Two weeks ago, US and British naval forces raided the Italian cargo ship, Montecristo, 600 miles off Somalia and released two dozen hostages. This week, with less fanfare, the British Navy rescued two dozen more – the Pakistani crew of a rickety dhow that had been commandeered by pirates and used as the mother ship for the Montecristo attack. The bad news is that Indian Ocean piracy is becoming an ordinary part of the shipping business; The International Maritime Bureau counts 350 attacks so far this year and ransoms now run about $4m an incident. The good news is that authorities are beginning to understand much more about piracy.
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