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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
The two senior lawyers working for the British Foreign Office in the run-up to the Iraq war have told an official inquiry1 that they advised the government on a number of occasions that the invasion was illegal. The legal advisers3, Sir Michael Wood and Elizabeth Wilmshurst, were speaking at an official inquiry into the conflict chaired by Sir John Chilcot. Peter Hunt reports.
These were two senior Foreign Office lawyers whose advice was clear, consistent and ultimately ignored. Sir Michael Wood, the Foreign Office's most senior legal adviser2 at the time, summed up his position in a statement submitted to the inquiry. It read "I considered the use of force against Iraq in March 2003 was contrary to international law". "The process followed in this case was lamentable," Elizabeth Wilmshurst told the inquiry. She said Iraqi experts within the Foreign Office had warned that to go to war without a second UN resolution would be the nightmare scenario4.
The American car manufacturer, General Motors, has confirmed that it's reached agreement to sell the Swedish firm, Saab. The new owner is Spyker Cars, a small Dutch manufacturer of luxury sports cars. GM put Saab on the market more than a year ago, but negotiations5 on earlier deals had fallen through. Nigel Cassidy reports.
The car industry has a long history of unlikely rescue bids, many of them ultimately unsuccessful. But this one must be the more for audacity6. A tiny loss-making Dutch company that sold just 23 cars in the first six months of last year is to take on a carmaker that made and sold 90,000 cars in 2008. It's also succeeded doing a deal in the nick of time. Saab is in the process of being officially wound down, although the 3,500 workers in Sweden have yet to be laid off.
Military commanders in Honduras have been cleared of abusing their power by expelling the then President Manuel Zelaya from the country last year. The Supreme7 Court dismissed the charges brought by state prosecutors8 against the six commanders. Charles Scanlon reports.
Manuel Zelaya was ordered from his bed by armed soldiers last June and put on a plane to Costa Rica while still in his pajamas9. The attorney general brought charges against the military commanders earlier this month not for staging a coup10, which the current government says was legal, but for expelling the head of state rather than putting him on trial. The Supreme Court has now cleared them of any criminal responsibility. The decision comes just a day before a conservative businessman, Porfirio Lobo, is due to be sworn in as the new president following elections in November. He says he'll support the Supreme Court's decision.
The authorities in Guatemala have captured a former president who's wanted in Guatemala and the United States on money laundering11 charges. US prosecutors accused Alfonso Portillo of using state funds as a personal cash machine and laundering money taken from a charity that supplies school books. Mr. Portillo's lawyer said earlier that he would not surrender because the charges against him were political.
The parliamentary commission in France has called for a ban on the wearing of face-covering veils by Muslim women using public hospitals, schools, government offices and public transport. It described the full veil as an unacceptable challenge to French principles of secularism12 and equality. But the opposition13 Socialists14 have rejected a legal ban, warning that it risked stigmatizing15 the Muslim community.
Talks are continuing in Northern Ireland, trying to resolve a political crisis that threatens the power-sharing assembly there. The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been meeting all the political parties in the province as he and his Irish counterpart, Brian Cowen, try to broker16 a deal between the main parties, Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionists.
The new interim17 prime minister of the West African country of Guinea has been sworn in, marking another step towards civilian18 rule. Jean-Marie Dore was appointed by the general currently in charge of Guinea after the military government agreed to step down. Our West Africa correspondent Caspar Leighton reports.
Jean-Marie Dore made a brief speech in which he set out some big objectives. Reforming Guinea's armed forces was top of the list, most small order in a country that has in effect been controlled by the military for decades. The current government took power in December 2008 after the death of Lansana Conte, himself an army man who staged a coup 24 years earlier. Mr. Dore said he would organize elections and prioritize the economic revival19 of Guinea, which is the world's largest exporter of bauxite20 and is rich in other minerals.
The American space agency NASA says it's given up trying to free its Spirit Rover which has been stuck in soft ground on Mars since May last year. NASA says all efforts to free the robot vehicle have failed and it will now live out its days as a static science station. The rover, which landed on Mars six years ago, has taken thousands of images of the planet's surface. A NASA spokesman said, “Spirit is not dead. It has just entered another phase of its long life.”
