amounted to

nothing new.

In the latest fighting in Syria, opposition activists and residents say at least 20 young men were killed, many shot at

point-blank

range when government forces seized a suburb of Damascus. Troops and tanks overrun Mouadamiya after two days of shelling. And in Syrian second biggest city Aleppo, the opposition said the attacks by government aircraft killed more than a dozen people.

The managers of the Marikana platinum mine in South Africa have agreed to meet striking workers after violent

confrontations

in which 34 people were shot dead by police. The South African Council of Churches organized the talks and said it hoped agreement could be reached to end what it called a very sad situation. Navdip Dhariwal is in Johannesburg.

The South African Council of Churches had a long history of involvement in national politics. Its President Bishop Jo Seoka along with other clergymen visited the mine to hear the workers' grievances. The influential group have persuaded Lonmin mine management to sit down and meet with the workforce. Early in the day, the company had dropped an

ultimatum

that staff should return to work or face the sack. The announcement came after President Jacob Zuma's office raised concerns staff would lose their jobs during a period of national mourning.

World news from the BBC.

More than 400 African migrants have arrived on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa in recent days after crossing the Mediterranean by boats. Many of them are from Tunisia and sub-Saharan Africa. On Monday, Italian coast guards rescued further 80 people from an overcrowded dinghy. Last year, tens of thousands of refugees fled the uprisings in Tunisia and Libya by sea.