President Obama has approved an unusual measure to help reduce America's budget deficit by cutting back on the number of branded coffee

mugs

, T-shirts and other official trinkets given away by government departments. The items, known collectively as swag, are paid for by taxpayers and used by the government to promote its work.

That's the latest BBC News.

第二页：中英双语听力稿

The Italian President Giorgio Napolitano has tried to reassure the world's financial markets that his country will be able to pay its massive debts. The financial crisis in Italy, one of the world's largest economies, has deepened with the key interest rate on government bonds rising to 7%. That's the point at which several much smaller eurozone countries had to ask for international bailouts. President Napolitano called for the country to find a renewed sense of responsibility and cohesion.

意大利总统乔治·纳波利塔诺努力向全世界金融市场保证，本国有能力偿还巨额债务。意大利是世界最大的经济体之一，随着政府债券利率上升到7%，该国的经济危机也在加剧。欧元区几个较小国家也开始寻求国际援助，总统纳波利塔诺希望本国人民能再次表现责任心和凝聚力。

"We must act in order to depart urgently today from a very dangerous squeeze on the titles of our state debt on the financial markets and on the conditions of our banks."