BBC News with Sue Montgomery
The two contenders in the French presidential election are taking part in a televised debate. Polls suggest President Nicolas Sarkozy is trailing his Socialist rival Francois Hollande by around six points. Chris Morris reports.
Both men have accused the other of lying as they've sparred over economic policy in particular. "You want less rich people," the president said to his Socialist challenger, "I want less poor people." "I'll protect our children," Mr Hollande responded, "you just protect the privileged." Mr Hollande began by saying he'd be a president who would end division and bring France together. Mr Sarkozy, who really needs to win this debate to have any chance of winning the election, responded by saying the people would decide. "It's too late to change your mind," he said, "once you've elected someone who's not up to scratch."
The American politician Newt Gingrich has officially ended his campaign to become the Republican candidate in November's US presidential election. Bowing out of the race, Mr Gingrich offered only a limited endorsement of his rival Mitt Romney. Here's Mark Mardell.
Newt Gingrich said the Republican primary had been a truly wild ride - amazing and astonishing. He bowed out with a typically expansive grandiose review of his own personal history and his own future, sparing just a few moments for an endorsement of Mitt Romney that was cooler than lukewarm. He said he was asked if Mitt Romney was conservative enough, but the comparison shouldn't be with Ronald Reagan but with Barack Obama, who he called the most left-wing radical president in the whole of US history. Now only Ron Paul remains challenging Mitt Romney in the Republican primary, so Mr Romney's victory is assured, barring accidents.
The Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng has said he left the American embassy in Beijing, where he'd been seeking sanctuary because he feared for the safety of his family. Michael Bristow reports.
China says Chen Guangcheng left the US embassy of his own volition. US officials say the same. But now a more complicated story is emerging. Mr Chen has told the Associated Press that the Chinese authorities threatened to beat his wife to death if he did not leave the embassy. He says this threat was passed on to him by a US official. The BBC spoke to one of the activist's friends, who also suggested Mr Chen had feared for his family's safety if he remained in the embassy.
Washington insists no American officials spoke to Mr Chen about Chinese threats.
The European Space Agency, the Esa, has approved a new mission to explore moons of the planet Jupiter. It says a craft will be launched in 10 years' time and should arrive at Jupiter by the year 2030. It will study three of Jupiter's biggest moons: Europa, Ganymed and Callisto, which are icy and believed to host internal oceans. The agency says the mission will study the moons' potential to be habitats for life.
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The United Nations Security Council says it will impose sanctions on Sudan and South Sudan unless they stop fighting and resume negotiations. The council unanimously passed a resolution giving the two countries 48 hours to stop the violence and two weeks to start talking. Fighting erupted several weeks ago in border regions with South Sudan occupying Sudan's most productive oil field at Heglig.
The authorities in Libya have introduced a new law making it a criminal offence to praise or glorify the former leader Colonel Gaddafi, his sons or his regime. From Tripoli, Rana Jawad.
One member of the National Transitional Council, Ahmed Abu Zeid, told the BBC this is a temporary law that is necessary during this transitional period, and likened those who glorify the Gaddafi era to those who praise Nazis. Libya's legislators say that the spread of dangerous propaganda that aims to disrupt military operations in defending the country will be punished with life imprisonment. The country was described as still going through wartime conditions.
Egyptian security forces have halted violent clashes in Cairo after demonstrators were set upon by plain-clothes attackers. At least 20 people were killed and more than 100 injured. The army and riot police used armoured vehicles to separate the protesters and their attackers, who were hurling petrol bombs and stones. The demonstrators have been protesting for several days against the exclusion of a radical Islamist candidate from presidential elections when they were attacked at dawn.
Scientists say global warming appears to be affecting the dates at which plants flower in spring much more than they'd thought.
Writing in Nature, they say observations show that flowering is moving forward eight times faster than climate modelling predicts. They suggest that spring flowering will continue to advance by five to six days a year for every degree Celsius of warming.
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