英国新闻听力 美国将给乌克兰提供更多军事援助（在线收听）

The police chief of the US city of Ferguson is to resign. Thomas Jackson has been criticized by many activists following the shooting of an unarmed black teenager by one of his officers in August. Kim Ghattas reports from Washington.

“Police Chief Thomas Jackson was one of the two officials whose behavior was highlighted IN a scaling report by the department of justice last week. The report was prompted by the fatal shooting of 18-year old Michael Brown by a white policeman last summer. It alleged racial bias in the city police department and court system and outlined ways in which the police and courts functioned as a money-making enterprise, mostly targeting the city’s African American population. Mr. Jackson has so far resisted calls to step down over his handling of the shooting of the unarmed black teenager and weeks of protests that followed.”

America’s top General says there is no doubt that Iraqi forces will drive Islamic state militants out of Tikrit. But General Martin Dempsey expresses concern over how Sunni inhabitants of the city would then be treated. Shia militias make up a large part of the government forces attacking Tikrit. As Paul Adams reports.

“This is not the government’s first attempt to retake Tikrit, but this operation now 10 days old does seem to be the most concerted efforts so far and it’s entering a critical phase 3,000 government troops backed by around 20,000 Shia militiamen and much smaller forces of Sunni tribesmen are now reported to have entered one of Tikrit’s northern neighborhoods Qadisiya. The city is more or less sealed off, but it is not clear if street fighting has really begun in earnest. An Iraqi major who declined to give his name for security reasons said his forces started advancing early this morning, moving towards the center of Tikrit from four locations.”

Defense officials in the United States say Washington is to send more non-lethal military aid to Ukraine. The package will include drones and unarmed military jeeps. The US has also imposed sanctions on eight separatist leaders on a Russian Bank following claims by the secretary general of NATO Jens Stoltenberg that Moscow is continuing to equip and train rebels in eastern Ukraine, a point echoed by the White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

“There continues to be evidence that Russia is continuing to transfer weapons and material across the border into Ukraine in support of separatists in eastern Ukraine. And there are continued reports that Russia backed separatists are preventing OSCE monitors from getting access to those areas of the country that are necessary to verify compliant with Minsk Implementation plan.”

A British military healthcare worker has tested positive for Ebola while working in Sierra Leone. It is believed the patient is a woman and her condition is being assessed before any decision is made about flying her back to Britain for treatment.

World News from the BBC.

A leading conservative opponent of the Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos has questioned the decision to suspend for one month aerial bombing attacks on Farc guerrillas. The move is intended to help peace talks underway in Havana, but the Colombian Procurator General Alhandor Dones said it would paralyze the arm forces while Farc continued to attack civilians.

Cuba has re-established direct telephone links with the United States for the first time in 15 years. It is the first agreement signed between Cuban and American companies since the announcement last December that both states will renew diplomatic ties after more than 50 years of hostility. Will Grant reports from Havana.

“A key part of the decision by the Obama administration to restore diplomatic ties with Cuba was to help boost telecommunications on the island. In the long term it is hoped in Washington that would mean greater internet access. But for now it has at least brought a direct telephone connection between the two countries. Previously calls were rated by a third countries driving out of the cost of a call to the US from Cuba and making it prohibitively expensive for ordinary Cubans.”

The American space agency NASA has made the first testifying of the world’s most powerful solar fuel rocket that it hopes will propel a man mission to Mars in the 2030s. NASA said a low temperature firing of the 54 meter-long booster known as the space launch system performed flawlessly. It was anchored horizontally for the test carried out in Utah.

France has formally objected to a Belgian proposal for the design of a coin commemorating the 200th anniversary of the battle of waterloo on the grounds that it risks undermining the unity of the euro zone. Officials say the two euro coin is a negative symbol, they could cause hostile reactions in France at a time when governments across Europe are trying to increase cooperation.

