventions designed to keep pirates in check – but research from North Carolina State University shows that the tangled network of laws may actually be helping pirates escape justice. “We wanted to know why the international community is not working together and taking advantage of existing laws to address piracy, even as piracy is on the rise in places like the horn of Africa,” says Dr. Mark Nance, assistant...

BOSASSO — A pirate spokesman, who wished to remain anonymous, contacted Somalilandpress today said at least ten of his men were executed by the Russian navy after the troopers stormed MV Moscow University. “The Russians commandos stormed the ship before sunrise, starting a firefight with our men, onboard they injured three of them and one was killed,” he said. He dismissed the Russian navy statement that the men were released because of “the absence of a legal base to carry out prosecution procedures against pirates”. “The Russians never released the young men instead they shot them point-blank range then loaded...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Five Somali men were sentenced on Monday to spend the rest of their lives in a U.S. prison after being convicted of piracy and trying to attack an American warship off the coast of Africa last year. In November the group was convicted by a jury in a federal court in Virginia on charges of piracy, attacking to plunder a vessel and various other firearms and weapons charges. Piracy off the coast of Somalia has been a growing problem over the last several years, with pirate gangs making tens of millions of dollars in ransoms, .. The...

After a gun-battle in the high seas, the Indian Navy has apprehended a pirate mother ship rescuing 13 crew members and arrested 61 Somali sea brigands about 600 nautical miles off the western coast in the Arabian Sea. "At 2100 hours on March 12, INS Kalpeni intercepted a pirate mother vessel called Vega 5 in the Arabian Sea about 600 nautical miles west of India. 13 crew members were rescued and 61 pirates were nabbed," Navy spokesperson Commander P V Satish said here today. The operation had started on Friday when a naval Dornier aircraft located Vega 5 while responding...

Somali pirates said on Sunday they would lower some of their ransom demands to get a faster turnover of ships they hijack in the Indian Ocean. Armed pirate gangs, who have made millions of dollars capturing ships as far south as the Seychelles and eastwards towards India, said they were holding too many vessels and needed a quicker handover to generate more income. “I believe there is no excuse for taking high ransoms. At least each of our groups holds ships now,” pirate Hussein told Reuters from Hobyo on the Somalian coast. He said the pirates were holding more than...

The Somali pirates holding a Danish family hostage on Thursday killed eight Puntland government troops who were heading towards their mountain hideout, security officials said. Officials said forces from the northern Somali breakaway state where the seven hostages – four adults and three teenage children – are held were approaching the pirates' lair and were intercepted on the way. "Puntland armed forces clashed with pirates near Bandar Beyla and the information we're getting indicates that there were casualties," said Abdifatah Mohamed, a security official based in Bosasso. "Some of our soldiers were killed and one of our trucks was destroyed,"...

NORFOLK Thirteen Somalis and one Yemeni captured after four Americans were killed aboard a yacht last month are scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Norfolk this afternoon on piracy, kidnapping and gun charges. The men were brought into the federal courthouse in downtown Norfolk this morning. The group was turned over to the Justice Department on Wednesday after being held aboard the carrier Enterprise since the Feb. 22 shooting deaths of the Americans. A Navy spokesman said the Somalis were removed from the ship by Department of Justice officials. A federal grand jury indicted 14 suspected pirates, the...

MOGADISHU, Somalia – An attempt by Somali security forces to free a Danish family from a pirate gang on Thursday turned deadly after the would-be rescuers walked into an ambush, a pirate and a security official said.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Anti-piracy officials say U.S. commandos have captured four suspected pirates who boarded a Japanese-owned oil tanker off the coast of Oman. A statement by the international anti-piracy task force says the 24 crew members on the MV Guanabara took refuge in a protected part of the vessel after reporting they were under attack Saturday. A special unit from the destroyer USS Bulkeley boarded the tanker Sunday and detained the suspected pirates about 328 nautical miles southeast of Duqm in southern Oman. The statement said no shots were fired and the merchant crew was not harmed....

Two American servicemen were killed last week on as signment overseas. No, not in Iraq or Afghanistan, but in Frankfurt, Germany, for the simple act of getting on a bus. A lone Muslim gunman opened fire on the unsuspecting airmen at the Frankfurt airport, killing Nicholas J. Alden and Zachary R. Cuddeback and wounding two others. He shouted "Allah Akbar" as he shot -- making it plain he was murdering in the name of his god. A few days earlier, four Americans sailing in the Indian Ocean on a mission of Christian mercy -distributing Bibles to remote churches -- were...

