英国新闻听力 美联储2009年利润达450亿美元（在线收听）

Parliament in Nigeria has voted to send a delegation to Saudi Arabia to check on the health of President Umaru Yar'Adua. He's been in hospital there since November, being treated for heart trouble. As Will Ross reports from Abuja, there is growing concern that the president's long absence is creating a power vacuum.

Up until now, only a handful of people close to President Yar'Adua have been kept abreast of his health condition. Even senior ministers have been kept out of the loop, and like the rest of the population have had to rely on rumours. But the calls for the president to step aside are growing, and Nigerians are starting to make it clear that they find the continued absence and subsequent power vacuum unacceptable. President Yar'Adua has now been out of the country for 50 days. There had been no sight or sound of him until earlier on Tuesday when he spoke to the BBC over the phone from his hospital bed. He sounded very weak, but said he hoped to get better soon and return to work.

The United States has dismissed as "absurd" allegations by Iran that American and Israeli agents were responsible for the assassination of a physics professor in Tehran. The official state media in Iran was quick to report details of the attack, and said a bomb had killed the scientist, Masoud Ali Mohammadi, as he was leaving his home. Jon Leyne reports.

The Iranian media said he was a nuclear scientist and a loyal supporter of the Islamic revolution. The clear implication was this was an attempt to derail the nuclear programme. But scientists in Britain and the United States said that from his published work, it was clear Mr. Mohammadi specialized in another branch of physics and could not have been involved in the nuclear programme. The Iranian opposition claimed that he supported one of their candidates during the presidential election. They will fear this killing might be used as a further reason to crack down on their activities.

Saudi Arabia says four of its soldiers have been killed in clashes with Yemeni rebels who crossed the border into Saudi territory. The assistant defence minister said Saudi forces destroyed the rebels, who tried to occupy a border village.

The European Court of Human Rights says British anti-terror legislation, allowing police to search people without reasonable suspicion, breaches human rights. The case was brought by two people who were stopped by police on the way to a demonstration in London in 2003. Here is Danny Shaw.

This is a strongly worded ruling from the European court that is likely to have far-reaching implications for the way British police use anti-terrorism stop-and-search powers. The measures enable officers to search anyone for terrorist material within specially designated areas. The court said the powers in the 2000 Terrorism Act were not sufficiently circumscribed, and did not contain adequate legal safeguards against abuse. It said there was a risk they could be misused against demonstrators and those from ethnic minority groups.

Russia has announced its biggest fall in gas production for 25 years. Gazprom, the energy giant that supplies three quarters of Russian gas, saw its output falls 16%. A spokesman blamed the global economic downturn for reduced demand in Russia and abroad.

The government in Venezuela is beginning power cuts in large parts of the country to tackle an energy crisis caused by water shortages. The electricity minister said the cuts, lasting up to four hours every other day, would prevent water levels at Venezuela's main hydro-electric dam from falling too low. Drought has affected the flow of water into the reservoir.

Police in Mexico say they have captured one of the country's most wanted men, the alleged drug baron, Teodoro Garcia Simental. His gang is blamed for much of the violence in the border city of Tijuana, which escalated following his split from the powerful Arellano Felix cartel in 2008. Peter Bowes has the details.

Teodoro Garcia Simental was detained in La Paz, a fishing city on the Baja California peninsula. He is the second alleged major drug lord to be held in less than a month by President Felipe Calderon's government. More than 45,000 troops have been sent to drug hotspots to confront the cartels. The response has been more violence and an unprecedented number of killings. Teodoro Garcia is among 24 alleged drug kingpins wanted in Mexico, and the government had offered 2.1 million dollars for information leading to his arrest.

Figures from the United States central bank, the Federal Reserve, show it made a record profit of 52 billion dollars in its lending operations last year. The Fed benefited from interest payments by private banks forced to take out emergency government loans during the global financial crisis. The figures suggest that the American tax payers have so far gained rather than lost money from the banking bail-out.

