英国新闻听力 美民主党认为切尼可能违法（在线收听）

Senior Democrats in the Untied States say the former Vice President Dick Cheney may have broken the law if he ordered the CIA to conceal a counter-terrorism program from Congress. The new chief of the CIA Leon Panetta is reported to have told the Senate Intelligence Committee last month that Mr. Cheney had made that direct order. Kim Ghattas reports from Washington.

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein who chairs the Senate Select Intelligence Committee said it was wrong to keep Congress in the dark and she said it should never happen again. She also suggested that it may have been illegal. By law the government is required to keep Intelligence Committees briefed but there's some leeway for exceptionally sensitive matters. House Democrats have now signaled they might launch a formal investigation into the nature of the program and the secrecy surrounding it. But Republican Senator John McCain said it was too early to discuss any investigation.

The US military in Afghanistan says two marines were killed in a bomb blast in the southern Helmand province on Saturday. A massive operation is under way there. The troops are said to be meeting with little head-on resistance but remain vulnerable to roadside and suicide bombs.

There's been a series of apparently coordinated bomb attacks on six Christian churches across the Iraqi capital Baghdad, leaving four people dead and at least 30 wounded. The four deaths were in the biggest explosion. Gebril Gathouse reports from Baghdad.

The biggest attack was a deadly car bomb in eastern Bagdad timed to coincide with the church service. The explosion which happened at around seven o'clock in the evening local time could be heard several kilometers away. In all there have been six attacks targeting Christian churches across Baghdad since Saturday evening. The other bombs, most of them hidden in cardboard boxes, injured more than ten people though they were not fatal. Iraq's Christian community is thought to number around three quarters of a million and its members have been targeted in the past. Most of the violence in Iraq though is either sectarian between Sunni and Shiite Muslims or ethnic between Arabs and Kurds.

Police in India say Maoist guerrillas have carried out their most deadly attack for some time, killing at least 23 policemen in the eastern state of Tajikistan. The officer leading the operation against the Maoist said a patrol was ambushed early on Sunday.

The American space shuttle Endeavor is due to launch shortly after being delayed three times. The latest postponement came on Saturday when Endeavor was hit several times by lightening. From Florida, Andy Gallagher has the details.

If the crew get off the ground this time, they will be delivering the final part of the Japanese laboratory known as "Kibo". During the planned 16-day mission, the astronauts will also be building a platform in space so that experiments can be carried out in a vacuum. In all five spacewalks planned in the International Space Station will be at its most crowded. The seven astronauts will join six crew members already on board.

Thousands of Turks have taken part in a rally in Istanbul in support of the Uigur minority in China after nearly 200 people died in ethnic violence in the northwest of the country. Demonstrators chanted China the murderer and free east Turkistan, the name some Muslims use to refer to Xinjiang province. Turks share an ethnic and cultural bond with Muslim Uigurs and last week the Turkish Prime Minister described the violence in Xinjiang as a kind of genocide.

Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential nominee, who last week said she would resign as Governor of Alaska, now says she plans to get back into national politics. Mrs. Palin told the Washington Times Newspaper she intends to campaign around the US for candidates who believe in the right thing regardless of their party affiliation.

Votes have been counted in a presidential election in the west African state of Congo-Brazzaville. Opposition parties have called for a boycott saying the poll wasn't free or transparent. There are thirteen candidates taking part. Thomas Fessy reports from Brazzaville.

The head of the African Union observers Dieudonne Kumbo Yaya told the BBC that his team had not noticed any cases of fraud. This may be correct as far as polling stations were concerned, but I witness people distributing money to the population in the southern area of the capital. People there confirmed that they were asked to vote for Sassou-Nguesso. Results should be announced early this week but it is widely expected that the incoming president will retain the polls he's held for all but five years of the last three decades.

Police in Brazil have arrested the wife of the former world boxing champion Arturo Gatti who was found dead in a holiday apartment on Saturday. They said she hadn't explained how she had stayed in the apartment in northeastern Brazil for ten hours after the former welterweight champion was apparently strangled with a handbag strap. She's denied any wrong doing.

美国民主党高层表示，如果前副总统切尼曾命令CIA向国会隐瞒反恐计划，他已经触犯了法律。据报道，CIA新任局长帕内特上月向参议院情报委员会交代，切尼对此下了直接命令。Kim Ghattas在华盛顿报道。

民主党参议员，参议院情报委员会主席范斯坦称，CIA向国会隐瞒行动是错误的。她说，绝对不允许这种情况再次发生。她还表示，这是违反法律的。按照法律，政府必须要求情报委员会及时做简报，但是对于一些敏感事件可以有活动余地。众议院民主党已经表明，他们应该对该反恐计划的性质以及相关机密进行正式调查。但是共和党参议员麦凯恩称，现在讨论调查问题还为时过早。

美国驻阿富汗军队称，周六，两名海军在南部Helmand省发生的炸弹爆炸事件中死亡。目前该地区正在进行大规模的军事行动。据称，军队遇到很少的正面抵抗，但是仍然遭遇路边埋伏和自杀式炸弹。

伊拉克首都巴格达六所基督教堂发生了一系列明显相关的炸弹袭击，造成4人死亡，至少30人受伤。4名死者均在最大的一次爆炸中遇害。

最大的爆炸袭击是巴格达东部的汽车爆炸事件，时间设定与教堂服务同时进行。该爆炸发生在当地时间七点钟，几千米外都能听到爆炸声。自周六晚开始，巴格达总统发生了六起以基督教堂为目标的报站事件。其他的炸弹大部分藏在厚纸箱内，尽管并不致命，还是造成了十多人受伤。伊拉克的基督教徒共有75万，过去也曾是爆炸袭击的目标。然而，伊拉克大部分暴力事件都发生在逊尼派和什叶派之间的宗派斗争或阿拉伯与库德人之间的种族冲突。

印度警方称，毛主义游击队实施了长期以来最致命的袭击，造成东部国家塔吉克斯坦至少23名警察死亡。带领军队抗击毛主义游击队的官员表示，周日早上巡逻队遭到埋伏。

美国奋进号航天飞机在三次延期之后稍后即将发射。最后一次延期是在周六，奋进号航天飞机多次被闪电击中。佛罗里达，Andy Gallagher将报道详细内容。

航天人员成功登陆之后，将帮助运载日本太空实验室希望号。在计划的为期16天的任务中，宇航员还将建立太空平台，以便实验在真空中进行。按照计划，将在国际太空站进行五次太空漫步。七名宇航员将加入已经登陆的六名宇航员。

中国西北部新疆发生的种族暴力事件已造成接近200人死亡。在伊斯坦布尔，数千名土耳其人参加集会，支持中国维吾尔少数民族。示威者称中国为谋杀者，要求解放东部土耳其斯坦，一些穆斯林用这个名字来指代新疆。土耳其与穆斯林维吾尔族有着种族和文化联系。上周，土耳其总理称新疆的暴力事件是一种种族灭绝行为。

前共和党副总统提名人佩林上周曾宣布辞去阿拉斯加州长一职，现宣布计划重返国家政治舞台。佩林告诉华盛顿时报，她打算在美国范围内与相信正确的事情的候选人一起竞选，而不管他们的党派。

西非国家刚果布拉柴维尔总统选举的计票工作正在进行。反对党呼吁对计票进行抵制，他们认为选举过程不自由，不透明。选举共有13名候选人参加。Thomas Fessy在布拉柴维尔报道。

非洲联盟观察员负责人Dieudonne Kumbo Yaya告诉BBC，观察小组没有发现任何欺诈行为。这应该是正确的，但是我目睹到人们在首都南部地区向群众散发钱财。人们确信，他们被要求为Sassou-Nguesso投票。结果将在本周初宣布，但是大家广泛期待未来的总统能够保持过去三十年来五年的水平。

巴西警方逮捕了前世界拳击冠军加蒂之妻。周六，人们发现加蒂在度假别墅中死亡。警方说，她不能解释为何这位次中量级拳击手在公寓中被手袋勒死之后她还在巴西北部公寓中逗留了十个小时。