UN Security Council Approves International Force for Afghanistan
Breck Ardery
United Nations
20 Dec 2001 21:25 UTC
The United Nations Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution authorizing an international security force for Afghanistan.
The resolution authorizes the force for a six-month period to assist the interim Afghan government in providing security in and around the Afghan capital of Kabul. The resolution calls on all Afghans to cooperate with the security force and notes that all Afghan parties have agreed to withdraw their military units from Kabul.
Jeremy Greenstock
Britain will be leading the force and British ambassador Jeremy Greenstock told reporters the first group of troops will arrive in Kabul in time for the official start of the interim government on Saturday. "The United Kingdom is ready to go," he said. "We will have a small number of troops on the ground on the day, Saturday, in Kabul. The full British contingent will be in place a certain number of days thereafter."
Mr. Greenstock said if the interim government decides it wants the security force to deploy outside of the Kabul area, it would require a additional Security Council resolution.
AP
John Negroponte
United States ambassador John Negroponte said U.S. military forces will continue to operate in Afghanistan but not as part of the security force. "Our forces are there with a particular set of responsibilities, which is to root out the al-Qaida and fight against the remnant elements of the Taleban. In other words a war-fighting mission," he said.
Mr. Negroponte indicated that there should be no conflict between the mission of U.S. forces and the international security troops in Afghanistan.
DEVELOPMENT REPORT: Tuberculosis Control Program in India
By Jill Moss
Broadcast: December 9, 2002
This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
There are more people with tuberculosis in India than in any other country in the world. Each year, tuberculosis infects about two-million people in India and kills nearly five-hundred-thousand people. However, this is starting to change. Researchers
recently studied a tuberculosis control program in India. The study says the program has saved about two-hundred-thousand lives and more than four-hundred-million dollars.
The New England Journal of Medicine published a study about the tuberculosis control program in October. The Indian government started the program in nineteen-ninety-three. Since that time, about three-and-one-half million patients have been examined for tuberculosis. Almost eight-hundred-thousand patients have received medical treatment.
Also, more than forty percent of India's population can now get tuberculosis services. And more than two-hundred-thousand health workers have been trained to examine and treat people with the disease. This makes India's tuberculosis control program one of the world's largest public health programs.
Thomas Frieden of the United States was one of the people who wrote the study. He says that India's tuberculosis control program has strengthened the country's general health care system. For example, he says the quality of work done in laboratories has improved.
However, Doctor Frieden says the program includes only half of India. He says the goal is to continue the program while extending it to the rest of the country. Doctor Frieden believes this will be difficult because of health threats from the virus that causes AIDS and because some forms of tuberculosis are resistant to drugs.
Currently, the World Health Organization estimates that about one-third of the world's population are infected with the bacteria that cause tuberculosis. Tuberculosis becomes active in only about ten percent of all cases. However, it can remain in a victim's lungs for years or even a lifetime.
Infected people spread tuberculosis by releasing particles from their mouths when they cough, sneeze, spit or talk. Signs of the disease include high body temperature and coughing.
A person with active T-B must take medicine each day for six to nine months to halt progression of the disease.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss.
A grand reception has been held in Macao to mark the 90th anniversary of the Macao Chamber of Commerce.
Ma Man Kei, Chairman of the chamber says the aim of his organization is to continue to serve society and develop with each passing day.
Ma Man Kei notes the chamber has been involved in uniting people from all walks of life, including businessmen. It has advanced the development of industry and commerce in Macao, becoming a financial bridge between the SAR and the outside world.
He vows to give full support to the Macao's administration, to abide by the principle of “One country, two systems”, and to work harder toward the peaceful reunification of the motherland and revitalization of the Chinese nation.
***
Total Chinese income from tourism reached 70 billion US dollars in 2002, a year-on-year increase of nearly 11 percent.
Director of the China National Tourism Administration, He Guangwei 何光纬, says inward, outward and domestic tourism all scaled new heights over the past year.
He also notes Japan, South Korea, Russia and the United States are the four biggest sources of tourists to China, providing over one million visitors last year.And domestic tourists numbered 870 million in 2002.
China's total income from tourism is predicted to reach 75 billion US dollars this year, up 8.5 percent from last year.
***
Chinese officials have established the framework of a modern customs system, and will have perfected a complete border supervision system by 2010.
A modern customs service promises all-around improvements in its legal framework, as well as customs clearance, smuggling controls and administrative efficiency and transparency.
At a three-day national conference, director of the General Administration of Customs Mou Xinsheng urged officials to crack down on smuggling and improve supervision of goods and passengers in transmit.
