Australian Broadcasting is reporting Pirates attack US-flagged ship:

Pirates have attacked a US-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Somalia with rockets and automatic weapons, but failed to board the craft, the ship’s owner says.

The crew of the Liberty Sun was unharmed, but the vessel suffered damage, according to a statement from the New York-based Liberty Maritime Corp.
…

Liberty Maritime said the pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at the vessel, which was carrying US food aid for African nations and was en route to Mombasa, Kenya, from Houston.

These US-flagged vessels are carrying food aid for African nations, and are under government contract. There isn’t going to be any ransom, and if they keep it up, the pirates will find themselves in the sights of US attack aircraft. This action will push the US into dispatching a carrier battle group into the area, and that is not something the pirates will enjoy.

Australian Broadcasting reports that they have gone back to work: Somali pirates seize 2 more cargo ships.

Here is the main problem: one of the ships is the MV Irene EM – Greek-owned, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines-flagged, and the 22 crew members are all Filipinos. It was sailing from Jordan to India. No mention of who insured the cargo, or who insured the ship.

The nearest naval vessel is the Portuguese warship, NRP Corte-Real.

Who makes the decisions about what to do?

Here’s a picture of the MV Irene EM. Kingstown is the capital of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

The second ship, the MV Sea Horse, is Lebanese-owned, and Togo-flagged. No word on the crew. It is a quarter the size of the Irene EM.

While the problems in the US are receding, Manitoba’s problems are getting worse, and, the CBC reports, entering new territory.

After the 1997 Red River floods a lot of changes took place in Canada as well as the US to overcome the problems that occurred, and they have worked well in both areas. Unfortunately Nature is not content to continually repeat exactly the same script, and while this flooding is similar to 1997, there are some differences that have caught people off guard.

Over the weekend ice was pushed out of the river and caused a lot of damage floating in the flood waters.

The temperature has risen and rain is melting snow, while culverts and small rivers are still frozen. Flooding is occurring in unusual places from unusual directions. This is happening while the flood crest on the Red River is still moving North.

Manitoba is flat, there is no real “high ground”. When the rivers and streams go over their banks they spread out for miles. The ground is saturated where it isn’t frozen, so flooding to some extent is going to happen until there is a complete thaw.