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Politics this week
本周政治要闻
The long process to choose America's presidential candidates got under way, in Iowa. Ted Cruz won the state's Republican caucuses, upending Donald Trump, who had led recent polling. Mr Trump came second, not far ahead of Marco Rubio, considered to be the viable moderate alternative to the populist front-runners. On the Democratic side Hillary Clinton eked out a win over Bernie Sanders by 0.3 of a percentage point, the thinnest- ever margin of victory in the party's Iowa caucuses.
战线持久的美国大选在爱荷华州（Iowa）拉开帷幕，共和党总统参选人特德·克鲁兹（Ted Cruz）在该党的党团会议中击败了民调一直都遥遥领先的唐纳德·特朗普（Donald Trump）。特朗普以微弱优势领先马尔科·鲁比奥（Marco Rubio），排名第二。鲁比奥为人稳健，受人欢迎，有相当大的获胜可能。民主党初选希拉里（Hillary Clinton）以0.3个百分点险胜桑德斯（Bernie Sanders）。这是民主党在爱荷华州党团会议中有史以来最险的一次取胜。
Ash Carter, America's defence secretary, said the Pentagon would ask for $583 billion in the White House's forthcoming budget. Spending on fighting Islamic State is to double, to$7.5 billion, and support for central and east European countries in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine will quadruple to $3.4 billion.
美国国防部秘书长阿什顿·卡特（Ash Carter）宣布要向白宫申请5830亿美元的国防预算。用于打击“伊斯兰国”武装组织的预算比去年翻一番，将达到75亿美元。用于支持中欧与西欧国家应对俄罗斯对乌克兰侵犯的预算将增加三倍，达34亿美元。
Facebook moved to ban the private sale of guns through its network and Instagram, a photo-sharing site it owns.
脸书（Facebook）将在其网站和照片分享软件照片墙（Instagram）上禁止所有私人的枪支买卖。
The World Health Organisation declared that a rise in birth defects in Brazil, thought to be caused by the mosquito-borne Zika virus, is a global emergency. The virus probably caused more than 4,000 cases of microcephaly among new-born children in Brazil and has been found in more than 20 countries in the Americas. The WHO thinks the virus is spreading “explosively”. It is thought that a case detected in Texas was probably transmitted through sex.
巴西由蚊子传播的寨卡病毒（Zika virus）造成的出生缺陷病例不断增加，世界卫生组织（WHO）宣布此为全球紧急公共卫生事件。寨卡病毒引起了巴西4000多个新生儿小头畸形病例，已波及美洲20多个国家。世界卫生组织认为该病毒正在以“爆炸式”的速度扩散。在美国德州也发现一例疑似由性接触感染的病例。
Guatemala put on trial two former military officers charged with letting their soldiers kidnap and rape 11 Mayan women during the country's 36-year civil war. This is the first time that anyone has been tried for wartime sex-slavery charges in the country where the crimes were allegedly committed.
危地马拉（Guatemala）开庭审理两名前军官，他们被指控在危地马拉长达36年的内战中允许手下士兵绑架强奸11名马雅女性。这是该国首例认罪的战时性奴役案。
Argentina said it would repay Italian investors who had refused earlier offers of a debt restructuring after the country defaulted in 2001. If Congress approves the deal, the government will pay $1.35 billion, 150% of the face value of the bonds, to 50,000 investors. It hopes this will set a precedent for negotiations with holdout investors in bonds with a face value of $6 billion.
阿根廷（Argentina）表示将赔偿那些在2001年由于违约债券而受到损失的意大利投资者。此前，他们拒绝了阿根廷提出的债务重组的建议。如果阿议会通过了此项赔偿决议，阿政府将赔偿13.5亿美元（2001年债券面值的1.5倍）给50000名投资者。此外还有另外一些顽固的投资人持有面值为60亿美元的违约债券，与他们的协商也将参照这一做法。
The Cuban government is to allow residents of two districts in Havana, the capital, to have broadband connections to the internet. Cafes, restaurants and bars will also be permitted this huge privilege.
古巴（Cuban）政府将在首都哈瓦那（Havana）的两个区开放宽带网络。这一开放互联网的举措也将惠及咖啡吧，餐馆和酒吧。
The Swiss authorities said they would ask the Malaysian government to help them investigate claims that as much as $4 billion has gone missing from Malaysian state-owned firms. A small amount of the money had been transferred to bank accounts in Switzerland. Officials in Singapore said they had frozen “a large number” of accounts as part of investigations into transactions linked to 1MDB, a Malaysian state-investment ?rm.
瑞士政府部门表示他们将要求马来西亚政府配合调查有关40亿美元巨款从马来西亚国有企业无故蒸发一事。其中少部分金额已转移至瑞士的银行账户。在对马来西亚国企一马发展基金（1MDB）的调查中，新加坡官员称他们已冻结了大量与其有交易往来的账户。
North Korea declared that it would launch a satellite sometime between February 8th and 25th. Analysts believe the country's real aim is to test a long-range ballistic missile. Japan has ordered its armed forces to shoot down any missile that threatens to fall on Japanese territory.
