“过去几年间，当我与朋友、家人和邻居聊天时，当我想起我的工作人员，他们过着一夫一妻的同性关系，共同抚养孩子，这令人难以置信，当我想起那些代表我去战斗的士兵们、飞行员、海军或水手们，尽管‘不问不说’的惯例已成过去，但他们仍感到在这个问题上受到限制。在一定程度上，我刚刚为自己下了结论，对我来说，站出来表明自己的观点很重要，我认为同性伴侣应该可以结婚。”

Mr Obama's announcement comes one day after the state of North Carolina approved a constitutional amendment, defining marriage is a union only between a man and a woman. His likely opponent in this year's presidential election, Mitt Romney, has said he remains opposed to gay marriage.

就在奥巴马发表这番声明的前一天，北卡罗来纳州通过宪法修正案，规定婚姻只是男人与女人之间的结合。奥巴马在今年总统选举中的可能对手罗姆尼表示仍然反对同性婚姻。

The Director of the FBI, Robert Mueller, says the al-Qaeda group based in Yemen, AQIP, poses the most serious terrorist threat facing the United States. Mr Mueller said a recently foiled plot to blow up a US-bound plane with a bomb planted in an attacker's underwear showed the need for wide-ranging surveillance powers to be renewed by the US Congress.

联邦调查局局长Robert Mueller称基地组织驻也门分支组织AQIP对美国构成最严重的恐怖威胁。Mueller称，最近，一名袭击者在内衣植入一枚炸弹，企图炸毁一架飞往美国的飞机，但阴谋失败，这表明美国国会需要广泛加强监督力度。