http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30154714/

France frees yacht off Somalia, hostage killed

updated 24 minutes ago

PARIS - The French Navy stormed a French sailboat being held by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia, killing one hostage and two pirates in the operation, a presidential statement said Friday.

The navy also freed four remaining hostages, including one child, who were seized Saturday when pirates boarded their ship, the Tanit. Three other pirates were taken prisoner.

It was not immediately clear where the rescue operation occurred. It did not appear to be in any proximity to the current standoff involving an American captain being held hostage.

It was the third time the French have freed hostages from the hands of pirates but the first time that a hostage had been killed. The French presidential statement said the boat was being steered toward the Somali coast.

Two-day ordeal
French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office said the death of one of five hostages came at the end of a two-day ordeal in the pirate-infested waters where the seizure of vessels by Somali pirates has become a common occurrence.

“During the operation, a hostage was unfortunately killed,” the statement said adding that the four other hostages, including the child, were “safe and sound.”

France’s policy is to refuse to accept acts of piracy and avoid having French citizens taken ashore as hostages, the statement said.

The operation began Thursday when a Navy vessel contacted the pirates and “immobilized” the Tanit, it said.

“Negotiations were started to persuade the pirates to give up their criminal undertaking,” said the statement.

“Today, threats were more precise, with the pirates refusing proposals and the Tanit moving toward the coast. An operation to free the hostages was decided.”

Details of the operation were not disclosed.

Warnings to avoid waters
The passengers in the Tanit, a tourist boat, had repeatedly been warned to avoid the dangerous waters around Somalia and the Gulf of Aden.

The non-governmental group Ecoterra International, which monitors sea*******s, said on its Web site that the Tanit was seized by about 14 pirates some 340 nautical miles from Bandar-Beyla on Somalia's eastern coast.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,514039,00.html

Pirates Reportedly Demand Ransom After U.S. Ship Captain Tries to Escape

Friday, April 10, 2009


A Somali negotiator said Friday pirates holding American ship captain Richard Phillips hostage want a $2 million ransom and are ready to kill Phillips if attacked.

The announcement by the unidentified Somali, who helped negotiate a ransom paid last year to pirates who seized a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks, comes the same day Phillips was recaptured after he made an escape attempt from the life boat where he is being held hostage.

The negotiator said he has spoken with a pirate leader on the ground in Somalia who is coordinating action on the lifeboat adrift in the Indian Ocean. He says the plan is to get the hostage to shore to negotiate from a better position.

Sometime overnight, captain Phillips got away for a short period, and jumped off the lifeboat in an attempt to swim away, probably managing to escape through the lifeboat's backdoor. The drama was witnessed at some distance by the U.S. Navy, but it reportedly happened so quickly they could not provide assistance.

Defense officials said that one of the pirates fired an automatic weapon when Phillips tried to swim to safet, but it was not clear whether the pirate fired at the fleeing hostage, or into the air.

Also on Friday officials said other pirates sought to reinforce their colleagues by sailing hijacked ships with other captives aboard to the scene of the standoff.

The U.S. also was bolstering its force by dispatching other warships to the site off the Horn of Africa, where a U.S. destroyer shadowed the drifting lifeboat carrying Phillips.

The pirates on the lifeboat apparently fear being shot or arrested if they hand over Phillips — who was taken hostage in their failed effort to hijack the cargo ship Maersk Alabama on Wednesday — and they hope to link up with their colleagues who are using Russian, German, Filipino and other hostages captured in recent days as human shields.

Shipping company Maersk said Thursday, prior to the escape attempt, that Phillips had a radio and contacted the Navy and the crew of the Alabama to say was unharmed.

But the pirate gang said they won't back down from signs of U.S. pressure. One of the pirates told Reuters Friday they would fight if attacked by the U.S. naval forces near them.

"We are safe and we are not afraid of the Americans," the pirates told Reuters by satellite phone. "We will defend ourselves if attacked."

The pirate was speaking on behalf of the four men holding Capt. Richard Phillips hostage.

The U.S. brought in FBI hostage negotiators Thursday to work with the military in trying to secure the release of Phillips. An official said the bandits were in talks with the Navy about resolving the standoff peacefully.

The freighter that was the target of the pirates steamed away Thursday from the lifeboat under armed U.S. Navy guard, with all of its crew safe — except for the captive captain.

The pirates tried to hijack the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama on Wednesday, but Phillips thwarted the takeover by telling his crew of about 20 to lock themselves in a room, the crew told stateside relatives.

The crew later overpowered some of the pirates, but Phillips, 53, surrendered himself to the bandits to safeguard his men, and four of the Somalis fled with him to an enclosed lifeboat, the relatives said.

Phillips contacted the Navy and the crew of the Alabama to say he is unharmed, the Maersk shipping company said in a statement, adding that the lifeboat is within sight of the USS Bainbridge, the naval destroyer that arrived on the scene earlier Thursday.

The Alabama began sailing toward the Kenyan port of Mombassa — its original destination — and was expected to arrive Saturday night, said Joseph Murphy, a professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy whose son, Shane Murphy, is second in command of the vessel. The elder Murphy said he was briefed by the shipping company.

A U.S. official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation, said a Navy team of armed guards was aboard the Alabama.

The Bainbridge had arrived earlier Thursday near the Alabama and the lifeboat. Maersk shipping company spokesman Kevin Speers told AP Radio the lifeboat was out of fuel and "dead in the water."

