• Tourists return to Sri Lanka for whale watching

    David Loh / Reuters

    A snorkeler swims towards sperm whales diving into the sea off the coast of Mirissa, Sri Lanka, March 29.

    The southern tip of Sri Lanka, where the waters of the continental shelf are close to shore, is one of the few locations in the world to see dolphins, sperm whales and other creatures of the deep up close. Tourists have been returning to the island since the civil war ended there in 2009 to enjoy its natural beauty and catch a rare glimpse of the elusive whales.

    David Loh / Reuters

    Tourist boats, carrying whale watchers, surround a pod of resting sperm whales in the Indian ocean off the coast of southern Sri Lanka.

    David Loh / Reuters

    The fluke of a sperm whale sticks out of the sea as it dives among other resting whales off the coast of Mirissa, Sri Lanka.

     

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  • Stringer / AFP - Getty Images

    A Kenyan navy officer takes photos of an old bomb discovered and retrieved from the sea by fishermen diving for lobsters in the underwater of the Indian Ocean near Fort Jesus, on April 3. The live bomb is said to have been used in the Second World War and to weigh a half-ton according to police officials in Kenya's coastal town of Mombasa. It will be detonated in the ocean as it is still capable of causing damage.

    Live bomb from WW II found in Indian Ocean

  • Dutch marines kill 2 pirates off Somali coast

    Dutch Defense Ministry via AP

    In this photo taken Sunday, April 3 and released by the Dutch Defense Ministry on April 4, suspected pirates stand on deck with their hands raised as Dutch marines approach a hijacked Iranian fishing boat off the coast of Somalia in an operation to free it from pirates. The Dutch Defense Ministry says its marines have killed two pirates and captured 16.

    AP reports from The Hague, Netherlands: The Dutch defense ministry says its marines have killed two pirates and captured 16 in an operation to free a hijacked Iranian fishing boat off the coast of Somalia.

    The ministry says in a statement marines from the frigate HMS Tromp opened fire on the pirates Sunday after they shot at two Dutch inflatable speed boats sent to investigate a suspicious fishing vessel.

    Ten suspected pirates were captured as they tried to flee in a high-speed skiff and six more were detained on the fishing boat. The bodies of two suspected pirates killed in the firefight also were recovered on the boat.