SOMALIA

Nine Somalis are expected to be sent to Kenya for prosecution after an attempted hijack of a cargo ship.

On Monday the U.S. Navy handed over nine suspected pirates to authorities in northern Somalia after determining there was not enough evidence to put them on trial.

Islamist rebels battled African Union (AU) peacekeepers and Somali police for a second day on Wednesday, taking the death toll in the worst fighting for weeks to 81, witnesses and a rights group said.

At least 13 people were killed and scores wounded in the Somali capital Tuesday as Islamist rebels battled police and African Union peacekeepers throughout the day.

Somalia's hardline Islamist insurgent group al Shabaab pledged Monday to launch more attacks on African Union peacekeepers after the deadliest strike yet killed at least 11 soldiers from Burundi.

Two Italian nuns kidnapped by Somali gunmen in a cross-border raid into Kenya in November have been freed.

On Thursday Somali pirates freed a Ukrainian ship carrying tanks and other heavy weapons after receiving a $3.2 million ransom.

Ethiopian troops have crossed the border back into central Somalia, less than a week after completing a military pullout from its neighbor.

Somali Pirates who seized a German gas tanker in the Gulf of Aden are demanding $6 million for the vessel's release, sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Monday.

On Thursday Somali pirates hijacked a tanker and its crew of 12 Filipinos and one Indonesian in the Gulf of Aden, a diplomat said.

On Saturday a suicide car-bomb attack near an African Union peacekeepers' base killed 14 people in the Somali capital.

In 2008, piracy off the coast of Somalia rose nearly 200 percent compared to the previous year.

On Tuesday Ethiopia handed over security duties to a Somali force, raising fears that the Horn of Africa country collapse into chaos if extremists allegedly linked to al-Qaida move to seize power.

Five Somali pirates who freed a hijacked oil-Saudi supertanker died Saturday after their boat capsized with a reported $3 million ransom in the Gulf of Aden, the Associated Press reports.

Five of the pirates who hijacked a Saudi supertanker drowned with their share of a $3 million ransom after the boat they were traveling in capsized.

After receiving a $3 million ransom, Somali pirates released an oil-laden Saudi supertanker.

On Thursday gunmen shot and killed a food monitor for the United Nations' World Food Program making it the second killing of a WFP humanitarian worker in Somalia in three days.

On Thursday the US Fifth Fleet announced the establishment of a new international naval force to fight off pirates in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean following a wave of hijackings off the coast of Somalia.

Four countries have been given the go ahead from a newly issued UN resolution to chase and thwart off- would-be Somali pirates from their coasts and in their waters.

The Spanish tuna fishing vessel hijacked over the weekend is still held by Somali pirates and no ransom demand had been made as yet, the Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said on Wednesday.

Kenyan elders may impose a fine on U.S. presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, payable in livestock, after a photo of her rival Barack Obama in robes dragged their people into the race for the White House.