BBC News with Ian Purdon
The former US Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford, who narrowly survived being shot in the head, has launched a group aimed at curbing gun violence. Mrs. Gifford said the initiative, which comes exactly two years after the attack in Arizona in which six other people died, will raise money to counter the political influence of the gun lobby. But it also supports responsible gun ownership. She launched the group with her husband Mark Kelly.
“Gaby and I are both gun owners. We are strong supporters of the Second Amendment but we got to do something to keep the guns from getting into the wrong hands.”
In another development, the White House said that the US vice president Joe Biden would meet representatives from the entertainment industry later this week to discuss the influence that movies and video games have on gun violence.
The Afghan President Hamid Karzai has arrived in Washington for a four-day visit to discuss America’s future role in his country. Later this week Mr. Karzai and President Obama will meet for talks on the size and nature of the US military presence in Afghanistan once foreign combat troops leave by the end of 2014.
The leader of the opposition in Venezuela has urged the Supreme Court to rule on the procedures to be adopted if ill health prevents President Hugo Chavez from attending his inauguration for a new term on Thursday. Sarah Grainger reports from Caracas.
The opposition leader Henrique Capriles has reiterated that Mr. Chavez’s presidential term ends on Jan. 10. He and other opposition politicians say the constitution stipulates that the leader of the country’s national assembly should take over as an interim president in Mr. Chavez’s absence. But government ministers and other allies of Mr. Chaves argue that the inauguration could be carried out at a later date. The Supreme Court has so far made no pronouncement on the situation.
The United Nations says around one million Syrians are going hungry because of government restrictions on the distribution of aid. This report by Imogen Foulkes.
The World Food Program believes at least two and half million people are going hungry in Syria. At the moment, it can reach only one and half million, and even achieving that is proving difficult. Inside Syria, the Food Program relies on the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to distribute supplies, but it simply doesn’t have enough staff to do more than it is already doing. Meanwhile the number of foreign aid workers is severely restricted by the Syrian government.
A report published today has cast unprecedented light on a radical Islamist group in Syria that’s become a key player in the conflict. The London based Quilliam Foundation says the al-Nusra Front, which has carried devastating attacks against President Assad’s forces, developed from al-Qaeda militants in Iraq. The report suggests it has some 5,000 members.
World News from the BBC
A lawyer for three of the men accused of the rape and murder of a 23-year-old student last month in the Indian capital Delhi says they will plead not guilty to all charges. They include the driver of the bus on which she was assaulted and his brother. On Monday all five suspects appeared in court to hear the charges against them.
The Congolese rebel group M23 has declared a unilateral ceasefire ahead of a new round of peace talks with the government. Speaking in Uganda, a spokesman for the rebels said they would continue with the peace negotiations even if the Congolese government refused to sign a ceasefire with them. Catherine Byaruhanga reports from Kampala.
The two sides have been meeting in Kampala since December, but the issue of a ceasefire has always been a sticking point causing the talks to stall. M23 had previously said it would not continue with the negotiations if a ceasefire was not signed. It now says it will continue with the talks but the rebels want the world to see that it is the government that suppressing(opposing) peace in Eastern Congo.
A founding member of Hungary’s governing Fidesz Party has sparked outrage after denouncing some of the country’s Roma minority as animals unfit for coexistence with people. The prominent rightwing journalist Zsolt Bayer made the comments in a newspaper column after a mass brawl believed to have involved Roma. The deputy prime minister Tibor Navracsics said he deeply condemned the offensive comments.
The European Court of Human Rights has found Italy guilty of violating the rights of prisoners because its jails are overcrowded. The court ruled in favor of seven inmates who complained of a lack of space in cells they shared with other prisoners. Italy has been given one year to address the problem and ordered to pay the plaintiffs more than 130,000 dollars in compensation.
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