Eu-piracy

LAGOS, Nigeria - Pirates armed with Kalashnikov rifles clashed with Nigerian navy forces in a failed bid to take over an offshore oil platform, then kidnapped three French employees of a marine services company while retreating, a Nigerian official said Wednesday.

PARIS - Three French employees of marine services company Bourbon have been kidnapped in an attack on one of its ships in an oil field off Nigeria, the company said Wednesday.

MOSCOW - The pirates seized by a Russian warship off the coast of Somalia have been released because of "imperfections" in international law, the Defense Ministry said Friday, a judgment sharply questioned by a prominent Russian shipping expert.

MOSCOW - A spokesman for Russia's Defense Ministry says the pirates seized by a Russian warship off the coast of Somalia have been released because of "imperfections" in international law.