ransom

A weak government in Somalia is unable to restrain pirate gangs, he said, and ship owners are paying huge ransoms.

Another challenge for the United States, the report says, was to persuade foreign governments to "stop paying ransoms . "

Ransoms of up to $3m make it an attractive profession. Money earned can go towards buying faster boats and fancier navigation equipment.

Some reckon that the Shabab shares some of the ransoms earned by pirates who operate out of the central Somali port of Haradheere.

The men are tortured, the women raped and ransoms demanded from relatives in the United States.

Chief among the crimes to finance terrorism is kidnapping in return for extremely high ransoms.

Germany is suspected of paying several multi-million dollar ransoms, notably for the release in 2005 of an archaeologist held in Iraq.

Pirates flourish off largely lawless Somalia by attacking passing ships, taking hostages and demanding ransoms to free them and the vessels.

About half were released after the payment of ransoms, a few have died of abuse or neglect and around 760 are currently in captivity.

Kenya's foreign minister, Moses Wetangula, said pirates off the coast of East Africa have collected ransoms estimated at $150 million.

However, he advocates mitigating the problem by having ships invest more in security and refuse to pay ransoms.

Only one hostage, from Britain, whose government refuses to pay ransoms to terrorists, has been killed.

At present, British law allows ship owners to pay ransoms for the release of hijacked vessels.

Who am I to pass judgment on a vast industrial enterprise that cost, and will earn, countless kings' ransoms?

If ransoms are paid, as they have been before, more kidnappings are likely.

If you'll forgive the analogy, the ethics of full disclosure parallel the ethics of not paying kidnapping ransoms .

There were rumours of prisoner exchanges, ransoms and renewed rescue operations.

Making ransoms illegal would only add to the stress and uncertainty that hostage crews face.

Yet the pirates are still hijacking ships and receiving ransoms with apparent impunity.

Outlawing ransoms is neither feasible nor in the hostages' interests.

The Somali government officially opposes the payment of ransoms, but the practice has become routine.

And ransoms aren't even the lion's share of piracy's costs to global maritime commerce.

It will press countries to refuse concessions to pirates and to freeze pirates' ransoms.

As ransoms go up and get paid, pirates will think it worth taking the risk.

There were at least 50 recorded pirate attacks in it last year; some go unreported after ransoms have been paid.

How come they dont kill each other, how come they dont kidnap and ask for ransoms?

In 2008, an estimated $30 million in ransoms was paid to pirates who hijacked vessels in the Gulf of Aden.

The kidnappers exacted ransoms for their hostages.

Police in Nigeria estimate that ransoms paid there between 2006 and 2008 exceeded $100 million.

Last year Mr Sarkozy said it was "not a strategy" for France to pay ransoms to kidnappers in the Sahel, or even to negotiate with them.

Ransoms paid last year climbed to $238m, an average of $5. 4m per ship, compared with $150, 000 in 2005.

the Spanish managed to pay lower ransoms by dragging talks out