朝鲜宣称将于２月８日至２５日之间发射一颗卫星。分析人士认为朝鲜真正的目的是为了测试其远距离弹道导弹。日本已经命令其武装部队拦截任何可能坠落在日本领土的导弹。
Police in China arrested 21 people for their involvement in an alleged Ponzi scheme run by Ezubao, an online ?rm. The company has been accused of defrauding 900,000 investors of 50 billion yuan ($7.6 billion)
中国警察逮捕了e租宝涉案人员共计21人，这一线上公司实则是一庞氏骗局，它已被指控诈骗资金500亿元（76亿美元），涉及投资人约90万名。
Talks in Geneva aimed at bringing an end to the civil war in Syria were suspended only days after they began. Opponents of the regime of Bashar al-Assad are demanding a ceasefire, but fighting is instead intensifying, especially around the city of Aleppo. The talks may resume in three weeks. A conference on aid to the region began in London, amid warnings that Lebanon and Jordan are almost overwhelmed by the cost of housing Syrian refugees.
旨在结束叙利亚内战的日内瓦和谈仅进行数日便陷入停滞状态。尽管巴沙尔·阿萨德（Bashar al-Assad）政权的反对者们要求停火，战争—尤其在阿勒颇（Aleppo）市附近—却愈演愈烈。此次和谈或将于三周后继续。援助叙利亚的会议在伦敦举行，与此同时多方警告道，安置叙利亚难民所花的成本给黎巴嫩（Lebanon）和约旦（Jordan）几乎带来了严重打击。
South Africa's president, Jacob Zuma, agreed to pay back some of the $23m in public money that was spent on his private residence, potentially drawing some of the sting from a scandal that may damage the African National Congress in local elections that are due to take place in May.
南非总统雅各布·祖马（Jacob Zuma）同意偿还其用于修缮私人住宅的2300万美元公款中的部分费用。该丑闻或将影响南非非洲人国民大会（African National Congress）在5月举行的地方选举中的表现,祖马此举可能会缓和对丑闻的批评之声。
At least 86 people died in the most brutal attack in months by Boko Haram, a Nigerian jihadist outfit. The attack took place close to the regional capital of Maiduguri, which houses the army's headquarters. Boko Haram lost control of the city in 2014.
尼日利亚圣战组织博科圣地（Boko Haram）进行了数月来最残酷的一次袭击，造成了至少86人死亡。此次袭击发生在州首府迈杜古里（Maiduguri）附近，这里同时也是军队总部所在地。博科圣地于2014失去了对迈杜古里的掌控。
King Felipe of Spain asked the Socialist party, headed by Pedro Sánchez, to form a government. The Socialists control only 90 seats in the 350-seat parliament, which has been deadlocked since an election in December proved inconclusive. In order to become prime minister, Mr Sánchez will have to win the support of Podemos, an anti-austerity movement, and several other parties. It will be tough.
西班牙国王费利佩（King Felipe of Spain）要求彼得罗·桑切斯（Pedro Sánchez）所领导的社会党组建政府。社会党仅拥有议会350个席位中的90个席位，自12月大选结果胜负不明以来便陷入了僵局之中。若想成为西班牙首相，桑切斯必须要赢得反紧缩运动“我可以”（Podemos）以及其他几个政党的支持。前方道路将很艰难。
The EU reached a provisional deal with America about data protection. Last year a ruling by the European Court of Justice abrogated the “Safe Harbour” agreement that let firms store individuals' private online data in America. European data-protection agencies gave a cautious welcome to the new “Privacy Shield”.
欧盟同美国就数据保护问题达成临时协议。去年，欧洲法院判定废除允许美国公司存储私人在线数据的“安全港”协议。欧洲数据保护机构对此新“隐私防护盾”表示欢迎的同时也有所警惕。
Aivaras Abromavicius, Ukraine's economy minister, resigned, complaining that the government was doing nothing about corruption.
乌克兰经济部长艾瓦拉斯·阿布罗马维丘斯（Aivaras Abromavicius）辞去部长职务，控诉政府对腐败袖手旁观。
A general election was called in Ireland for February 26th. The governing party led by Enda Kenny, the prime minister, is ahead in the polls.
爱尔兰于2月26日举行大选。由爱尔兰总理恩达·肯尼（Enda Kenny）所领导的执政党在民调中处于领先地位。
David Cameron presented a draft deal to “renegotiate” the terms of Britain's membership of the European Union. The prime minister's agitated Eurosceptic critics in his party and the press said he had failed to match the robust promises he made in the party's election manifesto last year. A former minister said that possibly a quarter of the cabinet are “certain” to campaign to leave the union in a forthcoming referendum.
大卫·卡梅伦（David Cameron）提出草案协议就英国留盟问题进行商讨。首相卡梅伦煽动党内反亲欧派批评者们。媒体表示，他未能遵守去年在政党大选宣言中所做出的强有力的承诺。英国前首相指出，在即将到来的公投中，可能有四分之一的内阁成员“确定”支持英国离开欧盟。
Another baffling issue, almost as old as Britain's EU membership, was cleared up this week when a death certificate was issued for Lord Lucan. The enigmatic aristocrat disappeared in 1974 after his children's nanny was murdered in London. Decades of speculation about his guilt ensued, as did alleged sightings, but Lucan was never seen again. The court ruling means that his son, Lord Bingham, can inherit the family title and become the 8th Earl of Lucan.
鲁肯伯爵（Lord Lucan）死亡证明的发布让另一件令人困扰已久的问题—几乎和英国留盟问题一样历史悠久—在本周得到了解决。其孩子的保姆在伦敦惨遭谋杀后，这名神秘贵族也于1974年失踪。几十年里，关于他有罪的猜测接踵而至，目击传言也层出不穷，但从未有人真正再见到过他。此次法庭的判决意味着鲁肯伯爵的儿子宾厄姆勋爵（Lord Bingham）能够继承家族头衔，成为鲁肯伯爵八世。 翻译：刘蕊&倪凌晖 校对：戴秀平
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