US man 'forgotten' in jail gets $4m

31 July 2013 Last updated at 03:15 ET

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Daniel Chong: "I didn't sit there quietly, I was kicking the door and yelling"

A university student in the US city of San Diego has received $4.1m (£2.7m) from the US government after he was abandoned for more than four days in a prison cell, his lawyer said.

Daniel Chong said he drank his urine to stay alive, tried to carve a message to his mother on his arm and hallucinated.

He was held in a drug raid in 2012, but told he would not be charged. Nobody returned to his cell for four days.

The justice department's inspector is now investigating what happened.

Mr Chong, now 25, said he slid a shoelace under the door and screamed to get attention before five or six people found him covered in his faeces in the cell at the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) San Diego headquarters.

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I didn't just sit there quietly. I was kicking the door yelling"

End Quote Daniel Chong

After Mr Chong was rescued, he spent five days in hospital recovering from dehydration, kidney failure, cramps and a perforated oesophagus. He also lost 15lb (7kg).

'Horrible accident'

Mr Chong was one of nine people detained in the raid in April 2012. Authorities determined that they would not pursue charges after questioning him.

One of Mr Chong's lawyers said a police officer then put him in the holding cell and told him: "We'll come get you in a minute."

Mr Chong said he thought he was forgotten by mistake.

"It sounded like it was an accident - a really, really bad, horrible accident," he said.

The 5ft by 10 ft (1.5m by 3m) cell had no windows and Mr Chong had no food or water while he was trapped inside for four-and-a-half days.

Mr Chong said he started hallucinating on the third day.

He urinated on a metal bench so he could have something to drink. He also unsuccessfully tried to set off a fire sprinkler to draw attention of the DEA authorities.

"I didn't just sit there quietly. I was kicking the door yelling," he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

"I even put some shoestrings, shoelaces through the crack of the door for visual signs. I didn't stay still, no, I was screaming."

At one point, Mr Chong admitted, he thought he was going to die. He broke his eyeglasses by biting into them and tried to carve a "Sorry Mom" farewell message. He managed to finish an "S".

DEA spokeswoman Allison Price confirmed that the $4.1m settlement had been reached, without providing further details, according to the AP.

The incident prompted the head of the DEA to issue a public apology last May, saying he was "deeply troubled" by the incident.

Mr Chong's lawyer said that as a result, the DEA had introduced new policies for detention, including checking cells daily and installing cameras inside them.

Mr Chong, now an economics student at the University of California, says he plans to buy his parents a house.

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China issues alert for Shanghai heat

31 July 2013 Last updated at 03:46 ET

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The BBC's Martin Patience: "In Shanghai it's absolutely sweltering"

Temperatures in parts of China have hit record highs, prompting an emergency level-two nationwide heat alert for the first time.

In Shanghai, at least 10 people have died from heatstroke, as the city experiences its hottest July in 140 years, reports say.

Local journalists have demonstrated the heat by frying meat on the pavement.

The national heat alert covers nine provinces, including Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan, Hubei, Shanghai and Chongqing.

According to figures from the Shanghai Meteorological bureau, Shanghai has seen 24 days with temperatures at or above 35C in July.

"It should be a new record since Shanghai had its own weather recording," said chief service officer Wu Rui.

"Also, in July of this year Shanghai reached 40.6 degrees Celsius, its highest ever temperature. So the highest temperature in July also broke a record."

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More than 10 people in Shanghai have died after suffering from heatstroke, state-run news agency Xinhua said, citing health officials.

In a TV report, journalists from Shanghai TV said they successfully fried a pork chop on a marble slab outdoors in just 10 minutes.

The practice appears to have become popular, with photos of slices of bacon and fish being barbecued outdoors by the heat appearing online.

'Impossible'

The China Meteorological Administration issued the level two emergency heat alert on Tuesday.

"Anhui, Jiangsu, Hunan, Hubei, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Chongqing and Shanghai meteorological bureaus should enter into emergency response on the basis of actual weather conditions," it said on its website.

It added that weather forecasts suggested that some areas south of the Yangtze river, including Chongqing, could experience temperatures of over 35C until 8 August.

It urged members of the public to avoid outdoor activities and to take protective measures against the heat.

"It's impossible for people to live without an air-conditioner," a resident was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

"Just going outside in this kind of temperate can roast people."

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Cambodian opposition claims poll win

31 July 2013 Last updated at 05:14 ET

Cambodia's opposition party says it narrowly won Sunday's general election, challenging the ruling party's earlier declaration of victory.

Hours after the poll, PM Hun Sen's ruling party said it won 68 seats in parliament to the opposition's 55.

But opposition leader Sam Rainsy said the result was 63-60 in his favour, and called for an independent commission to investigate poll irregularities.

Official poll results are not expected until mid-August.

Hun Sen has been in power in Cambodia for nearly three decades. The national election commission is widely expected to back his Cambodian People's Party (CPP), says the BBC's Jonah Fisher in Bangkok.

But the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party says it does not accept the results. Earlier this week, it cited multiple irregularities with voter lists.

'Instability'

Sam Rainsy told the BBC that the opposition would not take its seats in parliament - expected to sit in September - until its win was recognised, which would prevent a new cabinet being approved.

"We expect the CPP to concede the election to us. The information we have received from the our activists and party agents show that we have won 63 seats and they have won 60," he said.

"To move forward without an independent committee is cheating. We will comply with the conclusions of an independent committee. There is no other way or else the county will face a period of instability and uncertainty."

Ouch Borith, Cambodia's secretary of state at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, on Tuesday rejected claims of voting irregularities.

"We have over 10,000 national observers and over 100 international observers who reckoned our election was held in a peaceful manner without any violence, free and fair," he said.

Both the US and the European Union have expressed concern over the conduct of the polls and have asked the election commission to conduct an investigation.

"We are concerned by numerous reported irregularities in the electoral process," US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Monday.

She added that Washington had long highlighted "systematic flaws such as problems in the voter registry and unequal access to the media".

The result announced by the CPP represented the worst result for the ruling party in 15 years.

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Last chance for Berlusconi defence

31 July 2013 Last updated at 05:24 ET

Lawyers for former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi are asking the country's top criminal court to overturn his conviction for tax fraud.

Judges at Rome's Court of Cassation are set to decide whether to uphold a one-year jail sentence and political ban.

Prosecutors pressed the panel on Tuesday to cut a ban on public office from five to three years.

The three-time premier and senator faces house arrest or community service rather than prison because he is 76.

On Wednesday the court is expected to hear arguments from the defence team, with a verdict anticipated later.

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The five judges could arrive at their decision by the end of the day, but it's also possible that the case will go on into Thursday.

Mr Berlusconi's party is one of the pillars of the ruling coalition administration.

And if he is found guilty the political tensions in the aftermath of the judgement would be so acute that they might even threaten the stability of the government.

Public prosecutor Antonello Mura asked the five judges to confirm a prison sentence in the case.

He argued that the decision by a lower appeal court in May to uphold his conviction was sound.

When Mr Berlusconi was convicted in October of last year, he was sentenced to four years in prison but this was automatically reduced to one under a 2006 pardon law.

His Mediaset media empire raised the price of film distribution rights artificially high, to avoid incurring a higher tax bill, the original ruling said. Mr Berlusconi was labelled the "author of a whole system of tax fraud".

On Monday Mr Mura surprised many observers by asking the judges to reduce his ban from public office, pointing to a legal technicality.

One of Berlusconi's lawyers, Franco Coppi, said Mr Mura was trying to fix an "error" by the lower court. He said the prosecutor was "trying to defend an indefensible verdict.''

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• Convicted in June 2013 of paying for sex with underage prostitute and abusing his power. Sentenced to seven years in jail and banned from ever again holding public office. Free pending outcome of appeals process
• Convicted in October 2012 of tax fraud over deals his firm Mediaset made to purchase TV rights to US films. Sentenced to four years in prison, reduced to one, then reinstated as four by appeals court in May 2013. Also banned from holding public office for five years. Free pending outcome of final appeal, expected July 2013
• Convicted in March 2013 of arranging leak of police wiretap. Sentenced to year in prison. Free pending appeals
• Two other corruption cases involving tax evasion and bribery of a British lawyer expired under statute of limitations

Protest threat

As Mr Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom (PDL) party is in Italy's governing coalition, the country faces political uncertainty if his conviction is upheld and he is excluded from participating in political duties.

Many PDL supporters have vowed to hold public protests if the judges do not rule in his favour. Some hardliners even promised to block Italian motorways, the Italian news agency Ansa reports.

A 2010 Italian constitutional court ruling on a statute of limitations opened the way for a string of trials involving Mr Berlusconi.

