World News joined 1

[OMEN]

Somali gunmen hijacked a Dutch-owned ship as it travelled from Kenya's Mombasa port to Romania in the latest act of piracy off the lawless Horn of Africa nation's coast.

The MV Amiya Scan, managed by the Dutch Reider Shipping BV, was seized along with some nine Russian and Filipino crew members on Sunday while it passed through the Gulf of Aden, said Andrew Mwangura, director of the Seafarers Assistance Programme.

"Unfortunately we don't know where she is right now ... there's been no ransom demand as of yet," Mwangura said. He said the cargo ship was on its way to Romania and was flying under a Panamanian flag.

Piracy is rampant off Somalia, which has functioned without an effective central government since the fall of a dictator in 1991.

In an effort to combat rising cases of hijackings, France, Britain, and the United States sent a draft resolution to the UN Security Council earlier this year that would give nations the right to arrest pirates in Somali waters.

On Friday, Somali gunmen released a Jordanian-flagged cargo ship after holding it for nearly a week. Pirates generally treat their captives well in the hope of securing a ransom.

Reuters

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[OMEN]

A Queensland teacher charged as part of a major paedophile bust has committed suicide, while another is in hospital after a failed attempt to take his life.

More than 90 men across Australia have been arrested and hundreds more remain under suspicion as part of the six-month Operation Centurion.

One of the men arrested, a 59-year-old Gold Coast teacher, has committed suicide after being charged over the bust, News Ltd reported.

A second Queensland teacher, 48, is recovering in hospital after a failed suicide attempt, News Ltd said.

About 1500 people or individual computers in Australia have been identified in the investigation, which is part of a wider Interpol investigation involving 170 countries.

A policeman, four Queensland teachers and a West Australian sports administrator were among those arrested or summonsed in Australia as a result of the six-month operation.

AAP

[OMEN]

Peter Robinson took over as Northern Ireland's first minister, succeeding Ian Paisley and shoring up last year's agreement to share power with political foes in a regional government.

Martin McGuinness, member of the Irish nationalist Sinn Fein party and former Irish Republican Army (IRA) guerrilla, was reappointed as deputy first minister despite tensions with Robinson's pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

Failure to nominate the ministers could have triggered elections and destabilised the fledgling administration whose formation cemented a 1998 peace deal that ended 30 years of bloodshed in which more than 3600 people were killed.

There had been fears that Sinn Fein would stall the nomination process unless it secured a timetable on the transfer of policing powers from London to Belfast.

Paisley, 82, a firebrand Protestant cleric who stepped down on Saturday as DUP leader, set aside decades of hatred last May when he agreed to share power with predominantly Catholic foes.

"He (Paisley) has laid the foundation for this new era and now it is up to the rest of us to build upon it," Robinson told deputies after his appointment.

Gerry Adams, president of the IRA's political ally Sinn Fein, said his party and the DUP had proved politics can work.

"I want to commend Ian Paisley," Adams said. "Today is a day to praise Caesar, not to bury him."

Paisley's jovial appearances over the last year with his former enemy McGuinness have taken many by surprise and led to the unlikely duo being dubbed the "Chuckle Brothers".

Relations with the more businesslike Robinson are expected to be cooler, however.

"There is no elevator that will take us to a successful outcome," Robinson said. "We will just have to take the staircase step by step by step."

McGuinness said building a more prosperous province and securing foreign investment must remain key objectives.

"The honeymoon period is over," McGuinness said. "This is now about hard work. People out there are expecting results."

The IRA pledged to disarm in 2005, pursuing a united Ireland through peaceful means, but its continued existence and sporadic attacks by splinter guerrilla groups mean many DUP members are in no hurry to see a locally controlled police force.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will meet Robinson and McGuinness in London on Friday, aiming to put in place a process to deal with the issues, his office said.

Reuters

[OMEN]

The European Union agreed to take a unified stand against whaling ahead of a International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting this month.

"With this decision the European Union can now take a strong role at the International Whaling Commission and use all its political, moral and economic weight to ensure a more effective protection of whales worldwide," said EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas.

The European Commission has been spearheading efforts to find a joint position but as the 27-nation bloc is not yet a party to the IWC, it cannot negotiate on behalf of member states.

Environment ministers meeting in Luxembourg adopted a common position based on support for the current moratorium on commercial whaling, the setting up of whale sanctuaries and encouraging the use of non-lethal methods to collect scientific data.

"There is no need to kill whales to obtain scientific information about whales," the EU's executive Commission said in a statement. "Adequate data for management purposes can be obtained using non-lethal techniques," it added.

Reuters

[OMEN]

Hillary Clinton will declare her strong support for Barack Obama's White House bid and rally supporters around him, she said in a letter, drawing the curtain on a gruelling 16-month nominating fight that badly split the Democratic Party.

