A Somali teenager accused of being one of the pirates who held an American sea captain hostage has been flown from Africa to the US to face trial.
Abde Wale Abdul Kadhir Muse is the first person to be tried in the US on piracy charges in more than a century, the Associated Press news agency says.
He was held over the seizure off Somalia of Richard Phillips, captain of the Maersk Alabama cargo ship.
Earlier, his mother appealed to US President Barack Obama to free him.

Somali pirates in speedboats opened fire Monday on two cargo ships in the latest hijacking attempts in the notorious Gulf of Aden. Another band of brigands freed a food aid freighter but only after receiving a $100,000 “reward” from Somali businessmen. The latest attack occurred at midday when pirates fired shots at a Chinese-owned, Panama-flagged cargo ship, the MV New Legend Honor, said Cmdr. Chris Davies, from NATO’s maritime headquarters in England.
Two NATO warships — one Canadian, the other British — scrambled helicopters in defense, Davies said. No damage was …

Somali pirates seized ships from France, Britain, Germany, Taiwan and Yemen, defying world naval powers by prowling further out in the Indian Ocean to target victims.
Ransom-hunting pirates equipped with skiffs, guns and grapnels took five ships in 48 hours, the two latest on Monday targeting a British cargo ship and a Taiwanese fishing vessel.
At least 17 ships and more than 250 hostages are now in pirate hands.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Islamic insurgents appeared to be scrambling for power Saturday, taking over several police stations in the capital as Ethiopian troops who have been propping up the government began to pull out, witnesses said.
Many fear the Ethiopian pullout — and last month’s resignation of Somalia’s president — will cause Islamic militant groups to fight among themselves for power, bringing even more chaos to this beleaguered Horn of African nation.
”We have to show commitment to do our part in security, we want to help people feel secure,” Abdirahim …

Somali Islamist insurgents have begun searching for the pirates who hijacked a giant Saudi-owned oil tanker last Saturday, reports say.
A spokesman for the al-Shabab group, Abdelghafar Musa, said hijacking a Muslim-owned ship was a major crime and they would pursue those responsible.
The pirates are thought to be trying to obtain a multi-million dollar ransom.
The ship, the Sirius Star, is believed to be be anchored off the Somali port of Haradheere.
It has an international crew of 25 people and is carrying $100m (£67m) worth of crude oil.

A US court has convicted a Syrian-born arms dealer for plotting to sell arms, including anti-aircraft rockets, to Colombian rebels.
Monzer al-Kassar was found guilty for conspiracy to murder US officers, to export anti-aircraft weapons, to support Colombia’s Farc rebels, and for money laundering by the New York court on Thursday.
“[This] puts an end to his ability to command a global munitions empire that armed and funded terrorist organisations for decades,” Michele Leonhart, the acting administrator for the US Drug Enforcement Agency, said.

The battle with pirates operating off the coast of Somalia grew yesterday when raiders seized two more ships but lost one of their own in an uneven firefight with the Indian Navy. The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) described the situation yesterday as “out of control”.
The surge in hijackings came as Saudi Arabia confirmed that a ransom demand had been made for the freeing of the Sirius Star supertanker, seized at the weekend with her crew of 25 and a cargo of oil worth $100 million (£65 million).

Somali pirates have “stunned” the United States’ top military leader by seizing a supertanker three times as big as an aircraft carrier hundreds of nautical miles off the Kenya coast.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Monday that he was surprised both by the size of the vessel the pirates had hijacked and by its distance from the shore.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today voiced his concern at new acts of piracy off the Somali coast this week amid reports of a series of attacks or attempting hijackings in recent days in a region already notorious for the practice.
Mr. Ban “reiterates his condemnation of all acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea, wherever they occur,” according to a statement from his spokesperson, which was issued just days after heavily armed pirates hijacked a Saudi Arabian oil tanker. The Indian navy is also reported to have sunk a suspected pirate …

The Indian navy has said that one of its warships in the Gulf of Aden has destroyed a ship belonging to pirates operating off the coast of Somalia.
The INS Tabar opened fire on a pirate “mother ship” after it came under attack, a government statement said.
There has been a surge in piracy incidents off Somalia.
The Saudi-owned Sirius Star supertanker is currently anchored off the Somali coast after the vessel and its 25 crew were seized by pirates.