Fears of new Serbia flood surge

18 May 2014 Last updated at 12:07

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The BBC's Guy Delauney says forecasters are warning that the River Sava is set to peak again in Serbia on Sunday evening

Emergency workers in Serbia are preparing for a "flood wave" on one of the country's main rivers.

Water levels on the River Sava are expected to peak later, threatening the country's biggest power plant.

It comes after the worst floods in the Balkans for decades left at least 20 dead and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes.

In Bosnia-Hercegovina, landslides have buried houses and disturbed landmines laid during the war in the 1990s.

The floods are also affecting Croatia.

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Aerial footage showed flooding near Serbia Tesla power plant

Three months' worth of rain fell on the region in just a few days, causing rivers to burst their banks and sweep into people's homes. The death toll is expected to rise.

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Guy De Launey BBC News, Belgrade

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The extreme weather in Bosnia is heaping danger upon misery. The floods are not just the worst in living memory - they are bringing a deadly reminder of the conflict of the 1990s back to the surface: Landmines.

There are still more than 100,000 landmines littering the Bosnian countryside, according to the country's Mine Action Centre. Almost two decades on from the end of the conflict, people are still killed and injured every year.

Casualty numbers have reduced over the years, thanks to demining efforts and the mapping of minefields. Local people know the danger areas - and the safe paths.

But the torrential rain, floods and landslides are likely to cause the mines to move. Warning signs have already been washed away in a number of places. When the floods finally recede, there will be an urgent need for the deminers to move in.

The rain has finally stopped in Belgrade, reports the BBC's Guy De Launey in the Serbian capital.

But officials fear water flowing from neighbouring Croatia and Bosnia could cause a "flood wave" on the River Sava on Sunday evening.

Emergency workers and volunteers have stacked sandbags along the river in Belgrade and other towns such as Sabac and Sremska Mitrovica.

"We are doing all we can," said Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.

The main concern is whether flood waters could knock out the Nikola Tesla power plant, which supplies much of the country, our correspondent says.

It is in Obrenovac, south-west of Belgrade, where most of the population have already been moved to safety.

'Three metres high'

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic has joined calls for help.

"Support and solidarity for my people in Serbia!'' he wrote on his Twitter account.

Officials have refused to give a death toll for Obrenovac until the floodwaters recede.

Almost one-third of Bosnia is under water. The north-east is worst affected, with houses, roads and railway lines submerged.

Bosnian Serb police chief Gojko Vasic said the situation had been particularly difficult in Doboj "because the flood waters acted as a tsunami, three to four metres high", the Reuters news agency reported.

"No-one could have resisted," he said.

'Horrible catastrophe'

Bosnian Security Ministry spokesman Admir Malagic said that about one million people - more than a quarter of the country's population - live in the affected area.

Chairman of the Bosnian three-man presidency Bakir Izetbegovic said that his country is facing a "horrible catastrophe", the Associated Press reported.

"We are still not fully aware of actual dimensions of the catastrophe," he said.

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China ships in Vietnam evacuation

18 May 2014 Last updated at 07:15

China is sending five ships to evacuate Chinese nationals from Vietnam following a wave of anti-Chinese riots.

The Chinese government has already evacuated more than 3,000 people, Chinese state-run media report.

The first ship set sail on Sunday, while 16 critically injured Chinese nationals left Vietnam on a chartered flight, Xinhua news agency said.

Two Chinese workers have been killed and dozens more injured in unrest over a Chinese oil rig in disputed waters.

On Saturday the Vietnamese government called for an end to the protests.

Officials said "illegal acts" would be stopped as they could damage national stability.

However, dissident groups have urged people to rally again in major cities on Sunday and the authorities broke up some anti-China protests in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

In recent days crowds have set fire to at least 15 foreign-owned factories - including Chinese, Taiwanese and South Korean businesses - in several Vietnamese industrial parks.

'Dissatisfied'

Correspondents say the attacks appear to have worried authorities, as Hanoi depends heavily on foreign investment for economic growth.

However, China has urged authorities to take tougher measures to punish rioters.

"We are strongly dissatisfied by the Vietnamese side failure to respond effectively to curb an escalation," Xinhua quoted security chief Guo Shengkun as saying on Saturday.

