Pirates | featured news

US telecommunications group Verizon declares war on illegal downloaders, or pirates, who use technologies such as BitTorrent to steal copyrighted material.

Somali pirates who have been holding a hijacked ship for nearly two years killed a Syrian hostage crew member and wounded another to protest delayed ransom payment, a pirate leader said....

Nigeria navy celebrates first home-made warship to fight pirates. "Proudly Nigerian" does not just apply to the people of this vast land - the West African giant is now building its own warships. After nearly five years in the making, the Nigerian navy ship or NNS Andoni was launched with a colourful event. At 31m (100ft) long, this is no giant of the seas, but the fact that it was designed and built in Nigeria, by Nigerian engineers, is a great source of pride.

U.S. military forces flew in helicopters under the cover of darkness on a raid into Somalia early Wednesday and freed an American and a Dane held hostage since October, Western officials said.

Iran on Saturday welcomed the rescue of 13 Iranian sailors by a U.S. Navy ship, calling it a "humanitarian act." The sailors were on a fishing boat that had been hijacked by pirates in the Arabian Sea, near the Strait of Hormuz. According to the Navy, a helicopter from the destroyer USS Kidd spotted a suspect pirate boat alongside the Iranian vessel on Thursday. The destroyer is part of the USS John Stennis Strike Group, which moved into the Arabian Sea from the Persian Gulf last week.

Four Americans taken hostage by Somali pirates off East Africa were shot and killed by their captors Monday, the U.S. military said, marking the first time U.S. citizens have been killed in a wave of pirate attacks plaguing the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean for years.

A Somali man who admitted his role in an attack on a U.S. Navy ship off the coast of Africa was sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison under an agreement that could return him to court to testify against five countrymen accused in the attack.

It is a happy ending to a very long and torturous saga. The British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler are enjoying their hard-won freedom at the residence Monday of the U.K. High Commissioner (or Ambassador) in Nairobi, Kenya.

A Panamanian tanker was seized by pirates off the coast of Somalia Saturday morning, according to the European Union Naval Force Somalia, which escorts ships traveling near the Somali coast.

Somali pirates have hijacked a South Korean-operated fishing boat with 43 sailors, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

Two South Korean, two Chinese and 39 Kenyans were aboard the 241-ton Kenya-registered trawler when it was attacked Oct. 9 in the waters off Kenya's Lamu Island, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.