Fill in the circle next to the correct answer.

1. The federal government will. now insure personal bank accounts up to how much money?

(A) $20,000

(B) $100,000

(C) $250,000

2. What did the winners of the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine discover?

(B) endangered animals

(C) a stinky, nonlethal way to disperse crowds

3. Why don't most cargo ships' crew members carry weapons to fight off pirates?

(A) Local laws at the ports where they stop often ban having weapons on board.

(B They aren't trained to use weapons at sea.

(C) Weapons won't stop the pirates.

4. What was aboard the MV Faina that spurred the U.S. Navy to send warships to monitor it?

(A) the Ukrainian ambassador

(B) gold bars

(C) military tanks and ammunition

5. What is a pink meanie?

(A) a mountain

(B) a judo move

(C) a jellyfish

ANSWER KEY

1. C, 2. A, 3. A, 4. C, 5. C xxxxxxx THE NEW BLACEBEARDS

Get Talking

Ask students: What images come to mind when you hear the word pirate? Do you think pirates still exist? How might pirates operate today?

Background

* Although most cargo ship crews do not carry weapons, they do have some defense options. When pirates tried to hijack the cruise ship Seabourn Spirit, the crew blasted them with a sonic gun, which directs a piercing, 145-decibel noise at a target, well above the human pain threshold. Some ships have high-voltage fences around their guardrails. Others have water cannons, similar to those police use for riot control.

* The International Maritime Bureau tracks piracy worldwide. The highest risk areas for piracy in 2008 are off the coasts of Somalia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Indonesia, and India. Armed pirates also have struck yachts in the Caribbean Sea.

* A military dictatorship ruled Somalia until 1991, when civil war tore apart the country and devastated its agriculture and economy. The United Nations sent peacekeeping troops and helped establish the Transitional Federal Government in the capital, Mogadishu. The federal government has little power, though. Clans control much of the country today. The most recent challenge to the federal government has come from the Islamic Courts Union, which wants to put Somalia under a strict system of Islamic religious law called Sharia.

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Doing More

Have students read the story of the hijacking of the BBC Trinidad at tinyurl.com/ship6. As a class, discuss what the ship's captain and owner could have done to avoid the hijacking. Ask students: Did the captain and owner make the right decisions after the ship was hijacked? What were their options? What would you have done?