NPR 2010-12-31

New claims for unemployment benefits are down sharply. NPR's Paul Brown reports economists² see the drop as another good sign for the job market next year, but they warn a major recovery is still a long time off.

The Labor³ Department's latest numbers, new jobless benefits claims, down by 34,000 last week. The weekly number is the lowest in two years, and a more stable four-week average is at a more than two-year low. Economist¹ Hugh Johnson predicts further improvement.

"We're gonna get growth in jobs in 2011. This jobless claims number is very consistent with that notion."

But Johnson and other economists foresee a slow road to significant recovery in the job market that the recession and a decades-long decline in manufacturing have left millions of positions short. Paul Brown, NPR News.

Another glimmering⁴ hope for the weak housing market. The National Association of Realtors saw a 3.5 percent increase in the number of contracts would-be homeowners signed last month. Spokesman Walter Maloney says home sales are still low but are picking up.

"What we've seen on price gain were up four over the past five months, still five percent below a year ago, but we're moving in the right direction."

The increases came in the Northeastern and Western US; however, fewer contracts were signed last month in the Midwest and South.

And US stocks are still falling even after a strong round of economic data out today. At last check, the Dow was down 12 points at 11,573; NASDAQ off about two at 2,665.

In other news, Turkish state media says police have arrested ten people suspected of preparing attacks around the New Year's holiday. The Anatolian news agency said detainees are suspected of ties to al-Qaeda, as NPR's Peter Kenyon tells us from Istanbul.

Preliminary reports said the suspects were detained for questioning in raids in Istanbul and the city of Bursa earlier this week. Prosecutors⁵ are expected to decide after questioning which suspects will face charges and whether further arrests are warranted. Few other details were available. Al-Qaeda has been linked to past attacks in Turkey, a key NATO ally that straddles Europe and the Middle East. Two years ago, three al-Qaeda-linked militants⁶ were killed in an attack near the US consulate⁷ in  Istanbul that also left three policemen dead. Five years earlier, suicide bomb attacks in Istanbul killed scores of people. The Turkish detentions⁸ followed the arrests of four suspect terrorists in Denmark also accused of plotting attacks. One of those man, an Iraqi national, was released for a lack of evidence. Peter Kenyon, NPR News, Istanbul.

In Spain, four police officers were found guilty today of torturing bombing suspects linked to the separatist group ETA. The court sentenced one officer to four and a half years in jail. The other three each got up to two and a half years. The case stemmed from an attack in Madrid four years ago.

This is NPR News.

A Paris-based media advocacy group says 57 journalists were killed on the job worldwide this year. Eleanor Beardsley says that fewer reporters are being killed in war zones, but more are being targeted by criminals and traffickers.

Reporters Without Border says the death toll⁹ is down 25 percent from 2009, when 76 journalists were killed in connection with their jobs, but the group's annual report says that organized crime and militias¹⁰ have now become the biggest dangers for journalists. Pakistan was the deadliest country for reporters with 11 killed. Seven journalists were killed in Mexico; seven in Iraqi; and four in the Philippines. Reporters Without Border said 2010 also brought a sharp increase in abductions of journalists. A total of 51 reporters were kidnapped in 2010, up from 43 in 2009. Two French reporters have been held hostage in Afghanistan for the last year. Silent rituals were held across France on Wednesday to mark the anniversary of their kidnapping. From NPR News, I'm Eleanor Beardsley in Paris.

A Russian former oil tycoon¹¹, whose recent embezzlement¹² conviction touched off claims of political foul¹³ play out of Washington, is getting 14 years behind bars. That's six years on top of the jail Mikhail Khodorkovsky is already serving for a previous conviction which he is in the final year of completing before he was convicted in a second trial. Khodorkovsky's political rival Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is widely seen as the driving force behind the second trial. This week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed concerns that the conviction would raise new doubts about Russia's commitment to legal reform.

1 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

2 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 glimmering   

n.微光，隐约的一瞥adj.薄弱地发光的v.发闪光，发微光( glimmer的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I got some glimmering of what he was driving at. 他这么说是什么意思，我有点明白了。 来自辞典例句
• Now that darkness was falling, only their silhouettes were outlined against the faintly glimmering sky. 这时节两山只剩余一抹深黑，赖天空微明为画出一个轮廓。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

5 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

6 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

7 consulate   

n.领事馆

参考例句：

• The Spanish consulate is the large white building opposite the bank.西班牙领事馆是银行对面的那栋高大的白色建筑物。
• The American consulate was a magnificent edifice in the centre of Bordeaux.美国领事馆是位于波尔多市中心的一座宏伟的大厦。

8 detentions   

拘留( detention的名词复数 )； 扣押； 监禁； 放学后留校

参考例句：

• Teachers may assign detention tasks as they wish and some detentions have been actually dangerous. 老师可能随心所欲指派关禁闭的形式，有些禁闭事实上很危险。
• Intimidation, beatings and administrative detentions are often enough to prevent them from trying again. 恐吓，拷打和行政拘留足以阻止请愿者二次进京的脚步。

9 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

10 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

11 tycoon   

n.有钱有势的企业家，大亨

参考例句：

• The tycoon is on the verge of bankruptcy.那名大亨濒临破产的边缘。
• The tycoon has many servants to minister to his needs.那位大亨有很多人服侍他。

12 embezzlement   

n.盗用，贪污

参考例句：

• He was accused of graft and embezzlement and was chained and thrown into prison.他因被指控贪污盗窃而锒铛入狱。
• The judge sent him to prison for embezzlement of funds.法官因他盗用公款将其送入监牢。

13 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！