Target the French troops led by Timbuktu

January 27, 2013, last updated at 07: 55 GMT Mark Doyle of the BBC visit the ruins of the House of the Mayor to Konna after fighting in the city

In Mali, the French-led forces advance on the key city in the North of Timbuktu, as they continue their offensive against Islamist rebels.

Saturday Malian and French forces captured Gao, another important in the North of the city.

The advance comes as African Union leaders are meeting to discuss sending more troops in Mali.

Islamists seized the North of the country last year, but have been lost ground as the French forces launched an operation earlier this month.

End of day Saturday, first French Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said Malian and French troops "near Timbuktu" would happen soon.

During the night they secured Gao - northern Mali most populous city-special forces captured the airport and a strategic bridge in the South.

Most militants appear to have fled in the lairs of the desert and hunting for them can be more difficult once all cities are safe, said the BBC Thomas Fessy in the capital, Bamako.

Troops from Niger and Chad are to assist the Malian forces in to secure the city.

Continue reading the main story Timbuktu was a centre of Islamic education from the 13th to the 17th Centuries700, 000 manuscripts survive in public and private libraries, collectionsBooks religion, law, literature and scienceAdded world heritage site by UNESCO in 1988 for its three mosques and 16 cemeteries and mausoleumsThey have played a major role in the spread of Islam in West Africa; the oldest date of mausoleums of 1329Islamists destroyed after his arrival on the cityUS refuelling of the leaders of the African Union organize a Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that members to deploy troops to help the French-led operation there.

The African States are committed to almost 5,700 troops to support French and Malian forces in their campaign.

Only a small part of the African force has deployed so far.

A number of West African countries Saturday raised the total number of troops committed to 5,700. Separately, Chad said it is sending 2,000 soldiers.

Meanwhile, the United States said it would provide air-to-air refuelling for the French war planes.

It had also discussed the plans for the United States to transport troops in countries such as Chad and Togo Mali, said the Pentagon.

Islamists seized a large area in the North of Mali, last year and have attempted to impose strict Sharia, or Islamic law.

Some 3,700 French soldiers committed in the Serval operation, 2 500 of them on Malian soil.

France intervened militarily as the Islamists advanced further to the South. He said that the capital, Bamako, was under threat.

As French and Malian troops was Gao, spoke of Malian officials of the scenes of joy, but also looting.

"Maybe at some point that the enemy in front of us was underestimated," part of Tieman group Chung Malian Minister of Foreign Affairs said ahead of the Summit in Addis Ababa.

"But everyone has seen that this terrorist group intends to spread its criminal purposes across Mali and possibly other countries targeted.

The African Union has recommended civil observers monitor the situation of human rights in areas that came under the control of the Government of Mali.

Human rights groups have accused the Malian army of committing serious abuses.

Somali women seek a brighter future in Mogadishu

With Somalia's UN-backed government consolidating its hold over the capital, Mogadishu, and other areas from al-Qaeda-linked militants, many women are returning to help rebuild the country, reports the BBC's Kate Forbes.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this Air Africa flight to Mogadishu," the Kenyan stewardess booms over the plane tannoy.

Absolutely no-one pays any attention, with passengers preferring to root through the overhead lockers or stand talking in the aisles.

The plane is full of familiar accents: British, Canadian and American. Open your eyes and you see it is packed with Somalis, mainly women, going to a "home" they barely know.

'High-flying executives'

Ayan Yussuf, 18, is one of a group of women sitting together dressed alike in black floor-length abayas (cloaks) and hijabs (headscarves).

"Well, when in Rome, do as the Romans," she says.

She admits it is not what she wears in Canada, where she lives.

She is coming to Somalia on holiday - her first visit to the country.

"I want to see what it's like. One day, we might move back," Ms Yussuf says.

Is she scared?

"Yes, definitely! I've got no idea what it's going to be like."

On first sight, not much has changed in Mogadishu since I was here in early 2012. It looks like a country in conflict, and security is still the first priority.

