BBC news 2011-12-24 加文本

The Syrian opposition has blamed the government for the suicide attacks that killed 40 people in the heart of the capital Damascus. The state media has suggested that they've been carried out by al-Qaeda. The attacks took place as peace plan observers from the Arab League were beginning their work in Syria. Ghiyath al-Shami of the opposition Syrian Revolution Command Council said that the government had staged the bombings to show it was under attack.
叙利亚反对派就大马士革市中心造成40人死亡的自杀式袭击事件指责政府，国家媒体暗示这是由基地组织实施的。袭击事件发生时，阿拉伯国家联盟的和平计划观察员正开始在叙利亚展开工作。反对派叙利亚革命指挥委员会的Ghiyath al-Shami称，政府发起这些轰炸事件以表明自己受到袭击。

"The two blasts were staged by the regime. This is our belief. The regime wanted to give the Arab League observers the impression that there are indeed terrorist gangs led by al-Qaeda. This is the pretext used by any Arab regime prior to its fall. Al-Qaeda was created by the regime and is now being used by it for its own agenda."
“这两起爆炸都是当局政权所为，这是我们的信念。当局想让阿拉伯国家联盟观察员了解到，基地组织恐怖团伙确实在本国。这是每个阿拉伯政权倒下之前都会使的借口，基地组织是当局创造出来的，如今正为当局服务。”

One of the greatest Czech statesmen of the past century, Vaclav Havel, has been laid to rest in the capital Prague. At noon, sirens and church bells sounded throughout the country to mark the start of the funeral Mass in St Vitus Cathedral. Thousands watched in the freezing cold as world leaders paid homage to the playwright who led his country from communism to democracy. Among those there was the Czech-born former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who gave her own tribute.
上世纪捷克最杰出的政治家瓦茨拉夫．哈韦尔被安葬在首都布拉格，圣维塔大教堂的大型葬礼开始时，警笛和教堂钟声响彻全国。数千人在严寒中注视这一仪式，全世界领导者向这位领导国家从共产主义到民主制的剧作家致敬，其中就是捷克出生的美国前国务卿玛德莱娜．奥尔布莱特，她向亡者表达了自己的敬意。

"We will miss him terribly, but we will never ever forget him."
“我们会非常想念他，但我们永远不会忘记他。”

Turkey has accused the French President Nicolas Sarkozy of fanning hatred against Turks and Muslims for electoral game. The Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said France had committed genocide during its colonial rule in Algeria. His comments come a day after the lower house of the French parliament approved a bill that makes it a criminal offence to deny that Ottoman Turks committed genocide against Armenians during the First World War.
土耳其指责法国总统萨科齐为参与竞选而煽动对土耳其人和穆斯林的仇恨，总理Recep Tayyip Erdogan也表示，法国在阿尔及利亚的殖民统治期间犯下了种族灭绝罪。他做出此番言论的前一天，法国下议院刚通过一项法案，根据该法案，否认奥斯曼土耳其在一战期间对亚美尼亚人犯下大屠杀，就是犯下刑事罪。

The Congolese opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi has conducted an unofficial inauguration ceremony at his home in the capital Kinshasa. President Joseph Kabila was official inaugurated on Tuesday, but international observers said the election was badly flawed. Here's Thomas Hubert.
刚果反对派领导人Etienne Tshisekedi在首都金沙萨的家中举行非正式的就职典礼，总统Joseph Kabila已于周二按照官方规定任职，但国际观察员称此次选举存在严重错误。下面是Thomas Hubert报道。

