The United Nations envoy to Syria has warned that the violence there is pushing the country towards genocide. Mokhtar Lamani told the BBC that the humanitarian situation was almost a catastrophe. But he said it was the growing sectarianism that was now really frightening.
“This huge movement of the population, leaving their villages according to what they were born. Even those, the defectors from the army, are not 100 per cent Sunni. You see from the other side also some allied actions. That’s people they have caught prisoner of their own group. It’s not a choice.”
UN envoy to Syria Mokhtar Lamani
In one of the biggest deals in corporate history, the British telecoms firm Vodafone has confirmed that it’s agreed to sell its stake in the US company Verizon Wireless for $130bn. Vodafone says it plans to use some of the proceeds to increase its investment in fourth-generation mobile technology. However, most of the money will be distributed to the company’s shareholders with British shareholders getting about $34bn.
World News from the BBC
The American endurance swimmer Diana Nyad has become the first person to swim from Cuba to the United States without a shark cage. The 64-year-old arrived at Key West in Florida 53 hours after she began her swim in Havana. Sarah Rainsford reports.
There were big crowds cheering on the beach in Florida as she took the last exhausted strokes of her record-breaking swim from Cuba. This was her fifth attempt at making the crossing. The first was over three decades ago and she used a shark cage then. This time there was a team of divers on hand to lure any sharks away. But there was no sign of them or of the huge storms, fierce currents and deadly box jellyfish that had foiled her previous efforts. The swimmer took a special face mask this time for extra protection. But the jellyfish were nowhere to be seen.