... Today, American ships are again under siege by pirates off the African coast. This time, however, the buccaneers are setting sail from Somalia rather than from the territories that are now Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. Today, the U.S. has the greatest navy the world has ever seen. But the debate is exactly what it was more than 200 years ago: Do we have the will to fight? Or would we prefer to submit to blackmail — to pay tribute to sea dogs? ... Maj. Gen. Tom Wilkerson, USMC (ret.), is CEO of the U.S. Naval Institute. He told...

NAIROBI, Kenya — The head of a private security company says his guards retook a yacht from Somali pirates after the Dutch couple on board locked themselves in a safe room. Thomas Jakobsson of Naval Guards said Thursday that six of his guards were accompanying the Capricorn yacht on a separate motorboat. Six armed pirates were able to get aboard the Capricorn but the Dutch couple barricaded themselves in the boat.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – A Danish family captured by pirates in the Indian Ocean will suffer the same fate as four American sailors slain last week, if any rescue is attempt is made, a Somali pirate said Tuesday. Abdullahi Mohamed told The Associated Press that he has ties with the gang holding the family — a Danish couple with three children, aged 12 to 16. Most hostages captured in the pirate-infested waters off East Africa are professional sailors. Pirates rarely capture families and children, but a 3-year-old boy was aboard a French yacht seized in 2009. His father was killed in...

Denmark's government says pirates in the Indian Ocean have hijacked a Danish sailboat with four adults and three children on board. The Danish Foreign Ministry says the ship sent a distress signal on Thursday, and "It has now been confirmed that the sailboat was hijacked by pirates." The ministry said Monday that a Danish couple, their three children — aged 12-16 — and two adult crew members were on board the boat. All are Danish nationals.

The remains of the other two Americans slain by Somali pirates have also arrived, a US Navy Central Command representative tells Santa Monica Patch. The remains of the four Americans who were slain by Somali pirates earlier this week have arrived back in the United States, a US Navy Central Command representative told Santa Monica Patch on Friday morning. The remains had been aboard the USS Enterprise off the coast of Somalia, a U.S. Navy Central Command spokesman said Tuesday. Meanwhile, also on Friday morning, Department of Justice spokesman Dean Boyd said, "The Justice Deptartment and the FBI continue to...

... The New York Times reports that an FBI hostage-rescue negotiator aboard the U.S.S. Sterett came to believe the two Somalis were not serious when they boarded the vessel. Once those men were taken into custody, U.S. officials told the pirates on the yacht -- called the Quest -- to send over someone they could negotiate with. The events that immediately followed have been sharply contested and raises questions about the decision to detain the pirate leaders, the Times reports. American officials said the pirates on the yacht seemed relieved — even “exceptionally calm” — when they were told their...

Four Americans, including a Seattle couple, aboard a private yacht hijacked by Somali pirates are dead this morning, and readers reacting to the CBS story on-line are wondering why any of the pirates were taken alive. Likewise, after the Seattle Times caught up with the story at about 7:25 a.m., it didn’t take long for readers to suggest that the pirates be taught a lesson. The incident is hardly a first in that part of the world. Somali pirates have been emboldened by the willingness of some victims to pay outrageous ransoms. Reports indicate that negotiations were underway between the...

While preparing to write my fictional account of the voyage of the Neko II around Africa, which Mr. Farago has been good enough to publish in serial on this site, I spent countless hours researching and reading the accounts of people fortunate enough to sail the globe in private yachts. One of the blogs I stumbled across and drew inspiration from was that of Scott and Jean Adam and their Davidson 58 pilot house sloop, s/v Quest. One of my story’s plot points involved a brush with Somali pirates. No metaphor about art, life, imitation, or the strangeness of fiction...

Scott and Jean Adam hand out Bibles as part of their ministry Santa Monica, Calif., Feb 23, 2011 / 05:51 am (CNA).- A sailing Catholic couple killed by Somali pirates during their global cruise to distribute Bibles was a “wonderful part” of a California Catholic parish, the couple’s pastor said.Retirees Scott and Jean Adam of Marina del Rey, Calif. had decided to make a difference in the world by bringing Bibles to the “far-flung corners of the earth,” St. Monica Catholic Community pastor Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson said in a Feb. 22 interview.“Our community believes in helping to form loving...