ZNAK SAGITE — više od fantastike — edicija, časopis, knjižara...

DEEP RISING, bez Ktulua
i bez trita vilijamsa, očito:

NAIROBI, Kenya – Escalating a dramatic Indian Ocean standoff, more U.S. warships — as well as pirate reinforcements with an international gallery of hostages — rushed Friday toward the spot where four Somali bandits are holding a U.S. sea captain aboard a drifting lifeboat.
The pirates apparently fear being shot or arrested if they hand over Capt. Richard Phillips — captured in a failed effort to seize the Maersk Alabama on Wednesday — and hope to link up with their colleagues who are using Russian, German, Filipino and other hostages captured in recent days as human shields.
U.S. Central Command chief Gen. David Petraeus said U.S. warships also are headed to the area, more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) off Somalia's Indian Ocean coast.
"We want to ensure that we have all the capability that might be needed over the course of the coming days," he said.
Pirates have been holding Phillips hostage aboard the lifeboat since his crew thwarted the attack Wednesday on the 17,000-ton U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama.
Mohamed Samaw, a Somali resident of the pirate stronghold in central Eyl town, who claims to have a "share" in a British-owned ship hijacked Monday, said four foreign ships previously captured by pirates are heading toward the lifeboat. A total of 54 hostages are on two of the ships, citizens of China, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, the Philippines, Tuvalu, Indonesia and Taiwan.
"The pirates have summoned assistance — skiffs and motherships are heading towards the area from the coast," said a Nairobi-based diplomat, who spoke on condition on anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. "We knew they were gathering yesterday."
Samaw said two ships left Eyl on Wednesday afternoon. A third sailed from Haradhere, another pirate base in central Somalia, and the fourth one was a Taiwanese fishing vessel seized Monday that was already only 30 miles (48 kilometers) from the lifeboat.
He said the ships include the German cargo ship Hansa Stavanger, seized earlier this month. The ship's crew of 24 is made up of five Germans, three Russians, two Ukrainians, two Filipinos and 12 Tuvalus.
Another man identified as a pirate by three different residents of Haradhere also said the captured German ship had been sent to the rescue.
"They had asked us for reinforcement and we have already sent a good number of well-equipped colleagues, who were holding a German cargo ship," said the pirate who asked that only his first name, Badow, be used to protect him from reprisals.
"We are not intending to harm the captain, so that we hope our colleagues would not be harmed as long as they hold him," Badow said.
"All we need, first, is a safe route to escape with the captain, and then (negotiate) ransom later," he added.
Phillips thwarted Wednesday's takeover of the Maersk Alabama by telling his crew of about 20 to lock themselves in a room, the crew told stateside relatives.
The crew later overpowered some of the pirates but Phillips, 53, surrendered himself to the bandits to safeguard his men, and four of the Somalis fled with him to an enclosed lifeboat, the relatives said.
At his home, family members maintained a nervous vigil, awaiting word on his fate. Sister-in-law Lea Coggio said Thursday that a representative of Maersk called to let Phillips' wife know that food and water had been delivered to the lifeboat.
"I think he's coping, knowing Richard," she said. "He's a smart guy, and he's in control. "
The freighter that was the target of the pirates headed away from the lifeboat Thursday, Maersk shipping line said, and a teams of armed Navy SEALs is on board, according to a U.S. official who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.
The Alabama was sailing toward the Kenyan port of Mombasa — its original destination — and was expected to arrive Saturday night, said Joseph Murphy, a professor at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy whose son, Shane Murphy, is second-in-command of the vessel.
FBI hostage negotiators started Thursday to work with the U.S. military to secure Phillips' release. The sea captain has a radio and has contacted the Navy and the crew of the Alabama to say he is unharmed, Maersk said. Company spokesman Kevin Speers told AP Radio the lifeboat was out of fuel and "dead in the water."
Most of the lifeboats are about 28 feet (8.5 meters) long and carry water and food for 34 people for 10 days, said Joseph Murphy.
The lifeboats are covered and Murphy, speaking after a briefing by the shipping company, said he suspects the pirates have closed the ports to avoid sniper fire.
Maersk said the lifeboat is within sight of the USS Bainbridge, the Navy destroyer that arrived on the scene earlier Thursday.
Gen. Petraeus said other warships would arrive shortly. U.S. officials said the guided-missile frigate USS Halyburton was among ships en route.
The show of force follows an increase in the number of attacks and the first one on a U.S.-flagged ship. The vessels strengthen surveillance of the area and may dissuade pirates from seizing another ship, but there are not enough to mount a blockade in the danger zone that sprawls across 1.1 million square miles (2.85 million square kilometers), said a senior U.S. defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss operational matters.
The Alabama was the sixth vessel in a week to be hit by pirates who have extorted tens of millions of dollars in ransoms.
U.S. President Barack Obama is getting regular updates on the situation, said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the United States will take whatever steps are needed to protect U.S. shipping interests against pirates.
Steve Romano, a retired head of the FBI hostage negotiation team, said he doesn't recall the FBI ever negotiating with pirates before, but he said this situation is similar to other standoffs. Although pirates release the vast majority of their hostages unharmed, the difficulty will be negotiating with people who clearly have no way out, he said.
"There's always a potential for tragedy here, and when people feel their options are limited, they sometimes react in more unpredictable and violent ways," Romano said.

e, OVO je vrsta piraterije protiv koje se treba boriti!

