美政府共向恐怖主义受害者支付数亿美元赔偿
美国司法部周四表示，已经从国会创建的基金中支付了8亿多美元，用于赔偿过去数十年来在国际恐怖主义行为中受害的数千名美国人。
司法部在一份声明中表示，在2,332名得到赔偿的人中，有在1979到1981年被伊朗扣为人质的美国人，以及1998年基地组织对美国驻肯尼亚和坦桑尼亚大使馆发动爆炸袭击的受害者。
美国的国家恐怖主义受害者基金会是国会在2015年设立的，由司法部的刑事部门管理。国会授权司法部向该基金会存入在与国家支持的恐怖主义民事和刑事案件有关的被禁交易中一些被没收的收益和罚款。
声明说，国会最初拨款十亿零二千五百万美元用于支付受害人，最近司法部的诉讼和美国政府的执法行动将最初付款总额增加到超过11亿美元。
代理助理司法部长肯尼思·布兰科在一份声明中表示：“通过这一计划，我们将继续坚定致力于帮助国家支持的恐怖主义受害者，并积极寻找非法资金和资产来弥补他们的损失。“
U.S. Has Paid Out Millions to Terrorist Victims
The U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday that it has paid out more than $800 million from a Congressionally-created fund to compensate thousands of American victims of international terrorist acts dating back decades.
Among the 2,332 claimants were Americans held hostage by Iran from 1979 to 1981 as well as victims of the 1998 al-Qaida bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the Justice Department said in a statement.
The U.S. Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund was set up by Congress in 2015 and is administered by the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. Congress authorized the department to deposit into the fund certain forfeiture proceeds, penalties and fines that come from civil and criminal matters involving prohibited transactions with state sponsors of terrorism.
Congress originally appropriated $1.025 billion for payments to victims, and recent Justice Department prosecutions and U.S. government enforcement actions have increased the total available for initial payments to more than $1.1 billion, the statement said.
“Through this program, we will continue to be resolute in our commitment to victims of state sponsored terrorism and aggressively search for illicit funds and assets to compensate them for their losses,” Acting Assistant Attorney General for Criminal Division Kenneth Blanco said in a statement.
美军向叙利亚空军基地发射导弹 报复化学武器袭击
美军星期五凌晨时分向叙利亚发射一连串导弹，以报复造成可怕伤亡的化学武器袭击。据信，袭击是由叙利亚总统阿萨德的部队发动的，导致约100名平民死亡。这是美国首次直接攻击叙利亚政府军。
为阿萨德政府提供部队和空中支援的俄罗斯强烈谴责美国的军事行动，称美国的行动是“对一个主权国家的侵略”，并表示中止执行俄罗斯和美国在叙利亚的飞行安全谅解备忘录。
美军从部署在地中海东部的美国巡洋舰罗斯号和波特号发射了59颗战斧巡航导弹。美国有关官员说，导弹发射持续了三四分钟。
美军据信打击的目标是叙利亚西部的谢拉特机场，以报复美国官员认为叙利亚政府飞机对一个反政府武装控制的城镇发动的化学武器袭击。化学武器的毒剂可能是神经毒气沙林。
美国海军一位官员告诉美国之音，打击那个机场是因为星期二的化学武器攻击最有可能是利用那个机场发动的。
美国国务卿蒂勒森星期四晚上就安全问题对记者说，“美国有非常高的把握，相信化学武器进攻是阿萨德政权指挥下的飞机进行的。我们有相当高的把握，相信进攻涉及使用沙林神经毒气。”
蒂勒森说，采取针对叙利亚总统的行动是重要的，因为“阿萨德继续使用化学武器进攻，国际社会如果没有反应，他实际上就等于是把使用化学武器常规化了，其他国家可能随后也采用这种做法。”
US Strikes Syrian Air Base in Retaliation for Chemical Weapons Attack
The U.S. military fired a barrage of missiles into Syria early Friday in retaliation for a gruesome chemical weapons attack blamed on President Bashar al-Assad's forces that killed about 100 civilians. It is the first direct U.S. assault on Syrian government forces.
Russia, which is providing troops and air support to the Assad government, condemned the U.S. military action, calling it an "aggression against a sovereign state," and said they were suspending a memorandum of understanding for flight safety over Syria between Russia and the United States.
The 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched about 4:40 a.m. local time from the U.S. Navy destroyers USS Ross and USS Porter, which are deployed in the eastern Mediterranean. The missile launch lasted for three to four minutes, U.S. officials said.
U.S. forces are said to have targeted Shayrat Airfield in western Syria in retaliation for the chemical weapons attack American officials believe Syrian government aircraft launched on a rebel-held town with a nerve gas, possibly sarin.
A Navy official told VOA the airfield was targeted because it was most likely used to launch Tuesday's chemical strikes.
"We have a very high level of confidence that the attacks were carried out under aircraft under the direction of Bashar al-Assad's regime. We have very high confidence that the attacks involved the use of sarin nerve gas," U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said during a security briefing to reporters late Thursday.
Tillerson said it was important to take action against the Syrian leader, because "as Assad has continued to use chemical weapons in these attacks with no response, with no response from the international community, he - in effect - is normalizing the use of chemical weapons, which may then be adopted by others."
