KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 11, 2008 (AFP) - Somali pirates seized a Greek tanker
and separately attacked a World Food Programme-chartered ship, a
maritime piracy watchdog said Saturday.

MOGADISHU, Oct 11, 2008 (AFP) - Two African Union planes on Saturday defied a militia's ban on the use of Mogadishu's main airport and landed with 400 peacekeepers from Burundi, officials said.

'The contingent consists of 400 Burundian soldiers and is directly from Bujumbura,' a Burundi peacekeeper told AFP.

NAIROBI, Oct 11, 2008 (AFP) - Pirates seized a tanker and attacked a UN food ship that escaped, officials said Saturday, in the latest in a series of incidents off Somalia that have sparked concern among Western powers.

MOGADISHU, Oct 11, 2008 (AFP) - A Somali court on Saturday handed death sentences to three men convicted of kidnapping a British national working for a Canadian oil firm in the breakaway region of Puntland, an official said.

NAIROBI, Oct 11, 2008 (AFP) - Pirates seized a tanker and attacked a UN food ship that escaped, officials said Saturday, the latest in a series of incidents off Somalia which have sparked worldwide concern.

Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's (IMB) Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur, told AFP that pirates boarded a Greek chemical tanker Friday at 1330 GMT.

ATHENS, Oct 11, 2008 (AFP) - Authorities in Athens denied Saturday that a ship reported to have been seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia had any connection with Greece.

Earlier a piracy surveillance centre in Malaysia had reported that Somali pirates had taken over a Greek tanker and separately attacked a ship chartered by the World Food Programme.

NAIROBI, Oct 10, 2008 (AFP) - Talks aimed at freeing a Ukrainian arms ship held by Somali pirates collapsed on Friday, a spokesman for the pirates told AFP, deepening the two-week stand off.

NAIROBI, Oct 10, 2008 (AFP) - Talks aimed at freeing a Ukrainian arms ship being held by Somali pirates collapsed on Friday, a spokesman for the pirates told AFP, deepening the two-week stand-off.

GENEVA, Oct 10, 2008 (AFP) - Smugglers forced more than 130 people overboard on a boat carrying migrants from Somalia to Yemen, the UN refugee agency said Friday, as a search was mounted for the missing passengers.

About 100 of them were still missing in the Gulf of Aden, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said.

MANILA, Oct 9, 2008 (AFP) - Somali pirates have freed a chemical tanker it seized two months ago and all 19 crewmen, including 15 Filipinos, a Philippine government official said Thursday.

MOGADISHU, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Somali gunmen on Wednesday kidnapped a Pakistani oil worker in the country's breakaway Puntland region, an official said.

NAIROBI, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Kenya will send its navy to join the multinational fleet surrounding an arms-laden Ukrainian ship hijacked last month by Somali pirates, Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula said Wednesday.

NAIROBI, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Kenya's foreign minister on Wednesday denied that a cargo manifest produced by the BBC was evidence that military hardware seized by Somali pirates last month was destined for southern Sudan.

KIEV, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Ukraine joined Kenya Wednesday to deny a report that a shipment of 33 tanks and other arms seized last month by Somali pirates was destined for Sudan.

MOGADISHU, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - A Pakistani oil worker kidnapped earlier Wednesday in Somalia's northern breakaway region of Puntland was freed during a raid by the exploration field's security force, a minister told AFP.

'The Pakistani citizen was not harmed and was freed successfully,' Puntland Mining Minister Hassan Alore said.

MOSCOW, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - A group of Russian warships will stop in Libya next week before moving on to joint exercises with Venezuela and an anti-piracy mission off Somalia, a navy spokesman said Wednesday.

'The ships of the Russian Northern Fleet and the frigate Fearless are going to stop in Tripoli to obtain supplies from October 11 to 13,' navy spokesman Igor Dygalo told AFP.

MOGADISHU, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Security forces on Wednesday freed a Pakistani national working for a Canadian oil firm in Somalia's breakaway region of Puntland, hours after gunmen had kidnapped him, officials told AFP.