Appeals are pending in other cases in which he was convicted of having paid for sex with an underage prostitute and arranging for a police wiretap to be leaked and published in a newspaper.

One of Italy's richest men, who built a media empire from his base in Milan, he accuses magistrates from his home city of pursuing a "vendetta" against him.

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Snowden's father 'approached by FBI'

31 July 2013 Last updated at 05:39 ET

The father of US fugitive Edward Snowden has said the FBI asked him to travel to Moscow and see his son, but adds that he wants more details.

Lon Snowden said he had been asked several weeks ago about Edward, who is sought by the US for leaking details of electronic surveillance programmes.

However, he wants to know the FBI's intentions, he told Russian state TV.

He said his son would not get a fair trial in America and, if he were in his son's place, he would stay in Russia.

He described his son as a "true patriot" who had "made America a more democratic country" by revealing secret details of the US National Security Agency's surveillance programmes.

The interview was broadcast live, early in the morning, on the Russia 24 news channel. Mr Snowden spoke English, with a Russian translation.

Mr Snowden has been stuck in transit at a Moscow airport for more than a month as he has no valid travel documents.

'Forever grateful'

"Edward, I hope you are watching this," Lon Snowden said in the interview.

"Your family is well. We love you. We hope you are healthy, we hope you are well, I hope to see you soon, but most of all I want you to be safe. I want you to find a safe haven."

The fugitive's father also thanked the Russian authorities for keeping his son safe.

"I also would like to thank President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government for what I believe to be their courage and strength and conviction to keep my son safe," he said.

"Like any mother or father who loves their child, I love my son and I will be forever grateful for what you have done, very much."

Edward Snowden arrived in Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport on 23 June from Hong Kong, after making his revelations.

He has requested temporary asylum in Russia, while saying he hopes eventually to go to Latin America..

The Snowden affair has caused diplomatic ructions around the world, upsetting America's close allies and traditional enemies.

The US Attorney General, Eric Holder, has given Moscow an assurance that he will not face the death penalty if extradited to America, but the Russians say they do not intend to hand him over.

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German smoker faces flat eviction

31 July 2013 Last updated at 06:29 ET

A court in Germany has ruled that a man who smokes in a rented flat can be evicted if the smoke gets into public areas of an apartment block.

The Dusseldorf court's verdict followed a complaint from the landlady of the building where Friedhelm Adolfs lives.

She and other residents said that they could smell the smoke in the stairwell.

The 74-year-old heavy smoker had argued that his flat was not completely sealed and he could not help it if smoke seeped under the door to public areas.

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Germany is more tolerant of smokers than seems to be the case in Britain and North America.

Smoking is banned in public places but special rooms are set aside in restaurants.

All the same, there is resistance to what protesters at a recent rally in Dusseldorf called "pervasive paternalism".

They carried placards likening the smoking ban to the regulations made by the Nazis and Communists.

The smokers are particularly angry that in parts of Germany the ban has been toughened to prohibit smoking in tents at carnivals, for example.

At the demonstration, one mayor railed against what he called the "persecutory smoking law".

In its ruling, the Dusseldorf district court said that other residents of the apartment block should not be expected to endure an "unacceptable and intolerable odour".

It said, therefore, that Mr Adolfs - who has lived in the flat for 40 years - could be evicted, although he had a right of appeal.

At the same time, the verdict maintained that people had a basic right to smoke in their own homes.

Smoking is banned in public places in Germany, but special rooms are set aside in restaurants.

There had been public demonstrations by smokers against what they describe as draconian, totalitarian attitudes.

But Germany is also home to some smokers with a high public profile.

Former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, 94, for example, insists on smoking through television interviews: in one appearance, he smoked 13 cigarettes on camera, the BBC's Steve Evans in Berlin reports.

Mr Schmidt's political colleague also said that he had stockpiled 38,000 menthol cigarettes at his home in anticipation of a ban by the European Union.

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Zimbabweans vote in crunch poll

31 July 2013 Last updated at 07:24 ET

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People have been forming long queues at one polling station in Harare, as Nomsa Maseko reports.

Long queues have formed at polling stations in Zimbabwe as people vote in fiercely contested elections which have already been hit by fraud allegations.

President Robert Mugabe, 89, has said he will step down after 33 years in power if he and his Zanu-PF party lose.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) have accused Zanu-PF of doctoring the electoral roll, a charge it has denied.

Campaigning for the presidential and parliamentary poll was mostly peaceful.

Zanu-PF and the MDC have shared an uneasy coalition government since 2009 under a deal brokered to end the deadly violence that erupted after a disputed presidential poll the previous year.

'Determined to vote'

Mr Mugabe dismissed the MDC's allegations of vote-rigging as "politicking" as he voted in the capital Harare's Highfield township, AFP news agency reports.

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At the scene

Thabo Kunene Bulawyo

---

Hundreds braved the cold and the wind to stand in queues, which started forming as early as 04:30 (02:30 GMT). A security guard said he saw some people sleeping opposite one polling station. Women selling tea and coffee nearby made good business as those in the queues dashed to buy the hot drinks to ward off the cold.

At one polling station in Makhokhoba, voting was progressing in an impressively ordered manner. People from different parties were chatting to each other and laughing but they avoided discussing who would win.

However some voters were disappointed after they failed to find their names in the wards where they had registered, raising more fears of vote rigging. After voting, some complained that the photos of the candidates were blurred and they had difficulties recognising them on the ballot papers.

Far away from the voting booth, Mlungisi Sibanda told me he woke up at 04:00, bathed and prayed before joining his friends in the queue. "If we don't make history in this election, we will never do it again," he said.

"They want to find a way out," Mr Mugabe said.

"I am sure people will vote freely and fairly, there is no pressure being exerted on anyone."

Mr Tsvangirai described casting his ballot as an emotional moment "after all the conflict, the stalemate, the suspicion, the hostility".

"This is a very historic moment for us," he is quoted by AFP as saying.

Mr Tsvangirai won the most votes in the first round of the 2008 poll, but pulled out of the run-off with Mr Mugabe because of attacks on his supporters, which left about 200 dead.

The government has barred Western observers from monitoring Wednesday's elections, but the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), as well as local organisations, have been accredited.

Polls opened at 07:00 local time (05:00 GMT) and are due to close at 17:00 GMT.

The turnout is expected to be high among the 6.4 million people registered to vote, with tens of thousands attending rallies in recent weeks. Results are due within five days.

Wednesday has been declared a national holiday to ensure people can vote. Despite this, voters queued for several hours outside polling stations before they opened, reports the BBC's Nomsa Maseko in Harare.

Zimbabwe Election Support Network, the main domestic monitoring agency, said the vote appeared to be taking place without too many problems, Reuters news agency reports.

"There are some concerns around long queues, but generally, it's smooth," said its spokesman Thabani Nyoni.

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"I got up at four but still couldn't get the first position in the line," Clifford Chasakara, a voter in the western province of Manicaland, told the Reuters.

"My fingers are numb, but I'm sure I can mark the ballot all the same. I'm determined to vote and have my vote counted."

At a news conference at State House on Tuesday, Mr Mugabe was asked if he and Zanu-PF would accept defeat.

"If you go into a process and join a competition where there are only two outcomes, win or lose, you can't be both. You either win or lose. If you lose, you must surrender," he said.

'Anomalies'

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Zimbabwe election: Key facts

• About 6.4 million registered voters
• Polls open at 05:00 GMT and close at 17:00 GMT
• Vote for president and parliament
• Zanu-PF's Robert Mugabe and MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai are the main presidential contenders
• Mr Mugabe, 89, is seeking to extend his 33-year rule
• Mr Tsvangirai, 61, hopes to become president after three failed attempts
• The poll ends the fractious coalition between Zanu-PF and MDC, which was brokered by regional mediators after disputed elections in 2008 that were marred by violence
• First election under new constitution

But Mr Tsvangirai dismissed the president's remarks.

"He does not believe in the right of the people to choose. He does not believe he can be voted out of office," he told the BBC.

The 61-year-old has vowed to push Mr Mugabe into retirement; it is his third attempt to unseat him.

An MDC spokesman said separately that the party was only prepared to accept the results of the elections if they were "free and fair".

On Tuesday, the MDC accused Zanu-PF of doctoring the roll of registered voters, which was released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) only on the eve of the polls after weeks of delay.

The MDC claimed the roll dated back to 1985 and was full of anomalies.

A BBC correspondent has seen the document and says it features the names of thousands of dead people. He says many names with the same address appear two or three times.

