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(Reuters) - Six foreign sailors were freed unharmed overnight by pirates who seized them off the coast of Nigeria's oil-producing region nine days ago, police said on Tuesday. A rise in piracy off Nigeria's oil-rich coast this month has shown gangs are willing to venture further afield and use more violent tactics, increasing the risk of doing business in Africa's largest energy producer. One Russian, three Ukrainian and two Indian sailors were taken when gunmen stormed the Armada Tuah 40 miles off the coast of Bayelsa state on February 17. The ship is owned by Nigerian firm Century Group. The pirates demanded a 200 million naira ($1.3 million) ransom last week but Bayelsa Police Chief Kingsley Omire told Reuters no money was paid for their release. Exxon Mobil and Shell officials said last week that security was a major factor in making Nigeria one of the most expensive oil-producing countries to operate in. Oil and shipping companies have to hir...

(Reuters) - Six foreign sailors were freed unharmed overnight by pirates who seized them off the coast of Nigeria's oil-producing region nine days ago, police said on Tuesday. A rise in piracy off Nigeria's oil-rich coast this month has shown gangs are willing to venture further afield and use more violent tactics, increasing the risk of doing business in Africa's largest energy producer. One Russian, three Ukrainian and two Indian sailors were taken when gunmen stormed the Armada Tuah 40 miles off the coast of Bayelsa state on February 17. The ship is owned by Nigerian firm Century Group. The pirates demanded a 200 million naira ($1.3 million) ransom last week but Bayelsa Police Chief Kingsley Omire told Reuters no money was paid for their release. Exxon Mobil and Shell officials said last week that security was a major factor in making Nigeria one of the most expensive oil-producing countries to operate in. Oil and shipping companies have to hir...

Tsafrir Abayov/Associated Press Israeli explosives experts gathered near a rocket believed to have been fired from the Gaza Strip, landing near Ashkelon, on Tuesday. By JODI RUDOREN JERUSALEM — For the first time in more than three months, at least one rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel early on Tuesday morning, according to Israeli authorities, breaking a cease-fire that had been in place after eight days of intense violence between Israel and Gaza last fall. The Israeli police and military reported that a single Grad rocket landed in a road outside the city of Ashkelon, causing damage but no injuries. A subgroup of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the military wing of the Palestinians ’ Fatah faction, said in an e-mailed statement that it had fired the rocket in “an initial natural response to the assassination of prisoner Arafat Jaradat,” a 30-year-old Palestinian who died in an Israeli jail on Saturday. The statement...

Tsafrir Abayov/Associated Press Israeli explosives experts gathered near a rocket believed to have been fired from the Gaza Strip, landing near Ashkelon, on Tuesday. By JODI RUDOREN JERUSALEM — For the first time in more than three months, at least one rocket fired from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel early on Tuesday morning, according to Israeli authorities, breaking a cease-fire that had been in place after eight days of intense violence between Israel and Gaza last fall. The Israeli police and military reported that a single Grad rocket landed in a road outside the city of Ashkelon, causing damage but no injuries. A subgroup of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the military wing of the Palestinians ’ Fatah faction, said in an e-mailed statement that it had fired the rocket in “an initial natural response to the assassination of prisoner Arafat Jaradat,” a 30-year-old Palestinian who died in an Israeli jail on Saturday. The statement...

in 1 From www.ynaija.com A Catholic bishop busted cavorting on a beach with a scantily-clad beauty has claimed she is just ‘an old friend’ and insisted he is still ‘devoted to God’. Argentine Fernando María Bargallo, 59, was left red-faced after footage emerged of him swimming and cuddling with the blonde at a secluded luxury Mexican hideaway. He initially denied it was him in the video, but later admitted he does play a starring role, and is now under investigation by the Vatican. Old friends: Argentine priest Fernando María Bargallo, 59, was left red-faced after footage emerged of him swimming and cuddling with the blonde at a secluded luxury Mexican hideaway Busted: Bargallo with the mystery blonde (left) and in his normal clothes (right) Casual: The Bishop initially denied it was him in the video, but later admitted he does play a starring role, and is now under investigation by the Vatican He could now face being sacked from his po...

in 1 From www.ynaija.com A Catholic bishop busted cavorting on a beach with a scantily-clad beauty has claimed she is just ‘an old friend’ and insisted he is still ‘devoted to God’. Argentine Fernando María Bargallo, 59, was left red-faced after footage emerged of him swimming and cuddling with the blonde at a secluded luxury Mexican hideaway. He initially denied it was him in the video, but later admitted he does play a starring role, and is now under investigation by the Vatican. Old friends: Argentine priest Fernando María Bargallo, 59, was left red-faced after footage emerged of him swimming and cuddling with the blonde at a secluded luxury Mexican hideaway Busted: Bargallo with the mystery blonde (left) and in his normal clothes (right) Casual: The Bishop initially denied it was him in the video, but later admitted he does play a starring role, and is now under investigation by the Vatican He could now face being sacked from his po...

(CNN) -- Police officers in the Mexican resort town of Playa del Carmen are suspects in the alleged rape of an Italian citizen earlier this month, according to the local state's attorney's office. The alleged rape occurred on February 12, when the victim and a male companion were leaving a night club in Playa del Carmen between 3 and 4 a.m., said Maria Antonia Salmeron, a spokeswoman with the state's attorney's office of Quintana Roo, the state where Playa del Carmen and Cancun are located. The man, also an Italian citizen, decided to stop at a nearby alley to urinate. That's when the couple was intercepted by the police. Subsequently, the woman was attacked by the officers of the Playa del Carmen Police Department, Salmeron said. Mexican attorney general: Six suspects confess to raping Spanish tourists Community police take on Mexican cartels "(The suspects) detained her, and these young men caught (her) when she was in an 'inconvenient'...