The airport is in a heavily fortified base that is home to the joint African Union (AU) and UN force known as Amisom.

Holidaymakers have been flocking to the beach in Mogadishu

Outside, pick-up trucks full of soldiers, armoured vehicles and teams of civilian guards wait to pass in and out. Across the road, a cafe sits behind an eight-foot wall of sandbags and barbed wire.

But the rest of Mogadishu is ablaze with bustle and renovation.

After a period of stability, Somalis are coming back by the plane-load.

"You can hardly get a seat," one man tell us at Nairobi airport, on his way to Mogadishu.

'Double life'

Among them are many women, who want to play their part in rebuilding a country that has been at war for more than 20 years.

Continue reading the main story

You are used to going anywhere and doing what you want back home in the States, but here you can't just jump in the car and go down to the store ”

End Quote Maluka Abulkadir Working in the PM's office Walking into an office not far from the airport, I spot some perfectly manicured nails tapping away at an expensive laptop.

Next to that lie a designer handbag and some serious-looking files.

Safia Yassin Farah is 34 and her desk is that of a high-flying executive anywhere in the world, except that the view from her office is of high walls, wire and armed guards.

She left the US to take up a post working with young people in Mogadishu, helping them obtain an education and skills.

"I'm here to stay. I've quit my job," Ms Farah says, sounding thrilled and scared at the same time.

"I grew up in the US and got my degree at the University of New Hampshire. I had a job, a house, I had everything."

She says she was motivated to return after hearing about the plight of Somali children caught up in violence, including being recruited by the al-Qaeda affiliate, al-Shabab, which has lost control of Mogadishu and other towns to Amisom and government forces but still controls many rural areas of southern and central Somalia.

"I could see this huge need for education for young people. They need chances, like kids have in the West," Ms Farah adds.

"I just looked around and said to myself: 'I have to do more than this'. I realised I had to go back."

After a month in Mogadishu, top of the list of what she misses is the Starbucks coffee chain.

Ms Farah also worries about some things, like the lack of health care and security but adds: "It's much better than people think."

Attitudes towards women are different from the West, however, as I hear from Maryan Hassan, a 26-year-old law student who was born in the UK.

"Men are traditionally the breadwinners [in Somalia] and the woman's place is in the home," she says.

However, Ms Hassan points out that many of the Somali women returning would have led a "double life" in the West, occupying traditional roles at home while being treated more equally in the workplace.

'Open prison'

"Somalia has changed a lot, though," she adds.

"Twenty years of war meant that women have had to support families as many men died or couldn't work."

Maryan Hassan hopes she and other expats can inspire young Somalis

One thing that every woman mentions is the security situation. Mogadishu is still dangerous. And because of this, there is a lack of independence.

It is one of the hardest things about moving back, explains Maluka Abulkadir.

A young woman, she gave up a top job in the US with finance company Merrill Lynch to return to Mogadishu.

"The hardest thing is the social life. You are used to going anywhere and doing what you want back home in the States, but here you can't just jump in the car and go down to the store. It's not safe enough," Ms Abdulkadir says.

She smiles in agreement when I tell her that a British-Somali had greeted me that afternoon by asking: "How are you enjoying Mogadishu? We call it the open prison!"

Ms Abdulkadir cannot drive anywhere without armed guards, in part because she works in the prime minister's office.

"We're rebuilding Somalia. For me, it's worth it," she says.

For some women, just being in Somalia can make a difference.

"I tell girls about my own experiences - like getting a degree and how hard I've worked. Sometimes it's the first time they've really thought about whether they could go to university," says Ms Hassan.

"For example, a cousin of mine didn't really know what she was capable of, or I guess entitled to, but inspired by me, she's gone and found herself a scholarship and is doing computer science. So imagine that replicated across the country. It's got to be a good thing."

But to live in Somalia is not so easy for everyone.

On Mogadishu's beach, Samira, 40, paddles in the clear turquoise water.

