BBC News with John Jason
The International Criminal Court has rejected a Libyan challenge to its prosecution of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. It also reminded Libya of its obligation to hand the son of the former Libyan ruler, Col Gaddafi, over to the court. Both Libya and the ICC want to try Saif Gaddafi for crimes committed during the 2011 uprising. From The Hague, here’s Anna Holligan.
The 40-year-old has been held in Zintan since his arrest in November, 2011. If a country is to win the legal right to try a suspect at home, it must provide sufficient evidence that domestic courts are investigating the same crimes that are listed on the ICC arrest warrant and that the state has the legal infrastructure in place to conduct a trial. The ICC judges were not convinced on either of those points.
The Libyan justice minister said he needed time before commenting on the court ruling.
The UN Security Council has added the Syrian rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra to a sanctions blacklist because of its links to al-Qaeda in Iraq. Our UN correspondent Barbara Plett reports.
The al-Nusra Front has emerged as one of the most effective rebel fighting forces in the Syrian civil war and last month its leader openly pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda. Al-Nusra members now face an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. Britain and France submitted the proposal to the council’s Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee, and the United States designated al-Nusra a terrorist organisation last year. Action against the group is part of efforts by Western nations aimed at strengthening moderate opponents of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The eight candidates for Iran’s presidential election next month have held their first televised debate. The subject was the Iranian economy, which has seen the currency plunge in value and inflation rise to 30 per cent. Here’s Sebastian Usher.
It’s not the first time presidential candidates have debated on television in Iran, but there’ve never been so many altogether at one time. A special studio had been created and the look and feel was slick. In the first part of the debate, each candidate was given three minutes to speak on key issues. They offered few specifics on how they’d tackle Iran’s high unemployment and raging inflation. The second part of the debate was presented as a surprise. The candidates were told they could only say yes or no to a series of questions. One candidate, the relative reformist Mohammad Reza Aref, refused to join in, saying it was like being back at school.
Protests in Turkey are continuing into the night as police clash with demonstrators in central Istanbul. Security forces are using tear gas and water cannon to try to drive back protesters near Taksim Square. The clashes started as police broke up a sit-in demonstration over plans to turn the square into a shopping centre. The demonstrations have since spread to the capital Ankara and other cities and widened into a broader protest against the government and security forces over what’s seen as a heavy-handed approach to the crowds.
World News from the BBC
United Nations agencies have expressed concern about the fate of nine North Koreans thought to be orphans who were repatriated via China after escaping to Laos. Spokesmen for the high commissioners for refugees and human rights said the nine could face severe punishment for fleeing their homeland. They expressed dismay that the governments of Laos and China failed to protect potentially vulnerable asylum seekers.
An environmentalist campaigning for the protection of endangered sea turtles in Costa Rica has been found dead on a beach on the country’s Caribbean coast. The owner of a turtle sanctuary, where 24-year-old Jairo Mora worked, told the BBC that he’d been kidnapped and killed by four masked men while on a night patrol. Sea turtles are protected in Costa Rica, but poachers can make hundreds of dollars collecting and smuggling their eggs.
The current Tour de France champion Sir Bradley Wiggins will not be taking part in this year’s event due to a knee injury. 2012 saw the British cyclist win not only the Tour de France, but also an Olympic gold. Andy Swiss has more details.
In a statement, Sir Bradley Wiggins said it was a huge disappointment to withdraw from the Tour de France, but he couldn’t train the way he needed to and simply wouldn’t be ready. Earlier this month, Wiggins had been forced to pull out the Tour of Italy because of a chest infection. That’s now cleared up, but a knee injury he picked up during the race has proved more serious than first thought. Last summer Wiggins became the first British cyclist to win the yellow jersey, but this year he’d been expected to play a supporting role after his team chose another Briton to lead their challenge.
An asteroid that’s almost 3km across with its own moon is flying close past the Earth, giving scientists the chance to study it in detail. At its closest approach a few minutes ago, the object named 1998 QE2 passed with a safe distance of about 6 million km. Scientists hope to find out what it is made of and where in the Universe it originated.