Fire ravages Oscar Niemeyer building

30 November 2013 Last updated at 00:13 ET

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Firefighters tackle the blaze at the main auditorium of the complex

Authorities in Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo, have fought a major blaze at a landmark building designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer.

A large plume of smoke billowed from the Latin America Memorial, a cultural centre which hosts an art gallery, an auditorium and other facilities.

At least 15 firefighters were injured as dozens of crews went to the scene.

Niemeyer, who was behind some of the 20th Century's best known modernist buildings, died a year ago aged 104.

He designed the main government buildings in the futuristic capital, Brasilia, developing a style defined by sweeping curves and stark concrete.

The Latin America Memorial, built in the west of Sao Paulo in 1989, was empty at the time of the fire and authorities say no members of the public were hurt. The cause of the fire is unclear.

Fire first swept through the 1,600-seat Simon Bolivar auditorium at the complex at around 15:00 local time (17:00 GMT).

While the extent of the damage was unclear, there were fears for some of the art works at the complex.

A spokesperson told reporters that a giant tapestry by Brazilian artist Tomie Ohtake may have been partially destroyed.

Another building in the complex hosted the Latin American Parliament from 1992 to 2007. The parliament is now based in Panama.

The Latin America Memorial comprises several buildings in an area of more than 84,480 sq m (101,376 sq yards) and was designed by the famed Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer and conceived by the anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro.

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US carriers 'to observe China rules'

30 November 2013 Last updated at 02:26 ET

The US says it expects its civilian aircraft to observe China's rules in an air defence zone in the East China Sea.

A US statement said this did not mean the US accepted China's requirements in the zone covering territory claimed by China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.

China wants all aircraft there to file flight plans and identify themselves.

The US, Japan and South Korea say they have flown military aircraft in the area unannounced. But China said it scrambled fighter jets on Friday.

The move was to monitor US and Japanese aircraft in the zone.

'Firm but calm'

The air defence identification zone (ADIZ) covers a vast area of the East China Sea, including a group of islands claimed by Japan, China and Taiwan.

South Korea claims a submerged rock, known as Ieodo, also within the zone.

The establishment of the ADIZ has caused widespread anger, with the US state department calling it "an attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the East China Sea" which will "raise regional tensions and increase the risk of miscalculation, confrontation and accidents".

But on Friday, the state department said the US government "generally expects that US carriers operating internationally will operate consistent with Notams [Notices to Airmen] issued by foreign countries".

Continue reading the main story

• Zones do not necessarily overlap with airspace, sovereign territory or territorial claims
• States define zones, and stipulate rules that aircraft must obey; legal basis is unclear
• During WW2, US established an air perimeter and now maintains four separate zones - Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, and a contiguous mainland zone
• UK, Norway, Japan and Canada also maintain zones

Source: aviationdevelopment.org

It added: "Our expectation of operations by US carriers consistent with NOTAMs does not indicate U.S. government acceptance of China's requirements for operating in the newly declared ADIZ."

Japan has instructed its aircraft not to observe China's rules. But a number of regional commercial airlines - including Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Korean Air - have said they will comply.

China announced on Thursday it was deploying warplanes in the area for surveillance and defence.

Then on Friday, Air Force spokesman Col Shen Jinke said warplanes had been scrambled that morning to monitor two US surveillance aircraft and 10 Japanese planes - including early warning aircraft, surveillance aircraft and fighter jets - crossing through the ADIZ.

Col Shen said the jets had tracked the flights and identified the planes, state media reports.

Japanese officials gave no details of the flights, but said they were continuing to conduct routine operations in the region and had encountered no "abnormal instances so far".

Earlier, China's foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said China had a right to patrol the region and that the ADIZ was not aimed at any specific country.

"If some worry has emerged about the situation, it's agitated by some individual countries," he told a regular briefing.

If disputes existed, China wanted to solve them through "peaceful means via friendly negotiation," he said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Friday that Japan would respond "firmly but in a calm manner" to China's move, the Kyodo news agency reports.

Foreign Minister Fumio Kushida said the issue would be discussed with US Vice-President Joe Biden, who is due to begin a three-day visit to Japan on Monday.

The disputed group of uninhabited islands in the zone are known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in Chinese.

They are controlled by Japan, but have been the subject of rising tensions in recent years because of their proximity to important shipping lanes, fishing grounds and potential fossil fuel reserves.

South Korea has complained to China that the ADIZ also overlaps its own similar defence zone, and encompasses the Ieodo rock.

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Ukraine police disperse protesters

30 November 2013 Last updated at 04:58 ET

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As David Stern reports from Kiev, a number of people appear to have been hurt

Riot police in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, have forcefully dispersed hundreds of protesters, beating some with truncheons, witnesses say.

Protest organiser Sergei Milnichenko said tear gas had also been used as police moved in at about 04:30 (02:30 GMT) on Saturday.

It followed fresh rallies against President Viktor Yanukovych's refusal to sign an EU association agreement.

Unconfirmed reports said a number of people had been hurt.

Police said they had decided to clear Independence Square after "a number of incidents", Interfax Ukraine news agency reported.

It was not clear what incidents they were referring to.

More than 1,000 people, most of them students, were in the square when police moved in, activists said.

"It was horrible. We were holding a peaceful demonstration and they attacked us," said protester Lada Tromada.

"They threw us away like garbage."

Witnesses said ambulances were on the scene and some demonstrators were seen bleeding from their heads and arms.

One activist, opposition MP Andriy Shevchenko, tweeted that dozens of people had been hurt and at least 33 taken into police custody.

Reuters news agency said the injured included one of its cameramen and a photographer, who was left bloodied by blows to the head.

The US Ambassador to Kiev, Geoffrey Pyatt, said he was "still working to understand what happened".

He said he "obviously" condemned the violence against peaceful demonstrators, adding: "Will have more to say."

By morning, police had surrounded the square and barely any protesters remained, a BBC correspondent reported.

Several hundred have now gathered at St Michael's Cathedral in the capital, contemplating their next move.

Last week, Mr Yanukovych said he was suspending preparations for signing an EU association agreement that would have opened borders to goods and set the stage for an easing of travel restrictions.

He said pressure from Russia had led him to make his decision. Mr Yanukovych argued that Ukraine could not afford to sacrifice trade with Russia, which opposed the deal.

The agreement was to have been signed on Friday at an EU summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, and opposition leaders called for a large turnout of protesters to make their feelings known.

On Friday - as Mr Yanukovych attended the EU summit - about 10,000 demonstrators took to Independence Square, carrying Ukrainian and EU flags and chanting "Ukraine is Europe".

There was also a smaller rally involving some 3,000 supporters of Mr Yanukovych a few hundred metres away in European Square.

In Vilnius, EU leaders warned they would not tolerate Russian interference in the bloc's relations with former Soviet republics.

The summit reached provisional accords with Georgia and Moldova.

"The times of limited sovereignty are over in Europe," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

'Foreign pressure'

EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy said the parties had been "really close" to signing the association agreement in Vilnius, but added: "We need to overcome pressure from abroad."

"We are embarked on a long journey, helping Ukraine to become, as others, what we call now, 'new member states'. But we have to set aside short-term political calculations."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the door would always remain open for Ukraine.

