The US Defense Secretary Ash Carter says American special forces will be deployed to Iraq to help fight Islamic State militants in both Iraq and Syria. Mr. Carter said
the troops would be able to carry out raids, free hostages and capture IS leaders. American special operators bring in a unique suite of capabilities that make them
force mobile fliers. They will help us garner valuable ground intelligence, further enhance our air campaign, and above all enable local forces that can regain and
then hold territory occupied by ISIL. Where we find further opportunity to leverage such capability, we are prepared to expand it. Our Washington correspondent Gary
O'Donoghue has more on the role of the US forces. A rather vivid phrase that Ash Carter used in his testimony to Congress this morning, he said he wanted Islamic State fighters to wonder who is gonna come in through the window during the night. And so that there will be extra special forces possibly in Syria, certainly in Iraq. They
will conduct raids. They will try to kill ISIS leaders. They will try rescue hostages. And this is all recognition, I think, that the US feels it has to intensify the battle against Islamic State, that the air war is not enough. And it is calling on its coalition allies to do the same.
The United Nations has launched helicopter strikes against Ugandan rebels in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The operation was in response to attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces on Sunday. Seven civilians were hacked to death in a hospital and more than 20 others were killed in the clashes around the town of Beni in north Kivu province. The region has been plagued by dozens of armed groups.
The police chief in the US city of Chicago Garry McCarthy has been dismissed following renewed protests about the killing of a black teenager in October last year.
Video from the dashboard camera of a police car was released last week showing the shooting of 17 year-old Laquan McDonald. As aresult, a police officer was charged with first degree murder.
Hundreds of scientists have gathered in Washington for an international summit on gene editing. The Nobel Laureate David Baltimore said the delegates must consider
what he called the deep and disturbing questions raised by the new technology. From Washington, here's Fergus Walsh. It's just three years since a new, cheap and easy form of gene editing was discovered and already labs across the world have adopted it. It raises the hope that patients with muscle, blood or immune disorders could have their faulty tissue removed, treated in the lab and then healthy cells re-infused. But if gene editing was done in embryos, then any DNA changes would pass down the generations. That might allow a permanent fix for some genetic diseases. World news from the BBC.
The founder of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg has announced the birth of his first child, a girl called Max. And he has vowed to donate most of his fortune to make the world a better place for her to grow up in. David Lee reports from Los Angeles. Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan announced the news from a long letter to their
daughter posted of course on Facebook. They said the Chen-Zuckerberg Initiative would focus on equality, education and advancing human capability. The couple said they would give away their stock value to the course at a rate of around $1 billion per year；however, Zuckerberg said he would still retain overall power of Facebook for
the foreseeable future.
The campaigning organization Amnesty International says Eritrea's conscription system is helping fuel a growing refugee crisis. Amnesty says the national service often
amounts to forced labor with many conscripts made to work for decades often in nonmilitary jobs such as construction or farming. Tomi Oladipo reports. Amnesty is
asking the international community to recognize Eritrea system of indefinite national service as a human rights violation. The organization says this compulsory
recruitment is the main reason why young Eritreans are fleeing the country. Most cannot leave legally, and end up on dangerous journeys across land and sea, heading
often for Europe. Some people who fled the country told Amnesty of harsh working conditions for those drafted and brutal punishments by the military for any caught
trying to evade the system.
A former Argentine political prisoner and her son have met for the first time since she gave birth in the cell of a clandestine detention center in 1976. The man Mario
Bravo was given for adoption to a noncommunist family, a common practice during the dictatorship. He was reunited with his mother Sara after having doubts about his
identity and agreeing to take DNA test. Mr. Bravo said meeting his mother alive was a miracle. BBC news.