The protests have been triggered by China's decision to move its Haiyang Shiyou 981 oil rig into contested waters in the South China Sea.

This led to confrontations between Vietnamese and Chinese ships earlier this month, as Vietnam sought to block the move.

China insists it will continue drilling in the area, west of the Paracel Islands - which are controlled by China but also claimed by Vietnam, and Taiwan.

Nationalist sentiment is currently running very high in Vietnam over the issue, correspondents say.

Many of those evacuated are workers employed at Chinese-owned factories or construction projects in Vietnam, says the BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Beijing.

Have you been affected by the evacuations? Have you witnessed any of the riots? If you are happy to speak to the BBC you can email your experiences to haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk, using the subject line 'China Vietnam'.

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N Korea apology for building collapse

18 May 2014 Last updated at 11:27

North Korean officials have apologised for the collapse of an apartment building in Pyongyang which is feared to have killed scores of people.

The accident in Pyongyang on Tuesday was reported on Sunday morning by the official Korean Central News Agency.

It said that the collapse happened in the city's Phyongchon district.

While it is not clear how many people died, some reports say that the "unimaginable" accident could possibly have killed more than 100 residents.

The construction of the apartment block "was not done properly and officials supervised and controlled it in an irresponsible manner", the news agency said.

It added that an "intensive" emergency rescue effort had been carried out to rescue survivors and treat the wounded.

KCNA did not provide detailed casualty figures or explain the cause of the collapse, but said it had left Pyongyang citizens "greatly shocked".

Analysis: Charles Scanlon, BBC News

North Korean state media made no mention of the building collapse for five days, and when the report finally came it gave no casualty figures or details of what happened. That will raise few eyebrows in a country where the media is understood to be an organ of state propaganda and nothing more.

However, the sight of senior officials offering profuse apologies to the public is extremely rare. Self-criticism is an important tool of state control in North Korea, but it's normally kept behind closed doors.

Parallels with the South Korean government's abject apologies for last month's ferry disaster in which 300 people died are inescapable. North Korea enthusiastically joined the criticism of the South Korean president and publicised details of the disaster.

Perhaps it now feels obliged to put on a display of accountability and contrition for its own people, who are bound to see the comparison.

A South Korean official, speaking to the AP news agency on condition of anonymity, said the collapsed building was a 23-storey apartment complex.

Another unidentified official told Reuters that the building was thought to have held 92 households.

"Hundreds are presumed to be dead, assuming that each family has an average of four members," he said.

It is not uncommon for residents of partially built apartment blocks in North Korea to move into them before construction officially ends, correspondents say.

A senior Pyongyang official was quoted by KCNA as saying that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un "sat up all night, feeling painful" after being told about the collapse.

It is estimated that about 2.5 million people - mostly top party members or other privileged people - live in Pyongyang.

The city's inhabitants are known to have more regular electricity supplies and better access to food, goods and other services compared with those living elsewhere in the impoverished and inaccessible country.

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Swiss 'reject highest minimum wage'

18 May 2014 Last updated at 12:16

Swiss voters have rejected a proposal to introduce what would be the highest minimum wage in the world in a referendum, first projections indicate.

Under the plan, employers would have had to pay workers a minimum 22 Swiss francs (about $25; £15; 18 euros) an hour.

Supporters said the move was necessary for people to live a decent life.

But critics argued that it would raise production costs and increase unemployment.

The proposal "to protect equitable pay" was the most prominent of several referendums held on Sunday morning.

They also included a controversial plan to buy Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets for the Swiss Air Force - that vote is too close to call on initial projections - and to impose a lifelong ban against convicted paedophiles working with children.

But the trade union-backed proposal to ensure that an annual salary is not less than £32,000 ($53,600) a year provoked the most debate.

Analysis: Imogen Foulkes, BBC News, Geneva

This was the third referendum on pay in Switzerland in the last 18 months, reflecting concern that the gap between rich and poor is growing here too.

Last February the Swiss backed restrictions on bosses' bonuses, but in November they rejected even stricter controls which would have limited top salaries to no more than 12 times that of the lowest paid.

The vote is a sign that Switzerland's long tradition of social partnership between business leaders and workers may be eroding: the bankruptcy of national airline Swissair over a decade ago, the disastrous losses suffered by the big Swiss banks in the subprime mortgage scandal, and the huge salaries and bonuses which continue to be paid in the banking and pharmaceutical industries have led many Swiss to lose trust in their business leaders.