Independence Square was the scene of the Orange Revolution in 2004, which saw Mr Yanukovych ousted and a Western-leaning government brought to power.

Mr Yanukovych was elected president five years later, narrowly defeating then-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, a leading figure of the Orange Revolution.

In 2011 she was sentenced to seven years in jail for abuse of office - a case widely criticised in the West as political revenge.

Ms Tymoshenko has been on hunger strike since Monday over the failure to sign the EU agreement.

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Namibia finds Mozambique plane wreck

30 November 2013 Last updated at 05:19 ET

The wreckage of a Mozambique Airlines plane that disappeared over Namibia has been found, but none of the 34 people aboard survived the crash, police say.

The burned-out aircraft was found in the Bwabwata National Park, near the borders with Angola and Botswana.

"The plane has been completely burnt to ashes and there are no survivors," Namibia Police Force deputy commissioner Willy Bampton was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The plane left Mozambique on Friday.

Flight TM470 took off from the country's capital, Maputo, at 11:26 (09:26 GMT) and was due to arrive in the Angolan capital, Luanda, at 14:10.

The last contact made with the plane was when it was over northern Namibia.

The authorities say most of those on board were Mozambican or Angolan, and several more were Portuguese. The aircraft also carried one citizen from each of Brazil, China and France.

Initially, the airline said there were signs the aircraft might have landed near Rundu.

But on Saturday, Mr Bampton said villagers in the area had heard an explosion.

"Botswana officials informed us that they saw smoke in the air and they thought the crash happened in their country, but when they came to the border they realised that it was in Namibia," Willie Bampton said.

The Bwabwata National Park in Namibia's Kavango East region - covering around 6,100sq km (2,355 square miles) - is a sparsely-populated area of dense forests.

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German parties reach coalition deal

27 November 2013 Last updated at 02:21 ET

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives have agreed terms for a coalition with the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD).

The late-night deal follows talks by SPD leaders with Mrs Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and allied CSU.

Mrs Merkel could be sworn in for a third term in office next month if SPD members ratify the deal.

The CDU/CSU fell short of a majority in September polls, and traditional coalition partner the FDP won no seats.

Continue reading the main story

Under the deal, the SPD gets a minimum wage and a lower retirement age and Chancellor Merkel's Christian Democrats get agreement that taxes will not rise.

The broad thrust of German policy is unlikely to change. The new government will balance its spending against incomes.

One intriguing policy is an agreement to introduce higher road tolls on foreign drivers. It is not clear how that would work or whether it would fall within European law.

The agreement has to be ratified by the membership of the SPD but the leadership will sell it as a real improvement in the lives of Germany's increasingly numerous low-paid workers.

It may also strengthen Chancellor Merkel's position on Europe. In the past, she has had to get agreement within the Bundestag for German participation in bail-outs via a debate and a vote on the floor of the Bundestag. In future, she will have the overwhelming majority a cross-party grand coalition brings.

Minimum wage

The breakthrough came after 17 hours of tense negotiations.

The final coalition deal will now go to a ballot of SPD members to be signed off, with the result expected in mid-December.

Mrs Merkel is expected to present the agreement alongside CSU leader Horst Seehofer and the SPD's Sigmar Gabriel on Wednesday morning, though cabinet posts may not be announced until after the SPD vote.

Parties reached settlements on issues including a lower retirement age and changes to dual citizenship rules.

The SPD won a key demand for a nationwide minimum wage. An hourly minimum of 8.50 euros ($11.55, £7.11) will come into force in the country for the first time in 2015.

The parties also agreed that there would be no tax increases, a key demand of the CDU/CSU.

"The work is done. It has been very intense and sometimes very hard work today but I think we have a result that is good for our country which is the main measure, but we can also say the result has a strong Conservative imprint," said Hermann Groehe, CDU secretary general.

"No new taxes and no new debts."

Senior SPD MP Karl Lauterbach, quoted by the Associated Press news agency, said his party had "succeeded on the most important points" but would have to overcome "many reservations" among members.

"The Social Democratic signature on this coalition agreement is everywhere," he added.

The SPD previously formed a grand coalition with the CDU/CSU in 2005-2009.

This time around, the partnership faces the twin tasks of rebalancing the eurozone's biggest economy and winning the support of the German public to tackle the eurozone's debt and banking problems.

At the election on 22 September, the CDU took about 41.5% of the vote, the SPD won 26%, the Greens 8.4%, and the former communist Left Party 8.6%.

The CDU's previous coalition partner, the centrist Free Democrats (FDP), narrowly failed to cross the 5% threshold for entering parliament.

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China 'monitored' path of US bombers

27 November 2013 Last updated at 05:03 ET

China monitored the flight of two US bombers that flew across its newly-declared "air defence identification zone", its defence ministry said.

The B-52 planes flew over disputed islands in the East China Sea on Tuesday without announcing themselves, defying new Chinese air defence rules.

Japan and the US are strongly opposed to the air zone declared by China.

They have accused China of unilaterally attempting to alter the status quo and escalate regional tensions.

The new air zone, announced by China on Saturday, overlaps with an air zone set out by Japan and covers disputed islands that are controlled by Japan.

The islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, have been a source of severe tension between the two nations for months.

Japan says China's new zone is "invalid" and has asked its airlines not to provide flight information to the Chinese.

Both the ANA and JAL airlines had initially complied with the Chinese request for their flight plans but said late on Tuesday they would stop doing so.

They had not encountered problems passing through the zone, they said.

'Manage and control'

Continue reading the main story

No-one should be surprised that the US has acted as it has. Washington's first reaction to China's unilateral extension of its airspace was robust.

The idea that Washington was going to start filing flight plans with China before flying over the East China Sea was a non-starter.

But this is more than just a squabble over flight rules.

Washington is watching China's military build-up, its arguments with neighbours, and its "blue-water" ambitions with alarm.

For seven decades the US has been the dominant military power in the region. China has given Washington notice that change is afoot.

Peaceful management of that change is one of the great strategic challenges of the 21st Century.

The unarmed US aircraft took off from Guam on a flight that was part of a regular exercise in the area, US officials said.

A Pentagon official said the US had followed "normal procedures" during the bombers' flight and had not filed flight plans with China.

China says aircraft passing through the zone must obey its rules, including identifying themselves, or face "emergency defensive measures".

However, Wednesday's defence ministry statement after the US flight made no reference to any emergency measures.

"China's air force monitored the entire course [of the US bombers], identified them in a timely way, and ascertained the type of US aircraft," the statement said.

"China will identify all aircraft activity in East China Sea Air Defence Identification Zone", it added. "China has the ability to effectively manage and control the relevant air zone."

The US flight is being seen as a clear signal that the US will not recognise Chinese control over its newly-declared zone, correspondents say.

The flight will also reassure America's allies in the region - Japan in particular - that Washington will stand by its security commitments, reports the BBC's Martin Patience from Beijing.

But, says our correspondent, the big fear is that a misstep on the part of one of the parties could trigger a crisis.

New US Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, in her first speech since assuming her post, criticised China's move.

"Unilateral actions like those taken by China... undermine security and constitute an attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea," she said in Tokyo.

'Provocation'

The tensions came amid other military developments in the region.

