Somali pirates seize Indonesian chemical tanker

Somali pirates have hijacked a chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden - the third vessel seized in waters around Somalia this week.

Maritime officials said the Pramoni - a 20,000-tonne Indonesian-owned vessel - was seized en route to India and was now heading towards Somalia.

The ship has a crew of 24, most of whom are Indonesian.

Last Monday Somali pirates captured two other ships with 45 crew off the East African coast.

A UK-flagged chemical tanker, the St James Park, was captured in the Gulf of Aden while on its way to Thailand from Spain.

The Navios Apollon, a Panamanian-flagged Greek cargo ship with 19 crew, was hijacked north of the Seychelles.

In the latest incident, the captain of the Singapore-flagged Pramoni reported by radio that the ship had been hijacked but all the crew were well, the EU counter-piracy force Navfor said.

The ship's crew consists of 17 Indonesians, five Chinese, one Nigerian and one Vietnamese, it added.

Pirate attacks are common off the Somali coast and international navies have been deployed to counter them.

gift of new year

CIA workers killed by 'Afghan soldier'

Eight Americans working for the CIA have died in a bomb attack in Afghanistan, the worst against US intelligence officials since 2001.

A bomber wearing an explosive vest entered Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost Province, near Pakistan.

A Taliban spokesman said one of its members who was working for the Afghan army carried out the attack.

In a separate incident, four Canadian soldiers and a journalist died in a roadside bomb attack in Kandahar.

It was the worst fatal incident affecting Canadians in Afghanistan for more than two years.

Army uniform

A Taliban spokesman said the militant who carried out the attack at the Chapman base on Wednesday evening was working as a soldier in the Afghan army.

Zabiullah Mujahid told the BBC the bomber was wearing uniform when he managed to breach security at the base, detonating his explosives belt in the gym.

Unnamed US officials were quoted as saying that most if not all of the dead Americans were either CIA agents or contractors, although this has not been officially confirmed by either the CIA or the Pentagon.

A further six Americans are reported to be wounded.

Reports say the base is used by provincial reconstruction teams, which consist of soldiers and civilians.

The base has been described as "not regular" - a phrase that implies it was a centre of CIA operations in Khost province, the BBC's Peter Greste in Kabul says.

It is the biggest single reported loss of life for the CIA since the war began in Afghanistan eight years, and the biggest loss for the US since October.

"We mourn the loss of life in this attack, and are withholding further details pending notification of next of kin," US state department spokesman Ian Kelly said.

A spokesman for Isaf, the international Nato force in Afghanistan, said that "no US and no Isaf military personnel were killed or injured" in the incident.

Questions raised

Khost province - which is one of the Taliban's strongholds - has been targeted by militants over the past year.

Zabiullah Mujahid told the BBC the bomber was wearing uniform when he managed to breach security at the base, detonating his explosives belt in the gym.

Unnamed US officials were quoted as saying that most if not all of the dead Americans were either CIA agents or contractors, although this has not been officially confirmed by either the CIA or the Pentagon.

A further six Americans are reported to be wounded.

Reports say the base is used by provincial reconstruction teams, which consist of soldiers and civilians.

The base has been described as "not regular" - a phrase that implies it was a centre of CIA operations in Khost province, the BBC's Peter Greste in Kabul says.

It is the biggest single reported loss of life for the CIA since the war began in Afghanistan eight years, and the biggest loss for the US since October.

"We mourn the loss of life in this attack, and are withholding further details pending notification of next of kin," US state department spokesman Ian Kelly said.

A spokesman for Isaf, the international Nato force in Afghanistan, said that "no US and no Isaf military personnel were killed or injured" in the incident.

Questions raised

Khost province - which is one of the Taliban's strongholds - has been targeted by militants over the past year.

The number of foreign civilians deployed in Afghanistan has been rising as international efforts there focus increasingly on development and aid.

Civilians work alongside military reconstruction teams at provincial bases around the country.

A "civilian surge" was one of the three core elements of the new US strategy for Afghanistan announced by US President Barack Obama at the beginning of the month.

