BBC在线收听下载:罗马将迎来历史上第一位女市长

Italy’s capital city Rome could get its first female mayor today. Our correspondent in Rome is James Reynolds.

Rome is the eternal city. Its problems seem to last forever, as well. Italy’s capital is full of litter, graffiti and potholes. Its buses and trains are old and slow. In recent years, an organized crime network took control of some of the city’s public contracts. And in October last year, Rome’s most recent mayor was forced to resign in an expenses scandal. It’s somewhat inevitable then that the two politicians who’ve made it to the election run-off promise this city a new start. The favorite, maybe 37-year old lawyer Virginia Raggi, she is from the populist “Five Star Movement”. If elected, she’d become this city’s first female mayor. She runs against 55-year old Roberto Giachetti. He is backed by the Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. The winner will inherit a city in need of a gigantic cleanup. That was James Reynolds in Rome.

The French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron has warned that leaving the European Union would reduce Britain to being a trading post on the borders of Europe. Mr. Macron said Britain would be like a small country on the world stage. The referendum in Britain takes place on Thursday. And there’s been plenty of speculation about what could happen if Britain decides to leave the EU.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Islamic Republic of Iran is home to one of the world’s most prestigious collections of western modern art. Now finally they are on the move. And some art will be shown at an exhibition in Berlin this year.

We have wonderful really extraordinary works of that period. And there are also other wonderful impressionist works. Really the selectivity of the curators in purchasing these artworks was quite exceptional.

How did they survive the revolution?

Well, there was initially somebody in charge who was very devoted to keeping the collection intact. And I think we were very lucky in that the museum directors, one after the other, were all conscious of the quality of the collection and therefore, they were quite keen that nothing should be sort of sold off.
And all of the works in the museum have stayed there. Now that some of these works are gonna be shown abroad in Germany later this year, people will obviously get an idea of just how wonderful this is. Do you see then now that sanctions have been lift and there are much more of this sort of cultural exchanges, does Iran now seem open?