BBC News with Mike Cooper.
Two firemen have been killed and another two wounded in a shooting as they attended a fire in the American state of New York. Official said the firemen who were volunteers had been lured to the scene in the town of Webster on Lake Ontario. The gunman has been named as 62-year-old William Spengler. The shooting comes at a time of renewed controversy over US gun laws following the school massacre in Connecticut earlier this month. From Washington Zoe Conway reports.
The firefighters were called to a house fire at 5:30 in the morning. As they approached the burning building they were shot at by William Spengler who was lying in wait and is thought to have been armed with a rifle. Two of the firemen died at the scene while two others are being treated for gunshot wounds in intensive care. Spengler was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head, apparently self-inflicted. At a news conference, Police Chief Gerald Pickering said he was an individual with a lot of problems who almost certainly had mental health issues.
The international envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, has met President Bashar al-Assad on the second day of his visit to Damascus. Mr. Brahimi said the situation was still worrying. President Assad said he supported any effort that preserved Syria’s sovereignty. Jim Muir is monitoring events from Beirut.
Mr. Brahimi said Mr. Assad had given him his view of the situation while he had briefed the president on his meetings with regional and international leaders and explained the steps he thought were needed to help end the crisis. Mr. Brahimi may indeed be carrying some proposals. But at this stage, with the scent of victory in their nostrils, the opposition won't settle for anything less than the departure of Mr. Assad and his inner circle.
The release of official results from the referendum on Egypt's draft constitution has been postponed. A member of the Supreme Election Commission said it was still investigating appeals and allegations of irregularities in the voting process. He said the results would be announced on Tuesday, but it's already clear there’ll be a comfortable majority in favor of the document backed by Islamist President Morsi, as Bethany Bell reports from Cairo.
More than 60% of Egyptians voted “yes” to the constitution according to an early tally. But the opposition has complained a voting fraud, although it doesn't contest the overall result of the poll. Egyptian judges are now investigating the allegations. The draft constitution has exposed deep divisions here in Egypt. Critics fear it could give the Islamist too much power. The opposition politician Mohamed Elbaradei says they’ll continue to fight against the charter.
In the first incident of its kind, a female police officer in Afghanistan has killed a western colleague. The police woman, a mother of three, shot dead an American advisor at police headquarters in Kabul. In a separate incident in Jawzjan, a policeman shot dead six colleagues.
World news from the BBC.
Officials in Yemen say at least five people have been killed by missiles fired from two United States drones at suspected al-Qaeda militants. The first strike targeted a car in the southern province of Al Bayda' killing a Yemeni and a Jordanian. The second killed at least three suspected militants on motorbikes in Hadramout province.
The former South African President Nelson Mandela is expected to remain in hospital over Christmas, two weeks after he was admitted for a lung infection. Doctors are still not comfortable about discharging him. With more, here is Karen Allen in Johannesburg.
With every passing day, there is growing public anxiety about the health of the former South African president, who has now been in hospital for more than a fortnight. There had been hopes that Nelson Mandela would be allowed to leave for his home in Johannesburg or the Eastern Cape in time for Christmas. But doctors are still not comfortable about discharging him. President Jacob Zuma who has visited Nelson Mandela several times, has called on South Africans to keep the 94-year-old leader in their thoughts and prayers over the festive period. The 94-year-old statesman has been treated for a recurrent lung infection and underwent a procedure a week ago to remove gallstones.
Officials in China say they've rescued almost 90 children from trafficking rings operating across several provinces. More than 350 people suspected of involvement in the crime were arrested over the past few days. Officials said they would now try to find the parents with the help of a national DNA database of genetic samples designed to help child trafficking.
The Nigerian navy says it is still searching for pirates who kidnapped four crew members from a cargo ship about 70 kilometers off the Nigerian coast on Sunday. A spokesman said the supply vessel was registered in Italy and the three of the kidnapped men were Italians. Having seized the workers, the pirates left the ship, allowing the rest of the crew to sail towards a safe port.
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