BBC News. I'm Lopaco Tary.
Six French aid workers have been sentenced to eight years of hard labour in Chad for trying to fly more than 100 children out of the country. A court found the six guilty of attempted kidnapping and ordered them to pay 9 million dollars in damages to the children's families. The French personnel who worked for the charity Zoe's Ark were arrested after trying to take to Europe children who they said were orphans from Sudanese region of Darfur. Most turned out to be Chadian and not orphans at all. A lawyer of one of the aid workers alleviated the Sauver le Darfour said justice had not been done.
"There has to be nothing we could have done. We have the feeling the result would have been the same. They didn't take anything into account. They have condemned everyone to the same sentence, to the same sanctions. It's an unacceptable decision. "
There has been heavy fighting in Sudan between paramilitary troops allied to the government and forces loyal to the main party in the South, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement or SPLM. Reports speak of many deaths, more than 100 on the government side and 40 on the other during four days of clashes in the Bahr el Ghazal region. The fighting is now said to have stopped. On Thursday, the SPLM is due to rejoin the national government.
The Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says that he has planes and helicopters standing by to pick up three hostages expected to be released by the FARC left-wing Colombian rebels in the next day or so. The Colombian Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo confirmed the Venezuelan aircraft would be allowed to enter its territory as long as they carried Red Cross markings.
"The Colombian government authorizes the humanitarian mission in the terms of this letter and delegates as its representative Dr. Luis Carlos Restrepo were constitutional reasons the aircraft used in this humanitarian mission must carry the emblems of the International Red Cross. "
Egypt has accused Israel of undoing the achievements of the Middle East peace conference held in Annapolis last month. Cairo said Israel was trying to distract attention from its building of Jewish settlements around Jerusalem by accusing Egypt of not doing enough to stop arms smuggling to Palestinian militants in Gaza. The criticism followed talks between President Hosni Mubarak and the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Heba Saleh reports.
The Israeli Defense Minister said his meeting with Mr. Mubarak went well and he denied that Israel was undermining Egypt's relations with the US. A spokesman for Mr. Mubarak had said that Israeli interference had caused Congress to freeze a portion of the annul military aid given to Egypt. He said Egypt was exerting every effort to stop weapon smuggling to Gaza but it could not, as he put it, guarantee 100 percent results.
World News from the BBC.
The Parliament in Serbia has voted overwhelmingly to condemn any attempt by its troubled province of Kosovo to declare independence. The authorities in Kosovo where most of the population is ethnic Albanian have said they plan to declare independence unilaterally in the next few weeks. The Serbian President Boris Tadic said his country would do its utmost to keep Kosovo.
"The solution for the future status of Kosovo has to be found in the UN Security Council. This is the body that has to approve any change of the military and civilian mission in our province. If it does any violence and if KFOR cannot adequately respond to that by protecting Serbs and other non-Albanians, then the Serbian army is ready to help with the approval of the international institutions and respecting international laws. "
At least 14 people have been killed in an oil pipeline explosion in the Nigerian commercial capital of Lagos. People were scooping fuel from a leaking pipeline when the explosion happened on Tuesday. This time last year, a similar blast in Lagos killed more than 200 people.
The Iraqi government has approved a draft law that will offer a general pardon to thousands of suspected insurgents held by Iraqi authorities and the US military. The draft law which is aimed at promoting reconciliation between Sunni and Shiite groups still needs to be approved by the Iraqi Parliament. A government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the law will define exactly who is eligible for release.
And police in the United States say they've recovered the bodies of at least six people from a rural property near Seattle in Washington State after a suspected multiple murder. A police spokesman said the victims who included two children have been killed in what he described as a homicidal violence mostly likely from gunshot wounds. There have been no arrests so far.
BBC News.