Clinton will publicly back Obama on Saturday and pledge to work for party unity in the general-election race against Republican John McCain.

"On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy," the New York senator and former first lady said in a letter to her backers released early on Thursday morning.

"I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise."

Clinton confirmed she would hold an event in Washington on Saturday to thank everyone who had backed her campaign. The event was originally planned for Friday but the day was switched to allow more supporters to attend.

"This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans," she said in the letter.

"I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise."

Clinton has not decided whether to officially close the campaign or suspend it, allowing her to keep control of her delegates to the nominating convention, aides said.

Clinton spent much of Wednesday talking to supporters, many of whom urged her to halt her bid now that Obama has clinched the nomination. Obama attended two fund-raising events in New York City on Wednesday night and acknowledged her decision.

"Your junior senator from New York engaged in an extraordinary campaign," he told attendees at one fund-raiser. "Now that the interfamily squabble is done, all of us can focus on what needs to be done in November."

Obama, the first black candidate to lead a major US party into a White House race, announced a three-member team to head his search for a running mate as he began the task of unifying the party the day after clinching the nomination.

McCain proposed that Obama join him for a series of joint summer town-hall meetings across the country. Obama's campaign manager called the idea "appealing" but proposed format changes and made no immediate commitment.

Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late President John Kennedy, will vet prospective Obama running mates along with former Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder and Jim Johnson, former chief executive of the mortgage lender Fannie Mae, who performed the same task for Democrats John Kerry in 2004 and Walter Mondale in 1984.

Near the top of their agenda will be questions about a possible teaming with Clinton, who has indicated interest in the job after her presidential bid fell short.

"We're going to be having a conversation in coming weeks," Obama told reporters when asked about the former first lady. He said he was confident the party would be unified to win the general election.

After news of Clinton's decision broke, Obama adviser Linda Douglass told reporters she ran a great race.

"Her supporters have every reason to gather and celebrate that and we're confident the party will be united with her help," she said.

Clinton's supporters turned up the pressure for her to be named as Obama's vice presidential candidate. Robert Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, said he wrote to the Congressional Black Caucus urging members to push Obama to choose Clinton.

Obama's campaign said the search was just beginning.

"Senator Obama is pleased to have three talented and dedicated individuals managing this rigorous process," spokesman Bill Burton said. "He will work closely with them in the coming weeks but ultimately this will be his decision and his alone."

The victory by Obama, son of a black Kenyan father and white mother from Kansas, marked a milestone in US history. It came 45 years after the height of the civil rights movement and followed one of the closest and longest nomination fights in recent US political history.

Reuters

[OMEN]

Zimbabwe's presidential election run-off should be scrapped to prevent further bloodshed, the ruling party defector who came third in the first round said.

Former finance minister Simba Makoni won over 8 per cent and his votes could in theory be crucial in swinging the June 27 contest between opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and veteran President Robert Mugabe.

Makoni, who favours a national unity government, told reporters that Zimbabwe could not afford another election and it would not end the political crisis and economic collapse.

"We are convinced that the last thing our country and its people need is another election. Besides, the violence now gripping the country bodes ill for a free and fair election," Makoni said on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum meeting in Cape Town.

Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in the March 29 presidential election but failed to win the absolute majority needed to avoid a second ballot.

Makoni's campaign had said before the first round that he would back Tsvangirai if voting went to a run-off, but since then he was not formally endorsed the opposition leader.

Mugabe's vow never to allow Tsvangirai's MDC to take power has stoked opposition fears that the ruling ZANU-PF will use intimidation and vote-rigging to extend the president's 28-year rule. Tsvangirai was detained for nine hours on Wednesday as he campaigned southwest of Harare.

The opposition says 65 people have been killed by Mugabe's supporters since the election. On Wednesday it said soldiers and ZANU-PF activists had beaten and threatened to shoot Zimbabweans who wanted to support Tsvangirai.

Mugabe says the opposition is responsible for violence.

The MDC said Tsvangirai, who has been arrested and even beaten by police in the past, had continued his campaign on Thursday.

He described his detention as "yet another indication of the lengths that the Mugabe regime is prepared to go to in order to try and steal the election". Makoni said harassment of opposition leaders and assaults on lawyers and people dealing with the victims of political violence was aimed at creating a hostile environment for a free and fair run-off.

"And if the leaders will that the elections be put off so that we can save lives. . . then it is not beyond us if we will it that the elections be called off," he said.

State media reported on Thursday that the ruling ZANU-PF party and Tsvangirai's MDC have set up a joint team to stop political violence.

The state-controlled Herald newspaper said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) had facilitated the establishment of a committee comprising ZANU-PF and MDC officials to stem violence.

But MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said the team was unlikely to stop the violence.

"This all appears bold on paper, but not in practice," Chamisa told Reuters.

Reuters

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