BBC News with Marion Marshall.
The French president Francois Hollande says he will strengthen security inside France against possible retaliation by Islamist groups to French military operations in Mali and Somalia. He said there'd been increased surveillance in public buildings and transport. French forces in Mali have continued air strikes against Islamist militants and Mr. Hollande said the mission wasn’t over. Meanwhile in Somalia one French solider is known to have died during a failed attempt to rescue a hostage, another is missing. From Pairs Hugh Schofield.
The operation to free the hostage in Somalia is an acknowledged failure. Still President Hollande said that even though the raid had not achieved its objective, it did show that France would not give in to terrorist blackmail. In his brief televised address, the President also warned that the botched mission in Somalia and continuing military action against Islamists in Mali meant a heightened threat of terrorist reprisals in France. “The fight against terrorism requires that we take all the necessary precautions here in France.”
It’s been a momentous couple of days for the President with simultaneous military actions on two sides of Africa, prove of a determination to project force and to take risks in the battle against Islamist militancy.
Air pollution in the Chinese capital Beijing has reached the worst level recorded in years. Official measures of air quality have far exceeded the point at which children and elderly people are advised to remain indoors. Damian Grammaticas reports from Beijing.
For days now a heavy smog has smothered Beijing. By Saturday afternoon, it was so thick you could see just a few hundred meters in the city center. Tower blocks vanished into the grayness. The air tasted of coal dust and vehicle fumes, two of Beijing’s main sources of pollution. Even indoors the air looked hazy. World Health Organization guidelines say average concentrations of the tinniest pollution particles should be no more than 25 mg/m3. In Beijing, the pollution there was over 400 by the city’s official readings and more than 800 according to a US embassy monitoring center.
The former Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman and the country’s foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg have won through to a runoff in the Czech Republic’s presidential election. They beat seven other contenders including the former prime minister Jan Fischer. From Prague Rob Cameron
With almost all of the votes counted, this election is now about two very different men. Milos Zeman is a hard-drinking, chain-smoking politician known for his witty putdowns of his political opponents. Karel Schwarzenberg is a titled prince, 75 years of age but wildly popular amongst young urban voters and closely linked to the country’s first president, the late Vaclav Havel, in a sense he carries his legacy.
World News from the BBC
Clashes have erupted again in Northern Ireland following a protest over the local council’s decision to restrict the number of days that British Union flag can be flown over Belfast’s city hall. Stones and fireworks were thrown and police responded with water cannon. Trouble broke out when loyalists who want stronger ties with Britain passed an Irish nationalists’ area.
Brazilian police have encircled a building next to the Maracana football stadium in Rio de Janeiro which an indigenous community took over six years ago. The building, a former indigenous museum is meant to be demolished as part of preparation for next year’s World Cup, but indigenous leaders say they are prepared to defend their right to stay in the area.
Salvage experts say the wreck of Costa Concordia cruise ship will be removed from the waters off Italian island of Giglio by September at the latest. They made their promise on the eve of the anniversary of the disaster in which more than 30 people died. From Rome, here is Alan Johnston
The stricken ship lies capsized in what is a marine nature reserve cutting her up there could be hugely damaging to the local environment. So the plan is to lift the vessel upright, then refloats and tow her away to the mainland where she will be dismantled. It’s a vast engineering project and there’ve been delays. But giving the latest time schedule, officials said that it might be possible to remove the Concordia as early as June.
The Haitian president says the way international aid is distributed in Haiti isn’t working. Michel Martelly was delivering a speech to mark the third anniversary of the earthquake that devastated much of the country. He said aid donors needed to cooperate more closely with the Haitian government which have directly received only a third of the aid pledged. Mr. Martelly said non-governmental agencies had spent most of the aid on emergency operations rather than reconstruction.
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