BBC News with Jonathan Izard
The British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced the biggest cuts in British defence spending since the end of the Cold War. He said manpower cuts of 17,000 would be made across the army, navy and air force over the next five years. Mr Cameron said operations in Afghanistan would not be affected. Rob Watson reports.
David Cameron announced the loss of 25,000 civilian jobs at the Ministry of Defence and a 7,000 cut in the size of the British army. He also spelled out substantial cuts in aircraft and ships for the air force and navy. Mr Cameron insisted the changes to Britain's armed forces were being driven by security concerns not cost cutting, but he blamed the previous Labour government for having left such a mess and a defence budget overspent by more than $60 billion.
The opposition Labour Party leader Ed Miliband dismissed the plans as a shambles that would not meet Britain's future defence needs.
The biggest trade union in France has said 3.5 million people have taken part in today's protests against government plans to raise the age of retirement. The government put the figure at just over a million. Many flights have been cancelled, train services disrupted and schools closed. The demonstrations were the latest in a series of mass protests against pension reforms. From Paris, here is Christian Fraser.
Today there were protests in 250 towns and provincial cities around the country, in Paris, in Lyon, Toulouse and in Marseille where the streets are now piled high with rubbish. Throughout the country, there is burning frustration that the government refuses to bend. Nowhere is that determination more evident than outside the oil refineries where the blockades are still in place. There are long queues on petrol forecourts. Demand has increased 50% in recent days, and tonight, 2,500 petrol stations, some 20% of the total, will be running low.
The BBC World Service is facing major changes to the way it's funded as part of big public spending cuts being introduced by the British government. The World Service's annual budget of more than $400 million is currently paid by the British Foreign Office. The government now wants the BBC to meet the full cost out of the money it levies from all British television viewers. Here is Nick Robinson with the details.
Although the BBC's budget is theoretically no part of the spending round, ministers have spent the past few months making it clear to the corporation that it could not remain unaffected. The first proposal they made was for the BBC to take on the £600 million cost of providing free TV licences for the elderly, in effect, a real termed budget cut of a quarter. When the BBC protested that it was not part of the welfare state, ministers returned with another idea - the BBC should take over from the Foreign Office the cost of providing the World Service and pay for the Welsh language channel S4C. In addition, it should extend the freeze on the licence fee from two years to six.
Nick Robinson.
World News from the BBC
The Colombian government has opened a special centre to prevent the procurement of nuclear material by Marxist rebels. Police said they had confiscated computers from the Farc rebel group, showing they were trying to obtain uranium in Europe. The chief of the new centre said the Farc had been looking for nuclear material in Ukraine as far back as 2005.
The German President Christian Wulff has urged the three million Turks living in Germany to learn the German language from an early age to help them integrate. Mr Wulff was addressing the Turkish parliament just days after the German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that multiculturalism in Germany had been a failure. From Istanbul, Jonathan Head reports.
President Wulff is a more emollient speaker than Chancellor Merkel, and he was careful to put his points diplomatically to his Turkish hosts. But the message was the same as Mrs Merkel's that the three million strong Turkish minority must be more integrated into German society. President Wulff stressed that integration did not mean giving up Turkish culture and identity. But many Turks still suspect that the integration issue is being used by German politicians to whip up anti-immigrant sentiment.
At least two people are reported to have been killed and dozens more wounded in the Guinean capital Conakry in pre-election violence. One of the parties contesting Guinea's presidential run-off on Sunday said the victims were among party supporters who had clashed with the police. Guinea's security forces have been patrolling Conakry to try to end the demonstrations that began on Monday. The Gambian President Yahya Jammeh is in Conakry to try to help resolve the crisis.
