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Michael Jackson's doctor Conrad Murray has been charged by the authorities in Los Angeles with involuntary manslaughter. Dr Conrad Murray was accused of acting¹ unlawfully but without malice². He’s due to appear in court shortly, his lawyer said he would plead “not guilty”. Here’s our correspondent in Los Angeles David Willies.

Cardiologist Dr Conrad Murray was Michael Jackson's personal physician, hired to oversee³ the singer's preparation for a series of comeback concerts at London's 02 Arena⁴. Michael Jackson was apparently⁵ having difficulty \ sleeping, and on the night he died, Dr Murray told detectives he had administered a number of drugs. Dr Murray then left the room and when he returned, Michael Jackson had stopped breathing. The coronal recorded verdict of homicide after concluding that Michael Jackson died of acute Propofol intoxication⁶.

The losing candidate in Sri Lanka presidential election, General Sarath Fonseka, has been arrested by military police at his office in Colombo. The general led the Sri Lanka’s army during its final onslaught against Tamil Tiger rebels, but later fell out with the government and resigned. Charles Haviland reports from the Sri Lankan capital.

Rauff Hakeem, one of the senior politicians, having a meeting with General Fonseka at the time, said a large number of army officers dragged him out by his hands and feet in what Mr Hakeem called a very humiliating and disgusting manner. The senior government defense⁷ official Laxman Hulugalle told the BBC that the general had been taken into custody⁸, because, he said, he violated army rules by holding discussions with party leaders while chief of the army and the armed forces. General Fonseka’s aids denied he has broken any rules or plotted anything.

Pressure is building among western countries for new stiffer international sanctions against Iran, following its announcement that it will begin enriching uranium to a higher grade and constructing more enrichment plants. The United States and France, leading course for a broader sector⁹ of punitive¹⁰ sanctions, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the US Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, said the time had come for what they called “strong measures”.

More than a hundred people have been rescued from the sea in the Gulf¹¹ of Aden after human traffickers forced them overboard from a stricken boat. A rescue operation found the migrants clinging to bits of driftwood and utterly¹² exhausted¹³. Our east Africa correspondent Peter Greste reports.

The coastguard from the semi-autonomous region of Somaliland spotted¹⁴ the first of the survivors¹⁵ floating in the water on Sunday. The refugees told them a horrific story. They left the northern coast of Somali over a week earlier, 135 Somalis and Ethiopians hoping for a better life in the Europe and Middle-east. But the boat developed engine trouble and drifted for days. Eventually the traffickers who they paid to take them across the Gulf of Aden forced the refugees into the water at gun point.

This is the World News from the BBC.

The International Criminal Court has dismissed war crime charges against the first rebel leader in the Sudanese region of Darfur to appeal before it. A pre-trial hearing of the court ruled the prosecutors¹⁶ had failed to produce enough evidence at the man, Abu Garda, had planned and participated in an attack on an African Union military base in 2007, in which 12 peacekeepers were killed. Abu Garda had denied all the charges against him.

One of the most senior police officers in London has been sentenced to four years in prison for assaulting and then trying to frame a man. Ali Dizeai, who is an Iranian descent and a Commander in the Metropolitan¹⁷ police, was convicted of misconduct in public office and perverting¹⁸ the course of justice. He maintained he was targeted by colleagues because his prominent role in supporting ethnic¹⁹ minority officers.

With all but a handful of votes counted from Ukraine’s presidential election, the opposition²⁰ leader Viktor Yanukovych has narrowly beaten his rival, the Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Official figures gave Mr Yanukovych whose party is allied²¹ to the Kremlin's United Russia a margin²² of almost 3 percent over Mrs Tymoshenko, who was one of the leaders of the Orange Revolution.

The Football Federation²³ of Benin has sacked the country’s entire football team following its poor performance of the Africa Cup of Nations. The French coach, Michel Dussuyer , and all his staff were also dismissed. The president of Benin’s Football Federation, Moucharafou Anjorin, explained why the decision was taken.

A number of things happened, we have players that we are totally disrespectful of the football authorities. They were driven more by the greed for money than respect for the authorities that ran the game. Several players even failed to show up at the reception held in their own outer-presence office before the tournament began. This was a scandal. This is a disciplinary issue, not a technical issue.

1 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

2 malice   

n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋

参考例句：

• I detected a suggestion of malice in his remarks.我觉察出他说的话略带恶意。
• There was a strong current of malice in many of his portraits.他的许多肖像画中都透着一股强烈的怨恨。

3 oversee   

vt.监督，管理

参考例句：

• Soldiers oversee the food handouts.士兵们看管着救济食品。
• Use a surveyor or architect to oversee and inspect the different stages of the work.请一位房产检视员或建筑师来监督并检查不同阶段的工作。

4 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

6 intoxication   

n.wild excitement;drunkenness；poisoning

参考例句：

• He began to drink, drank himself to intoxication, till he slept obliterated. 他一直喝，喝到他快要迷糊地睡着了。
• Predator: Intoxication-Damage over time effect will now stack with other allies. Predator:Intoxication,持续性伤害的效果将会与队友相加。

7 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

8 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

9 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

10 punitive   

adj.惩罚的，刑罚的

参考例句：

• They took punitive measures against the whole gang.他们对整帮人采取惩罚性措施。
• The punitive tariff was imposed to discourage tire imports from China.该惩罚性关税的征收是用以限制中国轮胎进口的措施。

11 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。

12 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

13 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

14 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

15 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

16 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

17 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

18 perverting   

v.滥用( pervert的现在分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落

参考例句：

• We must never tolerate any taking bribes and perverting justice. 我们决不能姑息贪赃枉法的行为！ 来自互联网
• District Councillor was jailed for three months for vote-planting and perverting the course of justice. 区议员因选举种票及妨碍司法公正被判监三个月。 来自互联网

19 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

20 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

21 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

22 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

23 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。