IN THE NEWS - Two New Leaders Take Office in the Middle East

IN THE NEWS - Two New Leaders Take Office in the Middle East
By Nancy Steinbach

Broadcast: Saturday, August 06, 2005

I'm Steve Ember with IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

The Middle East has two new leaders, in Iran and Saudi Arabia.

 
 

The new president of Iran is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The conservative former mayor of Tehran will be fifty years old next year. Iranians elected him in June by a wide majority. On Wednesday, Supreme¹ Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed him in office.

Mister Ahmadinejad said he will serve the nation honestly and work to help poor people. And he called for an end to the threat from chemical and biological weapons in the hands of major world powers.

The United States and the European Union want Iran to permanently² halt nuclear work that could be used for bombs. Iran says its nuclear program is only for peaceful use for energy.

Mister Ahmadinejad has said that relations with the United States will not cure Iran's problems. The new president is seen as likely to seek new ties with nations such as China, India and South Korea.

Iran is the second largest producer in OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum³ Exporting Countries. The largest is Saudi Arabia.

There, Crown Prince Abdullah on Monday became the sixth king since nineteen thirty-two. That followed the death of his half-brother, King Fahd.

 
 

Abdullah had led the daily operations of the government since nineteen ninety-five, when King Fahd suffered a stroke. The new king is not expected to make any big changes in foreign policy.

President Bush says the United States looks forward to continuing what he called the "close partnership⁴" with Saudi Arabia.

But tensions have grown since the attacks on America on September eleventh, two thousand one. Fifteen of the nineteen al-Qaida hijackers were Saudi. Two years ago, Abdullah ordered action against Islamic militants⁵ after attacks inside Saudi Arabia.

There has also been tension over Saudi support for religious schools that teach what critics consider an extreme form of Islam.

There are demands within Saudi Arabia for democratic reform. Earlier this year, Abdullah called for limited direct elections for local councils. Some people think he may call for an elected national assembly and permit women to vote.

For several years, low oil prices and heavy spending led to Saudi budget deficits⁶. With oil prices are high, there is more money to deal with economic problems. The unemployment rate was unofficially estimated last year at twenty-five percent.

The new king has already chosen his half-brother Prince Sultan as crown prince. Abdullah is in his early eighties; the future king is close to eighty. But some diplomats⁷ say the next change in power in the royal family might not happen as smoothly⁸ as the one this week.

 
 

Also this week, there were deadly riots in Khartoum following the death of Sudanese Vice⁹ President John Garang in a helicopter crash. He was a former rebel leader in the south. In January he signed a peace agreement with the government after a long civil war.

IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English was written by Nancy Steinbach. I'm Steve Ember.

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

3 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

4 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

5 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。

6 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

7 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

9 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。