A man who has sailed the wrong way round the world to avoid pirates will get a hero’s welcome when he sails in to his home town this weekend.

The US navy has deployed a second aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf amid rising tensions with Iran over its nuclear programme.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards will hold new naval exercises in the strategic Strait of Hormuz in February, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Iran’s navy says it has test-fired a medium-range surface-to-air missile during a drill in international waters near the strategic Strait of Hormuz – the passageway for one-sixth of the world’s oil supply.

A NAVAL Service investigation into personnel moonlighting on anti-pirate missions off the coast of Somalia has resulted in one member of the force being disciplined.

PASSPORTS and naval service records are being checked as part of an inquiry into claims that members of the force have been moonlighting as anti-piracy guards on ships passing off the Horn of Africa.

AN investigation has been launched into allegations that some naval service personnel have been moonlighting as security guards on cargo ships and oil tankers sailing off the pirate-ridden coast of Somalia.

YEMENI President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 32-year rule seems near collapse. His exit would spell uncertainty for his broken country and discomfiture for US and Saudi friends, still backing their “ally” against al-Qaida.

Pirates holding three children and their parents have said they will kill them if any rescue attempt is made.

Fears are growing for four Americans whose yacht was captured a by pirates in the Indian Ocean off the Somali coast.

The EU’s piracy task force says Somali pirates have hijacked a cargo ship with 22 Syrians and two Egyptians onboard, the EU’s piracy task force said today.

FIVE Somali men were sentenced to prison yesterday for attacking a Dutch-Antilles-flagged cargo ship with automatic weapons and a rocket-propelled grenade, in the first piracy case to come to trial in Europe in modern times.

The crew of a cargo ship captured by Somali pirates pounced on their sleeping captors today, disarming them and killing five before regaining control of their vessel which had been hijacked almost three months earlier, officials said.

A UK-flagged tanker seized by Somali pirates has been released after a ransom was paid, it was announced today.

Private security guards aboard a merchant ship off the coast of East Africa fired on and killed a Somali raider after a group of pirates attacked their vessel, it emerged today.

International military chiefs signalled a new, more aggressive strategy against piracy, as swarms of Somalis moved into the waters off East Africa.

Danish special forces today stormed a ship captured by armed Somali pirates and freed the 25 crew on board, an EU naval spokesman said, marking the first time a warship has intervened during a hijacking.

Sea attacks worldwide surged 39% to 406 cases, the highest in six years, with Somali pirates' raids on vessels accounting for more than half of the piracy, a maritime watchdog said today.

A cargo ship sailing under a British flag has been hijacked by Somali pirates.

A MAN tried to board a commercial airliner in Mogadishu last month carrying powdered chemicals, liquid and a syringe that could have caused an explosion in a case bearing chilling similarities to the terrorist plot to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner, officials told reporters yesterday.

A Somali national tried to board a commercial airliner in Mogadishu last month with powdered chemicals, liquid and a syringe that together could have caused an explosion, officials said today.

PIRATES seized a British-flagged chemical tanker and a Panamanian-flagged carrier off Somalia’s coast and were holding 45 crew members yesterday, a maritime official has said.

“No direct contact” has been made with a UK-flagged tanker attacked by Somali pirates since it was seized, the ship’s managers said today.

A UK-flagged tanker has been seized by Somali pirates, it was reported today.

A hijacked Chinese cargo ship and 25 sailors were rescued today, two months after they were seized by pirates off the lawless Somali coast, it was reported.

Somali pirates have seized an oil supertanker in an attack that could pose a huge environmental or security threat.

Five Somali pirates were captured after attacking a French warship they mistook for a freighter today.

THE UN refugee agency says 16 African migrants died and another 49 are missing presumed dead after trying to cross the Gulf of Aden in three boats.

Somali pirates tried but failed to hijack a North Korean cargo ship when crew members fought back with Molotov cocktails and sped away, a maritime official said today.

The UN refugee agency says 16 African migrants have died and another 49 are missing and presumed dead after trying to cross the Gulf of Aden in three boats.

A group of Egyptian fishermen who were kidnapped by pirates off the Somali coast four months ago and managed to overpower their captors sailed home to a hero's welcome today, but some details of their dramatic escape remained a mystery.

A Turkish shipping company says three Somali pirates have boarded one of its ships in the Gulf of Aden.

SOMALI pirates have released the entire crew of a Belgian ship seized 10 weeks ago after a ransom was paid, the Belgian government has saidSunday.

Somali pirates have released the entire crew of a Belgian ship seized 10 weeks ago after a ransom was paid, the Belgian government said today.

A FRENCH naval vessel intercepted 11 suspected pirates travelling off the Somali coast yesterday in two assault vessels and a so-called “mothership” loaded with Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers, the French Defence Ministry said.

NATO forces foiled an attack by Somali pirates on a Norwegian oil tanker, and briefly detained seven gunmen after hunting them down under cover of darkness, Nato officials said yesterday.

Somali pirates attacked a tanker in the Gulf of Aden today, but Nato forces chased them down and freed 20 Yemeni fisherman the pirates were holding on another hijacked boat.

Somali pirates seized a second ship in less than 24 hours in the Gulf of Aden today.

Somali pirates have hijacked another vessel in the Horn of Africa, a freighter seized overnight in the Gulf of Aden, maritime security contractors said today.

ONE man’s violent revolution to end oppression is another man’s treason.

Pirate hostages were feared at risk of a violent backlash from their captors today in the wake of the successful freeing of an American merchant captain.

The French navy stormed a French boat being held by pirates off the coast of Somalia and one hostage was killed in the operation, officials said today.

FBI hostage negotiators have been called to help end the stand-off with Somali pirates holding a US ship captain hostage on the high seas.