The U.S. Navy sent up P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft and had video of the scene.

Gen. David Petraeus, head of the U.S. Central Command, said more ships would be sent to the area because "we want to ensure that we have all the capability that might be needed over the course of the coming days." U.S. officials said the guided-missile frigate USS Halyburton was among the ships en route.

The additional ships will serve as a show of force following an increase in the number of attacks and the first one on a U.S.-flagged ship. The vessels would give the U.S. military more eyes on the threatened area and make the pirates think twice before trying to seize another ship, but it was not enough to mount a blockade, according to a senior U.S. defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss operational matters.

"These people are nothing more than criminals and we are bringing to bear a number of our assets, including naval and FBI, in order to resolve the hostage situation and bring the pirates to justice," said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

President Barack Obama was getting regular updates on the situation, said spokesman Robert Gibbs. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says the United States will take whatever steps are needed to protect U.S. shipping interests against pirates.

FBI spokesman Richard Kolko described the bureau's hostage negotiating team as "fully engaged" with the military on ways to retrieve Phillips.

The pirates were holding talks with the Navy about a peaceful resolution, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record.

Mohamed Samaw, a resident of the pirate stronghold in Eyl, Somalia, who claims to have a "share" in a British-owned ship hijacked Monday, said four foreign ships held by pirates are heading toward the lifeboat. A total of 54 hostages are on two of the ships — citizens of China, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, the Philippines, Tuvalu, Indonesia and Taiwan.

"The pirates have summoned assistance — skiffs and mother ships are heading towards the area from the coast," said a Nairobi-based diplomat, who spoke on condition on anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media. "We knew they were gathering yesterday."

Samaw said two ships left Eyl on Wednesday. A third sailed from Haradhere, another pirate base in Somalia, and the fourth one was a Taiwanese fishing vessel seized Monday that was already only 30 miles from the lifeboat.

He said the ships include the German cargo ship Hansa Stavanger, seized earlier this month. The ship's crew of 24 is made up of five Germans, three Russians, two Ukrainians, two Filipinos and 12 from Tuvalu.

Another man identified as a pirate by three different residents of Haradhere also said the captured German ship had been sent.

"They had asked us for reinforcement, and we have already sent a good number of well-equipped colleagues, who were holding a German cargo ship," said the pirate who asked that only his first name, Badow, be used to protect him from reprisals.

"We are not intending to harm the captain, so that we hope our colleagues would not be harmed as long as they hold him," Badow said.

"All we need, first, is a safe route to escape with the captain, and then (negotiate) ransom later," he added.

At Phillips' home in Underhill, Vt., family members nervously awaited word on his fate. Sister-in-law Lea Coggio said Thursday a representative of Maersk called to let Phillips' wife know that food and water had been delivered to the lifeboat.

"I think he's coping, knowing Richard," she said. "He's a smart guy, and he's in control. "

Most of the lifeboats are about 28 feet long and carry water and food for 34 people for 10 days, said Joseph Murphy.

The lifeboats are covered and Murphy, speaking after a briefing by the shipping company, said he suspects the pirates have closed the ports to avoid sniper fire.

Steve Romano, a retired head of the FBI hostage negotiation team, said he doesn't recall the FBI ever negotiating with pirates before, but he said this situation is similar to other standoffs. Although pirates release the vast majority of their hostages unharmed, the difficulty will be negotiating with people who clearly have no way out, he said.

"There's always a potential for tragedy here, and when people feel their options are limited, they sometimes react in more unpredictable and violent ways," Romano said.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/...cked.crew/index.html

Crew of Alabama says sailors jumped pirates to retake control

Crew member stabbed pirate in the hand to retake Maersk Alabama, sailor says

(CNN) -- The battle for control of the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama began with a bold move by some crew members to jump the pirates, crewmembers say.

The crew of the Maersk Alabama exchange some words with media after the ship docked in Mombasa, Kenya.

A scuffle ensued and one of the sailors stabbed a pirate in the hand in the battle to retake the container ship, one of the sailors told CNN.

Snippets of information are starting to emerge about how the Alabama's crew managed to retake the ship after it was hijacked by pirates Wednesday about 350 miles off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean.

The Alabama docked Saturday night in Mombasa, Kenya. Its captain, Richard Phillips, is being held by pirates in the ship's lifeboat.

Crew members smiled broadly as they stood on the ship's deck under the watchful eyes of security teams. Although they were kept away from the media, CNN's Stan Grant got close enough to ask them what happened after the pirates climbed aboard the ship.

A crew member said he recalled being woken around 7 a.m. as the hi******* began.

"I was scared," Grant quoted the man as saying.

Some of the crew managed to hide in a secure part of the Alabama as the pirates stormed the ship, the sailor said.

As the men described the clash, a crew member pointed to his shipmate and said, "This guy is a hero, he and the chief engineer they took down the pirate... he led him down there to the engine room and then they jumped him."

Another crew member shouted, "Captain Phillips is a hero."

The father of first mate Shane Murphy on Saturday offered thanks for the "tremendous outpouring" of support his family has received from the public and government officials, including U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy and John Kerry.

Capt. Joseph Murphy, an instructor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, said he had spoken to his son but that he didn't have details on the standoff.

"He said, 'Dad, this has been unbelievable.' He said the facts will be known very soon. He said he couldn't speak about anything," Joseph Murphy said.

"I said this is going to be a tough sea story to overcome. He's got a great sea story here."

Joseph Murphy said Saturday that he and the Alabama crew's primary concern was for the ship's captain.