She watches over some children swimming in the distance, but they are her sister's.

"My kids were born in London and they won't even come here on holiday," she says.

"They've just got no interest. If I want to move back, I'll have to wait until they've grown up."

For now, then, she must stay in London with her family.

"People ask me why I want to go back. They say I'm crazy. I tell them: 'I have to. It's my country.'"

Queensland braces for flooding

January 27, 2013, last updated at 05: 50 GMT Nick Bryant BBC: "they say now in Bundaberg, they will worsen the floods they had two years ago"

The Australian State of Queensland is on alert for flooding following cyclone tropical Oswald.

Hundreds of people were evacuated in the rain continues to fall on Sunday, with the towns of Bundaberg and Gladstone is the possibility of severe flooding.

The bad weather is expected to move towards the capital of the State, Brisbane and the State of New South Wales.

Two years ago, floods in Queensland, caused the death of 35 people.

On Sunday, Australian media reported that authorities had pulled the body of an old man of water at Burnett Heads northeast of Bundaberg.

Two other people were reported missing, including a man who disappeared after trying to cross a Creek at Gympie, North of Brisbane.

Six tornadoes have already hit the Bundaberg region, ripping off roofs and injuring 17 people.

BBC-Nick Bryant of Sydney River in Bundaberg is already beyond flood levels were recorded in 2010, reports and meteorologists are concerned that it could reach one meter, reaching levels not seen in the 1970s.

The Commission expects some 300 homes and businesses to be flooded.

At Gladstone in the North, 400 properties have already been evacuated.

Sandbags are also distributed in the State capital, Brisbane, where the berries regions are particularly vulnerable to the tsunami.

Severe weather warnings are in place of Central Queensland to southern New South Wales border.

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Researcher Charles Taylor tried

25 January 2013, last update at 19: 05 GMT Prince Taylor was an investigator of the Court sitting to A defence defence former investigator Charles Taylor with the special Tribunal for Sierra Leone was found guilty of violating the witnesses in the trial of the former President of Liberia Charles Taylor imprisoned.

Prince Taylor was found guilty of five counts of contempt of court, the Court said.

He is accused of trying to convince the prosecution witnesses to recant their testimony by a former Sierra Leone rebel, Eric Koi Senessie.

Charles Taylor is currently on appeal against his conviction in the Hague.

He was sentenced to 50 years in prison in May last for crimes of war by providing weapons and support to the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone during the bloody 1991-2002 civil war.

Defense lawyers called the verdict a "miscarriage of Justice" and that the statement of conviction quashed.

"Odious crimes".

Prince Taylor was found guilty of four courts to try to persuade the former witnesses to recant their testimony through Senessie, a member of the RUF.

Continue reading the main story

• 1989: Launches rebellion in Liberia

• 1991: RUF rebellion starts in Sierra Leone

• 1997: Elected President after a 1995 peace agreement

• 1999: The Liberia Lurd rebels launch an insurrection to oust Taylor

• June 2003: stop the warrant issued. two months later, he comes down and goes into exile in Nigeria

• March 2006: arrested after an escape failed, bid and sent in Sierra Leone

• June 2007: trial opens - organized in the Hague for security reasons

• April 2012: recognized guilty of aiding and abetting the Commission of war crimes

• May 2012: sentenced to 50 years in prison

• June 2012: his lawyers say he will appeal against his conviction

It has also been recognized guilty of "educate and persuade otherwise Senessie to give false information to the independent counsel appointed by the Registrar.

Mr. Senessie was found guilty by the special court in June to eight counts of interference with the same witnesses and sentenced to two years in prison the following month.

He testified against Prince Taylor during his trial.

Prince Taylor was acquitted of four counts of attempting to bribe witnesses to change their testimony. He should be sentenced by the special court at a later date.

Charles Taylor became the first former head of State to be convicted of war crimes by an international court since the Nuremberg trials after the second world war.

