Pirates hijack tanker off Somali coast

Pirates off Somalia’s coast have hijacked a chemical tanker with a North Korean crew, European naval forces reported.

The MV Theresa VIII, owned by a Virgin Islands company and operated from Singapore, was seized in the Indian Ocean on Monday, according to a statement from the European Union Naval Force Somalia whose charge includes combating maritime piracy.

Theresa VIII, carrying a crew of 28 North Koreans, was heading for Mombasa, Kenya, but was hijacked in the South Somali Basin.

Somalia’s transitional government has been unable to stop pirates, many of whom are based in the country’s port cities. That has prompted Western countries to step up martime patrols.

Pirate attack off the coast of east Africa have significantly increasde this year, according to the International Maritime Bureau, which monitors shipping crimes. But seccessful aatacks have declined as a result of the strong presence of international monitors.

From January 1 till September 30 this year, pirates worldwide mounted 306 attacks, compared with 293 in all of 2008. More than half of this year’s attacks were carried out by suspected Somali pirates off the east coast of Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden, a major shopping route between Yemen and Somalia.

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‘Tweeters’ to report Atlantis launch

Fingers will be flying when space shuttle Atlantis blasts off Monday. About 100 of NASA’s geekiest fans will be on hand, pecking away at iPhones, BlackBerrys, laptops and other Twittering gadgets.

They plan to let loose with electronic messages – provided they aren’t so swept away by the afternoon liftoff that they fall uncharacteristically silent for a moment or two.

NASA estimates the 100 have more than 150,000 Twitter followers. It’s a dream outreach program for a space agency looking to drm up support.

Astronauts have been tweeting from Earth and orbit since spring. While NASA already has held a few of the tweetups — so-called meet ups of people who use Twitter — it’s the first for Kennedy Space Center, a high-security area requiring government clearance.

Even the most staid NASA types see the benefit of reaching out to a younger, hipper crowd.

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