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专四听力训练 BBC 新闻100篇

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BBC 100

BBC News Item 1

The BBC has learned that the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has decided that the British general election will take place on May 6th. Mr. Brown will go to Buckingham Palace

tomorrow Tuesday to ask Queen Elizabeth to dissolve parliament, and then make a formal announcement of the election date. That will start the official election campaign, which, a BBC

correspondent says, will be dominated by issues of taxation and spending in the wake of the global

recession.

BBC News Item 2

Less than six months before a general election in Britain, the governing Labour Party is embroiled again in internal strife. Two former cabinet ministers have called for secret ballot of

members to decide whether the Prime Minister Gordon Brown should continue as party leader. Mr.

Brown has called a general election by June this year. Our political correspondent Rob Watson

reports.

The two former cabinet ministers Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt had stunned everyo ne at Westminster with their last-minute efforts to challenge Gordon Brown?s leadership. But Downing

Street and Labour Party officials have moved quickly to quash any revolts. Most importantly,

current cabinet ministers have come out and backed the prime minister, orbiting some cases with

little apparent enthusiasm. So the latest challenge looks likely to be short lift. Although many

within the Labour Party doubt Mr. Brown?s leadership qualities, they also seem to think it would

only make things worse to get rid of him before the general election.

BBC News Item 3

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is offering to scale back Britain?s nuclear deterrence if an international agreement is reached to cut the world?s nuclear arsenals. Mr. Brown

is expected to tell a special session of the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that he?ll

be willing to give up one of four royal navy submarines that carry Trident nuclear missiles. Officials are insisting that cost isn?t a factor here. Here?s our defence corr espondent Nick Childs.

Gordon Brown is saying he?ll be ready to throw part of the trident force into the port in the

context of a much bigger global disarmament deal. He said so in general terms before. This offer

though is more concrete. There is a growing sense that to avoid what some fear could be a sudden

cascade of new nuclear states, the established nuclear powers need to do more in terms of

disarmament to keep the proliferation regime intact. The Prime Minister will hope his move will

be seen as an important gesture. But the key to the process will be the actions of the big players,

the United States and Russia.

BBC News Item 4

The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is expected to confirm that he is sending hundreds

more troops to Afghanistan, bringing the total number of British troops there to about

9,500.

Britain has the second largest NATO contingent in Afghanistan after the United States. Our

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defense correspondent Caroline Wyatt reports.

In his statement on A fghanistan, it?s believed Mr. Brown will say he?s agreed in principle to send around 500 extra British troops to Helmand. The military advice says that extra forces are

needed to help maintain progress and dominate the ground more effectively to keep the Taliban

out of key areas. However, there will be caveats. The Prime Minister will want assurances from

military chiefs that the extra troops will be properly equipped. But he?ll also expect Britain?s NATO partners to follow suit by offering more forces themselves. NATO defense ministers are

likely to discuss troop levels on a meeting formally in Bratislava next week.

BBC News Item 5

Stock markets in Europe and the United States have fallen sharply in response to further signs

that the debt crisis in Greece is intensifying and could spread to other countries. Share prices in

New York, London, Frankfurt and Paris fell by more than 2% after a major international credit

rating agency Standard & Poor?s downgraded Greek debt to a level known informally as junk.

Nils Blythe has more.

Standard & Poor?s downgraded its assessment of Greek bonds to the so-called junk status

because of the growing danger that the bond holders will not be paid back in full. Many big

investment funds have rules that forbid them from holding junk bonds, says the move is likely to

trigger a further round of selling. Share markets have taken fright, fearing that if Greece does

default on its debts, it would hit many European banks which hold Greek bonds and could trigger

a wider financial crisis. Already pressure is mounting on Portugal which has also seen its credit

rating downgraded today, although it remains above junk status.

BBC News Item 6 IMF

The International Monetary Fund has told governments across the world that further action is

needed to help return the global financial system to stability. In a fresh estimate of the scale of the

problem, the IMF says global losses on toxic assets could total four trillion dollars. Andrew Walker reports.

This report does identify what it calls some early signs of stabilization in financial systems, but there are not many of them. And the IMF says further action will be needed if they?re to be

sustained. In two key areas, it says that progress by governments has been piecemeal and reactive,

dealing with the problem assets held by financial institutions and how to handle banks that need

extra capital. For that problem the report says temporary government ownership may sometime be

necessary.

