Twenty-five vessels and 560 people are currently being held for ransom by pirates. Continuing to expand their geographical reach, pirates are the maritime industry. Mixed opinions about how best to moderate the effects of piracy were revealed during a Wednesday session at the 2011 Breakbulk Europe Transportation Conference and Exhibition.
Dirk Steffen, Director of Consultancy for Risk Intelligence, outlined the extent of the problem, saying that one out of every five pirate attacks is successful.
Pirate tactics continue to evolve. For example, many have managed to extend the period of time during which they can attack, Steffen said. Until late last year most piracy attacks were linked directly to the monsoon season, but now there is a new tactic in that the Somali pirates are capturing large fishing vessels and using them as mother ships, which enables them to continue operating in monsoon-hit areas.
In another twist, the main “commodity” captured is now considered to be the crew rather than the vessel, Steffen said. In several cases vessels have been captured and later set adrift once the pirates had taken the crew prisoner. Continue reading “Somali Pirates Still Going Strong”
There’s already been some trouble for Osama bin Laden in the afterlife.There was a mix up and he was greeted by 72 vegans.
President Obama gave the order for Navy SEALs to kill bin Laden. When President Bush heard about it, he was really upset, saying, ‘I could have used seals?
It should be pointed out that on the same night Obama was sending a SEAL team to kill Osama Bin Laden, his potential opponent in 2012, Donald Trump was busy firing Playmate of the Month Hope Dworaczyk.
I suppose I should be expressing some ambivalence about the targeted killing of another human being. And yet, in this case — uhhhh, no. I’m good with it.
Apparently there is some controversy over Bin Laden’s last words. One report said that they were: “Damn it! ‘What on earth could be interrupting ‘Celebrity Apprentice?!”
Donald Trump is going to make an announcement about running for President on the season finale of ‘Celebrity Apprentice.’ Not to be outdone, on the same night the Cake Boss will reveal his plan for overhauling Medicare.
But most seem to
think that his last words were probably more along the lines of what what most Somali pirates, Al Qaeda bigwigs, and other bad guys usually say when hearing that a SEAL team has come out to play.. : “Oh, crap!”
Bin Laden’s Headstone
BIN LADEN STILL DEAD
Trump takes credit, reports being “proud of myself.”
Bin Laden and his security team are usually much more vigilant, but they were all distracted watching Royal Wedding highlights.
The Republicans will credit extension of the Bush tax cuts for the success of the mission.
Klan wizard Donald Trump and his Buffoons of Bigotry Brigade (they need a new name now that ‘Birthers’ is passe) will claim it’s a hoax and demand to see the long-form death certificate.
“I’ve never wished a man dead . . . but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure” – Mark Twain
SEAL Team Six: When you care enough to send the very best
SEAL team Six has an official motto: “The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday”.They also have an unofficial motto (I’m not making this up) which they refer to as WGMATTS. The acronym is for “We get more @ss than toilet seats”. Hey, what do you expect? These are hard-core, to-the-death fighters on a team so black-ops that it technically doesn’t exist. For them, on most missions, like this last one, failure is not an option. It’s either succeed or you don’t come home.So the unofficial motto is part of a darkly macho sense of humor that keeps them going.
They are the best of the best at what they do, and they fight the worst of the worst, and we’re d@mn fortunate to have them on our side. And as far as this American is concerned, lads . . . get some . . . you’ve earned it.
WORLD NEWS
LAST-MINUTE PROBLEMS NEARLY TORPEDOED ROYAL WEDDING
Queen reportedly was upset by learning that the couple have decided to have an open marriage.
Foreign Minister Says Japan Once Again Open for Business
Crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant rebranded as tourist attraction.
Iran: Ahmadinejad Rumored Stepping Down
According to publicist for “Dancing With the Stars.”
U.S. to Give Libyan Rebels $25 Million in Non-Lethal Aid
Half in tanning technology, half in acting classes.
McCain Pushing Libyan Escalation
“Roughly a half-million U.S. troops and it will be a cakewalk.”
ALSO IN THE NEWS . . .
Visitors, Banned for 20 Years, Once Again Allowed in Leaning Tower of Pisa
Catastrophic accident insurance now included in price of admission.
(from The Onion) Vatican Beatifies John Paul II As Patron Saint of Ignoring a Serious Problem Until You Die
The male body – said to date back to between 2900-2500BC – was discovered buried in a way normally reserved only for women of the Corded Ware culture in the Copper Age.
The skeleton was found in a Prague suburb in the Czech Republic with its head pointing eastwards and surrounded by domestic jugs, rituals only previously seen in female graves.
“What we see here doesn’t add up to traditional Corded Ware cultural norms. The grave in Terronska Street in Prague 6 is interred on its left side with the head facing the West. An oval, egg-shaped container usually associated with female burials was also found at the feet of the skeleton. None of the objects that usually accompany male burials  such as weapons, stone battle axes and flint knives  were found in the grave.
“We believe this is one of the earliest cases of what could be described as a ‘transsexual’ or ‘third gender grave’ in the Czech Republic,” archaeologist Katerina Semradova told a press conference on Tuesday.
She said that archeologists had uncovered an earlier case dating from the Mesolithic period where a female warrior was buried as a man
Here, Qaddafi poses with his second wife, Safia, and some of his children in November 1986 near the Bab Aziza palace in Libya, destroyed in a U.S. air raid. Qaddafi has eight biological children, seven of them sons, many of them embracing, in one way or another, the Western values that their father hated (and has railed against). But with his regime under fire, the Qaddafi children have been among their father’s most ardent supporters, in many ways rejecting their past inclinations toward reform and partnership with the West.
Mohamed Bouazizi was 10 years old when he became the main provider for his family, selling fresh produce in the local market. He stayed in high school long enough to sit his baccalaureate exam, but did not graduate. (He never attended university, contrary to what many news organisations have reported).
Bouazizi’s father died when he was three years old. His elder brother lives away from the family, in Sfax. Though his mother remarried, her second husband suffers from poor health and is unable to find regular work.
“He didn’t expect to study, because we didn’t have the money,” his mother said.
At age of 19, Mohamed halted his studies in order to work fulltime, to help offer his five younger siblings the chance to stay in school.
“My sister was the one in university and he would pay for her,” Samya Bouazizi, one of his sisters, said. “And I am still a student and he would spend money on me.”
He applied to join the army, but was refused, as were other successive job applications. With his family dependant on him, there were few options other than to continue going to market.
By all accounts, Bouazizi, just 26 when he died earlier this month, was honest and hardworking. Every day, he would take his wooden cart to the supermarket and load it would fruit and vegetables. Then he would walk it more than two kilometres to the local souk.
Police abuse
And nearly everyday, he was bullied by local police officers.