Unions argued that the measure was necessary because of the high living costs in big Swiss cities such as Geneva and Zurich.

The unions are angry that Switzerland - one of the richest countries in the world - does not have a minimum pay level while neighbouring France and Germany do.

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• One-bed city centre flat: 1,800 francs
• Utilities: 100-200 francs
• Health insurance: 300-400 francs
• Public transport: 50-70 francs
• Restaurant meal for two: 100-150 francs

They argue that surviving on less than 4,000 francs a month is not possible because rents, health insurance and food are all prohibitively expensive.

The minimum wage in Germany will be 8.5 euros an hour from 2017.

A key element of the campaign in favour of a minimum wage was the argument that the Swiss welfare system was being forced to subsidise businesses which refuse to pay a living wage.

But business leaders and the government said low unemployment and high standards of living for the majority showed there was no need for change.

Small businesses, in particular Swiss farmers, were especially worried that being forced to pay their staff 4,000 francs a month would price their products out of the market.

Most of Switzerland's low-paid workers operate in the service industry, in hotels and restaurants, and the majority of them are women.

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France hosts summit on Boko Haram

17 May 2014 Last updated at 11:59

A security summit has opened in Paris on the threat from Boko Haram Islamists, after they abducted more than 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria in April.

Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, who is attending the talks, had to call off a visit to the town where the girls were seized for security reasons.

As West African leaders arrived, reports emerged of suspected Boko Haram attack in Cameroon.

Ten people are reported missing.

One person was hurt when militants attacked a Chinese camp near Cameroon's porous with north-eastern Nigeria.

Those missing had been working for Chinese company Sinohydro, China's state news agency Xinhua reported.

Militants have staged several attacks in Cameroon; last year they kidnapped several members of a French family, who were later released.

Boko Haram released a video earlier this week showing more than 100 of the girls and offering an exchange for prisoners. Their relatives have called for their unconditional release.

The girls, a mixture of Christians and Muslims, were seized on 14 April from their school hostel in the north-east Nigerian town of Chibok in Borno state.

President Jonathan has ruled out negotiations over their possible release, government officials say.

'Fresh strategies'

French President Francois Hollande was to open the Saturday's summit, and the leaders of Nigeria's neighbours - Benin, Cameroon, Niger and Chad - were scheduled to attend the talks. Representatives from the UK, US and EU were also taking part.

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John Simpson assesses the threat of Boko Haram

A statement before the summit said delegates at the meeting will "discuss fresh strategies for dealing with the security threat posed by Boko Haram and other terrorist groups in West and Central Africa".

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague told the BBC from Paris that Cameroon and Nigeria in particular had an important role to play in pooling their intelligence.

"There are many borders here and they are porous. The first focus of everything we're doing is about the girls now, but that requires these countries to work together. Cameroon and Nigeria... have not enjoyed strong positive relations in recent years."

Mr Hollande discussed the issue on Friday in a phone call with US President Barack Obama.

The safe return of the 223 girls was now one of America's main priorities, with US specialist teams and drones being involved in the rescue operation, the White House said.

France is also providing Nigeria with expert assistance to help release the girls.

US officials have criticised the speed of Nigeria's response to the threat from Boko Haram.

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'Biggest dinosaur ever' discovered

Fossilised bones of a dinosaur believed to be the largest creature ever to walk the Earth have been unearthed in Argentina, palaeontologists say.

Based on its huge thigh bones, it was 40m (130ft) long and 20m (65ft) tall.

Weighing in at 77 tonnes, it was as heavy as 14 African elephants, and seven tonnes heavier than the previous record holder, Argentinosaurus.

Scientists believe it is a new species of titanosaur - an enormous herbivore dating from the Late Cretaceous period.

A local farm worker first stumbled on the remains in the desert near La Flecha, about 250km (135 miles) west of Trelew, Patagonia.

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Dr Diego Pol explains how the weight of the dinosaur was calculated

The fossils were then excavated by a team of palaeontologists from the Museum of Palaeontology Egidio Feruglio, led by Dr Jose Luis Carballido and Dr Diego Pol.

They unearthed the partial skeletons of seven individuals - about 150 bones in total - all in "remarkable condition".

