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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...

Freedom Radio, November 2, 2011 Wednesday morning at 10 AM EST has the distinct honor and pleasure to welcome Colonel Frank Ryan, USMC, retired. Col. Ryan has more military, business and professional experience than any or all of the current Presidential candidates. Col Ryan is a retired Marine and CPA who served on General Tommy Franks staff in Iraq, as an expert in economic warfare. When forming his staff, Gen. Franks said, "Get me Ryan". His decades of public service have not ended with his retirement from the military. For nearly twenty years, Frank Ryan has been president of the...

Mogadishu, Somalia - An al-Qaida-linked Somali militant group on Sunday posted a tape allegedly made by an American citizen who blew himself up during an attack on an African Union base in Somalia's capital that left at least 10 people dead. The young man, who would be at least the fourth American to become a suicide bomber in Somalia, urges other young people not to "just chill all day" and instead fight nonbelievers around the world.The website Somalimemo.net, often used by the al-Shabab militia, said Somali-American bomber Abdisalan Taqabalahullaah had emigrated to the U.S. when he was 2 years old.

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...

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A team of suicide bombers and gunmen disguised as soldiers assaulted an African Union base in the Somali capital on Saturday, sparking a two-hour gunfight that left at least 10 people dead, security officials said. The al-Qaida-linked Islamist militant group that claimed the attack said one of the bombers was Somali-American. The attack underscored the militants' ability to carry out complex and deadly operations even after AU troops forced them from most of Mogadishu and a famine in their strongholds weakened their forces. Earlier this month, Kenya sent troops into Somalia following a string of cross-border...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to a terror-related charge for helping recruit men to travel to Somalia to take up arms with the terror group al-Shabab. Twenty-six-year-old Omer Abdi Mohamed pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

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...

President Obama is extending full constitutional due-process rights to a Somali terrorist. This sets a troubling precedent. Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame was captured sometime in April on a boat traveling between Yemen and Somalia. He was detained on board a U.S. warship for two months and interrogated by intelligence officials. He reportedly revealed a great deal of valuable information regarding his connections to the Somalia-based al-Shabab militant group and the Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. So far, so good. (Snip) The Warsame indictment is an end run around Congress, which last year voted to bar the transfer of terrorist

Republicans are blasting the Obama administration for detaining a Somali terror suspect for two months aboard a U.S. warship before flying him to New York over the July Fourth holiday to face charges in a civilian trial. Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame, who has ties to the Al Qaeda-linked group al-Shabaab, was captured April 19 in the Horn of Africa region, possibly in Yemen. At his arraignment in New York Tuesday, he pleaded not guilty to the nine charges he's been indicted on by a federal grand jury, including providing material support to a terrorist organization. "The Obama administration won't detain terrorists...

Another Somali man is charged in Minnesota in connection with the travels of young men who are thought to have joined a terror group in their homeland. Ahmed Hussein Mahamud was arrested Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, and made his initial appearance in federal court there on charges of providing material support to terrorists. An indictment unsealed Thursday says that from April 2009 to July 2009, Mahamud provided money and personnel to al-Shabab.

Abdirahman Warsame at Terror Free Somalia informed us late last night that messages appearing on known al-Shabaab websites indicate that a suicide bomber who carried out on attack on AMISOM forces in Mogadishu on Monday was a Somali-American from the Minneapolis area. A twenty-two minute audio was posted on the Somali Memo website (article and audio have since disappeared) that included a segment of an English-speaking Somali speaker — apparently the suicide bomber — who encourages Muslims in the West to “die for their religion.” Another article on Somali Memo identifies the speaker as Asadullahi Axmed “al-Imriiki” (“the American”), a...

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,...

Residents believe the attacks targeted mosques run by al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab rebels, blamed for a roadside bombing a few hours before that killed a prominent cleric who was also a senior Puntland government official. ... "It appears to be a declaration of religious war," Mohamed Ali Yusuf, a Puntland security official... Earlier Saturday, a prominent moderate Sufi cleric who was a senior official in Puntland's justice and religion ministry was killed in the city after a remote controlled bomb exploded near his car, hours before the first mosque attack. "I have no doubt that al Shabaab is responsible for...

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...

ADDIS ABABA — While much of the world’s attention is focusing on crude oil prices and the Libyan pipelines in the east of the country– human right groups say rebels are committing crimes against humanity. In east Libya, African hunt began as towns and cities began fall under the control of Libyan rebels, mobs and gangs. They started to detain, insult, rape and even executing black immigrants, students and refugees. In the past two weeks, more than 100 Africans from various Sub-Sahara states are believed to have been killed by Libyan rebels and their supporters. According to Somali refugees in...

