澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-01-07

The Japanese whaling fleet has denied that a ship deliberately¹ hit protest ship the Ady Gil. The Institute for Cetacean Research says the Ady Gil was steaming towards the Japanese boat to try to cut it off when the crash occurred. But the captain of the Ady Gil says video evidence clearly shows that's not what happened.

A Nigerian man has been charged with attempted murder over a botched plan to bomb a US passenger plane on Christmas Day. 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has been charged with the attempted murder of 289 people and the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. He's also charged with willfully placing a destructive device on the plane which had flown from Amsterdam to Detroit.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is facing a challenge to his leadership. Two former Cabinet ministers have called for a secret ballot² on whether Mr. Brown should leave the Labour Party into the next general election which is only months away. High-profile MPs including the Foreign Secretary David Miliband and the Finance Minister Alistair Darling have voiced their support for Mr. Brown. 

And still in Britain, heavy snowfalls have again caused major disruptions to the transport system and forced the closure of thousands of schools. Around half of the United Kingdom's workforce³ was also forced to stay home for the day.

I'll have more news later.

1 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

2 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

3 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。