BBC News with Julie Candler
Tens of thousands of Egyptians demanding the resignation of President Muhammad Morsi have again thronged Tahrir Square and the street leading to the presidential palace in Cairo. But the Muslim Brotherhood to which Mr. Morsi belongs is making a show of strength by urging its supporters to join growing protests in defence of the president. Aleem Maqbool is in Cairo.
There’s been a definite change of mood in recent hours as the very real prospective of the president being forced out of office dawns. More and more of Muhammad Morsi’s supporters are taking to the streets but the huge anti-Morsi crowds had once again congregated around the country. It has almost inevitably led to clashes between the two groups. Deaths have now been confirmed in Cairo and elsewhere in less than 24 hours the deadline issued by the army expires. After that they say they’ll implement what they’ve called their roadmap for the running of the country.
In the past few minutes it’s been reported that Egypt’s President Morsi has called for the army to withdraw its ultimatum for the current crisis to be resolved within 48 hours saying he won’t be dictator, too. He is also insisted on his constitutional legitimacy as elected president.
A court in Senegal has charged the former president of Chad Hissene Habre with war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture. Rights groups estimate that 40,000 people were killed during Mr. Habre’s authoritarian rule which lasted eight years until 1990. Thomas Fessy reports.
The victims’ main lawyer, Jacqueline Moudeina has told the BBC that 13 years after Mr. Habre’s first indictment which was then dropped by the Senegalese authorities, these charges came as a great relief. Mr. Habre has been living in exile in Senegal ever since he was overthrown in a coup in 1990. One of his lawyers, El Hadji Diouf said he remained confidence the truth would eventually emerge for Mr. Habre to be cleared.
Portugal’s prime minister has said he is determined to continue in government even after the attempted resignation on Tuesday of the country’s foreign minister who’s also the leader of the junior partner in the governing coalition. On Monday the country’s finance minister resigned. He had been overseen the government’s efforts to reduce Portugal’s debt. Alison Roberts reports from Lisbon.
In his brief statement to the nation, Pedro Passos Coelho said he had not accept the foreign minister’s resignation but the idea that the minister Paulo Portas who also leads the smaller of the two parties in the coalition might stay on after all was filled with skepticism by political commentators who said it seemed more like an attempt to ensure Mr. Portas’ bored blame for any political crisis. The prime minister said he would now talk to officials from Mr. Portas’ party to establish whether the coalition could continue.
World News from the BBC
Canadian police have charged a man and a woman in British-Colombia in connection with a plot said to involve pressure cooker devices similar to those used in the Boston marathon bombings in April. It’s alleged the couple intended to detonate three bombs in the city of Victoria on Monday during the country’s Canada Day celebrations.
Sixteen members of Nelson Mandela’s family have pleaded criminal complaint against the eldest grandson of the former president. A South African police spokesman told the BBC that Mandla Mandela was being investigated for allegedly illegally tampering with gravesides two years ago. Mike Woodridge reports.
Nelson Mandela’s oldest male heir Mandla is alleged to move the remains of two of Mr. Mandela’s late sons and a daughter without the family’s consent from Qunu to the nearby village of Mvezo in 2011. Mandla Mandela holds a traditional chieftaincy of Mvezo. It was Nelson Mandela’s birthplace and Mandla’s constructing a heritage center there. But his actions have been the source of acrimonious division in the Mandela family. And on Friday, 16 members of the family secured a court order here for the remains to be returned to Qunu.
The Irish parliament has voted by a big majority to back a bill legalizing abortions when the cases are medical emergency. Almost uniquely in Europe Ireland officially bans abortions in all circumstances, even though the country’s supreme court ruled in 1992 the termination should be legal if they were done to save the life of the woman involved.
The late Pope John PaulⅡhas cleared the final obstacle before being formally declared a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. The Commission of Cardinals and Bishops has now signed of his case. All that’s needed is the signature of Pope Francis. Despite calls for an immediate declaration when John Paul died in 2005, it has taken eight years of research and verification of what the Vatican believes is a second miracle by the Polish pontiff.