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One of the Air Force’s premier drones crashed Tuesday morning in the Seychelles, the Indian Ocean archipelago that serves as a base for anti-piracy operations, as well as U.S. surveillance missions over Somalia. The crash of the MQ-9 Reaper comes roughly two weeks after a U.S. drone went down in Iran.

China to set up base in Seychelles The Seychelles has invited Beijing to set up a military base on the archipelago to beef up the fight against piracy there, Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Paul Adam said. The declaration came as Liang Guanglie made the first-ever visit by a Chinese defence minister to the Indian Ocean island state. 'We have invited the Chinese government to set up a military presence on Mahe to fight the pirate attacks that the Seychelles face on a regular basis,' Adam said. 'For the time being China is studying this possibility because she has economic interests in...

A British man has died in a shark attack while on honeymoon in the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. ... A 36-year-old French tourist was killed by a shark off the same beach just over two weeks ago. The Seychelles Tourism Board's director Alain St Ange told the BBC the latest attack was caused by a "foreign shark" and

Starting in the late 1990s, China's presence on the African continent experienced a phenomenal expansion. Far more profound changes, however, have been underway and may only become apparent in the next decade. These changes are likely to transform the regional economic landscape of the African continent in ways never seen before. Chinese experts apparently believe that Africa is entering an era of relative stability and that the time to explore its untapped resources has arrived [1]. Chinese policymakers see in Africa possible solutions to some of China's most pressing problems, for instance, Beijing's need to secure access to energy resources...

The small gang of Somali pirates fired on an approaching ship, hoping their midnight attack would bring them millions in ransom. The ragtag bandits, though, had taken on far more than they could handle: a U.S. warship. The USS Nicholas, a guided missile frigate, was tracking the pirates when they opened fire early Thursday in Indian Ocean waters, the U.S. military said. The Nicholas, which saw combat in the first Gulf War, returned fire and disabled the skiff. Navy personnel later boarded and detained three suspects. The Americans found two more bandits on a nearby mothership and later sank the...

NAIROBI, Kenya - U.S. naval forces say they've captured five pirates after exchanging fire with them, sinking their skiff and confiscating a mother ship. The USS Nicholas came under fire early Thursday from pirates in an area west of the Seychelles. The U.S. Africa Command said the five pirates seized would remain in U.S. custody on board the frigate for time being. The Nicholas is home-ported in Norfolk, Va. International naval forces have stepped up their enforcement of the waters off East Africa in an effort to thwart a growing pirate trade. Experts say piracy will continue to be a...

Somali pirates have captured two ships with 45 crew off the East African coast, officials say. A UK-flagged chemical tanker, the St James Park, was reportedly captured in the Gulf of Aden on Monday while on its way to Thailand from Spain. Its 26 crew hail from Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Georgia, India, Turkey and the Philippines. The Navios Apollon, a Panamanian-flagged Greek cargo ship with 19 crew, was hijacked north of the Seychelles. The 50,000-tonne carrier - which had been sailing from the US state of Florida to India - was boarded on Monday by 10 men in...

French marines aboard trawlers in the Indian Ocean Saturday fired on pirates to repel a dawn attack, as two vessels used in the attack were subsequently captured by Seychelles coastguards, sources said. "Three small launches... (which were) nearly invisible and that we had on the radar at the last moment, chased us," a member of the crew of the Drennac, one of two fishing vessels approached by the pirates, told AFP by telephone. The French military said the marines had first fired flares then "warning shots in the air and across the bows of the pirates' boats", before finally, when...

The Seychelles Coast Guard says it has arrested nine suspected pirates believed to be behind the attempted hijacking of a luxury cruise liner over the weekend. When the Melody made a distress call, the Seychelles Coast Guard sent out a small plane that spent five hours photographing the pirates' skiff and marking its position. A Spanish navy ship then set off and apprehended the suspects Sunday.

Tourists run for their lives as the first of six tsunamis starts to roll towards Hat Rai Lay Beach, near Krabi in southern Thailand. One woman runs towards the waves. Photo: AFP The woman continues to run as the wave advances.Photo: AFP With the waves engulfing boats, the woman makes contact with her group. It is not known if they survived.Photo: AFP

We are suffering. We have many friends among the dead and missing. Pray for the dead, the dying, and the living.

As sad as it is, the SE Asia earthquake is not the worst natural disaster ever. In 1991, Bangladesh suffered from Typhoon that killed about 140,000 people. Before that, in 1970, the country also lost 300,000 people from natural disaster. The SE Asia disaster, however, seems to be a significant one because there are many Westerners, including 'celebrities', died in this unfortunate event. Please look at the website that list of the worst 100 natural disaster in the 20th century. They also include famine and epidemic, though.