BBC在线收听下载:美国作家菲利普．罗思去世 享年85岁

Hello, I'm Jim Lee with the BBC News.

One of the towering figures of 20th century American literature, the novelist Philip Roth has died at the age of 85. Here's Nick Heim.
Philip Roth started out as shocking and rather subversive. In 1969, his novel Portnoy's Complaint scandalized Middle America. It was a monologue supposedly delivered to his psychoanalyst by a lust-ridden, mother-addicted young Jewish bachelor. He went on to write novels that were often playful and surprising. In one, the narrator wakes to find he's been transformed into a giant breast. In another, the young Jewish diarist Anne Frank who perished in the Holocaust is apparently found living under an assumed name in America. But later books like American Pastoral, The Human Stain and The Plot Against America added up to a complex fictional history of the modern United States. He finished as a grand old man of American letters.

In a change of heart, North Korea has agreed to let in a team of South Korean journalists to watch the dismantling of its nuclear test site at Punggye-ri. The move comes as President Moon Jae-in visits Washington to try to salvage proposed US-North Korea summit planned for June 12. Laura Bicker reports from Seoul.

Many in the South Korean media are crediting President Moon with saving the Singapore summit. It seems optimistic given Donald Trump's announcement after the two leaders met, but he's seeking certain conditions. And if North Korea did not agree to them, the meeting would not happen. Pyongyang is critical of the deal on offer from the US. The state said it would not accept a one-sided proposal where it gives up its weapons in return for economic aid. But the chief press secretary of the presidential palace in Seoul said that both leaders would be doing their utmost to ensure the summit is held without disruption.

The US House of Representatives has passed legislation that will relax bank rules introduced by the Obama administration in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. It marks a major victory for President Trump. David Willis reports.
When Republicans took control of Congress and then the White House, the big banks increased their lobbying efforts to get the legislation changed. But the new law, whereas lessening the federal oversight of smaller banks, does little to change the trading and lending regulations for the big Wall Street players. Supporters say it will give businesses more access to loans for homes and cars. Critics warn it could prompt further discriminatory lending and increase the risk of future bank failures.

World news from the BBC.