伊拉克战争预备阶段英国外交办公室的两位高级律师告诉调查委员会，他们曾在诸多场合向政府进言，入侵伊拉克是非法的。司法顾问Michael Wood和Elizabeth Wilmshurst向伊拉克冲突调查委员会提供了证词。该委员会由齐尔考特(John Chilcot)担任主席。Peter Hunt报道。
这里两位资深外交办公室律师，他们的建议非常明确，非常执着，但是最终却被忽略。Michael Wood是当时外交办公室最资深的法律顾问，他在提交给调查委员会的声明中总结了自己的立场。声明中说，“我认为2003年3月对伊拉克采用武力违反了国际法。”Elizabeth Wilmshurst告诉调查委员会， “这次事件采取的过程是可悲的。”她说，外交办公室的伊拉克问题专家曾提出警告，在没有第二次联合国决议的情况下开始战争将是一场噩梦。
美国汽车制造商通用汽车确认已达成协议，将其瑞典品牌萨博出售给荷兰奢华跑车小型制造商世爵(Spyker Cars)。一年多以前，通用将萨博推向市场，但是针对此前交易的谈判最终失败。Nigel Cassidy报道。
汽车行业长期以来存在许多不可能的竞价，其中许多以失败告终。而这次事件中的相关公司却更加大胆。一个去年上半年仅售出23辆汽车的亏损的小型荷兰公司，居然要接管2008年生产和销售了90,000辆车的制造商。而在紧要关头，双方也最终达成了协议。萨博正在进行正式的交接过程，尽管瑞典公司的3,500名员工仍然没有被解雇。
洪都拉斯检察官对6名军事指挥官提起诉讼，控告他们滥用职权，将总统塞拉亚驱逐出境。但是现在，最高法院驳回了控诉。Charles Scanlon报道。
去年6月份，塞拉亚被武装士兵从床上拉起来，还穿着睡衣就被押上飞往哥斯达黎加的飞机。本月初，检察长对他们提起控告，不是以发动军事政变的罪名——现任政府称这是合法的，而是控告他们将国家元首驱逐出境，而不是对他进行审判。最高法庭现在为他们撇清了所有刑事责任。该决定刚好在保守派商人Porfirio Lobo就任总统前一天。Porfirio Lobo在11月份的选举中当选。他表示将支持最高法庭的决定。
危地马拉抓获因洗钱在本国和美国都被通缉的前总统。 美国检察官指控Alfonso Portillo将国家资金作为个人提款机，并利用一家为学校提供教材的慈善机构的资金进行洗钱。Portillo的律师此前表示，他不会屈服，因为对他的指控完全是政治性的。
法国议会委员会呼吁禁止穿戴面纱的穆斯林女性使用公共医院，学校，政府办公室和公共交通。议会描述称，蒙面面纱是对法国宗教教育分离和平等的不可接受的挑战。但是反对派社会党拒绝颁布法律禁令，警告称，这会对穆斯林社区造成侮辱。
北爱尔兰会谈正在继续进行，试图解决威胁权利分享议会的政治危机。英国首相戈登·布朗一直在会见该省所有政治党派，他和爱尔兰总理布赖恩·考恩(Brian Cowen)试图促成两大主要党派新芬党和民主统一党之间达成协议。
西非国家几内亚新任过渡期总理宣誓就职，标志着向平民统治的转化更进一步。在军事政府宣布退位之后，Jean-Marie Dore由掌管几内亚的将军任命。我们的西非记者Caspar Leighton报道。
Jean-Marie Dore发表了简短的讲话，设立了几个重大目标。对几内亚的军事力量进行改革是重中之重，因为几内亚实际上已被军事政府统治了几十年的时间。现任政府在2008年12月份Lansana Conte去世之后上台。Lansana Conte本人也是一名军人，24年前发动军事政变。Dore表示，他将组织选举，将几内亚的经济复苏放在工作首位。Guinea是世界最大的铝土岩出口国，其他矿产资源也非常丰富。
美国太空总署NASA表示放弃救援自去年5月份以来被困在火星软地层的精神号飞行器。NASA表示，拯救该飞行器的所有努力均以失败告终。现在，精神号将以科学统计站了此一生。六年前，精神号飞行器登陆火星，传回了数千张火星表面图片。NASA一位发言人表示，“精神号不会死亡。它将进入漫长生命的另外一个阶段。”
收听单词发音 |
1
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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adviser
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| n.劝告者，顾问 | |
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advisers
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| 顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授 | |
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scenario
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| n.剧本，脚本；概要 | |
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negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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prosecutors
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| 检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人 | |
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pajamas
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| n.睡衣裤 | |
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coup
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| n.政变；突然而成功的行动 | |
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laundering
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| n.洗涤（衣等），洗烫（衣等）；洗（钱）v.洗（衣服等），洗烫（衣服等）( launder的现在分词 )；洗（黑钱）（把非法收入改头换面，变为貌似合法的收入） | |
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secularism
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| n.现世主义；世俗主义；宗教与教育分离论；政教分离论 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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socialists
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| 社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 ) | |
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stigmatizing
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| v.使受耻辱，指责，污辱( stigmatize的现在分词 ) | |
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broker
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| n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排 | |
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interim
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| adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间 | |
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civilian
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| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
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revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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bauxite
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| n.铝土矿 | |
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