"He's made a tremendous sacrifice for his crew. Just incredible courage. We're very, very thankful. He's done everything he could possibly do and he has saved our son," he said at a news conference.

"We believe that Captain Phillips will survive the situation. We want him to know he has the support of all of us -- the American people and people around the world."

At some point Wednesday, Phillips reportedly offered himself as a captive. Since then, the destroyer USS Bainbridge has arrived on the scene to try to free Phillips with the help of the FBI.

An attempt to escape from the 28-foot, covered lifeboat was thwarted by a pirate who dove into the Indian Ocean after him. Phillips' captors appear to have tied him up afterward, Pentagon officials said.

The Alabama left on Thursday for Mombasa, its original destination, carrying food aid and an armed 18-person security detail.

Maersk president and CEO John Reinhart told reporters Saturday that the crew will stay on board in Mombasa while the FBI conducts an investigation.

The agency will look into the hi******* and hostage-taking, two law enforcement officials told CNN. The probe will be led by the FBI's New York field office, which has responsibility for looking into cases involving U.S. citizens in the African region. Agents from the office were scheduled to leave for Africa sometime this weekend, the officials said.

"We will make sure they're safe," Reinhart said. "We know what food they want -- we'll get the food to them."

He said the crew has reported being in good health and that the entire crew has "showed the professionalism of a true mariner."


He said the crew has asked the company to do everything it can to get Phillips home safely -- an effort he said Maersk is working with the Navy on.

"That means don't make a mistake, folks," Reinhart said. "We have to be perfect in our execution."

USA rules again!!!! This is a very proud day!!!!!!

Full Story

Official: Captain was in 'imminent danger'
Swift rescue operation left three of the Somali captors dead

updated 6:39 p.m. ET, Sun., April 12, 2009
MOMBASA, Kenya - U.S. Navy snipers opened fire and killed three pirates holding an American captain at gunpoint, delivering the skipper unharmed and ending a five-day high-seas hostage drama on Easter Sunday.

The pirates were pointing AK-47s at Capt. Richard Phillips and he was in "imminent danger" of being killed when the commander of the nearby USS Bainbridge made the split-second decision to order his men to shoot, Vice Adm. Bill Gortney said.

Phillips' crew, who said they had escaped the pirates after he offered himself as a hostage, erupted in cheers aboard their ship docked in Mombasa, Kenya. Some waved an American flag and fired flares in celebration. A lawn sign in the captain's hometown of Underhill, Vermont that read "Pray for Captain Phillips' release and safe return home" was changed to read, "Capt. Phillips rescued and safe."

Resting comfortably
The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet said Phillips, 53, was resting comfortably after a medical exam on the San Diego-based USS Boxer in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia. Gortney said the captain had been "tied up inside the lifeboat" over much of the ordeal.

"I'm just the byline. The real heroes are the Navy, the Seals, those who have brought me home," Phillips said by phone to Maersk Line Limited President and CEO John Reinhart, the company head told reporters. A photo released by the Navy showed Phillips unharmed and shaking hands with the commanding officer of the USS Bainbridge. . . .

Undeterred Somali pirates hijack 4 more ships

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY,Associated Press
Posted: 2009-04-14 10:14:29

MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) - Undeterred by U.S. and French hostage rescues that killed five bandits, Somali pirates brazenly hijacked four more ships in the Gulf of Aden, the waterway at the center of the world's fight against piracy.

Pirates have vowed to retaliate for deaths of their colleagues_ and the top U.S. military officer said Tuesday he takes those comments seriously. But Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that "we're very well prepared to deal with anything like that."

Still, despite Mullen's confident statement and President Barack Obama's warning Monday, pirates captured two more nautical trophies Tuesday to match the two ships they seized a day or two earlier.

NATO spokeswoman Shona Lowe said the MV Sea Horse, a Lebanese-owned cargo ship, was attacked and captured Tuesday by pirates in three or four speedboats. She had no further information.

That hi******* came only hours after the Greek-managed MV Irene E.M. was seized in a rare overnight attack by pirates.

In addition, Somali pirates also hijacked two Egyptian fishing boats in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia's northern coast, which maritime officials said had a total of 36 crew. It was not exactly clear if those ships were hijacked Monday or Sunday.

The Gulf of Aden, which links the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, is one of the world's busiest and most vital shipping lanes, crossed by over 20,000 ships each year.

A flotilla of warships from nearly a dozen countries has patrolled the Gulf of Aden and nearby Indian Ocean waters for months. They have halted many attacks on ships this year, but say the area is so vast they can't stop all hi*******s.

Choong said pirate attacks this year had risen to 78, with 19 of those ships hijacked and 17 vessels with over 300 crew still in pirates' hands. Each boat carries the potential of a million-dollar ransom.

The Irene was sailing from the Middle East to South Asia, said Noel Choong, who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur. The ship is flagged in the Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

U.S. Navy Lt. Nathan Christensen, spokesman for the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, said the Irene carried 23 Filipino crew, while Choong reported it had 21. There was no immediate way to reconcile the figures.

A maritime security contractor, speaking on condition of anonymity because it is a sensitive security issue, said the Irene put out a distress signal "to say they had a suspicious vessel approaching. That rapidly turned into an attack and then a hi*******."

"They tried to call in support on the emergency channels, but they never got any response," the contractor said.

