BBC News with Neil Nunes
Leaders of the bitterly divided American Congress are making last-minute attempts to stop significant new spending cuts and tax rises automatically taking effect on January first. Both houses are ready for rare Sunday sessions. They are trying to prevent the United States economy from falling off what been dubbed the fiscal cliff, the automatic imposition of some $600bn worth of taxing increase and spending cuts dating back to the Bush era. From Washington Jonny Dymond.
One nation with a very divided government. President Obama and congress are grappling for a deal with just 36 hours before time runs out. If there is no deal, the press of failure could be high. The average American family will see that tax rise by more than $2,000 a year. As money sucked out the economy, a second American recession is thought likely to begin. And confidence in the American government around the world would plummet. Financial markets would probably take fright.
Meanwhile President Obama says he will put his full weight to behind getting new gun control measures approved the United States within 12 months. Mr Obama expressed doubt about the idea put forward by the pro-gun lobby to position armed guards in every school.
I'm skeptical that the only answer is putting more guns in schools. And I think the vast majority of the American people are skeptical that that somehow is going to solve our problem. And here is the bottom line, we're not going to get this done unless the American people decide it's important.
After the mass shooting in Connecticut earlier this month, in which 26 children and teachers were killed, President Obama said will task force to come up with urgent suggestions and how such massacres could be avoided in future.
The President of the Central African Republican Francois Bozize says he's ready to form a government of national unity with a rebel coalition that has seized several key towns in the country. Here is Mary Harper.
Mr Bozize who was speaking after a meeting with the head of the African Union Yayi Boni said he would not stand for re-election in 2016. He said he was ready for immediate talks with the rebel coalition. The rebel says they will consider the president's offer. After seizing a town on Saturday, just 150km from the capital, they are in a very strong position. The government army supported by troops from Chad, failed to contain the rebel advance, in some cases, abandoning towns without a fight.
A security forces in Lybia say an investigation is underway after a bomb blast at a Coptic Christian church, in which two people were killed. The explosion happened at Dafniya, near the city of Misrata, those dead were Egyptian. Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians living and work in Libya.
World News from the BBC
One of Italy's foremost scientists, Rita Levi Montalcini who was a joint winner of the Nobel Prize for medicine has died in Rome aged 103. She overcame Fascist and anti-Semitic discrimination before and during the second World War and went on to carry out a hugely important research into the development of the cells and the human body. Alan Johnston reports from Rome.
Rita Levi Montalcini was born into an intellectual and artistic Jewish family in 1909. She graduated from a medical school in Turin and went on to working academia. But her career soon ran fell of anti-Semitic laws introduced under Italy's Fascist leader, Benito Mussolini. With the coming of peace, she took her research forward at a university in the United States, there she made discoveries that shed light on the mystery surrounding abnormal cell development in humans.
A court in Bahrain has jailed two policemen for seven years for beating a man to death where he was held in police custody during the political unrest last year. They are among a number of officers on trial or under an investigation for allegedly torturing Shia detainees. Last month the international panel of legal experts accused the Bahraini security force of routinely using torture to punish or extracted confession from hundreds of Shia protesters. Bahrain's Interior minister rejected the allegations.
The Egyptian football association says their premier League matches will resume in February after a year suspension. It was agreed that game restart in February 1st, exactly a year after a riot that killed more than 70 people. The violence happened during a match in Port Said between the country's top teams, Al-Ahly and Al-Masry. None spectators are to be allowed into stadiums during the first season.
BBC World News
參考譯文
Neil Nunes為你播報BBC新聞。
美 國國會議員在最后時刻仍爭論不休,試圖阻止1月1日自動實施的新開支削減和增稅政策。周日開會很罕見,而兩院都為此做好了準備。他們努力阻止美國經(jīng)濟陷入 所謂的財政懸崖,即自動增加價值6000萬美元的稅收和開支削減,該政策可追溯到布什時代。Jonny Dymond在華盛頓報道。
美國政 府內(nèi)部目前爭議很大,總統(tǒng)奧巴馬和國會爭取在最后36小時內(nèi)達成協(xié)議。如果協(xié)商未果,失敗的代價會很高。每戶美國家庭每年將承擔額外2000美元稅收。隨 著資金從經(jīng)濟中被抽出,美國很可能陷入第二場衰退中。這樣全世界對美國政府的信心就會猛跌,金融市場可能出現(xiàn)恐慌。
同時,總統(tǒng)奧巴馬表示將權力支持在未來一年內(nèi)通過新的槍支控制措施。支持槍支擁有的游說團建議在每所學校配置武裝警衛(wèi),對此奧巴馬表示懷疑。
他們稱解決的唯一辦法是向?qū)W校提供更多槍支,對此我很懷疑。我想絕大多數(shù)美國人都不相信這會解決問題。我們的底線是,除非美國人認為這樣做很重要,否則我們不會這么做的。
本月初康涅狄格州導致26名兒童和教師喪生的槍擊案發(fā)生后,總統(tǒng)奧巴馬稱將成立工作組來提出緊急建議和未來避免類似慘案的辦法。
中非共和國總統(tǒng)弗朗索瓦·博齊澤稱將與某叛軍聯(lián)盟成立全國統(tǒng)一政府,這支叛軍現(xiàn)已奪取該國幾處重鎮(zhèn)。Mary Harper報道。
博 齊澤與非盟首腦亞伊·博尼會談后表示,他將不參加2016年的競選連任,他說自己隨時準備與叛軍聯(lián)盟進行對話。叛軍稱將考慮總統(tǒng)的提議。周六奪取距離首都 150公里處的某城鎮(zhèn)后,叛軍目前處于非常有利的地位。由乍得軍隊支持的政府軍未能阻擋叛軍的進攻,甚至還不戰(zhàn)而棄城。
利比亞安全部隊一座科普特基督教堂發(fā)生爆炸案,導致兩人死亡,目前正對此進行調(diào)查。爆炸發(fā)生在米蘇拉特市附近的Dafniya,死者均為埃及人。數(shù)十萬埃及人居住和工作在利比亞。
意大利最頂尖的科學家、諾貝爾醫(yī)學獎得主麗塔·列維·蒙塔爾奇尼在羅馬去世,享年103歲。二戰(zhàn)前后,她經(jīng)歷過法西斯和反猶太歧視,隨后在細胞和人體方面進行了重大研究。Alan Johnston在羅馬報道。
麗塔·列維·蒙塔爾奇尼1909年出生在有文化和藝術修養(yǎng)的猶太家庭。她畢業(yè)于都靈一所醫(yī)學院,后來從事學術工作。但她的事業(yè)違反了意大利法西斯領袖墨索里尼推行的反猶太法。戰(zhàn)爭結(jié)束后,她在美國一所大學繼續(xù)從事研究,她在那里的發(fā)現(xiàn)闡明了人類異常細胞的發(fā)展。
去年巴林政治暴亂期間,一名男子在警局拘留期間遭受兩名警察毒打并死去,目前巴林法庭已逮捕這兩名警察。目前有大批警察因虐待什葉派拘留者指控而受審或接受調(diào)查。上月,國際法律專家小組指控巴林安全部隊經(jīng)常對數(shù)百名什葉派抗議者拷打或刑訊逼供。巴林內(nèi)政部長否認這些指控。
埃及足球協(xié)會稱其超級聯(lián)賽將在一年暫停后于二月份重新開始,據(jù)悉比賽將于2月1日重啟,就在一年前,70多人在一場暴亂中喪生,當時該國兩大球隊阿赫利和馬斯里正在塞得港舉行比賽。第一賽季期間觀眾一律不許進入比賽場館。