英国新闻听力 116（在线收听）

After prolonged negotiations and political wrangling, President Barack Obama has signed into law an economic stimulus package worth almost 800 billion dollars. He said the packag aimed to keep the American dream alive, but was only the start of a long hard road to set the economy on firmer foundations. Mr. Obama emphasized that the measures would benefit the environment, employment, health, education and infrastructure.

"Just as President Kennedy sparked an explosion of innovation when he set America’s sights on the moon, I hope this investment will ignite our imagination once more, spurring new discoveries and breakthroughs in science, in medicine, in energy, to make our economy stronger and our nation more secure, and our planet safer for our children."

Some news just in. A White House spokesman has said that President Barack Obama has approved a 17,000 troop increase for Afghanistan. In a statement, President Obama said the increase was necessary to stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan. He said the country had not received the resources it needed.

Federal regulators in the United States have charged the financier and cricket impresario, Allen Stanford, with what they described as massive fraud. A spokesman for the Securities and Exchange Commission said the fraud was of shocking magnitude and that has spread around the world. From New York, Greg Wood reports.

Although better known for his involvement in cricket, Sir Allen Stanford’s wealth is based on the investment empire he runs. Today the US financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission, charged Sir Allen and two other people with orchestrating a fraudulent multibillion-dollar investment program. Federal agencies were seen entering his company's offices in Huston, Texas. The SEC alleges that Stanford subsidiary company in Antigua sold eight billion dollars worth of so-called certificates of deposit to investors by promising them improbable and unsubstantiated high interest rates.

The United Nations in Gaza has issued an urgent appeal for the return of thousands of kilograms of explosives that have disappeared from a warehouse guarded by Hamas. The bombs and shells were dropped by Israel during its recent offensive but failed to explode. Tim Franks reports from Jerusalem.

The UN experts have been liaising with Hamas authorities in Gaza to arrange for the safe disposal of the munitions. The UN staff had also been waiting for the Israeli army to allow them to bring into Gaza the specialist equipment needed for them to destroy the explosives. But two days ago, when UN officials returned to the warehouse, they found that most of the explosives had gone missing. An Israeli army spokesman told the BBC that the bombs had been commandeered by Hamas militants. A UN official said that its staff were urgently trying to establish where the explosives had gone and have called for their safe return.

World News from the BBC.

The Movement for Democratic Change in Zimbabwe has said that criminal charges against one of its senior members are malicious and politically motivated. The charges against Roy Bennett, who was chosen to be a deputy minister in the new unity government with Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF, ranged from plotting terrorism to weapons and immigration offences. The charges were brought as the unity government held its first cabinet meeting.

The founder of the US cable television channel aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes has been charged with murdering his wife. Muzzammil Hassan went to police near the offices of Bridges TV in New York State on Thursday, and told them his wife was dead. Andy Gallagher reports from Washington.

Police found Aasiya Hassan’s body at the television station. She’d been beheaded. Officers say she placed a protection order against her husband and had recently filed for a divorce. In a statement on its website, the station said it was shocked and saddened by the murder and Mr. Hassan's subsequent arrest. He is due to appear in court on Wednesday. The couple had two children, aged four and six.

Chinese officials say that AIDS was the country’s leading cause of death from infectious diseases last year. A report by China’s Ministry of Health ranked AIDS above tuberculosis and rabies for the first time, saying it had killed almost 7,000 people in the first nine months of 2008. The ministry said the total number of cases of HIV in China was now more than 260,000, almost double the figure published three years ago.

The Jazz musician, Louie Bellson, described by Duke Ellington as the world’s greatest drummer, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 84. Mr. Bellson was a big band drummer in the 40s and 50s, who performed with Benny Goodman, Count Basie and Duke Ellington among others. He was also a prolific small group player, recording with Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and James Brown as well as a composer and arranger.

经过长时间的协商和政治争论，奥巴马总统终于签署了一项约8000亿美元的经济刺激方案为法律，他说该方案将再造美国梦，但是这只是建造坚强的经济这条漫长而艰难道路的开始，奥巴马强调，这些措施将使环境、就业、健康、教育和基础设计各领域受惠。

“就像肯尼迪总统提出爆炸性的登月计划，我想这项投入将更加激发我们的想象，在科学、医药、能源领域激发新的发现和突破，让我们的经济更加强大，国家更加安全，让我们的后代在这个星球上更安全地生活。”

据白宫发言人透露的消息，奥巴马总统已经批准增加17，000名士兵派往阿富汗，在一份声明中，奥巴马总统说这是为了维护正在恶化状态的阿富汗的稳定，这个国家还不曾得到它所需要的资源。

联邦当局指控美国金融家和板球投资者Allen Stanford犯下大量欺诈罪，证券交易委员会的发言人说其罪行已遍及全世界。

尽管Stanford更因投资于板球而著名，但他的主要财富却来自他的金融集团，今天美国金融监督部门，即证券投资委员会(SEC)指控Stanford和另外两人进行高达数十亿美元的诈骗投资。联邦调查机构前往他在德克萨斯州休斯顿的公司进行搜查。SEC指控Stanford在Antigua的分公司出售价值80亿美元的所谓“高收益信用证”。

联合国驻加沙机构呼吁归还成千上万公斤的爆炸物，这些爆炸物是从哈马斯的一个兵火库消失的。以色列在最近的进攻中扔出这些炸弹和弹片，但当时没有爆炸。

联合国专家已与哈马斯驻加沙的当局联系上，以为安全处理这些弹药做准备。联合国工作人员在等待以色列军队将弹药带到加沙，并用专业设备毁掉。但是两天前，当联合国官员返回兵火库时，他们发现大部分弹药已经消失。一位以色列官员告诉BBC记者，这些弹药已被哈马斯军队带走，一位联合国官员说，他们的工作人员正在试图寻找这些弹药，并将其安全运回。

津巴布韦民主改革运动组织声称，一起对其高级成员的犯罪起诉是恶意的和有政治目的的。这起起诉针对的是Roy Bennett，他在穆加贝的新联合政府中被当选为副部长，罪名被罗列为阴谋恐怖活动、武装和移民犯罪等。该指控在联合政府的首次内阁会议上被提出。

美国一家针对穆斯林的有线电视创始人被指控杀妻，Muzzammil Hassan周四来到纽约桥梁电视台附近的警察局，告诉警察他的妻子死了。

警察在该电视台发现了Aasiya Hassan的尸体，她被斩首了。官方说她曾就丈夫的家庭暴力请求援助，最近还申请了离婚。该电视台的网站声明这一消息很令人震惊，并为该谋杀案及Hassan先生的被捕感到悲伤，他将于周三出庭。这对夫妇有两个孩子，分别为4岁和6岁。

中国官方声称艾滋病是导致该国去年感染性疾病死亡的主要原因，一份来自中国卫生部的报告首次将艾滋病列于肺结核和狂犬病之前，声称在2008年的前九个月有约七千人死于艾滋病。卫生部部长说中国目前死于艾滋病病毒的案例超过了260，000人，几乎是三年前公布的数字的两倍。

爵士音乐家路易.贝尔森去世，享年84岁，他被爱灵顿称为是世界上最好的鼓手。贝尔森先生是上世纪四五十年代一位杰出的鼓手，他和Benny Goodman, Count Basie及Duke Ellington都合作过。他也是一位多产的演出者、作曲家和编曲家。