World Lens: Serena Williams takes home the Australian Open title; Australian sneaks pigeons in his pants. See pics. 

Thefts, Murder Cramping Jamaica Business
Employee theft, along with Jamaica’s high murder rate, is being looked at as reasons why the country ranks low in business worldwide. Jamaica has dropped down eight slots in the global business competitiveness ranking to number 86. The rankings were done by the World Economic Forum. According to the group, 22.4 percent of people who responded to a survey believed crime and theft to be huge obstacles for business in Jamaica. There were 1,611 people killed in the nation; the second highest figure ever. The second major obstacle is bureaucracy.  Jamaican officials expressed their frustration with the matter. “Don’t ask me to grow an economy. Don’t ask me to grow investment and expand employment in an atmosphere where crime is posing such a deterrent to that process,” said Karl Samuda, the nation’s minister of industry, investment and commerce. “If we do not address this as a matter of urgency, then the kind of reports and the ratings that we are seeing will not improve.” Some people in the inner city are taking away jobs from their community, because their criminal activity is scaring investors away, Samuda said.

Somali Pirates Get $3.2 Million Ransom
After hijacking a Ukrainian ship carrying weapons in September, Somali pirates will reportedly be receiving a ransom worth $3.2 million, reports BBC. The 20-person crew of the MV Faina were held for months while the pirates negotiated with officials. The ship was headed to the Kenyan port of Mombasa when it was hijacked. The Kenyan government says the weapons on the ship, including 33 T-72 battle tanks, rocket launchers and smaller arms, were indeed theirs; however an invoice said the weapons were headed to Sudan next. The ship should be released sometime Thursday.

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.

Earthquake rumbles in Peru
Early Tuesday morning, a 6.0-magnitude earthquake shook southern Peru, reports Reuters. While quakes of that magnitude are able to cause great damage, the nation’s police and civil defense agency said there were no reported injuries or damage. The quake’s epicenter was in an unpopulated area, said the district chief of Peru’s civil defense agency. Still, many residents of Arequipa, ran out into the streets and refused to return to their homes for fear they would collapse in an aftershock. The nation’s third largest copper mine also reported there was no damage as a result of the quake. “We have had no impact, no injuries, everything is fine,” a spokeswoman said.

Gunmen snatched the brother of a Nigerian soccer player
The gunman of younger brother of Nigerian soccer star Joseph Yobo was abducted by gunman last weekend as he was coming back from a party, reports the BBC. No one has made a ransom yet, and no militant group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, said Rivers State police spokeswoman Rita Inoma-Abbey. Yobo plays for Nigeria’s national team and also played in the English Premier League last season. Kidnapping and ransoms are not unusual in Nigeria, the highest oil producer in the continent of Africa. And militants are constantly fighting to get a piece of the nation’s oil profits. Just in the past two years, attacks against the nation’s oil industry has cut oil output by almost 25 percent, which has helped crude prices skyrocket worldwide. After a ransom has been paid, the kidnappings usually end without anyone getting hurt.