BBC News with Sue Montgomery.
The first shipment from Syria's chemical weapons program has been removed from the country. It's part of an international agreement to eliminate President Assad's chemical arsenal. He agreed to the deal last year after hundreds of people were killed in a poisoned gas attack. Inspectors from the international watchdog, the OPCW, are leading the operation. Anna Holligan is following the story.
The confirmation came from the OPCW and the UN that the first consignment of Syria's chemical stockpile had been loaded onto a Danish cargo vessel and transported towards international waters, there it will receive protection from Russian, Chinese, Danish and Norwegian warships, it will remain there until the additional containers are transported to the Syrian port of Latakia for collection. We know that the delays have been caused by heavy fighting along the routes and the presence of opposition fighters.
Residents in the Iraqi city of Ramadi have told the BBC that the lead special forces are carrying out joint operations with allied Sunni tribes to dislodge militants linked to al-Qaeda. The army withdrew from Ramadi last week amid rising public anger after it broke up an anti-government protest camp by force. Iraqi officials say missile strikes in the city have killed 25 militants.
The American Bank J. P. Morgan Chase has agreed to pay $1.7bn to victims of the convicted fraudster Bernie Madoff. In a deal with New York prosecutors, the bank admitted it did not maintain an effective anti-money laundering program and it failed to alert the authorities to suspicious activity. Preet Bharara is a New York district attorney.
For years, the bank repeatedly ignored warning signs, allowed suspicious round-trips transactions through Madoff's account, finally grew concerned enough to file a report in the UK, but all the while, JP Morgan never filed a single suspicious activity report in the United States. In other words, the bank connected the dots when it mattered to its own profit, but was not so diligent when it came to its legal obligations.
Scientists have discovered that the radioactive particles from nuclear tests which took place during the Cold War remain in the upper atmosphere. Here's Rebecca Morale.
At the height of the cold war, nuclear weapons were being developed and tested around the world, but more than 50 years on, their legacy remains. Samples taken from the upper atmosphere showed that radioactive particles from these tests are still there. Previously scientist had thought that natural atmospheric processes would have removed most of the caesium and plutonium isotopes. While scientists say the long-term effect is unclear, the amounts of radioactive material they are detecting aren't high enough to pose a risk to human health.
BBC News.
The Supreme Court in Chile has closed an investigation into the death of the former Socialist President Salvador Allende who was deposed in a military coup in 1973. The court confirmed the findings of an inquest published two years ago which said that Mr. Allende had shot himself inside his office as troops loyal to General Augusto Pinochet stormed the presidential palace. Many supporters of Mr. Allende still believe he was shot dead by Chilean soldiers.
Unknown attackers in Egypt have thrown a homemade bomb at a traffic police post in Cairo blowing up a vehicle parked outside. The assailants then fired a hail of bullets from automatic weapons before fleeing the scene. It's the latest in a series of attacks in the security forces. On Wednesday, the trial will resume of the deposed Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
Police in Germany say the $8m worth of cocaine have been found hidden in boxes of bananas, they were delivered to the supermarket. The drugs are thought to have been transported from Colombia to Hamburg by sea and then to Berlin by lorry. A Berlin police spokesman Stefan Redlich gave details of the discovery.
In total, 140kg of cocaine was found. Somewhere in the world there was someone who probably has a big problem now because he's missing 140kg of cocaine. The drug gang has made a logistical error somewhere and now our job is to find out how that could have happened.
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against Italy in its long battle to maintain a family tradition which requires children of married couples to take the father's surname only. The court sided with a couple who'd fought for 13 years to have the children bear the mother's maiden name rather than the father's last name. The ruling said the existing Italy law was patriarchal and an infringement of individual rights.