World News from the BBC

The authorities in China say police rescued more than 24,000 abducted Chinese women and children in the course of last year. The public security ministry said in a report that some had been sold for adoption or forced into

prostitution

as far away as Angola. It said police had broken up more than 3,000 trafficking gangs.

The President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, has said that unless European Union immigration controls are strengthened, he will suspend French participation in the EU's visa-free travel area, the Schengen zone. Addressing an election rally near Paris, he said that EU measures to combat illegal immigration must be strengthened.

"Europe will not be able to integrate those who are struggling so hard to find a place in our society. It will not be able to finance its social protection anymore. This truth, my dear friends, needs to be heard because it is an exact description of the reality our fellow citizens and 450 million other Europeans are experiencing every day."

Mr Sarkozy is campaigning ahead of French presidential elections next month. Immigration has been a focus of attention in France in recent weeks.

Tuareg rebels in northern Mali have

seized

a military base where hundreds of civilians had sought refuge from weeks of fighting. Soldiers reportedly fled the camp at Tessalit when the rebels launched an attack. The fate of the civilians is unclear. The BBC West Africa correspondent says it's a highly symbolic victory for the Tuareg-led fighters who've taken several towns since fighting began two months ago.