BBC News with Sue Montgomery.
The embattled Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki has said he would step aside from his post and make way for his nominated replacement Haider al-Abadi. In an address broadcast live in state television, Mr. Al-Maliki pledged support for his successor. Jim Muir reports.
Towards the end, he said he didn't want to be the cause for the shedding of a single drop of blood, and therefore he was, as he put it, withdrawing his candidacy in favor of the Prime Minister designate Haider al-Abadi who of course earlier in the week had been asked by the president to form a new government. But Mr. Maliki had indicated that he would dig his heels in and not give way; he, uh, took legal measures, he went to the courts and he said he wouldn't give up. He would combat and defeat this move, he said. Now he's given away. He had become totally isolated politically. He had very, very few supporters; even his own Dawa Party turned against him or at least voted for or supported Mr. al-Abadi.
President Obama has said that US airstrikes have broken the siege of a mountain in northern Iraq where thousands of members of the Yazidi religious sect had taken refuge from the threat of Islamic State or ISIL jihadists.
We broke the ISIL siege of Mount Sinjar. We helped vulnerable people reach safety and we helped save many innocent lives. Because of these efforts, we do not expect there to be an additional operation to evacuate people off the mountain and it's unlikely that we're going to need to continue humanitarian airdrops on the mountain. The majority of the military personnel who conducted the assessment will be leaving Iraq in the coming days.
The center of the rebel-held Ukrainian city of Donetsk has come under heavy artillery fire, leaving two people dead and several wounded. Reports say some shells landed near offices occupied by the pro-Russian militia. Eyewitnesses said private houses had also been hit. Moscow says it's still talking to Kiev to try to secure the passage of a Russian aid convoy to eastern Ukraine. Kiev insists the aid pass through a government check point and be distributed by the Red Cross, but the vehicles appeared to be moving towards Luhansk which is controlled by pro-Russian militia. Here is Steve Rosenberg.
We followed the convoy of nearly 300 lorries as they snaked their ways through southern Russia. They eventually parked in a field, a short drive from the border with Ukraine. Russia insists that the convoy is carrying a purely humanitarian cargo. But the Ukrainian authorities and Western governments remain concerned that Moscow could use a humanitarian mission as a cover for a military operation in support of pro-Russian separatists. Moscow says that's absurd.
BBC News.
A convoy of vehicles led by the Pakistan cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan planned as an anti-government march is making extremely slow progress from the starting point at Lahore towards the capital Islamabad. Thousands of people have joined the convoy, waving flags, singing and dancing. From Islamabad, Shahzep Jilani.
The man leading the crowd is the opposition politician Imran Khan. He emerged as the biggest challenge yet to the government of the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. It will be a while before Mr. Khan and his convoy of supporters reach Islamabad. But when they do, they plan to hold a sit-in until the government steps down. Many here have a fear that if the standoff drags on for days, it could potentially bring the country to a standstill.
Nigeria has recorded a fourth death from the deadly Ebola outbreak. Health officials confirmed another nurse who'd contacted with the Ebola case to occur in Nigeria has died in Lagos. President Obama had called the Liberian and Sierra Leonean presidents to discuss how the US could help curb the spread of the disease which has claimed more than 1,000 lives in West Africa since February.
It's been reviewed that the actor Robin Williams who apparently took his own life this week was suffering from the early stages of Parkinson disease along with anxiety and depression. David Villon reports from Los Angeles.
In a statement released by his third wife, Susan Schneider said that Robin Williams spent his life helping others. "He wanted us to laugh and to feel less afraid," she said, dispelling rumors that the comedian had fallen prey either to drink or drugs before he died. She said that Robin Williams' sobriety was intact although she went on to say that he was struggling with the early stages of Parkinson's disease, something he had yet to share publicly.