19 African migrants drown.

A boat capsized off the coast of the Canary Islands resulting in 19 African migrants drowning, reports the BBC. An 8-year-old girl is among the dead. Six people were rescued from the boat this past weekend and helicopters are searching the area for more survivors. Three people are still thought to be missing. But as time goes by, hope for finding more people alive grows more and more dim. Most of the people on the boat are thought to be from Morocco. Thousands of North Africans have flocked to the Spanish Canary Islands, which are off the coast of North Africa, in the past few years in search of a better life, reports the news service. The number of migrants that actually make it there, however, has gone down recently due to an increase in security. Only 9,000 migrants made it to the Canary Islands in 2008, compared to almost 32,000 in 2006.

Turks and Caicos leader to step down. Turks and Caicos Premier Michael Misick has announced that he’ll step down from his post next month. He says the move is in the best interest of his political organization, the Progressive National Party (PNP), amid corruption allegations: “In recent months, there has been much discontent among some ministers and PNP members…It now appears to me that the divide within the party is too deep.” Las year, while a Foreign Affairs Select Committee made up of British Parliament members were routinely examining the affairs of British territories, they found that Misick was allegedly gaining from “selling off Crown land to fund current investment.” Misick says he’ll leave office effective March 31. His public separation from actress wife Lisa Raye has also made headlines recently.

Somali Pirates Drown With $3 million Ransom  It looked like they’d hit the jackpot when some Somali pirates received a $3 million ransom to release a Saudi oil tanker Friday. Instead, five of the pirates drowned when their boat capsized as they were trying to return to land, losing all of the millions, reports MSNBC. There were three other pirates who survived, but they lost their share of the money as well. The crew of the Saudi oil tanker Sirius Star already had been released. On Sunday, the body of one of the pirates washed ashore in Somalia with $153,000 in his pocket, according to a local resident. But the unfortunate, and ironic, turn events won’t do much to discourage wannabe pirates, says the managing director of Dryad Maritime Intelligence Graeme Gibbon Brooks. “The loss or potential loss of the ransom means the pirates will be all the more keen to get the next ransom. There are people lining up to be pirates,” he said. With Somalia’s shaky government and the fighting between troops and insurgents that has depressed some areas in the country, hijacking ships has been one of the few ways to earn money for some of the pirates. Pirates attacked over 100 ships last year, hijacking 42 of them. The hijackings have gone down recently, most likely due to an international crackdown that has ships from all over patrolling the waters. An Ukrainian ship, MV Faina, which was held near the Sirius Star, is still under control of the pirates. A pirate spokesman told the Associated Press that the members of that crew were safe and would be released unharmed after successful negotiations for a ransom. “Nothing has changed from our previous demand of $20 million ransom for the release of the ship, but as negotiations continue we are likely to reduce the amount,” Sugule Ali told the AP.