英国新闻听力 埃及两辆客运火车相撞（在线收听）

President Obama has declared the current outbreak of swine flu in the United States a national emergency. The move comes amid rising concern about the spread of the H1N1 virus. Medical officials warned earlier this month of a possible shortage of the swine flu vaccine. James Hodges has compiled this report.

The White House says President Obama’s proclamation of a national emergency will give medical officials more freedom to tackle the virus, allowing them to bypass certain federal requirements when deciding what action to take. Swine flu is now widespread in almost all of the American states, and it's passed epidemic levels in most of them. Health officials say children are being hit hard by the disease. They account for almost 100 of 1,000 people killed in America so far.

Two passenger trains have collided in Egypt. Witnesses say at least 15 people have been killed and more than 20 others have been injured. From Cairo, Yolande Knell sent this report.

It’s understood that one train crashed into another which was stationary on the tracks, close to Al-Ayyat in Giza Governorate to the south of Cairo. Several carriages were badly damaged. Rescue workers are now at the scene trying to remove bodies and the injured from the wreckage. There have been several serious crashes on Egyptian railway lines in recent years. Last year, 44 people were killed in northern Egypt, and back in 2002, at least 360 people were killed in a fire on a crowded passenger train close to the location of the latest crash.

A Saudi Arabian court has sentenced a female journalist to 60 lashes for her part in producing a television program, in which a Saudi man broke a major taboo in the deeply conservative country by describing his extra-marital sex life. The program caused a huge scandal when it was shown several months ago on LBC, a Lebanese satellite channel. Serbastin Usher reports.

The original program was part of a series called Red Lines. It examined taboos in the Arab world. Unmarried sex in Saudi Arabia amongst Saudis is one of the biggest. The Saudi man in the show Mazen Abdul Jawad provoked outrage by describing his techniques for meeting and having sex with Saudi women. He later tearfully apologized but was jailed for five years and sentenced to 1,000 lashes. Mr. Abdul Jawad blamed LBC producers for tricking him. The station's offices in Saudi Arabia were closed down and two of its producers - both female - put on trial.

Officials in Washington say a North Korean diplomat has made a rare visit to the US and has had talks with an American negotiator. A spokesman for the State Department said the diplomat Ri Gun met the American special envoy for North Korean nuclear disarmament, Sung Kim, in New York. Pyongyang walked out of multiple-lateral talks about its nuclear program six months ago after sanctions were imposed on it for testing nuclear weapons. It said it would only return to negotiations after direct talks with the US.

An American spokesman says President Obama has secured the full support of his French and Russian counterparts over policy towards Iran’s nuclear program. The spokesman says the president phoned both Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitry Medvedev today, and both leaders backed a proposal deal on Iran endorsed by the UN’s nuclear agency, the IAEA. Tehran says it will respond to the plan this week.

The Pakistani army said that it has captured Kotkai, the hometown of the Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud a week after launching a large scale offensive against the militants’ strongholds in the South Waziristan tribal region. Local officials said three soldiers and four militants were killed in the operation to capture the town. Pakistan’s military spokesman General Athar Abbas said Kotkai had been an important base for militants.

"The place was a stronghold of terrorists with a majority of houses converted into strong bunkers. The town also has a training camp of Qari Hussein who is known as the mentor of suicide bombers. Security forces are in the process of clearing the built-up areas from IEDs, mines and booby traps."

A meeting of about 600 Church of England priests in London has ended with several signalling that they are ready to accept an offer from the Pope to join the Roman Catholic Church. The priests are members of the Forward in Faith group which is unhappy with the Church of England's position on issues such as women bishops and homosexual clergy. However, a BBC correspondent says other Anglicans are desperate to preserve the Church of England's historical role in uniting even Jellico protestants with those more sympathetic to Catholicism.

Pope Benedict has appointed a Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson to one of the most influential posts in the Vatican. Analysts say the appointment to the justice and peace office strengthens Cardinal Turkson’s position as a future papal candidate.

