BBC News with Stewart Macintosh
The former head of the Turkish military has been jailed for life after he was found guilty of conspiracy to bring down the government. The verdict came at the end of a five-year trial near Istanbul of 275 soldiers, journalists and academics. The trial has been seen as part of the political battle between the Islamist-rooted government of the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and secular opposition forces who’ve called for street protests against the verdict. James Reynolds reports.
The Turkish media reports that the former armed forces chief, Gen Ilker Basbug, will serve life in prison for his role in a conspiracy to bring down the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Gen Basbug, who ran the military between 2008 and 2010, denies the charge. The court in Silivri has also sentenced more than a dozen of the general’s fellow defendants including a number of retired military officers to life. It has acquitted more than 20 defendants.
The Nigerian army says at least 35 people have been killed in two gun battles with the Islamist sect Boko Haram on Sunday. The group wants to impose sharia law in northern Nigeria. Tomi Oladipo reports from Lagos.
In separate incidents, gunmen raided a police post and a military base in Borno state, reinforcing fears that the Boko Haram sect is still active there. Security forces recovered ammunition and several vehicles from the defeated fighters. The north-east of Nigeria is under a state of emergency as the authorities battle the Islamist insurgency led by Boko Haram. There’s been a recent decline on the frequency of attacks, but the threat still remains.
An 11-year-old Indian girl, who was set on fire after she allegedly threatened to identify a man who tried to rape her, has died in hospital. Rahul Tandon reports from the eastern city of Kolkata.
The young girl was attacked last Wednesday near her house on the outskirts of Kolkata. She fought off her attacker, but scared that she would be able to identify him. He doused her with kerosene and set her on fire. She was rushed to a government hospital in Kolkata, but died from her injuries on Sunday. Police have arrested a local man and are questioning him. The girl’s family have demanded that the death penalty should be given to whoever killed their daughter.
Spanish police have rearrested a paedophile who was released last week in Morocco under a royal pardon. The man is a Spanish citizen who was serving a 30-year sentence for raping 11 children. Hundreds of angry Moroccans have protested against his release and King Mohammed VI revoked the decision which was part of a wider pardon of 48 Spanish prisoners. The king has blamed the release on the prison administration and is reported to have fired the head of Morocco’s prison system.
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The leader of Tunisia’s embattled governing Islamist movement Ennahda has said he’s willing to hold a referendum to help resolve the political crisis in the country. Speaking on the eve of a rally called by opposition parties to mark the six-month anniversary of the assassination of an opposition politician Chokri Belaid, the Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi recognised that the nation was divided. He said a referendum on whether to preserve the transitional institutions put in place following the 2011 overthrow of the former ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali could be a way of resolving the crisis.
A well-respected Muslim leader who supported peace talks aimed at ending an insurgency in southern Thailand has been killed. Police said Imam Yacob Raimanee was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the town of Pattani. His death comes despite a pledge from Muslim separatists and the Thai government to halt all violence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Japanese nuclear regulators say the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant is facing a new emergency caused by a huge build-up of radioactive groundwater. They warn that the current seepage of contaminated water into the Pacific Ocean will accelerate rapidly unless a solution is found immediately. Engineers have built a huge underground barrier to contain the water.
The highest-paid star in American Major League Baseball, I beg your pardon, Alex Rodriguez, has been suspended until the end of the 2014 season for alleged doping offences. The New York Yankees player has previously admitted using steroids, but he said he stopped about a decade ago. Here's Nada Tawfik.
Major League Baseball spent a year establishing a case against Rodriguez and 12 other players who they say received banned drugs from the now closed Bio-Genesis anti-aging clinic in Miami. Twelve of the players agreed to a 50-game ban. But in a statement, Rodriguez said that he would appeal against the suspension which takes effect on August 8th. Until the appeal is heard, he’ll still be allowed to play for the Yankees.