A Zanu-PF spokesman denied the allegations and pointed out that appointees from both parties were on Zec. He also accused Finance Minister Tendai Biti, from the MDC, of not funding the commission properly. Zec has not commented.

In addition to Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai, there are three other candidates standing for the presidency - Welshman Ncube, leader of the breakaway MDC-Mutambara; Dumiso Dabengwa of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (Zapu), and Kisinoti Munodei Mukwazhe, who represents the small Zimbabwe Development Party (ZDP).

To be declared a winner, a presidential candidate must win more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate reaches this mark, a run-off will be held on 11 September.

The elections will be the first to be held under the new constitution approved in a referendum in March this year.

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Manning sentencing hearing to begin

31 July 2013 Last updated at 07:48 ET

A sentencing hearing for US Army Private Bradley Manning is due to begin at a military court in Maryland.

On Tuesday, he was found guilty of 20 charges, including espionage and theft, but acquitted of aiding the enemy.

The sentencing procedure may be lengthy, with both the prosecution and defence allowed to call witnesses. Pte Manning faces up to 136 years in jail.

He has admitted passing hundreds of thousands of battlefield reports and diplomatic cables to Wikileaks.

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Analysis

How much damage did Bradley Manning really do? That issue is at the heart of the sentencing process and also the wider debate over whether to treat the soldier as an ethical whistle-blower or a traitor.

Supporters say that his disclosures helped highlight abuses and reveal what was really happening in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. They say it helped force a debate on what should or should not be kept secret and wider US foreign policy.

Critics point to the disclosure of diplomatic cables and say that by disclosing confidential contacts between US embassies and individuals living under sometimes repressive regimes, he placed individuals into positions of danger, perhaps forcing some into hiding. Critics say it also had a wider chilling effect on people's willingness to talk to US officials. They say confidential contacts are a necessary part of diplomacy.

What the Manning case has done - along with that of Edward Snowden - is push forward a debate on what the boundaries of secrecy should be and when it is acceptable for individuals to decide to reveal what had been classified.

The website's founder Julian Assange said Pte Manning's conviction of spying set a "dangerous precedent", accusing the US authorities of "national security extremism".

Mr Assange described the soldier as the most important journalistic source the world has ever seen, and said the military court's verdict had to be overturned.

Motives

Pte Manning appeared not to react as Judge Colonel Denise Lind read out the verdicts on Tuesday, but his defence lawyer, David Coombs, smiled faintly as he was found not guilty of the most serious charge of aiding the enemy.

"We won the battle, now we need to go win the war," Mr Coombs said of the sentencing phase. "Today is a good day, but Bradley is by no means out of the fire."

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Julian Assange described Bradley Manning as a "quintessential whistleblower"

During the trial the judge stopped both sides from presenting evidence about whether the leaks had endangered national security or US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, but the prosecution and defence will be able to bring that up at the sentencing hearing.

The judge also restricted evidence about Pte Manning's motives. At a pre-trial hearing, he testified that he had leaked the material to expose the "bloodlust" of US forces and the country's diplomatic deceitfulness. He did not believe his actions would harm the country.

More than 20 witnesses are expected to be called for the sentencing hearing and it could take weeks.

Pte Manning faces a maximum sentence of 136 years in prison, although legal experts say the actual term is likely to be much shorter.

Eugene Fidell, who teaches military law at Yale Law School, told the New York Times that he expected the judge would collapse some of the charges so Pte Manning did not "get punished twice for the same underlying conduct".

But Lisa Windsor, a retired US Army colonel and former judge advocate, told the Associated Press that he was still likely "going to be in jail for a very long time".

'Justice served'

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World media reaction

Editorial in The New York Times

"Lurking just behind a military court's conviction of Pfc Bradley Manning... is a national-security apparatus that has metastasized into a vast and largely unchecked exercise of government secrecy and the overzealous prosecution of those who breach it."

Ansgar Graw in Germany's Die Welt

"After the verdict, an immature youngster with vague dreams of a 'better world' and few thoughts about his own obligations is facing further years in prison. But his military superiors failed at least as much as Bradley Manning."

China's People's Net website

"Manning has a number of supporters in the United States, who believe that Manning uncovered the most ugly side of foreign policy formulated by American politicians and military leaders."

Correspondent on Russia's Rossiya TV

"The verdict in the Manning case... is also a signal to all future truth-lovers in America... Even after bursting the boil of secrecy, it is very difficult today to not only change the course of history, but also to awaken society that is not ready to and does not want to hear the truth."

During the court martial, prosecutors said Pte Manning systematically harvested hundreds of thousands of classified documents in order to gain notoriety.

With his training as an intelligence analyst, Pte Manning should have known the leaked documents would become available to al-Qaeda operatives, they argued.

The defence characterised him as a naive and young soldier who had become disillusioned during his time in Iraq.

His actions, Mr Coombs argued, were those of a whistle-blower.

The Democratic and Republican leaders of the US House of Representatives intelligence committee said "justice has been served", in a joint statement after the ruling.

Among the items sent to Wikileaks by Pte Manning was graphic footage of an Apache helicopter attack in 2007 that killed a dozen people in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, including a Reuters photographer.

The documents also included 470,000 Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports and 250,000 secure state department cables between Washington and embassies around the world.

Pte Manning, an intelligence analyst, was arrested in Iraq in May 2010. He spent weeks in a cell at Camp Arifjan, a US Army installation in Kuwait, before being transferred to the US.

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Explosions rock Florida gas plant

30 July 2013 Last updated at 02:40 ET

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Aerial footage shows a tower of flames rising into the sky, as the BBC's Peter Bowes reports

At least seven people were injured by a series of explosions at a gas plant in the US state of Florida, officials say.

They were working at the Blue Rhino propane plant, in the town of Tavares, when the blasts began at about 23:00 (03:00 GMT), blowing the roof off.

The explosions continued for about an hour and caused a large fire. The cause of the initial blast is not yet known.

Fifteen workers were found safe after initially being unaccounted for, while two others managed to escape unhurt.

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John Harrell, Lake County Sheriff's Office: "More and more explosions"

A spokesman for the Lake County Sheriff's Office, John Harrell, said the missing workers had merely "scattered" when the explosions began and had since been contacted by their managers and emergency crews.

People living within 0.5 miles (0.8km) of the plant have been evacuated, although Mr Harrell said emergency crews believed the fire had been contained and that there was no immediate danger to them.

Officials are investigating the blasts. There were an estimated 53,000 tanks at the plant at the time.

Former plant supervisor Don Ingram told WESH-TV that Blue Rhino took in propane tanks used for home barbecues, cleaned them, checked their valves and then refilled them.

About 4,000 to 5,000 tanks were refilled each night and were stacked on plastic pallets four or five high behind the filling station, Mr Ingram added.

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Mandela improvement 'continues'

30 July 2013 Last updated at 04:51 ET

South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela, who has been in hospital since 8 June with a recurring lung infection, "continues to show improvement", a government statement says.

But the 95-year-old remains in a critical if stable condition, it said.

President Jacob Zuma urged people to continue to pray for him and thanked those who did good works in his name.

The country's first democratically elected leader, Mr Mandela is considered the father of the nation.

He spent 27 years in prison after taking up arms to fight against the apartheid regime.

Known by his clan name Madidba, he became South Africa's president in 1994 after white minority rule ended and stepped down five years later.

In his statement, Mr Zuma called on those in the business community to support a project by one of Mr Mandela's funds to build a children's hospital.

"Madiba loves children and wants the best for them. He wants us to ensure that they have a better future," he said.

According to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, it would like to build a 238-bed academic and paediatric referral facility to serve children across southern Africa.

"The hospital will be one of the most inspiring legacies of this remarkable statesman and leader of our people, and we humbly invite all sectors to actively support this project," Mr Zuma said.

Since his admission into the private Medi Clinic Heart Hospital in the capital, Pretoria, thousands of tributes and get-well messages have left outside for Mr Mandela.

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Mid-East peace talks resume in US

30 July 2013 Last updated at 05:55 ET

Middle East peace talks have resumed after Israeli and Palestinian negotiators dined in Washington DC with US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Mr Kerry said it was a "very, very special" moment, as they broke the traditional Muslim fast for Ramadan.

Earlier, US President Barack Obama welcomed the discussions but cautioned that "hard choices" lay ahead.

The talks resumed after three years as Israel approved the release of more than 100 Palestinian prisoners.

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Core issues

Jerusalem: Palestinians want East Jerusalem as capital of future state; Israel unwilling to divide it

Borders and settlements: Israel wants to keep major Jewish settlements; Palestinians want borders along 1967 lines but accept some settlements will have to stay in return for land swaps

Palestinian refugees: Israel rejects idea of a Palestinian "right of return"

Security: Palestinians want full attributes of normal state; Israel wants to curtail this.

