Pirates in the News! February 29, 2008

Ahrrrr, News.

Since I am writing to all of you from America, in the grand tradition of American news outlets I'll lead with the Oscars.

Best Actor Winner, Daniel Day Lewis sets new Pirate Earring Trend.

Ok, now to harder news,

Nigeria, how pirate your news is, The Nigerian Navy has been assuring the world that they have their pirate problem under control, and in recent weeks, there have been many reports of pirates killed and captured in raids. Despite these reports, the Lagos newspaper, Vanguard, is suggesting that all these assurances are simply politicking to comfort the business sector. Some of the pirate attacks in Nigeria's Bonny Channel have been attributed to the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND).

According to a statement from the official address of MEND, signed by Gbomo Jomo, MEND's "freelance fighters" carried out the attack.In another response to THIS DAY inquiries, MEND said it was true that it has acquired sophisticated weapons with which it hopes to battle the Nigerian State to a standstill and promised to hit only military targets.

A Russian-British Tugboat, the Switser-Korsakov is being held by pirates in Mogadishu with its entire crew. Many are worried about the state of the crew:

The situation is even more complicated as the age of the tugboat’s captain is 70 years, chief engineer – 67 that may negatively affects their health in case of long captivity.

Many questions surround the ship's capture, including, what will the Russian Federation do to help?

Meteorologists are concerned about pirates stealing high-tech and highly important Tsunami Warning Buoys near Indonesia. They have been working with the Indonesian Government to increase patrols in the area. If the buoys are stolen then millions are at risk, early warning being humans' only defense against Tsunamis.

The Cougar Ace, a deep sea cargo transport capsized off Alaska and was the subject of rescue attempts documented in Wired. The story is great, and so are the images.