Piracy in Asia has declined sharply in recent years as the problem has shifted to the waters off the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden.
Eighteen Somali men, who were brought ashore in Kenya by European navies, crowded into a Mombasa courthouse on Thursday to face piracy charges.
The Somali pirate involved in taking an American ship captain hostage has arrived in New York where he will be put on trial.
Nato foiled an attack by Somali pirates on a Norwegian tanker then briefly detained seven gunmen after hunting them down under cover of darkness.
Arresting Somali pirates may be the easy part. Foreign navies have detained dozens of them but the ensuing legal avenues are ill-defined.
Merchant ships are fending for themselves against Somali pirates, considering tactics such as barbed wire and sonic blasters.
A cargo ship loaded with humanitarian aid was headed to Kenya under US Navy escort on Wednesday after escaping Somali pirates.
A Lebanese-owned freighter, flying a Togolese flag, was seized by pirates off the Horn of Africa on Tuesday.
Somali pirates have hijacked another vessel in the Horn of Africa, a freighter seized overnight in the Gulf of Aden, security contractors said.
US special forces freed an American ship’s captain by killing three Somali pirates who held him hostage in a lifeboat, ending a five-day stand-off.
A US-flagged ship that was seized by Somali pirates arrived safely in the Kenyan port of Mombasa on Saturday, as a Somali mediator headed to sea.
Pirates sailed a hijacked German freighter toward a lifeboat off Somalia early on Saturday to help comrades holding an American ship captain hostage.
The US Navy prepared on Friday to increase pressure on Somali pirates to give up an American ship captain held hostage in a lifeboat.
Pirates seized a British-owned ship and a Taiwan-registered fishing boat after taking three vessels last weekend, officials said on Tuesday.
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/ 30 January 2009
Somali pirates have hijacked a German tanker loaded with liquefied petroleum gas off the Horn of Africa. The ship’s 13-man crew was reported safe.
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/ 26 January 2009
The Somali government said Ethiopia completed its withdrawal on Monday after a more than two-year intervention to combat an Islamist movement.
Pirates seized a ship belonging to French maritime services company Bourbon off the coast of Nigeria during the weekend, the company says.
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/ 23 December 2008
China warned Somali pirates on Tuesday it was prepared to use force when its navy ships arrive in the Gulf of Aden to combat a wave of piracy.
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/ 17 December 2008
Pirates have hijacked a Turkish cargo ship and a Malaysian tug boat and attacked three other vessels in the Gulf of Aden in the past week.
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/ 12 December 2008
The United States has requested international authorisation for countries pursuing Somali pirates to hunt them down on land.
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/ 11 December 2008
The US circulated a draft UN Security Council resolution on Wednesday seeking international authorisation to hunt Somali pirates on land.
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/ 10 December 2008
Ahmed Dahir Suleyman is cagey as he talks about the global network that funds and supports piracy off the coast of Somalia.
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/ 3 December 2008
Somali pirates have freed a Yemeni cargo ship they seized last week after successful talks between authorities, clan elders and the gunmen.
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/ 2 December 2008
Insurgent Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys on Tuesday said his group was the only force that could eliminate piracy in the Somali waters.
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/ 1 December 2008
Somali pirates who have been holding Saudi supertanker the Sirius Star said on Monday they are still ready to negotiate its release.
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/ 30 November 2008
Piracy near Somalia has created unease in far-off Russia, where sailors say they feel helpless as a growing number of seamen are taken hostage.
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/ 29 November 2008
Egypt is willing to intervene militarily against piracy in the Gulf of Aden and off the Somali coast, alone or as part of an international force.
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/ 26 November 2008
Somali gunmen kidnapped two Western journalists in Puntland on Wednesday, police said, n the latest attack on foreigners working in the country.
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/ 24 November 2008
The leader of Somali pirates holding a huge Saudi oil tanker denied on Monday that the hijackers had lowered their ransom demand.
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/ 23 November 2008
Zam Zam Abdi fled after being threatened with death. If she continued working for her women’s rights organisation she would be killed.
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/ 22 November 2008
Somali pirates holding an oil-laden Saudi supertanker will fight back should any military intervention to free the ship be attempted, they say.
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/ 21 November 2008
Somali pirates built up their defences around a captured Saudi Arabian supertanker on Friday after demanding a -million ransom.