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2009-12-14 12:55
【整理】2009-12-13 SE News 1530 It is 15:30 Universal Time. I'm Steve Ember in Washington. [1] Environmental activists around the world are gathering to demand strong international action at the climate change conference in Denmark. Tens of thousands of protesters marched in Copenhagen Saturday. They carried flags and shouted demands. Some dressed as polar bears, an animal that is threatened by climate change. In Australia, organizers estimate that at least 40,000 people took part in what was called a walk against warming. There were also demonstrations in China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan. International negotiators are in their sixth day of talks aimed at creating a treaty to reduce harmful gasses. An earlier version of the agreement calls for pollutants to be reduced by at least 50% by the year 2050 with rich nations taking the lead. [2] Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani says the military has ended its operation targeting Taliban militants in South Waziristan. He says the army has moved its operation to the Orakzai tribal area. Taliban leaders are believed to have fled there from South Waziristan. Officials with the United Nations say thousands of civilians have left Orakzai. [3] In Turkey, lawmakers from the largest pro-Kurdish political party have withdrawn from parliament. They resigned after the country's top court banned their party and two of its leaders for links to Kurdish separatist rebels. The Democratic Society Party, or DTP, says all of its remaining 19 lawmakers withdrew Saturday and will not attend parliamentary meetings. Turkey's highest court ruled that the party was guilty of inciting violence and of links to the rebel group the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK. The DTP denies the charges. Kurdish demonstrators threw rocks at police in the city of Hakkari to protest the ruling. [4] Police in Iraq say a roadside bomb in the northern city of Kirkuk has killed three policemen and wounded at least two others. Officials say the explosion targeted police on guard in the oil-rich city. Kirkuk is at the center of a dispute between Kurds in northern Iraq and the central government in Baghdad. Kurds want the city to become part of the semi-independent Kurdish area nearby. Arabs want the city to remain under their control. American Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday Arab and Kurdish leaders in Iraq have made progress in solving their differences. [5] Palestinian medical workers say an exchange of gunfire between Palestinian and Israeli forces has killed a farmer in the Gaza Strip. They say the 40-year-old Palestinian was shot early Saturday near the border between Israel and the Gaza. An Israeli spokeswoman said the incident began when Palestinian gunmen fired at Israeli soldiers guarding the border. Last Monday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed an Israeli man as he tried to enter the Gaza Strip. Soldiers opened fire after repeated calls to him to stop. Reports say the man was mentally ill. You are listening to the news in VOA Special English. |
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【整理】2009-12-11 REPORT This is the VOA Special English Economics Report. Dubai's recent debt problems have brought attention to the growth of Islamic finance. A government-owned group of companies, Dubai World, has been seeking to restructure twenty-six billion dollars of debt. About six billion of it is in Islamic bonds, including a three and a half billion dollar bond set for repayment on Monday. The biggest difference between Western and Islamic finance involves beliefs about charging interest on borrowed money. In Islam, the basic idea is that you should not make money from money itself. Instead of interest, lenders charge fees. Ghiyath Nakshbendi at American University in Washington is an expert on Islamic financing. "The bank will, will estimate its costs based on its fixed costs, variable costs, the cost of their employees, the rent and so on and so forth. And on that basis they will estimate how much they are going to charge." But he points out that this system can make Islamic financing costly. The costs of the system are shared by the borrowers. The fewer the borrowers, the more each has to pay. In many cases, Islamic financing requires the lender and the borrower to share profits and losses. Ghiyath Nakshbendi explains what that means with Islamic bonds, called sukuk. "When we talk about sukuk, we don't guarantee a certain return." He says the bondholders are buying a share of a business or property. If business is good, then they could get back more than they expected. But if it fails, then there is no guarantee of repayment. Islamic bonds can be structured in different ways, but a major idea is shared profit and loss. Professor Nakshbendi says Islamic lending practices are also supposed to be socially responsible. In world banking, the total share of Islamic finance is less than one percent. But it is growing at a rate of fifteen to twenty percent a year. There is growing interest in Islamic banking in the West. London is becoming a center of Islamic finance. And France recently proposed changes in finance laws to protect Islamic bondholders. Estimates differ, but as much as one and a half trillion dollars may be managed under Islamic rules. jWww Lenderhomemortgage Lender Home Mortgage Szh Topmenu Tozsde Penzugyi Jelentesek Lender Home Mortgage SE整理稿临时汇总专用帖 - Special 听力训练 - 英语听力 - 话题 - 普特家园y l Lender Home Mortgage Mortgage g g Lender Home Mortgage Lender Home Mortgage gWww Lenderhomemortgage Lender Home Mortgage Szh Topmenu Tozsde Penzugyi Jelentesek Lender Home Mortgage SE整理稿临时汇总专用帖 - Special 听力训练 - 英语听力 - 话题 - 普特家园f i Lender Home Mortgage v v Lender Home Mortgage y Lender Home Mortgage Lender Home Mortgage |