BBC News Item 7

Officials in Germany say the total financial aid package for Greece could be more than double, the 60 billion dollars that is previously expected. The head of the International Monetary

Fund Dominique Strauss-Kahn is in Berlin trying to persuade Germany to agree to the financial

rescue plan. He said the deal needed to be implemented quickly as the situation was getting worse

every day and could affect other European countries. But the German Chancellor Angola Merkel

said Berlin needed to be searching that Greece was serious about spending cuts.

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BBC News Item 8 IMF

The head of the International Monetary Fund says Greece has nothing to fear from the organization. At a news conference in Washington, Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the IMF was

trying to provide Greece with the advice and resources necessary to help with its debt problem.

Andrew Walker reports from Washington.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn was responding to a Greek journalist who said the Greek public are demonizing the IMF that they fear things will be worse with IMF involvement. The agency has a

reputation for requiring borrowing countries to make deep cuts in popular government spending

programs. Mr. Strauss-Kahn said the Greek people should think of the IMF as a cooperative

organization where the countries of the world work together to help those in trouble by providing

resources and advice on behalf of the international community.

BBC News Item 9 G20

Finance ministers of the world?s leading industrialized and dev eloping countries, the G20, have agreed to continue supporting the global economic recovery. In a statement released after

their meeting in Scotland, the ministers said conditions had improved, but economic and financial

recovery was uneven and unemployment a worry. Andrew Walker reports.

The communiqué avoids complacency. Although economic and financial conditions have improved, they decided they still need to keep up the initiatives intended to restore growth. The

meeting was, however, rather overshadowed by a statement from the British Prime Minister

Gordon Brown, suggesting a tax on financial transactions as one of a number of options for

making banks pay for the crisis. His calls have been received politely by the finance ministers but

several made remarks which suggest that other ways of tackling the problem are rather more likely

to be adopted.

BBC News Item 10

The European Union has initialed an agreement to end one of the world?s longest-running trade disputes over bananas. The EU, the world?s bigges t importer of bananas, is to cut the duty it

imposes on Latin American producers of the fruit, while bananas grows in former European

colonies will gradually lose the preferential terms they?ve enjoyed. Andrew Walker reports. The deal signed in Geneva commits the European Union to gradually lowering the tariffs it imposes on bananas imported mainly from Latin America. The cut will be over a third by 2017.

That will reduce the competitive advantage of a group of countries, mainly former colonies of EU

states in Africa and Caribbean, which enjoyed tariff-free access. The EU plans to provide those

countries with some compensation, in a shape of nearly 300,000 dollars in additional aid. BBC News Item 11

The long-awaited take-off of the Solar Impulse was greeted with delight by those who have

spent the last seven years working on it.

The solar-powered plane has the wing-span of a jumbo jet, but weighs less than a family car.

It doesn?t use a single drop of aviation fuel, instead its giant wings are covered with so lar 4

cells.

The project is the brainchild of Swiss adventurer Bertrand Piccard he sees the Solar Impulse as a sign of things to come.

BBC News Item 12

It?s the world?s fastest growing economy and shows no sign of slowing down, so striking deals with Chinese businesses is now the top priority for every British company that wants to stay

ahead in global trade. Now schools in the United Kingdom want to give their students a head start

by teaching them Mandarin and they are making it compulsory.

Brighton College is a fee paying private school on the south coast of Britain and already teaches Latin, Spanish and French to its 1,200 pupils. Students can choose between these

languages, but from the autumn, which is the beginning of the new academic year in British

schools, every student must study Mandarin whether they like it or not.

BBC News Item 13

The cast and crew of British movies will no longer be hailed as the underdogs at awards ceremonies. At the recent 81st Oscars ceremony, British actors and movies won no less than 11

awards.

The list of Oscar winners is usually dominated by American films and actors but 2009 has seen a more international flavour to the ceremony. British actors and actresses have long awaited

such global recognition. Kate Winslet was nominated six times for an Oscar before she eventually

won the Best Actress award at this year?s ceremony.

Slumdog Millionaire lived up to its status as a global success and movie phenomenon. The

low-budget movie swept the board winning eight Oscars, including Best Director and Best Picture.

The movie, which documents the life of a young Indian boy after he wins a TV game show, has

definitely helped to raise the profile of the British film industry.