The releases, which split the Israeli cabinet, are to take place in stages over several months.

In the last five months, Mr Kerry has made six official visits to the Middle East in an effort to restart the negotiations.

'Daunting'

At the table on Monday evening at the US state department in Washington DC, Mr Kerry said it was "wonderful" the delegations had gathered in the US capital.

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Martin Indyk: ''It is a daunting and humbling challenge, but one that I cannot desist from''

He said it was "very, very special", and quipped that they had "not very much to talk about at all".

Seated opposite Mr Kerry was Israel's chief negotiator, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, and next to her was her Palestinian counterpart Saeb Erekat.

Former US Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, appointed US special envoy to the talks, also attended the "iftar", the traditional meal at the end of each day of fasting during the Muslim month of Ramadan.

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Analysis

Over dinner at the state department, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators sat with John Kerry and Martin Indyk to start thrashing out some of the procedural details of forthcoming talks: format, schedule and location.

Because the two parties haven't had direct talks in three years, these are basic but essential starting points. There will be more talks on Tuesday and then negotiators will head home at end of the day. If all has gone well, the next round of talks is expected to take place in the Middle East, with Mr Indyk at the helm. It's still unclear at what point the two sides will delve into the real issues at the heart of the matter.

The sceptics say this is all just process and the reality on the ground means that Mr Kerry is on a fool's errand. But Mr Kerry has had his heart set on the goal of a peace deal for some time, and he is hoping his determination will keep the talks going long enough that they will actually get somewhere.

Mr Indyk, 62, said earlier he looked forward to working with both sides to "do our best to achieve President Obama's vision of two states, living side by side in peace and security".

The seasoned diplomat played a key role in the failed Camp David talks of 2000 under former President Bill Clinton.

The initial talks between Israeli and Palestinian representatives were scheduled to begin on Monday evening and continue on Tuesday, said the state department.

At a press conference in Washington DC on Monday, Mr Kerry urged both sides to make "reasonable compromises" for peace.

"I know the negotiations are going to be tough, but I also know the consequences of not trying will be worse," he said.

State department spokeswoman Jen Psaki suggested the goal of initial talks would be to chart a way forward rather than try to tackle the thorny issues between the two sides.

Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official, told AFP news agency on Monday: "There must be a timeline and commitment from both sides on what they'll agree about. We hope for something good."

At the UN in New York on Monday, Ms Livni, the Israeli negotiator, said the talks would be "very tough and problematic".

Continue reading the main story

Martin Indyk

• Two stints as US ambassador to Israel from 1995 and 2000
• Worked with Israeli PMs Rabin and Barak on Oslo peace process
• Served on National Security Council and responsible for Middle East at US state department in 1990s
• Director of Foreign Policy Program at Brookings Institution
• July 2013 succeeds David Hale as Middle East envoy

But she added that efforts towards peace were "a mutual interest for Israel, for the Palestinians, the Arab world, the international community".

Major sticking points include the future of Israeli settlements on the West Bank, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

The issue of settlement-building halted the last direct talks in September 2010.

Settlements are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

Also on Sunday, the Israeli cabinet approved the release of 104 long-term Palestinian prisoners by 13 votes to seven.

The inmates are to be released in four stages over a number of months, linked to progress in the peace process.

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Why has there been a recent drive to restart Mid-East peace talks?

Their identities have not been published, but according to reports they include those who have killed Israelis or Palestinian informers.

Sunday's cabinet meeting was delayed by an hour as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought support for his proposal.

The cabinet also approved a draft bill requiring a referendum for any peace agreement with the Palestinians that involves territorial concessions.

Mr Netanyahu's office said it was important that every citizen voted directly on such decisions.

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Bars targeted in Nigeria Kano blasts

30 July 2013 Last updated at 06:28 ET

At least 28 are people have been killed in a series of explosions that targeted bars in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, a hospital source tells the BBC.

Witnesses said the blasts shook a Christian neighbourhood that has previously been attacked by militants from the Islamist group Boko Haram.

The army said 12 people had been killed when explosions placed in packages were dropped in the area on Monday evening.

In March, explosions at a bus station in the city killed more than 20 people.

Correspondents say the Muslim majority in the city are now anxious about possible reprisals, as people come out onto the streets after breaking their daytime fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

'Shook the whole area'

"We have had some explosions in Sabon Gari this evening," Kano state Police Commissioner Musa Daura said.

"The explosions happened at open-air beer parlours, where people were playing snooker."

Eyewitnesses say multiple blasts struck the predominantly Christian district at around 21:30 local time (20:30 GMT), in an area where people had gathered to enjoy the area's nightlife.

"After the first bomb, I threw myself into the canal (drain) to hide. There were at least three blasts,'' resident Kolade Ade told Associated Press news agency.

Fruit vendor Chinyere Madu told the AFP news agency she heard four explosions, which "shook the whole area".

She said she "saw one person carrying someone on his shoulders with bleeding legs".

Continue reading the main story

• Founded in 2002
• Official Arabic name, Jama'atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda'awati wal-Jihad, means "People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet's Teachings and Jihad"
• Initially focused on opposing Western education
• Nicknamed Boko Haram, a phrase in the local Hausa language meaning, "Western education is forbidden"
• Launches military operations in 2009 to create an Islamic state across Nigeria
• Founding leader Mohammed Yusuf killed in same year in police custody
• Succeeded by Abubakar Shekau, who is said to be well-versed in theology
• Suspected to have split into rival factions in 2012

The BBC's Yusuf Ibrahim Yakasai in Kano says that the military have cordoned off the blast site, preventing people from entering the area.

A hospital worker told our reporter he had counted 28 dead bodies; a further 15 were wounded.

However, the military said the explosions left 12 people dead and a "couple of others" injured.

The blasts could have been avoided if the public had been vigilant, and had spotted packages containing explosive devises being "dropped" in the area, the military said in a statement.

The same neighbourhood has been targeted in the past by the militant Islamist Boko Haram group, which is fighting to create an Islamic state in the mainly Muslim north of Nigeria.

The group, whose name means "Western education is forbidden", has increasingly targeted schools and civilians in its attacks.

Since the Islamic insurgency started in 2009, more than 2,000 people have died.

Though no group officially claimed responsibility for the bus station blasts in Kano earlier this year, Boko Haram was largely blamed for the attack.

In May, Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency and deployed the army to the three states to the east of Kano were the group has been most active - Borno, Yobe and Adamawa.

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Mass funeral for Italy bus victims

30 July 2013 Last updated at 07:05 ET

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There were emotional scenes at the huge sports hall, as Nik Gowing reports

A funeral has been held near the southern Italian town of Pozzuoli for the 38 victims of Sunday's bus crash.

Prime Minister Enrico Letta was among about 4,000 people at the service, which was held in a sports hall.

Bishop of Pozzuoli, Gennaro Pascarella, urged the authorities to clarify the causes of the accident, saying: "We must ensure this never happens again."

The coach lost control on a viaduct near Monteforte Irpino, hitting several other cars and plunging into a ravine.

In his homily, Bishop Pascarella appealed for support for the bereaved families.

"Political and religious institutions should not leave our brothers alone, especially those who have found themselves without any economic support," he said.

Continue reading the main story

Families and friends of those killed in the accident crowded around the flower-draped coffins, lined up in front of the altar.

"We feel terrible. We all know each other here. We are all a bit like brothers and sisters," said one man, Franco, who said he had lost a friend in the accident.

Before the ceremony, relatives of the dead wept and clutched the coffins, placing flowers, photographs and other memorabilia for their loved ones.

One coffin was adorned with a photo of the deceased's wedding day, and a scarf in the colours of the football team, Napoli.

Bodies identified

On Monday, hundreds of relatives had to identify the bodies of their loved ones at a school near the crash site which had been turned into a temporary morgue.

Continue reading the main story

They told me to look at all the bodies until I found my brother"

End Quote

"They told me to look at all the bodies until I found my brother," said one man who gave his name as Ciro.

"It was like a mountain had fallen on my head."

Ten of the coach's passengers were hurt in the accident on Sunday. Nine people were also injured in cars hit by the bus before it careered off the road.

Prosecutors have launched an investigation into possible manslaughter.

One survivor said from her hospital bed that she believed a tyre had burst. Police have ordered a post-mortem examination on the body of the driver, who is among the dead.

Investigators will examine the driver's role as well as the condition of the coach and the crash barriers on the road.

The vehicle was carrying a local tour group from the birthplace of Padre Pio, an Italian priest canonised in 2002.