He was found guilty of 11 counts of war crimes for atrocities including rape and the murder and described by one of the judges as "some of the most heinous crimes in human history."

In exchange for the so-called conflict diamonds, Taylor provided arms and logistical and moral support to the RUF, prolong the conflict and the suffering of the people of Sierra Leone, said.

Taylor started the civil war of Liberia as a warlord in 1989 and was elected President in 1997. He ruled for six years before being forced into exile in the South of Nigeria. He was arrested in 2006, while trying to flee Nigeria.

The family feuds sparked by booming Indian land values

The price of land in India has risen hugely in value over the last 20 to 30 years The dramatic rise in the value of land in India has resulted in a growing number of families of Indian origin returning from the UK to cash in on their inheritances. But many discover that the land is either sold, occupied or disputed - resulting in bitter feuds and lengthy legal battles, reports Poonam Taneja of the BBC's Asian Network.

At his home in the English city of Wolverhampton, Iqbal Singh pores over a thick pile of court papers, the result of 16 years of legal wrangling in the Indian courts.

He has inherited a legal battle to reclaim his parents' farmland in the rural Indian state of Punjab.

Mr Singh's father was a first-generation immigrant to the UK from India. Like other Punjabi men who arrived during the 1960s, he worked long hours as a manual labourer to overcome the financial hardship he initially experienced with his family.

Continue reading the main story

It's a huge problem because many Punjabis in the UK stand to inherit ancestral land”

End Quote Harjap Singh Bhangal London-based lawyer "We were quite poor, we didn't even have a television," Mr Singh remembers.

His father spent every spare penny buying land in the country of his birth. He dreamed of returning there one day.

'Fraudulently sold'

Twenty acres of farmland was purchased in Punjab at a cost of £30,000 ($47,000). The land, in one of India's prime agricultural areas, is now estimated to be worth more than 10 times that.

A relative was placed in charge of farming the land. However, during a visit to India the family made a shocking discovery.

"My dad went to the land, only to find someone else claiming to be the owners," Mr Singh said.

He alleges that the land was fraudulently sold by his grandfather - who had fallen out with the family.

In 1996, the family started legal proceedings to reclaim the land from the new owners, who insist the farm was bought in good faith.

Since then, there have been numerous hearings in the courts, but with no resolution.

'We receive 15-25 calls a day in the UK'

It is a complex tale of lies, deception and betrayal - but it is far from an isolated case.

London-based lawyer Harjap Singh Bhangal works in Southall, known as "Little Punjab" due to the large number of Indian immigrants who have settled there.

He says that a growing number of Britons are embroiled in legal disputes over ancestral land with their relatives in India.

"It's a huge problem because many Punjabis in the UK stand to inherit ancestral land."

He says that relatives are doubly reluctant to hand over property because in many cases they funded migrants to leave home and seek a new life in the UK.

'Profiteering'

I made the journey to Punjab to investigate this issue.

Reaching legal settlements in Indian land disputes can be costly and cumbersome

In the last decade, rapid urbanisation has meant the state has benefited from a real estate boom.

In the bustling city of Jalandhar, I met property dealer Jag Chima, who has offices in both the UK and India.

He shows me around a small plot of land on the edge of the city. Neighbouring plots have already been sold to developers, and shops and apartments have been built.

Two acres of land in this area now has a market value of £1m ($1.58m) - an increase in value that has provoked a corresponding increase in the number of land disputes within families.

"If it was worth £10,000, you wouldn't be too fussed about trying to claim it back if it was too much hassle. But when you find out it's worth £1m, that changes the rules of the game," Mr Chima says.

Judicial battle

Indians involved in land disputes with their British relatives accuse them of returning only to cash in on India's real estate boom.

Criminal gangs have also entered the market in the battle for land

One farmer showed me around his disputed farm which has been in the family for generations.

"This is my daily bread; it's my livelihood," he tells me.

"A farmer's life is a hard one, waking early to tend the land and feed the animals, sow the crops and reap the harvest.

