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听力材料：
The French finance minister says the country has lostits AAA credit rating.
Francois Baroin said thatStandard & Poor's had lowered the rating toAA+, but
he said that France would not allow the agencies to dictate its policies. From
Paris,Hugh Schofield.
This news does not come as a surprise for France - there had been warnings
for weeks that thedowngrade was coming - but it's still a big blow.
Economically, it means that the cost ofborrowing to cover the country's huge
debt will probably become more expensive. Politically, it'svery bad news for
President Sarkozy, who set such store on keeping the AAA. And for theeurozone,
it's also a setback. Combined with bad news from Greece about the debt talks
goingon there, it shows that the euro crisis is well and truly back on the
agenda.
The United States has described the release of political prisoners in Burma
as a substantialstep towards democratic reform. President Obama said the
granting of amnesty to some 600prisoners, including leading dissidents, was
crucial for Burma's national reconciliation. TheSecretary of State Hillary
Clinton said the US would now strengthen ties.
"We will start the process of exchanging ambassadors with Burma. We will
identify acandidate to serve as US ambassador to represent the United States
government and ourbroader efforts to strengthen and deepen our ties with both
the people and the government.This is a lengthy process, and it will of course
depend on continuing progress and reform."
Earlier, large crowds gathered outside jails across Burma to greet leaders
of the democracymovement and dissident monks as they walked free.
Turkish police have raided more than 100 homes and offices in 17 cities as
part of an operationagainst the Kurdish nationalist movement. At least 32 people
have been detained. FromIstanbul, here's Jonathan Head.
There are now two parallel operations underway by the Turkish state against
the Kurdishnationalist movement. In the mountains of the southeast, the Turkish
armed forces continueto fight armed insurgents of the Kurdish Workers' Party,
the PKK. But in urban areas, manyhundreds, perhaps thousands of civilians have
also been rounded up in successive police raids.There have been so many no one
is sure of the total number detained. They include lawyers,human rights
activists and journalists. Turkey now has more journalists in jail than any
othercountry.
A court in Norway has ordered a new psychiatric evaluation of Anders
Behring Breivik, whowas found to have been legally insane when he carried out a
bomb attack and mass shootinglast July. The court said the special and extremely
serious nature of the case meant that theissue of Mr Breivik's criminal
responsibility had to be studied more closely. The earlierassessment found that
Mr Breivik was psychotic, but that assessment has been widelycriticised.
World News from the BBC
The long-time leader of the Turkish Cypriots, Rauf Denktash, has died. He
was 87 and hadsuffered from ill health for a long time. Mr Denktash was a
staunch defender of the interests ofTurkish Cypriots and became the first
president of the self-declared Turkish Republic ofNorthern Cyprus in 1983. He
refused to stand again in 2005 after Turkish Cypriots against hisadvice voted in
favour of a plan to reunify the divided island. The plan was rejected by
GreekCypriots.
The US State Department says it's raised concerns with Moscow and Cyprus
about a Russian-operated ship carrying what's been described as a dangerous
cargo to Syria. Media reports inCyprus the boat's last port of call suggested
that the vessel was carrying ammunition.
A court in London has ruled that a British student, Richard O'Dwyer, can be
extradited to theUnited States, where he faces allegations of US copyright
infringement. He's accused ofcreating a website that allowed people to view
films and television shows for free. Lawyers haveargued that the website simply
directed users to other sites, and they say they'll appeal.Richard O'Dwyer and
his mother Julia spoke outside the court.
"I'm obviously disappointed with the judge's decision today. I think I've
got faith in the HighCourt in making the right decision. It just seemed like a
bit of a guinea pig activity."
"Disgusted. I'd hoped for better from the judge. Disappointed with this
government for signingus up to this treaty which has opened the floodgates to
America to come and seize Britishcitizens without even having set foot out of
this country."
The World Boxing Association has ordered a rematch between the British
boxer Amir Khan andthe American Lamont Peterson after a controversial fight last
month. The WBA said it wasconcerned about a number of questionable decisions by
the referee and the presence of anunauthorised man apparently distracting the
judges during the scoring process. Khan wasdefeated on points and lost his WBA
and IBF titles.
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发表于 2016-7-11 17:31:43