Words in the News 13Th September 2010 Turkish Shares Reach All-Time High
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BBC Learning English Words in the News 13th September 2010 Turkish shares reach all-time high Shares on the Istanbul stock exchange hit an all-time high this morning. This was in response to the large number of people in Turkey who voted in favour of proposed government reforms. Our correspondent Jonathan Head reports from Istanbul. Financial markets crave certainty above all else and the decisive vote in favour of the constitutional amendments was greeted enthusiastically by investors in Turkey as evidence that Prime Minister Erdogan is on course to win a third term of office in the general election expected next year. Mr Erdogan has been congratulated on the referendum result by President Obama and by the European Union which has long been pushing for improvements to the military drafted constitution. However the Vice President of the Higher Council of Judges and Prosecutors, one of the top judicial bodies which will be restructured by the reforms, described the vote as a step backwards for the country. The amendment, which ends immunity from prosecution for the generals who led the last coup in 1980, is already being tested by several groups of activists. Within hours of the result, they filed lawsuits in four cities against the generals, most of whom are now very elderly. Jonathan Head, BBC News, Istanbul Words in the News © British Broadcasting Corporation 2010 Page 1 of 2 bbclearningenglish.com Vocabulary and definitions crave have a strong desire for constitutional amendments changes to rules and basic principles for governing the country on course to win likely to be elected referendum vote by the people of a country on an important issue, in this case, to change the constitution long been pushing been trying to achieve something for a long time judicial bodies organisations whose members are judges a step backwards undoing good work immunity from prosecution an agreement that a person is protected from being put on trial coup violent attempt to overthrow the government lawsuits legal challenges More on this story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11279881 Read and listen to the story and the vocabulary online: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2010/09/100913_witn_turkey_stockmarket_page.shtml Words in the News © British Broadcasting Corporation 2010 Page 2 of 2 bbclearningenglish.com .