英国新闻听力 英国航空公司与西班牙Iberia合并（在线收听）

The United States army has formally charged a military officer accused of carrying out last week’s mass shooting at the Fort Hood military base in Texas. The officer, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an army psychiatrist, has been under armed guard in a hospital since being wounded in the shooting. Mathew Prize reports from New York.

There are still many questions surrounding the mass shooting at the America’s largest military base, but one of them has now been answered. Major Nidal Hasan, an army psychiatrist who was due to be deployed to Afghanistan, has been charged with 13 counts of murder. That could rise if prosecutors decide also to charge him with the murder of an unborn child being carried by one of his victims. He will be prosecuted in a military court，if convicted, he could face the death penalty, although no one has actually been executed under the US military justice system for almost 50 years.

The world’s largest maker of microchips, Intel, is to pay its main rival, AMD, one and a quarter billion dollars to settle a long running anti-trust and patent dispute. In return, AMD will drop all its lawsuits /to/ against Intel. Mark Gregory reports.

By reaching a settlement now, the two sides avoid uncertainty over the outcome of the trial and millions of dollars of legal costs. The deal is a particular relief to AMD’s investors. The company’s finance is being strained by the unequal battle with Intel. AMD shares rose nearly a third in value on news of the deal, but there are also advantages for Intel which’s facing multiple investigations into its business practices along with several lawsuits by regulators in the US, Europe and Asia.

The body responsible for organizing Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections has recommended the polls be delayed. It said the elections couldn’t go ahead as planned in January because the Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip wouldn’t allow the vote to take place there. The Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said last week that he wouldn’t stand in the election because of the impasse in efforts to restart peace talks with Israel.

The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called for sweeping changes to transform Russia into a modern democratic country. In his State of the Nation address, Mr Medvedev said modernization was a matter of survival.

Instead of a primitive economy based on raw materials, we shall create a smart economy, producing unique knowledge new-goods and technologies, goods and technologies useful for people. Instead of an archaic society which leaders think and decide for everybody, we shall become a society of intelligent, free and responsible people.

The BBC’s Moscow correspondent said there was much in Mr Medvedev’s speech which implied criticism of his predecessor, Mr. Putin. But he says that’s unclear, what is unclear is whether Mr Medvedev can deliver on change.

President Obama is still considering his options over whether to send thousands more US troops to Afghanistan after the American ambassador in Kabul argued against further reinforcement. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry said he doubted the competence of President Hamid Karzai’s government. The current commander of international forces in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal has asked for another 40,000 troops.

The Italian authorities have arrested six Algerians accused of being part of a Europe-wide counterfeit ring used to raise funds for terror attacks abroad. It’s alleged that they used the identities of Algerian professional footballers playing in France, stole money in arm robberies and burglaries and sent it back to Algeria to be used for terrorist purposes.

British Airways and the Spanish carrier Iberia have approved an agreement to establish the bases for merger. This would create Europe second biggest airline and the two companies are hoping it will help them face one of the deepest recessions the industry has ever known. Iberia said earlier the deal would give its investors 45% of the new airline while BA shareholders would have 55%.

A rescue mission to save one of the world’s rarest birds, the Madagascar Pochard, seems to have succeeded. Conservationists say they have so far reared 17 ducklings by hand and had to improvise by letting the baby ducks swim in a hotel bathtub. John Steward has the details.