尼日利亚议会举行投票，派遣代表团前往沙特阿拉伯探视总统亚加杜瓦的健康状况。自11月份以来，亚加杜瓦一直在沙特医院接受心脏病治疗。据Will Ross在阿布贾报道，总统的长期缺席导致的权利空缺引发越来越多的担忧。

至目前为止，只有总统亚加杜瓦身边的少数人了解他的健康状况。甚至高级部长也被严加保密，像其他民众一样，只能依靠谣言来获取信息。但是要求总统下台的呼声愈演愈烈，尼日利亚民众逐渐表明，总统的长期缺席和随后导致的权力的真空是难以接受的。目前，亚加杜瓦总统已经离开尼日利亚50天。此前，人们一直没有看到或听到亚加杜瓦，直到周二早，他在医院病床上通过电话向BBC发表讲话。他听上去非常虚弱，但是表示希望尽快康复，恢复工作。

美国驳回了伊朗方面“荒唐的”指控。伊朗声称，美国和以色列间谍应为一位物理学教授在德黑兰遭暗杀事件负责。伊朗官方媒体迅速报道了袭击的细节，称科学家Masoud Ali Mohammadi离开家时遭遇炸弹爆炸身亡。Jon Leyne报道。

伊朗媒体称，Masoud Ali Mohammadi教授是一位原子能科学家，也是伊斯兰革命的忠实拥护者。其明显的暗示是这是一次企图干扰和项目的举动。但是英国和美国科学家表示，通过教授发表的成果来看，很明显， Mohammadi的专业是物理学的其他分支，不可能涉及核项目。伊朗反对派声称，在总统选举期间，他支持其中一名候选人。他们担心这次暗杀事件被用作进一步镇压他们活动的理由。

沙特阿拉伯表示，四名士兵在与穿越边境进入沙特领土的也门叛军的冲突中遇难。助理国防部长表示，沙特力量摧毁了企图占领一个边境村庄的反叛分子。

欧洲人权法院表示，英国的反恐法案允许警方在没有合理怀疑的情况下对民众进行搜查，这违反了人权法。提起诉讼的两人曾在2003年前往伦敦示威的途中被警方制止。下面是Danny Shaw的报道。

欧洲人权法院在裁决中措辞严厉，这可能进一步暗示反对英国警方使用反恐搜查权利。这些措施赋予警察在指定区域内对任何人进行搜查，检查恐怖主义材料的权利。法院称，2000年的恐怖主义法案没有进行充分的限制，没有包含充分的防止滥用的条款。法院称，该条例可能会被错误地应用于示威者或少数民族群体。

俄罗斯宣布其天然气产量出现25年来最大的下滑。供应俄罗斯四分之三的天然气的能源巨头Gazprom公司产量减少了16%。一名发言人表示，全球经济低迷导致俄罗斯国内外天然气需求量下降。

委内瑞拉政府开始在全国大范围地区断电，以应对由于水资源短缺引发的能源危机。电力部长称，断电长达每天四小时，可以避免委内瑞拉主要的水力发电站的水位下降的过低。干旱影响了水向水库的流动。

墨西哥警方称其擒获了最大的通缉犯，所谓的毒品男爵加西亚(Teodoro Garcia Simental)。据称，他的犯罪团伙制造了边境城市提华纳大部分暴力事件。自2008年他从Arellano Felix卡特尔分裂出来，暴力事件逐渐升级。Peter Bowes报道详细信息。

加西亚(Teodoro Garcia Simental)被关押在下加利福尼亚半岛的拉巴斯。他是不到一个月以来被卡尔德龙政府关押的第二名大毒枭。政府共派遣了超过45,000人前往毒品热点地区打击卡特尔，结果却引发了更多的暴力活动和前所未有的杀戮事件。加西亚(Teodoro Garcia Simental)是墨西哥被通缉的24名毒枭之一。政府悬赏210万美元对其进行捉拿。

美国中央银行联邦储蓄的数据表明其去年的借贷业务获利520亿美元。美联储主要是通过全球金融危机期间，私有银行被迫向政府紧急贷款的私有银行获利。数字表明，通过银行救助计划，美国纳税人已经赚取了利润，而没有遭受损失。