Shippers urge blockade along Somalia’s coast

Shippers urge blockade along Somalia’s coast

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Shipping officials from around the world called Monday for a military blockade along Somalia’s coast to intercept pirate vessels heading out to sea. Yemen’s government said Somali pirates have seized another ship.

Peter Swift, managing director of the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners, said stronger naval action — including aerial support — is necessary to battle rampant piracy in the Gulf of Aden near Somalia.

But NATO, which has four warships off the coast of Somalia, rejected a blockade.

Some 20 tankers sail through the sea lane daily. But many tanker owners are considering a massive detour around southern Africa to avoid pirates, which will delay delivery and push costs up by 30 percent, Swift said.

Astronauts step out for mission’s final spacewalk

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Astronauts successfully carried out one last spacewalk Monday, finishing an unprecedented clean and lube job that they began a week ago at the international space station.

Spacewalker Stephen Bowen wrapped up work on a jammed solar-wing rotary joint as his partner, Shane Kimbrough, squirted some extra grease as a precaution on another joint that is working fine.

When the repairs to the gummed-up joint were deemed officially complete, Mission Control radioed up its applause.