Hamburg  - A United Nations tribunal has offered to hear cases involving Somali pirates, or to assist other courts in interpreting laws that apply on the high seas, a German newspaper reported Wednesday.

On its website, Die Welt quoted Jose Luis Jesus, president of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, saying his court in the German city of Hamburg was available to hear piracy cases.

"Piracy is dealt with in articles 100 to 107 of the UN Convention on Law of the Sea," he said. "That is why the tribunal is willing to try every case of piracy which the states desire it to hear."

Ankara - Turkish diplomats have undertaken initiatives to free two Turkish sailors who have been taken hostage by pirates just off the Nigerian coast, Transport Minister Binali Yildirim said on Wednesday.

The captain and second engineer of the Marshall Islands-flagged ship Aleyna Mercan were taken hostage after the ship was attacked by pirates of the Nigerian port of Onne on April 20, the Anadolu news agency reported. The two men were later taken off the ship.

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Ankara - Ten people, including four military officers were taken into custody Wednesday after investigators found a buried cache of weapons thought to be connected to a plot to overthrow Turkey's moderate Islamist government, Turkish media reported.

Grenades, anti-tank rockets, hand guns and ammunition were amongst the armaments found during the search in a forested area of Poyrazkoy, NTV said. No official statement had been released as of Wednesday evening.

London, Apr. 22: A former Royal cop has claimed that police officers stationed at Buckingham Palace spent their night shifts running gambling syndicates, selling hard-core pornography and posed for pictures on the Queen’s throne.

A jury has heard the extraordinary account of how Royal protection officers slept off hangovers in private palace rooms, smuggled “uninvited and unvetted” guests into Royal garden parties and allowed business associates to park their cars at Buckingham Palace.