2014年大學專四英語聽力文本素材（7）

The British Prime Minister David Cameron has defended his integrity to a special session of parliament called to debate the phone-hacking scandal, which has rocked the police, the political establishment and the media empire of Rupert Murdoch. Mr Cameron said that with hindsight, he wouldn’t have employed a former newspaper editor, Andy Coulson, who was arrested over the hacking allegations earlier this month. Here’s Naomi Grimley.

This was the closest yet that David Cameron has come to admitting it was a mistake to hire Andy Coulson. He said that if the former editor of the News of the World was found guilty of any crimes, it would be a matter of profound regret. In the meantime, though, the prime minister would stick to the principle that a man was innocent until proven guilty. The leader of the opposition Ed Miliband said that wasn’t good enough. He argued the prime minister had been compromised by his links with Andy Coulson, and that that in turn had made it difficult for the police to do their job.

The United States says it will allow its aid to be sent to famine-affected areas of Somalia controlled by the Islamist al-Shabab militia as long as none of it is used to benefit the militants. An official with the American agency USAid said it would need the assurance of the United Nations that the aid wouldn’t be taxed by al-Shabab. The BBC Africa editor says this represents a big change in policy for the US, which has previously refused to send aid to areas controlled by al-Shabab.

The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, has warned that history will judge Europe’s leaders harshly if they fail to outline a clear solution to the current financial crisis. Mr Barroso said European leaders, who are meeting on Thursday, needed to provide clarity on future financial support for Greece, and he had this stark assessment of the situation.