The Pochard, the diving duck was thought to be extinct. But in 2006, biologists spotted just a few of them living on a remote lake in Northern Madagascar. Plans were put in place to increase their numbers, but a reconnaissance visit in July this year revealed that only six females were left alive. Team pochard, as they are known, mounted a rescue mission to get to the lake and collect some new ducklings to raise them safely. Two clutches of eggs have now been safely hatched with a third 

一名美国军官被指实行了上周德克萨斯胡德堡军事基地的枪杀事件，现军方正式对此人提起控告。自在枪击事件中受伤，军队精神病医生，少校纳达尔·马利克·哈桑已被武装监视。Mathew Prize在纽约报道。

关于美国最大的军事基地发生的这次枪击事件仍有许多疑问，但是其中一个问题已经得到回答。原本将被派往阿富汗的精神病医生哈桑少校被控13宗谋杀罪。如果检控官最终决定同时控告他谋杀其中一名受害者腹中的胎儿，该数字还会上升。他将在军事法庭接受审判。一旦罪名成立，他将面临死刑判决，尽管自美国军事司法体系成立近50年来还从未真正执行过死刑。

世界最大的芯片制造商英特尔将向主要竞争对手AMD支付12.5亿美元，对长期的反垄断和专利争议进行调解。而AMD则放弃对英特尔的所有控告。Mark Gregory报道。

通过达成和解，双方避免了审判结果的不确定性和数百万美元的诉讼费用。该协议对于AMD的投资者来说是一个安慰。由于英特尔的不平等战争，AMD的财政状况已经捉襟见肘。由于达成协议，AMD股票价格上涨了接近三分之一，但是对于英特尔来说，这也是一个好消息。目前，英特尔正接受几宗调查，并被美国，欧洲和亚洲的监控机构提起法律诉讼。

负责组织巴勒斯坦议会和总统选举的机构建议投票推迟。据称，由于控制加沙地带的哈马斯运动不允许投票在那里进行，选举不能按照计划在1月份举行。巴勒斯坦总统阿巴斯上周表示，由于与以色列恢复和平谈判的过程受阻，他不会参加选举。

俄罗斯总统梅德韦杰夫呼吁将俄罗斯改造为现代的民主国家。在全国讲话中，梅德韦杰夫称，现代化是关乎生存的问题。

原始经济基于原材料，而现在，我们应该创造更加高新的经济，生产更加独特的知识导向的新产品和新技术，对人民有益的商品和技术。相对于领导为每一个人思考和决策的社会，我们应该成为拥有睿智，自由和负责的人民的社会。

BBC驻莫斯科记者表示，梅德韦杰夫的讲话很大程度上暗示了对其前任普京的批评。但是他并没有明且表示。另外，梅德韦杰夫能够推行变革也并不确定。

美国驻喀布尔大使表示反对增兵之后，奥巴马总统正在考虑是否向阿富汗增派更多军队。Karl Eikenberry大使表示，他怀疑卡尔扎伊政府的资格。阿富汗军队现任指挥官Stanley McChrystal要求增派4万军队。

意大利警方逮捕了欧洲范围内诈骗团伙的6名阿尔及利亚人。他们为国外的恐怖袭击筹集资金。据称，他们的公开身份是在法国踢球的阿尔及利亚职业运动员，以此掩人耳目，通过武装抢劫和盗窃来筹集资金，然后转移到阿尔及利亚，用于恐怖主义目的。

英国航空公司(British Airways)和及西班牙Iberia达成协议，进行合并。这将打造欧洲第二大航空公司，两家公司希望此举能够帮助他们度过航空行业最严重的衰退。Iberia称，按照该协议，其投资者将持有合并后新公司45%的股份，而英国航空将持股55%。

拯救世界上最珍惜鸟类马达加斯加潜鸭的任务似乎已经取得成功。保护主义者称，目前他们已经人工养育了17只潜鸭，并且让他们即兴在宾馆浴缸中游泳。John Steward报道详细信息。

专家认为，潜鸭现在已经灭绝。但是在2006年，生态学家发现少量潜鸭居住在马达加斯加北部一个偏远的湖泊。随后，相关人员制定计划来增加它们的数量。但是今年7月份的一次侦查却发现仅有6只雌性存活。随后，潜鸭拯救小组发起拯救任务，前往湖泊所在地，搜集了几只新生潜鸭进行安全养育。目前已经成功孵化了两批潜鸭卵，第三批将在一周内进行。长期计划是将这些鸟类释放，重新回归大自然。