Eideard

A suspected pirate has been shot dead as private guards repelled an attack on a cargo ship off Somalia, in what may have been the first such incident. Guards aboard the Panamanian-flagged MV Almezaan returned fire after the ship was attacked – the third time in a year that pirates had targeted the ship.

The EU naval force (Navfor) said a team from an EU warship found the dead man after responding to a distress call. Six other suspected pirates were detained by a Spanish Navfor ship…

The ESPS Navarra found one pirate mother ship and two skiffs. The mother ship was destroyed after the suspects were taken into custody, Navfor said.

Bullet-holes were found in the skiffs in which they were found, he added…

The Navarra received a distress signal early on Tuesday from a merchant ship off the Somali coast and sped to the area, Navfor said in a statement…

Pirates had launched an attack on the MV Almezaan. This was successfully repelled by members of an “armed private vessel protection detachment” on board the ship, who returned fire.

A second attack was also repelled and the pirates fled the area, Navfor said.

A helicopter from the Navarra sighted the suspected pirates’ boats and ordered them to stop, firing warning shots when they refused to do so. When a team from the Navarra boarded the vessels, they found three suspected pirates in one skiff and three in the second, along with the body of a fourth man…

Somalia has not had a functioning government for nearly two decades and analysts believe that attacks on shipping will continue as long as there is no central government capable of taking on the pirate gangs.

Bravo! One less to worry about.

Danish forces boarded and sank a pirate control ship as part of Nato operations off the coast of Somalia

The Absalon, a Danish attack support ship, sank a pirate control ship off the coast of Somalia on Sunday.

The Absalon is the current flag ship of the Nato fleet operating in the pirate-stricken Gulf of Aden off the east African coast and has been involved in numerous pirate run-ins.

The latest saw a pirate mother skiff intercepted by a boarding team from the Absalon before it was scuttled. It had been spotted earlier in the day after leaving a Somali camp outfitted with pirate equipment and supplies.

‘This was a very well executed operation,’ said Admiral Christian Rune. ‘Disrupting the pirates’ capability just off their main pirate camps sends a strong signal to the pirates that Nato and the international community do not tolerate their actions. Disposing of their vessels before they can head to sea hits the pirates before they can present a threat to merchant shipping.’

Another one for the guys with the white hats!

UPDATE: There’s a good TV documentary on the work being done by HDMS Absolon starting to make the rounds. Just saw it this morning on HD Theatre via DirecTV satellite. 5th July.

Thanks, Jägermeister

It’s oh-so enticing: You find a copy of a brand-new game like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on a pirate site and the temptation to download it is too strong.

Well, that temptation may have cost up to 1 million users of Microsoft’s Xbox Live the ability to use that service. According to a report in InformationWeek, Microsoft has banned as many as a million players from Xbox Live for altering their consoles in order to play pirated versions of games…

“Xbox 360 consoles are equipped with digital rights management technologies designed to detect pirated software,” InformationWeek wrote, “but some players have successfully ‘modded,’ or modified, their machines to circumvent DRM protections.”

InformationWeek said that even if someone has been banned, their Xbox will still play offline games. But it’s not at all clear if the bans are permanent or if Microsoft will allow those who have been booted from Xbox Live to return at some point down the line.

Microsoft did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But in a statement received by InformationWeek, the company said, “All consumers should know that piracy is illegal and that modifying their Xbox 360 console to play pirated discs violates the Xbox Live terms of use, will void their warranty and result in a ban from Xbox Live.”

Kiss your $50 XBox Live fee goodbye, folks!

UPDATE: Microsoft says the ban is permanent. You need to buy a new console to start afresh. Har!

Easy tip number one, if you want to talk like a pirate: Add “me hearties” to the end of any sentence.

The meaning is simple — “my friends, my mates” — said John “Ol’ Chumbucket” Baur, before offering as way of example, “Turn your head and cough, me hearties. Or, fill it up with regular, me hearties.”

Saturday marks “Talk Like a Pirate Day,” an observance that has been recognized on all seven continents and beyond. It inspires dress and behavior — of the Long John Silver variety — in seedy bars, staid workplaces and even the International Space Station. It has fueled fundraisers, been the topic for a New York Times crossword puzzle and mentioned on various game shows.

Pirate speak:

Ahoy — Hello.
Avast — Stand and give attention; listen up.
Aye — I heartily agree with everything you said or did.
Aye Aye — Yeah, boss, I’ll get on that as soon as I finish this coffee or rum.
Aarrr — Not to be confused with Arrgh (a sign of pain), it’s a way of announcing yourself to the world, telling everyone you’re here and alive. It could mean don’t look at my girlfriend that way, or I’m enjoying this hamburger.

You realize after a while that “me hearties” is piratespeak for “homie”.