Summarising the national feeling, British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, issued a

statement

saying “Britain is showing it has the talent to lead the world”.

BBC News Item 14

It might seem like an unlikely match an ancient institution getting to grips with cutting edge technology but the British royal family has been active online for more than a decade.

They launched their own website in 1997. The Queen?s Christmas message is available as a

podcast, and a year ago the official Royal Channel was launched on YouTube, showing videos of

the family at work.

Royal watchers describe the 82 year old Queen as a silver surfer someone who?s enthusiastic about the internet and who keeps in touch with younger members of her family by

email.

BBC News Item 15

This weekend, around 35,000 runners filled the streets of London, running the 26th annual

London Marathon. The course is 26.2 miles long (42 km), and goes past many of London?s

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landmarks, such as the Tower of London, the famous 19th century ship Cutty Sark, the Houses of

Parliament and Buckingham Palace. The runners actually run over Tower Bridge.

BBC News Item 16

Oxford and Cambridge are the oldest and most famous universities in Britain, and there has

always been a great rivalry between the two institutions. But the most public competition between

the two is the annual Boat Race. The 2006 Boat Race will take place on 2nd April, and will be the

152nd race of its kind.

Both universities are located near rivers, and rowing is a popular and prestigious sport. The

very first race took place in 1829, when a Cambridge student challenged a school-friend studying

at Oxford. Ever since, the defeated team from the previous year challenges the opposition to a

rematch. The only times when no Boat Races took place were during the First and Second World

Wars.

BBC News Item 17 60

President Obama?s Democratic Party has secured the critical 60 seat majority in the US Senate that can help it override any Republican obstructions on Capitol Hill. This

happened when

the Democrats won the last undec ided senate seat from November?s election after the Supreme

Court in the state of Minnesota declared the Democratic candidate Al Franken the winner. Richard

Lister reports from Washington.

For almost eight months the two candidates had been locked in a bitter fight in the Minnesota

Courts over the result of November?s Senate election. Just a few hundred votes separated them

after the 2.8 million cast. The initial count favoured the Republican Norm Coleman but the recount gave the majority to his Democratic Party rival Al Franken. And the State Supreme Court

is now upheld that verdict. His victory gives the Democrats 60 votes in the senate and the potential

to overturn Republican efforts to block legislation.

BBC News Item 18

Reports in Israeli media say Isra el?s ambassador to the United States Michael Oren told Israeli diplomats that American-Israeli relations were facing a crisis of historic proportions. Washington is furious at last week?s announcement by Israel during a visit by the US Vice President that more new Jewish homes were to be built in occupied East Jerusalem. But on

Monday, the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Israeli parliament the building project

would continue. Paul Wood reports from Jerusalem.

Mr. Netanyahu has been presented with a choice, a breach with the right-wing members of

his coalition, or with the Americans. With his speech to the Knesset, he seems to have chosen to

put the needs of domestic politics first. It seems the Americans are so angry because they believe

Mr. Netanyahu went back on an understanding. This was apparently that Israel would not push

forward of any big new settlement building projects in East Jerusalem. This was necessary of the

Palestinians were to be persuaded to join the long delayed negotiations so painstakingly put

together by US mediators.

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BBC News Item 19

Leading United States officials have said the American military will continue its presence in

Afghanistan for a number of years despite beginning to withdraw in 2011. In a series of media

reappearances, officials stressed that the date should be seen as the beginning of handing over

responsibility to Afghan forces. Imtiaz Tyab report from Washington.

Speaking on a Sunday morning political chat show, the Defense Secretary Robert Gates said

t hat despite President Obama?s plan to begin withdrawing the troops from the region in July, 2011,

the US was likely to maintain a significant military presence in Afghanistan for a number of years.

The Defense Secretary said the pullout date was said to underline the urgent need for the Afghans

to speed up recruiting and training soldiers and getting them into the field. A comment?s followed

criticism from opposition Republicans who say announcing a withdraw date sent a dangerous

signal to insurgents.

BBC News Item 20

President Obama is postponing a trip to Indonesia and Australia, so he can stay in Washington to try to get his health care reforms pass by congress. Mr. Obama had already delayed

the long arranged trip once and was due to set off on Sunday. But with the crucial vote on the

reform is expected within days, the trip has been put off entirely until June. From Washington

Mark Martell reports.

