BBC News with Marion Marshall
The United Nations Security Council is holding an emergency session to discuss the conflict in Mali. Before the meeting, France said it was seeking more international backing for its military offensive against Islamist fighters in the West African country. On the ground, Malian rebels have seized the central town of Diabaly from government troops. Mark Doyle reports from Bamako.
联合国安理会召集紧急会议，讨论马里冲突。召开会议前，法国称自己正在为抵抗这个西非国家的军事反判力量寻求国际支持。在马里的战斗现场，反叛军已从政府军手中攫取了中心小镇Diabaly。Mark Doyle从巴马科报道。
Day four of the French military operation and a mixed picture is emerging. The air campaign has hit several rebel rear bases in the Sahara desert, but the French military admit that an Islamist column pushed on in the centre of the country. The Islamists are still hundreds of miles away from the capital Bamako, and the French say this city would have fallen without their military intervention. But the rebels are well-equipped and apparently determined.
目前已经形成了法国为期四天的军事行动以及各国参于的复杂局面。空战袭击了反叛军位 于撒哈拉沙漠的几个后方基地，但是法国军方承认伊斯兰军事力量已经深入了马里腹地。尽管伊斯兰军事分子目前离首都巴马科还有上百英里，但是法国说，如果各 国不进行军事干涉，马里将会陷落，因为这些反叛军装备精良, 并且显然充满决心。
The Iraqi authorities say they’ve started releasing hundreds of detainees in an apparent response to recent protests by the Sunni minority. The Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani apologised to the prisoners, saying they had been held unlawfully because of bureaucratic delays. He said more than 300 detainees had been released in the past week since he formed a government committee to look into protesters’ demands.
伊拉克当局称，作为对逊尼少数派近来抗议的回应，已开始释放上百名被拘留的逊尼派人士。负责能源的副首相沙赫雷斯塔尼向这些被拘留的人道歉，称他们由于官僚体制拖延之风，而被非法拘禁。他透露，自从成立调查抗议者需求的政府委员会，上周已释放300多名被拘留者。
A group of Muslim clerics in Saudi Arabia has called on the government to put detainees held on security charges on trial or release them. The petition by 100 clerics in the ultra-conservative province of Qassim follows the detention of 11 women staging a small protest demanding the release of their relatives. The petition calls for fair hearings for prisoners warning that disaffection is growing, leading to protests and sit-ins.
沙特阿拉伯的一群穆斯林神职人员号召政府对因安全指控而被拘禁者要么进行审判，要么释放他们。在极端保守的卡西姆省，11 名妇女由于要求当局释放他们的亲戚而进行的小型抗议活动而被拘留，100名神职人员为此联名请愿。请愿书要求对这些被拘禁者举行听证会，并警告滋长抗议和 静坐的不满情绪正日益增长。
A judge in Greece has ruled that a group of prisoners who escaped from jail last year committed no offence because they had been held in appalling conditions. The judge said that they were simply escaping humiliation. The ruling was made in November, but it’s only now been made public. Mark Lowen is in Athens.
希腊一名法官裁定一组从监狱逃跑的囚犯无罪，因为他们曾被关押在极其可怕的条件下。法官称他们只是为了逃离屈辱。这一决定是于去年11月做出，只是现在才公诉于众。Mark Lowen在雅典报道。
Cramped, dirty and a breach of human rights—that was the view of the Greek judge about the prison where the 15 nationals had been held. The men were said to have been detained with others in a room of 15 m2 with one toilet and no water or bedding. Some had caught typhoid and had no access to medical care. Greece is the main entry point for illegal immigrants into Europe—over 80 per cent pass through the country. And human rights groups have frequently condemned the state of detention centres.
