【听 · 焦点】马尔代夫进入紧急状态

Gunmen attack two Chinese nationals in Karachi, one killed 

Pakistani police said Gunmen opened fire on two Chinese nationals in the southern Pakistani port city of Karachi on Monday, killing one and wounding the other.

Police said the two employees of a shipping firm were targeted in an upscale neighbourhood while out shopping for groceries.

Officers added that the perpetrators fired nine shots before fleeing in a car.

It was not immediately clear what motivated the attack. 

China commits to policy of reform and opening up: premier 

Premier Li Keqiang says China will remain committed to the policy of reform and opening up and provide more convenience for foreign experts to work in China.

The statement followed a discussion with more than 60 foreign experts ahead of Chinese Lunar New Year.

The premier says China will continue to deepen reforms, implement tax reductions and administrative fees exemptions, and create a sound business environment.

The premier also says that China will introducing easier visa arrangements including 5 to 10-year multiple entry visa arrangements, a unified application and window for handling the applications, and easier permanent residence application.

This year marks the fortieth anniversary of China's policy of reform and opening up. 

China unveils action plan for improving rural living environment 

China's central authorities have unveiled a three-year action plan to improve the rural living environment.

The country aims to make villages clean and tidy, and promote residents' hygiene and health awareness by 2020.

The plan lists some key tasks including garbage sorting, toilet upgrades, residential sewage treatment and village management.

Eastern China and the developed areas in central and western China are required to fully implement these tasks.

In the less developed regions in central and western China, garbage sorting should be put into place in around 90 percent of villages. About 85 percent of toilets should meet hygiene standards. 

Maldivian president declares 15-day state of emergency amid political crisis 

Maldives President Abdulla Yameen has declared a state of emergency amid a political crisis in the country.

Yameen has assured citizens and foreigners in the country of their safety.

The Supreme Court last Thursday ordered the immediate release of opposition leaders who were facing criminal charges.

The court said the prisoners were free until fair trials could be conducted without undue influence.

Since then clashes have erupted in the capital, with opposition supporters clashing with the police.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang says China supports all parties in the Maldives in seeking a political solution.

Geng Shuang has also suggested that Chinese citizens who are planning to go to Maldives in the near future temporarily refrain from doing so before the situation is stabilized in the country. 

Air China to add flights to Taiwan ahead of Spring Festival 

Air China has announced a decision to increase the number of flights flying from Chongqing to Taiwan for five consecutive days ahead of the Spring Festival, or the Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls next Friday.

Currently one scheduled flight is flying between Chongqing and Taiwan every day. There will be two daily flights between February 11 and 15.

（这里有一句留给大家来填空，记得听完留言写下你的答案哦！）

It will make it difficult for around 50-thousand people to return to Taiwan for the Spring Festival.

Additional cross-Strait flights for the festival have been a regular practice since 2008 when direct flights between the two sides first began. 

Iran will never renegotiate 2015 nuclear deal: FM 

Iran's Foreign Ministry says the country will never participate in any re-negotiation of the 2015 international nuclear deal.

In making the statement, the ministry also calls out the "US illusion" of trying to amend the agreement.

The statement follows recent comments by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who said that working groups, with the participation of three European countries, had been set up to discuss the deal.

U.S. President Donald Trump has claimed that the Iranian nuclear deal contains flaws and harms Western interests.

Trump has threatened that Washington might withdraw from the deal and stop waiving U.S. sanctions on Iran, which were removed under the 2015 agreement. 

Kenya to host int'l conference on strengthening marriages 

Kenya will host an international conference on strengthening marriages.

Around 2-thosuand participants will attend the conference to be held in Nairobi on Saturday.

The Founder of Marriage Conference International Sajid Hussein says the conference will revitalize the conversation on how to strengthen modern marriages amid onslaughts from the negative impacts of urbanization.

The International Marriage Conference has been held in eight different cities across the world since its inception in 2015.

Nairobi will be the second city in Africa to host the conference after Johannesburg hosted it in 2016.

Organizers revealed that Nigeria, Morocco and Ghana are expected to host the conference in the future. 

Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam refuses to answer questions at trial 

The first day of trial in Belgium for the surviving prime suspect in the Islamic State attacks in Paris that killed 130 people has ended.

Salah Abdeslam refused to stand or to answer questions as he went on trial for a shootout with police in his native Brussels.

This was Abdeslam's first public sighting since his capture nearly two years ago.

Abdeslam is being tried alongside a second defendant, Sofien Ayari, a 24-year-old Tunisian.

Federal prosecutors in Belgium are seeking 20 years in prison for each of them, saying they took part in a joint operation to ambush the officers.

Abdeslam will be held in a highly secured prison in northern France during the Brussels trial.

（以上文稿仅供参考）

上期回顾： 莫斯科遇大雪袭击

上期答案：The International Organization for Migration says more than 66-hundred people crossed the Mediterranean in January, a 10-percent increase from a year before.

跟随英语环球，天天进步就从这每日一题开始吧！