A film crew from the BBC Natural History Unit was there to capture the moment the scientists realised exactly how big their discovery was.

By measuring the length and circumference of the largest femur (thigh bone), they calculated the animal weighed 77 tonnes.

"Given the size of these bones, which surpass any of the previously known giant animals, the new dinosaur is the largest animal known that walked on Earth," the researchers told BBC News.

"Its length, from its head to the tip of its tail, was 40m.

"Standing with its neck up, it was about 20m high - equal to a seven-storey building."

This giant herbivore lived in the forests of Patagonia between 95 and 100 million years ago, based on the age of the rocks in which its bones were found.

But despite its magnitude, it does not yet have a name.

"It will be named describing its magnificence and in honour to both the region and the farm owners who alerted us about the discovery," the researchers said.

There have been many previous contenders for the title "world's biggest dinosaur".

The most recent pretender to the throne was Argentinosaurus, a similar type of sauropod, also discovered in Patagonia.

Originally thought to weigh in at 100 tonnes, it was later revised down to about 70 tonnes - just under the 77 tonnes that this new sauropod is thought to have weighed.

The picture is muddied by the various complicated methods for estimating size and weight, based on skeletons that are usually incomplete.

Argentinosaurus was estimated from only a few bones. But the researchers here had dozens to work with, making them more confident that they really have found "the big one".

Dr Paul Barrett, a dinosaur expert from London's Natural History Museum, agreed the new species is "a genuinely big critter. But there are a number of similarly sized big sauropod thigh bones out there," he cautioned.

"Without knowing more about this current find it's difficult to be sure. One problem with assessing the weight of both Argentinosaurus and this new discovery is that they're both based on very fragmentary specimens - no complete skeleton is known, which means the animal's proportions and overall shape are conjectural.

"Moreover, several different methods exist for calculating dinosaur weight (some based on overall volume, some on various limb bone measurements) and these don't always agree with each other, with large measures of uncertainty.

"So it's interesting to hear another really huge sauropod has been discovered, but ideally we'd need much more material of these supersized animals to determine just how big they really got."

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India's Modi in Delhi victory parade

17 May 2014 Last updated at 11:06

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Narendra Modi was given a rapturous reception at the BJP's headquarters

India's Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi has received a hero's welcome at his BJP party's headquarters in Delhi after securing the most decisive election victory in three decades.

He was cheered by supporters after a victory parade from the airport.

Manmohan Singh, whose Congress party was crushed in the poll, has tendered his resignation as prime minister.

Mr Modi, a Hindu nationalist and chief minister of Gujarat, campaigned on promises to revive the economy.

Results show the BJP gained a majority in parliament and will be able to govern without coalition partners.

However, many Indians still have profound concerns over Mr Modi because of claims he did little to stop communal riots in Gujarat in 2002 in which at least 1,000 people died, most of them Muslims.

Mr Modi has always denied the allegations and was never charged.

'India has won'

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Make no mistake, the scourge of unrelenting inflation turned the poor and the middle class against Congress: for the last three-and-a-half years India has been suffering its highest rate of inflation for 20 years, one that has also been higher than the world average.

This, many say, was the immediate trigger for people's anger and disenchantment with Congress.

Then there was what many call the party's failure to adapt to a changing India, which was moving, in the words of one commentator, from a "petitional to an aspirational culture".

After arriving in Delhi from his home state of Gujarat, Mr Modi was greeted by flag-waving supporters. He stepped out of his car, flashing a victory sign.

A brass band, drummers and bagpipers met him at the BJP headquarters, while bunting and balloons decorated the street.

Noticeably tight security is in place, the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder in Delhi reports.

Mr Modi will go to Varanasi for a ceremony by the river Ganges later on Saturday.

With votes still being counted, the BJP has won more than the 272 seats needed for a parliamentary majority.

With its allies, the party could get more than 330 seats out of 543.

Speaking at the BJP headquarters, Mr Modi said: "I want to bow, I want to give my thanks... to the people of India."

He said Indian media had created "consciousness among voters" and a "great festival of Indian democracy".

On Friday, Mr Modi wrote in a widely-shared tweet: "India has won, good days are about to come."

He also told supporters he would rule for all Indians.

