USA - Modern-day piracy': German official says US swooped on masks at airport

The United States diverted a delivery of Chinese-made face masks bound for Germany at a Bangkok airport, a Berlin city official said Friday, accusing Washington of "modern-day piracy" as competition for protective gear against the coronavirus heats up.

Read more at:
https://www.thelocal.de/20200403/german-official-says-us-swooped-on-masks-at-bangkok-airport-coronavirus

Germany: EU mulls new powers for piracy mission

German officials say the European Union is considering expanding the scope of its anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa to allow the destruction of pirates' equipment on the beaches of Somalia.

The EU's anti-piracy force patrols the seas off the coast of the country. Somalia has been mired in violence since 1991 -- plunging it into a chaos that sprouted militants and piracy.

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke said Friday that the "limited destruction of piracy logistics on the beach" is under discussion but "no deployment on land." He stressed that discussions are ongoing and no decision has been made.

For more: Germany: EU mulls new powers for piracy mission - Boston.com

TVNZ/Reuters: Mystery ship being checked by Russia for secret cargo

For the complete report by TVNZ/Reuters click on this link

Mystery ship being checked by Russia for secret cargo

Russia's top general said on Thursday the military would search the Arctic Sea for any possible secret cargo when it returned to Russia from a maritime odyssey that made headlines round the world. Russia says the Maltese-registered Arctic Sea, officially carrying timber from Finland to Algeria, was hijacked by eight men off the coast of Sweden on July 24. Russian warships found the ship in the Atlantic off the Cape Verde islands on Aug. 17. Russia has released little information about the ship and the eight men - citizens of Estonia, Latvia and Russia - suspected of hijacking it are in Moscow's high security Lefortovo prison. Piracy is extremely rare in well-policed northern European waters and maritime experts have asked why anyone would risk seizing an elderly ship carrying $US2 million worth of timber and then sail for Africa. "We do not rule out the possibility that they might have been carrying not only timber," Alexander Bastrykin, head of the the prosecutor-general's main investigations unit, said in an interview with the Rossiiskaya Gazeta published on Wednesday.

DW: EU, NATO Helpless Against Piracy as Hijacks Become More Daring

For the complete report from the Deutsche Welle click on this link

EU, NATO Helpless Against Piracy as Hijacks Become More Daring

Efforts by the European Union and NATO to fight pirates off the coast of Somalia have proven futile. With a limited mandate, their ships cannot keep armed bandits from seizing merchant vessels and taking hostages. Pirates off the coast of Somalia captured another ship on Wednesday, Nov. 19. It is the third vessel since the spectacular hijacking of the Saudi supertanker "Sirius Star" last weekend. Although NATO, European and US vessels are stationed in the region, they are helpless in effectively battling the increasing problem of piracy -- though single operations are sometimes successful.

Note EU-Digest: the EU and Nato should follow the recent action of the Indian Navy by destroying pirate crafts or even doing a special combat mission to the area and clean out the pirates stronghold. The Sudan Government is too weak to do it themselves. Right now it seems the naval forces of Russia, the EU and the US are being held ransom by rag-tag pirates - this is ridiculous to say the least