Italian cruise ship foils pirates

A captain of an Italian cruise ship has given the BBC a dramatic account of how his crew fended off a pirate attack near the coast of Somalia.

Capt Ciro Pinto said six pirates in a speedboat approached his Melody ship and opened fire, but then fled after security men fired in the air.

He said his crew also sprayed water on the gunmen when they tried to climb aboard using a ladder.

No-one was hurt in Saturday's incident. Some 1,500 people were on the vessel.

Somali pirates have also seized an empty Yemeni oil tanker and clashed with coast guards on Sunday, a Yemeni official said.

Two pirates were killed in the action as the Yemeni coast guard tried to free the vessel, a Yemeni government official was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

The official said three pirates and two Yemeni coast guards were also wounded in the exchange.

See map of how piracy is affecting the region and countries around the world

Last year, pirates attacked more than 100 ships in the region, demanding huge ransom for their release. Their attacks have intensified recently.

'Throwing chairs'

Capt Pinto told the BBC that the pirates tried to hijack his ship late on Saturday, about 290km (180 miles) north of Victoria in the Seychelles.

"One white small boat with six people on board approached the port [left] side of the ship and started shooting."

The captain said the pirates fired some 200 rounds of shots on the vessel.

His said "our security started shooting in the air... and also we started spraying some water" to beat off the attackers.

Capt Pinto said the pirates were forced to give up after about five minutes of shooting and a high-speed chase.

Samantha Hendey from Durban, South Africa, told the BBC that her sister Tabitha Nicholson was on board the ship during the attack and the situation was "pretty dramatic".

"She said that there were lots of passengers on deck watching it unfold and they even took action themselves by throwing chairs overboard, trying to hit the pirates," Samantha said.

"She said there were lots of bullet holes in the ship but that they were not serious enough to force it to return to port."

The head of the Italy's MSC Cruises, which owns the Meloday, credited the captain for his "cool-headed" handling of the incident, Italy's Ansa news agency reported.

The ship was on a cruise from South Africa to Italy. It was now headed as scheduled for the Jordanian port of Aqaba.

Somali pirates have hijacked about a dozen ships since the start of April, despite the presence of around 20 foreign naval vessels in the area.

International warships have been patrolling the waters off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden in recent months as part of an effort to counter piracy.

They have freed a number of ships, but attacks have continued.

Somalia has been without an effective administration since 1991, fuelling the lawlessness which has allowed piracy to thrive.

Shipping companies last year handed over about $80m (£54m) in ransom payments to the gangs.

Rwanda bans BBC local broadcasts

Some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed during the genocide

Rwanda has suspended BBC broadcasts in the local language Kinyarwanda because of what it says is bias in BBC reports concerning the 1994 genocide.

A statement announcing the temporary ban singled out a programme it said amounted to blatant denial of genocide against the Tutsi and moderate Hutu.

The editor of the BBC programme denied that there had been any bias.

He said that the programme had offered to include a government spokesman in the programme, but it had declined.

The government added that Rwanda believed in differences of opinion and press freedom and had patiently continued to seek common ground and co-operation on the part of the BBC Great Lakes leadership.

But broadcasts giving free scope to "genocidaires and negationists of the genocide" would not be tolerated, said Minister of Information Louise Mushikiwabo on Rwanda Radio.

The editor of the BBC programme, broadcast at the weekend, Ally Mugenzi, said the difficulties had arisen because of the interpretation which the government was putting on the genocide.

Darfur rebels sentenced to death

The unprecedented rebel attack on Khartoum left more than 200 de

A Sudanese court has sentenced 11 Darfur rebels to death for an attack on Khartoum in 2008.

The members of the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem) were found guilty of involvement in the unprecedented assault on the Sudanese capital.

Some 80 Jem members have already been sentenced to death for the attack, which left more than 200 people dead.

The Jem fighters drove across the desert to reach Khartoum and were only stopped near the presidential palace.

On Sunday, Judge Hafez Ahmed at the court in Khartoum found the 11 rebels guilty of terrorism and illegal possession of weapons, the AFP news agency reported.

"For their actions in terrorising the people, and threatening the foundation of the state... aggressive sentences are required," the judge told the courtroom.

Eight other men were acquitted.

The attack in May 2008 was the closest the rebels have ever been to Khartoum.

Local residents said the fighting lasted several hours.

Jem is currently the most significant fighting rebel force in Darfur.

In February, Jem signed a "declaration of intent" for a peaceful settlement of the war during talks with Sudan's government in Doha, Qatar.

But Jem is now refusing to return to the peace talks, accusing Khartoum of not honouring confidence-building accords.