BBC news 2011-10-30
BBC News with Marion Marshall
At least 75 people have been killed in South Sudan in an attack on a town in oil-rich Unity state. It's the worst such violence since independence in July. An army spokesman told the BBC that 15 civilians were among the dead after rebels from the South Sudan Liberation Army, the SSLA, attacked the town of Mayom. With more details, here's James Copnall in Khartoum.
The SSLA attacked Mayom in the early hours of Saturday morning. They say they have taken control of the town. But the army spokesman, the commissioner of the region and a local resident told the BBC the rebels' assault had been repulsed. Although some rebel movements have struck deals with the government since South Sudan became independent, several remain defiant. They say they are fighting against corruption, underdevelopment and the domination of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement - the former rebels who now run South Sudan. The SSLA's rebellion is particularly sensitive because of its location. Most of South Sudan's oil fields are in Unity state, and oil accounts for 98% of the new country's revenue.
Fighters from the al-Shabab group in Somalia have staged a concerted attack on a base used by troops from the African Union. The attack began when two suicide bombers approached the base on foot in the capital Mogadishu and detonated their explosives.
A suicide car bombing has killed 13 Americans serving with the international force in Afghanistan. The bomber targeted a bus carrying troops on the outskirts of Kabul. The Taliban said they carried out the attack. Quentin Sommerville in Kabul has more.
The armoured bus was blown over by the force of the explosion. A suicide attacker driving a four-wheel drive vehicle detonated his bomb just as the bus was passing. Five soldiers and eight Isaf civilians died in the attack. The Pentagon said all were American, but Canada says one of its soldiers was among the dead. It's unusual for so many to die in a single attack. This is the deadliest assault on foreign forces in the capital in many years. Afghan civilians, including two students, were also killed.
Hospital officials in Brazil say the former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been diagnosed with throat cancer. They say he has a tumour on his larynx and will undergo chemotherapy at a hospital in Sao Paulo in the next few days. Former President Lula is 66 years old. He left office last year after serving as president since 2003. Paulo Cabral is in Sao Paulo.
Lula da Silva's doctors say they have chosen chemotherapy over surgery to preserve the full functionality of the former president's larynx. Artur Katz, an oncologist in the team attending the former president, says his general condition is very good. According to Doctor Katz, the tumour is between 3-4cm wide. President Lula's throat cancer was diagnosed on Saturday. The previous night, he'd been admitted to the hospital, complaining of severe hoarseness.
BBC News
A footbridge across a river has collapsed in northeastern India, throwing scores of people into the water below. At least 30 are feared dead, many of them women and children. Twenty-eight others were rescued after the bridge gave way in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. One report said villagers had crowded onto the bridge to catch a type of insect eaten locally.
Two people have been killed and at least 10 wounded by a suspected female suicide bomber in southeast Turkey. The blast happened near a building used by Turkey's governing AK party in the mainly Kurdish town of Bingol. Last week, in response to a Kurdish PKK attack on its forces, Turkey launched a major offensive against the Kurdish rebels.
At least five Palestinians have been killed and several wounded in an Israeli air attack on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. The Islamic Jihad movement confirmed that those killed were members of its armed wing. Our Gaza correspondent Jon Donnison reports.
Islamic Jihad is one of the main militant groups in Gaza but is not directly affiliated with Hamas, who govern in the Strip. A statement from Islamic Jihad said the group would retaliate and that an unofficial ceasefire with Israel in place for several months was now over. The news comes less than two weeks after a major prisoner exchange, which saw almost 500 Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli jails in a swap for the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Some Islamic Jihad members were released.
The winner of the presidential election in the Republic of Ireland is Michael Higgins - a poet, human rights activist and former government minister. Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein, a former member of the IRA who campaigns for a united Ireland, came third.
The veteran British broadcaster Jimmy Savile, whose career on radio and television spanned more than 40 years, has died at the age of 84. Savile's platinum blonde hair, chunky jewellery and ever-present Cuban cigar made him one of the most widely recognised television celebrities in Britain.
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