MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AFP) – At least 15 Muslim pilgrims were killed and dozens more injured in the Saudi holy city of Mecca when a building collapsed in the latest tragedy to hit the annual hajj, according to a first official toll.
Witnesses spoke of scores of injured Thursday, although the first toll from the city’s civil defence force carried by the official Saudi Press Agency put the figure at 39.
法新社沙特阿拉伯麦加电：目击者证实，至少15名穆斯林朝圣者在麦加一座建筑物倒塌时丧生，同时还有数十名信徒受重伤。
目击者星期四说，仅仅第一次救援官方公布的伤亡数据就是39人。
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Monday he will delay Jan. 25 parliamentary elections if Israel bars Jerusalem Arabs from voting, the first time he has indicated he would postpone the balloting.
Senior members of the ruling Fatah party had urged Abbas to delay the elections, reflecting growing fears that the Islamic group Hamas will deal the movement a stinging blow in the polls.
美联社RAMALLAH西岸电：巴勒斯坦领导人穆罕穆德●阿巴斯周一表示，他有可能推迟1月25日举行的国会议员选举，如果以色列威胁禁止东耶路撒冷的巴勒斯坦人投票。这是阿巴斯第一次对选举延期进行表态。
针对哈马斯集团在多次民调中展示的激烈吹捧所带来的不断增长的威胁，法塔赫内部高层曾经多次向阿巴斯建议推迟选举进行。 （江峡 译）
Official: Sudanese Hostages in Iraq Freed
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Six kidnapped employees of Sudan’s embassy have been released following the Sudanese government’s pledge to close its embassy in Baghdad, a Sudanese official said Sunday.
Mohamed Ahmed Khalil, the Sudanese embassy’s charge d’affairs, told The Associated Press that Sudanese officials had talked to the employees by phone and they were at a friend’s house in central Baghdad.
The Sudanese Foreign Ministry reported on Dec. 24 that six of its embassy employees had been kidnapped – including the mission’s second secretary
官方：伊拉克苏丹人质获释
美联社伊拉克巴格达消息：一名苏丹官员星期日表示，在苏丹政府承诺关闭驻伊拉克大使馆后，6名被绑架的苏丹驻伊使馆工作人员被安全释放。
Ahmed Khalil穆罕穆德，苏丹使馆负责人告诉美联社，目前苏丹政府已经同被绑架的职员通电话，他们现在在巴格达市中心的一个朋友家。
苏丹外交部12月24日报告说，包括二秘在内的6名使馆雇员遭到（基地组织）的绑架。（江峡 翻译）
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) — Two more U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq as the year wound down Friday, putting the American military death toll at 841 so far – just five short of 2004’s lost lives despite political progress and dogged efforts to quash the insurgency.
Violence continued on Saturday with gunmen raiding a house near Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad, and killing five members of a Sunni family, army Col. Hussein Sheyaa said. A roadside bomb also exploded in Baghdad, killing five policemen, 1st Lt. Nadum Nuaman said.
美联社伊拉克巴格达消息：2名甚至更多的美军战士在新年即将到来的星期五被炸身亡，使得2005年美军在伊拉克的牺牲人数达到841名，仅仅比2004年少5名。
美军发言人Hussein Sheyaa 说，持枪的暴乱者周六继续袭击了巴格达南部30公里的Iskandariyah的一间房子，并打死了这个家庭的5名成员。另据1st Lt. Nadum Nuaman 的消息，在巴格达一条道路边的炸弹导致5名警察死亡。（江峡 翻译）
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)Millions of Iraqis, from tribal sheiks to entire families with children in tow, turned out Thursday to choose a parliament in a mostly peaceful election – among the freest ever in the Arab world. So many Sunni Arabs voted that ballots ran out in some places. The strong participation by Sunnis, the backbone of the insurgency, bolstered U.S. hopes that the election could produce a broad-based government capable of ending the daily suicide attacks and other violence that have ravaged the country since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
数百万的伊拉克人民在相对和平的环境中投票选举
美联社 伊拉克 巴格达消息：数百万的伊拉克人民，从部落领袖到带着孩子的普通家庭，本周四在和平稳定的环境中选择他们的国会议员，这是阿拉伯世界中最大的自由。
很多阿拉伯宗教领袖也出现在投票点投出了他们的选票，他们的广泛参与和随时发生暴动的可能，促使美国希望此次选举能够产生一个宽泛的代表民意的政府，以便有能力消除自从萨达姆政权倒台以来不断发生自杀性爆炸袭击和其他的对国家产生破坏性的叛乱。（江峡 翻译）