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Taliban jailbreak frees hundreds

30 July 2013 Last updated at 07:21 ET

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The militants used a loud hailer to call prisoners out by name, as Orla Guerin reports

Taliban militants have freed 248 prisoners in an assault on a prison in north-west Pakistan, officials say.

Militants armed with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and bombs blasted down the walls of the jail in the town of Dera Ismail Khan and streamed inside, reports said.

A gun battle lasting several hours went on into the early hours of Tuesday. At least 13 died, including six police.

Correspondents say it is a huge embarrassment for authorities.

The attack was similar to an assault on a prison in nearby Bannu in April last year, in which almost 400 prisoners were freed.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

The Taliban assault comes on the day parliament is electing a new president. We will never know if the timing was deliberate, but it has hugely embarrassed the government, and once again highlighted the ability of the militants to strike at will.

Suggestions the authorities had advance warning of the attack, but did not act on it, only make matters worse.

No high-profile Taliban members were being held at the Dera prison, but at least 30 militants freed in the assault are described by the authorities as "hardened" Taliban fighters. The attack rekindles memories of a 2012 jailbreak in the nearby city of Bannu in which about 400 prisoners escaped, including Adnan Rashid, a radicalised former member of the military who recently wrote an open letter to child activist Malala Yousafzai explaining why she was attacked by the Taliban.

The Dera jail attack comes a month after the police said they had arrested a group of militants who were planning to launch a similar attack on Karachi Central Jail. This is indicative of an emerging Taliban strategy to break jails instead of negotiating the release of their prisoners by taking hostages, which they have done in the past.

Reports also suggest intelligence had warned of an impending attempt on the jail two weeks ago.

This latest assault demonstrates the weakness of the Pakistani state, says the BBC's Shahzeb Jillani in Karachi.

The state appears not to have the capacity, and some would say the will, to rein in hardened militants, he says.

Police uniforms

The attack in the town of Dera Ismail Khan began with huge explosions at around midnight on Monday (15:00 GMT).

Up to 100 attackers, some wearing police uniforms, bombarded the prison with rockets and mortars before going inside.

The town's civil commissioner, Mushtaq Jadoon, said attackers used loudhailers to call the names of particular inmates.

An ensuing gun battle raged for three or four hours.

Katherine Houreld, a correspondent for Reuters news agency, told the BBC it had been a "very sophisticated attack - they blew the electricity line, they breached the walls and they set ambushes for reinforcements".

The town's prison is a century old and is said not to have been designed for high-security inmates, but houses hundreds of Taliban fighters and militants from other banned groups.

Mr Jadoon said 30 "hardened militants", who had been jailed for their involvement in major attacks or suicide bombings, were among those freed.

He was also quoted as saying that militants had taken away six women, five of them inmates and the other a police officer.

An unnamed official told AFP news agency that jail records and an office had also been torched.

The town is in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, next to Pakistan's mountainous tribal region.

Continue reading the main story

Among the inmates freed were two local Taliban commanders, Abdul Hakim and Haji Ilyas.

Also released is a sectarian militant, Waleed Akbar, the principle suspect in last year's attacks on Shia mourners in Dera Ismail Khan during the Shia mourning month of Moharram.

Fourteen fugitives were later re-arrested by police, Mr Jadoon said.

A curfew has now been imposed on Dera Ismail Khan as police hunt for the remaining escaped prisoners, but correspondents say this will be a difficult task as they flee into tribal areas.

Mr Jadoon told a local TV station that militants had booby-trapped the building with explosive devices, which had now been defused.

Attack 'threats'

Continue reading the main story

Under attack

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has faced brazen attack since he took office on 5 June:

• 27 July: 57 killed as bombs hit market in Parachinar, near Afghan border
• 24 July: Attackers storm office of ISI intelligence agency in Sukkur,
• 10 July: Chief security officer of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and aides killed in Karachi bomb attack
• 30 June: At least 56 people killed in bomb attacks in Quetta and Peshawar
• 23 June: Gunmen kill 10, including at least nine foreign tourists, after storming hotel at Nanga Parbat mountain base camp
• 15 June: Fourteen students killed in blast on bus at women's university in city of Quetta; hours later gunmen attack Quetta hospital, killing 10

A local resident told the agency that the initial blast was so loud that "it rattled every house in the neighbourhood".

The attackers were chanting "God is great" and "Long live the Taliban", officials said.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Shahidullah Shahid said his group carried out the attack. He said about 300 prisoners had been freed.

The authorities are reported to have received intelligence about an impending attack two weeks ago, but prison officials said they did not expect it to come so soon.

A Taliban spokesman said one of their commanders freed in an assault on a prison in Bannu in northern Pakistan in April last year played a key role in the latest jailbreak.

Correspondents say the authorities will face questions about how militants were able to stage a virtually identical attack in Dera Ismail Khan.

Monday night's violence came hours before Pakistani politicians were to choose the country's new president.

The replacement for Asif Ali Zardari is being elected by the members of both houses of parliament and the four provincial assemblies.

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Ousted Egypt president well - Ashton

30 July 2013 Last updated at 07:34 ET

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Catherine Ashton: "I don't know where [Morsi] is"

EU's Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton says Egypt's ousted President Mohammed Morsi is "well", but that she does not know where he is being held.

Baroness Ashton had two hours of "in-depth" discussions with Mr Morsi on Monday, but declined to give details of what he had told her, insisting: "I'm not going to put words in his mouth."

She said Mr Morsi had access to TV and newspapers and followed developments.

Mr Morsi has been detained since he was overthrown by the military on 3 July.

Baroness Ashton's second visit to Egypt in 12 days comes after more than 70 Morsi supporters were killed in clashes with security forces on Saturday.

The ousted leader's allies have said they are planning a major protest in Cairo on Tuesday, and the interim government has warned that any violation of the law will be dealt with "firmly".

Security officials have also threatened to dismantle the main protest sit-in at a square near the Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque in the capital's north-east, where Saturday's deadly clashes erupted.

Helicopter

Lady Ashton told the BBC that after a night journey involving a helicopter ride and other forms of transport, she met Mr Morsi at a military facility.

She said the deposed president was in "good health" and "good humour".

"He had been told about half an hour before I arrived that I was coming. He was, I think, pleased to see me," she said.

"He is there with two advisers. They are there together. It is a military place. The people around him do care for him. I looked at the facilities."

She said there was a strong desire among leaders from all sides to find a way out of the crisis.

EU officials will keep up discussions to pursue elements that came up during Lady Ashton's visit, and she said she was ready to come back at any time if that would help.

The BBC's Jim Muir in Cairo says Mr Morsi's allies insist he must be restored to the presidency, and say they will continue their vigorous and very big street protests until that happens.

The interim presidency has said there will be no deviation from the transition plan, which does not involve Mr Morsi's reinstatement.

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BP Gulf fund running out of cash

30 July 2013 Last updated at 07:36 ET

BP's compensation fund that it set up to pay claims related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill is running out of cash.

The oil giant announced that the fund, which originally had $20bn, has just $300m left.

The deadline for business to claim loss of earnings due to the spill is not until April next year.

BP put $1.4bn aside in its second quarter to cover the costs of claims.

BP says once the fund runs out, further claims will come straight out of future profits.

The company said: "We expect that, in the third quarter, the remaining amount for items covered by the trust will be fully utilised and additional amounts will be charged to the income statement."

'Digging in'

The company also said that it remains in a legal dispute over a court interpretation of the settlement agreement which was signed in the wake of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster.

BP said the agreement allows businesses in the US to make claims for losses that don't actually exist.

Continue reading the main story

In an effort to reassure investors that the company is fit enough to endure a lengthy legal battle, BP's chief executive Bob Dudley said: "As we continue to fight these absurd (compensation) outcomes and as the likelihood of extended litigation on other matters increases as a result, we want everyone to know that we are digging in and well-prepared for the long-haul on legal matters."

The explosion on the oil platform killed 11 people and the resultant oil spill caused economic and environmental damage across several US Gulf coast states.

The extra $1.4bn charge weighed heavily on BP's second quarter figures, with adjusted net profit for the quarter down 25% at $2.71bn, compared with the same period a year ago.

The results were below what analysts had been expecting and BP's shares were more than 3% lower in London.

Tax bills

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Macquarie Group's Jason Gammel says BP could face a liability of $5bn

BP said the stronger US dollar also dented earnings and the lagging effect of Russian oil export duty also dented profits.

Nonetheless, Mr Dudley said that the results show a "strong underlying pre-tax performance".

"Completion of our operational milestones confirms our confidence in delivering our commitment to materially increase operating cash flow in 2014." he said.

