Pirates get life sentences

Five Somali men convicted of attacking a US Navy ship they mistook for a merchant vessel have been sentenced to life in prison.
The men were found guilty in November of trying to hijack the USS Nicholas, a vessel on an anti-piracy mission.
Defence lawyers claimed the men had been abducted by pirates and forced to fire their weapons in the April attack.
The men were the first convicted of piracy by a US jury since 1820, prosecutors said.
The piracy conviction carried a mandatory life sentence; the men were sentenced to an additional 80 years for firearms charges in connection with the hijack attempt.
The men said they would appeal against the conviction and the sentence. (BBC)