On Wednesday, Japan's parliament enacted a bill to establish a national security council, giving the prime minister greater control over defence issues.

Meanwhile, the Chinese navy's Liaoning aircraft carrier set out for a mission in the South China Sea - where China is engaged in territorial disputes with other nations - in what China described as part of the carrier's "scheduled training".

The flight of the US bombers triggered anger among Chinese social media users, with widespread calls for a stronger response from Beijing.

Sina Weibo user Han Qingzi wrote: "The US bomber aircraft provocatively barged into China's air defence zone and flew over China's territorial sea - why did the Chinese side not send fighter jets to intercept or accompany the planes? Has there been a dereliction of duty?"

Microblog user Seeking Treasure in Fire said that China should have sent up fighter planes when it was challenged by the US.

"Whether as a warning, or to coerce the US, at least China needs to display some attitude, otherwise, the air defence zone exists in name only, and becomes the world's laughing stock," they said.

However, one Sina Weibo user appeared to point to domestic politics as a motive. "The air defence zone was issued for our own compatriots in China. Our comrades from outside of China need not be so nervous," they said.

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'Armed Islamists' arrested in Moscow

27 November 2013 Last updated at 05:22 ET

A group of radical Islamists has been arrested in Moscow with bombs, hand grenades and guns seized, Russian police say.

They claim the 15 arrested are members of At-Takfir Wal-Hijra, an Islamist group originally founded in Egypt.

Police say the arrests were made during early-morning raids at flats in the east of the Russian capital.

Officials said three homemade bombs, detonators and fuses for making more devices were also found.

At-Takfir Wal-Hijra was banned by Russia's Supreme Court in 2010 for "inciting interethnic and interreligious enmity", Russia's Interfax news agency reports.

With just over two months to go before Russia hosts the Winter Olympics in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, these arrests will attract more international attention than usual, says the BBC's Daniel Sandford in Moscow.

In recent years targets the conflict between Russian forces and separatists in Chechnya has fuelled attacks by Islamists.

The violence has spread across the North Caucasus, including to mainly-Muslim Ingushetia and Dagestan, killing hundreds of people, including members of the government and security services.

The number of militant attacks in Moscow itself has dropped since the end of Russia's second war in Chechnya, our correspondent reports.

However, the attacks that have taken place have been very serious, such as the suicide bombing at Domodedovo international airport, which killed 37 people in January 2011, he adds.

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Thai protesters close crime agency

27 November 2013 Last updated at 05:53 ET

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The BBC's Jonathan Head: "Their goal is to force the government from office"

Anti-government protesters have forced the evacuation of Thailand's top crime-fighting agency, on the fourth day of street demonstrations.

The marchers, who want the government to step down, targeted a complex of government offices outside the city.

The protest leader said they wanted to shut down government ministries in a bid to cause disruption.

They accuse the government of being controlled by the prime minister's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra.

The BBC's Lucy Williamson in Bangkok says the mood of the protesters is very friendly, as they and the government side shadow-box around each other.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Thailand seems stuck on a merry-go-round of political conflict, replaying chaotic episodes that were scarcely believable the first time round. Why?

Ask the protesters and the answer is simple. One name. Thaksin Shinawatra.

They are a mix of middle-class city-dwellers and provincial folk from the south, the stronghold of the opposition Democrat party, and they all repeat the same mantras we heard during the last round of "yellow" protests in 2008.

That the former prime minister elevated corruption, always a pernicious problem here, to new heights; that he tried to control everything, and is still doing so from self-imposed exile, through his sister Yingluck, the current prime minister.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's secretary general, Suranand Vejjajiva, told the BBC that there were no plans to use the army.

"We are reassured that the police can handle the situation as the protesters are peaceful and do not create any violence," he said.

'Seize city hall'

The protests are being led by former opposition Democrat Party lawmaker Suthep Thaugsuban, for whom police have issued an arrest warrant.

They began on Sunday and so far have targeted the finance, foreign and interior ministries, among others.

"Let the people go to every ministry that remains to make civil servants stop serving the Thaksin regime,'' the Associated Press news agency quoted him as saying.

"Once you take over, civil servants can no longer serve the Thaksin regime. Brothers and sisters, go seize the city hall."

Despite the arrest warrant, police made no attempt to detain him as he led protesters to government offices.

On Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of protesters surrounded the Department of Special Investigations (DSI), which is Thailand's equivalent of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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Suranand Vejjajiva, secretary general to Thai PM: "The protestors... should come to the table"

The DSI is a particular target for the demonstrators - they accuse its chief of conducting partisan investigations against opponents of the government, says the BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok.

The DSI chief ordered his staff to leave as protesters surrounded the building, Reuters news agency said.

However, Mr Suranand said that the government house itself was secure and the government still functioning.

Government supporters were organising their own demonstrations around the country, he added.

Ms Yingluck - who on Monday invoked special powers allowing officials to impose curfews - said that the government would not use force against protesters.

"This is not the 'Thaksin regime', this is a democratically elected government," she told media outside parliament.

'People's Council'

The demonstrations are the biggest to hit Thailand since the violence in early 2010, when supporters of Mr Thaksin paralysed key parts of Bangkok.

Continue reading the main story

Thailand's troubles

• Sept 2006: Army overthrows government of Thaksin Shinawatra, rewrites constitution
• Dec 2007: Pro-Thaksin People Power Party wins most votes in election
• Aug 2008: Mr Thaksin flees into self-imposed exile before end of corruption trial
• Dec 2008: Mass yellow-shirt protests paralyse Bangkok; Constitutional Court bans People Power Party; Abhisit Vejjajiva comes to power
• Mar-May 2010: Thousands of pro-Thaksin red shirts occupy parts of Bangkok; eventually cleared by army; dozens killed
• July 2011: Yingluck Shinawatra leads Pheu Thai party to general election win
• Nov 2013: Anti-government protesters begin street demonstrations

More than 90 people, mostly civilian protesters, died over the course of the two-month action.

In the wake of those events, a government led by Ms Yingluck and the Pheu Thai party was elected, mostly by rural voters who benefited from Mr Thaksin's policies.

But many urban and middle class voters are bitterly opposed to him.

They say he controls the current government from self-imposed overseas exile.

They have been angered by now-shelved political amnesty legislation that they say could have allowed his return without serving a jail sentence for corruption.

Until now, the government and the police have chosen not to confront the protesters, in the hope that the movement will run out of steam, our correspondent adds.

That is not happening yet, and protest leaders insist they will not stop until the government is forced from office and replaced by what they call a People's Council.

But a more likely scenario would be a fresh general election - and the governing party, which has won the last five, would probably win again, our correspondent adds.

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Syria children 'targeted by snipers'

23 November 2013 Last updated at 19:11 ET

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Teenage boys most at risk in what Lyse Doucet says is a 'war on childhood'

More than 11,000 children have died in Syria's civil war in nearly three years, including hundreds targeted by snipers, a new report says.

Summary executions and torture have also been used against children as young as one, the London-based Oxford Research Group think tank says.

The report says the majority of children have been killed by bombs or shells in their own neighbourhoods.

It wants fighters trained in how not to put civilians' lives at risk.

Continue reading the main story

This report is the first major examination of how children are being killed in Syria. It confirms what has long been regarded as one of the most disturbing aspects of this brutal conflict.

