May 11

The new West African state will incorporate the Gold Coast, Ashanti, the Northern Territories and Togoland, which recently voted to integrate with the Gold Coast.

He set the target date for independence at 6 March, 1957.

The fledgling state will be named Ghana after an ancient West African kingdom which flourished from 300AD to 1100AD.

Ghana will be the first black African nation to become independent from Britain, but there are fears of internal fighting between various tribes in the region over a new constitution. For this reason, the minister is insisting on elections for a new legislature that will then be asked to approve self-governance.

The finance minister of the Gold Coast, Mr Gbedemah, welcomed Mr Lennox-Boyd's announcement today and in an interview with the BBC made assurances that elections would be held soon.

"I know enough to be able to say that the prime minister [Kwame Nkrumah] has been planning that if an election will be the only solution to the present situation then he will go to the country as soon as possible," he said.

The Gold Coast has been a British colony since 1901. After World War I part of the German colony of Togoland was mandated to the British, who linked it administratively with the Gold Coast colony.

In the Gold Coast, nationalist activity intensified after World War II. Kwame Nkrumah of the Convention People's Party (CPP) emerged as the leading nationalist figure.

In 1951, Britain granted a new constitution, which had been drawn up by Africans, and general elections were held. The CPP won and Mr Nkrumah became prime minister.

The
The Indian government has announced it has carried out a series of underground nuclear tests.

It is the first time India has carried out such tests since 1974.

The experiments took place without any warning to the international community, and there has been widespread outrage and concern over the move.

The test site, in Pokhran in the northern desert state of Rajasthan, is only about 150km (93 miles) from the border with Pakistan.

The two countries have fought three wars since independence with Britain in 1947, mainly over the disputed territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and there are fears the tests could escalate the conflict and spark a regional nuclear arms race.

'Contained explosions'

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee broke the news to journalists in a hastily-convened news conference.

"These were contained explosions like the experiment conducted in May 1974," he said.

"I warmly congratulate the scientists and engineers who have carried out these successful tests."

He said the devices tested were a fission device, a low-yield device and a thermonuclear device. He said there had been no release of radioactivity into the atmosphere.

There was immediate condemnation of the tests from Pakistan.

The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, said his country had been trying to draw the world's attention to India's nuclear programme.

"As a sovereign and independent nation," he said, "Pakistan will make its own decision on the steps to be taken towards its sovereignty and defence."

Arms race threat

There was already strong diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to show restraint and avoid retaliating - the only hope of avoiding a damaging arms race.

Last month Pakistan tested its own long-range nuclear missile, the Hatf-5, which has a range of up to 1,500km (932 miles).

The tests are said to have contributed to India's decision to launch its own nuclear tests today.

India is known to have developed a short-range nuclear missile, the Prithvi, with a range of 150km (93 miles) but it is working on a much longer range system, the Agni, which could reach targets up to 2,500km (1553 miles) away.

India, Pakistan and Israel are the three nations widely suspected of nuclear capability which have not joined the 1970 nuclear non-proliferation treaty, now observed by 185 countries. 

Vocabulary:  

fledgling:new and untried or inexperienced（新生的，无经验的）

thermonuclear: 高原子核反应的