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This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
American government lawyers this week brought criminal charges against a young Somali man in connection with a ship hijacking1 earlier this month. They say Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse2 is the only survivor3 of a hijacking attempt on an American ship off the coast of Somalia on April eighth.
The capture of the Maersk Alabama made news around the world. The four pirates released the ship and its crew. But they took the ship's captain hostage in a small boat. Four days later, American Navy forces killed three of the hijackers and rescued the captain, Richard Phillips.
Agents bring piracy4 suspect Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse, center, to the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation5 in New York City
Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse was flown from Africa to New York City, where he was charged Tuesday with five crimes, including piracy and hostage-taking. A New York federal court judge has ruled that Mister Muse is at least eighteen years old and can be tried as an adult. But his mother has said he is just sixteen years old. That could create a problem for government lawyers seeking the most severe punishment for the accused – spending the rest of his life in prison. International law has less severe punishments for criminals under the age of eighteen.
Confirming Mister Muse's true age is difficult because birth documents are rare in Somalia. The country has not had an effective government for almost twenty years.
The International Maritime6 Bureau is an organization based in London that studies crimes on the high seas. The organization says the waters off the coast of Somalia, including the Gulf7 of Aden, are the most dangerous in the world for international shipping8.
The Bureau says pirates carried out more attacks last year in the area than ever before. However, information gathered for the first three months of this year suggest two thousand nine will be even worse. Pirates have attacked at least sixty-one ships so far, compared to six for the same period last year.
Experts say pirates now control at least seventeen ships and three hundred crew members. The amount of money paid to hijackers is harder to confirm. Researchers believe this year's total is in the tens of millions of dollars.
In recent years the international community has deployed9 navy ships to guard the area in an effort to fight piracy. Ships from the United States and the European Union are involved in the effort. In addition, Russia, China and India also have ships in the area.
Somalia's Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke
Somalia's prime minister is calling for a halt to ransom10 payments to pirates and kidnappers11. Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke says the large amounts being paid are part of the reason for the rise in hijackings. Somalia's weak central government must deal with a deadly rebellion inside the country and is unable to police its waters. Mister Sharmarke says piracy can only be prevented when Somalia has a government that can enforce its own laws.
On Thursday in Brussels, international donors12 promised more than two hundred fifty million dollars to improve security in Somalia.
And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. I'm Steve Ember.
1 hijacking | |
n. 劫持, 抢劫 动词hijack的现在分词形式 | |
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2 muse | |
n.缪斯(希腊神话中的女神),创作灵感 | |
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3 survivor | |
n.生存者,残存者,幸存者 | |
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4 piracy | |
n.海盗行为,剽窃,著作权侵害 | |
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5 investigation | |
n.调查,调查研究 | |
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6 maritime | |
adj.海的,海事的,航海的,近海的,沿海的 | |
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7 gulf | |
n.海湾;深渊,鸿沟;分歧,隔阂 | |
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8 shipping | |
n.船运(发货,运输,乘船) | |
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9 deployed | |
(尤指军事行动)使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 ); 施展; 部署; 有效地利用 | |
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10 ransom | |
n.赎金,赎身;v.赎回,解救 | |
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11 kidnappers | |
n.拐子,绑匪( kidnapper的名词复数 ) | |
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12 donors | |
n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 );献血者;捐血者;器官捐献者 | |
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