(CNN) -- Police officers in the Mexican resort town of Playa del Carmen are suspects in the alleged rape of an Italian citizen earlier this month, according to the local state's attorney's office. The alleged rape occurred on February 12, when the victim and a male companion were leaving a night club in Playa del Carmen between 3 and 4 a.m., said Maria Antonia Salmeron, a spokeswoman with the state's attorney's office of Quintana Roo, the state where Playa del Carmen and Cancun are located. The man, also an Italian citizen, decided to stop at a nearby alley to urinate. That's when the couple was intercepted by the police. Subsequently, the woman was attacked by the officers of the Playa del Carmen Police Department, Salmeron said. Mexican attorney general: Six suspects confess to raping Spanish tourists Community police take on Mexican cartels "(The suspects) detained her, and these young men caught (her) when she was in an 'inconvenient'...

By ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press Police were searching villages in western India on Friday for suspects in the rape and killing of three young sisters, as Indians still angry over the fatal gang rape of a woman on a New Delhi bus in December face another heinous sexual attack. The bodies of the sisters — aged 7, 9 and 11 — were found Feb. 16 in a village well in Bhandara district in Maharashtra after they had gone missing from school two days earlier, said police officer Abhinav Deshmukh. The area is more than 1,000 kilometers (630 miles) south of New Delhi, the capital. The victims' mother said police did not take the case seriously and did nothing for several days until villagers held protests. Deshmukh said Friday that 10 teams of 30 investigators were working on the case and that he was confident they would find the killers soon. Police first dismissed the deaths as accidental, the Press Trust of India news a...

By ASHOK SHARMA Associated Press Police were searching villages in western India on Friday for suspects in the rape and killing of three young sisters, as Indians still angry over the fatal gang rape of a woman on a New Delhi bus in December face another heinous sexual attack. The bodies of the sisters — aged 7, 9 and 11 — were found Feb. 16 in a village well in Bhandara district in Maharashtra after they had gone missing from school two days earlier, said police officer Abhinav Deshmukh. The area is more than 1,000 kilometers (630 miles) south of New Delhi, the capital. The victims' mother said police did not take the case seriously and did nothing for several days until villagers held protests. Deshmukh said Friday that 10 teams of 30 investigators were working on the case and that he was confident they would find the killers soon. Police first dismissed the deaths as accidental, the Press Trust of India news a...

Chemistry graduate led trio of would-be suicide bombers inspired by al-Qaida who plotted 'murder on a horrendous scale' Al-Qaida inspired British Islamic extremists Ashik Ali, Irfan Khalid and Irfan Naseer who were found guilty of plotting a campaign of bombings in crowded areas. Photograph: Handout/Reuters Three would-be suicide bombers face life in jail after a jury convicted them on Thursday of plotting to carry out terror attacks in the UK which would have been more deadly than the 7/7 bombings in 2005. The men from Birmingham are the latest group of British-based extremists to be radicalised by the preachings of the now-dead Anwar al-Awlaki, the one-time leader of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. His extremist message continues to be spread from beyond the grave through the ...

Chemistry graduate led trio of would-be suicide bombers inspired by al-Qaida who plotted 'murder on a horrendous scale' Al-Qaida inspired British Islamic extremists Ashik Ali, Irfan Khalid and Irfan Naseer who were found guilty of plotting a campaign of bombings in crowded areas. Photograph: Handout/Reuters Three would-be suicide bombers face life in jail after a jury convicted them on Thursday of plotting to carry out terror attacks in the UK which would have been more deadly than the 7/7 bombings in 2005. The men from Birmingham are the latest group of British-based extremists to be radicalised by the preachings of the now-dead Anwar al-Awlaki, the one-time leader of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. His extremist message continues to be spread from beyond the grave through the ...

By Krista Mahr Mahesh Kumar A. / AP An Indian woman wails after seeing her husband's body at a government hospital after he was killed in a bomb blast in Hyderabad on Feb. 21, 2013 At least 12 people have been killed and scores injured on Thursday in twin bombings that authorities believe may have been a terrorist attack in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. There has been no official confirmation as to the nature of the blasts, but government officials have said they were carried out by a “well trained” group and were coordinated. Local media are reporting that the blasts come two days after government security agencies sent an advisory to states to tighten security in light of potential threats from militant groups operating in the region related to the recent executions of terrorism suspects Ajmal Kasab and Mohammed Afzal Guru. In tweets sent out after the attacks on Thursday evening, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed to the pub...

By Krista Mahr Mahesh Kumar A. / AP An Indian woman wails after seeing her husband's body at a government hospital after he was killed in a bomb blast in Hyderabad on Feb. 21, 2013 At least 12 people have been killed and scores injured on Thursday in twin bombings that authorities believe may have been a terrorist attack in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad. There has been no official confirmation as to the nature of the blasts, but government officials have said they were carried out by a “well trained” group and were coordinated. Local media are reporting that the blasts come two days after government security agencies sent an advisory to states to tighten security in light of potential threats from militant groups operating in the region related to the recent executions of terrorism suspects Ajmal Kasab and Mohammed Afzal Guru. In tweets sent out after the attacks on Thursday evening, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh appealed to the pub...

Associated Press MAIDUGURI, Nigeria –   Authorities say two separate suicide bombings in Nigeria's northeast city of Maiduguri have killed at least three civilians and injured many soldiers. Borno State governor Kashim Shettima said a crowded market in the heart of the city was attacked Thursday and engulfed in flames. A senior security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the press, said there was a suicide bombing at the market. Witnesses said soldiers who stormed the scene of the blast set stalls on fire. Shettima confirmed another suicide bombing in the city on Wednesday that killed three civilians and injured soldiers. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, though Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north has been under attack by the radical Islamic sect known as Boko Haram.