BBC news 2007-06-18 加文本

BBC 2007-06-18


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BBC World News with Jonathan Izzard.

The governing center right UMP Party of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy has won a comfortable majority in the final round of the parliamentary elections although not the predicted landslide victory. Final results gave the UMP 314 seats in the national assembly. The socialist won 185 seats, more than expected. The UMP seemed to have suffered after the socialist highlighted government plans for an increase in value added tax. Caroline Wyatt reports from Paris.

The dismay was clear on the faces of many UMP supporters as they watched the initial results come through. This was far from the blue wave or landslide victory of the polls have predicted. Instead, it was a moderate victory which gives the new President Nicolas Sarkozy's party a clear majority in parliament, but a smaller one than before. Despite Minister Francois Fillon was putting a brave face on it, said the results still validate the new government's plans to modernize France and its economy.

The new Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has called on all sides to recognize that his emergency government is the only legitimate administration in the Palestinian territories. Hamas which seized control of Gaza last week has called Mr. Fayyad's government illegal, but the Prime Minister said there would be no real dialogue with the faction until it changed its position. In the BBC interview, Mr. Fayyad also said law and order was, now, his top priority. "I think we do have a serious credibility problem, that really in the main, emanates from the fact that there is total breakdown here, and there has been a lot of deterioration. Particularly in the security sphere. And that's why should not be a surprise to anyone, that we view that as the main priority of this government, law and order."

Talks have ended in Luxemburg between European Union foreign Ministers with Poland insisting that it won't back down over its opposition to a new EU treaty. The treaty is designed to replace the proposed EU constitution which was rejected by voters in France and the Netherlands in 2005. Jonny Dymond reports.

This was a preparatory meeting and not one that will see the hard bargaining, nor make the big decisions. But as countries laid out their positions, it became clear that Britain, Poland and the Czech Republic are the problem children in the class of 2007. Poland wants radical changes to the proposed voting system. The Czechs have supported them. Britain is not quite so publicly stubborn as Poland, but has a wider range of problems with the proposed treaty.

The organization which says it's holding the kidnapped BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston has denied that a deal has been reached for his release. A spokesman for the Army of Islam told the Arabic television station Al Jazeera that Alan Johnston would not be freed until its demands were met. The spokesman said negotiations were continuing with the military wing of Hamas which now controls Gaza. Earlier, two Hamas spokesman made conflicting comments about whether Alan Johnston might be released soon. The BBC says it's watching developments very closely.

World news from the BBC.

Thousands of veterans of the Falklands War have taken part in the ceremony of London to mark the end of the conflict twenty five years ago when Britain retook the islands after they were invaded by Argentina. The British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Britain's leader at the time of the conflict Margaret Thatcher were among the dignitaries who attended the parade and flypast.

Condolences have been pouring in from Italia's top designers for one of country's most famous couturiers Gianfranco Ferre, who was dead in Rome at the age of sixty two. He suffered a brain hemorrhage. In 1989, Ferre became the stylist director of the prestigious French fashion house Christian Dior. Following the end of that association in 1997, he returned to Italy where he designed his own collections.

The former England football captain David Beckham has played his final match for the Spanish Club Real Madrid before he moves to an American team in Los Angeles. Real Madrid won the game against Real Mallorca 3:1 to take the Spanish League title, giving Beckham his first winner's medal since he joined the club four years ago. Mike Siran. reports from Madrid.

On a personal level, there wasn't quite the Hollywood ending for the man who [was] Hollywood fans. But though he wasn't on a pitch for Reyes's last gust comeback, he could claim to winning them the title by proxy. Beckham had barely limped towards the dogout, head bowed and the title fading away just as limply before Reyes attacked in an important equalizer. Mahamadou Diarra scored a second to wrestle the title from Barcelona before Reyes dispatched a wonderful third to ensure David Beckham's dream movie star send off.

And motor racing, the young British driver Lewis Hamilton has won the American Grand Prix in Indianapolis. His fellow Mclaren driver Fernando Alonso of Spain came second, and the Brazilian driver Felipe Massa in the Ferrari came third. It's the second time Hamilton has won a race in his first year in Formula One following a victory in the Canadian Grand Prix a week ago. The twenty two year old has finished in the top three in every race of the season, and is now ten points ahead of Alonso in the drivers' championship.

Vocabulary

Put a bold/brave face on sth 对某事装作满不在乎（或很有信心）
Brain Hemorrhage: 脑溢血