Across the World: Somalia

Pirate lowers ransom

A Somali pirate on a hijacked cargo ship transporting tanks reduced the ransom yesterday to $8 million, but it was unclear if he was speaking officially for the bandits holding the Ukrainian vessel.

A man who identified himself as Jama Aden and spoke by satellite phone yesterday is not the usual spokesman for the pirates. He answered the telephone of the spokesman, Sugule Ali, and said Ali was not immediately available.