A newborn baby in Nigeria has been added to a government
payroll
, earning about $150 a month. The discovery was announced by the attorney general of the northwestern Zamfara state. He said the baby was one of many so-called "ghost workers" found to be getting salaries without performing a job. Records also show that the baby has a diploma.
BBC News
第二页:中英双语听力稿
The Italian senate has approved a long-delayed economic reform package demanded by the European Union to end the country's debt crisis. The final vote is expected in the lower house over the weekend. Parliamentary approval of the package should lead to the promised resignation of the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. From Rome, Alan Johnston reports.
应欧盟要求,意大利参议员批准一项久被搁置的经济改革一揽子方案,努力结束本国的债务危机。周末下议院将进行最终投票,议会通过这项方案后,总理贝卢斯科尼将辞职。Alan Johnston在罗马报道。
Italy's politicians are desperate to show that they are responding urgently to the economic crisis, so they are racing this austerity package through the two houses of parliament. The measures include moves to sell off state assets and changes in the tax and pension regimes. But this may be just the start of wider and deeper efforts at reform. It's expected that the new government will be led by Mario Monti, a tough well-respected economist. And he's thought likely to cut back on the cost of the bureaucracy that weighs heavily on business here and to challenge vested interests in the professions and elsewhere.