World News from the BBC
The Prime Minister of Kenya, Raila Odinga, has asked the European Union's anti-piracy task force to help capture the Somali port of Kismaayo, the main stronghold of the Islamist militia al-Shabab. Mr Odinga said the aim was for African Union forces, which include more than 4,000 Kenyan troops, to reach Kisamaayo by August. The mandate of the EU task force was recently expanded to allow for land attacks against pirates.
An Australian woman has won a 32-year fight to prove that her baby daughter was killed by a wild dog. A coroner ruled that the child, Azaria Chamberlain, was carried off by a dingo from a camp site. Her mother, Lindy, was convicted of her murder in 1982, but later released when some of the baby's clothes were found in a dingo den nearby. Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton gave her reaction outside the coroner's court in Darwin.
"Obviously, we're relieved and delighted to come to the end of this saga. We live in a beautiful country, but it is dangerous. And we would ask all Australians to be aware of this, and take appropriate precautions and not wait for somebody else to do it for them."
The Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has said the country's schools are to be allowed to teach the Kurdish language for the first time. Mr Erdogan described the move as historic. Turkey has a large Kurdish minority and is fighting Kurdish separatist rebels in the southeast.
The United Nations secretary general has praised Sri Lanka for its progress on some key aspects of child welfare. He said the authorities had made serious efforts to trace thousands of children who were earlier recruited as fighters by the Tamil Tiger rebels. UN children's agency Unicef recently described as remarkable the progress made by Sri Lanka in child health and education since the end of its long-running civil war three years ago.