He says they should also make full use of customs statistics, support export growth and lay solid foundations for long-term goals this year.
***
US telecoms giant Motorola plans to spend 100 million US dollars on a research and development centre in Beijing in a bid to tap the world's biggest mobile market.
Motorola's China unit President Timothy Chen says the investment is part of plans to make China one of the company’s global research and manufacturing centers.
The firm's total investment in China, which began in 1992, will reach 10 billion US dollars by 2006.
Motorola edged out Finnish handset rival Nokia in the first half of 2002 in China that has more than 200 million mobile users, the most in the world.
***
The Chinese government will allow News Corp subsidiary Phoenix Satellite Television Holdings to air its 24-hour Chinese-language news channel in the mainland.
The latest decision allows luxury hotels, diplomatic quarters and other designated compounds to receive Phoenix's InfoNews Channel.
Phoenix is 37.6 per cent owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp television subsidiary STAR, already broadcasts in Mandarin-dialect Chinese to the mainland via a movie channel, seen mainly in southern Guangdong province.
Phoenix also gets into the mainland via its flagship mass-market channel, which airs news, talk shows and sports as well as drama from Hong Kong and game shows from Taiwan.
Hong Kong-based Phoenix says it now reaches more than 42 million television sets in the mainland.
Phoenix InfoNews was launched two years ago and loss-making Phoenix Satellite Television lobbied hard for broadcast approval so it could tap advertising revenues and boost its bottomline.
***
Share prices on China's Mainland closed sharply higher on Wednesday.
In Shanghai, the Composite index closed up 40 points, or three percent at 1,372, the largest daily percentage gain since June 24 last year.
In Shenzhen, the Component index ended up 71 points, or two and two-thirds percent, at 2,789.
Hong Kong's main stock index ended slightly firmer as a slide in oil prices boosted airlines, and a U.S. economic stimulus package provided some relief from fears of war in Iraq.
The Hang Seng Index closed up 35 points or a third of a percent at 9,688.
Japanese stocks dropped amid speculation that special government inspections of banks will force them to boost reserves against bad loans.
The benchmark Nikkei average lost 138 points, or one and two-thirds of a percent, to 8,517, its lowest finish since Christmas.
A senior Chinese official says the government is formulating a medium- and long-term national science and technology development program to improve national competitiveness.
The Vice Minister of Science and Technology, told a national SciTech conference that the principles guiding the program are leadership, strategy, prioritization, and building on achievements.
Officials with the ministry say the program would be completed this year.
*****
Chinese officials have established the framework of a modern customs system, and will have perfected a complete border supervision system by 2010.
A modern customs service promises all-around improvements in its legal framework, as well as customs clearance, smuggling controls and administrative efficiency and transparency.
At a three-day national conference, director of the General Administration of Customs urged officials to crack down on smuggling and improve supervision of goods and passengers in transmit.
*****
China will take steps to control the national population below one and a half billion by 2020. The goal was set at the ongoing national work conference on family planning in Beijing.
The government is also expected to further enhance the legal construction on population and family planning. Work will focus on the country's vast rural areas, especially in the Western regions, by improving population management and providing better service for rural citizens.
*****
China has taken steps to bring in more foreign experts to promote economic and social development.
The country currently welcomes more than 440 thousand foreign experts each year in agricultural, high-tech and other fields.
Meanwhile, every year more than 40 thousand Chinese people travel to foreign countries to receive education and training. It helps them understand advanced technologies and managerial techniques, which boosts the competitiveness of domestic enterprises.
1--Do you want black or white coffee?
2--White, please.
1--Look! There's a folk concert tomorrow evening.
Do you want to go?
2--I don't like folk music very much.
1--What kind of music do you like?
2--I like classical music. Do you?
1--Not very much. Classical music sends me to sleep.
2--I don't believe you.
1--It's true.
2--You are funny!
1--So are you! How about another coffee?
===================================
注解：
1）black or white coffee：加糖或加牛奶的称作white
coffee.什么也不加的称作black coffee.
2）folk concert：民间音乐会。folk作“民间的”、
“具有民族传说的”解。如folk dance，folk music,
folk songs, folk tale等。
3）classical：经典的。如classical music, classical
literature等。
4）How about...?（你以为）...怎么样？征询对方的意见时
常用的句型。如，征询关于时间安排的意见时，可以说How
about tomorrow？征询活动内容时可以说How about playing
tennis now?征询人选意见可以说How about Jane?等
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