Keith Bowman, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers, said BP is trying "to look forward but remaining firmly anchored to the past."

He added that BP remains hostage to "oil price, government appetite for tax revenues and the strength of the broader global economy."

However, others were more optimistic.

Jason Kenney, an analyst with Santander, said that "the core upstream division was actually ahead of consensus and that's still going great guns. The refining and marketing division is probably as expected."

"Fundamentally, I think BP's still moving forward," he added.

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Mid-East peace talks to resume

28 July 2013 Last updated at 17:21 ET

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Why has there been a recent drive to restart Mid-East peace talks?

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will resume peace talks in Washington on Monday, the US State Department has announced.

The talks, stalled since 2010, follow months of shuttle diplomacy by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

The statement came hours after Israel approved the release of more than 100 Palestinian prisoners.

The release - which split the Israeli cabinet - is to take place in stages over several months.

US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the initial talks would begin on Monday evening and continue on Tuesday.

She said Mr Kerry had called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday and they had agreed that the talks would "serve as an opportunity to develop a procedural work plan for how the parties can proceed with the negotiations in the coming months".

The Israeli delegation will be led by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, while chief negotiator Saeb Erekat will represent the Palestinian side.

Way forward

Ms Psaki suggested the initial talks would be to chart a way forward rather than try to tackle the thorny issues between the two sides.

Major sticking points include the future of Israeli settlements on the West Bank, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.

The issue of settlement-building halted the last direct talks in September 2010.

Settlements are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.

Mr Kerry said in a statement: "Both leaders have demonstrated a willingness to make difficult decisions that have been instrumental in getting to this point. We are grateful for their leadership."

The BBC's Katy Watson in Washington says that in the five months that Mr Kerry has been secretary of state he has visited the region six times in an effort to restart talks, so today's statement is seen as a big step forward.

However, these are talks about talks and although a welcome development it is still very early days, she adds.

Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli cabinet approved the release of Palestinian prisoners by 13 votes to seven.

Some 104 long-term prisoners will be released in four stages over a number of months, linked to progress in the peace process.

Sunday's cabinet meeting was delayed by an hour as Mr Netanyahu sought support for his proposal.

"This moment is not easy for me, is not easy for the cabinet ministers, and is not easy especially for the bereaved families, whose feelings I understand," he said shortly before the meeting.

"But there are moments in which tough decisions must be made for the good of the nation and this is one of those moments."

The cabinet also approved a draft bill requiring a referendum for any peace agreement with the Palestinians that involves territorial concessions.

Mr Netanyahu's office said it was important that every citizen voted directly on such historic decisions.

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Spain crash driver was 'careless'

29 July 2013 Last updated at 03:15 ET

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The train crash driver, seen arriving here arriving at court, "said he wanted to die" after the crash, a witness tells the BBC

The driver of the Spanish train that derailed last week killing 79 people says he was "careless" when he drove at speed around a bend, reports say.

Francisco Jose Garzon Amo was released from custody on Sunday. He faces multiple counts of reckless homicide.

A large funeral Mass is due to take place in city of Santiago de Compostela, where the train crashed.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who comes from the city, and members of the royal family are expected to attend.

Correspondents say the tragedy has shocked residents of Santiago de Compostela, a Catholic pilgrimage site in the north-western province of Galicia.

Santiago officials had been preparing for the religious feast of St James of Compostela - Spain's patron saint - but cancelled it after the crash on Wednesday.

The city's sports arena was temporarily turned into a morgue.

At the cathedral gates, pilgrims have left flowers and candles to commemorate victims of the crash.

Officials say 70 people remain in hospital, 22 of them in a critical condition.

Passport surrendered

Mr Garzon, 52, arrived at court in handcuffs on Sunday, his head scarred by an injury he suffered in the crash.

He was questioned behind closed doors for almost two hours by Judge Luis Alaez.

Later, a court statement said he had been released pending further investigations but must appear before a court once a week and is not allowed to leave Spain without permission.

His passport has been surrendered to the judge and his licence to drive a train has been suspended.

Under Spanish law, his legal status is that he is suspected of being involved in 79 counts of reckless homicide but has not been formally charged.

But officials said he had admitted negligence by being careless when rounding a bend too fast.

Reports have suggested the train was going at 190km/h (118mph) as he took the bend, where the speed limit is just 80km/h.

All eight carriages of the train careered off the tracks into a concrete wall as they sped around the curve on the express route between Madrid and the port city of Ferrol on the Galician coast.

The crash was one of the worst rail disasters in Spanish history.

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Morsi backers stage defiant marches

29 July 2013 Last updated at 04:07 ET

Supporters of the ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi have continued their defiance of the military-backed government, marching on three key points in Cairo.

Protesters moved towards the military intelligence building, the interior minister's home and an airport road.

They are continuing to stage large sit-ins in the capital to call for Mr Morsi's reinstatement.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is in Cairo for talks.

She is to meet leaders of Mr Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood, the head of the Egyptian armed forces, Gen Fattah al-Sisi and interim President Adly Mansour.

In a statement, she said she would push for a "fully inclusive transition process, taking in all political groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood".

At the moment, there is little sign that outside voices are being heard, or that mediation initiatives by local figures are making headway, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Cairo.

Mr Morsi was replaced by the military on 3 July after large demonstrations against his rule.

The Muslim Brotherhood continues to demand his return to office, with a large protest camp outside the eastern Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque and further west near Cairo University.

In the worst violence seen since Mr Morsi was deposed, more than 70 people were killed in clashes with the security forces on Saturday.

The security forces have been accused of using excessive force, but the interior ministry says protesters used firearms.

In a further warning, the National Defence Council, which includes members of the interim government and the military, warned on Sunday of "firm and decisive" action against protesters who go beyond peaceful demonstration.

'Million man march'

On Monday, Muslim Brotherhood supporters say they staged three marches.

One targeted the headquarters of military intelligence. Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Gehad el-Haddaf told the BBC there was no intervention by the military and no confrontation.

He said the march "circled the building for a good 10 to 15 minutes with a lot of chants of 'down with the coup'". However, one report suggests many turned back before reaching the building.

Mr Morsi supporters say they are planning a further large demonstration on Tuesday - they have called a "million-man march".

On Sunday, Egypt's new Foreign Minister, Nabil Fahmy, urged restraint, telling the BBC that all sides "need to stop inciting violence and using violence".

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Dr Hesham Ibrahim says Saturday's scenes at the field hospital were like "hell"

Mr Fahmy said his government would like to move forward "but that requires cessation of violence and incitement".

Responding to criticism that some members of the army and police had gone too far on Saturday, he said: "If you have people shooting each other on both sides then you're obviously going to have to casualties."

Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim has repeatedly warned that the camp outside the mosque would be dispersed "soon".

Thousands of Morsi supporters, some with their families, have made the mosque the focal point of their round-the-clock protest.

Speakers from the pro-Morsi Muslim Brotherhood, whom the protesters support, say they will not back down from their demands.

Mr Morsi has been formally remanded in custody at an undisclosed location, according to a judicial order.

He has been accused of the "premeditated murder of some prisoners, officers and soldiers" when he and several Muslim Brotherhood leaders were freed during a breakout at a Cairo prison in January 2011.

He is alleged to have plotted attacks on jails in the uprising that overthrew President Hosni Mubarak.

Mr Morsi is also accused of conspiring with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip and has strong links with the Muslim Brotherhood.

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Apple in China worker abuse claims

29 July 2013 Last updated at 04:13 ET

Technology giant Apple is facing fresh allegations of worker rights violations at Chinese factories of one of its suppliers, the Pegatron Group.

China Labor Watch, has alleged that three factories of Pegatron violate a "great number of international and Chinese laws and standards".

These include underage labour, contract violations and excessive working hours.

Both Apple and Pegatron said they would investigate the allegations immediately.

"Apple is committed to providing safe and fair working conditions throughout our supply chain," the firm said in a statement.

Pegatron's chief executive, Jason Cheng, said in a statement that the firm took the allegations "very seriously".

"We will investigate them fully and take immediate actions to correct any violations to Chinese labour laws and our own code of conduct.

"Pegatron sets very high standards for ourselves with our own dedicated team that audits and investigates issues," the firm added.

'Worse than Foxconn'

Apple, one of the world's biggest firms, has had to deal with similar claims in the past. when one of its biggest suppliers, Foxconn, was accused of violating worker rights.

Continue reading the main story

Conditions at these factories are so poor that most workers refuse to continue working for long"

End Quote China Labor Watch

Conditions at Foxconn factories came under even greater scrutiny after a spate of worker suicides at some plants.