Drug Travels From Africa To Indianapolis In 48 Hours. Most residents of Indianapolis, including many in the law enforcement community, have never heard of the drug called khat...over the past three years, hundreds of pounds of the drug have been sold on the streets of Indianapolis, mostly to people of African descent... Khat is a plant that grows plentifully in east Africa, specifically in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. Users chew the leaves of the plant to release a compound called cathinone, which is considered a "schedule 1" amphetamine and hallucinogen under U.S. law... traffickers used cell phones and sophisticated code...

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...

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...

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., will not be the only Minnesotan starring in this week's congressional hearings on homegrown Islamic radicalization. Also at the witness table will be Abdirizak Bihi, director of the Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center in Minneapolis. Bihi has publicly criticized Ellison's handling of the disappearance of some 20 Somali youths recruited by an Al-Qaida-linked group in their native country. One of them was his Bihi's nephew.

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...

NAIROBI, Kenya – Pirates in Somalia said Wednesday they are ferrying ammunition and men to the 30 hijacked vessels still under their control, and they threatened to kill more captives following the violent end to a hostage standoff that left four Americans dead. The U.S. military said that 15 pirates detained after the Americans were slain Tuesday could face trial in the United States.

Somali pirates murder 4 Americans in cold blood but Navy captured 13 pirates alive by Bill Levinson As reported by the Christian Science Monitor, Somali pirates killed four American captives while the United States was negotiating peacefully for their release. US Central Command said four Navy warships were deployed in an effort to secure the Americans' release, and "negotiations were ongoing" when the shooting occurred at 1 a.m. today. Upon hearing gunfire, US forces boarded the Quest and confronted the pirates, capturing 13 and killing two. Attempts to revive the four Americans were unsuccessful and all four died from the...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22, 2011 – Somali pirates killed all four Americans they had held hostage aboard a sailing vessel in the Indian Ocean this morning, U.S. Central Command officials announced. U.S. officials were negotiating with the pirates for the safe return of the captured Americans when the murders took place, officials said. Centcom officials said that in the midst of negotiations, U.S. forces responded to gunfire aboard the S/V Quest. When the forces reached the boat, officials said, they discovered all four hostages had been shot by their captors. Despite immediate steps to provide life-saving care, all four hostages ultimately...

An attorney for a Burnsville man accused of threatening to blow up an Amtrak train in Montana on Thursday pledged a vigorous defense for his client. Hussein Hassan, 24, was arrested Monday night amid blizzard conditions in northwestern Montana, where the westbound Empire Builder was halted. Hassan is accused of being drunk and unruly on the train. Hassan later suggested in an empty threat to a sheriff's deputy that he left a bomb on the train, according to the charges. That prompted the evacuation of 140 or so passengers in blizzard-like conditions and delayed its trek to Washington and Oregon...

A Somali pirate who hijacked an American cargo ship received nearly 34 years behind bars Wednesday by a federal judge moved to tears by the tales of his traumatized hostages. Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse, 19, calmly apologized as he sought a lesser sentence for hijacking the Maersk Alabama and assaulting its captain and crew before before a dramatic Navy rescue.

MINNEAPOLIS — The girl was 12 when the gangsters told her the rule: They would sell her for sex to men outside the gang, but members of the Somali Outlaws or the Somali Mafia would use her for free. For more than two years she was taken on "missions" to abandoned garages, men's bathrooms, apartments and hotels, enduring hours with multiple men so gang members could get money, pot or booze. Though her mother confronted two of the men twice early on and warned them the girl wasn't even 13, they continued to prostitute her. Eventually some of the gang...

If he had been from almost any other country, the former convict from the Twin Cities called a "person of interest" in the fatal shooting of four people in Minot, N.D., probably would have been deported before the killings occurred. But the 26-year-old man is a native of Somalia. Because Somalia has no government, U.S. officials cannot deport people there. But officials also could not hold him after his release from federal custody in May 2010, following an assault conviction. Generally, officials are prohibited from detaining criminal aliens longer than six months after their release from custody. So the man,...

