BBC news 2011-11-06
BBC News with Marion Marshall
The Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram says it carried out the wave of shootings and bombings in the northeast of the country, which left at least 65 people dead. Grant Ferrett reports.
In recent months, Boko Haram has become more brazen and deadly in its attacks. In Damaturu, gunmen armed with automatic weapons and grenades attacked apparently at will for several hours, targeting police stations, government offices, churches and a bank. The wave of violence began on Friday in the city of Maiduguri when three suicide bombers blew themselves up at the headquarters of the very security forces who've been deployed to tackle Boko Haram. The group, which says it wants to establish a Muslim state in northern Nigeria, has warned of further attacks.
A Pakistani security court has charged two senior police officers and five Taliban militants in connection with the 2007 assassination of the former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. She died in a gun and bomb attack in Rawalpindi. One of the officers charged was police chief there at the time. Owen Bennett-Jones has been following the case.
There is no flow of evidence that people way above this police officer in the establishment of Pakistan had some involvement in her murder, and most Pakistanis believe that to be the case. This police officer, I'm sure, considered himself a fall guy. I mean what you have to consider is that the Taliban militants, so-called, who are being charged in this were children. I mean the person who killed Benazir Bhutto is 15 years old, and some of these people who've been arrested and now charged, they were school dropouts. It's actually inconceivable that they arranged this assassination plot themselves.
The Greek cabinet says President Karolos Papoulias will summon all party leaders for talks on a government of national unity for the country that's weighed down by its massive debts. The first meetings could reportedly take place on Sunday. The main task of the new administration is to push through the bailout and austerity deal agreed with the EU. Gavin Hewitt reports from Athens.
The Prime Minister George Papandreou, having survived a confidence vote, is trying to put together a government of national unity. He sees this as a necessary step to implement an EU bailout deal on which the country depends. The main opposition party has made it clear that it would not join a coalition government with Mr Papandreou at its head. The opposition would like a caretaker government and quick elections. All of this raises the spectre of political deadlock. Senior political figures have said that Greece must choose a prime minister it can unite behind.
The Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has travelled to the camp where the leader of the Farc rebels, Alfonso Cano, was killed. He was shot dead during a battle with security forces after they bombed his mountain camp in Cauca province, in southwest Colombia. Officials say operations against the guerrillas are continuing.
World News from the BBC
The Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has urged voters to ignore a boycott of the presidential election called by her rival Winston Tubman. In a radio address, she appealed to Liberians to cast their ballots on Tuesday and not to succumb to fear and intimidation. Mr Tubman withdrew from the presidential run-off on Friday, saying significant problems meant there couldn't be a transparent poll.
Reports from Nigeria say that an oil tanker seized by pirates off the coast of the Niger Delta last week has been released. The vessel, the Halifax, was attacked near Port Harcourt. There's no word on the condition of the foreign crew.
One of India's most famous folk singers, Bhupen Hazarika, has died in a Mumbai hospital. He'd been suffering from pneumonia. Joanna Jolly reports.
Bhupen Hazarika made his career interpreting the traditional music of Assam for a broader audience, which gave him a huge following in India and Bangladesh. Known as Bard of the Brahmaputra after the river that flows through Assam, he also recorded in Bengali and Hindi, singing the soundtrack for numerous Indian films. One of his biggest hits, Bistirno Dupare, was a Bengali version of Ol' Man River, made famous by the American civil rights singer Paul Robeson.
Bhupen Hazarika, who's died at the age of 86
A Canadian dentist has bought what must rank as one of the rarest of pop mementos - a yellowing tooth said to have been extracted from John Lennon's mouth more than 40 years ago. Michael Zuk paid more than $30,000 at auction for the molar. Mr Zuk, who's written a book on celebrities' teeth, admits that some people will find the tooth gross, but believes others will be fascinated by it and is planning to take it on a tour of dental schools.
BBC News