1) The head of the United Nations nuclear agency Mohamed ElBaradei says his inspectors have verified the shutdown of North Korea’s nuclear reactor Yongbyon, a key step in halting the country’s nuclear weapons programme. But as Roger Wilkison reports from Bangkok, the top US negotiator with North Korea says the road ahead will be long and difficult.

ElBaradei told a meeting in Bangkok Monday that his inspectors at Yongbyon have confirmed the reactor shut down, and the next step is to verify that other facilities at the site have also been shut down. North Korea agreed in February to halt its nuclear weapons programme in exchange for aid and an end to isolation. South Korea said Monday that it has sent a second shipment of oil to North Korea as part of that agreement. Six-party talks to map out the next phase of PyongYang's disarmament begin in BeiJing this week. But top US negotiator Christopher Hill says the talks will not be easy.

“I certainly have to anticipate there'll be problems in the future because I never expected it would take until July to get this first step done. But better late than never”.

North Korea promises further steps towards disarming if Japan and the United States remove economic sanctions and end what PyongYang calls “their hostile policies toward it”. Roger Wilkison for VOA news, Bangkok.

2) Pakistani officials say they're investigating whether the deadly Red Mosque raid has linked to attacks that left about 70 people dead in the past few days in the country’s northwest. Officials said today they’re looking for links between the two events, but do not have any hard evidence yet. Among those killed in the attacks on Sunday in Pakistan's northwestern provinces, at least 26 people at a police recruiting station and at least 16 more when a military convoy was struck by militants. Another 26 people were killed Saturday in an attack on a troop convoy.

3) Former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been arrested on charges of the extortion and ordered jailed without bail pending trial. Ms. Hasina who served as Prime Minister from 1996 to 2001, was taken into custody today in the capital of Dhaka after hundreds of police surrounded her home. Police fired teargas to break up protests by supporters of Ms. Hasina's Awami League Party.

4) Nepal's former Maoist rebels are refusing to allow United Nations officials to continue verifications called for in the agreement that brought peace to the Himalayan nation. But as Liam Cochrane reports from Kathmandu, the U.N. still hopes to be able to continue the verification process.

This is the third time the Maoists have postponed the verification process. U.N. experts have been interviewing the more than 30,000 Nepalese the Maoists claim as genuine fighters, trying to make sure that none of the fighters is under the age of 18. They also want to weed out any who were recruited after the peace process began. But when Maoist party leaders saw the results of interviews with the first three thousand fighters, they suspended the process, saying they wanted further discussions. Ian Martin heads the U.N.'s Mission in Nepal, known as UNMIN. He said Monday that discussions are important, but they should not delay the verifications.

"I remind everyone that the Agreement on Monitoring the Management of Arms and Armies was negotiated between the Maoists and the then seven-party alliance government. It was they who agreed upon the criteria which UNMIN has been asked to apply, and it is their responsibility now to enable us to do so in a spirit of cooperation."

The verification process with the remaining 28,000 registered Maoists is supposed to be completed before elections are held in November. Liam Cochrane, VOA news, Kathmandu.

常用专有名词:
1) the United Nations nuclear agency 联合国核机构
2) North Korea -- 朝鲜(北韩, 东亚), adj. North Korean
3) six-party talks 朝核六方会谈
4) the Red Mosque (Lal Masjid)--红色清真寺(巴基斯坦重要的清真寺,巴首都的很多达官贵人和军官都经常去红色清真寺祈祷,历史上与巴政府渊源很深)
5) Bangladesh  (孟加拉, 南亚) -- Dhaka 达卡 adj. Bangladeshi
6) Nepal (尼泊尔,南亚依喜马拉雅山脉国家) -- Kathmandu加德满都
Himalaya--喜马拉雅山
7) Maoist rebels --尼泊尔毛党叛民
8) the U.N.'s Mission in Nepal (UNMIN)--联合国驻尼泊尔办事处
9) the Agreement on Monitoring the Management of Arms and Armies : 军队与武器监管协议