Two out of the 10 Somali pirates on trial in Hamburg for hijacking a German container ship testified for the first time this week. Their stories provided a glimpse of the hardships of life in their lawless homeland. The accused, Hussein Carab M. politely thanked the court and those present for their attention before describing the hardships that led him to join up with pirates. He claimed that he was six years old when his parents were killed by a grenade in the chaos of Somalia's civil war, and then spent his childhood traumatized, and on his own. Now a...

A feisty prosecutor and passionate cop go after Minnesota-Somali gangs. It took a never-give-up attitude to build the case of a Somali runaway into a massive human trafficking prosecution.

A Dakota County judge, noting that a young man had bragged of his attack, sentenced him to 18 years in prison for the fatal screwdriver stabbing of a taxi driver in Apple Valley during a 2009 robbery. Abdirahman A. Abdikarim, 20, of Apple Valley, pleaded guilty in October to second-degree unintentional murder in the Aug. 1, 2009 killing of Michael A. Palm Jr., 41. Thursday morning, in a Hastings courtroom, he apologized to the victim's family for the killing and said he was not "a cold-blooded killer." Abdikarim could have gotten nearly twice as long a sentence, but he had...

A leader of Somalia's Islamist insurgency threatened to attack America during a speech broadcast Monday. "We tell the American President Barack Obama to embrace Islam before we come to his country," said Fuad Mohamed "Shongole" Qalaf. Al-Shabab has not yet launched an attack outside Africa but Western intelligence has long been worried because the group targeted young Somali-Americans for recruitment. About 20 have traveled to Somalia for training and at least three were used as suicide bombers inside Somalia. Al-Shabab holds most of southern and central Somalia and has the support of hundreds of foreign fighters, mostly radicalized East Africans....

MOSCOW, December 24 (Itar-Tass) -- Russian sailors did not shoot at sea pirates in the Gulf of Aden, Navy Commander Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky said in comment on a video clip showing crewmembers of the Marshal Shaposhnikov large anti-sub ship fire at small boats, which presumably belonged to Somali pirates. “Our sailors would have never opened fire at people at sea. That is an absurdity, which is not worth a comment,” he said. The three-minute video clip posted on the Internet displays firing sailors, a pirate boat and an approaching ship, and missiles flying from the warship. In the opinion of...

For students in St. Peter, Minn. Santa won’t be visiting this year. The trip from Santa to the kids was cancelled after Muslim immigrants objected because they do not celebrate Christmas. According to the MinnPost, here’s the reasoning behind it: Santa Claus, as portrayed by Dennis Jackson, won’t be visiting students at the Head Start classes in St. Peter this year. Jackson has made appearances the past four years at the classes for students who need help preparing for school, but this year officials said, “No, no, no.” The reason: The classes have many immigrant children who don’t celebrate Christmas,...

This Santa slid down no chimney, but he feels he and the kids got the shaft nonetheless. Dennis Jackson said it was over-reaching cultural sensitivity that led to being told his annual Santa appearances must cease at St. Peter Head Start classes for young children. Jackson said he was told "it was against some people's wishes" for him to make the half-hour appearances for two classes catering to about three dozen children. He said St. Peter Head Start personnel gave him no reason for the action. He's made Santa appearances there the past four years to dispense candy bought at...

Nearly one in three people with Somali ancestry in the United States live in Minnesota, although some activists claim there are more. The 1 in 3 estimate comes from new survey data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The bureau's American Community Survey says there are about 25,000 people with Somali ancestry in Minnesota and about 85,700 in the United States. The other states with large Somali populations are Ohio, Washington and California, but their communities are much smaller than Minnesota's.

Israel and the United States need to learn how they do things in Russia, because the way they do things in Russia usually works. Somalia pirates' clash with Russian navy reveals a gap in rule of lawTheoretically, the [Russian] captain was supposed to hand the detainees and the evidence over to regional police. Not wanting to involve himself in legal wrangling, however, he decided to "release" the pirates instead. And thus they were "set free" in a tiny inflatable raft, with no navigation equipment, 350 miles off the coast of Yemen. The raft has disappeared. In the 21st century, this...

The Somali community in Seattle is on high alert -- in fear of a backlash after an attempted terror arrest at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland. Seattleites with a Somali background are concerned that people will think all Somali Muslims are potential terrorists. "It's a little bit shocked us -- our community," says Sahra Farah, director of the Somali Community Center in Seattle. Farah is stunned that a naturalized U.S. citizen from her home country is accused of trying to kill thousands of people in Portland - in the name of Allah. "Definitely shocked, because sometimes, it's like,...