"The age of divisive politics has ended - from today onwards the politics of uniting people will begin."

World leaders, including US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron, have congratulated Mr Modi on his victory.

India's new leader has received invitations to Washington and London. Previously, the US denied him visas and the UK cut off all ties with him following the 2002 riots.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif commended the BJP's "impressive victory" in the election.

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Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi says the media helped create a "great festival of Indian democracy"

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Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi: "I respect the verdict of the people"

The Congress party, which has dominated Indian politics since independence, is only expected to win 44 seats.

Congress has been mired in serious corruption scandals and its leadership has been considered ineffective in recent years, analysts say.

Accepting defeat, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said: "We humbly respect the verdict of the people."

Manmohan Singh met the president to hand in his resignation.

In a televised farewell address earlier on Saturday, Manmohan Singh said the government had achieved a lot in the last 10 years. "I wish the incoming government every success," he said.

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The BBC's Andrew North travelled to Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat

India election

• World's biggest exercise in electoral democracy; 814 million eligible voters
• A total of 8,251 candidates stood for election
• It started five weeks ago and a total of 551 million votes were cast, with a record 66.38% turnout
• The party or alliance that wins a majority in the 543-seat parliament forms the government

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Laos defence chief 'killed in crash'

17 May 2014 Last updated at 12:05

Laos Defence Minister and Deputy PM Douangchay Phichit has reportedly been killed along with other senior officials in a military plane crash.

The aircraft came down in the northern province of Xiangkhouang, nearly 500km (311 miles) from the capital Vientiane where its journey began.

The Laotian news agency and the Thai foreign ministry said the minister and his wife had died in the crash.

Up to 20 people were on board, including the governor of Vientiane.

The officials are believed to have been travelling to an official ceremony in Xiangkhouang.

The official Laos news agency KPL said the plane that went down was an Antonov AN- 74TK-300 plane operated by the Laos air force.

In October last year a civilian jet operated by Lao Airlines crashed into the Mekong River in bad weather, killing all 49 people on board.

Laos, a landlocked country of about seven million people, has an authoritarian communist one-party government and is one of Asia's poorest nations.

It has a poor air safety record. Last October a civilian airplane crashed into the Mekong river, killing all 49 people on board.

In 1998, a Vietnamese military aircaraft crashed in Xiangkhouang. All passengers on board, including a senior Vietnamese general, were killed.

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Deadly attack on Thai protest camp

15 May 2014 Last updated at 11:35

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"There are plenty of soldiers posted near this, the main protest camp, but they could not prevent" the attack, reports Jonathan Head

Three people have been killed and more than 20 others injured in an attack on an anti-government protest camp in the Thai capital, officials say.

Witnesses reported explosions and gunfire early on Thursday at a protest camp at Bangkok's Democracy Monument.

Protesters have been pressing the Senate to replace the cabinet with an appointed administration.

On Thursday, Thailand's military chief warned that the army could "use force" if political violence continued.

"If violence continues the military may need to come out... to restore peace and order," General Prayuth Chan-ocha said in a statement, adding that the army could be forced to end the violence "in full force".

However, a coup is not thought to be likely, correspondents say, as the military has frequently said that it does not believe this will resolve the political crisis.

Meeting abandoned

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In a country with a history of military coups, any warning of "decisive action" by the army commander, at a time of chronic political tension, will set off alarm bells. But it probably won't happen, at least not yet.

After a spate of similar attacks in February, the army deployed troops in bunkers all over Bangkok - setting off more coup chatter - and promised to protect the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC).

There were plenty of soldiers around Democracy Monument when it was hit by grenades and bullets this morning, and they were powerless to stop them. General Prayuth will have been embarrassed by this, and his strong statement probably reflects that.

He is also sending a warning to the secretive armed "red shirt" militants, whom the PDRC blames for the latest attack. These militants are not commanded by the mainstream red shirt movement, which has restrained its followers from any clashes with the PDRC.

It is the prospect of an armed response by these militants, thought to number several thousand, which has helped deter even army hardliners from intervening up to now, along with the fear that they would be left in charge of a mess.

The army top brass has repeatedly said it does not believe a coup can solve Thailand's crisis. That does not mean it won't happen. The current government is still likely to be forced out of office, but the generals would clearly prefer that this is done by judges or senators, rather than at the point of a gun.

