BBC news 2011-02-17 加文本

BBC news 2011-02-17

[BBC News with] David Legge

A top American official says Somali piracy is a far more professionally managed business than previously thought and eradicating it will be harder than bringing peace to Afghanistan. Martin Plaut has the story.

President Obama's coordinator of fighting piracy, Donna Hopkins, said the pirates had taken around $60m in ransoms in the past year, but only 15% was going to the pirates themselves. The rest went to a transnational criminal network, not all of whom were Somalis. She said it was quite probable that the pirates were now raising money professionally. Mrs Hopkins said she'd heard stories of an informal stock exchange possibly operating from London or another international financial centre, which sold shares in pirate operations.

A Somali pirate who attacked a US flagship in 2009 has been sentenced to 33 years in prison by a New York court. Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse pleaded guilty to hijacking the Maersk Alabama container ship. Three of his accomplices died in the rescue operation. Jane O'Brien reports.

The court heard how Muse led a band of armed pirates who commandeered at least three ships and kidnapped dozens of sailors. In 2009, he was the first to board the Maersk Alabama as it transported humanitarian supplies, holding its captain at gunpoint until the US Navy came to the rescue. Defence lawyers claimed he was only 15 and a product of the chaos, hunger and deprivation of life in Somalia. But the prosecution convinced the judge that he was at least 18 and should stand trial as an adult.

As protests spread across the Arab world, thousands of demonstrators in Bahrain have held a third day of anti-government rallies in the capital Manama. At least two people have been killed in the demonstrations. This protester says the crowds want political reform.

"We are here because we have a lot of demands. We want to make changes. We want [to] make changes in the government and the parliament. If we keep standing here and if we keep together, then we will reach our target."

Anti-government rallies also continued in Yemen for the sixth day. In Libya, violent demonstrations have left at least 40 people injured in the eastern city of Benghazi. The unrest came in advance of planned rallies on Thursday.

The chief prosecutor in Iran Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei has said that those behind Monday's anti-government protests should be punished. On Tuesday, Iranian politicians called for two leading opposition politicians Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi to be tried and executed for calling the protests.

Israel has said that the Iranians are about to send two warships through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean. The Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman called it a provocation that could not be ignored. He said the warships were heading for Syria.

World News from the BBC

Long queues have formed at banks in Ivory Coast because customers fear of banking collapse as the confrontation continues over last year's presidential election. Standard Chartered has become the fourth bank this week to suspend its operations. Most cash machines in the main city Abidjan are closed, and cheques can't be cashed. The regional central bank warned commercial banks last week that they'd face possible sanctions if they dealt with Laurent Gbagbo's administration. His opponent Alassane Ouattara is widely regarded as the winner of the election.

In Brazil, 19 police officers have been arrested on suspicion of belonging to a death squad which has allegedly killed dozens of people. Federal police said the men's aim was as they put it to finish off criminals. Paulo Cabral reports from Sao Paulo.

The group of policemen is accused of forming a death squad which killed more than 45 people over the last 10 years. Among those already in jail are several high-ranking officers, including one colonel, the highest rank in the country's military police. The federal police investigation that led to the arrests began more than a year ago when the authorities noticed an increase in the number of deaths in the areas to where these policemen were assigned.

Astronomers say the Sun unleashed a huge flare early on Tuesday, its strongest for four years. They've warned this could create a geomagnetic storm around the Earth, which might interfere with electrical power grids and communication systems. Reports from southern China already speak of disruption to radio broadcasts. Researchers say the Sun is becoming more active after several relatively dormant years.

The authorities in Malaysia have cancelled a concert by a singer who's been dubbed Iran's Bob Dylan. They say Mohsen Namjoo's work isn't compatible with Islam. Namjoo was convicted in absentia in 2009 by an Iranian court for having used verses from the Koran in a song.

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