A British court has found a Saudi prince guilty of murdering his servant at a five-star hotel in central London. The victim, Bandera Abdulaziz, was found beaten and strangled in a hotel room in February. The court heard that the prince, Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al-Saud, had abused his servant for his own personal gratification, and the injuries he inflicted showed that it was a brutal attack with a sexual aspect. He'll be sentenced tomorrow.
BBC News
英国首相卡梅伦宣布自冷战结束以来最大规模的国防开支削减计划。他说,未来五年之内,陆军,海军和空军总共将裁减17,000人。卡梅伦表示,驻阿富汗的行动不会受到影响。Rob Watson报道。
卡梅伦宣布,英国国防部将减少25,000个民事岗位,陆军将裁员7,000人。他还明确表示,海军和空军将减少船只和飞机。卡梅伦坚持称,英国军队改革是出于安全隐患考虑,而不是由于费用问题。但是他指责前任工党政府留下一片混乱,国防预算超支了超过600亿美元。
反对派工党领袖埃德·米利班德(ED MILIBAND)极力否认这些混乱不堪的计划,认为这难以满足英国未来的国防需求。
法国最大的工会表示,共有350万人参加了今天的抗议活动,反对政府推迟退休年龄的计划。政府则表示抗议人数只有100多万。许多航班被取消,火车服务中断,学校关闭。这些示威活动是一系列反对养老金改革的抗议活动中最新的一部分。巴黎,Christian Fraser报道。
今天,全国250多个城镇举行了抗议活动,包括巴黎,里昂,图卢兹,马赛,现在,这些城市的街头上堆满了垃圾。在全国各地,人们对政府拒绝妥协的态度越来越愤怒。任何地方都不如炼油厂工人的决心那样坚定,现在他们仍然设置着路障。加油站前院排着长队。最近几天,燃料需求量增加了50%,今晚,2,500个加油站,总数的20%,已经基本无燃料供应。
由于英国政府引入的削减公共支出的政策,BBC世界服务将对筹款方式做出重大改变。世界服务每年超过4亿美元的预算目前由英国外事办公室支付。政府现在希望BBC利用从所有英国电视观众征收的费用来支付所有成本。Nick Robinson报道详细内容。
尽管BBC的预算并不是政府削减支出的一部分,过去几个月,内阁大臣们已经明确表示,BBC不可能不受影响。他们的首个提议是希望BBC承担为老年人提供免费电视执照的6亿美元的费用,实际上,相当于削减了四分之一的预算。BBC反对说,他们并不是福利部门的一部分。大臣们又提出了另外一个建议——BBC应该从外事办公室接管世界服务的费用,并为威尔士语频道S4C支付费用。此外,他们还应该将执照费用冻结从两年延长到六年。Nick Robinson。
BBC世界新闻。
哥伦比亚政府开设了一个特别中心,防止马克思主义叛军购买核材料。警方表示,他们没收了哥伦比亚武装力量反叛组织的电脑,电脑资料显示Farc在2005年曾经试图从乌克兰购买核材料。
德国总统沃尔夫(Christian Wulff)敦促德国300万名土耳其人从较低的年龄开始学习德语,以帮助他们更好地融入德国社会。总理默克尔宣布德国建设多元文化社会失败后几天,沃尔夫向土耳其议会发表讲话。Jonathan Head在伊斯坦布尔报道。
沃尔夫的讲话风格比总理默克尔更加柔和。他尽量小心的以外交的方式将自己的观点告诉土耳其东道主。但是他传达的信息与默克尔是一致的,300万土耳其少数民族必须更好地融入德国社会。沃尔夫总统强调说,融入德国社会并不意味着放弃土耳其文化和身份。但是许多土耳其人仍然怀疑,融合问题被德国政客用来煽动反移民情绪。
据报道,几内亚首都科纳克里发生选举前的暴力活动,至少2人死亡,数十人受伤。周日参加几内亚总统最后一次角逐的一个党派表示,受害者都是曾经与警方发生冲突的党派支持者。几内亚安全力量一直在科纳克里巡逻,试图终止从周一开始的示威活动。冈比亚总统叶海亚·贾梅(Yahya Jammeh)已经抵达科纳克里帮助解决这场危机。
英国一家法庭发现,沙特王子在伦敦中心一家五星级酒店谋杀了他的仆从。二月份,受害者Bandera Abdulaziz在酒店房间内被发现曾经受到殴打,窒息而死。法庭获悉沙特王子Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al-Saud为了玩乐而虐待自己的仆从,他造成的伤害表明这是非常残酷的袭击,明天,沙特王子将被判决。
1.manpower n.人力;体力
例句:The police are seriously short of manpower.
警方人手严重不足。
2.shambles n.<口>混乱;杂乱
例句:My room is a shambles.
我房间里乱七八糟。
3.frustration n.挫折;失败;挫败;失意;沮丧
例句:crying out of bitter frustration
愤懑沮丧得大喊
Anna was almost crying with frustration.
安娜沮丧得几乎要哭了。
4.levy vt.征收(税收等)
例句:The judge levied a ten thousand dollars fine against the factory for polluting the river.
因该厂污染河流, 法官处以罚款一万美元。
5.theoretically adv.在理论上;从理论上说
例句:Theoretically, a line can extend into infinity.
从理论上来说直线可以无限地延伸。
6.procurement n.(尤指为政府或机构)采购,购买
例句:arms procurement
采购武器
7.emollient adj.安慰性的, 起镇静作用的
8.strangle vt.扼死; 使窒息
例句:He strangled her with a nylon stocking.
他用尼龙长筒袜勒死了她。
9.gratification n.满足;满意;喜悦
例句:To my immense gratification, he fell into the trap.
令我极为满意的是,他中了圈套。
10.inflict vt.把…强加给, 使承受, 遭受;打击;使吃苦头
例句:Mary inflicted her children on her mother for the weekend.
周末玛丽硬把孩子们交给母亲照料。
1.He also spelled out substantial cuts in aircraft and ships for the air force and navy.
spell out阐明
例句:His speech spelt out his party's policy on foreign affairs.
他的演说阐明了他的政党的对外政策。
2.Nowhere is that determination more evident than outside the oil refineries where the blockades are still in place.
no more than没有比他们的决心更明显的,表示他们已经最最有决心的,用比较级表示最高级的意思。
用比较级表示最高级
1)直接使用比较级
①How beautiful she sings! I've never heard a better voice.
= She has the best voice I've ever heard.
她唱得多好啊!这是我听到的最美的歌喉。
②I have never read a more interesting novel.
= It is the most interesting novel I've ever read.
这是我读过的最有趣的小说。
2)比较级 than the other 复数名词/ any other 单数名词/ any of the other 复数名词
①She goes to school earlier than the other girls.
她比其他女孩早上学。
②He works harder than any other student.
她学习最用功。
③China is larger than any of the other countries in Asia.
中国是亚洲最大的国家
3)比较级 than anything/ anyone else
①George did more work than anyone else.
乔治干活最多。
②Tom cared more for money than for anything else
汤姆最喜欢钱。
4)在比较句型中使用 "no", "nobody", "nothing" 等词。
①I like nothing better than swimming.
我最喜欢游泳。
②Nobody can do the work better than he did.
这项工作他做得最出色。
3.The first proposal they made was for the BBC to take on the £600 million cost of providing free TV licences for the elderly, in effect, a real termed budget cut of a quarter.
take on承担
例句:He is always ready to take on heavy responsibilities.
他一向乐于挑重担。
4.But many Turks still suspect that the integration issue is being used by German politicians to whip up anti-immigrant sentiment.
whip up激发, 激励
例句:The storm whipped up powerful waves.
暴风雨激起了巨浪。
The speaker soon whipped the crowd up until they were ready to march.
演说家很快把群众煽动起来, 直到他们乐于行进。