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Uncategorized Yemen, across the Gulf of Aden, is reportedly where the pirates get most of their weapons from.
A significant number are also bought directly from the Somali capital, Mogadishu.
Observers say Mogadishu weapon dealers receive deposits for orders via a “hawala” company – an informal money transfer system based on honour.
Militiamen then drive the arms north to the pirates in Puntland, where they are paid the balance on delivery.
It has been reported in the past that wealthy businessmen in Dubai were financing the pirates.
But the BBC’s Somali Service says these days it is the businessmen asking the pirates for loans.
Such success is a great attraction for Puntland’s youngsters, who have little hope of alternative careers in the war-torn country.
Once a pirate makes his fortune, he tends to take on a second and third wife – often very young women from poor nomadic clans, who are renowned for their beauty.
But not everyone is smitten by Somalia’s new elite.
“This piracy has a negative impact on several aspects of our life in Garowe,” resident Mohamed Hassan laments.
He cites an escalating lack of security because “hundreds of armed men” are coming to join the pirates.
They have made life more expensive for ordinary people because they “pump huge amounts of US dollars” into the local economy which results in fluctuations in the exchange rate, he says.
Their lifestyle also makes some unhappy.
“They promote the use of drugs – chewing khat [a stimulant which keeps one alert] and smoking hashish – and alcohol,” Mr Hassan says.
The trappings of success may be new, but piracy has been a problem in Somali waters for at least 10 years – when Somali fishermen began losing their livelihoods.
Their traditional fishing methods were no match for the illegal trawlers that were raiding their waters.
Piracy initially started along Somalia’s southern coast but began shifting north in 2007 – and as a result, the pirate gangs in the Gulf of Aden are now multi-clan operations.
But Garowe resident Abdulkadil Mohamed says, they do not see themselves as pirates.
“Illegal fishing is the root cause of the piracy problem,” he says.
“They call themselves coastguards.”
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Uncategorized The current favoured method of “making the drop” is to charter a plane and parachute the money in a container onto the deck of the ship.
Security firms say the expertise to make that happen is costly.
So too is the expense of insuring themselves in case they mistakenly plunge the money into the ocean.
But despite the obvious hazards, it is thought to be less risky than delivering the money by boat.
“When you deliver it by sea you need more armed people on board because there is a risk of being attacked by more pirates which actually happened on a few sea drops that were done,” says Mr Bonnissen.
On top of all this there is the amount of lost revenue while the vessel is out of action to consider
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Uncategorized The Pope, who is 82, is said to have a particular interest in Newman and to support his canonisation, he said.
Earlier this year, Pope Benedict approved as a miracle the cure of a US Roman Catholic deacon from a crippling spinal disease, bringing Cardinal Newman, who died in 1890, one step closer to sainthood.
Deacon Jack Sullivan, who is to visit Britain in November, said he became completely free of pain after praying to Cardinal Newman in 2001.
It is not yet known when and where Pope Benedict will visit but our correspondent said it was likely to be another six-day trip.
He said there was a possibility that the Pope might visit Northern Ireland – unlike Pope John II who, on his visit to the Irish Republic in 1982, prayed for an end to sectarian violence in the North.
Pope Benedict’s visit would only be the second by a head of the Catholic Church since Henry VIII declared himself head of the church in England more than 500 years ago.
There are an estimated 4.2 million Catholics in England and Wales.
The National Secular Society said it was planning demonstrations against the visit in protest at what it called Pope Benedict’s “intransigence and fundamentalism”.
A spokesman for the society said it would “make clear to the Pope that whatever celebrations the government lays on for him, he is not welcomed here by everyone”.
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Uncategorized A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of his wife at their north London home.
Police found the body of Katherine Ellerbeck, 46, of Canford Close, Enfield, at the address on Friday.
A post-mortem examination revealed she died as a result of asphyxiation and manual compression of the neck.
Neil Ellerbeck, 45, also of Canford Close, was arrested at the scene. He was remanded in custody at a hearing at Enfield Magistrates’ Court.
He will appear for a preliminary hearing at the Old Bailey on 23 February.
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Uncategorized Mr Blunkett wrote: “I do not usually comment on the tariff decided in individual life sentence prisoner cases.
“However I recognise that Harold Shipman’s crimes raise issues of particular public concern and I therefore intend to depart from my usual practice in this case.
“I extend my deepest sympathies to the families and friends of the victims.
“These were the most heinous of offences and the grossest breach of the duty of trust he owed as a doctor to the victims, all of whom were trusting patients.
“Taking all the circumstances into account I have decided that nothing less than a whole life tariff should apply in this case.”
James Purnell, the Labour MP for Stalybridge and Hyde, where Shipman committed many of his crimes, welcomed Mr Blunkett’s announcement.
Mr Purnell said: “I am reassured that David Blunkett has made clear today in answer to my Parliamentary question that Harold Shipman should never be released.
“This will be of some comfort to the families of those he murdered at this sensitive time when they await the findings of Dame Janet Smith next week.”
The case of Kathleen Grundy first brought Shipman’s activities to the attention of the police.
Shipman murdered Mrs Grundy, an 81-year-old former mayoress, at her home then forged her will to make himself the sole beneficiary of her estate.
Mrs Grundy’s daughter Angela Woodruff raised the alarm and contacted police.
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