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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....