NPR 2009-04-19

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton says the US will vigorously raise to the Iranian government, the administration's concerns about the eight-year-prison sentence given to Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi. She was convicted this week by a court in Iran of spying for the United States. Saberi is a freelance journalist who has worked for NPR and the BBC. Saberi's father Reza Saberi told NPR today, his daughter was coerced¹ into making statements she was told would lead to her release. "I don't think they have any evidence. And I haven't heard any evidence that can be made public. " Saberi says his daughter is weak and frail². He says her sentence will be appealed. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says President Obama was deeply disappointed by the sentence.  "We will continue to express the concerns that we have through the Swiss to the Iranian government. And make sure they underscore and understand our deep concern for these actions. " NPR's chief executive officer Vivian Schiller is calling Saberi's sentence harsh and unwarranted. She appealed to Iranian authorities to show compassion³ and allow Saberi to return home to the US with her parents. A press advisor⁴ to Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized the US for, in his words, saying "it's extending hand of friendship while at the same it sends spies to Iran".

Dutch NATO commandoes have freed 20 fishermen who were being held hostage by Somali-based pirates in the Gulf⁵ of Aden. A short time later, a Belgian ship was captured off the Somali coast. The BBC's Peter Greste reports from Nairobi.

The pirates attacked a Greek-owned tanker⁶ with the assault rifles and grenades. The Dutch frigate⁷ De Zeven Provincien chased them back to their mothership, a Yemeni fishing dhow. Commandoes from the ship raided the dhow, caught the pirates and freed the Yemeni crew who have been forced to sail the dhow on behalf of their captives. But the Dutch ship then allowed the pirates to go, saying they had no authority under international law to detain the Somalis further. But then, other pirates struck back, they seized a Belgian-registered ship and its 10 crew, including seven Europeans, further south in the India Ocean. The BBC's Peter Greste.

South Korea will meet with North Korean officials to discuss a South Korean worker detained in a border town. Doualy Xaykaothao reports.

Ties between the North and the South have been strained recently, not only because of the North's latest rocket launch and the South’s expected participation⁸ in the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative, but also because the North has detained a South Korean worker for the last 20 days. North Korea claims the man denounced his political regime and encouraged a North Korean female to defect to the South. South Korea's government hasn't had access to the Hyundai Asan employee. But a ministry's spokesman says officials are negotiating his release.

This is NPR News from Washington.

The Federal Reserve's No. 2 official says the central bank will not allow its policies to trigger a surge in inflation, but vice⁹ chairman Donald Kohn says the Fed may need to do more to ease credit if the US economy remains¹⁰ weak. He was speaking at a conference at Vanderbilt University today. Steve Beckner, a Market News International has the story.

The Fed has not only slashed¹¹ short-term interest rates near zero. It is more than double the base money supply through aggressive lending and securities purchases. But Kohn vowed¹² the Federal reverse its credit programs, reduce bank reserves and raise rates in a timely fashion to contain inflation. New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley, appearing with Kohn, said the Fed has the ability to manage down the size of its balance sheet and thus prevent inflation. Kohn said it is hard for the Fed to assess how much the credit it needs to provide in the current uncertain climate. So, he said it must be ready to adapt policy flexibly. He said the Fed may need to reverse its credit easing to force dollar inflation or it may need to do more if monetary¹³ and fiscal¹⁴ stimulus¹⁵ don't succeed. For NPR News, I'm Steve Beckner.

President Obama says he will ask all federal department and agency heads, at his full cabinet meeting on Monday to make specific proposals for cutting their budgets. "In the coming weeks, I'll be announcing the elimination¹⁶ of dozens of government programs shown to be wasteful¹⁷ or ineffective. In this effort, there will be no sacred cows and no pet projects." Mr. Obama was speaking in his weekly radio address today. He said his goal is to restore public confidence that the federal government is using tax payers' money wisely.

1 coerced   

v.迫使做( coerce的过去式和过去分词 )；强迫；（以武力、惩罚、威胁等手段）控制；支配

参考例句：

• They were coerced into negotiating a settlement. 他们被迫通过谈判解决。
• He was coerced into making a confession. 他被迫招供。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 frail   

adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。
• She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。

3 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

4 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

5 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

6 tanker   

n.油轮

参考例句：

• The tanker took on 200,000 barrels of crude oil.油轮装载了二十万桶原油。
• Heavy seas had pounded the tanker into three parts.汹涌的巨浪把油轮撞成三载。

7 frigate   

n.护航舰，大型驱逐舰

参考例句：

• An enemy frigate bore down on the sloop.一艘敌驱逐舰向这只护航舰逼过来。
• I declare we could fight frigate.我敢说我们简直可以和一艘战舰交战。

8 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

9 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

10 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

11 slashed   

v.挥砍( slash的过去式和过去分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Someone had slashed the tyres on my car. 有人把我的汽车轮胎割破了。
• He slashed the bark off the tree with his knife. 他用刀把树皮从树上砍下。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。

13 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

14 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

15 stimulus   

n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物

参考例句：

• Regard each failure as a stimulus to further efforts.把每次失利看成对进一步努力的激励。
• Light is a stimulus to growth in plants.光是促进植物生长的一个因素。

16 elimination   

n.排除，消除，消灭

参考例句：

• Their elimination from the competition was a great surprise.他们在比赛中遭到淘汰是个很大的意外。
• I was eliminated from the 400 metres in the semi-finals.我在400米半决赛中被淘汰。

17 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。