This image provided by the Mauthnomah County Sheriff's Office shows Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, arrested and charged with attempted use of aweapon of mass destruction. Officials say he tried to detonate a vehicle bomb at Pioneer Courthouse Squareduring the tree lighting ceremony Friday, Nov. 26, 2010. They said the bomb was a dummy that FBI agents supplied him. (AP Photo/Mauthnomah County Sheriff's Office) (AP) Are all those from Somalia terrorists? No. From Yemen? Saudi Arabia? Pakistan? No. Are all Muslims? No. But there certainly is a pattern and a profile to look out for here: Federal agents in a sting...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Federal agents in a sting operation arrested a Somali-born teenager just as he tried blowing up a van he believed was loaded with explosives at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland, authorities said. The bomb was an elaborate fake supplied by the agents and the public was never in danger, authorities said. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested at 5:40 p.m. Friday just after he dialed a cell phone that he thought would set off the blast but instead brought federal agents and police swooping down on him. Yelling "Allahu Akbar!" — Arabic for...

The FBI thwarted an attempted terrorist bombing in Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square before the city's annual tree-lighting Friday night, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Oregon. A Corvallis man, thinking he was going to ignite a bomb, drove a van to the corner of the square at Southwest Yamhill Street and Sixth Avenue and attempted to detonate it. However, the supposed explosive was a dummy that FBI operatives supplied to him, according to an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint signed Friday night by U.S. Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta. Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, a Somali-born U.S. citizen,...

A teenager has been arrested in the US state of Oregon after allegedly plotting to carry out a car bomb attack at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony. Somali-born Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, was arrested after reportedly making a telephone call he thought would set off the bomb in the centre of Portland. However, the bomb was a fake supplied by agents in a sting operation. Mr Mohamud is a naturalised US citizen who had allegedly been in contact with an associate in north-west Pakistan.

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WASHINGTON – Though most Muslims are tolerant and peace-loving, Islam itself is not a religion of tolerance, a former Muslim asserted. Well-known activist and author Ayaan Hirsi Ali made the argument Monday at the National Press Club as security guards stood in the back of the ballroom. An outspoken critic of Islam, Hirsi Ali has been living under a fatwa, a religious ruling or in this case an order to kill, for years. The Somali native addressed the question "Is Islam a Religion of Tolerance?" to highlight the political dimension of the widely practiced faith.

Indictment: Somali Gangs Trafficked Girls for Sex, Some From MinnesotaBy: Associated Press, MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Twenty-nine people have been indicted in a sex trafficking ring in which Somali gangs in Minneapolis and St. Paul allegedly forced girls under age 14 into prostitution in Minnesota, Tennessee and Ohio, according to an indictment unsealed Monday. The 24-count indictment, unsealed in U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Tennessee, said one of the gangs' goals was recruiting females under age 18, including some under age 14, and forcing them into prostitution so the defendants could get money, marijuana or liquor. The indictment...

Twenty-nine people have been indicted in a sex trafficking ring in which Somali gangs in Minneapolis allegedly forced girls under age 14 into prostitution in Minnesota, Tennessee, Ohio and other unnamed places, according to an indictment unsealed Monday. The indictment, unsealed in U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Tennessee, said one of the gangs' goals was recruiting females under age 18, including some under age 14, and forcing them into prostitution in exchange for cash, drugs or other items. The indictment claims three Minneapolis-based gangs were involved _ The Somali Outlaws, the Somali Mafia and the Lady Outlaws...

Federal and local investigators swept through the Twin Cities area Monday and arrested more than 20 suspects in connection to an extensive human trafficking investigation involving members of a Somali gang....

With a cry of “there is no God but Allah!” two young Somali girls ages 18 and 15 were executed before hundreds of witnesses in a spray of bullets in Mogadishu, Somalia, yesterday. The girls were sent to their deaths by Sheikh Mohammed Ibrahim ... These executions come amongst a string of Al Shabab- sponsored whippings, amputations and executions such as those suffered by the two young women — – all in the name of Islam and overseen by judges whose only qualifications are that they are men who claim to know the Koran.

Missing among the misbehaviors that the government warns us against—smoking, littering, texting while driving, driving without seat belts, driving drunk, starting forest fires—is one that is arguably more significant: voting while illegal. The reason for the government’s reticence is obvious. For the last century or more, one party has depended on illegal votes to secure power. Without those votes, Lyndon Johnson would never have been elected U.S. Senator and John F. Kennedy would not have been elected president.