BBC News with Ili Meque.
Turkey says more than 60,000 mainly Kurdish refugees from northern Syria have crossed the border since it was opened on Friday. The flow of refugees has been prompted by intense fighting between Islamic State militants and Kurdish forces around the town of Ayn al-Arab, known to the Kurds as Kobane. From Orfa on the Turkish border, here’s Mark Lowen.
“The influx is astonishing and still continues. They fled the advance of Islamic State militants on the city of Kobane. Dozens of neighboring villages have been seized. And around 300 Kurdish fighters are said to have gone the other way crossing from Turkey into Syria to help resist the IS onslaught. Until recently, Turks and Kurds fought a civil war that killed 40,000 people. The fact that Turkey is now accepting tens of thousands of Kurdish refugees is a sign of how the rise of Islamic State is shifting allegiances in this region.”
One of the candidates in Afghanistan’s disputed red Presidential election Abdulla Abdulla has said he now accept that his rival Ashraf Ghani should be president. A spokesman told the BBC that both candidates had finalized a deal to form a government of national unity three months after voting was completed. As part of the deal, Doctor Abdulla will nominate a chief executive with power similar to those of prime minister. A spokesman for Ashraf Ghani confirmed the deal.
People in Sierra Leone have remained indoors for a second day as part of a 72-hour curfew or lockdown to try to stop the spread of the Ebola outbreak. The country’s emergency operation center received hundreds of calls on the first day about sick or dead people. Umaru Fofana is in Freetown.
“Almost 900 emergency calls are put through to them to either pick up their bodies or sick people. The response for these calls is now being questioned. Only a few dozen people could be picked up and taken to very few facilities that exist as holding centers in the capital, there are only two treatment centers for Ebola in the whole country and they’re based in the east. Reports from one of those centers in Kenema say that the clinic is overflowing with patients being brought in across the country.”
Britain and France have reached an agreement on how to manage the number of illegal immigrants arriving at the port of Calais. Under the deal, the UK will contribute 15 million euros over three years to help finance new security measures at the port. From Paris, here’s Hugh Schofield.
“Pressure on Calais has grown in recent months with the arrival of hundreds of new migrants from Eritrea and Sudan. There’s been trouble at the port as crowds of migrants try to charge onto ferries and town authorities warned that the patient of local people is running short. The French have said along that the problems of Calais are also Britain’s responsibility and so they are pleased with this agreement under which the UK government pledges 12 million pounds over three years for new security infrastructure on the access road to the port and that the main lorry park.”
BBC News.
The United Nations envoy to Yemen says an agreement has been reached after three days of fighting in the capital Sanaa between government forces and Shiite Houthi rebels. The diplomat Jamal Benomar said preparations were being made for a signing ceremony. He gave no details. On Saturday, explosions were heard near the Interior Ministry. State-run television station has been closed. Sanaa University has been hit by mortar fire and flights into the city have been suspended.
Boko Haram militants in Nigeria have attacked a northeastern town of Mainok near the city of Maiduguri. At least 30 people are reported to have been killed. Will Ross reports from Lagos.
“The Boko Haram fighters attacked Mainok town in broad daylight when the market was packed. There was pandemonium as they opened fire. A resident told the BBC that some of people running for safety died after being hit by cars speeding away from the area. He said soldiers and civilians running to the bush. The insurgents looted food which they drove away in stolen vehicles. Most residents have now abandoned the town. Every week, thousands of civilians are displaced as the Islamist extremists continue the campaign of violence in northeast Nigeria.”
The former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has urged the main political parties to fulfill their promise to devolve more powers to Scotland following the rejection over independence by majority of Scots in a referendum on Thursday. Mr. Brown said the eyes of the world were now upon Britain’s political leaders.
One of Venezuela’s most high-profile prisoners a former Police Chief, whose release has been demanded by the opposition, has been allowed to return home. Iván Simonovis has served 10 years of a 30-year sentence for his role in the deaths of pro-government protesters more than a decade ago. His family says he has been freed on humanitarian grounds and has been told to serve the remainder of his sentence at home. According to his lawyers, Mr. Simonovis is in poor health.