2010-01-24 BBC
BBC News with Sue Montgomery.
More than 100 bodies have been found in one village alone in central Nigeria, following clashes between Christians and Muslims. And aid workers recovered the corpses in a village 30 kilometers from the city of Jos. From there, our correspondent Caroline Duffield reports.
The town of Jos and the area to the south of it are under tight military control. The scare of violence in outlying villages and in the Bukuru area is becoming clearer. Bukuru market, a large commercial area to the south, was burnt to the ground. Debris lit the streets and fires are still smoldering. At least 1000 shops and homes in the market were destroyed in the inferno. Shopkeepers told the BBC that they were roused from their sleep by gang of men armed with machetes who attacked their properties. Between 100 and 150 people have been discovered in those areas, but many more are thought to remain inside the wells.
The United Nation says the government of Haiti has formally declared an end to official search and rescue operations, 11 days after the earthquake. The UN said there was little chance of finding more survivors. However, French firefighters said they’d found a man alive in the ruins of a shop in the capital Port-au-Prince. From there, Adam Mynott.
"Within the past 24 hours, two people have been recovered alive from the debris of destroyed buildings, a 21-year-old man who was dug up by an Israeli rescue team and an 84-year-old woman who was rescued by locals. But the authorities say there had been no new signs of life in the past three days, prompting them to call off the official search operation. Some people will continue to hunt for relatives and friends until all hope is gone. They think it's too early for the expert search teams to stop work."
The American Vice President has announced that the US authorities will appeal against a court ruling dismissing charges against five security guards from the Blackwater company, accused of killing Iraqi civilians. The case was quashed because the judge ruled that testimony had been wrongly used by the prosecution. Speaking in Baghdad, Joe Biden said his government wasn't prepared to see Blackwater go unpunished.
"The United States is determined to turn into whole accountable anyone who commits crimes against the Iraqi people. While we fully respect the independence and integrity of the US judicial system, we were disappointed by the judge's decision to dismiss the indictment, which was based on the way in which some evidence had been acquired."
The Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has distanced himself from comments by a member of his cabinet, who said a new war with Lebanon was almost inevitable. Mr. Netanyahu said Israel did not seek confrontation with Lebanon or any of its neighbors. Earlier Yossi Peled, the Minister and reserved Army General has said a repeat of the 2006 conflict was only a matter of time.
BBC News.
Campaigning has ended before Tuesday's presidential election in Sri Lanka, the first since the end of the civil war last year. The two main candidates, Preisdent Mahinda Rajapaksa and the former Head of the Army Gen Sarath Fonseka are both closely associated with the defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels. Charles Haviland was at the president's final rally in Colombo.
Looking tired after a heavy campaign schedule, Mr. Rajapaksa well the large, but somewhat regimented crowd of supporters who cheered politely but not wildly. As always he spoke of last year's war victory against the Tamil Tigers and the need to fight corruption. With music and fireworks, the president's team say they are already celebrating certain victory. His rival Sarath Fonseka has other ideas. At the end of this bitter and personalized campaign, he accused the president's team of planning violence and vote rigging on election day.
Former militias in Somalia from the Union of Islamic Courts have been officially integrated into the national police and army. The Islamic Courts used to oppose the government but are now working with it against more hard-line Islamist factions, such as Al Shabab which broke away from the UIC.
Brazil has extradited to Argentina a former Army Colonel charged there with human rights abuses, dating back to his military rule during the 1970s. Colonel Manuel Cordero Piacentini is accused of taking part in operation Condor, a plan supported by military rulers to liquidate their opponents.
Prosecutors in Italy are investigating 20 incidents of alleged blackmail involving rogue paparazzi and top-sending gossip magazines. The case involves secretly taken photos of celebrities and politicians, among them, the heir to the Fiat Empire Lapo Elkann. Investigators believe that more than 400,000 dollars were paid to prevent the publication of a compromising picture of Mr. Elkann.
BBC News.