英国新闻听力 埃及法老图坦卡蒙可能死于疟疾（在线收听）

President Obama has given his backing to building the first nuclear reactors in the United States in three decades. He said the country needed a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power stations to meet its energy needs and fight climate change. Mr Obama is offering an 8-billion-dollar loan guarantee to the first plant, but only if legislation against greenhouse gas emissions is part of the package. He said that without funding for new technologies, the US risked falling behind other nations.

"Make no mistake whether it's nuclear energy or solar or wind energy. If we fail to invest in the technologies of tomorrow, then we are gonna be importing those technologies instead of exporting them. We will fall behind. Jobs will be produced overseas instead of here in the United States of America. That's not a future that I accept."

The Afghan Taliban is said to have lost one of its key leaders. Reports say its top military commander and leading strategist, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, was captured at the beginning of this month in a joint operation by Pakistani and American forces in Karachi. A spokesman for the Afghan Taliban denied that the leader had been taken. From Karachi, Orla Guerin reports.

Pakistani security sources say Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was detained on February 8th at a religious school outside the city limits without a shot being fired. He is second only to the Taliban's reclusive supreme leader Mullah Omar, and critically he's thought to favor negotiations with the West and the Afghan government. It's hoped he could provide key intelligence and be a bargaining chip in any future talks.

Pope Benedict has called the sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic clergy in Ireland a heinous crime that wounded human dignity. His comments followed a meeting about the scandal with Irish bishops in Rome. The Vatican said all will agree that the church's teaching had been damaged. With more, here is Duncan Kennedy in Rome.

The two days of talks between Pope Benedict and the 24 bishops of Ireland were described as frank and open. In a statement afterwards, the Vatican spokesman said the pope shares the outrage over the abuse, which had resulted from years of failure to act by the Church in Ireland. The scandal was revealed last year in two reports that highlighted systematic abuse of children and young people by priests and others connected with the Church. At a news conference, the bishops said measures were already being put in place to stop future abuses.

The Inter-American Development Bank says the cost of rebuilding Haiti after last month's earthquake could reach 14 billion dollars. The estimate is based on preliminary damage assessment and comparisons with previous disasters. The bank says the earthquake was proportionately the most destructive natural disaster of modern times when viewed in relation to the size of Haiti's population and economy. The quake killed about 230,000 people and left the capital Port-au-Prince in ruins.

Argentina says it's imposing new controls on shipping to the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic in a growing row over British plans to drill for oil there. The Argentine government said all vessels leaving for the Falklands from Argentine ports or passing through Argentine waters would need permission from Buenos Aires. Britain and Argentina fought a short war over the Falklands in 1982. Argentina still disputes British sovereignty.

The French Defence Minister Herve Morin has promised a transparent investigation after a newspaper reported that France deliberately exposed its soldiers to contamination during nuclear tests. The Parisien newspaper had published what it said were official documents, detailing how several hundred soldiers were ordered to enter contaminated zones during atomic bomb tests in Algeria in the early 1960s. The document says the aim was to assess the physical and psychological effects on humans.

New research suggests that the Egyptian boy pharaoh Tutankhamun was killed by malaria and wasn't murdered or killed in an accident. Tutankhamun is probably the best-known pharaoh of ancient Egypt because of his marvelously preserved tomb discovered in 1922. Michelle Roberts reports.

Scientists, who painstakingly studied the pharaoh's remains, think Tutankhamun died from a bout of malaria that attacked his already weakened body. They say he had a cleft palate in club foot likely forcing him to walk with a cane. In the Journal of the American Medical Association, lead scientist, Dr Zahi Hawass, says how he found traces of the malaria parasite in Tutankhamun's blood along with signs of bone disease.

Researchers in Colombia say they may have an answer to food shortages in the conflict zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where livestock are often stolen. They suggest that guinea pigs, which are high in protein and easy to hide, have immense potential because they reproduce quickly and can be fed on kitchen waste.