The president?s make changes to American health care insurance system, his flagship domestic legislation is dragged on for over a year and divided the country. He will be damaged if

he can?t get it through. The climax is near, so far there is no sign of any republicans voting for it,

its fate lies in the hands of handful in the president?s own party, who either feel it allows for easier

abortion or who simply fear a back lash in November?s elections, if they vote for a measures their

constitution dislike.

BBC News Item 21

After days of political horse-trading the UK finally has a new government and a new Prime Mi nister, following the resignation of Labour?s Gordon Brown on Tuesday evening.

Since last Thursday?s general election resulted in a hung parliament, a situation in which none of the political parties has an overall majority, British politicians have been attempting to

form a coalition government.

Such a government is comparatively rare in the UK. Indeed this is the first coalition since the

Second World War.

BBC News Item 22

President Barack Obama says the summit conference on nuclear security which has just ended in Washington was a testament to what is possible when nations come together. He said the

49 countries who attended had come to a four-point plan for future success in securing the security

of all nuclear materials produced or stockpiled around the globe. Mr. Obama said the summit had

made a real contribution to a safer world.

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BBC News Item 23

The American Secretary of States Hillary Clinton is in Moscow to try to persuade Russia to support American policy on Iran. The US wants Russia to agree to the option of imposing additional sanctions on Iran if it does not suspend its uranium enrichment program by the end of

the year. Richard Galpin reports from Moscow.

As a permanent member of United Nations Security Council, Russia has the power to veto resolutions. And Moscow has always said it does not believe sanctions are an effective way of

promoting change. But recently, President Medvedev has indicated his government mad e ultimately accept that sanctions are inevitable. There are other big issues to be discussed while

Mrs. Clinton is in Russia, including the plan for Moscow and Washington to sign a new treaty in

early December for a further cut in their large arsenals of nuclear weapons.

BBC News Item 24

The United States and the United Nations are urging Israel and Palestinians to resume peace

talks after a day of unrest in Jerusalem. The American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said

Washington wanted to insure both sides were fully committed to peace efforts. The UN Secretary

General Ban Ki-moon condemned as illegal recent Israeli plans to build new settlements in East

Jerusalem. Barbara Plett reports from New York.

Ban Ki-moon urged restraint in Jerusalem, reminding Israelis and Palestinians of the final statues of the city were supposed to be decided in negotiations. He repeated condemnation of

Israeli plans to build 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in the occupied eastern part of the city,

stating again that such settlements are illegal under international law. On Friday, the Secretary

General is set to attend a ministerial meeting of the quartet which groups the UN, the

European

Union, Russia and America. He said members will discuss additional measures to trying rescue

tentative steps to resume Israeli-Palestinian peace talks although he didn?t say what they were.

BBC News Item 25 8

Car manufacturers in the United States reported their best results so far this year in August, in

large part due to a government scheme aimed at encouraging people to trade in their old cars for

more fuel-efficient new ones. The top results among American carmakers were posted by Ford

which saw its sales rise by 17% from August of last year. The results held increase US manufacturing output as a whole for the first time since January of last year. President Obama said

the latest figures indicate that the American economy is on the path to recovery.

BBC News Item 26

Financial regulators in the United States have accused the investment bank Goldman Sachs

of fraud related to the collapse of the American housing market in 2007. The Securities and

Exchange Commission is taking civil action against the bank. Michelle Fleury sent this report

from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

The Securities and Exchange Commission alleges the bank sold investors a financial product

based on subprime mortgages that was designed to lose value. Goldman Sachs has denied the

allegations and says it will defend the firm and its reputation. This is the first time that the US

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government has explicitly accused one of Wall Street?s premier institutions of fraud relating to the

collapse of the US housing market.

BBC News Item 27

An investigation of United States has found that the country?s top financial regul ator, the Securities and the Exchange Commissioner SEC, fail to uncover the 65 billion dollar fraud carried

out by the convicted financier Bernard Madoff over a 16-year period, despite 5 separate investigations in his business dealings. Greg Wood reports.

The report by the SEC?s expected general David Kotz reads like a catalog of bungled opportunities to catch Bernard Madoff, long before he owned up to the largest fraud in US history.

He was investigated five times. SEC staff caught him in lies but failed to follow them up.

They

rejected offers from whistleblowers to provide additional evidence. Many of the investigators were

inexperienced. The scale of the SEC?s incompetence is laid bare by this report.