The latest seizures come after Navy SEAL snipers rescued American ship captain Richard Phillips on Sunday by killing three young pirates who held him captive in a drifting lifeboat for five days. A fourth pirate surrendered after seeking medical attention for a wound he received in trying to take over Phillips' vessel, the Maersk Alabama.

Phillips on Tuesday was aboard a Navy vessel at an undisclosed location, Christensen said. He was initially taken aboard the Norfolk, Va.-based USS Bainbridge and then flown to the San Diego-based USS Boxer for a medical exam.

In Washington, Obama appeared to move the piracy issue higher on his agenda, vowing the United States would work with nations around the world to fight the problem.

"I want to be very clear that we are resolved to halt the rise of piracy in that region and to achieve that goal, we're going to have to continue to work with our partners to prevent future attacks," Obama said at a news conference Monday.

The 19 crew members of the Alabama celebrated their skipper's freedom with beer and an evening barbecue Monday in the Kenyan port of Mombasa, said crewman Ken Quinn.

The vessel's chief mate was among those urging strong U.S. action against piracy.

"It's time for us to step in and put an end to this crisis," Shane Murphy said. "It's a crisis. Wake up."

The U.S. is considering new options to fight piracy, including adding Navy gunships along the Somali coastline and launching a campaign to disable pirate "mother ships," according to military officials. They spoke on condition of anonymity because no decisions have been made yet.

In Burlington, Vt., Phillips' wife, Andrea Phillips thanked Obama, who approved the dramatic sniper operation.

"With Richard saved, you all just gave me the best Easter ever," she said in a statement.

The four pirates that attacked the Alabama were between 17 and 19 years old, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

"Untrained teenagers with heavy weapons," Gates told students and faculty at the Marine Corps War College. "Everybody in the room knows the consequences of that."

U.S. officials were now considering whether to bring the fourth pirate, who surrendered shortly before the sniper shootings, to the United States or possibly turn him over to Kenya. Both piracy and hostage-taking carry life prison sentences under U.S. law.

The French navy late Monday handed over the bodies of two Somali pirates killed in a hostage rescue operation last week to authorities in Somali's semiautonomous northern region of Puntland and locals buried the bodies.

The fact that these pirates are only te.enagers and have the capacity to take control of these ships is mind boggling. I read today the one that's in US custody is only 16. Unbelievable. I realize Somalian government is very unstable, but shouldn't these kids still be in school??? A very out of control situation.

The country is hedging on anarchy

Yes Proud, it is very sad. This is why the mission got bungled from the pirates. They sent kids to do a man's job.

This makes sense now why they were not succesful in taking this ship like they generally had done on the others. It also makes sense now that the captain escaped once, and why he was not killed.

I wonder how many teenagers they have working as pirates?

I read where the average age of the pirates is between 20 and 35, so I guess the number of teenage pirates is pretty low. They are suspected to be fishermen, ex-militia types and technical types who man the GPS systems. I also read where they are considered a gang of over 1,000 members. They have extorted over $150 million during these attacks. I'm very glad they didn't get one cent from the attack on our ship!

New energy source. Although more appropriately called brown energy. It hopes to replace fossil fuels by utilizing items normally discarded.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/...a.pirates/index.html

Pirates attack U.S. cargo ship but fail to get aboard


(CNN) -- The Liberty Sun, a U.S.-flagged cargo ship bound for Mombasa, Kenya, was attacked Tuesday night by Somali pirates, according to the company and senior U.S. military officials.

Pirates attacked The Liberty Sun, a U.S.-flagged cargo ship, but were unable to board.

"The pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at the vessel, which sustained damage," said a statement from New York-based Liberty Maritime Corporation, which owns the vessel.

The ship is carrying U.S. food aid for African nations, the statement said. About 20 U.S. citizens are aboard the Liberty Sun, delivering humanitarian supplies from the U.N. World Food Programme, CARE and other groups, two senior defense officials told CNN.

The pirates never made it onto the ship and the vessel is now being escorted by a coalition ship, still bound for Mombasa, officials said.

Two senior defense officials said the Liberty Sun was being escorted by the guided missile destroyer USS Bainbridge. It is the ship carrying Richard Phillips, the captain of the container ship Maersk Alabama, which was hijacked last week. Phillips spent days as a hostage of the pirates before being rescued Sunday.

Katy Urbik of Wheaton, Illinois, said her son, Thomas, was aboard the Liberty Sun at the time of the attack. She shared the e-mails he sent as the ship came under fire.

"We are under attack by pirates, we are being hit by rockets. Also bullets," said one e-mail sent Tuesday afternoon. "We are barricaded in the engine room and so far no one is hurt. [A] rocket penetrated the bulkhead but the hole is small. Small fire, too, but put out.

"Navy is on the way and helos and ships are coming. I'll try to send you another message soon. [G]ot to go now. I love you mom and dad and all my brothers and family."

"My heart stopped after I realized there wasn't going to be a 'just kidding' after his comment," Katy Urbik said.

About 1½ hours later, Thomas Urbik sent another e-mail to his mother, which said, "The navy has showed up in full force and we are now under military escort ... all is well. I love you all and thank you for the prayers."

In an e-mail only hours before the attack, Urbik's son tried to assure his mother that his crew was safe and taking precautions.

"Don't worry too much. I am fine and we are being well monitored by the U.S. Navy, who is demanding we send them a report every six hours on our position and status," Thomas Ubrik's e-mail said. He added, "We in fact are going to be the second American ship to arrive into Mombasa after the Maersk Alabama. It should be interesting to say the least. ... We have had several drills to prepare ourselves to secure ourselves in the engine room. [W]e can do it pretty quick by now."