"Costs are rising and maintaining the land is expensive."

The last thing this farmer needs is a protracted legal battle.

Reaching a settlement in the Indian courts can take up to 25 or 30 years and can cost thousands of pounds.

It is not unusual for both sides to accuse the other of using violent threats and intimidation.

Continue reading the main story

I made a promise to my dad on his deathbed - to get the land back - and I don't break my promises”

End Quote Iqbal Singh UK-based Indian land owner Between 2,000 and 2,500 such cases are lodged with the Punjab police each year, the majority being diverted to the civil courts.

But there is also a sinister element emerging - organised gangs taking advantage of disputes over land to make a fast profit by buying it at a cheaper price at the expense of both sides.

The Punjab police say they are aware of the gangs.

"We have come across a number of cases where organised gangs - comprising property dealers and maybe a few government revenue officials or police department personnel - may be involved," says Inspector General Gurpreet Deo, who is responsible for NRI (Non-Resident Indian) affairs in Punjab.

"They operate hand in glove with each other... we realise there are gangs which operate in this manner."

At a conference earlier this month the issue of land disputes was discussed by the Punjab government. It has now set up a special website where complaints can be logged and is considering setting up fast track courts to expedite cases.

But these reforms offer little hope to Iqbal Singh - lawyers say it may take another decade before his land dispute reaches the high court. Despite this he is determined to reclaim the family land his father worked so hard for.

"I made a promise to my dad on his deathbed - to get the land back - and I don't break my promises," he says.

Whose Land Is It Anyway is on BBC Radio's Asian Network at 1700 GMT on Monday 28 January

The city of Mexico explosion kills 25

February 1, 2013 Last updated at 06:39 GMT that will Grant to the BBC said the explosion happened "at the worst possible time"

The number of people killed by an explosion in Mexico City at the headquarters of the national oil company, Pemex, has risen to 25, the Minister of the Interior said.

At least 100 people were injured and an unknown number trapped in the rubble at the base of the 54-story tower. The search for survivors continues.

The cause of the explosion is under investigation, said Pemex.

Last September, 30 people died in an explosion at a Pemex gas refinery in the North of the Mexico.

Anxious parents

Thursday's explosion in the lower floors of the building which happened as shifts were changing in the afternoon, making this particularly cluttered area.

Television footage showed debris from the explosion spread in the street before the building and ambulances of the Red Cross on the scene, attending to the wounded.

The building of Pemex's 54 floors is 214 m (702 ft) in height

Hundreds of rescuers, aided by dogs looking 30 people supposed to be trapped inside the building.

Police have cordoned off the streets around the building, which is located in a shopping area of the city of Mexico.

PEMEX said its operations will continue to operate normally - and commercial and financial obligations will continue to respect - despite the explosion.

Director general sound, Emilio Lozoya Austin, cut short a business trip to Asia and went to the Mexico, a Pemex statement said.

Members of the family of employees are gathered before the building looking for information about their relatives, local media report. It said that some have tried to reach employees on their mobile phones, but have had no response.

"The place shook, we lost power and all of a sudden there's debris everywhere. Colleagues helped us out of the building, "an eyewitness said Cristian dagger.

"We were talking and all of a sudden we heard an explosion with white smoke and glass falling from the Windows," another witness said.

"People began to flee the dust covered building. Many pieces were flying. »

Continue reading the main story Will Grant BBC News, Mexico City

Pemex's construction in the North of Mexico City is surrounded by a large number of police and paramedics. Sniffer dogs are used to search for people trapped under the rubble.

Mexico City is used to earthquakes, and emergency services seem well prepared for this type of disaster.

The skyscraper has withstood the explosion also, with most of the damage limited to the ground floor and first floor. But night has now in the Mexican capital, which complicates the search.

Some members of the families of the missing workers gathered outside the Pemex, construction of the news of their loved ones, while others are are made directly to hospitals.

