US destroyer nears Somali pirates

A US Navy destroyer has made visual contact with a Ukrainian ship which was seized by pirates last week and is now moored off the Somali coast.

There is no indication that the USS Howard intends to approach the ship, which is carrying 72 battle tanks destined for Kenya's government.
The pirates' ransom demand for the ship and its 21 crew has fallen from $35m to $20m (£10.9m), their spokesman said.
A man on the ship also told the BBC that one of the crew members had died.
The man, who the pirates said was the captain of the MV Faina, was speaking via a satellite phone handed to him by one of the pirates.
He said the dead sailor was Russian and had died as the result of an illness. The report could not be confirmed by independent sources.
He also said the other crew members were fine and that he could see three ships about a mile away, including one carrying an US flag.
International concern
In an earlier interview with the BBC, a spokesman for the US Navy's 5th Fleet, Lt Nathan Christensen, said the USS Howard was within 8km (5 miles) from the Ukrainian vessel, but refused to say whether an intervention was likely.