Hello, I'm Sue Montgomery with the BBC News.
The United States, supported by China, has introduced a draft resolution to the United Nations Security Council, designed to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea, following its latest nuclear test and missile launch. The measures include inspections of cargo going in or out of North Korea, and a total ban on arms sales. America's Ambassador to the U.N. is Samantha Power.
These measures again, in addition to overtime changing the calculus of people in the regime, are going themselves to impede the ability of the North Korean regime to get access to funds, to get access to technology, to get access to nuclear know-how.
President Obama has said the planned cessation of hostilities in Syria is critical, warning all parties to the conflict that the world would be watching whether they kept their commitments. The truce, due to come at midnight local time on Friday, was, said Mr. Obama, a potential step in bringing an end to the chaos.
All parties that are part of this cessation of activities need to end attacks, including aerial bombardment. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach areas under siege. And a lot of that is going to depend on whether the Syrian regime, Russia and their allies live up to their commitments. The coming days will be critical and the world will be watching.
President Obama said an end to the fighting in Syria was key to defeating the Islamic State group. He said IS had been hit hard by coalition airstrikes and a ground offensive by Iraqi forces and Kurdish groups, and had not mounted a single major offensive operation for months. The President claimed its oil revenues had been reduced, and the flow of foreign recruits was slowing down.
The technology company, Apple, has asked a federal court in the United States to dismiss a ruling to help the FBI unlock the iPhone of an Islamist gunman. Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife killed 14 people in San Bernadino last year. And the FBI believes valuable information might be in his phone. Apple said the move violated its constitutional rights.
A court in Egypt has finally revoked the licence of a doctor found guilty last year of the manslaughter of a girl, who died after female genital mutilation. Raslan Fadl was the first doctor in Egypt to be convicted for performing FGM. Here is Sebastian Arthur.
When the verdict was announced a year ago, the 2-year jail sentence for Dr. Fadl was hailed as a monumental victory by campaigners. They hoped it would set a precedent that could help stop doctors and backstreet practitioners from flouting the law against FGM. But the sentence does not appear to have been enforced. Activists found that Mr. Fadl had not been jailed, and was still practicing as a doctor and performing FGM. They say this showed the culture of impunity that still surrounds FGM in Egypt.
BBC News.
A senior European Union official says the E.U. has 10 days to reduce the number of migrants or risked the collapse of its border system. European leaders are due to hold talks with Turkey to discuss the migrant crisis on March 7. The E.U. Migration Commissioner told Interior Ministers meeting in Brussels it was time for coordinated action, not unilateral border restrictions.
The U.S. Vice President, Joe Biden, has described comments about Mexico, made by the Republican presidential hopeful, Donald Trump, as disturbing. Mr. Biden was speaking during a visit to Mexico, and said Mr. Trump's rhetoric was dangerous and damaging. Mr. Trump has angered Mexico by declaring that the country was sending rapists across the border.
A former Colombian paramilitary has been sentenced to more than 11 years in jail for the kidnap, rape and torture of an award-winning female journalist 16 years ago. The journalist, Jineth Bedoya, had been investigating the involvement of state officials and paramilitaries in arms trafficking, when she was kidnapped outside a prison in May 2000. Ms. Bedoya has fought for years for justice.
The American theme park, Sea World, has admitted that some of its employees have posed as animal rights activists to spy in critics. Last year, a worker at San Diego Sea World was briefly suspended, after he was accused of trying to incite violence, while posing as an activist. Peter Booth reports.
In a statement, Sea World acknowledged that it'd sent its own workers to infiltrate an animal rights group that stage demonstrations against the theme park. While promising to end the practice, the company said its own people undercover to maintain the safety and security of employees, customers and animals in the face of credible threats. Sea World has faced intense criticism by animal rights activists, who say it is enslaving marine animals at its 11 parks across the United States.