virulent

strain, similar to the one that killed 40 people in Germany, though as yet, there's no evidence of a direct link between the two outbreaks.

World News from the BBC

An official in Sri Lanka has

appealed to

families in the north to protect

underage

girls from sex traffickers. Earlier this week, nine women including two underage girls were rescued from a brothel in the capital Colombo. Jill McGivering reports.

The rapid changes in Sri Lanka since the end of the civil war two years ago are raising concerns that sex trafficking there could increase. Poor families are particularly at risk. Ms Dissanayake of the National Child Protection Authority is urging parents to

guard against

strangers who offer their daughters' jobs, for example, as house maids. Some may be traffickers who sell these girls into the sex trade. Greater freedom of movement, she says, is making it easier for traffickers to gain access to the north, where many families lack education and are desperate for extra income.

The party of a government minister in Zimbabwe who was arrested on Friday says it fears for his safety and has called on the authorities to release him. The minister Jameson Timba was detained on suspicion of undermining the authority of President Robert Mugabe. His MDC party, which is part of Zimbabwe's power-sharing government, says it fears he's being tortured. The Zimbabwean police say they