The fact that an attacker has been able to breach security at such a sensitive facility raises questions about the ability of US forces to protect themselves ahead of the surge, our correspondent adds.

This has been the deadliest year for foreign troops since the 2001 invasion.

Living with the in-laws

It's still tradition for newly-married British Asian women to live with their in-laws. For many this rite of passage can be tough.

I've been living with my in-laws ever since I got married. Now, after 15 years, my husband and I have finally bought our own home.

For many Asian women in the UK, living with their husband's family leads to arguments, from petty squabbles over not washing the dishes, to more serious disagreements which can turn nasty.

British Asians make up 6.5% of the UK's population (there are 4.2m British Asians according to official estimates) and these households tend to be, on average, larger than other ethnic groups.

Traditionally, Asians live with large extended families, with many wives, husbands, husband's parents,

It's a domestic situation that is as prevalent today in the UK as it is in India and Pakistan.

Sandeep, 27, from Birmingham, got married in March this year. She met her husband through work and fell in love.

But she did two of the most stressful things in life in quick succession - she got married and she moved house.

And not only that, she moved in with her in-laws and her husband's younger sister. She says it was very stressful.

"It was constant nerves, 'shall I do this, shall I do that?'. You don't know how to behave."

Painful

That feeling is one I know only too well. I remember my first morning at my in-laws' home.

I sat on my bed and spent ages wondering what to wear. Would it be OK to go down in my pyjamas? Should I put my jeans on or should I wear traditional Indian dress?

In the end I opted for traditional attire as I wanted to create a good impression, only to find my mother-in-law in her nightie and a dressing gown.

siblings, and often grandparents, all living under one roof.

Women brought up more traditionally in India and Pakistan were often encouraged to believe they were just "visitors" in their parents' home. They were taught their real home would be their in-laws' house and they were to regard their in-laws as their "real" parents.

Rani, now in her mid-50s, has been married for more than 30 years, and has spent her entire married life living with extended family. She said the most painful moment was when she had to get permission to visit her own parents.

"I'd cry on the phone to my mum and say it was ridiculous… and she'd say 'that's just the way it is, you've to ask your in-laws'."

Thirty-nine-year-old Humera, a teacher from Walsall in the West Midlands, had an arranged marriage 10 years ago and moved to Leicester.

It soon became apparent that living with her husband's parents and sister was not going to work out.

"I remember standing in the bathroom and thinking 'what have I done'," she says.

She made the mistake of thinking she could change things around and display her own ornaments and pictures, she says. But, like many other daughters-in-law have found, this simply started a fight for territory in the house.

I've fought this battle in my own way. For the past 15 years, I've got home every night and rolled down the kitchen blind a little - my mother-in-law likes it up.

I push the sofa slightly forward, as she has it right up against the wall. And when I put cushions back on the sofa, she takes them off.

The daughter-in-law is expected to cook, clean, do all the washing and ironing, and hold down a full-time job. Humera found this unacceptable, especially as her mother-in-law stayed at home and her sister-in-law also expected to be waited on.

Four years into the marriage Humera persuaded her husband there would not be enough room with his family once the baby she was carrying arrived. She managed to save enough money to buy a house and they moved out.

'Middle-man' husband

It took me a few years to realise there was no point in trying to "win" an argument with my father-in-law. With my mother-in-law I can recall days and days of not speaking.

The reality is now I only speak to both of them if I really need to. My husband has taken on the role of "middle-man", conveying messages to and fro.

Saleema, originally from London, married into a traditional Pakistani family and moved to Leeds. Her father-in-law was the one she clashed with. She found she was battling with him for her husband's attention. Things came to a head for Saleema when she was pregnant.

"I sat there with a load of tablets," she says. "I wasn't going to take them because I knew I was pregnant and I loved my husband, but I knew that was my breaking point.

"That's when I decided I had to leave. I couldn't live in this situation and my husband then said 'yes, let's leave'."

For those who do stick it out, it can eventually be rewarding and the situation can change. Rani herself is about to become a mother-in-law and she's learnt some lessons.

"I will do it differently and I'm little bit scared. But I hope [my daughter-in-law] fits in well with the family."