Authorities and teams of paramedics release information at regular intervals, but the exact cause of the explosion can still take a long time to be confirmed. This is now by far the worst explosion in Mexico for nearly 30 years.

Images of the explosion posted on Twitter showed large clouds of smoke rise up of the building. Television images showed people transported by helicopter from the scene.

The President Enrique Peña Nieto and Mayor of Mexico City Miguel Angel Mancera led on the site of the explosion.

Mr. Peña said Pemex rescue and security teams working alongside the authorities in the city to help the wounded.

"I am deeply sorry for the death of our colleagues at Pemex. My condolences to their families, "Mr. Peña said on Twitter.

"For the moment, the priority is to help the wounded and protect the physical security of the people who work there."

The President said that he has ordered an investigation into the causes of the explosion.

Earlier on Thursday, Pemex had reported problems with the electricity in the building, in a message on Twitter.

Later, he confirmed that an explosion had taken place "in building B2 from the administrative centre".

Plaster fell from the ceiling of the basement and the situation was "delicate", a local emergency services spokesman, quoted by the news agency Reuters said.

PEMEX has experienced a number of fatal accidents in recent years.

Deadly explosion of last September in a refinery of gas near the northern city of Reynosa appears to have been caused by a buildup of gas.

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Starbucks rejects tax row claims

  Starbucks has faced public criticism over its level of corporation tax payments Starbucks has dismissed reports it held urgent talks with government officials over fears it was being singled out for criticism of corporate tax avoidance.

Starbucks confirmed that it had had a meeting at Downing Street on Friday, but said this was "long-scheduled".

Last week Prime Minister David Cameron said tax avoiders "need to wake up and smell the coffee", perceived as a thinly-veiled swipe at the company.

Tory party Chairman Grant Shapps said no-one was being singled out.

However, he repeated that companies had to pay "their fair share" of tax.

Starbucks, along with Amazon, Google and others, faced a public backlash last year over the disclosure of the amount of corporation tax they pay.

Starbucks had paid £8.6m in corporation tax in its 14 years of trading in the UK, and nothing in the last three years, despite UK sales of nearly £400m in 2011.

In December the coffee chain agreed voluntarily to pay extra tax over the next two years, amid reports it was facing a boycott by some customers.

Continue reading the main story

"I don't think we would ever single out a single company, but I do think companies in this country need to pay their way”

End Quote Grant Shapps Chairman, Conservative Party 'Politicisation' Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, Mr Cameron said that corporations must "pay their fair share" of taxes, and he pledged to use Britain's G8 chairmanship to counter tax avoidance.

However, Starbucks felt his remark about "smell the coffee" was a "cheap shot" at the company and considered suspending millions of pounds worth of investment in the UK, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Kris Engskov, UK managing director for Starbucks, met officials on Friday amid concerns about the "politicisation" of the tax issue.

But on Sunday, Starbucks said that Friday's meeting was scheduled long before Mr Cameron's Davos speech.

"We do not discuss the details of our government meetings but can say that we do not recognise how it has been reported," the company said.

Mr Shapps said no company was being targeted for criticism, but he repeated that they must pay their fair share of tax.

"I don't think we would ever single out a single company, but I do think companies in this country need to pay their way," he told Sky News' Murnaghan programme.

"I think they need to do what's right as far as that is concerned and I think most people watching this would agree, companies should pay their fair share of taxation.

"That applies to that company and anyone else you care to mention. It certainly applies to millions of smaller businesses in this country.

"People who work very hard, build up their companies from scratch... are paying their fair share of taxes all the way through. The same rules have to apply to everyone."

Last month the coalition government announced a campaign against "tax dodgers" and "cowboy advisers" to claw back £2bn a year, after MPs alleged that multinationals were involved in "immoral" avoidance of tax.

Starbucks said in its statement: "Starbucks agrees with the prime minister that all businesses should pay their fair share.

"In the UK, we employ 9,000 people, contribute £300m a year to the economy and are forgoing tax deductions that will make the Exchequer at least £20m better off."