Syrian children are not just being "caught in crossfire." They're being deliberately targeted, and even tortured. The very start of this uprising is usually traced to the arrest in March 2011 of schoolboys in Daraa who were reportedly tortured for painting anti-government graffiti.

Nearly three years on, this report urges all sides in this conflict to spare the children, and calls for the threat of prosecution against those who commit the most egregious of atrocities.

Casualties are only one part of what this report calls the war's "catastrophic effect" on children. With so many schools and neighbourhoods in ruin, and children making up half of the refugees, Syria's conflict is also a war on childhood.

'Plea to all sides'

Their report, Stolen Futures - the Hidden Toll of Child Casualties in Syria, examines data from the start of the conflict in March 2011 to August 2013.

Of the 11,420 victims aged 17 and under, 389 were killed by sniper fire.

Some 764 were summarily executed, and more than 100 - including infants - were tortured, the report says.

Boys outnumbered girls among the dead by around two to one. Boys aged 13 to 17 were most likely to be victims of targeted killings, the report says.

The highest number of child deaths occurred in the governorate of Aleppo, where 2,223 were reported killed.

Report co-author Hana Salama said that the way children are being killed is disturbing.

"Bombed in their homes, in their communities, during day-to-day activities such as waiting in bread lines or attending school.

"Shot by bullets in crossfire, targeted by snipers, summarily executed, even gassed and tortured," she said.The data was provided by Syrian civil society groups recording casualties.

Deadliest area by population size	Children killed	% of total child deaths	Population	Rate
Deraa	1,134	10.1%	1,027,000	One in 408
Idlib	1,584	14.2%	1,501,000	One in 426
Homs	1,817	16.3%	1,803,000	One in 447
Rif Dimashq	1,772	15.9%	2,836,000	One in 720
Hama	821	7.3%	1,628,000	One in 892
Deir Ezzor	648	5.8%	1,239,000	One in 860
Aleppo	2,223	19.9%	4,868,000	One in 985
Damascus	749	6.7%	1,754,000	One in 1,054

The report only considers the deaths of named victims, and only cases where the cause of death could be identified.

But it stresses the figures are incomplete as access is impossible in some areas.

The figures should be "treated with caution and considered provisional: briefly put, it is too soon to say whether they are too high or too low", the report says.

The conflict in Syria has had a "catastrophic effect" on children in Syria, the report says, and calls for all sides to refrain from targeting civilians and buildings such as schools, hospitals and places of worship.

Amongst its recommendations, the Oxford Research Group also calls for access and protection for journalists and others contributing to the recording of casualties.

More than 100,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the conflict.

More than two million Syrians have fled the country; around half of those are believed to be children.

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Mali votes again amid high security

24 November 2013 Last updated at 00:39 ET

Mali is voting amid high security in parliamentary elections, the second nationwide poll since a French military intervention against Islamist militants in the north earlier this year.

Mali held a peaceful presidential election in August, but since then there has been a surge in violence.

On Thursday, the northern city of Gao came under rocket attack.

Extra French troops have been deployed to Kidal, where two French journalists were killed earlier this month.

A total of 6.5 million people are registered to take part in the first round of elections to choose a parliament.

Voting began at 08:00 GMT in the West African nation.

'Too dangerous'

The United Nations force, Minusma, has delivered election materials.

Regional and international election observers say everything is in place for a credible parliamentary election and that they expect to have access to 90% of Mali's polling stations.

But in the far northern towns of Kidal and Tessalit, only the party of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita features on ballot papers, says the BBC's Alex Duval Smith in the capital, Bamako.

Opposition candidates say it has been too dangerous to campaign there.

Three weeks ago two French journalists, Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, were killed in Kidal, in an attack claimed by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

The resurgence in violence since the presidential election in August suggests Islamists and Tuareg secessionists still have the upper hand in pockets of the country, says Alex Duval Smith.

France still has more than 3,000 troops in Mali, where there is also a force of United Nations peacekeepers.

Mali's crisis began early in 2012 when secessionist Tuareg rebels, acting in alliance with Islamist groups linked to al-Qaeda, swept across the north of the country, forcing 500,000 people to flee their homes.

In March 2012, President Amadou Toumani Toure was ousted in a coup, ostensibly staged by junior officers in protest at the army's lack of resources to fight the rebels.

The rebels then intensified their campaign and controlled two thirds of Mali by January 2013 when France sent 4,500 troops to oust them.

The government of Mali and separatist rebels signed a peace agreement in June, paving the way for presidential and parliamentary elections.

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Iran agrees to curb nuclear activity

24 November 2013 Last updated at 04:31 ET

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Jeremy Bowen: This buys them six months to negotiate a permanent deal

Iran has agreed to curb some of its nuclear activities in return for about $7bn (£4.3bn) in sanctions relief, after days of intense talks in Geneva.

US President Barack Obama welcomed the deal, saying it included "substantial limitations which will help prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon".

Iran agreed to give better access to inspectors and halt some of its work on uranium enrichment.

President Hassan Rouhani said the deal recognised Iran's nuclear "rights".

But he repeated, in a nationwide broadcast, that his country would never seek a nuclear weapon.

Tehran denies repeated claims by Western governments that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. It insists it must be allowed to enrich uranium to use in power stations.

Continue reading the main story

The first announcement of the most important agreement between Iran and the West in more than a decade was made on Twitter. Shortly before three in the morning in Geneva, the EU posted: "We have reached agreement between the E3+3 and Iran." Minutes later, Iran's chief negotiator, Mohammad Javad Zarif followed: "We have reached an agreement."

The immediate origins of this deal date to 14 June 2013, when Hassan Rouhani was elected president of Iran. Mr Rouhani promised to end his country's repeated confrontations with the outside world, beginning with the argument over its nuclear programme.

To bring about a deal, Mr Rouhani pursued two key policies. Firstly, he secured the public backing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for his diplomatic efforts. Secondly, the new president and his foreign minister broke precedent and pursued direct high-level contact with Iran's long time enemy, the US.

If there is to be a lasting nuclear agreement, it may spring from a reconciliation between these two countries.

The deal comes just months after Iran elected Mr Rouhani - regarded as a relative moderate - as its new president, in place of the hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

It has also been backed by Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

After four days of negotiations, representatives of the so-called P5+1 group of nations - the US, the UK, Russia, China, France and Germany - reached an agreement with Iran in the early hours of Sunday.

The specifics of the deal have yet to be released, but negotiators indicated the broad outlines:

• Iran will stop enriching uranium beyond 5%, the level at which it can be used for weapons research, and reduce its stockpile of uranium enriched beyond this point
• Iran will give greater access to inspectors including daily access at Natanz and Fordo nuclear sites
• In return, there will be no new nuclear-related sanctions for six months
• Iran will also receive sanctions relief worth about $7bn (£4.3bn) on sectors including precious metals

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the agreement would make the region safer for its allies, including Israel.

But the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet it was a "historic mistake" and that his country reserved the right to defend itself.

"Today the world became a much more dangerous place because the most dangerous regime in the world made a significant step in obtaining the most dangerous weapons in the world," he said.

The Israeli comments came as it was revealed that the US and Iran had held a series of face-to-face talks over the past year that were kept secret even from their allies.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said it was an opportunity for the "removal of any doubts about the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme".

