英国新闻听力 世卫组织将猪流感警告级别上升至5-6级（在线收听）

The World Health Organization has raised its alert level for a possible swine flu pandemic to the third highest, which means there is sustained human-to-human transmission. It now stands at Level 4 out of 6. A senior WHO official Keiji Fukuda said containing the outbreak was no longer possible but a global pandemic was not inevitable.

This virus is too widespread to make containment a feasible consideration. And so what this means is that, um, focusing on mitigation is really an important focus of countries and this really means trying to protect individuals, trying to protect populations.

Most of the swine flu cases are being in Mexico where around 150 people are believed to have died from the disease, the authorities say almost 1, 000 people are still in hospital with symptoms. From Mexico City, Stephen Gibbs reports.

Mexico's Health Secretary says that almost 2, 000 people in the country are now known to have contracted the virus. Around half of them have since recovered. But the evidence is growing that the virus is present in many parts of this country well outside the capital. Acknowledging that, the government says all schools nationwide are being closed for the next 9 days.

Meanwhile, the United States is now reported 40 cases, half of them in New York. Spain became the first European country to confirm a case affecting a man who recently returned from Mexico, while the British authorities have confirmed 2 cases.

The United Nations top humanitarian envoy John Holmes says he has failed to secure an agreement from the Sri Lankan government on access to civilians trapped in fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels. Mr. Holmes who's in Sri Lanka was speaking after the government said it had instructed forces to stop using heavy weapons in the conflict zone and to concentrate on rescuing trapped civilians. Mr. Holmes said he hoped the plan would be generally respected which haven't been the case in the past. But he said he wasn't satisfied the government bombardment hadn’t stopped.

We would like to see humanitarian pours and whatever the military concerns about that, it would be extremely good for the people themselves, the civilians who're on the ground to have a rest, a respite, chance to move on, chance to find food and so on. But I have to say, that I don't see much prospect to that at the moment."

The British government says it has abandoned a plan to set up a central database containing records of all the emails, internet traffic and telephone calls made throughout the country. Instead, private phone companies and internet service providers will be ordered to store the material and allow access to it by the security forces on a case-by-case basis. The original plan caused uproar in Britain with critics complaining about invasion of privacy and data security as well as the cost of the government scheme.

The American carmaker General Motors has announced plans to cut 23, 000 jobs by the end of next year as part of a new restructuring plan. The firm which has received more than 15 billion dollars in government bailouts also announced that it would be dropping one of its oldest brand names Pontiac, Kirkwood has the details.

General Motors is accelerating job losses and plant closures in an effort to persuade the US government to lend it more money. It's cutting 23, 000 jobs by the end of next year and shutting down or idling 16 plants from a total of 47. Lenders who are owed 27 billion dollars by General Motors will exchange that debt for shares in the company. If the US government does not approve the plan, then General Motors will have to file for bankruptcy.

The United States says talks plan with Russia on a treaty for reducing both countries' nuclear stockpiles will be held next month. The US ambassador to Moscow said the discussions between the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would take place in Washington and Brussels.

The President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko has been to the Vatican during a visit to Italy seen as another step towards ending his international diplomatic isolation. It's Mr. Lukashenko's first official visit to Western Europe since 1995 when a travel ban was imposed over human rights abuses.

A low-level flight over New York Harbor by one of the US presidential jets and an escorting fighter plane has caused temporary panic among hundreds of startled office workers. A number of office buildings were evacuated in the city still scarred by the 9/11 attacks. Pentagon officials said the flypast， a photographic exercise not involving President Obama had been co-coordinated with city and state authorities, but no general public notification was issued in advance.

世卫组织已将可能的猪流感预警提高到第三高的级别，这意味着人与人之间的病毒传播。目前的预警级别在4级到6级之间。世卫组织一名官员说，控制病情发作是不可能的，但是，全球性的大流行并不是不可避免的。

这种病毒传播得太广，难以实施可行的围堵政策。这就意味着各国应把重点集中在缓解疫情上，也意味着要努力保护单独的个人和人群。

墨西哥确诊的猪流感病例中已有大约150人死亡，大多数被认为死于这种疾病。当局说医院里仍约有1000名带有这种病症的人。 Stephen Gibbs从墨西哥城发回报道。

墨西哥卫生部长说，本国约有2000人已确诊感染上这种病毒。其中约有一般的人已经康复。但是，越来越多的迹象表明，目前在该国首都之外的很多地区都有这种病毒。政府已经承认了这一点，并表示，未来九天内本国所有的学校都将关闭。

同时，美国已报道有40起病例，其中一半的病例在纽约。一名男子最近从墨西哥返回西班牙，使西班牙成为欧洲首个确诊有此病例的国家，英国当局已确认有2起病例。

联合国高级人道主义特使John Holmes说，他未能与斯里兰卡政府达成允许协议，以允许接近身陷猛虎组织与政府军战斗的平民。政府表示已命令军队停止在冲突地区使用重武器，集中精力营救被困的平民，之后，Holmes在斯里兰卡发表了如上言论。 Holmes说，这一方案以前未能得到尊重，他希望现在整体上能够得到重视。但是他说，政府仍然炮轰不断，他对此不满意。

我们希望看到人道主义泉水般涌出，不管军队关心的是什么，这一方案对人民是极有好处的，可以使战场上的平民得以休息，缓和一下，以及有转移、找到食物等的机会。但是，我必须要说的是，对此，目前我还看不到多少希望。

英国政声称，已放弃建立中央数据库以储存全国所有电子邮件、网络流量和电话的记录。而是让私有电话公司和网络商业公司保管这些信息，同时允许警方在需要时访问这些数据。最初的计划在英国引起了轩然大波，人们批评并抱怨这既是政府的计谋，还是对个人隐私和数据安全的侵犯。

美国汽车制造商通用公司宣布计划截至明年年底将削减23，000个岗位，这是新的重组计划的一部分。该公司已收到150多亿美元的政府救助资金，但仍宣布将放弃其最古老的品牌之一的庞蒂克。 Kirkwood为您报道有关细节。

通用公司目前正在加快裁员和关闭工厂，以劝说政府借出更多资金。截至明年年底将削减23，000个岗位，关闭或闲置16家工厂（共有47个工厂）。拥有通用270亿美元债权的贷方将以债务为交换条件共有该公司。如果美国政府不赞同这一方案，通用就必须申请破产。

美国表示，将于下月与俄罗斯就削减两国核储备协议进行对话。美国驻莫斯科大使表示，美国国务卿希拉里与俄罗斯外长 Minister Sergei Lavrov将在华盛顿和布鲁塞尔举行会谈。

白俄罗斯总统Alexander Lukashenko访问意大利期间访问了梵蒂冈，这被视为结束其国际外交孤立状态的另一步。这是Lukashenko自1995年因反人权问题被禁访问后首次正式访问西欧。

纽约港美国总统的一架喷气机和一架护卫战斗机进行低空航行，这在数百名震惊的工作人员中引起暂时混乱。这个城市仍留着911事件的印痕。很多办公楼的人员纷纷撤离。五角大楼官方表示，这次低空飞行是为了拍摄一些照片，总统并没有在飞机上，这次任务是由纽约市政府和州政府协调的，但是事先没有对市民做出任何通知。