英语听力精选进阶版 9646（在线收听）

Hi there, I'm Leah from BBC World News for Schools. It's Thursday the 23rd of June. 

Coming up: 

?French and American troops to leave Afghanistan 

?And how the earthquake and tsunami affected Japan's animals. 

First, France and America have announced important plans about when their troops will be leaving Afghanistan. Here's what American President Barack Obama said: 

CLIP:"Starting next month, we will be able to remove 10,000 of our troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year, and we will bring home a total of 33,000 troops by next summer." 

This is a quicker and bigger withdrawal than his military commanders advised. France also says its 4,000 soldiers in Afghanistan will leave. The Afghan President Hamid Karzai welcomed America's announcement, but the Taliban group dismissed it as "symbolic" and said they'll continue fighting until all foreign forces leave. The plan is for the remaining 68,000 US troops to leave by 2013, provided that Afghan forces are ready to take over security of the country. 

To Japan now and the Fukushima nuclear disaster which happened after the earthquake there back in March. Everyone who lived nearby was evacuated and many haven't been allowed back. It means hundreds of pets and other animals have been left stranded. Charities are feeding and looking after any animals they can, but Dr. Woodbury from the World Society for the Protection of Animals says it's hard for pet owners: 

CLIP:"Like anywhere, pets are part of their family, so many people are quite upset that they're not able to go back in and get their pets." 

He hopes that the Fukushima government will work more with charities to help rescue the remaining animals who are stranded. 

A famous Chinese artist has been released from detention after a global campaign. Ai Weiwei was arrested in April and since then lots of people have been asking that he be freed. He's known for speaking against the Chinese government - and that's why his family and supporters say he was arrested. Even though he's been freed, the artist says he's not allowed to talk to journalists and officials say he's not allowed to leave the city of Beijing without permission. 

Now for today's question. We want to know what's the capital city of Afghanistan? 

Yesterday, we asked you how many member states are there in the United Nations? 

And the answer is... 

192 

And finally, people who wanted to wish Prince William and Kate Middleton well for their wedding have raised over one and a half million dollars. The couple set up a fund so that anyone who wanted to give a wedding gift could make a donation to one of their chosen charities instead. The money will be shared between 26 charities in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and includes those that help children and conservation projects. 

OK, that's all from the World News for Schools team. We're back tomorrow.