Hourly News 每日新闻 2013-11-06

 Chinese president issues new reform call ahead of key party session

Chinese President Xi Jingping has issued a new statement ahead of a key party meeting this coming weekend.

Speaking while on an inpection tour in Hunan, Xi Jinping is calling for more reforms to help build an innovation-driven economy.

Xi Jinping says encouraging innovation is the "fundamental approach" to breaking up the bottlenecks¹ restricting the growth of the Chinese economy.

The Chinese president is also calling on local governments to find a balance between economic growth and structural² reforms.

The upcoming CPC plenary session this weekend in Beijing is expected to include discussions on a slew³ of major reform policies.

 

UN, Russia, U.S. meeting fails to set date on Syria peace talks

Officials from the UN, US and Russia have failed to set a date for the so-called Geneva II meeting on Syria.

UN-Arab League envoy⁴ Lakhdar Brahimi has been meeting with Russian and US officials in Switzerland to assess the likelyhood of getting a meeting together.

Brahimi says the group will meet again on November 25th for another prepatory meeting, suggesting a November gathering⁵ is now unlikely.

The US and Russia had tentatively planned to hold a meeting among international stakeholders, the Syrian Government and Syrian opposition⁶ to try to hammer out a political solution to bring the Syrian conflict to an end.

However, divisions among the Syrian opposition in exile have been holding up the process.

 

China's top nuclear envoy to visit North Korea

China's top nuclear negotiator is headed back to North Korea to try to push for the resumption of six-party talks.

Korean Peninsula affairs chief Wu Dawei is due to sit down with North Korean officials on the potential denuclearization of the region.

The Chinese foreign ministry⁷ says Wu Dawei's trip to North Korea comes at a time of reduced tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The 6-party talks, which involve the two Koreas, the US, Japan, Russia and China, have been mothballed since 2008.

 

Kerry in Israel to advance peace talks with Palestinians

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Israel in a bid to try to advance the peace talks with the Palestinians. 

Kerry is due to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

This is Kerry's 8th visit to the region since taking office.

Speaking to reporters ahead of his time in Israel, Kerry says he believes there is an ability to move the peace negotiations⁸ forward.

But he cautions all sides need to be calm and committed to a "quiet" process.

This is Kerry's 8th visit to the region since taking office.

His shuttle-diplomacy finally managed to get the Israeli and Palestinians talking again earlier this year after 3-years.

 

South Korean president starts three-day visit in Britain

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye has begun a three-day visit to Britain.

Park has been greeted by the Queen and British Prime Minister David Cameron, among others.

She's due to hold official talks with Cameron later on this Wednesday.

This is the South Korean President's first official visit to the UK since taking office.

She's being put up at Buckingham Palace.

 

NSA spies on Japan for military, economic, foreign policy reasons

The Japanese government has so-far offered only a muted response to word it too may be on the list of countries being spied on by the US National Security Agency.

Japan's Defense⁹ Minister says he's only heard through media reports that Japan is on a list of "friendly" countries the NSA has been covertly¹⁰ gathering information from.

Itsunori Onodera says his government doesn't want to believe this kind of report.

A new report from the New York Times this week has suggested Japan has been under surveilence by the NSA since at least 2007.

 

Ireland to hold referendum on same-sex marriage in 2015

The Irish government has announced it plans to hold a referendum on whether to legalize same-sex marriage in the country.

The Irish government says it hopes to hold a vote on whether to ammend the country's consitution to allow same-sex unions in the first half of 2015.

Ireland's Justice Minister says his department will be working with the country's Attorney General over the course of the next year to determine the specifics of the proposed referendum.

Polling at the end of last year in Ireland, a predominantly Catholic country, has found that close to three-quarters of those asked say they would vote 'yes' to extending civil marriage rights to same-sex couples.

 

China's Hao Ping elected president of UNESCO's governing body

China's vice¹¹ minister of education has been elected the President of the UNESCO General Conference.

The election makes Hao Ping the first representative from China to be elected to chair the supreme¹² governing body of UNESCO.

The 54-year-old is the former head of Beijing Foreign Studies University and vice-President of Peking University.

 

Beijing, Zhangjiakou co-bid for 2022 Winter Olympics

Authorities in Beijing and the city of Zhangjiakou in Hebei have announced plans to launch a joint¹³ bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

The Chinese Olympic Committee says the bid will see Beijing host the ice events.

Zhangjiakou would host the alpine¹⁴ events.

Zhangjiakou is about 200 kilometers northwest of Beijing.

An intercity railway is being planned to connect the two cities.

It's expected to cut the journey down to just 40-minutes.

1 bottlenecks   

n.瓶颈( bottleneck的名词复数 )；瓶颈路段（常引起交通堵塞）；（尤指工商业发展的）瓶颈；阻碍

参考例句：

• Roadworks are causing bottlenecks in the city centre. 道路施工导致市中心交通阻塞。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At five o'clock in the afternoon the city streets are a series of bottlenecks. 下午五点市中心的街道就成了拥挤不堪的窄路。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

3 slew   

v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多

参考例句：

• He slewed the car against the side of the building.他的车滑到了大楼的一侧，抵住了。
• They dealt with a slew of other issues.他们处理了大量的其他问题。

4 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

5 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

6 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。

7 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

8 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

9 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。

10 covertly   

adv.偷偷摸摸地

参考例句：

• Naval organizations were covertly incorporated into civil ministries. 各种海军组织秘密地混合在各民政机关之中。 来自辞典例句
• Modern terrorism is noteworthy today in that it is being done covertly. 现代的恐怖活动在今天是值得注意的，由于它是秘密进行的。 来自互联网

11 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。

12 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

13 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

14 alpine   

adj.高山的；n.高山植物

参考例句：

• Alpine flowers are abundant there.那里有很多高山地带的花。
• Its main attractions are alpine lakes and waterfalls .它以高山湖泊和瀑布群为主要特色。