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President Hassan Rouhani said the deal recognised Iran's nuclear "rights"

But he insisted that Iran had not given up its right to enrich uranium.

"We believe that the current agreement, the current plan of action as we call it, in two distinct places has a very clear reference to the fact that Iranian enrichment programme will continue and will be a part of any agreement, now and in the future," he said.

The US denied any such right had been conceded, while UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said the agreement was "good news for the whole world".

'Significant agreement'

The US state department gave more details of the deal, insisting that most sanctions would remain in place.

Restrictions on Iran's petrochemical exports and some other sectors would be suspended, bringing in $1.5bn in revenue.

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Obama: "Agreed to provide Iran with modest relief"

But Mr Obama warned that if Iran fail to keep its commitments, "we will turn off the relief and ratchet up the pressure".

This deal may be the most significant agreement between the world powers and Iran for a decade, says the BBC's James Reynolds in Geneva.

Negotiators had been working since Wednesday to reach an agreement that was acceptable to both sides.

As hopes of a deal grew stronger, foreign ministers of the P5+1 joined them in Geneva.

But it only became clear that a breakthrough had been made in Geneva shortly before 03:00 local time (02:00 GMT) on Sunday.

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Afghans urge US pact deal this year

24 November 2013 Last updated at 05:34 ET

Afghan elders at a grand assembly in Kabul have called for a security deal with the US to be signed this year.

The pact allows thousands of US troops to remain in Afghanistan once combat operations end in 2014.

But President Hamid Karzai, who wants to delay the deal, told delegates he would only sign it once the US had brought peace to his country.

The US has said it is neither "practical nor possible" to delay the signing.

The Bilateral Security Agreement also has to be approved by the Afghan parliament.

The deal under discussion may see 15,000 foreign troops remain after 2014, although the US says it has not yet taken a decision on any presence.

The soldiers who stay beyond 2014, when most foreign combat forces leave, would primarily train and mentor Afghan forces. Some special forces would stay to conduct "counter-terror operations".

'Tense exchanges'

More than 2,000 elders have been taking part in the grand assembly of elders, or Loya Jirga, meeting behind closed doors in Kabul for the past four days.

"Given the current situation in, and Afghanistan's need... the contents of this agreement as a whole is endorsed by the members of this Loya Jirga," a declaration reached at the end of the meeting said, quoted by AFP news agency.

"The Loya Jirga requests the president to sign the agreement before the end of 2013."

Opening the meeting on Thursday, the Afghan president urged delegates to support the pact, but said he would not sign it until after the election scheduled for April 2014.

The BBC's Karen Allen, in Kabul, says the vast majority of elders wanted the deal signed within a month.

The assembly's chairman, Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, said he will resign his official posts and leave the country if the security deal is not signed by the end of the year.

The past few days have seen tense diplomatic telephone exchanges between US Secretary of State John Kerry and President Karzai, our correspondent says.

Continue reading the main story

• Jurisdiction: US forces remaining after 2014 reportedly to receive immunity from Afghan courts
• Sovereignty: In October 2013 President Karzai appeared to have secured US agreement not to carry out attacks on Afghan soil without first consulting the Afghan authorities
• Security: The US in October 2013 said that it would not protect Afghanistan from external attack because it could get mired in a war with Pakistan

Washington insists the deal - which has taken months to negotiate - must be signed before the end of this year in order to secure plans for how many troops will remain in Afghanistan beyond 2014.

State department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: "We believe that signing sooner rather than later is essential to give Afghans certainty about their future before the upcoming elections, and enable the United States and other partners to plan for US presence after 2014.

"It is neither practical nor possible for us to further delay because of the uncertainty it would create."

Security has been tight for the meeting after a suicide bombing last weekend near the huge tent where it is being held.

The Taliban has branded the meeting a US-designed plot, and has vowed to pursue and punish its delegates as traitors if they approve the deal.

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Egypt expels Turkish ambassador

23 November 2013 Last updated at 06:18 ET

Egypt has told the Turkish ambassador to leave the country and downgraded relations between the two countries.

It follows remarks by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Cairo deemed "provocative".

Egypt's foreign ministry said relations with Ankara would be lowered to charge d'affaires, blaming Turkey's continued "interference" in its internal affairs.

Turkey has been a vocal critic of the military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July.

Mr Morsi, who is in prison awaiting trial, has denounced as illegitimate the court that is trying him on charges of inciting murder and violence.

He is one of thousands of Muslim Brotherhood members that have been detained in a crackdown the interim authorities have portrayed as a struggle against "terrorism".

Hundreds of people have also been killed in clashes with security forces.

Bitter row

Cairo's decision to expel Ambassador Huseyin Avni Botsali comes a day after Mr Erdogan called for the release of Mr Morsi.

The Turkish premier again condemned the violent dispersal of pro-Morsi protesters in August by Egyptian security forces.

A bitter row at the time led both countries to recall their ambassadors. Turkey's ambassador to Cairo returned in September, but the Egyptian ambassador to Turkey was never reinstalled.

Speaking on Saturday, Egypt's Foreign Ministry spokesman said Mr Erdogan's remarks were "provocative and interfering in Egypt's internal affairs".

Turkey is "attempting to influence public opinion against Egyptian interests, supported meetings of organisations that seek to create instability in the country", Badr Abdelatty said.

Mr Erdogan, like Mr Morsi, has his roots in political Islam. Ankara and Istanbul have hosted a series of meetings of the international Muslim Brotherhood.

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Australian republic debate reignited

23 November 2013 Last updated at 04:41 ET

The Queen's representative in Australia has reportedly become the first serving governor-general to publicly back the country becoming a republic.

Quentin Bryce, 70, made the comments during a speech in Sydney in which she outlined a future vision for Australia.

"Perhaps one day, one young girl or boy may even grow up to be our nation's first head of state," she said, reigniting the republic debate.

Australians voted against becoming a republic in a 1999 referendum.

The country is a parliamentary democracy that retains Britain's monarch as its head of state.

In the 1999 vote, Australians opted to preserve the status quo, with Queen Elizabeth II remaining as the head of state - although the republican movement was split between those who wanted an elected president and those who preferred a parliamentary appointee.

The issue has largely fallen into the political doldrums in Australia in recent years.

'Personal view'

Ms Bryce, the country's first female governor-general, was appointed in 2008 by then-prime minister Kevin Rudd in 2008. Her term ends in March next year.

Her comments, made at the end of a four-part lecture series, have reignited a debate about the nation's ties to Britain.

"We will always be friends with Britain, but now we should be equals," said Geoff Gallop, the head of the Australian Republican Movement.

"We need an unambiguous, independent national identity that reflects and celebrates our freedom, our unity, our values of the fair go and our place in the world."

However, David Flint of the Australians for Constitutional Monarchy described her comments as "a pity".

"The constitutional system requires that the Crown be above politics... it goes against the position. There are a number of people who are now going to wonder about her.

"There's this sense of division that she's created... we've got commentators everywhere on these issues, couldn't she have left them alone until she was out of the office?" Mr Flint told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a staunch royalist who used to be the executive director of the Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, said Ms Bryce was entitled to her opinion.

