英国新闻听力 23（在线收听）

BBC News with Mary Small.

The value of shares on the New York Stock Exchange has shot up with the Dow Jones Index closing almost 11% higher, reversing days of successive falls. There are also sharp rises in Brazil, Mexico and Canada. Our North America business correspondent Greg Wood reports.

Two main reasons were given for this dramatic reversal of fortunes on Wall Street. One, that some courageous investors saw the opportunity to pick up stocks at what they regard as bargain basement prices and secondly that the Federal Reserve will almost certainly cut interest rates tomorrow by half a percentage point, easing the debt burden on ordinary Americans. But neither really explains the behaviour of the supremely volatile market. The main difference from recent trading days was the absence of force selling of stocks by hedge funds whose investors want their money back.

The French President Nicholas Sarkozy and the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown say they'll work together to give Europe a common voice in the face of the world financial crisis. Mr. Sarkozy called for an EU fund to give medium-term help to members in financial trouble to be increased from 15 to 25 billion dollars. Mr. Brown said that the leadership of the European Union would be crucial in overcoming the crisis. Earlier he'd urged China and the oil rich Gulf states to increase their contributions to the International Monetary Fund.

The World Cup winning football player Diego Maradona says he will be made coach of the Argentine national team. Maradona confirmed the appointment following a meeting with the head of the Argentine Football Federation. Daniel Schweimler reports from Buenos Aires.

Argentines have talked about little else these past few weeks and the name, Diego Armando Maradona or simply LDS, the number ten as he is known here, has always been one of the most prominent on the list of potential candidates. But what about his shortage of managerial experience, asked some, or his health problems or previous addictions to cocaine and alcohol? But despite all that, Maradona, who won the World Cup with Argentina in 1986 is the nearest thing to a living God in this football-mad nation.

Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lankan have dropped bombs from their light aircraft on a power station in the capital Colombo and on a military headquarters in the north of the country. Electron Neil Smith reports.

The air strike hit the north of the capital Colombo, the target, the Kelanitissa power plant. Tamil Tiger aircraft also attacked in northern Sri Lankan. A military spokesman said two bombs were dropped in an army base in Mannar, one of them hitting the military headquarters. This is the second time in as many months that Tamil Tigers have attacked by air. Their force known as the Air Tigers is small but potent. It consists of a handful of light aircraft smuggled into the rebel strongholds, and then reassembled piece by piece.

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Rebel fighters in the Democratic Republic of Congo said they've taken control of a town in a crucial strategic area. The rebels, loyal to the renegade General Laurent Nkunda entered the town of Rutshuru on the border with Uganda on Tuesday as they continued to advance on the provincial capital of Goma. A spokesman for the U.N. Congolese Mission, MONUC, said U.N peacekeepers have been deployed to protect civilians in the Rutshuru.

The BBC has been heavily criticized after two of its highest-paid entertainers made offensive remarks on air. The Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the remarks were inappropriate and unacceptable. Rob Norris reports.

The presenters, Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross left messages on the answer phone of a well-known actor Andrew Sachs. They made sexily offensive comments about his twenty-three-year-old granddaughter. They broadcast the tape as part of a comedy radio programme. The BBC’s received more than 10,000 complaints. There have been calls for the BBC’s director general to resign and several politicians, newspapers and thousands of members of the public have urged the BBC to sack the two presenters who since apologized. The British media regulator Ofcom and the BBC, said they'd investigate the incident.

A British trade minister visiting Moscow has signaled an improvement in relations two years after a freeze following the murder in London of the former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko. The British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson told reporters that both sides now wanted to strengthen economic cooperation. Russian reports said there was an agreement to revive a dormant committee set up to enhance economic ties.

An immigrant from Ivory Coast has been found guilty of the murder in Italy of a British exchange student Meredith Kercher. The 21-year-old man Rudy Guede was sentenced to 30 years in prison. The judge also ordered an American student and her former Italian boyfriend to stand trial on charges of murder and sexual violence.

BBC News.