Morning Brief: Busy days for pirates

Top story: Somali pirates attacked two ships within minutes of each other off the coast of East Africa today. A group of pirates took control of a Panamanian-flagged vessel near the Seychelles. Shortly after that pirates began firing on an Italian ship off the Kenyan coast, though that attack was thwarted by a nearby Belgian warship. 

A foreign ministry spokesman said that China would make "all-out efforts" to rescue the crew of a Chinese ship captured by pirates on Monday, though experts said the government would likely negotiate for the ship's release. The attack -- over 700 miles off the Somali coast -- may show that pirates are traveling farther afield to avoid the growing international naval fleet in the Gulf of Aden, their traditional hunting ground. 

A report released Wednesday by the International Maritime Bureau shows more pirate attacks in the first nine months of this year than all of last year. However, thanks to the increased military presence in the area, the number of successful attacks has gone down.

Growing hunger: The number hungry people in the world rose this year to 1.02 billion -- or 1 in 7 people -- according to the United Nations.