• Indian navy sinks suspected pirate "mother" ship (AP)
    In this Nov. 11, 2008 file photo made available by Indian Navy, Indian warship INS Tabar, right, escorts the MV Jag Arnav ship to safety after rescuing it from a hijack attempt by Somali pirates. The Indian navy says the INS Tabar dedicated to fighting pirates has successfully fought off an attempted pirate attack in the Gulf of Aden, sparking explosions and a fire on the suspected pirate ship late Tuesday, Nov. 18. (AP Photo/Indian Navy, HO, File)AP - The ship, operating off the coast of Oman in the lawless waters of the Gulf of Aden, was crewed by heavily armed men, some carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers. Behind it were a pair of speedboats — the sort pirates often use when they launch attacks on merchant ships in these violent seas.


  • Hungry in Zimbabwe: `If you rest, you starve' (AP)
    A child shows termites caught to eat near Murehwa, Zimbabwe, Sunday, Nov. 16, 2008. Zimbabwe's economy is in crisis, and a political deadlock has left the nation without a functioning government since disputed elections in March. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)AP - Katy Phiri, who is in her 70s, picks up single corn kernels spilled from trucks that ferry the harvest to market. She says she hasn't eaten for three days.


  • Pirate riches turning Somali villages into boomtowns (AP)
    Some of the eight suspected Somali pirates when they appeared before the Mombasa Chief Magistrate Catherine Mwangi , Wednesday, Nov.19 ,.2008 to be charged for piracy. The pirates were not immediately charged as their charged had not been prepared. The suspects were returned to the cells awaiting to be charged ..In an impoverished country where nearly every public institution has crumbled, pirates have transformed local economies in pirate dens like Haradhere and Eyl in northern Somalia, pumping money into areas where there had been little more than fishmongers and women selling magoes by the seashore for the past 20 years. (AP Photo)AP - Somalia's increasingly brazen pirates are building sprawling stone houses, cruising in luxury cars, marrying beautiful women — even hiring caterers to prepare Western-style food for their hostages.


  • Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader insults Obama with racial epithet (AP)
    In a frame from a video provided by IntelCenter, posted on the Internet Thursday, April 13, 2006, al-Qaida's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri praises insurgents in Iraq. Al-Zawahri insulted Barack Obama in the terror group's first reaction to his election, calling him a demeaning racial term implying that the president-elect is a black American who does the bidding of whites. Al-Zawahri said in a message, which appeared on militant Web sites Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008, that Obama is 'the direct opposite of honorable black Americans' like Malcolm X, the 1960s African-American rights leader. (AP Photo/IntelCenter)AP - Al-Qaida's No. 2 leader used a racial epithet to insult Barack Obama in a message posted Wednesday, describing the president-elect in demeaning terms that imply he does the bidding of whites. The message appeared chiefly aimed at persuading Muslims and Arabs that Obama does not represent a change in U.S. policies.


  • Suspected US missile strikes deep inside Pakistan (AP)
    Local children stand beside the rubble of a house hit by suspected U. S. missiles strike in Indi Khel village near Bannu, Pakistan on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008. A suspected U.S. missile strike hit a village well inside Pakistani territory Wednesday, officials said, killing six alleged militants and indicating American willingness to pursue insurgents beyond the lawless tribal regions. (AP Photo/Ijaz Muhammad)AP - The U.S. military apparently struck at Islamic militants outside Pakistan's lawless tribal belt for the first time Wednesday, firing a missile that killed six suspected insurgents taking refuge away from the conflict zone along the Afghan border.