French Nab Pirate 'Mother Ship'

French forces launched an attack on a 30-foot-long pirate "mother ship" early today, detaining 11 pirates and thwarting a pirate attack on a Liberian-registered vessel, the AP reports. The pirates are being held aboard the Nivose, a French frigate taking part in a European mission to protect shipping in the Gulf of Aden. A French surveillance helicopter spotted the pirates' mother ship yesterday, and it was intercepted 550 miles east of the Kenyan port of Mombasa.