World Briefs

LONDON - The last remaining survivor of the Titanic disaster is auctioning mementoes from the doomed liner to pay for her nursing home fees, a newspaper said Thursday. Millvina Dean was only two months old when the Titanic struck an iceberg on its maiden voyage and sank in 1912, but now at the age of 96 she is struggling to make ends meet.

Personal items going under the hammer include a 100-year-old suitcase filled with clothes given to her family by the people of New York after they arrived there following the catastrophe.

Dean has lived in a nursing home for the last two years. "I was hoping to be here for two weeks after breaking my hip but I developed an infection and have been here for two years. I am not able to live in my home any more," she said.

CHRISTIANSTED, U. S. Virgin Islands - Hurricane Omar was quickly moving away from the northern Leeward Islands early Thursday after passing through the area as a major Category 3 storm that caused little damage.

The powerful core of the storm, with the most intense winds, passed overnight between St. Martin and the U.S. Virgin Islands, said Lixion Avila, a hurricane specialist with the U.S. National Hurricane Center.

"It could have been worse," Avila said. "They were very, very lucky."

Hurricane Omar had maximum sustained winds of 125 mph but a last-minute shift to the east meant that St. Croix, the most populated island, experienced the weaker side of the system.

The storm knocked down trees, caused some flooding and minor mudslides but there were no immediate reports of deaths or major damage.

SEOUL, South Korea - Pirates who seized a cargo ship off the coast of Somalia more than a month ago on Thursday freed the 22 sailors and the vessel, a South Korean official said.

The crew members were heading toward a U.S. Navy vessel in the area after being set free earlier in the day, Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young told reporters. Moon declined to comment whether a ransom was paid.

The South Korean cargo vessel was hijacked by Somalia pirates on Sept. 10 in the Gulf of Aden — one of 29 ships hijacked this year off the African coast. The latest is a Philippine bulk carrier seized in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday with a crew of 21.

Also being held off the coast is the MV Faina, a Ukrainian ship carrying weapons and tanks. U.S. warships have surrounded the Faina as the pirates who seized it demanded millions of dollars in ransom.

Officials say 10 hijacked ships remain in the hands of pirates.