BBC News Item 28

The Bank of America has agreed to pay 33 million dollars to settle accusations by the US government over billions of dollars of bonuses paid out last year by its investment on Merrill

Lynch. Bank of America took over Merrill Lynch to save it from collapse in a deal backed by

American taxpayer s? money. John Bithry reports.

Bank of America had promised its shareholders that no bonuses would be paid to bankers at

Merrill Lynch without its express permission. It?s agreed to buy the struggling investment bank in

September. On the same weekend that talks to save Lehman Brothers from collapse failed. Like

Lehman, Merrill Lynch was brought to its knees by debt links to the US housing market that

became toxic and lost its value. But after Merrill was rescued by BOA, it went ahead and paid its

staff 3.6 billion dollars in bonuses anyway. Shortly afterwards Bank of America was forced to go

to the government for billions of dollars in extra taxpayer support, and the revelation of the payments caused a public outcry.

BBC News Item 29

After weeks of negotiations, the governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger has reached

an outline agreement with legislative leaders on a plan to tackle the state?s massive budget

shortfall. The deal, which will have to be approved by the state legislature, includes plans for

billions of dollars in budget cuts, but no tax rises. Peter Bolger reports.

California has a budget shortfall of 26 billion dollars. State workers have been put on short time and many social and education services have been cut. The state has even resorted to issuing

IOUs to companies it does business with and to individuals who are owed tax refunds. Governor

Schwarzenegger described the comprised deal as a basic agreement to close the state?s huge deficit.

He and fellow Republicans have refused to raise taxes, all the opposition Democrats said fought to

preserve social services.

BBC News Item 30

The United States army has formally charged the military officer accused of carrying out last

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week?s mass shooting at the Fort Hood military base in Texas. The officer, Major Nidal Malik

Hasan, an army psychiatrist, has been under armed guard in a hospital since being wounded in the

shooting. Mathew Prize reports from New York.

There are still many questions surrounding the mass shooting at the America?s largest military base, but one of them has now been answered. Major Nidal Hasan, an army psychiatrist

who was due to be deployed to Afghanistan, has been charged with 13 counts of murder. That

could rise if prosecutors decide also to charge him with the murder of an unborn child being

carried by one of his victims. He will be prosecuted in a military court. If convicted, he could face

the death penalty, although no one has actually been executed under the US military justice system

for almost 50 years.

BBC News Item 31

President Barack Obama has told memorial service at the Fort hood army base in Texas that

United States must never forget the 13 men and women who died in the shooting there last week.

He said the killings couldn?t be justified.

“It may be hard to com prehend the twisted logic that led to this tragedy. But this much we do

know no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts. No just and loving god looks upon them

with favor. For what is done we know the killer will be met with justice in this world a nd the next.”

The president paid tribute to those who?d been not able, as he put it, “to escape the horror of

war, even in the comfort of home.”

BBC News Item 32

The American Space Shuttle Endeavor has blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on its sixth attempt after more than a month of delays caused by fuel leaks and thunderstorms. Bill Gerstenmaier of NASA said finally the weather had been favorable and the

shuttle crew were looking ahead to completing the installation of the Japanese Kibo laboratory on

the space station.

We had a great launch today. We were ready. The weather finally cooperated and we had

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an awesome launch today. Again, I would caution you that the mission is very challenging in front

of us. The five EVAs, the robotic activities will take the absolute best the teams have both in

Houston and in orbit. And the teams are fully prepared they are ready to go do what they need to

go do and we look forward to the exciting activities as we install the Exposed Facility out on the

Kibo module.

BBC News Item 33

A panel of experts appointed by the White House has warned that current plans to send astronauts back to the moon in preparation for manned missions to Mars are just not viable. One

of the panel members Li Ruoqiao says the space agency NASA hasn?t been given enough funds to

realize the plans.

“That is when the visions for space aspirations were first announced in 2004 there was expectation of a certain budget level of the next several years. In fact over the last five years those

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numbers are nothing realized. So because of that we are in a pickle that we are in now.”The experts say the current budget of the space agency NASA would need to be increased by

billions of dollars. Without the extra money, the experts say, NASA would have to work with

private companies now trying to embark on commercial space flights.

