BBC news 2012-01-06 加文本 讲解翻译

BBC news 2012-01-06

BBC News with Marion Marshall

At a time of budget austerity, President Obama has unveiled a revised defence strategy, which he says would cut US military spending by $450bn over 10 years. He insisted the United States would maintain its military superiority. Our security correspondent Gordon Corera has the details.

President Obama made clear that the current tide of war was receding and this was the moment to decide what comes next. He may have ended his announcement by reminding people that even after proposed reductions, the US military budget will still be larger than the next 10 countries combined, but there was more than belt-tightening to this exercise. A move to a smaller army is part of the shift away from the kind of manpower-intensive counter-insurgency and nation-building campaigns that define the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A series of bomb attacks in Iraq targeting Shia Muslims has killed at least 73 people. In the worst violence, a suicide attack on Shia pilgrims in Nasiriyah killed at least 44. That attack came just hours after a number of bombs in Baghdad killed at least 29 people. Rafid Jabboori reports.

The attacks struck Shia areas in southern Iraq and Baghdad, and left dozens dead and injured. Car and roadside bombs were used. According to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, the targets were all civilian[s]. The deadliest explosion hit Shia pilgrims who were passing through a police checkpoint near the southern city of Nasiriyah. Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, (but) Shia pilgrims and the police have been frequently targeted by al-Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni extremist group.

A militia group in Iraq has said it's ready to hand back the body of the last of four British security guards who were kidnapped in 2007. Alan McMenemy and three other guards were seized in Baghdad along with a computer expert, Peter Moore. Mr Moore was the only one to be released alive, and this latest announcement puts an end to speculation about the fate of Mr McMenemy.

The prosecution in the trial of Hosni Mubarak has demanded the death sentence for the ousted Egyptian leader. One of the prosecutors said that Mr Mubarak was directly responsible for the killing of anti-government protesters during the mass protests that drove him from power. Jon Leyne reports.

The call by the prosecution should be no surprise, and yet many Egyptians will be shocked to hear this demand put so bluntly for the first time in the five-month trial. Whether Hosni Mubarak will be either executed or indeed convicted is another question entirely. The prosecution has been complaining of a lack of cooperation from the interior ministry in producing evidence, and one key prosecution witness changed his story when he was questioned in court, severely weakening the case against former President Mubarak.

World News from the BBC

The renowned American photojournalist Eve Arnold has died in London at the age of 99. Her subjects range from Cuban fishermen to celebrities, such as Elizabeth Taylor, and political figures, including Jacqueline Kennedy and Malcolm X. Natasha Gruneberg looks back at her life.

Eve Arnold's photographs won international acclaim. At five foot two inches tall, but tough and determined, she had a gift for putting subjects at ease. Assignment for Life magazine sent Arnold to China and Russia, to the McCarthy witch-hunt and a meeting led by the black Muslim leader Malcolm X, where a hostile crowd stuck lighted cigarettes in her sweater. Eve Arnold was never detached. When she was ill after photographing malnourished children in South Africa, a doctor said she was suffering from heart break. Her images were those of a passionate artist.

The president of the Swiss National Bank has denied any wrongdoing after allegations were made that he was involved in insider trading.  Philipp Hildebrand has been accused of benefiting from a currency deal made by his wife last year. Here's Imogen Foulkes.

Today Philipp Hildebrand had some tough questions to answer: how much did he know about his wife's purchase of weak dollars with strong francs just days before he announced measures to devalue the franc and why does Switzerland's central bank allow its senior executives and their families to engage in currency transactions at all? And visibly nervous, Mr Hildebrand insisted he had acted correctly at all times and said resignation was not an issue as long as he had the confidence of the government, which he does for now.

Somalia's parliament has been thrown into confusion as MPs started fighting each other after arguing over the election of a new speaker. The BBC's East Africa correspondent says punches were thrown, MPs hit each other over the head with chairs and even used pens to stab each other.

BBC News