BBC News with Kathy Clugston
More governments have issued travel alerts about possible new terror attacks in Europe. Both Japan and Sweden have issued statements warning their citizens travelling in Europe of a heightened risk of attacks by al-Qaeda or its affiliated groups, echoing alerts at the weekend by the US and Britain. Nick Childs reports.
There are clearly heightened intelligence concerns about possible threats in Europe and yet no clear-cut evidence, at least publicly acknowledged, of any very specific or imminent plot. None of the countries had appeared to be the main focus of interest. Britain, France and Germany have raised their own security alerts within their borders, but then they are quite elevated anyway. A number of different strands appear to have come together. There are reports of intelligence from a German national of Afghan origin held in Afghanistan, talking of a scheme for simultaneous attacks in Britain, France and Germany. There has also been reporting of possible intercepted communications from the Pakistan tribal areas, hinting of a similar plot.
A Vatican official has criticised the awarding of this year's Nobel prize for medicine to the British scientist Robert Edwards, whose work on treatment for human infertility led to the creation of test-tube babies. The head of the
Pontifical Academy for Life, Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, said the decision was completely out of order and disregarded the destruction of human embryos involved in such procedures. David Willey reports.
Monsignor de Paula said he was offering a personal opinion, not an official Vatican statement. He pointed out that without Professor Edwards' discovery, there would not be freezers filled with embryos waiting to be transferred to a woman's uterus, or more likely to be used for research or to die. The Catholic Church teaches that human life begins at conception and therefore, must be respected from that moment onwards.
The authorities in Nigeria have arrested the director of the presidential campaign of the former military ruler Ibrahim Babangida. He is one of President Goodluck Jonathan's main political rivals. The campaign director Raymond Dokpesi was detained in connection with the bomb attacks on Friday that killed 12 people in the capital Abuja during independence celebrations.
Football's world governing body Fifa has suspended Nigeria from international competition because of government interference in the Nigerian Football Association. Mary Harper has more.
Nigerian football has been in turmoil since the World Cup when the national team, known as the Super Eagles, was eliminated after failing to win a single match. This was humiliating for Africa's most populous nation, and as a result, Nigeria's
President Goodluck Jonathan banned the Super Eagles from international football. This was quickly reversed after Fifa complained, but political interference continued. And Fifa says that until it stops, Nigeria will not be allowed to take part in any international games.
World News from the BBC
The Greek government has promised to reduce its debt faster next year than demanded by international lenders. A draft budget presented to parliament envisages a deficit of 7%. The Prime Minister George Papandreou said the aim was to get out of the crisis as fast as possible. The current austerity programme is expected to continue.
The US Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the credit card company, American Express, accusing it of anti-competitive behaviour. The case centres on rules stopping shops rewarding customers who use alternative cards that require smaller fees from traders. Two other leading credit card companies, Visa and MasterCard, have settled similar cases.
The Cuban government is reported to be considering another large-scale release of political prisoners, although there has been no official word from the Cuban government. President Castro agreed to release 52 prisoners in July after negotiations with the Catholic Church. From Havana, Michael Voss reports.
Human rights and dissident groups in Cuba have been asked by the Roman Catholic Church to help identify all remaining political prisoners on the island. This has raised speculation that President Raul Castro is considering freeing all the remaining prisoners once a consensus can be reached on who they are. Numbers vary from around 40 to 100 people. The process may already be underway. The head of the Cuban Human Rights Commission, Elizardo Sanchez, said that nine new inmates had been approached by security officials, asking if they'd be prepared to leave the country with their families.Michael Voss reporting.
President Sebastian Pinera of Chile says he hopes the 33 miners who have been trapped underground for two months will be brought to the surface by the end of next week. Mr Pinera said rescuers were very close to getting the men out, and he hoped they'd be freed before his planned trip to Europe on 17 October.