On Monday, Li Qiang, executive director of China Labor Watch, claimed that "our investigations have shown that labour conditions at Pegatron factories are even worse than those at Foxconn factories".

The campaign group said that it had found that average weekly working hours in the three factories investigated by it were approximately 66 hours, 67 hours, and 69 hours, respectively.

It alleged that in "Pegatron Shanghai, our investigation uncovered that workers were forced to sign forms indicating that their overtime hours were less than the actual levels".

"Conditions at these factories are so poor that most workers refuse to continue working for long."

It claimed that 30 of the 110 new recruits at one of the factories had left within a period of two weeks.

However, Apple disputed those claims, saying that it had closely tracked working hours at all of these facilities.

"Our most recent survey in June found that Pegatron employees making Apple products worked 46 hours per week on average," it said.

Special inspections

Other violations claimed by the campaign group include insufficient wages, poor working conditions, poor living conditions, difficulty in taking leave, abuse by management and environmental pollution.

Apple said that it had been in close contact with China Labor Watch for several months "investigating issues they've raised and sharing our findings".

It added that some of the issues brought out in the report were "new to us".

It said that its audit teams would return to the three factories this week for a series of special inspections.

"If our audits find that workers have been underpaid or denied compensation for any time they've worked, we will require that Pegatron reimburse them in full.

"We will investigate these new claims thoroughly, ensure that corrective actions are taken where needed and report any violations of our code of conduct," Apple said.

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Syria troops 'retake' key Homs area

29 July 2013 Last updated at 06:54 ET

Syrian government forces have fully captured a district that was a key rebel stronghold in the central city of Homs, state media report.

The Sana news agency said the military had "restored security and stability to the neighbourhood of Khalidiya".

Activists reported clashes in Khalidiya on Monday morning, but said that most of the area was under army control.

The announcement comes a month after troops launched an offensive to oust rebels from Syria's third largest city.

Homs has been one of the focuses of a two-year nationwide uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, in which the UN says more than 100,000 people have died.

'Almost over'

On Monday, Sana reported: "Units of our noble army have completely restored security and stability to Khalidiya neighbourhood and eliminated terrorists who tried to attack the National Hospital in the Homs countryside".

But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, dismissed the claim.

While it acknowledged that government forces were in control of most of Khalidiya, it said there were still clashes in southern areas.

Another opposition activist told the Associated Press that the battle for Khalidiya was "almost over".

On Sunday, the Arabic TV station al-Mayadeen, which is seen as close to the Syrian government, broadcast what it said was footage of Khalidiya, showing heavily damaged buildings and piles of rubble.

It also showed pictures of the interior of the famous Khaled bin Walid mosque, a focal point for anti-government protesters, which troops reportedly seized on Saturday.

Only the Old City of Homs and a few other districts are still held by the opposition.

On Monday, government jets bombed the Bab Hud district of the Old City, just south of Khalidiya, according to the Syrian Observatory.

Correspondents say the capture of Khalidiya would add further impetus to the counter-offensive by government troops, backed by fighters from the militant Lebanese Shia Islamist movement Hezbollah, which saw the nearby town of Qusair fall in early June.

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Italy coach plunge leaves 38 dead

29 July 2013 Last updated at 07:22 ET

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The BBC's Alan Johnston says the coach "ripped through the guard-rail" when it plunged off the flyover

A coach has plunged off a flyover in southern Italy leaving at least 38 people dead in the country's worst road accident for decades.

The coach hit several vehicles before smashing through a barrier and toppling down a steep slope near the town of Avellino, in the Campania region.

At least 10 people were injured, some of them seriously.

The coach was taking about 50 people, including children, back to Naples following a pilgrimage.

The cause of the accident is not yet known. Some reports say the vehicle was travelling at speed.

The head of the local fire brigade division, Alessio Barbarulo, said barriers on bridges would normally prevent such accidents but "evidently it seems the impact was so strong that even the barrier gave way".

A survivor said the driver, who was among the dead, appeared to have lost control of the bus, possibly after a tyre punctured.

Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said the vehicle had passed its annual inspection in March, and there was no indication of technical problems.

Tests are being carried out on the driver's body as part of the investigation into what caused the accident.

TV footage showed smashed vehicles on the flyover and shrouded bodies lined up by the side of a road.

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Photojournalist Sandro di Domenico: "The scene was horrific"

The Naples-Bari motorway was closed to traffic because of the accident.

The bus dropped 30m (98ft), coming to rest in heavy undergrowth after smashing through the guard-rail.

The final number of victims remains unclear, with local officials saying 38 died while the transport ministry in Rome spoke of 39.

The injured were taken to hospitals in Avellino, Salerno and Nola, Ansa news agency said.

They include the occupants the six cars caught up in the collision. Six of those hurt are children.

Those on board had been visiting visiting the town of Telese Terme, known for its hot springs, and the nearby birthplace of Padre Pio, one of Italy's most popular saints.

On a visit to Greece, Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta said the accident was "a huge tragedy".

Exactly 10 years ago, another accident on the same stretch of motorway claimed six lives and injured 11 other people.

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Pope: Who am I to judge gay people?

29 July 2013 Last updated at 07:51 ET

Pope Francis has said gay people should not be judged or marginalised.

Speaking to reporters on a flight back from Brazil, he said: "If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge him?"

The Pope's remarks are being seen as much more conciliatory than his predecessor's position on the issue.

Turning to the issue of women priests, he said the Church had spoken and had said "no", but the role of women should not be restricted.

"We cannot limit the role of women in the Church to altar girls or the president of a charity, there must be more," he said in a wide-ranging interview with Vatican journalists.

Five months after he took over from Pope Benedict, he said gay people should be fully accepted in society.

""The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well," Pope Francis said.

"It says they should not be marginalised because of this but that they must be integrated into society."

But he condemned what he described as lobbying by gay people.

"The problem is not having this orientation," he said. "We must be brothers. The problem is lobbying by this orientation, or lobbies of greedy people, political lobbies, Masonic lobbies, so many lobbies. This is the worse problem."

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Wave of deadly car bombs hits Iraq

29 July 2013 Last updated at 08:05 ET

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Footage from across Iraq shows vehicles blown apart, as the BBC's Rami Ruhayem reports

A wave of car bombs has killed at least 51 people in mostly Shia areas of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and in other cities around the country.

More than 200 people were wounded in the attacks, officials said.

More than 2,500 Iraqis have died in attacks since April, the UN says - with violence at its highest since 2008.

The spike comes amid heightened Shia-Sunni tensions. Sunnis say they are being marginalised by Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's Shia-led government.

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The government is still reeling from a sophisticated jailbreak just over a week ago, when hundreds of prisoners - many of them sentenced to death for involvement in such violence - managed to escape.

The failure of the authorities to prevent the jailbreak and Monday's attacks is opening fissures within the governing coalition and between ministers themselves.

After the jailbreak, there were arguments over whether the blame should fall on the justice ministry or the interior ministry, and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had to sack a number of security officials. Monday's attacks are likely to increase popular anger at the government's failures.

The Baghdad bombs, hidden in parked cars, hit markets and car parks in several areas of the city, police say.

The deadliest was said to have hit the eastern Shia district of Sadr City, report say.

A man says he saw vehicles arriving to park shortly before a blast happened in the district of Habibiya, in southern Baghdad.

"We were standing here when a a pick-up truck drove in here and parked there. There were two others cars parking there. Minutes later the car went off," he told the Associated Press news agency.

One bomb also exploded in Mahmudiya to the south of the capital, killing at least two people.

In the city of Kut, south-east of the capital, at least seven people were killed when two car bombs blew up.

There are also reports of a car bomb going off in Basra, the second city.

This could be the bloodiest month in Iraq for years, says BBC Arabic's Haddad Salih in Baghdad, with the number of attacks escalating since the beginning of the month of Ramadan earlier this month.

Although the violence is less deadly than that seen during the heights of the insurgency in 2006 and 2007, it is the most widespread since the US military withdrawal in 2011. More than 700 people have been killed in July alone.

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Spain train driver to be questioned

27 July 2013 Last updated at 23:10 ET

The driver of a train that crashed near the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela on Wednesday killing 78 people is due to appear before a judge.

Francisco Jose Garzon Amo has been detained on suspicion of reckless homicide and the judge will decide whether to press formal charges.

Mr Garzon is suspected of driving too fast on a bend.

Reports say the train was travelling at more than double the speed limit at the time of the crash.

Mr Garzon, 52, was pictured being escorted away from the wreckage by police, blood pouring from a head injury. He left hospital on Saturday and was immediately taken to the central police station in Santiago.

He has so far refused to make a statement or answer questions.

