BBC News with Julie Candler.
A number of Palestinian groups have agreed to back a military move by Syrian government forces to try to drive Islamic State fighters out of a Palestinian refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus. IS launched an assault on the Yarmouk Camp last week, and has since almost completely overrun it. The U.N. Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has warned of a massacre in Yarmouk, which he described as the deepest circle of hell. The Palestinian Envoy to Damascus, Ahmad Majdalani, told the BBC the military action would be a joint operation with the Syrians.
“The operation will be conducted in cooperation between the Palestinian groups in Syria and the Syrian government, through a joint operation centre. The operation is to be done to regain control over the area step by step to protect the lives of civilian residents of the Camp and also to avoid the overall destruction of the Camp.”
The U.S. Vice President, Joe Biden, has given an upbeat assessment of Iraq's progress against the Islamic State. In the speech at the National Defence University in Washington, Mr. Biden said the group's momentum in Iraq had been halted, and its ability to massive manoeuvre had been degraded.
“With our assistance, Iraq has made significant progress in the battlefield. 8 months ago, ISIL was on the offensive everywhere in Iraq. No force in Iraq or Syria had proven capable of defeating ISIL head-on. But today in Iraq, ISIL has lost large areas it used to dominate. ISIL's momentum in Iraq has halted, and in many places, had been flat-out reversed.”
Mr. Biden acknowledged there's a still lifelong fight ahead, and urged Iraqi leaders not to lose the sense of political urgency that brought them to this point.
One of the world's biggest banks, the HSBC, has been placed under a formal criminal investigation in France over allegations that its Swiss subsidiary helped wealthy customers evade taxes. The London-based bank has been ordered to pay a one-billion-euro bail bond to cover potential fines. HSBC described the move as being without legal basis.
A statue of the British colonist, Cecil Rhodes, has been removed from the University of Cape Town in South Africa following weeks of protests. Students said the 80-year-old monument was a symbol of institutional racism. Mohammed Allie reports.
“Thousands of students, academics and members of the public cheered, chanted and applauded as the statue of Cecil John Rhodes was removed by a crane and hoisted onto a flat-bed truck from where it was taken to an undisclosed storage place for safekeeping. The removal of the statue is the combination of a month-long protest by students from the Rhodes Must Fall Campaign, which resulted in the University's 30-member Council voting unanimously in favour of its removal. Both the students and University authorities agree the next step is to look at appointing more senior black academic staff and transforming the curriculum to reflect the University's position as an African institution.”
BBC News.
One of the men being tipped as potential candidate to succeed Cuba's current President, Raul Castro, says he's ready to serve his country if the call comes. Speaking to the BBC in his first international interview, Gerardo Hernandez said President Obama had taken a brave decision to open up U.S. relations with Cuba. Mr. Hernandez was released by the U.S. in December after 16 years in prison on espionage charges.
Eurozone officials say Greece has 6 working days to present a revised list of economic reforms in order to secure another rescue bailout. The demand came as Greece said it had met a deadline to repay 450 million euros to the International Monetary Fund, one of the creditors of its international bailout. From Athens, Chris Morris reports.
“Greece's fulfilled its financial commitments today. But the situation is becoming rather desperate. There is precious little cash left in the national coffers. And if the government fails to procure a further funding soon, it will be in trouble. There are salaries and pensions to pay, and more debt repayments looming. E.U. officials say there are 6 working days left, in which to reach an agreement on a new package of reforms to the Greek economy, before Eurozone finance ministers meet later this month. Only if Greece's creditors are satisfied will more money be released.”
Authorities in Haiti say they've located the bodies of more than 20 people who drowned when the boat they were traveling in was shipwrecked. A spokesman for the Civil Protection Directorate say the victims appear to have been migrants attempting to reach the neighbouring Turks and Caicos islands, but were forced to turn back by bad weather.
The United States says China is threatening regional stability by reclaiming land and building artificial islands in a disputed area of the South China Sea. A State Department spokesman said Washington was concerned that China might militarise outposts on the disputed land features.