BBC News with Neil Nunes
The head of the Assembly writing Egypt’s new constitution says it may finish drafting the document by the end of today and call a hurried vote on it tomorrow. It will then be put to a public referendum if approved by President Mursi. Islamist supporters of the President say it’s intended to avert a growing political crisis. It comes as the confrontation between Mr. Mursi and the judiciary is escalating over a decree granting the President’s sweeping new powers. Jon Leyne is in Cairo.
There are signs that the Assembly writing a new constitution is preparing to rush out a draft in the coming days. The aim could be to preempt to court ruling on Sunday, which may once again dissolve this Assembly. Publishing a constitution in these circumstances would be a deeply inflammatory move. Many Egyptians are suspicious of the Assembly dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists want to impose a constitution that increases the role of Islam in Egypt’s government and public life.
Police in northern Afghanistan have arrested two men who are accused of beheading a teenage girl. It’s the latest in a series of brutal assaults on women in Afghanistan. From Kabul, Quentin Summerville.
The girl had been fetching water from a nearby well when according to police and local sources, she was murdered. Two men, her cousin and another relative, used a knife to kill her. After slitting her throat, she may have been beheaded. It’s likely the killing took place because her family had refused a marriage proposal from one of the suspected killers. The dead girl’s name was Lita. She was around 14 years old.
Students in northern Sri Lanka clashed with security forces on Wednesday in the worst political disturbances there since the civil war ended more than three years ago. From the capital Colombo, Charles Haviland.
A Tamil opposition parliamentarian and newspaper owner E Saravanapavan told the BBC the army attacked Jaffna University students as they try to emerge from their campus to demonstrate against the security forces a day after the latter entered the university campus and surrounded hostels. The tensions arose as some students marked the death of Tamil Tiger guerillas at small candle-lit memorials, while well-produced pro-Tiger posters appeared in various parts of the formerly Tiger-held territory.
The head of the United Nations weather agency, Michael Jaraud, has said climate change is happening before our eyes and will continue to do so. He was commenting a data showing that green house gas emissions have again risen to record levels. Experts at the agency said there had been unprecedented melting of sea ice in the Arctic in the past year. At its lowest ascent, the icecap around the North Pole was 18% smaller than the previous low record in 2007.
World News from the BBC
The US environmental protection agency has temporarily suspended the British oil giant BP and its affiliates from new contracts with the US government. The agency says the move was due to what it called BP’s lack of business integrity over the huge Gulf of Mexico oil spill two years ago, described as the worst US environmental disaster ever.
The United Nations says there is little sign that the M23 rebel group is leaving the city of Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The UN refugee agency in Goma said there was no significant movement of troops out of the city but that there were fewer rebels fighting out on the streets. On Tuesday, the Uganda military involved in mediation talks said the Congolese rebels had agreed to pull their halt.
Scientists say they have made major progress in deciphering the genome of bread wheat which they say could help with global food security. Writing in the journal Nature, the researchers said they had identified key parts of the wheat’s genetic code. Katherine Davis has this report.
The bread wheat genome is complex and large, five times larger than the human genome according to the scientists. They said they analyzed between 94000 and 96000 genes during their research. Wheat is one of the world’s most important crops along with rice and maize. Although its genome has not been fully decoded, the scientists from Britain, Germany and the United States hope their findings will accelerate the development of new wheat varieties that are more productive and more resilient to drought and disease.
Astronomers in Texas say they have measured the mass of what could be the biggest black hole yet observed. Named MGC12-77, this black hole has a mass of 17 billion times that of our sun. The scientists say their observations could change theories about how black holes are formed.
BBC News.