The company said the ship had dropped off food aid last week at a Sudanese port and the ship was going around the Horn of Africa to reach Kenya when it came under attack. However, the exact location of the attack remained unclear.

Earlier Tuesday, pirates off the coast of Somalia seized two freighters, proving they remain a force to contend with just days after the U.S. Navy dramatically rescued an American captain held by other pirates.

First, pirates in the Gulf of Aden on Tuesday hijacked the MV Irene EM, a 35,000-ton Greek-owned bulk carrier, according to a NATO spokesman and the European Union's Maritime Security Center.

The crew of the Greek carrier was thought to be unhurt and ships have been warned to stay clear of the area for fear of further attack, the Security Center said.

Later Tuesday, pirates on four skiffs seized the 5,000-ton MV Sea Horse, a Lebanese-owned and Togo-flagged vessel, said Cmdr. Chris Davies of NATO's Maritime Component Command Headquarters in Northwood, England.

Details about the ship and its crew weren't immediately available.

NATO has an ongoing anti-piracy mission off Somalia called Operation Allied Protector. The mission involves four ships covering more than a million square miles, Davies said.

A U.S.-led international naval task force, Combined Task Force-151, is also patrolling in the region.

Tuesday's hi*******s came two days after sharps******* from the U.S. Navy SEALs killed three pirates who had been holding Phillips hostage on the water for days.

Phillips had offered himself as a hostage when pirates attacked the Alabama on Wednesday, officials said. The ship had been on its way to deliver aid to Mombasa, Kenya.

A fourth pirate had been aboard Bainbridge when the shootings occurred and was taken into custody. Watch the tough tactics the Navy uses »

The incident follows four freighters being seized over the past two days by pirates off the Somalian coast, proving they remain a force to contend with.

Pirates on Monday hijacked two Egyptian fishing boats carrying a total of between 18 and 24 people, the Egyptian Information Ministry told CNN.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry is working to end the hi*******, the ministry said.

Egyptian boats are known to use Somali waters illegally for fishing, taking advantage of the lawless state of the country and the lack of enforcement of its maritime boundaries.

Those who have tracked pirate activity in Somalia say it started in the 1980s, when the pirates claimed they were trying to stop the rampant illegal fishing and dumping that continues to this day off the Somali coast.

Piracy accelerated after the fall of the Somali government in the early 1990s and began to flourish after shipping companies started paying ransoms. Those payments started out being in the tens of thousands of dollars and have since climbed into the millions.

Some experts say companies are simply making the problem worse by paying the pirates.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200..._italy_fiat_chrysler

Fiat CEO: Concessions or no Chrysler deal

MILAN – Automaker Fiat Group SpA will walk away from a deal to take a 20-percent stake in Chrysler LLC if the U.S. automaker's unions don't agree to major cost cuts, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said in an interview published Wednesday.

Fiat and Chrysler are up against an April 30 deadline for Fiat to take a stake in the failing U.S. automaker in exchange for small car technology, but Chrysler first needs concessions from creditors and unions to ink the Fiat deal. If the Fiat alliance isn't finalized by then, the U.S. government has threatened not to provide any more aid and let Chrysler be sold off in pieces.

"Absolutely we are prepared to walk. There is no doubt in my mind," he said. "We cannot commit to this organization unless we see light at the end of the tunnel," Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said in an interview published in the Toronto Globe and Mail.

A Fiat spokesman confirmed Marchionne's statements. Marchionne was attending a shareholders meeting of the Swiss bank UBS in Zurich on Wednesday.

Marchionne said there is a 50 percent chance the deal will fail because of lack of progress in labor negotiations in both the United States and Canada.

"The dialogue is out of sync," Marchionne said. "I think they need to see what state the industry is in. Canada and the U.S. are coming in as the lender of last resort. .... No one else would put a dollar in. This is the worst condemnation of the viability of this business.

Marchionne said no one wants to remove the U.S. and Canadian autoworkers' unions from the table. "But it will happen if a bankruptcy process drags on. The UAW and the CAW have a unique opportunity here to change the framework of the discussion."

Under terms of the nonbinding agreement between Fiat and Chrysler, Fiat is not committing to inject any cash into Chrysler nor would it take on any Chrysler debt. Industry experts have said that the absence of any cash beyond an additional $6 billion from the U.S. government if the Fiat deal goes through still leaves unanswered how Chrysler can survive until the partnership begins to bear fruit.

The Obama administration has supported the deal, praising the current Fiat management for its turnaround of the once-failing Italian automaker and saying that Chrysler is not viable as a standalone company.

Chrysler would benefit from small car technology that it lacks, and Marchionne said that Fiat could start selling its successful remake of the iconic Fiat 500, or Cinquecento in Italian, made in North America as soon as next year. Fiat, while gaining a stake in a company that it hopes one day will regain its value, also plans to relaunch the sporty Alfa Romeo brand in North America. The new Alfa 149, to be unveiled next year, would be built in North America as a successor to the larger Alfa 159, Marchionne said.

Chrysler would also launch its own small car based on the 500 platform, Marchionne said. "Chrysler needs its own Cinquecento, meaning a model that is the remaking of Chrysler," Mr. Marchionne said.

quote:

Marchionne said there is a 50 percent chance the deal will fail because of lack of progress in labor negotiations in both the United States and Canada.

