**普京为兼并克里米亚辩护**
俄罗斯总统普京为俄罗斯吞并乌克兰的克里米亚半岛进行辩护，并指责西方国家以乌克兰危机为借口制裁莫斯科。
普京星期四发表年度国情咨文，他称克里米亚为俄罗斯的精神土地。在谈到西方制裁的时候，普京说：“任何人认为俄罗斯变得强壮、独立时，都会立即采用这种手段。”
美国及欧盟为了应对俄罗斯吞并克里米亚以及他们认为的俄罗斯对乌克兰东部分离主义反叛武装的支持，对莫斯科采取一系列越来越严厉的经济制裁措施，俄罗斯经济形势恶化。
西方制裁措施再加上俄罗斯石油出口量急剧减少以及卢布大幅贬值，导致莫斯科星期二预测俄罗斯经济2015年将继续萎缩。
普京在讲话中指出，应当利用俄罗斯的国家财富基金支持国内银行。他说，截至11月1日，这笔为应对未来退休金短缺而设立的资金共有817亿美元。
Putin Defends Annexation of Crimea
Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended his country's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and accused the West of using the Ukraine crisis as a pretext to impose sanctions on Moscow.
Delivering his annual state of the union speech Thursday, Mr. Putin referred to Crimea as Russia's spiritual ground. On the subject of Western sanctions, he said "when anyone thinks Russia has become strong, independent, such instruments are applied immediately."
Russia's economic situation has unraveled since the United States and the European Union imposed a series of increasingly harsh economic sanctions on Moscow over its annexation of Crimea and what they see as support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Those sanctions, coupled with a sharp decline in oil exports and the freefall of the Russian ruble, prompted Moscow on Tuesday to predict the Russian economy will further contract in 2015.
In his speech, Mr. Putin said the country's National Weath Fund should be used for supporting domestic banks. He said as of November 1, the fund, which aims to cover future pension shortages, stood at $81.7 billion.
**纽约爆发示威 反对扼喉事件裁决**
一个大陪审团决定不起诉今年7月扼住一名没有携带武器的黑人的喉咙令其窒息而死的白人警察，随后纽约市爆发抗议活动。
这一决定宣布后，很多人在具有标志性的纽约时报广场游行示威。由于示威者众多，警方封锁了附近洛克菲勒广场的入口。按照预定计划，传统的点亮圣诞树仪式将在洛克菲勒广场举行。数十名抗议者躺在中央火车站，举行所谓“扮死”示威。
一名路人用手机录像拍摄了事件的经过。当时43岁的埃里克•加纳与几名纽约市警察发生争执，警察要逮捕据称非法贩卖零散香烟的加纳。几分钟后，警官丹尼尔•潘塔莱奥从加纳身后扼住他的喉咙，把他拖向人行道。
身体肥胖的加纳患有气喘病，从录像中可以听到他反复说“我喘不过气来”。医学检查结果显示，加纳死于警察的扼喉动作，纽约警察局1993年决定禁止使用这一手段。
美国司法部长霍尔德星期三晚间宣布，将对加纳死亡事件开展联邦民权调查，加纳的家人和活动人士近几个月来一直呼吁采取这一行动。
不到两星期前，密苏里州弗格森市的一个大陪审团决定，不起诉在一次街头对峙中开枪打死一名黑人青年的白人警官。
美国总统奥巴马对大陪审团的裁决迅速作出反应。他说，这凸显了很多非洲裔美国人感到的沮丧，他们认为“执法机构不与他们合作，用不公正的方式对待他们。”
纽约市长白思豪说，这对加纳的家人和对全体纽约人是“极为伤感的一天”。他承认很多人会不服大陪审团的裁决。
Protests in New York After Police Officer Not Indicted in Chokehold Death
Protests erupted throughout New York City Wednesday in reaction to a grand jury's decision not to indict a while police officer in the chokehold death of an unarmed black man in July.
Scores of people marched through the city's iconic Times Square hours after the decision was announced. The large crowds prompted police to block access to nearby Rockefeller Plaza, where a traditional Christmas tree lighting ceremony was scheduled to take place. Dozens of protesters lay on the floor of Grand Central Terminal and staged a silent so-called "die-in" demonstration.
In an incident captured by a pedestrian on his smartphone video recorder, 43-year-old Eric Garner was arguing with several New York city police officers who were arresting him for allegedly selling loose cigarettes. After several minutes, Officer Daniel Pantaleo grabbed Garner from behind in a chokehold and forced him to the sidewalk.
The heavyset Garner, who had asthma, was heard repeatedly gasping, "I can't breathe!'' The medical examiner ruled Garner's death a homicide as a result of the chokehold, a procedure which was banned by the New York Police Department in 1993.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced late Wednesday that he is opening a federal civil rights investigation into Garner’s death, a move that Garner’s family and activists have called for in recent months.
The decision not to indict Daniel Pantaleo comes less than two weeks after a grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, declined to indict a white officer who fatally shot an unarmed black teenager during a street confrontation.
President Barack Obama reacted swiftly to the grand jury decision, saying it underscores the frustrations many African-Americans feel "that law enforcement is not working with them and dealing with them in a fair way."
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio called this a “deeply emotional day” for the Garner family and all New Yorkers, acknowledging that many people do not agree with the grand jury’s decision.
