This is the BBC news. Hello, I'm Jonathan Izard.
Just hours after saying that women who have a termination should be published if abortion is criminalized in the United States, the Republican presidential hopeful
Donald Trump has changed his position. In an interview with the MSMBC news channel, Mr Trump first appeared to back punishments for women who had terminations.
Do you believe in punishment for abortion? Yes or no? It's a principle. No, but but you're, you're.The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment. For the
women? Yes. There has to be some form. Ten cents, ten years. Why? I don't know. That I don't know.
Mr Trump has now backtracked from that position. In a statement, he says the doctor performing the abortion should be held legally responsible, not the women. Gary
O'Donoghue reports.
Donald Trump has travelled some distance on abortion. Once a supporter of abortion rights, he now favors a ban with a limited exceptions for rape, incest, and when a
woman's life is in danger. That does not put him outside the Republican mainstream. But it's his views on what should happen to women who had abortions, were they
become illegal, that have caused confusion. At first, he said they should be punished. Now he says the women would be victims and the doctors would be responsible.
The prime minister of Libya's new UN-backed government Fayez al-Sarraj has arrived in the capital Tripoli but faced opposition from those controlling the city. They
say Mr Sarraj's landing at the naval base was illegal and they demanded that his delegation leave or hand itself over. The authorities in Tripoli are drawn from one of
two rival governments that have long been vying for control of Libya. Elements in both subject to the effort to install Mr Sarraj's government.
The United States military is to station an additional armed brigade in eastern Europe. General Philip Breedlove, the American commander in Europe said the move was in response to Russian aggression in the region. Here is our world affairs correspondent Richard Galpin.
There is still serious tensions over Russia's annexation of Crimea two years ago and widely reported involvement in the uprising in Eastern Ukraine, sparking fears
that Kremlin might consider further military ventures in neighboring countries. So now the United States, having already deployed two combat brigades to eastern Europe is adding a third from next year. A Pentagon spokeswoman said this demonstrated what she called, 'a capacity and readiness to deter aggression.'
Prosecutors in the American state of Minnesota have said there would be no charges against two police officers involved in a controversial fatal shooting of a black
man in a suburb of Minneapolis in November last year. Attorney Mike Freeman told a news conference that the victim Jamar Clark struggled with the officers, at one
point having his hand on officer's gun. He said Mr Clark had not been handcuffed as was reported earlier. The campaign group Black Lives Matter criticized the decision
not to press charges and called another protest rally.
World news from the BBC.
The Colombian government says it's reached an agreement to begin formal peace talks with the country's second largest rebel group the ELN. The negotiations to be held in Ecuador will be separate from the long-running peace process with the main left-wing guerrilla the FARC. Like the FARC, the ELN has been fighting to impose a
communist revolution in Colombia since the 1960s. Natalio Cosoy reports from Bogota.
With this decision, the ELN follows the footsteps of the largest rebel group in Colombia, the FARC, which has been in formal peace talks with the government for more
than 3 years. If and when a final agreement is reached with both insurgent groups, Colombia will put an end to more than 50 years of an internal conflict that have
killed over 220,000 people and displaced more than 6 million.
It's emerged that the jihadists who attacked Brussels last week have photographs and building plans of the office and residence of the Belgian prime minister. It was
found on a computer belonging to one of the suicide bombers who blew himself up inside the airport. Meanwhile, French prosecutors have charged a man arrested last week over an alleged plan to carry out an attack which they say was close to completion.
Researchers say the diminutive human species Homo floresiensis, dubbed 'the hobbit', is much older than first thought. Jonathan Amos has the story.
Homo floresiensis stood about a meter tall with a brain no bigger than the chimpanzees. Even so, it could make sophisticated stone tools. In the 13 years since its
discovery, scientists have continued their investigations and they re-dated the cave settlements in which the hobbit was buried. The neuron analysts suggest
floresiensis probably became extinct on its island home about 50,000 years ago. That's intriguing because it's about the same time that we, modern humans, turned up in southeast Asia. And that of course heightens the suspicion that we had something to do with their demise.