澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2009-11-12

Australia is offering asylum¹ seekers on board the Oceanic Viking resettlement in Australia within 12 weeks if they disembark in Indonesia and have their refugee status confirmed. About half of the 78 Sri Lankans aboard the Oceanic Viking could be in Australia by Christmas if they accept the offer. But Sri Lanka says the asylum seekers are not genuine refugees.

The Prime Minister is in New Delhi holding top-level talks aimed at improving economic and political ties with India. It comes after a surprise stopover in Afghanistan where Mr. Rudd met with those Australian troops in Tarin Kowt. He used the visit to tell troops that Australia will stay in the region for the long haul.

In Queensland, Mary Valley residents must wait for ten days before a decision to stop the controversial Traveston Crossing dam is finalized². The Federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett  announced his interim³ decision to reject plans to dam the Mary River yesterday. The Queensland Government has ten days to provide further evidence in support of the dam.

And twenty thousand bales of hay are on fire at a property in South Australia’s upper Yorke Peninsula. About two hundred firefighters are battling the blaze. It is expected to burn for several days.

I’ll have more news updates later.

1 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

2 finalized   

vt.完成（finalize的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The draft of this article has been finalized [done]. 这篇文章已经定稿。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The draft was revised several times before it was finalized. 稿子几经删改才定下来。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。