BBC News Item 34

Wildfires are a feature of the California Summer but it?s unusual for them to break out so close to major centers of population. It?s hot here and getting hotter which is driving the brush

making it all the more in cindery, and forecast is such that there has been a speculation it could

take firefighters a week to bring this blaze under control. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is

pleading with people in the path of the flames to evacuate as soon as they?re told to do so. BBC News Item 35

Most of the main opposition parties in Sudan are withdrawing from all the elections this month the first multi-party elections since 1986. They won?t take part because of concerns about fraud and security. On Wednesday, the presidential candidate for the former southern rebels

Yassir Arman pulled out. President Obama?s Special Envoy General Scott G ration has been in

Khartoum trying to save the elections. James Copnall sent this report from Khartoum.

Several major opposition parties have announced they will boycott the Sudanese elections at

every level. Earlier today, they told the BBC they would boycott the presidential elections in

protest of what they believe will not be free and fair polls. Now several of the parties have decided

not to compete in the parliamentary or state elections either. The decision strikes a real blow at the

credibility of elections which were meant to hold the democratic transformation in Sudan. BBC News Item 36

In what?s been seen as a significant step towards peace in Darfur, the Sudanese government

has signed a temporary ceasefire agreement with JAM, one of the main rebel factions. The other

main rebel group has so far refused talks with the government. James Copnall reports from

Khartoum.

The deal is believed to include a temporary ceasefire and a framework agreement for future

talks. The Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir said the death sentence against the JAM fighters

convicted of attacking Omdurman had been quashed, and 30% of them had been released as a

goodwill measure. His act details of the agreement are not yet clear, but the fact has just been

signed is a significant step forward in the peace process in Darfur. United Nations estimates that

300,000 people have died in Darfur, but the Sudanese government puts the figure at

10,000.

BBC News Item 37

The authorities in Saudi Arabia say they?ve arrested more than 100 mi litants suspected of links to Al-Qaeda who were planning to attack oil installation in the kingdom. The Saudi Interior

Ministry says half of those attained are Saudis and the others are from Yemen, Bangladsh, Somalia

and Retrea. Official say security forces seized weapons, cameras, computers and documents.

Shahzeb Jillani has more.

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The latest round of arrests suggest militants are crossing from neighbouring Yemen and using

Saudi connections to block attacks. The Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Mansur

al-Turki said

that the two cells dismantled by the security forces were cooperating Al-Qaeda and

Yemen. In

addition he said a network of militance specializing and targeting security personnel has been

broken. Mr. Turki said that militants from network and the two cells would be in contact with

Al-Qaeda and Yemen and planning to attack oil facilities.

BBC News Item 38

Ukraine says that the five alleged Russian spies were caught with a camera concealed inside

a pen, other espionage equipment and $2000 a reported bribe for a Ukrainian contact. The head of Ukraine?s security service says that the five were trying to obtain military secrets.

Four of them have been expelled from Ukraine, while the fifth has been detained. Russia?s security service, the FSB, has confirmed the detention, but denied the Ukrainian version of events. The FSB said its actions were a response to the recruitment of Russians by the

Ukrainian security services.

The mutual recriminations come at a highly sensitive time. Just two weeks ago, Russia sent

an ambassador to Ukraine after a five month absence. And on Sunday, Ukrainians will vote in an

election to choose a successor to the outgoing President, Viktor Yushchenko.

Mr. Yushchenko?s time in of fice has been marked by strained relations with Moscow, and his

departure was being seen as an opportunity for an improvement in ties between the two countries.

BBC News Item 39

The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has welcomed the announcement by Preside nt Obama that the United States is shelving plans for a missile defensive system in Europe. He said

President Obama had taken a responsible step by abandoning plans to base long range interceptors

in Poland and the Czech Republic.

BBC News Item 40

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been sworn in for a second term as Iranian President. However

hundreds of opposition supporters disputing the election result gathered outside the parliament

defying an official ban on protests. John Iion reports.

In a ceremony broadcast live on state TV, Mr. Ahmadinejad took the oath of office as prescribed in the Iranian constitution. He went on to defend the election result. The speaker of

parliament Ali Larijani criticised the west for their hastiness in condemning the result. But outside,

opposition protesters gathered to give their contrary view. They were met by hundreds of riot

police. Western countries declined to give their official congratulations, though ambassadors from

Britain and the European Union were present.

