BBC News with David Austin

The United Nationstribunalinvestigating the murder of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in 2005 hasdelivered a sealedindictmentto the Lebanese authorities. The suspects have not been named, but Lebanese officials say several of them are members of the Shia organisation Hezbollah. The group has strongly denied any involvement in the attack. A member of Saad Hariri's Future Movement party, Atef Majdalani, welcomed the action taken by the UN tribunal.

"We consider the release of the indictment today is part of our martyrs' rights, and this indictment is the first step towards establishing the truth and achieving justice in order to bring stability to Lebanon."

One of two French hostages set free on Wednesday by the Taliban in Afghanistan has told the BBC he believed that a deal had been arrangedin exchange fortheir liberty and that of their Afghan interpreter. The Taliban rebels said earlier that several of their members had been released from jail. The Afghan government in Kabul denied that any prisoner exchange had taken place. France earlier denied that any ransom was paid for its journalists. The former hostage, television reporter Herve Ghesquiere, told the BBC why he'd come to this conclusion.

"I don't have any proof. You know, officially there is no ransom. But of course it's not for chocolates."

"You mean you were freed for a reason."

"For money and for at least two prisoners' release."

Members of the Greek parliament have passed a second austerity bill securing continuing financial support from international creditors. A majority of MPs approved the measures that include an introduction of income tax for low-paid workers and pay cuts for civil servants. The European Union said Greece had now met the conditions to receive the latesttrancheof last year's bailout loan andpaved the way fora second assistance package.

A meeting of the African Union has started in Equatorial Guinea with a speech by the head of the AU Commission saying that the problems of African youth are one of the causes for the recent uprisings in North African countries. The Libyan issue isdominatingthe conference with the host, President Obiang Nguema, strongly criticising Western interference. Thomas Fessy has this report.

The African Union Commission chief Jean Ping said in his opening speech that deliberations of the Libyan crisis were the mostanticipated at the summit. He said the committee set up to discuss the conflict was considering all possible optionsin favour ofa political solution. According to Mr Ping, the Libyan demonstrations, which then became a civil war, revealed a number of challenges, such as the African governments' inability to understand the people's legitimate aspirations. Concrete measures, he said, must be taken to better take care of young people's needs.

Thomas Fessy reporting

World News from the BBC

Twenty civilians in Afghanistan have been killed when a bus they were travelling in hit a landmine. Women and children are among the victims. It's not known yet how many people were on board. The explosion happened on the main road linking the city of Kandahar to the southwestern province of Nimroz.

French police have detained a man who'd grabbed President Nicolas Sarkozy and nearly knocked him to the ground when he was shaking hands in a crowd. The incident happened in the town of Brax in the southwest of France. Reports said the attacker, a local caretaker and receptionist, was not armed. Mr Sarkozy's approval ratings have been low in recent months, and he's beenheckled on several occasions, but this is the first time he's been physically attacked.

Official figures show that Britain has experienced its highest rate of population growth in almost half a century. The population rose to 62.25 million last year, up almost 0.5 million on 2009. The rise has been caused by an increase in the birth rate and greaterlongevity. Mark Easton has the details.

The Office for National Statistics says the main reason population is rising faster than at any time since Harold Wilson was prime minister is the sheer number of babies being born, an additional 370 extra every day, compared to eight years before. Some arehailing this as good news, a way of defusing the demographic time bomb of a shrinking young working population and a rapidly increasing elderly population. And with the global population predicted to hit seven billion in the near future, there are those who link rising birth rates to potential disaster.

The newly married British Prince William and his wife Kate have arrived in Canada at the start of their first official overseas visit. They are in the capital Ottawa, where they had laid a wreath at the National War Memorial before greeting thousands of cheering well-wishers.The couple will also visit other Canadian provinces before travelling south to California.

And that's the BBC News.

