11 Indian sailors on small boat hijacked off Somali coast

Somali pirates have seized a small boat, and its 11 Indian crew members, and taken the vessel to along the central coast, a state official said Monday. It is the latest ship targeted by Somalia's resurgent hijackers.

The pirates on Monday afternoon anchored the sailboat on the coast off Elhur, 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Hobyo, which was a center of the piracy that was rampant several years ago, said Ahmed Mohamed, an official with the Somali state of Galmudug.

Somali pirates release oil tanker and crew, officials say

Somali pirates who seized a Comoros-flagged oil tanker earlier this week after five years without a major hijacking in the region have released the ship and its crew without conditions, officials said late Thursday.

Security official Ahmed Mohamed told The Associated Press the pirates disembarked the ship, which was heading to Bossaso port, the region's commercial hub, with its eight Sri Lankan crew members aboard.

Somali pirates demand ransom for oil tanker, EU force says

Armed men are demanding a ransom for the release of an oil tanker they have seized off the coast of Somalia and the crew is being held captive, the European Union anti-piracy operation in the region announced late Tuesday.

An EU Naval Force statement said the operation had finally made contact with the ship's master, who confirmed that armed men were aboard the Comoros-flagged tanker Aris 13.

Bollywood actress tear gassed during botched Paris robbery

Bollywood actress Mallika Sherawat and partner Cyrille Auxenfans were the targets of a botched robbery attempt involving tear gas in a wealthy area of Paris, the Paris prosecutor's office said Thursday.

Suspected robbers attacked the couple last Friday night in the building where Auxenfans lives in Paris' 16th arrondissement but fled empty-handed, according to spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre.