英国新闻听力 美国银行同意支付罚款了结控诉（在线收听）

The Bank of America has agreed to pay 33 million dollars to settle accusations by the US government over billions of dollars of bonuses paid out last year by its investment on Merrill Lynch. Bank of America took over Merrill Lynch to save it from collapse in the deal backed by American taxpayers' money. John Bithry reports.

Bank of America had promised its shareholders that no bonuses will be paid to bankers at Merrill Lynch without its express permission. It’s agreed to buy the struggling investment bank in September. On the same weekend that talks to save Lehman Brothers from collapse failed. Like Lehman, Merrill Lynch was brought to its sneeze by debt links to the US housing market that became toxic and lost its value. But after Merrill was rescued by BOA, it went ahead and paid its staff 3.6 billion dollars in bonuses anyway. Shortly afterwards Bank of America was forced to go to the government for billions of dollars in extra taxpayer’s support, and the revelation of the payments caused a public outcry.

The American Ford motor company says its sales rose in July, the first rise in 20 month. Overall the increase was 2% but retail sale of its main car brands Ford, Lincoln and Mercury were 9% higher than the same month last year. Analysts say some of the increase was due to the popular US government subsidies being offered for those who trade in old cars.

A Judge in Los Angles has awarded permanent custody of Michael Jackson's three children to the singer's mother. From Los Angles Peter Bows has the details.

Katherine Jackson who is 79 was the only person formally to petition for custody of her son's three children. Michael Jackson said in his will that he wanted his mother to care for Prince Michael, Pairs and the youngest Prince Michael II who’s often referred to his blanket. The nature mother of the two eldest children Debbie Row has been given visitation rights. The Judge also granted Katherine Jackson a family allowance from the singer's estate to help meet the cost of bringing up the children. The dollar amount was not revealed in court.

An outbreak of tribal violence in south Sudan has left at least 185 people dead, most of them women and children. Officials in Jonglei state said gunmen from the Murle tribe launched a dawn raid on the rival group the Nuer, overwhelming a small detachment of troops that was guarding their camp. They said 12 soldiers were among the dead. The commissioner of the area Goi Jooyul Yol told the BBC the gunmen set out to inflict a high number of casualties. We’ve voiced over his words due to the bad quality of the line.

The attack was well organized and planned and there was a lot of reconnaissance before the attack because they knew exactly who they were targeting and they are people who are really organized. And I’m really alarmed and shocked to find out that even the soldiers with guns could not resist their attack.

The Mexican authority say they've arrested a drug trafficker who they believed is the largest exporter of synthetic drugs to the United States. The man Miguel Angel Beraza was detained during a raid on a family ceremony at a church in the western city of Michoacan. He is thought to be a leading member of a drug cartel known as the Michoacan Family which recently launched a major offensive against federal forces in western Mexico.

A 20 degree drop in temperatures has helped fire fighters to contain forest fires on La Pama in Spain's Canary Islands. The fires which began later on Friday led to 4,000 people being evacuated. The strong winds that were fanning the flames have now also eased.

A British rower has become the first woman to row solo across the India Ocean. Sarah Outen arrived on the island of Mauritius after rowing almost 5,000 kilometers since setting off from the western coast of Australia in early April. She braved ten-meter waves in shark-infested waters to become both the fastest and the youngest person to make the crossing. Miss Outen said she was finding it hard to adjust to being back on land.

I'm sitting in a room at the moment that my boat is the same too. It's crazy. I'm sitting on a sofa and this is about the biggest of my cabin. Your walking around is a bit of abnormality. I'm not very good at walking. I can stand up but I have to bit of hold on to things to walk. It's like I've been at the beers all night or something. I’m a bit wobbly.

A play is opened in Northern Ireland with both of the actors and the audiences of just 5, all crammed into the back of a taxi. Two Roads West concerns the violent 30-year-struggle between Protestants and Roman Catholics, known locally as the travels. It was written by a former IRA supporter, Laurence McKeown and it is the story of a woman returning to Northern Ireland after a 40-year absence. The taxi takes around many of the hot spots of the conflict. It lasts for an hour, but can take a little longer depending on the traffic.

美国政府起诉美国银行，称后者去年收购美林公司时支付数十亿美元奖金。美国银行已同意支付3300万美元的罚款，来了结这起指控。美国银行利用纳税人的钱作为支持，接管了美林公司，以免其倒闭。John Bithry报道。

美国银行曾向其股东承诺，在股东未许可的情况下，不会向美林公司的银行家支付奖金。美国银行同意于9月份收购处于困境中的投资银行。就在同一个周末，试图挽救雷曼兄弟公司免于破产的谈话失败。与雷曼兄弟相同，美林公司也是因为与房产市场相关的债务而陷入困境。但是美林在被美国银行收购之后向其员工支付了总价值36亿美元的奖金。随后不久，美国银行被迫向政府申请额外数十亿美元的税款支持，奖金发放事件被揭露后引起民愤。

美国福特汽车公司称其7月份销量上升，这是20个月来出现的首次上升。总体销量上涨了2%，但是其主要的汽车品牌福特，林肯和水星的零售量比童年同期高出9%。分析家称，其中一些上涨是由于美国政府资助了旧车换新车活动。

洛杉矶一名法官宣布麦克尔杰克逊的母亲获得三个孩子的永久监护权。洛杉矶，Peter Bows为我们报道详细情况。

79岁的凯瑟琳·杰克逊是唯一一个正式申请迈克尔·杰克逊三个孩子监护权的人。迈克尔·杰克逊在其遗嘱中提到，希望其母亲帮忙照料Prince Michael, Pairs 和最小的Prince Michael II 。两名大一点的孩子的生母Debbie Row获得探视权。法官还从死者遗产中判给凯瑟琳·杰克逊一部分家庭费用以帮助抚养三个孩子。法庭上并没有宣布具体金额。

苏丹南部爆发部落暴力事件，导致至少185人死亡，大部分是妇女和儿童。Jonglei州官员称Murle部落的持枪者在黎明时对其对手努尔人发动了袭击，击败了守卫营地的小股部队。他们说，死者中包括12名士兵。Goi Jooyul Yol地区行政长官告诉BBC，持枪者阴谋加害许多伤亡者。由于该事件的恶劣性质，我们录下了他的声音：

这次袭击是经过充分的组织和计划的，在袭击之前进行了多次侦查活动，因为他们非常明确自己的目标，袭击者也是非常有组织的。我发现甚至手持枪械的士兵都不能反抗袭击，我感到非常震惊。

墨西哥当局称他们逮捕了一名毒品走私者，据称，此人是向美国运输人工合成药物的最大出口商。这名男子名叫Miguel Angel Beraza，在西部城市Michoacan一家教堂的家庭仪式上遭到搜捕，随后被拘。Miguel被认为是毒品集团Michoacan家族的领导者之一。该贩毒集团最近在墨西哥西部对联邦力量发动了重大攻击。

20度的气温降低帮助西班牙加那利群岛La Pama的消防员控制火势非常有帮助。此次山火开始于上周五晚，4,000多人被疏散。加强火势大风也已减弱。

一位英国浆手成为了第一个独自划过印度洋的女性。Sarah Outen于四月从澳大利亚的西海岸出发，在划了5000km后终于到达了Mauritius岛。

她扛过了10米的海浪，划过埋伏鲨鱼的海域，成为了有史以来完成此项壮举速度最快，最年轻的人。Outen小姐说刚回到陆地很难适应。

我正坐在一个房间里，我的船也是。这简直太疯狂了。我坐在沙发上，这是我舱内最大的沙发。你走来走去会让我觉得有点异常。我不擅长走路。我能够站起来，但是我必须抓着一些东西才能走路。就好像喝了整夜的酒一样，走起路来有点摇摆不定。

一场话剧在北爱尔兰上演，演员和观众只有5个人，全都塞在一辆出租车的行李箱内。Two Roads West讲述的是新教徒和罗马天主教徒之间长达30年的暴力斗争。该剧由前爱尔兰共和军的支持者Laurence McKeown所作，故事的的大意是一名失踪了40年的女子返回北爱尔兰。该出租车承载了这场冲突的许多热点，旅行将持续一个小时，但是由于交通问题，需要比较长的时间。