BBC News Item 41

The head of the UN nuclear agency Mohamed ElBaradei has given Iran and three world powers the text of a draft deal aimed at reducing concerns about Iran?s nuclear programme. The

IAEA wants Iran to allow most of its uranium to be shipped abroad for further enrichment before

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being returned for use in a civilian research reactor. Jon Leyne reports.

The deal would mean Iran gets the fuel it needs and stays off pressure for more sanctions. The outside world sees Iran?s enriched ura nium taken out of the country and processed in a way

that will make it more difficult for Iran to make nuclear bombs. But Iran?s still not signed up publicly on the crucial element, the shipping out of Iran of its precious stocks of enriched uranium,

and that could be hard for the Iranian government to accept, in light of the prestige President

Ahmadinejad has attached to the nuclear programme.

BBC News Item 42

Iran has agreed to let inspectors from the United Nations Nuclear Agency visit its recently rebuilt second uranium enrichment plant. They will go there on Oct. 25th, the day was set during a

visit to Tehran by the head of the agency Mohammed ElBaradei. The revelation last month said

Iran was building an underground facility near Qom heightened international concern that it?s

secretly trying to develope nuclear weapons. But Mr. ElBaradei gave an upbeat assessment to

relations with Iran.

I have been saying for a number of years that we need transparency on the part of Iran. We

need co-operation on the part of the international community. So I see that we are at the critical

moment. I see that we are shifting gears from confrontation into transparency and

co-operation.

In Washington President Obama?s top security advisor said things appeared to be moving in the

right direction.

BBC News Item 43

There?s been a day of bloodshed and turmoil in Kyrgyzstan with the opposition saying it

set

up an interim government. However it is still not clear who is in control or where President Kurmanbek Bakiyev is. Rayham Demytrie sent out this report from the capital, Bishkek. As night fell, widespread looting began in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, hundreds of protesters

were moving from one shop to another, setting buildings on fire and causing more chaos on the

ground. Random gunshots could be heard all across Bishkek. An interim government has been set

up in Kyrgyzstan. It is being led by an opposition leader Roza Otunbayeva. In a comment of a

Russian TV channel she said that the situation in the country remains tense and difficult. Early on

Wednesday, the country?s prime minister resigned. Some reports suggest that the Kyrgyz?s

President Kurmanbek Bakiyev is in the south of the country in the city of Osh.

BBC News Item 44

The Kyrgyzstan President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has refused to admit defeat after his political

opponents dissolved parliament and demanded his resignation. Latest reports from the capital

Bishkek say there was heavy shooting as night fell. From Bishkek, Richard Galpin now reports.

After the bloodshed yesterday, this morning the main leaders of the opposition announced they?ve

taken control of the country, forming a temporary government and dissolving parliament. But at a

news conference here in the capital, they admitted there were concerns that the president was

trying to rally his supporters in the south of the country in order to fight back. The opposition

wanted him to resign immediately, but Mr.Bakiyev has told BBC he has no intention of quitting

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and still considers himself to be president.

BBC News Item 45

The acting president of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan has dissolved the government. The announcement comes a month after he assumed executive powers because of the long illness of

President Umaru Yar?Adua. Peter Greste reports from Abuja.

There has been talk of a cabinet reshuffle for weeks now, ever since the national assembly

moved Goodluck Jonathan from vice president to acting president two months ago. But few

people expected the wholesale dissolution that came on Wednesday. He made no public statement,

but the outgoing Information Minister Dora Akunyili said parliament?s secretaries would take

charge of the ministries until a cabinet is appointed. Not all ministers will lose their jobs, some

will be reappointed, but this kind of sweeping change makes it clear the acting president is trying

to assert his control over the cabinet made up largely of President Yar?Adua?s appointees. BBC News Item 46

Burmese officials have hinted many times that Aung San Suu Kyi may be released. But it?s

the first time in recent months that a putative date has been attached to the idea.

The comments are reported to have been made by a senior minister at a provincial town meeting four days ago. It?s a measure of how tightly information is c ontrolled in Burma that it?s

taken this long for the reports to filter out.