美国总统奥巴马支持建立三十年来首座核反应堆。他表示，美国需要新一代安全，清洁的核电站来满足能源需求，对抗气候变化。奥巴马为首座核电站提供80亿美元的贷款担保，但是只有在限制温室气体排放的立法是该计划一部分的情况下才会成立。他说，如果不为新技术提供资金，美国将有可能落后于其他国家。

“毫无疑问，无论是核能，太阳能还是风能。如果我们不为明天的新技术投资，我们将从其他国家进口这些技术，而不是向其他国家出口。我们将会落后。其他国家将会创造出就业机会，而不是在美国。我不能接受这样的未来。”

据称，阿富汗塔利班分子痛失主要头目之一。有报道称，本月初，在驻卡拉奇巴基斯坦和美国军事力量发起的联合行动中，塔利班高级军事指挥官和主要策略家Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar被俘。阿富汗塔利班分子一名发言人否认了这一消息。卡拉奇，Orla Guerin报道。

巴基斯坦安全消息来源表示，Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar于2月8日被关押在市区范围外的一所宗教学校，期间未开一枪。他的地位仅次于塔利班隐遁的最高领袖Mullah Omar。关键的是，他被认为支持与西方和阿富汗政府进行谈判。希望他能够提供有价值的情报，并在未来的任何对话中成为谈判的筹码。

教皇本笃称爱尔兰天主教神职人员对儿童进行性虐待是伤害人类尊严的十恶不赦的罪行。在罗马与爱尔兰主教召开了关于该丑闻的会议后教皇发表了该评论。梵蒂冈方面表示，所有人员一致认为，教堂的教学受到了破坏。Duncan Kennedy在罗马报道更详细内容。

教皇本笃和爱尔兰24位主教之间为期两天的谈话被认为开诚布公。在随后发表的声明中，梵蒂冈发言人表示，教皇为虐童事件感到非常愤怒，而这种行为如此猖獗是由于爱尔兰教堂未及时采取行动。去年，两份报告披露神父和教堂其他相关人员对儿童和年轻人实施有系统的虐待，这桩丑闻才浮出水面。在新闻发布会上，主教们表示已经采取措施，避免将来这种虐待事件的再次发生。

泛美开发银行表示，上月地震之后，海地重建费用将高达140亿美元。该数字基于对损害的初步评估和与以前的灾难进行对比。该银行表示，根据海地的人口和经济来看，这次地震是现代海地遭遇的最具破坏性的自然灾害。这次地震造成230,000人死亡，使首都太子港成为废墟。

关于英国在南大西洋福克兰群岛开采石油的争吵不断滋长，阿根廷对前往此地的船运实施了新的限制。阿根廷表示，任何从阿根廷港口前往福克兰群岛或经过阿根廷水域的船只必须获得布宜诺斯艾利斯的许可。1982年，英国和阿根廷曾因福克兰群岛进行了短暂的战争。阿根廷对英国的主权仍然存在争议。

有报道称，法国在核试验中故意让士兵暴露在污染下，法国国防部长Herve Morin承诺进行透明的调查。法国《巴黎人日报》刊登了它所说的官方文件，详细披露了60年代初期原子弹试验期间，几百名士兵被命令进入阿尔及利亚污染地区。该文件表示，此举目的是评估对人类身体和心理的影响。

最新研究显示，埃及少年法老图坦卡蒙可能死于疟疾，而不是在事故中被谋杀。由于1922年挖掘出的保存完好的墓穴，图坦卡蒙是古埃及最为知名的法老。 Michelle Roberts报道。

对法老的遗体进行了辛苦研究的科学家认为图坦卡蒙的死因是疟疾袭击了他原本脆弱的身体。他们表示，法老脚部骨骼坏死，因此他必须依靠拐杖来行走。在美国医学协会杂志上，首席科学家Zahi Hawass表示，他在图坦卡蒙的血液中发现了疟疾寄生虫以及骨骼肌病的迹象。

哥伦比亚研究人员表示，他们或许已经有了解决刚果民主共和国冲突地区粮食短缺的答案。这个国家的牲畜经常被盗窃。他们表示，豚鼠的蛋白质含量很高，也容易隐藏，拥有巨大的潜力。因为豚鼠的繁殖速度非常快，而且可以用厨房废物来饲养。