BBC News with John Jason.
The United Nations Security Council has voted to send almost 12,000 peacekeepers to the Central African Republic. Eight thousand African Union and French soldiers are currently attempting to restore order in the country amid ongoing violence between Christian and Muslim armed groups. The Central African Republic Foreign Minister Toussaint Kongo Doudou said the UN has laid the foundation for a way out of the crisis.
“Today, the adoption of this resolution authorizing the UN deployment is the start of a decisive phase in the process of restoring peace and security, and hands stability to the Central African Republic.”
NATO has released satellite images and maps of, what it says, is the Russian military build-up on Ukraine's eastern border. A NATO official, Brigadier Gary Deakin, said the force could move quickly if ordered to do so. Here's Jonathan Marcus.
“Nato's decision to release over 20 satellite images and associated maps of the build-up of Russian forces on Ukraine eastern frontier is a signal of the concern among the Alliance's commanders that a Russian military option against Ukraine is still very much on the table. The imagery dates from late March and early April. It encompasses six locations in an arc around Ukraine's frontier. It shows sophisticated warplanes, helicopters and airborne early warning aircrafts (similar to the NATO Awacs) and a number of military deployments on the ground.”
A French multi-billionaire businessman and politician has been charged with buying votes in the town near Paris where he was a mayor. Serge Dassault heads a group which owns the national newspaper Le Figaro and manufactures aircraft. He is also a senator for the center-right UMP party. Paul Henley reports.
“Serge Dassault was one of most recognized, as well as one of the richest men in France. So these charges are headline news in all but his own newspaper. He is accused of giving the residents of Corbeil, near Paris, money or subsidized homes in return for their votes. He was a mayor there from 1995 to 2009. Mr. Dassault has admitted using his personal wealth to help Corbeil citizens, but he denies bribery and he says he will prove his innocence.”
Union leaders in Argentina say more than a million people have taken part in a nationwide striking against the economic policies of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Most buses, trains and metro lines across Argentina didn't operate, airlines were forced to cancel flights. The one-day strike was called by unions to voice discontent over high inflation and to demand lower taxes and higher wages. The government said the stoppage is anti-democratic because it affected those who wanted to work.
Israel is to bring in new economic sanctions against the Palestinians in retaliation for the Palestinian leadership signing a raft of international treaties. The transfers of tax for new collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinian authority will be frozen, access to bank deposits held in Israel will be limited.
World News from the BBC
In a commemorative address to mark the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, President Obama has paid tribute to his predecessor, Lyndon B. Johnson, who signed it into the law. The legislation outlawed discrimination, ended racial segregation in schools and other public facilities. Mr. Obama said the Act changed the lives of all Americans.
“Because of the Civil Rights movement, because of the laws President Johnson signed, new doors of opportunity and education swung open for everybody. Not all at once, but they swung open. Not just blacks and whites, but also women and Latinos, and Asians and Native Americans, and gay Americans and Americans with a disability. They swung open for you, and they swung open for me.”
Anti-doping officials in Jamaica have given Asafa Powell, once the world's top sprinter, a 18-month ban for failing a drugs test. Powell returned a positive result for the banned stimulant oxilofrine at the Jamaican National trials last year. He called the ruling unjust and unfair, arguing the drug had no performance enhancing properties.
The academic and author, professor Richard Hoggart, who did much to shape modern ideas about contemporary life and the power of media, has died at age of 95. His influential book “the Uses of Literacy” became a best seller. Natasha Gruneberg reports.
“Richard Hoggart left the property of his childhood and leads behind him, but waged a lifelong battle against popular consumerism and the notion of material possessions as a recipe for happiness. His book “the Uses of Literacy”, arguing that the working class deserved better in educational and cultural terms, proved enormously influential. And the Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies, he founded at the Birmingham University, also sparked academic interest around the world. Despite a long list of distinguished appointments, Richard Hoggart remained an old-fashion socialist.”