"It's more than appropriate for the governor-general approaching the end of her term to express a personal view on a number of subjects and that's what she was doing, she was expressing a personal view and, as you would expect from Quentin Bryce, she did it with grace and style," he said.

Ms Bryce also voiced support for same-sex marriage - a position that Mr Abbott, a devout Catholic, also opposes.

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Ministers join Iran nuclear talks

23 November 2013 Last updated at 04:51 ET

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The BBC's James Reynolds: "The foreign ministers clearly hope to get an agreement"

The foreign ministers of six major powers are gathering in Geneva to negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived for talks involving the UK, Russia, France, China and Germany after three days of lower-level meetings.

The ministers hope to close a deal for Iran to curb uranium enrichment in return for a loosening of sanctions.

But Iran insists it must be allowed to enrich uranium for power stations, and denies it is seeking nuclear weapons.

Some US politicians say they will push for more sanctions if the talks fail.

Continue reading the main story

P5+1 wants Iran to:

• Halt uranium enrichment at medium level of purity
• Reduce concentration of existing stockpile of medium-enriched uranium or convert it to oxide form
• Not allow Arak heavy-water reactor to go into operation
• Commit to permitting more inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

Iran wants the P5+1 to:

• Recognise its "right" to enrich uranium
• End international and unilateral sanctions

'Complicated and tough'

Negotiators have been working since Wednesday to try to find an agreement that is acceptable to both sides.

The talks had been scheduled to conclude on Friday, but were extended amid hopes of a possible breakthrough.

The state department said Mr Kerry, who arrived in Geneva early on Saturday, had the goal of "continuing to help narrow the differences and move closer to an agreement".

Mr Kerry's participation in itself does not prove a deal is at hand, but it does show that the talks may have reached a critical stage, says the BBC's James Reynolds in Geneva.

The other ministers from the so-called P5+1 group of nations were also arriving on Saturday.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters as he arrived: "I want a deal, but a solid deal, and I am here to work toward that end."

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Jeremy Bowen says the negotiations represent "war and peace" for the Middle East

France has taken a harder line on Iran than other Western powers.

EU foreign policy chief Baroness Catherine Ashton is leading the conference.

On Friday she briefly met Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif for a conversation that Iran's official Irna news agency described as "complicated and tough".

'Vigorous inspections'

The Geneva meeting follows a previous round of talks earlier this month.

On that occasion, too, foreign ministers flew to Geneva to conclude the negotiations, but they went home empty-handed.

Analysts say a major sticking point is Iran's insistence on its right to enrich uranium - a process that yields material used to manufacture fuel for power stations, but can also be used in weapons.

Western diplomats are also concerned about a reactor Iran is building at Arak - an issue which disrupted the first round of talks.

US President Barack Obama has said any interim agreement would see the bulk of international and US sanctions remain, but that Iran would get sanctions relief worth between $6bn and $7bn.

The essence of the deal would involve Iran making no more advances in its nuclear programme and agreeing to "more vigorous inspections", he said.

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China extends air-defence perimeter

23 November 2013 Last updated at 05:59 ET

China has demarcated an "air-defence identification zone" over an area of the East China Sea, covering islands that are also claimed by Japan.

China's Defence Ministry said aircraft entering the zone must obey its rules or face "emergency defensive measures".

The islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, are a source of rising tension between the countries.

Japan lodged a strong protest over what it said was an "escalation".

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

Charles Scanlon East Asia analyst, BBC News

---

The confrontation between China and Japan in the East China Sea has been building for more than a year and neither side shows any sign of backing down. China's declaration of an air-defence identification zone threatens to expand what has largely been a maritime contest into the air.

In recent weeks, China has flown bombers and a drone close to Japanese territory, prompting Japan to scramble fighter jets. Beijing is now warning that it too could send up fighters if Japanese planes enter the disputed area.

Both sides have been careful to avoid clashes in the area and the contest has so far been largely confined to rhetoric and games of cat and mouse between coastguard vessels. But China's tactic of persistently challenging Japanese sovereignty in the area has proved counter productive as Japan moves to bolster its own military posture.

"Setting up such airspace unilaterally escalates the situations surrounding Senkaku islands and has danger of leading to an unexpected situation," Japan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Taiwan, which also claims the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands, expressed regret at the move and promised that the military would take measure to protect national security.

'No specific target'

In its statement, the Chinese Defence Ministry said aircraft must report a flight plan, "maintain two-way radio communications", and "respond in a timely and accurate manner" to identification inquiries.

"China's armed forces will adopt defensive emergency measures to respond to aircraft that do not co-operate in the identification or refuse to follow the instructions," said the statement.

It said the zone came into effect from 10:00 local time (02:00GMT) on Saturday.

State news agency Xinhua showed a map on its website covering a wide area of the East China Sea, including regions very close to South Korea and Japan.

Responding to questions about the zone on an official state website, a defence ministry spokesman, Yang Yujun, said China set up the area "with the aim of safeguarding state sovereignty, territorial land and air security, and maintaining flight order".

"It is not directed against any specific country or target," he said, adding that China "has always respected the freedom of over-flight in accordance with international law".

"Normal flights by international airliners in the East China Sea Air Defence Identification Zone will not be affected in any way."

The islands have been a source of tension between China and Japan for decades.

In 2012, the Japanese government bought three of the islands from their Japanese owner, sparking mass protests in Chinese cities.

Continue reading the main story

Air-defence identification zones

• Zones do not necessarily overlap with airspace, sovereign territory or territorial claims
• States define zones, and stipulate rules that aircraft must obey; legal basis is unclear
• During WW2, US established an air perimeter and now maintains four separate zones - Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, and a contiguous mainland zone
• UK, Norway, Japan and Canada also maintain zones

Source: aviationdevelopment.org

Since then, Chinese ships have repeatedly sailed in and out of what Japan says are its territorial waters.

In September this year, Japan said it would shoot down unmanned aircraft in Japanese airspace after an unmanned Chinese drone flew close to the disputed islands.

China said that any attempt by Japan to shoot down Chinese aircraft would constitute "an act of war".

Last month Japan's defence minister, Itsunori Onodera, said China's behaviour over the disputed East China Sea islands was jeopardising peace.

BBC World Service East Asia editor Charles Scanlon says the confrontation over the small chain of uninhabited islands is made more intractable by conflicting claims for potentially rich energy resources on the sea bed.

But the issue has now become a nationalist touchstone in both countries, making it hard for either side to be seen to back down, he says.

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Arrested Paris gun suspect named

21 November 2013 Last updated at 04:41 ET

French authorities have named a man arrested on suspicion of carrying out recent gun attacks in Paris as Abdelhakim Dekhar.

He was taken into custody at about 18:00 GMT from a vehicle in a car park in Bois-Colombes, north-west of Paris.

Authorities said Dekhar had been jailed in 1998 for his role in a string of fatal shootings in Paris.

Last Friday a gunman threatened a Paris TV station and on Monday attacked a newspaper office and bank HQ.

Prosecutors said late on Wednesday that samples of Dekhar's DNA matched that from the crime scenes.

They said he was not yet in a position to be questioned and the reading of his rights had been postponed.

Third man

Dekhar was arrested in a stationary car in an underground car park following a tip-off from a member of the public.

