BBC news with Jerry Smit
One of the most demanding space flights ever has ended successfully with the European Philae probe becoming the first spacecraft to land on a comet.The European space agency says the touch down was even more precise than predicted, within just hundreds of meters of the target. Phip’s instruments are working and already sending data. But it appears to have problems with the mechanism design to attach the probe to the comet surface, as mission spokesman Sephan Wulemeke explained.
We had a very clear signal there, we also received data from the lander, housekeeping data and also science data, that’s the very good news. Not so good news is that the anchoring hapoons apparently didn’t file, so the lander is not anchored to the surface. Now we start to think about what could be the situation did, we just land in a soft sand box and everything is fine although we are not anchored. And the ATS did not fire or is there something else happening.
NATO has warned that Moscow is threatening the fragile ceasefire in Eastern Ukraine by what it describes as a significant military build up there. It says Moscow has been sending troops, tanks, artillery, air defense assistance across the border. Moscow has again described the reports as just hot air, but the Ukraine defense minister Steppen Poterak said the country’s army had to be prepared.
We observe and we know about the reinforcement of terrorist groups from the side of the Russian federation. But we follow their movements thirstly, we know the locations. And we expect them to act. How do we react to this? I think the main task is to prepare for military action.
The authorities in Mali have quarantined the clinic in the capital Bamako following the death of a male nurse from Ebola. He’s been treating a religious leader from Guinea who died from Ebola-like symptoms. The number of people killed by the disease has risen to more than 5000.
There’s been another suicide bomb attack in northern Nigeria. There are conflicting reports about how many people died in the explosion at the teacher training college in Niger state. The police said only the female suicide bomber was killed. But an eye witness told the BBC he saw four badly mutilated bodies. More details from Will Ross.
A lecturer of the teacher training college in Kanchegoro Town said he heard a deafening blast, and then there was pandemonium as people ran away from the scene. He saw four dead bodies, three of them were women, some had been decapitated. Other witnesses say many more people died. Soldiers were soon at the scene and sealed off the area. There have been several bombings in Nigeria over the last two weeks, the worst of which was a suicide attack on a school in Eube state on Monday, 46 teenage boys were killed.
World news from the BBC.
The Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has been accused of covering up an investigation in Northern Ireland, which identified more than 100 victims have sexual and physical abuse at the hands of the Party or IRA members. The claim was made by a member of Ireland main governing party Finner Gel during a parliamentary debate over allegations of sex abuse by members of republican movement. Mr Adams said his party was not involved in any cover up of the views.
The Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi has sacked or sentenced to early retirement more than 30 military officers in a bid to make the army more effective as they battles to recapture territory from the Islamic state group. Mr Abadi said the country’s military leaders need to possess competence, integrity and courage. From Bagdad, Hew Sed reports.
The statement from the office of the prime minister Haider al-Abadi, who’s also commanding chief of the Iraqi armed forces says he’s ordered the dismiss of the senior officers to professionalize the military and rule out corruption. No names have been announced officially, but reliable sources here say they include the army chief of staff, General Babakef the bari. This purge has taken place almost certainly because of the ease which was the so called the Islamist state for the Iraqi army to retreat in key areas of the country. Especially the northern city of Mosul, which IS overran in the summer.
Taliban fighters in eastern Afghnistan have forced dozens of schools to close for a third successive day as they call on the authorities to release two suspected militants. Correspondents say the Taliban uses school as a specific bargaining chip is very unusual.
Two window cleaners working on the newly opened One Trade Center in New York have had a lucky escape after a platform they were working on broke, leaving them dangling precariously 69 stores above ground. They were rescued by firemen who cut a hole in the window of the building.