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| Words in the News
Wednesday 13 February 2002
Vocabulary from the news. Listen to and read the report then find explanations of difficult words below.
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Milosevic's trial - Belgrade's reaction
Summary: The trial of Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president, has opened in the Hague. But in Serbia, there has been a muted reaction to the trial. This report from Paul Anderson:
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| | The News | |
| | | Belgrade was like a ghost town at Slobodan Milosevic's appointed hour. The streets were empty. Here and across the country millions of people were glued to television sets for the live coverage of what the international community calls the biggest war crimes trial since Nuremberg and what's being called here the big bill to be paid.
But within an hour or two people started trickling back, reflecting the fact that the trial of Mr Milosevic has become a distant curiosity for most people. On the streets the anger at having been robbed of the chance to try him in Serbia was still present. There was some interest in Carla del Ponte's opening remarks that one man and not one nation is on trial in The Hague. This point is critical to the Serbs. If the people as a nation are somehow legally implicated, Serbs fear they will have to pay massive reparations to Bosnians, Croatians and Kosovo Albanians.
Otherwise, the interest is less in squaring up to the crimes of the past, more in who will be appearing as witnesses, particularly those under special protection. People are also acutely focused on the question of the handover of further suspects, including three of the four men charged with Mr Milosevic with war crimes in Kosovo.
Paul Anderson, BBC, Belgrade
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| | The Words
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| | | ghost town
a deserted town
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| | | appointed hour
the pre-arranged time when something, usually unpleasant, has to happen
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| | | glued to television sets
unable to stop watching television
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| | | trickling
moving gradually
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| | | distant curiosity
something that is happening a long way away and therefore of only limited interest
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| | | robbed of the chance to
not allowed to
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| | | present
in existence
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| | | opening remarks
introduction, first comments
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| | | reparations
money paid after wars by defeated countries for damages and injuries caused
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| | | squaring up to
dealing with
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