That is a surprise. Not! The UAW is too much of a socialist organization even for the Europeans. What does that say. A lot.

Ahmadinejad dropped Holocaust denial from speech

By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER and ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS,
Associated Press Writers Bradley S. Klapper And Alexander G. Higgins, Associated Press Writers 47 mins ago

GENEVA – A day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad caused an uproar with a speech attacking Israel at a U.N. conference on racism, the U.N. said Tuesday that Ahmadinejad had actually dropped language from the speech that described the Holocaust as "ambiguous and dubious."

The U.N. and the Iranian Mission in Geneva did not comment on why the change was made. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, however, said he had met with the Iranian president before his speech Monday and reminded him the U.N. had adopted resolutions "to revoke the equation of Zionism with racism and to reaffirm the historical facts of the Holocaust."

Ahmadinejad may have decided to drop the Holocaust phrase that was in his original text to deliver his condemnation of Israel in a more palatable fashion for many countries.

Still, Ahmadinejad's accusation that the West used the Holocaust as a "pretext" for aggression against Palestinians still provoked walkouts by delegates including every European Union country in attendance. But others, including those from the Vatican, stayed in the room because they said he stopped short of denying the Holocaust.

The walkout came after Ahmadinejad accused Western nations of complicity in violence against Palestinians surrounding the foundation of Israel.

The original text of his speech said "following World War II, they resorted to military aggression to make an entire nation homeless on the pretext of Jewish sufferings and the ambiguous and dubious question of Holocaust."

U.N. spokeswoman Marie Heuze said U.N. officials had checked back with the interpreters and the Farsi recording of Ahmadinejad's speech, and determined that the Iranian president had dropped the terms "ambiguous and dubious," referring instead in Farsi to "the abuse of the question of the Holocaust."

Adding to the confusion, the live English translation of the speech did not mention the word "Holocaust" at all, while the French stayed true to the spoken words of Ahmadinejad. The English translator apparently was following the prepared text and stopped speaking when the Iranian president changed the wording.

The meeting turned chaotic from the start when two protesters in rainbow wigs tossed red clown noses at Ahmadinejad as he began his speech with a Muslim prayer. A Jewish student group from France said it had been trying to convey "the masquerade that this conference represents."

Thirteen people who disrupted the speech were expelled from the conference Tuesday.

The United States and eight other Western countries had already boycotted the event that started on the eve of Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day, because of concerns Muslim countries would drown out all other issues with calls to denounce Israel and restrict free speech when it comes to criticizing Islam.

Over 100 other countries on Tuesday approved a 16-page declaration calling on the world to combat intolerance. The declaration did not mention Israel, but among dozens of other points, it reaffirms a 2001 statement issued after the U.N.'s first global racism meeting in South Africa that recognized the "plight of the Palestinians" while affirming the Jewish state's right to security.

The latest declaration's support of the 2001 document that named only one country, Israel, was cited by President Barack Obama's administration as why it boycotted the Geneva meeting.

In Paris, France's foreign minister criticized the U.S. decision to stay away from an event featuring Ahmadinejad while declaring itself open for negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.

"More than a paradox, it could really be a mistake," Bernard Kouchner said.

Most of Ahmadinejad's rhetoric was not new but its timing and high profile could complicate U.S. efforts to warm ties with the Islamic republic. Alejandro Wolff, the U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, denounced what he called "the Ahmadinejad spectacle."

In Tehran, some 200 people gathered at the airport to give Ahmadinejad a hero's welcome and bunches of flowers as he returned home.

Iranian state TV described him as having defended Palestinian rights against a racist regime. The official IRNA news agency, which strongly supports Ahmadinejad, quoted lawmaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar as saying that Ahmadinejad's speech in Geneva was a "great achievement for (Iran's ruling) system."

State television also reported Tuesday that Iran's parliament speaker has warned Israel against a possible attack on the country's nuclear facilities.

Conference organizers in Geneva had sought desperately to avoid the problems that marred the 2001 Durban conference, which ended four days before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The U.S. and Israel walked out of that event over an attempt by Muslim countries to liken Zionism — the movement to establish a Jewish state in the Holy Land — to racism.

Even though the U.N. conference's final document has no enforceable measures, it arouses great passion from all governments.

Many in the Muslim world had expressed disappointment prior to the conference for its failure to point the finger directly at Israel for its treatment of Palestinians. There were also strong disagreements between Muslim countries and the West over an attempt to ban all criticism of Islam and other religions.

The U.N. said it expelled 13 people from the conference, including members of Jewish and Iranian groups that disrupted Ahmadinejad's speech. It first said 375 people had been tossed out, but later called it a mistake to bar individuals not directly linked to Monday's disruptions.

"At the United Nations we demand that conferences and debates be held in a spirit of mutual respect and dignity," Heuze said.

___

Associated Press writers Frank Jordans in Geneva and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200...un_racism_conference

Mystery donors give over $45M to 9 universities

By MICHAEL J. CRUMB, Associated Press Writer Michael J. Crumb, Associated Press Writer Thu Apr 16, 7:48 pm ET

DES MOINES, Iowa – A mystery is unfolding in the world of college fundraising: During the past few weeks, at least nine universities have received gifts totaling more than $45 million, and the schools had to promise not to try to find out the giver's identity.

One school went so far as to check with the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security just to make sure a $1.5 million gift didn't come from illegal sources.

"In my last 28 years in fundraising ... this is the first time I've dealt with a gift that the institution didn't know who the donor is," said Phillip D. Adams, vice president for university advancement at Norfolk State University, which received $3.5 million.

