FEB 11th 2013 PROGRAMME

NEWS:

Heavy gunfire in northern Mali town of Gao

Malian troops and suspected Islamist militants are exchanging heavy gunfire on the streets of Gao in northern Mali.

it comes a day after a suicide bomber blew himself up near a checkpoint at a northern entrance to the town - the second such attack in two days.
Gao was retaken just over two weeks ago by French and Malian forces, who supposedly drove out the Islamists.
Security had been tightened in the wake of the suicide attacks, with military patrols stepped up and checkpoints put in place.
An armed rebel group, the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, or MUJAO, has claimed responsibility for an attack on the city of Gao in northern Mali and a suicide bombing the day before.

Tunisia President Marzouki's CPR 'to withdraw ministers'

The secular party of Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki says its ministers will leave the Islamist-led government.

A CPR party leader said its demands that two Islamist ministers should be replaced had not been met, and that the pullout would be confirmed on Monday.
The move comes amid a crisis sparked by the killing last week of an opposition leader, which triggered mass protests.
Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said he wanted to form a government of technocrats, to ease tensions.
However, his own Islamist Ennahda party, which dominates the cabinet, has opposed the plan.

Syria opposition open to talks in rebel areas

Syrian opposition leader Mouaz al-Khatib has said he is willing to hold talks with President Bashar al-Assad's representatives in rebel-held areas of northern Syria to try to end a conflict that has killed more than 60,000 people.
The aim of the talks would be to find a way for Assad to leave power with the "minimum of bloodshed and destruction", al-Khatib said in a statement published on his Facebook page.
Meanwhile Battles continued between Syrian regime forces and rebels for the control of a key highway outside Damascus as rebels launched fierce assaults in several other parts of the country. Sunday’s fighting was the heaviest in the capital since the first rebel push into the city last July.
Checkpoints on the main artery into the city have changed hands several times since Wednesday, when opposition fighters started their campaign for the capital, the seat of President Bashar al-Assad's power.

Foreign doctors killed in north-eastern Nigeria

Three North Korean doctors have been killed in the north-eastern Nigerian state of Yobe, officials say.

Residents said they were killed during the night in the town of Potiskum. Two of them had their throats slit while the third was beheaded, they added.
Officials said the victims had been working at a government-run hospital.
No-one has said they were behind the attack, but it happened in an area where the Islamist militant group, Boko Haram, has been active in recent years.
Meanwhile On Friday, nine polio vaccination workers - all said to have been women - were shot dead in northern Nigeria. Some were killed in Kano, others at a health centre in Hotoro, outside the city.
President Goodluck Jonathan condemned the killings, for which no group has claimed responsibility, and vowed that the campaign to eradicate polio would be carried through to a successful conclusion.

Shot schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai leaves hospital

A Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot in the head by the Taliban has been discharged from hospital after making a good recovery following surgery.

Malala Yousafzai, 15, was attacked in October after campaigning for girls' rights to education.
A bullet was removed from her head by surgeons in Pakistan, before she was flown to the UK for further treatment.
She had a titanium plate and cochlear implant fitted at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital


COMMENTARY

1) THE YOUNG LADY WHO DIED  BECAUSE SHE COULDNT AFFORD N3.5MILLION TO TREAT CANCER
2) THE 3 NORTH KOREAN DOCTORS KILLED IN YOBE STATE
3) THE 9 WOMEN HEALTH WORKERS WHO WERE KILLED IN KANO