BBC News with John Jason
A prominent Egyptian liberal opposition figure, Mohamed EIBaradei’s been named caretaker prime minister. Mr. EIBaradei was opponent to former president Mubarak and the former president Morsi. From Cairo, here is Will Davis.
The appointment of such an internationally respected figure as Mohamed EIBaradei may calm the nerves of Egypt’s allies overseas but it’s already been rejected by Islamist factions within the country. Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood insist there can be dialogue with the ruling military council or who now chooses as interim prime minister until the deposed president Mohamed Morsi is reinstated. Mr. EIBaradei is the former head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog but his own campaign for the presidency fails spectacularly because he couldn’t attract support from enough voters beyond the privileged middle and upper classes.
Police in Turkey have fired teargas and water cannon to disperse thousands of protesters gathered in Taksim Square in Istanbul. They are apparently been trying to enter Gazi Park. Plans to redevelop the park sparked off protests in May which became general anti-government demonstrations. Four people were killed and about 8,000 injured.
Suspected Islamist militants have attacked a school in northeastern Nigeria killing at least 30 students. Residents said peoples were shot or burnt alive in the boarding school in Yobe State. Will Ross reports from Lagos.
Students at the boarding school near Potiskum town were asleep when the gunmen attacked. They doused the buildings with petrol. Some of the students were trapped in the blaze; others were shot dead as they tried to flee. At the nearby hospital, distraught parents struggled to identify their children. Many of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition. The attack is likely to have been carried out by the Islamist militant group known as Boko Haram whose name means Western education is forbidden.
A runaway train carrying crude oil is derailed in a town in Quebec Province in Canada and some of its old tanks have exploded. The disaster happened in the town of Lac-Megantic. Phil Gayle reports from Vancouver.
Witnesses say huge balls of orange flame rolled high into the night sky above the small Quebec town. The force of the blasts completely destroyed a number of buildings but the true extent of the damage and the number of people killed or injured is not yet clear. More than 1,000 people have been evacuated from the town which lies close to Canada’s border with the United States. Rescue workers from both countries are helping to fight the fire which continues to burn many hours after the first explosions.
Canadian police have confirmed one death but about 60 people have been reported missing.
A South Korean passenger plane has crashed on landing at San Francisco airport in the United States. Witnesses reported have seen the Boeing777 spinning around after landing heavily. Its tail section broke off from the plane later burst into flames. Early reports say only two of the more than 300 people on board were injured.
World News from the BBC
The Bolivian president Evo Morales has said he’s willing to give asylum to the fugitive American intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden who’s thought to be in an airport in Moscow. Mr. Morales said this would be a fair response to the United States and to the European countries that forced his plane to land in Vienna on Tuesday over suspicion that Mr. Snowden was on board.
The Portuguese Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho has announced the details of an agreement with his coalition partner Paulo Portas that he said would end the political crisis of the past few days. Alison Roberts reports from Lisbon.
Mr. Portas who on Tuesday tendered his resignation as foreign minister is to become deputy prime minister in charge of coordinating economic policy. He will also handle relations with the troika of international institutions that oversee Portugal’s Euro Zone bailout. The prime minister said the parties had put the country ahead of partisan interests in working to secure governmental stability. But several commentators pointed out it was they that causes the crisis in the first place.
The radical cleric Abu Qatada is expected to leave Britain in a few hours time after a legal battle against deportation which lasted for almost a decade. It’s understood that Abu Qatada will be flown off from a military airport to Jordan where he faces his terrorism charges. Jordan and Britain signed a treaty last month which guarantee that no evidence gain through torture could be used in his trial. The Jordanian Justice Minister Ahmad Ziadat insists that the cleric will receive a fair hearing.
“He will not be mistreated and this is guaranteed by Jordanian laws and the constitution. His trial may shade more light on his role in financing terrorist acts and planning terrorist acts.”
A plane powered only by the sun is on the final avigate of its journey across the United States. It’s flying from Washington D.C. to New York. The trip expected to take around 21 hours. The plane is covered by nearly 12,000 solar cells.