BBC News.

Amnesty International has said it believes torture and ill-treatment in Iraqi prisons will remain widespread. The human rights group said that when the United States handed full control of prisons to the Iraqi government last year, it did so without any guarantees that inmates would be protected. The Iraqi parliament voted in 2008 to join the UN Convention against Torture, but Amnesty said there was no indication that the Baghdad government actually

intended to

sign it.

Fire fighters have put out a fire at the

treasury

in Abidjan, the main city in Ivory Coast, which destroyed many financial records. It happened as Laurent Gbagbo is facing increasing pressure to step down as president. Last month, the regional central bank cut his government off from the state treasury in favour of Alassane Ouattara, the man who the international community says won November’s poll.

Russia has

abolish

ed the clock change to winter time. The measure was announced by President Medvedev who said the switch caused stress. From Moscow, here’s Steve Rosenberg.

This autumn, clocks in the world’s biggest country will not go back one hour. They'll remain on summer time for the rest of time. President Medvedev has

decree

d it. According to the president, switching back and forth between summer and winter time is causing Russians stress and illness. When the clocks go back, President Medvedev said today, human bio-rhythms are disrupted. Everyone either oversleeps or wakes up early. And then the president explained there were the cows. They get all confused. They just can’ t understand why the milkmaids suddenly