英国新闻听力 奥巴马切尼隔空辩论关塔纳摩监狱计划（在线收听）

In a major speech on national security, President Barack Obama has vigorously defended his plan to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison, saying the facility together with brutal interrogation methods had alienated others from America and served as a recruitment tool for terrorists.

A day after the US Senate denied his request for 80 million dollars to fund its closure, Mr. Obama said he wanted to see as many as possible of the Guantanamo detainees tried in US civilian courts and the most dangerous transferred to maximum security prisons in the US. Referring to the Bush administration's approach to the terror threat, Mr. Obama said the government had made a series of hasty decisions based on fear. America, he said, had gone off course and urged Americans to reach consensus on national security.

“I ran for president because I believe that we cannot solve the challenges of our time unless we solve them together. We will not be safe if we see national security as a wedge that divides America. It can and must be a cause that unites us as one people and as one nation”.

Speaking elsewhere in Washington, the former Vice President Dick Cheney said closing Guantanamo was, as he put it, unwise and extreme, and will make Americans less safe. Mr. Cheney said it was easy to win applause in Europe for closing Guantanamo, but tricky to devise an alternative that served the interest of justice and US national security.

“On this one, I find myself in complete agreement with many of the president's own party. Unsure how to explain to their constituents why terrorists might soon be relocating in their states, these Democrats chose instead, to strip funding for such a move out of the most recent war supplemental”.

The White House in Washington has announced that Vice President Joe Biden will travel to the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday for talks with President Michel Suleiman. It said Mr. Biden would be announcing fresh US military assistance to the Lebanese armed forces.

The Sri Lankan government has pledged to return home within six months the bulk of the hundreds of thousands of Tamils displaced in fighting between government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has appealed for tolerance in the celebrations over the defeat of the insurgency. Charles Haviland reports.

With the national flag being raised all over the country, the president said people should ensure that what he called the outpouring of joy at the defeat of terrorism leaves no room for anyone’s feelings to be hurt in any manner. The celebration, he said, should be expressed with magnanimity and friendship towards all. Some members of the Tamil minority and a group of leftist parties say Tamils and Muslims have in some cases been harassed or insulted, or forced to dance by people celebrating in the streets.

World News from the BBC

People fleeing fighting in the Niger Delta have described how Nigerian fighter jets and military helicopters bombed their homes and sprayed their villages with gunfire. Speaking to the BBC, women and children sheltering in the village of Albeiger on the outskirts of the town of Warri, said many people have been killed and that others were dying from lack of food. From the Delta region, Carolane Daphil reports.

All of them have spent days walking through swamps and traveling by boat to reach the outskirts of Warri. Those who’ve made it described those that they’ve left sleeping in the forests as numbering thousands. Nigeria’s Joint Task Force, the JEF say they are not targeting civilians or the local Eigor ethnic groups. They insist instead that they are dismantling militant camps, searching for hostages and hunting the militant leader Government Tompolo.

The British government has reversed its policy of limiting the rights of some Gurkha veterans to settle in Britain. The Home Secretary Jackie Smith announced that all former Gurkha soldiers who retired before 1997 and served more than four years in the British army will be allowed to apply to remain in the United Kingdom along with their families.

There is to be a series of televised debates between all the candidates in the Iranian presidential election next month. Each candidate will debate one-on-one with his rivals in a series starting on June 2nd. The four candidates will also get equal air time for their individual election broadcasts.

Police in Italy say they’ve seized ten million dollars in counterfeit currency and a large cache of guns and ammunition from the homes of a mafia clan chief and his relatives in Sicily. Most of the fake money was found at the home of Fabia Manno, one of scores of people arrested last December in a major anti-mafia operation focusing on Sicily and central Tuscany. More money and weapons were uncovered hidden inside a wall at the home of Manno's aunt. A police uniform was also recovered in the raid.

