With all that's going on in the world, let's not neglect to spare a thought for the Scourge of Piracy. The Weekly Piracy Report always makes for entertaining reading, and this week had a particularly juicy (i.e. violent) entry:

13.03.2003 at 1000 UTC in the vicinity of Socotra islands, Somalia.
Four speedboats with four pirates armed with high-powered guns in each boat chased a bulk carrier underway. Despite taking evasive measures, four pirates managed to board at forward and attempted to enter accommodation. Vessel contacted coastal authorities and owners for help. An hour later, a maritime aircraft arrived and assisted. Crewmembers using fire hoses, rocket flares, armed with some iron bars prevented the attackers from entering the accommodation. At 1200 UTC pirates disembarked into their boats and fled. Ship resumed her voyage.

Fortunately, piracy seems not to be a very prosperous sort of livelihood these days. In several months of following the Report I've yet to read of a successful ship takeover. All a modern pirate can reasonably hope for is to sneak on board and make off with an armload of goods. Still, last week (sorry, can't find an archive link) some Indonesian pirates attacked a ship with rocket launchers and other serious firepower. Don't ever think that the world's a safe place.