The gifts ranged from $8 million at Purdue to $1.5 million donated to the University of North Carolina at Asheville. The University of Iowa received $7 million; the University of Southern Mississippi, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the University of Maryland University College got $6 million each; the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs was given $5.5 million; and Penn State-Harrisburg received $3 million.

It's not clear whether the gifts came from an individual, an organization or a group of people with similar interests. In every case, the donor or donors dealt with the universities through lawyers or other middlemen. Some of the money came in cashier's checks, while other schools received checks from a law firm or another representative.

All the schools had to agree not to investigate the identity of the giver. Some were required to make such a promise in writing.

"Our chancellor was called to a Denver law office and had to sign a confidentiality agreement that she would not try to find out," said Tom Hutton, spokesman at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. "Once the chancellor signed it, she was emphatic that we don't try to find out."

Each was delivered since March 1 and came with the same stipulation: Most of the money must be used for student scholarships, and the remainder can be spent on various costs such as research, equipment, strategic goals and operating support.

"We have no idea who this generous individual is, but we're extremely grateful," said Lynette Marshall, president and chief executive of the University of Iowa foundation. "This is the first time in my 25-year career that something of this magnitude has happened."

Usually when schools receive anonymous donations, the school knows the identity of the benefactor but agrees to keep it secret. Not knowing who is giving the money can raise t***** problems.

William Massey, vice chancellor for alumni and development at UNC-Asheville, said the school contacted the Department of Homeland Security and the IRS to make sure the money was legal before accepting it.

"There may be an ethical problem if you knowingly accept funds from ill-gotten gains," said Colorado Springs' Hutton. University officials "do due diligence and ask the appropriate questions and receive satisfactory answers."

The $6 million donated to the University of Southern Mississippi was the largest single gift ever bestowed to the school.

"It was a remarkable gift particularly during these economic times," said David Wolf, vice president of advancement.

"I think somebody is out there, or potentially a group of people, that has a great respect for the value of a college education and the power that it brings," Wolf said. "Gosh, if it's the same person or the same collective group of people, it's an amazing story."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200..._re_us/mystery_gifts

God bless these anonymous souls.

Something smells fishy . . .

http://www.foxnews.com/politic...sband-cashes-crisis/

Sen. Feinstein's Husband Cashes In on Crisis

California senator sought $25 billion for a government agency that had awarded her husband's real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties.

The Washington Times

FOXNews.com

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

On the day the new Congress convened this year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency that had just awarded her husband's real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms, the Washington Times reported on Tuesday.

Mrs. Feinstein's intervention on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was unusual: the California Democrat isn't a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with jurisdiction over FDIC; and the agency is supposed to operate from money it raises from bank-paid insurance payments - not direct federal dollars.

Documents reviewed by The Washington Times show Mrs. Feinstein first offered Oct. 30 to help the FDIC secure money for its effort to stem the rise of home foreclosures. Her letter was sent just days before the agency determined that CB Richard Ellis Group (CBRE) - the commercial real estate firm that her husband Richard Blum heads as board chairman - had won the competitive bidding for a contract to sell foreclosed properties that FDIC had inherited from failed banks.

About the same time of the contract award, Mr. Blum's private investment firm reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it and related affiliates had purchased more than 10 million new shares in CBRE. The shares were purchased for the going price of $3.77; CBRE's stock closed Monday at $5.14.

Spokesmen for the FDIC, Mrs. Feinstein and Mr. Blum's firm told The Times that there was no connection between the legislation and the contract signed Nov. 13, and that the couple didn't even know about CBRE's business with FDIC until after it was awarded.

Senate ethics rules state that members must avoid conflicts of interest as well as "even the appearance of a conflict of interest." Some ethics analysts question whether Mrs. Feinstein ran afoul of the latter provision, creating the appearance that she was rewarding the agency that had just hired her husband's firm.

If only it were this easy - lol!!!!!!

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/30350484/?gt1=43001

Polar bears find love at first sight

Pair hits it off after being set up on a ‘blind date’ by zookeepers

updated 2:00 p.m. ET, Wed., April 22, 2009

It could have played out like a horrible blind date — with a capital "A" for awkward. But instead, polar bears Bill and Lara swam, played and bear-hugged on their first meeting at Lara’s place, the Zoom Erlebniswelt zoo, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The sweet twosome were set up by zookeepers who had hoped the pair would react just as they did, putting them on the path to happily ever after and — ultimately — to producing a bear cub.

Bill clocked some serious miles to woo this special lady; he came all the way from Zoo Brno in Bruenn, Czech Republic. And the Czechs will definitely miss him: Since their births in 2007, Bill and his brother Tom have been huge hits there. The two were products themselves of an arranged polar bear mating, with mom Cora (who now lives in Brno) and dad Umca in Kazakhstan.

Tom also was sent out to follow the family tradition of being a stud, but his arrival in Prague to meet Berta was a bust. “It was obvious that Tom was very nervous,” the Portal of Prague reported. “He banged his paws on the cage. He had not been given any sedatives for the journey, neither had he been bribed by some kind of treat.”

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30386163/

Outbreak in Mexico, U.S. tied to new swine flu

Source of unique virus a mystery; CDC expects more cases

updated 37 minutes ago

The unique strain of swine flu found in seven people in California and Texas has been connected to the deadly flu that has broken out in Mexico, killing as many as 61 people.

