BBC news 2009-06-25 加文本

BBC 2009-06-25


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BBC News with David Legg.

A bomb blasted at a market in the Iraqi capital Baghdad has killed at least 60 people and injured more than a hundred. It comes shortly before American troops are due to withdraw from Iraqi towns and cities. Jim Muir reports.

The bomb apparently hidden under a pile of vegetables on a motorized cart went off in the early evening just as people were crowding the streets after the heat of the day. It exploded in the Mraidi Market. It sells vegetables and birds inside a city, the densely populated Shiite suburb that’s been attacked so often and so provocatively in the past. As the number of those killed continued to mount, it became clear that this was one of the most deadly single bomb attacks so far this year. It comes just days before American forces are to complete their withdrawal from all Iraqi towns and cities by the end of the month. There has been a surge of violence in recent days clearly linked to that deadline.

There’ve been reports of fresh clashes between riot police and demonstrators in Iran. Eyewitnesses said the security forces use batons and tear gas to break up protests by about 200 people in Teheran, although this can’t be independently confirmed.

Both the government and the opposition insisted that they won’t back down of their dispute over the reelection of President Ahmadinejad. Jeremy Bowen reports from Teheran.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is going about his business as if he had shrugged off the challenges of the opposition. He said that neither the system nor the people would give in to pressure to annul the election whatever the price. The opposition has been taken heavy blows from the hard hand of the state. Mir-Hossein Mousavi who believes he is the rightful president needs to get people out onto the streets, but he’s struggling to provide a lead. When he attempted to re-open his newspaper, the premises were raided and 25 members of staff arrested.

The United States and Venezuela are to return their ambassadors to each other’s capitals following tit-for-tat expulsions last year. It follows an easing of tension since President Obama came to office. Charles Scanlon reports.

President Hugo Chavez has made clear that he wants to return to full diplomatic relations with the US, part of a more conciliatory tone he’s adopted since President Obama took office. His government says that both of Venezuela and the US will return their ambassadors in the coming days following an angry dispute last September. The US remains a major market for Venezuelan oil, but despite their common trade interests, there‘s still plenty of friction between the two countries. President Chavez is today welcoming Ecuador into a regional organization that seeks to resist US influence in Latin America.

The American FBI says it’s uncovered a multimillion-dollar scam to defraud country’s health-care system. Officials say 53 people including some doctors have been accused of making false claims to the government medical insurance scheme Medicare. They say elderly people were paid to make claims for illnesses they never had.

World News from the BBC.

America’s Central Bank, or Federal Reserve says the pace of economic decline in the United States is easing and a gradual resumption of growth could be expected. In its latest report, the Fed points to evidence that consumers’ spending is beginning to stabilize. Andrew Walker reports.

The statement issued after a two-day policy-making meeting is consistent with a growing but not universal view that the US economy could now be close to a turning point. Early on Wednesday the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development published a new global forecast which was somewhat less gloomy than precious ones. What’s also widely shared is the view that the recovery when it comes will not be very strong in the early stages, so the Fed expects to maintain its exceptionally low interest rate for what it calls an extended period.

The Russian energy giant Gazprom has signed a joint Venture Agreement with Nigeria’s state-run oil firm, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. President Dmitri Medvedev who’s in Nigeria says it’s part of Russian plans for investment in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector that could amount to billions of dollars. The plans include the development of a pipeline to carry Nigerian gas across the Sahara to Europe.

Scientists have unearthed what they say is the world’s oldest music instrument, a flute made from a vulture-bone found in a cave in Germany. The flute is more than 35,000 years old from the time that humans began settling in Europe. Fragments of two other primitive flutes carved from ivory were also discovered. Archaeologists say it suggests that early modern humans had a complex and creative culture.

In a major upset, the United States football team has beaten the European Champion Spain by 2 goals to 0 in the semifinal of Confederation’s Cup in South Africa. The American victory ended Spain’s 35-game unbeaten run, and prevented the Spaniards from setting a new world record of 36 matches without defeat.

BBC News.

Vocabularies

riot police   n. 防暴警察

back down v.放弃要求

annul  vt. 使无效

premise  n.〔 pl.]房屋和地基，经营场址；前提

tit for tat 以牙还牙

scam  n. 诡计,故事

defraud  vt.欺骗

unearth  vt.发掘