英国新闻听力 卢旺达成为第一个无雷国家（在线收听）

President Obama has signed an executive order implementing his new strategy on Afghanistan. Mr. Obama has been briefing western allies as well as Russia and China on his plans which he will make public on Tuesday. Paul Adams reports from Washington.

President Obama held one last meeting with his military chiefs on Sunday night and according to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, signed the order implementing his new strategy. The President immediately informed his ambassador in Kabul Karl Eikenberry and his top general on the ground Stanley McChrystal. On Tuesday night, Mr. Obama speaks directly to the American public. It’s expected he’ll announce the deployment of more than 30,000 additional US troops. He’ll also explain once again just why he believes the war in Afghanistan is necessary and it’s thought he’ll outline just how long he expects America’s military mission to last.

Earlier, Britain confirmed it’s sending another 500 troops to Afghanistan. The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown also publicly announced that hundreds of British special forces were active there. British officials said eight other countries had also pledged to reinforce the NATO operation in Afghanistan by some 5,000 soldiers. That’s thought to include Turkey, Slovakia, Georgia and Portugal.

The United States Senate has begun what’s expected to be a lengthy, fierce and contentious debate on its version of the health care bill that is President Obama’s main domestic priority. The legislation is aimed at extending health care to tens of millions of uninsured Americans. Charles Scanlon reports.

Health care reform is making its torturous way through Congress, but it’s meeting entrenched opposition from Republicans and support from some Democrats is also wavering. The House of Representatives managed to pass its version earlier this month. Now it’s the Senate’s turn. But this time, the draft is even more contentious. Conservatives have condemned the proposal for a government-run insurance plan to compete with private providers as part of a plot to introduce socialism. The debate is about more than health insurance. It’s about two different visions of America and it’s seen as a decisive test for the Obama administration.

The British Government says later this week Rwanda will become the first country to be declared totally cleared of land mines. It means it will officially meet its obligations under the 1997 Ottawa Treaty, as Madeline Morris explains.

According to the international convention to be land mine free, a country must remove all the mines from its soil and destroy any mines stockpile. With funding from the British government, the Rwanda army has cleared 9,000 antipersonnel mines, mostly from the north and northwest of the country. Because Rwanda is the most densely populated country in the world, the 1.3-million-square meters now cleared of land mines can be turned into much needed farming land as well as eliminating the threat of death and maiming.

Iraqi officials say the number of civilians killed in November has fallen to the lowest level since the US-led invasion in 2003. Figures supplied by the Health Ministry said 88 civilians have been killed this month, the first time the monthly figure has fallen below 100.

The Foreign Office in London says a racing yacht with five Britons on board was intercepted by the Iranian navy early this week. Our diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall reports.

According to the Foreign Office, the yacht was on its way from Bahrain to Dubai to start the race and apparently strayed into Iranian waters. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said they tried to keep the incident quiet until now, in the hope this would help negotiations. But so far, the crew members are still being held, with no indication from Tehran of what might happen next.

Israeli settler leaders in the occupied West Bank have said they won’t allow inspectors in to check their complying with a limited halt on new residential construction. They said they wouldn’t cooperate on any level with Israeli officials administering the freeze. A settler leader’s met has inspectors accompanied by security forces begun the task of enforcing the Israeli government’s ten-month suspension of new residential building in the West Bank. The Palestinians rejected the move as insufficient because it doesn’t include occupied East Jerusalem.

The Cervantes Prize, the highest literary honor in the Spanish speaking world has been awarded to the Mexican writer Hose Emilio Pacheco. A jury member in Madrid said the 70-year-old was an exceptional poet of daily life with an impeccable use of language.

The American golfer Tiger Woods has announced he will not take part in this week’s Chevron World Challenge tournament in California. He said the injuries he’s sustained in a car accident last Friday were preventing him from playing at the charity event which he’s hosted for the past nine years.

