英国新闻听力 12（在线收听）

BBC News with Charles Caro.

The United States has confirmed that it's considering a draft agreement with Iraq which could see US troops withdrawn from the country in three years’ time. No details have been released but officials said that the draft provided for American forces to leave towns and cities by the middle of next year, and to pull out of Iraq completely by the end of 2011. From Washington, Richard Lister reports.

The Iraqis had insisted on a clear withdrawal timeline, but a Pentagon spokesman said any such movements would be made only as conditions allow. The US Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, says the latest draft provides adequate protection for American forces, indicating that both sides have had to compromise in this process. The two sides have been close to agreement before, but the fact that the Bush administration is now briefing key members of Congress on the details of this document suggests the negotiations may now have run their course.

A report by the New York-based group Human Rights Watch says the Colombian government has consistently obstructed efforts to investigate alleged links between right-wing paramilitaries and leading politicians. Thousands of recently demobilized fighters have been given evidence which implicates dozens of Columbian congressmen, all supporters of President Alvaro Uribe. The regional director of Human Rights Watch, Jose Miguel Ivenco, outlined the complaints against the government.

In addition to how difficult and risky it is for prosecutors and judges in this country to carry out investigations, in addition to how difficult it is to obtain testimonies and preserve the evidence, we find the government, such as President Uribe’s, but has, in our opinion, made itself an obstacle to the progress of justice in this regard.

Activists are marking the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty with renewed calls for action to help the world’s poor. The United Nations has said that about 3 billion people, nearly half the world’s population, live on less than two US dollars a day. Mark Doyle reports.

This year's UN anti-poverty day falls in the middle of a global financial crisis. The leaders of Brazil and India, two key developing nations, have warned that poor people should not be punished for the mismanagement of the rich. But the credit crisis is bound to impact on the poor world, even in countries that are marginalized from the main economic circuits. The Global Coalition Against Poverty says, for example, that vital wage remittances to poor South American countries from Latinos working in the United States are being adversely affected.

The countries of the European Union say they will finalize by December their ambitious plans to tackle climate change, but correspondents say difficult negotiations lie ahead. Poland said eastern European countries were too poor to afford the plans, but the EU's French presidency said the climate package was too important to drop.

World News from the BBC.

Stock markets in Europe and Asia have seen further declines a day after share values slumped around the world. But in New York, the Dow Jones index fluctuated sharply during the day before closing up almost 5% in a late surge.

A senior Spanish investigating Judge, Baltasar Garzon, has launched the first of judicial investigation into the fate of tens of thousands of people who disappeared during the Civil War in the 1930s, and the authoritarian government under General Franco. He has ordered several mass graves to be opened. Judge Garzon said that the alleged defenses fell within the definition of crimes against humanity.

These days, crimes against humanities are burning issue. It’s wherever you look in the world, be it Afghanistan, Iraq or Darfur. Enough countries to make you realize this theme is never out of the news. To fight against this scar, this impunity never ceases. And if we are referring to the investigations being carried out in Spain in relation to universal justice or eras gone by, then justice needs to follow its course within the parameters of the law.

The French President Nicolas Sarkozy has filed a legal action for libel and invasion of privacy against the former head of a French intelligence agency. It follows the publication of extracts from the diaries of the former Spy Chief, Yves Bertrand, which included allegations about the private lives of several leading politicians, including Mr. Sarkozy himself.

The last remaining survivor of the Titanic is selling mementos connected to the sunken liner to help pay her nursing home fees. The woman, Millvina Dean, who is 96 and from southern England, is hoping to raise more than 5,000 dollars. She’s selling rare prints of the Titanic as well as a suitcase filled with clothes donated by people in New York after their rescue.

And that is the latest BBC News.