BBC News with Neil Nunes
The Italian Senate has voted to expel the former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from parliament with immediate effect. Mr. Berlusconi who is 77 has been barred from public office because he has a criminal conviction for tax fraud. But the media mogul has already declared that he will not be leaving politics. Our correspondent in Rome Alan Johnston says a comeback cannot be ruled out.
He's absolutely defiant and in anybody's thought that he would go quietly.He intends to continue to lead his party from outside parliament.It attracted considerable support at the last election and will no doubt continue to do so,he is a very wealthy man,he has a lot of money that he can pour into his political projects,and he has a media empire behind him that can put his message into countless Italian homes.
The European Commission says Britain must accept its freedom of movement rules if it wants to stay in the EU single market. The commission's vice President Viviane Reding described the freedom of movement of people in Europe as a non-negotiable right. She was responding to earlier comments on limiting the rights of migrant workers by the British Prime Minister David Cameron. The commission's President Jose Manuel Barroso says he has emphasized to Mr. Cameron the UK's responsibilities.
Prime Minister Cameron called me yesterday informing me about the intentions he has on these issues. And I had the occasion to underline to Prime Minister Cameron that free movement is a fundamental treaty principle that must be upheld. At the same time I took good note that the United Kingdom wants to ensure that measures it plans to take respecting European law.
The military strongman who led last year's coup in Mali, General Amadou Sanogo has been arrested in charge with murder and kidnapping. He was remanded in custody. Our Africa editor Richard Hamilton has more in this report.
General Sanogo was taken by force from his residence early in the day by a unit of soldiers sent by the Ministry of Defense. He has repeatedly been called for questioning over the deaths of six soldiers during an army protest in September but fail to appear. Despite stepping down and handing control a civilian administration, the General remained a powerful force and many believe he was calling the shots. The new President of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, is under pressure to restore the state's authority over the military which overthrew the previous presidents and plunge the country into chaos.
The Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has said that continued armed blockades of oil terminals in Libya have plunged the country into a financial (chaos) crisis. Mr. Zeidan told journalists in Tripoli that as the result, Libya was now exporting less than a quarter of its oil production capacity.
World news from the BBC
Part of a Football stadium in Brazil that has been built to host opening game of next year's World Cup has collapsed killing at least two people. The stadium in Sao Paulo was due to be complete by the end of the next month. The BBC's Gary Duffy who is in Sao Paulo says there is concern pressure to finish on time contributed to the tragedy.
I think that's one of the questions of the investors will be asking whether the risks were taken, because the deadlines were so tighten, because it was this demand to get the work done in time. Now work in this particular stadium, the attack on Arena Corinthians here in Sao Paulo will now stop for three days as a mark of respect,that's another delay and of course Sao Paulo is the only city where there are concerned about delays.
Residents of Dubai are celebrating their city has been chosen to host the world Expo trade convention in 2020, beating rival bids in Brazil, Turkey and Russia. Fireworks exploded of the sides of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building after the result was announcing in Paris. Dubai will be the first in the Middle Eastern country to hold the Expo which takes place every five years.
There have been clashes between protesters and the police in several towns in Tunisia after strikes ended in violence. In the southern mining town of Gafsa, demonstrators tried to break into the governor's office before attacking the headquarters of the ruling Islamist party Ennahda. In Siliana in the northwest, they burnt tyres and threw stones at the police who then tried to disperse them with tear gas.
An unusual suitcase shaped pavilion in the middle of Red Square in Moscow is to be dismantled. It's the size of five-storey block of flats more than 30-meters-long, and it's been life there as a publicity stunt by the French fashion house Louis Vuitton. Critics blame it's blocking the views of St. Basil's Cathedral, Lenin's Mausoleum and the Kremlin.