Four yachting enthusiasts from California and Washington became the first Americans slain by Somali pirates since a wave of attacks began six years ago.

Jean and Scott Adam, a couple from California, and Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, of Seattle, Washington, who had been sailing around the world since December 2004 with a yacht carrying Bibles, were shot and killed by Somali pirates as four U.S. warships trailed their vessel ‘The Quest’.

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Two Iranian naval vessels entered the Suez Canal on Tuesday en route to Syria, officials said, the first time in three decades that Tehran has sent military ships through the strategic waterway.

Yesterday DEBKAfile reported that US Navy warships boxed in two Iranian of the 12th Flotilla, but today Suez Canal officials report taht two Iranian naval vessels have entered the Suez en route for the Mediterranean Sea, and FoxNews is reporting on the air at 10:40 CT that the ships have reached the Mediterranean Sea.

Canal officials report Iranian ships entered the canal early Tuesday morning and are expected to reach the Mediterranean later in the day.

Tuesday February 22, 2011 marks the first time in three decades that Iranian military ships have traveled the Suez Canal that links the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.

Israel, which has been repeatedly threatened by Iran with total destruction, has declared it views the passage as a provocation.

Iranian officials say the ships are headed to Syria, also an enemy of Israel, for a training mission.

Suez Canal officials say the ships are expected to pay a fee of $290,000 for the crossing.

Pundits say Iran is taking advantage of Egypt’s current weakness during its February 2011 revolution.

Kharg Island is a continental island in the Persian Gulf belonging to Iran. It is located 25 km (16 miles) off the coast of Iran and 483 km (300 miles) northwest of the Strait of Hormuz. Administered by the adjacent coastal Bushehr Province, Kharg Island provides a sea port for the export of oil and extends Iranian territorial sea claims into the Persian Gulf oil fields.

See also …

FoxNews.com Iranian Warships Complete Suez Canal Transit

FoxNews.com — Iran warships to begin Suez Canal passage Tuesday

DEBKAfile US warships box in Iranian flotilla, delay Suez passage

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The Suez Canal with Port Said and the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Great Bitter Lake near Ismailia at south-central, and the Gulf of Suez to the south.

Israeli website DEBKAfile is reporting that Iranian warships attempting to pass through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean Sea and Syria are in a standoff with five US warships — the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier, the USS Leyte Gulf, the USNS Arctic, the USS Kearsarge and the USS Abraham Lincoln.

The USS George Washington carrier and the USS Carl Vinson were also deployed in the Gulf of Aden.

The standoff began Friday, February 18, when the USS Enterprise carrier, escorted by the USS Leyte Gulf and USNS Arctic, cornered the Iranian Navy’s Kharg cruiser and Alvand missile destroyer at the Red Sea entrance. The USS Fearsarge reached the Bitter Lake first.

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Libyan fighter jets and helicopters reportedly fired on protesters in the capital Tripoli, with indiscriminate bombing runs leaving ‘many, many dead’.

Two Libyan Mirage air force jets landed in Malta on Monday after the pilots were ordered to bomb protesters in Benghazi, where teens are reported to be patrolling the streets with assault rifles. The pilots asked for political asylum, apparently refusing to participate in a government assault on anti-government protesters in Libya.

There is also a report of two civilian helicopters that fled to Malta. Malta is about 400 miles (660 kilometers) from Benghazi.

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In an appearance for about five seconds on Libyan television, Muammar Gaddafi was shown in a pre-recorded video leaning out of the back of a jeep holding an umbrella, while he claimed he was still in Tripoli.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is believed to have fled the capital Tripoli after anti-government pro-democracy demonstrators charged the state television and set the Libyan parliament building on fire.

Incoming reports claim protesters were gunned down in the streets, sometimes using government helicopter gunships and snipers.

Up to up to 400 pro-democracy demonstrators may have been killed with many reported more reported killed in Tripoli overnight. The protests reached the capital for the first time overnight Sunday to Monday with reports that army units were defecting to the opposition.

Reports of security forces were looting banks and other government institutions in Tripoli

Reports of protesters attacking and damaging police station.

Media reports have been severely limited.

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Anti-government protests continued in Bahrain’s capital Manama on Sunday. Hundreds of protesters spent the night in Pearl Square after the withdrawal on Saturday of security forces, a day after firing on marchers trying to reach the site.

See also Wikipedia 2011 Arab World Protests

Major protests; occupation of main public spaces with peaceful chanting of men and women.

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Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is confronting the most serious challenge to his rule in 42 years. Government forces have been unleashed onto protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi, where one hospital official put the death toll at 200. Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker takes a look at the scale of the unrest in the country.

Country-wide protests over housing and corruption; major protests started in Benghazi, and moved to other cities; attacks to police stations and official buildings; clashes between protesters and Government supporters; general uprising in Cyrenaica; defection of military units in Benghazi.

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Al Jazeera’s James Bays reports from Manama where many protesters say they won’t be attending any negotiations. They want the government removed.

On February 18 2011 the Guardian reported: ‘Five people are believed to have been killed and scores injured after Bahraini security forces raided thousands in a peaceful protest in Pearl Square in the early hours of Thursday morning.’

In Bahrain, thousands of people have returned to Pearl Roundabout, the centre of anti-regime protests and the scene of two separate attacks by security forces.

Live rounds, rubber bullets and tear gas. Police and soldiers blocked the protesters with barbed wire, but later retreated and have left the area. The government says talks with opposition groups are under way.

Bahrain is a small island country with approximately 1,234,596 inhabitants (2010), located near the western shores of the Persian Gulf and ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family.

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Clashes between Iranian police and tens of thousands of protesters wracked central Tehran on Monday killing one person, as opposition supporters tried to evoke the spirit of Egypt’s recent popular uprising.

Hillary Clinton: “What we see happening in Iran today is a testament to the courage of the Iranian people, and an indictment of the hypocrisy of the Iranian regime.”

Hundreds of thousands danced, wept and prayed in joyful pandemonium Friday after 18 days of peaceful pro-democracy protests forced President Hosni Mubarak to surrender power to the military, ending three decades of authoritarian rule.

On January 25th 2011, widespread protests began against Mubarak’s regime. These took the form of an intensive campaign of civil resistance supported by very large numbers of people and mainly consisting of continuous mass demonstrations. By January 29th it was becoming clear that Mubarak’s regime had lost control when a curfew order was ignored, and the army took a semi-neutral stance on enforcing the curfew decree. Some protesters, a very small minority in Cairo, expressed nationalistic views against what they deemed was foreign interference. Those critics held the view that the U.S. administration had failed to take sides. The critics also considered the Mubarak regime as friendly with with Israel.

On February 11th 2011, Mubarak resigned and fled Cairo. Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had stepped down and that the Egyptian military would assume control of the nation’s affairs in the short term. Jubilant celebrations broke out in Tahrir Square at the news with large crowds chanting ‘Allah Akbar’. Mubarak may have left Cairo for Sharm el-Sheikh the previous night, before or shortly after the airing of a taped speech in which Mubarak vowed he would not step down or leave.