rigged up

in tents. Under emergency legislation people have been allowed to vote wherever they can get to with special buses provided to transport them.

The main Islamist group occupying northern Mali says it rejects all forms of extremism and terrorism. The Ansar Dine group urged the Malian government and other armed movements to engage in political dialogue following talks with the regional

mediator

, President Blaise Compaore of Burkina Faso. Richard Hamilton has more.

Ansar Dine which controls the feeble town of Timbuktu, a large tracts of the Arab northern desert is thought to have stoned people to death and

amputated

the hands of thieves under a strict interpretation of Islamic law or Sharia. But now it seems to be talking about peace. This apparent

turnaround

may be because of the very real threat of military intervention by international forces. West African army chiefs have been meeting in the capital Bamako to discuss such an operation in the north. And despite a long arduous process involving consultation with the United Nations, they are now very close to finalizing details of that action.

Several people have been killed in a bomb attack in the Syrian capital Damascus. The official Syrian news agency Sana said the blast took place in a northwestern suburb. The London based Syrian observatory for human rights said three bombs exploded killing at least ten people.

BBC News