BBC news with Marion Marshal.
The United Nations in Jordan has highlighted the extent of the Syrian refugee problem. It estimates the number of Syrian refugees crossing every day is between 2000 and 3000 while some 60,000 Syrians were waiting to cross. Speaking at the world economic forum in Davos, the UN secretary general said the vast humanitarian crisis was likely to grow.
The situation on the ground is already catastrophe, More than four million people have been affected by this situation and they are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. A 20% of the country's population have been affected. Nearly 700,000 people have fled the country. Deepening violence and political stalemates make it likely that these numbers will grow. A BBC correspondent at the main refugee camp in Jordan says it already shelters almost 70,000 refugees.
An American who played a key role in the 2008 militant attack on the Indian city of Mumbai has been given a 35-year sentence by a judge in the United States. David Coleman Headley had pleaded guilty in a court in Chicago to conducting scouting missions on behalf of 11 Pakistani militants who killed more than 160 people. From Washington, Jonny Dymond reports.
David Headley changed his name from Daood Gilani so as to avoid raising suspicions of the Indian authorities as he travelled in and out of the country. He was arrested in late 2009 and cooperated fully with the American authorities. It was that cooperation that led to Thursday's relatively light sentence. He faced life in prison, but with a time limited sentence and the possibility of parole, he now has a chance of spending some part of his life outside prison.
As French forces continue their military operation in Mali, a hard line Islamist group there Ansar Dine which holds swath of territory has split. The breakaway faction says it wants peace talks. The new group said it rejects extremism and wants a negotiated solution. Bernadette Kio has more.
Less than two weeks after France intervened in Mali, this appears to be a significant crack in rebel ranks. The breakaway faction is led by an influential former Ansar Dine leader who is negotiator during mediation efforts with the Mali government representatives last year. The new group calling itself the Islamic movement for Azawad said it was composed entirely of Malian nationals who wanted a peaceful solution. Crucially it said it rejects extremism. So the key question now is whether it would be prepared to fight its former comrades in arms.
The Yemeni government says a senior leader of the local branch of Al-Qaeda Said al-Shehri has died of wounds he received last November. It hasn't been confirmed by his group. Correspondents say that if confirmed, it would be a big blow to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
BBC news.
The police in New York are testing a hi-tech scanner. They say (it) can detect concealed weapons. They say trials of the new device started a year ago are at an advanced stage. Barbara Plett in New York has more.
The device is a portable box that can detect concealed weapons from a distance of around 10m. New York's police commissioner Greg Kelley says it measures of form of natural energy emitted by people and objects known as terahertz. If something is obstructing the flow of that radiation like a gun, the scanner highlights the object and it appears as a shadowy image. This has been seen as a possible alternative to the NYPD's reliance on the policy of stop and frisk which has raised serious concerns about racial profiling. Critics say the vast majority of on-the-spot weapons checks target blacks and Latinos.
Britain, Germany and Netherlands have urged their citizens to leave the Libyan city of Benghazi. All three countries spoke of a specific threat to westerners, but gave no details. Libya expressed astonishment to the warning which was issued first by Britain. From Tripoli, Rana Jawad reports.
The imminent threat received against westerners hasn't been specified by any of the European governments so far. It remains unclear what prompted this drastic measure. The announcement has come as a surprise to officials in Libya. The deputy minister of interior for Eastern Affairs Abdullah Massoud told the BBC he was disappointed by the move, describing it as irrational. He also says that Libya's Ministry of Foreign Affairs would be seeking clarification on the matter.
The energy giant Royal Dutch Shell has signed a deal with Ukraine to extract natural gas trapped underground in shale rock. Ukrainian officials said the deal was worth 10 billion dollars which would make it the largest investment in shale gas in Europe. It's believed Urkraine has some of the largest shale gas reserves in Europe and new technology means they are easier to extract.
BBC world service news.