Etienne Tshisekedi took his oath in front of officials from his UDPS party. Supporters gathered outside his home behind a police cordon after security forces stopped the ceremony taking place at the city's main stadium. Hundreds of riot police and soldiers armed with water cannons, tanks, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades patrolled the streets between the Martyrs' Stadium and Mr Tshisekedi's house. Groups of opposition supporters had tried to get to the stadium in the morning, but were immediately dispersed by police firing stun grenades.
Etienne Tshisekedi站在他所属的民主与社会进步联盟（UDPS）官员面前宣誓就职，安全部队中断在市主体育馆举行的仪式后，尽管警方设下警戒线，他的支持者们聚集在他家外面。数百名防暴警察和士兵武装了水枪、塔克、机枪和火箭弹，在烈士体育馆和Tshisekedi家之间的街道上巡逻。早上，成群的反对派支持者想进入体育馆，但很快被警察用震撼手榴弹驱散了。

Buckingham Palace says the Duke of Edinburgh has been taken to hospital after suffering chest pains. It said the 90-year-old duke, the Queen's husband, was undergoing precautionary checks.
白金汉宫称爱丁堡公爵因胸部疼痛被送往医院，90岁的老公爵，也就是女王的丈夫目前正在接受预防性检查。

World News from the BBC

The United States Congress has approved a two-month extension of a cut in payroll taxes, breaking a lengthy deadlock between President Obama and the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. President Obama said more work needed to be done on the tax issue, which he described as a "make or break moment" for the US middle classes. From Washington, Marcus George reports.
美国国会已经通过延长两个月的工资税削减，打破了奥巴马总统和共和党控制的众议院间长时间的僵局。奥巴马总统说，关于税收问题还要做很多工作，他说这对美国的中产阶级来说是“成败的时刻”。来自华盛顿，Marcus George报道。

It was a slim victory in real terms, but the drama is a significant political win in the president's fraught struggle with conservative Republicans. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives finally voted for the measure after a face-saving provision for small businesses was added. The dispute showed up deep divisions within the party. Many Republicans supported the measure, but staunch conservatives had refused to fall into line.
尽管在条款上这只是次微弱胜利，但总统为此已与保守的共和党进行了艰难的斗争，所以这出戏其实在政治上倒是场意义重大的胜利。因为面子问题，共和党控制的众议院要求加上了一项关于小企业的条款，并最终投票支持该措施。这场争论显示该党内部深层分歧，许多共和党支持这一措施，但顽固的保守派表示拒绝。

The Dutch-based oil trading company Trafigura has lost an appeal against a fine of more than $1m imposed after hundreds of tonnes of chemical waste were dumped in Ivory Coast. The Dutch appeal court said there was clear proof that Trafigura had exported the waste in 2006. A United Nations report said at least 15 people had died in Ivory Coast's biggest city Abidjan. The company has denied any wrongdoing.
位于荷兰石油贸易公司Trafigura曾在科特迪瓦倾倒数百吨化学垃圾，遭100多万罚款后上诉并败诉。德国上诉法院称，有确实证据显示，Trafigura公司于2006年出口过垃圾。联合国一份报告称，至少15人在科特迪瓦最大城市阿比让死亡，该公司否认有违法行为。

The German car-maker Volkswagen has agreed to deactivate emails on its workers' Blackberry mobile phones in Germany after office hours to give their staff a break. Rory Cellan-Jones has the details.
德国汽车制造商大众公司已经同意，在办公时间之外，不再在向在德国员工的黑莓手机发送邮件，给员工休息时间。Rory Cellan-Jones报道详细内容。

Modern technology means the boundaries between work and leisure time are becoming increasingly blurred. Now Volkswagen has decided there's something [that] needs to be done. After discussions with its works council, VW agreed that company blackberries would stop receiving emails 30 minutes after employees clocked off and would only be reactivated half an hour before their next shift. The Blackberry restrictions only apply to VW's German employees on trade union-negotiated contracts and won't affect senior managers.
现代科技意味着工作和闲暇时间的界限变得越来越模糊。现在，大众公司决定做出改变，在于理事会讨论之后，大众同意在员工下班30分钟后，公司黑莓手机不再接收邮件，只在下一次上班的半小时之前再次发送。黑莓的这些限制只适用于与工会协商签署合同的雇员，并不会影响高级管理人员。

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