World News from the BBC
Police in Mexico said they've arrested the suspected leader of the armed wing of the Sinaloa drug cartel. Prosecutors suspect the man, Jose Antonio Torres Marrufo, of ordering an attack on a drug treatment clinic in Ciudad Juarez, in which 18 people were killed in 2009. The patients were lined up against a wall and shot dead.
The governing African National Congress in South Africa has upheld a decision to
suspend
its controversial youth leader Julius Malema. However, the party's appeals committee said they would give Mr Malema another chance to argue that his sentence is too harsh. Here's Karen Allen in Johannesburg.
Mr Malema wasn't present as the appeal panel's ruling was made public, neither were his supporters, who in the past had flooded the streets of central Johannesburg in large numbers. After November's decision to suspend the
maverick
youth leader from the governing party, the ANC, an appeals panel agreed that he was guilty of sowing division in the party, but they said they would give him another chance to argue that his sentence is too harsh. Mr Malema - a man who once said he would kill for President Jacob Zuma - paints himself as a champion of the young and unemployed. But his combative style has angered many in the ANC, and he is now considered by some as an
impediment
.
In football, Zambia have become the first team to qualify for the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations. The two-time finalists beat Sudan 3-0 after dominating the game throughout. And in today's other semi-final qualifier, Ivory Coast have just beaten the hosts Equatorial Guinea 3-0.