BBC news 2008-11-18 加文本

BBC 2008-11-18


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BBC News with Michael Poles.

The United States Navy says the hijacking of a giant Saudi oil tanker on the high seas by Somali pirates is uNPRecedented, and marks a fundamental shift in their capabilities. The vessel is carrying up to two million barrels of crude oil, and it's the largest yet captured. Our correspondent Robert Walker has more:

Somali pirates have seized more than 30 ships this year. What makes this incident different though is that it's reported to have taken place so far south off the Somali coast. The US Navy says it's three times the size of an aircraft-carrier. Pirates in the region have typically mounted their attacks in high-powered speed boats, sometimes launch from mother ships which can travel larger distances. A NATO task force is patrolling the region’s busy shipping lanes, but as this latest attack shows, they face a challenge of operating across a huge area.

The American banking giant Citigroup has announced massive job cuts in its workforce as a result of the international financial turmoil. It says it will make a further 52,000 workers redundant, bringing the total to more than 70,000 or a fifth of its workforce. Our correspondent Mathew Price is in New York.

Citigroup hasn’t said where the cuts will fall, but most expect its major centers in New York and London will both be hit. That will have a knock-on effect for the wider economy in those places, which are already suffering as a result of the global economic downturn. Citigroup is one of the beneficiaries of the US government's bailout plan for the banking sector. It's received 65 billion dollars in total from the government. The fact that it is still in deep water is another sign of how bad things are.

The United Nations has warned of dangerous consequences for the world’s climate unless industrialized nations work much harder to control greenhouse gas emissions. In a report, the UN Climate Change Agency said countries were failing to meet targets for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The agency said emissions from the 40 most industrialized nations increased by more than two percent over the first six years of this decade.

The Chinese President Hu Jintao arrives in Cuba shortly for talks with President Raul Castro. Trade between the two countries has quadrupled in the last four years. There's speculation that in the wake of Raul Castro taking over the leadership from his brother Fidel, Cuba might be looking at Chinese-style economic reforms while keeping the Communist Party firmly in control. From Havana, Michael Voss reports.

Raul Castro’s priorities so far have been to try and improve the economy by making the state-run system work more efficiently. There was an initial flurry of reforms including offering uNPRoductive state-owned land to small scale private farmers and cooperatives. But in recent months, the reform process appears to have slowed. China remains one of Cuba's principal allies. President Hu Jintao's two-day visit is expected to result in closer economic and political ties.

World News from the BBC.

An appeal court in France has ruled that a lower court was wrong to annul the marriage of a Muslim couple over the issue of the wife's virginity. Judges had previously accepted the husband’s argument that he had been tricked into the marriage because his wife had lied when telling him she was a virgin. Both spouses had accepted the earlier ruling but it provoked an outcry in France, forcing the government to order the case to be reviewed. The appeal court found that the absence of virginity had no bearing on marriage.

The head of a notorious Israeli crime family was killed when his car exploded in the center of Tel Aviv. Yaakov Alperon, known informally as Don Alperon, had been attending court with his son, who's facing blackmail and extortion charges. Our Middle East correspondent Paul Wood reports:

Yaakov Alperon was driving his modest white saloon car through a northern suburb of Tel Aviv just before midday, when the vehicle was torn apart by a huge blast. Little was left of the car after the explosion, which was apparently set off by remote control. Don Alperon's body was seen slumped over the steering wheel. This was the latest and the most serious attack in an Israeli mob war, which, some fear, may once again be coming to the boil.

An American scientist of Chinese origin has pleaded guilty to selling rocket technology to China in breach of US arms control laws. The scientist, Quan-Sheng Shu, who heads a technology firm in Virginia, also admitted bribing Chinese officials to win contracts. He now faces up to 25 years in prison and millions of dollars in fines. (WWW.hxen.net)

The Football Association in Uruguay has indefinitely suspended all matches in the country's premier division following clashes between fans of the top two teams in the league on Sunday. Supporters invaded the pitch beating each other with everything from iron rods to the corner flags. It took more than 100 police to quell the violence, although there were no arrests or injuries reported.

And with that story, we come to the end of this BBC News.

Glossary：
quadruple: to increase and become four times as big or as high, or to make something increase in this way
flurry: a time when there is suddenly a lot of activity
virginity: the condition of never having had sex
outcry: an angry protest by a lot of ordinary people
have no bearing on sth.：与...无关；对...无影响
extortion: the act of securing money, favours, etc by intimidation or violence; blackmail
pitch: sport field.