Somali pirates make off with $3,2-million ransom

Somali pirates freed an arms-laden ship on Thursday, speeding off in small boats with a $3,2-million ransom.

Navy inspecting Boeing jets after 'cracks' found

The US navy will inspect hundreds of fighter jets built by Boeing after discovering "fatigue cracks" on more than a dozen aircraft deployed overseas.

Burma death toll soars as diplomats tour delta

Burma's ruling military junta took diplomats on a tour of the storm-ravaged Irrawaddy delta on Saturday as its toll of dead and missing soared above 133 000 people, making Cyclone Nargis one of the most devastating ever to hit Asia. An estimated 2,5-million people are clinging to survival in the delta.

US flies cyclone aid to Burma

The first United States military aid flight landed in Burma on Monday, but relief supplies continued to just dribble into the reclusive state nine days after a cyclone. A C-130 military transport plane left Thailand's Vietnam war-era U-Tapao airbase carrying 12 700kg of water, mosquito nets and blankets.

Burma holds referendum amid cyclone chaos

The military rulers of Burma went ahead with a constitutional referendum on Saturday despite calls from the outside world to postpone it after the devastation of Cyclone Nargis.The plebiscite was postponed by two weeks in the hardest-hit Irrawaddy Delta and the city of Rangoon, but voting went ahead in other parts of the country.

Burma says no need for foreign aid distribution

Burma will accept foreign aid but distribute relief itself, an official newspaper said on Friday, after a disaster rescue team from Qatar that arrived in Rangoon on an aid flight was turned back. Outside frustration is mounting at delays by the generals in giving visas to aid workers and landing rights for flights.

UN: One million homeless in Burma

Aid was trickling in on Wednesday for an estimated one million victims of Cyclone Nargis in military-ruled Burma, with the death toll of more than 22 500 expected to mount. France has suggested invoking a United Nations "responsibility to protect" clause and delivering aid directly to Burma without waiting for approval from the military in Rangoon.

Recipe for disaster: Channel axes celebrity chef

For an American TV audience, he had all the credentials to be a successful celebrity chef. Robert Irvine was a Briton, apparently with royal connections, a knighthood and experience that included cooking for four United States presidents. His show Dinner: Impossible quickly became a favourite on the cable channel Food Network.

Global whistle-blowing website shut down

A secretive Swiss bank landed an apparently novel censorship blow against the internet this week. Anyone who tried to call up Wikileaks.org, a global website devoted to publicising leaked documents, found themselves frustrated. The site simply wasn't there any more.

US missile hits spy satellite

A missile from a United States navy warship hit a defunct US spy satellite 247km above the Earth in an attempt to blow apart its tank of toxic fuel, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. It was too soon to tell if the fuel tank had been shattered in the operation over the Pacific Ocean, the Pentagon said in a statement.

Now McCain must win over the right

John McCain, the irrepressible Senator from Arizona, stood on the brink of winning the Republican party's nomination for United States president this week with almost half of the magic number of 1 191 delegates needed to win the race in the bag. McCain emerged as the clear front-runner from Super Tuesday.

Bush visits US Fifth Fleet amid Iran tensions

President George Bush visited the United States navy's Fifth Fleet on Sunday amid new tensions with Iran over an incident in which the United States says its ships were harassed in the Strait of Hormuz. Washington says Iranian boats threatened its warships on January 6 along the vital route for crude oil shipments.

Doubts grow over Iranian boat threats

Doubts intensified on Thursday night over the nature of an alleged aggressive confrontation by Iranian patrol boats and American warships in the Persian Gulf on Sunday, after Pentagon officials admitted that they could not confirm that a threat to blow up the US ships had been made directly by the Iranian crews involved in the incident.

Iran dismisses US navy video as fake

Iran's Revolutionary Guards accused the United States of fabricating footage claiming to show Iranian speedboats harassing US warships in the Strait of Hormuz, state television reported. "The footage released by the US Navy are file pictures and the audio has been fabricated," a source in the naval section of the Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying.

Iranian boats provoke US Navy ships

Iranian speedboats swarmed three United States navy ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz over the weekend, radioing a threat to blow them up and prompting a stiff US warning ahead of President George Bush's trip to the Middle East, Pentagon officials said on Monday.

Suspected Somali pirates attack Italian ship

Suspected Somali pirates attacked an Italian-owned cargo ship on Monday as it headed for Kenya's Mombasa port through one of the world's most dangerous waterways. The MV Jolly T was attacked by gunmen believed to be pirates off the shore of Somalia after bringing general cargo through the Suez canal.

US warships corner Somali pirates who seized tanker

United States and German navy ships have cornered Somali pirates who seized a Japanese-owned chemical tanker more than a month ago and are demanding a ransom, an official said on Tuesday. The Panama-registered Golden Nori was carrying benzene from Singapore to Israel when it was hijacked on October 28.

Mission for James Bond's Q: Seek venture capital

In the James Bond novels and films, it fell to technical expert Q to invent the gizmos and cunningly concealed weapons that helped the British spy cheat death and save the world. From a biometric keyboard to blast-proof curtains, the inventions on display in the real world this month came from five technology firms in the final round of the Global Security Challenge.

US navy delivers aid to cyclone-hit Bangladesh

With a United States naval ship stationed off Bangladesh's coast, US military officials prepared on Friday to deliver much-needed food and medical supplies to the hundreds of thousands that Cyclone Sidr left homeless and hungry, a top US military commander said.

Bangladesh in race to save cyclone survivors

Soldiers and relief workers raced on Monday to get aid to millions left destitute by the cyclone in Bangladesh, where the official death toll has topped 3 100 and is certain to rise. Untold numbers of survivors were in urgent need of food and water in the south, one of the poorest areas of the world.

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