German airport official calls for passenger profiling

Christoph Blume, the CEO of Dusseldorf airport, on Wednesday called for introducing passenger profiling in German airports to combat terrorism, Deutsch Welle television reported.

Blume, the future President of the German Airport Association (ADV) said he want to introduce the system that would be based on age, sex and ethnicity for high-risk passengers. The profiling system would be similar to one used in Israel.

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Somali pirates release German-owned ship after months

BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) -- Somali pirates on Tuesday morning released a German-owned vessel carrying nearly two dozen crew members off Oman, the European Union Naval Force - Somalia confirmed on Wednesday.

EU Naval Force spokesman Paddy O'Kennedy said the 13,168 tonne cargo ship MV Marida Marguerite was pirated on May 8 approximately 120 nautical miles (222 kilometers) south of the port of Salalah, a city in the southern Omani province of Dhofar. It is carrying a crew of 22 - 19 Indian, 1 Ukrainian and 2 Bangladeshi.

O'Kennedy said the German-owned, Marshall Island-flagged MV Marida Marguerite was on its way to Antwerp in Belgium at the time of the hijacking and had been held hostage ever since as the pirates demanded millions in ransom.

On Sunday, the pirates were reportedly paid a ransom of $5.5 million for the release of the crew and the ship, according to ECOTERRA International, which keeps a record of pirating incidents.