Women who’ve fled the fighting in Ivory Coast have told aid workers stories of mass rape and abuse. In some cases, women have been imprisoned for up to a week as sexual slaves, brutally raped by numerous fighters before being released. Many others were killed. One woman was forced to watch the mass rape of her sister, who then died from her injuries. The youngest reported victim was seven years old.
尼日利亚总统选举即将举行
Final preparations are taking place in Nigeria for Saturday’s presidential election, the biggest such poll in Africa. The head of the African Union’s observer missi on said it had found some shortcomings but was confident that the electoral commission would resolve them. The current President Goodluck Jonathan is regarded as the clear frontrunner even though his People’s Democratic Party lost seats in parliamentary elections last week.
奥巴马称未能与议会就借债达成一致深表遗憾
President Obama has said that failure to agree with Congress to allow the US to continue a borrowing could plunge the world economy back into recession. He made the remark in an interview with the news agency Associated Press. Our economics correspondent Andrew Walker reports.
The United States government currently pays for a quarter of its spending with borrowed money, so the accumulated debt continues to rise and in May it’ll reach the maximum allowed by Congress over $40tr. If Congress refuses to increase the limit, it would severely disrupt government business. And if that continued long enough, it could have a negative impact on the economy in the US and unsettle global financial markets. However, neither the Republicans in Congress nor President Obama would want to be blamed for that, so they have a compelling incentive to reach an agreement.