MOGADISHU, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Security forces on Wednesday freed a British national working for a Canadian oil firm in Somalia's breakaway region of Puntland, hours after gunmen had kidnapped him, officials told AFP.

NAIROBI, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Kenya said Wednesday it will send its navy to break a two-week-old standoff with Somali pirates holding an arms shipment, as the United Nations adopted a resolution urging tougher action against piracy.

KIEV, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Ukraine on Wednesday denied a report that a shipment of 33 tanks and other arms seized last month by Somali pirates was destined for Sudan.

BERLIN, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Two Somali-born men arrested on terror charges last month by police commandos on a plane minutes before take-off are to be released for lack of evidence, German prosecutors said Tuesday.

Authorities, however, still assume that attacks were being planned and the investigation is continuing, spokesman for the Bonn prosecutor's office Fred Apostel told AFP.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Tuesday urged states to commit naval and air assets to the fight against rampant piracy off lawless Somalia, with France saying this meant that force can be used against the pirates.

NAIROBI, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Pirates holding a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks and military hardware and its 21-member crew off the coast of Somalia told AFP Tuesday that a deal could be reached in a day for the vessel's release.

NAIROBI, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Pirates holding a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks and military hardware with 21-member crew off the coast of Somalia said Tuesday that a deal could be reached in a day for the vessel's release.

MOMBASA, Kenya, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - A Kenyan court freed a maritime official Tuesday detained last week for claiming the cargo of tanks and weaponry on board a hijacked Ukranian vessel belonged to southern Sudan and not Kenya.

SEOUL, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - South Korea is considering sending a navy ship to waters off Somalia, where its merchant ships have often fallen victim to pirates, the foreign minister said Tuesday.

'We are discussing the issue of sending a navy ship to waters off (Somalia),' Yu Myung-Hwan told parliamentarians during an inspection of his ministry. He did not elaborate.

MUMBAI, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - Indian shipworkers on Tuesday staged protests across the country to show their solidarity with 18 sailors held hostage since armed pirates seized their vessel off Yemen last month.

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - The UN Security Council on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution urging states to deploy naval vessels and military aircraft to actively join the fight against rampant piracy off the coast of lawless Somalia.

GENEVA, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - The new United Nations human rights chief on Tuesday condemned the killing of a Somali family in her native South Africa and urged authorities to take stronger steps to stem xenophobic violence.

GENEVA, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - The new United Nations human rights chief on Tuesday condemned the killing of a Somali family in her native South Africa and urged authorities to take stronger steps to stem xenophobic violence.

NAIROBI, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - The shipment of battle tanks on a Ukrainian ship seized by Somali pirates last month was destined for South Sudan, the BBC said Tuesday, citing a document it said was the vessel's freight manifest.

MOGADISHU, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - A Somali radio journalist arrested after covering a mortar attack on the home of Somalia's parliamentary speaker said Monday he has been released on bail.

'(The police) released me late Sunday (on) bail and they told me that investigations against me will be going on for seven days,' Ali Ilyas Abdullahi told AFP.

MOGADISHU, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - A Somali radio journalist arrested after covering a mortar attack on the home of Somalia's parliamentary speaker said Monday he has been released on bail.

'(The police) released me late Sunday (on) bail and they told me that investigations against me will be going on for seven days,' Ali Ilyas Abdullahi told AFP.

NAIROBI, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - Aid groups on Monday demanded easier access to war-torn Somalia where, they said, millions of civilians were suffering and had been neglected by the international community.

CAPE TOWN, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt was docked Monday in Cape Town, on a visit to South Africa aimed at building ties to fight piracy and other maritime problems.

MOGADISHU, Oct 6, 2008 (AFP) - A fresh exchange of mortar fire between Somali government forces and Islamist insurgents erupted late Monday in central Mogadishu, killing at least 11 civilians, witnesses told AFP.