Politics this week (2020.04.04) Part.02

A narco state

America charged Venezuela‘s dictator, Nicolás Maduro, and 14 other members of his regime with drug-trafficking, money-laundering and “narco-terrorism”. The State Department offered a reward of $15m for information leading to Mr Maduro’s arrest. The indictments allege that he co-founded the “cartel of the suns”, which sought to flood America with cocaine. The State Department later said America would lift sanctions on Venezuela if it agreed to its framework for restoring democracy.

• narco
  • a drug smuggler 毒贩
    • smuggler 走私者
• Venezuela
  • 委内瑞拉🇻🇪
• dictator
  • 独裁者
• regime
  • （尤指未通过公正选举的）政权，政体，统治方式
    • a fascist/totalitarian/military, etc. regime 法西斯、极权主义、军事等政权
• drug-trafficking
  • 贩毒
  • traffic in sth (-ck-)
    • （非法）进行……交易
• money-laundering
  • 洗钱
• indictment
  • a formal written charge of crime formerly referred to and presented on oath by a grand jury 公诉书
• allege
  • （未提出证据）断言，指称
• cartel
  • 卡特尔，企业联盟（通过统一价格、防止竞争来增加共同利润）
• sanction
  • (usually pl.) an official order that limits trade, contact, etc. with a particular country, in order to make it do sth, such as obeying international law 制裁
• restore
  • to bring a law, tradition, way of working, etc. back into use 重新采用

The ELN, a guerrilla group in Colombia, declared a one-month ceasefire starting on April 1st. It called the decision a “humanitarian gesture” in response to the covid-19 pandemic. The ELN killed more than 20 cadets at a police academy in Bogotá in January 2019.

• guerrilla
  • 游击队员
  • [only before noun] organized in an informal way and without official permission or approval 游击的，非正式的，没有官方认可的
• ceasefire
  • 停火，停战
• humanitarian
  • 人道主义的（主张减轻人类苦难、改善人类生活）
• cadet
  • 警官（或军官）学员

Nothing will stop them

Fighting in Yemen continued despite calls for a truce to fight covid-19 instead. Saudi Arabia, which supports the Yemeni government, said it intercepted missiles launched by Houthi rebels towards Saudi territory. The Saudi-led coalition then bombed targets in Sana’a, the Yemeni capital. Yemen has not yet recorded any cases of covid-19.

• truce
  • 休战，停战协定；停战期
    • call/break a truce 宣布休战；破坏停战协定
• intercept
  • 拦截
• missile
  • 导弹
• rebel
  • 反政府的人，叛乱者
• coalition
  • （两党或多党）联合政府；（多个政治团体的）联盟
• bomb
  • 轰炸

Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, self-isolated after an aide tested positive for covid-19. Mr Netanyahu himself tested negative (though the health minister came down with the disease). He is in talks with Benny Gantz, the leader of the opposition, over forming a unity government.

• aide
  • （尤指从政者的）助手
• come down with
  • 患，染上（小病）

Ethiopia postponed parliamentary elections scheduled for the end of August because of covid-19. The poll will be the first test of the popularity of Abiy Ahmed, a reformist prime minister, who assumed the role in 2018 after the resignation of his predecessor.

• Ethiopia
  • 埃塞俄比亚🇪🇹
• parliamentary
  • [usually before noun] 议会的，国会的，设有议会的
    • parliamentary elections 议会选举
  • parliament
    • 议会，国会
• poll
  • the process of voting at an election; the process of counting the votes 选举投票，计票
• reformist
  • 主张改革的
  • 改革者
• assume
  • (formal) to take or begin to have power or responsibility 承担（责任），就（职），取得（权力）
• predecessor
  • a person who did a job before sb else 前任

Opposition parties in Guinea rejected the result of a constitutional referendum that could allow President Alpha Condé to run for a third term of five years, saying it was marred by violence. Electoral officials said 91% of votes cast were in favour of the new constitution.

• Guinea
  • 几内亚🇬🇳
• referendum
  • an occasion when all the people of a country can vote on an important issue 全民投票，全民公决
• term
  • 任期，期限
    • prison/jail term of 25 years 25年的刑期
• mar
  • 损害，破坏
  • Mars 火星
• cast
  • cast a vote for
    • 投票
• constitution
  • 宪法