奥巴马总统签署了行政命令，对阿富汗实行新策略。奥巴马总统一直与西方盟国以及俄罗斯和中国探讨他的计划。周二，奥巴马将公布该计划。Paul Adams在华盛顿报道。

周日晚，奥巴马总统与军事首脑进行了最后一场会议。据白宫发言人罗伯特·吉布斯所说，奥巴马签署命令要求实施新策略。奥巴马立即将该策略告知美国驻喀布尔大使Karl Eikenberry和高级将军Stanley McChrystal。周二晚，奥巴马直接向美国公众发表讲话。预期，他将宣布增派

30,000名美国士兵。他还将再次作出解释，为何他认为阿富汗战争是必要的。预期他还将评估美国军事任务持续的时间。

此前，英国确认将向阿富汗增军500人。英国首相戈登·布朗还公开宣布，英国驻阿富汗的数百名特种兵起到积极作用。英国官员称其他八个国家也承诺增强北约驻阿富汗军事行动，预期将增军5,000人。包括土耳其，斯洛伐克，格鲁吉亚和葡萄牙。

美国参议院开始针对自己版本的医改法案进行长期，激烈和有异议的辩论。该医疗法案是奥巴马总统首要的国内政策。该立法旨在将医疗保险扩大到数百万未参保的美国人。Charles Scanlon报道。

医疗改革法案正在向国会蹒跚行进，但是遭遇了共和党的坚决反对，而且来自民主党的支持也在动摇。本月初，众议院得以通过自己的版本。现在轮到参议院。但是这次，该草案似乎引发了更多的争议。保守派谴责，政府经营保险与私营保险公司相竞争的提议是引进社会主义的阴谋的一部分。争论的范围远远超出医疗保险。这是美国 两种前景的争论，是对奥巴马政府的决定性考验。

英国政府表示，本周晚些时候，根据宣布，卢旺达将成为第一个扫清地雷的国家。 这就意味着该国将按照渥太华公约的要求清除了境内所有埋藏的地雷。Madeline Morris报道。

根据这项根除地雷的国际公约，一个国家必须移除土壤中所有的地雷，并毁坏所有的地雷储备。利用英国政府提供的基金，卢旺达军队清除了9,000枚反人员地雷，大部分是在该国北部和西北部。由于卢旺达是世界上人口最密集的地区，清除了地雷的130万平方米的土地可以转为急需的农业用地，同时也根除了致死或致残的威胁。

伊拉克官员称，11月份被杀害的平民数量下降到了自美国2003年开始入侵以来的最低水平。卫生部提供的数据显示本月共有88名平民被杀，单月死亡数字首次降低到100以下。

伦敦外事办公室称本周初一艘赛艇被伊朗海军拦截，赛艇上共有5名英国人。我们的外交记者Bridget Kendall报道。

据外事办公室所说，这艘赛艇正在从巴林岛前往迪拜参加比赛的途中，在伊朗水域搁浅。外事办公室一名女发言人表示，在此之前，他们一直试图息事宁人，希望这有助于谈判。但是目前为止，赛艇上的人员仍然被劫持，伊朗方面没有任何迹象表明下一步举动。

以色列西岸定居点负责人表示，他们不会允许监察员进入该地区检查有限制的停止新的居民建设执行情况。他们表示，在冻结定居点方面，他们不会与任何水平的以色列官员合作。由安全力量陪同的检查员已经开始执行以色列政府所说的西岸十个月内暂停新建居民建筑的任务。巴勒斯坦人表示该举动是不充分的，因为没有包括东耶路撒冷在内。

西班牙文学界最高奖项塞万提斯奖(Cervantes Prize)被授予墨西哥作家。马德里一名裁判员称，这位70岁的作家是一名卓越的诗人，用无懈可击的语言描述了日常生活。

美国高尔夫球手老虎·伍兹宣布不会参加在加利福尼亚举行的雪佛龙世界挑战赛(Chevron World Challenge)。他说自己在上周五的车祸中受伤，不能参加这次慈善盛事。该项赛事他已经作为东道主参加了九年。