The captain of a chemical tanker captured by Somali pirates this week off the Seychelles with 28 North Koreans on board has died of his wounds after being shot, a pirate told AFP yesterday. "The captain has passed away due to the injuries he sustained earlier," said Abdi Mohamoud Samatar, a pirate close to the gang which captured the MV Theresa VIII on November 16. (AFP)
Madoff yachts sold
Three yachts owned by Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff, his wife's Mercedes and another boat belonging to his finance chief have been sold for two million dollars, auctioneers said yesterday.
Proceeds will be used by the government to compensate victims of Mr Madoff's fraud, said National Liquidators, a leading US auctioneer of yachts, that carried out the sale at its marina in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Mr Madoff's main yacht Bull, a 55-foot vessel, sold for $700,000; Sitting Bull, a 38-footer, went for 320,000; and 23-footer Little Bull for 21,000, the company said.
Dorothy Jo, the yacht that belonged to Mr Madoff finance chief Frank DiPasquali, flew off the block for $950,000, while Ruth Madoff's wheels a 1999 CLK 320 fetched 30,000. (AFP)
Obama meets half brother in China
US President Barack Obama took time out of his busy diplomatic schedule in China to meet with his half-brother, who lives in the southern part of the country, but only for five minutes.
Mr Obama had the brief meeting with Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo, who had the same, late, father as the US President, a White House official said.
Ms Ndesandjo has kept a low public profile since reports surfaced last year that he was living and working in the southern Chinese capitalist and manufacturing haven of Shenzhen, around an hour's train ride from Hong Kong.
He made a rare public appearance earlier this month in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, to launch a novel he said drew on his painful childhood under an abusive father. (Reuters)
'9/11 plotter will be executed'
President Barack Obama predicted yesterday that alleged September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be convicted and put to death, as a top aide urged Americans to trust their courts and not "cower" from terrorists.
Mr Obama, speaking to NBC television during a trip to Asia, predicted that anger at the planned civilian trial for Sheikh Mohammed would fall away "when he's convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him". (AFP)
Mass grave discovered
Remains believed to be those of victims of the Srebrenica massacre were found yesterday in a new mass grave located near the eastern Bosnian town, an official quoted by the FENA news agency said.
The grave, measuring 25 by three metres, is "secondary", meaning that the victims' remains were moved there from other sites in a bid to cover up the crime, local prosecutor Fatima Hadzibeganovic said. (AFP)
Gay spy trial
A trial opened in Germany yesterday with all the elements of a 21st century spy thriller: the Balkan criminal underworld, leaking of state secrets and careless pillow-talk to a gay lover.
Officially, the details are sketchy, but according to media reports, the tale began when former soldier Anton K., now 42, was posted to Kosovo in 2005, officially to work for the German foreign ministry.
In reality, however, the real job of K., whose full name has not been released, was to set up a network of informants on behalf of the German secret service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), reports say.
In doing so, he recruited a Macedonian man who said he grew up in Germany, Murat A., now 29, to be an interpreter and translator, an appointment approved by BND headquarters after background security checks.
The working relationship continued for two years, and in 2007 K.'s job was extended for two years, but he failed to mention to his superiors the nature of their personal relationship: they had became lovers and had moved in together. (AFP)
Dutch child porn suspect
A former manager of an Indian orphanage protested his innocence as he appeared in court yesterday charged with producing child pornography.
"I did not commit any crime... I just want to get back to The Netherlands," Dutch national Will Heum told reporters as he left a city court here that sent him back to jail until December 2 when his pre-trial hearing will resume.
Mr Heum was picked up from his home in Chennai earlier this month after the Britain-based Child Exploitation Online Protection Centre alerted Interpol. (AFP)