Thailand has suffered months of deadlock since the protest campaign began in November, with at least 27 people killed and hundreds wounded.

Also on Thursday, protesters forced a meeting between the government and the Election Commission to be abandoned.

A crowd led by Suthep Thaugsuban, head of the anti-government movement, broke into the Air Force base where the meeting between acting Prime Minister Niwatthamrong Boonsongphaisan and the commission was being held.

"The meeting is over, the prime minister is leaving. We cannot continue today," a member of the commission was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

The Election Commission on Thursday has called for polls to be postponed due to the political unrest, AFP news agency says, citing officials.

Power struggle

Reports said grenades were thrown in the latest attack in the early hours of Thursday, followed by gunfire. A doctor at an emergency centre in Bangkok said the wounded had been hit by shrapnel.

Police identified two of the victims as a protester who was asleep and a protest guard who was shot.

There have been a number of attacks on the protest movement since it began its street campaign against the government last year, says the BBC's South East Asia correspondent Jonathan Head, but this was on a larger scale than usual.

No group has said it carried out the attack but both pro- and anti-government groups are known to have armed hardliners.

The attack on protesters comes days after former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was removed by a Thai court.

Ms Yingluck was swiftly replaced by former Commerce Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan, who is from her ruling Pheu Thai party.

The party, which won elections in July 2011, says it will push on with a plan to hold another general election in July.

The protesters say they will obstruct this poll in the same way that they blocked an election held in February that was subsequently annulled by the courts.

Thailand's troubles

• Sep 2006: Army ousts Thaksin Shinawatra
• Dec 2007: Pro-Thaksin party wins election
• Aug 2008: Thaksin flees Thailand
• Dec 2008: Huge anti-Thaksin protests; court bans ruling party; Abhisit Vejjajiva comes to power
• Mar-May 2010: Huge pro-Thaksin protests; more than 90 killed over 10-week period
• Jul 2011: Yingluck Shinawatra elected PM
• Nov 2013: Anti-government protests
• Feb 2014: Snap election held, but protesters disrupt polls; court rules polls invalid
• May 2014: PM ordered to step down

Thailand has been in the grip of a power struggle since Ms Yingluck's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, was ousted by the military as prime minister in a 2006 coup.

Mr Thaksin and his family are hated by an urban and middle-class elite who accuse them of corruption and abuse of power.

But Mr Thaksin's policies won him huge support in rural areas, and both the elections since the coup have returned Thaksin-allied governments to power.

The current anti-government protesters want to replace Ms Yingluck's administration with an unelected "people's council" which, they say, would reform the political system.

Both pro- and anti-government groups have held rallies in Bangkok in recent days, raising fears of further violence.

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Sudan woman faces death for apostasy

15 May 2014 Last updated at 10:58

A Sudanese court has sentenced a woman to hang for apostasy after she left Islam and married a Christian man.

"We gave you three days to recant but you insist on not returning to Islam. I sentence you to be hanged to death," the judge told the woman, AFP reports.

Western embassies and rights groups had urged Sudan to respect the right of the pregnant woman to choose her religion.

Local media report the sentence would not be carried out for two years after she has given birth.

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I am a Christian and I never committed apostasy"

End Quote Meriam Yehya Ibrahim Ishag

Sudan has a majority Muslim population, which is governed by Islamic law.

The judge also sentenced her to 100 lashes after convicting her of adultery - because her marriage to a Christian man was not valid under Islamic law.

Earlier in the hearing, an Islamic cleric spoke with her in a caged dock for about 30 minutes, AFP reports.

Then she calmly told the judge: "I am a Christian and I never committed apostasy."

Amnesty International said the woman, Meriam Yehya Ibrahim Ishag, was raised as an Orthodox Christian, her mother's religion, because her father, a Muslim, was reportedly absent during her childhood.

In court, the judge addressed her by her Muslim name, Adraf Al-Hadi Mohammed Abdullah.

She was convicted of adultery on the grounds that her marriage to a Christian man from South Sudan was void under Islamic law, as practised in Sudan, Amnesty said.

She was arrested and charged with adultery in August 2013 and the court added the charge of apostasy in February 2014 when she said she was a Christian and not a Muslim, the group said.

Amnesty said she should be released immediately.

She is said to be eight months' pregnant.

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