Copenhagen - The Danish navy was involved over the weekend in an operation against pirates of the coast of Somalia, a Royal Danish Navy spokesman said Monday.

Spokesman Jesper Lynge told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the Danish Task Group onboard the Danish navy vessel Absalon "led an operation" after reports that a civilian vessel was being threatened by pirates.

The Danish Task Group currently leads the Task Force 150.

Absalon, with a 100-strong crew and a 50-strong task force, has since early September been deployed in the waters off Somalia, Lynge said.

Vienna - The Roman Catholic charity network Caritas called on pharmaceutical companies Monday to develop affordable drugs specifically for children with HIV/AIDS, many of whom die before their second birthday.

Lesley-Anne Knight, the secretary general of the Rome-based organisation, said in a statement released in Vienna that one third of adult HIV-positive adults, but only 15 per cent of infected children worldwide, had access to anti-retroviral drugs, which can delay the onset of AIDS.

Taipei - Taiwan's professional baseball league plans to make a new start in 2009 following a game-fixing scandal, the league said on Monday.

At a team managers' meeting, the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) reiterated its resolve to crack down on game fixing.

The CPBL now has four teams after the T-Rex team was dissolved in October over game-fixing and the Whales were disbanded in early November due to a lack of funds.

The CPBL urged the remaining four teams to prepare for the selection of players before the start of the baseball season on March 28, 2009.

Brussels - World governments must give their citizens better education, more equality between sexes and more access to condoms if the spread of AIDS is to be halted, the European Union said Monday.

"There is an urgent need to accelerate the development and deployment of global prevention measures, including by greater access to masculine and feminine condoms," the 27-member bloc said in a statement to mark World AIDS day.

Governments should also put more effort into educating their populations, both revealing the danger of AIDS and countering the stigma which accompany it, the statement said.

Mexico City - Police found nine decapitated bodies in Tijuana, in the northern Mexican state of Baja California, the latest in a series of gruesome killings in the region, authorities confirmed late Sunday.

The killings followed nine other murders perpetrated late Saturday and in the early hours of Sunday in the same city, on the border with the United States, not far from San Diego.

Stockholm- Cash-strapped US car giant Ford said Monday it was considering "the possible sale" of Swedish car maker Volvo.

Ford cited the "significant decline in the global auto industry," as reasons for its moves.

Volvo Cars spokeswoman Maria Bohlin said the company would have "to wait and see" the outcome of the review that the US owner had announced.

Speaking to Swedish radio news, Bohlin said the review would likely take a few months, which was also stated in the Ford statement.