BBC News
更多政府对欧洲可能面临的恐怖主义袭击发布旅游预警。日本和瑞典均已经发表声明,警告正在欧洲旅游的公民警惕被基地组织及其附属组织袭击的风险。周末期间,美国和英国也发布了预警。Nick Childs报道。
很明显,现在情报方面对欧洲可能出现的恐怖主义威胁非常担忧。然而,至少按照对公众承认的,目前还没有非常确定的或即将到来的阴谋。任何一个国家似乎都不是焦点。英国,法国和德国已经提高了本国境内的安全预警,但是无论如何,现在他们的警惕性都已经非常高。一系列事件已经被搁浅。有报道称,一名祖籍阿富汗的德国公民在阿富汗被拘留,他提到对英国,法国和德国同时发动袭击的阴谋。还有报道称,对巴基斯坦部落地区进行的通信拦截显示存在类似的阴谋。
今年的诺贝尔医学奖授予英国科学家Robert Edwards。他对不孕不育的治疗促使试管婴儿的出现。梵蒂冈一名官员对此提出批评。宗座生命学院院长Ignacio Carrasco de Paula表示,该决定非常令人不满,漠视了人类胚胎在人工受精过程中的毁灭。David Willey报道。
Monsignor de Paula说,他表达的是个人观点,而不是梵蒂冈的官方声明。他指出,如果不是Edwards教授的发现,不会有装满胚胎的冷藏器等待着被输入女性的子宫,或者更有可能的是被用来进行研究或死亡。天主教堂称,人类的生命是从胚胎时期开始的,从那时起就应该受到尊重。
尼日利亚当局逮捕了前军事统治者Ibrahim Babangida总统竞选活动负责人。他是乔纳森总统主要的政治对手。竞选负责人Raymond Dokpesi涉嫌与周五的炸弹袭击有关。那次袭击发生在首都阿布贾,当时正在举行独立日庆典。Raymond Dokpesi现在已经被拘留。
由于尼日利亚政府干涉足联的活动,国际足联已经暂时禁止尼日利亚参加国际比赛。Mary Harper报道更详细内容。
自本届世界杯期间尼日利亚国家队“超级雄鹰(Super Eagles)”未赢得一场比赛而被淘汰之后,尼日利亚足球就陷入一片混乱。对于这个非洲人口最多的国家来说,这是非常耻辱的。因此,尼日利亚总统乔纳森禁止“超级雄鹰(Super Eagles)”参加国际足球比赛。国际足联投诉之后,尼日利亚政府很快推翻了这一决定,但是仍在继续进行政治干预。国际足联表示,尼日利亚将不能参加任何国际比赛,直到政府停止干预。
BBC世界新闻。
希腊政府承诺,明年将以比国际借贷者的要求更快的速度减少债务。向议会提交的草案提出7%的预算赤字。总理帕潘德里欧(George Papandreou)表示,此举的目标是尽快走出经济危机。预期目前的紧缩政策将继续实施。
美国司法部对信用卡公司美国运通银行(American Express)提起诉讼,指控他们做出了防止竞争的行为。该案件集中在禁止超市对使用其他收费更低的信用卡的顾客进行奖励。其他两个主要的信用卡公司,Visa和MasterCard也卷入了类似的案件。
据报道,古巴政府正在考虑再次大规模释放政治犯,然而古巴政府还没有任何官方的态度。七月份,与天主教堂进行协商之后,卡斯特罗总统同意释放52名囚犯。哈瓦那,Michael Voss报道。
罗马天主教堂要求古巴人权和政见不同的组织帮助鉴别岛上所有剩余的政治犯。这引起人们的猜测,一旦达成共识,总统罗尔·卡斯特罗可能考虑释放所有剩余的政治犯。政治犯的人数大约在40至100人之间。该过程可能已经在进行中。古巴人权委员会负责人Elizardo Sanchez表示,安全官员现在已经与9名囚犯进行谈话,问他们是否愿意和家人一起离开古巴。
Michael Voss报道。
智利总统塞巴斯蒂安·皮涅拉(Sebastian Pinera)表示,他希望被困井下长达两个月之久的33名矿工在下周末之前能够获救到达地面。皮涅拉表示,救援人员即将救出被困者,他希望在10月17日访问欧洲之前见到他们脱险。
1.heighten vt. vi.(使)变高, (使)增大
例句:Day by day the structure heightened.
建筑物逐日增高。
2.acknowledge vt.承认, 供认
例句:He grudgingly acknowledged having made a mistake.
他勉强承认他做错了。
3.imminent adj.(通常指不愉快的事)即将发生的, 逼近的,临近的
例句:The black clounds show that a storm is imminent.
乌云预示暴风雨即将来临。
4.disregard vt.不顾, 不理会, 无视
例句:She completely disregarded all our objections.
她完全不理会我们的各种反对意见。
5.conception n.怀孕
6.onwards adv.向前;前往,从(某时)起一直
例句:A room has been booked from September onwards,in the interim,meetings will be held at my house.
房间已订好从九月份起使用,现在这段时间,会议将在我家里举行。
7.humiliating adj.丢脸的,羞辱性的
例句:The battle ended in a humiliating defeat.
这场战役以耻辱的失败告终。
The whole experience was somewhat humiliating for us.
整件事对我们来说有些受辱。
8.austerity n.(经济的)紧缩; 严格节制消费
例句:War was followed by many years of austerity.
紧随战争的是多年的经济紧缩.
9.consensus n.(意见等)一致, 一致同意; 一致的意见; 共识(~(among sb)| ~(about sth)| ~(that))
例句:Can we reach a consensus on this issue?
我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗?
1.The head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, said the decision was completely out of order and disregarded the destruction of human embryos involved in such procedures.
out of order故障; 违反规程
例句:Our tractor is out of order.
我们的拖拉机坏了。
The chairman told him that he was out of order.
主席告诉他说他违反了会议规程。
2.The case centres on rules stopping shops rewarding customers who use alternative cards that require smaller fees from traders.
centre on集中于
例句:All our hopes centre on you now.
我们的一切希望都集中在你身上。
3.Numbers vary from around 40 to 100 people.
vary from范围在……
例句:The length of fibers used may vary from 1.3to 5. l cm.
所选纤维的长度在1.3~1.5厘米范围内。