BBC News with Sue Montgomery
The United States is sending a team of experts to Nigeria to help find more than 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by an Islamist group. The US Secretary of State John Kerry said the American embassy in Abuja was providing US military personnel, law enforcement officers and hostage negotiators. Mr. Kerry said he'd offered the assistance in a call to the Nigerian President.
President Goodluck Jonathan was very happy to receive this offer and ready to move on it immediately. And we are immediately engaging in order to implement this. We remain deeply concerned about the welfare of these young girls, and we want to provide whatever assistance as possible in order to help for their safe return to their families.
Washington has imposed sanctions on two military commanders in South Sudan, one man each side of the conflict. As Barbara Plett Usher reports.
The sanctions targeted a senior rebel General and a commander of South Sudan presidential guards. Both are proved, the US said, led violent attacks against civilians in fighting that killed thousands and displaced more than a million. On the recent tour to Africa, the Secretary of State John Kerry had warned the possible sanctions against rebel leader, Riek Machar, if he refused to join peace talks later this week, but he has now apparently signaled willingness to participate. Still the sanction showed deep US frustration with South Sudan, a country it'd helped to create and into which it has poured vast amounts of aid.
Peace talk is due to take place in South Sudan on Friday, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says he's been given assurances by both President Salva Kiir and the rebel leader, Riek Machar that they will attend.
The Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has said there was on point to hold new talks with Ukraine, unless poor Russian opposition groups involved. Mr. Lavror also said it would be unusual if a presidential election planned for this month was held, while Ukraine's army was being deployed against part of the population. The Ukraine's Interim Foreign Minister, Andriy Deshchytsia, said his government was not in favor of negotiating with pro-Russian groups.
We consider that these groups are terrorist and extremists. Because how you can call the people who are seizing the buildings and terrorized people. If these people will surrender and leave the buildings, these gunmen will know that I will offer amnesty for them.
Officials in Kenya say more than 60 people have died after consuming illicit liquor. Dozens of others are said to have been blinded after drinking the alcohol, which was believed to be laced with industrial chemicals. A BBC correspondent says consumption of homemade liquors high in Kenya as most people can't afford commercially brewed alcohol.
BBC News
The authorities in Colombia say they raided an office that was illegally spying on rebel and government communication to try to undermine peace talks. The Colombian Attorney General said that the emails have been intercepted from a Farc rebel negotiator to journalists and possibly from President Juan Manuel Santos. One person was arrested.
The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, says the leaders of the main political parties in parliament have agreed to hold an early election after plans to create a national army stoped. A boycott by served minority MPs meant to vote in rival to introduce of 5,000 strong army could not go ahead. Mr. Thaci said parliament would be dissolved this week with an election planned for June 8.
A growing number of Hollywood celebrities have called for a boycott of hotels owned by the government of Brunei in a protest against the introduction of Sharia law in the Sultan in last week. Regan Morris reports from Los Angeles.
The iconic Beverly Hills Hotel has hosted Hollywood elites since it opened over 100 years ago, but those days may be over. Some of Hollywood's most popular and powerful entertainers, Ellen DeGeneres, Jay Leno, Jeffery Katzenberg and others have called for the boycott of hotel because it's owned by the government of Brunei, which introduced harsh Islamic laws against women and gay people. Richard Branson tweeted that no Virgin employees would stay at Dorchester Hotels until the Sultan abides by basic human rights. But Christopher Cowdray, the chief executive of the Dorchester Hotels says the boycott has misguided and it will only hurt the local workers and communities like Beverly Hills and Bel-Air.
The Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt has appealed for the return of a pair of his running shoes, they were stolen from an industrial state in south London. The orange Puma shoes were under display with the photo of the athlete after he set a world record in 2009. Police say their value at around $20,000.