英国新闻听力 40（在线收听）

BBC News with Cathy Clarkston.

The United States Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, has announced plans for another huge spending package to stimulate the American economy, as new figures show it shrank by more than previously thought in the third quarter. The Federal Reserve will buy up to 600 billion dollars of mortgage related debt to increase the availability of home loans. A further 200 billion dollars will be used to help with loans for small businesses, car buyers and students. The U. S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the package was vital, but warned that a full economic recovery would not come immediately.

It will take time to work through the difficulties in our market and our economy, and new challenges will continue to arise. I and my regulatory colleagues are committed to using all the tools at our disposal to preserve the strength of our financial institutions and stabilize our financial markets, to minimize the spillover into the rest of the economy.

It's been reported in Washington that the U. S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has agreed to stay on in his post under President-elect Barack Obama, the Politico news website and ABC News quoted officials in both Democratic and Republican parties. They also said that General James Jones, a former marine commandant, and commander of U. S. and NATO forces in Europe, will be named as national security advisor. Our correspondent in Washington Jonathan Beale says there were early indications Barack Obama would ask Robert Gates to stay on.

He said himself that he would be asking a Republican or maybe more to serve in the administration. Whether Robert Gates actually counts as a Republican is a moot point ( 争论未决的问题) because he is a registered independent, but certainly somebody who has served not just in this president Bush's administration, he also served under George Bush's father as the head of the CIA, so I think that you know he is a respected man. He is well liked in the Pentagon and I think the universal belief is that he’s done a good job there.

The BBC has uncovered evidence of serious overcrowding and poor living conditions in Iraq's prisons. In one facility in Baghdad, the prisoners said they were rarely let out of their cells. Andrew North reports from inside one of the jails.

In the dim light, it took a while to realize just how many prisoners were inside. Almost 150 inmates were in this one wing in a space about the size of a school classroom. Iraq's Interior Ministry admits it has a problem but blames the security situation. Thousands of people have been arrested in the past few years, but months even years later, many of these people are still waiting to be charged because Iraq's judicial system is too overloaded to cope.

Two American soldiers have been shot dead just west of the city of Mosul in northern Iraq. The U. S. military said they were killed while distributing humanitarian aid near the town of Baaj. The attacker was an Iraqi soldier who escaped after the shooting.

World News from the BBC.

The parliament in Jamaica has voted to keep the death penalty as the Caribbean nation struggles to contain one of the world's highest murder rates. Members of parliament were allowed a free vote on the issue rather than having to vote along party lines. Electron Neil Smith reports.

The vote follows weeks of passionate debate. Those opposed wanted improvements to Jamaica’s heavily criticized police and justice system while those in favor pointed to the ever-upward rise in violent crime. Jamaica currently has nine men on death row, but legal challenges have meant it has been 20 years since the last execution. The governing Jamaica Labor Party was elected last year, with a call to resume hanging immediately and with 1, 200 murders so far in 2008, there's strong popular support. As one politician said, it is the only way the crime monster can be tamed.

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned Zimbabwe's political parties that the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country means they can not afford to fail in their efforts to negotiate a power-sharing deal. He said Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the opposition MDC should reach a workable agreement quickly so they can tackle the formidable challenges facing Zimbabwe.

Botswana's Foreign Minister Phandu Skelemani said that holding another presidential election might be the best solution if the parties couldn't agree to a constitutional amendment.

We can't go on like this if, in fact, they can't agree on this amendment, which is vital, there is no way you can have a government of national unity without this amendment. If they can't, then we might as well pursue the only option that we know, of going back to the people.

A referendum has been taking place in Greenland to decide whether the island should seek greater autonomy from Denmark. Correspondents say a yes vote would be a major step towards independence for the Arctic territory, which relies on subsidies from Denmark to sustain its economy.