BBC News with Jerry Smit.
More than 3 million people have marched through Paris and other French cities in a show of unity after last week's deadly attacks by Islamist extremists. The French government said it was the largest rally in the country's history. President Francois Hollande linking arms alongside 40 world leaders say that today Paris was the capital of the world. From Paris, Chris Morris reports.
“More than a million people on the streets of Paris say no to extremism and pay tribute to the victims of last week's attacks. There were slogans and singing, cheers and defiant deplores. Some people simply marched in silence. Messages of solidarity pinned to their scarves and coats. With political leaders from across Europe and beyond gathered at the front of march, one state the crowds stretch back for miles through the streets. Young and old took part in this march, people of all races and creeds, among them many French Muslims and many French Jews. There were similar rallies in cities throughout the country. But at the same time the attacks had exposed vulnerabilities in France and elsewhere.”
This Algerian born French woman explained why she was marching.
“My religion is Islam. But I am French. I live here. I eat the French bread and I love my country. And I walk against terrorism because these are what happened in this week. We all are victims of this. There are Jews. There is Christian. There are some people who don't believe in Gods. But they are human. We all are humen. We all are brothers.”
The king of Jordan and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas were among several Middle Eastern leaders taking part in the Paris rally. Morocco said that its foreign minister in Paris to present his country's condolences would not take part because of what Morocco regards as the blasphemous of nature of Charlie Hebdo Cartoons. President Hollande later joined the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a ceremony at the grand synagogue to commemorate the four Jewish victims of the attack on a kosher supermarket. Mr. Netanyahu thanked to a Muslim employee of the super market Lassana Bathily who saved several of the hostages.
Rallies to show solidarity with France has taken place around the world. In Madrid several hundred Muslim carried banners saying "Not in Our Name" gathered next to the railway station where in 2004 bombs plotted by Islamist militants killed nearly 200 people. Thousands of people gathered in Brussels, Berlin and Vienna. In London top monuments were illuminated with the red, white and blue color of the French flag. More than 20,000 people marched in Canada’s French-speaking city of Montreal.
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Two female suicide bombers have blown themselves up in northeast Nigeria. At least 4 other people were killed when the explosions reached through a crowded mobile phone market in the city of Potiskum in Yobe state. Will Ross reports.
“An eye-witness in Potiskum told the BBC that the two bombs went off within a minute of each other. The second went off as people gathered to help victims of the first blast. A doctor who visited the scene said he could see the remains of the suicide belts on the bodies of the two female bombers. He said they both looked to be in their early 20s. The Jihadist group Boko Haram has used female suicide bombers before. On Saturday in Maiduguri a 10-year-old girl was reported to have blown herself up in a market killing at least 19 people.”
Poland is evacuating almost 200 Ukrainians of Polish descendants from eastern Ukraine where a separatist conflict is simmering. The Polish Foreign ministry said 162 people including several dozen children and pregnant women have been moved out the troubled Donetsk region. A further 20 are expected to follow. The Ukrainians will be offered free housing, language courses and school places for their children for 6 months. And they can choose to stay or return to Ukraine.
The most of votes have counted in Croatia’s presidential election. Exits polls indicated the current Centre-Left President Ivo Josipovic is neck and neck with his conservative opposition rival Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic. Latest figures for the gap between the two candidates is less than 0.1%. Our reporter Gideon Long explains the difference between them.
“Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic is a member of a more conservative party in Croatia. She’s been saying that a vote for her is a vote for a different patriotic Croatia, setting herself aside from the incumbent Ivo Josipovic who has much pro-European Union sort of stand about him.”