Suspected
Somali pirates fired on a U.S. Navy warship off East Africa early
Thursday in what appeared to be a ransom-seeking attack on an
American guided missile frigate, officials said.
The USS Nicholas returned fire on the pirate skiff, sinking it
and confiscating a nearby mothership. The Navy took five pirates
into custody, said Navy Lt. Patrick Foughty, a spokesman.
International naval forces have stepped up their enforcement of
the waters off East Africa in an effort to thwart a growing pirate
trade.
Last May, pirates chased a U.S. Navy warship and fired small arms
fire at it. The ship, which had recently served as a prison for
captured pirates, increased speed and evaded the attack. French
and Dutch naval ships also have been attacked by pirates, said
Roger Middleton, a piracy expert at the British think tank Chatham
House.
Philippine beauty ejected from Miss Universe contest
Tourist falls to his death into a active
volcano
The Philippines' entry for the Miss Universe beauty
pageant has been disqualified after local organisers discovered
she was born overseas and out of wedlock, a contest official said
Wednesday.
Maria Venus Raj, 21, was set to represent her country in August
and begin charity work after winning the Miss Philippines-Universe
competition early this month.
But the journalism graduate was stripped of her title on Monday
after the foundation that runs the local competition discovered
she had been born in Qatar to an Indian man who was not married
to her Filipina mother.
Her birth certificate stated she was born in the Philippines
to married Filipinos.
"We found out about the inconsistencies after the coronation
night," Lilia Ambay, of Miss Philippines-Universe Charity
Incorporated, told AFP.
She was stripped of her position not due to citizenship issues
but because her birth certificate contained false information,
Ambay said.
A runner-up will replace Raj in the Miss Universe contest, Ambay
added.
Miss Philippines is a highly prestigious title and winners often
go on to lucrative modelling or showbiz careers.
BALI, Indonesia – A Swedish tourist fell to
his death into the crater of an active volcano Wednesday on the
Indonesian resort island of Bali.
The 25-year-old man and two friends were on a pre-dawn hike along
the rim of the crater of 5,633-foot (1,717-meter) Mount Batur
when he fell in, local police chief Capt. Made Oka said.
Rescuers spotted the man's body inside the dry crater at a depth
of about 500 feet (150 meters), Oka said. Officials believe the
man did not survive the initial impact of the fall.
"Rescuers are now in the process of evacuating the body,"
Oka said, adding that poor weather around the crater may slow
the efforts.
Mount Batur, which has erupted 26 times since 1840, is about
40 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of the provincial capital,
Denpasar. It last erupted in 2000 and is considered an active
volcano. It regularly lets off steam.
Oka said the route the tourists were hiking is considered safe
and accidents there are uncommon.