Continue reading the main story

• Former officer in the Algerian army
• Sentenced to four years in prison in 1998 for buying a gun used in a shooting attack by Florence Rey and Audry Maupin
• Witnesses at the trial described him as a mentor to the couple
• He denied involvement, claiming he had been recruited by the Algerian secret service to infiltrate the French far-left
• He was released soon after the trial and officials believe he went abroad for several years

Police union official Christophe Crepin said: "My colleagues noticed he was not very lucid. They deduced that he had taken medicines, because of the capsules nearby."

Some media sources have suggested he may have attempted suicide.

The BBC's Hugh Schofield in Paris says Dekhar is believed to have been the third man in the so-called Rey-Maupin affair, named after a young couple with links to anarchist groups who bungled an attempt to steal weapons from guards and then hijacked a taxi in 1994.

In the subsequent chase and shootout, three policemen and the taxi driver were killed, as well as Audry Maupin.

Maupin's girlfriend, Florence Rey, was released from jail a few years ago.

Their story was compared to the controversial American film, Natural Born Killers.

At his trial in 1998, Dekhar protested his innocence, claiming he had been recruited by the Algerian secret service to infiltrate the French far-left.

He was sentenced to four years in jail but released soon after the verdict, having already served his time in pre-trial detention.

Hundreds of police were involved in a huge manhunt that began on Monday, and security was stepped up at all media outlets.

An appeal for information generated almost 700 calls.

'I will not miss'

The first incident - last Friday - was at the offices of the BFMTV television channel.

The intruder emptied the chamber of his gun in the reception area without firing, saying: "Next time, I will not miss you."

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The BBC's Christian Fraser: "For three days... police have been on high alert"

CCTV showed that he spent only a few seconds in reception, before hurrying out.

On Monday, the suspect attacked the offices of the Liberation newspaper, firing twice and critically injuring a 23-year-old photography assistant.

Two hours later, the same man fired shots outside the headquarters of the bank Societe Generale, in the western business district of La Defense. No-one was hurt.

A car was then hijacked and the driver was forced to drop the suspect off near the Avenue des Champs Elysees, where he disappeared.

The attacks shocked French newspapers.

The publisher of Liberation, Nicolas Demorand, wrote a commentary on Tuesday promising to continue to operate.

"Opening fire in a newspaper is an attack on the lives of men and women who are only doing their jobs. And on an idea, a set of values, which we call the Republic," he said.

The gunshot victim is said to have improved in hospital, is now conscious and no longer needs an artificial respirator.

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Loya Jirga debates US-Afghan pact

21 November 2013 Last updated at 04:48 ET

Up to 15,000 foreign troops could remain in Afghanistan after 2014 if a security pact is agreed with the US, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said.

He was speaking at the opening of a Loya Jirga, or grand assembly, of more than 2,000 Afghan elders, who have gathered to discuss the deal.

One of the key sticking points has been the circumstances under which US troops could enter Afghan homes.

Another is whether US troops will be subject to US or Afghan justice.

But a draft of the deal, released by Kabul before the meeting started, appeared to show that Mr Karzai had conceded that US troops would not be tried in local courts.

"Afghanistan authorises the United States to hold trial in such cases, or take other disciplinary action, as appropriate, in the territory of Afghanistan," the document says.

According to the draft, the deal will remain in force "until the end of 2024 and beyond".

Currently the multinational Nato force is due to pull out of Afghanistan from 2014.

US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday his team had agreed the text of the agreement with Afghan officials, but it was not clear if the draft published by Kabul was the one to which he was referring.

'Exceptional circumstances'

Opening the four-day Loya Jirga, President Hamid Karzai said the only issue on the table was whether the security agreement would be signed.

"I hope that no other agenda will be discussed," he said.

He read from a letter he said had received from President Barack Obama, explaining why US forces should be allowed to enter Afghan homes under "exceptional circumstances" to save American lives.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

The last-minute wrangling over the text was a surprise even to seasoned Karzai watchers as he pushes the talks beyond the brink, perhaps not realising that the US would have walked away"

End Quote

A woman delegate shouted from the floor that US troops had spilt too much Afghan blood and should be stopped.

Mr Karzai acknowledged there were difficult issues involved in the deal, but according to the BBC's Kabul correspondent David Loyn, the tenor of the president's speech was to advise delegates to accept the agreement.

Mr Karzai said that a number of world leaders - including from Russia, China, and India - were backing the deal, and that it would provide the security Afghanistan needed, as well as the foundation for forces from other Nato countries who were assisting Afghan troops.

The delegates will now meet in smaller closed-door groups to look at the deal in detail.

If the assembly approves the bilateral security agreement, it will still have to be passed by the Afghan parliament.

Last-minute changes

Continue reading the main story

Security deal - main points

• Jurisdiction: US forces remaining after 2014 reportedly to receive immunity from Afghan courts
• Sovereignty: In October 2013 President Karzai appeared to have secured US agreement not to carry out attacks on Afghan soil without first consulting the Afghan authorities
• Security: The US in October 2013 said that it would not protect Afghanistan from external attack because it could get mired in a war with Pakistan

Earlier this week, there had been little hope that a deal could be reached, because President Karzai had disagreed with certain US demands.

But on Wednesday Mr Kerry said the terms had been agreed.

"There were some people who may have questioned or doubted whether that was going to happen. Well, it's happening tomorrow," he told reporters at the state department.

"We have agreed on the language that would be submitted to the Loya Jirga, but they have to pass it."

But he emphasised that even if the deal was passed, the role of the US military after 2014 would be "limited".

"It is entirely train, equip and assist. There is no combat role for United States forces, and the bilateral security agreement is a way to try to clarify for Afghans and for United States military forces exactly what the rules are with respect to that ongoing relationship," he said.

The agreement has been the subject of months of tense negotiations and both sides have refused to budge on certain issues.

The Afghans have long opposed US raids on Afghan homes, particularly night raids because they are perceived to violate the sanctity of women in the home.

The US insistence on immunity from prosecution for troops remaining in Afghanistan after 2014 has been central to Washington's demands.

The failure to resolve a similar legal issue in Iraq led to a total withdrawal of US forces.

Security is tight for the meeting after a suicide bombing last weekend near the huge tent where it is being held.

The Taliban has branded the meeting a US-designed plot, and has vowed to pursue and punish its delegates as traitors if they approve the deal.

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Tymoshenko bill rejected in Ukraine

21 November 2013 Last updated at 05:27 ET

Ukrainian MPs have rejected a bill that would have allowed the release of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, dealing a blow to Kiev's hopes of a trade deal with the EU.

They threw out six drafts of the bill which would have allowed Tymoshenko to travel abroad for medical treatment.

The EU made her release a condition for signing a historic deal on closer ties with Ukraine next week.

But Ukraine came under intense pressure from Russia not to sign.

Blocking

Russia wants Ukraine to join its own customs union with Kazakhstan and Belarus, which it sees as a prototype rival to the European Union.

