英音听力讲解:乌拉圭成为首个大麻合法化国家

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BBC news 2017-07-21

BBC News with Ally Macue.

Scientists in the United States have calculated that humanity has manufactured 8.3 billion tons of plastics since the 1950s, enough debris to cover an entire country the size of Argentina. The study found that the use of the synthetic material has been accelerating.

The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request by the White House to tighten the travel ban on nationals from six mainly Muslim countries. It said grandparents should be able to visit their relatives in the United States.

President Trump has launched a controversial White House commission to look into allegations of voter fraud and other election irregularities. He has previously claimed that millions voted illegally in last year's election.

The chairman of Poland's ruling party has dismissed as political a warning from the European Commission to freeze proposed judicial reforms. The E.U. commissioner responsible for the rule of law said the changes would abolish any remaining judicial independence.

The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has castigated the European Union's treatment of Israel as crazy in private remarks that were accidentally broadcast. Mr. Netanyahu was holding a close-door meeting in Budapest with Central and Eastern European leaders, when he said that there was no logic in Europe's attitude to Israel and that it was undermining its own security by undermining Israel.

The World Health Organization says two thirds of the global population is now protected by a range of anti-smoking measures, a four-fold increase in ten years. But the WHO warns that smoking is still killing seven million people annually.

And Uruguay has become the first country in the world to legally produce and sell marijuana for recreational use. Queues formed early on Wednesday in front of several of the sixteen pharmacies authorized to distribute the drug. At least one ran out of supplies halfway through the working day.

BBC News.