BBC News with Fiona MacDonald
After months of intense western pressure, the main Syrian opposition group in exile has voted to attend next week's peace conference in Geneva. The issue of whether to attend the talks has split the coalition with many reluctant to go unless President Bashar al-Assad is excluded from any proposed transitional Syrian government. Jim Muir reports.
The western powers who support the Syrian opposition will be relieved of the coalition's general assembly finally came up with the vote in favor of going to Geneva-II as the peace talks have been called. But it's less than the resounding display of unanimity and unity that the advocates of the process have been hoping for. While the “Yes”vote of 58 made up a substantial majority of the 73 who took part. It's less than half of the 120-strong general assembly. That means that substantial parts of the coalition stayed away in disapproval of the venture.
Palestinian officials in Syria say food aid has reached the refugee camp in a rebel-held suburb of the capital Damascus for the first time in 4 months. Recent reports from the Yarmouk camp which is run by Palestinians say children have been dying of malnutrition.
The BBC journalist and presenter Kolma Dumor has died suddenly at his home after suffering a heart attack. The director of BBC Global News Peter Horrocks described Kolma as a leading light of African journalism. Lyse Doucet worked with Kolma and had this appreciation of the man who recently became the lead presenter of the BBC's first daily television program for Africa.
“His voice was one of the most distinctive on the BBC.”
“Hello, everyone I'm Kolma Dumor, welcome to focus on Africa, here are our top stories tonight.”
“Kolma Dumor was a big man in every way. Big-hearted, a talented broadcaster with the winning smile. I first met him in Ghana in 2007 when he'd just joined the BBC's Africa service. I noticed even then, how young Ghanaian journalists looked up to him. He never flinched from asking tough questions, but also loved to share a laugh. Kolma was admired across the BBC's Global audiences, but most of all, Africans celebrated his success. Last year, he was named one of the 100 most influential people on the continent by New African magazine. Kolma had many loves, including football, his faith, his family. He often said, ‘I just love talking with people.’We'll miss hearing from him.
The South Sudanese army says it has recaptured the strategic town of Bor from rebel forces. The army spokesman Philip Aguer said the government troops had defeated more than 15,000 fighters loyal to the former Deputy President Riek Machar. A rebel spokesman said they'd staged a tactical withdrawal, because Bor was now a ghost town. Both sides at peace talks in neighboring Ethiopia say they're close to signing a ceasefire.
World News from the BBC
Egyptian electoral officials say 98% of voters back to new constitution in this week's referendum. The military-backed interim government had urged a big “Yes”vote. The outlawed Muslim Brotherhood had boycotted the poll. James Reynolds reports from Cairo.
Egypt's military-backed government has got what it wanted, an overwhelming and entirely,unsurprising“Yes”vote. The result is a return to the 90% plus votes of the Mubarak years. But turnout here is the more revealing figure. In this vote,it was almost 39%, that beats the 33% who voted in a 2012 constitutional referendum during the Muslim Brotherhood's year in power. The “Yes” votes will now be followed by presidential and parliamentary elections.
A series of car bombings in and around Iraqi capital Baghdad has killed at least 20 people and injured more than 60 others. Five people died in a blast near the city's new upmarket Mansour shopping mall while 4 others were killed in a bombing near juvenile detention center.Two Italian men have disappeared in Libya, Rana Jawad reports from Tripoli.
The two Italian construction workers went missing on Friday. They had been working on a road project in the east of the country. Local media reports said their vehicle was found abandoned on the outskirts of the city by their colleagues. Derna is a stronghold of extreme Islamist groups that have set up bases there and in neighbouring Benghazi. Both cities have seen a series of assassinations over the past 12 months targeting local military and police.
France's First Lady Valerie Trierweiler has left the Paris hospital where she'd been receiving treatment for stress for over a week since allegations surfaced that the French President Francois Hollande was having an affair. She went to an official residence in Versailles.