Continue reading the main story

• 1960 - Born in Dnipropetrovsk, industrial city in eastern Ukraine
• Trained as engineer and economist
• 1990s - runs United Energy Systems of Ukraine and becomes very rich
• 1999-2001 serves in energy ministry but falls out with government of Leonid Kuchma
• 2004 - Kuchma candidate Viktor Yanukovych elected president, but result widely condemned as rigged
• Huge "Orange Revolution" street protests led by Tymoshenko and ally Viktor Yushchenko defeat Yanukovych, in a blow to Russia
• 2005 - Tymoshenko becomes PM but relations sour with President Yushchenko
• 2010 - Yanukovych beats her in presidential election
• 2011 - Jailed for seven years for abuse of power, over gas deal with Russia

The bill failed to pass after MPs from President Viktor Yanukovych's ruling Regions Party refused to cast their votes on any of the six proposed drafts.

"It is President Viktor Yanukovych who is personally blocking Ukraine's movement toward the European Union," Arseniy Yatsenyuk, parliamentary leader of Tymoshenko's opposition Fatherland group, told parliament after the vote failed.

The drafts all fell short of the 226 votes needed.

Opposition MPs responded by shouting "shame" as the bill was thrown out.

The legislation was put forward on the treatment of convicts abroad.

Back pain

Tymoshenko, 52, is serving seven years in jail after a controversial conviction on charges of abuse of power over a gas deal with Russia.

The EU has made clear it believes the judicial campaign against Tymoshenko has been politically motivated.

She has been urging the authorities to transfer her to a German hospital so that doctors there can treat her chronic back pain.

The EU is demanding her release as one of the conditions for signing an EU-Ukraine trade and partnership agreement in Vilnius, Lithuania, which starts on 28 November.

It has been attempting to build closer relations with neighbours that were once part of the Soviet Union, and is expected to initial but not yet formally sign association agreements with Georgia and Moldova.

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Dozens killed in Iraq car bombing

21 November 2013 Last updated at 05:39 ET

At least 25 people have been killed in a car bomb attack north-east of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, officials say.

The blast happened in a market in the town of Saadiya, in the religiously mixed province of Diyala.

The attack comes a day after at least 29 people were killed and dozens wounded in a series of bombings across the capital.

Sectarian violence has surged across Iraq in recent months, reaching its highest level since 2008.

The bomb went off at about midday (0900 GMT) in a neighbourhood populated mostly by Shia Kurds, officials told the French news agency AFP.

Witnesses told police that the bomb was on board a truck of vegetables.

According to figures released by the UN at the beginning of this month, a total of 979 Iraqis were killed and another 1,902 were wounded in acts of terrorism and violence in October.

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Egyptian troops die in Sinai attack

20 November 2013 Last updated at 05:06 ET

Ten people have been killed and dozens more wounded in a car bomb attack on Egyptian soldiers near the North Sinai city of el-Arish.

Al-Masri al-Youm newspaper said a convoy of buses carrying infantry soldiers was hit by a roadside bomb as it moved through the Kharouba area.

The death toll was likely to rise, a security source said.

Attacks on security forces in the Sinai have increased since Islamist President Mohammed Morsi was ousted in July.

No group has admitted carrying out Wednesday's bombing, but the peninsula has grown increasingly unstable in recent years, triggered by the fall of President Hosni Mubarak.

Continue reading the main story

• 19 August - 24 policemen killed in attack on convoy in Rafah
• 11 September - Six soldiers dead in double suicide bombing at military targets in Rafah
• 30 September - Three killed in attacks on checkpoints
• 7 October - Three police killed by car bomb in south Sinai
• 10 October - Four members of security forces dead in suicide car bomb attack near el-Arish
• Dozens of militants have also died

His overthrow in February 2011 left the northern Sinai prone to groups of jihadists, some with links to the Gaza Strip.

In September security forces launched an offensive against Islamist militants in the Sinai, but have suffered a spate of deadly bombings. In recent months some 100 members of the security forces have been killed.

Wednesday's attack, which took place at around 07:45 local time (05:45 GMT) on the road from Rafah to el-Arish, is thought to be the bloodiest against the military since Mr Morsi was deposed.

Among the 10 who died were six soldiers, three security officers and the driver, the military said.

Another 35 soldiers were wounded in the explosion which was said to have hit one of the two buses in the convoy.

The attack is reported to have targeted Egypt's Second Field Army, which has been deployed in Sinai and has been involved in an operation to destroy tunnels along Egypt's border with Gaza.

The soldiers were on their way back to Cairo on leave, reports said. Some of the most seriously wounded victims were being airlifted to hospital in the capital.

Communications with the area were cut as military helicopters circled over the area, searching for the attackers, BBC Cairo correspondent Orla Guerin reports.

'Black terrorism'

Interim Prime Minister Hazem Beblawi condemned the attack and said the government was looking at "all the alternatives to deal with the ongoing terrorist incidents".

Egypt's military spokesman expressed his condolences and said the armed forces would continue to fight "black terrorism".

Meanwhile, a Sinai-based jihadist group linked to al-Qaeda has admitted killing a high-ranking member of Egypt's National Security Agency outside his home in eastern Cairo earlier this week.

Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis said it had shot dead Col Mohammed Mabruk, who had been due to testify against ex-President Morsi.

The colonel was believed to have helped uncover a network of Muslim Brotherhood members that had tried to help leaders of the movement flee the country after Mr Morsi was ousted. The former president is part of the Brotherhood.

The army deposed Mohammed Morsi on 3 July after days of mass protests and a military ultimatum to resolve the political crisis that had evolved between his Islamist supporters and opponents.

Mr Morsi and thousands of Brotherhood leaders and members have since been arrested. Hundreds of Morsi supporters died when two protest camps were violently broken up by the military in August.

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South Africa mall rescue suspended

20 November 2013 Last updated at 05:28 ET

Rescue efforts in South Africa have been briefly suspended at the site a collapsed half-built mall, police say.

Police spokesperson Thulani Zwane told the BBC that the search for survivors would resume after some of the concrete blocks has been cleared.

One person has died and there are fears that some construction workers, possibly 40, are trapped in the rubble at the site in Tongaat town.

About 30 people have been rescued, some with traumatic injuries, medics say.

Capt Zwane said 11 of those taken to hospitals in the area are critically injured.

The deputy mayor of the municipality told South African media that authorities had obtained an injunction a month ago to halt construction at the site in Tongaat, which is a small town about 40km (25 miles) north of Durban.

"There are areas of the law that they [construction firms] did not follow in terms of building," Nomvuzo Shabalala told broadcaster ENCA.

"We were not aware that they were continuing building," she added.

On Wednesday morning, engineers from the department of labour arrived and are now using heavy machinery to remove concrete blocks.

Medics say the collapsed roof is about the size of a rugby field.

Overnight six different rescue teams alternated shifts, working in the dark and using sniffer dogs and fibre-optic cameras to try to find survivors.

Neil Powell, a member of the rescue team, said eyewitnesses had given their account of how the accident happened at the construction site, which is in the town's centre, near a railway.

"They're saying that apparently scaffolding underneath the concrete slabs fell and collapsed, which caused the concrete slabs to fall and trap the workers," Mr Powell of Crisis Medical, an emergency service provider in Durban, told the BBC's Newsday programme.

Fiona Moonean, who lives across from the building site, was washing dishes when she heard a "thunderous noise" coming from outside.

"There was this sound, it was too huge, that I picked my head up - at that point I just saw the whole slab - that just came down and all you could hear was the guys screaming," she told the AFP news agency.

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