BBC News with Eileen MacHugh.

The first match in the Africa Cup of Nations is

under way

after footballers and spectators held a period of silence as a mark of respect for the three Togo team members killed in an attack on their bus. The hosts Angola have been playing Mali in the opening game. As they were doing so, the Togolese national squad left Angola by plane. Our southern Africa correspondent, Karen Allen, reports.

Togo's presidential plane was sent to take the national squad home after their bus was

ambush

ed on Friday by separatist militants. The incidents

overshadow

ed what

was meant to be

a moment of glory for African football. Instead, Angola security arrangements have been

cast into doubt

.

Despite the desire by the players to stay for the tournament as a mark of respect for those who died, Togo's prime minister, Gilbert Houngbo, insisted that it would be reckless to let them remain. The opening ceremony, finally under way, was marked by a minute's silence to honour the dead.

A member of the ruling family in Abu Dhabi has been cleared of charges that he tortured a former business associate. The charges came after a video

emerge

d, appearing to show the incident. But a lawyer acting for Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al-Nahyan said his client was not responsible for the torture. Julia Wheeler reports from Dubai.

The incident concerned was filmed in 2004, and the tape showed one man viciously beating another with whips, electric cattle prods and a wooden plank with nails. The first man then poured salt in his victim's wounds and ran over him with a 4-wheel drive vehicle. The police apparently