Aung San Suu Kyi?s own lawyer told the BBC he?d heard the rumour but could not confirm it. And if indeed she is released in November, key questions about the terms of Aung San Suu

Kyi?s possible freedom remain. Would there be conditions attached? Would her activities be

restricted? And, crucially, would her release come before or after planned elections? There is also the matter of the legal appeal against Aung San Suu Kyi?s current detention. The Supreme Court is due to deliver its verdict in the next couple of weeks. But if the military

government says she?ll continue to be detained until at least November, the court?s decision has

been somewhat undermined.

BBC News Item 47

Forget that still unwritten report or the backlog of paperwork building up on the desk, on this

cold and rainy mid-week night there can be no excuses to stay late in the office. South Korea?s

Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs will be turning off all the lights at 7pm in a bid to

force staff to go home to their families and, well, make bigger ones. It will repeat the experiment

once a month.

The country now has one of the world?s lowest birth rates, lower even than neighbouring Japan, and boosting the number of newborn children is a priority for this government, staring into

the abyss of a rapidly ageing society, falling levels of manpower and spiralling health care costs.

The Ministry of Health, now sometimes jokingly referred to as the “Ministry of

Ma tchmaking”, is in charge of spearheading that drive and it clearly believes its staff should lead

by example. Generous gift vouchers are on offer for officials who have more than one child and

the department organises social gatherings in the hope of fostering love amongst its bureaucrats.

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But critics say what is really needed is wide-scale reform to tackle the burdensome cost of childcare and education that puts many young people off from starting a family.

BBC News Item 48 4

In Germany, if you think your financial advisor has been giving you bad advice and messing

up your investments, you can complain to the regulators, you can go to the police. But in Bavaria,

one group of pensioners stands accused of employing a much more direct method of registering

their dissatisfaction. They?re on trial for kidnapping their financial advisor and holding him hostage.

Four senior citizens, aged between 63 and 79, had invested nearly three and a half million dollars in the US property market and lost it all in the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. They?d

concluded that the man who?d handled the investment should now reimburse them. According to prosecutors, last summer the pensioner posse plus one accomplice abducted the

financial advisor outside his house, tied him, gagged him, put him in a box and transported him in

the boot of a car 450 kilometres to a lakeside retreat.

He claims to have spent four days locked in the cellar there and to have been tortured. After

agreeing to their demands, the prisoner was allowed to send a fax to Switzerland arranging

payment. He concealed the phrase “call the Police” in the text and the alarm was raised. Soon after

a crack team of commandos came to the rescue.

On the opening day of the trial, the 74 year old alleged ringleader of the gang avoided using

the word “kidnap”. He said he and his co-defendants had only wanted to treat their guest to a

couple of days holiday in Bavaria.

BBC News Item 49

Thousands of people, many visibly shocked, have gathered outside of the presidential palace

in the Polish capital Warsaw after President Lech Kaczynski and dozens of top officials

were

killed in a plane crash in western Russia. The Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the crash the

most tragic event in Poland?s recent history. The plane came down in a forest as it?s trying to land

in fog at Smolensk airport. There were no survivors. Adam Easton reports from Warsaw. Thousands of people gathered outside the presidential palace in Warsaw in a spontaneous

show of mourning. Families, young and old, brought flowers. Others lit candles. The pavement in

front of the building is carpeted with flickering flames. The scale of the disaster is unprecedented

not just the president, but most of the commanders of the armed forces, many leaders from the

country?s main o pposition party and senior state and church officials died in the crash. BBC News Item 50

The man expected to be Japan?s next prime minister Yukio Hatoyama has held his party?s election victory as a revolution. Exit polls suggest the center left Democratic Party of Japan has

won by landslide, crushing the liberal democrats who have dominated Japanese politics for half a

century. Roland Buerk reports from Tokyo.

Japan has now beginning a process that has only been through once before since 1955 the

transition of power from liberal democratic party to a new government. Yukio Hatoyama must

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nice steer the world second biggest economy back to sustainable growth after a crushing recession

and tackle record unemployment. The Democratic Party plans to forge a diplomacy less subservient to the United States, and improve relations with its Asian neighbors. They?ve also

promised to expand the welfare state, even though Japan is already deeply indebted, and rapidly

aging population is straining social security budgets.

BBC News Item 51

Unemployment in Japan rose to 5.7% in July, the highest figure since the Second World War.

The raise came as companies laid off workers because of the world recession. The new figures

come early days before the general election in Japan. Our correspondent Roland Buerk reports

from Tokyo.

The state of Japan?s economy is the key issue in the election campaign. So use of the

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