美国有线新闻 CNN 2013-08-15（在线收听） |
I'm CarlAzuz. It's great to be kicking off a new school with you. We have, as you justsaw, a new show beginning. We've got some new segments, new graphics, and a newlook here in the CNN International Newsroom at CNN Global Headquarters. Sowe're up and running. And so are some U.S. embassies after they were closed fora week. That's our first story of this new school year. There are 19 locationslabeled on this map. In countries across parts of Africa and around the MiddleEast, on August 4th, the U.S. closed its embassies in all of them. Yesterday,it reopened 18 of them. Now, an embassy is a country's official place forgovernment business inside another country. The people who work there likeambassadors interact with the local government and other groups. And embassieshave a special status. An American embassy may be located outside the UnitedStates, but the facility is considered U.S. soil. So, the questions: why didthe U.S. closed these 19 embassies. U.S. intelligence organizations interceptedsome communications from the al Qaeda terrorists group. That group is behindattacks around the globe including the 911 terrorist attacks in 2001. Thiscommunication was a threatening message being sent between senior al Qaedamembers. U.S. officials responded by closing those embassies and issuingworldwide travel alert for Americans. The one embassy that didn't reopen yesterday is in Yemen. That country is hometo al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. U.S. officials kept this embassy closedbecause of continuing concerns about a possible attack.
One of the embassies that reopened was in Egypt. That country's been in thenews a lot this summer for a different reason: the North African nation isgoing through a political crisis. Protests, violence, a forced change ingovernment, and it's not over. All this week, we're going to be recapping someof the big stories that happen while we were off for the summer. Today, we arelooking at the tension in Egypt over the past few months.
Egypt has spent this summer in turmoil. Images of civil unrest and violence areall over the news. What's behind it all - if you a regular STUDENT NEWS viewer,you may remember that in May and June of 2012 the country held elections andMohamed Morsi became Egypt's first democratically elected president. BeforeMorsi, President Hosni Mubarak had ruled Egypt for almost 30 years. He wasforced out of office in 2011. But a year into his term, many Egyptians wantedMorsi out, too. His party, the Muslim Brotherhood, is Egypt's oldest andlargest Muslim organization. Its ideology is based on the teachings in the Koran,Islam's holy book. Some say, Morsi rushed adoption of a constitution that didnot guarantee freedom of religion. Some say he was trying to force the MuslimBrotherhood strict Islamic code into national laws. And other Egyptians opposedMorsi because they saw no improvement to the struggling national economy andcrime situation.
When Morsi issued an edict declaring that the country's courts could notoverturn his decisions, his opponents began taking to the streets again.
Eventually, the Egyptian military, which sided with the opposition, gave Morsian ultimatum: step aside or we will force you out. Morsi refused to go. On July3rd of this year, after days of angry protests, the military removed Morsi fromoffice. Although Egyptian military has a lot of influence in the government, it didn't hold on to power. Government control went to an interim civiliangovernment led by Adly Mansour, who also leads the country's Supreme Court.
The deposed Morsi is being held in an undisclosed military location. He facesseveral criminal charges. Since Morsi's removal, there've been protests andsittings in support of him by the Muslim Brotherhood as well as protestssupporting his ouster. Those who support Morsi say he was legally elected andshould remain as president. They called his removal from power an illegal coup.And they refused to accept it. Those who support Morsi's removal say it was acorrection, a continuation of the revolution that started with Mubarak'sremoval more than two years ago.
This months, President Obama sent Senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham toEgypt to try to talk to both sides, but the protests and violence continue. Inrecent weeks, hundreds have been killed and thousand injured in Egypt and manyworry about the long term survival of democracy in the country. |
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