http://192.168.2.6/english/20061128BBC.mp3

BBC world news, I'm Jim Lee.
The United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has warned that drastic action is needed to prevent a civil war in Iraq. Questioned about whether there was already civil war in Iraq, Mr. Annan told reporters that urgent steps must be taken.

Given that developments on the ground unless something is done drastically and urgently to arrest the deteriorating situation, we could be there and in fact we are almost there.

The American National Security advisor Steven Hadley denied that there was a civil war in Iraq but said the country was clearly in what he called a new phase, characterized by increasing sectarian violence. The past week has been one of the bloodiest in Iraq since the American-led invasion in 2003.

Mr. Annan's comments came as the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani was beginning a visit to Tehran to seek Iranian help to improve security in Iraq. He has been holding talks with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who said Iran was ready to do whatever it could. United States and Britain have repeatedly accused Iran of impeding efforts to stabilize Iraq.

British police investigating the death of the former Russian intelligence agent Alexander Litvinenko have found two new locations containing traces of radioactive material. Police say it's the same substance polonium-210 that was found in Mr. Litvinenko's body. The BBC's security correspondent Golden Carari reports.

For those investigating, the trail of Alexander Litvinenko's poisoning becomes more complex by the day. It emerged that several sites in central London not far from the sushi bar and hotel which he visited on November 1st, also bore traces of polonium-210, most likely from visits on the day he fell ill, one office house, the private security company, another, the offices of the exiled Russian businessman Boris Berezovsky, a friend of Mr. Litvinenko and fellow critic of President Putin. Authorities indicated that because the buildings were essentially private locations they were less worried about the public being poisoned than was the case with the sushi bar and hotel.

United States says it will be seeking a UN Security Council resolution against Burma. The American ambassador John Bolton said Burmese government policies of political repression and human rights violations contributed to instability in the region, and were a threat to international peace. He said he would be consulting other countries over the precise wording of the text, but said he would not be proposing sanctions. He was speaking hours after Burma ordered the Red Cross to leave five field offices in Burma which said serve sensitive border regions.

You are listening to the world news from the BBC.

The Supreme Court in the Democratic Republic of Congo has confirmed the head of state Joseph Kabila as the winner of the country's presidential election. The court said that the provisional results giving Mr. Kabila just over 58% of the votes was valid. The losing candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba had alleged that some results were falsified. From Kinshasa Alnald Zicdman reports.

35-year-old Joseph Kabila won the election with 58% of the votes. He is the world's youngest elected president. The court rejected the legal challenge made by his rival Jean-Pierre Bemba. It's said Mr.Bemba's allegations are fraud, ones substantiated by any evidence. Mr. Bamba hasn't reacted to the announcement, but one of his lawyers said he would have no choice but to accept the results.

The captain of the Italian team that won the football World Cup Fabio Cannavaro has been named European Footballer of the year. The 33-year-old Royal Madrid's star is the first defender to win the award known as the Ballon d'Or since Matthias Sammer of Gemany ten years ago. Here's Mike Sanders.

It's an award that usually goes to goal-hungry-strikers and mid-field generals. But this time the cream of Europe's football writers awarded the Ballon d'Or to the no-nonsense defender Fabio Cannavaro. A stocky figure at the heart of the Italian defense is towering performances in the World Cup in Germany restricted Italy's opponents to just two goals in seven games. Born in Naples, he began as a ball boy watching the Argentina legend Diego Maradona lead his hometown club to the championship, and then joined his boyhood idols as a professional in 1993. He's the 5th Real Madrid player and the fifth Italian to win the Ballon d'Or.

It's emerged that the Chairman of the BBC Michael Grade is leaving the corporation to take up the same post at his traditional domestic commercial rival ITV. Mr. Grade was appointed BBC chairman in April 2004 after the corporation had been criticized in an unofficially inquiry by Lord Hardon for some of its reporting in the run-up to the Iraq war. The criticism prompted the resignation of Mr. Grade’s predecessor Gavyn Davies and BBC's director general Greg Dyke.

BBC world news.


Vocabulary

cream: n.the cream(of sth):the best part of sth 精华，精髓 the cream of this year's graduates will get high-paid jobs.本届毕业的高材生将获得高薪职位。