BBC news with Iain Purdon.

The Mexican authorities have confirmed that the leader of one of the country`s biggest and most brutal drug cartels has been killed while also admitting that his body has been stolen. They say forensic test proved the identity of Heriberto Lazcano, who led the Zetas cartel. Will Grant reports from Mexico.

The publication by the marines of photos of body of Heriberto Lazcano confirms the death of the maximum leader of the most feared criminal group in Mexico-Los Zetas. The authorities also said his fingerprints matched those on their database but the images don't put the rest questions of the whereabouts of his remains. The authorities in Coahuila confirmed that Lazcano`s body was recovered by presumed members of his cartel who attacked the funeral home where it was being kept.

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that there will be an early general election. From Jerusalem, Wyre Davis reports.

By the standards of recent Israeli politics, Benjamin Netanyahu has led a relatively stable government with his own Likud party at the head of a right-wing coalition for three and half years. New elections for the 120-member Knesset, the Israeli parliament, won't due for another year. Although Mr. Netanyahu`s facing many tricky policy situations, it is the failure to agree a cost-cutting budget with other coalition parties that brought back this decisions. Announcing the decision to go to the polls, the Prime Minister said that in the face of economic and security turmoil, it was important to hold elections in the national interest.