SOMALIA

A U.S. Navy destroyer helped sailors who retook control of their North Korean-flagged vessel from pirates off Somalia, the American military said.

A helicopter flew from the James E. Williams to investigate a phone tip and demanded by bridge-to-bridge radio that the pirates give up their weapons, the military said in a statement.

The crew of the Dai Hong Dan then overwhelmed the hijackers, leaving two pirates dead, according to preliminary reports, and five captured, the military said.

Three seriously injured crew members were brought aboard the Williams, the statement said. The pirates remained on the Dai Hong Dan, which was returning to the port of Mogadishu.

Group accused of abducting 103 kids

Chad charged six French citizens with kidnapping after they tried to fly 103 African children out of the country, saying they were orphans from Sudan's Darfur region.

The group, Zoe's Ark, tried to take the children to Europe to place them with host families.

The French Foreign Ministry and others have said it appeared that many of the children were from Chad and that many were not orphans. Three French journalists traveling with the group and seven Spanish citizens who worked for a charter airline were charged with complicity.

From Times Wire Reports