Somali Pirates Could Grinch Your Christmas

(NEWSER) - A little international publicity won't deter Somali pirates. Hijackers seized a tugboat in the Gulf of Aden today, the AP reports. The vessel is Italian-owned—initial reports said American—and at least 10 of its 16 crew members are Italian. The tugboat had been towing two barges off Somalia's northern coast. The hijacking takes places as the standoff continues between the Navy and pirates holding an American hostage in a lifeboat. More»

(NEWSER) - The US Navy today let pirates around the Horn of Africa know that there's a new sheriff in town. A Navy vessel arrested seven suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden after they attempted to board a commercial tanker, CNN reports. The arrests are the first by a US-led international task force to clamp down on pirates in the region. The suspects will be transferred to Kenya for trial. More»

Encounters at sea grow more violent as ships fight back

(AP) - Private security guards shot and killed a Somali pirate yesterday during an attack on a merchant ship off the coast of East Africa in what is believed to be the first such killing by armed contractors. The guards were onboard the MV Almezaan when a pirate group approached it twice, said an EU Naval Force spokesman; during the second approach on the Panamanian-flagged cargo ship, which is United Arab Emirates owned, there was an exchange of fire between the guards and the pirates. More»

Eight pirates captured while trying to escape

(NEWSER) - A US warship stepped in to defend a Tanzanian ship that was under attack from pirates, scaring off and capturing the scallywags. When the USS Farragut got a distress call from the Tanzanians saying a gang on a skiff was attacking them, a Seahawk helicopter was dispatched to the scene. The pirates fled at the sight of the copter, but it stopped their skiff by firing across its bow. More»

(AP) - Somali pirates have hijacked a German cargo ship carrying a crew of 11 in the Gulf of Aden, the latest seizure by high-seas bandits who are holding hundreds of merchant mariners hostage, the AP reports.The MV Victoria was captured yesterday 75 miles south of Yemen. There is no information on the condition of the Romanian crew aboard the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged ship. More»