A new stusy study has found the Ebola virus can linger in male survivors for at least nine months, much longer than previously thought. As our Global Health correspondent Tulip Mazumdar explains. 93 men gave semen samples in Sierra Leone. The virus was found in two thirds of men 4 to 6 months after they became sick and in a quarter of men after seven to nine months. It's not clear whether they were infectious. That research is continuing. The World Health Organization says male survivors are advised to use condoms until they are given the 'all clear' by doctors. One case has been identified where a male survivor passed the virus to a woman through unprotected sex, six months after he was infected.
The government of Myanmar is due to sign a ceasefire agreement with eight armed ethnic groups shortly. But what's thought to be the country's biggest insurgent group were not be among them. The signing ceremony in the capital Naypyidaw is the culmination of two years of negotiations. Jonah Fisher is there. Of the groups that have signed up, actually very few of them are involved in an active conflict with the government at the moment. Almost all of the warring parities, if you like the word, the ones where there are still fairly regular clashes with the Burmese army, they are the ones that have decided to sign up. So this deal isn't going to mean there was a war today there isn't a war tomorrow. What it is gonna mean is that will be a starting point for political dialogue, discussions and what Myanmar might look like in the future and a federal system of government.
More than a hundred prominent American women have launched a lobby group to curb gun violence. A bipartisan on Women'Coalition For Common Sense is led by a former Congress woman Gabrielle Giffords. From Washington, here is Laura Becca. Gabrielle Giffords was severely wounded in 2011 by a gunman who killed six people and injured thirteen others. She's formed a lobby group to fight for new gun laws and to address the link between fire arms and domestic abuse. At a launch, she said American women are 11 times more likely to be shot dead than those in other developed nations and overwhelmingly the culprits are men. Gun control has become a key issue in the early stages of the US presidential campaign.
Police in Jerusalem have shot dead two Palestinians who they say try to stab Israelis in separate incidents. Israel earlier deployed soldiers nationwide to help police stem a wave of attacks. The troops clashed with Palestinian protesters in Bethlehem on the west bank.
A computer problem has been caughting delays at a number of airports across the United States. The problem affected computers used during passengers security screening procedures. The spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security says the disruption lasted ninety minutes. There is no indication that the service disruption was malicious in nature. You are listening to the latest world news from the BBC.
The main opposition leader in Guinea has said he is pulling out of the presidential election. Cellou Dalein Diallo alleged that there was widespread fraud in a vote last Sunday and said he wouldn't recognize the outcome. His announcement came as early results put the incumbent president Alpha Conde in the lead. The country's foreign minister Francois Lounceny Fall appealed for calm as the votes were counted. Nothing can be rebuilt in kills. We ask everyone to remain calm and not to take to streets because that is not the solution. We call on all political activists to engage in dialogue instead of violence.
The former president of Benin, Mathieu Kerekou has died at the age of 82. He led the country for a total of 30 years after first seizing power in a military coup in 1972. Mr.Kerekou later help pave the way for multiparty politics, returning to power in 1996 as a democratically-elected president. The government has announced a week of national mourning.
Scientists have unearthed the fossil of a mammal which lived 125 million years ago. They say they've been able to conduct detailed analysis of the remains. Rebecca Romero has the stroy. The researchers described this ancient mammal as an exceptionally cute furball. Called Spinolestes, it was unearthed in a limestone quarry in central Spain. And unusually this creature is preserved with its internal organs, skin and fur intact. It would have been small, somewhere between the size of a mouse and a rat, with big ears, and a pointy face, and has a short mane and a soft fuzzy belly. But its lower back was covered in short hedgehog-like spines and some tough scales helping it to ward off predators such as the small dinosaurs that shared its habitat. Rebecca Romero reporting. BBC world service news.