国外媒体:俄罗斯间谍认罪 美俄将以间谍换囚犯(在线收听

Ten suspected Russian spies currently appearing in a New York court have entered guilty pleas. The ten men and women were arrested in the United States last week on suspicion of running a long-term spy ring. From outside the court in New York, Madeleine Morris has just sent this report.

To a courtroom packed with supporters, family members, lawyers and media, the five men and five women pleaded guilty to acting as agents for Russia. It emerged they had reached a plea agreement, but their admission of guilt, a more serious charge of money laundering, was dropped. There was a glimpse of the life that now awaits the ten when they are immediately returned to the country they tried to provide information to. The lawyer for one defendant, Vicky Pelaez, said Russian officials had promised her a lifetime monthly payment of 2,000 dollars, free housing, and all-expenses-paid visits from her children. It's unclear if the other nine people were given a similar deal.

And within the past few minutes, the judge in the case of the ten Russian agents has ordered all of them to be deported and, in an apparent swap, a US prosecutor told the New York judge that the Russian government had agreed to release prisoners held in Russia.

The authorities in Iran have announced that a woman convicted of adultery will not be stoned to death. But it's not clear whether they have lifted the death sentence against her. John Line reports.

Sakineh Mohammadie Ashtiani, an Iranian woman in her forties, was convicted of adultery and, according to her lawyer, sentenced to death by stoning. The lawyer, who has a long record of fighting against the practice, said he feared that she could be executed at anytime. The news prompted a growing international campaign, with British ministers describing the punishment as medieval. The Iranian Embassy in London has not exactly denied any of that, but it has now said that she's not going to be stoned to death and warned of false news.

The BBC has learnt that football's governing body FIFA will make changes to its refereeing system for the next World Cup. The organization has long resisted such changes, but several bad decisions in this World Cup, in particular a disallowed goal for England against Germany, have increased the pressure for reform. FIFA's Secretary General Jerome Valcke told the BBC it was considering adding two extra assistants to help referees.

"If for the referee at the end to have an additional four eyes, with these two additional assistant referees plus the goal line technology gives him the feeling of the comfort that eases life and work, and duty will be easier to perform, why not then?"

A prominent Cuban dissident Guillermo Farinas has ended a long hunger strike after the government said it would release 52 political prisoners. Mr. Farinas began refusing food four months ago to demand the release of jailed dissidents who were ill. Last week, doctors who'd been feeding him intravenously said that he was close to death.

World News from the BBC.

Thousands of Israelis have been holding a rally in Jerusalem at the end of a 12-day march for the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who's been held captive in the Gaza Strip for four years. His family and their supporters want their government to agree a prisoners swap with Hamas which controls Gaza. Israel says it's agreed in principle to release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

The Palestinian authority has called on President Obama to end tax breaks for American donations to illegal Israeli settlements built on the occupied West Bank. An official statement said stopping such exemptions would be more in line with the declared American policy of considering the settlements an obstacle to peace. Hardy reports.

The Palestinian demand came shortly after the American newspaper, the New York Times, revealed that 40 local organizations have channelled millions of dollars to Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank over the past decade. Some of the money, the paper said, went to settlements regarded as illegal even under Israeli law. According to the paper, the money goes mostly to schools and synagogues, which is legal according to the American tax legislation. But some of it, according to the New York Times, has also paid for what it described as "legally questionable commodities", such as bullet-proof vests and other military gear.

The US government has told BP to provide detailed plans for its latest efforts to stop the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The official heading the US response to the crisis, Thad Allen, wrote to BP asking to be given the information after they meet for talks on Friday.

The aid agency Medicins Sans Frontieres says there's growing anger and frustration in Haiti at the slow pace of reconstruction six months after the devastating earthquake there. MSF said there was a staggering gap between the promises of help in the first weeks after the disaster and the dire reality on the ground half a year later.

(纽约综合电)美国同俄罗斯完成自冷战时期以来最轰动的间谍交换协议,美方以10名俄国间谍交换在该国遭扣留的4名西方间谍。根据协议,10名俄国间谍答应永不回返美国,日后若出书谋利,卖书所得将归美国政府。

  俄罗斯和美国周五在奥地利维也纳的机场完成了间谍交换程序。载着10名俄罗斯间谍的美国飞机和载着4名美国间谍的俄罗斯飞机,并排停在维也纳机场。

  4名获释的美国间谍都是俄罗斯公民,分别为俄罗斯军事情报局的前上校斯克里帕尔(Sergei Skripal)、核武器专家苏佳金(Igor Sutyagin)、俄对外情报局的前雇员扎普罗斯基(Alexander Zaporozhsky),以及瓦西连科(Gennadi Vasilenko)。

  在飞机停放着的一个半小时里,聚集在机场的记者无法见到两架飞机的主要出口,无法一睹俄罗斯美女间谍查普曼和核专家苏佳金的真面目。

  记者们只见车辆不断在两架飞机之间穿梭,接着,俄罗斯飞机起飞,美国飞机随后离开。

  据路透社摄影记者说,载着10名俄罗斯间谍的飞机已经在昨晚抵达莫斯科机场。英国媒体则报道,载着间谍前往美国的飞机也于昨晚在英国英格兰中部牛津郡的一个空军基地机场着陆,准备续程飞往美国。

  美国司法部发表声明证实,美国同俄罗斯已经完成了交换间谍的程序。俄罗斯外交部也发表声明说,俄美双方本着改善关系的原则,已就交换被扣押间谍一事达成一致。

  华府是基于安全和人道理由,愿意让在6月27日遭逮捕的俄国间谍立刻离境,不必服任何刑期。美国国务院发言人唐纳说:“长期监禁这10名违法的特务,对美国国家安全不会有显著的利益。”

  一名美国官员透露,这10人的认罪协议里写道,若是任何一名嫌犯未来想借着贩售诉讼案细节牟利,他们获得的任何收益将归美国政府所有。

  美国检察官一名则表示,俄国方面竭尽全力达成协议。他们不仅同意释放4名囚犯,还派遣领事馆人员向10名俄罗斯间谍描述他们“回到俄国后的生活”。

其中,俄方保证秘鲁出生的记者佩雷兹(Vicky Pelaez)会在俄国获得免费住宿,并可终身领取每月2000美元(约2760新元)的生活津贴。此外,她的孩子将获得签证到俄国探望她。

  另一方面,28岁红发美女间谍查普曼(Anna Chapman)的律师说,查普曼“对自己获释的消息感到欣慰”。但她同时却因为“得回返俄罗斯,必须放弃在美国的生意而感到不高兴”。

  报道说,美俄两国上一回进行间谍大交换是在1984年。当时,美国记者丹尼洛夫(Nicholas Daniloff)遭俄国驱逐出境,俄罗斯驻联合国官员扎卡罗夫(Gennady Zakharov)则在隔天被美国遣送回俄国。

  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/gwmtxw/512266.html