澳洲新闻 (ABC新闻快递) 2010-01-07

（单词翻译）

The Japanese whaling fleet has denied that a ship deliberately¹ hit protest ship the Ady Gil. The Institute for Cetacean Research says the Ady Gil was steaming towards the Japanese boat to try to cut it off when the crash occurred. But the captain of the Ady Gil says video evidence clearly shows that's not what happened.

A Nigerian man has been charged with attempted murder over a botched plan to bomb a US passenger plane on Christmas Day. 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has been charged with the attempted murder of 289 people and the attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. He's also charged with willfully placing a destructive device on the plane which had flown from Amsterdam to Detroit.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is facing a challenge to his leadership. Two former Cabinet ministers have called for a secret ballot² on whether Mr. Brown should leave the Labour Party into the next general election which is only months away. High-profile MPs including the Foreign Secretary David Miliband and the Finance Minister Alistair Darling have voiced their support for Mr. Brown. 

And still in Britain, heavy snowfalls have again caused major disruptions to the transport system and forced the closure of thousands of schools. Around half of the United Kingdom's workforce³ was also forced to stay home for the day.

I'll have more news later.