theSun | WEDNESDAY APRIL 8 2009
news without borders
Somali pirates on
hijacking spree
NAIROBI: Somali pirates seized
ships from France, Britain,
Germany, Taiwan and Yemen,
defying world naval powers by
prowling further out in the Indian
Ocean to target victims.
Ransom-hunting pirates
equipped with skiffs, guns and
grapnels took five ships in 48
hours, the two latest on Monday
targeting a British cargo ship and
a Taiwanese fishing vessel.
At least 17 ships and more
than 250 hostages are now in
pirate hands.
“There were two more hijack-
ings today. There is one Italian-
operated British-owned ship
and a Taiwanese vessel near the
Seychelles,” an official involved
in regional piracy monitoring told
AFP on condition of anonymity.
The Seychelles government
said it received a distress call
saying that a Taiwanese fishing
vessel, the MV Winfar 161, and
its 29 crew was hijacked in its
exclusive economic zone, north
of Denis island.
Transport Minister Joel Mor-
gan said military forces had been
deployed to intercept the pirates,
amid reports that three more
Taiwanese ships were trying to
escape capture.
The information centre of the
European Union’s anti-piracy
naval mission Atalanta confirmed
the hijacking of the British Pana-
briefs
Ex-president Fujimori
found guilty
LIMA: Peruvian former president
Alberto Fujimori, 70, was yesterday
declared guilty by a special court in
Lima on charges of murder by an
army death squad and kidnapping
during his rule in the 1990s.
“The charges have been proved
beyond all reasonable doubt,”
chief judge Cesar San Martin said.
“Thus the verdict is a conviction,”
he said.
The finding sealed a high-profile
16-month trial of Fujimori, who had
persistently declared his innocence
and claimed he was the victim of
political vengeance. Rights groups
welcomed the trial result. – AFP
British govt website
linked to porn site
LONDON: Britain’s interior min-
istry homepage was mistakenly
linked to a Japanese pornography
website, a government spokes-
man said on Monday. The Home
Office, which has since removed
the link, was alerted to the issue
by the BBC on Monday after a
private internet user informed
the broadcaster.
“It was a link from the Home
Office website to the Technical
Advisory Board, which is an ex-
ternal website,” said a ministry
spokesman. “It is their website
that was hacked and re-directed
to a porn site.” – AFP
Prisoner found in
pieces in Mexican jail
MEXICO CITY: Prison guards found
the chopped up body of a convicted
drug trafficker in three black bin
bags in a central Mexico jail, a state
9
ma-flagged Malaspina Castle.
“A 32,000 tonne UK-owned
and Italian-operated bulk carrier
was hijacked early this morning
in the Gulf of Aden. Few details
are known at this stage, but the
mixed nationality crew are be-
lieved to be safe,” it said.
The maritime administration
in Sofia said 16 crew members
were Bulgarians.
Ecoterra International, an
environment group monitoring
illegal marine activities in the re-
gion, reported that a small French
yacht was captured Saturday
about 640km off Ras Hafun in
northeast Somalia and was head-
ing towards Somali Puntland.
The French foreign ministry
said it was checking the report
but Ecoterra said brief satellite
phone contact was made with the
vessel on Sunday.
“Local marine observers
stated that the attack was report-
edly launched from a captured
Yemeni fishing vessel” in the
Indian Ocean, Ecoterra’s state-
ment said.
A French official in Paris said
the hostages were two couples
and a small child.
Hundreds of ransom-hunting
Somali pirates have hijacked
dozens of ships over the past
year, mostly merchant vessels
plying one of the world’s busiest
maritime trade routes. – AFP
official said on Monday.
Authorities at the facility in Mi-
choacan state found the body of a
36-year-old prisoner late on Sunday,
after he was discovered missing
from a roll call, said an official from
the state prosecutor’s office.
“They found him in pieces,” he
said, adding that prison officials had
opened investigations on his death.
– AFP
Second Singaporean
in coma after food
poisoning
SINGAPORE: A second Singapore
woman has gone into a coma af-
ter suffering acute food poisoning
a day after the first victim’s death,
media reports said yesterday.
Noraini Kasim, 59, is in a coma at
a local hospital after having eaten
from a local food stall last week.
Comatose Aminah Samijo, 57,
died on Monday in hospital, and
Rosiah Samat, 38, lost her two-
month-old foetus in a miscar-
riage caused by a serious bout of
diarrhoea and bleeding brought
on after eating the same food.
The highly popular food stall is
under investigation. – dpa
Banker convicted of
groping woman in bar
HONGKONG: A senior HSBC banker
has been convicted of indecent
assault after drunkenly groping a
woman in a Hongkong karaoke bar,
a news report said yesterday.
Michael Chan Chi-wang followed
the 26-year-old woman into the
washroom at the karaoke bar and
grabbed her from behind, groping
her breasts, the HongKong Standard
reported.
Chan begged her not to report
the matter when she alerted the
manager. At a hearing on Monday,
Chan was found guilty of indecent
assault and was sentenced to 160
hours of community service. – dpa