NAIROBI (Reuters) – Piracy in the Gulf of Aden has cost shippers between $18-30 million so far this year in ransoms and is threatening global business, British think-tank Chatham House said on Thursday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in St Petersburg in Russia, helping to mend ties between the two countries.

Suicide bombers have struck near two Shia mosques in Baghdad, killing 20 people and wounding another 25, Iraqi security officials said.