Sunday's court hearing will be closed but the judge will decide whether to remand the driver as an official suspect, release him on bail, or free him without charge.

If the judge finds enough evidence for a criminal trial, Mr Garzon will be charged and a date set.

At least 130 people were taken to hospital after the accident and 30 remained in a critical condition on Saturday.

All eight carriages of the train - packed with more than 200 passengers - careered off the tracks into a concrete wall as they sped around the curve on the express route between Madrid and the port city of Ferrol on the Galician coast.

Leaking diesel burst into flames in some of the carriages.

The train's data recording "black box" is with the judge in charge of the investigation. Officials have so far not said how fast the train was going when it derailed.

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• August 2006: Inter-city train derails in Villada, in the province of Palencia, killing six people and injuring dozens more
• July 2006: At least 43 people killed in a metro train crash in the Valencia area
• 1972: Andalusia crash leaves between 76 and 86 people dead.
• 1944: Hundreds believed dead after a crash in Torre del Bierzo, in Leon province - official account gave the figure as 78 killed.

Gonzalo Ferre, president of Spanish rail network administrator Adif, said the driver should have started slowing the train 4km (2.5 miles) before the spot where the accident happened.

The president of Spanish train operator Renfe, Julio Gomez Pomar, has said that the train had no technical problems.

He said the driver had 30 years' experience with the company and had been operating trains on the line for more than a year.

People from several nationalities were among the injured, including five US citizens and one Briton. One American was among the dead.

Some victims have had to be identified using DNA matches due to the extent of their injuries.

PM Mariano Rajoy, who hails from the city of the crash, declared three days of official mourning on Thursday.

The crash was one of the worst rail disasters in Spanish history.

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UK soldiers assist Afghan operation

28 July 2013 Last updated at 00:09 ET

British soldiers have returned to an area of Afghanistan for a week-long operation to clear Taliban insurgents.

Afghan military commanders requested assistance in Sangin district, an area British forces defended from the Taliban until 2010, earlier this month.

About 80 members of 4th Battalion The Rifles, based at Camp Bastion in Helmand province, were involved.

The Ministry of Defence said some insurgents were killed or captured but there were no British casualties.

Weapons seized

According to the Sunday Times, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond had personally authorised the return to the area for British forces.

It said 106 British personnel were killed in fighting there between 2006 and 2010.

The paper said the threat to the troops was considered so great that, at the MoD's request, it delayed reporting the operation until it had finished.

The British involvement was part of a major operation by 215 Corps of the Afghan National Army (ANA) to clear insurgents in the Sangin district of Helmand Province, in the south.

The operation saw troops from the UK-mentored 3/215 Brigade move north into Sangin, clearing compounds and seizing insurgent weapon stashes alongside soldiers from 2/215 Brigade.

The Brigade Advisory Group, made up of 4th Battalion The Rifles, provided support to 3/215 Brigade.

During the operation, more than 30 improvised explosive devices were found and destroyed by the ANA, and two insurgent vehicles were seized along with ammunition and weapons.

'Challenging area'

The Ministry of Defence said UK personnel occasionally operated outside of the usual British area of operations in central Helmand in an advisory capacity.

"These out-of-area operations have been a long-standing element of the UK mission in Afghanistan and are completely in line with our current role of providing training, advice and assistance to the Afghan National Security Forces," a spokesman said.

"Between 2006 and 2010, UK forces provided vital security for the population of Sangin, disrupting the insurgency in an area the Taliban had considered its heartland, preventing the spread of violence elsewhere, upholding the authority of the Afghan government in the area and enabling economic development to take place.

"Much was achieved then and has been since. It remains a challenging area and it is now for the Afghan forces to deal with the residual insurgency."

Brig Rupert Jones, Commander Task Force Helmand, said the operation had demonstrated further how effective 3/215 Brigade of the ANA had become.

"Operating in Sangin over the past week, they have moved to another level of performance and independence," he said.

"It has been a very impressive demonstration of what the Afghan National Army can be capable of."

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Brazil beach packed for Pope Francis

28 July 2013 Last updated at 03:02 ET

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The BBC's Julia Carneiro says it was an "historic night" on Copacabana

Up to three million people have packed Brazil's Copacabana Beach to hear Pope Francis address their all-night vigil.

The pilgrims are remaining in place for a Mass to be celebrated there by Francis later on Sunday.

In his address, he urged the pilgrims not to be part-time Christians but to lead full, meaningful lives.

The Pope, who has been attending the biggest ever Catholic World Youth Day, leaves Brazil on Sunday after five days - his first overseas trip as pontiff.

'Overcome apathy'

Speaking on a huge stage at the beach where a mock church structure was built, Pope Francis referred to the street protests which have been taking place in Brazil for more than a month.

"The young people in the street are the ones who want to be actors of change. Please don't let others be actors of change," he told the crowd at the vigil.

"Keep overcoming apathy and offering a Christian response to the social and political concerns taking place in different parts of the world."

By the time the Pope's car had reached the stage, the back seat was filled with football shirts, flags and flowers thrown to him by adoring pilgrims lining the route.

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The BBC's Wyre Davies in Rio says almost every inch of the two-and-a-half mile long beach was occupied as most of the young people stayed on, pitching tents or sleeping in the open.

As the crowd grew, female activists held a demonstration nearby in support of abortion and women's rights.

But our correspondent says the Pope and the Church hierarchy will be delighted at the huge turnout and the way Francis has been received by pilgrims from across the globe.

The Mass will be celebrated at the beach in the early afternoon.

Earlier on Saturday, the Pope addressed civil leaders and government officials at Rio's Municipal Theatre.

"Between selfish indifference and violent protest, there is always another possible option: that of dialogue," he said, in a reference to demonstrations that have been rocking the country since June.

"A country grows when constructive dialogue occurs between its many rich cultural components: popular culture, university culture, youth culture, artistic and technological culture, economic culture, family culture and media culture."

In the past three decades, the Catholic church has lost millions of followers to smaller Christian denominations.

'Go to the favelas'

Also on Saturday, the Pope repeated his challenge to fellow Roman Catholic clerics to take to the streets.

In a speech to 1,000 bishops and clerics in Rio's cathedral, he said they should go to the favelas - Brazil's shanty towns.

"We cannot keep ourselves shut up in parishes, in our communities, when so many people are waiting for the Gospel," he told the audience.

Protests, sometimes violent, broke out in cities across Brazil last month against corruption, poor public services and the high cost of events like the 2014 World Cup.

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Suicide bomber kills police in Iraq

28 July 2013 Last updated at 04:13 ET

A suicide bomber has killed eight Kurdish police in northern Iraq after targeting a convoy, officials say.

The attack took place in the town of Tuz Khurmatu, about 70km (45 miles) south of Kirkuk, and also wounded nine officers, district official Shahal Abdul told news agency AFP.

The town is in an area that is a source of dispute between the Iraqi government and the Kurdish minority.

This year has been one of the deadliest across Iraq, with thousands killed.

Although violence has decreased across the country since the peak of the insurgency in 2006 and 2007, bombings are still common.

More than 700 people have been killed in July alone.

Disputed region

The suicide bomber blew up his car in Tuz Khurmatu close to a three-vehicle police convoy, officials said.

Tuz Khurmatu is part of an area disputed between the government in Baghdad and ethnic Kurds, who inhabit a semi-autonomous region in the north and claim territory in four other nearby regions.

In January a suicide bomber killed at least 23 people in the town.

Last month, at least 10 people were killed after two suicide bombers targeted a protest camp near the town.

The protesters were ethnic Turkmen demanding better security for the area.

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Toxic alcohol kills 18 in Pakistan

28 July 2013 Last updated at 05:41 ET

At least 18 people have died and dozens more fallen ill after drinking contaminated alcohol in Pakistan, officials said.

The victims, believed to be mostly Muslim and Christian labourers, consumed the toxic drink at two parties in the central city of Faisalabad.

Only non-Muslims are allowed to buy and consume alcohol in Pakistan, but many people illegally brew alcohol at home.

The provincial governor has ordered an inquiry into the incident.

Victims fainted after drinking the alcohol at a birthday party and another private event in Faisalabad, authorities said.

Most reportedly died before they could be rushed to hospital.

"The death toll from the two parties has reached 18," senior police official Javed Ahmed Khan told the AFP news agency.

"Around two dozens others are heavily affected by the toxic liquor and battling for consciousness."

Drinkers often buy illegal liquor because legal wine shops are closed during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Locally brewed alcohol has been traditionally available in two forms - kuppi and tharra- in Pakistan.

Buyers are said to often mix the two, leading to a more potentially lethal drink.

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