美国弗格森市警察局长即将辞职，自从8月份警察开枪打死一名手无寸铁黑人少年以来，托马斯·杰克逊遭受了多位活动人士的批评。金·加塔斯在华盛顿报道。

“上周司法部的报告特别强调了两位警官的行为，其中之一就是警察局长托马斯·杰克逊，去年夏天18岁的迈克尔·布朗被白人警察开枪打死一事促使司法部做了这份报告，报告称该市警察局和法院系统存在种族歧视，并称警察局和法院像盈利的企业那样运作，且主要针对该市的非洲裔美国人。因为对手无寸铁黑人少年被杀案和随后的数周抗议处理问题，一直有要求杰克逊辞职的呼声，他一直在抵制这种呼声。”

美国高级指挥官称，毫无疑问伊拉克部队将把IS武装分子从提克里特赶走，但马丁·登普西将军但担心该市逊尼派居民的处境。在进攻提克里特的政府军中，什叶派民兵占了很大一部分。保罗·亚当斯报道。

“这不是政府第一次试图重夺提克里特，但其目前已经进行10天的行动似乎是到目前为止最齐心协力的，目前已经进入一个关键阶段，3000名政府军得到大约两万什叶派民兵的支持，据悉还有少数逊尼派部落人员现已进入提克里特北部的卡地西亚。该市已经或多或少封锁了，但尚不清楚街头的战斗是否真的开始。一位出于安全考虑拒绝透露姓名的伊拉克市长说，他的部队今天凌晨开始从四个地方向提克里特中心挺进。”

美国国防官员称华盛顿将给乌克兰提供更多非致命军事援助，其中包括无人机和无武装的军用吉普。美国已经对俄罗斯一家银行里8名分裂领袖实施了制裁，这是因为北约秘书长延斯·斯托尔滕贝格称莫斯科仍在向乌克兰东部提供装备并培训叛军，这一说法也得到白宫发言人乔希·厄内斯特的回应。

“目前仍有证据表明俄罗斯仍在越过边境运输武器和物资，来支持乌克兰东部的分裂分子。目前仍有报道称俄罗斯支持的分裂分子在阻止欧洲安全与合作组织观察员进入这些地区，而视察这些地区是依据明斯克实施计划而进行的。”

一名英国军队医疗人员在塞拉利昂工作时测验出埃博拉阳性，据悉这名医疗人员是女性，目前在评估她的病情，然后决定是否用飞机送她回英国接受治疗。

BBC世界新闻。

哥伦比亚总统胡安·曼努埃尔·桑托斯的主要保守派反对者对在一个月内暂停对Farc民兵空袭的决定表示质疑，此举意在帮助目前在哈瓦那进行的和谈，但哥伦比亚总检察官称这将令军队严重受挫，而Farc仍在继续袭击平民。

古巴与美国重新开始了直接的电话联系，这是15年来的首次。这是自去年12月宣布两国在50多年敌对后重建外交关系以来古巴和美国签署的第一份协议，威尔·格兰特在哈瓦那报道。

“奥巴马政府为重建与古巴外交关系所做决定的关键一步就是帮助发展这个岛国的通讯，华盛顿希望从长远来说这将意味着更好的互联网连接。但对目前来说，两国之间至少有了直接的电话连接。之前在古巴，打电话是需要经由第三方国家的，因此对古巴普通人来说，从美国打古巴的电话非常昂贵。”

美国航天局对全世界最强大的太阳能燃料火箭作证，希望该火箭能在21世纪30年代推动载人航行。美国航天局称在低温下点燃这个54米长的助推器没有出现任何差错，这个助推器已被水平安置在犹他州以供试验。

比利亚提议设计一枚纪念滑铁卢战役200周年的硬币，这遭到法国正式否决，理由是这可能会损害欧元区的团结。官方称这两欧元硬币是个负面象征，在欧洲各国政府正努力加强合作之时，此举会在法国导致敌对反应。