2016年经济学人 委内瑞拉进入经济紧急状态 奥巴马或越权（在线收听）

Sanctions on Iran were lifted after the regime was found to be in compliance with its obligations to dismantle parts of its nuclear programme. Yet America almost immediately imposed a new set of sanctions on companies and people linked to Iran's ballistic-missile programme. Iran also freed four Iranian-Americans it had held prisoner, including a reporter from the Washington Post, in exchange for seven Iranians held in America.

在伊朗履行其义务放弃部分核计划后，对伊制裁也得到了解除。然而，美国随即针对伊朗与弹道导弹计划有关的企业和人员实施了一系列新制裁。伊朗释放了包括一名《华盛顿邮报》记者在内4名美籍伊朗裔囚犯，作为交换，7名在美国的伊朗人士也将获释。

The UN said that Islamic State has enslaved as many as 3,500 people in Iraq. Most of these are women and children from the minority Yazidi community. Speaking in Paris, America's defence secretary, Ashton Carter, said America and six other countries were stepping up their military campaign against IS in Iraq and Syria.

联合国称伊斯兰国（Islamic State）在伊拉克挟持了3500人作为奴隶。他们当中大多数是来自雅兹迪（Yazidi）少数民族群体的妇女和儿童。美国国防部长阿什顿·卡特（Ashton Carter）于巴黎表示，美国与其他六国将加强对极端组织伊斯兰国在伊拉克和叙利亚地区的军事打击。

Members of the two main factions in Libya's civil war formed a unity government as part of a peace process brokered by the UN. But several militias in control of different parts of the country, including some in the two main factions, rejected the deal.

在联合国的调解下，利比亚内战中两大主要系派成员以推动和平进程为目的共同成立了联合政府。但控制利比亚各地的多个民兵组织，包括两大派系中的某些民兵组织在内，都对该做法表示反对。

In Burkina Faso jihadists attacked a hotel in the capital, Ouagadougou, killing at least 30 people. The attack, an echo of one last year in neighbouring Mali, was the first by Islamists in the country.

布基纳法索（Burkina Faso）首都瓦加杜古（Ouagadougou）一酒店遭到圣战分子袭击，造成至少30人死亡。此次袭击作为去年邻国马里袭击的延续，是伊斯兰教徒在布基纳法索发动的首次袭击。

The letter of the law

标准普尔降低波兰评级

Standard & Poor's, a rating agency, downgraded Poland's credit rating from A- to BBB+ over concerns about the rule of law in the country. The agency said changes to Poland's media law and to the composition of its constitutional court, made by the new right-wing government of the Law and Justice party, implied that institutional checks and balances could be threatened. Poland has been placed under review in a European Commission rule-of-law procedure.

标准普尔评级公司（Standard & Poor's）出于对波兰法治的担忧，将其信用等级由“A-”降至“BBB+”。该公司表示，在新上台右翼执政党法律与公正党的支持下，波兰媒体法与宪法法院构成形式的相关改革暗示着其体制制衡或将受到威胁。欧洲委员会已针对波兰开展法治程序审查。

In Britain a public inquiry into the murder in 2006 of Alexander Litvinenko, a KGB defector, found that Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, had “probably” approved the killing following a feud. Litvinenko was poisoned by tea laced with radioactive polonium-210 at a restaurant in London. Two Russian men accused of the murder deny any involvement.

英国在关于2006年克格勃（KGB）叛逃者亚历山大·利特维年科（Alexander Litvinenko）谋杀事件的公开调查中发现，俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京（Vladimir Putin）“可能”在双方不和后批准了此次谋杀行动。利特维年科在伦敦某餐厅喝下了掺有放射性钋-210的茶水后中毒身亡。两名俄罗斯人遭到指控，但他们否认参与了此次谋杀。

Franois Hollande unveiled a plan to boost job creation in France, which provides subsidies to small firms if they hire young or unemployed workers and more vocational training. Economists are sceptical of the plan. The French president has promised to bring France's unemployment rate down before running for a second term in 2017.

弗朗索瓦·奥朗德（Fran?ois Hollande）计划增加法国就业机会，只要小型企业雇佣年轻人和失业人士，就会为它们提供补贴和更多的职业培训。经济学家们对此计划表示质疑。法国总统承诺，将在2017竞选连任之前降低法国的失业率。

Fists all round

台湾地区领导人选举蔡英文获胜

Taiwan elected Tsai Ing-wen as president, the first female one in the Chinese-speaking world. Ms Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) also won its first majority in the island's legislature. The DPP favours Taiwan's formal independence from China, but Ms Tsai says she wants to maintain the status quo. She is likely to be more cautious than was her predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang, in pursuing free-trade and other agreements with China.

台湾选举蔡英文（Tsai Ing-wen）为其主席，这也是华人世界首位女性主席。蔡英文所领导的民主进步党（DPP）也在台湾立法机构中首次赢得多数席位。民进党向来支持台湾从中国正式独立出去，但蔡英文却表示希望维持现状不变。在同中国协商自由贸易以及其他协议方面，蔡英文可能较其前任——国民党领导人马英九而言更为谨慎。

Gunmen killed 22 people and left 17 others injured in an attack on Bacha Khan University in north-west Pakistan. Four assailants were killed by security forces. It is not yet clear whether they were linked with militants who have carried out other deadly attacks in recent months.

