Six Somalis go on trial in a Paris court on Tuesday charged with taking the 30 crew of luxury sailing ship Le Ponant hostage in the Gulf of Aden in 2008. The six men, aged 25 to 50, face life in prison if convicted of kidnapping and theft as part of a gang after they were arrested in a French airborne operation on land in Somalia after a ransom was paid. Only one admits to being a pirate, two admit to having been aboard the elegant 88-metre three-master but only to sell goats, cigarettes and the mild narcotic khat. The other three deny ever having set foot on the boat. Le Ponant left the Seychelles on March 30, 2008 with 30 crew and no passengers on board, headed for Yemen where they were to take on passengers for a cruise. On entering the notorious Gulf of Aden on April 4,2008 the ship was boarded by pirates armed with assault rifles who forced the crew to head for Somalia. More to read at au.news.yahoo.com...

Italian Costa Cruises have decided to deploy a second cruise ship, Costa Atlantica, to Asia from May 2013. The 2,680-guest Costa Atlantica features 1,057 cabins. Having previously operated the 1,680-guest Costa Classica in Asia, the double positioning of the 2,394-pax Costa Victoria and Costa Atlantica in Asia will offer a combined daily passenger capacity of 5,074. More to read: ttgasia.com/artic...

The Boudicca cruise liner was making a 13-night trip to the Canary Islands when it was hit with a suspected norovirus outbreak, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea. The ship, which was carrying 800 passengers, was met by ambulances at a port yesterday (May 21st, 2012) following the ordeal. Witnesses said a woman in her 80s was taken off the liner by helicopter after having a heart attack. It’s not know if this was linked to the bug, which is highly contagious, but many other passengers suffered through an ordeal. "There were two nurses wandering around all the time visiting people, most of them elderly," a passenger told the UK's Daily Mirror. More to read: www.theaustralian...