监狱拥挤不堪、又脏又乱以及各种侵犯人权的行为，这就是这名希腊法官对这15名被拘留的希腊人所关押的监狱的看法。据说这 15人与其他犯人都被关押在一间15平方米的房间，房间里只有一间厕所、没有上下水也没有床铺。有些犯人得了伤寒，却得不到医治。希腊是进入欧洲的非法移 民的主要入口国家，超过80%的非法移民取道希腊抵达欧洲。人权组织屡次谴责该国的拘留中心的恶劣条件。
Long queues have formed in Havana outside embassies and the passport office after new legislation came into force allowing Cubans to travel abroad. Most Cubans will only need a valid passport and a visa to leave the communist-run island after more than five decades of severe restrictions. But the cost of applying for a visa is still high for the majority of Cubans—up to ten times the average monthly wage. World News from the BBC
哈瓦那的各大使馆以及护照办公室外排起了长队，这是因为一项允许古巴人出国旅游的新立法开始实施生效。绝大多数古 巴人都非常渴望拥有一张有效护照，以离开这座50多年来严格管控出国旅游的共产主义小岛。但是申请护照的费用对大多数古巴人来说依然过于昂贵，高达平均月 工资的十倍。
President Barack Obama says he’s now reviewing proposals to curb gun violence a month after the Connecticut school shooting where 20 children and six adults were killed by one gunman. President Obama said he’s studying proposals made by his Vice President Joe Biden. As Paul Adams reports from Washington:
在康乃狄克州发生一名枪手枪杀20名儿童和6名成人的学校暴力事件之后，奥巴马总统说他正在审查控制枪支暴力的提案。总统奥巴马说他正在研究由副总统乔•拜登提交的提议。Paul Adams从华盛顿报道。
He indicated that background checks, a renewed ban on assault weapons and keeping high-capacity magazines out of the wrong hands would all be on the list. Not everything, he said, would require legislation. He cited effective tracking of gun data as one example of the sorts of measures the administration could pursue without the help of Congress. But he urged members of Congress to examine their conscience and said the opponents of new controls were very good at whipping up fears that the federal government was simply planning to take people’s guns away.
奥 巴马表示，背景检查、重续了袭击性武器的禁令、以及让高容量弹药杂志远离坏人都包含在提议所列措施之中。他说，并非提议中的每一项都需要立法。他举例有效 的枪支数据纪录可采取的诸多措施之一，行政管理部门在不需要国会批准的情况下即可采取的措施。但是他敦促国会议员重新审视自己的良知，并说那些反对管制的 议员们非常擅于在民众中激起对政府计划收回枪支的恐惧心理。
A convoy consisting of thousands of supporters of an influential Pakistani religious scholar, Tahir-ul-Qadri, has arrived in the capital Islamabad demanding electoral reform. Tahir-ul-Qadri says he wants a bloodless revolution, but the authorities accuse him of trying to postpone the election due in May.
非常有影响力的巴基斯坦宗教学者Tahir-ul-Qadri的上千名支持者组成的护送团已经抵达首都伊斯兰堡，他们要求进行选举改革。Tahir-ul-Qadri说他想要一个不流血的革命，但是当局控告他企图拖延本应在5月举行的选举。
New research suggests that Australia’s population wasn’t completely isolated from the rest of the world for thousands of years as previously thought. A study of Aboriginal DNA suggests that Australia experienced a wave of migration from India 4,000 years ago. Rebecca Morelle reports.
新的研究表明，几千年来，澳大利亚人并未如之前人们所认为的那样，完全与世界其他地区完全隔绝。对该洲土著居民的DNA研究表明，4000年前，澳大利亚曾经历了从印度的移民潮。Rebecca Morelle报道。
A team of researchers compared the DNA of Aboriginal Australians with genetic material from around the world. By looking at small variations in the genes, they were able to see who was closely related to whom. They found that Australian and Indian DNA have mingled about 4,000 years ago, meaning some intrepid Indian explorers arrived on the continent at around that time and they might not have come empty-handed. The scientists think the migrants brought along advanced stone tools called microliths.
研究组对比了澳洲土著居民的DNA与全世界基因材料。通过 对基因中细微变化的研究，可以清楚的看出，哪种人与与另一种人紧密相关。科学家们发现，澳大利亚人和印度人的DNA在4000前左右发生过融合，这意味着 一些大胆无畏的印度探险家在4000年前左右到达了澳洲，并且很可能他们不是两手空空而来。科学家们认为这些印度移民随身带来了一种叫做细石器的先进石制 工具。
