On behalf of everyone at GOAL, I want to express my gratitude to the Irish people for the encouragement and support they gave us during the past year, and since our foundation in 1977.

Russia has urged Nato to investigate civilian deaths in Libya from its bombing campaign, saying the alliance’s claim that there were no non-military casualties is untrue.

SOMALI Islamist rebels have beheaded at least 11 civilians in the capital in the past two weeks, a campaign of terror that residents said is designed to show the insurgency can still act in Mogadishu after withdrawing from their bases there earlier this month.

BRITAIN warned that hundreds of thousands of children could starve to death in Somalia if the international community did not ramp up its response to the famine there.

HUNDREDS of thousands of Somali children could die in the country’s famine unless more help arrives, a top US official said last night as Washington prepared to announce $100 million (€70.34m) in famine aid.

AT the largest refugee camp in the world, Dadaab, in north-eastern Kenya, children are dying within 24 hours of arrival, despite receiving emergency treatment and care.

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.

A Russian submarine is to take part in Nato naval exercises for the first time.

A SOMALI man charged with trying to kill a Dane who caricatured the Prophet Mohammed pleaded not guilty to attempted murder on the first day of his trial yesterday, insisting he had only aimed to scare the cartoonist.

A SOMALI woman refugee was sentenced to nine years in prison in New Zealand after she pleaded guilty to trying to hijack a small domestic airliner.

An explosion in Somalia’s capital has killed at least 20 people, an African Union spokesman said today.

At least 11 civilians and four security officers were today killed in the Somali capital in two separate incidents of violence, an officer and residents said.

TWO rival pirate gangs had a shootout over the ransom to free a supertanker, prompting one side to call the EU anti-piracy force for help.

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.

Somali pirates who are demanding US$7m (€4.7m) in ransom for a British sailing couple said today that boats from other countries are plundering Somalia's fish-rich waters.

RELATIVES of a British couple feared snatched by pirates off the east African coast met the Somali Prime Minister yesterday as family members pleaded for an end to their “bad dream”.

The families of a missing British couple feared to have been hijacked by pirates faced an anxious wait for news today.

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.

Officials said a suicide bomber killed six guards and a civilian at a military base in the Somali capital, an attack that came after two weeks of intense fighting in war-torn Mogadishu.

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

Navy commandos stormed a French sailboat held by pirates off the Somali coast in an assault triggered by threats the passengers would be executed.

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.

A NEW international force to battle pirates off the Somali coast is being formed under American command in an attempt to focus more military resources to protect one of the world’s key shipping lanes, the US Navy said yesterday.

Chinese warships with special forces troops, missiles and helicopters are to join the international anti-piracy mission off Somalia.

Iran has sent a warship to the coast of Somalia to protect its cargo ships against piracy, state radio said today.

In one of the Bush administration’s last major foreign policy initiatives, the US circulated a draft United Nations resolution seeking international authorisation to hunt down Somali pirates on land.

Vulnerable cargo ships off the coast of Somalia may be given their own armed guards by an EU task force being sent to combat the huge surge in piracy there.

PIRATES chased and shot at a US cruise liner with more than 1,000 people on board but failed to hijack the vessel as it sailed along a corridor patrolled by international warships, a maritime official has said.

Pirates near Somalia chased and shot at a US cruise liner with more than 1,000 people on board but failed to hijack the vessel, a maritime official said today.

Two men were arrested today over the kidnapping of a British and a Spanish journalist in Somalia reporting on the region’s pirates.

Tanker owners from around the world today called for a anti-pirate military blockade along the coast of Somalia.

The world’s largest shipping company announced its oil tankers would make a major detour to avoid the pirate-plagued waters off the Somali coast, it was reported today.

MEPs called today for an international effort to counter piracy on the high seas.

An explosion today killed at least 15 people in the Somali capital, Moogadishu, witnesses said.

Crack French troops are being sent to help free the crew of a luxury yacht seized by pirates off Somalia.

The crew of a tug boat that was seized by pirates off Somalia are unharmed and have access to both food and water, the Danish owner said today.

AN IRISH marine engineer is among the multinational crew of a Danish-owned tug boat that has been captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia.

Somalia has agreed to allow the United Nations human rights commissioner to investigate allegations that recent fighting violated international law.

At least 52 people were killed and 120 were wounded in heavy fighting today in the Somali capital, a human rights group and hospital officials said.

Pirates hijacked a cargo ship delivering UN food aid to north-eastern Somalia today, officials said.

A top UN envoy today flew to the Somali capital to discuss plans for an African peacekeeping force with President Abdullahi Yusuf as well as reconciliation among Somalis, a day after parliament voted out its speaker, who was closely associated with the recently ousted Islamic movement.

Somali government troops backed by Ethiopians today prepared to launch a major assault on the last stronghold of Islamic movement militiamen.