A British couple from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, UK have been seized by pirates while sailing from the Seychelles to Tanzania. A spokesman for the pirates confirmed to a local New York Times reporter in Somalia by telephone that the couple was being taken to Xarardheere, a pirate stronghold on the Somali coast north of Mogadishu, and that ransom demands would be made after they arrived.
A few hours later the spokesman called back to say that the pirates and their captives had been attacked by a “naval forces”, and that two of the pirates’ vessels had been sunk. Another version says that the pirates scuttled their own boats, and that they were all aboard the captured sailboat. They were expected in Xarardheere yesterday but have not arrived.
The couple was on a round-the-world trip in their 12 m sloop Lynn Rival. They are experienced sailors. New York Times, The Times
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Edgebaston, Birmingham (GenevaLunch) – West Indian batsman Dwayne Smith smashed 59 runs off just 26 balls to set up a 63 run victory over Somerset in the final of the Twenty20 Cup.
See the collection of photos from the Tour de France in Tenterden, in GL’s photo album.
Tenterden, Kent - Sunday was a confusing day in Tenterden, Kent, for those of us who had just crossed the Channel from France after leaving Switzerland.
You might have thought you were in France, given the French flags, cars zooming down the main street with loudspeakers bellowing televsion advertisements in French for soap powder and Haribo sweets.
You blinked and blue-clad men on Gendarmerie motorcycles were flying by. A
Look again and you saw police officers in what were clearly British tall hats, tatooed men and women in floral prints raising pints of beer and ale, white-skinned women and children in sleeveless tops and vinegar-flavoured crisps and sticky cakes and sweets in colours that make the French shudder.
Definitely Britain.
The event was the Tour de France, which kicked off this year in London and ended in Canterbury. Villages in Kent gave themselves up to the race, embracing the Tour and all things French with an enthusiasm that reminded everyone that the Channel
still divides the two nations, despite the tunnel, ferries and EasyJet.
The Tour got in everyone’s way, with roads blocked and police stopping people from crossing main streets for three hours in the middle of the day. The noise level was well above a normal Sunday buzz. The only solution