联合国法庭对黎巴嫩前总理拉菲克·哈里里(Rafik Hariri)被暗杀事件进行调查之后向黎巴嫩当局传送了密封的控诉书。嫌疑人的名字没有透露，但是黎巴嫩官员表示其中一些人是什叶派组织真主党成员。该组织强烈否认参与暗杀事件。哈里里创立的“未来阵线”(Future Movement)党对联合国法庭的行动表示欢迎。

“我们认为该起诉书的发布是我们的烈士的部分权利，是披露事实真相，获取正义，为黎巴嫩带来稳定的第一步。”

周三由阿富汗塔利班分子释放的两名法国人质中的一人告诉BBC，他相信，他们以及他们的阿富汗翻译获得自由是有交换条件的。塔利班叛军此前表示，他们的几名成员从监狱获释。阿富汗喀布尔政府否认进行了囚犯交换。此前，法国否认为他们的记者缴纳了赎金。前人质，电视台记者Herve Ghesquiere告诉BBC为何他们得出这样的结论。

“我没有任何证据。你知道，官方称他们没有缴纳赎金。但是当然这不可能是毫无条件的。”

“你的意思是你们的获释是有原因的？”

“是为了钱或者为了至少两名囚犯的获释。”

希腊议会通过了第二项紧缩法案，从国际借贷者手中继续获取经济支持。大部分议员同意了紧缩措施，包括提高低收入者的税收，降低公务员的薪资。欧盟表示，希腊现在已经满足了条件，可以获得去年救助贷款的一部分，并为新的救助方案铺平了道路。

非洲联盟在赤道几内亚召开会议。非洲委员会负责人发表讲话称，非洲年轻人的问题是最近北非国家发生暴乱的原因之一。利比亚问题是这次会议的焦点，东道主赤道几内亚总统奥比昂·恩圭马强烈谴责西方的干预。Thomas Fessy报道。

现任非盟委员会主席让平(Jean Ping)在公开讲话中表示，商榷利比亚危机是峰会上最令人期待的。他说，为了讨论利比亚冲突而成立的委员会考虑了所有选择，最终决定支持政治解决方案。让平表示，逐渐演变为内战的利比亚示威活动揭露了一系列挑战，例如非洲政府不能理解民众的合法愿望。他说，必须采取具体措施来解决年轻人的需求。Thomas Fessy报道。

BBC世界新闻。

阿富汗一辆巴士撞上地雷，造成车上20名平民死亡。遇难者中包括妇女和儿童。目前还不清楚车上共有多少人。爆炸发生在连接坎大哈和西南部省份Nimroz的主要道路上。

法国总统萨科齐在人群中与民众握手时被一名男子抓住，几乎被撞倒在地。警方已经将此人逮捕。该事故发生在法国西南部小镇Brax。报道称袭击者是当地一名管理员和接待员，没有携带武器。最近几个月，萨科齐总统的支持率很低，在多个场合遭到民众的诘问。但是这是他第一次受到身体上的攻击。

官方数字显示，英国正在经历接近半个世纪以来最高的人口增长率。去年，英国人口增加到6225万人，比2009年增加了50万。人口的增加主要是因为出生率的上涨和寿命的延长。Mark Easton报道详细内容。

国家统计办公室表示，英国人口增长速度超过哈罗德威尔逊(Harold Wilson)担任首相以来的任何时候的主要原因是新生儿的增长速度，几乎每天新增370名婴儿。一些人认为这是好消息，可以缓解年轻的工作人口缩减以及人口快速老龄化的定时炸弹。根据预测，不久的将来，全球人口将达到70亿，有人将不断上涨的出生率与潜在的灾难联系起来。

新婚的威廉王子和王妃凯特抵达加拿大，这是他们进行的首次正式国外访问。他们在首都渥太华国家战争纪念碑献上花圈，随后向数千名民众问候。威廉王子夫妇还将访问加拿大其他省份，随后将向南前往加利福尼亚。