Pirates Seize French Ship Off Somalia

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Pirates seized control of a French luxury yacht carrying 30 crew members Friday off the coast of Somalia, the French government and the ship's owner said. Attackers stormed the 288-foot "Le Ponant" as it returned without p***engers from the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, toward the Mediterranean Sea. Wracked by more than a decade of violence and anarchy, Somalia does not have its own navy, and a transitional government formed in 2004 with U.N. help has struggled to ***ert control. The International Maritime Bureau, which tracks piracy, said in its annual report earlier this year that global pirate attacks rose 10 percent in 2007, marking the first increase in three years.