THE NEWS IN SPECIAL ENGLISH, MARCH 25, 2008
It is twenty-two hours thirty Universal Time. I'm Jim Tetter in Washington.
The newly-elected prime minister of Pakistan has freed all judges detained under emergency rule last year. Yousaf Raza Gilani gave the order just minutes after he was elected by parliament. He also promised a resolution calling for a United Nations investigation into the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. He is a member of her Pakistan Peoples Party. In Washington, the Bush administration congratulated Mr. Gilani and the Pakistani people for moving quickly to form a new government.
American commanders in Baghdad say Iran is continuing to provide money, weapons and training to Shiite rebels in Iraq. A spokesman says it has been confirmed that Shiite extremist groups carried out rocket attacks Sunday on Iraq's secure green area. He said the weapons used in the attack were supplied by Iran. The spokesman said coalition forces are working to stop the groups. Earlier, American General David Petraeus told British radio the attacks show Iranian operatives continue to pay for, to train and to supply and direct Iraq's rebels.
Israel says it may soon ease restrictions on some Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak says the government is considering the removal of roadblocks. He said it is also considering other actions to permit more free movement for Palestinian businesspeople and officials. Israeli officials also said that any agreement between the opposing groups Fatah and Hamas would mean an end to peace talks between Palestinians and Israel. Leaders of the two Palestinian groups met in Yemen Sunday. They signed an agreement to continue talking with each other.
The Lebanese parliament again has delayed its meeting to elect a new president. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri says the new election will take place April twenty-second. This is the seventeenth time the election has been postponed since September. Political leaders from the governing coalition and the opposition cannot agree about power-sharing in the future government. The two sides have agreed on the election of army commander General Michel Suleiman as president, but they differ on other ideas about the new government. The governing coalition also has rejected the opposition's demand for veto power on government decisions.
You are listening to the news in VOA Special English.
Human rights activists have interferred with the ceremony to light the stick known as the Olympic torch in Olympia, Greece. The Olympic torch is to travel to Athens, then to Beijing, in time for the Olympic Games this summer. Three members of Reporters Without Borders waved a flag to protest human rights violations in China. Security officials seized the protesters. Minutes later, several pro-Tibetan protesters tried to block the torch as it was carried through the streets. At least, nine protesters were arrested. International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said, “The committee is concerned about violence in Tibet.” But, he also said, “The games this summer in Beijing will be a chance for the people of China and the world to honor each other.”
Chinese media say Tibetan rioters have killed one policeman and injured several others in Sichuan province. They say security workers in Ganzi prefecture fired warning shots after coming under attack by Tibetans carrying stones and knives. The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy says one Buddhist monk was killed. It says the demonstration began as a peaceful march by religious leaders to the county government offices. Also in Sichuan, media say nearly four hundred protesters surrendered to police in Ngaba prefecture. China has banned foreign reporters from traveling to the area, so details are difficult to confirm.
Cambodian officials are traveling to the United Nations to request one hundred fourteen million dollars more to continue legal action against former Khmer Rouge leaders. Three representatives of Cambodia's genocide court left Phnom Penh for New York. They will meet at the U.N. on Thursday. The U.N.-supported court first asked for fifty-six million dollars over three years. The court now says it needs one hundred seventy million to continue operating through two thousand eleven. The first public trials of five former Khmer Rouge leaders are expected later this year. The Khmer Rouge killed nearly two million people in Cambodia thirty years ago in an effort to create a classless nation.
The United Nations World Food Program says it may be forced to cut the amount of food it provides because of rising food and fuel prices. W.F.P. officials say the U.N. agency needs donor countries to provide five hundred million dollars in the next four weeks. The World Food Program feeds about seventy-three million people in seventy-eight countries. It feeds three million people a day in Sudan's Darfur area alone.
Finally this news, President and Ms. Bush have led a yearly children's holiday celebration in Washington. Administration officials say fifteen thousand eggs were provided this year for the White House Easter egg roll. Appearing at the celebration were children's book writers, the music group the Jonas Brothers and people dressed as children's characters such as Mickey Mouse. The White House Easter egg roll began in eighteen seventy-eight during the presidency of Rutherford Hayes. Children take part in an egg-rolling race across the White House grounds the day following the Easter holiday.
Briefly, here again is the major news of the hour in Special English.
The newly-elected prime minister of Pakistan has freed all judges detained under emergency rule last year. American commanders in Baghdad say Iran is continuing to provide money, weapons and training to Shiite rebels in Iraq. And, Israel says it may soon ease restrictions on some Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank.
That's the news in Special English.
