BBC News with Jerry Smit
Sudan and South Sudan have moved closer to full-scale war with the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir saying he wants to liberate the people of South Sudan from their own government. His comments at a rally in Khartoum follow days of fighting on the border between the two countries. James Copnall reports from Khartoum.
President Omar al-Bashir said he had made a mistake by putting the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in power in Juba. This is a reference to the 2005 peace agreement, which resulted in the former rebel movement controlling South Sudan. The region then became an independent country last year. From now on, President Bashir told a fired-up crowd his main goal would be removing the SPLM from power.
"We tell the SPLM we either end up in Juba and take everything, or you end up in Khartoum and take everything," he said.
The United States and Nato have condemned the actions of US soldiers who posed in photographs with the mangled remains of suicide bombers in Afghanistan. The White House described the soldiers' conduct as "reprehensible" while the Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen promised a full investigation.
"These events took place apparently a couple of years ago. I consider them an isolated event. This event will be thoroughly investigated, and of course there will be taken necessary and appropriate steps to hold people to account."
The Los Angeles Times published the pictures taken by a US paratrooper in 2010 despite a Pentagon request not to.
The main presidential candidate in Egypt for the Muslim Brotherhood who's just been disqualified has warned the progress towards democracy is in danger. Khairat al-Shater said the Brotherhood would increase its pressure both inside and outside parliament to ensure that the transition to democracy goes ahead. The Brotherhood has already said that it's putting its support behind its second-choice candidate.
There's growing outrage in South Africa over the spread of a video that appears to show a teenage girl being raped by a group of young men.
Police found the girl on Wednesday in Soweto, and have now arrested and charged eight suspects. They say the girl is 17 but has a mental capacity of a five-year-old. Karen Allen reports from Johannesburg.
The video, which was uncovered by a South African newspaper, allegedly shows the teenager being raped by seven men. They are reported to be laughing and joking during the teenager's ordeal, which allegedly took place in the township of Soweto last week. But what's prompted a stern response by the ruling party and public health officials is that the film has been circulating on the Internet and on mobile phones. In a country where a recent study by the Medical Research Council suggested that more than a quarter of men questioned here had admitted raping a female, this case has triggered outrage on social networking sites.
World News from the BBC
Pakistan's army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has called for the demilitarisation of the Siachen Glacier area in the Himalayas, an area known as the world's highest battlefield. He was speaking after visiting an army base near the glacier, where an avalanche killed more than 130 soldiers more than a week ago.
Just days before Bahrain's most prestigious international sporting event, the Formula 1 Grand Prix, security forces are reported to have used stun grenades to disperse anti-government protesters at an exhibition about the race. The clashes saw the security forces chase the demonstrators, who included the daughter of an activist who's been on a hunger strike for 70 days.
The Guinea-Bissau military leaders who seized power last week say they have agreed a two-year transition period before presidential and parliamentary elections are held. The agreement with the main opposition parties confirms the dissolution of parliament and the creation of a national transitional council, which will name an interim government. On Tuesday, the country was suspended from membership of the African Union until constitutional order is restored.
Researchers in Britain have published a study that they suggest could change the way in which breast cancer is treated. The study by Cancer Research UK divides breast cancer into at least 10 new categories. The lead researcher Professor Carlos Caldas said it could lead to better treatments.
"I think that of course this is a very important advance and it's a big step forward by having a much more precise assignment of a woman to a given sub-type of breast cancer that we will then have much more tailored treatment that is targeting the particular type of breast cancer that each woman will have."
The American television presenter Dick Clark, whose show American Bandstand helped rock 'n' roll music reach a mainstream audience, has died aged 82. He was also the long-standing host of the annual New Year's Eve broadcast from Time Square in New York.
BBC News
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