The strain has never been seen before and is raising fears of a possible pandemic across North America.

The World Health Organization said the virus that killed at least 12 of the victims in Mexico had the same genetic structure as an outbreak discovered in California.

“It is a virus that mutated from pigs and then at some point was transmitted to humans,” Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said.

It first looked mostly like a swine virus but closer analysis showed it is a never-before-seen mixture of swine, human and avian viruses.

Cordova said additional suspected cases were still being tested. Mexico's Public Health Department put the total number of people sickened at close to 1,000 nationwide.

Cordova said in Mexico the virus has killed only people among the normally less-vulnerable young and mid-adult age range. One possibility is that the most vulnerable segments of the population — infants and the aged — had been vaccinated against other strains, and that those vaccines may be providing some protection.

Mexico canceled classes for millions of children in its sprawling capital city and surrounding area on Friday.

The White House is closely following the outbreak and President Barack Obama has been informed, an administration official said on Friday.

U.S. health officials said they expect to find more cases of the swine flu as they check people who had contact with the California and Texas patients. All of the seven U.S. victims recovered from the flu.

The swine flu's symptoms are like those of the regular flu, mostly involving fever, cough and sore throat, though some of the seven also experienced vomiting and diarrhea.

"We are very, very concerned," WHO spokesman Thomas Abraham said. "We have what appears to be a novel virus and it has spread from human to human." If international spread is confirmed, that meets WHO's criteria for raising the pandemic alert level, he added.

Growing mystery
The U.S. cases are a growing medical mystery because it's unclear how they caught the virus. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said none of the seven people were in contact with pigs, which is how people usually catch swine flu. And only a few were in contact with each other.

Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said they believe it can spread human-to-human, which is unusual for a swine flu virus.

Still, health officials said it's not a cause for public alarm. Worldwide, seasonal flu kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people in an average year. Plus, testing indicates some mainstream antiviral medications seem to work against the new swine virus.

Health officials have seen mixes of bird, pig and human virus before, but never such an intercontinental combination with more than one pig virus in the mix.

Scientists keep a close eye on flu viruses that emerge from pigs. The animals are considered particularly susceptible to both avian and human viruses and a likely place where the kind of genetic reassortment can take place that might lead to a new form of pandemic flu, said Dr. John Treanor, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

The virus may be something completely new, or it may have been around for a while but was only detected now because of improved lab testing and disease surveillance, CDC officials said.

The virus was first detected in two children in southern California — a 10-year-old boy in San Diego County and a 9-year-old girl in neighboring Imperial County.

The cases were detected under unusual circumstances. One was seen at a Navy clinic that participates in a specialized disease detection network, and the other was caught through a specialized surveillance system set up in border communities, CDC officials said.

On Thursday, investigators said they had discovered five more cases. That includes a father and his teenage daughter in San Diego County, a 41-year-old woman in Imperial County who was the only person hospitalized, and two 16-year-old boys who are friends and live in Guadalupe County, Texas, near San Antonio.

Puzzling cases
The Texas cases are especially puzzling. One of the California cases — the 10-year-old boy — traveled to Texas early this month, but that was to Dallas, about 270 miles northeast of San Antonio. He did not travel to the San Antonio area, Schuchat said.

The two 16-year-olds had not traveled recently, Texas health officials said.

CDC are not calling it an outbreak, a term that suggests ongoing illnesses. It's not known if anyone is getting sick from the virus right now, CDC officials said.

It's also not known if the seasonal flu vaccine that Americans got last fall and early this year protects against this type of virus. People should wash their hands and take other customary precautions, CDC officials said.

The Mexican government warned people not to shake hands or kiss when greeting or share food, glasses or cutlery for fear of contracting the flu.

Mexico City, one of the world's biggest cities and home to some 20 million people, was quieter than usual on Friday morning. Normally choking traffic was less chaotic in the absence of school buses and parents driving kids to school.

Many people waiting to enter subway stations had their faces covered with surgical masks.

Yikes


this sounds nasty.

Do ya hear that MIKE2007.... No eating pork

CDC update, Swine flu

Swine Influenza (Flu)

Swine Flu website last updated April 28, 2009 11:00 AM ET
U.S. Human Cases of Swine Flu Infection
(As of April 27, 2009 1:00 PM ET) State # of laboratory
confirmed cases
California 10 cases
Kansas 2 cases
New York City 45 cases
Ohio 1 case
Texas 6 cases
TOTAL COUNT 64 cases
International Human Cases of Swine Flu Infection
See: World Health OrganizationExternal Web Site Policy.

The human swine flu outbreak continues to grow in the United States and internationallly. Today, CDC reports additional cases of confirmed swine influenza and a number of hospitalizations of swine flu patients. Internationally, the situation is more serious too, with additional countries reporting confirmed cases of swine flu. In response to the intensifying outbreak, the World Health Organization raised the worldwide pandemic alert level to Phase 4External Web Site Policy.. A Phase 4 alert is characterized by confirmed person-to-person spread of a new influenza virus able to cause “community-level” outbreaks.” The increase in the pandemic alert phase indicates that the likelihood of a pandemic has increased.

There have been recent unconfirmed reports from other countries that those that died of the disease have become zombies. This indicates the disease has taken a more sinister turn. The activities of those infected have not been reported. The originating agency of this new development has not responded to further inquiry.

Thanks for the update Davdah

USA should be getting serious about people sneaking into the country now. It is unfair for us to be exposed to new undocumented for this reason alone.