在关于国家安全的主要讲话中，奥巴马总统为自己关闭关塔纳摩军事监狱的计划作出辩护，称监狱设施以及侮辱人格的审讯方式已时期他国家疏远美国，并为恐怖分子提供了工具。

美国参议院拒绝了奥巴马8000万美元资金关闭关塔纳摩监狱的要求之后第二天，奥巴马表示，他希望看到尽可能多的关塔纳摩监狱囚犯能够在美国平民法庭接受审判，最危险的囚犯转移到美国最高安全等级监狱。谈到布什政府对台恐怖威胁的方法，奥巴马说，布什政府出于恐惧，作出了一系列仓促决定。他说，美国已经脱离了基本准则，敦促美国人民在国家安全方面达成一致。

“我竞选总统是因为我相信，只有我们团结一致才能解决我们时代的挑战。如果我们将国家安全视为分裂美国的楔子。国家安全一定是将我们团结起来的原因。”

美国前副总统迪克·切尼在华盛顿其他场合发表讲话，用他的话说，关闭关塔纳摩监狱是非常不明智的，非常极端的行为，会让美国人民更加不安全。切尼说，关闭关塔纳摩很容易赢得欧洲人的支持，但是在为正义的利益和美国的国家安全提供另一条出路方面就不一定了。

“在这一点上，我发现自己和总统的民主党许多党员意见完全一致。他们不确定应该向他们的同僚解释为什么这些恐怖分子应该被转移，他们选择不为关闭关塔纳摩监狱筹集资金。”

白宫宣布副总统拜登将于周五厨房黎巴嫩首都贝鲁特与总统苏莱曼举行会谈。据称，拜登将宣布美国为黎巴嫩军队提供新的军事支持。

斯里兰卡政府承诺将使在政府军队与塔米尔猛虎组织的战斗中被迫转移的数百万塔米尔居民返回家园。同时，斯里兰卡总统马欣达·拉贾帕克萨呼吁对击败叛乱分子的庆祝活动表示宽容。Charles Haviland报道。

随着国家插遍全国，总统称，人们必须确保击败恐怖主义的兴奋情绪不能以任何方式伤害到其他人的感情。他说，庆祝活动必须对所有人表现出宽容和友谊。一些塔米尔少数派成员和一个左翼党派称，塔米尔和穆斯林的情感在某种程度上受到了伤害和侮辱，还被迫与街道上举行庆祝活动的人们一起载歌载舞。

BBC世界新闻。

逃离尼日尔三角洲战争的难民描述了尼日利亚战斗机和军事直升机怎样轰炸他们的家园，怎样用机枪扫射他们的村庄。一些妇女还小孩隐蔽在Warri镇外围一个叫做Albeiger的小村庄内，他们对BBC记者说，许多人被撒谎还，另外一些人由于没有食物被饿死。三角洲地区，Carolane Daphil报道。

这些人都是用几天的时间步行穿越沼泽地或者通过船只到达Warri镇外围。那些成功逃脱的人描述了那些长眠在森林中的人，人数高达数千人。尼日利亚联合任务部队JEF称他们的目标并不是平民或当地 Eigor种族群体。他们坚称他们是为了取缔好战分子营地，搜索人质，搜寻好战分子领袖Government Tompolo。

英国政府更改了限制一些廓尔喀族老兵在英国定居的权利。内政部长Jackie Smith宣布，所有1997年之前退役并在英国军队服役四年以上的廓尔喀族老兵都可以申请与家人一起在英国定居。

下月伊朗将举行总统选举，为此，所有候选人将举行一系列电视辩论。所有候选人将在下月2号开始的电视辩论中进行一对一的辩论。四位候选人均有相同的时间进行个人竞选广播。

意大利警方称他们在西西里黑手党氏族领袖及其亲戚家中查获1000万美元假币和大宗枪支弹药。大部分假币在Fabia Manno家中查获。Fabia Manno是去年十二月份集中在西西里和托斯卡纳区的主要反黑手党活动中抓获的几十人之一。其他的假币和武器在Manno的阿姨家中查获。在袭击中还发现了一套警察制服。