枪手在巴基斯坦西北地区帕夏汗大学（Bacha Khan University）发动袭击，造成22人死亡，17人受伤。4名袭击者已被警察击毙。不过目前仍不清楚这些袭击者是否与近几月里其它几起致命袭击的激进分子有关。

A Swedish human-rights activist, Peter Dahlin, was shown on Chinese television apparently confessing to crimes. State media said Mr Dahlin, who works for a Beijing-based human-rights group, had “sponsored activities jeopardising China's national security”. Earlier a publisher from Hong Kong, Gui Minhai, who had gone missing in Thailand, was also shown on Chinese TV saying he had turned himself in to the authorities in relation to a drink- driving conviction 12 years ago.

瑞典人权活动人士彼得·达林（Peter Dahlin）在中国中央电视台节目中招认罪行。中国官方媒体报道称彼得·达林在北京一人权组织工作，曾“资助危害中国国家安全的犯罪活动”。早前，在泰国失踪的香港书商桂敏海也出现在央视的一个节目中，就12年前的酒驾罪行向当局自首。

China's leader, Xi Jinping, began his first trip as president to the Middle East. He travelled to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and is also due to go to Iran. More than half of China's imports of crude oil come from the Middle East.

中国领导人习近平赴沙特阿拉伯和埃及进行国事访问，预计还将访问伊朗。此次访问是习近平上任国家主席以来首次出访中东。中国超半数进口原油来自中东。

North Korea's official media said scientists in the country had invented an alcoholic drink that does not cause hangovers. It is said to be made of a type of ginseng and glutinous rice. Implausible claims are a North Korean staple.

朝鲜官方媒体称该国科学家已研制出了不会导致宿醉的酒。据说这种混合酒由糯米制成，并加入了高丽参。不过朝鲜向来会吹牛皮。

Economic mismanagement

委内瑞拉进入经济紧急状态

Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, declared a state of economic emergency and asked parliament for powers to reform the economy by decree for 60 days. After withholding the release of economic indicators for more than a year, the Central Bank reported that inflation in the 12 months to September 2015 was 141.5% and that GDP shrank by 7.1% over the same period.

委内瑞拉总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗（Nicolás Maduro）宣布全国进入为期60天的经济紧急状态，要求议会授予其权利颁布法案改革经济。委内瑞拉一年多未公布任何经济数据，如今央行最终披露最新数据：截至2015年9月，委内瑞拉年通胀率高达141.5%，GDP同比下滑7.1%。

Colombia's government and the FARC guerrilla army asked the UN to send an unarmed mission to monitor a ceasefire between them after a peace agreement is signed. The joint request is an indication that negotiators in Havana are close to reaching a final agreement to end a conflict that has lasted for more than 50 years.

哥伦比亚政府与哥伦比亚革命武装力量游击队签订和平协议，并请求联合国派一支无武装代表团监督这项停火协议。此次联合声明暗示双方在哈瓦那的和平进程谈判进入最后阶段——即达成协议结束长达半个世纪的的武装冲突。

Jude Célestin, who came second in the first round of Haiti's presidential election in October, said he will boycott the run-off on January 24th because of alleged fraud. The leader after the first round was Jovenel Mo?se, who has the backing of the current president, Michel Martelly.

10月海地首轮总统大选得票率第二位的裘德·塞勒斯坦（Jude Célestin）称，因第一轮大选疑似存在舞弊行为，他将抵制1月24日举行的决胜选举。第一轮选举得票率最高的是穆瓦兹（Jovenel Mo?se），此人得到现任总统米歇尔·马尔泰利的支持。

Overstepping his authority?

奥巴马越权？

America's Supreme Court took up a case that challenges orders issued by Barack Obama in November 2014 to lift the threat of deportation from up to 5m illegal immigrants and allow them to work. The orders were blocked when 26 states, led by Texas, filed suit in lower courts against the Obama administration.

美国最高法院最近受理了对总统奥巴马修改移民政策提出挑战的案件。2014年11月，奥巴马颁布行政令，约500万非法移民可以申请暂缓遣返并可以留下工作。该项目因以德州为首的26州联合上诉抵制奥巴马的行政令而搁浅。

Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed that 2015 was the hottest year on record. The average global temperature was 0.9C (1.62F) above the long-term average for the 20th century. Cold comfort for those living in the northern hemisphere as various cold snaps start to bite.

美国国家海洋与大气管理局的科学家证实，2015年是自有资料记载以来最炎热的一年。2015年全球平均温度比20世纪的长期平均水平高出了0.9摄氏度（1.62华氏度）。不过随着诸多寒流来袭，证实的结果对北半球的人们来说起不到任何安慰作用。

In an unusually stilted performance, Sarah Palin, John McCain's running-mate in 2008, endorsed Donald Trump for president. A day earlier Mr Trump was the hot topic in Britain when Parliament debated a voter petition to ban him from the country for making Islamophobic statements. The government said it couldn't comment on individual immigration cases.

萨拉·佩林（Sarah Pali，2008年约翰·麦凯恩的竞选搭档）异常高调宣布支持唐纳德·特朗普竞选总统。前一天，特朗普还是英国的“热点话题人物”，此前他发表仇视穆斯林言论引起公愤，英国议会决定就一份要求禁止特朗普入境的请愿书展开辩论。政府表示不能就个体移民案件发表评论。