Jadne jahte, krstarice i tankeri. Najpre su se somalijskoj obali prišunjale razne kompanije i počele da se tu rešavaju svog toksičnog otpada što je za posledicu imalo uništavanje pojasa od koga su ribari živeli. Plus radijacija. Ribu koja je preživela pokupile su ribokradice na veliko i obrnule milione. Tu već imamo danas piratsku školu presretanja, kroz organizovanje ribarske obalske straže, makar da pokušaju da "oporezuju" neke.
Tako uništene obalske naseobine danas doživljavaju ekonomski rast upravo zahvaljujući gusarima...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/20/pirates-transform-village_n_145346.html
...koji su i ekološki svesni:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2008/10/2008109174223218644.html
Kakav bi svet bio da nema pirata?

ipak hepi end!

MOMBASA, Kenya – An American ship captain was freed unharmed Sunday in a U.S. Navy operation that killed three of the four Somali pirates who had been holding him for days in a lifeboat off the coast of Africa, a senior U.S. intelligence official said.

One of the pirates was wounded and in custody after a swift firefight, the official said.

Capt. Richard Phillips, 53, of Underhill, Vermont, was safely transported to a Navy warship nearby.

The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

A government official and others in Somali with knowledge of the situation had reported hours earlier that negotiations for Phillips' release had broken down.

The district commissioner of the central Mudug region said talks went on all day Saturday, with clan elders from his area talking by satellite telephone and through a translator with Americans, but collapsed late Saturday night.

"The negotiations between the elders and American officials have broken down. The reason is American officials wanted to arrest the pirates in Puntland and elders refused the arrest of the pirates," said the commissioner, Abdi Aziz Aw Yusuf. He said he organized initial contacts between the elders and the Americans.

Two other Somalis, one involved in the negotiations and another in contact with the pirates, also said the talks collapsed because of the U.S. insistence that the pirates be arrested and brought to justice.

Phillips' crew of 19 American sailors reached safe harbor in Kenya's northeast port of Mombasa on Saturday night under guard of U.S. Navy Seals, exhilarated by their freedom but mourning the absence of Phillips.

Crew members said their ordeal had begun with the Somali pirates hauling themselves up from a small boat bobbing on the surface of the Indian Ocean far below.

As the pirates shot in the air, Phillips told his crew to lock themselves in a cabin and surrendered himself to safeguard his men, crew members said.

Phillips was then held hostage in an enclosed lifeboat that was closely watched by U.S. warships and a helicopter in an increasingly tense standoff.

Talks to free him began Thursday with the captain of the USS Bainbridge talking to the pirates under instruction from FBI hostage negotiators on board the U.S. destroyer.

A statement from Maersk Line, owner of Phillips' ship, the Maersk Alabama, said "the U.S. Navy had sight contact" of Phillips earlier Sunday — apparently when the pirates opened the hatches.

Before Phillips was freed, a pirate who said he was associated with the gang that held Phillips, Ahmed Mohamed Nur, told The Associated Press that the pirates had reported that "helicopters continue to fly over their heads in the daylight and in the night they are under the focus of a spotlight from a warship."

He spoke by satellite phone from Harardhere, a port and pirate stronghold where a fisherman said helicopters flew over the town Sunday morning and a warship was looming on the horizon. The fisherman, Abdi Sheikh Muse, said that could be an indication the lifeboat may be near to shore.

The U.S. Navy had assumed the pirates would try to get their hostage to shore, where they can hide him on Somalia's lawless soil and be in a stronger position to negotiate a ransom.

Three U.S. warships were within easy reach of the lifeboat on Saturday. The pirates had threatened to kill Phillips if attacked.

On Friday, the French navy freed a sailboat seized off Somalia last week by other pirates, but one of the five hostages was killed.

Early Saturday, the pirates holding Phillips in the lifeboat fired a few shots at a small U.S. Navy vessel that had approached, a U.S. military official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The official said the U.S. sailors did not return fire, the Navy vessel turned away and no one was hurt. He said the vessel had not been attempting a rescue. The pirates are believed armed with pistols and AK-47 assault rifles.

Phillips jumped out of the lifeboat Friday and tried to swim for his freedom but was recaptured when a pirate fired an automatic weapon at or near him, according to U.S. Defense Department officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk about the unfolding operations.

"When I spoke to the crew, they won't consider it done when they board a plane and come home," Maersk President John Reinhart said from Norfolk, Virginia before news of Phillips' rescue. "They won't consider it done until the captain is back, nor will we."

In Phillips' hometown, the Rev. Charles Danielson of the St. Thomas Church said before the news broke that the congregation would continue to pray for Phillips and his family, who are members, and he would encourage "people to find hope in the triumph of good over evil."

Reinhart said he spoke with Phillips' wife, Andrea, who is surrounded by family and two company employees who were sent to support her.

"She's a brave woman," Reinhart said. "And she has one favor to ask: 'Do what you have to do to bring Richard home safely.' That means don't make a mistake, folks. We have to be perfect in our execution."