专业四级考试英语听力文本素材
Earlier, Britain’s two most senior police officers, who both resigned over the hacking scandal, faced questions from another parliamentary committee. Assistant Commissioner John Yates said he could confidently predict that only a very small number of police officers would be jailed as a result of investigations into alleged illegal payments by journalists. The head of the Metropolitan Police Paul Stephenson said nearly a quarter of the force’s public affairs department once worked for Rupert Murdoch’s News International.
World News from the BBC
The United Nations is preparing to declare a famine in parts of Somalia. Across East Africa, an estimated 10 million people have been affected by the worst drought in more than half a century. Multiple sources say the UN will announce on Wednesday that conditions have deteriorated to such an extent that famine has returned to the region for the first time in 19 years.
The International Monetary Fund has warned that the European debt crisis could have major global consequences if it’s not dealt with quickly. The IMF said decisive action was critical to prevent the financial problems in countries, such as Greece, from spreading to major European economies. Our economics correspondent Andrew Walker reports.
The IMF paints a picture of striking contrast: the recovery in the core of the euro area, countries such as Germany, is resilient; other member countries are in what the report calls "dire shape". There was a call for decisive action including clarity about the role of private sector creditors of governments. Europe [has] been wrangling inconclusively for weeks about whether banks should help with a second bailout of Greece. The IMF also says countries should press ahead with reducing their borrowing needs, and that Europe should increase the size of its rescue loan facility.
A team of international experts has concluded that the former President of Chile, Salvador Allende, killed himself during the 1973 military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet. A detailed report was released two months after Mr Allende’s body was exhumed as part of an inquiry into his death.
Judicial officials in France say they’ve questioned family members of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former IMF chief, over allegations that he tried to rape a young writer. Those questioned were the Socialist politician’s ex-wife and their daughter Camille, both of whom were once close to the complainant Tristane Banon. Mr Strauss-Kahn denies the allegation that an assault took place in 2003.
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The British Prime Minister David Cameron has defended his integrity to a special session of parliament called to debate the phone-hacking scandal, which has rocked the police, the political establishment and the media empire of Rupert Murdoch. Mr Cameron said that with hindsight, he wouldn’t have employed a former newspaper editor, Andy Coulson, who was arrested over the hacking allegations earlier this month. Here’s Naomi Grimley.
This was the closest yet that David Cameron has come to admitting it was a mistake to hire Andy Coulson. He said that if the former editor of the News of the World was found guilty of any crimes, it would be a matter of profound regret. In the meantime, though, the prime minister would stick to the principle that a man was innocent until proven guilty. The leader of the opposition Ed Miliband said that wasn’t good enough. He argued the prime minister had been compromised by his links with Andy Coulson, and that that in turn had made it difficult for the police to do their job.
The United States says it will allow its aid to be sent to famine-affected areas of Somalia controlled by the Islamist al-Shabab militia as long as none of it is used to benefit the militants. An official with the American agency USAid said it would need the assurance of the United Nations that the aid wouldn’t be taxed by al-Shabab. The BBC Africa editor says this represents a big change in policy for the US, which has previously refused to send aid to areas controlled by al-Shabab.
The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, has warned that history will judge Europe’s leaders harshly if they fail to outline a clear solution to the current financial crisis. Mr Barroso said European leaders, who are meeting on Thursday, needed to provide clarity on future financial support for Greece, and he had this stark assessment of the situation.
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