奥巴马总统宣布目前美国的猪流感爆发进入全国紧急状态，人们对H1N1病毒传播的担忧逐渐增加。本月初，医疗官员曾警告称可能会出现疫苗短缺。James Hodges编译报道。

白宫表示，奥巴马总统对全国紧急状态命令的宣布将给予医疗工作者在应对H1N1病毒方面更大的自由空间，允许他们在决定采取什么措施时忽视某些联邦要求。猪流感现在几乎已经在美国所有州蔓延，而且在大多数州已经超过大规模流行水平。卫生官员称，儿童受这种疾病影响最为严重。目前为止，美国因甲型H1N1流感病毒死亡的1000人中有100名是儿童。

在埃及，两辆客运火车相撞。目击者称，至少15人死亡，20多人受伤。开罗，Yolande Knell发回报道。

据了解，在开罗南部的吉萨地区Al-Ayyat附近，一辆火车撞上另外一辆在轨道上停止的客车。几节车厢遭到严重损坏。目前，搜救人员正在事故现场，试图将死伤者从废墟中拯救出来。近几年，埃及铁路发生了几起严重的撞击事件。去年，埃及北部有44人遇难，2002年，在这次事故现场附近地点，一辆拥挤的客车上发生大火，造成至少360人死亡。

一名沙特阿拉伯女记者因其制作的电视节目被法庭判处鞭笞60下。在该节目中，一名沙特男子描述了他的婚外性经验，严重触犯了这个极度保守的国家的禁忌。几个月前，该节目在黎巴嫩卫星频道LBC播出时造成了巨大的丑闻。

该原创性节目是《挑战底线》系列节目的一部分，审查阿拉伯世界的禁忌，其中婚外性关系是最为严重的。男子Mazen Abdul Jawad在节目中大谈与沙特女性约会和发生关系的技巧，引起人们的极度愤怒。随后，他泪流满面地道歉，但是还是被判处5年的监禁和鞭笞1,000下。Mazen Abdul Jawad指责LBC制片人欺骗他。LBC驻沙特阿拉伯办事处已经关闭，两名女制片人均被审判。

华盛顿官员称，朝鲜外交官对美国进行了稀有访问，并与美国协调员进行了会谈。美国国务院一名发言人表示，外交官李根在纽约会见了美国驻朝鲜核裁军特使Sung Kim。六个月前，国际社会因朝鲜测试核武器而对其进行制裁，后来平壤退出多边会谈。平壤方面表示，只有在与美国进行直接对话之后才会重返谈判。

一名美国发言人称，奥巴马总统在对伊朗核项目政策方面获得了法国和俄罗斯总统的全面支持。这名发言人表示，奥巴马总统致电萨科齐和梅德韦杰夫总统，两位领导人均对国际原子能机构签署的针对伊朗的协议表示支持。德黑兰方面表示，他们本周会对该计划做出回应。

巴基斯坦军方表示，在对南瓦齐里斯坦部落地区好战分子要塞发起大规模进攻一周之后，已经占领了塔利班头目哈基穆拉·马哈苏德(Hakimullah Mehsud)的家乡Kotkai。当地官员称，在占领该镇的过程中，3名士兵和4名好战分子死亡。巴基斯坦军方发言人少将阿瑟·阿巴斯表示，Kotkai曾经是好战分子的重要基地。

“这里是恐怖分子的要塞，大部分房屋都被改造为坚固的堡垒。该镇还有Qari Hussein的一个训练营，他是自杀式爆炸者的总指挥。现在，安全力量正在镇内进行搜索。”

来自英国600多个教堂的牧师在伦敦举行的会议宣告结束，几名牧师表示，他们准备接受教皇的邀请，加入罗马天主教堂。这些牧师是Forward in Faith组织的成员，他们对英国教堂在女性主教和同性恋牧师等问题的立场表示不满。然而，BBC记者表示，其他教徒均极力捍卫英国教堂在团结新教徒和天主教捍卫者方面的历史性作用。

本笃教皇任命加纳红衣主教Peter Turkson在梵蒂冈担任最有影响力的职位。分析家称，此次被委任负责争议与和平办公室增强了红衣主教Peter Turkson成为未来教宗候选人的地位。