NPR 2010-10-24

Angering the US government, the whistleblowing website Wikileaks has published hundreds of thousands of military documents which show as many as 15,000 more Iraqi civilians² were killed than previously³ knowledged. Larry Miller⁴ reports Wikileaks defended the release of the classified files at a London news conference.

Wikileaks founder⁵ Julian Assange sums up the nearly 400,000 pages of the US military files this way.

"Iraq was a bloodbath on every corner."

The US maintains the leak puts Iraqi lives in danger, but Wikileaks Kristin Hrafnsson denies that.

"Documents in the highly reducted form contain no information that could be harmful to individuals."

Wikileaks cautions that even all the files shed new light on the Iraq War, the information comes from US military personnel who may have had a reason to cover up the truth about civilian¹ deaths. For NPR News, I'm Larry Miller in London.

There's been another massacre⁶ in the Mexican border city of Juarez. Authorities say gunmen stormed two homes last night and shot and killed 13 young partygoers. Fifteen others were wounded, including a nine-year-old boy.

Haiti's cholera⁷ outbreak is spreading. Some cases have been confirmed outside of the rural area where the epidemic⁸ began and dozens of inmates⁹ at a prison outside Port-au-Prince are sick.

FEMA says federal funds will be available to help pay for infrastructure¹⁰ repairs in nine flood-ravaged Wisconsin counties. Now, Wisconsin Public Radio's Steve Roisum reports community leaders are trying to find money to pay for hundreds of water-damaged homes and businesses.

When the state of Wisconsin asked FEMA to inspect damage from September's floods, it did request aid for individual homes and businesses, because so few were majorly damaged. In the small western Wisconsin city of Arcadia, over 300 people voluntarily evacuated¹¹ their homes when floodwaters hit. The downtown was waterlogged as well. Mayor John Kimmel says the city is trying to find outside funding for homes and businesses too.

"We will be forgotten about and I'm just claiming there to keep to fare to organize what’s available out there."

According to Wisconsin Emergency Managements in Trempealeau County where Arcadia is located, around 40 homes and eight businesses suffered some degree of flood damage. For NPR News, I'm Steve Roisum in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

A 26-year-old swimmer on the US national team died during a competition in the United Arab Emirates today. Fran Crippen had told his coach he wasn't feeling well late into an open water race and failed to finish. Swimming World says he was found underwater two hours later.

Three men are in custody¹² in Washington, DC on suspicion of creating a drug lab in a dorm at Georgetown University. Police found the lab where chemicals could create a hallucinogenic drug. Two of those arrested are students.

This is NPR.

The al-Qaeda spokesman who was born in the US has surfaced in a new Internet video. In the unauthenticated message, Adam Gadahn urged Muslim immigrants to carry out attacks in the US and Europe. He singles out what he calls "the miserable¹³ suburbs" of Detroit, London and Paris.

In Ottawa, there's word that the US and Canadians have discussed a plea deal for Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr. Dan Karpenchuk reports Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called her Canadian counterpart to discuss the case.

According to officials in Ottawa and Washington, the call went to Lawrence Cannon¹⁴, the foreign affairs minister, but they would not comment on the topics of the discussion. However, sources in Ottawa say the call was about Omar Khadr, who has spent the past eight years in Guantanamo awaiting trial for the killing¹⁵ of a US soldier in Afghanistan in 2002. Earlier reports suggested Clinton had been trying to arrange a deal in which Khadr would plead guilty to murder and would then serve one year in a US prison, followed by another seven years in a Canadian institution. The high-level talks come as lawyers, officials and politicians try to work out a deal that would avoid a trial in Khadr's long-running legal saga¹⁶. That trial is set to begin on Monday at Guantanamo. There's still no word whether Khadr himself would accept such a deal. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpenchuk in Toronto.

There are many things on the ballot¹⁷ for the upcoming election. In North Dakota, voters will decide whether to allow big game hunting in fenced-in preserves. Supporters of a ban say it's not sporting to hunt animals who can't escape. Operators of the preserves say a ban would violate their property rights. About a dozen of the state's game preserves offer hunting for a fee, in some cases more than $10,000.
 

1 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

2 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

3 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

4 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

5 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

6 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

7 cholera   

n.霍乱

参考例句：

• The cholera outbreak has been contained.霍乱的发生已被控制住了。
• Cholera spread like wildfire through the camps.霍乱在营地里迅速传播。

8 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

9 inmates   

n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• One of the inmates has escaped. 被收容的人中有一个逃跑了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The inmates were moved to an undisclosed location. 监狱里的囚犯被转移到一个秘密处所。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

11 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

12 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

13 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

14 cannon   

n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮

参考例句：

• The soldiers fired the cannon.士兵们开炮。
• The cannon thundered in the hills.大炮在山间轰鸣。

15 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

16 saga   

n.(尤指中世纪北欧海盗的)故事，英雄传奇

参考例句：

• The saga of Flight 19 is probably the most repeated story about the Bermuda Triangle.飞行19中队的传说或许是有关百慕大三角最重复的故事。
• The novel depicts the saga of a family.小说描绘了一个家族的传奇故事。

17 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。